Begin your practice with the crane-shaped stance.

Before meeting Qin Wan, Xia Dong had already attempted to continue cultivating the Mysterious Refining Techniques of the "Mysterious Yin Scripture" without the aid of the Yin Sha Pill.

However, progress came to a complete standstill.

Not only that, Xia Dong was also horrified to discover that as soon as he activated the Profound Yin Refining Spirit Technique, an uncontrollable, fervent desire would arise in his heart to continue cultivating and even to devour Yin Souls.

This desire, like a persistent, lingering ailment, constantly tormented his reason within his consciousness.

Fortunately, he had only just stepped into the threshold of this secret technique, and what he had previously absorbed was a pure "Yin Sha Pill" that had been refined by the ancient bronze bell and was free of any impurities.

Without the interference of the resentment of those ghosts from their past lives, and with the peaceful state of mind he had cultivated through years of practicing the Crane Stance, he managed to suppress this evil desire without any major incident.

Therefore, without new Yin Sha Pills, Xia Dong stopped practicing the Xuan Yin Refining Spirit Technique.

Especially after studying the Changchun Medical Classic, Xia Dong realized more deeply that without the Yin Sha Pill, a rare item to purify the power of Yin spirits, as long as one cultivates the Xuan Yin Classic, it is inevitable that one's reason will be eroded by resentment and one will eventually go into demonic possession.

As for capturing ghosts and spirits to refine Yin Sha Pills, Xia Dong thought it over and decided to put it aside for the time being.

"My blood and qi are too abundant right now." Xia Dong stood in the courtyard, feeling the surging power within his body. Because his current blood and qi were like a blazing furnace in the dark night in the eyes of cultivators and even martial artists with keen senses, extremely conspicuous.

If you were to swagger out to catch ghosts like this, not only would you easily scare away those low-level spirits, but more terrifyingly, you might attract some evil cultivators or powerful martial artists who regard martial artists as "great medicine," ending up in a miserable situation like "the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."

He must first completely conceal his sharp and aggressive aura.

The "Dragon-Capturing Skill" that Qin Wan found for him specializes in physical training. Its core lies in capturing the spine, the "dragon," to lock in the body's vital energy and prevent it from leaking out. Combined with the profound understanding of the five internal organs and vital points in the "Eternal Spring Medical Classic," Xia Dong was quite confident that he could conceal his own aura.

Thanks to the tempering effect of the Yin Sha Pill, Xia Dong's spiritual strength now far surpasses that of ordinary martial artists.

According to the records in the jade slip of the "Mysterious Yin Scripture", cultivators can only gain divine sense when they reach the "fourth level of Qi Refining". Xia Dong estimated that although he did not have divine sense at the moment, in terms of the toughness and perception of his soul alone, he might already be able to compare with cultivators below the fourth level of Qi Refining.

The benefits of a strong spirit are obvious.

His powerful spiritual energy gave him even more refined control over his physical body, making him incredibly adept at martial arts cultivation.

He mastered the "Dragon-Capturing Skill," a martial art that demands extremely high standards from external martial arts techniques, after only a few attempts.

With more and more Qi and blood, Xia Dong's energy was several times stronger than before. Not only did her sleep time decrease significantly, but her mind also became clearer than ever before.

In this state, his learning progress in the complex pharmacology and meridian theory in the "Changchun Medical Classic" was rapid, and he often understood many obscure and difficult medical principles with just a few words.

However, compared to studying medical classics, the progress of mastering the "Dragon-Capturing Skill" was even faster.

Through daily hard work, Xia Dong mastered the skill to perfection in just over a month.

As soon as he circulated his internal energy, his spine became like a fully drawn bow, and the violent blood and energy throughout his body were locked inside, no longer leaking out in the slightest.

At this point, Xia Dong did not hesitate to awaken the ancient bronze bell in his sea of ​​consciousness.

Xia Dong had previously obtained twenty spirit stones in the underground chamber, and Qin Wan gave him two more. He spent one in the market, so he currently has twenty-one spirit stones left.

Xia Dong carefully took out three of the spirit stones and entered a deep sleep as before.

In his sleep, as the spirit stone turned into grayish-white powder, the ancient bronze bell once again emitted a desolate roar.

The crimson, distorted characters on the clock face began to change.

As expected, he obtained a brand new, limit-breaking martial art – Dragon Capture Hand!

...

...

However, the difficulty of mastering the "Dragon-Capturing Hand" is much greater than that of the "Crane Shadow Step" from before. It is no longer a simple exercise of lightness skill, but involves extremely subtle control of qi and blood, as well as precise manipulation of the release of force from a distance.

For several days in a row, Xia Dong's progress in practicing the "Dragon-Capturing Hand" was extremely slow. In fact, after practicing many times in a row, he would feel exhausted.

Xia Dong stopped what she was doing, calmed her disordered breathing, and carefully summarized the experience she had gained during this period in her mind.

"Capturing dragons and controlling cranes? It's not that easy..."

He finally understood that this martial art required an extremely powerful soul as a "catalyst" for precise control, as well as abundant internal energy as support.

Although he has now mastered the basics of martial arts, he still lacks the foundation to fully master the "Dragon-Capturing Hand".

However, the Dragon-Capturing Hand is clearly much more advanced than the ordinary Tendon-Dislocating and Bone-Breaking Hand.

In terms of attack power alone, the Dragon-Capturing Hand might not be inferior to the Dragon Claw Hand he read about in his novels. Moreover, the Dragon-Capturing Hand also has the wonderful use of using outward force to grab objects from a distance.

Spring will be here soon.

Xia Dong plans to open a clinic after the first month of the lunar calendar.

This matter needs to be discussed with the He family, and we should leverage their connections to help him gain recognition.

Over the past period of time, Xia Dong also learned some things about the imperial court from Lord He.

After the Great You Dynasty was established, ordinary families were normally prohibited from holding official positions if there were cultivators within five degrees of kinship with them.

Furthermore, matters concerning cultivators are handled by a special Tongxuan Division.

The Eagle Wolf Guards are responsible for law enforcement.

"Xueyi, the martial arts examination will be held after the spring. If you are interested in participating and pass the examination to become a martial arts scholar, you can ask Magistrate Yang to recommend you to the Eagle Wolf Guard. The Eagle Wolf Guard has just established itself in Linyuan Prefecture, so now is the easiest time to make a name for yourself," Lord He advised Xia Dong.

Xueyi is Xia Dong's courtesy name, given to him by his father.

Xia Dong only learned about this from Master Qin's letter.

Lord He, being a former official from the capital, was very sensitive to the new laws of the court.

Moreover, the Eagle Wolf Guard is renowned far and wide.

However, joining the Eagle Wolf Guard is not that easy; even with the status of a martial arts scholar, it is still very difficult to get in.

However, the Eagle Wolf Guards have great privileges and can directly connect with cultivators.

Even a local gentry family like the He family couldn't get in.

But Xia Dong is different; he has a Taoist certificate.

In the eyes of the Great Xia royal family and nobles, these were naturally their own people.

Throughout the centuries of the dynasty, noble families, though experiencing rises and falls, have never truly fallen to the level of ordinary people.

Given the opportunity, it's easy to climb up.

Moreover, Xia Dong also has a special "Taoist" status that is different from that of ordinary noble children.

Xia Dong fell into deep thought upon hearing what Elder He said.

Joining the Eagle Wolf Guard seems like a good option.

However, he does have a big secret, and going in rashly could easily lead to accidents.

Therefore, this matter requires careful consideration.