Yuan Ming only felt a heat on his shoulder, as a warm current surged into his body from Elder Hu Huo's palm, immediately spreading uncontrollably towards his skin.
The next instant, a piercing pain like that of needles pricking him arose first from his cheeks. It was as if the white ape skin on his face was growing fine hairs inward, piercing his skin like needles and burrowing into his pores and flesh.
That sharp pain soon followed on the skin of the back of his head, neck, and down his back, as the white ape's hairs pierced through his clothes, invading his flesh, and the fleshly skin that clung tightly to him began to fuse with his body.
Yuan Ming's vision turned a bloody red, his sight blurred. He tried to endure the pain without screaming, but the intense pain was simply beyond the control of his will.
"Uh..."
A suppressed low growl escaped from his throat as the growing beast skin enveloped his entire body, bringing with it a surge of violent impulses.
Yuan Ming didn't know why, but his mind was filled with a strong urge to kill, a craving for fresh blood that he could not suppress.
"It's okay to not withstand the pain, but don't lose consciousness." This was Yuan Ming's last line of defense.
"ROAR..."
He stopped trying to suppress it, letting out a bellow from his mouth, his fists clenched, subconsciously pounding towards the ground.
With a "bang" a loud noise, the ground trembled violently.
The next moment, the blood-red color before Yuan Ming's eyes faded, his eyes returning to clarity, even the bloodshot in them completely disappearing.
Elder Hu Huo frowned slightly at this sight, muttering to himself in a low voice, "To completely suppress the beast nature on the first try, his divine soul is indeed strong."
After saying this, he didn't pay much attention to it, and went to the fourth person.
...
Soon, by the Giant Stone Boundary, everyone had completed the transformation, and there appeared seven half-human, half-beast monsters.
"Remember, don't think about running away, the beast skin on you right now is using the mana I transferred to you, which will be completely depleted in three days. By that time, the beast skin will begin to draw upon your Qi-Blood, and it could drain you dry in less than half a day," Elder Hu Huo warned the group with a sweeping glance.
Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming sighed inwardly, as expected, there was a contingency plan.
"Your only chance of survival is to pass this trial and obtain the Blood Qi Skill, so don't do any foolish things," Elder Hu Huo reiterated.
After that, he raised his hand and patted his waist again, but this time instead of hitting the purple pouch, he slapped the green pouch hanging beside it.
The beast skin pouch flashed with green light and the mouth of the pouch opened on its own, a bundle of green light rapidly flew out, landing not far away on the ground.
As the green light touched the ground, accompanied by a sharp cry, a huge shadow appeared.
When the light dissipated, there stood a massive green falcon over ten feet tall, its body covered with greenish-brown feathers, hooked beak as large as a hook, and eyes a dark gold color, exuding sheer majesty and might.
The green falcon, with its sharp gaze, glanced once over Yuan Ming and the others who had transformed into half-beast shapes, causing several Wild Men to retreat, clearly showing the innate fear of prey towards a natural predator.
Yuan Ming, maintaining his complete humanity, had no such fear as they did.
In fact, by now, Yuan Ming's initial panic had completely faded away, and he serenely accepted the current predicament, becoming curious about Biluo Cave, the Sect of the Southern Border.
Elder Hu Huo leapt onto the back of the green falcon, uttered a light command, and the green falcon immediately spread its wings and flew towards the high sky.
The whistling wind arose, kicking up countless sands and dust towards Yuan Ming and the others, as if to silently announce the start of the trial.
On the clearing by the Giant Stone Boundary, there remained only a few beast skin-clad Fur Beast Slaves in their transformed states.
They looked at each other, eyes filled with wariness and threat.
After a momentary standoff, it was the half-man, half-tiger, the most robust of them all, who first picked up a Beast Skin Pouch from the ground, turned, and walked into the woods, leaving a leaving a departing figure to the others.
Next was the one clad in wild boar beast skin, charging haphazardly in another direction.
One after another, the people left, tactically choosing different directions as if to invisibly demarcate their own hunting territories.
After picking up a blood-storing Beast Skin Pouch, Yuan Ming also chose a direction and walked deeper into the woods, still maintaining the upright posture of a human.
Yet, just a few steps in, he felt his back stiffen and his whole body uncomfortable. His brawny arms instinctively hung down, propping against the front, distributing his body weight, which brought him some relief.
"Indeed, I can no longer dominate this body in the way of humans," Yuan Ming thought to himself.
Then, he used his arms as support and started running through the woods in the gait of bounding apes.
This trial proved to be significantly faster.
Both his legs and arms were strong. Once he got used to the odd running posture, he could properly utilize this strength, turning the simple act of running into jump-like bounds.
After bounding through the woods for a while, Yuan Ming's speed increased more and more, the howling wind loud in his ears, the forest trees retreating quickly from his side. With one acceleration, he leapt up and covered a distance of three zhang in a single bound.
As he fell, his feet stomped down fiercely on the ground, causing it to cave in as both his feet sunk beneath the surface.
After steadying himself, Yuan Ming tore off a vine from the ground and tied up the opening of the beast skin pouch, fashioning a rope belt that he slung diagonally across his body.
Then, his gaze fell on the trunk of an old tree nearby, as thick as a millstone. He quickly approached, raised an arm, and sized it up with several punches.
Suddenly, there was a crisp "crack."
Yuan Ming's massive fist struck the tree trunk, breaking the old tree, and the top half of it collapsed.
Looking at the tree now bent into a triangle, Yuan Ming couldn't help feeling secretly pleased, "With such strength, perhaps hunting beasts for their blood isn't such a difficult task?"
At that moment, his ears twitched. The nearby thicket shook violently, and a dark shadow suddenly leaped out, rushing toward him with a gust of wind.
Before Yuan Ming could get a clear look, he darted behind another tree, only to see the shadow had already caught up—it was a rugged black bear, with a height of about three meters.
The bear whirled its gigantic paw, like a fan, swinging it toward Yuan Ming and striking the tree in front of him.
With the fierce sweep of the paw came a howling wind, and, sensing danger, Yuan Ming quickly ducked.
A loud "snap" rang out as the thick tree, as wide as a sea bowl, broke off and the top half flew passed Yuan Ming's scalp, traveling three meters before it finally fell.
Yuan Ming's heart raced with shock; such ferocity from the black bear was too much for flesh and blood to withstand.
Knowing he was no match, he turned and ran.
The black bear, unwilling to give up, immediately gave chase, moving even faster.
Yuan Ming had only run a few breaths' distance when the black bear was already within three meters behind him.
His heart chilled, Yuan Ming realized he couldn't outrun or outmatch the bear in strength or speed.
He pushed off the ground with his arms, leaping with his legs, straining to gain distance from the black bear with each jump, but as he was still unaccustomed to his new White Ape body, his movements lacked fluency.
As he vaulted over a thorny bush, his feet caught on a horizontal vine from a banyan tree in the grass. Yuan Ming stumbled, plunging forward uncontrollably.
He braced his arms against the ground and rolled forward to regain his footing, only to be startled by the black bear who had somehow gotten in front of him, swinging a paw towards his head.
At the last second, Yuan Ming forcefully arrested his forward momentum, arching his back to pull his head away from the bear's swat, but his chest was grazed by the sharp claws, tearing three gashes into it.
As Yuan Ming watched blood spurt from his chest, he dared not retaliate against the black bear, instead enduring the searing pain and running in a different direction.
He pressed his palm against the wound for a moment, then smeared blood on a nearby old tree before resuming his sprint, using both hands and feet to flee for his life.
The bear, agitated by the sight of blood, became even more ferocious, letting out a roar as it took up the chase again.
Seeing the black bear gaining on him, Yuan Ming eyed an old banyan tree wide enough for three people to embrace, and with a powerful leap, clutched its crevices with his fingers and scurried up the trunk.
As the black bear reached him, seeing Yuan Ming climbing the tree, it violently swatted at the trunk.
"Bang"
The old banyan tree trembled violently, leaves scattering everywhere. Yuan Ming clung to the trunk with both hands, pressing his body close to it, his toes gripping tightly so he wouldn't fall.
When the bear failed to shake him down, it lashed out repeatedly, causing the old tree to "bang" and shake incessantly.
Yuan Ming had to cling to the trunk with all his might, thankfully the ancient tree was sturdy enough not to be broken by the bear's swats.
During a moment's respite, Yuan Ming quickly climbed higher, reaching a horizontal branch.
But before he could secure his footing, the tree shook violently once more, and down he tumbled.
Just as he was about to crash to the ground, one of his feet caught on a branch, leaving him hanging upside down in mid-air.
"Roar"
With a low growl, the black bear embraced the ancient tree, shaking it even harder, aiming to throw Yuan Ming off.
Dangling in mid-air, Yuan Ming swayed like a dry leaf in the wind, seemingly on the verge of falling, yet never doing so.
His foot's grip was every bit as strong as his hands; struggling upward, he hooked a branch with his palm and then released his foot, climbing up further.
Seeing it couldn't shake Yuan Ming down, the black bear, after baring its teeth and snarling at his position, turned and lumbered off into the distance.
Yuan Ming wrapped his arms around the trunk, looking back at the fading silhouette of the black bear, and let out a long breath.
He settled himself against the trunk to sit down, hoping to rest for a while, to calm his pounding heart, when suddenly he felt the tree trunk trembling slightly again.