Cultivating in Reverse: My Sign-In System Wants Me Dead

Lu Canghai looked at Su Bai with rare seriousness.

"Disciple, your Golden Core may not be a normal Golden Core."

Su Bai’s heart moved.

Lu Canghai continued, "For ordinary cultivators, the body supports the Dantian, and the Dantian forms the core. But for you, your body may not merely be a vessel."

He pointed at Su Bai’s lower abdomen.

"Your Dantian is one furnace."

Then he tapped Su Bai’s shoulder.

"Your body is another."

Su Bai’s eyes slowly changed.

Lu Canghai said, "Your Dantian is the Yin furnace. Your body is the Yang furnace. The problem now is how to build a bridge between the two without destroying yourself."

"Half of the furnace..." Su Bai said softly. Then he fell silent.

His master was right.

If he could somehow connect his pure Yin spiritual sea with his pure Yang physical body, then the problem would no longer be impossible.

If he could build that bridge, then Dao Fire might have a path to guide both forces without letting them crash into each other.

Su Bai stood and bowed to Lu Canghai.

"Thank you for the teaching, Master. I will try to form that bridge."

Lu Canghai stroked his beard.

"Good. Try anything you can think of. I will watch over you and stop you if anything goes wrong."

Su Bai nodded.

With Lu Canghai watching over him, he finally felt a little more at ease.

Su Bai returned to his favorite flat stone in the courtyard and sat cross-legged. Then his consciousness sank inward.

The familiar darkness of the Infinite Void Dantian opened before him.

Su Bai observed the void carefully.

Then his attention shifted.

Above the Dao Pedestal, his crystalline Sapling Wood Root stood quietly.

Su Bai stared at it. Then an idea struck him.

A tree is nature’s original Yin-Yang bridge. Its roots plunge into the cold, dark, dead earth (Yin), while its branches reach up into the warm, living, sunlit sky (Yang).

It drank from below. It breathed from above.

It did not force earth and sky to collide. It connected them.

Su Bai’s consciousness trembled slightly.

’This might work.’

His Dantian was the cold earth. His body was the warm sky. His Sapling Wood Root might become the bridge.

Su Bai’s thoughts became clearer.

The wood root was already anchored to the Dao Pedestal. It could grow through the void of his Dantian. If he guided it properly, its roots could extend outward, pass through the boundary of the Dantian, and enter his physical body.

But then... he discovered the first problem.

His Dantian was a void. Even if it was not truly infinite yet, it was already large enough to make any bridge-building plan feel ridiculous.

If an ordinary cultivator’s Dantian was a pond, Su Bai’s was a night sky pretending to be a stomach.

The boundary existed. But reaching it was another matter.

Su Bai exhaled softly.

’No matter. A difficult road was still a road.’

He began.

The crystalline Sapling Wood Root trembled.

Then, under Su Bai’s command, thin crystal roots extended from its base.

At first, they only curled around the Yin-Crystal Asteroid Dao Pedestal.

Su Bai carefully guided them.

The roots slowly pierced into the Dao Pedestal and emerged from the other side. Then they shot outward into the void.

At once, Su Bai felt the distance.

The crystalline roots moved very quickly. But compared to the vastness of his Dantian, they seemed painfully slow.

Su Bai concentrated.

The roots continued extending.

One breath. Ten breaths. A hundred breaths.

The boundary was nowhere to be seen.

The Sapling Wood Root itself seemed to resist faintly. Its natural instinct was to remain rooted in the Dao Pedestal. Every time Su Bai’s focus weakened, the extended roots trembled as if they wanted to retreat.

Su Bai immediately stabilized them.

...

Outside, Lu Canghai watched quietly.

At first, he did not speak. But after some time, he noticed Su Bai’s brows tighten.

His disciple’s aura remained stable, but there was a faint strain in his expression.

Lu Canghai walked closer.

"Disciple. How is it?"

Su Bai did not open his eyes.

He could not.

The moment he relaxed too much, the crystalline roots might retract.

So he answered while continuing to guide them.

"Master, I found a possible way. I am using my Wood Root to create a bridge between my Dantian and my Yang body."

Lu Canghai’s eyes widened.

"Wood?"

He froze for a moment. Then his expression changed.

"Right. That might truly work."

Su Bai’s voice remained calm, but his forehead already had a thin layer of sweat.

"The problem is distance. My Dantian is too wide. The roots are moving, but they have not reached the boundary."

Lu Canghai frowned.

"Can you accelerate them?"

"I can, but not enough."

Su Bai paused briefly.

Then he said, "Master, if possible, please help me ask Junior Sister Liu Meng if she can refine more Shattered-Soul Oblivion Pills for me."

Lu Canghai’s eyes narrowed.

Su Bai added, "They can push my spirit root into an overactive state. If I use them carefully, the progress should accelerate."

Lu Canghai understood at once.

His face became serious.

"Hold on. I will return quickly."

Su Bai nodded.

"Thank you, Master."

Lu Canghai stepped onto his flying sword and disappeared from Clear Cloud Peak in a streak of cloud light.

Su Bai remained seated. His full concentration returned inward.

The roots continued forward.

The void remained vast.

Time passed slowly.

...

Five hours later, Lu Canghai returned.

His flying sword descended into the courtyard almost too quickly.

A heavy sack landed beside Su Bai with a dull thud.

"Disciple, I am back."

Lu Canghai cleared his throat.

"I asked the Alchemy Hall to help."

Su Bai’s eyelids twitched, though his eyes remained closed.

Lu Canghai said calmly. "Yao Ding helped. The elders and disciples did too. Since your situation was urgent, I told them this concerned your Golden Core path."

Su Bai was silent.

His master had dragged the entire Alchemy Hall into refining a literal pile of suicide pills.

He could already imagine Peak Master Yao Ding’s expression.

Lu Canghai added, "Yao Ding said that if you die from these, he will deny involvement."

Su Bai nearly laughed.

He immediately steadied himself.

"Thank you, Master."

"Do not thank me yet," Lu Canghai said. "Use them carefully."

Su Bai reached out without opening his eyes.

Lu Canghai placed one pill in his palm.

Su Bai swallowed it. The pill dissolved. Then the effect surged.

The crystalline Sapling Wood Root became excited. The thin roots stretching through the void suddenly accelerated.

Su Bai felt the difference immediately.

They were much faster. The roots shot forward like streams of crystal light.

The effect lasted only ten breaths.

When it began to fade, Su Bai reached out again.

Lu Canghai placed another pill in his hand.

Su Bai swallowed it.

The roots surged again.

Then another.

And another.

Inside his Dantian, the crystalline roots crossed the void like a constellation being drawn by an invisible hand.

Lu Canghai stood nearby, watching Su Bai’s aura carefully.

He did not dare distract him too much.

But seeing Su Bai consume pill after pill, even the old man’s eyes twitched.

...

The day passed.

Su Bai did not move.

Lu Canghai did not leave.

The sack of Shattered-Soul Oblivion Pills became lighter.

Inside Su Bai’s Dantian, the crystal roots finally approached something different.

The endless cold darkness ahead began to ripple.

’There. The boundary!’

It did not look like a wall. It looked like the surface of black water reflecting no light.

Su Bai’s heart tightened.

He did not rush. He slowed the roots.

And just then, the first crystal root arrived before the boundary.

It touched the black surface.

The entire Dantian trembled faintly.

The Yin-Crystal Asteroid Dao Pedestal released cold light.

Su Bai’s physical body outside pulsed with hidden warmth.

For the first time, the two sides noticed each other.

Su Bai felt an invisible tension spread through him.

Cold below. Heat outside.

The two forces had not yet met.

But they were aware.

Lu Canghai’s expression changed.

He sensed it too.

The crystalline tip pierced forward.

It passed through the black boundary.

For one breath, Su Bai felt nothing. Then warmth exploded into his perception.

The first root entered a blood vessel.

The moment it did, the root almost burned.

The Yang in the blood surged toward it instinctively.

At the same time, the Yin from the Dantian tried to flow along the root.

Su Bai immediately controlled both.

’Do not flow. Do not mix. Only touch.’

The root stabilized.

A thin crystal line connected the Yin void to his Yang blood.

Su Bai’s body trembled. His face lost color.

Lu Canghai stepped forward, one hand already raised.

But Su Bai lifted one finger slightly.

Lu Canghai stopped.

Inside, Su Bai guided the second root.

It pierced through the boundary and entered the bones.

The moment it touched bone marrow, Su Bai felt a deep, heavy Yang force. Not as lively as blood, but steadier.

The second root shuddered.

Su Bai stabilized it.

The third root moved next.

It entered the organs.

This time, the Yang vitality was complex. Gentle in some places, fierce in others, constantly moving with the rhythm of life.

Su Bai nearly lost control.

He immediately swallowed another Shattered-Soul Oblivion Pill.

His mind sharpened.

The Sapling Wood Root surged.

The third root stabilized.

Then, inside Su Bai, something changed.

The Yin-Crystal Asteroid Dao Pedestal remained cold.

The blood, bones, and organs remained warm.

But between them, three crystal roots now existed.

A bridge. No. The beginning of a bridge.