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

If one raises their life cultivation to the level required to activate the Reverse Life state, and then activates the Reverse Life state, how terrifying would the bonus be?

Li Chang'an found it hard to believe.

Because the bonus from the reverse life state is multiplied.

True cultivation of both body and mind, once it reaches a certain level, also leads to exponential growth.

A multiplier increase... that's an explosive curve pointing straight upwards!

Chapter 42 Reflections on One Hundred Days

"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 quite different, but that’s 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 cultivating his life force 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 had 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 saying, "This is indeed a method. My grandfather tried to use this method when he was young, but he eventually gave up on it."

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

Lu Jin said, "Simply maintaining the reverse life state can last 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 cultivating one's spirit and energy in this state is generally not as good as resting properly and working hard when you need to."

"I see." Li Chang'an nodded, then asked, "What was the longest Grandfather 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 overdo it and damage your own 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 led to physical and mental exhaustion, resulting in a large number 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 Gate Master, 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 awareness to sense the white, reversible Qi within his body, flowing and circulating 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, and therefore 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 black magic, their essence is to cultivate their sexual 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 any further.

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 turbid 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 advice, 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 the trajectory of his Qi circulation in the Threefold Reversal of Life advanced significantly.

This also confirms his previous conjecture: once one's life cultivation reaches a certain level, the construction of the reverse life state will be a natural outcome.

Just like how Master Zuo Ruotong broke through the third level, it wasn't due to any special method of circulating Qi, but rather through continuous strengthening amidst intense tearing and recombination by 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 path of Qi circulation for breaking through the barrier, it is nothing more than the channel left after the water has naturally flowed.

Chapter 43 Lu Linglong's Invitation

Upon realizing this, Li Chang'an was naturally delighted, because this method carried no risk whatsoever.

He certainly didn't intend to risk forcing his way through a challenge if it could be accomplished without any risk.

However, this method may not work for others.

Because others do not have the awareness of the intermediate state to see themselves, they are certainly not as fast as him in the cultivation of life and nature, and it is also difficult for them to deal with the various delusions accumulated from maintaining rebirth in reverse for a long time.

Therefore, he did not strongly urge Lu Lin to do the same, but only reminded her to not forget to temper her life force while cultivating reversal of life.

Lu Lin solemnly stated that she would remember it.

In fact, Lu Jin has been exploring the path of reversing life over the years.

Compared to back then, he now places greater emphasis on cultivating his life force, so Lu Lin's cultivation of both nature and life force is quite good, especially in the last two years, he has made particularly rapid progress.

In the past, Lu Lin was Lu Jin's hope for the revival of Sany. That heavy expectation fell on Lu Lin's shoulders, putting him under great pressure.

But now, with Li Chang'an's appearance, Lu Jin has shifted his hopes to Li Chang'an.

With the pressure greatly reduced, Lu Lin's state of mind became more peaceful, and her cultivation progressed even faster than usual.

As for Li Chang'an, he doesn't feel pressure at all.

However, Lu Jin was also worried about putting pressure on Li Chang'an, so he did not mention the phrase "forgetting oneself and the world" again during these hundred days.

Li Chang'an himself mentioned this matter to Lu Jin and explained the changes in the trajectory of his Qi circulation after entering a state of complete absorption in the external world several times.

Lu Jin was shocked when he heard this. He inquired about the details carefully and then compared it with the Qi circulation method passed down by his master. He found that it was almost the same, with only slight differences in some details of exerting force.

Lu Jin was a very meticulous person and did not make any arbitrary judgments based on this difference, such as whether Li Chang'an's method was ineffective or whether the method passed down by his master was wrong.

He tried it out himself and found that the details of Qi circulation that Li Chang'an had comprehended through enlightenment were slightly more forceful than those passed down by his master.

With his current level of cultivation, his Qi circulation is naturally unimpeded.

However, if it is someone who is a beginner and whose meridians are still relatively weak, it may cause some damage to the meridians.

The reason for this difference is not that Li Chang'an's method of circulating qi is wrong; in fact, circulating qi in Li Chang'an's way is more efficient.

However, Li Chang'an's method was only the most suitable for him.

The method of circulating qi left by Master Zuo Ruotong is more moderate, gentler, and more suitable for everyone.

It's not hard to guess that this must be the version that the master improved after many experiments, making it the most suitable for the vast majority of ordinary disciples.

Upon realizing this, Lu Jin felt even more deeply the painstaking efforts his master had made back then.

Li Chang'an finished his thoughts, slowly stood up, and walked out of the cave.

When he finished his meditation, he also stopped the reverse life force that he had maintained for thirty days.

He sensed a hint of fatigue, and although he could still keep going in his current state, there was no need to.

Rather than focusing on the duration of the practice, he placed more emphasis on the efficiency of the practice and its impact on himself.

If this continues, the effect of cultivating one's spirit and energy will be much less, while the damage to one's mind and spirit will become more and more obvious, and more and more delusions will be generated. Undoubtedly, it will be a losing proposition.

"A balance between work and rest is the key to success."

Li Chang'an rubbed his temples, squinted to adjust to the sunlight, and planned to go back inside for a long nap, but halfway there he bumped into Lu Lin and Lu Linglong.

"Brother Chang'an, come on, let's go out and play together!"