Sage felt a sort of rejection from the water around him and he climbed to his feet. He walked out of the Pool of Eternal Tears, not wanting to feel what would happen if that feeling got worse. At that moment he stopped to examine his body and despite how he’d felt earlier, he wasn’t torn to pieces. There was not a single shred of injury to his external body, but his meridians were wider. He had also understood much.

Lifting his hand, he reached out and his Qi resonated with the power of a law. Warmth. Cold. The air in front of him suddenly shifted between hot and cold, driven by the force of the laws he manipulated.

Well, that’s a shame.

Song Lu Tian had used that experience to suddenly gain inspiration into the usage of his own laws. He found the route to change his Minor Laws into Major Laws and induce a massive breakthrough, going from a peak Core Formation Cultivator and jumping straight to a peak Nascent Soul Cultivator.

On the other hand, Sage had discovered an entirely new law. The Primal Law of Hot and Cold. He was only at the initial degree of mastery, and given he already had the second degree of mastery in the Primal Law of Corruption, he experienced no increase in his own power at all.

Turns out, people are truly different.

Song Lu Tian had jumped ten levels in an instant, while he had gained a new Primal Law. Some Cultivators who only ever grasped Minor Laws would do anything to gain a Primal Law like he did, but in the short term it did nothing for his own strength. Was he blessed or cursed?

Over the next few hours later, the two Song Elders also finished their experience in the Pool of Eternal Tears and had very different results. Sage watched them both improve their strength, gaining a level. Elder Zhong raised to level 64, while Elder Meng hit the same peak that Song Lu Tian did, becoming a pinnacle Nascent Soul. Elder Meng seemed to have a collection of minor laws, but upon exiting the Pool of Eternal Tears, he radiated a sword law that felt different from Song Lu Tian’s, but with a similar quality and even quantity.

On the other hand, Elder Zhong was far more focused. He used only a single major law, which Sage also felt was related to his furious chops. After experiencing the pool, he raised its quality, and Sage felt a Primal Law from the man, with the same degree as his own Hot and Cold, but a very different feeling. Elder Zhong seemed quite confident as he boasted about his new capability, “I can sever anything now! Hahaha!”

Anything, huh? Some sort of cutting or slicing law? Interesting.

They celebrated with another meal, and Sage couldn’t help himself, “So, experiencing an unbreakable love taught you how to sever anything?”

“That’s right! Right at that moment when they came together I saw it. The exact spot where I could chop and sever them from each other forever.”

Elder Meng seemed just as disturbed as Sage did, but Song Lu Tian merely laughed, “That’s amazing, Old Tenth! You always solve everything with one chop.”

The large man brought his hand down, making a chopping motion and seeming quite impressed with the eyepatched man’s one track mind. Sage felt there was a degree of similarity, given Song Lu Tian’s obsession with being unbeatable.

With their task done, they didn’t waste any more time in Icefire Valley. The next day they retreated immediately, having already experienced the prize at the center of the valley, there was nothing else left for them here. This place had been used in this manner for many centuries, a place for their strongest to receive an opportunity once every few decades. Sage followed along with them, and their trip was much smoother on the way out, following the path they already used to enter and with a better understanding of the dangers along the way.

Once they reached the outer border of the poison miasma, Sage finally came to a stop and gave the other three a bow.

“This is where we part ways. I feel there is an opportunity waiting for me in this miasma, and I’d like to find it. Please tell Wan Ling and the Tiankong Clan I’ll be training here for a while.”

Song Lu Tian clapped a hand onto his back, “Of course. I would like to stay and see what you find, but I’ve got to get back and test the new limits of my power.”

Elder Meng, with his half closed eyes, merely nodded to him while Elder Zhong smiled fiercely, “When you get back, I hope you aren’t too surprised when I’ve already surpassed you. I think my Martial Nephew and I will be sure to cause a stir.”

Song Lu Tian nodded, gaining an equally fierce look in his eyes. Sage felt sorry for the unlucky chaps that were going to be targeted by these two. They were probably going to go out and cause a bunch of trouble.

Eventually, he was left alone and he tested out the new law he’d comprehended. It was a bit disappointing as it didn’t really conform to any of his other abilities. How could he combine Corruption with temperature? He was a bit jealous of the others improving their capabilities while he just discovered a brand new law. Perhaps it was his greater time to process things because of the Soul Clone, or maybe it was because of his knowledge from Earth. The law of conservation of energy was something he was familiar with, and perhaps that is why he was able to resonate with this law of hot and cold.

That’s a bit awkward. Let’s call it Thermal Law.

The Soul Clone couldn’t train with his Heavenly Materials, but it could still use his laws. With the Law of Corruption the main use he’d found so far was with poison, but now with this new law he’d need to develop some new methods to make use of it. He had a couple Heavenly Flames, so the Soul Clone added studying fire based techniques to its list of tasks. At the moment though, Sage put aside this new law and focused upon the thick purple wall in front of him.

The poison miasma. He walked back into it and crossed his legs as he sat down. During his time in the Icefire Valley, the Soul Clone had already used the Poison Miasma he’d sent to the Inner World to experiment and find a way forward. With the cultivation technique of the Death Sparing Manual, there was a very good chance that he could use his poison meridians to cultivate. The early stages of cultivation was a process of accumulation of energy, and right in front of him was a vast amount of energy.

Sage followed the path that the Soul Clone had tested and confirmed, using the Law of Corruption to control the flow of the poison miasma into his body. The spiritual poison sunk through his flesh like it wasn’t there, trying to target his organs, but being pulled away by the power of his poison meridian system. It sucked up the poison and brought it back to his poison dantian. Once that poison energy in his second dantian was at a great enough concentration he started the second part of the process. Sending it down one of his poison meridians and then traveling back up another one.

The Death Sparing Manual would work for anyone, even those with a destroyed dantian, just so long as they had a single pair of meridians remaining. The energy cycled through the meridian, gaining potency with each revolution. As it moved, it collected the poison energy in the meridians and swept it along. Once the flow was large enough it split into two, cycling into another pair of meridians, and creating two independent flows. These flows were quite weak and inefficient compared to the Qi cycles of other cultivation arts, but it was meant for cripples after all. For a person who had nothing, even this little strength would be a massive improvement.

In Sage’s case, he was quite pleasantly surprised by the strength he felt from this new cultivation path. It wasn’t because of the cultivation technique, but the energy that was being used. The Qi that a normal breathing technique collected was worlds apart in comparison to this terrifying soul poison he was using. It only took him a few hours to start a circuit in each pair of his poison meridians and create a full circulation route. At that moment, his Poison Cultivation broke into rank two, and after a few moments of consolidation he started drawing in more miasma to start condensing the vaporous poison qi into a liquid.