While panting heavily, Ou Yangming turned to look around him and confirmed that he and the big yellow dog were safe.

He let out a deep breath and looked at the dog next to him. It was actually sticking its tongue out to breathe hard, but he knew by looking at its bright and excited eyes that it was still in high spirits.

In actual fact, even the Ni family's Three Great Ancestors could only flee at the sight of ten thousand Black Magic Crawlers. Although the ancestors were great at killing, they did not have enough protection, so they might end up in a tragedy after being bitten once by the crawlers.

Ou Yangming was enlightened when he touched his equipment set, which was barely even scratched.

When the pieces of equipment were appraised by the Military Fire, though they were found to be at the peak of Fine Grade and had 20 Points of Toughness, Ou Yangming clearly felt that his smithing art could not fully unleash the ores' potential.

There seemed to be an invisible gap above Fine Grade, which was incredibly difficult for anyone to break through.

It was similar to martial arts cultivation, where some people would sense a bottleneck after a period of time. Without breaking through the bottleneck, one's cultivation base would remain stagnant and could not progress further.

Ou Yangming had heard of the theory from Old Craftsman a long time ago, but he never thought that he would arrive at a bottleneck so quickly.

He pondered quietly while touching his armor.

If a normal piece of equipment at the peak of Fine Grade Rank Five had 20 Points of Toughness, could it resist the Black Magic Crawlers' mouthparts like the armor did?

A roar was suddenly heard at that moment.

The big yellow dog had opened its mouth to the size of a sacrificial bowl, and it breathed out in a terrifying manner. In the distance, multiple stalagmites instantly emerged from the ground, each one holding a few dead Black Magic Crawlers at the tip.

Ou Yangming was slightly stunned. He felt that while the yellow dog had just breathed as it did before, the breath was much more powerful. It had improved in might and quality.

The big yellow dog tilted its head and hesitated before breathing out again.

Another bunch of stalagmites towered. Instead of growing in one direction, they twisted and extended out as though they formed a beautiful yet bloody rose.

Ou Yangming widened his eyes. He could not believe that the big yellow dog was so valiant that it would perform tricks with its breathing.

Of course, he understood that the dog was not fooling around out of boredom. It was tempering its gifted ability. The more the tricks it played, the mightier its breathing, If the big yellow dog encountered something similar to the Black Magic Crawlers' king, perhaps it did not need to actively attack anymore because it could settle the issue simply by breathing out.

The big yellow dog breathed twice in a row, then it quickly pierced its claw into the dead bodies around it as if it was exhausted. Consequently, the dog was in high spirits again.

"Roar…"

The third round of breathing commenced.

Ou Yangming shook his head and smiled bitterly. 'The fella is actually taking the opportunity to practice its Breathing Skill.

'But I must say it picked the best timing.'

Feeling slightly moved, Ou Yangming quickly became emotionless as his consciousness rose such that he watched strangely as an outsider.

He had witnessed the big yellow dog's breathing before he entered the Chaos Cave, but he could not get anything out of it, not even through the integration of Heaven and man. The unique power that was inherited through a bloodline could not be easily imitated or solved.

Nevertheless, Ou Yangming wanted to see if he could gain useful information from it this time since his mental state seemed to have advanced.

The big yellow dog breathed again after a brief moment, and Ou Yangming entered the thoroughly meticulous state at once.

Time seemed to have slowed down, and he observed everything in depth. He could clearly notice every detail when the big yellow dog opened its mouth and could sense a frightening power had gathered over there. Afterward, the power gushed out of Big Yellow's mouth, and it merged with a certain energy in the void the moment it left, causing a disruptive change to happen.

Ou Yangming shivered a little as he had somewhat grasped the key.

"Pow…"

Countless stalagmites emerged from the ground once more, but Ou Yangming no longer paid attention to it.

When he closed his eyes, every step performed by the big yellow dog, as well as the comprehensive change that happened when its energy left its body to interact with the outside world, surged in his mind in a hurry.

The breathing was the big yellow dog's gifted ability, but Ou Yangming noticed something unordinary about it.

In fact, he was strongly confident that he could release a similar power if he could derive everything. Needless to say, based on Ou Yangming's strength at the moment, he might never be able to derive it.

The big yellow dog finally grew quiet after two hours.

Even though strength improvement was quite important, a foolish martial artist would not cultivate without resting.

Ou Yangming looked at the rather dispirited big yellow dog and said with a smile, "Hey, you gained quite a lot, didn't you?"

The big yellow dog immediately shook its head and approached him while wagging its tail. Just as it wanted to rub its body against Ou Yangming, he shouted, "Wait, you're too dirty!"

Feeling stunned, the dog glanced at itself, then at Ou Yangming's equipment set. It had a strange look in its eyes as though it was saying that Ou Yangming was not in a much better state.

Ou Yangming laughed out loud, then reached out his hands to hug the big yellow dog. He removed its helmet and rubbed its head several times.

The big yellow dog did not resist, and it even licked him with its tongue. Next, it shook its body in a strange way to remove the rare pieces of equipment on its body.

Though it was reluctant, it pushed the pieces of equipment to Ou Yangming.

Ou Yangming was startled, and he hesitated for a while before gritting his teeth as he made his decision.

"Big Yellow, can you promise me something?"

The big yellow dog barked softly, but Ou Yangming instantly understood what it meant.

It would never speak of the Devouring attribute to anyone else, and would never leak it in any way.

Ou Yangming nodded slightly, then picked up the special paw gauntlet to withdraw the Devouring attribute through his Military Fire. Following that, he tossed the gauntlet back to the pile of equipment and said, "Big Yellow, these are gifts for you."

"Woof!" The big yellow dog barked in excitement.

It was still extremely happy although the important Devouring attribute was gone. After all, it was unwilling to part with the pieces of equipment after experiencing the great benefits.

As the big yellow dog opened its mouth, it actually swallowed the pieces of equipment.

Ou Yangming was taken aback, and he had a weird expression on his face. He reached out his hands to pull Big Yellow's mouth apart.

If Ou Yangming had done this before they fought side by side, the big yellow dog would certainly bite him without any hesitation to show him how forceful its bite was.

However, the dog only shook its head at the moment. Seeing as it could not get free, it simply allowed Ou Yangming to do whatever he wanted.

Despite that, Ou Yangming only saw its deep esophagus no matter how long he looked, and he could not find out where the pieces of equipment had been swallowed to.

He sighed helplessly and closed the dog's mouth, which reeked of blood, then tapped its head and said, "Let's go."

Since they had wasted two hours, Ou Yangming was eager to find the Ni family's Land of Inheritance.

Nonetheless, the big yellow dog shook its head. It bit Ou Yangming's sleeve to pull him in a certain direction.

Ou Yangming followed it while feeling dumbfounded, and they soon arrived beside the dead Black Magic Crawler king.

'I actually forgot about this fella,' Ou Yangming said with glowing eyes.

The peculiar crawling king possessed such a powerful mental power that could even attack his consciousness.

If he could grasp the power, would he not gain another killing weapon?

Of course, Ou Yangming understood that the Black Magic Crawler king's special attack was likely a gifted ability, similar to the big yellow dog's breathing. He could not imagine how difficult it would be to figure it out.

The big yellow dog took down the dead crawler king with its mouth, then gashed it and found a shiny round pellet.

Later, it presented the bead to Ou Yangming with a proud face as if it was waiting to be praised.

Ou Yangming pondered for a while. He obviously knew how valuable the item was, but he was not interested in the inner core, whose function was unknown.

He smiled and said, "Big Yellow, let's distribute the loot. The round pellet belongs to you while its dead body belongs to me."

The big yellow dog was startled, and it blinked its big eyes while sending an intense feeling of appreciation through the spiritual level.

It was then that Ou Yangming knew how important the inner core was for the big yellow dog.

The big yellow dog did not reject the offer, and it curled its tongue to swallow the inner core. Subsequently, there was an unusual surge of energy inside its body. The inner core's effect was exerted so quickly that it was unbelievable.

Ou Yangming studied the dog for some time to ensure that it would not be in danger, but even if it was in danger because of the core, he could not have done anything to help.

He shook his wrist to retrieve his military saber, then attached 2 Points of Devouring attributes to the saber before stabbing it into the crawler king's dead body.