Several days passed with Grey doing the same thing. Wake up, cultivate, eat then go and hunt. Once a week he would sell most of the mutated creatures he had killed at the scavenger camp and earn himself some coins.
On this particular day, he felt himself close to breaking through to the next level of Qi condensation.
His knowledge of Kai-kai kitan had broadened and he could now run the technique for a few hours without manifesting the sword.
But if he manifested the green sword, he would only be able to keep the spell active for about ten minutes. He also discovered that Kai-kai kitan didn't really double his cultivation level, but it just raised it by two levels.
This might not seem like much but in a real fight, it was a game changer. And he was sure Kai-kai kitan would be detrimental to his growth as a cultivator.
During this time, he conducted experiments on his shadow and unfortunately. Even though his shadow absorbed the corrosive substance, he couldn't control it in any way... but he felt like in the future he would be able to have some control over it. His level was just not high enough.
He sighed softly and picked up his rucksack. Today he was going to sell the mutated creatures he killed last night in the scavenger camp.
By now, he already had a path planned which made his ventures deeper into the corroded zone or towards the campsite.
As he pondered on which new item to buy today, he suddenly felt a shadow over him and when he looked up, he saw the angry face of the captain.
"You... bastard. I will kill you."
He said in a huff and puff and Grey didn't wait for him to finish before speeding away hurriedly. He glanced at the captain who just stood and watched as his figure departed.
'One of these days... I'll come look for you and put an end to my unease.'
Grey said inwardly. His cold and indifferent face suddenly seemed much colder and his gaze could make a veteran shiver repeatedly.
He was already wary of the captain, and despite his unwilling attitude he altimately decided to let the matter end between the two of them.
But he just had to stand in front of him and utter those words.
Grey shook his head slowly. Even though the captain was the leader of the small scavenger camp, he was confident he could take him out with much preparation and several days of planning.
Because the captain had intervened, he could no longer sell the mutated creatures and had to go back home empty handed.
Technically he was not empty handed but he did not come back with coins as usual which was a bummer. It made Grey sad a little and he burned it within his heart to make the captain pay dearly.
By the time he came back to his broken house, the sky was dark. He say down silently and began cultivating.
After a few hours there was a loud rumble and following that, the pitter patter of rain drops on the roof of the broken house resounded in the corroded zone.
Rain was falling.
Grey opened his eyes and a frown appeared on his face. He didn't like the rain. When he was still living in the slums he would usually sit at the corner of a room shivering because of the chill of the weather.
Water would leak in from the hole in the ceiling and make everywhere wet. Same thing during the winter. There was not a year where he didn't struggle.
He sighed softly before standing up and going closer to the walls of the broken house. He sat down by the side and listened to the sound of heavy rainfall and couldn't help but feel melancholic.
Some months ago, he was an orphan forced to fend for himself by doing menial jobs. He slept in a dilapidated building and shivered endlessly in the cold of night as hunger bit his stomach with no care.
But now he was a cultivator with proper clothes on his body. Sufficient food to eat and a rather stable source of income. It was a far cry from what he was before.
***
When morning came, the rain was still falling and he was forced to remain inside. Normally the rain in the corroded zone was usually poisonous but this was natural rain formed from the clouds so it was safe.
But Grey felt uncomfortable in the rain, so he decided to stay inside and cultivate instead.
When the rain stopped, the sky was still dark as if expecting another downpour. Grey went outside and decided to practice the sword slash he had seen the dark figure perform.
At first he used his hand to imitate the sword slash. But he felt like he couldn't do it that so, so he summoned his green sword.
Green flame like aura suddenly burst out from his body and turned into a green longsword. He held the longsword in his sword and imagined the single slash in his mind.
When he brought his hand down, he felt a faint and malicious intent suddenly spill out from the green sword.
The blade turned pitch black and an eerie aura could be felt from it.
Grey tried to slash with the sword and then a single sword slash appeared in a tangible form. A black light came out from the sword and went into the distance.
It crashed into a tree not too far away and the tree was cut into two.
The green aura surrounding him suddenly faded away and the sword disappeared from his hands. He sat down tiredly on the floor as he sweated and panted heavily.
'Now I have a new Trump card'
He said inwardly with a small smile. He had perfected the Black sword slash.
But it used up too much energy and reduced the time he could use Kai-kai kitan significantly. The crystal shard within his body went into action and in a few minutes, his fatigue started easing up.
After that, the crystal shard no longer showed any action and was nonchalant as always. It only helped whenever he was very tired and needed healing.
He looked at his stalwart shadow and shook his head.
'Just what is the Purple Crystal?'
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