Begin your practice with the crane-shaped stance.

"To become an immortal, one must transform into a crane and fly to the heavens."

In the depths of his mind, Xia Dong seemed to hear a distant and ethereal murmur.

The remaining Yin Sha Pill power within his body flowed into his brow like rivers flowing into the sea.

In that instant, the cramped and dimly lit room suddenly collapsed in his perception.

Xia Dong felt as if his body had lost all weight, and he "saw" his arms transform into wide, white wings.

Amidst howling winds and churning clouds, he transformed into a graceful white crane, soaring upwards through the desolate, cold mountain valleys, dancing leisurely.

Each flap of its wings seems to peel away a layer of mundane impurities.

hum!

The surrounding illusions shattered like glass.

Xia Dong suddenly opened her eyes, followed by an unprecedented and chilling sense of clarity.

His perception has changed.

We no longer rely on our keen five senses to perceive the world around us.

He closed his eyes.

With his brow as the center, an invisible "domain" expanded outwards, spreading rapidly like ripples on water. One zhang, two zhang, three zhang... until it completely enveloped the courtyard of the Changchun Medical Hall, the ripples finally stopped.

He not only "saw" the texture of the wooden door directly in front of him, but also "saw" a spider slowly crawling on the wall behind his head; he even "saw" through the wooden wall of the east wing and clearly sensed that Xiao Hong was curled up in the quilt, her chest rising and falling slightly with her steady breathing.

"This is the divine consciousness of a cultivator..." Xia Dong murmured to himself, his heart trembling violently.

With a thought, Xia Dong's spiritual vision became even richer.

In the originally pitch-black night, countless wondrous specks of light suddenly appeared. They drifted between heaven and earth, exhibiting an extremely random yet subtly mysterious movement.

Under the divine sense's gaze, the light was most concentrated in the direction of the dry well, as if a very faint spring was seeping out from underground; while the jujube tree in the center of the courtyard was stretching out its withered branches, like a slow-moving drowning person, greedily absorbing the surrounding drifting light into its trunk.

"This is spiritual energy!"

A strong impulse surged within Xia Dong.

He immediately separated a wisp of his divine consciousness, which, like an invisible hand, precisely captured a large cluster of light points and forcefully pulled them into his body.

The moment the light entered the body, it brought a refreshing coolness.

However, the next second, Xia Dong's face darkened.

The moment his consciousness relaxed, the points of light seemed to pass through a tattered sieve riddled with holes. Except for a very small amount that was forcibly intercepted by his flesh and blood, the vast majority of the spiritual energy passed through his body without any hindrance and dissipated back into the world.

Even if he immediately activated the "Dragon-Capturing Technique" to lock the spinal dragon to the extreme, he still couldn't lock this formless and intangible spiritual energy.

"It seems that without spiritual roots, it's like trying to fill a basket with water; you can't retain spiritual energy at all." Xia Dong sighed inwardly. In terms of efficiency in absorbing spiritual energy, he was even less efficient than the jujube tree in the yard.

"No, I also have an ancient bronze bell!"

A sudden inspiration struck Xia Dong.

Since the physical body cannot be retained, what about the ancient bell in the sea of ​​consciousness?

He once again activated his divine sense, which, like a large net, gathered all the wandering spiritual energy in the courtyard and then guided it directly into the depths of his sea of ​​consciousness through his brow.

This time, something unexpected happened!

The ancient bronze bell, which had been suspended deep within the sea of ​​consciousness, trembled violently the moment it came into contact with this spiritual energy.

An extremely domineering and greedy suction force erupted from the bell mouth, like an insatiable black hole, which swallowed up all the spiritual energy that Xia Dong had drawn in, devouring and refining it at an outrageous speed.

"It's done!"

Before Xia Dong could even feel joy, an overwhelming sense of dizziness struck him hard.

Under such a terrifying speed of refining, the divine consciousness that acted as the "spiritual energy transporter" was rapidly drained.

Xia Dong felt as if his brain was being violently stirred by an iron rod. A strong sense of drowsiness surged over him like a tide, and his eyelids felt as heavy as a thousand pounds. He almost fainted.

"Stop!"

He bit his tongue, using the intense pain to instantly sever the connection between his consciousness and the body.

However, the Changchun Medical Classic states: When the spirit is complete, the qi is sufficient; when the spirit is deficient, the qi is depleted.

Xia Dong was horrified to realize that the surging blood and qi within his body were now uncontrollably and frantically flowing back into his brow to fill the void in his spiritual consciousness.

His sturdy body visibly shrank slightly.

Glug glug...

hungry.

Extreme hunger can overwhelm summer and winter in an instant.

Fortunately, he is currently practicing martial arts, which consumes a lot of energy, so Xiao Hong has prepared three days' worth of cooked food and cold cuts in the hanging baskets and cabinets in the kitchen.

Xia Dong, like a starving beast, grabbed several pounds of cold-cut beef and hard, cold steamed buns, stuffing them into his mouth without even chewing, and swallowing them whole.

Only after they had devoured the entire day's worth of food for four or five grown men in the kitchen did the intense hunger that threatened to drain them dry begin to subside.

Half an hour later.

Xia Dong emerged from the outhouse, her face slightly pale.

The deficit in spiritual energy was replenished, and the damage to vital energy was barely stopped.

But his stomach and intestines suffered terribly.

Ordinary food contains too many impurities. In order to extract the essence from meat and transform it into qi and blood in that very short time, his stomach and intestines were overloaded, resulting in him having diarrhea five or six times in one night.

Back inside, Xia Dong lit an oil lamp and looked at his tired reflection in the bronze mirror, his brows furrowed.

He had already realized that even the daily wear and tear on his spiritual sense required a considerable amount of vital energy to replenish it.

Xia Dong recalled the records in "Miscellaneous Records of Cultivation" that he had bought from the market.

"Cultivators draw qi into their bodies, often consuming spirit rice and fasting pills. Spirit rice contains gentle and pure essence, free from the impurities of ordinary grains, thus it does not produce defilement and nourishes both the physical body and the soul..."

Those who consume qi (vital energy) attain spiritual enlightenment and longevity.

If he continues to rely on grains or blood as his food, he will indeed be unable to solve the current problem.

One must consume spiritual rice and fasting pills like cultivators.

Xia Dong was filled with mixed feelings of joy and sorrow at this moment.

Fortunately, the "Mysterious Yin Scripture" was not deceiving him; he truly cultivated the divine consciousness of a cultivator.

It is obvious that with divine consciousness, his ability to survive and fight will be greatly enhanced.

The worry is that this thing is not easy to maintain.

"One certificate for eternity" can only guarantee that his realm will never fall; it cannot conjure up energy out of thin air to fill the material deficit.

If he abuses his divine sense, he will be drained of his life force and turn into a dried-up corpse without anyone else having to do it.

Xia Dong sighed.

It seems that in addition to finding more spirit stones, he also needs to find a way to obtain "spirit rice" or "grain-expanding pills" to transform himself from a meat-eater and grain-eater into a qi-eater, or cultivate a higher-level technique to improve the efficiency of refining essence into qi.

but!

Xia Dong took a step forward, her figure as graceful as a crane.

Crane Shadow Step activated.

Under the subtle control of his divine sense, Xia Dong appeared several feet away as if he had teleported.

Incredibly fast.

Moreover, with the aid of divine sense, he could perform the Crane Shadow Step as naturally as flowing clouds and water, making any movement he wanted without the slightest hesitation.

It can be said that, with the same level of Qi and blood, he could easily defeat his past self who had no divine consciousness.

Xia Dong also understood that the divine sense of cultivators was originally used to manipulate magical artifacts and spells during battles.

He now treats his physical body as a magical artifact, controlling it with his divine sense to unleash various wondrous techniques.

Control the form with the spirit!