Profound Yin Kidney Refining

Within the secret chamber at the bottom of the well, the silence was so profound that the falling of a needle could be heard.

Xia Dong sat cross-legged and placed the glowing, dark purple Purple Blood Organ-Nourishing Pill into his mouth. The pill dissolved instantly, transforming into a strange, slightly fishy and sweet nectar.

This immense medicinal power did not surge recklessly into his limbs and bones like ordinary tonics; instead, guided by Xia Dong's divine sense, it turned into a stream of heat that plummeted straight into the depths of his chest and abdomen.

Xia Dong immediately closed his eyes, his mind sinking into internal observation.

His powerful fifth-layer Qi Refining divine sense acted like a lantern piercing the gloom, illuminating his "internal landscape"—previously hazy and invisible—with absolute clarity.

He "saw" clearly that the moment the dark purple medicinal power touched his organs, it transformed into millions of fine, thread-like purple spiritual patterns, densely clinging to his fragile viscera.

Accompanied by his long, rhythmic breathing, the purple medicinal power permeated a fraction deeper with every rise and fall of his chest.

His fragile organs, which had appeared dull during the Bone Forging Realm, were nourished by this vast vitality, gradually taking on the lustrous, translucent sheen of purple jade. With every beat, they exuded a sense of substantial, heavy power.

"Thump... thump..."

The steady, powerful beating of his heart echoed through the chamber.

With a sudden, muffled "hum" emanating from within his body, as if a long-sealed gate had been pushed open, every pore on Xia Dong's body dilated, instantly expelling a layer of faint, dark red, foul-smelling sweat.

The martial Internal Strengthening Realm was achieved.

At the moment of breakthrough, the Qi and blood within him surged like a bursting river. As if responding to some mysterious summons, they began to converge frantically toward his kidneys, located behind his waist and abdomen, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.

To Xia Dong's extreme astonishment, it was not just his boiling Qi and blood; even the Mysterious Yin Mana he had painstakingly cultivated and stored in his Dantian began to resonate with joy.

This cold, profound mana abandoned its usual circulation path and plunged headlong into his frantically beating kidneys.

In a flash of inspiration, he suddenly realized that there was a strange and profound connection between the Profound Yin Scripture, a demonic cultivation technique, and the martial art of Organ Strengthening.

The kidneys govern water, occupy the extreme north, and are associated with the color black.

These attributes were undoubtedly compatible with the soft, cold nature of Mysterious Yin Mana.

Now, every powerful pulsation of his kidneys was not only refining his lead-and-mercury-like martial Qi and blood but also continuously tempering his Mysterious Yin Mana. Under the furnace-like refinement of his Qi and blood, the originally cold and gloomy Mysterious Yin Mana was refined to possess a trace of endless, continuous, and heavy vitality.

Xia Dong was completely immersed in this marvelous, minute sense of control.

He realized that although he had only just entered the Internal Strengthening Realm, this meticulous perception of every subtle change within his body had already faintly touched the threshold of the legendary martial "Seeing the Divine" state.

For ordinary martial artists without divine sense, trying to see the transformation of their viscera during the Internal Strengthening Realm was like a blind man feeling an elephant; they could only rely on the experience of predecessors and physical feedback to struggle through it.

Only by reaching the profound True Intent Realm, where divine intent manifests, could one achieve such a state of observing patterns on one's own palm.

Yet he, relying on a cultivator's divine sense, had gained this ability to introspect his entire body prematurely during the Organ Strengthening stage.

He slowly opened his eyes, a flash of dark cyan light passing through the depths of his profound pupils.

Now, his Mysterious Yin Mana was not only more condensed but seemed to have found a natural "Divine Palace" as its anchor.

With every movement, his Qi and blood harmonized with his mana, blending like water and milk; he could faintly hear the sounds of dragons roaring, elephants trumpeting, and lions and tigers calling out from within his body.

Xia Dong exhaled a long breath of turbid air.

"Hiss!"

The stream of air, like a tangible grey-white arrow, struck the hard stone wall of the chamber with a crisp sound, leaving a deep white mark!

Qi Sword.

This was the true power of the viscera.

Martial experts in the Internal Strengthening Realm, once their organ refinement reached a high level, would have lungs as strong as bellows, capable of killing with a breath.

Such a feat was usually something only experts in the Mortal Transformation Realm could fully master and execute with ease.

But with the aid of his divine sense, Xia Dong's control over every thread of his Qi and blood perhaps surpassed even that of an average Mortal Transformation Realm martial artist.

Of course, he had never seen a true Mortal Transformation Realm expert, and all of this was merely his own private speculation.

However, what he truly cared about—what made his heart surge—was another matter concerning the foundation of his cultivation: the secret and perfect resonance between his Mysterious Yin Mana and his martial Organ Strengthening, especially with his kidneys.

Yet, attempting to explore this dual cultivation of internal organs and immortal mana by himself, like a blind man feeling an elephant, would undoubtedly be a waste of time.

"Fortunately, I have the Bronze Ancient Bell."

Xia Dong did not hesitate, his mind instantly sinking into the depths of his sea of consciousness.

In the center of the vast, boundless sea of consciousness, a primitive, mottled Bronze Ancient Bell, covered in the verdigris of time, floated silently in the gloom, exuding an aura of ancient suppression.

Xia Dong flipped his wrist and took several spirit stones from his Storage Pouch.

Guided by his divine sense, the pure spiritual energy within the stones was drained, pouring into the Bronze Ancient Bell like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.

The spirit stones, stripped of their energy, crumbled into a pile of grey-white powder.

"Hum."

Having absorbed sufficient spiritual power, the ancient bell trembled slightly, emitting a grand and desolate chime that struck the depths of his soul.

Time seemed to lose all meaning within the sea of consciousness.

After an unknown amount of time, a brand-new secret technique, radiating a dark and gloomy aura, slowly manifested on the mottled surface of the bell in the form of twisted, scarlet characters.

Xia Dong reached out with his divine sense, thirstily reading the information of the secret technique deduced by the ancient bell.

"So that's how it is... who would have thought that immortal cultivation techniques could be combined with the martial path in such a way!"

The results of the deduction completely overturned Xia Dong's previous understanding of the Profound Yin Scripture and, indeed, the cultivation techniques of the entire immortal world.

It turned out that the reason the mana of the Profound Yin Scripture resonated so perfectly with his kidneys was that the core, most secretive concept behind this ancient technique at its inception was to use an extremely domineering "Organ Strengthening" method to forcibly carve out and forge an indestructible "Divine Palace of the Viscera" within the water-element kidneys of the human body!

According to the Mysterious Yin Kidney-Refining Art, which had been deduced, completed, and improved by the Bronze Ancient Bell:

Once this Kidney Water Divine Palace was successfully forged within the two kidneys, it would seize the creation of heaven and earth, naturally evolving a miniature Divine Pool of Creation within the palace.

The water in this divine pool was no ordinary water; it was formed by the extreme compression and fusion of the body's primordial kidney essence and pure Mysterious Yin Mana, known as Profound Yin Divine Water.

Because this Profound Yin Divine Water perfectly fused immortal mana with the body's extremely precious primordial essence, it was a miraculous substance of the utmost yin and softness in this world.

When facing an enemy, one only needed to unleash it to exert a powerful restraining effect on fire-element divine abilities and spells.

On the other hand, because this Profound Yin Divine Water contained vast life essence and pure mana, if used to assist in alchemy in the future, it could neutralize medicinal properties and slightly elevate the quality of the final pills produced.

The martial path refines the body, while the immortal path refines qi.

In this Mysterious Yin Kidney-Refining Art, the two had subtly formed a perfect closed loop.

He did not know that this was the most orthodox secret transmission of the Profound Yin Scripture, something that neither the branch sects nor the ordinary disciples of the Profound Yin Sect could ever be taught.

"Once the Profound Yin Divine Water is formed, it seems I can find a way to attempt alchemy."