The Spiritual Pivot of Mortal Cultivation

The winter nights in Tianjin are bitterly cold.

The wind blew in gusts through the gaps between the tall buildings, scraping against my face like a dull knife cutting back and forth. The smell of cumin from the street barbecue stalls, car exhaust, and the lingering damp chill of the winter night mingled together, making my nose sting.

Bai Xuanxin wrapped his short black down jacket tighter around himself, raised his hand to press his throbbing temples, and his eyes were red from staying up all night. As a well-known "workaholic" at the First Affiliated Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, he spent his days in the lab running PCR tests on rows of EP tubes, and his nights working shifts in the emergency department with his mentor. After working 24-hour shifts, he felt like his brain was filled with boiling water, bubbling and gurgling with every slight movement.

The pungent smell of disinfectant in the emergency room, the uncontrollable sobs of family members, and the sharp, monotonous alarm of the electrocardiogram monitor seemed to still be stuck in his eardrums and nasal cavity, refusing to dissipate.

The red light at the intersection has seven seconds left.

Bai Xuanxin stood in front of the zebra crossing, gazing at the rings of streetlights spreading out in the hazy night. She was still pondering how to supplement the clinical data for tomorrow. If the paper that was stuck in the reviewers' hands was rejected again, would she really have to set up a fortune-telling stall under the overpass and ask God why he was so against a first-year doctoral student?

Just then—

"Buzz!"

A deep, violent roar of an engine abruptly ripped open the deathly silence of the winter night.

Bai Xuanxin subconsciously turned her head away.

A heavy dump truck, fully loaded with construction waste, with its headlights off, roared across the zebra crossing like a runaway steel behemoth, filling his entire field of vision with a chilling wind and an overwhelming sense of oppression.

Bai Xuanxin only had time to curse in her heart—

"Damn, I haven't published that SCI paper yet..."

……

pain.

It wasn't the sharp, piercing pain of a blade, but rather like thousands of rusty iron wires slowly twisting into the flesh and bones, making one's chest feel tight, limbs feel cold, and even breathing taste like blood.

Bai Xuanxin suddenly opened her eyes.

There were no glaring operating lights like in an emergency room, no cold, monotonous beeping of a defibrillator. All that met the eye was a blackened thatched roof, dilapidated and drafty. The room reeked of mold, blood, and the acrid smell of rotting damp wood, making one's stomach churn.

"cough--"

As soon as he propped himself up, a metallic taste surged in his throat, and he vomited a mouthful of dark red, stagnant blood. The blood fell onto the withered grass with a soft "plop," a sound that sent chills down one's spine.

Bai Xuanxin wiped the blood from her lips. Instead of looking around in panic, she immediately pressed two fingers against her pulse point and then touched the major pulse point on the side of her neck.

His pulse was scattered, sometimes rapid and sometimes weak, as if two completely different forces were clashing back and forth in his chest, one hot and one cold, one hard and one soft, neither of them able to restrain themselves. The burning sensation surged upwards from his chest, while the other cold energy lingered in his chest and abdomen, causing his internal organs to churn and his blood and qi to almost turn into a pot of porridge.

"This is not a common external injury..."

Bai Xuanxin's breathing became rapid, and cold sweat instantly seeped from her forehead.

Based on his experience in the hospital before his transmigration, this symptom was not simply organ damage, but more like some conflicting forces within his body were disrupting his blood and qi. If he continued to crash like this, he probably wouldn't last even a moment, let alone half an hour.

Just then, a rough and fragmented stream of memories forcefully flooded into his mind like a tidal wave.

Yue Kingdom, Jingzhou, Caixia Mountain.

Bai Xuanxin, an outer disciple of the Seven Mysteries Sect, is fourteen years old.

The original owner of this body had considerable martial arts talent. In order to advance further before the outer sect competition, he secretly sought to gain merit by simultaneously practicing the sect's Yang-oriented "Zheng Yang Jin" and Yin-oriented "Yin Shui Jue," attempting to force them to merge. As a result, the Yin and Yang clashed, damaging his heart meridians, and he died on the spot from qi deviation.

"A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality..."

Bai Xuanxin licked her chapped lips, her throat filled with the taste of rust.

The memories of the original work I read before transmigrating, along with the fragmented memories of this incomplete body, are pieced together bit by bit.

The original owner's concept of the "cultivation world" was almost a blank; apart from the mundane affairs of the Seven Mysteries Sect, all that remained was the competitive spirit of a young man. But Bai Xuanxin was different; he knew all too well what kind of place this was.

This is the human realm in "A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality".

There's no such thing as divine favor or effortless success here. The people here eat people, the demons eat people, and even cultivators eat other cultivators. If you're not tough enough, forget about immortality; you might not even survive today.

"Good heavens..." Bai Xuanxin gasped, but couldn't help twitching her lips. "They really sent a dump truck here."

The face that originally belonged to a fourteen-year-old boy still carried a hint of immaturity, but his eyes already held a calmness and ruthlessness that were far beyond his years.

"The King of Hell is probably unwilling to take me because he thinks I'm too full of resentment. Since I didn't die, I'll take on this mess."

As soon as he finished speaking, the excruciating pain in his chest and abdomen intensified.

Bai Xuanxin looked down and saw that several meridians on his chest had faintly turned bluish-red. It turned out that the opposing forces of cold and heat were clearly the uncontrolled collision of the "True Yang Force" and the "Yin Water Technique" within his meridians. The original owner of this body had been incredibly audacious, attempting to forcibly merge the two paths of mortal true energy, Yin and Yang, which naturally led him to his doom.

"Not a moment can be wasted..."

Bai Xuanxin forced herself to calm down, her mind racing with thoughts.

If it were someone who truly understood cultivation, they might be able to suppress it with their superior internal energy. But he was just a fourteen-year-old outer disciple, without any elixirs or outside help. All he could rely on was this body, his remaining true energy, and the medical principles he had learned before he transmigrated.

"Water and fire clash, causing imbalance in the heart and kidneys. Since it cannot be suppressed, it can only be diverted."

He gritted his teeth, raised his right hand, and brought his index and middle fingers together, the knuckles turning slightly white from the excessive force.

Traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes the balance of Yin and Yang, and the interaction of the Five Elements. If fire is too intense, earth can be used to moderate its intensity; if water is too cold, it should be stored in the kidneys to preserve its root. The original person's mistake was being greedy and reckless, unaware that the meridians have their limits, and actually forced two streams of vital energy into the heart meridian, which was simply playing with their life.

Bai Xuanxin took a deep breath, enduring the excruciating pain that felt like her meridians were being torn apart, and used her fingers as needles to swiftly strike several vital acupoints on her chest and abdomen.

"Juque!"

"The Gate of Retention!"

"Zhongwan!"

The fingertips landed swiftly and steadily, with extremely subtle twists and presses.

Juque (CV14) is the Mu point of the Heart, Qimen (LR14) belongs to the Liver, and Zhongwan (CV12) governs the Spleen and Stomach in the Middle Jiao. When the Heart Fire surges violently, it is most taboo to forcefully release it; forceful release will only make things more chaotic. Only by using the Spleen Earth to slow its momentum, using the Middle Jiao to regulate its pivot, and then pressing the other Yin-cold Qi back to the Lesser Yin and guiding it back to the Kidney Meridian, can there be a glimmer of hope.

The scorching true energy that was originally rushing straight to the heart meridian indeed paused slightly after being stimulated at several major acupoints. Bai Xuanxin seized this fleeting moment, forcefully gathered his spirit, and guided it down the meridian to the spleen and stomach; at the same time, he also forced the cold true energy to turn back and fall back to the kidney meridian.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the spleen belongs to Earth and the kidneys belong to Water.

What he is doing now is forcibly using the spleen as a buffer and the kidney as a storage, to rebuild a precarious balance in his body.

"Giggle..."

His jaw clenched so hard it cracked, veins bulged on his forehead, and his face was contorted slightly with pain.

"You really know how to leave me with a difficult problem..." he panted, cursing inwardly, "It's one thing for you to be greedy for speed in your training, but you had to choose the most suicidal method."

The next instant, an even more intense pain tore from his chest and abdomen all the way down to his limbs and bones.

Bai Xuanxin felt as if he were being steamed on a fire or frozen in an ice cave, the extreme heat and cold burning within him. Yet he clung to that last bit of clarity, daring not to relax even for a moment.

Time seemed to stretch out endlessly in this dilapidated woodshed.

After an unknown amount of time, the night outside the window finally faded away little by little, and a pale, fish-belly color appeared on the horizon.

"puff--"

Bai Xuanxin suddenly bent over and spat out a mouthful of dark red, foul-smelling blood, but at that moment her chest suddenly felt relieved.

The two streams of true energy, water and fire, that had almost shattered him, finally stopped clashing. Instead, after he forcibly separated them, they dispersed into his meridians and temporarily lay dormant in his limbs and bones. Although he was still far from safe, at least he was no longer in immediate danger.

His life was saved, at least.

Bai Xuanxin felt completely drained. She leaned against the cold, damp earthen wall, panting for a long time before slowly raising her eyes.

Only at this moment did that belated sense of emptiness truly creep in.

He thought of his parents back home, their temples now gray. What they had hoped for most all these years was for their son to finish his doctorate and stand proudly in his white coat, practicing medicine.

He thought of the pile of data in the lab that hadn't been run yet, and the paper that had been revised countless times and was still in the hands of the reviewers.

I also thought of that girl who always overthought things. The night before last, she was carrying a newly bought pink bag, waiting for him to get off work outside the hospital. Her nose was slightly red from the cold, but she still smiled when she saw him.

"That's it..." Bai Xuanxin closed her eyes, feeling a tightness in her chest. "After suffering for so many years, my family didn't even get a chance to say goodbye..."

He sat quietly by the wall for a moment, his knuckles clenching and unclenching little by little. When he opened his eyes again, the turbulent emotions in them had been forcefully suppressed.

In the world of cultivation, tears are not believed.

The Seven Mysteries Sect didn't believe it either.

He began to quickly assess the current situation.

The Seven Mysteries Sect, nominally the largest sect in Jingzhou, is actually divided into factions within the sect, while the Wild Wolf Gang is also eyeing it covetously from outside. The original owner of this body was just a fourteen-year-old outer disciple with no background. Even though his martial arts foundation was not bad, he was still the easiest to be crushed.

Not to mention, Mo Juren was also squatting in Shenshou Valley.

Thinking of this, Bai Xuanxin slowly opened her hands.

His palms were rough, calloused, the marks of years of training. Although the original owner was foolish and greedy for quick results, his foundation was not bad. If he were truly willing to calm down and follow the path of ordinary martial arts, he might not be unable to carve out a way to survive in a short time.

As for cultivating immortality...

Bai Xuanxin's gaze darkened slightly.

Han Li is most likely already in the Valley of Divine Hands, practicing the "Eternal Spring Technique." Since Mo Juren has brought him into the valley, it means that the path has already begun. If Bai Xuanxin wants to truly grasp the threshold of cultivation, the "Eternal Spring Technique" will ultimately have to fall into his own hands.

but not now.

Now you're trying to get close to Shenshou Valley?

That's not seeking a way out, that's courting death.

The closer Mo Juren gets to death, the more suspicious he becomes, like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows. Bai Xuanxin knew very well that what she should do right now was not rush to join him, but to first solidify her position in the mortal realm. The safest path would be to join forces with Han Li and, at the most opportune moment, devour Mo Juren.

"I'll get the 'Eternal Spring Skill' sooner or later," Bai Xuanxin muttered to himself. "I'll also have to divide up Doctor Mo's fortune sooner or later. But before that, I need to be able to live to get there."

He leaned against the wall and slowly stood up.

Although his internal energy and blood were in disarray, the original body of this young man was indeed quite sturdy. As he steadied himself, a series of slight cracking sounds came from his spine and joints, like a bowstring that had not been used for a long time being tightened again.

Bai Xuanxin walked to the broken wooden window and pushed it open.

A biting mountain wind immediately rushed in, and in the distance, Caixia Mountain was shrouded in thick fog, its color hazy and indistinct, like a giant beast lurking behind the morning mist.

"The Seven Mysteries Sect's Scripture Pavilion contains many extraordinary skills in the mortal realm." Bai Xuanxin gazed at the distant mountains, a glimmer of light slowly appearing in his eyes. "Whether I have spiritual roots or not, we'll have to wait until I test the Everlasting Spring Technique to find out. But for now, I have to rely on my fists, feet, and brains to survive."

He exhaled a breath of stale air, raised his hand to straighten his blood-stained clothes, and a smile suddenly appeared on his lips.

"Since the heavens won't take me, then I'll first climb out of this quagmire of the Seven Mysteries Sect in this mortal realm."

After saying that, he pushed open the door and went out.

The mountain wind, carrying a chill, seeped into her collar, making her bones feel cold, but Bai Xuanxin's steps became more and more steady.

Now that he has come to this world of "Mortals", Bai Xuanxin will first use his mortal body to gain a foothold in the Seven Mysteries Sect before he can compete for a chance at immortality.