The Marvelous Uses of Profound Yin Divine Water

Those lands of extreme Yin and baleful Qi are, without exception, incredibly perilous.

The slightest carelessness invites disaster.

Xia Dong would certainly not attempt such a thing rashly before he had absolute confidence in his own survival.

In any case, not condensing a Talisman Seed for the time being would not affect his ability to craft low-grade talismans.

What else could he do? He would just have to make do.

At his current stage of cultivation, as long as he had a steady income of spirit stones, it was enough.

Xia Dong's mindset was quite relaxed. Since the difficulty of condensing a Talisman Seed was too high for now, he simply gathered his focus and turned his attention to the study of the Profound Yin Divine Water.

Over this period, thanks to his exceptionally high success rate in alchemy, the intense refining process and the nourishment of medicinal Qi had caused the originally dilapidated pill furnace to undergo some miraculous changes. The mottled verdigris on the furnace body was gradually fading, and a faint, subtle spiritual light even began to shimmer across its surface.

In Xia Dong's view, if this furnace could continue to endure long-term tempering, it might truly evolve into a mid-grade magical tool.

It was a pity that he did not know how to refine tools himself; otherwise, he could try to forge his own pill furnace or other magical items.

However, he was also well aware that tool refining was far more difficult than alchemy.

Refining required extremely high temperatures and, more importantly, the use of natural earth fire.

Those were conditions only available to relatively powerful cultivation factions or sects.

Ordinary rogue cultivators, even if they had heaven-defying luck and found an earth fire vein in the wilderness, would absolutely be unable to protect it and would only invite a fatal calamity.

Therefore, Xia Dong had no intention of learning tool refining for the time being.

Furthermore, learning to refine tools required proficiency in formations, as one needed to carve spiritual power circuits inside the magical tool. In the cultivation world, basic jade slips on formations were extremely precious; the major powers guarded them jealously and would never easily let them leak out.

Just like the formation used to conceal his aura in this cave abode, it was actually something the Profound Yin Sect provided for its own disciples. Even Zhang Ping did not truly know how to set up such a formation; he had merely taken a ready-made formation disk and mimicked the layout.

The reason this formation disk could remain effective for so long was that it happened to be placed atop a spiritual acupuncture point. Because the formation had a singular function—merely concealing aura—and possessed no offensive or defensive capabilities, its consumption of spiritual power was minimal, allowing it to operate autonomously through the nourishment of the spiritual point.

The same logic applied to the secret chamber at the bottom of the Withered Well in the Changchun Medical Hall. The reason that Withered Well remained dry year-round was that there was also an extremely faint spiritual point beneath it. However, in terms of the density of spiritual Qi, the faint point at the Changchun Medical Hall was still far inferior to the one here at the Tiger Hill Cave Abode.

Thinking of the Withered Well at the Changchun Medical Hall, Xia Dong's thoughts drifted slightly.

To this day, he still did not know the true identity of the Profound Yin Sect senior whose remains had died in that Well-Bottom Secret Chamber.

As far as he knew, before the establishment of the Great You Dynasty, the Profound Yin Sect had been a top-tier demonic sect of immense prestige. But now, it had actually fallen into decline, forced to linger on in the shadows.

However, in his spare time, Xia Dong had read many books about this world and had discovered sporadic records in the remnants of fragmented texts—it seemed the founding emperor of the Great You Dynasty had originally hailed from the Profound Yin Sect.

Yet, judging by the situation after the Great You Dynasty was established, it was clear the Profound Yin Sect had not reaped the benefits of the dynasty's founding; it was likely that the emperor had ruthlessly suppressed them later on.

When the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked—this has been true since ancient times.

Precisely because of this, the current Profound Yin Sect acted with extreme secrecy.

Those disciples who ventured out into the secular world rarely exposed their true origins as members of the Profound Yin Sect, usually adopting various legitimate identities as cover.

Xia Dong took a deep breath and circulated his cultivation technique to regulate his breathing for a while, restoring his spirit and energy to their peak state.

He shook his head, casting aside these chaotic thoughts to focus on the task at hand, preparing to ignite the furnace for alchemy.

For this batch, he intended to refine a Qi-Gathering Pill.

He planned to add a drop of the Profound Yin Divine Water he had condensed during the final, critical step of fusing the medicine, to see just how much this divine substance could enhance the efficacy of the Qi-Gathering Pill.

Now, with the advancement of his cultivation, Xia Dong could condense a drop of pure Profound Yin Divine Water in about a day. However, the Divine Pool of Creation within his Kidney Divine Palace could currently only hold a maximum of nine drops.

Therefore, once he had accumulated nine drops, he would be unable to continue condensing and storing more unless he used the divine water to consume it.

The fragmented scroll of the Peaceful Yin Talisman Scripture had mentioned that if one wished to store and contain Profound Yin Divine Water outside the body for a long time, one required an extremely rare and special material—Yin Spirit Jade.

Such a heavenly treasure was something Xia Dong naturally did not possess at the moment.

He had previously tried other methods using ordinary jade bottles and porcelain jars, but the results were truly helpless.

Once this Profound Yin Divine Water was released from the body, if it was not used in time, the miraculous power it contained would rapidly dissipate and soon evaporate into nothingness.

The Spirit Firewood at the bottom of the furnace ignited, and under the precise control of Xia Dong's fourth-level Qi Refining mana and divine sense, each stalk of auxiliary and main medicinal herb was methodically fed into the furnace, purified, stripped of impurities, and suspended in the air.

Soon, over a dozen drops of variegated medicinal essence floated within the pill furnace.

Reaching the most critical "fusion" step, Xia Dong took a deep breath, not forcing the medicinal liquid together as he usually did. With a slight movement of his mind, he guided the Divine Pool of Creation within his kidney divine palaces to carefully separate a single drop of deep, dark-blue Profound Yin Divine Water.

This drop of divine water followed his meridians, wrapped in mana, and was forced out from his fingertip. With a flick of his finger, it landed precisely in the center of the pill furnace.

Hiss.

The moment the Profound Yin Divine Water entered the furnace, it did not trigger an explosion.

On the contrary, this extremely Yin and soft divine water acted like the perfect lubricant; that intense, biting cold and boundless vitality instantly permeated the medicinal liquid.

The various medicinal liquids, which had been restless due to conflicting attributes, became exceptionally docile the moment they touched the divine water. Water and fire were reconciled, Yin and Yang were balanced, and they fused together with extreme smoothness.

Condense!

Xia Dong performed a hand seal, and the furnace lid lifted.

Three Qi-Gathering Pills lay quietly at the bottom of the furnace.

Unlike the inferior pills with dull colors from before, after adding the Profound Yin Divine Water, although these three pills did not yet have cloud patterns on their surfaces, they had become much rounder, exuded a faint, dark-blue luster, and their medicinal fragrance was far purer.

"The quality has indeed improved."

Xia Dong's face lit up with joy. He immediately pinched a Mysterious Yin Qi-Gathering Pill, swallowed it, and sat cross-legged on the spot to refine it.

However, half an hour later, Xia Dong opened his eyes, a flicker of undisguised disappointment passing through them.

It was only ten percent more effective than a standard Qi-Gathering Pill?

As expected, it could only slightly enhance the quality of the pills.

He shook his head, tucked the remaining two Mysterious Yin Qi-Gathering Pills into a jade bottle, and kept them close to his body. He then stood up and used a telekinetic grip to gather the several large bags of "waste pills" and medicinal dregs that had accumulated in the corner of the room.

Following the underwater passage, he swam out of the secret chamber and arrived at the quiet pool outside.

Xia Dong crushed the waste pills in his hands and scattered them into the clear water like fish feed.

This was actually a habit he had developed recently.

At first, he had simply found the waste pills taking up space in the secret chamber, so he had tossed them out to feed the common wild fish in this mountain pool.

Initially, there had been no changes in the pool, and the fish showed no signs of abnormality after snatching up the food.

But recently, Xia Dong had noticed a new development.

As the pill fragments hit the water, the surface instantly began to boil.

Groups of green fish and grass carp, originally only the size of a palm, leaped out of the water in a frenzy. Not only had their bodies grown significantly larger, but their scales even reflected a faint, spiritual luster under the sunlight.

"These common wild fish, having consumed so many waste pills containing residual medicinal power, have actually begun to absorb spiritual energy and are evolving toward becoming 'Spirit Fish'."

Xia Dong leaped again, diving into the depths of the cold pool.

The bottom of the pool was covered in thick silt. Xia Dong scooped up a handful of the dark brown mud and brought it close to inspect.

This was no ordinary silt.

It was clearly high-quality "spirit fertilizer" infused with gentle spiritual energy.

Xia Dong mused to himself, "These fish cannot fully digest the medicinal power in the waste pills, and the excrement they discharge settles at the bottom of the pool, fermenting into natural spirit fertilizer."

Xia Dong surfaced and looked at the land surrounding the pool, a thought stirring in his heart.

Now that he had this spirit fertilizer from the bottom of the pool, he could easily cultivate a patch of spirit soil nearby.

"If the cultivation is successful, once I obtain some spirit herb seeds, I can build my own secret medicinal garden here."

However, once the garden was built, it would inevitably emit spiritual energy and the fragrance of herbs. To keep this place secure for the long term, he would still need to find a way to set up a formation to conceal it.

Of course, that was a matter for another time.

Xia Dong gave his clothes a light shake, and with a surge of his blood energy, they dried instantly.

He walked with his hands behind his back to the edge of the cliff near the pool.

He gazed down at the endless, poisonous, mist-covered forest of Tiger Hill Mountain, his mind turning over plans for the medicinal garden.

Just then, his divine sense, at the peak of the fifth level of Qi Refining, suddenly felt a slight prickle.

An extremely cold, heavy, and dangerous pressure was silently closing in from behind him on the right.

Xia Dong's heart tightened, and he cast a sharp glance out of the corner of his eye.

In the shadows of a giant tree not far away, that massive snake—which had shed its skin and evolved, possessing a terrifying length and dark blue water patterns on its belly—had somehow wandered near him.

Those cold, vertical pupils were staring at him eerily, its massive body sliding over the fallen leaves without making a single sound.

"What does this creature want?"

Xia Dong did not hesitate for a second. With a flick of his will, the Mysterious Yin Mana in his dantian erupted.

Wind-Riding Technique activated instantly!

Whoosh.

A whirlwind rose from the ground, lifting Xia Dong's body like a light feather. He soared a dozen feet into the air, putting a safe distance between himself and the giant snake.

Looking down from above, Xia Dong watched the snake below with vigilance, ready to deal with an attack from this beast, which was comparable to a late-stage Qi Refining monster.

"Huh?" Xia Dong felt a wave of intangible intent.

The creature seemed to be expressing goodwill.

An idea struck Xia Dong. He recalled that the snake possessed the bloodline of the Black Water Profound Snake, and the Black Water Profound Snake was the sacred beast of the Profound Yin Sect.

Could it be?

Xia Dong took out a Mysterious Yin Qi-Gathering Pill and flicked it toward the snake.

The snake swallowed it without hesitation, immediately radiating a feeling of inexplicable joy.

As the snake consumed and refined the Mysterious Yin Qi-Gathering Pill, a faint connection was established between Xia Dong's mind and the snake.