Chapter 3: The Three Treasures of Auspicious Magic
“Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune, the foundation of entry. The profound arts of Nine-Nine, reaching the pinnacle.” Chanting the opening phrase of the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune technique, Lu Sheng mused to himself:
“For me right now, mastering the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune and receiving its legacy is the utmost priority. Though Emperor Jing was a supreme grandmaster, no matter how powerful the Hunyuan Technique he passed down may be, can it truly compare to a legacy that traverses worlds?”
With these thoughts, Lu Sheng settled cross-legged on the floor, earnestly delving into the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune.
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As the original owner of the Auspicious Fortune chose his successor, the cultivation of the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune was naturally not simple. Its first principle was how to command one’s own essence, energy, and spirit.
“Heaven has three treasures: sun, moon, and stars. Earth has three treasures: water, fire, and wind. Man has three treasures: essence, energy, and spirit. The Auspicious Fortune passed to me is the first layer of the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune, the art of cultivating the three treasures within man: essence, energy, and spirit.”
“The first step of this technique is to gather essence, energy, and spirit so that none escapes, achieving a body without leakage.”
“A body without leakage!”
After pondering for a moment, Lu Sheng found himself at a loss and continued his contemplation:
“The first step is merely the foundation. The second step is how to mobilize one’s essence, energy, and spirit so that not only are they perfectly contained, but can also reach their peak instantly when needed.”
“This requires the skill of harmonizing and transforming essence, energy, and spirit: essence transforms into energy, energy into spirit, essence into spirit, energy returns to essence, spirit returns to essence, spirit returns to energy…”
“The three flow freely, circulating without end. Whenever one breaks through, it drives the other two forward, advancing together, harmoniously developing.”
“This is excellent. My spirit is the combined strength of two, already stronger. If I master this step, my essence will quickly reach the same level as my spirit, and my strength will grow rapidly!”
Thinking this, Lu Sheng glanced at his own data: “Essence 0.90, Energy 0.92, Spirit 1.96,” and recalled the methods of harmonizing essence, energy, and spirit described in the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune. He unconsciously began circulating them.
This time, he was merely experimenting, not expecting any results. Yet, to his surprise, as soon as he started harmonizing his essence, energy, and spirit, he felt those attributes stir faintly, as if beginning to circulate.
“Huh! What’s happening? Could it be that I am especially suited to cultivating the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune, and in just this short while I can already mobilize essence, energy, and spirit?”
Sensing this phenomenon, Lu Sheng wondered to himself.
“Perhaps it’s the Auspicious Fortune helping me? Maybe its function is precisely to assist in practicing the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune!”
Looking at the essence, energy, and spirit data in his mind, Lu Sheng speculated.
He did not yet know that this benefit was granted because he had been recognized by the Auspicious Fortune; for others, it would require painstaking effort to gain such control over their essence, energy, and spirit.
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Without dwelling further, Lu Sheng now realized he could already mobilize his essence, energy, and spirit, so he could begin cultivating the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune.
Without hesitation, he swiftly completed the training to gather essence, energy, and spirit, then began practicing the second step.
“The gap between essence and energy is smallest, so coordinating them should be easiest. Let’s start with them.”
Looking at his data, “Essence 0.90, Energy 0.92,” Lu Sheng thought.
Immediately, under the command of his powerful spirit, essence and energy began to circulate rapidly according to the methods of the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune. Before long, when he paused, his essence, energy, and spirit data had changed:
“Essence 0.92, Energy 0.92, Spirit 1.96.”
He punched the air vigorously, feeling his body grow stronger and his strength increase. He couldn’t help but feel invigorated:
The cultivation of the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune truly does rapidly enhance one’s essence, energy, and spirit!
Yet, as he felt his stomach, emptied soon after eating, Lu Sheng smiled wryly:
“The increase in essence, energy, and spirit requires energy!”
He pondered further:
“Just increasing the essence attribute by 0.02 consumed all the food I had just eaten. By this measure, even if I ate all the food in the secret chamber, it would be difficult to raise essence to the level of spirit.”
“Relying solely on food cannot provide enough energy!”
“It seems I must depend on the omnipotent merits!”
Directly using merits to increase essence, energy, and spirit consumed a vast amount, but if he used merits merely to supply energy, the cost would be much less.
Having experienced the effect of investing 1 merit point in memory, Lu Sheng had gained a preliminary understanding of their power.
With these thoughts, he instructed:
“Auspicious Fortune, supply energy for my increase in essence, energy, and spirit!”
He resumed his cultivation.
No longer concerned about external disturbances or internal energy, Lu Sheng continued practicing, unaware of how much time had passed. Only when his essence, energy, and spirit attributes all reached the highest value of 1.96 did he stop.
At this moment, his attributes in essence, energy, and spirit were nearly double those of an ordinary person!
Feeling the surging vigor and immense latent strength in his body, Lu Sheng once again marveled at the power of the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune.
His attribute data now read:
“Essence 1.96, Energy 1.96, Spirit 1.96; Luck 9, Merit 14, Karma 11.”
“At first, I had 26 merit points, 5 were spent restoring my body, 1 for recording the legacy. By this calculation, raising essence to match spirit consumed 6 merit points for energy.”
“Though the expenditure is considerable, compared to previously using up all my merits for only a 0.02 increase in essence, energy, and spirit, it is absolutely worthwhile!”
“This Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune technique is truly incomparable!”
Brimming with energy and without a trace of hunger, Lu Sheng remained focused, determined to forge ahead and completely master the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune, so he could receive the legacy within the Auspicious Fortune.
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“The third step is to merge essence, energy, and spirit into one, freely stacking and utilizing them.”
Looking at the key points of the third step in the first layer, Lu Sheng pondered:
“In other words, once I master this step, when I need to primarily use essence, I can stack energy and spirit onto it. My essence attribute, originally 1.96, stacked with energy and spirit, becomes—5.88!”
Immediately, Lu Sheng manipulated his internal energy and spirit, stacking them onto essence. In his mind, his attributes shifted to:
“Essence 5.88, Energy 0.00, Spirit 0.00; Luck 9, Merit 14, Karma 11.”
“Essence represents vitality, mainly relating to the body’s strength and speed. When I need explosive power or speed, I can stack energy and spirit onto essence, unleashing three times the original force!”
“Energy represents the body’s foundation, mainly concerning recovery. When my vitality is depleted, I can stack essence and spirit onto energy, recovering at triple the speed!”
“Spirit represents mental power, relating to memory and comprehension. When I need to record or comprehend something, I can stack essence and energy onto spirit, likewise reaching three times the original capability!”
“With 5.88 in spirit, I can almost remember everything at a glance. In this light, spending 1 merit point to record the legacy earlier seems a bit wasteful!”
“Luckily, it was also used to organize memories; otherwise, that merit point would hardly have been worthwhile!”
Constantly experimenting with stacking essence, energy, and spirit, and feeling his vastly enhanced strength, recovery, memory, and perception, Lu Sheng was deeply impressed.
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“All right, this step is done; now comes the final stage. Once completed, my Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune will be perfected, and I can receive the true legacy!”
Thinking this, he stacked essence and energy onto spirit and continued his study:
“So, the previous three steps were all about controlling essence, energy, and spirit; this last step is about utilizing them!”
“This stage is about transformation.”
“Every living being’s essence, energy, and spirit have their own unique traits. Practitioners of the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune become highly sensitive to these qualities. Upon sensing another creature’s traits, one can slightly alter one’s own essence, energy, and spirit to simulate them.”
“Completing this step brings absolute mastery over the three treasures. The first layer of the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune is then perfected!”
Reading this, Lu Sheng was completely awed: merely the foundational use of essence, energy, and spirit involved so many techniques. The one who left this legacy possessed vast powers and boundless wisdom—truly worthy of admiration!
“If I master this step, many methods targeting essence, energy, and spirit will no longer affect me.”
“For example, if someone tries to track or curse me by locking onto my essence, energy, and spirit, I can simply alter them and break free entirely;”
“Even, if I am proficient in disguise or bone-shrinking techniques, I can change my outward appearance and then alter my essence, energy, and spirit, making it impossible for others to distinguish truth from falsehood…”
“This technique is truly wondrous!”
“Unfortunately, there is only me in this secret chamber; I cannot experience the unique traits of other creatures’ essence, energy, and spirit.”
“To complete this step, I’ll have to wait until I leave.”
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With these thoughts, Lu Sheng recalled the opening phrase of the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune:
“Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune, the foundation of entry. The profound arts of Nine-Nine, reaching the pinnacle.”
“Just the ‘foundation of entry’ of the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune has so many marvelous uses. Then the ‘Nine-Nine Profound Arts’ that reach the pinnacle must be even more powerful.”
“And judging from the last step of the Three Treasures of Auspicious Fortune, and the similar function of the Eight-Nine Profound Arts, it seems likely the Nine-Nine Profound Arts are arts of transformation.”
“Perhaps, after cultivating this technique, one can truly transform all beings and all things!”
“I hope the day comes soon when I can receive the legacy and witness this extraordinary art!”