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

"Then let me try this clumsy method."

Li Chang'an thought to himself that although he had decided to do this, he did not intend for Lu Lin to do the same.

After all, all of this is just his conjecture, and it has not been verified. What if he is wrong? Wouldn't that cause trouble for others?

Li Chang'an got up and paced around the courtyard, circulating his Qi according to the mental cultivation method.

This step is not difficult to do; his Qi instantly turned white.

However, because the current state is not calm enough, the effect of tempering one's spirit and energy is only so-so.

"The effects of entering a meditative state and not entering one are very different, but this is normal, as the levels of stillness are different. To improve the effectiveness of cultivating one's spirit and energy in daily activities, one must calm one's mind. As long as the mind is calm, even if one is multitasking, one can better cultivate oneself," Li Chang'an thought to himself.

As for how to calm one's mind, it can be said that no one knows better than Li Chang'an.

He began to restrain his thoughts, using the awareness of the intermediate state to see himself and eliminate some distracting thoughts.

This method has proven to be effective. After seeing through distracting thoughts and not being affected by them, even when he is acting autonomously, the efficiency of tempering his life is greatly improved.

It involves constantly observing oneself and controlling the arising of thoughts, which is a drain on the mind, but not a large one and is still within an acceptable range.

Of course, practicing in this state is definitely not as effective as pure meditation or practicing in a state of being alive or dead.

However, this is itself a way to make use of fragmented time, a kind of slow and steady process that accumulates little by little, and you have to wait until you see the results.

Li Chang'an maintained this state when attending class.

Lu Jin immediately saw through Li Chang'an's current state and asked him curiously why he did this.

Since Lu Jin asked, Li Chang'an said that this could temper one's spirit and energy, and then gave a brief explanation of his theory.

Lu Jin listened and was stunned for a long time before speaking, "That is indeed a method. My grandfather tried to use this method when he was young, but he eventually gave up."

"Why give up?" Li Chang'an asked.

Lu Jin said, "Simply maintaining the reverse life state can be done for several days or even ten days to half a month. But if it goes on for too long, the mind and spirit will be over-exhausted, which will lead to irritability or even aversion, thus affecting one's progress on the path of reverse life."

"Most importantly, the effect of tempering one's spirit and energy in this state is not very good. It's better to rest well at other times and work hard when you need to."

"I see." Li Chang'an nodded, then asked, "What was the longest Grandpa lasted?"

"I think I lasted for more than twenty days. After more than twenty days, I started to feel a little lazy and irritable. I was keenly aware that this was not good, so I stopped."

Lu Jin looked at Li Chang'an and reminded him, "Chang'an, if you want to try this method, your grandfather won't stop you. But remember, don't force yourself, lest you overexert yourself and damage your foundation."

"Grandpa, I know what I'm doing," Li Chang'an said.

He actually knew what Lu Jin meant by "growing tired of it over time." It was simply that continuous hard work had caused physical and mental exhaustion, which in turn led to a lot of delusions.

The greatest truths are the simplest. The principle behind this is very simple. It's like you used to love your job, but because you work overtime every day and have no days off all year round, you start to hate it in every way.

It's okay to dislike work, but if you dislike spiritual practice, how can you move forward?

Therefore, after trying it with the left sect leader, the Sanyi Sect did not advocate doing so.

But Li Chang'an wondered, what if he could genuinely like this job? Wouldn't that prevent him from becoming complacent and instead make him more determined after setbacks?

Of course, it is difficult to genuinely like something, but controlling one's delusions from accumulating is something that Li Chang'an, who has the awareness of the intermediate state, can still do.

He only needs to let his intermediate state body observe these thoughts with the mindset of an observer, and then let his true mind sit high on the spiritual platform, unaffected by the thoughts, so that he can avoid accumulating delusions.

If he doesn't accumulate delusions, he can keep practicing diligently, just like how he can keep running without stopping after blocking out all pain.

Of course, the premise is to pay attention to your own condition and not go too far, damaging your foundation and causing rhabdomyolysis.

Li Chang'an need not worry about this either, as it is much simpler for him to use his intermediate state to see his physical condition than to see his delusions.

Delusions are constantly fluctuating, coming and going in waves, while one's physical condition is right there, easily discernible.

After finishing his class, Li Chang'an went to his cave to cultivate.

Time flies like an arrow; a hundred days have passed in the blink of an eye.

During these hundred days, Li Chang'an cultivated step by step, taking the Marrow Cleansing Pill on time every day.

The medicinal power of the Marrow Cleansing Pill continued to slowly evaporate, nourishing his meridians and bones.

"It's been a hundred days. The effects of this Marrow Cleansing Pill should be coming to an end soon."

Li Chang'an sat cross-legged in the cave, using his intermediate state of consciousness to sense the white, reversible Qi within his body, which flowed and circulated little by little through the intricate meridians.

This white, reversible energy has been circulating continuously for nearly thirty days.

During these hundred days, Li Chang'an made one attempt and breakthrough after another in maintaining the reverse life state around the clock.

On his first attempt, he only lasted seven days before feeling mentally and physically exhausted, so he stopped and rested for two days to completely relax.

After recovering, he began his second attempt, which lasted for half a month until he experienced mental and physical exhaustion again, at which point he stopped to rest.

After many attempts, he is now able to maintain his reversal state for a full month!

After a hundred days of experimentation, Li Chang'an gained a deeper understanding of the Triple Rebirth Technique.

In fact, simply maintaining the reverse life state puts very little burden on the practitioner's physical body.

After eliminating the accumulation of delusions caused by maintaining reversed life for a long time, the damage to oneself is almost negligible.

He had discussed this with Lu Jin.

Lu Jin explained that the limbs and bones of the human body are all transformed from the primordial Qi, and the reversal of the three stages is actually a process of "returning to the origin".

Unlike the Qi cultivated by other sects, which possesses strong attributes, the white Qi cultivated through the Reverse Life Triple Stage is of the same origin as the cultivator, so it will not cause any damage to the body.

The reason why it is difficult to persist for a long time is mainly due to the wear and tear on one's mind and spirit.

Theoretically speaking, if one can eliminate the mental strain, it is possible to persevere indefinitely.

At this point, Lu Jin was very curious about how Li Chang'an overcame his mental agitation.

It should be noted that even his senior brother could only maintain it for a little over a month back then, and his uncle could maintain it for a longer period of time, but not for long.

Li Chang'an's answer to Lu Jin was that a calm mind brings coolness.

Lu Jin was speechless. Calmness comes naturally, which is easy to say but difficult to do.

Because heat is an objective physiological response, while coolness is a subjective psychological state, trying to use the subjective to overcome the objective is too idealistic.

But Li Chang'an felt that this was precisely the time for cultivation.

Everything in the objective world, when it acts on the subjective self, constitutes a form of shaping.

If a practitioner can resist objective rules with their own subjective will, isn't that a form of training for their true nature?

This might sound a bit mystical, but in fact, this kind of cultivation method is not uncommon in the world of supernatural beings.

Like Buddhist ascetics and Taoist practitioners of dark laws, they all essentially cultivate their spiritual power by letting their subjective will overcome objective reality.

During these hundred days of cultivation, Li Chang'an also felt the improvement brought about by this method.

This improvement is not only reflected in sexual function, but also in life function.

Li Chang'an looked inward and felt that the rebellious white energy circulating within his body was like a white dragon walking on a broad road, flowing very smoothly.

One hundred days ago, this white dragon was just a white mudfish, and some of its meridians and acupoints were not as strong as they are now.

Not only that, he could also see that the Marrow Cleansing Pill inside his body was still emitting streams of Qi, which were warming and nourishing the surrounding meridians.

But the effect was already negligible, because he had already exhausted all the medicinal power of the Marrow Cleansing Pill, and even if he continued to take it, it would not improve him much.

With a thought, the white dragon within Li Chang'an traversed several meridians near his internal organs, finally settling into the Qi Palace at the back of his head.

"call……"

He opened his eyes, exhaled a long breath of stale air, and thought to himself, "Qi descends from the south of the navel and ascends from the north of the back. If I follow Grandfather's previous instructions, I should be able to try to construct the first level of the Reverse Life state. However, there is no need."

During this period of cultivation, because he no longer deliberately pursued the state of forgetting oneself and the external world, Li Chang'an inadvertently triggered three moments of enlightenment that achieved this state.

These three moments of enlightenment greatly enhanced his cultivation of life force, and even advanced the Qi circulation trajectory of the Reverse Life Triple Realm.

This also confirmed his previous conjecture that he only needed to use the reverse life triple Genbei mental method to hone his life.

When one's life cultivation reaches a certain level, the construction of the reverse life state will be a natural process, and there is no need to force it through the circulation of qi.

Just like how Master Zuo Ruotong broke through the third level, it wasn't due to any special way of circulating Qi, but rather through continuous strengthening amidst the intense tearing and recombination of external forces, which led to the breakthrough.

Since reversing life can be achieved through external forces, if one's own life force is strong enough and inherently complete, wouldn't advancing to the third level be a natural outcome?

As for the specific trajectory of Qi circulation, it is nothing more than the channel left after the water has naturally flowed.

Therefore, in the practice of reversing the natural order, the important thing is not the formation of a channel, but the arrival of the water.

When one's spiritual cultivation reaches a certain level, the general principle of the Three Ones cultivation, the Genbei Heart Method, also known as the Nine Sequence Heart Method, will automatically guide the Qi to where it should go, like a flood.