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Duncan sat crosslegged and started cultivating in a hurry.

He knew that he needed to increase his strength as soon as possible. If he didn\'t, then he wouldn\'t walk out of this valley alive.

Prior to entering the valley, Duncan was already close to breaking through. His efforts for the past month in increasing his body strength and the abundance of spirit qi inside the Grotto Heaven had already taken him to the peak of his cultivation realm.

However, his cultivation technique needed slaughter qi to break through. It didn\'t mean that he had to slaughter for every level. However, the slaughter qi he had accumulated so far had already been used to break through prior to this. Without additional slaughter qi, he couldn\'t break through anymore.

Duncan knew that the power he could exert at the eighth level of the Qi Condensation realm wouldn\'t be much of a deterrent to the Level 2 beasts, but it would significantly bridge the gap.

Moreover, it would also give him more qi reserves to work with. With more qi, he could remain in the air and battle for a long time. He knew that as long as he remained in the air, then things would be easier to handle.

But, he couldn\'t very well continue to cultivate in the air. It needed concentration and any slip would send him crashing down, disrupting his cultivation as well. So, he had to cultivate on the ground.

And the ground was the most dangerous place in this valley at night.

This made Duncan feel tremendous pressure as he cultivated frantically. Even while battling the young man in the cannibal cave, Duncan hadn\'t been under such pressure mentally. It was a test of his fortitude and composure.

He needed to break through fast, but he couldn\'t also remain on the ground for long. While both sounded similar in terms of goals, their inherent nature made it difficult for Duncan to cultivate normally.

Cultivation required a stable mind and a place of peace. However, being on the ground was anything but safe. This created a sense of urgency in Duncan\'s mind. Cultivating in such a state was like walking on a thin edge.

Duncan had heard about cultivators making mistakes during cultivation and entering qi deviation. It was very dangerous for a cultivator. It would have long-lasting adverse efforts. Cultivating with a troubled mind was one of the reasons cultivators suffer from qi deviation.

Duncan felt as if he was walking a thin line between life and death, even though there were no beasts attacking him. Regardless, he steeled his mind and ruthlessly suppressed his concerns.

While his battle with the beasts so far involved him escaping from them, the fight gave him what he needed the most. In his battle to escape the encirclement, he had injured some beasts.

Slaughter qi is not something that is only obtained from slaughtering beasts. It was already present amidst heaven and earth. However, a cultivator who has a low level like him can only touch upon them while engaging in battle.

Luckily, Duncan didn\'t need a lot of slaughter qi to break through. He just needed a slight nudge to break through. And that small bit of slaughter qi had already accumulated on his body during the battle.

Now, all he had to do was to make that small bit of slaughter qi into his and merge it with qi rushing through his body. His qi already had a slaughter attribute. As long as he was able to merge this newly obtained slaughter qi, he would be able to increase its grade and break through to the eighth level of the Qi Condensation realm.

Minutes passed tensely as Duncan cultivated seriously. 

Suddenly, a loud bang echoed through Duncan\'s body causing his qi to rush throughout his body. This was the indication that a breakthrough was imminent. While Duncan was elated, he was also worried about being attacked at this critical juncture.

He knew the movement of qi in the atmosphere would surely draw those level 2 beasts that were in the vicinity. It was how he had been found in the cave earlier. And demonic beasts were far more sensitive than cannibals to the movement of spirit qi in the atmosphere.

A small vortex formed on top of Duncan\'s head causing the qi around the area to rush into his body. With a loud bang echoing in his body, Duncan broke through to the eighth level of the Qi Gathering realm.

However, before Duncan could rejoice, he felt an immense sense of danger approaching him. 

Without giving any more thought, Duncan flashed away from the place where he was sitting. At the same moment, a stinger slammed into the spot he was occupying.

As sand rose from impact, Duncan hovered midair and turned to look at the spot. Suddenly, his face paled and he coughed up blood and staggered midair, before recovering his footing.

His sudden movements before consolidating his realm caused the qi in his body to rampage uncontrollably. As a result, Duncan\'s insides were injured, resulting in him coughing up blood. 

Before Duncan could recover himself midair, the scorpion swung its stinger catching Duncan across his back and sending him flying into the distance. Duncan coughed up more blood as the attack aggravated his injuries.

Duncan crashed into the sand some distance away from the creature. He knew that he was in trouble at the moment. The abundant qi that he had acquired during the breakthrough was already rampaging through his body.

However, he wasn\'t in a position to take control of it. He needed to escape soon. Without bothering to think anymore, Duncan used his movement techniques to once more get onto the air.

Not a moment later, the scorpion\'s stinger crashed into the spot he had landed. As Duncan utilized more qi to speed up his escape, the qi in his body became more and more uncontrollable. 

This resulted in Duncan coughing up more blood. 

However, the scorpion wasn\'t willing to let its prey escape. Qi arrows shot from its stinger in an effort to injure Duncan and bring him down from the air. Duncan didn\'t have the time to unsheathe his sword or defend himself against it.

He could only rely on his movement technique at this moment to escape. Despite Duncan\'s prompt reactions, he was injured further and had to endure it to run away. A couple of qi arrows penetrated his body and brought an icy sensation throughout his body.

Duncan could do nothing but grit his teeth and run away in a hurry. He wasn\'t in a position to battle or stabilize his steps. Duncan pushed himself on and once again disappeared into the horizon. 

The scorpion wasn\'t about to let go of its prey after injuring it. So, it chased after Duncan in a ferocious manner across the sand. Sand flew in all directions as it increased its speed to catch up to Duncan.

Fortunately, the Dark Scorpions aren\'t known for their speed.

This gave the much-needed reprieve for Duncan to escape. Still, his escape was a miserable one. His insides were severely injured. There were several holes across his back where the qi arrows had penetrated through. And last but not least, there was a huge lash across his back where the stinger had made contact when the beast had caught him off guard.

Duncan didn\'t stop for the next ten minutes as he ran blindly through the dark night to escape from the creature. All that time, Duncan endured unimaginable pain throughout his body.

After about ten minutes, Duncan managed to shake off the scorpion and was able to take a breather. His insides being ravaged by the uncontrollable qi gave him incredible pain. So, Duncan hurried to take care of it as his first priority.

Coughing up large amounts of blood, Duncan finally managed to reign in his qi inside his body after wrangling with it for several minutes. Only when he pacified the qi did he feel even remotely comfortable.

That didn\'t mean that his body was free of pain. The icy sensation that came from being penetrated by the qi arrows gave off a sensation of being repeatedly prickled by needles. Along with that, a sort of numbness also spread across those wounds, making it hard to feel them.

The gash on his back burned, causing fiery pain to shoot all across his back. And the pain that came from damaged insides almost made him see stars, even after the qi was pacified. 

The only solace in all that is that Duncan was able to break through to the next level. That gave him more spirit qi to work with. Even if the breakthrough was perilous, and his experience during it was miserable, Duncan was glad for the breakthrough.

While his condition was more miserable than when he was at the seventh level, Duncan knew that the added qi reserves will really come in handy if he had to survive through this night. 

"This night is going to be really miserable…" 

Duncan muttered gloomily, as he looked at the darkness all around him.

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

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