Begin your practice with the crane-shaped stance.

Chapter 111 Refining

The moment it was locked onto by the ancient bronze bell, the vengeful ghost that had transformed from the benevolent image let out an unbelievable, mournful roar.

Its enormous ghostly hand, powerful enough to crush Xia Dong into a pulp, trembled violently in mid-air, as if it were being held firmly by an invisible ancient giant hand, unable to advance even an inch further.

The vengeful ghost instinctively sensed the threat of destruction, and its eyes, burning with eerie green flames, erupted with a frenzied malice.

Its entire body was filled with pitch-black Yin energy that churned violently like boiling asphalt, burning its very essence as it tried to break free from this vast suppressive force.

"Buzz!"

Within his mind, the ancient patterns flowing across the surface of the bell suddenly shone brightly.

But this terrifying power did not come from nowhere.

As the host of the ancient bell, Xia Dong suffered an unimaginable and terrifying price at this moment.

As he was controlling the ancient bronze bell, he felt a tearing pain deep in his mind.

"Ugh—" Xia Dong's eyes were bloodshot, his teeth were clenched tightly, and shocking blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

He felt as if his soul was being torn apart bit by bit.

But he did his best to stay conscious, letting the ancient bronze bell drain his inner strength.

He knew very well that he couldn't hold back in the slightest when facing a powerful ghost at the Foundation Establishment level.

A visible bronze ripple spread from the bell, sweeping towards the ghostly figure as if it were a tangible object. Wherever the ripple passed, the churning Yin energy surrounding the benevolent-looking but malevolent ghost vanished instantly, like snowflakes falling under the blazing sun.

The vengeful ghost let out a desperate and mournful scream, and its terrifying ghostly shadow, which was more than ten feet tall, began to twist and collapse violently under the illumination of the bronze light.

An irresistible force of devouring suddenly erupted.

The Foundation Establishment stage vengeful ghost that Ci Xiang transformed into couldn't even self-destruct. Its entire massive body was forcibly crushed and compressed by this force, eventually turning into a black ray of light that was forcibly pulled into the ancient bronze bell.

The raging eerie winds within the underground palace abruptly ceased, and all fell into deathly silence.

As the vengeful ghost was completely suppressed, the illusory image of the bronze bell suspended in mid-air quickly disappeared into Xia Dong's brow.

Xia Dong knew very well that in order for the ancient bronze bell to refine such a potent Foundation Establishment stage soul medicine, it needed to absorb a large amount of spiritual energy from spirit stones as "fuel." Without "feeding" it, it would be impossible for the pill to be formed out of thin air.

However, there was no time to think too much at that moment.

Losing his support, Xia Dong's knees buckled, and he collapsed heavily onto the stone slab stained with dried blood. He gasped for breath, his body drenched in cold sweat, as if he had just been pulled from the water.

Forcibly controlling the ancient bronze bell almost completely drained him of everything.

His dantian was completely empty, and his spiritual consciousness was severely depleted. His sea of ​​consciousness was as dry as a cracked riverbed, and every tiny fluctuation in his thoughts would trigger a sharp, needle-like pain, causing his vision to go black in waves.

We must leave here as soon as possible.

Despite the excruciating pain, Xia Dong instinctively tried to mobilize the vast martial arts energy within his body to support his standing.

However, when he tried to give the command, he was horrified to find that he could not even activate a single trace of his vital energy!

In martial arts training, the principle of "intention leading to energy" is emphasized, and the spirit and martial arts intentions are closely related.

Now, his spiritual consciousness has been almost completely drained by the ancient bell, and his spirit is extremely weak. This has directly led to the severed connection between him and his physical body, and his control over his body has dropped to zero.

Forget about using martial arts to defend himself, even taking a single step now feels like he weighs over a thousand pounds.

Xia Dong felt a chill run down his spine. The guards whose life force had been cut off could wake up at any moment, and the next patrol of Eagle Wolf Guards could arrive at any time.

Given his current condition, where he can't even stand up, forcing himself to crawl out would be tantamount to courting death.

Xia Dong made a quick decision.

He stopped his futile struggle and sat cross-legged on the cold ground.

His hands trembled as he didn't touch the two precious high-grade spirit stones he had just seized. Instead, he gritted his teeth and pulled out a few mid-grade spirit stones he had saved up from his storage bag, clutching them tightly in his palm.

He must immediately allow the ancient bronze bell to absorb spiritual energy and refine this vengeful ghost into a new Yin Spirit Pill as soon as possible!

After taking a regular Yin Sha Pill, Xia Dong's consciousness recovered a little, but it was far from enough.

Only by taking the Yin Spirit Pill can the terrifying deficit in his divine consciousness be quickly replenished, allowing him to regain control of his qi and blood and return to a relatively safe state as quickly as possible.

Xia Dong dared not delay for even a moment.

He knew very well that after the bronze bell had just swallowed such a powerful ghost, it was in a critical state of extreme activity, yet it could fall into complete stillness again at any moment due to "energy depletion".

We must strike while the iron is hot!

Xia Dong gripped the mid-grade spirit stone tightly in his hand, enduring the excruciating pain in his mind that felt like a thousand steel needles piercing him simultaneously. Relying on his newly recovered consciousness, he guided the pure spiritual energy within the spirit stone to flow into the depths of his sea of ​​consciousness between his brows.

"Snap!"

In the blink of an eye, the first mid-grade spirit stone in his palm was brutally drained of all its spiritual power, turning into a pool of grayish-white powder with a crisp sound, which slipped through his fingers.

Xia Dong's pupils suddenly contracted.

It turns out that after Ci Xiang died, he transformed into a fierce ghost through the extreme yin energy of the underground palace and the resentment and poison that soared to the sky. The level of ferocity had already undergone a qualitative transformation.

Although the ancient bronze bell swallowed and suppressed it, the cost of "firewood" required to completely melt down, remove impurities, and transform this level of evil spirit into the purest Yin Spirit Pill would be an astronomical figure.

"Snap! Snap!"

The second piece, the third piece, the fourth piece —

Xia Dong's hands moved like a machine, constantly taking out mid-grade spirit stones from his storage bag.

The mid-grade spirit stones that he usually regarded as rare resources and would love to split in half to spend were now like pebbles thrown into an abyss, swallowed up without even making a splash by the voracious bronze bell in his sea of ​​consciousness.

It took a total of nine mid-grade spirit stones to consume!

Xia Dong's heart was bleeding. But he was horrified to discover that although the bronze bell in his sea of ​​consciousness was shimmering with layers of blue light and was emitting a dull smelting sound from within, it was still trembling with a sense of "lack of follow-up" and extreme hunger.

"Not enough! Nine mid-grade spirit stones aren't even enough to fill this hole!"

In a life-or-death situation, there is no room for the slightest hesitation or wishful thinking of a miser.

Xia Dong suddenly opened his bloodshot eyes and stared at the two high-grade spirit stones that he had just seized from Ci Xiang's storage bag on the stone slab in front of him.

"Suck it!"

Xia Dong gritted his teeth, his hand trembling as he reached out and grabbed one of the high-grade spirit stones that shimmered with a viscous, brilliant spiritual light.

"boom!"

The moment he got his hands on the high-grade spirit stone, a vast spiritual energy, dozens of times purer and larger than that of the mid-grade spirit stone, instantly surged into his sea of ​​consciousness like a burst dam, flowing wildly through the meridians of his arm.

The moment this enormous energy was injected, the ancient bronze bell suspended deep within the sea of ​​consciousness emitted a joyful and deafening hum!

With the tolling of the bell, the incomparably precious high-grade spirit stone in Xia Dong's hand dimmed rapidly before the naked eye. A few breaths later, with a soft "bang," it completely turned into a handful of shimmering ash.

After absorbing such a terrifying amount of spiritual energy, the ancient patterns on the bronze clock face finally burst forth with a dazzling blue light.

A violent and muffled squeezing sound came from inside the ancient bell—that was the Foundation Establishment stage vengeful ghost being completely wiped away of all its resentment, impurities, and consciousness by supreme power.

A moment later, the blue light suddenly vanished, and the ancient bell fell silent once more.

Just as the ancient bell fell silent, three "Yinling Pills," each the size of a longan, completely black and translucent, with a faint crimson halo around their surface, silently appeared in Xia Dong's palm.

At this time, Xia Dong's consciousness was exhausted, his blood and qi were stagnant, and his magical power was depleted.

He had no time to hesitate or weigh the pros and cons. Without hesitation, he picked up one of the Yin Spirit Pills, which emitted an eerie crimson glow, and swallowed it.

The moment the crimson Yin Spirit Pill entered his mouth, it transformed into an extremely large and scorching stream of energy that rushed straight to his head.

Despite the lingering needle-like pain in his mind, Xia Dong immediately began frantically circulating the "Mysterious Yin Refining Divine Technique" to refine it.

However, during the refining process, Xia Dong was shocked to discover that the Yin Spirit Pill, which was made by using the vengeful ghost Ci Xiang as the "great medicine," stubbornly retained a trace of the original essence of the cultivation technique that Ci Xiang had practiced in his lifetime!

That originates from the secret teachings of the "Root Seal of Joy" from the Red Lotus Temple in Beijing—"Using desire to control desire, planting a lotus in fire."

The moment this wondrous sensual intent, a mixture of extreme lust and madness, spread through Xia Dong's mind, the demonic nature dormant within him due to his cultivation of the "Asura Yin Sha Blade" erupted like a wolf smelling blood.

This red lotus Dharma intent not only did not damage Xia Dong's mind, but instead directly transformed into excellent resources for the Asura demonic nature, causing the demonic nature in his heart to grow wildly at an extremely terrifying speed.

But it wasn't about brutality and killing; rather, it was about amplifying lust.

Currently in a dangerous situation, with the possibility of enemy attacks at any moment, Xia Dong had no time to suppress the surging demonic energy.

He desperately guarded the last vestige of clarity in his mind, focusing all his attention on absorbing the medicinal power of the soul-soul-replenishing medicine.

Under the powerful influence of this medicine, the parched and cracked sea of ​​consciousness underwent a true process of "destruction followed by reconstruction."

The divine consciousness, exhausted to the extreme, greedily devoured the essence of the Yin Spirit Pill, recovering at an outrageously fast pace.

Not only did it instantly fill the terrifying deficit caused by forcibly controlling the ancient bell, but the pure medicinal power also propelled his spiritual cultivation upwards with unstoppable momentum.

With an invisible roar from the depths of his consciousness, Xia Dong's spiritual cultivation surged like a torrent breaking through a dam, directly surpassing the seventh level of Qi Refining and advancing to the eighth level in one fell swoop!

The range of perception expanded instantly, and the power in the sea of ​​consciousness surged as if it were a tangible substance.

However, Xia Dong's face did not show much joy at the breakthrough.

This forced breakthrough, achieved through the "pull-up-and-help-grow" approach of relying on high-level pills, resulted in a significant increase in his total spiritual consciousness, but his foundation became extremely unstable, like a tower built on quicksand, at risk of collapsing and disintegrating with the slightest violent collision of spiritual consciousness.

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