Chapter Three: The Dual Cultivation of Life and Spirit

In the next moment, Wang Zhenling leapt forward, soaring like an eagle across the vast sky, gliding like a fish in shallow waters, shedding his shell and emerging anew—every living thing competing for freedom beneath the frosty heavens.

The awkwardness and fear he’d felt previously suddenly transformed into a sense of liberation.

Tonight, the moon was full and bright; the mountain winds howled, but a faint glow enveloped Wang Zhenling, shielding him from harm. There was no threat to his nascent spirit.

This was the power of the protective pearl!

Within Wang Zhenling’s spirit, a hazy human silhouette appeared, veiled in a layer of jade light, which gave his soul a newfound stability.

With the combined power of the pearl and the jade marrow, he was able to safeguard his soul during its journey outside the body, shielded from ordinary dangers and calamities.

Otherwise, Wang Zhenling knew that, given the fragility of his newly liberated soul, a mere gust of wind might scatter him to oblivion.

Yet now, as the moonlight and cool breeze brushed against his soul, it felt exceedingly comfortable, even faintly invigorating.

“Just as expected…”

A smile appeared on Wang Zhenling’s face. The Juntian Temple truly lived up to its reputation as a great Daoist sect—the cultivation methods handed down were indeed profound.

The moonlight bathed his spirit, nourishing it.

But this was not enough! Simply allowing his soul to passively soak in moonlight would take an untold amount of time to strengthen it.

Luckily, as a cultivated practitioner, he possessed the method to consciously absorb lunar essence.

His soul sat cross-legged, floating in midair; following the incantation, he drew in a breath, and a beam of moonlight seemed to descend directly from the moon, like a string of luminous pearls, falling into his soul’s mouth.

If an outsider had witnessed this scene, they would have seen moonlight flowing into Wang Zhenling’s spiritual form.

With each inhalation, his soul grew clearer, no longer shrouded in mist as before.

However, Wang Zhenling only managed to absorb three breaths of moonlight before stopping.

It wasn’t that he didn’t wish to continue, but his soul had reached its limit.

One cannot become robust in a single gulp—it’s simply impossible.

When his soul returned to his body, he felt a chill throughout, as if a shard of coldness had pierced deep within him.

This was the result of the soul absorbing moon essence.

Moonlight is of the yin, greatly beneficial to a purely yin soul, but it’s a heavy burden upon the yang body.

Fortunately, Wang Zhenling had practiced qi from an early age. In his original world, though the laws had changed and he could no longer absorb the world’s spiritual energy, his early cultivation and medicinal diet had left him with abundant vital essence and strong blood.

This allowed him to withstand the effects.

Had it been an ordinary person, after absorbing moonlight, their soul returning to their body would leave them frozen stiff, if not dead then gravely ill.

Still, Wang Zhenling’s situation was far from comfortable; aside from a faint warmth in his lower abdomen, his entire body felt icy cold.

He quietly circulated his energy, visualizing the Celestial Pivot and Jade Balance descending into his dantian and slowly rotating.

A gentle warmth rose from the dantian, gradually easing the freezing sensation throughout his body.

This was nourishing his chilled flesh with his own pure yang blood after absorbing moon essence.

Yet, such practice clearly depleted his vital yang energy.

Thus, Wang Zhenling’s method was known as the Supreme Yin Body Refinement.

It was said that prolonged cultivation in this manner depleted all vitality and blood, leaving the practitioner pale-faced, fearful of sunlight, neither human nor ghost.

But this was the result of incomplete or misguided practice.

With proper guidance, one would understand that the Dao lies in the balance of yin and yang.

Cultivating the Supreme Yin Refinement naturally requires the practice of the Solar Body Refinement as well, harmonizing yin and yang and ensuring safety.

In fact, strengthening both spirit and flesh is the dual cultivation of life and destiny.

So, the next day, Wang Zhenling would absorb sunlight to cultivate the Solar Body Refinement.

Yet cultivating the Supreme Yin Refinement is best done when the moon is at its zenith—the fuller and brighter the moon, the better.

The Solar Body Refinement is different. At noon, the sun is too fierce and scorching; absorbing sunlight then is akin to courting death, as if preparing to burn oneself.

Therefore, Solar Body Refinement is best done when the sun has just risen, before it climbs high, capturing that first surge of yang energy.

This gentle warmth, imbued with the essence of new beginnings, is the ideal time for absorption.

Even so, the morning sunlight is not something a purely yin soul can withstand; anyone foolish enough to try, as they did with moon essence, would be inviting disaster.

The body is of yang, the soul of yin. The soul leaves the body to absorb moon essence, but to absorb sunlight, it must be done with the physical form.

This explains why those who lack proper instruction, or only possess fragments of the true teaching, often end up in unfortunate circumstances…

As soon as the sun rose the next day, Wang Zhenling was already waiting. Facing the newborn sun, he formed a seal with his hands and inhaled deeply, drawing sunlight into his dantian.

From there, it passed through the perineum, along the spine, through the Jade Pillow to the crown, crossed the Magpie Bridge, and circulated through the body.

In this way, not only did he replenish yesterday’s depleted yang energy, he also repaired and restored the channels damaged by the cold moon essence.

Once his yang energy grew strong and his channels stabilized, his soul would be able to absorb more moon essence.

And the more moon essence he absorbed, the more sunlight would be needed to refine it.

Thus, a positive cycle was established, where both flesh and spirit were continually nourished and strengthened.

This, truly, was the principle of dual cultivation of life and destiny!

Early in the morning, as Wang Zhenling absorbed the sunlight, three little foxes scampered over, only to be bewildered.

Sunlight was useless to them as low-level demons.

But Wang Zhenling smiled and said, “Today I’m absorbing sunlight—this isn’t something you can cultivate yet. Come back tonight…”

For spirit foxes, worshiping the moon and ingesting moon essence brought great benefits.

But sunlight was different; it was not suitable for these little foxes.

So he explained it to them.

He knew these three creatures would understand!

They did, yet refused to leave, perhaps out of curiosity, insisting on watching Wang Zhenling’s cultivation.

Wang Zhenling ignored them, continuing to absorb sunlight, refining last night’s moon essence, slowly nourishing his meridians and organs.

This method of absorbing the radiance of sun and moon was far more advanced than the old practice of gathering qi!