Yuan Ming stretched his muscles and found that there was still pain when the injured muscles were pulled, but it was much better than yesterday.
After a moment of consideration, he decided not to risk hunting beasts just yet and planned to make some traps to see if he could catch small animals like wild rabbits and ground squirrels.
Once he had eaten his fill and regained his strength, he would then go and hunt wild beasts.
With this thought in mind, Yuan Ming began gathering durable vines and branches around him while looking for suitable locations to set up traps.
As for trapping animals, he didn't have much experience or memory to draw from, so he could only rely on vague impressions to make some nooses and triggers, leaving success up to chance.
However, while setting up traps, he did manage to gather some wild fruits.
Some were as big as apples, with a purple-red hue that was full and ripe, while others were as small as bullets, a pleasing bright red color, and there was also a kind that resembled raspberries, covered with dense tiny grains that looked very tempting.
Yuan Ming didn't recognize any of these wild fruits; he picked them because the hunger gnawing at his stomach grew increasingly intense and he couldn't wait for his traps to show their might.
He faced quite the dilemma while picking them, fearful of accidentally gathering poison, and could only make judgments based on whether the fruits showed signs of being eaten by wild animals.
The ones he brought back to the cave were those he had selected after scrutiny.
After securing the entrance of the cave with tree roots, Yuan Ming hesitantly picked up the smallest red raspberry-like fruit and put it into his mouth, biting down.
The sweet juice immediately filled Yuan Ming's mouth, causing him to widen his eyes involuntarily.
After a small taste, Yuan Ming didn't notice anything peculiar and continued eating.
After finishing the small red berries, which only satisfied his taste buds, there was no relief from his hunger at all.
So, Yuan Ming began to try the second type of fruit, cherry-like in size and a bright red color.
The fruit's color was even more vibrant than the raspberries and looked crystal clear, round, and smooth, suggesting a delightful flavor.
Yuan Ming picked one up and put it in his mouth, and at the moment of chewing, he was profoundly disappointed.
A mixture of sour and numbing juice along with the hard flesh spread through his mouth, the sensation was even more intense than chewing a mouthful of Sichuan peppercorns.
Yuan Ming spat out the fruit residue while sticking out his tongue, making "ptui ptui" sounds.
However, when he wanted to cleanse his palate with the raspberry-like fruit, he realized he had unknowingly finished it all.
Regretfully, the numbing sensation in his mouth did not wane with time but grew even more intense, spreading to Yuan Ming's cheeks.
With no other choice, he picked up the last type of fruit, which was as big as an apple and a purple-red color, and bit into it.
"Crunch," went the sound.
As the skin of the purple-red fruit was punctured, a mild sweet and sour taste immediately covered the numbing flavor, replaced by an indescribable fragrance.
It was as if the flavors of orange and apple were mixed, the more he smelled it, the more irresistible and mind-penetrating it became.
"Delicious!"
Unable to resist, Yuan Ming took a deep breath of it, and as the rich scent rushed into his nostrils, his vision suddenly blurred, his body became rigid, and he toppled over stiffly to the side.
"Poi, poi-sened…" Yuan Ming's stiff tongue could not correctly pronounce the word "poisoned." His eyes rolled back, and he passed out.
When he awoke, it was evening, and not a single ray of the sunset could penetrate from the cave's entrance, leaving the cave rather dim.
Yuan Ming propped himself up off the ground and exercised his hands and feet, finding that he was just moderately sore and there were no significant abnormalities; even his head did not feel heavy, as if he had merely taken a nap.
He rubbed his temples and glanced at the unfinished wild fruits on the ground as his stomach growled again.
"I can't go on like this, or else, before I can kill a beast and extract its Essence Blood, I might starve to death and end up as food for the beasts," he thought.
With that in mind, Yuan Ming stood up and walked out of the cave.
Seeing the impending night, he quickened his pace and returned to the riverside.
Since wild fruits could not be eaten recklessly and would hardly fill him up, it would be better to catch some piranhas to quell his hunger.
Yuan Ming arrived at the riverbank, looked at the murky rapids, and wondered how to fish when suddenly he heard the sound of beastly roars coming from the woods behind him.
Instantly on edge, he ran out a few steps and with a leap, he vaulted over six feet high, grabbing onto a branch of an ancient tree and climbing up.
He lay flat on the branch, looking down from a high vantage point towards the source of the noise, but the view was obscured by the mottled branches and leaves, making it impossible to see anything clearly.
After hesitating, Yuan Ming still rose in the forest and movd carefully toward that location.
After leaping over seven or eight trees, Yuan Ming stopped on a towering old tree. Although he was still about thirty feet away, through the gaps in the branches ahead, he could already see the situation there.
"Bang"
A muffled collision sounded. In the forest ahead, a Green Wolf was knocked over by another Grey Wolf, one size larger. The body of the Green Wolf slammed against a large tree, shaking the tree violently and causing leaves to fall like rain.
After the Green Wolf got up, it didn't pause at all and leaped directly toward the Grey Wolf, engaging in a fierce fight.
Yuan Ming watched this scene, but his brow involuntarily furrowed.
The movement of the Green Wolf that had broken the tree was somewhat strange, no matter how you looked at it, it seemed awkward.
Before he could figure it out, the fight between the two wolves came to an end.
By the time Yuan Ming had arrived, they had already inflicted heavy injuries on each other. Now, both were bereft of much combat strength. The Grey Wolf had bitten the Green Wolf's throat, while its own belly was split open, with blood and guts spilled all over the place.
In the center of the clearing, only the dying whimpers of the two wolves remained.
"To search far and wide only to find it easily, it seems my luck isn't bad at all," Yuan Ming thought to himself with great joy upon seeing this.
As long as he could get the Beast Blood of these two wolves, wouldn't this mean he had completed his task?
"I have to do it while it's fresh. Once it's dead and the blood congeals, I won't be able to extract any," Yuan Ming thought anxiously and quickly swung toward that place.
However, the moment he leaped, he saw a scene that sent chills down his spine.
The Green Wolf, under his gaze, shrank bit by bit and from under the spacious wolf skin, two feet of the Human Clan emerged, followed by the lower legs, and eventually transformed into a complete Human Clan body.
That Green Wolf was in fact one of the Wild Men who had traveled with him earlier, transformed into a Fur Beast.
Seeing this, Yuan Ming involuntarily stiffened and stopped on a large tree, feeling a sense of desolation rising in his heart.
And it was this momentary pause that saved his life.
From the underbrush below, the vegetation swayed as a group of hyenas with brown soil fur and scattered hairy manes rushed out from all directions at an alarming speed, heading straight for the corpse of the Grey Wolf and began to tear and bite at it.
Before long, one of the hyenas discovered the corpse of the Wild Man, bit his ankle, and dragged him out from underneath the Green Wolf's Beast Skin, immediately attracting the contest from two other hyenas.
The three hyenas tore at the Wild Man's body and swiftly devoured it, leaving only a pile of bones.
Yuan Ming watched from above and was glad he had not gone down; otherwise, he would have had no chance of surviving the attack of those dozen or so hyenas.
It was just a pity for the Grey Wolf; there was definitely no hope of getting any Beast Blood.
Yuan Ming continued to lie on the tree, witnessing the entire feast of the beasts without daring to make a sound.
After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the hyenas finished dividing the spoils and ate the two bodies clean, not even sparing the innards, leaving only scattered white bones before they left together.
Yuan Ming waited patiently on the tree for a long time, and after seeing that no other beasts appeared, he finally swung down from the tree.
After landing, he saw the mess on the ground and smelled the blood in the air. Surprisingly, he did not feel nauseated. On the contrary, he even found the bloody scent held a slightly enticing sweetness.
He found some bones of the Grey Wolf that were not completely gnawed clean, clutched them in his arms, climbed back up the tree, and only when he felt safe did he begin to gnaw on them.
By this point, Yuan Ming's mind was utterly calm. He didn't indulge in any useless thoughts, only considering coldly what to do next in order to complete the task and survive the return trip.
Tomorrow was the last day, and he didn't have much time left.
After finishing the flesh and blood of the Grey Wolf, Yuan Ming threw the bones down from the tree. As he stood up, he immediately felt a warm current spreading from his abdomen, warming his whole body.
"This flesh and blood is so nourishing, and my strength has recovered quite a bit. It's much stronger than those river fish and wild fruits," Yuan Ming rejoiced inwardly, jumping down from the tree and landing steadily on the ground.
He approached the bones of the Grey Wolf, selected a few sharp ribs, and picked out two three to four-feet-long tibias, and tied them with a vine.
Turning around, Yuan Ming saw the disassembled bones of the Wild Man; after hesitating, he still gathered them together, covered them with soil, stones, and leaves.
"Dust to dust, earth to earth," Yuan Ming murmured.
Having said that, he stood up, glanced at the Furred Beast Skin of the Green Wolf lying aside, resisted the urge to take it, and left with the bundle of Beast Bones.
Not long after he left, at the top of the old tree where he had hidden, above the canopy of the entire forest, a figure stood with hands behind his back; it was Elder Hu Huo.
He tapped his toes lightly and descended gracefully from the top of the tree, leaned over to pick up the Green Wolf's Beast Skin.
"This man from the Central Plains is quite interesting," Elder Hu Huo glanced in the direction Yuan Ming had left, with a slight tug at the corner of his mouth.