Begin your practice with the crane-shaped stance.

In the days that followed, Xia Dong used the Eagle Wolf Guard and the He family's secular channels to purchase another batch of auxiliary ingredients for refining Qi Gathering Pills. These auxiliary ingredients were mixed in with normal rare medicinal materials.

Then he asked Qin Wan to get new main medicine and spirit firewood from the market.

With everything in place, he began large-scale alchemy in his secret chamber in Tiger Hill.

The Qi Gathering Pills he produces each time are still somewhat dull in color, and their quality can only be described as "mediocre".

But just like when making talismans, the success rate is extremely high. And it's exactly 90%, no more, no less.

Xia Dong thought to himself that this 10% failure rate seemed to contain a profound truth of the universe.

On the other hand, this success rate is astonishing.

It's important to understand that even alchemists in cultivation sects who have immersed themselves in the art of alchemy for decades would be proud of a 30-40% success rate when refining basic pills. As for higher-level pills, without sufficient experience, a 10% success rate would be considered quite good.

If word gets out that Xia Dong has a 90% success rate, he would be even more sought after by certain forces than those famous alchemists who can refine even more powerful pills.

Because the cost is much lower.

Furthermore, this high-intensity, uninterrupted alchemy has an exceptionally good effect on tempering one's spiritual consciousness.

Xia Dong had already realized that the Yin Sha Pills made from the low-level ghosts in the mass grave had completely lost their effect on improving his cultivation of the "Mysterious Yin Refining God Technique".

To further advance his spiritual cultivation, he needed to find even more ferocious and powerful ghosts to refine the Yin Sha Pill.

However, powerful ghosts often reside in extremely dangerous places, or possess extremely high intelligence and strange methods. With his current cultivation level, there is no need for him to take such risks.

After all, what if the current bronze bell can't handle a powerful ghost?

But as fate would have it, the long-term alchemy and talisman-making, the extreme pressure and recovery, actually pushed his consciousness little by little to the peak of the fifth level of Qi Refining without him even realizing it.

However, Xia Dong tried several times but could not find a way to break through this seemingly thin bottleneck.

"Forget it, haste makes waste."

Summer and winter were not discouraged.

Although low-level Yin Sha Pills cannot be used to break through barriers and level up, their most basic function remains—that is, to replenish the loss of spiritual energy extremely quickly.

Now that he had a storage pouch, Xia Dong carried a batch of Yin Sha Pills with him. Whether his spiritual energy was exhausted during a battle or he was struggling to refine pills or draw talismans, as long as he consumed enough Yin Sha Pills, he could quickly restore his spiritual energy.

……

Half a month later, in Pingyang County, at the Eagle Wolf Guard Hundred-Household Office.

Xia Dong pushed a heavy jade box in front of Zhao Ting and said calmly, "Brother, this contains a batch of 'useless pills.' See if you can find a way to dispose of them."

"A useless pill?" Zhao Ting raised an eyebrow, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes, and reached out to open the jade box.

Inside the jade box, dozens of Qi Gathering Pills were neatly arranged. Although their color was slightly dull and their spiritual energy fluctuations were not pure enough, Zhao Ting recognized them at a glance as genuine Qi Gathering Pills.

How could this be considered a useless pill? At most, it can only be considered a pill of average quality. For those rogue cultivators who lack resources year-round or low-level Eagle Wolf Guard captains, this is already a rare and precious elixir!

Zhao Ting's mind raced. He looked up at Xia Dong's calm, half-smiling expression and instantly imagined a dramatic scene unfolding in his mind.

"I understand!" Zhao Ting thought to himself, "These must be defective products refined by those high-ranking alchemists in the Immortal Sect, which Brother Xia's backers have used to cover up their deception as 'useless pills.' Excellent tactics, truly excellent tactics!"

Using the name of discarded cinnabar for accounting is both safe and discreet.

"Useless pills are good! Don't worry, brother, I'll definitely find a good home for this batch of 'useless pills'." Zhao Ting's smile was almost overflowing as he patted the jade box knowingly.

The value of this batch of Qi Gathering Pills, along with the batch of low-level talismans brought by Xia Dong, is self-evident.

Zhao Ting knew that as long as he distributed this batch of goods in the prefectural city and the black market, he could not only make a fortune of spirit stones, but also completely solidify his position in the Thousand Households Bureau.

……

After returning from Zhao Ting with a full load of gifts, the first thing Xia Dong did was to use the communication talisman she made to send a letter to Qin Wan.

The transmission talisman is a new talisman that Xia Dong learned. It requires a specific incantation to activate and is therefore more secretive.

"Wan'er, we don't need to rent that alchemy furnace anymore. Let's meet first, and I'll give you spirit stones then, so you can buy it out for me."

After explaining the matter with the sound transmission talisman, Xia Dong returned to Tiger Hill Cave and looked at the huge bronze alchemy furnace with a hint of satisfaction in his eyes.

In the world of cultivation, alchemy furnaces are actually magical artifacts that are easily worn out.

Because of the frequent "furnace explosions" and conflicts between medicinal properties during the alchemy process, the violent spiritual energy often causes irreversible damage to the arrays and materials inside the furnace. A low-grade alchemy furnace, if it falls into the hands of an ordinary alchemist, will be completely ruined within a few years due to too many failed attempts at alchemy.

But Xia Dong's alchemy furnace is an anomaly.

Because of Xia Dong's terrifying success rate of up to 90%, furnace explosions are extremely rare. And during each successful pill condensation process, the spiritual energy inside the furnace completes a full cycle.

This high-frequency circulation of spiritual energy not only did not damage the alchemy furnace, but also continuously cleansed and refined the inner wall of the furnace with spiritual energy.

Therefore, this low-grade alchemy furnace, which was originally of low quality, was not damaged by use, but was instead maintained better and better by the daily circulation of spiritual energy.

Inside the Tiger Hill Cave.

Xia Dong opened the furnace again, and with a 90% success rate as steady as Mount Tai, he successfully refined another batch of Qi Gathering Pills, and also made a batch of basic talismans.

Counting the days, it was time to meet Qin Wan again.

Xia Dong packed the supplies into different categories, then used his wind-riding technique to silently head towards the Songpo Pavilion outside Qixia Mountain Market.

Outside the pavilion, the clouds and mist remained.

When Qin Wan opened the package Xia Dong handed her, besides the expected basic talismans, there were several jade bottles containing Qi Gathering Pills. The fragrance emanating from the bottles, after the stoppers were removed, made her hold her breath.

"This is... a Qi Gathering Pill?!" Qin Wan picked up a slightly grayish pill.

Although the pill's color was not perfectly round and its spiritual energy was somewhat mixed, it was indeed a Qi Gathering Pill that could help Qi Refining cultivators improve their cultivation.

Qin Wan's thoughts at this moment were exactly the same as Zhao Ting's earlier, and even more profound and thorough.

With a hidden dragon like Brother Xia by her side, how could she possibly have any worries about her path to immortality?

Qin Wan carefully put away the jade bottle and talisman, and quickly began to take action.

From then on, on the surface, Xia Dong had Zhao Ting, a centurion of the Eagle Wolf Guard, distributing goods for him through the Thousand Household Office and the black market, while he himself had the identity of a captain of the Eagle Wolf Guard to scavenge supplies; in secret, he also had Qin Wan, an inner disciple of the Immortal Sect, helping him.

These two channels, one overt and one covert, do not interfere with each other.

With a much larger income than that of ordinary low-level cultivators, Xia Dong was no longer worried about the future and no longer had to carefully manage his spirit stones as before.

He entrusted Xiao Hong with all the daily affairs of the Changchun Medical Clinic, while he himself, like a completely reclusive ascetic, spent a long time in seclusion in the Tiger Hill Cave and the secret chamber at the bottom of the well.

He kept all the outside disturbances, the turmoil of the Wusheng Sect, and the infighting in officialdom out of his sight.

Aside from maintaining his income, he devoted most of his energy to the subsequent cultivation of the "Changchun Xingqi Jue".

With the constant circulation of the Changchun Qi-Tracing Technique day and night, the misty "Qi" within the body gradually grows stronger, undergoing a transformation that reshapes the root of one's constitution and reverses one's innate nature.