What is an immortal?

Yuan Ming felt a sharp pain from his shoulder, but his hands did not stop for a moment, his body rapidly turned, and his right leg swung out like a battle axe, fiercely kicking the Green Fox in the waist with a sharp, cutting wind.

"bang"

The Green Fox was kicked flying backward, heavily slamming into a large tree behind it, tumbling to the ground.

The fox quickly regained its footing, seemingly uninjured at its waist, but several wounds on its body, which had not yet healed, once again began to ooze an abundance of fresh blood.

Perhaps due to excessive blood loss, the Green Fox moved slightly unsteadily. Its dark green pupils stared fixedly at Yuan Ming, who fearlessly met its gaze. At the same time, he clenched his fists and let out a few low growls.

After a few breaths, the Green Fox suddenly turned and fled toward the distance, disappearing into the jungle in a blink of an eye.

Yuan Ming exhaled deeply, his tense face slightly relaxed, and suddenly shook his somewhat swollen and painful right leg.

This Green Fox was far stronger than he had anticipated, its physical body extremely tough. If it hadn't already been wounded from fighting an armadillo earlier, there was no way he could have succeeded.

Even so, Yuan Ming had not been completely sure he could take on the second Green Fox. If the opponent was truly desperate, the outcome would still be uncertain.

Of course, Yuan Ming was also determined to fight to the death, as he did not plan to let go of the Green Fox carcass he had obtained.

As the saying goes, it's the braver one who wins in a desperate fight, and it was indeed the Green Fox that fled due to cowardice.

Yuan Ming treated the claw wound on his shoulder slightly to stop the bleeding, then hung the corpse of the Green Fox on a nearby tree and took out a bone knife to slice open its throat.

The bright red fox blood flowed out in torrents, which he caught in a Beast Skin Pouch used for storing blood, quickly filling most of the bag while the fox blood still flowed continuously.

"Looking at this rate, the blood of one Green Fox can fill up this bag. How then am I supposed to hunt other Fierce Beasts?" Yuan Ming muttered to himself, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes.

With Elder Hu Huo's status and experience, it was unlikely he hadn't considered this problem.

"Could it be that this bag has some special properties?" Yuan Ming's gaze shifted, landing on the peculiar blood-colored patterns on the surface of the bag, a thought suddenly striking him.

He extended one or two fingers and touched the blood-colored patterns, channeling the Dan Tian Power through these fingers, slowly infusing it into the patterns.

The pattern immediately became even more vividly red, and the entire bag lit up with a ring of faint Blood Light, resembling the halo of twilight, while the fox blood inside began to flow with a gushing sound, as if an invisible hand was stirring it.

To Yuan Ming's astonishment, the substantial amount of fox blood inside the bag began reducing at a visible rate within a few breaths, diminishing by more than half.

The remaining fox blood appeared even more vivid, and the smell of blood became stronger.

"This bag is indeed extraordinary. It seems to be refining and purifying the stored Beast Blood," Yuan Ming said, showing a hint of joy as he continued carefully channeling Mana into the bag.

At that moment, the bag suddenly made a soft "puff" sound, as if the infused Mana had broken through some barrier, and the surface of the bag emitted strands of white light, forming a continuously spiraling white circle of light.

A strong suction force emerged from the white circle of light, enveloping the wounded neck of the Green Fox.

gush!

A large amount of fox blood burst forth, yet not a drop fell outside; all fell into the bag.

"This bag even has the ability to autonomously collect Beast Blood?" Yuan Ming's eyes widened slightly, but he soon regained his composure.

It wasn't strange that a bag for storing blood had the ability to collect Beast Blood. If they had simply hung the corpse of the Fierce Beast on a tree, not only would it have been inefficient at collecting Beast Blood, but there would also have been a lot of waste. As a Sect, Biluo Cave would surely have considered this issue.

It's just that Elder Hu Huo had knowingly or unknowingly never mentioned this.

As the blood of the Green Fox was sucked dry, the refining inside the bag also ended, and all the fox blood turned into a small fist-sized crystalline blood cluster, quietly suspended inside the bag.

Although it was very faint, the crystalline blood cluster emitted strands of Mana fluctuations.

"It seems my guess was right. This Green Fox truly was a Fierce Beast capable of absorbing nature's spiritual energy to strengthen itself," concluded Yuan Ming. He did not linger any longer on site, picked up the corpse of the Green Fox, and retreated toward the canyon, soon reaching the edge of the canyon.

At that moment, a dense sound of running came from behind, mixed with panting sounds.

Yuan Ming leapt onto a large tree and looked back, his pupils suddenly contracting.

He saw that at least a dozen Green Fox Fierce Beasts were running this way, less than twenty zhang away from him.

"This is bad, these Green Foxes actually live in groups!" Yuan Ming hurriedly descended the tree, leaped into the canyon, and quickly blended into the dense mist.

A few breaths later, the group of Green Foxes reached the edge of the canyon, continuously growling at the mist-covered canyon, yet not one dared to set foot inside, seemingly cautious about something.

...

As the mist swirled around him, Yuan Ming did not slow down, running with all his might toward the opposite shore, quickly reaching the rock wall on the other side.

Carrying the body of a Green Fox and running with all his might for so long, even though he had used the Fur Cloak Skill, he was still extremely tired and had to stop to catch his breath.

Fortunately, the mist behind him was quiet, and those Green Foxes had not followed him.

Yuan Ming found it somewhat strange, but he didn't delve further. After regaining some strength, he slung the Green Fox corpse over his back and climbed upwards, soon reaching the top.

The Green Foxes were still lingering on the opposite side. They spotted Yuan Ming from afar, along with the Green Fox corpse on his back, and roared again, without setting foot in the canyon.

"It seems these Green Foxes dare not enter the canyon. I wonder if they fear the mist here, or is it that people from Biluo Cave have employed some method here, making them hesitant to do so?" Yuan Ming speculated silently.

If it was as he suspected, this canyon could be very useful. In the future, whenever he encountered Fierce Beasts, he would just need to hide in the canyon.

After standing silently for a while, Yuan Ming turned and walked into the forest, his figure quickly disappearing.

The group of Green Foxes on the opposite side of the canyon lingered on the edge a while longer before finally dispersing reluctantly.

An hour later, Yuan Ming returned to the burrow with the body of the Green Fox, now carrying a cloth bag that contained several plants.

He couldn't recall the names of these plants. He had spotted them earlier on his way and vaguely remembered that they had the effect of stopping bleeding and promoting flesh regeneration, so he had picked them.

"It seems I also had some understanding of medical arts before," he thought to himself and deactivated the Fur Cloak Skill, exposing the wound on his shoulder.

The wound, covered by Ape Skin for so long, was barely bleeding.

Yuan Ming crushed the plants into a paste with water and applied it to his wound.

Instantly, a cool sensation spread out, significantly reducing the pain at the wound, and the bleeding stopped completely.

"Indeed effective," Yuan Ming rejoiced.

Being injured was commonplace while hunting beasts in this forest. This healing recipe would definitely be of great use.

Just then, a "gurgle" sound came from his stomach.

Casting the Fur Cloak Skill consumed not only Mana but also Physical Body strength, and after fighting a fierce battle with the Green Fox, his stored food had been completely depleted.

Yuan Ming stood up, sliced off two pieces of fox meat, started a fire, and began to roast them. A delightful fragrance soon wafted through the air, enticing his appetite.

"The flesh and blood of Fierce Beasts contain Spiritual Energy, quite different from ordinary wild beasts," he salivated, waiting only for the meat to be cooked seventy to eighty percent before he eagerly started to feast.

After consuming two pieces of fox meat, Yuan Ming felt a warm satisfaction envelop his body. He rubbed his stomach contentedly and then sat down, starting to plan his next moves.

Today, he had witnessed firsthand the power of Fierce Beasts. Living on the edge of the forest, the Green Fox and yellow armadillo were probably only the most common among Fierce Beasts.

Yet even a slightly weaker Green Fox would likely defeat him in a one-on-one fight with no additional help, much less a whole group of them.

He had four days left and needed to kill four more Fierce Beasts. His time was extremely limited, and he must quickly devise a good strategy.

After contemplating for a moment, Yuan Ming still decided to target those Green Foxes.

Firstly, because the Green Foxes were relatively weaker, and secondly, their numbers were plentiful enough for him to hunt.

"Like the time I hunted that Black Bear, should I dig a trap?" Yuan Ming had little experience in hunting beasts, and his first thought was still the old method.

But after much deliberation, he dismissed the idea.

The Green Foxes were different from the Black Bear; they knew to retreat and call for reinforcements in risky situations, which made them seem very cunning. Additionally, with their agile movements, a hastily prepared trap would most likely fail to catch them and could backfire.

Yuan Ming continued to struggle with finding another method when suddenly he looked up, as if he had an epiphany.

"Right, that's it!"

Time passed quickly, and the night was soon over.

Yuan Ming opened his eyes, his gaze fierce.

After a night of diligent cultivation, the Mana in his Dantian had thickened a bit. With the rate of accumulating Mana using the Nine Elements Technique, given another ten days or half a month, he might no longer fear the Green Fox Fierce Beasts.

Unfortunately, he did not have much time left.

After hastily roasting and eating two more pieces of fox meat to fill his stomach, Yuan Ming activated the Fur Cloak Skill to transform into a White Ape form and rushed to the opposite side of the canyon, quickly arriving at the spot where he had found the yellow armadillo the day before.

After some searching, he finally spotted the yellow armadillo near a cluster of trees close to the mountain wall.

The yellow armadillo also noticed Yuan Ming in the tree, its black eyes staring straight back with a menacing glare.

Yuan Ming grinned at the armadillo and then turned around, leaping through the trees toward the distance.

The yellow armadillo hadn't expected the suddenly appearing White Ape to leave so abruptly. It paused for a moment, its glossy black eyes following Yuan Ming's departing figure until it was sure that the other had really left its "territory." Only then did it turn around and swiftly burrow into a small cave at the base of the mountain wall.

The cave was lined with a layer of dry grass where several small armadillos lay. Seeing the large armadillo come in, they chirped and huddled around it.

The yellow armadillo's eyes also showed a tender expression as its pink tongue licked the young armadillos.