Perhaps it was because he had already experienced this once in his previous life, or maybe his spirit had come with him when his soul crossed into this world?
Bai Sui had succeeded on his very first try. His consciousness sank straight into his dantian.
Amid the chaos within, he "saw" his Primordial Spirit.
It was the first stirring of thought, the first glimmer of light, at the beginning of this primordial chaos—the original, magnificent "One."
As he felt that glowing mass, Bai Sui seemed to see his previous life within it.
It was as if his entire previous life had been condensed into that single radiance, without a single detail missing.
Bai Sui tried to send his consciousness into the light, and found that the world around him immediately changed.
He was back in the modern world, in his own room, sitting cross-legged on a cushion.
Just as Bai Sui was overcome with joy, thinking he had been trapped in a cultivation-induced illusion and had finally awakened—
His powerful emotional reaction pulled him out of his meditation. His consciousness seemed to plunge into a rapidly spinning vortex.
In a daze, Bai Sui found that his vision had returned. He looked at the fire pit in front of him and felt the straw beneath him.
"Ah..." Bai Sui sighed.
Then he rallied. Though it didn't send me back to the modern world, at least I've confirmed that cultivation is possible. After all, this world has 1.3 quadrillion cells in the human body—two or three times as many as in my previous world. That's good news.
He emptied his mind once more and tried to enter stillness again.
Unfortunately, his subconscious was still active after what had happened earlier. In other words, his Conscious Spirit refused to fall asleep, and he struggled in vain to enter deep meditation.
Bai Sui knew he couldn't force it. With no other choice, he put out the fire, covered the embers with wood ash, then lay down to sleep.
Over the next few days, Bai Sui followed his usual routine. During the day, he told the villagers about the strength of the Uzumaki Clan; at night, he meditated and cultivated.
After several attempts, Bai Sui had managed to figure out a few things he could do.
As long as he sank his consciousness into the radiance, he could see his previous life in its entirety.
Of course, "in its entirety" meant everything up to the moment he had successfully turned his awareness inward and "seen" his Primordial Spirit.
The radiance also had a play and rewind function. He could rewind from the end, pause wherever he wanted, then resume playback normally.
In a sense, Bai Sui now possessed a library: a collection of all kinds of knowledge, some of it accurate and some of it not, though it was somewhat cumbersome to browse.
This also meant Bai Sui could revisit the story of Naruto, even if it would be a very long time before he could do so. At least he had something to look forward to.
But when Bai Sui actually rewound to watch Naruto, he discovered that he hadn't really watched the whole series. He had only made it as far as the Chunin Ninja Exams.
He had skipped through the later content, mainly watching iconic scenes and fights. He had filled in the rest of the plot by reading all kinds of fanfiction.
At that moment, Bai Sui could only think: If only I'd known this would happen!
The one thing he could be glad of now was that he had read quite a lot in his previous life.
Because of his personality, he had rarely taken part in sports. He had preferred being alone, and when he was by himself with nothing to do, he liked to read. His interests had ranged widely, from astronomy and calendars to machine tools and computer applications, from the classics of the Hundred Schools of Thought to manga, novels, song lyrics, and recipes—and much, much more...
In short, Bai Sui had loved all kinds of books. Often, even when he didn't understand what the knowledge in them meant, he could still read them from beginning to end, simply taking in one Chinese character after another.
Now Bai Sui was no longer confused about the future. Whenever he wanted, he could search through his memories, study something carefully, and pick up a skill. At the very least, he wouldn't starve to death. After all, famine might kill many people, but a skilled craftsman could still make a living.
Of course, that was only a fallback—or perhaps a way to earn a living in the future?
He said that because he had made another discovery while meditating: he had found qi.
When he had meditated in his previous life, he had sensed qi too, but only the qi inside his own body. All he could do was control it and make it flow according to his will.
Now, things were different. While meditating, Bai Sui had discovered qi pervading the world around him.
Perhaps this is one of the differences between the two worlds. Or maybe it's because the previous world really was in an age of spiritual decline?
After thinking it over, Bai Sui decided that this was probably the Natural Energy absorbed in Sage Mode in Naruto.
After all, different worlds and different systems could easily use different names for the same thing.
This discovery filled Bai Sui with delight. In his previous life, from the moment he began cultivating, he had known he would never gain any supernatural power that could manifest outwardly.
After all, there were five ranks of immortals: heavenly, earthly, human, divine, and ghostly.
Though Bai Sui had taken his first steps on the path of cultivation in his previous life, he had started opening his spiritual apertures late and begun cultivating late. On top of that, his regular diet had included quite a few things that stimulated development and caused him to mature early. By the time he truly began cultivating, he had already lost his primordial yang.
Moreover, whether he had been naturally dull or the world around him truly lacked any manifest qi, he had never sensed it in his previous life, let alone "seen" it directly as he could now.
So in his previous life, Bai Sui had deliberately devoted himself to the path of ghost immortality.
Though ghost immortals were not pure-yang immortals, they were essentially clear and ethereal ghosts.
Even so, they had already transcended from within yin. Their divine image was indeterminate; they had no name in the ghostly realm, nor any place among the Three Mountains.
Though they ultimately had nowhere to return to and could not make their way back to Penglai or the Isles of Yingzhou, they no longer entered the cycle of reincarnation. They could be reborn or possess another body, which was a kind of second life in its own right.
Bai Sui had even suspected that he might have already cultivated into a ghost immortal in his previous life.
Though his body had become gaunt and his heart ashen, he had still kept his consciousness within and his will undispersed.
His current life might be the result of reincarnation or possession, and the loss of his memories might have been caused by the mystery of the womb.
His Primordial Spirit's ability to replay his previous life's memories in full might also have been unique to ghost immortals. After all, he hadn't possessed this ability in his previous life, nor had he read about anything like it in books.
Now, with qi in this life, he could first follow the path of human immortality and lay a foundation for himself. After that, he might even get a glimpse of the mysteries of Earth Immortality.
Bai Sui wasn't greedy. He didn't aspire to become a divine immortal or a heavenly immortal. An Earth Immortal could already live forever in this world, free from death.