Xia Dong sat cross-legged on the bluestone couch in his cave abode's secluded chamber and settled his mind completely.
He raised a hand, drew the first Foundation Establishment Pill from the jade case, and swallowed it.
The pill dissolved the instant it entered his mouth, turning into a mighty torrent of medicinal power that thundered down his throat and into every limb and bone.
This power was extraordinarily overbearing. Bearing the transformative potential to forcibly cleanse his sinews and marrow and remake his body, it furiously scoured Xia Dong's flesh, bones, and meridians.
For the vast majority of ordinary Qi Refining Realm cultivators, this initial wave of physical transformation brought on by a Foundation Establishment Pill was undoubtedly agonizing, yet remarkably effective.
It could greatly expand their fragile meridians, purge impurities from their bones and blood, and strengthen their bodies so they could withstand the impact of higher-level mana in the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Yet as Xia Dong silently felt the medicinal power surging within him, his expression remained utterly calm.
To him, this violent cleansing, enough to make an ordinary cultivator cry out in pain, felt almost like soaking in a hot spring.
After all, he was now not only a martial grandmaster who had entered the Martial Dao True Intent Realm, but also a practitioner of the supreme body-refining technique, the Vajra Wisdom King Art.
His mortal body had long since been tempered a thousand times over and was transforming into something resembling a humanoid demonic beast.
Thus, although the pill's physical strengthening effects were still nourishing his physique, to Xia Dong they were truly "better than nothing."
The bodily transformation was merely the appetizer. The pill's real main course was the qualitative change it brought to his mana.
Soon, the torrent of spiritual power from the Foundation