Duncan was currently unaware that a group of busybodies had decided upon him to be their prey.
Currently, he was seated atop a large tree and drinking wine merrily. Even if he knew about the hunt, he wouldn't care about it. He was currently feeling relaxed and wouldn't waste time thinking about useless stuff.
Duncan didn't recognize the region he was in. Then again, being someone who hadn't even stepped out of his hometown until a year ago, it was only natural he didn't recognize the region where he had decided to take a rest at.
Sitting atop the large tree, Duncan checked out the two storage rings he had obtained from the two Violet Palace realm cultivators. After hastily leaving Greenwood Forest, Duncan had hurried for a while, before deciding to take a rest atop a random tree. Until now, he hadn't had a chance to check out his haul.
Opening the storage ring, Duncan saw a lot of pills and spirit stones piled in one corner of both rings. There were some weapons, jade slips, herbs, and other miscellaneous items present in the rings as well.
He took out the pills first and checked them out. Sniffing a little, he identified them to be the pills that are usually taken by Violet Palace realm cultivators after establishing the foundation.
Duncan concluded that since they were only at the early stages of the Violet Palace realm, both cultivators were still using these pills to consolidate their foundation further.
From the general know-how he got from his fellow sect members, pills like this were used by righteous cultivators a lot. The Heavenly Demon Sect didn't have any such pills.
Most of the pills that were used by his sect members were the kind that is personally refined after committing some massacre and extracting the essence. The Heavenly Demon Sect members actually looked down on people who relied on pills to cultivate.
There is a reason for that as well.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtDuring his discussions with his fellow sect members, they were very derisive of these so-called pill cultivators. Taking too many pills not only resulted in accumulating pill toxins in one's body, it also made them incredibly weak at the same cultivation level.
For demonic cultivators who pursue power at all costs, such a thing is a huge disadvantage. Most demonic cultivators felt that increasing cultivation by taking pills would result in an unstable foundation and would leave behind a large amount of hidden dangers.
As a demonic cultivator, Duncan knew that his progress at the initial stages would be far faster than righteous cultivators. However, the drawback was that his cultivation would begin to become incredibly difficult as he reached higher levels. Knowing this, demonic cultivators would never willingly take on pills that can aid in cultivation.
Leaving an unstable foundation will end their cultivation path far sooner than righteous cultivators. Hence, demonic cultivators stayed away from taking pills a lot. The only kind of pills they take in apart from their self-created pills are healing pills.
There were a few bottles of healing pills present as well. Duncan was able to easily identify them. It brought a smile to his face. He knew that he would be using them a lot in the near future. He didn't recognize a few pills present, but he wasn't bothered about it much.
And there were also those herbs that were piled up.
Duncan couldn't help but salivate looking at them. Only after exiting the Grotto Heaven did Duncan realize the utility of herbs to demonic cultivators. Herbs were far more important to demonic cultivators than to righteous cultivators.
Demonic cultivators were like demonic beasts when it came to spirit herbs. Most demonic cultivators will directly consume herbs instead of pills. Taking in the herbs directly will make the effects of the herb more domineering. But, it will also strengthen their bodies.
While directly consuming herbs may have some adverse effects and wreck their body internally, demonic cultivators were willing to endure that compared to taking pills that leave hidden dangers in the future. As for the internal injuries and side effects, those were all child's play to demonic cultivators in general.
Cultivating a demonic cultivation technique in itself is a huge risk. If one doesn't have a strong mind, they would lose themselves in the cultivation technique and become uncontrollable. So, compared to such problems, side effects that last for a day or two are nothing to worry about for demonic cultivators. Furthermore, they would obtain gains as well from the experience.
Compared to pills, Duncan was more satisfied with the herbs he obtained. Those he couldn't use will also come in handy. As for the unidentifiable pills and those that he wasn't willing to use, Duncan had plans for them as well.
In the black market, these pills would fetch a hefty price. Not all cultivators have the means to obtain such pills. Loose cultivators in particular don't have any means of obtaining such precious pills made from several herbs. So, there is always a demand for such things.
While leaving the sect this time around, Duncan had not only enriched his knowledge regarding the cultivation world, but he also learned of some usual haunts where he could sell off unwanted gains he had obtained.
Once he could reorient himself, Duncan could find the closest black market location and sell off this stuff. As for the spirit stones, even though they were low-level spirit stones, Duncan knew they would come in handy during his breakthrough into the Violet Palace realm.
Duncan wanted to find a quiet place this time and seclude himself for a bit after selling this stuff. The information he learned from the Iron Mountain Sect disciple before killing him let him know that he was being hunted down for annihilating the Wang Clan.
Duncan had already expected such a thing to happen. It was only logical that someone would come after him. He had even prepared himself mentally for it. In a way, Duncan was actually looking forward to the pursuit from the Iron Mountain Sect.
After realizing that the essence of his cultivation technique centered around slaughter, Duncan knew that only by committing slaughter would he be able to advance steadily in his cultivation.
Pursuits like these will give him enough pressure to strengthen himself and progress in his cultivation. Duncan wanted to use this chance to hone himself in battle and understand his bloodline further.
In his initial plan, he would seclude himself and break through to the Violet Palace realm after dealing with the Wang Clan. So, when the pursuit occurs, he would be able to stave off their attempts to bring him in for some time. He could hone himself in fights and escape if needed.
Duncan knew that most sects rarely sent out Transformational Experts to chase down people in the Foundational realms. Unless it was necessary, Transformational Experts rarely made a move against cultivators in the Foundational realms. This was an unwritten rule in the cultivation world that all the sects had agreed to, even demonic sects.
So, as long as he was in the middle and late stages of the Violet Palace realm, he would be able to save his life if he was careful. So, Duncan had been planning to break through to the Violet Palace realm as soon as possible and then use the pursuit to practice his cultivation further.
Unfortunately, things didn't work out per his plan.
His sudden epiphany ended up helping him clear his mind and settle down a lot. It made him understand himself more thoroughly. It made him realize what kind of a person he was. But, the one thing it didn't help was to improve his realm.
So, he urgently needed to seclude himself and break through to the Violet Palace realm now. If not, the pursuit he would suffer will make things very hard for him to survive.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmEven though he had made ample preparations to break through to the Violet Palace realm, Duncan had a nagging feeling that his breakthrough was going to be different. He only realized this after coming out of his fugue state that he had been in inside the cave.
Duncan didn't just want to establish a top-tier foundation. He wanted to go a step further and establish a legendary foundation. For that, the spirit qi needed would be immense. Once he started to build the foundational pillars, he wouldn't be able to stop. So, some precautions need to be taken.
Right now, he had completed all his preparations. These spirit stones were a timely help as well. But, something told him that his breakthrough wouldn't be very smooth. He had a feeling that the resources he had piled up weren't enough to establish a legendary foundation.
So, Duncan wanted to accumulate some more resources and go into seclusion as soon as possible. These things he obtained will be very helpful in gathering resources. Duncan knew that both his mindset and the cultivation realm had reached a peak. The only thing needed was enough spirit qi to transform his spirit sea into a legendary foundation.
But, he didn't know how much spirit qi would be needed. He wasn't in the sect anymore. The spirit qi wasn't as rich here in the world as it was in the sect or the Grotto Heaven. So, he will have to use the spirit stones to compensate for it.
Either that, or he will need to find a place with rich spirit qi.
Duncan lamented his circumstances and pursued the contents of the two storage rings further. Apart from the pills and spirit stones, there were a couple of martial arts present in the storage ring as well. The content of those jade slips looked somewhat interesting.
There were a couple of fist techniques and a somewhat average sword technique present. The feeling they gave him wasn't profound. Duncan figured that these weren't top-tier techniques. They wouldn't be of much help to him. He might learn a fist technique from the pile, but the others wouldn't be much of a use.
However, Duncan didn't want to sell these off either. The black market would give a satisfactory price, but Duncan didn't want to get rid of them. After talking to Shen Wulong, Duncan realized his knowledge of martial arts was still limited. Maybe, learning these techniques and filtering out their essences would help him progress further in his own techniques.
After creating the Absolute Severance sword attack, Duncan quite liked the feeling of creating his own sword technique. He wanted to create his own sword art and use it. Even though he knew that it would be a long time coming, he wasn't deterred.
Creating a sword attack was one thing. But, if he wanted to create an entire martial art by himself, then his knowledge of martial arts shouldn't be lacking either. He would use these martial arts to enrich himself further first, before tackling that problem.
The miscellaneous items didn't have any value in Duncan's eyes either. He decided to see if they could be sold in the black market as well. Maybe some of this stuff is valuable to others. Right now, the most important thing is to accumulate enough spirit stones and breakthrough.
Satisfied with his haul, Duncan stood up and started moving in a random direction again…
*****
A/N: Check out my other stories and let me know your thoughts...
Support me at patreon.com/kkephemeral