Chapter 52: It's Time to Get Moving

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Ancient texts record:
“Those of pure yin without yang become ghosts; those with a mixture of yin and yang become yin spirits; those of pure yang without yin become yang spirits.”
“After a person dies, their yin soul leaves the body and becomes a ghost; those who cultivate but whose yin is not fully exhausted, and whose spirit emerges prematurely, are called yin spirits.”
“When the spirit departs, sometimes white light resembling a river is seen in the eyes, indicating the spirit exits through the eyes; sometimes the sound of bells, chimes, flutes, or pipes is heard in the ears, indicating the spirit exits through the ears. Because their yang energy is not yet strong, they cannot break through the heavenly gate, so they take detours and exit through convenient paths.”
“After exiting, they roam freely and joyfully, wandering through streets and alleys, approaching water and climbing mountains. They can form shapes but cannot split forms. They can travel among the living but cannot soar or transform. When the midsummer sun is high, yin spirits fear and avoid it. Thus, although they carry an immortal aura, they are still bound by ghostly tendencies.”
...
“‘Yin spirit’—you should understand this clearly. This is your current state: within your spiritual form, yin and yang are mixed and impure. You can roam the human world but cannot fly or break through the heavenly gate.” Seeing Tu Junfang’s surprise, Xia Ye spoke.
Although Tu Junfang had read some classical texts before, nothing compares to firsthand experience. Now, feeling this wondrous ‘soul out-of-body’ sensation, he immediately understood.
In the next moment...
With a shift of his will, his physical eyes opened, then he raised his head and locked eyes with his ‘yin spirit,’ witnessing two different perspectives simultaneously.
He could sense that both the ‘yin spirit’ and his physical body were himself—though separated, they were an inseparable whole!
This feeling was paradoxical, yet upon reflection, it made sense, for this ‘yin spirit’ was inherently a mixture of yin and yang, and its yang element derived from the physical body.
This brings to mind the Quanzhen Taoist practice of ‘emerging yang spirit.’ This ‘yang spirit’ differs from that here; it is attained by refining life energy to a certain level, achieving a harmony of life and spirit where the soul leaves the body without decay. Essentially, it remains a type of ‘yin spirit.’
At this moment...
“Moreover, now that your ‘yin spirit’ is formed, your future cultivation will be based on this. If you can refine your ‘yin spirit’ to a ‘pure yang realm’ and replace your physical body with a soul body, you may achieve a true ‘yang spirit’...” Seeing Tu Junfang experimenting continuously, Xia Ye offered further explanation.
“At that time, your pure yang soul can fully merge with the pure yin Three Corpses, achieving the ‘two births and three’ state of ‘all things born,’ from which you can trace back to the ‘original unity’ and the ‘ultimate Dao,’ thus truly opening the gates of heaven!”
This conclusion was a new insight Xia Ye had reached after a month of study, adding a supplement. In his view, all paths may lead to the heavens; myriad ways ultimately converge.
To reach the heavens, the three—nature, life, and energy—must all be perfected. This is fundamental. On the path of the ‘ghost immortal,’ the physical body’s life force must return entirely to the primary soul to achieve the ‘yang spirit.’

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However, before Tu Junfang truly attains the yang spirit, there is no need to rename his title from ‘yin spirit ghost immortal,’ which fittingly reflects his current state, avoiding any false pretense...
After this, the two continued exchanging ideas and experimenting, quickly understanding the altered state. Confirming no issues, Tu Junfang’s ‘yin spirit’ returned to his physical body.
“How do you feel?”
“Indeed, it is profoundly mysterious.”
Tu Junfang stood and stretched, savoring the experience in his mind.
“Take your time to understand. Compared to those others, your path is more complicated and requires diligent study.”
Seeing his satisfaction, Xia Ye smiled slightly and made arrangements.
“For the next two days, you should settle in and adapt. Once fully stable, you can spar and exchange skills regularly with Old Xiao and the others; this will be greatly beneficial for you.”
This plan had long been considered. Now, Tu Junfang needed physical adaptation and spiritual trials. The best way was to temper himself through sparring, much like forging iron to eliminate impurities and achieve transparency.
Tu Junfang agreed immediately. Previously, he had admitted he was no match for those others and had not mentioned it. Now that everyone stood on equal footing, mutual improvement was appropriate.
“All right, if there’s nothing else, you may go. I have some matters to attend to and will come by later,” Xia Ye said, waving his hand as the session concluded.
“Understood.”
After Tu Junfang left, Xia Ye sat at his desk as usual, retrieved his computer from a hidden compartment, and opened the ‘Experiment No. 005’ file to begin editing:
[Experiment Phase: Initial (First Course)]
[Materials Used: Chai Sect’s Horizontal Bone Practice, Natural Sect’s Natural Intention, Fire Virtue Sect’s Yang Fire Qi, Dan Ding Sect’s Inner Elixir Principles, Quanzhen Sect’s Essence of Life and Nature, Quanzhen Sect’s Yang Spirit Condensation Method, Spirit Binding True Meaning]
[Experiment Records:]
[Record 1: The subject initially took the Ghost Immortal Pill with no adverse reactions; the body perfectly adapted to the medicine with no spiritual rejection.
‘Chai Sect Horizontal Bone Practice’ took effect, significantly increasing physical strength and resilience, preliminarily testing at Horizontal Practice Master level.
‘Natural Intention’ took effect, aligning the body’s meridians and true qi flow closer to the natural Dao, greatly enhancing natural perception.
‘Yang Fire Qi’ took effect, substantially boosting the subject’s internal yang energy and enabling the body to draw upon heaven and earth’s yang energy for cultivation and strengthening.
‘Inner Elixir Principles’ took effect, transforming the subject’s Three Corpses true qi into an inner elixir, successfully constructing the ‘Three Corpses Elixir Method’ and converting cultivation gains.
‘Essence of Life and Nature’ took effect, greatly reinforcing the unity of life and nature, achieving yin-yang harmony and spirit-body unity, allowing cultivation to advance in tandem.
‘Yang Spirit Condensation Method’ took effect; the subject successfully condensed the ‘yin spirit’ and can now perform ‘soul out-of-body’ experiences, simultaneously controlling body and soul.
‘Spirit Binding True Meaning’ took effect, greatly enhancing soul control and immunity to spirit-binding and spellcasting of level ‘Spirit Binding and Dispatch’ or lower, strengthening the soul.]
As before, after completing and confirming this file, Xia Ye opened his own ‘Experiment No. 000’ file:
[Experiment Four: Soul]
[Experiment Four Progress: Observation Phase]
[Experiment Records:]
[Record 1: Soul experiment officially commenced. Subject ‘Experiment No. 005—Yin Spirit Ghost Immortal’ has entered the experimental process. The current phase aims to explore methods of soul and Three Corpses fusion while ensuring subject safety, collecting sufficient experimental data.]
“Done.”
At this point, all five subjects had entered the first phase. Now it was a matter of giving them time and creating conditions for gradual ‘evolution’ and observation.
With nothing pressing at present, Xia Ye turned to the next goal, exiting the document and opening a previous list, his gaze resting on the name under the ‘Aging’ category.
“The time is nearly right. Once Old Tu stabilizes, they should be let out to exercise...”

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