The Only Way to Live

Yuan Ming only felt a heat on his shoulder. A stream of warmth immediately poured from Elder Huohuo's palm into his body, then uncontrollably dispersed toward the surface of his skin.

The next instant, a needle-pricking pain struck his cheeks first. Within the white ape hide fitted over his face, it seemed as though fine hairs were growing inward, piercing his skin like needles and burrowing into his pores and flesh.

Immediately afterward, that same sharp pain spread across the back of his head and neck, all the way down his back. The white ape's fur pierced through his clothes and invaded his flesh, while the fleshy skin pressed against him began to fuse with his body.

Yuan Ming's vision turned blood-red and blurred. He wanted to hold back his howl, but such intense pain was beyond what willpower could restrain.

"Urgh..."

A deeply suppressed growl escaped his throat. The extending beast hide enveloped his entire body, and an inexplicable violent impulse rose within him.

Yuan Ming did not know why, but a fierce desire to kill filled his mind, along with an uncontrollable thirst for blood.

I can endure the pain, but I cannot lose my mind. This was Yuan Ming's final bottom line.

"Roar..."

He no longer forcibly suppressed it. With a furious roar, he clenched both fists and instinctively hammered them into the ground.

With a thunderous boom, the earth shuddered violently.

The next moment, the blood-red haze before Yuan Ming's eyes receded. His gaze became clear again, and even the bloodshot veins in his eyes vanished completely.

Seeing this, Elder Huohuo frowned slightly and muttered as if to himself, "To completely suppress the beast nature on the first try... his divine soul is not weak."

After saying that, he did not pay it much mind and walked toward the fourth person.

Before long, all those beside the giant stone boundary stele had completed their transformations, becoming seven half-man, half-beast monsters.

"Remember, do not even think of running. The beast hides on you are consuming the magic power I bestowed upon you, and it will all be exhausted in three days. Then the hides will begin draining your qi and blood. In less than half a day, they will suck you dry." Elder Huohuo swept his gaze over the crowd, his warning unmistakable.

Hearing this, Yuan Ming sighed inwardly. As expected, there was a backup measure.

"Your only way to live is to pass this trial and obtain the Blood Qi Method. So do not do anything extra and foolish," Elder Huohuo warned once more.

With that, he raised a hand and patted his waist. This time, however, he did not tap the purple cloth pouch, but the green leather bag hanging beside it.

A flash of green light flickered across the pouch, and its opening opened by itself. A ball of green light swiftly flew out and landed on the ground some distance away.

The instant the green light touched down, a piercing screech rang out, and a massive shadow appeared.

When the light faded, an enormous hawk over a zhang long stood there, its body covered in greenish-brown feathers. Its hooked beak was huge, its eyes dark gold, and it radiated an imposing, majestic air.

The Green Falcon's sharp gaze swept over Yuan Ming and the others, now transformed into half-beasts. The Wildlings all retreated one after another, clearly revealing the instinctive fear prey felt toward a natural predator.

Yuan Ming retained his full humanity and was not as terrified as they were.

In truth, by now, Yuan Ming's initial panic had completely faded. He calmly accepted his current circumstances and instead became curious about Jade Luo Cave, this sect of the Southern Frontier.

Elder Huohuo leaped into the air and landed directly on the Green Falcon's back. He gave a soft shout, and the Green Falcon immediately spread its wings and flapped up into the sky.

The wind howled, whipping up countless grains of sand and dust at Yuan Ming and the others, as though silently announcing the start of the trial.

Only several beastified Furred Beast Slaves remained in the clearing beside the giant stone boundary stele.

They watched one another, their gazes filled with wariness and threat.

After facing off for a moment, the largest and most powerfully built one—the half-man, half-tiger—was the first to pick up a beastskin blood pouch from the ground. He turned and headed into the forest, leaving only his back for the others to see.

After him, the one wearing wild boar hide charged off in another direction.

One after another, the rest departed as well. By unspoken agreement, they all chose different directions, as though invisibly dividing up their own hunting grounds.

After picking up a blood-storing skin pouch, Yuan Ming chose a direction as well and headed deep into the forest, still maintaining a human's upright posture.

But after only a few steps, his back stiffened and his entire body felt uncomfortable. His two thick arms instinctively dropped down to brace against the ground before him, distributing his body weight. Only then did he feel somewhat more at ease.

Sure enough, I can no longer control this body as a human would, Yuan Ming thought silently.

Then, using his arms as support, he began running through the forest with the bounding gait of an ape.

Sure enough, his speed increased considerably.

Both his legs and arms were full of strength. As long as he familiarized himself with that strange running posture, he could properly use that power and turn simple running into bounding leaps.

After bounding through the forest for a while, Yuan Ming grew faster and faster. The wind roared past his ears, and the trees of the mountains flashed backward at his sides. With a sudden burst of speed, he launched himself into the air and leaped three zhang in a single bound.

When he landed, his feet stomped down hard enough to dent the ground, both feet sinking into the earth.

After steadying himself, Yuan Ming tore a vine from the ground and tied it around the mouth of the skin pouch, making a strap that he slung diagonally over his body.

Then his gaze fell on an old tree as thick as a millstone not far away. He strode over, raised one arm, and made a few measuring motions with his fist at the trunk.

Then came a crisp crack.

Yuan Ming's huge fist smashed into the trunk. The old tree snapped at the blow, and its upper half toppled down.

Looking at the old tree bent into a triangle, Yuan Ming could not help feeling secretly pleased. With this kind of strength, perhaps hunting wild beasts for blood will not be so difficult after all?

Just then, his ears twitched. A bush nearby shook violently, and a black shadow suddenly sprang from within. Riding a gust of fierce wind, it lunged straight at him.

Before Yuan Ming could see it clearly, he dodged behind another tree. Yet the black shadow had already pursued him. It was a massive black-furred bear, over a zhang tall.

The bear swung a gigantic paw like a palm-leaf fan at Yuan Ming, striking the tree before him directly.

The fierce palm wind let out a howl. Seeing things turn bad, Yuan Ming hurriedly ducked down.

With a sharp crack, the tree, thick as a large bowl, snapped in response. Its upper half skimmed past Yuan Ming's scalp and flew straight out, only toppling to the ground three zhang away.

Yuan Ming was greatly alarmed. This black bear possessed such savage strength that a body of flesh and blood could not withstand even a single blow.

Knowing he was no match for it, he immediately turned and ran.

The black bear refused to let him go and promptly gave chase, moving even faster than before.

Yuan Ming had only run for a few breaths when the black bear had already closed to within less than three zhang behind him.

Yuan Ming's heart went cold. Whether in strength or speed, he was actually inferior to this black bear.

He braced himself with both arms and sprang forward on his legs, launching himself with all his might each time in an attempt to widen the distance between them. But he had only just acquired this white ape body, and his movements were always difficult to link together smoothly.

As he leaped over a patch of bushes, a banyan vine root lay across the grass beneath his feet. When Yuan Ming jumped, his feet caught on the vine root, and his entire body involuntarily pitched forward.

He caught himself with both arms, rolled forward with the momentum, and got back on his feet. Yet to his shock, the black bear had somehow already rushed in front of him. Turning around, it swiped a paw at his head.

At that critical moment, Yuan Ming forcibly halted his forward momentum and sharply threw himself backward, pulling his head out from beneath the bear's paw. However, the sharp claw tips raked across his chest, tearing open three wounds.

Yuan Ming watched a spray of blood burst from his chest, but he did not dare counterattack the black bear at all. He could only endure the searing pain, twist around, and run in another direction.

He pressed a hand against his wounds, then wiped it across the trunk of an old tree beside him. Then he resumed his hands-and-feet leaping posture and fled for his life.

Stimulated by the scent of blood, the black bear's ferocity intensified. After letting out an angry roar, it chased after him again.

Seeing the black bear drawing ever closer, Yuan Ming fixed his gaze on an ancient banyan ahead that would take three men to encircle. With all his strength, he leaped up, dug all ten fingers tightly into the cracks in the old trunk, and rapidly climbed upward.

The black bear caught up beneath him. Seeing Yuan Ming climb the tree, it immediately swung a paw and slammed it viciously against the trunk.

Bang!

The ancient banyan shuddered violently, leaves raining down in profusion. Yuan Ming hurriedly locked both hands around the trunk, pressed his body tightly against it, and flexibly dug his toes into the bark as well, barely avoiding being shaken from the tree.

Seeing that it had failed to shake Yuan Ming down, the black bear repeatedly struck the ancient banyan, battering the old tree until it rang out with bang bang and trembled without end.

Yuan Ming could only wrap himself around the trunk with every ounce of strength he had. Fortunately, the ancient tree was thick and sturdy enough that the black bear did not break it.

Taking advantage of a pause, Yuan Ming quickly climbed higher and reached one of the old tree's lateral branches.

But before he could steady himself, the trunk shook violently again. Yuan Ming lost his footing and fell headfirst from the branch.

Just as he was about to crash down, one of his feet caught hold of a branch, leaving him hanging upside down in midair.

Roar!

The black bear gave a low growl, wrapped both arms around the ancient tree, and began shaking it even more forcefully, intending to rattle Yuan Ming down.

Yuan Ming hung inverted in the air, swaying from side to side like a withered leaf in the wind. He looked as though he might fall at any moment, yet he never did.

The strength in his feet was no weaker than that in his hands. Struggling upward, he hooked a hand around the branch, then released his foot and climbed directly back up.

Seeing that it could not shake Yuan Ming down, the black bear bared its teeth at him for a while before turning around and lumbering away into the distance.

Yuan Ming held onto the trunk with both hands, looking back at the black bear's retreating figure as it gradually disappeared. He let out a long breath.

He slowly leaned against the trunk and sat down. Just as he was about to rest and calm the heart thudding thump thump in his chest, he suddenly felt the tree tremble faintly once more.