A few days later, deep in the mountains, a dense forest.

 

A fierce beast with a body covered in money patterns was running wildly in the forest, its face full of fear and anger, roaring from time to time.

 

The beast was two to ten meters long, with a sleek body and a powerful aura. Wherever it passed, birds and insects were scared away. It was a second-level fierce beast.

 

The beast had no wounds on its body, but blood was constantly flowing from its mouth.

 

No matter how the beast ran, the blood from its mouth continued to flow, its speed rapidly decreasing until it finally fell to the ground, motionless.

 

Two hundred meters away, a green figure slowly emerged from the grass, it was Yuan Ming.

 

He was wearing the gray cloak given to him by Xiying, which was now a deep green color, blending in with the surroundings.

 

Yuan Ming quickly approached the body of the fierce beast.

 

The beast, named Golden Patterned Leopard, was a second-level lower-tier fierce beast, with strength comparable to an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. However, Yuan Ming had just controlled the Black Needle artifact from a distance, attacking the beast's abdomen and piercing its body, causing the beast's heart, liver, and lungs to be riddled with holes.

 

The Golden Patterned Leopard couldn't even find its enemy and fell here in confusion.

 

Yuan Ming raised his hand, and the Black Needle artifact flew out of the leopard's mouth and into his hand.

 

Looking at the delicate high-grade artifact in his hand, he nodded in satisfaction and put it away.

 

After spending a few days refining the artifact to better suit himself, he was pleased to see that it had met his expectations.

 

Yuan Ming took out the Cold Star Sword and carefully peeled off the leopard's skin.

 

The leopard's skin contained abundant gold attribute spiritual power, strong and yet thin and soft, suitable for refining armor-type artifacts, and was quite valuable.

 

As for the rest of the leopard's body, it was not very valuable.

 

Yuan Ming put away the leopard skin and patted another spirit beast bag.

 

The Black Toad Spirit Beast leaped out and, sensing the abundant blood energy of the Golden Patterned Leopard, immediately shot out several dark purple demon vines, quickly draining the leopard's body.

 

The demon energy contained in the leopard's skin and flesh was different from that of the Black Toad, and the Black Toad's aura did not increase much. It lazily ran back to Yuan Ming's side.

 

Yuan Ming frowned slightly. The Black Toad Spirit Beast had always been full of energy and had never been so lazy before.

 

He tried to communicate with it through the beast-controlling runes engraved in its sea of consciousness, but found nothing, so he ignored it and put it back in the spirit beast bag.

 

Yuan Ming then summoned the Azure Cloud Crane and flew out of the Ten Thousand Mountains, not continuing to hunt for beasts here.

 

Two days later, Yuan Ming arrived outside the Snake King Valley.

 

After experiencing the battle of the Bi Luo Cave and facing powerful cultivators and hordes of beasts, he keenly felt his own insignificance, but it also broadened his horizons.

 

Now, he was even more eager to improve his cultivation. He had made all the necessary preparations, and if he could break through the bottleneck in one go, his cultivation would take a qualitative leap.

 

When he returned to Da Jin, he would have to settle the score with certain people.

 

Breaking through the Foundation Establishment stage would take some time, so he needed to find a safe and secluded place. After much thought, he decided that the underground passage in the Snake King Valley was the most secluded and safe place among the places he had visited, and it was a good place for seclusion.

 

Although the valley was full of dense miasma, the underground was thin, and with the effect of the Barrier-Avoiding Pearl, it would not affect his cultivation.

 

Yuan Ming released three Soul Crows to thoroughly investigate the Snake King Valley. After confirming that no one had been there, he entered the valley and quickly arrived at the underground passage below the Snake King's Cave, summoning the Black Toad.

 

As soon as the Black Toad landed, its eyes lit up with excitement and it ran towards the depths of the passage.

 

Yuan Ming did not stop it and let the Black Toad disappear into the darkness ahead.

 

He came here for seclusion, not only because it was quiet, but also because the Black Toad had greatly improved its strength after absorbing the strange black energy in the ancient tomb. He planned to continue letting the Black Toad absorb it and see how much it could improve.

 

The fact that the Black Toad was so energetic now indicated that there was no problem, and its previous laziness was probably just a coincidence.

 

Yuan Ming focused his mind and placed four sealing talismans on the four stone walls, creating a spiritual barrier to completely isolate the thin miasma.

 

He sat down cross-legged, took out a Golden Hua Pill, and began to refine it.

 

Time passed, and more than a month quickly went by. In the underground passage, Yuan Ming's body suddenly emitted a burst of green light, and a powerful aura surged in all directions, causing the spiritual barrier formed by the four sealing talismans to tremble.

 

He opened his eyes, a hint of joy on his face.

 

After all the hard work and with the assistance of the Golden Hua Pill, the Nine Elements Formula had finally broken through again, reaching the thirteenth level of Qi Refining.

 

The Golden Hua Pill was almost gone, but it had successfully helped him break through. The thirteenth level of Qi Refining was very different from the twelfth level. The spiritual energy in his dantian was more condensed, tending to become liquid.

 

The sign of a Foundation Establishment cultivator was the liquefaction of spiritual energy. The Nine Elements Formula reaching the thirteenth level would indeed greatly assist in advancing to Foundation Establishment.

 

Yuan Ming did not stop, but continued to stabilize his cultivation realm by operating the Nine Elements Formula.

 

Three days and three nights later, the spiritual energy in his dantian was completely stable, and his mind was in the best state.

 

Yuan Ming took out a Foundation Establishment Pill and began to refine it.

 

The Foundation Establishment Pill was completely different from the pills he had taken before, and it took a long time to slowly melt.

 

Before long, a burning sensation erupted from his lower abdomen, as if a fire had ignited inside.

 

Yuan Ming had long since learned the method of using the Foundation Establishment Pill. He operated the Nine Elements Formula and transferred the extremely hot medicinal power to his dantian.The usage of the Foundation Establishment Pill is quite simple; one only needs to guide its medicinal power into the dantian. The scorching medicinal power will repeatedly temper one's mana like a great hammer forging ore until a breakthrough is achieved.

 

This process is extremely lengthy, requiring ten days to half a month to see results.

 

Yuan Ming closed his eyes and circulated his mana, coordinating with the power of the Foundation Establishment Pill.

 

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

 

Yuan Ming opened his eyes and ceased his cultivation, a wry smile appearing on his face.

 

This attempt at Foundation Establishment had ended in failure. Although his mana boiled and surged under the influence of the pill, there was little tendency for it to liquefy. Each time he reached the critical threshold for a breakthrough, he would be forced to retreat.

 

He wasn't surprised that his four spiritual roots, which had allowed him to make rapid progress during the Qi Refining stage with the help of the Nine Elements Formula and a large quantity of pills he had obtained, were not enough for Foundation Establishment. The difficulty had increased more than tenfold; it wasn't something that could be easily overcome with just one Foundation Establishment Pill.

 

"It seems I need to find some additional aids," Yuan Ming thought to himself.

 

If he had been full of confidence before, this attempt had given him a much deeper understanding. Although he still had two Foundation Establishment Pills left, he decided not to try again without at least a fifty percent chance of success, to avoid wasting them.

 

Of course, this attempt was not without gains. The mana in his dantian had become more robust and viscous, which would increase his chances of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage next time.

 

After the failed attempt at Foundation Establishment, Yuan Ming had no intention of staying here any longer. He tried to communicate with the Black Toad to prepare to leave but received no response.

 

Yuan Ming felt puzzled and got up to walk deeper into the passage, quickly arriving at the ancient tomb in front.

 

Just like before, the demonic vines within the Black Toad spread out again, covering a larger area than before, nearly submerging the entire chamber. The purple-black vine flowers were also larger and more numerous, with a strange fragrance wafting through the air.

 

The originally dim ancient tomb chamber now seemed like a lush garden.

 

Yuan Ming admired the strange beauty before him and was about to step forward when several vine bodies, like venomous snakes, leaped up and took an attacking stance against him.

 

Yuan Ming's expression darkened as he grabbed a vine with lightning speed and activated his beast taming technique.

 

Thick black qi rolled out, flowing along the vine into its body, pulling at the beast taming runes.

 

The demonic vines throughout the chamber writhed in pain and quickly retracted.

 

In a few breaths, aside from the one in Yuan Ming's hand, all the demonic vines in the chamber had disappeared, revealing the Black Toad's figure, which had undergone a drastic change.

 

The Black Toad's originally plump body had become extremely shriveled, and it was not an exaggeration to describe it as skin and bones. Protrusions covered its body, which at first glance looked like meridians, but Yuan Ming could clearly sense that these were the purple-black demonic vines.

 

The purple-black demonic vines, which had originally coexisted with the Black Toad, were now beginning to plunder its vitality!

 

"Could it be because of the absorption of the black qi?" Yuan Ming recalled the vines' daring attack on him and felt increasingly uneasy.

 

A spirit beast imprinted with beast taming runes was not infallible and could lose control. There had been many precedents in the history of the Bi Luo Sect where spirit beasts turned on their masters.

 

Yuan Ming had originally thought that with his powerful soul and beast taming technique, he could control the demonic vines, but now it seemed he had underestimated them!

 

However, as a major beast taming sect, the Bi Luo Sect naturally had methods to deal with out-of-control spirit beasts.

 

Yuan Ming held the vine in one hand and continued to drive the beast taming technique, while his other hand sliced open the skin on his fingertip and formed a seal in the air.

 

A stream of fresh blood shot out, moving through the air with his seal, quickly forming a blood-colored rune-like pattern.

 

"Zha!"

 

Yuan Ming shouted loudly, and the blood-colored rune shone brightly, turning into a beam of blood light that entered the demonic vine's body, striking its beast soul consciousness.

 

This rune, known as the Blood Spirit Rune, not only strengthened the power of the beast taming technique but also severely damaged the spirit beast's soul, preventing it from acting rashly.

 

The consciousness of the purple-black demonic vine was severely damaged and became listless. The vine in Yuan Ming's hand hung down like a dead snake.

 

The Black Toad also let out a pained cry, flipped over, and fell, motionless.

 

Yuan Ming quickly crouched down to check on the Black Toad. Its consciousness had also become very weak, and it was now in a deep slumber.

 

He was not very proficient in beast taming, and in the current situation, he did not know what to do. He could only temporarily place the Black Toad into a spirit beast bag and observe the situation later.

 

Several days later, in the afternoon.

 

At a tavern near the main street of Black Rock City, a somewhat delicate-looking young man and a burly man sat opposite each other, drinking.

 

"Brother Wu Lu, it's quite a coincidence! You said you would be coming to Black Rock City in a few days, and it turns out that just as I set foot in the city, I ran into you," the delicate young man said with a smile.

 

"This is what they call a destined meeting across a thousand miles! I also encountered some matters on the road, which delayed me a bit. Come, let's toast to our fate!" Wu Lu laughed heartily, clinking his cup with Yuan Ming's and downing it in one gulp.

 

Yuan Ming was naturally skeptical of Wu Lu's words, but since his own retreat was a secret and his arrival in Black Rock City was a spur-of-the-moment decision, unless the other party could read his mind, it was impossible for them to know his itinerary.

 

"Perhaps it really is a coincidence?" Yuan Ming thought to himself and emptied his cup in one gulp.