People surviving in the outer ten districts—that is, Districts 71 through 80—basically only had the most fundamental understanding of this world.
Perhaps there had been those who knew more in the past, but those people were all dead, or Ling Qing simply hadn't encountered them, so he could only obtain limited intelligence from them.
Ling Qing didn't feel particularly frustrated by this situation. Rather, it was better than being like a lonely island in the ocean or in a desert where, as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but water or sand, with nothing else besides himself.
At least he now had a blade in his hands, and no matter how many people came, they couldn't threaten his safety.
At least he now knew his location and which direction to head toward.
As he continued advancing, Ling Qing encountered more and more people—whose living conditions gradually improved, though only by a little—and gradually obtained more intelligence from them.
Regarding the Rukongai where they lived, there weren't actually many people with a clear understanding of it. Most were simply adapting to their current circumstances. In plain terms, they were living just to stay alive.
Although everyone, including Ling Qing, was already dead, in the Soul Society—this afterlife world—they existed in the strange state of "living a second life after death." Only when they died in the Soul Society would they truly be dead.
It was as if their lives had been extended by one lifetime.
At the same time, Ling Qing also learned that souls living in the Soul Society didn't actually need to eat food. The specific principle wasn't very clear to them, but they wouldn't feel hunger and only needed to drink water.
Precisely because of this, for the residents of Rukongai, food was not a necessity of life, but water was. Starting from District 78, drinking water became severely scarce, and in District 80, no water could be found at all.
Based on this situation, drinking water became the hard currency of the outer five districts, with some people selling drinking water as merchandise for profit. Because of the scarcity of drinking water in Districts 78, 79, and 80, the connected Districts 75, 76, and 77 were also affected—water in these three areas was equally hard currency and one of the targets for theft and robbery.
On the other hand, although food wasn't necessary for consumption, it was more precious than water. Simply drinking some water could sustain someone for a long time, while a bite of food would last even longer.
This was roughly the difference between solid and liquid substances.
That's right—for the residents of Rukongai, although water was a necessity, they didn't need to drink several liters a day, nor did they need to drink daily. One drink could eliminate the feeling of hunger for a long time. Food lasted even longer.
When Ling Qing learned of this objective fact that existed only in the Soul Society, he was quite surprised. This was because he still maintained the same habits as before his death—three meals a day.
This wasn't a matter of habit, but rather that Ling Qing would genuinely feel hungry when mealtime came. He had been conserving and sparingly consuming the food he had found on the dead Soul Reapers, but even so, it was almost running out. Because of this, Ling Qing began to gradually feel hungry outside of regular mealtimes.
If combat occurred—not just swinging swords, but unleashing sword strikes like slashing waves followed by rapid advances—then after battle, the feeling of hunger would be even stronger.
In Rukongai—referring to the range from Districts 55 to 80—there was a legend, or perhaps it wasn't a legend.
It was said that souls who couldn't satisfy their hunger merely by drinking water, who became physically weak due to excessive hunger, could become Soul Reapers.
Ling Qing believed this wasn't a legend, not only because he fit the situation described in the legend, but also because he could indeed feel a power surging within his body—he had sensed it from the moment he crossed over.
It was precisely by relying on this power that he hadn't been killed on the very first day of his second life in the afterlife world.
This was both a source of joy and a source of trouble.
Because food wasn't a necessity for the residents of Rukongai, most areas didn't have anything edible.
To find food, aside from relying on luck, the only options were to find ways to gather information and obtain food through stealing, robbing, trading, or negotiation.
The food obtained from the dead Soul Reapers had been consumed, and Ling Qing had to face this predicament.
Even though Ling Qing could now kill people as easily as slaughtering chickens without blinking an eye—even though he had never actually killed a chicken before his death—he truly couldn't bring himself to do things like stealing and robbing.
So he changed his approach, which was...
Fishing!
He disguised himself as someone "wealthy" to lure certain ill-intentioned individuals to come rob him!
Then Ling Qing would execute righteous judgment! Punish evil and promote good, rob the rich to help the poor!
Fortunately, the further he progressed toward the inner districts, the better the environment became. The situation of "poor mountains and bad waters producing unruly people" like in District 80 became less common after leaving District 70.
Based on Ling Qing's experience along the way, he classified the people of the outer twenty districts as "unruly people"—the poorer they were, the worse they became, with murder and arson being commonplace. Whether they could still be called human was questionable.
Those in Districts 50 to 60 were more resigned to their fate. Daily armed conflicts were basically unseen here, but the people living in these areas were quite numb, living just to stay alive, with no light in their eyes—in short, they had given up.
According to Ling Qing's personal assessment, starting from District 50 and going outward, living standards plummeted sharply. People in tattered clothes and bare feet could be seen everywhere, and beyond District 59... except for Ling Qing himself who had shoes from his "spawn point," not even straw sandals could be seen.
After spending more than two months traveling, Ling Qing finally reached the inner Districts, within District 50. It was said that Soul Reapers had methods of rapid movement that could cross distances in a short time that would take Ling Qing months to traverse.
Actually, Ling Qing also had methods to accelerate his movement—it was as if it were instinctive, like knowing how to swing a katana when gripping it. But the problem was...
Even though the environment was gradually improving, aside from human-made food—which in Ling Qing's view could only be described as "won't kill you"—he could actually find things like fruits now.
But Ling Qing still frequently felt hunger.
After learning that hunger was linked to "spiritual power," Ling Qing didn't dare casually attempt and practice those sword techniques and special movement methods that could produce special effects impossible in the "pre-death" world without an abundant food supply environment.
Fortunately, after all the hardships, he finally saw better days. After spending more than two months, Ling Qing finally reached the inner Districts within District 50, where living conditions had become much better.
It was a dense forest. Ling Qing stood there and took a deep breath.
It was so wonderful—he felt that this breath didn't carry that smell of numbness and poverty.
Instead, it carried a sense of steady improvement.
He heard the sound of flowing water.
Ling Qing looked toward the direction from which the sound of water came, pondered for a moment, then made a decision.
"Let's go take a bath."