Crossover: In Little Garden, Becoming a God Through Once Proven, Forever Proven

"No, I succeeded, but now I have a new problem. Sit down, kid, and talk to me."

Qin Qi had Lu Lin sit down, then asked him a question.

"Lu Lin, where would you say the weakness of Threefold Reversal lies?"

"The weakness... in the first stage, the weaknesses are the inner elixir and the internal organs. In the second stage, the muscles, bones, and most of the internal organs no longer count as weaknesses."

"Only the three elixir fields remain as weaknesses. In the third stage... there don't seem to be any weaknesses at all."

Lu Lin obediently sat down. He didn't know why Qin Qi was asking him this, but he answered anyway.

"That's right, the three elixir fields are weaknesses. But why are they weaknesses?"

"Lu Lin, did your great-grandfather tell you about the time he sparred with the Old Celestial Master?"

Qin Qi continued his questioning.

"He did. I was learning First Reversal from Great-grandfather at the time, and he used it as an example."

"When he was at First Reversal, the Old Celestial Master shook his upper elixir field with a single move and broke his Reversal."

Lu Lin nodded. Lu Jin hadn't kept it from him. Compared to saving face, Lu Jin cared more about nurturing his descendants.

He would certainly pass such an important lesson down to the next generation of disciples, but he hadn't said he'd been beaten to tears. He'd only said he lost.

"Then what method did the Old Celestial Master use to break Reversal?"

Qin Qi asked.

"Um... shook Great-grandfather's upper elixir field?"

Lu Lin ventured. Hadn't he just said that? Why was his martial uncle asking again? Had he injured his brain while cultivating?

"You blockhead... I'm asking what the principle behind it was."

"The upper elixir field is where your spirit resides. The Old Celestial Master shook it, unsettling your great-grandfather's mind and leaving him unable to control his qi for a moment."

"It's like building a house of cards. If your hand shakes even slightly, the whole house of cards collapses."

"Reversal is that house of cards, and an unsettled mind is your hand shaking."

As Qin Qi talked, his thoughts grew clearer. He was gradually beginning to piece together an entirely new path!

"I-is that how it works?!"

Listening to Qin Qi, Lu Lin suddenly widened his eyes. He had only known that shaking the upper elixir field broke Reversal; he hadn't expected this to be the principle behind it.

And the house of cards was such a vivid comparison. He understood it instantly!

"As for the middle and lower elixir fields, they're where essence and qi reside. When either one of them is damaged..."

"It's like suddenly pulling out some of the cards at the bottom of the house. The whole house-Reversal-is bound to collapse in an instant."

"To ordinary people, that seems perfectly normal. After all, qi originates from spirit, essence, and vital energy."

"But... that has nothing to do with our Reversal. The path we walk is different from ordinary people's!"

"Everyone else goes with the flow; we go against it."

"We ourselves have already become qi, so why do we need to reconstruct the three elixir fields? Our qi is entirely ourselves!"

"There's no need to gather qi anew from the elixir fields. We don't need those intangible elixir fields at all!"

Qin Qi had spent a whole day figuring this out. It was just like the meridians he had used when he first began cultivating.

He could draw energy directly from his cells, so why insist on sending it through his meridians? That wasted both time and effort.

The same was true now. The human body had already become Innate Primordial Qi, so why construct the three elixir fields and draw qi from them?

He himself was qi!

"W-why?"

Lu Lin frowned too. He thought Qin Qi was right. They had already become Innate Primordial Qi themselves, so why did they still need to draw qi from somewhere else?

If they had to draw qi from the three elixir fields, reconstructing them could never succeed. After all, the source of their power would be gone.

How could they reconstruct them then?

But reconstruction could succeed. That meant that by the second stage, they had already completely freed themselves from the constraints of the elixir fields.

So why reconstruct the elixir fields in the first place? Couldn't they just find a way to mobilize the qi in their own bodies?

"Martial uncle... I-I don't know why. My great-grandfather never taught me, and the notes left by the sect's elders didn't mention it either."

Lu Lin looked at Qin Qi. He had never considered this question or doubted it; he had simply learned and imitated without thinking.

"Because Reversal was incomplete at the beginning! You've read the notes, so you should know that my master, your martial grandmaster, modified quite a few details back then."

"He made Reversal's reconstruction process more complete and detailed. The overall method stayed the same, but the details were refined."

"And that little bit of refinement greatly reduced the chance of being crippled by Threefold Reversal!"

"That shows the original Reversal wasn't completely developed. There was still plenty of room to build on it!"

The information in Qin Qi's mind was gradually coming together. Was the concept behind Threefold Reversal right? Yes, and it was a lofty one at that.

Could it reach the heavens? Yes. In myths and legends, prehistoric tales, and the Little Garden system, there were all accounts of one qi transforming into the Three Pure Ones.

Its concept ranked among the loftiest even in fantasy and immortal cultivation worlds, but the way it put that concept into practice wasn't complete enough.

"Threefold Reversal turns a person into Innate Primordial Qi, but why does it skip so many steps?"

"We were born human and grew into adults. If we really want to cultivate in reverse, the first step should be returning to youth."

"We should turn our bodies back into infants, then embryos, step by step. Only then should we return to Innate Primordial Qi!"

"But our technique doesn't have that step. It just reconstructs the physical body with qi. That's... no different from making someone ascend to heaven in a single bound without giving them any steps to climb."

"If you make someone tread on empty air, how could they possibly get up there?"

Qin Qi had discovered why Threefold Reversal was only superficial and couldn't become fundamental: it was missing far too many steps.

Reversal, Reversal-you had to return to the most primitive state step by step. If you skipped every step and then tried to reset everything, that was impossible.

"Um, martial uncle, how about I call Great-grandfather? You can ask him to come. I really can't keep up with your train of thought anymore."

Lu Lin had been a good child since he was young. It had never occurred to him that Threefold Reversal might be wrong; he had always cultivated step by step.

But now, in just a few sentences, Qin Qi had smashed the ideas Lu Lin had established. Had he been cultivating the wrong way from the start?

"Go on, go on, I don't need you anymore. I've more or less sorted out my thoughts. Go outside, stay there, and don't disturb me..."

Qin Qi's thoughts had come together during their conversation. He already knew what his next step should be.

He sent Lu Lin outside and began modifying the technique. He had never cultivated strictly by the book.

He used his own understanding to cultivate his own technique, and this time was no different.

[In the time that followed, you did not rush to find a way to break through to the third stage of Reversal. You began cultivating First Reversal again from the beginning.]

[Following your own line of thought, you prepared to begin by returning your physical body to its essential state. You were not yet capable of returning to youth.]

[But you discovered what the most primitive, essential state was: the unity of spirit and body, with flesh and soul inseparable. That was the original embryonic state.]

[You began carefully controlling your body and soul, making every cell merge and correspond with every part of your soul.]

[You now put the chopstick theory you had previously proposed into practice. The dotted lines between body and soul gradually began to close.]

[Quanzhen's inner elixir cultivation surfaced in your mind. Quanzhen's spirit and body were incomparably powerful. When faced with Heng Ha Snorting Qi...]

[Other people's souls were easily knocked out of their bodies, while those of Quanzhen practitioners remained exceptionally stable, even when their spirit and body were equally strong.]

[This was the refinement of the dotted lines. Soul and body gradually became inseparable. Quanzhen, Quanzhen-to make the true self whole!]

[Thanks to your previous experience, you cultivated quickly. In a single day, your spirit and body became one.]

"Spirit and flesh as one?"

Qin Qi looked at his palm. He raised his hand, and his arm turned to qi. Every bit of that life energy contained his will.

"Gathering and scattering at will."

Qin Qi let the qi drift freely away. No matter how long it floated in the air or how far it traveled, he could still sense and control it.

A trace of his consciousness remained in that life energy at all times. This was spirit; his soul, too, had undergone Reversal along with it, becoming the original Innate Primordial Qi.

"Come back."

Qin Qi gently clenched his fist, and that portion of qi returned in an instant. He began using Magnetic Field Rotation, and the Hamon he could produce this time was even stronger.

"The essence of Magnetic Field Rotation is to use consciousness to control life energy, making it rotate and vibrate to produce energy."

"And now every cell of mine is effectively my body. They rotate and vibrate of their own accord, producing far more energy than when they're moved passively!"

Qin Qi suddenly thought of the Ultimate Strongmen in the Martial God series by the same author as Sea Tiger. Upon reaching that realm, as long as a single consciousness remained...

The body could be reassembled at any time. They could be said to be undying and indestructible.

"Although I can't do that yet, the foundation has already been laid. All I need to do is keep moving forward, one step at a time."

Qin Qi continued cultivating, advancing from the first stage to the second. This time, he began dissolving his own form. He no longer needed the three elixir fields.

Nor did he need the form of a physical body. Every bit of life energy was him, and he was every bit of life energy.

[You continued cultivating, gradually becoming able to gather and scatter at will. The form of your body vanished completely, and you once again reached the peak of Threefold Reversal Second Stage.]

[But... at the peak of your second stage now, you had already accomplished what the third stage could do, reaching the realm Zuo Ruotong had once attained.]

[At this moment, you came to understand your own Threefold Reversal. Three was the limit; there was no need for a fourth, fifth, or sixth stage.]

[All that was needed was continual refinement. The process from existence to nonexistence, from all things to the Dao-you could say it had three steps, or you could say it had only one.]

[After understanding your own path, you emerged from the cave and saw Lu Jin waiting outside.]

[You smiled at Lu Jin, then at Lu Lin. Seeing that you were safe and sound, both of them visibly breathed a sigh of relief.]

[But the next second, they grew tense again.]

"Senior brother, I've made up my mind. I'm going to modify the Three-One Sect's technique."

"The current technique isn't complete enough. It has errors, and I'm going to abandon it and have future disciples switch to the updated second version."

Qin Qi spoke with a smile.

Everything above is purely my personal opinion. If anyone thinks there are problems or shortcomings with this cultivation setting, feel free to leave a comment.

The views above are also based on material from the original work, but there's too much of it, so I won't go into it here.

I'll post a related chapter later. Anyone interested can take a look.

Chapter 58: Later, Someone Resembled You in Three Parts, and My Heart Fell into Disarray!

"Junior brother, I heard about your ideas from Lu Lin. They're quite novel, but a cultivation technique is fundamental to a sect."

"It isn't something that can be modified casually, so..."

Lu Jin frowned. He didn't want to change what their master had passed down, and he wanted even less to admit that Zuo Ruotong was wrong.

But he also had to agree that what Qin Qi said made a lot of sense. With no other choice, he could only try to talk Qin Qi out of it.

"Senior brother, just tell me whether you agree or not."

Qin Qi cut Lu Jin off.

"I don't agree. How can our sect's inheritance be modified on a whim? Junior brother, I admit you're exceptionally gifted, but this is a serious matter. You can't just change it however you please."

Lu Jin's expression turned serious. On matters of principle, he was this unyielding-like a stone from a latrine, both stinking and hard.

"Senior brother, whether you agree or not, I'm going to do it."

"Don't you dare! The Three-One Sect has the final say!"

"Senior brother, we're both Master's disciples. Master is still the head of the Three-One Sect, not you or me."

Qin Qi's expression remained calm, without a trace of anger. He even still wore that kindly smile.

"Bullshit! It's only been a few days, and you already want to dig up the foundations of our Three-One Sect! You, you... you're going to be the death of me!"

Veins bulged on Lu Jin's forehead. He had never imagined that Qin Qi could say such things here, in front of their master's grave.

And to think he had regarded Qin Qi as the future of the Three-One Sect. The position hadn't even been passed on yet, and Qin Qi was already going to destroy the sect!