Jason went to Maisiji's residence, but not to see his "father," but to see his stepmother.
Yes, Maisiji remarried; her new husband is a Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend named Anya.
Decades ago, the Rhine Clan faced a crisis, with several Midgod dying in battle. Delisha temporarily promoted some trustworthy family members to Refine Divine Spark.
Anya was one of them at the time. She herself was not very talented, and at over two thousand years old, she was only at the initial threshold of the Law. Because the Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend was highly loyal, Delisha allowed her to refine her Divine Spark and become Midgod.
As for how the two got together, it was because Anya accidentally saved Maisiji during an attack, and under the pressure of internal and external troubles, the two quickly established a relationship.
Jason and Lucy didn't say anything about it, after all, their friendship had been tested by hardship, and as their children, they couldn't very well stop them.
Jason came to Anya because Anya used her Soul Seed to control many of the captured bandits.
When Delisha killed a powerful enemy, she obtained a high-level Death Divine Spark. Anya happened to be Midgod refined the Death Divine Spark. After signing a series of Overgod Contract to guarantee loyalty, she was granted High Godhead and was fortunate enough to gain the ability to control Soul Seed.
Therefore, during the period when Delisha was clearing out the surrounding bandits, she specifically had Anya control seven Midgod as a protective force for the family.
"Elder Jason wants two slaves?" Anya asked after hearing Jason's purpose.
"Just call me Jason. Also, try to make sure the two slaves are human." Jason was very polite.
"Hmm, no problem," Anya's eyes suddenly turned strange. "What kind do you want? Innocent or seductive?"
"Uh, that's not what I meant." Jason blushed. "I have a wife."
"It's alright, I understand, I understand." Anya said with a smile, "I've been trapped in this basin all these years and can't get out. My wife is in the Material Plane and it's not easy to find her directly. Luckily, all seven slaves I control are women."
Seeing that Jason was about to explain, Anya directly summoned seven female Midgod: "Choose any of them."
Jason couldn't openly admit to researching magical beast bloodlines, so he had to swallow his anger and randomly picked two human Deity-level.
"I'll get Maisiji to teach his wife a lesson later," Jason thought bitterly.
Passing by Lucy's residence, Jason took a look and found that the couple were in seclusion.
Lucy and her husband, Gakpe, were both capable of breaking through to the Saint-level in the Material Plane after two hundred years, so their aptitude was not weak.
"Elder Jason." "Director Rita."
Jason unexpectedly encounters Rita.
As the Violet-Eyed Bladewing Fiend has walked with Delisha from the Abyss to the present, Rita not only has excellent talent and luck, but also exceptional skill. Before Landon fell into despair, Rita and Landon were Delisha's right-hand men.
Rita glanced suspiciously at the two slaves behind Jason.
Jason sent the two slaves to their quarters first.
"Director Rita doesn't seem very busy."
"Yes, the family has gradually settled down recently, and there aren't too many members to manage, so it's not too busy. The five of us directors take turns on duty, and it's my turn to rest now."
Deity-level need to cultivate, and even council members responsible for management cannot fall too far behind in strength.
"Has the family been facing any problems lately?" Jason asked.
As an elder, Jason couldn't truly remain detached from worldly affairs.
"It's not exactly a problem, but with the increasing number of Deity-level members, the surrounding materials for forging weapons are extremely scarce. Weapons are alright, we have the ' Blood Blade,' but there are absolutely no materials suitable for forging Defensive Divine Artifact. Occasionally, a relatively strong magical beast appears in the vicinity, and it's immediately skinned and gutted by the family members. Even so, it still can't meet the demand."
Jason had heard about this. Previously, the family had few Deity-level, Delisha directly distributed Highgod Artifact to core members. For some ordinary members, the mid-level and Lowgod Artifact they had acquired in recent years were enough to supply them.
But this is not a long-term solution.
Delisha regretted leaving most of the mid-level and Lowgod Artifact to Jason before coming to the Netherworld. Those Divine Artifact were more valuable in the Netherworld than Lowgod Spark were—in the Netherworld, the value of Lowgod Spark was sometimes less than that of a precious magical beast's pelt or bones.
"Perhaps we could raise some magical beasts?" Jason suggested.
"We've tried, but haven't found a suitable magical beast." Rita shook her head. "Currently, many members of our clan are magical beasts themselves. We need to consider their feelings. Even if we raise magical beasts, we should try to find races that can produce refining materials without harming them."
Jason hadn't considered this point yet. But thinking about it, it made sense. To treat other magical beasts like livestock in front of those Saint-level magical beasts, especially since many of his family members' contracted magical beasts were only Level Nine Magical Beast, even weaker than the native magical beasts of the Netherworld, was incredibly impactful.
"There's another problem with raising foreign magical beasts—we can't guarantee they aren't spies sent by malicious individuals," Rita said worriedly. "Besides Soul Seed control, there are many other ways to control a Saint-level being, and they're very difficult to detect. For example, controlling a person's Divine Clone, letting their true self impersonate Saint-level and infiltrate our family. If the enemy sees through our disguise and launches a sneak attack, that would be disastrous."
The connection between the Divine Clone is extremely secretive; even the Sovereign cannot perceive the connection between them, let alone sever it directly.
Okay, Jason admits that he really can't think things through as well as Rita. No wonder she's a "board member," she's much better than him, an elder.
Rita continued, "It's also because we're worried about unscrupulous individuals sneaking in. Over the years, our family has always been ruthless in eliminating anyone who accidentally intrudes, whether they're from the Saint-level or the Deity-level."
Jason recalled the scene when he found the Venomous Dragon. Its skin, bones, and internal organs had all been ripped out, and it was no longer recognizable from its original appearance. If the Venomous Dragon's meat hadn't been so unpalatable, Jason probably wouldn't have been able to find it at all—that wasn't just killing it, that was devouring it completely.
Rita continued, "Over the years, we've tried to find some exotic plants, but unfortunately, we haven't found any after searching the surrounding area for a long time. The Tree of Life you brought is quite nice, but it grows too slowly."
"Perhaps we can buy it in Falling Rain City," Jason said thoughtfully.
"The clan leader cannot leave. Anya and Kasabu have only recently refined their High Godhead and dare not venture such a distance rashly."
No one from the Rhine Clan has yet entered the city of the Netherworld.
The death Divine Spark left behind by the two Five-Star Fiend who attacked the Rhine Clan were refined by Anya, while the Fire Godhead were refined by a human member of the Rhine Clan named Kasabu.
Currently, their strength is not yet at the level of Four Star Fiend. Perhaps after their soul strength increases in the future, they may reach the strength of Four Star Fiend.
"Elder Jason, don't worry too much. It's just that we lack top-quality materials in the surrounding area. We brought a lot of materials with us before we came to the Netherworld. Although the quality is not very good, they are still usable. Many Deity-level who have just arrived in the Netherworld also use these to forge divine Divine Artifact," Rita comforted her.
Jason hadn't collected many high-quality materials on the Yulan Continent, but the others had prepared some as well.
Materials from the Material Plane are certainly inferior to those from the Netherworld; after all, even the lowest grade of Black Yu from the Netherworld is a top-tier metal on the Yulan Continent. They can only be used as a makeshift solution.
"Sigh, it will take time after all," Jason sighed.
"Yes, the clan has no shortage of talented members, and the clan leader's strength is enough to support the clan's top combat power. What we lack is time. If we could have five thousand clansmen, and fifty of them could break through to the Midgod on their own, we could easily occupy a rich region, and there would be no need to hide in this remote area where even Black Yu is scarce."
Jason nodded, "It's over 20 million miles from here to the nearest Falling Rain City, and further north is the ' Undead Realm,' so it's a bit remote."
(In the original work, the Black Dragon Tribe is more than ten million miles away from the nearest city. Its population is about five to eight thousand people. Judging from the context, this number should include the Saint-level.)