The hot spring is gathering energy, and the undercurrents are beginning to emerge.

The next morning, before the mountain mist had cleared, Medicine Old Man took Nightmare to the hot spring behind the village.

The hot spring was located in a depression near the foot of the mountain behind the village, half-encircled by several natural boulders. Steam rose, the air was thick with mist, and a faint scent of sulfur mingled with the fresh fragrance of vegetation.

The spring water was a pale, milky white, and tiny bubbles frequently rose to the surface.

"The water in this hot spring is special; it remains warm year-round and has miraculous effects on relieving fatigue and soothing muscles. When the villagers are tired from work, they often come here to soak," Medicine Old Man explained, signaling to Nightmare that he could get into the water to try it out.

Nightmare stirred slightly, sensing the hot spring. Indeed, unlike the inert Spiritual Qi of the outside world, this spring water contained a gentle and active energy. It was not pure Spiritual Qi, but rather something more akin to "Earth Vein Essence" or "Mineral Elemental Power" produced by the combination of earth veins and minerals. Its nature leaned towards earth and water, making it easier for the Physical Body to absorb directly.

For him, needing large amounts of energy to nourish his Physical Body and consolidate his Chaos Dao Foundation, this was undoubtedly a timely gift.

He removed his tattered outer robe (he had spare clothing in his space, but it was inconvenient to take it out at the moment) and slowly stepped into the hot spring. The water temperature was moderate, and a warm current instantly enveloped his entire body. Wisps of gentle energy seeped through his pores into his body, bringing a sense of comfortable relief.

He guided his nascent Chaos Dao Foundation. The slowly rotating chaos qi flow, like a glutton who had caught the scent of a delicacy, began to actively absorb this gentle Earth Vein Mineral Elemental Power.

The Primordial Theory operated spontaneously, analyzing the composition of this energy, breaking it down, converting it, and integrating it into the chaos qi flow, becoming nourishment to nourish his dao foundation and repair his Physical Body.

Nightmare closed his eyes, immersing himself in this slow and continuous recovery process. He could feel his riddled Physical Body, under the nourishment of the hot spring and the mobilization of the Chaos Dao Foundation, repairing at a faster rate than relying solely on the vitality of the World Tree and herbs, and some subtle internal injuries were also gradually being smoothed out.

Seeing Nightmare immersed as if in deep meditation, Medicine Old Man revealed a trace of gratification on his face. He sat down on a large rock nearby to keep watch silently, while also vigilantly keeping an eye on the surroundings.

About an hour later, footsteps and noise came from the distance.

Several burly young hunters wearing animal skins and carrying an air of ferocity walked over. The leader was particularly tall, with a rugged face and sharp eyes, carrying a decent-sized wild deer on his shoulder. Seeing Medicine Old Man, they bowed one after another: "Grandpa Medicine Old Man."

But when their gazes fell upon Nightmare, who was in the hot spring wearing only a thin undergarment and resting with his eyes closed, they immediately became less friendly, especially the tall young man leading them, whose brows furrowed tightly.

"Grandpa Medicine Old Man, who is this?" the tall youth spoke, his voice loud and carrying a hint of a questioning tone. His name was Stone Tiger, one of the most outstanding hunters of the younger generation in the village, and one of the few who had achieved some success in practicing the ancestral Body Refining techniques, holding quite a high prestige among the younger generation in the village.

"This is Young Friend Nightmare, a person in distress that I rescued from the mountains; he is here to recuperate," Medicine Old Man replied calmly.

"A person in distress?" Stone Tiger looked Nightmare up and down, a trace of disdain flashing in his eyes. "Looking at this delicate and tender appearance, I'm afraid he couldn't even catch a pheasant, right? Grandpa Medicine Old Man, the mountains are not peaceful these days. The Iron Claw Rock Bear has disappeared for some unknown reason, and the surrounding beasts are restless. Bringing back an outsider of unknown origin so casually is probably not appropriate."

The several young hunters behind him also echoed his sentiments, their gazes towards Nightmare filled with suspicion and contempt. In this village that revered strength and practicality, Nightmare's "frail" and injured appearance was clearly unwelcome.

Nightmare remained with his eyes closed, as if he hadn't heard. Yet, he clearly captured everything in the outside world. He sensed the force of blood and Qi within Stone Tiger, which was several times more condensed than that of ordinary villagers, along with a trace of weak "Qi." He roughly judged his strength to be equivalent to a Body Cultivator at the third or fourth level of the Qi Refinement Stage. He was indeed a capable hand among the Mortals of this world, but in his eyes, he was no different from an ant. Naturally, he would not bicker with such a junior.

Medicine Old Man's face darkened slightly: "Stone Tiger, do I need to explain my actions to you? Young Friend Nightmare is my guest, you must not be rude!"

Seeing Medicine Old Man get angry, Stone Tiger's tone softened slightly, but he remained unconvinced: "Grandpa Medicine Old Man, that's not what I meant. I'm just worried about the village's safety. Uncle Han also said that recently, outsider auras are mixed, so we should be extra careful." He deliberately mentioned "Uncle Han," who was the eccentric Han hunter at the west end of the village.

Medicine Old Man's eyes flickered; clearly, he also had some misgivings about that Han hunter, but he still insisted: "I have my own judgment on this matter. You have returned from hunting and must be tired. Go and rest, and do not disturb Young Friend Nightmare's recovery."

Seeing this, Stone Tiger knew that saying more was useless. He snorted coldly, glared fiercely at Nightmare one last time, and then left sullenly with the other hunters. Before leaving, he muttered in a low voice: "Pretty boy, better not cause any trouble..."

After they had gone far away, Medicine Old Man sighed and said to Nightmare, who was slowly opening his eyes: "Village boys, they don't understand manners; please don't take offense, Young Friend. This child Stone Tiger is not bad by nature, just a bit too straightforward, and he has been deeply influenced by Han Li."

"It's fine," Nightmare said indifferently. He rose from the hot spring and performed internal introspection, discovering that in just this short while, the recovery progress of his Physical Body was equal to two or three days of hard work before, and his Chaos Dao Foundation had also solidified a bit. "This hot spring is indeed a good thing."

"As long as it's useful," Medicine Old Man nodded. "Let's go back; I will go pick some more herbs in the afternoon."

On the way back to the stone house, Nightmare could feel more gazes hidden in the dark—some curious, some guarded, and some with a trace of imperceptible... malice? He vaguely caught that from the direction of the isolated stone house at the west end of the village, a cold, snake-like consciousness had swept past. Although it was quickly retracted, it made him feel a slight chill.

"Han Li..." Nightmare noted this name. This person's strength was probably more than a notch stronger than Stone Tiger's, and his aura was even more dangerous.

In the afternoon, Medicine Old Man went out to pick herbs with his medicine basket on his back. Nightmare remained in the stone house, continuing to guide his Chaos Dao Foundation to absorb the minimal energy in the air while trying to control his space more precisely.

With a thought, the massive corpse of the Iron Claw Rock Bear appeared in the middle of the stone house, almost filling up more than half the room. The corpse of an overlord-level creature, even though it had been dead for many days, still exuded a heart-trembling ferocity and rich power of blood and Qi.

Nightmare scanned the Rock Bear's corpse. The rock carapace was incredibly hard, an excellent material for refining defensive Magical Artifacts; the sharp claws could be refined into Flying Swords or daggers; the bear gallbladder contained vast life essence and a certain type of earth-elemental power; and the blood contained even more immense blood and Qi energy...

"According to the rules of this world, consuming or using it directly would likely waste ninety-nine percent, and the attributes would conflict, doing more harm than good." Nightmare analyzed, combining it with the Primordial Theory, "I need to use the Chaos Dao Foundation as a furnace and the Primordial Theory as fire to slowly refine it, removing the Impurities and extracting the essence, only then can it be used by me."

He tried to mobilize the weak chaos qi flow, separating a wisp of grayish air current, and covered a small piece of the Rock Bear's carapace with it.

Sss...

Amidst a faint sound, the hard rock carapace actually softened and decomposed at a speed visible to the naked eye, eventually turning into a small pinch of dark yellow powder shimmering with a metallic luster. The earth-elemental power contained within was stripped away and purified by the chaos qi flow, merging into the qi vortex, while the Impurities were expelled.

It works!

A trace of joy flashed in Nightmare's eyes. This Chaos Dao Foundation actually had the effect of melting all things and returning them to their origin! Although the speed was extremely slow and the consumption was high, this undoubtedly found him a feasible path to obtain cultivation resources in this world!

He carefully put the Rock Bear's corpse back into his space. Now was not the time for large-scale refining; his strength had not yet recovered, and possessing such a treasure would only invite trouble.

In the evening, Medicine Old Man returned, bringing back some herbs, but his expression was somewhat grave.

"Young Friend Nightmare, something is not right." Medicine Old Man put down the medicine basket and said in a low voice, "Today, at the edge of the deep mountains, I discovered traces of 'Wind Wolf,' and not just one pack. Wind Wolves usually only move in the deeper parts of the mountain range, but now they are frequently appearing on the periphery, which is exactly the same as the previous strange movements of the Black Tooth Jackals and the Iron Claw Rock Bear... This Cangwu Mountain Range is likely going to have a big incident."

Wind Wolf? Nightmare quickly retrieved the information Medicine Old Man had mentioned during their previous casual chats. It was a type of Vicious Beast that was faster and better at group combat than the Black Tooth Jackal.

The storm was brewing.

Nightmare looked at the deepening twilight outside the window, calm and waveless.

Crises are often accompanied by opportunities.

This seemingly peaceful Shiquan Village, as well as the surging undercurrents of the Cangwu Mountain Range, might just be the best place for his Chaos Dao Foundation to be tempered.