Begin your practice with the crane-shaped stance.

After obtaining the spirit herbs and low-grade spirit grain seeds, Xia Dong did not linger in the county town. He directly used his increasingly masterful Wind Control Technique to quietly enter the mountains and easily arrived at Tiger Hill Cave.

He went straight to the newly opened spiritual field and untied the small gray cloth bag that Zhao Ting had given him.

The seeds in the bag were somewhat mixed up, so Xia Dong carefully sorted them out by category.

He quickly selected the two seeds that were currently the most valuable to him.

The first type consists of a dozen or so grass seeds with fine purple veins on their surface.

"Purple spotted leaves."

This is an essential auxiliary ingredient for refining the "Spirit-Attracting Pill." The Spirit-Attracting Pill is the core elixir that Xia Dong has planned for the next stage of his cultivation.

However, Xia Dong knew very well that with his current cultivation level, he was far from being able to refine the Spirit-Inducing Pill.

Refining the Spirit-Inducing Pill requires extremely high control over the heat, which can only be achieved by mastering a "fire control technique".

To successfully cultivate even the lowest level of the Fire Control Technique, one needs at least a late-stage Qi Refining Divine Sense.

The late stage of Qi Refining means that one's spiritual sense must reach at least the seventh level of Qi Refining. At the same time, casting the Fire Control Technique consumes a great deal of magical power, and one's own magical power must reach at least the sixth level of Qi Refining to sustain it.

In contrast, Xia Dong's current cultivation level is as follows: his spiritual consciousness is stuck at the fifth level of Qi Refining, which is quite a distance away from the seventh level; and his magical power cultivation is only at the fourth level of Qi Refining.

There's nothing we can do about it.

Even if Xia Dong's root essence transforms to the level of a spiritual root, its conversion efficiency of spiritual energy in heaven and earth is only a pitiful 20%.

Even if he has no shortage of Qi Gathering Pills, it is impossible for him to cultivate to the late stage of Qi Refining perfection in just a few years like those legendary "Heavenly Spiritual Root" cultivators with extremely high conversion rates.

To be fair, Xia Dong's cultivation of his magical power to the fourth level of Qi Refining in just a few years was already quite fast. This was only because his root hadn't yet transformed into a spiritual root in the previous years, which held him back; otherwise, he could have progressed much faster.

But he could not be content with the status quo.

As his cultivation level improved, he keenly sensed that the effects of the "Qi Gathering Pill" on him were visibly diminishing. His body had developed resistance, and the spiritual energy provided by the Qi Gathering Pill was gradually failing to meet his needs for higher-level cultivation.

He must plan ahead and find new alternative elixirs.

The Spirit-Guiding Pill is the perfect target.

Not only does it contain more and purer spiritual power than the Qi Gathering Pill, but more miraculously, during the process of swallowing and refining the Spirit Guiding Pill, the medicinal power will actively guide the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth to gather around the cultivator, thus forming a "small spiritual acupoint" that is invisible to the naked eye around the cultivator.

Although the duration of this small spiritual cave depends entirely on the length of the medicine's effect, as long as Xia Dongneng continuously refines a large number of Spirit-Attracting Pills and takes them during cultivation, it is equivalent to creating a small spiritual cave for himself out of thin air, one that is exclusive and inexhaustible!

Taking the secret chamber of Tiger Hill Cave as an example, the concentration of spiritual energy here can only be considered a "miniature spiritual cave". If it is enhanced by the Spirit-Attracting Pill in the future, the combined effect of the two will make Xia Dong's environment for closed-door cultivation even better than those real small spiritual caves outside.

Because the Spirit-Guiding Pill is so important, and the growth of spiritual herbs requires a cycle, the purple-spotted leaves need to be planted in advance during summer and winter.

When his cultivation level reached the required standard, the spiritual herbs would have just matured, creating a perfect transition.

After collecting the purple-spotted grass seeds, Xia Dong's gaze fell on the second type of seeds that had been selected.

It was a small handful of slightly green, plump grains of corn.

Among the low-grade spiritual rice in the cultivation world, green corn is definitely considered a good thing. However, this thing is very delicate and extremely difficult to care for.

During the planting process, if the spiritual energy in the spiritual field is even slightly insufficient, or if it is eaten by even the slightest spiritual insects, the green corn will immediately be "downgraded" and produce defective products.

Defective green corn contains a great deal of impurities.

Once cooked, it not only has a rough texture like chewing sand and irritates the throat, but what's more troublesome is that after eating it, the cultivator must immediately sit in meditation and use their cultivation technique to carefully refine and expel those impurities.

Eating this kind of rice not only fails to aid in cultivation but also wastes time spent meditating.

Because it is extremely difficult to cultivate high-quality green corn, most of the rice circulating in the market is another type of rice called "yellow sprout rice".

Yellow sprouted rice is slightly inferior in quality to green corn, and the yield per acre is almost the same for both. However, the biggest advantage of yellow sprouted rice is that it is "hardy". With careful cultivation by an experienced plant grower, it is easy to grow good quality rice.

In contrast, while green corn has a lower yield and is more difficult to cultivate, once the quality is achieved, its taste far surpasses that of yellow-sprouted corn, and its spiritual energy is gentler and purer, making it easily absorbed by cultivators. Therefore, in the market, genuine green corn is much more expensive than yellow-sprouted corn, and demand often exceeds supply.

Xia Dong looked at the green corn seeds in his palm, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.

Others might fear losing everything if they plant badly, but he has the confidence.

The pests that green corn fears most can probably be prevented under the protection of the giant snake. In addition, his spiritual field has spiritual fertilizer to increase spiritual power and spiritual farming techniques to guide and nourish it, so the spiritual energy required for the growth of green corn is sufficient.

"However..." Xia Dong calmed down, carefully planted the seeds in the cultivated spirit field, and filled it with spirit soil. "After they grow, should we continue to hand them over to Zhao Ting for delivery?"

This is a question that Xia Dong needs to think about carefully.

But there's no rush for this now.

Then, he fetched a bucket of icy pool water and carefully added a few drops of Xuan Yin Divine Water to mix it. The icy pool water, having absorbed the moonlight guided by the great serpent, was already clear and pure. Now, combined with the Xuan Yin Divine Water, which was full of vitality and creation, the two were perfectly suited for watering the seeds.

Xia Dong circulated the "Spiritual Farming Technique," evenly sprinkling the prepared spiritual water. As expected, after only half a day, the soil soaked in the spiritual water began to slightly rise, and several tender green buds broke through the soil, full of vitality.

With the spiritual field planted, its care became the primary concern.

Xia Dong "summoned" the giant snake and instructed it to guard this sacred field. The giant snake coiled on a nearby rock, lazily flicking its tongue, appearing uninterested.

Xia Dong had no choice but to reluctantly promise to give the giant snake an extra "Mysterious Yin Gathering Qi Pill" every month. Upon hearing this, the giant snake straightened up as if it had been electrocuted, nodding repeatedly with renewed vigor.

Xia Dong: "If the spirit seedlings in the spirit field are destroyed, the reward will be lost."

Upon hearing this, the giant snake immediately became extremely cautious.

A few days later, Xia Dong took Xiao Hong into the deep mountains under the cover of night.

He led Little Red to the giant snake, so that the snake would remember her scent.

When Xiao Hong first saw this terrifyingly huge creature, her face turned pale with fright, and she instinctively hid behind Xia Dong.

But she was soon surprised to find that the terrifying snake was actually very friendly to her, and even lowered its head to rub against the hem of her clothes.

Even more surprisingly, Xiao Hong's fear dissipated, and for some reason, she felt no fear whatsoever towards the giant snake.

Xia Dong observed carefully from the side, pondering to himself.

Xiao Hong had also taken the Xuan Yin Gathering Qi Pill he had refined on a regular basis. It seemed that this pill would leave a unique aura in the body of the user, which was why the giant snake felt a natural affinity for it.

This also indirectly confirms that the deep connection between the Xuan Yin Divine Water and the Black Water Xuan Snake bloodline is probably closer than he imagined.

Xia Dong turned to Xiao Hong and solemnly instructed her: "From now on, if I do not return on time, you must come into the mountain and feed the Great Serpent the Profound Yin Gathering Qi Pill for me. If you encounter any insurmountable danger outside, do not worry about any material possessions; survival is the most important thing. Immediately escape into this mountain and seek the Great Serpent's protection."

Xia Dong was well aware that he had many secrets.

Speaking of that "Taoist identity" alone, it seems like an asset at the moment, but no one can say for sure whether it will get them into trouble and lead to their deaths in the future. It's necessary to plan ahead. Letting Xiao Hong know about the existence of the giant snake and Tiger Hill Cave is equivalent to leaving both of them a way to save their lives.

Then, he solemnly instructed: "However, unless absolutely necessary, you must not come to Tiger Hill Cave."

After saying that, Xia Dong took out several talismans from his pocket and handed them to Xiao Hong: "These are Concealment Talismans and Invisibility Talismans. Low-level talismans do not require magic power, so you can use them even without immortal cultivation."

Invisibility talismans are essentially a form of light refraction, and the principle is not complicated. However, if an invisibility talisman is used alone without a breath-concealing talisman to conceal one's aura, a living person is like a torch in the dark in front of a cultivator's spiritual sense, completely ineffective in concealing themselves.

However, as long as one does not reveal their aura, the two can be used together to make it difficult for even a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator to detect their presence.

He had never sold these items, and even Zhao Ting was unaware that he possessed such talisman-making skills.

Xiao Hong held the talisman, utterly astonished. She could feel the immense trust the young master placed in her; her eyes reddened, and she was deeply moved.

However, Xia Dong actually kept a secret. He didn't tell Xiao Hong about the secret chamber at the deepest part of Tiger Hill Cave.

Even with the greatest trust, there are still some cards that should be kept secret.

Watching Xiao Hong carefully put the talisman away, Xia Dong sighed silently in his heart.

Having lived in this world for several years, Xiao Hong had become one of his closest people.

The path to immortality is long and fraught with danger. No matter how cautious he is, he can't guarantee that he won't encounter misfortune that comes out of nowhere.

In the world of cultivation, even those who hide deep in the mountains and forests to cultivate diligently may still be unlucky enough to encounter powerful demons, and their years of cultivation may instantly turn into nothing.

This kind of thing happens all the time.

He had once read a record in the Eagle Wolf Guard's files: a grandmaster who had cultivated martial arts to the "True Intent Realm" had just emerged from seclusion full of vigor, but his luck was extremely bad, as he happened to encounter two Core Formation stage elders fighting nearby.

The martial arts master was casually grabbed by one of the elders and instantly refined, becoming fuel for the other to unleash his great supernatural powers.

If you encounter such inexplicable misfortune, there's nowhere to even complain.

Therefore, while personal strength is fundamental for cultivators, having a powerful backer is equally important.

Even the most tyrannical old demon would have to consider the consequences before targeting cultivators with powerful backgrounds and connections.

This journey to immortality is truly fraught with peril; let's hope he can reach the other side.

"It must work, right? The ancient bronze bell!"

Within the sea of ​​consciousness, a faint, deep bell tolled, echoing through the ages. It carried a sense of timelessness and antiquity.