Ignition

"Could these husks be from other Furred Beast Slaves?" Yuan Ming scanned his surroundings, finding nothing else out of the ordinary.

Suddenly, his gaze sharpened as he looked towards a large tree not far away.

Perched on a slender branch of the tree was a Silver Cat, about half a foot tall, looking much like a domestic cat.

The cat's fur was pure silver-white, without a single stray hair, making it look exceptionally beautiful. One of its eyes was golden yellow, the other amber, like two sparkling gemstones, and it was looking towards Yuan Ming.

As their eyes met, the Silver Cat immediately turned and darted away, leaping nimbly from tree to tree, vanishing in an instant.

"Why are you running? I'm not going to eat you! That Silver Cat is way too timid," Yuan Ming thought nothing of it and continued searching the area.

A moment later, he let out a soft exclamation, his footsteps stopping as he stared at the ground in the nearby grass.

There was a shallow human-shaped footprint on the ground, and the impression indicated it was quite recent.

Yuan Ming pondered for a moment and walked in the direction of the footprint.

The owner of the footprint had made no attempt to conceal their tracks, so following them wasn't difficult.

After about fifteen minutes of walking, they reached a stretch of hard, rocky ground. The footprints abruptly ended there, disappearing without a trace.

Yuan Ming frowned, stood silently in place for a while, and then continued forward.

Emerging from the rocky area, the view ahead cleared, revealing a vast, misty lake.

The lake wasn't large, perhaps ten acres or so, and its surface was calm. Tall grass, reaching waist-high, grew all around it. Although it was the height of summer, the temperature near the lake was noticeably lower than in the jungle.

Yuan Ming approached the lake and crouched down, touching the water with his hand. An invigorating chill seeped into him.

Just then, there was a rustling sound from the nearby grass, and a silver blur shot out.

Yuan Ming instinctively readied himself to strike, but upon seeing clearly, he was slightly surprised.

The silver figure was none other than the Silver Cat he had encountered not long ago. This time, it had something black in its mouth, its tail held high.

Upon seeing Yuan Ming, the Silver Cat seemed startled and immediately turned, darting back into the grass. However, the black object it was carrying fell from its mouth.

"It's that Silver Cat again." Yuan Ming quickened his pace, but the grass was too tall. Once the Silver Cat entered it, it was like a stone sinking into the sea, disappearing immediately.

He sighed with regret. He actually quite liked the beautiful Silver Cat. If he could catch and tame it, it would be nice to have something to amuse him during his cultivation breaks.

Yuan Ming continued forward, then suddenly remembered something. He turned and walked back a few steps, picking up the black object the cat had dropped. He examined it closely.

The object looked like a piece of leather, adorned with exquisite patterns, clearly man-made.

"There's no way something like this would be found in these deep mountains. Could it be something someone left behind?" With this thought, Yuan Ming hurried to the area where the Silver Cat had disappeared into the grass, searching but finding nothing.

He looked at the black leather again, bringing it closer to sniff.

A fishy odor assailed his nostrils, but it wasn't the smell of an animal's mouth. Instead, it resembled the scent of decaying aquatic plants.

Yuan Ming's gaze shifted to the emerald lake, and he began searching along its edge, soon making a discovery.

On the damp soil by the lake, several shallow cat paw prints were imprinted.

Yuan Ming followed the paw prints and pushed aside a patch of dense grass nearby. His pupils contracted slightly.

Before him lay a tall corpse. The upper body had mostly decomposed into bones, while the lower half was embedded in the muddy lake shore. It had clearly been dead for a long time. The clothing was waterlogged. The upper body wore a black leather jacket, and the Silver Cat had been carrying a fragment of this jacket.

Yuan Ming's gaze fell upon the corpse's waist, where a piece of black beast hide was wrapped. It looked exactly like a Furred Beast Hide.

He crouched beside the corpse and carefully worked to remove the black beast hide.

This item was entirely different from his White Ape hide. It was completely devoid of fur and covered in faint white markings. Along its spine were gelatinous substances resembling scales, suggesting it was the hide of some aquatic Fierce Beast.

The hide was mostly intact elsewhere, except for a palm-sized tear on the back, as if pierced by a sharp weapon.

Yuan Ming carefully pulled the corpse out of the mud. Several ribs in the heart area of its back were broken, indicating a fatal injury from a rear attack.

He searched the area around the corpse but found no other clues. The person's blood-storage pouch was also missing.

"It seems this person most likely wasn't killed by a Fierce Beast, but by another Furred Beast Slave," a chill inexplicably ran down Yuan Ming's spine.

Furred Beast Slaves, they are beasts, and yet they are slaves.

Trapped in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, it's a world of survival of the fittest. When you eye prey with anticipation, are you not also prey in someone else's eyes?

"Right, Elder Huohuo once vaguely mentioned that these Furred Beast Hides were crafted with great effort by Jade Luo Cave and were quite valuable. Each hide had a magical imprint, and if a Furred Beast Slave died, the sect would send people to retrieve the hide along the imprint. Why didn't they take this one?" Yuan Ming suddenly remembered something, feeling quite puzzled.

He looked at the torn section of the black hide, lost in thought. He formed a hand seal, dispelled his White Ape transformation, and channeled his magic into the black hide, attempting to activate the Fur Transformation Technique. The hide remained inert.

"It seems it's broken, which is why no one came to collect it. Wasting so much time for nothing," Yuan Ming muttered to himself, tossing the black hide aside and turning to leave.

However, after only a few steps, he seemed to recall something. He picked up the black hide again and headed towards the treeline by the lake, quickly reaching a hidden spot.

Yuan Ming sat down on the ground, spread the hide out before him, and then summoned the mysterious incense burner.

His white ape hide had undergone a slight change upon contact with the incense burner, so perhaps it could have some effect on this black hide as well.

Of course, he didn't expect the incense burner to repair the black hide. He merely wanted to use this opportunity to learn more about the azure incense burner.

Yuan Ming placed the incense burner on the hide. The moment they touched, the mysterious incense burner suddenly lit up, emitting a blue light. A warm airflow flowed from it, injecting into the black hide.

As the blue light merged, the faint white markings on the surface of the black hide dispersed like water flowing into a channel. Wherever it passed, the previously dim markings became bright, and the entire black hide began to tremble slightly.

The blue light quickly spread throughout the hide, converging towards the torn section on the back. The white markings there were exceptionally dense, as if that area was a crucial junction.

With such a vital spot damaged, it was no wonder the hide had become completely useless.

The green light surged around the rupture, the white patterns there flickering incessantly. Then, a somewhat indistinct phantom emerged from the torn beast hide. It had a large head, a plump body, and its limbs were splayed open – it was clearly a toad.

"What is this? Could it be the soul of a toad fierce beast? My white ape hide also displayed a white ape phantom under the influence of the incense burner before. It seems the furred beast hides all contain beast souls," Yuan Ming mused internally.

The toad phantom gradually solidified within the green light. After letting out a "croak," it flashed and disappeared into the rupture, vanishing without a trace.

With soft "hissing" sounds, the white patterns around the rupture suddenly spread out like living things, bypassing the tear and reconnecting.

"It can do that too!" Yuan Ming exclaimed, a mixture of surprise and delight on his face.

As the white patterns reconnected, faint energy fluctuations appeared across the entire black beast hide, indicating it had completely repaired itself.

Not only that, but the black beast hide looked brand new. Its natural patterns were much clearer, as if it had just been freshly peeled, mirroring the white ape hide after being influenced by the incense burner.

Yuan Ming channeled his spiritual energy into the black beast hide and activated the Fur Transformation Technique.

The black beast hide came alive, wrapping around his body and covering every part. The transformation was quickly completed.

His entire body was covered by the black beast hide. His back was covered in bulging black lumps, appearing very sturdy. Webbing had grown between his fingers and toes, and his eyes were now slanted upwards.

Yuan Ming put away the incense burner and went to the lake, looking at his reflection in the water. He now resembled a humanoid toad.

"No wonder I heard some strange croaking earlier. It turns out it was just a toad hide. I was already frustrated enough with the white ape hide, which had little offensive power. I didn't expect someone to be even more miserable than me. What can a toad even do?" Yuan Ming said somewhat speechlessly, gazing at his ugly reflection in the lake.

Yuan Ming moved his body, sensing the abilities he gained after transforming into a toad.

He felt a faint stream of air surging within his chest cavity. His entire abdominal cavity seemed to have expanded significantly. With each breath, it became much deeper, and the time he could hold his breath grew longer.

Yuan Ming took a deep breath with all his might. Air rushed into his body, and his abdominal cavity and stomach continuously expanded, soon resembling a woman in her tenth month of pregnancy.

However, he didn't feel uncomfortable and stood still, holding his breath.

A full quarter of an hour passed, and Yuan Ming still felt no sense of suffocation. He could still move freely.

He leaped into the lake and swam towards the bottom.

The lake's surface rippled and then calmed down, everything returning to peace.

Another quarter of an hour later, there was a splashing sound by the water's edge on the opposite side of the lake. Yuan Ming's figure emerged, and he scrambled ashore.

A flash of excitement crossed his eyes. This toad beast hide allowed him to go without breathing for a full two quarters of an hour.

Wulu had once mentioned that some areas deep within the Hundred Thousand Mountains were filled with highly toxic miasma. With this toad beast hide, if he were unfortunate enough to encounter such a situation, he would at least have enough time to escape.

Furthermore, his swimming speed in the water after transforming into a toad was quite fast, which was another useful escape method.

Compared to the toad's effortless movement in water, its mobility on land was significantly worse. It could only move by clumsy leaps, and its offensive capabilities were almost nonexistent, at least as far as he had discovered.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy for the fellow who had chosen the toad as his furred beast transformation.

Yuan Ming formed a hand seal and dispelled the toad transformation, carefully putting away the black beast hide.

While the black toad's combat power was currently far inferior to the white ape transformation, it might have great utility in specific environments.

However, his greatest gain today was a further understanding of the azure incense burner.

This mysterious incense burner seemed to be able to repair damaged beast hides through some method, and perhaps even awaken some of the beast hides' latent abilities. This was something he could utilize in the future.