Longevity: Comprehending the Heart Method

During those ten years, he hadn’t received a single bit of help from the Sect. He spent his days venturing in and out of dangerous lands. While he found many fortunate opportunities, he also narrowly escaped death time and time again.

In that year, Su Ye was thirty-two, and was already truly the number one person below the Purple Mansion realm.

Even so, it took him another seventeen years to comprehend his own "Dao" and finally take that crucial step to reach the Purple Mansion realm.

Such a growth rate was already plenty fast, yet Song Changsheng was even faster. It defied all common sense.

Su Ding had once secretly investigated the matter. Song Changsheng’s talent could only be considered Middle Upper, and the resources he’d received in his youth were quite ordinary. Only his comprehension ability was exceptionally outstanding, to the point that even Su Ye was slightly inferior in comparison.

Although he had left the mountain to train at a young age and had encountered a fair number of opportunities, no matter how one looked at it, none of it was enough to support his ascent to his current height.

Later, Su Ding discovered two very suspicious things.

First, when condensing a Dao Foundation during the Qi Cultivation Stage, it took Su Ye three years to form a Dao Foundation of the Great Dao, whereas Song Changsheng took only a little over a year.

Second, when breaking through to the Purple Mansion realm, Song Changsheng had shockingly taken less than ten years to advance from Foundation Establishment Great Perfection.

It had taken Su Ye twenty-seven years.

That was how the time gap between the two had formed.

It wasn’t that Su Ye was too slow, but that Song Changsheng was simply too absurd.

After mulling it over, a suspicion took root in Su Ding’s heart, and he was here today to verify it.

He asked several more basic questions in succession, all of which Song Changsheng answered truthfully.

Su Ding finally revealed his true intentions, his voice dropping low. "Have you retained memories of a past life?"

Under what circumstances could a person retain their own memories?

Aside from "transmigration," a concept beyond their understanding, there was another process familiar to all: the reincarnation of a Great Power.

After a person dies, their True Spirit carries their Divine Soul into the cycle of reincarnation. Once their memories are erased, they are reborn as a human.

This was the normal process.

The abnormal process involved only the True Spirit, without the Divine Soul. In such cases, one had no control over their reincarnation—they could become a devil, a demon, or even a beast lacking Spiritual Wisdom.

But regardless of whether the process was normal or abnormal, it signified the absolute end of that lifetime, an outcome that could not be reversed.

Then, during the Ancient Era, some Great Powers discovered a way to preserve the memories of their past life. They called this method "reincarnating to re-cultivate."

By using this method when their lifespan was nearing its end and they had no hope of breaking through, they could carry their memories into their next life to re-cultivate, essentially giving themselves a winning head start.

As long as they didn’t die prematurely, they could use their past-life experience and memories to quickly return to their peak and then push toward even higher realms.

This was not uncommon, especially among the great sects with connections to Immortals. It even gave rise to a specialized profession known as a "Guiding Envoy."

These envoys were specially trained and spread across every corner of the world. Every day, they used special techniques to find the reincarnated experts of their sect, guide them back, and help them awaken their memories.

Although very few of these individuals ever managed to break the shackles of their past lives and reach a higher realm, with enough resources and protection, they could quickly return to their former glory and become pillars of their Sect.

If not for this, how could those great sects have flourished for so many years without declining?

Thus, Su Ding suspected that Song Changsheng was the reincarnation of some Great Power who had awakened his past-life memories at a young age.

If that was the case, then Song Changsheng’s monstrous cultivation speed made perfect sense.

The moment this suspicion appeared, it spread through Su Ding’s mind like wildfire.

He was already over 1,200 years old. Through various life-extending methods, he had managed to prolong his life by over two hundred years, yet he still saw no hope of advancing further.

The shadow of death loomed over him day after day.

The longer he lived, the more he feared death.

To prevent or delay the arrival of that day, Su Ding had made many preparations.

He had once viewed the Law Spirit Fruit from the Luoxia City Secret Realm as his lifeline. For its sake, he had not hesitated to pressure Luoxia City and dispatch Xia Qingxue and her team to fight for it.

Unfortunately, something unexpected happened. The flesh of the fruit vanished without a trace, and Xia Qingxue only brought back a single seed. Though it had been planted, it was nowhere near maturation.

At the time, Su Ding had found it regrettable but hadn’t given it much more thought.

But looking back now, he realized Song Changsheng had been there as well.

’If he’s a reincarnated Great Power, it would have been child’s play for him to use some unknown technique to hide the fruit’s flesh.’

One had to admit, Su Ding’s ability to connect the dots was terrifying. He had almost seen right through Song Changsheng. The one thing he failed to anticipate, however, was that while Song Changsheng had indeed lived a second life, he was not the reincarnation of some Great Power. In his previous life, he had been just an ordinary person.

The reason he cultivated so quickly, aside from the various miraculous techniques he obtained from the *Creation Wondrous Scripture*, was primarily because he had used the Eye of Truth to peer into the Celestial Dao.

He had nearly died that time, but in return, he had obtained a "Dao" character containing the ultimate principles of the Great Dao, as well as the Dao comprehension of the Heaven-Supporting Sword Immortal.

If not for that, how could he possibly have comprehended his own "Dao" so quickly and broken through to the Purple Mansion realm?

A miss by an inch is a miss by a mile.

Su Ding did not have an omniscient perspective, so he had no way of knowing that his seemingly logical deduction was actually a world away from the truth. Instead, he became convinced that Song Changsheng was a reincarnated Great Power.

This realization made him ecstatic, like a drowning man clutching at a straw.

’As long as I can get the technique for "reincarnating to re-cultivate," I can start all over! Even if re-cultivating is full of uncertainty, it’s still a glimmer of hope, isn’t it?’

’And even if I can’t break the shackles of this life in the next, the chance to live again is an immense temptation for someone like me, whose end is near.’

And so, with this mentality, he had sought out Song Changsheng.

He needed one final confirmation. As long as he could prove that Song Changsheng was a Reincarnator, he would obtain the technique for it at any cost—even if it meant dragging the Golden Crow Sect into the Abyss.

’But if Song Changsheng isn’t...’

’...then I’ll have no choice but to use my last resort to extend my life. But I don’t want to use that method unless I have absolutely no other choice.’

’So, Song Changsheng *has* to be the one!’

"Answer my question!" Su Ding bellowed, the force of his voice making Song Changsheng’s Sea of Consciousness rumble violently.

"I..."

Song Changsheng started to answer subconsciously, but the question touched upon his deepest secret. A look of struggle flickered across his face, and he hesitated.

’What a tenacious will.’ Su Ding’s brow furrowed slightly. He knew Song Changsheng had realized his predicament and was starting to resist his will.

"Answer me at once!"

Su Ding’s voice boomed like a great bell, powerful enough to make Song Changsheng bleed from all seven of his facial orifices.

"I..."

Song Changsheng opened his mouth, the answer Su Ding desired seemingly on the tip of his tongue.

’Master, wake up!’ Little Ninth’s voice echoed repeatedly in Song Changsheng’s mind, laced with a rare urgency.

With its repeated calls, Song Changsheng’s consciousness, which had been suppressed by Su Ding, slowly began to stir. It started to resist the power invading his Sea of Consciousness.

Seeing this, Su Ding’s expression turned ugly. He was, after all, only a sliver of Divine Thought, his power limited. With Song Changsheng’s resistance growing so fierce, he was gradually losing control.

"You bastard, answer me!"

Rage flared in Su Ding, and he began to forcibly suppress Song Changsheng’s free will.

But Song Changsheng, no longer in a daze, stubbornly remained silent in the face of his interrogation.

’My secret of being a Transmigrator must never be revealed! No matter what!’

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

’Not even if I die.’

’Because the consequences of revealing it would be far worse than death!’

"AHH—"

Song Changsheng let out a cry of pure agony. Risking having his Divine Soul torn apart, he violently shattered the shackles Su Ding had placed on him.

As soon as he regained control of his Mana, Song Changsheng shouted a curse, "Little Fifth, kill him!"

...