Chapter 80: The Theory of Vital Essence

"Vital energy is formless, pure and impure as one; vital energy is without shape, yet gives birth to heaven and earth."
"Vital energy is the origin of heaven and earth, the foundation of all things."
"Thus, all things in heaven and earth begin with vital energy and return to it."
"Lu Sheng, do you know where these words originally come from?"

High above, a giant azure eagle soared through the sky. Upon its back sat a middle-aged man with refined features, his face untouched by a single wrinkle, speaking to a young man of imposing presence.

These two were Lu Wanshan and Lu Sheng.

After the contest for the sixth-grade snow lotus had concluded, Lu Wanshan instructed Qian Baozhen to attend to affairs in the Western Regions, while he himself brought Lu Sheng and Murong Yu along, riding the sea eagle back toward Jade Capital in Central Province.

After a night of swift travel, they were nearing Central Province when Lu Wanshan suddenly posed this question, testing Lu Sheng.

"The Treatise on the Essence of Vital Energy!"

Lu Sheng answered without hesitation: "These words come from the preface to the Hunyuan Art—the Treatise on the Essence of Vital Energy!"

As a practitioner of Hunyuan Art, Lu Sheng naturally remembered its contents well. The passage Lu Wanshan had quoted was from its preface, titled "The Treatise on the Essence of Vital Energy."

This essay, it was said, was renowned throughout the land; all martial artists had heard of it. Indeed, among many sects and clans, the Treatise was required study.

Lu Wanshan nodded, unsurprised by Lu Sheng’s answer, and continued: "But do you know the true meaning of these words?"

"The true meaning?" Lu Sheng grew serious, furrowing his brow. "The passage means, of course, that vital energy is the foundation of all things."

"Is there, perhaps, another meaning?"

Lu Sheng had read countless theories on the origins of all things in his previous life. Though he had studied the Hunyuan Art and its preface, he never paid it particular heed. Now, hearing Lu Wanshan speak, it was clear the Treatise concealed deeper truths.

"Another meaning?"

Lu Wanshan gave a soft laugh. "If vital energy is the foundation, what need for further meaning?"

"But have you truly understood what ‘the foundation of all things’ means?"

Without waiting for Lu Sheng’s contemplation, Lu Wanshan pointed to the vast river flowing below and continued: "The Emperor Jing, who stepped across the great river, is a legend of martial arts in this age."

"But do you know how he traversed the silt and sand of the river?"

After a night of observation and their recent conversation, Lu Wanshan had discerned that Lu Sheng possessed not only exceptional physical potential, but also an uncommon strength of character and will.

Thus, before parting ways, he hoped to guide Lu Sheng—so that this young man might grasp the true essence of martial arts.

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Lu Sheng’s keen eyesight allowed him, even high above, to see the river below. Hearing Lu Wanshan, he pondered for a moment, then said uncertainly: "Did the Emperor Jing return the river’s silt and sand to vital energy—thus traversing the river?"

The common tale was that the Emperor Jing, wielding the Seal of Mountains and Rivers, pressed down the riverbed, using the seal’s power to compact the silt. Yet now, hearing Lu Wanshan, the truth was far more profound.

Recalling his own astonishment upon learning this, Lu Wanshan smiled, stroking his beard. "Though hard to believe, it is fact!"

"The Emperor Jing traversed mountains and rivers, opening waterways across the land. Sometimes he did borrow the power of the Seal of Mountains and Rivers."

"But most often, he used the transformation of vital energy to reshape the land!"

"Not only the river—even the city walls of Jade Capital, stretching a hundred li on each side, were conjured from the fundamental properties of vital energy by Emperor Jing."

"Otherwise, given the nation’s strength at the time, such a grand project would have been impossible!"

Jade Capital of Central Province was a city famed throughout the realm, its walls stretching a hundred li on all sides and rising twelve zhang high, their surfaces gleaming with white jade.

These flawless, seamless stones not only prevented martial artists from scaling them, but were inscribed with mysterious patterns. When activated, they could form a vast array in an instant.

Even mighty grandmasters could meet their end within.

In years past, when the Lu clan of Great Jing was in decline, Dan King Lu Ninghua, not yet a Void Master, once activated the array to awe the land.

It could be said that the very existence of Jade Capital allowed the court of Great Jing to weather its darkest days.

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"Jade Capital rising from the earth!"

Lu Sheng knew this legend well. The common belief among martial artists was that Emperor Jing had discovered a mountain of jade, used the Seal of Mountains and Rivers to shift it beneath Jade Capital, and thus raised the city.

No one imagined that the city was conjured from vital energy by Emperor Jing himself—

Such ability was truly astonishing!

"One man reshaping rivers and mountains, one forging a city—"

"What kind of strength does a supreme grandmaster possess?"

As he pondered these martial legends, Lu Sheng was filled with longing and awe.

From Lu Wanshan’s words, he sensed that supreme grandmasters stood on a plane apart from ordinary grandmasters—their power far surpassed the latter.

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"What kind of strength?"

"Only they themselves know!"

Though Lu Wanshan had reached the Void Master realm, he knew the gap to supreme grandmaster was vast. Their abilities remained unfathomable.

He gazed down at the land and said to Lu Sheng: "Since the First Emperor attained supreme strength, four supreme grandmasters have been born between heaven and earth."

"Aside from the White Emperor, who left only sword techniques, the other three left behind their martial arts legacies."

"Do you know how martial artists judge these three arts?"

This was common knowledge, and Lu Sheng replied: "In the martial world, the three supreme grandmasters’ arts are praised as—"

"Hunyuan Art for strength, Taixu Art for agility, Golden Armor Art for defense."

Lu Wanshan nodded. "More precisely—"

"The Hunyuan Canon excels at refining vital energy, the Taixu Canon at refining spirit, the Golden Armor Canon at refining the body."

"Our Great Jing Lu clan’s Hunyuan Canon is unrivaled in refining vital energy, thanks to the Treatise on the Essence of Vital Energy—"

"In this discipline, none in the world surpass us!"

His tone brimmed with pride.

Though he cultivated the Mountain and River Art, not part of Hunyuan Art, after becoming a grandmaster, he also studied the Hunyuan Canon left by Emperor Jing.

Having witnessed its power, he unhesitatingly pursued the Hunyuan Pill Canon derived from it after reaching a certain level in the Mountain and River Canon.

By fusing the two, he became one of the most formidable experts of the age.