Hostility!

Time passed day by day as Su Ming alternated between refining powder and cultivating. Several days later, while Su Ming was meditating, Xiao Hong returned to the cave, looking utterly exhausted, its fur even appearing dull and lackluster.

Although it was weary, its expression held a sense of lingering delight and smugness. It kept sniffing its right claw, baring its teeth and grinning like a fool.

When Xiao Hong returned, Su Ming opened his eyes slightly. He glanced at the creature and couldn't help but recall the scene he had witnessed days ago, his expression turning unnatural.

Xiao Hong noticed Su Ming's gaze. It turned to look at him, immediately ran over, and extended its right claw with a smug look, seemingly wanting Su Ming to take a sniff, as if it believed good things should be shared.

Su Ming didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He ignored Xiao Hong and once again immersed himself in his cultivation.

Including the previous days, a month had passed in the blink of an eye. The time Grandpa had agreed upon for their journey to the Fengzhen Tribe was drawing near.

During this period, Su Ming had consumed all his Luoyun Leaves, yet he had only successfully refined a single portion of Mountain Spirit Powder. The high failure rate of this powder had become a source of great frustration for him.

Fortunately, aside from the Mountain Spirit Powder, his cultivation had been relatively smooth. Through his efforts during this time, he had completely stabilized the fourth level of the Blood Condensation Realm and had even condensed two additional blood lines, reaching a total of forty-nine. He was slowly coming to accept the peculiar nature of this Fire Barbarian technique.

However, the further he progressed, the more difficult it became to condense blood lines. In the last few days, no matter how Su Ming cultivated, he could not condense any more. He understood that this was related to his inability to complete the third Blood Fire Stacking.

Beyond that, whenever the bright moon appeared at night, Su Ming would follow the sensation in his heart and attempt to manipulate the moonlight. The results were not very significant; it seemed he could only control a mere wisp, unable to increase the amount.

Yet, even that single wisp of moonlight was incredibly sharp in Su Ming's hands—more astonishing than the Bone Horn. Most importantly, Xiao Hong could not see this wisp of moonlight, which led Su Ming to conclude that, aside from himself, others could not perceive it.

One morning, Su Ming stood up from his cross-legged position and scanned the cave. After a moment of contemplation, he moved the Wild Cauldron aside. He did not know how long he would be away at the Fengzhen Tribe, so he needed to make some preparations.

On the cave walls were countless tiny, dense grooves—the result of Su Ming practicing with that wisp of moonlight over these past days.

After tidying up, Su Ming walked out of the cave. Xiao Hong had long since woken up; seeing Su Ming about to leave, it hurriedly followed. Once they were out of the cave, it simply sat on Su Ming's shoulder, too lazy to climb down the mountain itself.

"It's a pity that the Mountain Spirit Powder is so hard to refine... On that second door, there are eight small holes beneath the pattern of the Mountain Spirit Powder; it clearly requires eight offerings... I wonder how long it will take to accumulate eight Medicine Stones of Mountain Spirit Powder while still ensuring my own cultivation..."

"Furthermore, opening that second door also requires a Medicine Stone called Nanli... I have never seen the herbs needed for this stone, though fortunately, the illustrated manual Grandpa gave me contains some information." Su Ming stood outside the cave, looking at the morning sun in the distance, breathing in the cool, crisp air as he muttered to himself.

"Only by possessing enough of these two types of Medicine Stones can I open the second door... Fortunately, the last one, the Spirit-Absorbing Powder, doesn't seem to have a mandatory refining requirement. But the more that is the case, the more it proves just how precious this Spirit-Absorbing Powder is!" As Su Ming pondered, Xiao Hong, sitting on his shoulder, seemed to grow impatient, tugging at his hair and screeching repeatedly.

Su Ming reached up and patted the little monkey's head, then leaped down the mountainside. The cold wind whistled, whipping his clothes and hair, causing Xiao Hong to cling tightly to his hair while screeching incessantly.

Su Ming's laughter echoed. As his body plummeted, he grabbed a nearby rock with his right hand to steady himself before descending further. With his current cultivation, it didn't take long for him to reach the bottom of Black Flame Peak.

The snow in the forest remained, soft underfoot. Su Ming's figure flickered as he ran toward the distance. He had intended to return directly to the tribe, but as he reached a fork in the road, he paused, hesitating for a moment.

Xiao Hong remained on Su Ming's shoulder, seemingly finding it quite comfortable, and continued to sniff its right claw in a state of intoxication. It looked slightly surprised when Su Ming stopped.

The path to the right led back to the tribe. As for the left... Su Ming stared in that direction; this path led to the Black Dragon Tribe.

"It wouldn't hurt to take a look... Xiao Hong, have you ever seen Bai Ling? Oh, right, you haven't. How about I take you to see her?" Su Ming muttered under his breath.

Xiao Hong widened its eyes, scratched the fur on its face, and remained silent.

"Fine, since you want to see her, I'll take you to get a glimpse from afar." Su Ming seemed to have found a reason for himself to proceed. He smiled, patted Xiao Hong's head again, and despite the creature's look of dissatisfaction, he sped off along the left path.

At dusk, the sun in the distance emitted a reddish glow as it prepared to set. Su Ming arrived at the place where he had once bid farewell to Bai Ling. Crouching there, he could see the outline of the Black Dragon Tribe and the tribespeople moving within, but he could not spot that white figure.

For a long time, Su Ming remained silent. He didn't know what he was thinking; he only felt that Bai Ling was very beautiful—the most beautiful girl he had ever seen since he was a child. He wanted to see her a few more times.

After a moment of hesitation, he sat there quietly, not acting rashly. He watched the sky, and as the sunset faded and darkness began to fall, his eyes flashed. He stood up, walked a few steps forward, and moved quickly, yet he remained vigilant. He slowly approached the Black Dragon Tribe, though he could not get too close; after all, this was not the Wu Mountain Tribe, and he would be in danger if discovered.

Although their Wu Mountain Tribe did not share the deep-seated enmity with the Black Dragon Tribe that they had with the Black Mountain Tribe, they were not exactly at peace. If they met in the wild, there was often hostility, let alone someone like Su Ming lingering outside the Black Dragon Tribe.

"Sigh, I shouldn't be doing this." Su Ming muttered to himself while moving stealthily. When he was within a thousand feet of the Black Dragon Tribe, he stopped. For Su Ming, who had grown up in the tribe, gone to Wu Mountain alone to gather herbs as a youth, and even encountered people from the Black Mountain Tribe a few times, caution and alertness had become instincts that accompanied his growth.

He had seen too much bloodshed. Although most of it was from the wild beasts brought back by the tribe's hunting parties, as a child, he had been influenced by it throughout his formative years. Furthermore, he had killed people!

Even Lei Chen had not experienced that.

Therefore, even though his heart was impulsively driving him to catch a glimpse of Bai Ling, his subconscious instincts still made him choose to stop a thousand feet away as darkness approached.

Crouching there, he took one last look at the Black Dragon Tribe from afar, his eyes filled with resolve. Without a shred of hesitation, he turned abruptly and quickly moved away from the Black Dragon Tribe.

But the moment he ran a few steps, the hair on Su Ming's body suddenly stood on end. A sense of crisis, even more intense than when he had encountered those two Black Mountain Tribe warriors, surged forth.

As he leaped, he twisted his body without a second thought, wrapped his arms around his head, and curled into a ball, clutching Xiao Hong to his chest. His entire body seemed to pause in mid-air.

At that very instant, a sharp, piercing whistle erupted. A massive spear, fully three zhang long, shot like lightning from the giant wooden fence of the Black Dragon Tribe. It rushed past Su Ming, slamming into the ground with a thunderous boom that shook the earth and sent snow exploding into the air.

A shockwave spread in all directions. Fortunately, Su Ming's vigilance had allowed him to dodge in time. Carried by the force of the blast, he stumbled, landed, and then sprinted forward with all his might.

"Trying to leave?" A cold snort came from the distance. A youth wearing coarse hemp clothing, his long hair draped over his shoulders and a fierce look in his eyes, was striding in pursuit.

Su Ming glanced back as he ran, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.