All the gods began by cultivating the Iron Shirt technique.

In the mountains to the northwest of the city, the vegetation was lush and dense. Although there were no towering trees, the abundant foliage bred many snakes, insects, and rodents. Yang Pan tied his horse to the outer edge of the mountains and carefully pushed through the grass as he went.

He hadn't forgotten that although the gallbladder of the Bosqu snake was extremely potent, the snake itself was highly venomous, and its swift movements meant one could easily be poisoned if not careful. Moreover, there were many caves in this mountain range, and Yang Pan wasn't sure where the Bosqu snake swarm was clustered.

"Let's scout ahead for now. The Bodhi Serpent is covered in golden scales, so it must be quite conspicuous. If we can't find it, we'll have to mobilize manpower to help."

Yang Pan drew his long sword and intently observed every movement around him. He had decided to stay in Xiangyang for a while, and there was no need to rush the search for the Bodhi Serpent.

Moreover, there is a cenotaph for the Sword Demon Dugu Qiubai in this mountain range. Yang Pan was also curious about this legendary figure who was present in almost the entire Condor Heroes series and even for the next hundred years.

Even compared to the person himself, Yang Pan didn't seem to care much about the legacy left behind by the Sword Demon in the valley.

Firstly, he himself did not practice swordsmanship. Secondly, according to the original narrative, Yang Guo only seemed to have taken the Xuan Tie Heavy Sword in the Sword Demon Valley and did not learn the legendary Dugu Nine Swords. Perhaps there was no such swordsmanship inheritance in the valley at all.

In short, Yang Panlai's primary goal in this mountain range was the Bosqu Serpent, as for the Sword Demon Valley, that would depend on fate.

"It seems the Bodhi Serpent isn't in this area. Let's try looking in a different direction tomorrow."

Deeper into the mountains, Yang Pan found no trace of the Bosqu snake. He did spot several other venomous snakes, but he casually chopped them in half. As the sun began to darken, Yang Pan prepared to leave, planning to continue his search the next day.

"Hiss~"

However, just as Yang Pan was about to turn and leave, the sound of a snake flicking its tongue rang out from the bushes beside him. Yang Pan instantly became alert. The bushes were lush, and there might be other snakes hiding in them, but it could also be the Bosqu snake he was looking for.

With his long sword extended, Yang Pan cautiously probed into the bushes. Just as the blade was about to part the weeds, a shadow shot out from within. The shadow was incredibly swift; almost the instant Yang Pan saw it, a stench assaulted his face.

Haw!

Instinctively, Yang Pan turned his head to the side, and at the same time, he reached out with his large hand, his five fingers tightly gripping the slender black shadow rushing towards him.

"Hiss!"

Seeing the small golden snake struggling violently in his hand, Yang Pan threw down his longsword and quickly pinched its vital spot with his free right hand. Only after confirming that the snake posed no threat to him did Yang Pan examine it closely.

"Golden scales, fleshy horns on its head, swift as the wind! This must be the Bodhi Serpent!"

Having confirmed that this was indeed his destination, Yang Pan couldn't contain his joy. His gaze shifted to the bushes beside him; the snake had emerged from them. Could this be the lair of the Bodhi-Curved Serpent?

Yang Pan casually crushed the small snake in his hand and then carefully explored the surrounding area, but he did not find a second one.

Yang Pan wasn't too disappointed. Snakes are social animals, and since he found the first one here, it meant that even if the snake's nest wasn't nearby, it must be close. He could continue searching tomorrow.

Moreover, with this Bodhi Serpent, Yang Pan couldn't wait to return to the branch headquarters to begin his cultivation. He had already reached the pinnacle of Iron Shirt's skin-grinding and flesh-forging techniques. Whether he continued to cultivate external martial arts or switched to other internal cultivation methods, he would need to refine his internal energy.

Carrying the small snake, Yang Pan strode towards the outer edge of the mountain range. By the time he returned to Xiangyang City, it was already completely dark. Yang Pan rushed back to the branch headquarters and then entered his guest room.

The guest rooms at the Xiangyang branch were secluded, and since there was no one else besides him and Zhang Xu at the moment, Yang Pan didn't need to worry about being disturbed by outsiders.

He entered the room, locked the door, and quickly retrieved the snake gall. Looking at the tiny gall, no bigger than a fingernail, Yang Pan didn't swallow it immediately. Instead, he began practicing the "Starting Exercise" from the third level of the Iron Shirt technique within the room.

His purpose in consuming snake gall was to accumulate and strengthen his Qi, so that he could break through his meridians in one fell swoop. The best time to consume it was naturally after he had already condensed his Qi, at which point the snake gall would be most effective.

The Iron Shirt exercise aims to activate the body's Qi and blood, just like Yang Pan did in the backyard of Xinglong Inn. The exercise was performed simultaneously with the mental incantation, and in just half an incense stick's time, Yang Pan's muscles became congested and red again, and at the same time, that familiar warm sensation reappeared in his dantian.

"Now!"

Yang Pan suddenly opened his eyes and swallowed the snake gall that had been pressed under his tongue. The snake gall was bitter, but as soon as it entered his stomach, Yang Pan felt a warm current emanating from his stomach, which penetrated his internal organs and went straight into his blood vessels.

Whoosh!

Stimulated by this warm current, the already surging blood instantly became like fuel added to a fire, boiling and circulating even more violently throughout the body, like the Yangtze River.

Yang Pan focused his mind and frantically circulated the mental cultivation technique, bringing the warm current generated in his surging blood into his dantian.

As wisps of warmth entered his dantian, Yang Pan could feel the previously inactive qi gradually becoming more vibrant. Without him even having to guide it, this qi spontaneously began to impact his meridians.

Boom!

As if it were an illusion, Yang Pan felt he could hear faint clashing sounds emanating from within his body, like soldiers on a battlefield using battering rams to attack a city gate. No matter how sturdy the city gate was, with the continuous influx of soldiers, the force of the battering rams grew stronger and stronger, and the impact became increasingly ferocious.

Click!

Finally, the city gate could not withstand the impact and was breached by the battering ram, allowing a continuous stream of soldiers to pour in. At this moment, Yang Pan finally broke through his solid meridians, and his Qi, like a gushing spring, flowed slowly and condensed along two meridians in his body under the guidance of his mental cultivation technique.

The Pericardium Meridian of Hand-Jueyin and the Heart Meridian of Hand-Shaoyin!

The Qi sensation traveled between the two meridians along the flow of the mental technique. Gradually, Yang Pan felt that the illusory feeling disappeared, and in its place, he could clearly feel as if some living thing had entered the two meridians in his body, traveling and moving within them.

Internal energy has been mastered!

Suppressing his joy, Yang Pan channeled his internal energy from his thumb to his armpit, then to his chest, and finally flowed through the vicinity of his heart.

The moment the internal energy flowed through his heart, Yang Pan clearly felt strands of internal energy spreading through his meridians into his heart, nourishing his already strong heart and making it beat more powerfully, thereby pumping more blood and energy into every corner of his body and continuing to strengthen his existing physical strength.

"Hahaha! This is internal energy! From now on, I no longer need to be afraid to fight against martial artists who use internal energy!"

With his internal energy fully developed, Yang Pan couldn't help but burst into laughter. He could feel that as his mind relaxed, the internal energy circulating in his meridians had returned to his dantian, but as soon as he had a thought, the internal energy would instantly resume circulating in his meridians.

The internal energy cultivated in the third level of Iron Shirt mainly flows through the Pericardium Meridian of Hand-Jueyin and the Heart Meridian of Hand-Shaoyin. These two meridians flow through the heart and reach the hands, so it can be said that the internal energy cultivated mainly strengthens his upper limbs.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the internal energy cultivated cannot circulate through other meridians, since the body's meridians are naturally unobstructed.

However, the Iron Shirt Technique mainly expands these two meridians. When internal energy flows through the other meridians, it inevitably becomes sluggish and difficult, and the consumption of internal energy will also increase along the way.

Unless one possesses a profound skill that can simultaneously affect all the meridians within the body, this problem is unavoidable.

Moreover, because the internal energy cultivated by the Iron Shirt Technique will slowly nourish the heart when it flows through it, as long as Yang Pan circulates his internal energy in the future, his physical strength and power will continue to increase until he reaches the upper limit of the technique.

It can be said that with the completion of his internal energy, Yang Pan's overall strength has more than doubled compared to before.

Whoosh!

Raising his hands, Yang Pan used his internal energy to make two feints in the air. Even without much effort, his fists were already creating a whistling sound in the air. One could imagine that if he used his full strength, his physical power combined with his internal energy would make breaking wood and shattering stones a piece of cake for him.

"It's a pity that the Iron Shirt technique has reached its limit. Next, we should switch to internal energy cultivation."

Inside the room, Yang Pan carefully felt the changes in his strength after the internal energy was enhanced. After calming down, he began to think about changing his cultivation method.

The cultivation of internal strength lies in expanding the meridians and accumulating internal power. When a martial artist can fully expand the twelve regular meridians and eight extraordinary meridians in the body and complete the circulation of the microcosmic and macrocosmic orbits, then he will be considered to have mastered internal strength and become one of the top masters in the martial arts world.

However, the Iron Shirt technique has already reached its limit by expanding two meridians. If Yang Pan wants to continue to improve in the future, he will need to use a more profound internal energy cultivation method.