The Paladin in the Abyss

Chapter 259: 253 Cultivation in the Foundation Establishment Stage

Chapter 259: Chapter 253 Cultivation in the Foundation Establishment Stage

When everyone stopped to camp that night, they had traveled almost thirty miles, but had only descended about one mile vertically.@@@@

They found a naturally formed cave, lit a warm bonfire, and while chatting, enjoyed a delicious dinner made by Koula. Frankly, the presence of the Halfling significantly enhanced the comfort level of the adventure. According to the records in the small bamboo slip, even without being in seclusion, a Foundation Establishment Cultivator could go for months without eating or drinking, but Lancelot had never had the chance to verify if that was true—because the food Koula cooked was just too tempting.

Tonight’s dinner consisted of Abyss chicken egg and ham sandwiches, along with two strips of Blood Lake dried fish and some spiced fish soup. Although simple, it was very tasty and there was plenty to go around, for example, Bruto alone ate three and a half portions, the half being what little Esha couldn’t finish and gave to him.

The fatigue from climbing was the main challenge they faced on this route; the frequency of battles was notably less. They had encountered only two groups of Flomos the entire day, one of which merely circled from afar before leaving, seemingly judging the team with two Succubus members as a more challenging target than expected.

The reason they could travel undisturbed was partly due to Lancelot’s careful planning of the route, intentionally avoiding areas heavily frequented by Demons; the other reason was that in the depths of the Great Abyss, far from the ground, wild Demons were much less common—such remote places were simply too dull even for Demons.

Late into the quiet night, while most of the companions were asleep, the watch was kept by Lancelot, Alamir, and Elothysia. Being an Elf, Alamir needed only four hours of meditation to get enough rest, so he usually meditated first, then woke up in the latter half of the night to join the watch.

For the Succubus Paladin, she did not need sleep, but she did require quiet rest to recover her spell-casting abilities. This rest period should not involve any intense activity (such as fighting), making it the perfect time to take on the night watch duty. However, previously she was accompanied by little Esha, but the Vampire girl’s biological clock had already adjusted to match that of the others, and at this moment, she was sound asleep in her brother’s pocket.

In the path of spiritual cultivation, besides elevating one’s cultivation through the core technique, the other two focal points are body refinement and divine sense. In the Qi Refinement Realm, these aspects hardly mattered, yet each subsequent realm focused differently. During the Foundation Establishment Stage, the strength of the body greatly influenced the success rate of core formation; and in the subsequent Golden Core Stage, the strength of divine sense directly determined whether one could break through to the legendary Nascent Soul Stage.

For Lancelot, this was certainly good news, as body refinement relied less on heavenly and earthly treasures and instead required various harsh environments and opportunities to combat powerful enemies. It seemed there was no better place than the Abyss for body refinement—it had lava-flowing volcanoes, harsh sweltering deserts, bone-chilling icy plains, and toxic swamps, all teeming with eager, powerful demons.

While enhancing divine sense might not significantly aid in hitting the core formation stage for now, Lancelot, through his adventures, had come to appreciate its various benefits. Thus, he decided to increase the strength of his divine sense while also engaging in body refinement. Fortunately, the Qingyun Sword Art in his possession contained techniques to enhance divine sense.

This highly practical sword technique could well be considered Lancelot’s secondary core cultivation method. Countless enemies had died under its cyan sword aura. He had begun the fourth layer of the Qingyun Sword Art, which not only increased the power and length of the sword aura but also allowed him to summon a protective sword shield which would automatically defend him and attack his foes when he was under attack.

But even more wondrously, starting from the fourth layer, he could cultivate a divine skill named “Divide Light,” which allowed him to summon an identical sword shadow when attacking. Practicing the control of the sword shadow was precisely a way to train his divine sense and increase its strength.

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