Yuan Ming looked at Wulu approaching and unconsciously furrowed his brow, which soon relaxed again.
Wulu's shoulders, chest, and arms all bore injuries, and a few places were still oozing blood, as if he had recently been through a fierce battle, and he looked quite bedraggled.
Speaking of which, Wulu seemed to have had some special opportunity. Although he was still some distance away from the Qi Refining First Level, his overall cultivation speed didn't seem to be inferior to Yuan Ming's.
And the beast skin of his primary form, the striped tiger, was far stronger than the White Ape in terms of overall combat power. He should have been able to handle ordinary First Level Lower Stage fierce beasts with ease, so it was unclear what he had encountered.
"Elder Hu Huo, I have arrived late. Here is this month's share of fierce beast essence blood," said Wulu, stopping in front of Elder Hu Huo and handing over a blood storage bag.
Elder Hu Huo didn't seem to notice Wulu's pitiful state, and, expressionless, took his five portions of essence blood. After tossing two antidotes to him, he called forth a large bird and left.
After taking the antidote, Yuan Ming didn't linger and planned to turn and leave as well.
"Brother Yuan, wait a moment. Do you still have some of that healing ointment?" Wulu suddenly called out to Yuan Ming.
"I have one more tube." Yuan Ming stopped in his tracks.
"That's great. Could you sell it to me? I'll exchange this tube of soft bone poison liquid for it," Wulu said, his face lighting up with joy as he produced a bamboo tube, the top securely sealed with beast skin.
"Agreed," Yuan Ming said, taking one out from his chest and tossing it over.
"Thank you very much," Wulu quickly caught it and handed his bamboo tube to Yuan Ming.
Yuan Ming opened the tube to find it nearly full of a dark purple, viscous liquid.
Since the last time they helped each other out, the two men had grown closer and exchanged a few words more.
Wulu claimed to come from a small clan in the Southern Border, knowledgeable in refining various deadly poisons. This soft bone poison could make a person's limbs weak and was quite effective against fierce beasts. Yuan Ming had used his self-mixed healing ointment to trade with him twice before, finding the results satisfactory.
"Just now, I overheard Elder Hu Huo talking. Do you know what he said?" Wulu, glancing in the direction where Elder Hu Huo had departed, asked with curiosity.
"I was consulting with Elder Hu Huo about some matters concerning fierce beasts," Yuan Ming replied.
Since Elder Hu Huo had not told Wulu about the opportunity to become a registered disciple of Biluo Cave, Yuan Ming naturally wouldn't speak out of turn.
After a brief chat, the two parted ways and left the spot.
Yuan Ming returned to his cave dwelling and began to plot his next steps.
He had originally planned to head to other regions of the Ten Thousand Mountains to find some Fur Beast Slaves and inquire about Biluo Cave and the Corrosive Heart Pill, to see if there was a chance he could escape this place; after all, he had no desire to remain an oppressed, futureless Beast Slave forever.
Now that Elder Hu Huo had pointed out a clear path to joining Biluo Cave, it didn't seem necessary to go through all that trouble.
A thousand portions of fierce beast essence blood might seem a lot, but if he reduced his cultivation time, Yuan Ming was confident he could gather them within a year.
"Something's not right, though. Biluo Cave doesn't seem like a lenient sect at first glance. Why set such a relaxed condition? Any Fur Beast Slave with a modicum of strength should be able to complete this task if they're a bit careful, right?" Yuan Ming pondered, stroking his chin.
Could there be some unknown catch?
Unable to penetrate the mystery for the time being, he decided not to waste more time dwelling on it. At least by collecting essence blood and practicing the Nine Elements Technique as much as possible to increase his cultivation, he could somewhat enhance his ability to protect himself in the future.
With that thought in mind, Yuan Ming started to tidy up his cave dwelling.
The cave was a bit far from the canyon, and each trip took a significant amount of time, so he needed to find a new place to live.
Yuan Ming wrapped his belongings in a beast skin, got up from the cave he had resided in for half a year, and blocked the cave entrance with a large stone before leaving.
This spot was quite concealed, so it might come in handy in the future.
Carrying the beast skin bundle, Yuan Ming headed south and quickly arrived near the canyon.
"Crossing the canyon won't take much time; I should settle down on this side of the canyon."
Yuan Ming looked around and, without proceeding further, began searching for a suitable place to live.
Soon, he found a winding cave at the base of a small hill, seemingly dug out by a ground-dwelling creature like an armadillo.
The cave was long, stretching all the way to the other side of the hill. Besides the main entrance, there was a smaller back exit on the shaded side of the hill.
However, the back exit was too small for a person to pass through.
Yuan Ming blocked the back exit with large stones and then transformed into a White Ape. He used his sharp claws to enlarge the space near the main entrance by double, forming a crude earthen house.
Fortunately, the hill had more dirt than rocks, saving him a lot of effort. Otherwise, even with his sharp claws, expanding the cave this much wouldn't have been possible in just a day or two.
Yuan Ming brought a large stone nearby to block the cave door and gathered plenty of dead branches and dry grass to make a simple bed in the cave, thus easily constructing a rudimentary dwelling.
Lying on the dry grass bed, he relaxed completely and couldn't help but yawn.
His previous cave had been a bare-bones dwelling, and he had been too busy with cultivation and hunting to care about his personal living conditions. Now, lying on a soft bed of grass and feeling his accumulated fatigue drain away, he started to feel sleepy.
This time, Yuan Ming didn't fight the drowsiness and collapsed onto the bed of dry grass, falling into a deep sleep soon after.
He had slept very well, waking up refreshed and energized at noon the next day. After hastily eating some dried meat, he left the cave and headed to the forest on the opposite side of the gorge.
Yuan Ming glanced at the hollow where the Green Fox den was located and quickly withdrew his gaze.
The group of Green Foxes had been mostly hunted by him. Since he killed their leader last month, the remaining foxes had scattered, causing a significant decrease in his consistent hunting spot.
Yuan Ming shook his head and stepped further into the depths of the forest.
He had been circling the edge of this forest for the past few months but had never ventured deep inside until now.
As he delved deeper, he found that the trees around him became exceptionally tall. Centuries-old towering trees were everywhere, and the ground was covered with a thick layer of dead branches and leaves, giving a soft feeling underfoot. The dense bushes and vines made the forest much more lush than the one on the opposite side of the gorge, blocking his line of sight.
After some thought, Yuan Ming transformed into a White Ape, leaped onto a tree, and began to jump forward.
The journey was peaceful for a full quarter of an hour, and he encountered no Fierce Beasts along the way.
This did not surprise him. Although this part of the forest was only the outer edge of the Ten Thousand Mountains with Fierce Beasts dwelling in it, they were actually not very numerous. Wulu had once complained that finding Fierce Beasts took much longer than the time needed to hunt them.
The reason Yuan Ming could find a large den of Green Foxes was purely out of good luck, which had made it easy for him to complete his monthly task. The whereabouts of that yellow armadillo were unknown, so he would need to venture further in to fulfill his target of one thousand units of Essence Blood.
Of course, Yuan Ming had no intention of being reckless or overly ambitious; safety was always his priority.
After traveling a distance of about a mile, the sound of rustling water reached his ears. A small waterfall fell from a cliff, pouring its water into a clear pond, bringing a refreshing cool breeze in his direction.
Yuan Ming lay on a tree and peered through the gaps in the leaves, looking ahead.
He saw a Fierce Beast resembling a large wild boar drinking at the edge of the pond. Its whole body was fiery red, with bulging muscles on its spine and hooves that clearly revealed its formidable strength.
The wild boar Fierce Beast also had a sharp unicorn on its forehead, which looked particularly lethal, and two sword-like gleaming tusks at the corners of its mouth, sending chills down one's spine with their icy shine.
Yuan Ming eyed the "prey" before him, his lips curling into a smile as he surveyed the surrounding environment near the pond to check for potential dangers.
Just then, the wild boar Fierce Beast twitched its ears and abruptly lifted its head from the pond, scanning around as if it had heard something.
Upon seeing this, Yuan Ming quickly hid behind the trunk of a tree, staying motionless.
The ears of the wild boar Fierce Beast flickered; it seemed to be listening intently to the noises around it. After a few breaths, it resumed drinking.
Yuan Ming breathed a sigh of relief and carefully peeked out again, observing the beast in detail.
"Looking at this guy's size, it's much stronger than the Green Foxes and armadillo I faced before. Let's start with you for the thousand units of Essence Blood," he thought to himself, moving quietly closer until he was nearby.
At this moment, the wild boar Fierce Beast stood up, shook the water off its body, and snorted contentedly. It was about to turn around and leave the pond.
Seizing the opportunity, Yuan Ming pounced down from the tree, landing squarely on the beast's broad back. Without giving the wild boar Fierce Beast a chance to react, he plunged his claws deep into its neck and forcefully made a slash.
"Sscht"
Two deep, bone-exposing, fearsome wounds appeared on the neck of the wild boar Fierce Beast, from which blood gushed out.
It let out a piercing, agonizing scream, its massive body charged forward, breaking two large trees in its path, sending broken branches and leaves flying.
Yuan Ming didn't have time to stabilize himself and was thrown off immediately.
"Roar!" The eyes of the wild boar Fierce Beast had turned blood red, and it wheeled around to pounce furiously at Yuan Ming.
Its head lowered, aiming the fiery red horn like a giant spear at Yuan Ming's chest, its huge body stirring up a torrent of air that made the trees several meters away rustle fiercely.
Yuan Ming had just steadied himself and it was already too late to dodge. He stretched out both hands in a hurry, grabbing hold of the fiery red horn.
Ssst...
His feet skidded across the ground as he was dragged backward.
After retreating about twenty meters, Yuan Ming's feet sunk half a foot into the earth, stabilizing his body. No matter how hard the wild boar Fierce Beast tried, it could not budge him.
"Get up!" Yuan Ming shouted, his arm muscles bulging as he heaved upward.
He lifted the massive body of the wild boar Fierce Beast into the air. It turned half a circle in mid-air and crashed down on a nearby large tree.
The tree, thick enough that it required a person to wrap their arms around it to fully encircle, snapped on impact. The Fierce Beast's body continued to crash to the ground with a "bang," causing the ground within several meters to tremble slightly.
Before the beast could recover, a grim, pale claw descended from the sky and impaled its head, piercing through the hard skull.
The wild boar Fierce Beast let out a despairing cry as its enormous body convulsed a few times before falling silent.
Yuan Ming nodded, the wild boar Fierce Beast was not weak. If he had encountered it three months earlier, he probably would have lost more often than won. But now facing him, it was as helpless as a kitten or puppy.
He had abandoned the Blood Qi Skill and switched to cultivating the Nine Elements Technique, a decision that had indeed been correct.
Yuan Ming took out a Blood Storage Bag and collected the blood of the wild boar. Just as he was about to leave, a low growling sound suddenly came from ahead, followed by a rumble that shook the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust and turbulent air!