Demon Immortal

"Fear not, my young friend, I am merely a passerby. I got lost in these wild lands and am just looking to rest my feet. Like I said, if you are willing to share your meat, I am willing to share my wine with you," the young man saw Duncan's tense posture and remarked calmly.

The young man's relaxed manner only confirmed Duncan's suspicions further. The thing that alarmed him the most was that the young man had gotten within striking distance of him without him even noticing.

The distance at where Duncan noticed the young man was nothing to cultivators. The current Duncan was not the same one who woke up in the wilderness ten days ago. After battling non-stop for ten days, his senses have been honed to be deadly sharp. So, to see the young man appear behind him without his knowledge unsettled Duncan more than anything.

Duncan realized at that moment that if this young man wanted him dead, he wouldn't even know how he died or why he died. The young man could have killed him a hundred times and over before he even knew that the young man was there. With that realization, calmness returned to Duncan.

"Can I share your meat?" the young man asked calmly after taking a seat opposite to him.

"Feel free," Duncan said bringing out more of the meat he had stored away. "And stop calling me young friend. It sounds weird. You don't look that old to me."

"True, I am merely in my early twenties. But then, you can never tell that with cultivators. What about you?" the young man asked taking a bite of the meat Duncan offered.

"I turned eighteen earlier this year," Duncan shrugged biting into the meat on his hand.

"Hmmm, you are even younger than me. So, I don't think what I said was wrong?" the young man smiled winningly.

"I didn't say you were wrong. I said that it sounds weird," Duncan replied calmly and took his hand away from his sword.

"It is a nice sword you have," the young man noted Duncan's actions.

"It is just an old one. I get by with it," Duncan replied not minding his words.

"I can see. I feel that it has a connection with you," the young man said looking at the sword. "It feels as if it has bonded with you."

"Bonded?"

"Sometimes weapons that share life and death with their wielder bond with the wielder. A kind of connection is formed between them. What kind of connection is only known by the wielder and the weapon. There are records of it, however. Some weapons have a mental connection with the wielder. Some have obscure effects. It depends," the young man explained calmly.

"Looks like you read a lot," Duncan grunted not willing to think about it much.

"I like to read. Knowledge is power!"

"I see," Duncan said not having any opinion of it whatsoever,

"What about you? Do you read a lot?"

"Never had the chance. I was working in a spirit mine until a few months ago," Duncan said nonchalantly.

"I see," the young man said a little sadly. "It's a pity."

"I don't think so. I think experience teaches more than anything else."

"Ah, that's a good point. I don't think I can counterargue that. But, reading will help you go through less and still learn more. After all, it is someone else's experience that is written down," the young man smiled charmingly.

"Whatever," Duncan shrugged. "Where's the wine?"

"How silly of me! Here, thank you for sharing your meat with me," the young man produced a gourd from somewhere surprising Duncan.

Duncan noticed that the young man didn't have any bags with him. So, it was really weird to see him produce a wine gourd out of nowhere.

"Haven't seen a space ring before?"

Duncan shook his head negatively.

"A space ring is a type of ring cultivators use. It is hard for us to carry stuff when we go out. Sometimes we will be engaged in a fight for our lives. Carrying a bag would be a hindrance. We might even lose our belongings while escaping. That's why cultivators use space rings."

"A space ring is an enchanted ring that will have runes and array formations carved in it. It can contain a set amount of space within them. Cultivators can use their qi to access them easily. You can put in your stuff and take out what you want with your mind and a small bit of qi," the young man explained patiently.

"Huh, it sure is handy. I lost my stuff once while escaping from a beast tide a month ago. This ring would have been handy at that time," Duncan commented examining the ring on the young man's finger curiously.

"Ah, that's bad. Hope you didn't lose much," the young man said in sympathy.

"Nothing much, all the money I earned in my life. Still, I preserved my life. It is what is important," Duncan waved the young man's sympathy off.

The young man nodded.

"It's true. Your life is the most important thing. As long as you are alive, you can reclaim whatever you lost. The same goes for things like revenge and stuff as well," the young man said philosophically.

Duncan didn't reply to that statement. He merely smiled in acknowledgment. As Duncan opened the gourd and got ready to take a sip, the young man produced another gourd and opened it as well. Duncan paused in his actions a little and eyed his gourd speculatively.

"I haven't poisoned your wine," the young man smiled. "It's just that our cultivations are too far apart. The wine I drink might be too potent for you to handle."

"Oh, how big is the gap between us?" Duncan asked taking a sip of the wine in his hands.

"Very big," the young man said succinctly causing Duncan's eyes to twitch a little.

"It's not that I am belittling you," the young man said sipping his wine. "I am merely stating the truth. You are merely in the Qi Gathering realm. That too not even at the advanced stage. However, I am in the Nascent Soul stage."

"I will enter the advanced stage tomorrow," Duncan grumbled mulishly and took a large sip of the wine as he had already ascertained there weren't any negative effects.

"You seem confident," the young man smiled.

"I know," Duncan replied succinctly.

"Interesting, I can see that you aren't lying. At the minimum, you believe it to be the truth. I have never seen someone be so confident in breaking through stages like you are."

"Well, you have seen one now."

"Ha ha ha… true, true, true," the young man laughed happily and nodded in acknowledgment.

"Nascent Soul realm? Is that what comes after Spirit Sea realm?" Duncan asked curiously.

"Ahem," the young man coughed hard and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, your question took me by surprise. No, there are a few more levels after the Spirit Sea realm before the Nascent Soul realm. They are nowhere near."

"Oh!"

Silence reigned for a few minutes as they both sat sipping their wines and gorging on the meat in between them after that interaction. Duncan was a little embarrassed with his question.

While he knew that he didn't know much about cultivation, he didn't like to come off as a total idiot. So, he kept his gob shut and let the silence continue for a while hoping that the young man would talk about something else. Luckily for him, the young man did exactly that.

"How do you like the wine?" the young man asked after some time.

Duncan thought for a while before replying.

"Strong, sharp, and feels like someone holding a dagger to my throat," Duncan shrugged not knowing if what he said was correct.

The young man raised his eyebrows upon hearing that statement.

"Interesting, you can actually perceive that while being at only the Qi Gathering realm," the young man sounded impressed. "I didn't expect you to feel so much."

"Is that something special?" Duncan asked in confusion while scratching his head.

"Yes, it is special. Wines brewed by cultivators aren't like normal wines. When a cultivator brews his wine, they will incorporate the essence of their martial arts cultivation into them. The stronger the sense of the drinker, the more he would perceive."

"This particular wine was created by a senior uncle of mine. While he doesn't have great cultivation, his attainments in martial arts are really strong. He is an assassin. His preferred weapon is a dagger."

"For you to perceive this much while being in the Qi Gathering realm means that you have strong senses and your martial arts cultivation is definitely above the level of your qi cultivation."

Duncan frowned upon hearing that explanation.

He didn't understand the different types of cultivation the young man was talking about. This wasn't like what he had read or heard his master talk about. This young man was talking about something entirely different.

Regardless, Duncan felt that his horizons were too small. So, he wasn't able to grasp what the young man was saying clearly. He felt that knowing this might come in handy for him. So, he did what he always did when he wanted to know something.

"What do you mean by martial arts cultivation? How it is different from qi cultivation?" Duncan asked frankly.

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

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