Yuan Ming transformed into a white ape and quickly moved his hands and feet a few times, with a look of confusion on his face.

He could feel that the connection and compatibility between himself and the animal skin had been strengthened, but the power of transformation had not increased.

While Yuan Ming was still puzzled, he suddenly felt a heat all over his body. A powerful demonic energy surged out from within the white ape skin, spreading out like a rushing stream and entering his body. Suddenly, a loud “bang” came from inside his body!

In the next moment, his body rapidly expanded like an inflated balloon. His muscles twitched and his bones made cracking sounds.

The change came quickly and went quickly, lasting only about two or three breaths.

The white ape form had increased by about ten percent, and his muscles had also grown larger. His hands turned into sharper ape claws.

Yuan Ming took a deep breath, feeling the stronger power that emerged from his whole body. He was quite excited.

This method he had accidentally discovered could actually enhance the power of the white ape skin transformation. If he had time, he would definitely study it further, as it was currently his greatest reliance in battle.

Yuan Ming released the fur technique, returned to the cave, and quickly came out again with a piece of black animal skin in his hand, which was the skin of the toad he had picked up.

Since the nurturing technique was effective for the white ape skin, it might also work for the toad animal skin.

He immediately transformed into the form of a toad using the fur technique and used the nurturing technique to infuse the heat flow from the incense burner into the toad skin.

As expected, the toad skin could also absorb the heat flow, but it could only accommodate five or six flows before stopping. No matter how hard Yuan Ming tried, there was no further response.

“It seems that the growth potential of animal skins varies. This toad skin is far inferior to the white ape skin,” Yuan Ming thought to himself.

After a few breaths, a powerful and cold demonic energy emerged from the toad animal skin, giving him a strange feeling all over his body.

Yuan Ming closed his eyes and carefully sensed it, a smile appearing on his face.

His current toad form did not increase in size significantly, but the strength of his limbs had improved, and the expansion of his lungs became more powerful and forceful. He could stay underwater for at least twice as long.

But what excited him was not these changes, but the awakening of a new ability in his toad transformation.

He crouched down, infused his mana into the black lump on his back, and the lumps started to wriggle and suddenly doubled in size.

Plop!

More than ten black liquids spurted out from the lump, shooting into a clump of bushes in front of him like arrows.

Sizzling…

The lush green leaves visibly rotted at a rapid speed, and the tough bark quickly cracked as if all the moisture had been sucked away by the black liquid.

In less than a moment, the lush and thriving bushes withered completely, leaving only a few sturdy branches, while the rest turned into rotten black mud.

“What a powerful venom. Let’s call it the Toad Poison Arrow,” Yuan Ming took a deep breath.

“On another note, what exactly is this heat flow that emerges from the incense burner? It has such an obvious nourishing effect on the animal souls,” Yuan Ming removed his transformation and gently touched the incense burner imprint on his arm, his thoughts spinning again.

The incense burner had previously allowed him to possess someone’s consciousness and even control their actions. Now it could enhance the animal soul contained in the fur to strengthen its power. It always amazed him and was clearly an extraordinary treasure. When he had the chance to leave this place, he would definitely study it carefully.

When Yuan Ming returned to the cave again, Ha Gong had stopped nurturing the animal skin and was lying on the hay bed, resting with the wolf skin placed aside.

Yuan Ming glanced at the wolf skin and sat down.

It was clear that the incense burner could enhance the animal skin, so it should definitely work on the wolf skin as well. Ha Gong was his friend, and they were currently in the same predicament. Should he help him strengthen this item?

However, for safety reasons, the secret of the incense burner could not be revealed. Even if he wanted to help Ha Gong, he couldn’t let him discover it.

Just at that moment, Yuan Ming suddenly stood up and listened intently, his expression quickly turning serious.

“Ha Gong, get up quickly!”

“What’s wrong?” Ha Gong, who was not yet fully asleep, sat up in surprise and grabbed the green wolf skin next to him.

“There are people coming, and there are quite a few of them!” Yuan Ming said in a deep voice.

“Are they enemies? Should we leave quickly?” Ha Gong was startled and quickly got up.

“There’s no time.” Yuan Ming shook his head, and his figure appeared at the entrance of the cave. He looked into the distance through a crack in the door.

More than a dozen figures had appeared in his line of sight, flying quickly and arriving at the entrance in a few breaths, surrounding the outside in a fan shape.

The newcomers clearly belonged to two different forces. The two leaders, one was a big man with black hair, disheveled and with three scars on his face, and the other was a short and fat man with green eyes and blond hair.

“It’s Wu Bao from the Qing Lang Gang and Jin Kun from the Lie Gou Hall! These two gangs have always been hostile to each other. How can they both appear at the same time?” Ha Gong also arrived at the entrance and was shocked when he saw the people outside.

Yuan Ming didn’t say anything, his expression somewhat uncertain.

He had certainly heard of the Lie Gou Hall, which was as famous as the Qing Lang Gang. If only the Qing Lang Gang had come, he believed he could escape unscathed. But if the Lie Gou Hall was also involved, the situation would become much more difficult, especially with both leaders appearing at the same time.

“Hehe, Wu Bao, I have to say, in this Hundred Thousand Mountains, there is no one that our Lie Gou Hall cannot find,” Jin Kun said with a smile, picking his teeth with a small animal bone.

Wu Bao looked at the cave in front of him, snorted, and formed hand seals with both hands. There was a sizzling sound in his palms, and a purple thunderball the size of a pigeon’s egg appeared out of thin air.

“Not good!” Yuan Ming’s pupils contracted, pulling Ha Gong back in a hurry.

Wu Bao waved his right hand in the air, and the thunderball disappeared in a flash.

In the next moment, a dazzling purple light flashed through the woods, and a purple lightning appeared out of thin air, tearing through the air and striking the large stone at the entrance.

Boom!

The stone, more than ten feet high, exploded with a loud noise, turning into countless pieces of rubble that flew in all directions, raising a large cloud of dust.

“I didn’t expect Wu Bao to actually master the Thunderfall Technique!” Yuan Ming thought, his expression changing.

The Thunderfall Technique, like the Wood Spike Technique, belonged to the category of spells. There were thousands of spells in the cultivation world, all ultimately falling into the categories of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, the five elements.

However, there were always exceptions in the world. Some people or beasts in the cultivation world had extraordinary talents or experienced major changes in their lives, allowing them to cultivate and control powers that did not belong to the five elements.

In such cases, the cultivation world referred to them as mutated spiritual roots.

There were many types of mutated spiritual roots, such as Thunder Spiritual Roots, Shadow Spiritual Roots, Poison Spiritual Roots, and so on. The quality of mutated spiritual roots was hard to determine. Positive mutations would make the spiritual roots stronger, while negative mutations could even harm the body.

Thunder Spiritual Roots belonged to positive mutations, and thunder attributes were known for their powerful destructive power. Moreover, thunder and lightning powers could be born naturally in the world, so Thunder Spiritual Roots were relatively common compared to other mutated spiritual roots. They could produce many thunder attribute spells and abilities. The Thunderfall Technique was one of the lower-level ones, but its power was far from comparable to the Wood Spike Technique and other elemental spells.

Wu Bao flicked his sleeve, and a faint green light flickered at his fingertips. A gust of wind suddenly appeared out of thin air, sweeping away the dust at the entrance.

The situation inside the cave became clear. Yuan Ming did not hide his presence and stood there confidently, while Ha Gong was nowhere to be seen.

Wu Bao frowned, as he had clearly seen two people in the cave when he arrived.

“Be careful, Wu Bao. There may be another person hiding in the dark. Yuan Ming is pretending like this, probably trying to lure us in. If we rashly take action, we’ll probably be attacked,” Zan Bai whispered.

Wu Bao nodded imperceptibly, making a gesture with his left hand behind his back.

The members of the Qing Lang Gang slowly changed their positions, surrounding the other side of the cave, while the members of the Lie Gou Hall blocked all the exits of the cave, making it impossible for anyone to escape.

Just at that moment, Zan Bai, who was hiding among the crowd, suddenly pulled out a crossbow with three green arrows on it and aimed it at Yuan Ming, pulling the trigger.

A piercing sound of breaking through the air rang out, and the arrows turned into three green shadows, heading straight for Yuan Ming’s chest.