Under One Person: Starting with the Dual Cultivation of Body and Soul

"I'm killing him, but this guy is hard to kill. I can only use a saw to cut his head off bit by bit."

Li Chang'an walked back along the way he came, talking to himself as he went.

"Whose head are you going to saw off?"

Lu Jin, who was walking towards us, was carrying a thick stack of test papers and happened to hear the second half of the sentence.

"Grandpa, why do you always like to interrupt people with half-finished sentences?" Li Chang'an said, somewhat speechless.

"I didn't hear the first half of what you said either. You haven't even said anything yet, whose head are you going to twist?"

"It's mine!"

"Um?"

Lu Jin opened her eyes wide: "Speak like a human being."

Li Chang'an then repeated Fang Dongtian's words to Lu Jin.

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin burst into laughter:

"Don't listen to this guy's ramblings; it's a common problem among masters of the Xuanmen sect."

"When Zhang Zhiwei was young, he often complained to me about his teachers and fellow students."

"They always talk incoherently, often using cryptic phrases like 'knocking three times on the head' or 'hands behind their back,' which drives him crazy."

"If you need to hear these things in the future, you can ask Zhang Zhiwei for advice. That old man has a big mouth and can't keep secrets; he's not mysterious at all!"

"As for what Master Fang said about killing someone, you better not actually kill someone."

What he's really talking about is killing that external self that you previously came to understand.

"This is actually the key to cultivating one's true nature."

"As for how to kill them, without entering their school and understanding their methods, even Grandfather would find it difficult to explain their complete method."

Upon hearing this, Li Chang'an laughed and said, "Grandpa, I know what I'm doing. How could I really kill someone?"

"Grandpa knows you understand, but just because you understand doesn't mean Grandpa can keep quiet," Lu Jin said.

"Then, sir, I'm going to cultivate as well."

After Li Chang'an finished speaking, he was about to leave.

"stop!"

Lu Jin grabbed him by the back of his collar: "What profession are you studying? Stop changing the subject, hurry up and do your exam paper, let your grandfather see if you need to go to this school!"

Li Chang'an looked at the exam paper in Lu Jin's hand, which was as thick as a dictionary:

"Even if you're going to do it, you don't need to do this much."

"Is it a lot? Not at all. I got a copy of the college entrance exam papers from all over the country," Lu Jin said.

"We don't need that many, just one local Jiangsu exam paper will do!" Li Chang'an said.

"Why?" Lu Jin asked, puzzled.

"That's the hardest one!"

Li Chang'an unfolded the exam paper, glanced at it, and smiled:

"Grandpa, you've never experienced the difficulty of this exam paper, so you don't know how challenging it is."

"You talk as if you've experienced it yourself." Lu Jin looked at him with narrowed eyes.

Li Chang'an remained calm and composed: "Even if you haven't eaten pork, haven't you seen pigs run?"

Lu Jin slammed the test paper on the table: "Try it and see how many points you can get."

Li Chang'an didn't say much, and sat down to start working on the questions.

He finished the college entrance exam, which usually takes several days to complete, in just one afternoon.

Lu Jin sat beside him throughout the exam, occasionally peeking out to peek at his answer process.

After finishing, Lu Jin held the test paper in one hand and the answer key in the other, and began to grade the papers.

"Your accuracy rate is very high. You're quite talented in math. However... for this question, your result is the same as the answer, but your solution process is completely different."

Li Chang'an leaned over and took a look: "There's a different solution to this problem; just change your approach."

He picked up a pen, wrote a few lines on the draft paper, and explained it to Lu Jin.

After listening, Lu Jin nodded: "That seems to be the case. You're quite quick-witted, well done."

After grading the math papers, he picked up the Chinese papers and continued grading them.

As he revised it, his expression grew increasingly serious.

Math problems have standard answers, but many language arts problems do not.

He felt that many of the reading comprehension questions were written from angles that a primary school student couldn't possibly come up with.

Then, Lu Jin turned to the essay.

The essay topic is "Regret".

Lu Jin followed the handwriting downwards, reading it from beginning to end.

The ending reads: "The sun sets behind the mountains and seas, which hold profound meaning. No one is without regrets, but some people just don't cry out in pain. When powerless, people always say 'let nature take its course,' because they can't grasp the good things in life, so they pretend that everything is going smoothly."

Lu Jin held the test paper and remained silent for a long time: "Grandpa believes you. Grandpa will not ask you to go to school anymore, but not going to school does not mean you will not study. From now on, I will teach you your lessons."

"What does Grandpa plan to teach?"

"That old bastard before..." Lu Jin coughed and said, "Didn't that senior say that you should stand on the shoulders of your ancestors to cultivate and learn the thoughts left by your ancestors? Your great-grandfather will teach you the thoughts of your ancestors."

Li Chang'an laughed and said, "With your knowledge, Grandfather, you are definitely much more knowledgeable than those so-called masters of Chinese studies online."

"That's still different. Grandpa wasn't that good at talking." Lu Jin waved his hand.

Li Chang'an then asked what aspects of tomorrow's cultivation would mainly involve.

Lu Jin said, "Regarding the cultivation of one's character, I can only offer guidance and explain some of the words and deeds of sages. The specifics mainly depend on your own understanding."

"As for the methods of cultivation, we in the Sanyi Sect don't pursue methods much. What we seek is to reverse the three and return to one, and to build a state of reverse life."

"Grandpa will mainly guide you on how to build up your life force more effectively and steadily, and will also teach you some methods of ingestion related to alchemy."

Li Chang'an then asked, "Grandpa, you just said that our San Yi Sect doesn't really pursue methods. To what extent do you mean by 'not really pursuing'?"

Lu Jin looked at him: "You mean to ask if we have any methods similar to the golden light or talismans of Longhu Mountain?"

Li Chang'an nodded: "I remember that the Quanzhen Sect also advocates abandoning external things and focusing on cultivating one's nature and life, but they also use some techniques and talismans appropriately, right?"

Although he didn't see Lu Linglong use these in the story, Wang Ke did.

Of course, it's possible that they belong to different factions.

The Quanzhen School is not just one sect. Wang practiced Tai Chi and belonged to the Quanzhen Sanfeng School.

It's quite normal for the Sanfeng School to practice external martial arts, or even talismans.

Lu Linglong belongs to the Quanzhen Longmen sect.

The Longmen School is a syncretic school of thought, encompassing the three religions. While it primarily focuses on cultivating one's life force, it also employs rituals and talismans to aid its members.

Gao Jia Erzhuang, a temporary worker, belongs to the Quanzhen Wu-Liu School.

The Wu-Liu school goes to extremes, practicing only the ultimate alchemical methods, namely the creation of the Yin and Yang spirits, without practicing rituals or talismans.

This is also why Gao Erzhuang's Yang Shen (spirit) is so powerful.

Lu Jin said, "Many Quanzhen Taoists do indeed practice some talismans and rituals, which are Zhengyi methods."

"However, we Trinity never repair these things."

"The reason for this is not that we are stuck in our ways, but rather it is the rule set by our ancestors."

"The patriarch Lin Zhao'en once left behind a precept: 'If later generations climb swords and walk on fire, chant incantations and write talismans, considering it their own method or technique, it is not what the sages meant by method or technique. If they go to the Taoist altar to receive talismans and are obsessed with wealth and honor after death, they are truly deluded. To admire the ultimate Tao with selfish desires is truly laughable.'"

"We, the descendants, should naturally obey the words of our ancestor. Therefore, we, the people of the Sanyi Sect, never rely on any external objects or magic."

"What we rely on is the ultimate boost to ourselves after creating a state of reverse regeneration."