I continued using the same spell, to understand my limits and how far I can go with it. The drawback, and the number of times I could use before I'm fully exhausted. So far I understood that I could only use it three times in a row, and a fourth time after half an hour. But if I were to use it for the fifth time, I would drop unconscious. So, five is the limit. At least right now and at my current level. If I were to increase my cultivation, I would undoubtedly increase my tolerance and my ability to cast more of this spell, and perhaps even more potent grades of it. This all, on the premise I increase my cultivation and judging from the size of the pool, I guess it will be difficult.

The pool that I had consumed poison from had its size already decreased by half. Thanks to me, drinking from it constantly for sustenance and supplementing my needs of Poison Qi.

Days went by, and they were boring, utterly and completely boring, nothing to do, a dark cave that had no secrets, believe me, I checked by turning every rock and stone. There was nothing left, even from the corpses of those poor people, besides a few coins, there was nothing left in the cave.

The pool's level dropped further, with each day, I would consume a large portion of it until a month went by and the pool had nothing else to give me. I found out that I was able to ingest larger and larger amounts of the poison without it actually increasing my cultivation to a visible degree. But the totality of the pool ingested had actually increased my cultivation level by one layer. A few days ago I had achieved Qi condensation Bottom Medium level. Yet, sadly, I found nothing of interest or new on the Poison God's book. Perhaps I need to reach a higher cultivation level to unlock something new.

Yet without the Bone and Body Grinding Poison, there was no way for me to supplement my Poison Qi, and thus no way for me to increase my cultivation.

It's time to leave this cave.

I packed everything I could and found it useful. There was nothing much actually, just the bags of the people who brought me and those poor fellows here, anything else had completely melted by the purple poison that I haven't seen lurking around here ever since the first day in this cave.

I walked up to the cave's caved-in entrance, large boulders were holding off the exit. No way for me to leave but a small crack that was leaking some of the world's sunlight. Getting out from that small crack was impossible. So I needed to find a way out.

I checked the rocks and noticed that one small rock was actually supporting the majority of the rocks around it, I was lucky. Because if I had to physically move these things, I would need to at least be forty years younger.

I was no longer as nimble or as strong as I was before, so if I were to move that small stone out of its place, the rest of the boulders will definitely come falling down on me. I wouldn't want that right now.

I remembered seeing a speer somewhere around here, it probably belonged to a hunter that was brought with us to this place. It could do well if I were to use it to move the rock from a distance.

I went back to the corpses of the poor men, women, and children, and among them was a spear and a few old or barely functioning hunting tools. I took the spear as I had no use for the rest of the stuff laying there, nor did I have the proper knowledge to use them. A bow in the hand of an amateur is as useful as a sledgehammer to a toddler.

The spear would do perfectly.

Once I had the weapon in hand I headed back to the entrance, then began poking, and poking, and poking at the small rock.

Using too much strength would probably strain the spear and make it snap. So I had to be careful. And thankfully, after a long time of poking, the rock was dislodged, and the rest of the boulders followed as they rumbled down. Crushing each other and rolling on the ground. Thankfully I was far away that none of the rocks managed to hit me when the whole thing came down.

The small crack in the formation opened up and became wide enough for me to squeeze myself in. and so I did, as I had to climb the now unsteady rocks, and get out of the cave.

A cool breeze assaulted my face as I took note of my surrounding. A forest, the same forest that my kids had thrown me into was what met my eyes. And only then when I finally was forced to face a situation that I was hardly and intimately trying to avoid. I was betrayed by my own children.

There was no justice in this world, cruelty, and unfilially, my sons have betrayed me. Sons that I have neglected, but still they are my sons, though I was not the best parent, I definitely was not the worst. I did not deserve what happened to me. I had given them all I could, made their lives worry-free, yet greed still managed to eat at their hearts, they threw me off to the wolves so they would claim my fortune to themselves.

Should I go back to Lucid Spring?

A question that I immediately answered, "I have nothing left there," and turned to have the sun against my back, and headed deeper into the forest.

There was no way for me to return there, and even if I did, what good will it bring me? I finally made it to a cultivator, I have finally achieved my dream, why should I be tied to them? Why not find how this world of cultivation works?

With a spear in hand, and a pack made of the clothes of one of the cultivators I moved ahead. There was nothing to look for behind me, and only one way forward. So I limped forward.

Yes, limped, the damage to my leg was still severe, the bone definitely did not heal right. My left eye is botched, and I could no longer use it, and the large and gross number of pustules on my entire body made me no different from a monster to any man's sight. I was disgusting to look at, disgusting to speak to, disgusting to even have in one's presence. But that would work perfectly for me. The more unsightly I am to people, the less likely they will bother me.

As I walked through the forest I felt at a loss, the sun was going down, and the forest began to turn colder.

Hunger and thirst were the least of my worries, as a beginning cultivator, I understood that my body no longer requires food and sustenance, but that is of course rather situational, I would die of hunger eventually, but I have a better tolerance to it than any normal human. The worst however was the fact that I am not in any form or shape, able to protect myself from monsters or demonic creatures if I were to face one of them.

Parties of my Lucid Spring city have died here in the forest as they ventured to find materials here. They were strong and powerful hunters that came in groups, yet sometimes none of them were able to survive. I on the other hand am old, weak, limping, and with a spear that I mostly could only use to support myself to walk.

Encountering one of these monsters would mean my immediate death. Yet, it shouldn't be that easy to meet up with one of them, at least from what I remember, demonic monsters are a rare sight.

Or so I thought as I heard a loud growl behind me.

Turning, I saw a shadow of a creature, it looked feline, and only the brimstone-colored gems of eyes it had were bright enough for me to see what it was.

It easily moved around me without making a sound, its steps were light. moonlight shone from between the cracks between tree leaves, revealing a spotted leopard-shaped creature, only it was the size of a horse. He had two saber-toothed fangs that were barred at me, they reflected some of the moonlight and showed me how dangerous they were.

The leopard pounced…

***

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