“Sister Chen Wan, is there something wrong with Junior Brother Yuan Ming?” The beautiful young woman noticed the change in Chen Wan’s expression and asked softly.

“No, I’m just amazed at how quickly Junior Brother Yuan Ming has progressed. He must have been diligent in his cultivation.” Chen Wan smiled.

“Sister Chen Wan, are you familiar with Yuan Ming?” The beautiful young woman looked surprised.

“Not really. Junior Brother Yuan is originally from the Beast Taming Sect.” Chen Wan hesitated for a moment before blurting out.

The beautiful young woman was taken aback. While there were many beast taming slaves in the Bi Luo Cave, very few were able to break free from their status and become named disciples.

However, anyone who could rise up from being a beast taming slave was not an ordinary person. The disciples of the Beast Taming Hall had the deepest understanding of this. “Ma Xingkong,” who had now climbed the bounty list, had also risen from being a beast taming slave. After entering the Beast Taming Hall, his cultivation had advanced rapidly, and he had mastered the art of beast taming and tamed many powerful spirit beasts in a short period of time.

If he hadn’t defected later on, it was highly possible that the Bi Luo Cave would have gained another Foundation Establishment elder.

“Sister Lan Ke, can you take care of Yuan Ming during this mission? He was personally brought back to the sect by our Master, who entrusted me to look after him and not let him lose his life during the mission.” After thinking for a moment, Chen Wan said so.

The beautiful young woman was slightly surprised, and her opinion of Yuan Ming grew even higher. She nodded and said, “Alright, I will take good care of him.”

The two women chatted for a while before parting ways.

…

Yuan Ming quickly arrived at the mountain gate. The others had not arrived yet, so he found a place nearby and sat down, waiting.

The beautiful young woman and the others didn’t make him wait for long and soon arrived one after another.

Yuan Ming noticed that the dark-skinned man, the triangular-eyed youth, and A Gula all had a white spirit beast pouch around their waists, embroidered with the symbol of the Beast Taming Hall.

“Now that everyone is here, let’s get ready to go!” The beautiful young woman nodded at Yuan Ming and said.

The Bi Luo Cave had strict control over its disciples. Anyone who wanted to leave had to register at the entrance of the mountain gate and have a valid reason.

Yuan Ming and the others had a valid reason for going out on a mission, so after registering their names, they quickly arrived outside the sect.

The beautiful young woman patted her spirit beast pouch, and a gray shadow flew out and landed after a brief hover in mid-air. It was an unusually large gray bird.

The wingspan of this bird was about twenty feet, its body was plump, but its head was small and unusually flat, resembling an owl. It looked quite ugly, but the only eye-catching feature was its two golden eyes, which were as bright as lamps.

“This is the Golden-eyed Carving!” The dark-skinned man exclaimed in surprise.

Yuan Ming looked at the man. When he registered his name earlier, he had already figured out the names and identities of the others.

The dark-skinned man was named Mu Li and was a disciple of the Refining Hall. The triangular-eyed youth was called Chi Shu and was a disciple of the Rules Hall. The beautiful young woman was named Lan Ke and was a disciple of the Beast Taming Hall.

“I heard that Sister Lan Ke recently tamed a spirit beast on her own. I didn’t expect it to be a Golden-eyed Carving. Congratulations!” Chi Shu, who had been silent all this time, also spoke up with a tone of obvious envy.

The Golden-eyed Carving was a fierce bird unique to the Ten Thousand Mountains. Although its combat power was not strong, it had an incredibly fast flying speed and excellent endurance. What was even more remarkable was its excellent vision, which could see things several miles away. Whether it was used for traveling or reconnaissance, it was an excellent choice.

Unfortunately, the Golden-eyed Carving had a fierce temperament and would rather die than submit. There were very few Golden-eyed Carvings in the entire Bi Luo Cave, which was why Chi Shu was so envious.

“Junior Brother Chi Shu, you flatter me. I was just lucky to succeed.” Lan Ke modestly smiled, but there was an unmistakable sense of pride in her smile, clearly showing her satisfaction with taming this spirit beast.

Yuan Ming was quite interested in beast taming and curiously observed the Golden-eyed Carving.

The Golden-eyed Carving seemed to sense Yuan Ming’s gaze and looked back at him.

“Gu…” The bird let out a low cry.

Yuan Ming was taken aback. For some reason, he felt a sense of closeness from the bird’s cry.

“The Fire Ferret of the Third Hall is quite close to me, and it seems that this Golden-eyed Carving doesn’t dislike me either. Could it be that I have a special affinity with animals? Why didn’t I feel this way with the fierce beasts in the Ten Thousand Mountains before?” He was puzzled and couldn’t figure it out.

“It’s getting late. If we keep chatting, we might delay the mission. Let’s set off.” Lan Ke jumped onto the back of the Golden-eyed Carving.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming also jumped on.

The back of the Golden-eyed Carving was spacious enough for two people, leaving plenty of room.

The bird let out a sharp cry, flapped its wings, and effortlessly lifted the two of them into the air, soaring into the sky.

Mu Li and the others summoned the rented spirit beasts, three white cranes. They were smaller than the Golden-eyed Carving, but they had no problem carrying them and quickly caught up.

The Golden-eyed Carving was very fast, and everything around them quickly receded. The mountain gate of the Bi Luo Cave was soon left far behind, becoming a small black dot.

Seeing this scene, Yuan Ming couldn’t help but feel envious.

If he had such a spirit beast, it would be much more convenient for him to carry out sect missions or other tasks in the future.

Unfortunately, he had only been in the Bi Luo Cave for half a month, and he hadn’t even been able to exchange for the core beast taming technique, let alone the art of controlling beasts.

“Junior Brother Yuan, you’d better lower your body. The Golden-eyed Carving flies very fast, and you don’t want to be blown away by the wind.” Lan Ke reminded Yuan Ming when she saw him lost in thought.

“Alright.” Yuan Ming sat down.

The Golden-eyed Carving let out a low cry, and its feathers suddenly stood up, blocking most of the oncoming airflow in front of him.

“Hmm, although this Golden-eyed Carving was tamed by me, it still has a proud temperament and rarely gets close to others. But it seems to really like you, Junior Brother Yuan. It’s quite rare.” Lan Ke looked surprised.

“Since I was young, I have always been liked by animals. Maybe that’s the reason.” Yuan Ming didn’t know why either and casually made up an excuse.”Is there really such a unique ability in this world? If so, Junior Brother Yuan, you are indeed a talent in the art of beast taming.” Lan Ke still seemed somewhat skeptical, she said.

“Can other disciples outside the Beast Taming Hall also learn the beast taming techniques of our sect?” Yuan Ming asked.

“Of course, our sect has many beast taming techniques, and all disciples of the Bi Luo Cave can learn them. They can be borrowed from the Gui Cang Pavilion. However, the scriptures collected in the Gui Cang Pavilion are quite mixed and unstructured, and there may even be some misconceptions, which need to be discerned by oneself. The orthodox beast taming secret methods of our sect require going to the Beast Taming Hall, but if non-beast taming disciples want to audit, they must have a clear reason.” Lan Ke said with a smile.

“Oh, what kind of reasons are usually needed?” Yuan Ming asked, his heart pounding.

“The most common one is that non-beast taming disciples have taken on beast taming tasks in the Execution Hall, and they can naturally go to learn. In addition, if ordered by an elder or the cave master, they can also go.” Lan Ke seemed to have a good impression of Yuan Ming and answered every question he asked.

Yuan Ming nodded thoughtfully.

……

An hour later, the group flew over a hundred miles and arrived at a gray mountain range.

Sharp stones were scattered all over the place, like wolf teeth inserted into the ground. The sky was thick with gray, but there was no hint of rain. The air was dry and filled with the pungent smell of sulfur.

The source of all the smells was a huge volcano in the center of the mountain range. The mountain was exceptionally tall, almost reaching the clouds. The massive mountain cast a large shadow, inspiring awe in people.

The mouth of the volcano was still rumbling, spewing out thick smoke.

“This must be the Tari Volcano.” Yuan Ming thought to himself, looking around at the surrounding environment.

According to the task description, the Fire Jade was produced from the magma underground and would come to the surface with the eruption of the volcano. Their job was to find it from the cooled lava.

Of course, it was easier to find the Fire Jade in the uncooled magma, provided that they could withstand the high temperature of the magma.

“Now is the active period of the Fire Rock Snakes, we need to be careful. To improve efficiency, let’s split into two teams as we discussed before. A Gula, Yuan Ming and I will be one team, and the two Junior Brothers, Chi Shu and Mu Li, will be another team. Does anyone have any objections?” Lan Ke said.

Everyone shook their heads, indicating no objections.

Just at this moment, a thunderous roar came from the mouth of the volcano, and the nearby ground shook violently. A red column of magma erupted from it, then overflowed towards the base of the mountain.

The place where Yuan Ming and the others were standing was still quite a distance from the mouth of the volcano, but the ground under their feet was still rumbling and shaking, like an earthquake.

“The volcano is erupting! Great, there must be new Fire Jade coming out, we might have a big harvest this time!” Mu Li said excitedly, and ran towards the magma.

Chi Shu followed closely, vigilantly scanning the surroundings.

“Let’s go too. Later, the two Junior Brothers will be on the lookout for Fire Rock Snakes, and I will use the Golden Eagle to search for Fire Jade. The harvest will be divided in a ratio of four, three, three. Is that okay?” Lan Ke said.

“No problem.” Yuan Ming nodded.

He was already very satisfied with a third of the income.

A Gula frowned slightly, seeming a bit dissatisfied, but he didn’t say anything.

The three of them also started to approach the mouth of the volcano, their direction slightly different from Chi Shu and the others. They quickly arrived near the mouth of the volcano.

The three of them stopped a hundred feet away from the volcanic lava area. The temperature here was already extremely high. The air they breathed into their lungs was boiling hot, and their internal organs were burning with pain.

A Gula took out a blue talisman and stuck it on his chest. A stream of water-like blue light immediately appeared on his body, and his red-hot face quickly returned to normal.

Lan Ke also took out a water-blue jade pendant and hung it around her waist. A blue light lit up on the jade pendant, protecting her body.

Yuan Ming didn’t have the treasures and methods of the other two, so he could only silently operate the Nine Yuan Jue to resist the surrounding heat.

As a sense of coolness rose from his dantian and spread to all parts of his body, the feeling of being roasted was immediately relieved a bit.

“Junior Brother Yuan, you didn’t prepare any means to resist the high temperature? Searching for Fire Jade is not something that can be done in a short time. Relying solely on operating mana to protect your body, you won’t be able to hold on for long.” Lan Ke saw this and her eyebrows furrowed slightly, she said.

“It’s okay, I can hold on.” Yuan Ming shook his head and said.

“Well, Junior Brother Yuan, you should know your own limits. If you can’t hold on, remember to say something, don’t force yourself.” Lan Ke reminded him, then stepped forward and walked away.