Return to the Three One Sect

Repeatedly transforming into qi and reconstructing himself had given Indra complete mastery over the structure of every inch of his flesh and every organ.

It was like repeatedly reloading a save and clearing a game. After beating it hundreds or thousands of times, you could pick up the controller and finish it with your eyes closed.

His abundant chakra flowed throughout his body. Wherever it touched, his flesh dissolved like melting snow, becoming white clouds of qi that swirled around him.

All color seemed to drain from Indra's body, his skin and hair turning pure white.

He lowered his gaze to his left palm, drew his chakra shortsword, and mercilessly swung it down.

Swish!

The blade swept through, easily severing his left hand.

The severed hand did not fall to the ground. Instead, white clouds of qi held it suspended in midair.

What flowed from the severed stump was not blood, but chakra transformed into qi.

With a thought from Indra, the chakra at the wound flowed back into his body, and his left hand reattached to his wrist.

His qi-transformed sinews, bones, skin, and flesh wove together like billions of threads, stitching the hand back on perfectly.

At the same time, Indra released his Reverse Birth state and clenched his left hand with some force.

"It worked!"

Looking at his left hand, now as good as new, Indra grinned.

After a whole night of hard practice, he had finally grasped the core of "qi transformation" and successfully advanced to the Reverse Rebirth Second Layer!

Although reconstructing the three elixir fields was still quite difficult, transforming his sinews, bones, skin, and flesh into qi and reconstructing them was no longer a problem!

Wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead, Indra let out a long breath.

His hard work and sweat had not let him down!

Still, transforming flesh into qi and reconstructing it was extremely taxing on the mind.

Without sufficient cultivation of one's inner nature, an inadequate soul would also make reconstruction difficult.

The two masses of chakra he had merged had played a major role in Indra's immediate success.

Every merger not only increased his chakra, but also strengthened his physique and soul.

Without that foundation, reaching the Reverse Rebirth Second Layer in a single day would hardly have been so easy.

By now, the initial shock had vanished from Zuo Ruotong's face as he sat nearby, leaving only a smile of acceptance.

My disciple is an immortal reincarnated. What's wrong with him mastering the Reverse Rebirth Second Layer in a single day?

In contrast to Zuo Ruotong's delight, Indra looked thoughtful.

The Reverse Birth Triple Layer claimed to transform the entire body into primordial qi, but in plain terms, it was a method of gathering into form and dispersing into qi. It could also be called elementalization.

But he had used chakra in his qi transformation, not true qi.

"In a sense, I'm training myself into a tailed beast."

"If this path works, I'll have much more room to maneuver."

"I can apply chakra nature transformation to it as well."

Jo raised his left hand. Beneath the qi-transformed skin and flesh, faint arcs of electricity flickered.

Only a moment later, however, those flickering arcs disappeared without a trace.

He had yet to master chakra nature transformation, so he could not properly incorporate his lightning or fire nature into his chakra.

"But perhaps I can start practicing shape transformation ahead of time."

Jo remembered the training stages for the Rasengan with perfect clarity.

He had never dared to try before, partly because he had little chakra, and partly because the training was dangerous.

Concentrating highly compressed chakra at a single point could damage the chakra pathway system with the slightest mistake.

But now he lacked nothing.

Although he had the idea, Indra did not act on it immediately.

A sleepless night of training had depleted most of his mental energy.

"Yaaawn..."

Jo gave a lazy yawn, only to meet Zuo Ruotong's burning gaze.

His heart skipped a beat, and he asked quietly, "Master, what are you planning?"

When Jo spoke, Zuo Ruotong replied with an earnest expression, "Indra, there's something I'd like to ask of you."

Jo took the initiative to bring them closer, saying softly, "Master, you taught me the Reverse Birth Triple Layer. There's no need to call it a favor. Just tell me."

Zuo Ruotong stopped holding back and said frankly, "Quite a few disciples in the sect were left disabled after something went wrong while they practiced the Reverse Birth Triple Layer. I'd like to ask you to return to the Three One Sect and use your divine ability to help them."

Once he understood Zuo Ruotong's wishes, Indra immediately smiled.

"Master, even if you hadn't asked, I would have been willing to do that.

Besides, as your disciple, there's still much I don't understand. I'll need your guidance."

Jo's voice was gentle, and his attitude thoroughly sincere.

"A teacher for a day is a father for life" was no idle saying in this era.

His chakra reincarnation had been an orphan, taken in by the Three One Sect as a child and fortunate enough to become Zuo Ruotong's disciple.

Having fully absorbed the chakra's memories, Indra also carried that gratitude toward the Three One Sect and his master, Zuo Ruotong.

Zuo Ruotong froze for a moment, then smiled warmly.

Knowing that his disciple was an "immortal reincarnated," he had never dared to overstep.

But now it seemed that Indra was still his beloved disciple.

A gifted, intelligent disciple who also respected his master and honored his teachings—what greater blessing could a teacher have in life?

Warmth filled Zuo Ruotong's heart. Before he could say anything more, Indra's hand was already resting on his shoulder.

"Indra, you've only just mastered the Reverse Rebirth Second Layer. You still need quiet rest. There's no hurry to return.

This is a Foundation-Nourishing Pill. Take one first and get some proper rest."

Zuo Ruotong took a jade bottle from inside his robes and retrieved a pill that gave off the fresh fragrance of medicinal herbs.

As an orthodox Daoist sect, the Three One Sect had been best known for its Reverse Birth Triple Layer, but it had never been weak in other areas either.

Its teachings covered object manipulation, hand-to-hand combat, pill refinement, and more.

The sect had inherited quite a few medicinal pill formulas, which were also used during meditation and cultivation.

Jo accepted the pill and swallowed it. Its medicinal power quickly spread through his body.

As his blood and vital energy were replenished, his overall vitality and spirits improved considerably as well.

"This works far better than the medicinal formulas in the Uchiha Clan!"

In fact, taking medicine was also customary in ninja training.

A prime example was Konoha's Akimichi Clan. The secret medicines passed down in their clan were extremely powerful and counted as strategic resources within the village.

The Uchiha Clan also had secret medicines, but they were mostly medicinal broths and baths that replenished blood and vital energy.

They had done very little research in this field, so even with money, Indra could not buy particularly valuable resources.

The medicinal pills passed down by the Three One Sect had opened a whole new door for Indra.

The claim that taking too many pills weakened your foundation was bullshit. Taijutsu training and chakra extraction both required nourishment; otherwise, the more you trained, the more depleted you became.

A pill like this, with virtually no side effects, would definitely be a treasured hereditary medicine in the world of Naruto. It was extraordinarily valuable.

Circulating the Reverse Birth cultivation method to speed up absorption, Indra smiled and said, "Master, we can head back right away. It won't be too late to rest once we're there."

"Huh?"

Zuo Ruotong looked at Indra in bewilderment.

Two years had passed since he descended the mountain, and master and disciple had traveled north all along the way. Even taking a "train" would not get them back that quickly.

The next moment, Zuo Ruotong's feet left the ground as telekinesis lifted him.

Their figures became a blur streaking across the land. The surrounding scenery streamed backward so quickly that Zuo Ruotong's eyes could barely keep up.

"Th-this..."

Zuo Ruotong's eyes widened as he looked around in astonishment and uncertainty.

Before he could make sense of what was happening, the rapidly retreating scenery abruptly stopped. The Three One Sect's mountain gate appeared before him, everything exactly as it had been before they descended the mountain.