Clearing the cave
Ling Xu went back and took the cave on the right, as he noticed that was where the man who attacked him came from. He knew that because he had left a pair of footprints on the ground.
Entering Ling Xu didn't expect anything to gain from this, after all he assumed that the man had killed every beast that was in his path. Still, he didn't intend on leaving any path unexplored.
While running he saw a few ferocious rabbit corpses and a few seconds later he arrived at where the man was teleported to.
He chose one of the paths he could choose from.
After a short while he arrived at the end.
On it he saw a similar scene to where he first encountered the adult rabbit and where he got his small dagger.
And he saw a corpse filled with wounds and a deep one on its mouth.
He also saw the table where the short sword was supposed to rest against the end of the path.
Going back to search on the second and last path the man could choose from, except the one Ling Xu came from, he found four ferocious rabbits dead on his way to the end.
He continued to advance as he arrived at the end of the path.
Feeling surprised as he found two adults ferocious rabbits still alive, Ling Xu felt eager to try and fight them with his new strength.
It seems the other man probably didn't feel confident seeing two adult ferocious rabbits together.
That's probably when the man decided to take the path where he encountered Ling Xu and tried to kill him by surprise.
Ling Xu felt he would have done the same, after all he was barely capable of defeating one before advancing on his realm and starting his cultivation technique.
But now he is different.
He had increased a lot in strength after defeating his first adult rabbit.
With the short sword, the advance on his cultivation realm, the initiation of his cultivation technique and the skill the man left behind he felt more than confident.
He charged at them without hesitation.
[You have killed an Adult Ferocious Rabbit (2nd stage of Blood Qi).]
Before they could react, Ling Xu killed the first one as his speed took them by surprise, having acquired Liang Yusheng's skill that increased the movement speed.
It only took one big slash of his short sword on its neck.
It couldn't even resist.
The ferocious beast barely reacted trying to dodge moving its head.
But Ling Xu's senses perceived everything and allowed him to not miss on the target.
Ling Xu left the short sword on the beast as he felt resistance from it and changed to his small dagger.
Trying to make the process faster and avoid stopping to take it out.
He then avoided an attack coming from the beast with ease as he used the swift and flexible movement of his feet. As he closed the distance with the adult rabbit he got to its side.
Stabbing his dagger to its neck he heard.
[You have killed an Adult Ferocious Rabbit (2nd stage of Blood Qi).]
The big rabbit couldn't even scream before it died.
Ling Xu proceeded to take a small box, previously guarded by the corpses on the ground.
It was above the same table he was familiar with as he found there his small dagger.
He opened it and was surprised by what appeared.
[You have obtained Luminous Stone (middle grade).]
"What is this?"
Ling Xu was surprised by the appearance of the luminous stone which looked almost like a normal stone. It would be identical if it wasn't for the light that came out of it.
Ling Xu was curious about the use of this item as the brilliant stone touched by accident his short sword that he had recovered from the corpse.
Almost instantly, he saw a reaction.
The stone melted and covered the blade of the sword, shining with a strong white light.
As the progress continued and he noticed the light starting to subside, Ling Xu felt the weight of his weapon slowly increase.
It felt a little bit more difficult to move around as its weight continued increasing until the end.
Ling Xu saw the transformation end as the light disappeared and his previous short sword turned from its previous old look with a grey metal color, to a more refined and obscure one.
[You have obtained Refined Short Sword (middle grade semi-treasure).]
"It has upgraded its grade! I didn't expect that this shiny stone would be able to do something like this."
After seeing the message, he gripped the short sword and slashed at one of the corpses to see the changes after it increased in grade.
He slashed with all his strength and was surprised right away at the result.
An entire leg was cut clean as he felt almost no resistance from the tough fur of the corpse.
He called then for his status panel again to see how his progress increased.
[Name]: Ling Xu
[Realm]: 1st stage of Blood Qi (2,5%)
[Cultivation Method]: Basic Blood Circulation (small success 0%), Existence (Shadow Will 0,025%)
[Skills]: Enhanced Synapsis (high grade), Swift Steps (middle grade)
"As expected, after killing both adult ferocious rabbits I got twice the experience compared to killing a ferocious rabbit in the first stage."
Although his current progress had increased five-fold to what it was before, it was very short if he wanted to step into the second stage of the Blood Qi realm.
Ling Xu then went back to where he began, arriving in less than a minute.
This time he took the path to his left.
Two minutes later he came back.
He wasn't even sweating.
He had killed five first level ferocious rabbits in the middle of the path and two adult ones at the end.
Ling Xu killed every one of them almost instantly and took a box that was guarded by the second level adult rabbits.
On it he found another luminous stone that could upgrade an item to middle grade.
He decided not to use it this time on the dagger as he felt like waiting for another item would prove a better choice.
He was already very satisfied with his refined short sword.
Finally, taking the last path, the one in front and the first he had entered in the beginning, Ling Xu advanced without ever returning back.
[You have killed a Ferocious Rabbit (1st stage of Blood Qi).]
[You have killed a Ferocious Rabbit (1st stage of Blood Qi).]
[You have killed a Ferocious Rabbit (1st stage of Blood Qi).]
…
[You have killed an Adult Ferocious Rabbit (2nd stage of Blood Qi).]
[You have killed an Adult Ferocious Rabbit (2nd stage of Blood Qi).]
…
Two minutes later.
"Status panel!"
[Name]: Ling Xu.
[Realm]: 1st stage of Blood Qi (14%)
[Cultivation Method]: Basic Blood Circulation (small success 0%), Existence (Shadow Will 0,14%)
[Skills]: Enhanced Synapsis (high grade), Swift Steps (middle grade)
After killing thirteen first stage and five second stage rabbits, Ling Xu's body was finally exhausted.
It was the first time he actually felt tired since he got his cultivation technique and advanced to the first stage of blood qi.
Now Ling Xu's cultivation progress has reached fourteen percent and he has noticed his strength slowly increase as his muscles were slowly refined by the energy he received from killing the beasts.
Still, the increase in strength wasn't significant.
He sat on the ground and calmed his breath, trying to recover his blood qi.
His mind was very clear after fighting for so long, so he was able to focus right away.
While recovering his energy, Ling Xu felt between his eyes the same sensation as before, only that this time it didn't hurt.
Ever since he entered that clear state of mind Ling Xu has felt that the part in his mind between his eyes where the pain first appeared never closed helping him in recovering his blood qi much faster.
So this time again his mind became clear and Ling Xu felt in sync with his body, following a natural rhythm.
Ling Xu's blood qi started to move easily through his veins, following the Basic Blood Circulation technique in the most natural way.
The progress of his realm also started to increase rapidly.
Previously, although he felt his blood qi was slowly refining his muscles, the progress was insignificant. After all, Ling Xu had focused on managing his blood qi and becoming more natural with its control.
But this time, as he felt like his control was enough to make progress, he started refining his muscles as his blood qi circulated faster than before becoming more proficient in it.
…
A few minutes passed and the circulation of his blood qi kept improving, making its circulation speed increase.
…
This process took a whole fifteen minutes before his mind was alerted.
Suddenly, Ling Xu felt a big movement going on inside his body.
Ling Xu's muscles roared as they absorbed his blood qi crazily.
Thankfully, he had more than enough blood qi to sustain the process as the golden energy from between his eyes was constantly helping in its recovery since the beginning.
After absorbing all they could, Ling Xu's muscles started bursting with strength as he felt this surge of vitality that invigorated him.
Although his muscles had just burst with incredible strength, his blood qi didn't seem to stop as it remained restless and it continued refining his body.
Ling Xu waited for a few minutes before he recovered complete control over his body.
Finally returning back to normal, his blood qi stabilized as it slowed down to its normal state.
"What just happened?" calming his breathing, Ling Xu called for the status panel in his mind.
[Name]: Ling Xu
[Realm]: 2nd stage of Blood Qi (32%)
[Cultivation Method]: Basic Blood Circulation (proficient 32%), Existence (Shadow Will 1,64%)
[Skills]: Enhanced Synapsis (high grade), Swift Steps (middle grade)
"I have stepped into the second stage of the Blood Qi realm!"
He also noticed as his level of mastery on his cultivation technique had improved again.
Trying to circulate his blood qi once, Ling Xu felt the changes from before when his level of the Basic Blood Circulation had just entered the small success.
"Now not only I feel like the control of my blood qi has become very easy, but even its speed has improved to a whole new level helping increase my cultivation speed several times from before."
Ling Xu realized that using the same cultivation technique could bring different results depending on the level of mastery he had on it.
As his level increased from small success all the way to proficient and continued until it reached 32%, the refining of his muscles increased so fast that he managed to breakthrough in barely fifteen minutes.
Ling Xu felt extreme joy after having gone through a state of clarity for the second time as it brought several benefits, even now he felt like the path between his eyes hadn't completely closed as his blood qi continued recovering from the refining of his muscles he just ended.
And now he even knew the next level of mastery.
By now, Ling Xu had seen the following levels of mastery: entry, small success, and proficient.
He then remembered that his realm progress also shared with the progress of the Existence technique, so he concluded that it was divided by two after seeing that the numbers added up.
To upgrade to the second stage of blood qi he needed eighty six percent.
Then he also advanced another thirty-two percent when in the second stage of blood qi.
He then added both numbers considering the progress of his cultivation method Existence.
After he checked the mission panel to see the time he was in the trance while cultivating.
[Map]: Dark Cave
[Mission]: Survive 3 hours
[Participants]: 06/10.
[Progress]: 0 hours, 58 minutes
The last time he checked, before killing the group of three adult ferocious beasts, was eighteen minutes ago.
Considering he took some time before he started to calm his breath and then his mind entered that calm and clear state, he deducted correctly that he cultivated for fifteen minutes.
He felt it made sense as the total experience he got was 300%, if he counted it altogether between his realm and cultivation technique.
So basically, a minute of him cultivating gave him 20%.
That was way faster than killing any beasts.
But he knew that it was all thanks to the clarity his mind entered after he circulated his blood qi.
He knew that if he didn't possess such a strange cultivation technique, he wouldn't have made such rapid progress.
Ling Xu then started to think about the mission panel as he realized another person had died, excluding the man he killed himself.
Putting those thoughts aside, Ling Xu then did something he didn't try before.
"Should I check my strength to see how strong I'm now?"
He closed his fist and assumed a punching stance as he punched on the wall of the cave.
His hand moved and after it hit he took it out.
It hurt a bit but when he looked at the result he was more than satisfied.
"I can't believe I have the strength to leave an imprint of my fist in the wall, even if it is quite shallow. This wouldn't be possible for anyone on Earth before we were forced in here."
He then tried testing his speed too as he didn't know how fast he had become.
"Let's try this!"
As he ran at almost full speed, he felt he at least surpassed the world record of the hundred meters run.
That was to be expected as it felt only natural to surpass the fastest humans who haven't even entered the first stage of Blood Qi.
And this was considering he hadn't used his skill Swift Steps to increase his speed.
Ling Xu was already in the second stage of blood qi and he felt he was capable of sustaining that speed for a while as his blood qi reserves had increased compared to when he was in the first stage.
After ending the test of his new strength, Ling Xu continued on killing every beast he encountered once again.
But after a few seconds of running, he had to stop.