"Travels in the Northern Darkness" once recorded: "A person's life is the gathering of qi; when it gathers, there is life, and when it disperses, there is death. If life and death are merely companions, what have I to fear?"
A person's life and death were nothing more than the temporary gathering and dispersal of qi. When qi gathered, there was life; when it dispersed, there was death. Life and death were merely different manifestations of qi at different stages of a living body.
If this breath never dispersed, would that mean that even if the flesh returned to nothingness, the spirit could still be preserved forever?
Zhuangzi believed that life and death were nothing more than the gathering and dispersal of qi. Then what exactly was this so-called "qi"?
What was refined in Heaven and Earth Qi Refinement, the Third Realm?
Could there be some connection between the two?
Carrying all these doubts, Ye Qin sank into even deeper meditation.
He hid a breath deep within his body, letting it circulate without end.
By now, he had already entered the Third Realm. As for whether his lifespan could be extended, he no longer cared.
If one heard the Dao in the morning, one could die content by evening.
There were no regrets left in Ye Qin's heart. He no longer even regarded life and death as important.
This feeling of transcending the mundane world made his withering spirit incredibly active. It even grew considerably, advancing ceaselessly toward the void.
Those gray substances traveled through every direction alongside his spirit, constantly exploring the nothingness. Ye Qin's soul felt so comfortable that it was almost intoxicatingly satisfying.
Meanwhile, in the real world.
Ye Qin had already closed his eyes. His entire body lay coiled in place, his scales dull and lusterless.