"It's all right if you can't remember it in one go, I can recite it again; just listen carefully." The Three Cave Master said.

"No need, Three Cave Master, I've memorized the mnemonic; it's just that my aptitude isn't great, so it might take me several more tries to get it right," Yuan Ming responded with a bow.

The Three Cave Master was slightly surprised, but seeing as Yuan Ming said as much, he didn't say anything more, only nodding slightly to signal that he could start trying.

Indeed, Yuan Ming memorized the mnemonic well, but encountered problems when it came to the specific operation.

As he chanted the mnemonic and covered the Storage Bag with mana, a red rune-constructed circular Array emerged, emitting a repelling force that pushed his mana away.

Yuan Ming frowned and increased the strength of his mana flow, his power began to invade the circular Array, gradually assimilating with it.

But a moment later, his mana was interrupted once more, and was repelled out again.

"The forbidden seal of the Storage Bag is the most fundamental; concentrate and calm your mind, control your mana with focus, recite the mnemonic and try again," the Three Cave Master reminded him.

Yuan Ming nodded, calmed his breathing for a moment, and continued trying.

It took seven or eight attempts before he finally succeeded in refining the Storage Bag.

"Now that you have refined the Storage Bag, you just need to release mana while lightly touching the Storage Bag, thinking about the object you want to take out," the Three Cave Master added.

Yuan Ming immediately tried it upon hearing this.

This time it went very smoothly; his palm swiped across the bag, and a reddish, semi-transparent Crystal Stone appeared in his hand.

"Putting things back is almost the same process; release mana while touching the object you wish to return, then help with a thought," the Three Cave Master said with a nod of satisfaction.

Yuan Ming did as he said, and the Fire Crystal Stone in his hand flashed away and disappeared in an instant.

First time dealing with a Storage Bag, Yuan Ming couldn't resist trying several times until he became thoroughly familiar with it; only then did he stop.

"I'll also lend you the Spiritual Beast Bag for now. Unless there's no other choice, try not to store Huo Chan'er inside; it actually prefers being outside," the Three Cave Master thought for a moment, then took out a red cloth bag and tossed it to Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming hurriedly caught it.

"The usage of the Spiritual Beast Bag is similar to the Storage Bag, but remember, the Storage Bag is only for storing objects, and the Spiritual Beast Bag can only store spirit beasts; do not mix them up," the Three Cave Master advised.

"Understood," Yuan Ming nodded.

"Chen Wan, go to the Fire Workshop tomorrow and let Fang Ge know that Yuan Ming will no longer have to do the routine tasks in the Fire Workshop from now on; this month he just needs to take good care of Huo Chan'er," the Three Cave Master ordered.

"As the Teacher commands," Chen Wan promptly replied.

Yuan Ming wanted to say it wasn't necessary, but knowing the Three Cave Master offered this privilege out of concern for his ability to look after Huo Chan'er, he held his peace.

Upon leaving the courtyard of the Three Cave Masters, Chen Wan's gaze towards Yuan Ming slowly began to change, clearly astonished by everything Yuan Ming had shown during the visit.

Coupled with his peculiar experiences of going from a Beast Slave to a Registered Disciple, she could no longer underestimate the young man before her.

"I didn't expect you'd actually succeed," Chen Wan couldn't help but speak out, expressing her amazement.

"Just lucky, sometimes luck is also a kind of strength," Yuan Ming, with Huo Chan'er in his arms, chuckled.

"Look at how pleased with yourself you are! Take good care of Huo Chan'er; it will be greatly beneficial for your future, don't mess it up," Chen Wan rolled her eyes at Yuan Ming, reminding him in a not-so-pleasant tone.

Yuan Ming glanced at her, smiled, and nodded; her reminder brought a touch of warmth to his heart.

After they parted, Yuan Ming walked alone on his way back, patting the Storage Bag to stow his Green Fish Sword and Beast Skin among other items inside it.

"This thing is really handy; when will I be able to have my own Storage Bag?" Yuan Ming, now unencumbered, couldn't help but admire.

When he returned to his dwelling and pushed open the door, the Fire Mink "whooshed" inside.

Curious about its new environment, it darted around the room before jumping onto Yuan Ming's bedding, burying its head under his covers.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming just smiled and ignored it.

After closing the door, he sat down cross-legged beside the bed; soon the Fire Mink re-emerged, scrambling back onto his shoulder.

"I'm about to start cultivating, so don't cause any trouble," Yuan Ming warned, regardless of whether it understood him or not.

Huo Chan'er didn't care, still doing as it pleased, jumping and scuttling over him.

Only when Yuan Ming brandished the Spiritual Beast Bag did the little creature jump off him and scamper onto the table.

Yuan Ming, seeing this, ceased to bother with it for the moment and began to meditate to cultivate the Nine Elements Technique.

He had barely closed his eyes for long when a flurry of erratic noises arose.

Yuan Ming opened his eyes and saw that items on the table were scattered on the floor, and Huo Chan'er was lying on the ground, fiddling with a rolling teacup.

With no other choice, he had to abandon cultivation and pulled out the "Moonlight Technique" to start reading instead.

"""

He had already memorized the content of the Cultivation Technique in his brain, but the speed of cultivation had always been so slow that it was hard to accept. Flipping through the book occasionally might bring him some new insights.

When night fell, moonlight leaked into the room through the open window, and Yuan Ming immediately rose and walked toward where the moonlight fell.

After a whole afternoon of fussing, Huo Chan'er, who was already somewhat tired, thought Yuan Ming was going out and promptly got up to follow him, only to see Yuan Ming sit down on the ground again.

It felt deceived, climbed onto Yuan Ming's shoulder in anger, and started to fuss again.

Yuan Ming, now somewhat accustomed to this, paid no attention and quickly pointed one hand to the sky and the other to the ground, pinched the spell, and started cultivating the Moonlight Technique.

The bright moonlight enveloped him, casting a hazy sheen.

The restless Huo Chan'er suddenly froze, as if petrified, but soon after, it inexplicably felt a sense of comfort and slid off Yuan Ming's shoulder to quietly lie on his thigh.

Hidden in the shadows, the silhouette of the silver cat was on the old pine tree outside the window, and a faint light circulated in its heterochromatic eyes.

Just as Huo Chan'er settled comfortably and closed its eyes to enjoy, its body suddenly floated up as if lifted by an invisible force and was tossed aside.

The little creature was jolted awake, abruptly stood up, stretched its neck to look around, and finding nothing out of the ordinary, it could only shake its head and climb back onto Yuan Ming's thigh.

But as soon as it lay down, its body was once again lifted and tossed onto the ground.

Huo Chan'er became anxious, circled around Yuan Ming to figure out what was happening, and eventually looked at Yuan Ming with round eyes.

Yuan Ming's eyes were slightly closed, his expression natural, showing no signs of anything unusual.

Huo Chan'er climbed back onto Yuan Ming's thigh, shaking its head, this time without closing its eyes, vigilantly scanning around, trying to find who was playing tricks. This сhаptеr wаs mаdе pоssiblе by thе соmmunity аt

Then, in the next moment, it watched itself float up and fall onto the ground.

Huo Chan'er's little eyes were filled with horror, and if it could speak, it would probably be shouting "I've seen a ghost!"

The commotion woke Yuan Ming, and he stopped cultivating.

He furrowed his brows in thought for a moment and then tentatively asked, "Are you nearby?"

Over the past few days, he had actually felt a vague sense that the silver cat was near, but it had never really shown itself.

After waiting a long time with no response, Yuan Ming spoke again, "I have a question to ask, can we meet?"

The surroundings remained deathly quiet; only the chirping of insects from outside the window could be heard.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming knew the mysterious silver cat would not appear and could only shake his head helplessly before closing his eyes to continue cultivating.

The Little Fire Mink looked left and right a few times, then carefully moved beside Yuan Ming, this time not climbing onto his leg but snuggling up and lying down without daring to close its eyes to sleep.

This time, after a long wait without any invisible force disturbing it, its eyelids gradually drooped, and it slowly fell asleep.

...

Time flew by, and the end of the month finally came.

Early the next morning, Yuan Ming headed to the Fire Workshop with the Fire Mink still perched on his shoulder.

In the half-month since the Three Cave Masters had spoken, Yuan Ming kept to his usual routine, coming to the Fire Workshop every day, not to sift materials but to start a Fire pit and continue refining the embryo.

To date, he still hadn't reached the goal of swinging the hammer a thousand times in succession, but he could now do it four hundred times consecutively.

For some reason, Huo Chan'er's lively nature seemed to have calmed down a lot, and it followed Yuan Ming all day, never leaving his side. Other senior brothers and sisters had gone from initial surprise to becoming accustomed and now took it as usual.

When Fang Ge saw Yuan Ming, he didn't watch from a distance as usual but came straight to his side.

"Your basic Contribution Value and the fundamental Cultivation Technique have been issued; give me your waist card," Fang Ge said directly.

Yuan Ming, delighted, immediately took off his waist card and handed it over.

After Fang Ge took it, he quickly returned it and also produced a smoothly polished white Bone Slab, handing it to him.

The white Bone Slab was warm and translucent, looking somewhat like jade, but Yuan Ming could see the distinct bone-pattern on it. He examined the black runes etched on it and asked, "Brother, what is this?"

"This is a Bone Scroll, which records our fundamental Cultivation Technique 'Biluo Skill.' Now that you have it, don't practice the 'Blood Qi Skill' anymore; that technique isn't very interesting, this one is better," Fang Ge said, kindly advising knowing Yuan Ming's background.

"How do I use it?" Yuan Ming's interest was piqued as he rubbed the white Bone Slab a few times and asked.

"Press the Bone Scroll close to your forehead, concentrate with your Divine Thought, and you will be able to see the content of the Cultivation Technique inside," Fang Ge explained.

Yuan Ming nodded and was about to press the Bone Slab to his forehead.

"Hey, not here. Go back to your place, concentrate and calm yourself, and then ponder it properly," Fang Ge quickly stopped him.

"And why is that?" Yuan Ming asked, puzzled.

It's just to look at a Cultivation Technique after all; there's no need for purification, meditation, and Breathing Control, right?

"""