A few days later, in the early morning.

Before the Mao hour arrived, the sound of clanging hammers could be heard in the fire workshop.

Inside a casting house, hot air filled the air as Yuan Ming, shirtless, held a casting hammer in his hand, continuously striking the iron on the anvil. Bright red sparks scattered in all directions.

His expression was focused, his eyes fixed on the iron, as if there was nothing else in his sight.

His arm was tightly connected to the casting hammer, seemingly just a simple grip, but in reality, he secretly activated his driving technique, infusing his mana into the hammer, creating a sense of complete control.

Yuan Ming hammered one after another, his speed getting faster and faster, constantly approaching his target.

“Clang clang clang…”

The urgent sound formed a unique rhythm, like pearls falling on a jade plate.

Eight hundred and thirty-seven, eight hundred and thirty-eight…

Nine hundred and forty-one, nine hundred and forty-two, nine hundred and forty-three…

Yuan Ming was sweating profusely, with large beads of sweat falling from his forehead.

“Almost there, almost there…” Yuan Ming clenched his teeth, constantly repeating in his mind.

Nine hundred and seventy-eight, nine hundred and seventy-nine…

His arm had become stiff, and his swinging motion started to deform, but he tried his best to control it, not allowing the hammer to deviate in the slightest.

However, when human strength reached its limit, it could not be overcome by will alone.

At the moment when the nine hundred and eighty-first hammer fell, the originally crisp and pleasant sound became unexpectedly dull.

Yuan Ming knew that he had failed again.

He stopped his movements, no longer continuing the meaningless hammering, and watched as the iron on the anvil slowly cooled down.

The fire ferret, who had been watching by the side, also sensed Yuan Ming’s disappointment and quickly ran to his side, extending its claws to grab the casting hammer, as if wanting to help him continue refining.

Yuan Ming touched its head and smiled, putting the casting hammer aside.

He was not actually feeling disappointed, but rather reflecting. His spiritual power was not weak, and his driving technique cultivation was progressing smoothly, but there was still some distance to go before achieving complete mastery. This was the main reason for his failure in refining the embryo.

At this moment, a figure walked over from a distance, and it was Fang Ge.

“Your progress is faster than I imagined. Being able to continuously strike nine hundred and eighty-one hammers in just a few days is enough to refine spirit beast saddles and other things. It can be said that your level has surpassed most of the disciples in the Fire Refining Hall.” He came to Yuan Ming’s side and stopped, looking up and down at Yuan Ming before speaking.

“Thank you for your praise, Senior Brother. However, I am still nineteen hammers away from that goal,” Yuan Ming said.

“A slight difference leads to a thousand miles of error. Although it seems like only nineteen hammers away, in reality, it is still far,” Fang Ge nodded, his face serious.

Yuan Ming wanted to continue with some polite words, but swallowed them back, feeling a bit awkward. He thought to himself, are you here to encourage me or to mock me?

“I understand that my gap is not just a matter of nineteen hammers, but also in terms of strength, technique, and even focus. There is still a considerable difference,” Yuan Ming thought for a moment and said.

“I can tell that you don’t really like refining tools, so I am a bit confused. Master has already made it clear that you don’t have to refine embryos with screened materials, but why do you still insist on doing so and even put in more effort than others?” Fang Ge’s serious face showed a hint of confusion as he asked.

“Because I don’t like taking detours,” Yuan Ming looked at this serious and earnest senior brother and replied.

“Hmm?” Fang Ge became even more puzzled.

“When I encounter a mountain, I prefer to climb over it rather than go around it,” Yuan Ming explained with a smile.

“Very well! In that case, you are very close to the goal of continuously striking a thousand hammers,” Fang Ge said, a smile appearing on his face.

…

At night.

A full moon hung in the western sky, its clear and bright moonlight pouring in through the window.

Yuan Ming sat cross-legged in his room, holding a censer in his arms, surrounded by a faint glow, cultivating the “Death Moon Method”.

Huo Chan’er comfortably leaned against his feet, her eyes half-closed, half-dreaming.

Yuan Ming’s divine sense sat in meditation, and he could clearly see the inner scene of his own sea of consciousness. The hidden dangers caused by practicing the “Fur Covering Technique” had been mostly suppressed by him.

The dark red mist that pervaded his sea of consciousness had been driven to the edge and dared not cause trouble anymore.

Yuan Ming formed hand seals with both hands, silently reciting the Death Moon Method, gathering his divine sense and concentrating his power.

Suddenly, a thought arose in his mind, and his divine sense began to surge out of his sea of consciousness, exploring his meridians throughout his body.

He wanted to try completing the internal vision of all his meridians.

When his divine sense surged out, it first divided into two forces, entering the Ren Meridian and Du Meridian respectively.

These two are the largest yin and yang meridians in the human body. As soon as his divine sense entered, he could clearly see the Ren Meridian descending from the forehead, passing through the brow center, the tip of the nose, the throat, the chest, and all the way down to the lower abdomen.

Each acupoint along the way was like a relay station on a post road, lighting up one after another.The divine consciousness that entered the Du Meridian, observed all the way, went down along the back of the brain, and along the way, there were countless watchtowers like the Great Wall, each corresponding to an acupoint, burning with raging fire.

When the two divine consciousnesses diverged, Yuan Ming felt a slight headache, but it was still bearable.

But after the two diverged, there were still seven meridians above his head: the Stomach Meridian of Foot Yangming, the Gallbladder Meridian of Foot Shaoyang, the Bladder Meridian of Foot Taiyang, the Large Intestine Meridian of Hand Yangming, the Triple Burner Meridian of Hand Shaoyang, the Small Intestine Meridian of Hand Taiyang, and the Liver Meridian of Foot Jueyin.

The divine consciousness also needed to enter these seven meridians at the same time, so it had to be divided into seven.

In order to make progress in practicing the “Death Moon Method,” Yuan Ming made up his mind and his thoughts arose.

In the next moment, his seven divided divine consciousnesses simultaneously entered these meridians and began to observe internally.

For a while, the internal scenes of each meridian and the acupoints all over his body were clearly displayed in Yuan Ming’s mind.

Yuan Ming’s head felt like it was about to explode, and he felt an unbearable pain.

He clenched his teeth and forcibly suppressed the urge to open his eyes and give up the continued impact, but his body was trembling uncontrollably.

This was intense pain that caused muscle spasms throughout his body.

The fire ferret leaning against his feet was awakened by Yuan Ming’s abnormality and couldn’t help but open its eyes.

It looked at Yuan Ming, who had a pale face, sweating on his forehead, and trembling all over, and couldn’t help but panic and squeak.

At this moment, it suddenly saw a silver shadow standing up on the ancient pine tree outside the window. It immediately arched its back and snarled at that direction.

The silver shadow walked out of the tree shade with elegant steps, gradually revealing a body covered in silver-white soft fur under the moonlight, emitting a noble and elegant aura.

The fire ferret did not relax its vigilance because of the beautiful appearance of the silver cat. On the contrary, there was a faint glow of fire in its snarling mouth.

However, the silver cat completely ignored its warning and intimidation. It continued to walk with elegant steps, along the branches, and leaped lightly onto the windowsill.

Just as the fire ferret felt threatened and was about to attack, its eyes suddenly met the silver cat’s different-colored pupils.

A mysterious and enchanting light lit up in those pupils, and the fire ferret found that the scenery in front of its eyes changed, as if it saw a small mountain built with fire crystals and fire jade.

Its eyes were mesmerized, and its mouth couldn’t help but curl up into a smile, but it seemed to think of Yuan Ming being in danger. It struggled forcibly, trying to resist this temptation.

But when those fire crystals and fire jade rolled towards it, it couldn’t resist the temptation and couldn’t help but pounce on them.

It wasn’t that it had no backbone, but there were just too many fire crystals.

The silver cat glanced at the fire ferret rolling on the ground, kicking its legs, and looked at it with disdain.

Then, her gaze fell on Yuan Ming.

At this moment, Yuan Ming’s face was not just pale. His eyebrows were furrowed, showing a painful expression.

His divine consciousness had almost poured out, wanting to travel through all the meridians and then rush straight to the dantian, observing all three internal scenes thoroughly.

But halfway through, he felt that his scattered divine consciousness was becoming somewhat weak.

“Could it be that the strength of the divine consciousness is not enough?” Yuan Ming wondered.

Just as he hesitated and hesitated for a moment, the remaining power of his divine consciousness in his sea of consciousness began to flow out and rush towards the meridians.

The scenes observed by Yuan Ming’s divine consciousness instantly expanded, and all twelve regular meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians were thoroughly observed in this instant.

“Fool.”

Just at this moment, the voice of the silver cat suddenly sounded abruptly in Yuan Ming’s sea of consciousness.

Yuan Ming suddenly realized that the voice was very different from before, as if it was far away from him and somewhat elusive.

Before he could respond, he suddenly felt his mind go blank, and a strong chaotic killing intent surged in his sea of consciousness, difficult to control.

In his sea of consciousness, the originally suppressed dark red mist began to spread frantically, without the power of divine consciousness to suppress and resist, it began to completely erode Yuan Ming’s sea of consciousness.

And Yuan Ming’s scattered divine consciousness in the meridians, like soldiers fighting outside, were caught off guard and unable to return to rescue in time.

Just as his sea of consciousness was about to be completely occupied, a bright moonlight enveloped him, and a mysterious and ethereal chanting sound echoed in Yuan Ming’s ears.

In his already eroded sea of consciousness, a bright light suddenly appeared, and the dark red mist was forced to retreat.

Yuan Ming finally got a moment of respite, and his divine consciousness immediately began to gather and return to his sea of consciousness. After a long time, it finally stabilized again.

He opened his eyes suddenly, bloodshot eyes filled his vision, and his whole body was soaked in cold sweat.

Yuan Ming’s eyes narrowed slightly. He first glanced at the fire ferret rolling on the ground, then looked at the windowsill.

A beautiful and mysterious silver cat was sitting elegantly on the windowsill, and a pair of different-colored eyes looked at him disdainfully, just like how it looked at the stupid fire ferret before.

“Thank you.” Yuan Ming stood up and thanked the silver cat.

The silver cat glanced at the incense burner in his hand, ignored it, hesitated for a moment, and then turned to leave.

“Please stay.” Yuan Ming hurriedly stopped her.The silver cat paused, hesitated for a moment, then turned half its head to look over.

“You previously gifted me the ‘Death Moon Method’, did you see that I was suffering from the backlash of my fur-shedding technique and intentionally did so?” Yuan Ming asked.

“You’re still salvageable… not completely stupid.” The silver cat finally responded, but still didn’t have any kind words.

“So it is, I owe you a favor then.” Yuan Ming didn’t mind, he sincerely said.

(End of Chapter)