Duncan let out a murky breath as he sat near the beheaded demonic tiger.
It had been a hard battle for him. The demonic tiger he had battled was way stronger than he had assumed it to be at first. It had craftily hidden its strength and only revealed it when Duncan let down his guard.
As a result, he had been injured heavily halfway through the fight.
Duncan knew that he couldn't outrun the tiger with how injured he was. That left him with only one option. To kill the tiger before it killed him. So, he desperately fought on and managed to kill the tiger before it killed him.
"I need to be wary of tricks like this," Duncan grumbled looking at his shredded left side. "As the cultivation level of these demonic beasts increases, they are getting craftier too."
Duncan used what was remaining of his shirt to tie up his injured side and let out a wan smile. He hadn't expected the fight to leave him in such a weak state. Ever since he woke up in the wilderness, he had been cautious enough to not be put in such a weak state.
His experiences during his mercenary days had made it clear to him that beasts could sense a weakened prey when they saw one. So, he had always been careful not to be injured heavily like he had been now.
But, the demonic tiger was craftier than he had expected. Thus, he was left with not even half of his fighting power. This was truly a lesson learned with blood.
"I need to move before other beasts start appearing in this region. Now that the fight is over, some other beast might get curious and come to check out the situation. Two beasts fighting and a third beast taking advantage of their weakened states is a pretty common thing in the wilderness," Duncan huffed and got up to his feet.
His vision blurred slightly from pain and he had to grit his teeth to not utter any sound. He knew from experience that a cry of pain might attract more beasts in the vicinity.
"I really don't know how long it would take for me to see another disciple in this region. Is this place too far for any of them to appear? It is almost a dozen days now since I woke up," Duncan grumbled as he hobbled over to the demonic tiger's corpse.
Duncan hummed a simple tune he had heard in his childhood while he harvested the tiger. It was a simple trick he had learned from his mercenary days. Acting nonchalantly in the wilderness as if you didn't fear anything always helped to avoid scavengers.
Even if a scavenger had the idea to attack someone, if they saw that person acting carefreely, they might have second thoughts. It was doubly true for demonic beasts as they had more intelligence.
Sometimes being more intelligent might not be a good thing. If it was a wild beast, it would attack regardless of the scenario when it sees an injured person. But, a demonic beast would hesitate if it saw a person covered in blood acting nonchalantly.
They would wonder if the person was truly unafraid and was merely luring them in with their behavior. They would also worry about being lured into a trap. This would make them hesitate in attacking an injured person.
After harvesting half of the meat from the demonic tiger, Duncan left the place promptly. This was yet another trick he had picked up in these past ten days. If he left some remains behind, any scavenger that came sniffing would be distracted by the remains and remain behind to consume them, instead of chasing after him.
This helped him to get away from the area without much hassle. The best thing to do after a fight in the wilderness was to switch locations. The commotion caused during the fight would surely attract a few demonic beasts over.
By leaving something behind, he would have left something for the beasts that gather to fight over. It would also prevent them from chasing after him. While his bag could hold more meat, it wasn't essential to him at the moment.
As for the precious parts that the demonic beasts had, not collecting them might be a little wasteful, but it also made sure that he got away free. His goal was to engage in combat and raise his power. Not to earn money. Duncan had his priorities straight in his mind.
If he got carried away by greed and started collecting valuable parts, there might be a chance that one day it would lead him to his death. It was better to stick to what had helped him survive.
"I need to find a place to recuperate a bit. This injury seems really serious. The tiger really got me good," Duncan mumbled to himself as he eyed his bleeding wound. "I can't fight for long in my current state. So, finding shelter is my priority at this moment. After I rest for a bit, my injury will heal. I can once more come out and try to find other disciples."
Duncan had absolute confidence in his body's regeneration ability. After going through countless battles in these ten days, Duncan noticed that his body seemed to heal his wounds if some time was given to it.
Even serious injuries on his body needed only one day for it to heal to a reasonable degree. That was the reason he had been able to fight constantly for this long in the wilderness without getting overwhelmed by injuries.
He didn't know if this was a common phenomenon among the cultivators. He didn't know anyone personally to ask them about this. He hadn't seen anyone recovering from injuries like this either. However, Duncan counted this as a blessing and didn't think too much about it.
He had a vague notion that it was related to his cultivation technique. While there was no such mention in the booklet, Duncan always felt that the injuries healed faster while he was cultivating. Especially, when he cultivated after drinking the diluted blood wine.
Before long, Duncan found a nice place to rest. It had good cover and didn't have any unwanted beasts lurking nearby. Once he settled down, Duncan took the blood wine and tried to drink a bit. But, after a few drops, the gourd dried up causing Duncan to furrow his brows.
"I have run out of wine now. I can't make the blood wine either. And this was the last gourd of the blood wine I had," Duncan mumbled unhappily looking at the gourd.
Letting out a frustrated sigh, he concentrated on healing his injuries. Duncan figured that if this was the last blood wine he could consume in the near future, it was better to use it to heal his injuries. Especially now that he was seriously injured.
Duncan felt his body slowly regenerate as he mediated calmly. Running his cultivation technique, he drove the qi strands present in his body to the injured region and tried to mend it as much as possible.
Soon, the effect of the wine was over and Duncan was left with no other recourse than to let the remaining injury be. He opened his eyes and saw a long gash running through his side. The wound had not closed yet, but he can see that it was not as bad at it was earlier.
He could also feel that the wound was also starting to heal passively, but he knew that it would take a long time for it to heal completely. If he wanted to accelerate his healing, then he need to find another source that had similar effects to the blood wine he had stumbled upon earlier.
Duncan knew that his chance of stumbling upon another such idea was really low and didn't pay much attention to it. The practical thing for him to do currently was to find another disciple soon and see if he had some wine or medicine.
"Looks like I have to stop my battles for now. Until now, I haven't searched for other disciples wholeheartedly. I wandered in the wilderness hoping to see another disciple. If I came across a beast, then I would fight it. From now on, it is better if I avoid needless confrontations," Duncan sighed looking at the sky.
"The funny thing is that I really like fighting. I like the rush of energy that I get when I come across a beast. I like how it feels when I fight with no concerns and concentrate only on that. I guess I will have to stop that now for some time. What a bother!" Duncan lamented and relaxed in his hiding spot.
The day passed and darkness soon blanketed the wilderness as Duncan recuperated in his camp. As night came about, Duncan took out some smoked demonic beast meat and started munching on it leisurely.
While the taste of the meat wasn't ideal, Duncan didn't mind it much. Even if the meat was hard to chew upon, he felt that having it was better than going hungry. After his one-week escapade in the cannibal cave, Duncan didn't like being hungry any longer. So, he was fine with anything as long as it satiated his hunger.
"Hmmm, if only I had some wine to go with this meat, it would be truly wonderful," Duncan lamented and let out a wistful sigh.
His mind went far away as he dreamt of eating delicious meat in one hand and fine wine in the other hand to wash it down. In his dream, there was a female head that was bobbing up and down in front of him as well.
As lewd thoughts floated through his head, Duncan didn't pay much attention to his surroundings. That's why when someone replied to his lamentation, it came as a huge shocker to Duncan.
"I am willing to share my wine with this young brother if he is willing to share his meat with me," a cultured voice replied causing Duncan's dreams to shatter and alarm to flood in his head.
Turning his head slowly, Duncan watched a young man walking toward his location with a small smile on his face. The young man had a handsome face that made Duncan want to hide his face in shame. He had a refined aura about him that told Duncan that he obviously had a good background.
As Duncan watched, the young man walked towards him calmly. Even when he noticed Duncan's grip on his sword, his step never faltered. As he came near, Duncan felt all his danger senses blaring in alarm. Without even testing the young man's strength, Duncan knew that the young man was definitely dangerous.
Very dangerous…
*****
A/N: Hey folks!
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