After leaving the territory of the Qiu Yu, Yuan Ming searched for half a day along the direction of the second green fox that escaped yesterday, and finally found the trace of the green fox outside a mountain hollow.
There were two slightly smaller green foxes lying lazily at the exit of the hollow, basking in the sun.
Before Yuan Ming could do anything, a fox howl came from inside the hollow, followed by four or five green foxes rushing out from inside and joining the two outside, disappearing into the dense forest.
"It seems that this hollow is the den of those green foxes." Yuan Ming glanced inside the hollow and then followed the group of green foxes into the forest.
With his current control over the body of the transformed white ape, he easily followed behind the green fox without being noticed.
After entering the forest for a while, those green foxes seemed to have their own purposes and gradually dispersed. Yuan Ming chose one of the lone green foxes to continue to follow.
In a blink of an eye, the two had traveled several miles away from the hollow.
Yuan Ming confirmed that there were no other fierce beasts around, and then accelerated his speed to catch up with the green fox, climbing onto a tree above its head.
The green fox, with its keen ears and nose, immediately noticed Yuan Ming, stopped its footsteps, and snarled at him.
Yuan Ming just smirked, took a green stone out of his animal skin bag, and threw it at the green fox.
The stone turned into a green shadow, cutting through the air and heading straight for the green fox's head.
The green fox quickly dodged to the side, but another black shadow struck again, this time a small black stone.
It couldn't dodge this time, and its head was hit by the black stone.
With a "bang," the stone shattered, and the green fox's vision darkened, feeling a little dazed.
Yuan Ming looked at his left hand, a little stunned.
After throwing the first stone, his left hand unconsciously threw the second stone without much time interval.
This seemed to be some kind of throwing martial arts that he unconsciously used, which even the agile green fox couldn't dodge.
Yuan Ming quickly regained his senses, flew down, and grabbed the green fox's neck with both hands.
The green fox's vision had not yet recovered, but it instinctively sensed the danger and jumped aside, avoiding Yuan Ming's grab, and then bit his arm.
Yuan Ming's grab was originally a feint, and seeing that it was not good, he quickly retracted his arm, avoiding the fox's bite.
"A green fox that hasn't been injured is really hard to deal with." He secretly cursed, turned around and ran away.
The green fox shook its head and quickly recovered.
It was indeed provoked by Yuan Ming, with bloodthirsty anger in its emerald green eyes, and it immediately chased after him.
The white ape transformed by Yuan Ming was much slower than the green fox on two legs, and the distance between the two quickly narrowed to less than ten yards.
Seeing that he was about to be caught up, Yuan Ming jumped onto a large tree next to him, climbed up in three or two strokes, punched his chest, and started leaping forward on the tree while looking down at the green fox below.
The green fox was stunned for a moment, but was completely provoked by Yuan Ming's behavior and continued to follow him.
Yuan Ming advanced steadily, occasionally using stones to attack the green fox to prevent it from retreating.
The two of them chased and fled, and soon came near the den of the yellow Qiu Yu.
The yellow Qiu Yu was feeding several cubs in the cave. When it heard the commotion outside, it immediately leaped out.
Yuan Ming had been paying attention to the situation near the Qiu Yu's den from a distance. When the bushes moved, he immediately flashed and hid behind a dense cluster of leaves.
In the forest, only the green fox continued to roar.The territory was invaded by the green fox several times, and this time it even came near the den. The yellow armadillo's eyes almost burst into flames, and a layer of yellow light emerged from its body as it charged towards the green fox.
The green fox finally realized something was wrong and turned around to escape.
However, the yellow armadillo was already furious and chased after the green fox with all its might. In just a few breaths, its two iron-like claws turned into two black shadows and fiercely grabbed the green fox.
The two fierce beasts fought fiercely together in an instant, and their roars echoed in the mountains, raising clouds of dust.
Behind the dense leaves, Yuan Ming's eyes flashed with excitement.
His plan was already halfway successful, and all he had to do now was wait for the green fox to be defeated and flee so he could take advantage of the situation.
"Wait, there were two green foxes yesterday, and they were able to escape. Now there's only one. Will it be killed by the yellow armadillo?" Yuan Ming suddenly had a thought and quickly thought of a solution.
Just then, he suddenly heard a small sound that was not caused by the two beasts fighting, but rather a small animal's cry.
"The yellow armadillo is so angry, could it be…" Yuan Ming had a thought and quietly approached the yellow armadillo's den. Soon, he arrived at a large tree in front of the den.
He looked down through the gaps in the leaves and a hint of joy appeared on his face.
From this angle, he could vaguely see several armadillo cubs crowded together inside the yellow armadillo's den, making a cooing sound.
"Exactly as I thought." Yuan Ming muttered to himself, taking out a black stone from his backpack.
The battle in the forest quickly ended, just as Yuan Ming had predicted. The green fox didn't last long and was completely defeated, covered in wounds and with one eye gouged out, screaming as it fled.
The yellow armadillo naturally would not let it escape and was about to chase it.
A piercing whistle came from behind, and a black shadow flew towards the armadillo's den.
The yellow armadillo was shocked and angry, immediately giving up on the green fox and using its powerful legs to rush towards the den.
The black shadow did not hit the armadillo's den but hit a nearby large tree, making a loud noise. It was a black stone.
The yellow armadillo stood there stunned, its large body sliding forward due to inertia, crushing a large patch of bushes and grass.
Yuan Ming smiled slightly, leapt out of his hiding place, and chased after the injured green fox.
The yellow armadillo was concerned about its cubs in the den and roared angrily at Yuan Ming and the green fox before turning and diving into the cave.
…
Yuan Ming soon caught up with the injured green fox, calculated the distance, and pounced on it from the tree like an eagle hunting. The sound of fighting and roaring once again echoed in the forest, and dust rose into the air, quickly returning to calm.
Yuan Ming stood up, dusted off his body, and couldn't help but grin.
There were several bloodstains on his arm from the green fox's bites during its final struggle. But the green fox, which was already severely injured, had also turned into a corpse, lying on the ground with a broken neck just like the yellow armadillo had done.
Yuan Ming looked at his hands, lost in thought.
He had used the same technique as yesterday, using his arms to strangle the green fox.
This martial art of locking the throat and capturing was quite proficient in his hands. During the battle, he unconsciously used it, just like the martial art of throwing stones.
Although these two martial arts were simple, they were extremely compatible with his transformed white ape body.
Yuan Ming took out a beast skin bag that stored blood, used his magic to suck the green fox's blood dry, and turned it into a crystal-clear blood clot. He did not continue to hunt and instead took the green fox's corpse and retreated towards the canyon.In the following three days, Yuan Ming practiced at night, and during the day he lured the green foxes into the territory of the yellow armadillo, causing the two to fight each other, and then took the opportunity to hunt them.
Yuan Ming's luck was not bad, as he was able to successfully hunt a green fox every day. By the fifth day, he had successfully collected five portions of fierce beast blood essence.
He weighed the blood-storing beast skin bag in his hand, breathed a sigh of relief, and sat down on the ground.
Although the process was a bit thrilling in the past few days, he had finally completed the task at the last moment.
The most difficult moment had passed, and with the help of the Nine Elements Technique, his strength would steadily increase. He believed that it wouldn't take long for him to be able to hunt the green foxes alone, and even challenge the armadillo might not be entirely impossible.
After resting for a moment, Yuan Ming got up and returned to the other side of the canyon, heading for the giant stone monument.
When he arrived back at the giant stone, he found that Wu Lu was already waiting there, while the previously accompanying La Ge was still nowhere to be seen.
"I don't know where the so-called safe place that this guy mentioned is. La Ge hasn't appeared until now, so it's mostly bad news." Yuan Ming looked deeply at Wu Lu, who was sitting with his eyes closed, and didn't intend to greet him. He also sat down beside the giant stone and closed his eyes.
With outsiders present, he didn't use the Nine Elements Technique but instead used his mana to probe his body's condition.
A month had passed, and the poison from the Corroding Heart Pill had gradually spread, invading his heart meridians. A bowl-sized area around his heart was faintly cold and numb.
Yuan Ming had tried to force the poison out with his mana these past few days, but to no avail.
This was normal, as the Green Grotto was a cultivation sect, and using poison was not something he, who had only been cultivating for a few days, could easily break.
"I hope that Hu Huo is true to his word and provides the antidote." Yuan Ming thought to himself.
Before long, a gray shadow appeared in the distance and quickly approached.
Yuan Ming was not unfamiliar with this object and suddenly got up. Wu Lu, who was not far away, also opened his eyes and stood up immediately.
The gray shadow quickly approached, and it was the gray bird belonging to Elder Hu Huo. It circled slightly in the air before landing on the giant stone, and Elder Hu Huo's figure floated down from its back.
"Elder Hu Huo!" Yuan Ming and Wu Lu saluted together.
"Bring the blood storage bag for me to see." Elder Hu Huo didn't say anything else and went straight to the point.
Just as Yuan Ming was about to speak, Wu Lu stepped forward and presented the blood storage bag.
Elder Hu Huo glanced at the contents of the bag, nodded, and threw a jade bottle to Wu Lu.
"Take this month's antidote."
"Thank you, Elder Hu Huo!" Wu Lu was overjoyed, pulled out the jade bottle's stopper, poured out a pale red pill, and swallowed it. His tense face relaxed.
Seeing this, Yuan Ming also handed over his blood storage bag. After Elder Hu Huo took a look, he didn't say anything more and also gave him a detoxification pill.
Yuan Ming swallowed the pill and immediately felt a surge of warmth from his lower abdomen, which counteracted most of the icy poison. He returned to the state he was in a month ago when he had just taken the Corroding Heart Pill, and his heart meridians returned to normal.
This made him secretly relieved, as it seemed that Elder Hu Huo was trustworthy. At least, as long as he handed in the beast blood on time every month, he wouldn't have to worry about the poison from the Corroding Heart Pill.
Without saying a word, Elder Hu Huo took out a slightly bulging blood storage bag and collected the blood essence from Yuan Ming and Wu Lu. Without waiting for the two to say anything else, he left again on his flying bird, seemingly in a hurry.