Courtyard House: After disbanding the Elderly Care Gang, I went to the countryside to cultivate immo

When we returned to Heisonggou Village, it was nearly dusk.

The lazy rays of the setting sun spilled onto the earthen walls and wood stacks of the village, giving this small village, which had just gone through a "hard battle," a warm and peaceful golden hue.

Although the fatigue from days of hard work still lingered on everyone's faces, their brows and the corners of their mouths couldn't help but radiate bright, heartfelt smiles.

Their steps seemed lighter, and their greetings to each other carried a sense of ease.

"You're back? You handed it in?"

"It's in! All done!"

"Ah, I can finally relax!"

"We can finally have a peaceful winter this year!"

Yes, once the grain tax was paid and the receipt with the red stamp was obtained, it meant that the most arduous and livelihood-related task of the year was completed.

The crops in the fields were harvested and stored, and those that were to be handed over to the state were handed over in full. What remained were the collective and individual rations, seed grains, and any possible surplus grains for adjustment.

The busyness of the autumn harvest, the anxiety of drying grain, the torment of delivering grain... all these tensions, like a taut string, can finally be slowly and completely released at this moment.

In the days to come, although there will still be things to do such as winter storage, accounting, and distribution, the pace will slow down, and people will finally be able to lift their heads from the land for a while, catch their breath, and enjoy the brief peace brought by the fruits of their labor.

As Lin Shengli walked through the village, feeling the relaxed atmosphere that permeated the air, a sense of relief washed over him, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up in a smile.

Back in my little courtyard, with the door closed, the noise and joy of the outside world seemed to be shut out.

He didn't light a lamp, relying on the last ray of daylight outside the window. With his current strength, creating illusions was too easy for him. Anyway, no one usually came to this courtyard, so if he didn't light a lamp, no one would know.

He ate a simple dinner, and with food in his stomach, although he was in good health, the fatigue from the recent work still made him feel physically tired.

This sudden relaxation brought him a strange clarity and... a restless stirring within him.

He knew that the opportunity for a breakthrough might come tonight.

For the past two months, I've lived in Heisonggou Village, working from sunrise to sunset, surrounded by soil and crops, living with simple and honest villagers, experiencing the sweat of the harvest and the hustle and bustle of delivering grain to the government...

All of this, seemingly unrelated to cultivating immortality and even taking up a lot of time that should have been used for cultivation, was subtly and profoundly changing his state of mind.

Upon arriving in this world, even after merging with the original owner's memories, he inevitably carried a sense of alienation from the future and a certain "God's perspective" deep in his heart.

The people in the courtyard were like watching a farce, and the villagers of Heisonggou Village initially showed a similar curiosity and composure as if they were observing "NPCs".

Although he acts with principles and helps others out of good intentions, a sense of detachment, as if he were a guest, always lingers.

However, as people immerse themselves in the rich and complex life on this black soil day after day, many things have quietly changed.

He witnessed the silent resilience of Grandma Hu as she raised her grandchildren alone after losing her son and daughter-in-law, and her unreserved love for him, an outsider.

We saw the heavy responsibility and anxiety behind Hu Guangming's joy as the team leader.

We saw Li Kuiyong's deep concern for his family and his desire to change his fate.

I witnessed the almost instinctive reverence and wisdom that these farmers, like Uncle Laopao, have for the land.

We also saw that even under extremely difficult conditions, ordinary members still maintained the most basic mutual assistance, optimism, and an almost obsessive pursuit of the most basic right to "have enough to eat".

Their joys and sorrows, their sweat and hopes, are no longer flat story backgrounds or data, but have become real, warm, and weighty entities.

He would be genuinely pleased that Hu Xiaojun and Wang Shitou were out of danger, he would breathe a sigh of relief when the grain was successfully delivered, and he would feel at ease because he had helped Li Kuiyong's family.

Without realizing it, he began to truly care about the situation of these people, began to regard himself as a part of Heisonggou Village, and began to accept this world that he once found strange and even absurd from the bottom of his heart.

This kind of "integration" and "acceptance" is not about giving up oneself or going with the flow, but a deeper kind of "refining the heart in the mortal world".

He was no longer a detached bystander or a mere "task executor," but rather became a stroke in this rich tapestry of life.

His Daoist heart was repeatedly cleansed and polished by the fragrance of the soil, the saltiness of sweat, the joy of harvest, and the warmth of his neighbors, removing much of the impetuousness, calculation, and alienation that was inevitable at the beginning of his journey, and becoming more harmonious and transparent.

Just as the "Hun Yuan" meaning implied in the "Hun Yuan Creation Scripture" encompasses everything and harmonizes Yin and Yang, his state of mind also found a certain balance and harmony in this ordinary and real world.

The change in mindset directly impacted my spiritual practice.

Recently, he has clearly felt that the barrier between the third and fourth levels of Qi Refining is no longer as indestructible as before, but has become loose and blurry, like a thin layer of window paper, waiting for the right opportunity to be pierced.

The circulation of spiritual energy within the body became smoother and more natural, and the sensitivity to the sparse spiritual energy in the world also became more acute.

He knew that a breakthrough was just around the corner.

Without further hesitation, Lin Shengli's figure disappeared from the small courtyard and entered his own private paradise.

The cave dwelling remained peaceful and serene.

He went to the main room and sat cross-legged on a prayer mat.

Close your eyes and clear your mind of all distractions.

The mental cultivation method of the Qi Refining Chapter of the Hunyuan Creation Scripture flowed through my mind like a clear spring.

He adjusted his breathing, making it long and deep, and focused his mind on his dantian.

Within the dantian, the Qi Sea space, which was originally the size of a small bowl, was now slowly rotating a pale blue vortex.

The cyclone was not very solid, its edges were somewhat blurred, and its rotation speed was more steady than sharp.

This is a typical characteristic of the third level of Qi Refining: the spiritual power is full, but the qualitative change has not yet occurred.

Lin Shengli began to guide the accumulated spiritual energy within his body to flow slowly, following the cultivation method.

Initially, it was a trickle, slowly flowing along the already opened meridians, gently nourishing every acupoint and moisturizing every inch of flesh and blood.

After a full cycle, the spiritual energy returned to the dantian, and the vortex seemed to solidify into a barely perceptible trace.

He didn't stop, and continued with the second major cycle.

This time, he deliberately accelerated the speed of spiritual energy circulation, while also separating a wisp of divine sense, like the most precise probe, to carefully observe every subtle change in the flow of spiritual energy through the meridians, and to feel the "stagnation" where the bottleneck existed.

The spiritual energy flowed like a stream across the riverbed, striving to widen and deepen the passage.

The rich spiritual energy within the cave began to be drawn in, converging towards Lin Shengli in wisps and strands. It seeped into his body through his pores, was rapidly refined, and merged into the surging army of spiritual power.

The third great cycle, the fourth great cycle... Time loses its meaning in cultivation.