Begin your practice with the crane-shaped stance.

Deep within his consciousness, the ancient bronze bell, covered in the patina of time, trembled violently.

The scarlet characters on the bell flowed and recombine like lava, exuding an ancient and profound aura.

After an unknown period of time, the ancient bell finally emitted a deep, resonant hum.

The previously chaotic text instantly froze, transforming into three large characters—【Divine Treasure Chapter】.

Xia Dong's consciousness instantly sank into it, and a vast and profound flow of information surged into his mind like a tide.

As he gained a deeper understanding of the secret technique, a look of shock gradually appeared in his eyes.

"So... this is the true path to eternal youth!"

The Divine Treasury Chapter completely overturns common sense in its principles of cultivation.

Ordinary exercises cultivate "expelling the old and taking in the new," which involves constantly exchanging energy with the outside world.

However, the Divine Treasury Chapter takes the opposite approach, viewing the human body as a primordial divine treasure, with the core of cultivation lying in the word "treasure".

This is an extreme form of spiritual practice that involves "only taking in and not giving out".

It can transform all the essence and energy that Xia Dong has acquired through postnatal means—whether it is the essence obtained from food, or the profound yin power and martial arts qi and blood obtained through arduous cultivation—into the purest "innate qi," and continuously lock it within the human body, this divine treasure.

Semen should not be leaked out, and vital energy should not be dissipated.

Once Xia Dong begins his cultivation of the Divine Treasury Chapter, his life essence will enter a state of steady and continuous improvement. His foundation will become thicker and thicker over time, and his potential will accumulate like a snowball.

It can be said that as long as the cultivation of the Divine Treasure Chapter has not reached its peak, the accumulation of Xia Dong's life essence will continue.

To his even greater surprise, this Divine Treasury Chapter perfectly matched his existing cultivation.

Normally, the innate Qi would automatically absorb the life essence overflowing from his body, just like a king surveying his territory.

This means that even if Xia Dong encounters a bottleneck in the martial arts inner realm or the Qi refining level of the "Mysterious Yin Scripture", his hard work will not be in vain.

The magical power and vital energy that cannot be increased due to bottlenecks will be naturally captured by the Divine Treasury Chapter and transformed into innate Qi to enhance his physical potential and broaden his future path.

"Others are like rowing against the current, where if they don't move forward, they fall behind; but for me, it's like building a tower from grains of sand. As long as I work hard, I will surely reap the rewards."

However, he also gained a deeper understanding of the characteristics of innate Qi.

This Qi is essentially "nourishment" used to enhance the dimensions of life, rather than a weapon of destruction.

It does not possess extremely strong burst damage capabilities; its only defensive measure is to disintegrate foreign magical power and blood energy that invade the body into the purest vital energy, just like melting ice and snow.

However, this will also deplete one's innate vital energy.

It does have a somewhat "invulnerable" characteristic.

Therefore, in direct combat, he still needs to rely on Xuan Yin magic power, divine sense, and martial arts qi and blood as his main means of attack.

Xia Dong also clearly understood the value of "The Divine Treasure Chapter".

In this world of cultivation, where hierarchy is strict and talent determines destiny, this is especially true for those great cultivators who are stuck at a bottleneck and whose lifespan is about to end, or martial artists who yearn to break through the limits of their aptitude.

This method, capable of forcibly elevating the very essence of life and altering the limits of cultivation, is practically capable of triggering a catastrophe. Like the Nine Yin Manual in a novel from my past life, it would stir up a storm across the land.

Or rather, the immortal techniques and divine skills that Xia Dong knows are merely arts. But the Changchun Qi Circulation Technique cultivates "fate".

"Even in the most desperate situations, one must never use one's innate Qi lightly, lest others discover the characteristics of one's innate Qi."

He knew very well that once this method of continuously accumulating life essence and fusing alien energy was exposed, his situation would be extremely dangerous.

He slowly opened his eyes, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth flowed into his body continuously.

As the divine treasure was opened, a faint wisp of cyan innate energy appeared and disappeared deep within his flesh and blood, silently accumulating the source of life and subtly elevating his life level.

...

...

The ancient bronze bell deep within Xia Dong's sea of ​​consciousness gradually returned to calm, and the blood-red text of the "Divine Treasury Chapter" was deeply imprinted in Xia Dong's soul.

Xia Dong carefully observed the subtle changes in his body and discovered that once he entered the "Changchun Xingqi Jue" Divine Treasury Chapter, he could "spontaneously operate" it.

As long as Xia Dong's physical body does not die, as long as he continues to eat and absorb acquired essence, or as long as there is excess blood and magical power overflowing from his body, this technique will be like a tireless millstone, silently turning in the background, continuously crushing and purifying these energies, transforming them into strands of innate Qi, locking them into his divine treasure, and nourishing his life essence.

"In this way, I don't need to spend too much time and energy on the Changchun Xingqi Jue."

Xia Dong's mind was clear.

He was also well aware that although the Changchun Qi Circulation Technique could elevate one's life level, prolong life, and even allow him to achieve great things later in life and raise the upper limit of his innate talent, it was ultimately just a cultivation of "fate".

In the dog-eat-dog, perilous world of cultivation, if one only possesses a long lifespan and profound origin, but lacks protective divine abilities sufficient to kill enemies and save one's life, then one will ultimately become a highly nourishing "human-shaped elixir" in the eyes of high-level cultivators or demons.

Living a long time doesn't mean you can't die.

Therefore, Xia Dong quickly adjusted her mindset.

In the years to come, he will continue to devote the vast majority of his energy and resources to the immortal arts and martial arts of killing and protecting the Dao.

For his upcoming spiritual practice, he set two very clear goals:

First, he would steadily push the power of the *Xuan Yin Jing* to the fourth level of Qi Refining. According to the *Taiping Yin Fu Jing*, only when his power reaches the mid-stage of Qi Refining is he qualified to attempt to condense a "talisman seed" within his body. Once the talisman seed is successfully condensed, it will greatly benefit his talisman-making skills.

Secondly, there is the martial arts training. He needs to cleanse his kidneys daily with his qi and blood and the power of the Xuan Yin magic, striving to cultivate the extremely yin and gentle "Xuan Yin Divine Water" within the kidney's divine palace as soon as possible.

Both of these goals, whether it's condensing the talisman seed or nurturing the divine water, are things that will come naturally and require gradual accumulation step by step.

"Haste makes waste."

Xia Dong smiled slightly, completely releasing the tension brought on by his cultivation and deductions over the past period. He tidied up the secret chamber, changed into a clean blue robe, and then swam out of the cave through the cold underwater passage, preparing to relax in the deep valley.

Splash!

As soon as Xia Dong poked his head out of the deep valley pool, his keen senses detected a very unusual aura.

He first reached a high place, where he saw a huge snakeskin lying outside the lair where the giant snake had once been coiled at the bottom of the cliff! The snakeskin shimmered in the sunlight, and there was even a trace of violent spiritual energy remaining on its surface.

"It shed its skin?"

Xia Dong was startled and immediately concealed his aura, approaching quietly.

Behind a boulder deep within the cliff, he saw the giant snake that had just completed its metamorphosis.

At this moment, the giant serpent was lazily coiled into a mountain of flesh, deep in a deep sleep.

However, the aura emanating from it was several times stronger than before.

The deep, heavy, and extremely cold sense of oppression even made Xia Dong's fifth-level Qi Refining consciousness feel a slight sting.

"What a terrifying aura... After swallowing that black eagle, this giant serpent actually succeeded in advancing to a higher level by gaining insights from the brink of death and harnessing the immense essence of its flesh and blood."

Xia Dong clicked his tongue in astonishment. The cultivation of demonic beasts differs from that of humans. Each successful molting and advancement represents a massive leap in their life level, resulting in a terrifying boost to their physical body and strength. Judging from the serpent's current power, Xia Dong conservatively estimated that its strength had definitely reached a level comparable to the "late stage of Qi Refining" for human cultivators.

Xia Dong mustered his courage and carefully observed the snake's transformed form from a distance.

Having shed its original slightly mottled bluish-black scales, the giant snake now wore a layer of deep, smooth, pure black scales, like obsidian. Its head had become sharper, with faintly raised fleshy bulges, but most strikingly, near its seven-inch-wide abdomen, a patch of extremely fine, ripple-like dark blue patterns had emerged.

Looking at these features, Xia Dong suddenly had a flash of inspiration and remembered an ancient record about the totem of the Xuan Yin Sect in the opening of the Xuan Yin Scripture.

"Its entire body is jet black, with water patterns on its belly, extremely yin and cold, capable of controlling all waters... Why does this giant serpent's current appearance vaguely resemble the characteristics of the Black Water Serpent, the sacred beast of the sect recorded in the Xuan Yin Scripture?"

The Blackwater Serpent is a legendary "true spirit" that can overturn rivers and seas and swallow clouds and spit out mist!

Xia Dong's heart skipped a beat: "Could it be that this giant snake guarding this desolate wilderness actually carries a trace of the ancient sacred beast Black Water Serpent's bloodline?"

However, the demon beast race, although they value bloodline above all else.

However, it is by no means uncommon for demonic beasts to possess even a trace of true spiritual bloodline.

Among them, those who can truly transform and revert to their ancestral form to become pure-blooded "True Spirits" are extremely rare. It is even more difficult than a low-level cultivator with mixed spiritual roots cultivating all the way to the "Deity Transformation" stage.

Even if this giant serpent possesses a tiny trace of the Xuan Snake bloodline, its desire to become a true spirit is practically a pipe dream.

Xia Dong gazed at the large snake, which occasionally flicked its cold tongue as it slept, lost in thought.

He didn't approach, lest he disturb the giant snake. After strolling along the mountain stream for a while and watching the fish swimming in the pool, he felt relaxed and then quietly retreated back into the pool.

With a demon beast comparable to the late stage of Qi Refining, and possibly even possessing a different bloodline, "passively" guarding Tiger Hill Cave, his future seclusion and cultivation here will be much safer.