Days passed by little by little.
Besides completing his training, Skirk also had to find food for Lu Li.
This day.
Skirk was training as usual.
Skirk wiped the sweat from his forehead and plunged his longsword into the ground. Only one-third of today's sword-swinging training was complete.
But the faint crying from deep within the cave forced him to interrupt his practice.
"Hungry again?"
Skirk walked helplessly towards the spider silk hammock in the corner. Lu Li, a five-month-old infant, was crying and waving his tiny fists.
The hammock was woven from the silk of an Abyssal Giant Spider.
It was originally strong enough to bear the weight of an adult, but now it swayed slightly under the weight of the little thing, less than ten catties, inside.
Skirk took out a cold glass bottle from the pouch at his waist, a milky white liquid sloshing inside.
"Drink, little fellow."
Skirk dipped his finger in it and dripped the milk into Lu Li's open mouth.
Lu Li was only about five months old at this time, so he could only drink milk and couldn't eat solid food directly.
Lu Li smacked his lips; the cool milk, with a peculiar coconut scent, slid down his throat. He didn't know what kind of milk it was.
It tasted good. Lu Li also didn't know where Skirk found this milk.
Normally.
While Skirk trained, Lu Li was usually sleeping. Infants of this age love to sleep.
Even if Lu Li wanted to force himself to stay awake, his body would involuntarily fall asleep.
As usual.
After feeding Lu Li milk, Skirk gently poked Lu Li's chubby cheek with his fingertip.
"When you grow teeth, you can eat roasted Abyssal Lizards with me."
Lu Li wanted to protest that he wasn't a real infant, but only vague babbling sounds came out.
This body was too useless; he couldn't even make the simplest syllables.
Even worse, no matter how much he resisted, the infant's instinct would always make him fall asleep quickly after a full meal.
When his consciousness cleared again.
Skirk had already returned to the center of the cave to continue practicing his sword.
His movements were concise and sharp, each sword strike carrying the power to tear through space.
Watching Skirk practice his sword was Lu Li's only entertainment in recent months.
Today, just like before, Lu Li lay in the spider hammock, watching Skirk practice his sword.
He counted the number of sword swings to quickly aid his sleep.
Before, he would fall asleep after watching about five hundred swings.
Today was no exception.
When Lu Li counted to the four hundred and eighty-fifth swing, a voice suddenly appeared in Lu Li's mind!
The sudden voice made Lu Li tremble all over.
"[You have watched Skirk swing his sword 10,000 times, felt the power of the sword, comprehended Abyssal Sword Intent, and created the "Abyssal Sword Art"]"
In an instant.
A complete sword art appeared in Lu Li's mind!
However, Lu Li's current body was too small to even stand, let alone swing a sword... Suddenly—
Lu Li felt a warm current rise in his lower abdomen. His dantian (energy center) was automatically absorbing the surrounding free Abyssal energy, filling his entire body with Warmth.
"Is this... his heaven-defying comprehension at work again?!"
When Lu Li was reborn, it was through his heaven-defying comprehension that he created the "Abyssal Sonic Wave Art", which called Skirk and saved his life.
Since then, this heaven-defying comprehension had been quiet.
He didn't expect it to appear again now!
In his shock, Lu Li subconsciously began to circulate the mental cultivation method of the "Abyssal Sword Art".
The infant's tender fingers trembled uncontrollably, and a purplish-black sword light shot out from his fingertips.
Swish!
The spider silk holding up the hammock instantly snapped!
Lu Li felt a sudden emptiness beneath him, followed by the sharp pain of his head hitting the rock. He instinctively wailed, and out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed the neatly severed spider silk, its cut surface smooth as a mirror.
This was spider silk that even an adult with a sword would find difficult to cut, yet it was cut so smoothly by the infant Lu Li.
"Wah—wah! Wah!"
Lu Li's head was buzzing from the fall. The commotion attracted Skirk.
Skirk checked the situation there.
"Logically speaking, the strength of this spider web is very high; it shouldn't be unable to support even the weight of a small infant."
Skirk quickly picked up Lu Li, who had fallen to the ground, and comforted him.
Lu Li's cries gradually weakened.
Releasing that sword light had almost exhausted the energy he had just accumulated, and drowsiness came over him again.
In the last moment before falling into darkness, Lu Li saw Skirk squatting in front of the broken spider silk, his fingertip lightly touching the cut surface that exuded Abyssal Power.
Skirk inspected the spider silk hammock. There was an incredibly smooth cut at the broken part of the hammock.
And... on the cut, there was still a trace of Abyssal Power.
The power of the Abyss... Skirk's expression turned cold. Could Surtalogi still be pursuing him?!
However, Skirk quickly dismissed this possibility.
A being as powerful as Surtalogi would never bother to attack a small infant.
Moreover, if Surtalogi had made a move... Lu Li shouldn't be here intact; he should have turned into minced meat by now.
Even if it was to stimulate Skirk to become stronger, it wouldn't happen so quickly.
After all, Skirk had taught Ajax (Tartaglia) for three months without any abnormalities appearing.
Surtalogi had no motive to act now.
So, how did this Abyssal Power cut mark come about?
Skirk couldn't think of an answer for a while and could only attribute it all to some Abyssal creature, yet he hadn't detected any traces of an Abyssal creature.
Then... Skirk looked at the soundly sleeping Lu Li.
A thought appeared in his mind.
But he couldn't believe it.
"It can't possibly be this guy, can it?"
Even if his racial Talents were as strong as Skirk's own... when he was this young, he couldn't have produced something like this!
If he could use Abyssal Power as an infant.
At that time, he should have been able to prevent the clan's tragedy, right?
However, it was no longer possible to go back to that time. To prevent future misfortunes, he could only strive to become stronger.
After all... his purpose in coming to Teyvat was to become stronger!
Until he could defeat Surtalogi... After repairing the hammock, Skirk placed Lu Li back on it.
Skirk resumed his sword training. Becoming stronger was urgent!
Unlike the diligent Skirk.
Lu Li continued to sleep soundly, while a surge of power automatically flowed into Lu Li's dantian (energy center), also tempering Lu Li's body.