Blood Qi Method

Under Yuan Ming's watchful gaze, the black fleshy tumor suddenly began to writhe rapidly. Strands of black threads split from its surface, stretching longer and longer as they probed toward Yuan Ming's chest.

Yuan Ming's eyes flew wide. He would rather die than be parasitized by this ghostly thing and be left wishing he were dead.

As he struggled, he realized that although his arms were still bound, his wrists could move. He immediately twisted his wrist and flung it upward.

The White Bone Dagger he had been clutching all along rose into the air and came before his eyes.

Without the slightest hesitation, Yuan Ming threw all the strength in his body into a headbutt.

The White Bone Dagger shot out like a javelin from the blow, piercing in at the very instant before the black bear's ribs closed.

"Roar..."

The black bear let out an enraged roar. Its closing ribs stiffened, and the black threads stretching toward Yuan Ming slowly recoiled.

Then, the black bear's chest cavity slowly opened once more. The bone dagger carrying Yuan Ming's final hope was lodged in the black bear's heart, merely a hair's breadth from the black fleshy tumor—yet it had ultimately missed.

The black bear's heart still contracted, beat after beat, while the black threads went mad and surged toward Yuan Ming's chest in a swarm.

Yuan Ming stared fixedly, his expression taut to the extreme.

Just before the black threads could touch his skin, the black bear's beating heart abruptly stopped. As if it had seen a ghost, the black fleshy tumor writhed frantically, trying to break free from the black bear's heart.

The black threads extending toward Yuan Ming instantly lost all strength and drifted limply downward.

"Wonderful, I made it in time." Yuan Ming was so excited that tears nearly spilled from his eyes.

At the final juncture between life and death, the poisonous fruits he had eaten yesterday had saved his life.

Before setting the trap, Yuan Ming had mashed all those fruits and smeared their juice over every bone spike and the tips of both daggers.

Earlier, he had likely only pierced the black bear's body, so the poison had not affected the parasite. This time, however, it had acted directly on the heart. The black fleshy tumor had also been struck by the poison and lost its strength.

The vines wrapped around Yuan Ming immediately fell away one after another. The strange giant flower on the black bear withered as well, turning to dust at a visible speed. Yuan Ming and the black bear's body fell to the ground almost simultaneously.

The black fleshy tumor parasitizing the black bear's heart finally detached and dropped to one side. Its color rapidly faded, and before long, it became grayish white. It looked no different from an ordinary stone.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming did not dare delay in the slightest. He hurriedly crawled to his feet and went to the black bear's remains.

Before the black bear's body stiffened, he quickly removed the beast-hide pouch from himself, sliced open the black bear's neck with the bone dagger, and began collecting its remaining blood.

After fussing over it for quite a while, he had drained all the black bear's blood, yet gathered only half a pouch.

"Beasts vary in size, and their blood amounts differ. That person never said it had to be filled completely. This should be enough." Yuan Ming sealed the pouch, lifted it, gave it a shake, and muttered to himself.

With that, he slung the pouch back over himself. He glanced at the bear carcass beside him, and his stomach growled again.

Faced with such a large piece of beast meat, Yuan Ming was reluctant to throw it away. Yet whenever he thought of it having been parasitized, he felt uneasy.

But that uneasiness could not ultimately overcome the hunger in his belly.

To be safe, Yuan Ming did not eat the black bear's meat raw this time. Instead, he gathered a pile of branches and dead leaves, imitated the ancients by drilling wood for fire, and after great difficulty started a fire and roasted the bear meat.

While the meat roasted, Yuan Ming went over to the parasitic tumor. Seeing that it had become a fist-sized grayish-brown stone that appeared utterly lifeless, he still could not resist poking it with the bone dagger.

To his surprise, he found the stone exceptionally hard, completely unlike the black fleshy tumor it had been before.

Yuan Ming's interest was immediately piqued.

He waved his hand over the stone. Seeing no response at all, he reached closer with his hand, only to find that there was still no movement whatsoever.

"Looks like it's completely dead."

Just as Yuan Ming was about to give up, a drop of beast blood suddenly fell from the beast-hide pouch at his waist. With a drip, it landed on the grayish-brown stone.

The corpse, which had shown no trace of life, suddenly swelled. Its surface reanimated into the appearance of the black fleshy tumor once more.

Yet very quickly, the power in that drop of blood was exhausted. The black fleshy tumor shriveled again and returned to being a stone.

"This little thing is actually rather interesting." Yuan Ming could not help feeling astonished.

He found several leaves, wrapped the stone in them, and set it aside.

Only once the bear meat had roasted black and released a rich meaty aroma did Yuan Ming tear off a piece and begin gnawing on it.

This meal was the most satisfying one Yuan Ming had eaten in days. Yet what puzzled him was that although the cooked beast meat filled his stomach, it did not give him the same feeling of blood qi being replenished as when he had gnawed bones yesterday.

Could it be that the black bear's blood was drained, leaving its blood qi badly depleted? Or did it only work when eaten raw? Yuan Ming wondered inwardly.

He raised his head and looked at the sky. Seeing that the sun had already passed its zenith and was slanting westward, he delayed no longer. He took the uneaten beast meat and the parasitic stone with him, placing them in the earthen hole where he had previously hidden.

Only then did he follow the route he remembered toward the giant stone boundary marker.

By evening, Yuan Ming had finally returned to the giant stone boundary marker. Yet Elder Huohuo was nowhere to be seen. Only a striped tiger lay sprawled beside the stone with its back to him.

Hearing Yuan Ming return, the tiger suddenly turned around. It then sat upright in a human-like posture and looked toward him.

Yuan Ming looked back at him. Neither spoke, nor did either make any unnecessary move. They merely kept a considerable distance between them and watched one another warily.

Just then, a rumbling sound of galloping arose.

A brown-black wild boar suddenly burst from the dense forest, charging wildly in their direction.

Yuan Ming immediately tightened his grip on the White Bone Dagger and went on guard. The tiger likewise turned its head, its tiger eyes widening.

The wild boar was covered in wounds, and its pair of tusks were smeared with blood. Yet the beast-hide pouch hanging from its body appeared bulging and full.

When it neared, it also spotted Yuan Ming and the tiger. Its speed quickly slowed, and it finally stopped some distance away.

The three half-human, half-beast figures formed horns of a tripod around the giant stone boundary marker, each guarding against and observing the others.

They waited for a long time, but no other figures appeared.

Only when the sun was about to set did the enormous hawk arrive with a beat of its wings, Elder Huohuo standing atop its back.

After landing, Elder Huohuo patted the pouch at his waist. A streak of azure light immediately flew out, enveloped the imposing giant hawk, then swept backward into the pouch and vanished.

Even seeing it for the second time, Yuan Ming still found the sight exceptionally magical.

"Give me the blood-storage pouches." Elder Huohuo swept his gaze over Yuan Ming and the other two as he spoke.

The three understood and promptly removed their beast-hide pouches, handing them over.

Elder Huohuo opened them one by one, brought them to his nose, and carefully inspected them.

When he saw that Yuan Ming's pouch was only half full, he said nothing. But after opening it and taking a sniff, he could not help frowning.

"The black bear you killed was parasitized by a Blood Soul Vine?" Elder Huohuo looked at Yuan Ming and asked.

"What Blood Soul Vine?" Yuan Ming looked blank when he heard this.

Elder Huohuo furrowed his brow but said nothing further. With a wave of his hand, he put away all the blood-storage pouches.

"Not bad. Three of you passed the test." Elder Huohuo nodded, then flicked his finger.

Three threadlike streaks of white light shot from his fingertips and landed on the chests of Yuan Ming and the other two. They flashed and vanished into their bodies.

Before Yuan Ming could react, he felt a warmth in his chest. Then the White Ape Beast Hide on his body softened. The rootlike blood-red patterns along the inner layer of the hide were forcibly pulled from his body, tugging at his muscles and organs.

Yuan Ming's face twisted. Agonizing pain surged through his entire body, as though his whole human skin were being flayed alive. It was far more painful than when he had first put on the ape hide.

His whole body trembled uncontrollably. Unable to help himself, his knees buckled and he dropped to the ground, bracing himself with both arms against the earth. Yet he clenched his teeth and did not make a sound.

The other two were in much the same state. They lacked Yuan Ming's endurance, however, and collapsed on the ground trembling, crying out miserably.

Fortunately, the process did not last long. After a few breaths, the beast hides on all three of them completely came off and fell to the ground.

Yet Yuan Ming and the other two felt as though they had endured several hours. They sat on the ground, drained of strength, their skin flushed red all over and their clothes riddled with holes.

The three sprawled on the ground and gasped deeply. Only after quite some time did they barely recover, their gazes toward the beast hides extremely complicated.

After putting on the beast hides, their strength had increased greatly, but the pain they had just suffered was truly terrible.

"When another person performs the Fur Transformation Technique, you must endure considerable pain. But once you cultivate magical power and perform it yourselves, it will be much better." Elder Huohuo's voice broke the three from their thoughts.

"Really?" All three brightened at once.

"Whether it is true or false, won't you know after trying it? Next, I will teach you the Blood Qi Method. Listen carefully!" Elder Huohuo said impatiently.

The three hurriedly sat properly and listened with focused attention.

"The so-called Blood Qi Method is a cultivation art that strengthens one's blood qi by meditating and refining qi. Once you enter its gate, you will truly step onto the immortal cultivation path that all envy, becoming a Qi Refining Stage cultivator. Once you accumulate a certain amount of magical power, you can perform the Fur Transformation Technique. The incantation is as follows: Fire lies in the earth's lung, entering from the hidden spring; it rises into the abdomen, blazing bright as a torch..." Elder Huohuo said slowly.

The full Blood Qi Method incantation contained two or three hundred characters. Its contents were rather convoluted and difficult to understand, yet Yuan Ming discovered that after hearing it once, he had effortlessly memorized every word without error.

My memory is actually this good? He was quite surprised, but even more delighted.

The other two kept scratching at their ears and cheeks, their faces full of anxiety. Clearly, they had not remembered it.

"Elder Huohuo, could you say it once more?" After hesitating for a moment, the wild boar furred beast slave pleaded.

"I will only recite it one final time." Elder Huohuo gave him an indifferent glance and recited the Blood Qi Method incantation again.

The two hurriedly committed it to memory. This time, they finally managed to remember it, albeit barely.