Begin your practice with the crane-shaped stance.

After explaining the matter of the talisman, Xia Dong took out a jet-black iron flute from his sleeve and handed it to Xiao Hong.

"Keep this flute with you at all times," Xia Dong instructed, and then immediately taught Xiao Hong a rather strange tune.

This piece lacks the usual melodious and graceful qualities of traditional string and wind instruments; instead, it conveys a deep, melancholic, and lingering feeling.

"If you ever get lost in the mountains or encounter danger, play this tune loudly as a signal to contact the giant snake," Xia Dong explained.

With the snake's current cultivation level and keen senses, as long as Little Red blows the iron flute, even if it's more than ten miles away, the snake can clearly hear the sound and come to the rescue.

In fact, this flute melody was not something Xia Dong made up haphazardly out of boredom. Rather, it was a melody that he gradually deduced and transformed based on the laws of the circulation of magical power in the "Mysterious Yin Scripture," and its rhythm was extremely unique.

Sure enough, when Xia Dong demonstrated playing the instrument, the large snake coiled nearby immediately reacted.

Its originally languid vertical pupils instantly contracted, its huge head was raised high, and as it flicked its tongue, a strange look of confusion and affection appeared in its eyes, as if this special melody had unintentionally touched and stimulated some ancient memory deep in its bloodline.

Xia Dong was not surprised by the snake's unusual behavior.

The relationship between the "Xuan Yin Jing" and the legendary Black Water Serpent is quite mysterious, with a subtle sense that they share the same origin.

It's perfectly normal for the giant snake to react to this.

Looking at the enormous and oppressive body of the giant serpent, Xia Dong stroked his chin, and an image involuntarily appeared in his mind: one day in the future, the giant serpent would rise up from the clouds, and he, dressed in a crane cloak, would stand with his hands behind his back on the huge serpent head, playing an iron flute in the wind, shuttling between the sea of ​​clouds... That scene must have some of the peerless artistic conception of immortals riding dragons to fly to the sky and roaming freely between heaven and earth, right?

Thinking of this, Xia Dong's gaze towards the giant snake couldn't help but carry a hint of disappointment.

"Brother Snake, you're still not good enough," Xia Dong sighed inwardly.

It's unknown whether this gluttonous snake will evolve into a pure-blooded "Black Water Serpent" in the future, or whether it will find an opportunity to shed its snake form and transform into a dragon or even a jiao.

What he found even more absurd was that the serpent's awakened innate supernatural power was "riding the mist".

As the saying goes, "The Teng Snake rides the mist, but in the end it turns to dust," this ability to ride the mist seems to be the legendary skill of the "Teng Snake."

"Could it be that besides the Blackwater Serpent, it also has the bloodline of the Teng Serpent? This bloodline is really messy!" Xia Dong thought to himself, filled with curiosity about the ancestor of this giant serpent.

After teaching Xiaohong the tune and explaining all the details, Xia Dong let her go down the mountain on her own and return to Pingyang County.

He himself did not leave, intending to stay in Tiger Hill Cave for a while longer.

If you count the days, the full moon night of this month is just around the corner.

The full moon is the time when the yin energy between heaven and earth is at its peak, and it is also the best time for the great serpent to absorb the moon's essence for cultivation.

He couldn't bear to see the giant snake toiling away alone under the moon, its progress slow and arduous.

He planned to help his brother the snake cultivate properly again on the day of the full moon.

...

...

In the blink of an eye, the full moon has arrived.

The cool, clear moonlight bathed the valley, and outside Tiger Hill Cave, wisps of white mist rose from the cold pool. Xia Dong sat cross-legged on a flat stone beside the spirit field, and not far from him, a giant serpent slowly stretched its massive body, its head held high, inhaling and exhaling the purest moonlight.

Summer and winter, cranes danced together, fully circulating the "Mysterious Yin Scripture".

With each breath, wisps of cool, yin-spirited energy mixed with moonlight are drawn into the meridians. After being filtered and refined through the layers of the Xuan Yin Jing, they finally converge into the Qi Sea and the Kidney Water Divine Palace.

The magical power within his body surged through the pass like waves.

At one moment, Xia Dong seemed to hear a slight cracking sound, and the barrier that had been blocking him quietly disappeared.

His magical power naturally broke through to the fifth level of Qi Refining.

Under Xia Dong's inner vision, he saw that although the magic lake had expanded, what surprised him even more was its qualitative change—the magic was deep in color, like black ice, and its texture was viscous and pure.

He could sense that the purity of his fifth-level Qi Refining cultivation was far superior to that of cultivators outside who forcibly enhanced their cultivation by consuming large amounts of mixed pills.

In terms of lethality and endurance, his current magical power is enough to crush ordinary Qi Refining Level 5 cultivators.

As his cultivation level broke through, he had a thought and, taking advantage of the profound artistic conception left over from the breakthrough, began to practice the "Wind Control Technique".

The Wind Control Technique was originally derived from the "Crane Shadow Step" that he had practiced diligently before.

At this moment, the image of a crane soaring into the sky and moving with the wind kept appearing in his mind.

His dual cultivation of the snake and crane forms gave him a completely new understanding of the rhythm of the wind at this moment.

This realization was like a sudden inspiration; the Wind Control Technique, which was originally only a hair's breadth away from perfection, instantly crossed that threshold.

Perfect level, Wind Control Technique!

Xia Dong opened his eyes, his body swayed slightly, and he seemed to transform into an invisible breeze, moving and flashing within a small space without stirring up any dust.

This feeling of riding the wind has become an instinct of his body, and he no longer needs to consciously perform hand seals.

Immediately afterwards, Xia Dong's mind sank into the depths of his consciousness.

The old, weathered bronze bell was now emitting a faint, eerie light.

As his cultivation improved, his connection with the ancient bell became closer, and the bell regained some of its original appearance.

Three faint golden lines have now quietly emerged on the bell, which was originally covered in verdigris. Although this golden light is insignificant compared to the entire giant bell, and a complete transformation is still a long way off, Xia Dong clearly felt that the ancient bell's function had become stronger.

Now, when he is deducing techniques or spells, the ancient bell no longer just provides passive feedback, but can give him advance hints.

"The Wind Control Technique has reached its peak... Initiating Limit Break Deduction."

A clear message flashed through Xia Dong's mind: "The Wind Control Technique can indeed break through limits, and it has a very high probability of perfectly fusing with the 'Mysterious Yin Divine Water,' evolving into a higher-level technique. But..."

The latter part of the prompt made Xia Dong's eyes twitch slightly.

This breakthrough simulation not only requires a large amount of spiritual energy from heaven and earth, but also a core medium—a "high-grade spirit stone".

Xia Dong was speechless for a moment.

High-grade spirit stones are practically priceless.

Spirit stones of this grade contain extremely pure spiritual energy, and often contain the mysterious workings of the laws of heaven and earth.

Even a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator might not be able to possess one.

At this moment, the text about the Wind Control Technique on Zhong's body was gradually dissipating, replaced by a new scarlet, twisted text that appeared and disappeared.

Xia Dong could barely understand the information contained in these strange characters.

"Heavenly...罡...Magic...Instruction"