That Settles It

Yuan Ming felt searing pain shoot from his shoulder, but his hands did not pause in the slightest. His body spun like a top, and his right leg whipped out like a battle axe, kicking viciously into Green Fox's waist with a sharp rush of wind.

Bang!

Green Fox was sent flying, crashing heavily into a large tree behind him before tumbling to the ground.

The fox quickly flipped back onto his feet. The spot on his waist that had been kicked seemed uninjured, but several wounds on his body that had not yet healed began seeping blood again.

Perhaps due to excessive blood loss, Green Fox's steps were slightly unsteady. His ghostly green eyes stared fixedly at Yuan Ming, who met his gaze without the slightest show of weakness. At the same time, Yuan Ming clenched both fists and let out several low growls.

After several breaths, Green Fox suddenly turned and ran into the distance, vanishing into the forest in the blink of an eye.

Yuan Ming let out a long breath, and the tension on his face eased slightly. He vigorously shook his somewhat swollen and aching right leg.

This Green Fox's strength had far exceeded his expectations, and his physical body was exceptionally tough. If he had not already suffered serious injuries while fighting that yellow armadillo, Yuan Ming could never have succeeded.

Even so, Yuan Ming had not truly been certain that he could handle the second Green Fox. If the other party had truly fought him to the death, victory or defeat would still have been anyone's guess.

Of course, Yuan Ming had indeed prepared himself to fight to the bitter end. He had no intention of giving up the Green Fox corpse already in his grasp.

As the saying went, when narrow roads met, the brave won. In the end, it was that Green Fox who had lost his nerve and fled.

Yuan Ming roughly treated the claw wound on his shoulder and stopped the bleeding before hanging the Green Fox corpse from a nearby small tree. He took out a bone knife and slit its throat.

Crimson fox blood surged out, and he caught it with the beast-hide blood-storage pouch. Before long, it had filled more than half the pouch, yet fox blood continued to flow.

"Going by this rate, the blood from one Green Fox will fill this whole hide pouch. How am I supposed to hunt other fierce beasts?" Yuan Ming muttered, a trace of doubt appearing in his eyes.

Given Elder Huohuo's status and experience, it was impossible that he had not considered this issue.

"Could there be something special about this hide pouch?" Yuan Ming's gaze shifted to the strange blood-red patterns on its surface, and a thought suddenly surfaced in his mind.

He extended one or two fingers and pressed them against the blood-red patterns, circulating the spiritual power in his dantian through those fingers and slowly injecting it into the patterns.

The patterns immediately became even more crimson. A faint halo of bloody light lit up around the entire pouch, like the glow of sunset clouds. The fox blood inside the pouch also began to slosh and flow, as though an invisible hand were stirring it.

To Yuan Ming's astonishment, the more than half-full pouch of fox blood visibly diminished at a speed discernible to the naked eye. In only a few breaths, more than half of the fox blood had disappeared.

The remaining fox blood looked even brighter, and the bloody stench it emitted became far richer.

"This pouch truly is no ordinary item. Is it refining and purifying the beast blood stored inside?" Yuan Ming's face lit up with delight as he continued circulating his spiritual power and carefully feeding it into the hide pouch.

At that moment, a soft pop suddenly sounded within the pouch, as though the spiritual power he had injected had broken through some barrier. Threads of white light appeared on the pouch's surface, forming a white ring of light that continuously revolved.

A fairly powerful suction force surged from the white ring, enveloping the wound on Green Fox's neck.

Whoosh!

A large amount of fox blood sprayed out, yet not a single drop fell outside. Every last bit entered the hide pouch.

"This pouch can actually collect beast blood on its own?" Yuan Ming's eyes widened slightly before quickly returning to calm.

It was not strange for a blood-storage hide pouch to possess the ability to collect beast blood. If one hung a fierce beast's corpse from a tree, not only would gathering the blood be terribly inefficient, but a moment of carelessness could also result in massive waste. Since Jade Luo Cave, as a sect, needed this kind of beast blood, there was no way it had failed to consider this issue.

It was only that Elder Huohuo, whether deliberately or unintentionally, had not mentioned it from beginning to end.

As Green Fox's blood was drained dry, the refinement within the hide pouch also came to an end. All the fox blood condensed into a small, crystalline blood mass the size of a fist, quietly suspended inside the pouch.

Though very faint, threads of spiritual power fluctuations emanated from within the crystalline blood mass.

"It seems my guess was right. This Green Fox truly is a fierce beast capable of absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to strengthen itself." Yuan Ming reached his conclusion and did not linger. He grabbed the Green Fox corpse and retreated toward the gorge, soon reaching its edge.

At that moment, dense running footsteps came from behind him, mixed with heavy panting.

Yuan Ming leaped onto a large tree and looked back, his pupils suddenly contracting.

More than a dozen Green Fox fierce beasts were running toward him, now less than twenty zhang away.

"Damn it, these Green Foxes are actually pack-dwelling fierce beasts!" Yuan Ming hurriedly descended from the tree and leaped into the gorge, his figure swiftly swallowed by the dense fog.

Several breaths later, the pack of Green Foxes chased him to the edge of the gorge. They howled incessantly at the mist-shrouded ravine, but not one dared set foot within it, as though they were wary of something.

Amid the rolling fog, Yuan Ming did not slow his pace. He ran toward the opposite bank at full speed and soon reached the stone wall there.

After running at full speed for so long while carrying a Green Fox corpse, even though he had used the Fur Transformation Technique, he was exhausted enough that he had no choice but to stop and catch his breath.

Fortunately, the fog behind him remained deathly quiet. Those Green Foxes had not pursued him.

Yuan Ming found this somewhat strange, but did not investigate further. After recovering a little strength, he carried the Green Fox corpse on his back and climbed upward, quickly reaching the top.

Those Green Foxes still lingered on the opposite side. Seeing Yuan Ming from afar, along with the Green Fox corpse on his back, they began roaring one after another again, but still did not dare enter the gorge.

"It seems these Green Foxes do not dare enter the gorge. I wonder whether they fear the fog here, or whether Jade Luo Cave has used some kind of method in this valley to make them afraid to do so?" Yuan Ming secretly guessed.

If his latter guess was correct, then this gorge would be extremely useful. If he encountered powerful fierce beasts in the future, he would only need to hide inside it.

After standing silently for a while, Yuan Ming turned and walked into the forest, his figure soon disappearing.

The Green Fox pack on the other side of the gorge remained gathered by its edge for a while longer before finally dispersing unwillingly.

Half an hour later, Yuan Ming returned to the earthen cave with the Green Fox corpse. There was now an extra cloth bundle in his hand, containing several plants.

He could not remember the names of these plants. He had merely seen them on the road earlier and, for some reason, recalled that they could stop bleeding and promote the growth of flesh, so he had picked them and brought them back.

It seems I knew a little about medicine in the past as well. He silently removed the Fur Transformation Technique, revealing the wound on his shoulder.

After being covered by ape fur for so long, the wound was no longer bleeding much.

Yuan Ming crushed the several plants, mixed them with water into a paste, and applied it to the wound.

A cool sensation immediately spread through the wound. The pain diminished greatly, and the bleeding stopped completely.

"It really works." Yuan Ming was delighted.

In this forest, injuries were commonplace when hunting beasts. This healing remedy would surely come in very useful.

At that moment, a series of gurgles came from his stomach.

Using the Fur Transformation Technique consumed not only spiritual power, but physical strength as well. After his fierce battle with Green Fox, everything in his stomach had been consumed clean.

Yuan Ming got up, cut off two pieces of fox meat, and started a fire to roast them. A fragrant smell soon spread through the cave, making his mouth water.

"The flesh and blood of fierce beasts contain spiritual energy. They truly are different from ordinary wild animals." Saliva filled his mouth. As soon as the meat was seven or eight parts cooked, he could no longer wait and began wolfing it down.

After two pieces of fox meat went into his belly, Yuan Ming felt warm all over. He rubbed his stomach in satisfaction, then sat down and began considering his plans for what came next.

Today, he had personally witnessed the power of fierce beasts. Green Foxes and yellow armadillos lived around the forest's edge and should both have been among the most ordinary fierce beasts.

Yet even against the relatively weaker Green Fox, in a one-on-one fight without any outside help, Yuan Ming believed that his chances of defeat outweighed his chances of victory, let alone against a whole pack of them.

There were still four days left, and he needed to hunt four more fierce beasts. Time was extremely tight, so he had to come up with a good solution as quickly as possible.

After pondering for a while, Yuan Ming still set his hunting target on those Green Foxes.

For one, the Green Foxes were somewhat weaker. For another, there were many of them—enough for him to kill.

"Dig a trap, just like when I hunted that black bear before?" Yuan Ming had little experience hunting fierce beasts, so the first thing that came to mind was still his old method.

But after careful consideration, he rejected the idea.

Those Green Foxes were different from black bears. When they sensed danger, they knew to retreat first, summon companions, and launch a group attack. They were clearly extremely cunning. Combined with their nimble movements, a hastily arranged trap would most likely fail to catch them and might even backfire.

Yuan Ming continued racking his brains for another method. A moment later, he suddenly raised his head, as though he had thought of something.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'll do!"

The night quickly passed.

Yuan Ming opened his eyes, which shone with vigor.

After cultivating diligently all night, the spiritual power in his dantian had grown a little stronger. At the rate the Nine Yuan Art accumulated spiritual power, if he were given another ten days or half a month, perhaps he would no longer need to fear those Green Fox fierce beasts.

Unfortunately, he did not have much time left.

After casually roasting two more pieces of fox meat to fill his stomach, Yuan Ming used the Fur Transformation Technique to assume the form of a white ape. He headed straight for the opposite side of the gorge and soon reached the place where he had discovered the yellow armadillo yesterday.

After searching for some time, he finally found traces of the yellow armadillo in a thicket near the mountain wall.

The yellow armadillo also noticed Yuan Ming in the tree. Its black eyes stared directly at him, brimming with fierce, threatening light.

Yuan Ming bared his teeth at the armadillo in a grin, then turned around and leaped through the forest toward the distance.

The yellow armadillo had not expected the white ape that had suddenly appeared to simply leave like this. It froze for a moment, its small, glossy black eyes watching Yuan Ming's departing figure. Only after confirming that Yuan Ming had truly left its "territory" did it turn around and slip into a tiny hole at the base of the mountain wall with a whoosh.

The cave was lined with a layer of dry grass. Several tiny armadillos lay within. When they saw the large armadillo enter, they surrounded it with chirping cries.

A loving look also appeared in the yellow armadillo's eyes as its pink tongue licked the young armadillos.