No matter the circumstance, I have a lifeline. That is Return to Truth.
When Sensing Life and Death is pushed to its extremes, and I face a death threat that feels substantial, I will instinctively call upon Return to Truth and start everything anew—
Wait.
In that instant, Li Fan thought of something, and his expression changed slightly.
Survival instinct...
The Xuanhuang Heart Refinement Sutra...
He stood up abruptly, his thoughts racing.
Pacing back and forth, he considered the feasibility.
To inversely refine the Dao Heart, I must resist the instincts within my heart.
And for me, the greatest instinct is to call upon Return to Truth at the brink of death.
If I use this to inversely refine the Dao Heart, the gains would surely be unimaginable.
But it's impossible for me to truly intend to abandon Return to Truth at a life-or-death moment.
Using the Sensing Life and Death method avoids this problem entirely.
Li Fan's eyes gleamed. After a moment, he steadied his mind.
He began operating the sensing method once more.
This time, when all the beauty of life shattered and the threat of death descended again, Li Fan still failed to break free from this habit seemingly carved into his very soul, and once more called upon Return to Truth.
Second attempt, failed.
Undaunted, Li Fan tried a third time, a fourth... Until the fifty-sixth attempt.
Facing the Heavenly Physician, Li Fan activated the Xuanhuang Heart Refinement Sutra.
Simultaneously, with immense willpower, he temporarily suppressed the instinctual impulse to call upon Return to Truth.
But the threat of death did not vanish with Li Fan's restraint.
Instead, it grew increasingly real.
The Heavenly Physician's features grew clearer before his eyes, and the warnings from Li Fan's spiritual sense screamed ever more frantically within him.
In the end, Li Fan still emerged from his cultivation of Sensing Life and Death, drenched in sweat.
Perhaps it is only upon reaching the stage of abandoning life and forgetting death that the Sensing chapter would allow one to truly face death without coming to harm.
He knew with absolute clarity: had he forced himself to continue just now, even if he hadn't perished on the spot, the outcome would have been utterly disastrous.
This technique is genuinely sinister.
And yet, the gains from that brief moment were immense.
Within the great millstone of heart refinement, a slightly greater measure of that cool, refreshing energy cascaded down upon him, more than what he had earned from braving the White Mist or his desperate plea for aid.