Chapter 74 - Title

Li Jie can be seen practicing in the cave, with weights on his shoulders, he was sweating a bit due to his intense workout, nevertheless, there was this smile, which showed that he enjoyed practicing, the only concern that Li Jie has been having was that his master whom he thought will start to teach him swordsmanship, yet he wasn't taught that and only after Li Jie reached Master Stage, was he taught about swordsmanship, but the problem with it was that he wasn't given a sword technique to learn swordsmanship, instead he was told to practice some basic sword moves, which was almost forgotten as they were only taught in the olden times when there was a scarcity of martial techniques, but now after years of progression, the techniques are abundant are better than the basic sword moves as they, of course, added in those techniques apart from some special elements, but his master instructed him to practice only the basic sword techniques which were, Chopping, Striking, Thrusting, and Slicing.

Li Jie had great trust in Mr.teacher, after all, he was the one who gave Li Jie hope for cultivation, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel that learning these basic sword techniques might be a waste of time, Li Jie still tried to steel his heart and started practicing the basic sword techniques again and again, which felt more monotonous as time passed and made him more impatient towards practicing the basic sword techniques, Li Jie then thought to himself, that maybe he should stop it and maybe secretly learn high-grade sword techniques, without his master knowing, he was happy with his idea, but it was right then that he stopped himself from thinking abruptly, "What the heckk, just what the hell almost happened to me, it's like my mind and body are feeling some kind of aversion towards learning the basic sword techniques more and more, Li Jie felt sweat on his forehead, with how much aversion his body and mind was feeling towards the basic sword techniques, is there something something special about them, that I am feeling so restless, it's like I am being tempted from inside me for giving up and I will feel good", thought Li Jie.

After recounting everything again and again in his mind, Li Jie felt something wrong and had an extremely pensive expression on his face, when he remembered how for a second, he felt it was okay to betray his master's trust, just what is this thing that is influencing me to give up practicing the basic sword techniques, tempting me and making my heart restless.

With a stern face, Li Jie decided that he will not let anyone influence him, not even he himself for getting complacent without even achieving his goals, Li Jie was cursing whoever was influencing him through whatever means, he decided that he will practice the basic sword techniques more and more, no matter how repulsed he feel towards these techniques.

After some time of practicing, it was like something broke, and he became faster at performing them, the movements he showed for practicing the basic sword techniques had considerably grown faster, and he also felt as if there was something blocking his mind which was broken now, but now he felt free, Li Jie didn't know what to think of this, after all he had been practicing the basic sword techniques for years, which made him frustrated at times, but now he felt relieved upon being fluid with his movements rearding the basic sword techniques.

Li Jie then sat down and started mediatting to calm himself down, from whatever he felt, he will have to ask Mr.Teacher for answers, as he is the only who can tell him about his situation.

Li Jie's stomach was growling after sometime, which made him cook up the meat of the beasts, that he had stored in containers, and he wasn't cooking them by placing them by just on fire, he had a storage for spices, which he used to spread on the meat, he would not simply eat anything, he was taught by Mr.Teacher that if he wants to have a sound mind always, then he must learn the art of cooking, while he wasn't a professional, still what he made was many times better than just eating anything, as it was mentioned to him by his master, Li Jie after recalling his master's words felt more thankful towards him, as it really helped him in adjusting here in the wild.

After meditating for sometime, Li Jie then got up in his pursuit of beasts, whom he would fight from time to time, to increase his experience as well as polish his fighting style, he was also wondering, now that his mastery in basic sword technique has increased to a level, which he doesn't identify, he sought out to check it's characteristics by fighting beasts.

Li Jie first took out a sword, which was given to him by Mr.Teacher, which he rarely used, the weird thing about this sword was that somehow it adjusted to his cultivation stage, and it was extremely tough, impossible to even leave a scratch, after using it many times, he one time even asked his master curiously for the rank of this sword, to which his master replied that the sword is unranked and that it will only have the same power as the user, which means that if Li Jie is in the Grandmaster stage, then the attack power of this sword will be of High-Grade Common weapon, which wasn't that useful to him, and it was instructed to him by his master that he must only use this sword if he doesn't have any other sword at the moment, and he should try swords of different sizes and shapes, which will help him in the long run, which wasn't something Li Jie could understand for now, but now that he didn't have any other sword to help him in fighting, which is why he will have to use the sword given to him by Mr.Teacher for now.

He went out of the cave, looking for beasts to fight cautiously, he cannot fight a beast too weak or too strong, nor will he fight someone who is in groups, he finally found a CloudDrifting Fox, which had grey fur, small yet sharp claws and fangs, while this beast isn't considered as strong as the BloodBursting Tiger, but it had high intelligence and was very tricky to fight, many cultivators end up dying because of it, and it had extreme speedy movements, which was why even in precarious situations, it can escape easily.

After deciding on his target, Li Jie hid in the bushes, while observing the CloudDrifting Fox, which was also in the Essence Gathering Stage, he was observing every movement of it, and trying his best not to alert the CloudDrifting Fox about him, or else it would escape, to make it battle him , Li Jie had an idea, but for that he will have to close it's paths of retreat, after looking around him, he understoood what he had to do, Li Jie first followed it quietly and cautiously, after sometime, the CloudDrifting Fox was reaching a cave, he felt that this was a good oppurtunity as he could fight it in the cave, but the cave was dark but Li Jie cursed, as he was afraid of two things, first was the existence of any other beast in the cave or near the cave, and second was the darkness that was present in the cave.

The darkness in the cave can hinder his vision, while the beasts have excellent hearing as well as night vision, which won't impede it, after considering for sometime, he went back to his cave planning his attack on the beast, as now he knows where the cave of the CloudDrifting Fox is.

To increase his chances of success, Li Jie had to make more preparation, after going back to his cave, he started concocting some pellets first, which wasn't for consuming, they were special pellet which after crashing produces explosion, while the explosion isn't threatening to anyone, it is enough to scare a beast, he also wanted to use some poison fuming pellets, but he felt that it wouldn't be ok for him to use such means towards a beast, he can fight, only against those who surpass him in strength, will he use the poison fuming pellets to save his life.

After preparing everything, Li Jie packed a small pouch on his waist and his sword on the left side of his waist.

He made his way towards the cave, where the CloudDrifting Fox is present, he knew that he won't be able to match the CloudDrifting Fox in speed, that's why he made so many preparations just to trap the CloudDrifting Fox and fight in an enclosed area.

Li Jie was looking at the cave, where the fox was still present, who was coming out of from the cave from time to time, sometimes it would go out to find and bring prey for it to eat, after noticing that except the fox, there was no one present in the cave, Li Jie was relieved and he was ready to attack the CloudDrifting Fox.