Nurturing

As Yuan Ming focused intently on cultivating his footwork, Toad Valley remained bustling with people, quite lively.

About ten miles from Toad Valley, in a shaded clearing, Green Wolf Gang leader Wubao sat cross-legged, eyes closed, breathing and meditating.

Suddenly, a rapid sound of footsteps rang out, and a figure quickly ran in.

"Zan Bai, how did the investigation go?" Wubao asked without opening his eyes.

"Gang Leader, just as you expected, that Yuan Ming did indeed go to Toad Valley not long ago. Unfortunately, we were a step too late, and the brat slipped away," Zan Bai said, bowing.

"Hmph, even Bayin fell victim to him. Do you think you few could have stopped him if you'd arrived earlier?" Wubao suddenly opened his eyes and said coldly.

"Gang Leader, please calm your anger. I didn't come back entirely empty-handed. When Yuan Ming entered the valley, he made transactions with two people," Zan Bai quickly said.

Wubao just looked at Zan Bai, saying nothing.

"One of them was a Registered Disciple named Zhao Tong, who is a bit greedy. After being given some benefits, he reportedly only sold Yuan Ming a footwork technique. The other person is Tule, someone from that group that secretly sells information, the Earth Bear Society. I suspect Yuan Ming might have found out from him that we were hunting him," Zan Bai said with a dry laugh, continuing.

"I understand. Find Yuan Ming's whereabouts through every means possible. I want to meet him personally. Also, emphasize again to those factions, especially Hyena Hall, that they must not kill Yuan Ming when they catch him. I want him alive," Wubao said, closing his eyes again.

"Understood, your subordinate takes his leave," Zan Bai replied and withdrew.

"Yuan Ming... you were able to kill Bayin single-handedly, so you must be at least at the second level of Qi Refining. You must have some secret! I really want to see what kind of fortune has allowed your cultivation to improve so quickly!" Wubao opened his eyes again, his gaze sharp.

The mountain forest near Yuan Ming's cave dwelling.

A bizarre figure flickered through the woods, sometimes on the left, then instantly on the right. The bushes and grass in the forest had no effect on it, nor did the strange figure touch any plants or leaves, as if it were not a creature of flesh and blood.

The figure suddenly stopped, landing on a large rock, revealing Yuan Ming's form. He was breathing heavily, but his eyes held joy.

He had been back here for three days.

During these three days, Yuan Ming had not cultivated the Nine Yuan Art. All his time and energy had been dedicated to practicing the Shadowless Step.

Although this place was hidden, there was no such thing as a completely secret place. He couldn't guarantee that the Green Wolf Gang wouldn't find him, so he had to improve his strength as much as possible.

He discovered he had a considerable talent for footwork. In just a few days, he had achieved the introductory level of the Shadowless Step.

The more he cultivated, the more he could appreciate the profoundness of the Shadowless Step. Once he used it, his movements were as swift as the wind, truly living up to the name "Shadowless."

Furthermore, this footwork technique was adept at agile maneuvering in narrow and complex environments, which matched well with the White Ape transformation.

However, using the Shadowless Step placed a heavy burden on the body and consumed a lot of mana. With his current mana pool at the third level of Qi Refining, even without activating any other spells, he could only maintain it for about fifteen minutes at most. To use this footwork technique better, he needed to continue improving his cultivation and refining his physical body.

"If even a Furred Beast Slave can get such a marvelous footwork technique, I wonder how powerful the spells and divine abilities of those disciples in Jade Luo Cave are!" Yuan Ming looked towards the direction of the Jade Luo Cave's Mountain Gate, a sense of longing arising in his heart.

Yuan Ming came back to his senses, sat down cross-legged, and began to circulate the Nine Yuan Art.

After cultivating for so many days, he found that the Nine Yuan Art not only could quickly guide spiritual energy from heaven and earth into the body to improve mana but also rapidly restore stamina as long as the technique was circulated.

His ability to cultivate the Shadowless Step in such a short time was also thanks to the restorative capabilities of the Nine Yuan Art.

Yuan Ming's stamina and mana quickly recovered completely, and he returned to the cave.

In a corner of the cave, Hagon was sitting cross-legged.

After several days of recuperation, the wound on Hagon's chest had scabbed over, and his daily movements were no longer hindered, but it would take some time for it to heal completely.

He held his Green Wolf hide in his hands, muttering incantations, seemingly casting a spell, but it wasn't the Fur Transformation Technique. Light flickered where his palm touched the Green Wolf hide.

"What are you doing?" Yuan Ming asked curiously.

Hagon did not answer Yuan Ming and continued chanting. It wasn't until after a full meal's time that he opened his eyes, and the light on his palm faded.

"Sorry, I was nurturing the Furred Beast Hide just now. This process cannot be interrupted," Hagon said with a hint of apology.

"It's fine, but what is nurturing the Furred Beast Hide? I've never heard of it," Yuan Ming asked, having already sat down to cultivate and opened his eyes.

"It's a bit complicated to explain. It has to start with the refining method of these Furred Beast Hides," Hagon seemed to be searching for words and spoke after a moment of silence.

"You know the refining process of Furred Beast Hides? I'd love to hear about it," Yuan Ming said, his eyes lighting up.

"I heard about it from a stall owner, a disciple of Jade Luo Cave, inside Toad Valley. Jade Luo Cave throws live Fierce Beasts into a secret formation. As the magic array operates, the beast's flesh, blood, bones, and soul are all transformed into vital energy and refined into the hide. If the process is without error, a Furred Beast Hide is born. The Furred Beast Hides we hold, though appearing as mere pieces of hide, actually contain the life essence of a Fierce Beast," Hagon explained.

"Beast soul..." Yuan Ming heard this and recalled the scene when the mysterious incense burner had reinforced the two hides.

He had suspected before that Furred Beast Hides contained beast souls, and now it seemed that was indeed the case.

"The vital energy refined from the beast's flesh and blood and bones is not that important. The most crucial part of the Furred Beast Hide is the beast soul! Brother Yuan, you've been using the Fur Transformation Technique for so long, you should be able to sense the beast soul within it to some extent, right?" Hagon continued.

"I have a slight awareness," Yuan Ming hummed.

"These Furred Beast Hides are already dead things, and the beast souls within them are slowly weakening. In fact, 'nurturing the Furred Beast Hide' means using mana to warm the hide and stabilize the beast soul within," Hagon finally got to the main point.

"The weakening of the beast soul cannot be reversed, right? What is the purpose of stabilizing the beast soul within?" Yuan Ming nodded first, then asked.

"Nurturing the hide not only slows down the weakening of the beast soul but also makes oneself more compatible with the Fur Transformation Technique, allowing for better control during transformation. If you're lucky, you might even awaken one or two abilities by stimulating the beast soul's potential. Of course, this is something that depends on luck and requires a very long time," Hagon said, a flicker of anticipation in his eyes.

"Stimulate the beast soul's potential, awaken new abilities!" Yuan Ming silently repeated, glancing at his right arm.

Judging from the mysterious incense burner's previous performance in repairing hides and awakening abilities, it was also nurturing the beast soul to some extent, and its effect was far superior to what Hagon called the nurturing secret technique.

"Are you interested in the secret method of nurturing Furred Beast Hides? I obtained this technique by chance, so I'll give you a copy," Hagon said, seeing Yuan Ming lost in thought, assuming he was interested in the nurturing secret method. He took out a piece of hide covered in small characters and handed it over.

"Then thank you, Brother Hagon," Yuan Ming was indeed interested in the nurturing technique and did not refuse.

"Brother Yuan saved my life. Such a small secret technique is nothing," Hagon laughed heartily, then gave Yuan Ming some pointers on his experience with the nurturing secret technique before closing his eyes and resuming his cultivation.

Yuan Ming discovered that the nurturing technique wasn't complex. Its principle was roughly to convert his internal mana into an energy that could nourish the divine soul, then inject it into the beast hide through special means to nurture the beast soul. The strength of the furred beast hide was directly related to the strength of the beast soul it contained.

After he roughly understood it, he immediately put the Nine Yuan Art into practice, slowly injecting mana into the White Ape Skin. He operated it according to the nurturing secret technique. The place where his palm touched the ape hide emitted faint white light, just like when Hagon had cast his spell earlier.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming nodded inwardly and continued to circulate his mana.

Time passed bit by bit. In the blink of an eye, half a day had gone by. He found that his connection with the White Ape Skin had indeed strengthened.

However, the degree of strengthening was very limited. To enhance the power of the Fur Transformation Technique through this method would require years of diligent practice. Furthermore, this process not only consumed a considerable amount of mana but also interfered with his daily cultivation.

"Before, when I used the incense burner to strengthen the beast hide, I just watched if the hide absorbed it on its own. Now that I have this nurturing secret technique, if I use it to activate the heat current from the incense burner and merge it into the White Ape Skin, I wonder if it will be more effective?" A thought suddenly struck him.

He decided to act immediately. Yuan Ming quietly moved to a hidden spot outside the cave and took out the incense burner, holding it in his hand.

A stream of heat flowed out from the incense burner. Yuan Ming quickly activated the nurturing technique, attempting to guide this heat current and carefully gather it onto his right hand.

"I hope this technique is useful," he prayed inwardly. He flicked his finger, injecting the heat current from the incense burner into the White Ape Skin.

The White Ape Skin absorbed the heat current like a sponge. The entire piece of beast hide moved on its own without any wind. Then, it automatically cast the Fur Transformation Technique, attaching itself to Yuan Ming and transforming into the White Ape form.

White patterns appeared on the White Ape's body, shimmering with bright white light. The phantom image of the ape soul reappeared, much more solid than before.

In addition, Yuan Ming found that his connection with the ape hide had deepened slightly. Conservatively estimated, it was equivalent to two months of practicing the nurturing technique.

He breathed a sigh of relief and continued to activate the heat current from the incense burner, injecting it into the ape hide. The white patterns on the ape hide became increasingly bright.

After injecting the heat current more than ten times continuously, even with the enhancement of the nurturing technique, the White Ape Skin could no longer absorb the heat current from the incense burner.

At this point, the patterns on the ape hide had become much thicker and shone with a bright light. The white ape phantom had also become semi-solid and semi-ethereal, letting out excited roars.

Yuan Ming's connection with the ape hide on his body deepened significantly. He could clearly perceive the flow of demonic energy within the ape hide. He could even sense the demonic energy, while maintaining the Fur Transformation Technique, constantly invading his meridians, internal organs, dantian, and even his mind, like mercury flowing across the ground.

"So this is what the erosion of the Fur Transformation Technique feels like," he put away the incense burner and narrowed his eyes.

Now that he knew the pathways through which the demonic energy would backfire on himself, he would naturally have more confidence in resisting it in the future.