Divine Transcendence

Yuan Ming followed Ha Gong through the forest and over the stream for more than half an hour before finally arriving at a secluded valley. As soon as they arrived at the entrance of the valley, Yuan Ming wrinkled his nose and stopped.

"What’s that strange smell?" he asked, covering his nose.

He smelled a scent similar to sulfur, but more complex.

"It’s the smell of beast-repelling powder. It can drive away some poisonous insects and ferocious beasts, and keep them away from here," Ha Gong explained, pointing to the red and white powder on the ground not far away.

"Can we get some of this inside?" Yuan Ming raised his eyebrows and asked.

"We can, but it’s not very useful. It can drive away some poisonous insects and ferocious beasts, but it’s also easy to reveal our hiding place. Sometimes, humans are more dangerous than ferocious beasts," Ha Gong said.

The entrance to the valley was quite narrow, like a natural pass, but inside it was suddenly spacious, as if they had entered a frog’s mouth and arrived in its belly.

As soon as they entered the valley and walked a few steps, they saw several crude stone houses built with stones, without doors but only open doorways, through which they could vaguely see shadows of people inside.

Around these stone houses were some people wearing animal skins, with few in number and expressionless, without any emotion on their faces.

Yuan Ming was about to go forward to take a look, but was stopped by Ha Gong.

"Be careful what you say later, don’t provoke those named disciples, most of them have bad temper," Ha Gong reminded him.

Yuan Ming nodded silently.

He walked up to the first stone house and looked inside, only to see that it was very simple, with only a wooden table and a recliner. A young man in a green cloth robe was lying on the recliner with a paper book in his hand, covering half of his face, looking very comfortable.

In front of him was a wooden sign with white paper attached, which read "buying mature spirit grass and all kinds of ores". It only had one simple sentence, without specifying what was being bought or the specific time limit.

Next to him was another stone house with a table and a wooden sign attached with white paper, which read "buying spirit grass, ores, beast bones, and blood food". However, this room was empty, with no one inside.

The other two stone houses were in similar conditions, each with their own display, but all looked a bit rough.

In the last stone house, Yuan Ming happened to see two beast fur slaves trading with the named disciple inside. The disciple seemed very impatient, picking and choosing from the two dark red ores and a yellowish herb that looked like ginseng brought by the beast fur slaves.

In the end, he used a small white porcelain bottle to dismiss the beast fur slaves.

After the grateful beast fur slaves left with the small bottle, they were full of joy."Two pieces of fire patterned iron ore and a red and yellow essence, just exchanged for a bottle of blood replenishing pill. These guys are getting more and more ruthless," Ha Gong muttered beside Yuan Ming.

His voice was very soft, almost no one could hear it except himself.

Yuan Ming heard it clearly.

But he didn’t ask much here, instead he waited until he and Ha Gong walked away before asking:

"So, did that beast slave suffer a loss in that deal just now?"

"It’s common to suffer losses, but this guy squeezed the price too hard. Just the two pieces of fire patterned iron ore were enough to exchange for a bottle of blood replenishing pill. That red and yellow essence, judging by its thickness, must have been at least fifty years old. It was like giving it away to him for free," Ha Gong said with surprise and indignation.

Yuan Ming was not yet clear about the ins and outs of this, so he asked Ha Gong for more information and learned about the names and characteristics of some of the spiritual medicines and ores that the named disciples often collected.

"I’m quite surprised that the Biro Cave would allow the existence of this trading place," Yuan Ming said in amazement.

"You’ll know after spending some time here. The management of the named disciples by the Biro Cave is very loose. As long as they complete the tasks assigned by the sect, the sect will not interfere in other matters," Ha Gong said with a smirk.

Yuan Ming felt that this was still far from what he was doing now, so he didn’t pay too much attention.

After wandering around the valley for a while, Yuan Ming bid farewell to Ha Gong and left on his own.

Ha Gong also just said a simple goodbye, and the two went their separate ways without mentioning whether they would meet again in the future.

...

Time flew by, more than three months had passed.

It was noon, but the sky was overcast with low clouds pressing down on the ancient trees in the forest, making it feel a bit oppressive.

In the dense mountain forest, a muscular white ape was stretching its long arms and swinging between the towering ancient trees. Each swing covered a distance of ten zhang, and the speed was extremely fast.

This was not a wild ape in the mountains, but Yuan Ming using the Beast Fur Technique.

At this moment, his whole body was soaked in sweat, and there were several shocking bloodstains on his body, but his eyes were very bright, always vigilant and scanning the surroundings, occasionally turning around to look behind him.

Less than thirty zhang away from him, the earth shook, trees broke, and smoke rose.

A black-haired wild boar, with a body length of one zhang and a height of six chi, was roaring with its mouth open, exhaling hot breath, and chasing after Yuan Ming like crazy.

There were a pair of white fang-like sharp teeth growing in its mouth, shining with a cold white light, extremely sharp. Whenever it encountered a tree obstacle, it would pierce through it.

At the same time, there was an invisible light shield between its two long teeth, like a triangular light shield, covering its head. When it collided with a tree that had been pierced by its long teeth, it could easily split it into pieces.One of the eyes of the fierce wild boar had been injured by Yuan Ming, and had become bloody and blurry. The other eye was also red with intense hatred and murderous intent, chasing after Yuan Ming relentlessly. Although it was fast and incredibly powerful, there were countless ancient trees blocking its way, hindering its pursuit of Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming seemed to have taken advantage of this and did not rush to escape. Instead, he deliberately suppressed his speed, always keeping a distance that allowed the wild boar to see him. Once he noticed that the wild boar was becoming lax, he would stop and provoke it, luring it into chasing him again and again.

Of course, Yuan Ming was not just idly passing the time. He wanted to use this method to dissipate the wild boar’s murderous intent and wear down its stamina, so that when its strength weakened, he could be sure to strike it down in one blow.

In this way, the monkey and the wild boar chased each other through the mountains and forests for more than half an hour. Yuan Ming listened carefully and noticed that the wild boar’s breathing had become rougher, its galloping footsteps were becoming chaotic, and its speed was slowing down as it collided with ancient trees. He knew that the time had come.

He hung onto an ancient tree with one arm, panting heavily, as if he could no longer run. The wild boar, which was already struggling to keep up, saw this and became excited. It let out a loud roar and charged towards Yuan Ming once again.

This time, Yuan Ming deliberately slowed down his speed. He waited until the wild boar was only four yards away from him before swinging his arm and changing direction, flying towards the center of two other ancient trees. At the same time, the wild boar also turned towards Yuan Ming’s direction and charged towards him.

It saw the two old trees standing side by side, and leaped towards them, intending to pass through the gap between them. The distance between the two trees seemed tailor-made for its body, just enough to allow the wild boar to pass through.

However, in fact, these two trees were the ones that Yuan Ming had chosen for it earlier. As the wild boar leaped, Yuan Ming’s body twisted and stopped. He picked up a white bone short spear that he had placed there earlier, and the nine-element formula in his body madly circulated, with the Qi in his dantian turning into a warm current that flowed up his meridians and into his right arm.

His right arm immediately bulged with blue veins, his hair stood on end, and his muscles swelled at a visible speed, growing a circle larger than before. This was the second small magical technique derived from the white ape skin that he had named "Elemental Arm," which he had developed after practicing the nine-element formula to the second level of Qi refining. Once this magical technique was activated, his right arm would change shape, and the power he could unleash would instantly increase threefold.

However, this power eruption was instantaneous and could not be sustained for long. Yuan Ming had developed a method of storing power and throwing it, allowing him to attack from a distance.Yuan Ming tightly gripped the short bone gun in his hand, his arm tensed in an instant, and his strength continued to gather and accumulate. As his arm swung around, he let out a roar from his mouth.

"GO!"

As his voice rang out, the bone short gun in his hand was thrown out, emitting a piercing sound through the air.

The wild boar beast had just reached the middle of the two old trees, trapped between them with no room to dodge. It could only rely on the light shield covering its head to face Yuan Ming’s powerful strike head-on.

It was like a spear and shield confrontation, but the battle ended the moment they touched.

The bone short gun pierced through the invisible light curtain with a "PUFF" sound, thrusting into the head of the wild boar beast and penetrating its entire body, shooting out from its buttocks.

The wild boar’s body, suspended in mid-air, fell down helplessly, stuck perfectly between the two old trees.

Upon seeing this, Yuan Ming showed a delighted expression. On one hand, he was happy for successfully killing the ferocious beast, and on the other hand, he was satisfied with the power of his own Accumulation Arm.

He quickly walked over, took out a blood storage bag from his waist, and skillfully began to collect the blood and flesh of the wild boar beast.

After finishing the collection, Yuan Ming immediately picked up the bone short gun, used the tip of the gun to cut open the corners of the wild boar’s mouth, exposing the roots of its two long tusks.

These pair of tusks were also his target, as they contained a trace of spiritual power, which was one of the ferocious beast materials needed by the disciples of the Bi Luo Cave.