After walking for two days in the mountain range, they finally reached the area where Thousand-Year Spirit Beasts began to appear, showing just how large the Southwest Mountain Range was. Over these two days, Jin Bao tried fighting Spirit Beasts and, under Muluofu's guidance, learned about many Spirit Beasts, medicinal herbs, ordinary plants, and wilderness survival skills. Although teachers mentioned some of these in textbooks, it wasn't as profound as this practical teaching.
It's worth mentioning that every time a Spirit Beast was defeated by Jin Bao, Muluofu would knock it unconscious and throw it away instead of killing it directly.
"First, although a Spirit Beast's cultivation isn't measured by years of survival, their growth is still much slower than humans. Therefore, within the Spirit Hall, unless it is a necessary situation, try to only hunt the target during missions or when obtaining spirit rings. Setting aside the relationship between Spirit Masters and spirit rings, Spirit Hall records show that Spirit Beast riots occur in places where Spirit Masters frequently hunt Spirit Beasts, a situation we don't want to see."
"Second, besides normal Cultivation and consuming medicinal herbs, hunting other Spirit Beasts or even Spirit Masters is a way for them to enhance their cultivation. Although I knocked that Spirit Beast unconscious just now and its chances of survival are low, it might allow several beasts on the edge of becoming Spirit Beasts to advance. Or it could be eaten by other Spirit Beasts, producing even stronger ones."
"Third, when hunting Spirit Beasts, if it's not a powerful one, many Spirit Beasts will covet its flesh after it dies. Moreover, even for weak Spirit Beasts, the smell of blood will attract others, which is why I only knock them out and don't kill them."
By the evening of the third day, the two still hadn't found a suitable Thousand-Year Spirit Beast.
"Jin Bao, I think we need to go a bit deeper, but this might be dangerous. Are you afraid?" Muluofu was actually a bit self-reproachful. As the teacher bringing Jin Bao to get a spirit ring, he hadn't found a suitable one for so long and had to put his student in danger, which felt like a dereliction of duty.
Jin Bao replied, "Teacher, I'm not afraid! If I were afraid, I wouldn't have become a Spirit Master." Actually, it wasn't that they hadn't encountered Spirit Beasts that could produce suitable Spirit Abilities before, but those Spirit Beasts either had average cultivation or the resulting Spirit Abilities were uncertain, so Muluofu hadn't acted.
Muluofu said, "Then rest early. Tomorrow we'll hurry, and perhaps we can retreat to this area before dark."
To stay alert, although Jin Bao was in the tent, he remained in a state of Cultivation. He could now use Cultivation to replace sleep. However, the effect wasn't as good as being truly immersed in Cultivation.
Another point is that after reaching a Bottleneck Rank, although continued Cultivation won't result in an actual increase in spirit power, one can still continue to Cultivate. If there were a method to compress spirit power, one could even Cultivate an extra Rank of spirit power!
Tonight's moon was a bit special.
As the clouds drifted away, a faint red appeared on the moon.
Muluofu's expression changed as he looked at the moon in the sky. Although it was just an ordinary Blood Moon, thinking about the bad things that could happen during one, he still woke Jin Bao up.
Stepping out of the tent, Jin Bao also saw the Blood Moon in the sky; it was his first time seeing such a phenomenon.
However, tonight's Blood Moon wasn't bright red, but a bit orange-red.
"Jin Bao, remember, a Blood Moon is a dangerous celestial phenomenon, especially in the wilderness. Some nocturnal Spirit Beasts will become more aggressive because of the Blood Moon. Most importantly, some Spirit Beasts have special Bloodlines in their bodies that require this special phenomenon to complete an advancement. And the method of advancement is—hunting!"
The two had already moved into the trees. Standing there, Muluofu kept looking into the distance.
Soon, a patch of black dots appeared under the night sky.
"Those are... bats!" Jin Bao saw the identity of those black dots clearly under the moonlight.
"Look!" Muluofu pointed at the bats; they had actually started killing each other!
Under the light of the Blood Moon, every injured bat was quickly devoured by other nearby bats, completely disregarding that they were the same species.
"They should be Scarlet Bats. This kind of bat excels in two attack methods: sound waves and toxins. Their toxins have a powerful hallucinogenic effect. If too much is absorbed, even a Spirit Saint-level Spirit Master will fall victim," Muluofu said.
Jin Bao asked, "Then, when will they stop?"
Muluofu replied, "Only when one is left to complete the transformation! Or when the moonlight disappears."
At this moment, Jin Bao noticed that the Blood Moon phenomenon was beginning to fade. However, those Scarlet Bats were fighting each other even more fiercely.
"It's coming!" Muluofu said.
Jin Bao watched the situation there and saw a bat five times larger than before born under the light of the Blood Moon. The other Scarlet Bats flew away one after another, and this bat did not continue to hunt them.
As the last trace of the Blood Moon's light vanished, its transformation was complete.
"Jin Bao, your spirit ring is here!" Muluofu said, patting Jin Bao's shoulder. "Wait for me!"
Then, with a forceful kick, he rushed out.
Afterward, Muluofu quickly used several large trees to jump and borrow strength, finally exploding with a jump to reach a height close to that bat.
Muluofu's Spirit is the Stun Hammer. Whether hit by his hammer or his Spirit Ability, there will be a dizzying effect. Theoretically, a hammer Spirit is more suitable for the attack system, but Muluofu insisted on following the control system back then. It wasn't until he actually obtained a spirit ring that he discovered the dizzying effect of his Spirit was attached to the Spirit Abilities.
Conversely, in terms of pure attack power, there wasn't much of a bonus.
Jin Bao landed on the ground and looked around vigilantly. Fortunately, no other Spirit Beasts came to attack.
Soon, Muluofu landed in front of Jin Bao, holding the already unconscious bat.
Looking at the mutated bat before him, Jin Bao was also somewhat surprised. Because the color of the bat's body had turned bright red, looking quite good at first glance.
He took out a short sword and struck the bat's neck.
A purple spirit ring floated out, but it carried a faint trace of blood red.
Muluofu said, "This fellow's cultivation is now around one thousand five hundred years. You can absorb it with peace of mind."
Jin Bao nodded, sat down cross-legged, and began to absorb the spirit ring.
Then, as the spirit ring fell onto him, the impact of the spirit power began.
At this moment, the Money that had been silent in Jin Bao's chest became active again. The trace of blood color originally in the spirit ring was quickly absorbed by the Money, then converted into gentle energy and injected into Jin Bao's internal organs.
Without the direct impact of that step, Jin Bao's absorption of the spirit ring went more smoothly. Next came the mental impact. As before, Jin Bao once again entered that illusion.