What is an immortal?

On the third day, in the early morning.

A White Ape, with a bundle of Beast Bones on its shoulder and a Beast Skin Pouch slung across its body, dashed through the woods like the wind, leaping nearly thirty feet in a single bound.

Yuan Ming followed the same route he had taken earlier and began hurrying back.

By noon, he had returned to the spot where he had been attacked by the Black Bear.

Black Bears, being territorial creatures, seldom stray from their breeding grounds; Yuan Ming returned to this spot because his target was that very Black Bear.

Upon arriving, Yuan Ming took a sturdy tibia from the bundle of Green Wolf Beast Bones he carried, and, holding it with both hands, began to dig a pit on a slope.

Although Yuan Ming's strength had largely recovered and he had somewhat adapted to his body, he still had no intention of confronting the Black Bear head-on. Instead, he opted for the more reliable method of setting a trap.

The soil in the mountain forest was loose, and soon, Yuan Ming dug a pit two yards deep and only six feet wide.

At the bottom of the pit, he dug several smaller pits and planted the Green Wolf ribs one by one into them, packing the soil tightly.

The tops of these upturned ribs had been sharpened by Yuan Ming to be as pointed as the tip of a knife.

He then gathered some dry branches, laid them crisscross over the top of the trap, and scattered dry leaves he collected from around the area, evenly covering the opening.

After finishing these preparations, Yuan Ming tied a Green Wolf scapula to his chest with vines, protecting his chest like a Heart Protector, then picked up the two tibiae he had sharpened to resemble short spears and held them in his hands.

After waiting a long time, the Black Bear still did not appear.

After a bit of thought, he stabbed his own palm with a white Bone Spear.

Seeing blood emerge from his palm, Yuan Ming quickly smeared the blood on the trees around the trap to spread the scent as far as possible.

He then grabbed some soil from the ground, roughly smeared it over his wound, and then, holding the White Bone Short Spear, quietly waited for the Black Bear to take the bait.

Yuan Ming climbed an old tree; it wasn't long before he heard the rustling of plants and heavy panting sounds from within the woods.

Following the sounds, he soon spotted the Black Bear.

The thick bushes were thrust aside by the bulky body of the Black Bear, which staggered towards him.

"Eh, it seems to be hurt?" Yuan Ming observed, his eyebrows slightly furrowing.

After watching the Black Bear for a moment, he saw no obvious wounds on its body, yet the bear's running seemed off.

"Could it be poisoned?" Yuan Ming wondered.

If this were the case, it would indeed be a stroke of luck.

Not convinced he was that lucky, he refrained from attacking immediately and continued waiting for the bear to fall into the trap.

The Black Bear approached, sniffed the blood stains on the tree one by one, and suddenly looked up, letting out a furious roar, its eyes flickering with an abnormal redness as if veiled by a shadow.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming grew even more convinced that there was something wrong with the Black Bear.

The Black Bear searched around, unable to find its prey, and kept walking right at the edge of the trap, always just missing falling in.

Yuan Ming watched anxiously from the tree and, after waiting for a moment, finally decided to act.

One of his arms was wrapped around a vine hanging from the tree, while the other firmly grasped a White Bone Short Spear. He leapt from the tree, swinging towards the Black Bear with the help of the vine.

"Go down."

Yuan Ming bellowed in his mind, his legs slamming into the Black Bear like battering rams.

At that moment, the Black Bear, sensing the danger behind it, suddenly twisted its body. When it saw Yuan Ming, its ferocity surged, and it slammed its paws towards him.

With a bang.

Yuan Ming's legs kicked against the bear's paws, the strength of the blow knocking him back while also causing the Black Bear to stagger.

The Black Bear stepped back, its rear heels barely touching the branches of Yuan Ming's trap but stopping just short of falling in.

Instead, Yuan Ming swung back like on a swing, struck by the impact, and then swung back again toward the bear.

Watching Yuan Ming charge again, the Black Bear did not attempt to hit him this time but instead stepped forward, swiping its claws towards Yuan Ming's legs.

Yuan Ming would not let it happen as it wished; he immediately threw the White Bone Short Spear in his hand with all his might.

The Black Bear saw the short spear heading towards its face and swung its paw to block, but it failed to stop it, letting the spear slide past its arm.

With a thud.

The short spear from Yuan Ming plunged directly into the Black Bear's eye socket, spattering blood.

"Roar..."

The black bear yowled in pain, its mouth emitting an angry roar.

By then, Yuan Ming had already charged forward again, his legs fiercely stomping on its chest.

Before the black bear could recover from the intense pain in its eyes, it had already lost its balance and toppled backwards.

"Crack"

The sound of the trap branches breaking rang out as the black bear crashed through the loose soil and dead leaves above, falling down.

Immediately after, a thunderous roar erupted, but the sound was extremely shrill, as if it were a wail.

Yuan Ming landed on the ground and hurried over to the pit to check, only to see the black bear lying on its back, its two forearms and one thigh pierced through by the bone spikes buried below.

At its chest and lower abdomen, there were wounds that revealed just the tips of white bones.

Blood oozed from the black bear's mouth and nose as it struggled fiercely, continuously growling.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming turned around, went back to the tree, and grabbed another White Bone Short Spear, intending to put an end to the black bear's suffering immediately.

But when he returned to the edge of the pit, he suddenly froze.

The bottom of the pit was a mess, with bone spikes scattered haphazardly and clearly stained with crimson blood, but that black bear had vanished without a trace.

Before Yuan Ming could figure out what was happening, a gale suddenly arose behind him.

Yuan Ming thought to himself, "Not good," and immediately felt a heavy blow to his lower back, as if something had hammered him with a fist, flinging him forward.

His body flew over the pit and hit a tree three to four yards across, before finally falling down.

Yuan Ming, enduring the pain, struggled to rise and turn around, but before he could see what was behind him, a black shadow flashed by and a burning pain swept across his cheek.

He lifted his hand to touch it, and blood was streaming down his face. Looking forward, he was stunned.

He saw, hanging from a tree about seven or eight yards in front of him, a... a creature that was indescribable.

The reason it was indescribable was that its main body was that of the black bear, but from its wounds, thick blue-black vines that were as thick as a human arm were growing out.

Out of these, two particularly thick ones grew from its chest, one extending upwards to a tree branch, suspending the bear's body in mid-air.

Even more bizarre was the sight of the black bear's left eye, which had been pierced by Yuan Ming; a fleshy, six-petaled red lotus was growing there, its center filled with dense white pistils that wriggled madly, resembling circles of fine white teeth, sending chills up one's spine.

"What in the world is this thing?" Yuan Ming couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

From the current bizarre state of the black bear, it seemed as if it had been parasitized by something.

Just then, the creature moved again, and the vines extending from within the black bear lashed out through the air towards Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming quickly ducked and rolled forward to dodge.

But the vine, as if it had eyes, changed direction in mid-air and still struck his back, tearing open a burning wound.

Yuan Ming, wincing in pain, decided to flee first.

If it had been just the black bear, he might have had the confidence to fight, but facing this bizarre creature, which he knew nothing about and didn't even know how to kill, how could he fight?

As he turned to run, the parasitic monster didn't seem willing to let him go. Two vines shot out, one from the left and one from the right, attacking him simultaneously.

Yuan Ming hastily dodged, but was not fast enough. He had just dodged the one from the left when his right leg was caught by another vine, tripping him to the ground and dragging him back.

He rolled over to face the creature, trying to fight with the short spear when another vine swiftly coiled around him, binding him up like a rice dumpling.

At this point, Yuan Ming lost his last chance to counterattack.

And so, he was dragged by the vines right up to the "black bear."

Closer up, Yuan Ming was shocked to find that the black bear was not yet dead; its other blood-red eyeball was still rolling, and its mouth opened and closed, emitting heavy, labored breaths.

Yuan Ming's eyes darted around, and he quickly seemed to realize something.

If this thing was a parasite, then killing the host creature it had infested would effectively end its life. If he could just kill the black bear, it too would die.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Suddenly, a slit opened in the black bear's chest, and its rib bones, like two rows of interlocking bone claws, split apart, revealing a vivid red heart that was still vigorously pulsating.

Yuan Ming quickly noticed a black tumor-like mass on that heart, with several black tendrils extending from it, penetrating various parts of the heart, seemingly sucking the blood to nourish itself.

Just as Yuan Ming thought he was about to be devoured, the tendrils binding him suddenly began to unwind, exposing his chest area.

Yuan Ming immediately realized that the black bear's body was severely damaged and that the creature could only continue to survive by transferring to a new host. It wasn't going to eat him; it wanted to use him as its new host to parasitize.