While it was technically possible for the expeditionary fleet to have preserved food by freezing it with water element techniques, it was a waste of spiritual energy. They could gather fresh fish, but otherwise they had various dried preserves. Trading some of the spirit darkness they gathered with Great Eye Islands they were able to secure a wider variety of food for their people. It would make the journey more pleasant.

It was expected that reaching the next islands would be faster, so they would be able to replenish their stores of fresh food often enough.

Though it would normally be considered lower value, John offered Sect Head Jayendra some of their dried fruit. The man was clearly quite enthusiastic about their local produce, but he seemed like he would enjoy something different, even in a limited form.

Indeed, Jayendra happily ate a few morsels of each fruit they had brought along, commenting on each. He especially liked something akin to apricots. Obviously nothing was exactly like Earth. Even if it could have been at some point, human food cultivation was a constant process and nothing stayed the same forever. Especially good cultivars might be preserved for centuries, but with enough time things would diverge.

Regardless, it was close enough to an apricot for John to think of it that way, even if he mostly used local language. He couldn't completely overcome his first memories, nor did he want to forget his origin on Earth. Even if he couldn't go back and probably wouldn't if given the chance- certainly not with family in this world- it was still an important part of him.

"Do you have any more?" Jayendra asked hopefully. He had sampled some of everything, keeping the rest of the packages of dried fruit for later.

John shook his head. "It wasn't practical to have a wide variety of options." Even having a handful of different fruits was somewhat a luxury. "However, when we meet in the future we can bring some fresh fruit with us. Alternatively… you can come visit the continent." It was quite convenient for the sect head to have such an interest. While things were still uneasy regarding the total forces the continent had sent along, the more they interacted peacefully the better. It could lead to more peaceful interaction in the future. That was the whole point of this expedition… to fend off potential war. They hadn't had good luck with neighbors in three directions, but perhaps the fourth would be better.

Jayendra got a serious look on his face. "That might be possible," he said. "Though not right away."

"Of course. If you can't come yourself, some representatives would be fine as well. It's pretty easy to find the continent, I think," John grinned. "Though you'll obviously want specific ports."

Unlike individual islands which might have some tactical advantage from uncertainty about their positions, the continent wasn't possible for people to miss. Coming from this place, it was pretty much guaranteed that they would run into the Viridia Wildlands unless they went wildly off course. John suspected that the records they had of the continent would be significantly more accurate than the continental records of the islands- simply because of the sizes involved.

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Though John didn't wish to overstay their welcome, remaining more than a few days to build up mutual understanding seemed valuable. Leaving too swiftly might make them more akin to a passing oddity than a serious diplomatic gesture. Of course, they were also a show of force to some extent. There was a proper balance that needed to be maintained, after all.

Not all of their time was spent with Jayendra or Lochan. The Great Eye Sect had other things to be doing than entertaining guests, and said guests needed some time to themselves. John and Astrid had some excellent quarters. They were especially good for Astrid, as the local elements matched her. John would have likely been quite uncomfortable with the local light element if not for his years of interaction with her that had helped accelerate his adaptation.

John was looking at various strange foods on a tray. There was nothing particularly wrong with any of them, but they were unusual and he wasn't that hungry. He was picking at the tray a little bit when Astrid wandered over and picked something out.

A moment later Astrid was curled up in a corner holding her wrist, while John was looking at his own hand. He certainly couldn't deny that he'd slapped her hand away, but he also didn't know why. The look of fear in Astrid's eyes pained John, but he couldn't blame her. He was the one who was in the wrong. Yet he didn't know why.

"I'm sorry," he said, standing carefully. He wanted to move to comfort her, but would that help? It might. It might also make her more fearful. "I didn't- I don't know why…" his mind was racing. He'd playfully slapped her hand away from things in the past, but this was far different. Obviously he'd struck her in sparring, but that was with proper protections in place. Here, he'd certainly called upon his spiritual energy, at least a little bit.

Astrid's own look of betrayal just about matched how John felt inside about himself. His own body had betrayed him. Was something wrong with him?

That introspection wasn't simply theoretical, he delved into his own mind and body… and came up with an answer. Something was wrong with him. And…

He slowly strode over to the side of the room, where the thin slice of meat Astrid had plucked was splattered against a chair. He plucked it up, sniffing at it. It smelled fine. He'd eaten some of it previously, in fact. But his spiritual energy senses revealed something. He held it up, showing it to Astrid. "Don't eat this," he warned. Then he tossed it to her.

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She managed to catch it in her good hand. John could already see her other hand was swelling up, likely with something broken. It hurt him to see that, even if it hadn't been on purpose.

Astrid inspected the morsel carefully, including with her spiritual energy. Then she slumped against the floor, letting out a heavy sigh. Her strained face turned into a half smile. "Next time just say it's poisoned."

Saying it once wasn't good enough. "I'm sorry," John said. It was his fault. Even if it had been for a good reason- even if a subconscious one. He was at the level of power that he had to be in complete control of his reactions. "I should have done better."

Why had that happened? John felt turbulence inside him. Inside his head, certainly, but also throughout his body. He'd eaten some of that, and whatever poison it had was already passing around his body.

"... Shouldn't you be purifying your body?" Astrid asked. "Didn't you eat some of that?" She was still cradling her wrist, but in a much more relaxed state. Rather than focusing all of her spiritual energy around her, some was inside her hand and wrist putting things back into place.

"I'm testing my body tempering now," John said. Also… it hadn't occurred to him. His head was foggy. The good news was that Pure Blood seemed to be working. He wondered what the full effects would be. He really didn't want to know. He tried to drop into a meditative state, but his energy was too unsteady for him to feel comfortable using it inside himself.

What a terrifying poison. It didn't even have any spiritual energy signature. He would have had to carefully inspect each bite, and even then he thought he might not have picked it out with only a casual suspicion that something was wrong. The precise meat was unfamiliar, making an equally unfamiliar chemical compound not particularly notable.

John noticed Astrid stopped using her spiritual energy, and looked up. Her wrist wasn't better yet. It couldn't be healed in a minute or two regardless, but she certainly hadn't done all that was possible. Even so, she was making her way towards him and where he sat.

He held up a hand. "I don't think… I don't know what is a good idea right now."

"You need to actively purge it."

"My energy is unstable right now," he said. "I could hurt myself. I could hurt you worse."

Astrid locked eyes with him, filled with determination. She held out both hands. "Let me help. I trust you."

That was probably the hardest thing she had ever done, at least in the moment. John nodded slowly. "Okay."

She sat in front of him and interlaced her fingers with his. John squeezed his right hand gently. The other he barely even felt comfortable curling around her still-broken hand. Her energy poured into him and John just let it.

As for his own spiritual energy, he did his best to command it to settle down. It was eager to defend him, but it didn't know how. How could it, when even he didn't know what to do at the moment? The one thing he was certain of was that he needed to trust Astrid.

Her energy was scalding. It burned through his veins, a purifying flame and revealing light. Nothing would escape her sight. She started at his heart and worked outward, finding her way to the tips of his fingers and toes. The only place she didn't touch was his brain, though she did purify the arteries leading into his head.

John's own body slowly took care of what was left, tiny remnants that she couldn't safely eliminate. His head began to clear, and John was truly thankful for Astrid. Also the completely unnecessary at the time actions of his younger self, fooling around with advanced body tempering techniques for every element- because he could. He'd never gotten a proper test of his technique on unknown poisons. He'd tested a number he was aware of on the continent, but he couldn't be certain his technique would be comprehensive.

His blood held tightly to foreign toxins until it was filtered out of him. John's guts were in pain. His liver was going to need some help, and his kidneys deserved a prize. "Thank you," John said to Astrid as he slowly stood. "Excuse me while I go vomit."

That was one of the more unpleasant parts of the process, but garbage had to get out of his body and that was the fastest way. John kept the smell away with some air element and burned the remains into nothing with fire.

He was glad to see Astrid had taken the time to finish setting the bones in her wrist and hand. It was probably quite painful, but it was better to put things back in place as soon as possible. Fortunately, with spiritual energy she could even move around smaller pieces that got out of place and promote healing.

Astrid then pulled out a makeup kit, holding it up. "I'm just assuming since you burned those remains, but… are we hiding this?"

"... We don't have to," John said. "I-"

Astrid waved the kit at him. "I would like to catch whoever did this. It's not your fault."

"I could have done better," John said.

"Then I am sure you will," Astrid nodded. She first started on him, touching up his face so that it had proper color. "I will aid you in training whatever part of yourself you find fault with."

There were a million ways he could have done better, and John thought about them all. He could have said something. Grabbed her wrist, gently. Annihilated just the poisoned morsel of food without touching her at all. He could have recognized something was wrong with him earlier.

Soon enough Astrid was done working on John's face, and he helped her with her wrist. John suggested that she should wear gloves, but Astrid rejected that because she didn't usually do that. Instead she forcibly reduced the swelling, and John reluctantly helped her color her skin to look natural. She couldn't do it well herself, as it was her right hand… and she was working on the internal issues.

With his mind more clear, John understood how everything had happened. It wasn't the worst scenario, but it was a clear reminder of how dangerous he was. It was easy to forget that, especially around friends. His closeness with his wife actually made her more vulnerable if he acted carelessly. It could have been worse than just broken bones… and it was far from a trivial amount of damage, even for a cultivator.

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