Cultivation begins with forming a bond with a spirit bee.

Qu Ye waited a moment, and a blurry phantom appeared on the wolf corpse.

The Ironback Wolf phantom was no bigger than a human head, and when it first appeared, it shook its head, clearly not understanding the current situation.

When it turned its head and saw Qu Ye, it seemed to understand something, and hesitation flashed in its eyes.

But soon, it stopped resisting the suction force, let out an inaudible howl at Qu Ye, and disappeared into Qu Ye's sea of ​​consciousness.

The animal skin book suddenly shone brightly, and the image on the second page became completely solid.

As the phantom dissipated, a message was transmitted from the animal skin book to Qu Ye's mind.

[Clan: Spirit Beast/Wolf]

[Rank: Mid-grade, Tier 1]

[Talents: Iron Back, Keen Senses, Stealth Fusion]

[A chance encounter: a chance meeting]

[Choose one of your talents to integrate]

Qu Ye fell into deep thought.

He had anticipated that their meeting would be purely by chance, since it was only a brief encounter and it was already quite an achievement to have reached the threshold of a future connection.

As for which of the three talents to choose for the Ironback Wolf, that requires careful consideration.

This kind of monster often appears around Yumenfang Market, and its living habits have long been known to many monster hunters.

Qu Ye had heard Wang Meng explain the details in detail when he asked Wang Meng for information about monsters before, so he had a certain understanding of wolves.

Ironback is clearly the wolf's core talent, and also the origin of its name.

If he could enhance his entire body, he would choose this talent without hesitation, since survival is the most important thing.

However, this talent is not well manifested; it can only enhance the hardness of the skin and bones on the back, with little benefit to the abdomen.

Moreover, since he already possessed the Jade Pendant and the Golden罡 Technique, he had no choice but to give up this rather useless talent.

Next, let's look at the talent for keen smell.

This is easy to understand; wolf-like monsters all possess this kind of talent to varying degrees.

It's simply about enhancing one's sense of smell and improving the ability to perceive and hunt prey.

It has significant limitations.

In terms of practicality, it is far inferior to a cultivator's divine sense.

Therefore, it's better to choose the Ironback talent instead of this one.

After all, based on Qu Ye's understanding of the Beast Skin Book, although it could apply the talent to a cultivator, it could not change the original function of the talent.

Shaking his head, Qu Ye continued to look at the next talent, Potential Fusion.

Qu Ye was very interested in this talent.

Unlike wind wolves, ironback wolves are solitary hunters and rarely hunt in groups.

Even cubs, once they reach adulthood, will be driven out of the territory by their mothers and forced to live alone.

Therefore, the Ironback Wolf, which hunts alone, has a more prominent ability to hide compared to other wolf-type monsters.

Just like tigers and leopards in the mortal world, they lurk and hunt, and when they encounter something they can't beat, they rely on their iron backs to tough it out and run away.

Of course, there are times when I can't hold on.

Qu Ye now has the Jade Pendant for defense and a swarm of bees for attack, but he lacks the means to conceal himself.

Having made up his mind, Qu Ye no longer hesitated and, with a thought, chose to merge with his hidden talent.

As Qu Ye made his choice, the animal skin book flashed with golden light.

[Hidden Integration]

[Original effect: By reducing breathing rate through a special method and simultaneously tightening the hair, one can blend into the environment and reduce the intensity of their aura.]

[Enhancement and Adaptation: Cultivators can conceal their magical power through specific methods, reduce their cultivation aura, and subtly modify their external characteristics; they can also subtly enhance their concentration.]

Just like when he first became acquainted with the Jade Spirit Bee, Qu Ye immediately felt that he had undergone some changes.

Instead of observing whether anything was growing on him as he had done before, he closed his eyes and silently felt his new talent.

He suddenly felt as if he had gained an extra instinct, as natural as eating and drinking.

The magical power traveled a special loop through the meridians, and then seemed to be wrapped in a thin film.

As some of his magical power was hidden, Qu Ye's aura dropped from the mid-stage of Qi Refining to the third level of Qi Refining.

"Can we only go down one level?"

Qu Ye opened his eyes, understanding dawning on him.

Normally, it should be able to reduce the effect by about two levels, but my connection with the Ironback Wolf is only fleeting, and my talent only has half of its original effect.

"But one floor is enough."

Qu Ye's lips curled slightly.

The reason I need to use the Concealing Breath technique is to conceal my cultivation progress and reduce risks.

I was originally planning to spend spirit stones to look for such techniques in the Hou family's library.

Having obtained a similar talent without spending a penny, what more could one ask for?

Immediately afterwards, he began experimenting with the modification of external characteristics mentioned in the talent description.

With a ripple of energy, a cultivator who bore only a slight resemblance to Qu Ye appeared before them.

If he were to add some disguise, it would be enough for cultivators who knew Qu Ye well to mistake him for someone else.

"Now I feel much safer."

Qu Ye withdrew the change, feeling quite satisfied.

"Um?"

Just as he was about to stand up, he sensed the animal skin book tremble again.

"What happened?"

He quickly used his divine sense to probe the second page of the animal skin book and found a message.

After reading it, Qu Ye suddenly understood.

It turned out that because of his first encounter with a strange beast, the beast skin book explained some details.

As his test results showed, he could acquire the talent from a distance after the death of the bonded beast.

The time required to obtain the item is not determined by distance, but solely by the monster's cultivation level in life; the stronger the cultivation level, the longer the time required.

However, this feature is not without its limitations.

If the bond is strong enough to be intimate, then a complete monster corpse must be in front of you.

Otherwise, the maximum strength of the talent you gain can only reach 70%.

"That's good too. If we can't find the body, at least we have a backup plan."

Qu Ye nodded, stood up, walked to the Ironback Wolf's corpse, picked up the White Light Sword, and began collecting materials.

Before collecting them, he recalled the vibrations of the Jade Spirit Bee's pages, so he used his divine sense to communicate with the second page of the animal skin book.

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, the Ironback Wolf on the animal skin book seemed to let out a soft howl, but it did not stop him.

Thank you.

Qu Ye was not a pedantic person.

Wolf skins can also be used as materials for magical artifacts; although wolf meat is tough, it is still the meat of a spirit beast; wolf hair can be used as materials for talisman brushes.

There wasn't much wolf blood left; most of it had flowed out.

After collecting everything usable, he buried the remaining bones and controlled the bee swarm to continue patrolling the surrounding area.

Unlike the last time they encountered the two scholars, this battle resulted in few casualties among the bees, only a dozen or so, which was perfectly acceptable.

Next, we need to continue having the queen bee breed worker bees to replenish the original number as soon as possible.

Then, Qu Ye walked to the edge of the grassland and glanced at Red Hare.

Red Hare was standing inside the enclosure, its ears perked up, clearly startled by the commotion.

Seeing Qu Ye approaching, it took two steps back, then stopped and tilted its head to look at him.

He stared at him for a few moments, seemingly confirming that the danger had passed, before lowering his head and continuing to graze.

"Still eating? You almost became someone else's meal." Qu Ye was in a good mood and joked with a smile.

Red Hare naturally couldn't understand what Qu Ye was saying. He glanced at him, raised his head, and went to the other side to throw a tantrum.

After confirming that Red Hare was unharmed, Qu Ye returned to the courtyard and began to guide the remaining medicinal power of the Muscle Regeneration Pill within his body.

Half an hour later.

His injuries have mostly healed and will not hinder his normal activities.

"I have to go to Uncle Wang's house for a banquet tomorrow, so I'll take this opportunity to sell what I've harvested today."

After thinking it over, Qu Ye looked down at the clothes she was wearing.

Because he had spent half a day dealing with the monster corpses in the forest, his sleeves were stained with a lot of blood and dirt.

"Hmm, I need to change into a clean set of clothes."

He took out a clean, dark-colored Taoist robe from his storage bag and put it on neatly.

After doing all this, he lay down on the stone bed.

The battle with the brown bear and the disposal of the demon corpses had left Qu Ye physically and mentally exhausted.

Forget about meditation and cultivation, Qu Ye closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep, something he hadn't done in a long time.