"It seems like I'm going to be stuck in this cave for today." Xu Xiong grumbled and tried to look up at the sky, but was blocked by the massive black trees.
Even the red fog grew stronger, turning more into a mist.
"Tch, that mist can probably kill me. I'll have to wait until the temperature cools down." Xu Xiong muttered and took a quick look around the cave.
The cave was small, and no creature seemed to have claimed this cave. Even if it did, it would most likely be dead by now.
Xu Xiong walked up to a decently lengthy rock, and took it out of the side of the cave with his bare hands.
With a little umph, the rock came out of the wall, and Xu Xiong put the rock on the ground.
"This rock should do." Xu Xiong said, his eyes scanning the rock.
He put down his bag and opened it up and took out a black and brown rope from his bag and tied it around the rock.
Once it was nice and tight, Xu Xiong threw the rock into the rain, causing sizzling noises as the rock heated up due to the extreme temperature.
Xu Xiong watched calmly as the rock got hotter and hotter, and once he thought the heat was enough, he yanked the rope as hard as he could, breaking the rope, but made the rock stumble back into the cave.
Xu Xiong quickly pulled in the rope and blew out the fire that appeared at the end of it, and then turned his attention to the rock that was back in the cave.
'This heat should be enough to cook some red rice.' Xu Xiong thought to himself.
Red rice is a unique grain that appeared due to extreme heat caused by the angry heaven.
A few crops have evolved over the past tens of thousands of years, but none so adaptable as red rice.
With that said, Xu Xiong went back to his bag and grabbed a small metal can and started cooking the red rice.
Not long later, the red rice was ready, and Xu Xiong ate to his heart content.
After eating, he cleaned himself up a little bit, and started practising with his sword with his shirt and pants off.
The Black Water Sect didn't have any fancy sword moves, and all moves focus on guarding and attacking.
According to records, theoretically speaking, a person in the purity realm can use Qi base moves in the scarce realm, but without a proper foundation and understanding of sword play, Qi becomes utterly useless.
Slashes become weak and brittle, even if Qi is used. That's why the basics are always the best to improve.
He swung for a good hour and a half with small breaks in between, and when he felt his chest heaving heavily, he called it quits.
After a few sips of water, Xu Xiong sat cross legged and began to try to undergo purity.
Purity requires Qi, so this is normally done in caves at sects that have pure Qi in it, unlike the hot evil Qi in nature.
Though some might still be able to spot some pure Qi if one is lucky, and begin the purity process of expelling any impurities from the body and strengthen it.
Xu Xiong sat down meditating for hours, and when the rain finally stopped, Xu Xiong opened his eyes and took a look, before closing his once again.
Although the rain has stopped, the temperature in the air is currently way too hot for him to handle, and the lack of oxygen will also be a problem.
In fact, even now Xu Xiong is feeling light headed, and he barely needs any oxygen, and can hold his breath for thirty minutes.
"Only three cycles." Xu Xiong muttered, shaking his head.
Three cycles of purification isn't a lot. If he was in a cave with Qi in it, he could undergo roughly 60 to 70 cycles, which is over 20x more.
This just shows how hard it is for common people to cultivate.
"Time to get some rest." He muttered, not worrying about any danger entering the cave.
Just like him, the other animals don't dare to come out until the next day.
"I hope Ashen Village is fine." Xu Xiong sighed and shook his head.
This rain could be a blessing or a curse for the Ashen Village.
On one hand, they get to live another day as the Dead Birds won't attack because of the rain, but since the Dead Birds are attacking them, they probably haven't collected this month's harvest, and with such rain, all the harvest is probably destroyed.
Overall, the situation is pretty bad.
Xu Xiong shook his head thinking about this.
It's none of his concern.
His task is to simply kill all the Dead Birds around.
As for their suffering?
Who isn't suffering in this era. Even Xu Xiong has a higher chance of dying than them, let alone living peacefully in their homes.
With that said, Xu Xiong took out a sleeping bag from his travel bag, and threw it onto the ground and laid down on it.
He doesn't have any blankets, as he doesn't want to wake up in a pool of sweat.
With his bed set up, he fell asleep in a couple of minutes.
***
The next day arose, and the sun was rising in the sky and the moon was setting.
Xu Xiong got up and did some light work outs to start the day and then put on some clothes and checked the temperature outside.
"101 degrees Celsius." Xu Xiong muttered.
101 degrees Celsius is bearable for him, but it would need lots of water which he didn't wish to use.
"Wait until the sun rises to the peak of the sky and claim the system rewards before heading out." Xu Xiong planned.
With his mind set, he waited till the sun rose to the highest point.
[Ding!]
[Host: Xu Xiong]
[Age: 17]
[Yesterdays evaluation: D-]
[Rewards: 30% increase to your senses. 120% increase of yesterday's cultivation insights. 50% improvement of yesterday's cultivation refinements.]
[Reasons: Host has dodged a calamity due to his sharp senses and used his time wisely and trained while you could.]