Yuan Ming immediately realized that something was wrong. With a thought, his divine soul flew towards the direction of the room, trying to return to his physical body.

But at this moment, a gust of night wind blew again, blowing Yuan Ming’s divine soul out once more.

This time, his divine soul drifted even further, already reaching a distance of seven or eight zhang. The bone-chilling cold sensation became even stronger, and Yuan Ming felt even more fearful.

He tried to return to his physical body with his thoughts, but this time he was shocked to find that the connection between his thoughts and his physical body had become extremely weak. His divine soul couldn’t return.

After realizing this, Yuan Ming was immediately alarmed. He frantically waved his hands in the air, trying to go back.

However, this action did not have the slightest effect on his divine soul. It was as if a drowning person desperately trying to save themselves but being unable to do so.

A breeze brushed past, causing his divine soul to drift further away.

To Yuan Ming’s even greater horror, he suddenly discovered that as the connection between himself and his physical body weakened further, his divine soul was gradually becoming fainter, and his soul seemed to be on the verge of dispersing.

Just then, a gentle force suddenly surged from the direction of the room, enveloping his divine soul and halting its dispersal.

In the next instant, he felt his divine soul being pulled by this force. After a moment of dizziness, his vision instantly returned to his physical body.

Yuan Ming suddenly opened his eyes, gasping for breath, his hands clutching his shoulders. His body trembled, and he still felt the lingering cold sensation.

“It seems that your divine soul can only leave your body for a maximum of seven zhang. If it goes any further, it will lose control and there is a danger of dispersing.” The voice of the silver cat sounded in his sea of consciousness, without any emotional fluctuations.

“I almost had a soul-scattering experience just now, and you were only testing the distance my divine soul can leave my body?” Yuan Ming was instantly annoyed.

“Understanding the state of your divine soul is the most basic cultivation for a soul cultivator.” The silver cat didn’t care at all.

At this moment, Yuan Ming had no time to argue with the other party. He closed his eyes and calmed himself, practicing the Death Moon method for a moment before the cold sensation finally disappeared.

When he opened his eyes again, he found that the silver cat was still squatting on the table, not only did it not leave, but its form and posture hadn’t changed at all.

“Do you… have something to find me?” Yuan Ming had already calmed down and asked.

Without any action from the silver cat, a flash of silver light suddenly appeared in front of it, and a brown animal skin floated up and landed in front of Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming picked it up and saw a few names written in Central Plains characters: “Ghost Face Grass, Purple Core Pollen, Black Scale Fruit, Yin Marrow Fluid.”

Yuan Ming was familiar with Ghost Face Grass and Purple Core Pollen. He had seen them in the Hundred Herbs Collection before and had even collected some Ghost Face Flowers to sell to Zhao Tong. He had never seen the latter two, but they should be some kind of spiritual materials.

“What is this again?” Yuan Ming frowned and asked.

“I’ll tell you when you collect them.” The silver cat finished speaking and didn’t wait for Yuan Ming to respond. It turned around on its own and disappeared into the hazy night.

Yuan Ming opened his mouth, feeling speechless about the silver cat’s personality, but he could do nothing about it. He forcefully suppressed his doubts and complaints.

After resting for a while, he once again practiced the Death Moon method, trying to experience the feeling of his divine soul leaving his body.

But this time, he learned his lesson and didn’t let his divine soul fly out of the house. Instead, he stayed inside his own room, not going beyond the limit of seven zhang, carefully experiencing this special sensation.

Speaking of which, understanding the limit of his divine soul leaving his body seemed… quite important.

…

The next day, Yuan Ming arrived early at the Embryo Refining Hall.

Fang Ge stood by the side, guiding him with more embryo refining techniques and how to forge suitable shapes.

He had thought that Yuan Ming, who seemed to have average talent, would have a hard time making progress, but now he was becoming more and more satisfied with his progress.

Yuan Ming also lived up to his expectations and became more skilled in the art of embryo refining.

After having lunch in the dining hall, Yuan Ming left the Refining Hall and headed straight to the Repository Pavilion.

During this period of time, in addition to practicing the Death Moon method, he had also made considerable progress in mastering the art of beast taming. Now, he only lacked an opportunity for practical training.

Usually, disciples of the Beast Taming Hall would undergo practical assessments by taming the spiritual beasts bred in the beast garden within the sect. As a disciple of the Embryo Refining Hall, Yuan Ming naturally didn’t have this opportunity.

Of course, if he was willing to spend money to buy spiritual beasts, he could also buy tamed spiritual beasts from the Beast Taming Hall. These spiritual beasts only needed to be controlled by beast-taming talismans and could be easily controlled.

But Yuan Ming didn’t want to spend the money, and he wanted to master the art of beast taming himself, so he naturally wouldn’t buy them.

His plan was to personally capture a spiritual beast in the wild and tame it himself.

The difference between spiritual beasts and fierce beasts was only one word, but in essence, they were the same. The tamed fierce beasts were also a type of spiritual beast.

Capturing spiritual beasts and hunting fierce beasts seemed similar, but the actual difficulty was worlds apart. For this reason, Yuan Ming planned to learn one or two techniques from the Repository Pavilion to increase his chances of success.

The night before, he had asked about the technique of concealing his aura from the silver cat, which was also for this purpose.

Capturing spiritual beasts, especially if he wanted to capture them alive, would be much more convenient if he could conceal his presence.

Arriving at the Repository Pavilion, Yuan Ming went straight to the second floor.

After seeing the middle-aged steward, Yuan Ming went straight to the point and asked, “Elder, I want to borrow a technique that can conceal my presence. Can you recommend one or two?”

“Oh, it’s you…” The middle-aged steward raised an eyebrow slightly when he saw Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming had previously come to borrow the “Drive Away Technique,” so the steward still had some impression of him.

It wasn’t because of his slightly Central Plains appearance, but because he had borrowed the book for three hours but only read it for half an hour before leaving.

Since he took over as the steward of the second floor of the Repository Pavilion, he had never seen a disciple who treated money so lightly.

“Do you know me?” Yuan Ming looked surprised.”Cough, it’s nothing. You want to borrow a technique that can conceal your figure. Currently, we only have two suitable concealment techniques for Qi Refining cultivators in our Gui Cang Pavilion, namely Yuan Shui Technique and Mu Yin Technique. Which one do you want to borrow?” The middle-aged steward coughed lightly and waved his hand as he spoke.

“What’s the difference?” Yuan Ming asked.

“The Yuan Shui Technique is a water attribute technique. It works best in environments with abundant water vapor, especially waterfalls, rivers, lakes, etc. As for the Mu Yin Technique, it naturally works best in forests. It mainly depends on your spiritual root attribute and personal needs.” The middle-aged steward explained.

“Mu Yin Technique.” Yuan Ming didn’t hesitate, took off his waist tag, and placed it on the table.

“Ten contribution points.” The middle-aged steward glanced at him.

“No rush, I also heard about a wood attribute technique that Qi Refining disciples can learn, called ‘Mu Lao Technique’. I want to exchange for that too.” Yuan Ming spoke up.

“Yes, that’s fifteen contribution points.” The middle-aged steward nodded.

“I want both, thank you.” Yuan Ming said.

“You want to exchange for two techniques at the same time?” The middle-aged steward was surprised.

Usually, disciples only exchange for one technique at a time, as they can’t memorize everything at once and need to come back multiple times. He had never seen anyone exchange for two techniques at once. After all, memorizing and comprehending a technique consumes a lot of mental energy. How could one possibly remember two at once?

“That’s right.” Yuan Ming nodded.

“Wait a moment.” The middle-aged steward frowned but didn’t say anything else. He picked up the waist tag, got up, and walked into the room behind him.

Soon, he returned with two thin, green books.

“You can only read these books on the second floor, and you can’t take them out. For two books… you have six hours.” The middle-aged steward placed the waist tag and books on the table, reminding him as he did last time.

After thanking him, Yuan Ming took his waist tag and the two books, ‘Mu Lao Technique’ and ‘Mu Yin Technique’, and found a quiet place to sit down and start reading.

He continued at his own pace, flipping through the pages one by one, neither too fast nor too slow.

The Mu Yin Technique didn’t have many mantras, and the difficulty of the technique didn’t seem too high. The limitations of its effects were also very clear.

It could only be used in places with trees. The more lush the forest, the more spiritual energy it could draw from, and the better the concealment effect. It was indeed very suitable for Yuan Ming’s needs.

The ‘Nine Yuan Jue’ he was practicing was a wood attribute technique, so he had a natural advantage in learning the Mu Yin Technique.

About half an hour later, Yuan Ming put down the ‘Mu Yin Technique’, closed his eyes as if to rest, and after a while, he picked up the ‘Mu Lao Technique’ and started reading carefully.

The middle-aged steward couldn’t help but glance at him from time to time.

After about another half an hour, Yuan Ming got up and returned to the steward’s desk.

“Do you want to return the books?” The middle-aged steward asked, somewhat puzzled.

“Yes.” Yuan Ming nodded.

With that, he placed both books on the desk.

He had returned them all in less than an hour and a half?

“Young friend, don’t blame me for being nosy, but it’s not easy to accumulate contribution points in the sect, and the opportunity to learn techniques is even more precious. You should cherish it.” The middle-aged steward advised earnestly.

“Thank you for your kindness, elder. I have finished reading. Also, I want to ask, besides the books about spiritual medicine and materials on the first floor, are there any other materials on this topic on the second floor? I want to look it up.” Yuan Ming bowed to him and asked.

After pondering for a while, the middle-aged steward said, “There are some notes from the elders. If you need them, each volume only requires about three contribution points to read.”

“Thank you.” Yuan Ming quickly nodded.

“In that case, I suggest you read the Second Cave Master’s herb gathering notes. The content is the richest, and it only requires five contribution points.” The middle-aged steward suggested.

Without hesitation, Yuan Ming handed over his waist tag again.

(Dear Daoist friends, the prequel has been updated four times, detailing some experiences of the protagonist before he lost his memory. When you go to read it, don’t forget to vote for the immortal ^^)

(End of the chapter)