Chapter 18

"Ha ha, congratulations to Brother Yuan Ming for mastering the Fur-Coating Technique and successfully enduring the first month." Wulu did not leave immediately but looked at Yuan Ming and said with a smile.

"Mutual congratulations. By the way, Brother Wulu, why haven't we seen Laguo?" Yuan Ming changed the subject.

"Brother Laguo went out hunting alone a few days ago, but unfortunately, he fell victim to a beast." Wulu said with a calm expression.

"That's truly a pity." Yuan Ming nodded, said no more, and turned to leave.

Wulu watched Yuan Ming walk away, his eyes flickering, seemingly lost in thought.

Yuan Ming did not head to the opposite side of the canyon to continue hunting beasts but returned to his hiding place in the cave.

There was no need to rush in hunting fierce beasts; what he needed most now was to enhance his strength.

He blocked the cave entrance, sat cross-legged, and began to practice the Nine Elements Technique. Immediately, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth converged.

...

Time passed quickly, and before he knew it, twenty days had gone by.

Outside the blue fox den, a large white ape stood on a hundred-year-old giant tree, which was none other than Yuan Ming who had used the Fur-Coating Technique.

Compared to twenty days ago, the white ape had grown even larger, with more powerful and sinewy muscles, exuding a formidable aura.

Soon, five or six blue foxes emerged from the mountain hollow den and quickly dispersed.

After several previous attempts at luring and hunting, Yuan Ming was very familiar with the habits of these blue foxes. They were spreading out to search for food.

He skillfully followed one of the blue foxes to a black pine forest.

This place was about four or five li away from the mountain hollow den. Even if there was a commotion, it would not reach the den.

Yuan Ming sped up, surpassing the blue fox in a few breaths, leaped down from the tree, and blocked its path.

The blue fox was startled at first, then, upon seeing only a white ape, its eyes relaxed, and it pounced fiercely.

This blue fox was slightly larger and faster than the ones he had previously hunted. In a flash, it was in front of Yuan Ming, its deep blue claws slashing down!

However, Yuan Ming's body lightly swayed, and he vanished from the spot, leaving the blue fox to pounce into thin air.

The blue fox was startled and quickly steadied itself.

Before it could fully stabilize, Yuan Ming descended from above, his right foot carrying a terrifying force, and kicked the blue fox's back.

A terrifying force surged into the blue fox's body, and with a "crack," its spine broke.

Its body collapsed on the ground, blood gushing from its mouth.

Before it could struggle to get up, Yuan Ming's other foot descended, stepping on the blue fox's head.

With a crisp sound of bone breaking, the blue fox's head was crushed, white brain matter oozing out, and the fox was completely lifeless.

Yuan Ming retracted his foot, looked at the dead blue fox, and was lost in thought.

He chose to continue hunting blue foxes for two reasons: one, he was already familiar with their habits and felt that even if he couldn't defeat them, he wouldn't be in danger; more importantly, he wanted to test his own strength.

Twenty days ago, the blue foxes were formidable beasts that he found difficult to defeat, but after twenty days, this fox couldn't even last two moves against him.

Unconsciously, his strength had increased to this level!

Yuan Ming suppressed his excitement, collected the blue fox's blood in a blood storage bag, and returned to the vicinity of the blue fox den to wait for other blue foxes.

After a day, he successfully hunted three blue foxes.

The next day, he went back to the mountain hollow and, with little effort, hunted two more blue foxes.

The task that he had barely completed last month with great effort was now easily achieved.

"Now, I haven't even completed the first level of the Nine Elements Technique, and the Fur-Coating Technique already has such power. If I continue to practice and achieve success in the first level, or even break through to the second level, won't I be able to walk freely in this forest?"

Yuan Ming touched the ape skin on his body, feeling increasingly excited and hopeful, thinking he had found a shortcut to becoming stronger.

But then he thought of something, and his eyes showed a contemplative look.

Though he was just starting on the path of cultivation, he felt something was odd. The Fur-Coating Technique was too easy to use; as long as one had magical power, it could be performed, and its power increased so easily.

Of course, the Nine Elements Technique played a significant role, but he still felt uneasy.

Moreover, this was quite different from what he imagined about cultivators who could move mountains, fill seas, and control the elements. If all one could do with a body full of magical power was transform into a half-human, half-beast monster to display strength, wouldn't that be too stifling for a cultivator?

This thought made him increasingly uneasy, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong.

He tried to calm his mind, thinking for a while, but couldn't figure it out. So, he decided to put it aside and head back to the cave, soon reaching the canyon.

Just as he was about to go down, he heard a low moan.

He was surprised; who could be here?

Following the sound, he found a black-robed figure lying in the grass, trembling, with exposed skin turning blood red.

Yuan Ming did not approach rashly. After observing the person for a moment, he suddenly exclaimed, broke a small tree branch nearby, and flipped the black-robed person over.

The face of the person was revealed, and it was Wulu.

Yuan Ming had already noticed something from the back and was not surprised.

Wulu's face was as red as blood, his lips trembling, his eyes rolling back, and he had lost consciousness.

"Is he suffering from some kind of illness?" Yuan Ming guessed.

At that moment, blood flowed from Wulu's nose, ears, and eyes, his breathing became rapid, but his vital signs were weakening quickly.

Yuan Ming hesitated for a moment, then squatted down to examine Wulu, soon discovering: "It seems there's a problem with his heart meridians."

Wulu's heart was beating ten times faster than a normal person's, the meridians near his chest were in chaos, his muscles were spasming, and his blood and qi flow were severely obstructed.

Yuan Ming channeled his magical power, quickly tapped Wulu's chest several times, and finally placed his palm on Wulu's chest, releasing a surge of magical power to unblock the meridians.

After a quarter of an hour, he withdrew his hand, slightly sweating.

There were no medicinal herbs or tools here, so he could only do so much. Whether Wulu lived or died was up to fate.

Perhaps Wulu was not meant to die, as the blood on his face gradually faded, and he regained consciousness.

"Yuan Ming... is it you?" Wulu struggled to speak.

"Your condition is very serious; your blood and qi are flowing back to your heart. How did this happen?" Yuan Ming asked.

Wulu opened his mouth but hesitated.

"It doesn't matter if you don't want to say. However, your condition is very severe. I can only help you alleviate it a bit, but it won't cure the root cause. It will recur soon. Do you have any medicine to treat it?" Yuan Ming waved his hand and asked.

Wulu showed a hesitant look but soon became determined, looking at his waist.

"Is there medicine here?" Yuan Ming asked.

"Yes... please... help me get it..." Wulu struggled to say.

Without a word, Yuan Ming retrieved a cloth bag from there. Inside were various items: four sealed bamboo tubes, two dark red stones, a white jade pendant, and a black jade bottle.

"Is this the jade bottle?" He picked up the black jade bottle.

Wulu's face lit up, and he immediately nodded.

Yuan Ming opened the jade bottle, poured out a dark red pill, which had no distinct smell, making it hard to identify.

He didn't bother to investigate and fed the pill to Wulu.

Wulu struggled to swallow the pill, and his face quickly turned even redder. The veins on his forehead bulged, moving like living things, and he let out a suppressed roar, clearly in extreme pain.

Yuan Ming frowned, realizing that Wulu's condition didn't seem like an illness.

After a while, Wulu's condition began to improve, the redness on his face fading, and the bulging veins returning to normal.

He looked extremely exhausted, forced himself to sit cross-legged, and began to meditate.

Yuan Ming leaped onto a nearby large tree, sat on a thick branch several zhang above the ground, and practiced to recover the magical power he had just expended.

After a long time, Wulu's complexion fully recovered, and a red light flashed over his body. The tiger skin on his waist wrapped around him, and in a blink, he transformed into a fur-coated tiger, about ten feet tall.

Yuan Ming's pupils slightly contracted; Wulu's body was half a foot larger than the last time he saw him by the stream.

His cultivation had been steadily improving, and the height of his white ape transformation had also increased, but the growth seemed slightly less than Wulu's.

Wulu looked up at Yuan Ming on the tree, his eyes flashing with a cold light.

"I saved your life just now. Why are you looking at me like that, Brother Wulu? Do people in the Southern Border treat their saviors this way?" Yuan Ming said with a smile.

"Why did you save me?" Wulu asked in a deep voice.

"We entered the Bi Luo Cave together. Whether our relationship is good or bad, we are still companions. Helping you was a small effort, so why not save you?" Yuan Ming said calmly.

Wulu's expression softened, but the cold light in his eyes did not fade.

"It seems I was overthinking things. I won't tell anyone about this. Until we meet again." Yuan Ming stood up, patted his buttocks, and was about to leave.

"Wait." Wulu suddenly called out to Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming stopped, turned his head, and looked down.

"Regardless, thank you for saving me, Brother Yuan Ming. I won't say much, but this piece of Fire Pattern Iron is my way of repaying you." Wulu took a dark red stone from the cloth bag and threw it up.

Yuan Ming's eyebrows raised. When he opened Wulu's cloth bag, he had noticed that these two stones were not ordinary, emitting a faint