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

Li Chang'an closed his eyes and continued to hone his spirit and energy.

Actually, he prefers to call it "forging one's essence, energy, and spirit" rather than "forging one's life force."

Magic techniques are easy to learn, but life itself is hard to save!

In the martial arts world, everyone cultivates their life force, but how many people truly succeed in cultivating their life force?

After reflecting on himself, Li Chang'an gained a deeper understanding of life.

Although "sex" and "life" are differentiated into essence, energy, and spirit, it does not mean that if you cultivate your essence, energy, and spirit, your life will become stronger.

There is one point that is very difficult to grasp.

Grasping this point is the true way to cultivate one's life and spirit.

In the world of Under One Person, all visible physiological tissues are called life.

Intangible entities such as Qi, spirit, and soul fall within the scope of sexuality.

The "qi" of essence, energy, and spirit, and the "qi" cultivated through practice, are not entirely equivalent.

Qi exists within destiny; once refined into Qi, it is controlled by nature.

This is the relationship between life, vitality, and spirit.

Putting aside your life, the physical improvement you've achieved is real and tangible.

But sex is different. If you temper your spirit, will your sex life be enhanced?

That's not necessarily true.

Because the "god" that constitutes "sex" includes not only the pure self, but also the false self created by the outside world, and even the three corpse gods born from fate, which should also be considered part of the "god".

In the words of the Quanzhen School, this is the difference between the "original spirit" and the "conscious spirit".

You may focus on cultivating your spirit and energy, but how do you know whether you are cultivating your primordial spirit or your conscious mind?

If you're trying to cultivate your consciousness, then you're just wasting your time.

If you don't understand your own mind and nature, and don't deliberately seek out that primordial spirit, unless you are born with a pure heart and are not influenced by the outside world, what you cultivate will be 100% the consciousness spirit.

Of course, we shouldn't underestimate the power of consciousness. Both consciousness and primordial spirit are gods, and both can govern essence, energy, and spirit.

But the difference between them is somewhat similar to one strengthening itself and the other forging armor.

If you forge very strong armor, you can still be very powerful.

But once the armor is removed, they're left naked.

Moreover, there is a drawback to this, namely that the consciousness is created from the outside world.

It is illusory, without roots, and arises from nothing.

Trying to build something tall without roots is nothing short of a pipe dream.

Therefore, most people in this world who cultivate both body and mind do not achieve great success and cannot defeat those who practice magic.

The reason for this is not that magic is really that powerful.

Rather, they are engaging in a false practice of cultivating both body and spirit.

If it is true cultivation of both body and soul.

Even if it's just a slight difference in cultivation level.

That's incredibly high.

Just like Feng Baobao's father, Wugensheng, he didn't cultivate any special skills or techniques. He simply grasped the idea that humans and gods are naturally pure and that people are naturally calm, and that's how he achieved such success.

Then there's the Old Celestial Master, who truly lives up to his name as an incredibly powerful being, a numerical monster with high damage output in both his left and right hands.

"Therefore, the important thing about cultivating both body and mind is not to bury yourself in refining your essence, energy and spirit, but to first confirm that the spirit you are refining is your primordial spirit."

Thinking of this, Li Chang'an recalled the words spoken by Lü Zu.

"To cultivate only one's nature and not one's destiny is the first ailment in cultivation. To cultivate only one's ancestral nature and not one's elixir will make it difficult for one's spirit to attain sainthood even after countless eons."

"Cultivating only one's nature and not one's destiny can be considered a major flaw in cultivation. But if one only cultivates one's destiny and not one's nature, does that mean it doesn't even qualify as cultivation, and can only be considered martial arts practice?"

Li Chang'an thought of Wugensheng again.

Does one cultivate without roots, or not?

Judging from his muscular physique, he is most likely a cultivator.

However, he has stated more than once that he has never practiced any acquired cultivation methods, meaning that he has never practiced alchemy.

"If one only cultivates ancestral nature and not the elixir, then Wugensheng is what Lu Zu called a spirit destined for eternal damnation!"

Li Chang'an thought to himself, and then he remembered something else. Wugensheng once said that he had learned his skills from the saying, "Humans and gods love clarity, and people love tranquility."

This quote comes from Lao Tzu's "Qingjing Jing" (Classic of Purity and Tranquility).

The original text reads: "Human spirit loves purity, but the mind disturbs it; the human heart loves tranquility, but desires pull it away. If one can constantly dispel desires, the heart will naturally be tranquil; if one can purify the heart, the spirit will naturally be pure; naturally, the six desires will not arise, and the three poisons will be eliminated."

It means that by controlling external desires, the mind becomes calm, and the spirit gradually becomes clear. Therefore, the six desires do not arise, and the three poisons are completely eliminated.

"That big mouth... no, I should say a generous old master was right, our ancestors really did leave behind a lot of good things!"

After thinking about it for a while, Li Chang'an realized that his way of cultivating himself—rejecting external shaping and instead feeling the touch of his own heart to find his true self—was exactly what this saying meant.

"In that case, when I am refining my life force, I should not always think about how fast I can circulate my Qi and how many cycles I can complete. What I should pursue is the tranquility after entering that state, rather than speed and efficiency."

With this in mind, Li Chang'an began circulating his Qi again.

This time, he didn't focus on the act of circulating qi itself, but rather on his own tranquility.

All his adjustments were no longer to make the flow of Qi faster and smoother, but to make himself more tranquil.

Gradually, he stopped thinking and entered a state of complete absorption in the world around him.

He didn't wake up from this state until the next morning when the roosters crowed outside.

When I opened my eyes, it was already getting light.

Because he hadn't consciously practiced circulating Qi, Li Chang'an didn't know how many cycles he had completed last night.

However, when he looked inward, he discovered that the circulation of Qi this time had expanded slightly outward from the original microcosmic orbit.

Li Chang'an immediately remembered the old celestial master's words: do not think about the golden light, but focus on your life force. Once your life force is strong, the golden light will naturally become stronger.

"Doesn't this match up?!"

Li Chang'an couldn't help but be delighted: "So, even without deliberately trying to break through to the first level of Reverse Life, as long as we maintain this state, we can naturally reach the first level of Reverse Life."

But soon, he noticed the various thoughts swirling in his mind, and he quickly calmed himself down, smoothing out those thoughts one by one. A calm mind and a clear spirit are essential; one must not let one's mind wander.

Just then, a knocking sound came from outside the courtyard.

Li Chang'an went to open the door and found that a servant from the Lu family had come to deliver the meal.

He thanked them, took the food box back to his room, and handed back the food box that was left over from yesterday.

The maid took the food box and, finding it clean, immediately smiled and said:

"Young Master Li, you're too kind. You can leave this to us."

"It's something that's easy to do, no trouble at all."

Li Chang'an smiled, turned around and went back into the house.

The Lu family's meals were very simple, consisting of three dishes and a soup. The soup also contained a lot of medicinal herbs, making it look very refined and elegant, but it didn't taste very good.

However, Li Chang'an was able to fully appreciate the deliciousness of the food. He ate slowly and gracefully, finishing each bite of the meal without leaving a single drop of soup.

Then, as agreed yesterday, he went to Lu Jin's courtyard and knocked on the gate.

"Come in!"

Lu Jin's voice came from inside.

Li Chang'an pushed open the door and entered.

Lu Jin was standing in the study, staring at a newly written banner on the table.

Seeing Li Chang'an enter, Lu Jin nodded and smiled:

"Chang'an, come quickly and see what you think of the poem your grandfather wrote!"