Deep within his sea of consciousness, the Bronze Ancient Bell, covered in the verdigris of ages, trembled violently.
The crimson characters on its surface flowed and rearranged themselves like molten lava, radiating an ancient, weighty aura.
After who knew how long, the Ancient Bell finally let out a deep, resonant hum.
The jumbled characters froze in an instant, forming three large words: [Divine Treasury Chapter].
Xia Dong's consciousness sank into it at once, and a vast, profound stream of information surged into his mind like a flood.
As he gained a deeper understanding of the secret art, shock gradually appeared in his eyes.
"So... this is the true path to eternal youth!"
The principles of cultivation in the Divine Treasury Chapter completely overturned conventional wisdom.
Ordinary cultivation methods focused on "expelling the old and taking in the new," constantly exchanging energy with the outside world.
The Divine Treasury Chapter did the opposite. It regarded the human body as an innate divine treasury, and its core principle was encapsulated in a single word: "store."
It was the ultimate form of cultivation that only took in and never let out.
It could transform all the essence Xia Dong acquired after birth—whether the vitality gained from eating or the Mysterious Yin Mana and martial qi and blood he accumulated through arduous cultivation—into the purest Innate Qi, then lock it away inside the human body, this divine treasury, ceaselessly.
Essence did not leak out, and qi did not disperse.
Once he began cultivating the Divine Treasury Chapter, the source of Xia Dong's life would enter a steady, continual state of growth. His foundation would grow ever more solid with time, and his potential would keep accumulating like a snowball rolling downhill.
In other words, as long as his cultivation of the Divine Treasury Chapter had not reached its limit, the accumulation of his life force would continue.
What delighted him even more was how perfectly the Divine Treasury Chapter complemented his existing cultivation.
In everyday life, Innate Qi would act like a king patrolling his domain, automatically absorbing the life essence that spilled from his body.
That meant even if Xia Dong hit a bottleneck in the Internal Strengthening Realm of martial arts or a level of Qi Refining in the Profound Yin Scripture, his arduous cultivation would not go to waste.
The mana and qi and blood that could no longer increase because of a bottleneck would be naturally captured by the Divine Treasury Chapter and transformed into Innate Qi, raising the limits of his Root Bone and broadening the road ahead of him.
"Others row upstream; if they don't advance, they fall behind. I'm building a tower from grains of sand. As long as I put in the effort, I'll reap the rewards."
However, he also gained a deeper understanding of Innate Qi's properties.
This qi was, in essence, "nourishment" for elevating the level of his life, not a weapon of slaughter.
It did not possess powerful burst damage. Its only means of defense was to dissolve foreign mana and qi and blood that entered his body, melting them like snow into the purest essence.
But that would also consume his own Innate Qi.
It did have something of the quality of "being impervious to all arts."
So in direct combat, he would still have to rely on Mysterious Yin Mana, spiritual sense, and martial qi and blood as his main means of attack.
Xia Dong also understood the value of the Divine Treasury Chapter very well.
In this cultivation world, where strict hierarchies and talent determined one's fate, for powerful cultivators trapped at bottlenecks with their lifespans nearly spent, or martial artists longing to surpass the limits of their aptitude...
A method that could forcibly enhance one's life force and raise the ceiling of one's cultivation was enough to unleash a calamity. It was like the Nine Yin Manual from the novels of his previous life, capable of stirring the winds and clouds of the world.
Or, to put it another way, the immortal arts and divine skills Xia Dong knew of were merely techniques. The Evergreen Qi-Circulation Art cultivated one's "life."
"Even if the moment of absolute necessity comes, I must never use Innate Qi lightly. I can't let anyone see through its properties."
He knew very well that if he exposed this ability to steadily accumulate life force and refine foreign energies, he would be in grave danger.
He slowly opened his eyes as the spiritual energy of heaven and earth streamed into his body.
With the divine treasury open, a faint trace of green Innate Qi flickered deep within his flesh, silently accumulating life force and subtly elevating his level of life.
The Bronze Ancient Bell deep in his sea of consciousness gradually returned to stillness. The blood-red scripture of the Divine Treasury Chapter had been deeply engraved into Xia Dong's soul.
Xia Dong carefully sensed the subtle changes in his body and realized that once he had entered the Divine Treasury Chapter of the Evergreen Qi-Circulation Art, it could "operate on its own."
As long as Xia Dong's body remained alive, as long as he kept eating and taking in acquired essence, or excess qi and blood and mana spilled from his body, this art would work like an inexhaustible millstone in the background, silently grinding and purifying the energy, transforming it into wisps of Innate Qi, locking them away in his divine treasury, and nourishing his life force in return.
"That means I won't need to spend much time or energy on the Evergreen Qi-Circulation Art after all."
Xia Dong's mind was perfectly clear.
He also knew very well that while the Evergreen Qi-Circulation Art could elevate his level of life, prolong his lifespan, and even let him bloom late and raise the limits of his Root Bone, it was ultimately a cultivation of "life."
In a cultivation world where the strong preyed on the weak and danger lurked everywhere, if he had only a long lifespan and a deep well of life force, but no protective arts powerful enough to slay enemies and save his life, he would ultimately become a walking pill to replenish the vitality of high-level cultivators or demons.
Living longer did not mean he couldn't die.
So Xia Dong quickly adjusted his mindset.
In the years ahead, he would still devote the vast majority of his time and resources to the immortal arts and martial arts that could slay enemies and protect his path.
He set two exceptionally clear goals for his cultivation going forward:
First, he would steadily advance the mana of the Profound Yin Scripture to the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining. According to the Peaceful Yin Talisman Scripture, only after his mana crossed the threshold into the Qi Refining Mid-Stage would he be qualified to try condensing a "Talisman Seed" inside his body. Once he succeeded, it would greatly benefit his talisman-making.
Second, he would strengthen his organs through martial arts. Every day, he would use qi and blood and Mysterious Yin Mana to cleanse his kidneys, striving to give birth to the supremely yin and pliant "Profound Yin Divine Water" within his Kidney Divine Palace as soon as possible.
Whether condensing a Talisman Seed or nurturing divine water, both goals depended on steady accumulation and would come naturally in time.
"More haste, less speed."
Xia Dong smiled faintly, letting go of the tension that had built up during his cultivation and deductions. He tidied the secret chamber, changed into a clean blue robe, then swam out of the cave abode through the cold underwater passage, planning to clear his head in the deep valley.
Splash.
Xia Dong had only just emerged from the pool in the deep valley when his keen spiritual sense detected an extremely unusual presence.
He first climbed to higher ground. Beneath the cliff, outside the lair where the Great Serpent had once coiled, lay a huge snakeskin! It gleamed in the sunlight, and a trace of wild spiritual energy still clung to its surface.
"It shed its skin?"
Xia Dong's heart leapt. He immediately concealed his presence and approached on light feet.
Behind a boulder in the depths of the cliff, he saw the Great Serpent, which had just completed its transformation.
The Great Serpent was curled up lazily like a mountain of flesh, fast asleep.
But the aura it gave off was several times stronger than before.
That deep, heavy pressure, laced with bitter cold, even caused Xia Dong's spiritual sense at the Fifth Layer of Qi Refining to sting faintly.
"What a terrifying aura... After swallowing that Black Eagle, it really did manage to advance, drawing on its insight between life and death and the vast essence of its flesh and blood."
Xia Dong clicked his tongue in amazement. Demonic beasts cultivated differently from humans. Every time they successfully shed their skin and advanced, it was a tremendous leap in the level of their life, and the boost to their bodies and strength was terrifying. Judging conservatively by the Great Serpent's current might, its strength had already reached the equivalent of a human cultivator in the Late Qi Refining Realm.
Daring to get a little closer, Xia Dong carefully examined the Great Serpent's transformed form from a distance.
Its mottled blue-black scales were gone, replaced by a layer of smooth, deep-black armor like polished obsidian. Its head had grown sharper, with faintly raised knobs of flesh. Most striking of all, near the seven-inch mark on its belly, a patch of extremely fine, dark-blue markings had appeared, like ripples on water.
At the sight of those features, inspiration struck Xia Dong, and he suddenly recalled an ancient account of the Profound Yin Sect's totem in the opening of the Profound Yin Scripture.
"Black from head to tail, water patterns on its belly, supremely yin and cold, able to command all waters... Why does the Great Serpent now look so much like the Black Water Profound Snake, the sacred beast of the Profound Yin Sect described in the Profound Yin Scripture?"
The Black Water Profound Snake was a "true spirit" from ancient legends, capable of churning rivers and seas and swallowing clouds and spitting mist!
Xia Dong's heartbeat skipped. Could this Great Serpent guarding a cave abode in some remote wilderness really have a trace of the ancient sacred beast Black Water Profound Snake's bloodline flowing through its veins?
Still, the demonic beast race placed great importance on bloodlines.
But demonic beasts with a trace of true spirit blood were hardly rare in this world.
As for those that could truly transform, step by step, and return to their ancestors as pure-blooded "true spirits," they were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. It was even harder than a lowest-tier Rogue Cultivator with a miscellaneous Spirit Root cultivating all the way to Spirit Transformation.
Even if the Great Serpent possessed that faint trace of Profound Serpent blood, becoming a true spirit was little more than a fool's dream.
Xia Dong watched the sleeping Great Serpent, which occasionally flicked out its cold tongue, lost in thought.
He did not approach, lest he disturb it. After strolling along the mountain stream and watching the fish swim in the pool, he relaxed his mind, then quietly withdrew back into the water.
With a demonic beast comparable to the Late Qi Refining Realm—and possibly carrying an unusual bloodline—"passively" guarding Tiger Hill Cave Abode outside, he would be all the safer when he secluded himself here to cultivate from now on.
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