Yuan Ming rounded a bend past a rock formation and stopped in his tracks.

Before him stood a withered old tree next to a cliff wall. Its bark had long since fallen off, exposing a shriveled trunk riddled with large holes and signs of decay. It looked as if it had been dead for many years.

Yuan Ming paid no attention to the rest of the tree, his gaze fixed on a black Lingzhi mushroom growing at the base of the tree, right against the ground. It was as large as a palm and edged with a band of silver patterns, clearly not an ordinary item.

"It really is Yin Yuanzhi!" he crouched down and murmured joyously after taking a closer look.

According to the "Herborist," it was a rare type of yin attribute spiritual material. While it couldn't be consumed directly like meat Ganoderma or Red Core Spirit Peach, it could be used to refine yin attribute elixirs.

Yuan Ming had seen someone in the Execution Hall offer five contribution points for this Yin Yuanzhi. He wondered if that task had been completed yet.

He carefully harvested the item and placed it into a jade box, then tucked it away.

This Yin Yuanzhi was the most valuable spiritual material he had found so far. Finding a few more of these would make his trip worthwhile even if he didn't find the Red Core Spirit Peach.

Yuan Ming got up and continued on his way. He hadn't gone far when his eyes suddenly sharpened looking toward the cliff ahead.

In the shadow of the cliff, a black spirit grass stood about two feet tall. Its leaves were oval-shaped and emitted a faint black spirit light.

Yuan Ming looked towards the top of the spirit grass, where a black spirit fruit was growing.

The fruit was the size of a pigeon's egg, its surface marked with fine and densely packed patterns that at a glance appeared to be many scales. A faint fragrance wafted through the air.

"Hey, isn't this the Black Scale Fruit that Silver Cat asked me to find?" Yuan Ming rejoiced internally.

The Second Cave Master's herbarium included drawings of the Black Scale Fruit, identical to the one before his eyes, both in appearance and description. The age was also sufficient; his luck was indeed good.

He briskly walked over, intending to pick the fruit.

"Quack quack!" The nearby Black Toad suddenly emitted a series of frantic croaks.

Yuan Ming immediately halted, then his expression shifted slightly as he rapidly retreated backward using the Shadowless Step.

A dark shadow descended from above, slamming into where Yuan Ming had just been standing, smashing the ground into a large pit, and sending fragments of rock flying in all directions.

Yuan Ming continued to retreat, dodging the flying rocks now coming straight at him, only then catching a clear view of the dark shadow.

It was a fierce beast resembling a lion, its head and neck covered with gray-white fur, while heavy scale armor covered its spine and underbelly. It stood in front of the Black Scale Fruit and growled at Yuan Ming as if it were guarding the fruit.

"This beast looks like the Lion Scale Beast from the Ten Thousand Mountains, but those have red fur and scales, and this one is gray-white…" Yuan Ming thought to himself while withdrawing the White Ape Skin and casting the Fur Cloak Skill to transform into the form of a White Ape.

Upon seeing Yuan Ming not backing away but instead transforming into a White Ape, the Lion Scale Beast, interpreting it as a challenge, roared and lunged at him.

Yuan Ming didn't counterattack but continued to retreat to the side using the Shadowless Step, casting the Wood Stabbing Technique behind him.

The ground in front of the Lion Scale Beast cracked, and five thick wooden thorns burst out, aiming for its neck.

The Lion Scale Beast halted briefly, sweeping a front paw and snapping the wooden thorns as easily as pulling up weeds.

Yuan Ming wasn't surprised by this. The Lion Scale Beasts of Ten Thousand Mountains were first-level upper-stage fierce beasts. Although this one differed in color, it matched perfectly in aura, size, and strength—it was likely another upper-stage fierce beast, naturally not something that could be easily harmed by the Wood Stabbing Technique.

He flipped his hand and drew out the Green Fish Sword; his right arm suddenly grew significantly bulkier, its veins bulging—a display of his "Energy Storage Arm" Divine Skill.

"Go!" Yuan Ming shouted, swinging his arm with all his might. The Green Fish Sword turned into a green streak hurtling towards the chest of the Lion Scale Beast.

The Lion Scale Beast opened its mouth, and a grey Fireball the size of a human head shot out, matching the speed of the Green Fish Sword and colliding head-on with it.

With a loud "bang," the gray Fireball exploded, causing a visible wave of air that blew the Green Fish Sword back.

Foreseeing this, Yuan Ming flicked his hand, stopping the outwardly flying Green Fish Sword midair. It circled around and resumed its slash towards the Lion Scale Beast.

The Lion Scale Beast's hooves shone with gray-white light, its speed surged, easily dodging the attack of the Green Fish Sword and continuing its charge at Yuan Ming.

At that moment, the ground beneath it cracked again, and a Purple-Black Demon Vine shot out, wrapping around the beast's two front limbs and chest.

From behind a large rock some yards away, the Black Toad lay quietly in the shadows, from which the Purple-Black Demon Vine had shot, disappearing into the ground.

The Lion Scale Beast, startled, thrashed its robust limbs against the ground, attempting to break free from the vine by brute force. However, the length of the vine took it by surprise, rapidly shooting out of the ground.

As the Lion Scale Beast leapt about twenty to thirty feet away, the Purple-Black Demon Vine still hadn't tensed.

The increasingly elongating vine twisted and also firmly wrapped around the hind limbs of the Lion Scale Beast.

Sssss...

The vine secreted a black Poison Liquid, infiltrating the body of the Lion Scale Beast. Its flesh dissolved on contact, and in many places, bleach-white bones were exposed. The blood that flowed out was a dark red, and the scales were corroded unevenly.

Mixed with shock and anger, the Lion Scale Beast spewed a gray Fireball from its mouth, hitting the vine wrapped around its body regardless of the injury it caused itself.

With a loud blast, a large section of the vine was torn apart, and the Lion Scale Beast freed most of its body, nearly escaping completely.

The vines around the Lion Scale Beast suddenly glowed green, swiftly weaving and threading through each other. In the blink of an eye, they formed a Purple Vine Cage, securely trapping the Lion Scale Beast, preventing any movement at all.

It was the "Wood Prison Technique."

After Yuan Ming completed casting, he dashed forward, his hand flickering with a red light, revealing a dark red hammer that he had obtained from this island.

He activated his mana and infused it into the hammer, making it shine with a dazzling red light, like a cluster of crimson flames.

The Lion Scale Beast sensed the astonishing aura emitted from the dark red hammer and, both terrified and alarmed, opened its gaping mouth.

A gray-white fireball the size of a millstone flew out and struck the purple vine cage surrounding it.

With a thunderous "bang," a gray-white mushroom cloud soared!

The Purple Vine Cage trembled violently; several demon vines were blown apart, but the cage itself was almost undamaged, still securely imprisoning the Lion Scale Beast.

The power of the Wood Prison Technique depended largely on the type of tree used to form the prison. The Purple-Black Demon Vine was already strong; a Wood Prison made from it had great power, making it very difficult for a Qi Refinement Realm fierce beast to escape.

A red hammer shadow whistled down and struck the head of the Lion Scale Beast.

The head of the Lion Scale Beast burst open upon impact, with a mixture of red and white substances splattering everywhere; it fell dead before it had the chance to scream.

The purple-black demon vine shot out, piercing into the wound of the Lion Scale Beast, rapidly absorbing the blood within.

Yuan Ming paid no attention to the actions of the demon vine, staring blankly at the lifeless body of the Lion Scale Beast, somewhat lost in thought.

After the recent exchange, he deeply felt the terror of this gray-white Lion Scale Beast, no less formidable than the Four-eyed Golden Ape and Black Giant Crow he had faced before.

He had once embarrassingly fled from under the Golden Ape Giant Crow, but now he could easily kill a fierce beast of the same level. It must be said that the Black Toad and demon vine's contribution was indispensible.

Unexpectedly, the help of a capable spirit beast could be so great.

Yuan Ming walked forward a few steps and picked up a piece of vine that had been blasted off the ground, frowning.

Although the demon vine was resilient, being a wood attribute creature, it was still heavily suppressed by an attack of the fire attribute.

Fortunately, the Purple-Black Demon Vine had a strong self-healing ability and was now integrated with the Black Toad. As long as there was sufficient Qi-Blood, such damage could quickly recover.

Yuan Ming discarded the vine in his hand, ignored the corpse of the Lion Scale Beast, and turned to walk towards the Black Scale Fruit, carefully harvesting the fruit and storing it away.

At this time, the Purple-Black Demon Vine had also finished absorbing the blood of the Lion Scale Beast. This time it didn't feed back to the Black Toad's body but started to repair its own damage. The blasted vine trunks rapidly grew back, and in a few breaths, most of it had recovered.

Yuan Ming continued forward, and the sound of water "splashing" came from ahead.

He went around a low hill, and a gray-white stream lay in front of him, filled with dense yin qi, detectable even from a great distance.

Yuan Ming paused and then his eyes lit up with joy.

This was exactly the stream he had encountered the first time he landed on the island.

Finding this place made things easier; he followed the scenery from his memory, traveling upstream along the stream. A small mountain appeared ahead, precisely where Master Hei Mu's hidden Cave Mansion was located.

The gate to the Cave Mansion was still open, with previous footprints faintly visible on the ground at the entrance, everything maintained as it was back then.

Yuan Ming entered the cave, keeping the Black Toad close at his side, alert for the Earth Demon he had encountered before.

The interior of the cave was also preserved in its original state. He searched the Cave Mansion again thoroughly and even released his Divine Soul to check the surrounding walls for any hidden rooms or compartments, but unfortunately, there were no more secrets to be found here.

Yuan Ming was quite disappointed and approached the casting furnace.

The only thing left of value here was this casting furnace. Last time, he fled hastily due to the Earth Demon and didn't have the chance to take it with him; this time, he would not miss the opportunity.

He activated his black Storage Bag, attempting to collect the furnace.

However, after a series of castings, the furnace remained immobile in its original place.

Yuan Ming looked surprised, as the space inside the black Storage Bag was definitely large enough to accommodate the furnace.

With a hint of confusion, he began to examine the furnace and soon discovered the reason.

The ground around the furnace was engraved with a circle of dense, complicated red runes that seemed to have a special connection with something underground. Unless these runes were destroyed, it was impossible to move the furnace.

After a moment of contemplation, Yuan Ming drew out the Green Fish Sword and slashed at the runes on the ground.

Before the blade could touch the runes, a layer of red light burst forth, repelling the Green Fish Sword.

"Could it be an array?" Yuan Ming looked puzzled. After pondering for a while, he gave up on trying to take it.

He had heard from Brother Fang Ge that some skilled Artifact Refiners used furnaces that were similar to Magic Artifacts, containing special runes inside that provided special benefits during the refining process.

Even more skilled Artifact Refiners would engrave arrays to further enhance various aspects of the furnaces, greatly aiding the refining process.

Since Master Hei Mu had left such an array and furnace here, there must be a reason. If he rashly destroyed the array, it would be like ruining half of the furnace, so he might as well wait until his cultivation was sufficient in the future.

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