THUD!!!
Duncan crashed into the sand unable to sustain his movements anymore.
Luckily it was day already and he didn't need to escape from those infernal scorpions. The entire night had been one long miserable stretch of time. He wasn't able to relax much or even close his eyes for a bit.
Moreover, the injuries he had sustained from the breakthrough didn't seem to have faded as well. His regenerative powers were working fine when it comes to his outer body. However, internal injuries were another matter.
Considering that his injury was caused during the hasty breakthrough, those internal injuries were still making it difficult for him to circulate his qi. He had to grit his teeth and circulate the qi to perform his movement art to escape all night.
This, in turn, aggravated his injuries further and made it hard for him to recover from them. The other injuries he had sustained through the night from fighting or fleeing from the scorpions were somewhat healed making Duncan feel a bit of relief.
Despite the pain from his internal injuries, Duncan was glad that he took the time to break through in the middle of the night. If not for that, he wasn't sure that he would be able to sustain his qi consumption throughout the night.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Duncan looked around the empty valley as his mind started churning. Currently, he had two options going for him. One, he could use the reprieve from the daylight to make haste and leave this valley.
However, there was a problem with this option. He didn't know which way to go or how long it would take for him to exit the valley. With his constant movements throughout the night, he was now utterly lost and was completely directionless in the valley.
Two, he could stay in the valley and use the pressure from the scorpions to increase the proficiency of his movement arts, while trying to use the constant battle to try and break through a few more times.
Breaking through wouldn't be much of an issue for him at this rate because there was abundant qi in the Grotto Heaven and the constant battles would give him the required slaughter qi as well.
He just needs to make sure that he breaks through during the day. Apart from that, there wasn't much of an issue for Duncan. If he was careful, it was just doable. He just need to consider this valley as a training ground - a potentially fatal one, but he knew the best kind of training was the one where you put your life on the line.
Didn't he do the same thing at the cannibal cave? It helped him to rapidly advance in levels after all. Moreover, the qi here was abundant and he didn't have to worry about food or water due to his preparations.
However, it would also mean that he would lose a lot of time in exploring the Grotto Heaven as well. After all, he had just spent one entire month in the hilly regions trying to improve his physical body.
Duncan was leery of spending any more length of time to improve himself in this valley as well. A part of him wanted to exit this valley as soon as possible and check out the other places in the Grotto Heaven as well.
It was not as if he had infinite time in the Grotto Heaven. He only had six months before he would be sent out. If he didn't use this time to explore the Grotto Heaven within these six months, he would lose out a lot.
Who knows when he will get another opportunity to explore another such Grotto Heaven? It isn't as if a Grotto Heaven opens every other day. According to what he had heard from his senior brother, Grotto Heavens were pretty rare and are heaven-sent opportunities.
If he missed these opportunities trying to use it as a training ground that can be found everywhere else, then he would lose out big time. Right now, he wanted to increase his strength as fast as possible.
He knew that he was already at the lower rung of the totem pole in the cultivation world. Any cultivator or demon beast who had stepped foot in this Grotto Heaven could crush him like a bug.
That made it imperative for him to find opportunities to increase his cultivation inside this Grotto Heaven as much as possible. Moreover, he wanted to teach the Wang Clan a lesson for driving him to his near death as soon as possible as well.
So, increasing his cultivation was the first priority for him.
That said, he was also leery of running into other cultivators or demonic beasts. While he could manage these scorpions, he wasn't sure what he would do if he run into others after leaving the valley.
Duncan's face twisted as his mind ran a mile a minute trying to figure out which one was the best option for him. Both options had their own merits, now he had to make sure he chose the right one for him at this juncture.
In the end, after mulling for ten minutes, Duncan let out a heavy sigh.
"Sigh…. It doesn't matter if there are other opportunities in the Grotto Heaven. Without sufficient strength, they might become disasters. It is always about whether I have sufficient strength to grab hold of any opportunities that appear," Duncan said as his face firmed up.
"For good or ill, it is foolishness to throw away what is in my hand for something that might only be a probability outside this valley," Duncan mumbled closing his eyes.
Having made the decision, Duncan focused on soothing his internal injuries with a calm mind. Moreover, it wasn't as if he would be losing out by staying in this valley.
As for these scorpions, well they would act as a perfect training partner to hone his skills in the upcoming days…
*****
CHI!
A sword light cut through the shell of a scorpion, causing it to twitch in pain. Above the scorpion, Duncan stood eyeing it with disdain in his eyes. The scorpion screeched angrily causing Duncan to frown a bit.
"You should be glad that you get to experience my <Absolute Cut Sword Arts>. Tch, what are you screeching for? You were the one who attacked me," Duncan snorted angrily and sent another cut toward the scorpion.
The scorpion scrambled away from the sword light and burrowed back into the sand once more. Seeing this, Duncan couldn't help but grunt irritably. This wasn't anything new. Such things have been happening more and more of late.
It had been two weeks since Duncan had his perilous breakthrough. Ever since then, he had been using this barren land as his training ground. Every morning Duncan would rest and travel in a random direction hoping to walk out of this valley.
And at night, he would gear up to fight hard. Duncan would willingly seek out these scorpions that have been ambushing him and would fight them. Initially, things weren't that good for Duncan.
With internal injuries plaguing him, Duncan wasn't able to fight to his true potential in the first week. Even then, he didn't run away from the scorpions anymore. He would try to attack the scorpions with his sword light and injure them as much as possible before he was forced to escape due to being encircled.
The pattern continued for a week and eventually, Duncan's internal injuries subsided. During the week of constant fighting, both his movement technique and his sword technique grew in leaps and bounds.
With more abundant qi residing in his body, Duncan wasn't worried about running out of qi anytime soon. While the qi in his body wasn't enough for him to sustain an entire night of fighting, he was able to make do with it.
And his persistence paid off.
One week later, Duncan once more broke through to the ninth level of Qi Condensation realm. This increased his qi reserves further. The next few days consisted of Duncan enacting a massacre in the valley with lower Level 2 scorpions.
Soon, Duncan's actions began to have an effect on the barren valley he was in. These days, whenever he injured a scorpion to a certain level, they would retreat from the fight, rather than continue to fight.
This change in the atmosphere gave Duncan a much-needed reprieve. This also gave Duncan a bit of inspiration. Whenever he ran into a scorpion, Duncan would do everything possible to injure the scorpion in the shortest amount of time. And when they retreated, he would rest and recover his qi a bit.
This strategy worked wonders. Especially, his sword technique reached a new level with this approach. As his sword cuts now had no hesitation or semblance of holding back, the true essence of <Absolute Cut Sword Arts> was displayed.
As the name suggests, the true essence of the sword technique Duncan uses is in its finality. The cultivator must be willing to decimate the opponent with his sword slashes. There must be no hesitation or holding back. Such a mentality was required to bring out the full power of the sword technique.
Only when Duncan's mentality improved to the next level did the true glory of the sword technique revealed itself to Duncan.
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