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

Nearly two years have passed, and Lu Jin is still the same as before. He wears a crisp dark suit, his white hair is neatly combed, his back is straight as a pine tree, and there is no sign of aging on his face.

Moreover, because he has been using high-voltage electricity to train his body for the past two years, his physique has become more robust and stronger than before, and his overall energy and spirit are more vigorous than they were two years ago.

"Grandpa, it's been a long time." Li Chang'an stood in the courtyard and smiled at Lu Jin.

"You little rascal! Where have you been running wild these past two years? Hahahaha!"

Lu Jin walked up to Li Chang'an with a loud laugh, raised his fist and touched Li Chang'an's chest, then reached out and patted his head, looking him over.

"You've grown strong and taller! You're even taller than your great-grandfather now, hahaha!"

As he laughed, Lu Jin sensed something was amiss. After a moment of careful observation, he stared intently into Li Chang'an's eyes.

The eyes no longer held the deliberately maintained tranquility and detachment of two years ago; instead, they possessed a clarity that had settled over time.

Then, he sensed the intensity of the Qi surrounding Li Chang'an and said in surprise:

"You kid... you... you broke through?"

"Yes, I just broke through not long ago." Li Chang'an nodded with a smile.

In the past two years, when Li Chang'an was away gaining experience, Lu Jin would occasionally call him to inquire about his situation.

However, because Li Chang'an specifically chose to travel to those remote, uninhabited areas and deep forests where there was no signal, he often couldn't get through on the phone.

The two actually communicated very infrequently.

The last time we spoke was more than two months ago.

Lu Jin told Li Chang'an over the phone that Lu Lin was already preparing to attempt the second level of Reverse Life, and asked Li Chang'an when he planned to attempt it.

Li Chang'an said he had no plans yet.

Lu Jin then mentioned that over the past two years, he and Lu Lin had frequently used high-voltage electricity to train their bodies. Lu Lin would even fly back to Suzhou from Beijing every week without fail to be subjected to the electric shocks.

He said with some concern on the phone that Li Chang'an had been training outside for the past two years and hadn't done much physical training, so he didn't know if he could keep up with the progress.

At the time, Li Chang'an replied on the phone that he had not deliberately cultivated during his two-year journey, and even if he had fallen behind, he would catch up later.

So this is how they caught up so quickly? Lu Jin looked at Li Chang'an with a sigh:

"Good lad, I was worried you'd fall behind in your cultivation, like Lu Lin did in the first level, and break through a few years later. I never expected you to break through so quietly!"

Lu Jin stared intently at Li Chang'an: "Tell Grandfather quickly. How did you break through this time? Was it like when you broke through the first level, where the water overflowed naturally?"

Li Chang'an nodded: "I meditated on a loess slope in northern Shaanxi. I had an epiphany overnight and broke through naturally. The process was very smooth and I didn't encounter any danger."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin gasped, her eyes widening in surprise.

"What you're saying is infuriating. This is the second level of the Reverse Life Realm! Countless members of the Sanyi Sect have faced death at this hurdle before, some even ending up with lifelong disabilities. How come it's as easy for you as eating and drinking?"

“It’s not that simple,” Li Chang’an said with a smile. “I’ve been living a life of hardship, like a wild man, for more than two years to get to where I am today. It’s not appropriate for you to say that my hard work over the past two years is wasted just because you say I’m eating and drinking.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin was stunned for a moment. Looking at Li Chang'an, he suddenly realized that Li Chang'an's return this time was very different from before.

It's not just that he's grown taller, but also that he's become more human.

In the past, when faced with praise, this kid would have been like a silent gourd, not giving much of a response, because he was constantly purifying his mind.

And now, this kid is actually chatting and laughing with him.

"what happened?"

Seeing Lu Jin staring blankly at him, Li Chang'an asked, somewhat puzzled.

"You're no longer deliberately trying to keep things quiet? Is this progress or a breakdown?" Lu Jin asked directly.

Li Chang'an smiled, his eyes bright: "You must have improved."

Lu Jin didn't ask any further questions and nodded: "Since it's progress, then it's a good thing."

Chapter 179 Showcases Results

"Come on! Stop chatting! Quickly show your great-grandfather the results of your breakthrough to the second level!"

Lu Jin patted Li Chang'an on the shoulder and said eagerly, he really wanted to know what the difference was between breaking through to the second level of the Reverse Rebirth Realm in Li Chang'an's way and breaking through to the second level of the Reverse Rebirth Realm in the traditional way.

Li Chang'an didn't hide anything from this.

He took two steps back, and with a thought, the white energy within his body instantly burst forth, forming a smooth, spherical protective shield around him, like a giant white eggshell, completely enveloping his entire body.

Lu Jin looked at Li Chang'an's protective white qi with surprise and asked, "Is this why you have such strong physical defense after breaking through the first level?"

Li Chang'an nodded: "That's right. In the first level, this layer of white qi could only barely protect me for about an inch. But now, it has extended outwards to three feet. It's not just the coverage that has been increased, but its defensive capabilities have also been greatly enhanced."

Curious, Lu Jin reached out and touched Li Chang'an's Qi wall. The touch was hard and cold, like touching a solid piece of steel.

He bent his knuckles and tapped hard on the Qi wall.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The surface of the Qi wall emitted a crisp metallic clanging sound.

"It's incredibly hard!" Lu Jin exclaimed in surprise. "Our Reverse Life Triple Technique can actually be as tough as the Golden Light Mantra of Longhu Mountain?"

"It's not just like the Golden Light Mantra."

With a thought, Li Chang'an's protective qi wall, which was originally as solid as steel, suddenly softened, as if it had turned into liquid and was flowing around him.

"What are you doing?" Lu Jin asked, puzzled. He felt that the texture of the Qi wall had changed. It was very soft, like pressing a water-filled balloon. The place where he pressed it would also produce a gentle rebound force.

“The physical properties of this Qi wall are entirely determined by me. I can make it whatever I want it to be,” Li Chang’an said with a smile.

Lu Jin nodded, tentatively reaching out his finger and pressing it in. It went straight in, and it felt like he was putting his hand into a layer of viscous water, which was still flowing around Li Chang'an's body.

Lu Jin thought for a moment and asked, "Was this ability something you naturally acquired as soon as you broke through to the second level? Or did you discover it yourself later?"

Li Chang'an said, "It's not something you get immediately after a breakthrough. It's a skill that I naturally mastered after my control over Qi improved. If I don't deliberately change its nature, all I'll have is an iron-like defensive capability."

Lu Jin nodded approvingly: "That's pretty good too."

As he spoke, he reached out and pressed on Li Chang'an's protective white qi, asking with some doubt, "But speaking of which, what's the use of this soft qi wall? I've tested the defensive power of that iron wall before, but this one of yours is so weak, I could easily poke it with my finger."

“Of course it’s useful, and very useful,” Li Chang’an said.

"What great use is it?" Lu Jin asked, puzzled.

“It can be used to defend against attacks from bullets and other firearms,” Li Chang’an said.

"Bulletproof?" Lu Jin looked surprised. "I wasn't surprised that your steel-like hardness at the beginning could withstand gun attacks. But this limp state of yours can also stop bullets?"

As she spoke, Lu Jin exerted a little force with her fingers and once again thrust them into Li Chang'an's Qi wall.

"Look, I didn't even use any force just now. You couldn't even defend against my finger, and you think you can defend against the kinetic energy penetration of a gun?"

Li Chang'an smiled and said, "Grandpa, the defensive principles of these two are completely different."

"The first method can indeed withstand gunfire. But a head-on confrontation consumes too much energy. You can withstand one bullet, you can withstand two bullets, but can you withstand a dense hail of bullets?"

"A person's Qi (vital energy) has its limits. Under heavy firepower, it can take anywhere from tens of seconds to a few minutes to die from exhaustion of Qi."

Li Chang'an pointed to the layer of white qi that slowly swirled around him like flowing water: "And this latter form? I could stay in a battlefield full of bullets for seven days and seven nights without any problem."

Lu Jin looked astonished, thinking that the kid was bragging: "I was a soldier during the War of Resistance against Japan, and I witnessed the power of firearms. The firearms we have now are much more powerful than those of that time."

"Even with physical training techniques, one must cultivate to a certain level before being able to withstand attacks from ordinary firearms, and even then, it is often difficult to sustain for long."

"If it's a large-caliber sniper rifle, even if you practice the Chai School of External Strength or even the Golden Light Mantra, you wouldn't dare say you can stand still and withstand it. You say you can stay in a hail of bullets for seven days and seven nights without any problem? That's a bit too arrogant, kid."

Li Chang'an laughed and said, "I'm not being arrogant at all. I'm just stating a fact. If you don't believe me, Grandpa, go pick up a stone or a piece of iron and throw it at me."

"What if I hurt you?" Lu Jin said half-jokingly.

"You hurt me?" Li Chang'an glanced at Lu Jin with some surprise, and couldn't help but think to himself, "Grandpa really is a bit clueless. He thinks he can hurt me by throwing a stone. No wonder he goes to the Celestial Master to practice all the time and even tries to slap him in the eye."

However, Li Chang'an did not expose Lu Jin's mistake, but instead smiled and said, "If you hurt me, I can just use the Reverse Life Qi Transformation to recover, right? Please feel free to try."

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin nodded, then stomped his foot, shattering a blue brick. With a flick of his toe, several fist-sized pieces of broken brick flew into his hand, which he then flicked with his finger.

"Whoosh!"

Several sharp pebbles, like stray bullets, shot towards Li Chang'an's face with a sharp whistling sound.

But the moment the gravel got within three feet of Li Chang'an, it suddenly lost its kinetic energy, its speed decreased sharply, and its trajectory changed significantly, causing it to fall to the ground crookedly.

Seeing this, Lu Jin's eyes flickered slightly: "You used your Qi to shake them away?"

Li Chang'an didn't answer, but glanced at the broken bluestone paving stone under Lu Jin's feet and said with some heartache, "Grandpa, the paving stones in this courtyard are antiques that have been around for quite some years."

"That's not important. We can just find a craftsman to replace it with a new one later. Tell me about what happened earlier."

Lu Jin waved his hand, feeling that Li Chang'an's actions just now were definitely not as simple as using Qi to shake the stone away.

“It’s water,” Li Chang’an said with a smile. “With the power of water, I can make the protective white qi around my body as soft as water. At the same time, I can make it rotate around my body.”

"Grandpa, do you know what happens when a bullet hits water?"

Chapter 180 New Applications

"What will happen?" Lu Jin asked, as this question touched on an area where his knowledge was lacking.

Li Chang'an explained: "Ordinary firearm bullets may fly very far in the air, with a lethal range of hundreds or even thousands of meters, but once they enter the water, their range is often less than two meters."

"This is because the resistance of a bullet in water is nearly 800 times that in air. To put it in an inappropriate analogy, flying one meter in water is like flying eight hundred meters in air."

"This is still a pistol. If it were a rifle bullet, although the initial velocity would be higher, the bullet would be longer and thinner, making it more prone to becoming unstable and tumbling in the water. Once it starts to tumble, it would not only deviate from its course, but its kinetic energy would also be lost much faster."

Li Chang'an pointed to the high-speed flow of Qi around him: "Although this Qi wall of mine is not real water, I can perfectly simulate the density and fluidity of water with Qi, and even make it rotate around me at an extremely high speed, forming a flowing barrier."

"Any high-speed projectile attack, once it enters this three-foot range, will have its kinetic energy reduced, deflected, or neutralized instantly."

"Even those large-caliber sniper rifles, like that Barrett, are the same. No matter how powerful they are at penetrating steel, they can't hurt me at all."

"It can be said that defending against gun attacks in this way is hundreds of times less strenuous than directly using Qi to block them head-on, because I am not confronting it directly. I am just guiding it, dissolving it, and letting its power dissipate on its own in the fluid, just like Tai Chi."

This is also the principle that Li Chang'an realized when he practiced Qi in the Yellow River.

After hearing Li Chang'an's explanation, Lu Jin looked at him in shock.

"What's wrong with your brain, kid? How could you come up with such an absurd defensive method!"

"However, to simulate the properties of water with Qi and keep it rotating at a high speed requires a high level of control over Qi, right?"

Li Chang'an nodded: "Yes, first you need to transform Qi into form, and then you need to cultivate the transformation of Qi into form to an extremely high level."

"How did you do that? With your magic tricks and cat's cradle?" Lu Jin had some understanding of Li Chang'an's methods for training his control over Qi.

"That's only one aspect. To be honest, we should thank Mother Yellow River for making this possible," Li Chang'an said.

"The Yellow River?" Lu Jin was taken aback. "The Yellow River is involved here?"

Li Chang'an nodded and briefly recounted his experience of riding the Yellow River during the flood season, using the waves to hone his control over Qi.

This includes his insights and experiences on how he stabilized himself in the waves, how he went from initially swaying back and forth to eventually being able to run on the crest of the wave as if walking on flat ground.

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin was so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth for a long time.

During the flood season, the Yellow River is characterized by towering turbid waves and surging undercurrents.

This kid, without any special techniques to assist him, can run for dozens of miles on that water as if walking on flat ground, simply by controlling his Qi.

How can this be?

If someone else had said this, Lu Jin would have definitely thought they were just bragging.

But when Li Chang'an said those words, he didn't doubt a single one.

"You really are a prodigy," Lu Jin could only sigh.

He couldn't think of any other word besides "eccentric genius" to describe Li Chang'an.

It's amazing that they could think of incorporating scientific principles into the application of metaphysics.

Not only is his talent for cultivation extraordinary, but he's also incredibly bright!

Then, putting aside his exclamation, he asked, "Besides this, are there any other special abilities?"

Li Chang'an didn't hide anything and told Lu Jin the truth: "It's not just that the nature of this protective Qi wall has changed. After activating it, my strength, speed, reaction time and other basic abilities have all increased exponentially."

As he spoke, he looked around at the tidy yard and said with some helplessness, "This is a bit difficult to demonstrate. There's nothing heavy to lift in the yard, and we can't exactly demolish the house, can we?"

Lu Jin nodded. Having immersed himself in the second level of Reverse Life for decades, he naturally understood Li Chang'an's meaning. At their level, it was meaningless to test strength by lifting dumbbells or similar objects.

He can stomp a hole in the ground with one foot, which is about ten meters in diameter. How big of a barbell would it take to demonstrate that kind of power?