The art of Threefold Reversal?

Lu Jin's voice grew particularly heavy at this point. "From the Three-One Sect's heyday... until its line nearly ended..."

"Only the founding patriarch and my master-your grandmaster-reached the third stage. Just those two."

"I see..." Wang Zhuo pondered this and nodded in response.

"Sit down. I'll teach you how to cultivate it."

Lu Jin sat cross-legged and raised a hand, signaling for Wang Zhuo to settle his mind.

He was silent for a moment, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the fabric of his suit trousers over his knee, as though weighing the sect's century-old legacy, before he slowly spoke.

His voice was quiet, but every word landed solidly, like a knock against old wood:

"The Three-One Sect's art comes down to four words.

Reverse life.

Return to origins.

But first, you must understand what 'natural' means."

"When a person is conceived, a single speck of innate Qi first settles between the kidneys. This is the root of life.

Over ten months of gestation, Qi forms sinews and bones, Qi produces flesh and blood, and the innate gradually becomes an acquired physical body. Only then can a person enter the world with a cry.

Growing up, reaching one's prime, aging, falling ill, and dying all follow this same path.

The innate disperses into the acquired, a single Qi becomes the body's many bones. This is called 'natural reversal.'

Following heaven and accommodating human nature is a steady path, but ultimately, it cannot escape the cycle of life and death."

He looked up at Wang Zhuo, his tone growing firmer:

"We of the Three-One Sect insist on taking the opposite path.

We refine the acquired physical body, layer by layer, back into the form of that single innate Qi.

That is why it is called Threefold Reversal.

Its three stages are three rounds of shedding skin and remaking bones, three journeys backward, delving into the innate."

When he came to the first stage, Lu Jin slowed his speech, as though afraid that speaking too quickly would cause Wang Zhuo to miss the most fundamental essentials:

"The first stage is called true Qi abundance. It refines the skin and flesh.

Many outsiders think it simply means circulating Qi throughout the body to make it sturdier. That is an unorthodox hardening art, not reversal.

The key to the first stage of reversal is not 'circulating,' but 'receiving.'

You cannot push Qi into your skin and force it into your flesh. That is guest Qi. It will not stay.

You must let every inch of skin and flesh, every pore, awaken on its own and actively receive that speck of innate true Qi between your kidneys. Let the Qi slowly seep in and grow together with your flesh and skin.

When the skin and flesh throughout your body naturally hold a layer of true Qi without you deliberately practicing the art,

and when a blade wounds your skin and flesh, the true Qi within automatically surges up to mend them, only then have you perfected the first stage.

Above all, this step forbids chasing quick results and forcibly driving Qi to the surface.

In mild cases, the Qi floats outside, looking impressive but serving no purpose.

In severe cases, it damages the flesh, making any future attempt to enter the second stage as difficult as ascending to heaven."

He paused and quietly watched Wang Zhuo.

Only after Wang Zhuo frowned in thought for a moment, then nodded slightly as though he had truly digested the meaning, did Lu Jin inwardly sigh with relief and continue.

"The second stage: true Qi into the bones, its transformation extending to the organs.

This is the threshold most members of the Three-One Sect spend their entire lives facing.

Skin and flesh are conveniently on the surface. Sinews, bones, and the internal organs lie deep within. An ordinary person's Qi can reach them, but cannot merge with them.

The secret to this stage is 'nourishing in return.'

First, use the true Qi in the skin and flesh from the first stage as your foundation, then travel backward along the twelve meridians.

Seep from the skin and flesh into the sinews and bones, then permeate the five organs from the sinews and bones.

You are not pressing down from above, but merging inward from outside, like water seeping into dry soil.

Little by little, immerse your bones and organs in true Qi, letting them return to their innate state at the beginning of life.

Only at this stage can you truly be called indestructible.

Broken bones can reconnect, damaged organs can be repaired with true Qi, and ordinary dark arts and insidious poisons cannot invade your body at all."

At this point, Lu Jin suddenly turned solemn, his gaze burning:

"But remember, each of the five organs has its own nature. The heart's fire flourishes, the lungs' metal purifies, the kidneys' water stores, the liver's wood releases, and the spleen's earth harmonizes.

When refining the organs, you may only guide Qi according to their inherent natures. You must never force it.

Forcing your way through the heart's meridians will burn your heart and injure you. Forcibly condensing the kidneys' water will send cold into your marrow. These are pitfalls our predecessors encountered at the cost of their blood."

He paused for another breath, as though what came next weighed especially heavily.

"As for the third stage... the entire body transforms into Qi, returning to the innate.

It means refining your entire physical body, skin and bones, organs and soul alike, back into the form of that single speck of innate Qi.

At this point, you can gather or disperse at will, make your body large or small. Ordinary attacks disperse as soon as they touch you, and you have almost no fatal weak points.

From the Three-One Sect's founding until now, only the founding patriarch and my master, Zuo Ruotong, have truly stepped into it..."

Lu Jin's voice dropped, the corners of his eyes drooping with an indescribable melancholy:

"But even this third stage has a barrier we cannot cross.

The world believes that reversing into the innate makes one an immortal. Only upon truly reaching that point does one learn-pure Qi has no substance. There is no returning once you go.

Our Three-One Sect's cultivation method has only the means to 'reverse,' not the foundation to 'remain.'

Refine yourself to the utmost, and only a single Qi remains. Maintaining human form is difficult, let alone truly reaching heaven and attaining eternal life.

My master, back then... was stuck at precisely this step."

He raised his hand and gently swept it through the air. A faint layer of true Qi rose from the ground, gathering without dispersing, like a pool of clear water:

"The sect has an old saying: 'Following the flow may avert the calamity of a numbered lifespan; only reversing it can achieve the art of returning to the origin.'

The saying is not wrong, but on this path of reversal, every step means racing heaven and earth for time, staking your own life on a chance.

One wrong step, and you are beyond redemption."

"Everything I just explained is the true meaning passed down within the sect through spoken instruction. The texts never go into such detail."

Lu Jin drew back his gaze and rested it on Wang Zhuo's face again. His tone softened somewhat, but remained earnest.

"Your comprehension is strong, and you already have a foundation. That is a good thing. But remember these words: slow and steady. The more you rush Threefold Reversal, the more easily you go astray."

Wang Zhuo committed all of this deeply to memory, while also breaking down Threefold Reversal through his own way of thinking.

First stage: Limitless technique, true Qi enhancement.

Second stage: the Twelve Talismans, true Qi infusion.

Third stage: Devil Fruit, an elemental body.

This so-called Threefold Reversal could easily be unraveled through these abilities.

The transformation of the body into true Qi that they sought was nothing more than the elemental body Wang Zhuo was accustomed to.

That subtle sensation was precisely the body transforming into true Qi.

As for seeking immortality and pursuing the Dao?

Wang Zhuo dared to ask what he lacked compared to a true immortal, other than ascending to heaven.

He was undying and indestructible, never aging or declining, forever youthful.

Demon King Bloodline.

The Twelve Talismans.

Devil Fruit.

Transparent World.

These things were simply too far beyond the standard. As for what practitioners of Threefold Reversal sought and feared, they merely feared dying from shattered organs, everything becoming a fleeting dream.

And what did they seek?

Nothing more than eternal life and youth.

Yet for Wang Zhuo, these things were even easier than eating and drinking.

As for dying?

With so many buffs stacked on him, he could not die even if he wanted to.

He was an undying, indestructible ultimate life-form that had overcome the sun, with the Twelve Talismans as insurance.

To kill him, it would take a Nichirin Sword, the three types of Haki, Jackie Chan, Pops, Jade, and Sukuna. With all of them attacking together, perhaps they really could slay him.

What did those who pursued the Dao seek?