Begin your practice with the crane-shaped stance.

After Xiao Hong happily took the pills and left, the quiet room returned to its deep and tranquil state.

Xia Dong sat cross-legged on the futon, but did not immediately close his eyes to meditate and refine the spiritual energy of heaven and earth as usual.

Xiao Hong's tired appearance stirred a slight ripple in his heart.

He knew that even if ordinary people had access to elixirs from immortals, without a superior cultivation method to strengthen their foundation, regulate their qi and blood, and digest the medicinal effects, their gains would ultimately be limited.

"Since Xiao Hong can't embark on the path of immortality, why not simply teach her a martial art that can continuously improve her physique?" Xia Dong secretly pondered.

His mind raced, and gradually a clear idea took shape.

He wanted to create an extremely basic martial art that directly addressed the essence of the human body, making it most suitable for ordinary people who had missed the age for learning martial arts and had no foundation in it.

With Xia Dong's current mastery of the immortal cultivation technique "Changchun Xingqi Jue," his ability to deduce a mundane martial art from such a high vantage point is like a scholar who has thoroughly understood the principles of advanced mathematics such as calculus going back to deduce the basic arithmetic formulas of elementary school.

Not only are they adept at handling things, but they also have keen insight and can see right through to the essence of things.

He first dissected in his mind the "Five Animal Frolics" that the Lin Yuan Prefecture government had popularized among the people over the years, and then recalled the "Crane Stance" that he had practiced day and night when he first embarked on the path of cultivation.

The agility and vitality of the Five Animal Fist, and the essence of the Crane Stance for stretching muscles and bones and generating power through the spine, were deconstructed and peeled away layer by layer in Xia Dong's mind.

He eliminated the complicated and useless moves designed only for fighting, extracted the true meaning of the Five Animals' ability to stimulate qi and blood, combined it with the introspective method of Crane Stance, and finally, cleverly incorporated some extremely rudimentary and gentle qi circulation methods from the "Changchun Xingqi Jue".

As thoughts collided and merged, a completely new set of movements and breathing techniques gradually took shape in Xia Dong's mind.

Internally, one cultivates one's breath and blood; externally, one strengthens one's muscles, bones, and skin.

This is a method that truly combines internal and external cultivation.

Xia Dong opened his eyes, picked up his pen, and wrote five powerful characters on the blank book on his desk: "Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian" (易筋锻骨篇).

This technique does not have any deadly moves that can kill instantly, nor does it have any rapid or dramatic effects that allow for quick progress.

Its core can be summed up in just eight words: "moderation and harmony, subtle influence".

For ordinary people like Xiaohong, the greatest benefit of practicing this method is that it does not harm the body in the slightest.

By consistently practicing standing meditation and breathing exercises, one can gradually raise their physical limits, like a gentle spring breeze and nourishing rain, achieving remarkable effects such as strengthening tendons and bones, and prolonging life.

Looking at the pages of writing gradually filling the desk, Xia Dong breathed a sigh of relief.

The process of deducing the "Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian" was actually Xia Dong's first systematic review and summary of his martial arts cultivation since he embarked on his cultivation journey.

Even if a martial artist cultivates to the Inner Strength Realm, they may know the "how" of martial arts cultivation but not the "why."

Usually, only martial arts masters who have broken through the five barriers of the mortal world and entered the "Transcendent Realm" can have a profound understanding of the mysteries of the human body; and those who want to create a martial arts technique like the "Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian" that can directly improve a person's "root bones" from the bottom logic are even more capable of being martial arts grandmasters of the "True Realm".

But Xia Dong did it thanks to his martial arts cultivation at the Inner Strength Realm.

This is related to Xia Dongxian and Wu practicing together.

In particular, the "Changchun Xingqi Jue" that he mainly studied, a heaven-defying method that directly points to the Great Dao, is a way to subtly transform the "innate qualities" of practitioners.

"Root bone" and "root capacity" may differ by only one character, but they are worlds apart.

The five mundane stages of martial arts—training the skin and flesh, training the tendons and bones, training the internal organs, training the bone marrow, and changing the blood—even if one reaches the level of a martial arts grandmaster, in essence, it is only about refining and improving the "foundation" of the human body.

One's physical constitution determines the limits of their physical body, the abundance of their Qi and blood, and the breadth of their meridians.

But "root quality" is different; it involves a deeper level of the origin of life, the qualities of the soul, and the ethereal attribute of "spiritual root".

This is a forbidden realm that only cultivators of the immortal path can access; it is extremely profound and cannot be shaken or changed by the power of ordinary martial arts.

Xia Dong, by taking advantage of the transcendent perspective of cultivating "root capacity" through the Changchun Xingqi Jue, reversed the situation and deduced the "Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian" which repairs the "root bones" of mortals. Naturally, this was a natural and smooth process.

"With this technique, and the aid of the Profound Yin Gathering Qi Pill, even if Xiao Hong has no martial arts talent whatsoever, she can still become a martial arts master through pills and the passage of time." Xia Dong gently blew the ink off the paper and revealed a satisfied smile.

Of course, the "Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian" that has been created so far is only a general framework, like a painting with a rough outline. Many details, such as the length of breathing and the subtle pauses in the flow of qi and blood, still need to be verified and recorded in Xiao Hong's future practice to be gradually refined and perfected.

Fortunately, Xia Dong had set the general principle of "moderation and harmony" at the beginning of the simulation.

This technique does not seek to kill, but only focuses on nourishing the body. Even if the details are not perfect in the early stages, or even if there is some awkwardness in the flow of qi, it will never cause terrible side effects such as qi deviation or damage to the meridians.

It's perfect for Xiaohong to practice and learn from her mistakes.

The next morning, when it was broad daylight.

Xia Dong called Xiao Hong into the study and gestured for her to extend her wrist. He extended two fingers and gently placed them on her pulse point, calmly sensing it.

As expected, after the Xuan Yin Gathering Qi Pill entered his stomach, the pure spiritual energy contained within it was helplessly and slowly dissipating into the world with Xiao Hong's breathing.

Even so, the immense medicinal power of the Qi Gathering Pill still transformed into wisps of warm current, silently spreading into Xiao Hong's limbs, bones, meridians, and flesh.

However, Xiao Hong has not yet mastered the advanced methods of circulating qi, making it difficult for her to effectively utilize the accumulated medicinal power. She can only let it passively nourish her body.

In addition, Xia Dong carefully examined the situation and found that after taking the Xuan Yin Ju Qi Pill, Xiao Hong's soul was very calm and did not establish a mysterious mental connection with him like the previous demon snake.

"It seems that when ordinary people take the Profound Yin Gathering Qi Pill, it's like taking a perfectly balanced and nourishing pill," Xia Dong thought to himself.

Furthermore, for ordinary people or low-level martial artists, there is no need to worry about the tragic consequences of consuming other immortal elixirs, such as excessive medicinal effects, inability to withstand the benefits, or even death from body explosion.

As for what would happen if a true cultivator took this pill mixed with Xuan Yin Divine Water?

The thought flashed through Xia Dong's mind, but he quickly suppressed it rationally.

Cultivators are not only possessing profound supernatural powers and endless methods, but they are also often involved with complex sects and family forces, making them extremely powerful.

He'd better not take that risk.

However, judging from the current performance of the Profound Yin Gathering Qi Pill on Xiao Hong, as a kind of immortal elixir that can be safely taken even by ordinary people with no cultivation, if used properly, it may have some unexpected specific uses in the future.

After withdrawing his hand from taking Xiao Hong's pulse, Xia Dong began to personally teach her the "Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian" (a traditional Chinese medicine exercise) in the courtyard.

It must be said that Xiao Hong mastered this new skill incredibly quickly.

This is naturally because she has been practicing "Crane Stance" and "Five Animal Health Preservation Boxing" issued by the government with Xia Dong for the past few years, and has already laid a good foundation.

The Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian was derived by Xia Dong based on these two techniques. The three can be said to be of the same lineage, and there are commonalities between movement and stillness.

Sure enough, after Xia Dong officially began cultivating the "Yi Jin Duan Gu Pian" (a martial arts manual), he discovered upon further investigation that Xiao Hong's speed in digesting the residual Xuan Yin Ju Qi Dan (a type of medicinal pill) in her body had visibly increased significantly, and her absorption efficiency had also greatly improved.

Her originally tired and pale complexion quickly became rosy and translucent, showing that she had plenty of energy.

The only regret is that the most precious "spiritual energy" in the Qi Gathering Pill still cannot be intercepted and absorbed by the mortal body, and most of it is wasted.

But seeing Xiao Hong's surprised look, Xia Dong smiled calmly.

What's a little waste?

For him now, the one thing he has in abundance is Qi Gathering Pills.

His success rate in refining Qi Gathering Pills has now reached an astonishing level.

Even seasoned alchemists who have spent half their lives working in front of the alchemy furnace are far inferior to him.

It could be said that in the race to refine low-level pills like Qi Gathering Pills, Xia Dong even dared to stand with his hands behind his back, looking down on the other alchemists and asking, "Gentlemen, are you all here to compete for second place?"

Of course, such arrogant thoughts were just a fleeting moment of smug satisfaction in one's heart.

A success rate of 90% in alchemy is simply defying the norms of the cultivation world. If even a whisper of it were to leak out, becoming a tool for alchemy would probably be the best outcome for him.

Xia Dong then warned Xiao Hong that this elixir was extremely precious, but because Xiao Hong had become his concubine and was now a member of the Xia family, he was only willing to give it to her. He warned her not to tell anyone else, lest she bring disaster upon herself.

As for the future, Xia Dong also plans to improve the formula of the Profound Yin Gathering Qi Pill so that it does not contain so much spiritual energy and can focus more on the improvement of martial arts.

Since there are far more martial artists than cultivators, this kind of elixir will definitely have a large market.

...

...

A few days later, Zhao Ting returned and told Xia Dong some good news: Madam Xu, the master craftswoman of the Chaotian Craft Academy in Dayou, happened to be in Linyuan Prefecture. Zhao Ting found a way to get Madam Xu to help him craft the inner armor.