Begin your practice with the crane-shaped stance.

Deep within the abandoned mine, the eerie winds had long since ceased, and the surroundings were filled with a suffocating stillness and a dense aura of malevolent energy.

Xia Dong sat cross-legged on a cold rock, his eyes slightly closed, his mind completely immersed in his body. According to the Taiping Yinfu Jing, condensing the talisman seed was not a matter of following the steps of an ordinary cultivation method, but a cruel ritual of "stealing" creation from heaven and earth.

The Taiping Yin Fu Jing (太平阴符经) was formed from several initial talisman types.

Under the influence of the ancient bronze bell, the talisman seed of the Taiping Yin Fu Jing, which is most suitable for summer and winter to condense at this moment, has already emerged.

Ming Zhe.

"冥" means darkness and yin, representing an unfathomable abyss; "蛰" means hibernating insects and beasts, and by extension, it means lurking, hiding, and feigning death.

The core principle of this talisman can be summed up in just two words: "Stealing the Microscopic." It does not seek to devour the heavens and the earth, but only to steal the smallest amount of wandering spiritual energy and death energy in the world silently.

The ascension ceremony for condensing the "Netherworld Seed" is extremely demanding, and must be carried out in a sealed, perilous place where death energy or malevolent energy accumulates. This abandoned mine, teeming with yin energy, is precisely the ideal breeding ground for it.

Xia Dong took a deep breath and began to actively disperse the surging magical power in his meridians.

His heartbeat began to slow, from steady and strong to long and drawn out, and gradually, it beat only once every few dozen breaths.

His pores closed completely, and the warm blood and qi on his body surface were forcibly suppressed back to the deepest part of his internal organs.

In this extreme darkness and deathly silence, Xia Dong suppressed his breathing, heartbeat, and even the fluctuations of his magical power to the limit of almost "feigning death".

The chilling atmosphere inside the mine was like a bone-deep infection, seeping into his bones through his skin.

As his life force was suppressed to freezing point, Xia Dong's consciousness began to blur. The chilling aura of death began to erode his body, and his skin visibly turned gray and withered, like a piece of dead wood that had lost its moisture.

This is the price of "death by sting".

If one's mind is not firm enough to find a glimmer of light at the boundary between "false" and "true" death, his physical body will be completely turned into a withered corpse in this mine, and his soul will be forever sealed within the unformed talisman seed, beyond redemption.

However, Xia Dong's state of mind is undeniable. Therefore, this hurdle will not pose any real danger to him.

In the extreme cold, Xia Dong's consciousness was like a candle flickering in the wind, about to be completely extinguished.

At that critical moment of life and death, the ancient bell rang out.

The sense of clarity and enlightenment that followed the life-or-death struggle filled Xia Dong's mind and spirit.

The consciousness that was about to dissipate was instantly stabilized by this clear state of mind.

Instead of fighting death, he went with the flow, enveloping his clear and transparent soul in the shell of "feigned death."

To survive from the brink of death.

"Life is the root of death; death is the root of life..."

Xia Dong silently recited the mantra of the Yin Fu Jing in his heart.

This perfectly disguised deathly silence finally succeeded in deceiving the surrounding malevolent forces and the laws of heaven and earth. At the extreme of death, a faint, imperceptible, and mysterious life force was born.

"I did it!"

Xia Dong abruptly withdrew his divine sense, forcibly drawing the wisp of life force that was adrift in the Yin Sha Death Land within the mine, along with the purest traces of death energy around him, into his dantian.

hum.

His frozen Xuan Yin magical power was like a pot of oil that had come into contact with a spark, instantly boiling and merging. At the very center of his Qi Sea, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth intertwined and twisted with the death energy, eventually slowly condensing and solidifying.

It was an oval object about the size of a soybean, grayish-black in color, with extremely fine and obscure natural spiritual patterns covering its surface.

It floated quietly in Xia Dong's dantian, like an insect egg hibernating in the cold winter, without emitting the slightest fluctuation of magical power, yet maintaining a mysterious "stealing" connection with the surrounding world.

The [Netherworld Seed] has been fully formed.

Xia Dong slowly opened his eyes. The mine was still dark, but in his perception, the subtle air currents and the flow of yin energy between heaven and earth became as clear as the lines on his palm.

He didn't even need to consciously circulate his cultivation technique; the gray-black "insect egg" was silently "stealing" the surrounding Yin energy, nourishing his Xuan Yin power in return.

The [Netherworld Seed] floated quietly in the dantian, like a tiny, living heart, pulsating slowly with Xia Dong's breath.

The condensation of the talisman seed not only allowed him to truly step into the threshold of the Taiping Yin Talisman Scripture, but also completely broke the common sense that ordinary cultivators "must rely on external tools to draw talismans".

Next, he will use himself as a talisman.

Without a moment's hesitation, Xia Dong unfastened his close-fitting black snake inner armor, revealing his strong and muscular chest.

He took a deep breath and instantly mobilized the abundant blood and qi within his body, which belonged to the peak of the "Internal Strengthening Realm" in martial arts. He forcibly forced that scorching, pure essence blood beneath his skin, its crimson color faintly visible, transforming into "talisman ink".

Immediately afterwards, Xia Dong's gaze sharpened, and he used his divine sense to transform into an invisible "talisman brush," guiding the pure Xuan Yin magic power within his dantian to begin drawing strokes on his chest.

What he was going to draw was the "Concealing Breath Talisman".

The skin and flesh are used as the talisman paper, the blood and qi as the talisman ink, and the spirit as the talisman brush.

Each inscription of the spirit runes was accompanied by a stinging pain like being branded with a hot iron, as if trying to forcibly carve the trace of the laws of heaven and earth contained within the concealment talisman into his very bones. Yet his expression remained calm as still water, and the invisible talisman brush moved steadily and accurately, without the slightest tremor.

Half an hour later, with the final stroke connecting the beginning and end, a complex and obscure array of blood-red runes appeared completely on his chest.

hum.

The [Netherworld Seed] within the dantian emitted an extremely faint resonance.

The concealing talisman, drawn with blood and qi, shimmered with a dim, ghostly light. Then, like melting ice and snow, it slowly seeped into his flesh and meridians, disappearing completely without leaving a single scar.

Xia Dong carefully observed the changes in his body, a hint of satisfaction flashing in his eyes.

This breath-concealing talisman, integrated into his flesh and blood, perfectly matched his own body.

It was like an invisible membrane that had taken root and sprouted, tightly sealing the fluctuations of the profound yin magic power in his dantian and the spiritual energy in his sea of ​​consciousness inside his body, without letting a single trace leak out.

The secrets he needs to conceal are not only that he was originally a mortal without spiritual roots but has become a cultivator, but also his identity as a "Qi Refiner".

The core mystery of the "Divine Treasury Chapter" of the "Changchun Xingqi Jue" is "the divine substance conceals itself". It can perfectly lock the "primordial qi" and the essence of life in the body during summer and winter into the divine treasury of the five internal organs.

Now, the inner [Divine Treasury Chapter] deeply locks in the primordial Qi, while the outer [Human Body Breath Concealing Talisman] conceals the cultivator's magical power and divine consciousness.

The two, one internal and one external, complement each other.

Even when he is in close contact with a Foundation Establishment cultivator, as long as he does not actively expose his spiritual energy fluctuations, in other people's spiritual senses, Xia Dong is just an ordinary martial artist with slightly more vigorous blood and energy.

"This disguise will only work if someone completely subdues you..."

Xia Dong stood up, stretched his limbs, and felt the smooth flow of energy within his body.

He knew very well that his ability to conceal his aura was probably more powerful than many other aura-concealing techniques in the cultivation world.

Of course, if he were caught and his soul were forcibly searched, there would be nothing left for him to hide.

However, if one were to be captured alive and forcibly skinned and dismembered, it would essentially mean death and the end of everything. At that point, whether or not one concealed their secrets would be meaningless.

Xia Dong put the Black Serpent Inner Armor back on and straightened his clothes, which were slightly dusty.

The next step is to figure out how to clean up the mess.

The assassin corpses and illusion array outside the mine must eventually be dealt with.

And how do I open those three storage bags?