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"Indeed, if anything, the gap between us has widened further," Xing Wulong smiled mischeviously and patted Peng Xiaoli\'s back.

"I know that you think you had failed me by not stopping Liu Kong from obtaining the Seven-Colored Soul Lotus. But, it doesn\'t matter. You don\'t need to beat yourself over it."

"While he had his opportunities, I have mine. And it would be a long time before he would even pose a challenge to me. So, don\'t worry about it. By the way, did you get any more information on the mortal you came across along with Bai Lingling?"

"No, senior brother," Peng Xiaoli shook his head sadly. "Even Bai Lingling is searching for more information. But the elders are not revealing anything. They are only asking us to concentrate on the upcoming summit in seven years."

"Is that so?" Xing Wulong said falling into deep thought.

"Are you interested in that mortal as well, senior brother?" Peng Xiaoli asked in curiosity.

"Indeed, I am a bit interested in that mortal. After all, how many times do you come across such a unique phenomenon?"

"Indeed," Peng Xiaoli agreed nodding. "If not for the Vice-Sect Master of the Heavenly Demon Sect, we could have figured out what caused a mortal to exhibit such dense killing intent." Peng Xiaoli complained not reconciled.

"Xiaoli, I think you should be glad that he was more interested in protecting that mortal and not coming after you. Take it from someone who lived near the Heavenly Demon Sect, that entire sect is bad news," Xing Wulong chuckled. "Now, if there isn\'t anything else, you can leave. I heard that you are intending to head to a danger zone. Be careful out there."

"I will, senior brother," Peng Xiaoli nodded in gratitude and left the place leaving Xing Wulong alone.

Xing Wulong watched Peng Xiaoli go with a small smile across his face. While his face was calm and neutral, his eyes were flickering nonstop as if he was deep in thought.

"Something about this mortal troubles me a bit. I better send a message to Wukong and ask him to keep a close eye on any news related to that mortal. For the Heavenly Demon Sect to go so far to protect that mortal, there must be something brewing," Xing Wulong mumbled after some time.

"As for Solitary Sword Mountain," the smile fell off from Xing Wulong\'s face.

As much as he liked to act as if the failure didn\'t sting much, he knew himself very well. The opportunity at Solitary Sword Mountain was his one chance to surpass his big brother and become more powerful.

Unfortunately, it was not meant to be.

To a proud son of heaven like him, such a failure had a bigger impact than others realized. The same had happened to his big brother as well. After his big brother had faced his defeat at the Solitary Sword Mountain, he had become listless and disheartened for some time.

Even though his big brother eventually climbed out of that pair of despair, Xing Wulong knew that the failure to acquire that treasure still stung his big brother.  If he had acquired that treasure, then it would have meant his potential was higher than his big brother\'s. It was a kind of recognition he craved so desperately.

Xing Wulong had always been in the shadow of his big brother. Whatever he accomplished, his big brother had already done it, so it wasn\'t something special. Growing up, he had always been compared to his big brother. It drove him mad and almost made him hate his big brother.

It was then he saw his big brother\'s listless form after experiencing a failure at the Solitary Sword Mountain. His hatred for his big brother lessened and his curiosity about the treasure at Solitary Sword Mountain increased at that moment.

And now he stood here, years later, experiencing the same failure….

Xing Wulong grit his teeth in anger.

As much as he wanted to rage and let out his pent-up frustration, he knew he could never indulge in it. If he did, he would end up like his big brother did. Slipping now meant that his enemies and competitors might catch up to him. He can\'t afford that.

So, he can only bury this thing deep in his heart and proceed further. The five-continent summit was going to come soon. Seven years would pass by in a blink of an eye for a cultivator.

Moreover, this time\'s summit was somewhat different. The news he had heard from the central continent indicated that something momentous was brewing and it would probably be revealed during the five-continent summit. Even his big brother had confirmed the same.

So, he didn\'t have time to bemoan his failure. He had many other things to look after. And what he said to Xing Wulong wasn\'t false either. The test at Solitary Sword Mountain wasn\'t something ordinary.

The only trouble with the entire test was the test taker being unable to move away from that failure. His brother had warned him about it and asked him to be prepared to lose even before he stepped foot inside the mountain for the test.

Initially, he had been a bit indignant that his brother would give such a piece of advice. He felt that his brother looked down upon him and felt that since he couldn\'t accomplish something even he failed. He had vowed to make his brother eat his words before setting out.

But, in hindsight, it was good that his brother planted such a thought in his heart. If he had been too obsessed with the treasure, he wouldn\'t have been able to notice the gains he acquired from that place. He would waste his remaining life trying to obtain that treasure again and again like countless others did and would eventually fall into cultivation deviation or have their dao hearts crumbled.

Even though he failed, the benefits he obtained were enough to help him progress tremendously. Each and every swordsman who had failed that test and had gotten over that failure had gone on to create an impact on the world.

And he wouldn\'t be any different.

*****

Duncan felt a sudden sense of unease creep into his heart while cultivating diligently.

So far, he had already stabilized his level and was accumulating more qi with the help of the spirit stones he had in his possession. Three spirit stones have already turned into dust and the air around Duncan\'s location was saturated with qi.

It was only natural that his progression toward the next level had made tremendous strides and he was nearing the limit of what he could progress toward by now. Duncan knew that if he continued on like this for another few hours, he would hit upon his next bottleneck as well.

But, the sudden sense of unease that welled up inside him, made Duncan frown. He could feel his instinct screaming at him to open his eyes and get out of his meditative trance.

Listening to his instincts, Duncan opened his eyes and looked around sharply. The sight that greeted him made his eyes shrink in surprise. Duncan hardly had any time to contemplate how this could come to pass and had to hastily move back from the spot he was cultivating in.

Just as he moved, long nails slammed into the exact spot he was occupying not even a moment ago.

Duncan took in the cannibal that was looking at him hungrily and felt his scalp tingle. This cannibal had somehow found his hiding spot, approached him sneakily, and almost taken him by surprise.

If not for his instincts screaming at him, Duncan would have been severely injured by now at the least. Duncan gulped a large amount of saliva and looked at the cannibal angrily.

Now that his concentration wasn\'t occupied and his life wasn\'t in any danger, Duncan began to notice the oddities about this particular cannibal. This one was lean and looked very nimble. Apart from the crazed hunger in its eyes, it almost had no resemblance to the other cannibals he had encountered earlier.

The speed at which it attacked was also faster than what he had seen from other cannibals. But, the biggest thing that made Duncan\'s eyes widen was that this cannibal was somehow able to dampen the rotten stench emanating from it.

By all logic, Duncan should have smelled this cannibal before it sneaked up so close to him. His nose had been cleared of impurities and his sense of smell had improved tremendously in the past few days.

Moreover, the rotten stench that was coming out of this cannibal was far stronger than the ones he had come across earlier. So, by all logic, with his increased sense of smell and the cannibal\'s much stronger stench, Duncan should have known about its presence far sooner than this.

The operative word here was should have.

The cannibal had somehow learned to mask and dampen its smell while approaching Duncan. Duncan didn\'t know that cannibals could do something like that. Their stench was one of the things with which Duncan had been planning to hunt, but now it didn\'t look like a sure-shot idea anymore.

The cannibal sneered at Duncan and pounced at him once more. Duncan hastily used his sword to block the cannibal. The impact sent him staggering backward and his back slammed hard across the wall behind him.

Duncan felt his scalp numb as he realized that this cannibal was probably stronger than him. And to make matters worse, he was trapped at the end of the pathway with the cannibal standing in the only route that allowed him to escape.

He was truly trapped in every sense of the word….

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

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