210 years.
Li Yuan contemplated that number while feeling his 13 understandings vibrate within his Ganjing Realm. Two centuries plus one decade of life—180 years as a pure soul, 30 years as a regular human.
And during those 180 years, he had accepted his existence as a formless soul. Accepted his inability to touch the physical world. Accepted the reality that he could only observe, not interact.
But now, as he pondered the long journey toward the Eldest Breath, a question arose in his mind:
What if I use my understandings?
The Understanding of Body and the Understanding of Existence... both have been in the Ganjing Realm for decades.
Both are mature, stable, and integrated with my other understandings.
What would happen if... I combined them?
The Experiment with the Understanding of Body
Li Yuan began to focus his consciousness on the Understanding of Body that had long resided in his Ganjing.
The Understanding of Body in the Ganjing Realm means I understand the concept of a body—its structure, function, and the "feeling" of having a body.
Since it's in the Ganjing, its effect is passive and doesn't require external energy to work.
But until now, I've only used it to heal others. Never for... myself.
Slowly, Li Yuan began to channel the Understanding of Body out of his Ganjing, but not to affect others. This time, he directed it at himself.
I remember what it felt like to have hands.
I remember what it felt like to have feet to walk with.
I remember what it felt like to have eyes to see, ears to hear.
I remember... the structure and function of the body I once had.
And something amazing began to happen.
Around Li Yuan's formless consciousness, faint lines began to form. Like a sketch drawn with thin light in empty air.
A consciousness body.
Not a body of flesh, but a manifestation of the meaning of a body, projected through his mature Understanding of Body.
Stabilizing with the Understanding of Existence
But the projection of the consciousness body was still fragile, still shaking unstably. Li Yuan realized he needed something to anchor it.
The Understanding of Existence.
Li Yuan channeled the Understanding of Existence to give a "sense of being" to the forming body projection.
Without Existence, a soul can dissolve into the Dao and lose its identity.
With Existence in the Ganjing, I have an "anchor" that makes my body projection stable and prevents it from dissolving into the void.
I am. I have form. I have an existence that can be felt.
The combination of the Understanding of Body and the Understanding of Existence created something extraordinary:
A body formed from the manifest essence of existence.
The projection began to solidify. The faint lines became clearer. A human form began to take shape—tall, slender, with familiar proportions.
It doesn't need organs, but it can touch, speak, and move at will.
Li Yuan felt a sensation that had long been gone: having a hand. He moved the projected hand, feeling how fingers made of pure consciousness could move according to his will.
Flexibility of the Consciousness Body
This form is flexible, Li Yuan realized with wonder.
With a light concentration, he could make his consciousness body transparent, so that light passed through but the form was still visible.
With a different focus, he could make his body glow with a soft light, like the moon shining at night.
And with a little more effort, he could even make his consciousness body completely resemble a human form—with skin color, hair texture, even details as small as the lines on his palms.
It depends on my wrapping and my intent, Li Yuan understood. I can control how this body looks and feels.
The most astonishing thing: because it's not based on physical qi, this body can't be injured in the usual way—it can only be "disrupted" if my soul wavers or if the understandings that form it are shaken.
The First Test
Li Yuan tried to take a step with his consciousness body.
The feet made of the Understanding of Body touched the ground where the roots of the large trees grew. And he felt a sensation he hadn't felt for 180 years:
Touch.
Not physical touch in the sense of material contacting material. But touch in the sense of connection, interaction, participation with the physical world.
Li Yuan knelt and touched one of the large tree roots.
I can feel it, he thought with calm joy. I can feel the life flowing within this root. I can feel the vibration of growth that has been happening for 180 years.
He stood and tried to speak with his consciousness body:
"I... am still here."
His voice was heard—not with physical vocal cords, but with a projection of the meaning of sound through his Understanding of Body. A familiar voice, the old Li Yuan's voice, but with a more... profound quality.
Seeing the World with New Eyes
With eyes made of the Understanding of Body, Li Yuan saw the lush forest around him from a completely new perspective.
For 180 years, he had only been able to "sense" the environment through his soul consciousness. Now, he could see in a more familiar way.
The tall trees reaching for the sky. The leaves swaying in the wind. The sunlight filtering through the green canopy. The birds singing on the high branches.
Everything looks... the same but different, Li Yuan reflected. It's like looking at a familiar painting, but with eyes that have learned to appreciate details that were previously unseen.
And most surprisingly—he could see traces of the past.
In certain places, where the trees grew most lushly, Li Yuan could see faint shadows of what was once there. Shadows of fallen soldiers. Shadows of blood that had soaked into the earth. Shadows of the long-forgotten battlefield.
This consciousness body allows me to see the layers of time, he realized. To see not only what is now, but also what once was.
Considerations for the Journey
With this new ability, Li Yuan faced a question: Will I continue the journey toward the Eldest Breath with this consciousness body?
On one hand, having a body—even a consciousness body—makes the journey feel more... concrete. More real.
On the other hand, will this body become a limitation? Will the habit of "having a form" hinder my ability to explore dimensions that transcend form?
Li Yuan tried to release his body projection. With ease, the consciousness body dissolved back into his formless pure soul.
Then he tried to project the body again. With equal ease, the familiar form took shape once more.
Flexibility, he realized. I am not bound to a single form or non-form. I can choose according to the needs of the situation.
To explore dimensions that transcend the physical, I can release the body.
To interact with the world or beings that require a form for communication, I can project a body.
This is the beauty of reaching the Ganjing Realm with the Understandings of Body and Existence—the flexibility to exist in any form that is needed.
Continuing the Journey
Li Yuan decided to continue the journey toward the Eldest Breath in his pure soul form—for now. This journey might take him to dimensions that are unsuitable for any physical form.
But now he knew that he was no longer trapped in a single mode of existence.
210 years of life have taught me that limitations often exist in the mind, not in reality.
For 180 years, I accepted that I could no longer have a body.
It turns out I was wrong. I can have a body—a body that is even more flexible than the physical one I once had.
Perhaps there are many other "limitations" that aren't actually limitations.
Perhaps the journey toward the Eldest Breath will teach me that even the concepts of "goal" and "journey" themselves are limitations that can be transcended.
With this new understanding of the flexibility of his existence, Li Yuan continued to follow the calm qi path.
Now with the conviction that whatever awaits at the source of the Eldest Breath, he has the tools—13 understandings in the Ganjing Realm, the ability to project a consciousness body, and 210 years of wisdom—to face it.
Or to become a part of it.
Or to become something entirely new that has never existed before.
Because perhaps that is what "reaching the Eldest Breath" truly means—not finding something that already exists, but becoming something that has never been.
Becoming a new possibility in the universe's infinite possibilities.
And with that thought, Li Yuan—who could now be a pure soul or a consciousness body as needed—stepped deeper into the approaching mystery.