Chapter Four: The Beginning of Cultivation

After countless analyses and speculations in his mind, each one eventually overthrown by the next, a sudden thought struck him, and it seemed as if he had finally found the answer. "Could it be that my current state is because I am already dead, and what now exists is merely my soul, separated from my body? Yet this sensation is nothing like what the stories describe. According to the tales, a soul can see itself and its surroundings—so why can I see nothing at all? And this strange feeling... it’s not what I imagined."

In truth, he had no idea that he was not dead, nor what his current state truly signified. It would only become clear to him after he embarked on the path of cultivation. After another long period of deep contemplation, he suddenly laughed. If he still had a body and someone could see his expression, they would surely recognize that his smile was bitter, full of helplessness and sorrow. He had come to understand: since no one has truly seen a soul after death, who can really say what a soul perceives? Who knows what it feels like to be a soul? If that’s the case, then perhaps I, Li Xingyu, am indeed dead, and what remains is only my soul. If so, I am no longer truly human, but a ghost in the truest sense. At this realization, all he could do was laugh bitterly, his heart filled with sadness and regret.

He grieved silently for a long time, and after gradually calming his emotions, he decided that regardless of what he had become, he should first become familiar with his new environment. When he tried to move forward, he found himself actually drifting in that direction. He experimented with various postures and moving in different directions. Time passed—how long, he could not tell, for he had no way to measure it. Yet he still could not discern where he was, for this world was nothing but endless gray, stretching boundlessly before him.

Although he hadn’t figured out his surroundings, he did gain some understanding of himself. He had no body; every action could only be performed within his consciousness. He could not speak, or perhaps he did, but could hear no sound. He could perform any action in his mind, but without a body, he could not know the physical effects of these movements.

During this time, many thoughts came to him: his mother, his beloved, his mission, his ideals and wishes. He wanted to cry, but was dismayed to find he could not—even tears and sobs were now only sorrows within his consciousness, devoid of sound or weeping.

When he felt an overwhelming weariness—mental exhaustion—he gradually let his awareness quiet. Since he could no longer change anything, the question became: what should he do now, and what could he do? If he truly had become a ghost, and ghosts truly existed, then surely there must be an environment suited for them. But this place could not be it—there was nothing here, only silence. If all ghosts existed in such a place, wouldn’t they all go mad? He had only managed to endure because he was accustomed to solitary missions and the loneliness of space travel. Had he become a ghost only to lose himself in some ghostly universe?

When he had exhausted all thoughts and could think of nothing more, unsure of what to do next, he suddenly remembered the incantation that old man had left him. With nothing else to occupy him, he began to analyze and study the mnemonic deeply, recalling it from the depths of his consciousness. He surmised that it must be a breathing technique, one that could be practiced alone or by someone like him, who already had some training and foundation in energy cultivation. As for what miraculous abilities such cultivation might bring, or whether it would only serve, as before, to strengthen his body and sharpen his senses, he could not say.

Before his previous mission, he had much preparation to do, and time had not allowed him to try cultivating these teachings. From experience, he knew cultivation required much time, a quiet environment, and a certain insight or opportunity—not something to be done hastily. Now, of course, none of these obstacles remained, and there was nothing else for him to do. Still, he was uncertain whether he could practice the mnemonic without a body.

Nonetheless, having decided, he resolved to begin, even if he was unsure of success. Even if it did nothing, it would at least occupy his mind and keep him from being overwhelmed by loneliness. Once he had calmed himself, he reviewed in his mind both his understanding of the incantation and his experience with previous exercises. Now, without a body, he would try to cultivate using only his consciousness, without the need for physical actions—a method that would, unbeknownst to him, save his life.

First, he imagined his body reclining in midair, then focused his will to sense the faint energy within his lower abdomen. Guiding this energy with his consciousness, he directed it along a specific route through his body. He sensed how unstable this faint thread of energy was, always on the brink of dispersing, and how sometimes it encountered obstacles and could not progress. Straining to control the flow, he could not even complete a third of the circuit before exhaustion overcame him and the energy scattered.

After resting his consciousness for a while, he found that the energy had gathered again in his lower abdomen, albeit weaker than before. Still, the residual energy continued to slowly flow into his core, and after a time, the strength returned. He tried again, this time persisting longer, completing about a third of the cycle. After countless failures, he finally managed to guide the energy through a full circuit, returning it to his core. At that moment, his consciousness was utterly spent, but a wave of comfort began to spread through his body.

What he did not know was that he had completed a single cycle of energy, a full circuit as required in any cultivation method. The obstacles he had faced were the bottlenecks that appear throughout cultivation. Once a bottleneck is overcome, the energy can flow freely, until a new stage is reached and a new bottleneck appears. Li Xingyu knew none of this, nor anything about levels, bottlenecks, or breakthroughs. But having completed his first circuit, he had, in truth, begun the path of cultivation, though his level was still very low. Aside from the comfort in his body and mind, he felt no other benefits.

After that first cycle, the sparse spiritual energy of the universe began gathering around him, entering and nourishing his body, flowing into his core and strengthening the energy within. As his body and consciousness were bathed in this spiritual energy, his fatigue faded, replaced by a swift recovery. He could distinctly feel the comfort brought by this nourishment. “If I no longer have a body, why do I feel such genuine comfort throughout myself? Could it be that my body still exists? But then why am I unable to sense its presence?”

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