Yuan Ming’s heart tightened, and he quickly looked towards the source of the noise.

In a cloud of dust, a large figure crawled out, it was a brown bear covered in yellow fur, much taller than the black bear he had killed earlier, almost the size of a small house.

Under the gaze of the brown bear, Yuan Ming felt like he was being stared at by a terrifying monster, and he couldn’t help but shiver with fear, even though he appeared calm on the surface.

“This fierce beast is far more powerful than the wild boar earlier. Could it be that I’m so unlucky to encounter a mid-level first-tier existence?” he thought to himself.

Even though he had just gone through a battle, which he easily won but still consumed a lot of his spiritual power, he wouldn’t dare to face a mid-level first-tier fierce beast head-on even at his peak state.

Yuan Ming’s thoughts raced, and he suddenly let out a thunderous roar, his muscles bulging as he prepared to pounce.

The brown bear paused, its eyes showing a hint of caution.

At this moment, Yuan Ming suddenly leaped backward, agilely climbing up a large tree behind him and quickly jumping to a higher spot.

“Roar!”

The brown bear realized it had been deceived and roared furiously, running at an astonishing speed. It almost instantly arrived at the large tree Yuan Ming was climbing and slammed its fat paw down.

“Bang!”

The tree, as thick as a bucket, was shattered, and Yuan Ming, who had only climbed halfway up, fell down.

Although he was shocked, he didn’t panic. He kicked off the tree and jumped to another nearby tree.

The brown bear looked up and let out a terrifying roar, which sounded like metal colliding with stone.

The sound shook Yuan Ming’s ears, and his head felt heavy. His limbs stiffened, and he fell like a rock.

Before Yuan Ming hit the ground, the Nine Elements Technique in his body instinctively activated, and a pure spiritual power rushed out of his dantian, quickly flowing throughout his body. Wherever it passed, his blood and qi recovered, and the numbness quickly disappeared.

As soon as his arm regained its sensation, he quickly reached out and stabbed a claw into the nearby tree trunk.

“Chi!” The claw went halfway into the wood, and his body hung in mid-air.

The brown bear below was startled and rushed to the tree again, slamming its fat paw down.

“Boom!”

The tree was also shattered by a single blow and collapsed.

However, Yuan Ming had already jumped out in advance and landed on another giant tree nearby. He covered his body with spiritual power to guard against the brown bear’s next attack.

To his surprise, the bear didn’t roar again.

Yuan Ming’s face showed a hint of surprise, and he quickly climbed to the top of the tree, which was about ten zhang (33 meters) above the ground, out of the range of the brown bear’s roar.

The brown bear wouldn’t let Yuan Ming escape and rushed to the giant tree, both paws slamming down fiercely.

The tree shook violently, the bark cracking, and a large number of leaves falling off, but it didn’t fall down. Apart from a few claw marks on the bark, there was no indication of damage.

“Such a huge tree can be shaken, and this brown bear is probably a mid-level first-tier fierce beast, but it’s a pity that it’s not very smart.” Yuan Ming muttered to himself and took out a stone from his body, throwing it down from above.

The stone turned into a gray light and hit the brown bear’s head hard.With a loud bang, the rocks shattered, but it didn’t cause much damage to the brown bear. Instead, it made the bear angrier and more frenzied as it attacked the giant tree.

The tree shook violently, but it was so huge that it was unlikely to collapse anytime soon.

Yuan Ming smiled and watched from above like a monkey, occasionally throwing stones to provoke the brown bear below.

As time passed, the bear became less aggressive and more exhausted, panting heavily and showing less anger in its eyes.

After a while, the brown bear growled at Yuan Ming in dissatisfaction, lowered its body, and turned to leave.

Yuan Ming threw another stone, hitting the bear on the back of its head. However, the bear seemed to have learned its lesson and ignored Yuan Ming’s provocation, continuing to run away without looking back.

“Not too stupid, but too late to escape now!” Yuan Ming no longer watched from the sidelines and jumped onto the bear, turning into a white ape and attacking it with his sharp claws.

The bear sensed something behind it and rolled to the side, but it was still hit by the claws, leaving a shallow wound on its tough skin. The wound was stained with a faint purple color, which was the poison Yuan Ming had obtained from Wu Lu earlier and applied to his claws.

The bear was once again enraged, swinging its paw towards Yuan Ming’s head. However, it had already exhausted most of its strength earlier, and its movements were slower than before. Yuan Ming’s white ape body shrank and passed under the paw, leaving another shallow wound on the bear’s waist.

The bear became more furious and attacked with its paws, but Yuan Ming did not plan to engage in a direct fight. He used the nearby trees to dodge and left small wounds on the bear’s body with his claws.

Although the bear was much stronger than Yuan Ming, it had consumed too much energy on the giant tree earlier and was not very fast. It was also constantly getting injured, and its body was covered in blood. Additionally, the poison was gradually taking effect, making its movements slower.

The bear seemed to know that the situation was not good and gave up on defense and evasion, rushing towards Yuan Ming with all its might, making a final desperate attempt.

However, Yuan Ming was prepared and used a nearby tree as a shield. The bear charged forward, its eyes turning blood-red as it let out a deafening roar.

“I knew you would use this move.” Yuan Ming was ready and released all his energy, flowing through his body.

He only swayed slightly, and his movements were not affected much. At the moment the bear charged forward, he dodged to the side.

With a loud bang, the bear crashed into the tree, and its huge body rebounded and fell to the ground, dizzy and disoriented. The entire tree collapsed, kicking up a cloud of dust.The brown bear beast struggled to get up and run away, but only took a few steps before falling to the ground.

Yuan Ming’s figure flew out of the dust and instantly arrived next to the brown bear, grabbing down with his right hand.

The sharp ape claws pierced the back of the brown bear’s neck, “pu chi” sound entered, and then he forcefully slashed down.

The brown bear’s neck was cut off, and half of its neck was cut off, and blood spurted out. The huge body twitched twice and then lost its breath.

Yuan Ming took out a blood storage bag and drew out the brown bear’s blood without refining it. He then sat down on the ground, panting heavily. Obviously, the dangerous battle just now almost used up his last bit of strength.

The physical strength of this brown bear beast was truly terrifying, and its fur defense was amazing. If he had not used small means to consume most of its strength, plus the cartilage poison, he would definitely not be its opponent.

At this moment, Yuan Ming felt sore all over his body and it seemed difficult to move.

However, this place was full of blood and definitely not a place to stay for long.

Yuan Ming suddenly bit his tongue, using pain to stimulate his spirit, and stood up with the support of a nearby tree, returning along the way he came.

However, an anomaly suddenly occurred not long after he left.

He suddenly felt like he was struck by lightning, and the white ape skin on his body suddenly wriggled, and a crazy breath permeated.

The residual mana in his body suddenly became restless, and his eyes also showed a trace of blood, and a killing intent surged in his heart.

“It’s happening again.”

Yuan Ming’s heart trembled, and he quickly sat cross-legged and operated the Nine Elements Technique.

After three large weeks, this desire to kill was barely suppressed.

He condensed mana with his left hand and pointed at the incense burner mark on his right arm.

A green light flashed on the mark, and the mysterious incense burner appeared in his hand.

As a burst of heat emanated from the incense burner and penetrated into his body, Yuan Ming felt like his whole body was soaking in a hot spring, especially his head. The blood in his eyes slowly dissipated, and the desire to kill quickly retreated.

After fifteen minutes, the anomaly caused by the white ape skin completely disappeared.

Yuan Ming relaxed his eyes and released the fur technique, looking at the incense burner in his hand silently.

Similar situations had occurred twice in the past three months, both after experiencing a fierce battle with a great depletion of mana and physical strength.

Now, this strong bloodthirsty desire could only be resisted by the Nine Elements Technique, and it could not be eliminated. When he first encountered it, he didn’t know how to deal with it. Later, he remembered that the heat from the incense burner had the effect of nurturing the soul, so he quickly took out the incense burner and suppressed it.

“Is it because I have been in this mountain forest for too long as a white ape, and I have unknowingly accumulated some hostility? Fortunately, I have the incense burner.” Yuan Ming secretly rejoiced, but also worried that this desire would increase day by day.

He had previously intended to ask Hu Huo about the anomaly of the white ape skin, but unfortunately, he had not found a good opportunity.

Yuan Ming shook his head and put away the incense burner before standing up and quickly leaving, climbing up a big tree nearby.

Although he did not transform into a white ape, he was faster at climbing trees than before. He quickly reached half of the tree and found a relatively flat place to sit cross-legged and recover his mana.A moment later, he took out the blood storage bag, activated his magic power to refine the blood, and the brown bear’s blood quickly decreased, soon turning into a clump of essence blood.

However, this clump of essence blood was a whole circle bigger than that of the green fox and wild boar, and the fluctuation of magic power contained within it was much stronger.

“It seems that this brown bear is very likely a mid-level first-grade fierce beast.” Yuan Ming clenched the blood storage bag.

After this battle, he finally had a preliminary understanding of the true strength of a mid-level first-grade fierce beast. Although it was powerful, it was not completely impossible to deal with.

He put away the blood storage bag, cast the Feather Cloak technique again to transform into a white ape, and continued to head deeper into the forest.

An hour later, a fairly wide stream appeared in front of him. The stream meandered out from a mountain ravine not far away, and the water was very clear, with a refreshing and moist atmosphere.

Having traveled for so long, Yuan Ming was a bit thirsty. He bent down to drink a few mouthfuls of the stream water and was about to continue on his way when he suddenly stopped and looked at the ground next to him.

There were a few green fruit shells scattered there, very fresh, obviously just peeled not long ago.

Yuan Ming recognized this fruit. It was sour and sweet, a rare delicious fruit in this forest, and he had eaten it a few times before.

It was quite common for a few fruit shells to fall in the forest. Many apes would also pick fruits to eat. However, the peeling of the fruit by apes wouldn’t be so intact, would it?