Duncan groaned in pain as he felt his entire body throb in anguish.
Being swatted out of the air wasn't an experience he would recommend to someone else. His entire body ached as he sat up slowly. Duncan had to check his teeth to make sure they were still in place. His ears were ringing as well.
"That's it, I am going to find that snake, skin it, and use it as my belt," Duncan grumbled angrily and got up from the ground.
Dusting himself off, Duncan set off in the direction where the tail of that demonic snake came from. He knew that he was being a little impulsive at the moment, but he didn't care. He was really pissed off about the actions of that snake and really wanted to murder it.
He was really enjoying himself at that moment. He had never felt anything like this before. Wind rushing in his ears, as his feet stepped on the very air as if it was stable ground was something he had never experienced before.
Running through the air was the kind of stuff he had heard in stories about what cultivators could do. He was living a moment that stories got told about. It was an iconic moment in his life.
To be smacked to the ground like that while he was enjoying being a cultivator felt a little petty to Duncan. He really wanted to find that snake and give it a piece of his mind.
Grumbling under his breath, Duncan marched toward the direction where the tail came from in an angry manner. Duncan unsheathed his sword and walked amidst the tall grasses searching for that demonic snake.
Pretty soon, he heard some rusting sound coming from the distance. Squinting his eyes, Duncan peered through the grasses and found that the demonic snake was actually coming towards him.
"Good, let it come, I am gonna skin it alive," Duncan grumbled as he felt the snake approach.
Firming his stance, Duncan prepared to unleash the new technique he has grasped just a few minutes ago. Duncan centered himself and found that elusive feeling of being able to cut through distance and readied himself to unleash his cut.
Suddenly, Duncan's face turned stiff as he felt the strength radiating from the distance. Even at this distance, he felt that the strength of this demonic snake was truly horrific.
Duncan's eyes twitched and he sheathed his sword and tried to slowly back away. He didn't want to alert the demonic beast to his presence. The thing that it was already too late didn't even cross his mind.
As he took a few steps back, the demonic snake felt Duncan retreating and increased its pace.
Duncan abandoned all pretense of retreating and booked it from there. He used the <Wind Chasing Steps> and created a trail of dust in his wake as he ran as fast as he could.
The demonic beast senses Duncan's actions and hissed angrily. Duncan turned to look at it and found two cold eyes staring at him in hunger. The look gave him chills and he increased the speed further.
The demonic beast sucked in a huge breath and spat out a cloud of poison targeting Duncan's running form. The poison took the form of an arrow and zoomed in on Duncan's location.
Duncan felt danger approaching and looked back. When he saw the poison arrow coming in his direction, his scalp tingled. Without thinking about anything else, Duncan changed directions and ran faster.
The arrow passed by Duncan and impacted the ground to his side. The next moment, the entire vegetation in that area turned green and crumbled into ashes. Duncan saw the state of the vegetation and swore under his breath.
This was the first time he was facing a beast that was capable of long-distance attacks. Duncan felt that even with his new technique, he stood no chance against this beast. Normally, he would have tried to fight it and injure it. But, the feeling that he got from the beast was so dreadful that he knew that he had no chance of injuring it.
That left only one recourse. To escape and never look back.
Duncan did exactly that. He ran with all his might. With his increased speed he soon left the snake in the dust. The snake's speed was only mediocre when compared to its strength. It mostly relied on stealth and poison to hunt its prey.
Moreover, Duncan's speed has increased tremendously after grasping a little bit of the <Wind Chasing Steps> concept. While to Duncan it might look like a natural progression of his martial arts cultivation, it was anything but so.
Normally, only those in the Spirit Sea realm were able to get a basic grasp on concepts. It is really hard for those in the Qi Gathering realm to understand it. Only geniuses among geniuses were able to accomplish such things.
The reason behind that is the limited perception of Qi Gathering realm cultivators. One needs acute mental strength and perception to grasp even a tiny bit of concept hidden in a martial art.
If not for Duncan's soul undergoing sublimation, he would have never been able to perceive these concepts even if he tried for a long time. However, Duncan was able to, fortunately, use the time his soul sublimated to enter the realm of concepts relatively easily.
Hence, even if his cultivation was only at the Qi Gathering realm, his speed was comparable to a Spirit Sea realm cultivator. The only drawback Duncan had was that he couldn't run for long with the amount of qi he had in his body.
On the other hand, the Level 2 demonic snake that chased after him was not known for its speed. Its speed was really mediocre among Level 2 beasts. Furthermore, it hasn't touched the realm of concepts yet. Apart from its poison and robust cultivation, it had no advantage over Duncan.
So, its speed was no match for Duncan.
Duncan ran for a long time without caring about anything. The only thing on his mind was to put as much distance as possible between him and the beast. When he turned back to see the beast chasing after him, Duncan had taken note of the size of the beast.
He could tell that it would easily be over twenty feet in length. If not for that, the beast couldn't have smacked him out of the air. Once he got within range, Duncan knew that he would be done for. Not to mention those poison arrows that could completely annihilate the vegetation within seconds.
Duncan didn't want to test his body against the beast's poison. Moreover, the beast must be way above Level 1 according to what he sensed. There was no way that such a powerful beast was only at Level 1. The baleful aura it emitted was just too much to be just a Level 1 beast. The beast was likely a Level 2 beast.
Duncan didn't have the confidence to deal with Level 2 beasts currently. Maybe if he was in the Spirit Sea realm, he would give it a try. Going against a Level 2 beast with his strength was purely suicidal. Unless he was forced into a corner, Duncan didn't want to fight such a beast.
Little did Duncan know that the spirit fruit he had palmed from Shen Wulong's fiancé had already left his trail for the demonic snake to follow. Any beast below Level 2 in the vicinity, that could smell the fruit, would hunt down Duncan and wouldn't stop until they obtained the fruit.
That's the reason that those monkeys seemed keen on stealing Duncan's bag. Duncan, who was unaware of this fact, slowed down a little and started walking slowly. He was confident that he had shaken off the beast and didn't see any need to run at his full speed anymore.
After all, using <Wind Chasing Steps> constantly was a huge drain on his qi reserves as well. So, it was only natural that Duncan stopped using it once he escaped danger. However, the reality was different.
He was not yet out of the danger.
Duncan could already see that the sun was about to set. His mind was now currently on finding a place to set up camp. He didn't know what kind of beasts hunted at night in this region. He had already run into a Level 2 beast now. Duncan didn't want to take chances during the night.
So, Duncan reluctantly decided to clear out a small region and use it as a temporary camp. Unsheathing his sword, Duncan cut away all the grass at a certain distance from where he stood and created a temporary camp for himself.
While he could have just rested amidst the grasses, Duncan was wary of the tall grass aiding a predator to conceal itself and making him vulnerable to sneak attacks. By clearing out the grass for a certain distance, he had some region that could act as the buffer zone.
Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the cleared region, Duncan slowly got into a meditative state. Circulating his <Slaughter Demon Sutra>, Duncan felt it flowing a little more smoothly this time.
Above his head, a bright full moon started to shine down on the grasslands creating a very tranquil scene if one were to look from afar.
*****
A/N: Hey folks!
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