Duncan opened his eyes slowly and let out a breath of foul air.
Looking down, he frowned slightly at the still open wounds on his body. By his estimate, the wounds on his body must have closed, if not healed by now. But, the wounds that covered his body were refusing to heal properly.
These were the wounds he had sustained while getting mobbed by the cannibal horde. This wasn't the first time Duncan had gotten injured and he had been injured far more severely than this.
But, Duncan had learned that his body's vitality was stronger than many others after he started practicing <Coiling Dragon Sutra> during sex. With how fast his body healed, even before he started cultivation, the wounds he had sustained during the mobbing must have closed.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
The wounds across his body were closing slowly and it was taking him some concentrated effort to even heal them to this level. This was something that made Duncan a little irritated.
One of his biggest confidences in engaging the enemy head-on was the fact that he healed faster. Since he was able to heal faster, the injuries he would sustain didn't have that much of a threat to him, unless they were fatal or in areas that were pretty important. This allowed him to fight the enemy head-on without many scruples.
However, the injuries he had sustained earlier were proving to be a stubborn bunch. Duncan could feel a kind of rotten energy radiating from these injuries when he meditated earlier and it gave him a bad feeling.
He had to circulate his qi, target the injured areas, and nourish them constantly to even keep them from aggravating. If not, his situation would have worsened further. He had never expected these cannibals to have such an ability.
Before this fight, he hadn't sustained any injuries from the cannibals in a significant manner. But, after this fight, Duncan had to reevaluate his fighting style if he came across these cannibals once more. He can't afford to get injured in this manner any longer.
Scowling at this unexpected development, Duncan looked around the spot he had selected for his cultivation. The area he had holed himself in was filled with cobwebs indicating that it hadn't seen human presence for some time.
He had come across it while searching for a place to lay low and recuperate after escaping from the cannibal mob. Initially, he hadn't even noticed this place as it was tucked into a corner, hidden from view. But, since he was searching for a hideout, he had paid particular attention to blindspots and had come across this location.
Compared to the place made he made his first camp, this one was really shabby. The last one had good water, a well-hidden location, and a clean layout. This one didn't even tick off one of those features.
While this spot was hidden from plain sight, it wasn't hidden like the last one in a true sense. This spot was actually located in the blind spot between two connecting pathways making it difficult to find. Apart from that, nothing of note was here.
But, this would do for his purpose now.
Duncan's current mindset was to heal himself and break through the next level of Qi Condensation realm. After the last fight, Duncan was sure that he would have fulfilled the requirements needed for him to progress in his cultivation to the next level.
Initially, he had thought to recuperate a bit and breakthrough after that, but things didn't go as planned. The injuries on his body were refusing to heal at a faster rate giving him a headache.
"Looks like it will take a while for me to completely recover. There is nothing that could be done here. I don't know what this rotten aura that is emitting from the wounds, but I can guess they are the cause for the slow pace of healing," Duncan murmured looking at his injuries once more.
"In that case, I better breakthrough first. Maybe, it will accelerate the rate of healing as well. And it would also give me enough confidence to fight a mob if I once more get pulled into the same situation," Duncan shook his head slightly in disappointment and closed his eyes once more.
Time passed slowly as Duncan started to cultivate. He soon lost himself in the bliss of cultivation. The rate at which his body absorbed the surrounding qi increased significantly as time went by.
Just when everything seemed to be going well, Duncan suddenly opened his eyes and frowned. He started mumbling to himself as he fell into thought. After a while, he popped the last Qi Gathering pill in his possession into his mouth and closed his eyes once more.
While meditating, Duncan realized that the rate at which he was absorbing qi was not enough for him to reach the peak of the second level anytime soon. It would probably take him an entire day to do that.
However, he wasn't in a position to sit around and calmly cultivate. The place he was in was not an ideal cultivation spot and he could be discovered at any moment. That meant, if he wanted to break through, he should expedite the process as much as he could.
The only item within his belongings that could do that was the Qi Gathering pills. Unfortunately, he had also wasted them a bit during the previous week. Luckily, he had one last pill with him. So, Duncan didn't waste much time consuming it as well.
For over half an hour, Duncan cultivated as calmly as he could in an environment where he would need to fight for his life if someone found him. After eating the Qi Gathering pill, he felt the rate at which he sucked in qi from the surroundings accelerate to the desired level.
The qi strands that he had accumulated were purified over and over with each cycle and new qi strands were added as well. The Qi Gathering pill showed its efficiency when it truly mattered making Duncan happy.
But, when it was close to an hour, Duncan realized that reaching the peak wouldn't be a problem with the Qi Gathering pill's effects, but he would be hard-pressed to break through. He would need to consolidate further and take more time to do that.
The problem was that Duncan felt that he needed to break through as soon as possible. He had already gotten close to being killed in this cave once. If he didn't increase his cultivation, he didn't know if he could walk out of this cave alive.
The cannibals must have realized that he was in these pathways by now. After two large commotions he had created in the past few days, he would be surprised if they did not.
Until now, he had been able to fend them off. But, it didn't mean the cannibals he fought were the strongest of the bunch here. There might be other ones who are far stronger than the ones he had fought until now.
If he ran into them while searching for the exit, then he would be hard-pressed to escape or kill them. So, it was imperative that he increased his strength urgently. Duncan knew that he couldn't progress much in his swordsmanship or movement technique in a short time. That left only the avenue of increasing his cultivation to the next level.
Furrowing his brows, Duncan thought anxiously about how to increase his chances of breaking through in the shortest time possible as he furiously circulated his technique, in the hopes to wring out more qi before the effects of the pill disappeared.
He knew from experience that the pill would last for 90 minutes. And he was already nearing one hour. He needed to do something, but he didn't know what he could do now.
Suddenly, Duncan thought about the spirit stones that were in his bag. He had heard that cultivators used spirit stones to cultivate. But, he hadn't used his spirit stones in that manner till now.
He had been saving them up as he didn't have any other means to earn more currently. With the spirit stones being the default currency of exchange between cultivators, Duncan had felt that it was prudent to have some in reserve in case he ever needed to buy something urgently.
Without another thought, Duncan opened his bag and took out a spirit stone. The moment his hands engulfed the spirit stone, fresh qi poured into his body in a continuous stream.
Duncan was surprised to note that the effect of cultivating using a spirit stone was much more desirable than cultivating normally. It made him understand why cultivators would go after spirit stones that much and even make their common currency.
Smiling widely, Duncan banished all other miscellaneous thoughts and began to concentrate on his cultivation. He only had half an hour of the pill's effect left and he had to use them wisely.
*****
As Duncan cultivated diligently in his hiding place, a commotion was taking place in the pathways.
There were several cannibals who were now aware of a delicious meal wandering the pathways. They wanted to hunt it down and devour it to enrich their essence and move toward the next level.
The cannibals can be classified under the same category as demonic beasts. They didn't have any cultivation techniques to aid them. They grew strong by devouring others. Whether it be their own kind, humans, beasts, or anything else that had blood essence in them, they were all their food.
Especially, cultivators and demonic beasts were their favorite kinds of food. The blood essence present in them was rich and also acted as good nourishment for the cannibals.
While they hunted and ate others of their kind, they weren't their preferred meal. If not for being locked up inside the cave and not being able to hunt freely, they wouldn't hunt their own kind as a first choice. Hunger drove people to do crazy stuff and there is little a cannibal wouldn't eat.
Duncan's fight with the cannibal horde had created a trickle-down effect. While there were several cannibals that were hunting for the escaped prey, the real reason it caused a commotion was that Duncan was injured during that fight.
As a result, he had bled in that place a bit before he came to his senses and escaped. The spilled blood was rich in qi and essence causing the cannibals that came across it to abandon everything else and make hunting Duncan their priority
As time passed, various powerful cannibals present in the cave also came to know about Duncan's presence and decided to join the hunt. After all, it wasn't every day they get to have such a sumptuous meal.
Thus, the group that was hunting Duncan increased in size and they all had one single goal...
To hunt down Duncan and feast on him.
*****
A/N: Hey folks!
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