“Hehe, congratulations Brother Yuan Ming on mastering the Beast Transformation Technique and successfully surviving the first month,” Wu Lu didn’t leave immediately, instead, he looked at Yuan Ming and said with a smile.

“Likewise. Speaking of which, Brother Wu Lu, why haven’t we seen Lago?” Yuan Ming changed the subject.

“Lago went hunting alone a few days ago, unfortunately, he was killed by a beast,” Wu Lu said with a calm expression.

“What a pity.” Yuan Ming nodded, didn’t say anything more, and turned to leave.

Wu Lu watched Yuan Ming walk away, his gaze flickering, as if he was thinking about something.

Instead of continuing to hunt beasts across the canyon, Yuan Ming returned to his hideout in the cave.

There was no rush to hunt the beasts, what he needed most now was to enhance his strength.

He blocked the entrance of the cave, sat cross-legged, and started to cultivate the Nine Elements Formula. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth immediately gathered around him.

……

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, twenty days had passed.

On a century-old giant tree outside the Green Fox Den, a large white ape stood quietly. It was Yuan Ming who had used the Beast Transformation Technique.

Compared to twenty days ago, the white ape had grown much larger, its muscles were more robust and powerful, and it looked formidable.

Before long, five or six green foxes ran out of the den in the mountain hollow, and quickly dispersed.

After several previous attempts to lure and hunt, Yuan Ming had a clear understanding of the habits of these green foxes. They were dispersing to find food.

He skillfully followed one of the green foxes to a black pine forest.

This place was four or five miles away from the den in the mountain hollow. Even if there was a disturbance, it wouldn’t reach the den.

Yuan Ming sped up, and in a few breaths, he overtook the green fox, jumped down from the tree, and blocked its path.

The green fox was startled at first, but then it realized it was just a white ape. Its eyes relaxed, and it pounced fiercely.

This green fox was slightly larger and faster than the ones he had hunted before. A blurry green shadow flashed, and in the blink of an eye, the green fox was in front of Yuan Ming, its deep green claws slashing down!

However, Yuan Ming’s body lightly swayed, and he disappeared from the spot, causing the green fox to pounce on nothing.

The green fox was startled and quickly tried to steady itself.

However, before it could fully stabilize, Yuan Ming descended from the sky, his right foot carrying a terrifying force, and kicked hard on the back of the green fox.

A terrifying force surged into the body of the green fox, and with a “crack” sound, its spine broke.

Its body collapsed on the ground, and blood gushed from its mouth.

Before it could struggle to get up, Yuan Ming’s other foot descended from the sky and stepped on the fox’s head.

With a crisp sound of bone breaking, the fox’s head was crushed, and white brain matter spilled out. The fox was completely lifeless.

Yuan Ming withdrew his foot, looked at the dead green fox, and was stunned.

He chose to continue hunting green foxes, partly because he understood the habits of this group of green foxes and felt that even if he couldn’t beat them, he wouldn’t be in danger. More importantly, he wanted to test his own strength.

Twenty days ago, the green fox was a powerful beast that he found difficult to fight against. But twenty days later, this fox couldn’t even withstand two moves from him.

Unconsciously, his strength had increased to this extent!

Yuan Ming suppressed the excitement in his eyes, took out a blood storage bag to collect the blood of the green fox, then returned to the vicinity of the Green Fox Den to stalk the other green foxes.

A day passed, and he successfully hunted three green foxes.

The next day, he came to the outside of the mountain hollow again, and without much effort, he hunted two more green foxes.

The task that he had barely completed last month was now easily accomplished.

“Now I haven’t completed the first level of the Nine Elements Formula, and the Beast Transformation Technique has such power. If I continue to cultivate at this rate, once I make progress on the first level of the formula, or even break through to the second level, wouldn’t I be able to walk sideways in this forest?”

Yuan Ming touched the ape skin on his body, the more he thought about it, the more excited he became, the more he thought about it, the further he thought, feeling as if he had found a shortcut to becoming stronger.

But then he thought of something, and a contemplative look appeared in his eyes.

Although he was just starting on the path of cultivation, he felt something was strange. The Beast Transformation Technique was too useful, as long as he had mana, he could use it, and the power increase was so easy.

Of course, the Nine Elements Formula played a big role in this, but he still felt a bit uneasy.

In addition, this was quite different from the cultivators he had imagined who could move mountains and seas, and summon wind and rain. Was it possible that after cultivating mana, he could only show his strength by turning into a half-human, half-beast monster? That would be too stifling for an immortal.

Once this thought arose in his heart, Yuan Ming couldn’t help but feel more and more that something was wrong, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

He tried to calm his mind, thought about it carefully for a while, and felt that he couldn’t figure it out for the time being, so he simply put the matter aside, headed towards the cave, and soon arrived near the canyon.

Just as Yuan Ming was about to go down, a low moan suddenly came to his ears.

He looked surprised, wondering why there would be someone here?

Following the sound, he found a figure in a black robe lying in the grass, his body trembling non-stop, and the exposed skin was blood-red.

Yuan Ming didn’t approach rashly. After observing the person for a few moments, he suddenly exclaimed, broke off a small tree from the nearby jungle, and turned the black-robed man over.

The man’s face was revealed, it was Wu Lu.

Yuan Ming had already noticed some clues from the man’s back, so he wasn’t surprised.

Wu Lu’s face was also blood-red, his lips were trembling, his eyes were rolled back, and he had lost consciousness.

“Has he contracted some kind of disease?” Yuan Ming guessed to himself.

At this moment, blood was flowing from Wu Lu’s nostrils, ears, eyes, and other places, his breathing suddenly became rapid, but his breath was rapidly weakening.

Yuan Ming hesitated for a moment, then squatted down to check Wu Lu’s condition, and quickly discovered something: “It seems there’s a problem with his heart meridian.”

Wu Lu’s heart was beating violently, ten times faster than a normal person, the meridians around his chest were disordered, his muscles were spasming, and the circulation of his qi and blood was greatly hindered.

Yuan Ming activated his mana, quickly tapped Wu Lu’s chest more than a dozen times with his fingers, and finally pressed his palm on Wu Lu’s chest, releasing a surge of mana to unblock the meridians.

A quarter of an hour later, he withdrew his hand, his forehead slightly sweaty.This place had neither medicinal herbs nor tools. He could only do so much. Whether Wu Lu lived or died depended on his own fate.

Perhaps Wu Lu was not destined to die. His internal energy gradually recovered, the flush on his cheeks receded significantly, and he regained consciousness.

“Yuan Ming… is it you?” Wu Lu managed to speak.

“Your condition is very serious. Your energy is flowing in reverse in your body. How did this happen?” Yuan Ming asked.

Wu Lu opened his mouth, hesitated, then closed it again.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. But your condition is very critical. I can only alleviate it a little. There’s no cure. It will relapse soon. Do you have any specific medicine?” Yuan Ming waved his hand and asked.

Wu Lu’s face showed hesitation, but he quickly became determined and looked at his waist.

“Do you have medicine here?” Yuan Ming asked.

“Yes… Yuan Ming, could you… get it for me…” Wu Lu managed to speak.

Without a word, Yuan Ming took out a cloth bag from there. It contained various items, including four sealed bamboo tubes, two dark red stones, a white jade pendant, and a black jade bottle.

“Is it this jade bottle?” He picked up the black jade bottle.

Wu Lu’s face lit up, and he immediately nodded.

Yuan Ming opened the jade bottle and poured out a dark red pill. It didn’t have any medicinal smell, so he couldn’t tell what kind of elixir it was.

He didn’t bother to figure it out and put the pill into Wu Lu’s mouth.

Wu Lu swallowed the pill with difficulty. His face quickly turned even redder than before. The veins on his forehead bulged out, wriggling like living creatures. He let out a suppressed growl from his throat, appearing to be in extreme pain.

Yuan Ming frowned. Looking at Wu Lu’s condition, it didn’t seem like an illness.

After the time it took to eat a meal, Wu Lu’s condition began to improve. The flush on his face gradually faded, and the bulging veins slowly returned to normal.

He looked extremely tired but managed to sit up cross-legged and began to meditate.

Yuan Ming jumped onto a nearby tree and sat on a thick trunk several feet off the ground, recovering the mana he had just used.

After a long while, Wu Lu’s complexion completely recovered. A red light flashed across his body, and the tiger skin at his waist rolled up and attached to his body. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a spotted tiger about a foot tall.

Yuan Ming’s pupils contracted slightly. Wu Lu’s body was much larger than the last time he saw him by the stream.

His cultivation was constantly improving, and the height of his white ape transformation was also increasing, but his growth seemed to be slightly less than Wu Lu’s.

Wu Lu looked at Yuan Ming in the tree, his eyes flashing coldly.

“I just saved your life. Why are you looking at me like that, Brother Wu Lu? Is this how the people of the Southern Border treat their saviors?” Yuan Ming said with a smile.

“Why did you save me?” Wu Lu asked in a deep voice.

“We entered the Bi Luo Cave at the same time. Regardless of our relationship, we are companions. It was a simple task for me, so why not save you.” Yuan Ming said indifferently.

Hearing this, Wu Lu’s expression softened a bit, but the cold light in his eyes did not fade.

“It seems that I was being nosy. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about what happened today. We’ll meet again.” Yuan Ming stood up, dusted off his butt, and was about to leave.

“Wait a minute.” Wu Lu suddenly called out to Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming stopped and turned to look at him.

“Regardless, thank you for saving me, Brother Yuan Ming. I can’t express my gratitude enough. Please accept this Fire Pattern Iron as my repayment.” Wu Lu took out a dark red stone from the cloth bag and threw it up.

Yuan Ming raised an eyebrow. When he opened Wu Lu’s cloth bag earlier, he noticed that these two stones were not ordinary. They emitted faint spiritual fluctuations and should be items needed by cultivators.

However, he did not catch the Fire Pattern Iron and flicked it back.

“I didn’t save you out of greed for your possessions.” Yuan Ming said calmly.

Wu Lu caught the Fire Pattern Iron and was stunned for a moment. “Since Brother Yuan Ming refuses to accept the Fire Pattern Iron, consider it as I owe you a favor. If you need help in the future, as long as I can, I will not refuse.”

“You’re too polite. We’ll meet again.” Yuan Ming gave a faint smile, jumped up, and disappeared into the forest in a few breaths.

Wu Lu stood silently in place, his expression somewhat desolate for some reason.

After a while, he turned and left the canyon, his figure quickly disappearing into the fog at the bottom of the valley.

Yuan Ming hadn’t gone far. He was hiding in a tree on the edge of a cliff about ten feet away, watching Wu Lu leave.

He was not a do-gooder. The reason he saved Wu Lu just now was partly because they were companions, and since it was easy for him to save Wu Lu, he wouldn’t be so cold-hearted as to watch Wu Lu die.

On the other hand, Yuan Ming was curious about the speed of Wu Lu’s cultivation progress and wanted to use this opportunity to get closer to him and learn more about his situation.

However, Wu Lu’s reaction was somewhat unexpected. He seemed to be very concerned about his illness being known to others.

“There’s definitely something wrong with that illness.” Yuan Ming muttered to himself.

But he didn’t delve into it. He jumped down from the tree and quickly crossed the canyon, returning to the cave to continue his closed-door cultivation.

The incident with Wu Lu was just a minor interruption. For Yuan Ming, the most important thing was to quickly improve his own strength, which might give him a slim chance to return to the Central Plains.

Regardless, his intuition told him that cultivating the Nine Elements Formula was always the right choice.

Three months passed in a flash.

During this period, apart from spending a day or two each month hunting green foxes to complete the tasks of the Bi Luo Cave and replenishing his food supply, Yuan Ming didn’t step out at all. He devoted all his time to cultivating the Nine Elements Formula.

Thanks to his hard work and the profoundness of the Nine Elements Formula, his mana improved rapidly.

One day, while Yuan Ming was meditating, his increasingly solid mana suddenly began to boil like boiling water. It flowed out of his dantian and into his meridians.

His body trembled, and a sound like bones colliding came from within. He couldn’t help but open his mouth and spit out.

A burst of green light spewed out, turning into a cloud of green mist that circled around his body.

A chant came from within the mist, and the circling green light quickly dissipated. Yuan Ming had already stood up.”I’ve finally mastered the first level of the Nine Elements Formula!” Yuan Ming looked at his hands and murmured.

Now, he was equivalent to a Qi Refining Stage One cultivator, officially stepping into the ranks of cultivators.

Yuan Ming’s magical power had increased several times compared to three months ago. He couldn’t wait to find out the extent of his transformation technique. He got up and went outside the cave, forming hand seals to cast the spell.

The white ape skin around his waist rolled up, enveloping his body. Countless blood threads emerged from the inner side of the ape skin, piercing deep into his body.

Yuan Ming had grown accustomed to this pain, gritting his teeth to bear it.

The heart-wrenching pain quickly passed, and a white ape about ten feet tall appeared.

“The height is still about the same as before, it seems to have reached its limit.” He compared himself to a large tree nearby and murmured.

Over the past few months, as Yuan Ming’s magical power continued to increase, the size of the transformed white ape had been growing. Two months ago, it reached its current height of about ten feet.

However, since then, no matter how his magical power grew, the height and size of the white ape didn’t change much, obviously reaching the limit of the transformation technique.

The height didn’t increase, but the muscle density on the white ape’s body had greatly increased. Huge and solid muscles bulged, showing the amazing power contained within, far beyond what it was before.

He clenched his right fist and struck out, making a dull and shocking sound as it hit a large tree.

Crack!

The tree as thick as a water bucket was directly blasted apart. Half of the broken tree fell to the ground, dust flying, and birds and beasts retreated in shock!

Yuan Ming withdrew his fist, a satisfied look on his face.

With his current strength, dealing with the Green Fox was naturally easy, even the Yellow Armadillo, known for its defense, probably wouldn’t dare to face his full strength attack.

“With my current strength, I wonder if I could cross the Hundred Thousand Mountains and return to the Central Plains?” In his excitement, he couldn’t help but think of escaping.

But thinking of the deadly poison of the Heart Corroding Pill in his body, his blood turned cold.

“Staying in this forest full of beasts and transformed beast slaves, what’s the use of being stronger! No, I have to find a way to truly escape from here!” Yuan Ming clenched his fist.

His current identity was a transformed beast slave of the Bi Luo Cave, he had no chance to contact the outside world. The only channel to the outside world was Elder Hu Huo, but how could Hu Huo possibly give him the real antidote to the Heart Corroding Pill?

“Right, it’s been a few months, I wonder if the incense burner can be used again? Maybe I can establish contact with the outside world through the incense burner?” Yuan Ming slapped his forehead, how could he forget that treasure.

He immediately cancelled the transformation and returned to the stone cave, using his magical power to summon the incense burner.

Yuan Ming held the incense burner in both hands, feeling a warm current seeping into his mind through his palms, instantly invigorating his spirit.

But at this moment, he didn’t have time to enjoy the pleasure of the invigorated spirit, his eyes were fixed on the green incense burner in front of him.

Compared to before, the incense burner seemed to have undergone some changes. A small part of the Great Ultimate pattern on it had become shiny, while the rest remained dull.

“It seems that this Great Ultimate pattern will automatically restore its brightness after a certain period of time, I wonder if I can travel through it again when that happens?” He guessed quietly.

But looking at the speed of the Great Ultimate pattern’s restoration, it would take a considerable amount of time to fully brighten.