"The Blood Qi Method is a secret art passed down by Jade Luo Cave. Without the sect's permission, you are forbidden from passing it on to others. Violators will be flayed and have their souls extracted. Remember this." After briefly mentioning several precautions for cultivation, Elder Huohuo abruptly changed his tone and warned them.
"Yes." The three men's expressions tightened as they answered in unison.
Elder Huohuo nodded, concealing the severity in his eyes. He took a jade vial from his robes, poured out three pale violet pills, and handed one to each of them.
"Take them."
Yuan Ming accepted the pill but did not swallow it, glancing at the other two from the corner of his eye.
"Elder Huohuo, what pill is this?" the tiger beast slave asked.
"The Heart Rot Pill, a secret medicine of Jade Luo Cave. After it is consumed, it will slowly invade the heart meridians. You must take the antidote at a fixed time every month to suppress its poison," Elder Huohuo said evenly.
The tiger beast slave and boar beast slave could not help changing expression upon hearing this.
Yuan Ming also frowned. Jade Luo Cave intended to use the Heart Rot Pill to control Furred Beast Slaves like them.
Yet when one stood beneath another's eaves, one had no choice but to bow one's head.
He did not dwell on it. Tilting back his head, he swallowed the pill. The Heart Rot Pill melted the instant it entered his stomach, and an icy sensation spread through his internal organs. It stopped when it neared his heart, as though a cold dagger were pressed against it, ready to stab down at any moment.
Though the other two looked rather grim, under Elder Huohuo's indifferent gaze, they too swallowed the Heart Rot Pills one after the other.
"You have passed the test and been taught the Blood Qi Method. You are now official Furred Beast Slaves of Jade Luo Cave. From now on, bring five portions of fierce beast essence blood here each month, and you will be given the antidote to the Heart Rot Pill." Elder Huohuo seemed quite satisfied with their attitudes.
"May I ask, Elder, what is a fierce beast?" Yuan Ming asked.
"Fierce beasts are wild animals capable of absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Their fighting strength surpasses that of the beasts you hunted before. Ten li south of here lies a gorge. Fierce beasts roam the forest on the far side of that gorge. Of course, that is assuming you cultivate the Blood Qi Method successfully. Otherwise, I fear you will go and never return." Elder Huohuo glanced southward as he spoke.
Yuan Ming said nothing, but his expression was grave.
The Blood Qi Method had sounded profound and obscure from the start. He had not yet had the chance to carefully ponder and comprehend it, but he knew that mastering it would be no easy task.
And even if he did master the Blood Qi Method and could use the Fur Transformation Technique, he would merely return to his previous level of fighting strength.
When he had hunted that black bear before, he had only barely succeeded after narrowly escaping death nine times over. Hunting fiercer beasts would be even more out of the question.
A shadow passed through the depths of Yuan Ming's eyes. In Elder Huohuo's eyes—or rather, in Jade Luo Cave's eyes—the lives and deaths of Furred Beast Slaves with poor aptitude like them were unimportant. What mattered was whether they could be used.
The other two soon understood the stakes as well, and their expressions grew even uglier.
"Remember, if you perform well, your future is boundless. I hope you will conduct yourselves properly." Elder Huohuo had seen who knew how many Furred Beast Slaves and saw through the thoughts in all three men's hearts at a glance. Yet he could not be bothered with them. As he spoke, he lightly patted his waist.
That enormous gray hawk soared into the air again, carrying him skyward. The airflow within a radius of more than ten zhang surged violently, as if a hurricane had risen, making the surrounding trees sway and their leaves flutter.
The three men were blown into a staggering mess and only managed to steady themselves with difficulty.
Yet after being tossed about like that, the heavy mood weighing on Yuan Ming and the others was dispersed somewhat.
That gray hawk's bearing far surpasses that of ordinary beasts. It is probably a kind of fierce beast, isn't it? To have been tamed to such an extent... Jade Luo Cave's foundations truly run deep. Yuan Ming secretly guessed, though without realizing it, he had gained a little more yearning for Jade Luo Cave.
"Gentlemen, the three of us gathered here today by fate. Why not get acquainted? I am Wulu," the tiger furred beast slave said with cupped hands.
"Yuan Ming." Yuan Ming picked up the White Ape Beast Hide and returned the salute.
"Just call me Lage," the boar beast slave said, also giving his name.
"So it is Brother Yuan Ming and Brother Lage. You have both personally experienced the danger of the beasts in this place. The task Elder Huohuo just assigned has almost no hope of being completed by one person alone. Elder Huohuo did not explicitly state that we must act separately. How about the three of us join forces?" Wulu said, giving Yuan Ming an extra glance.
"Good idea! With the three of us working together, we will have a great chance of hunting fierce beasts!" Lage's eyes lit up, and he immediately agreed.
"We can discuss hunting fierce beasts later. Right now, what matters most is finding a safe place to cultivate the Blood Qi Method. We have all had our Fur Transformation Techniques removed. Against those beasts, we stand no chance at all. It will be safer to travel together," Wulu proposed.
"Brother Wulu sees far ahead. We truly should find a safe place first." Lage was briefly startled before replying.
"Brother Yuan Ming, what do you think?" Wulu smiled and looked at Yuan Ming.
"My apologies. Yuan has always been accustomed to acting alone." Yuan Ming fell silent for a moment, then shook his head. Without waiting for the two to speak again, he turned and left.
He had already prepared a safe place to shelter, and he did not trust Wulu and Lage, whom he had only just met, in the slightest. Staying with them would likely leave him worrying day and night. Since that was the case, he might as well act alone.
"They say people of the Central Plains have always fancied themselves the Celestial Dynasty, arrogant as the king of Yelang. It seems the rumors are true. Still, being able to pass the test with that White Ape Beast Hide that had barely any power does show some skill," Lage said with a curl of his lip.
"Forget it. Every man has his own aspirations; there is no need to force him. Brother Lage, let us go. While hunting beasts these past two days, I found a safe place. If the two of us work together, I believe we can make something of ourselves." Wulu picked up his beast hide and headed in another direction with Lage.
Yuan Ming wrapped the ape hide around his waist, then smeared mud all over his body to conceal his scent. Carefully, he made his way toward the cave where he had previously sheltered, immediately hiding at the slightest rustle of wind or movement of grass.
Without the Fur Transformation Technique to aid him and without any handy weapon, relying only on a few spear and staff techniques, he was no match for the beasts of this place.
Fortunately, his luck was not bad. Though he encountered beasts several times along the way, he hid and avoided them in time. It was a close call but no real danger, and he arrived safely at the cave.
He hauled several large rocks over with all his strength and blocked the entrance. The inside of the cave fell dim, with only a few faint rays of light shining through the cracks.
Only then did the taut string in Yuan Ming's heart loosen slightly. After roughly cleaning the mud from his body, he closed his eyes, carefully recalled the Blood Qi Method's incantation in his mind, and began trying to comprehend and cultivate it.
First, following Elder Huohuo's instructions, he bent his legs and sat cross-legged, assuming a posture with the five centers facing heaven. Then he silently recited the incantation in his heart.
"Fire lies in the earth's lungs, entering from the hidden spring, rising into the abdomen, blazing bright as a torch..."
As he recited it, Yuan Ming felt a warmth suddenly rise from the ground beneath him. It traveled upward from below his tailbone, circled through various parts of his body, then slowly returned to settle in his lower abdomen.
Joy rose in his heart. Just as he was about to follow the instructions and stabilize that current of heat in his abdomen, the warmth suddenly vanished in the next instant, leaving not the slightest unusual sensation behind.
"Eh, what is going on?"
Yuan Ming frowned in thought. He found no error in his movements, nor any problem with his recitation of the incantation, so he tried again.
Yet this time, the result was no different. He could still only sense a faint current of heat in his lower abdomen, unable to stabilize it. He could only watch helplessly as it gathered, then dispersed, vanishing without a trace.
According to Elder Huohuo's previous explanation, after completing one cycle of the Greater Celestial Circuit, under normal circumstances, one should be able to retain that current of heat in the dantian, making it like a charcoal brazier that heated the qi and blood throughout the body, rendering it active and vigorous and gradually nourishing it into strength. This would be a long process, dependent on one's comprehension and aptitude.
Once one's qi and blood became sufficiently strong, cultivation would bring a sensation of one's hair standing outward. At that point, the pores across the body would open wide, allowing one to further attempt to sense and absorb the ethereal spiritual energy contained between heaven and earth.
Once spiritual energy entered the body through the pores and was transformed through the dantian, it could become one's own magical power and be stored away. Once enough had accumulated, one could use the Furring Technique to activate the beast hide, merging it with one's flesh and blood. One could then transform into a half-human, half-beast form and possess strength far beyond the ordinary.
Yet Yuan Ming awkwardly discovered that he had already been stopped at the very first step of cultivation.
Afterward, he tried several more times in succession, but every attempt ended in failure.
Yuan Ming was not discouraged by this. He had long expected cultivation of the Blood Qi Method to be difficult. If he could not succeed today, then he would continue feeling his way forward tomorrow. He believed that he would eventually succeed.
"Grrr..."
At that moment, a rumble came from his lower abdomen. He was hungry.
Rubbing his empty stomach, Yuan Ming rose and cut off a piece of black bear meat to eat. After taking two sips of water, he continued cultivating the Blood Qi Method.
Cultivation knew no years, and in the blink of an eye, half a month passed.
Inside the cave, Yuan Ming sat cross-legged with the five centers facing heaven.
The spiritual energy of heaven and earth slowly gathered, circulated once along the route of the Blood Qi Method, and sank toward his dantian.
The previous problem remained. The spiritual energy he had painstakingly gathered rapidly leaked away. In an instant, ninety-nine percent of it dispersed, and only a nearly imperceptible wisp entered his dantian and transformed into magical power.
"Still the same. It seems my aptitude is truly lacking." Yuan Ming opened his eyes, his expression somewhat grave.
After half a month of bitter cultivation, he had finally made a little progress, breaking through the bottleneck that had prevented spiritual energy from entering his dantian and drawing the spiritual energy he absorbed into it.
However, the leakage of spiritual energy was still extremely severe. Almost less than one part in a hundred remained. After half a month of bitter cultivation, only a thread of magical power had accumulated in his dantian. He was still far from being able to use the Fur Transformation Technique. At his current cultivation speed, it would take at least half a year to accumulate enough magical power.
Yuan Ming could not help shaking his head with a bitter smile. Let alone half a year, after one month, he would likely die from the poison's onset.
Could it be that the Blood Qi Method was inherently better suited for people of the southern frontier to cultivate, while his body as a man from the Central Plains was suffering from poor adaptation to the local conditions?
He could not help making such a guess.
More troublesome still, the food and water inside the cave had nearly run out. He could no longer cultivate so peacefully. But if he went out to hunt for food, with his current flesh-and-blood body, should he encounter another black bear or green wolf, it would be certain death with no chance of survival.
"Am I truly going to be trapped here until I die? No, I still have time. I cannot give up!" Yuan Ming gritted his teeth, bent his legs into the posture with the five centers facing heaven, and prepared to continue his bitter cultivation.
At present, aside from continuing to cultivate, he seemed to have no other option. Stopping meant only a dead end, while continuing to try might still leave him a sliver of hope.
Yet after another half day and more than a dozen cycles of the Greater Celestial Circuit, the thread of magical power in his dantian had barely moved at all.
"Give me magical power... I want to return to the Central Plains!" A nameless rage surged up in Yuan Ming's heart, and his fierce obsession only grew stronger rather than weakening.
In the next instant, his vision abruptly went black, and he nearly fainted.
At the same time, his right arm suddenly grew faintly warm, as though a scorching current of air had seeped into it, only to vanish immediately.
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