The group had reached the Eighteen Duchies of the Northern Territory.
They were lucky this time. They encountered no crazed Saint Magus, no powerful magical beasts suddenly leaped out at them, and the bandits blocking the roads had enough sense to avoid Jason and his companions.
The Eighteen Duchies of the Northern Territory were fairly chaotic, but that depended on what they were being compared to.
The eighteen duchies fought among themselves, but they still shared the same faith, and their cultures and customs were much the same. The beast tides from the Dark Forest also surged north less often than they did south toward the Chaotic Territory. After all, even magical beasts knew that it snowed in the north in the depths of winter, and there was no food.
They settled in an abandoned village. It looked as though its inhabitants had been massacred during a war.
Linda was cooking.
Since breaking through to the Saint-level, Linda could freely change the size of her body. She had tried using cooking utensils to prepare meals herself, and after several attempts at dark cuisine, Jason began frequently sampling "catgirl cuisine."
"You're too hung up on things, child. If life in the Dark Forest was so hard, you should have left sooner. Try some human food, visit some human cities, and find a companion you can trust," Linda said, chattering as she served the dishes.
Linda was good at making friends. Within a few days, she and Clear Spring had grown close, and Linda had learned a little about Clear Spring's youth.
All in all, Clear Spring had suffered psychological abuse over the years. She hadn't lost any family or friends to persecution, nor had she experienced physical torture.
In Jason's view, Clear Spring had simply been ostracized from a young age, twisting her psyche and giving her something of an antisocial personality. If they spent more time with her, she would recover eventually.
As Linda chattered on, Clear Spring somewhat stiffly picked up a small bowl and began drinking the fish soup.
"Good, isn't it?"
"Squeak, squeak." Clear Spring sounded happy.
Veronica and Jason sat on the other side.
Noticing that Jason had been reading a book lately, Veronica asked, "What have you been reading these past few days?"
"Green Vine Battle-qi, a life-attribute Battle-qi technique. I found it in a courtyard in the center of the village. I want to see if cultivating it can give me a chance to gain insight into the Laws of Life."
The power of life was the foundation of living beings' bodies. That was why, before breaking through to the Saint-level, ordinary beings generally couldn't bear the power of the other three rules directly in their bodies. Even magical beasts could only store and use it through their magicite cores.
Life-attribute Battle-qi did exist, however, and Life Magic was said to be the most widespread of the three types of rule-based magic in human society. On the Yulan Continent, the High Priest's Temple of Life openly taught Life Magic to anyone with talent who came from a friendly power.
Life-attribute Battle-qi was also widespread. The book in Jason's hands was a fairly low-end Battle-qi manual, but it was indeed life-attribute.
Jason set aside the Battle-qi manual for the time being and looked at Clear Spring.
"Clear Spring, I've been meaning to ask: what was that black liquid you spat out when we fought? Was it an innate ability?" Feeling that his relationship with Clear Spring had improved lately, Jason ventured the question.
"It was a poison I made by mixing Black-Ringed Giant Python venom with various plants. I usually keep it wrapped in a magical beast's intestinal casing and magic, then put it in my crop before a fight and spit it out during battle."
Linda's squeaks were converted into language Jason could understand through his soul connection. As for Veronica, Linda translated for her.
"Poison can be that powerful!" Jason had thought it was some kind of innate ability.
Back then, Jason's blade had been coated in a Saint Warrior's Battle-qi, and a defense-oriented water-attribute Battle-qi at that. Under those circumstances, even another Peak Saint using a divine artifact would have had difficulty destroying Jason's weapon, yet a tiny amount of Clear Spring's venom had corroded a notch in it!
Clear Spring pondered for a moment. "I was once badly injured by a Black-Ringed Giant Python's venom, so I spent some time experimenting with poisons. That poison is so powerful probably because its main ingredient, Black-Ringed Giant Python venom, was already strong enough on its own. I've never spoken with anyone else outside who's skilled with poison, so I don't know what level this poison is."
Jason and Veronica exchanged a glance. "The poison is very strong, but your talent for using poison is even greater. At least, I've never heard of anyone using poison to corrode a fine weapon reinforced with a Saint Warrior's Battle-qi!"
Powerful poisons did exist, of course. In the original story, a Deity-level expert of the death path had refined a soul poison, and necromancers also had a spell called "Release Plague." But those fell within the domain of the Laws.
Purely physical poisons, however, were generally used by people below the seventh rank. For experts of the seventh rank and above, a Battle-qi shield could keep out most poisons.
But Clear Spring's poison could probably break straight through a ninth-rank expert's Battle-qi shield and corrode them into a pool of pus and blood if it were sprinkled on them! Black-Ringed Giant Python venom couldn't compare with Clear Spring's poison at all.
"Is it really that strong?" Clear Spring could hardly believe it. She had spent more than fifty years in the Dark Forest and had no friends, so she didn't know how astounding the poison she had concocted was.
Veronica praised her. "You fully deserve to be called a genius, whether in refining poisons or comprehending Profound Mysteries, and whether you're compared with humans or magical beasts."
"I wasn't as strong as you when I was at the ninth rank. Your understanding of darkness and death has already surpassed that of most Saint-level experts." Jason nodded in agreement.
Linda brought over the last dish. "Don't look at me when it comes to cultivation. I'm a cat who likes to enjoy herself. I relied mostly on talent and luck to reach the Saint-level. Personal effort accounted for two-tenths at most. Even now, I still don't know what the Profound Mysteries I've comprehended are good for."
"Thank you, squeak, squeak." Clear Spring suddenly burst into tears.
The two humans and the cat looked at one another.
Veronica stroked Clear Spring's head, while Linda awkwardly tried to console her. "Let's eat. You'll feel better once you're full."
"Boo-hoo." Clear Spring began stuffing food into her mouth.
As she ate, powerful magical fluctuations suddenly erupted from her body.
"Is she about to break through?" The two humans and the cat quickly backed away.
The darkness elements and Power of Death around Clear Spring had completely destroyed the tableware in front of her.
"She should have broken through long ago. There was probably something wrong with her state of mind that held her back until now," Jason said.
In Jason's view, Clear Spring was very strong. Her comprehension of Profound Mysteries far exceeded his own when he had been at the ninth rank, and was even greater than Linley's before he broke through to the Saint-level in the original story.
Comprehending Profound Mysteries before reaching the Saint-level was a sign of great aptitude, but comprehending too many was abnormal.
That was because the greatest barrier between the ninth rank and the Saint-level was comprehending "force" and Profound Mysteries. The rest was simply a matter of spending time accumulating Battle-qi and spiritual energy.
Linley in the original story, as well as Jason and Veronica, hadn't spent too long at the peak of the ninth rank, so they naturally hadn't ended up comprehending many Profound Mysteries while still remaining at the ninth rank.
Clear Spring had traveled far on the path of Profound Mysteries, yet had been unable to break through to the Saint-level. Something must have been preventing her from overcoming the final bottleneck, leaving her stuck at the ninth rank for too long.
Now it seemed the problem lay in her state of mind. Deep down, she felt too inferior and had bottled up many grievances, preventing her from facing herself honestly. Only after receiving encouragement and affirmation from Jason and the others just now had she finally reached the Saint-level.