Chapter 85: The Three Realms of Unified Force

"Young man, are you Lu Sheng?"

"Has no one ever told you not to use occult arts carelessly on other people?"

Lu Sheng, whose eyes were filled with a pale, featureless blur as he used remote sight to peer into the courtyard, suddenly heard that voice.

Then he felt the courtyard gate swing open of its own accord, as if pushed from within.

Though still unable to see, Lu Sheng did not panic. He followed his sense of direction and stepped inside.

A moment later, his vision began to return to normal, and the scene within came into view.

In that not particularly spacious courtyard, an old man with crane-white hair and a childlike face, without so much as a wrinkle, was reclining in a lounge chair beneath the morning sun, seemingly breathing in and refining his inner energy.

The words from before, along with the strange condition of his eyes, had clearly been the work of this man.

"Even though this old gentleman is not yet a great grandmaster, he could already sense my probing..."

"My watching of the grandmaster battle yesterday must have been noticed as well."

Thinking of yesterday’s events, Lu Sheng broke into a cold sweat and silently warned himself to be more careful.

Yet at this moment, there was not the slightest trace of embarrassment on his face. Instead, he stepped forward and bowed to the old man, saying:

"I only wished to see what abilities the teacher arranged for me by Ancestor Wan Mountain truly possesses."

"May I ask, are you Master Lu Chunyuan?"

Lu Chunyuan, the head of Martial Garden and sixth on the Sky Ranking. He was not only one of the strongest masters of the Lu clan of Great Jing, but also the person most likely of this generation to attain the realm of a great grandmaster.

He was the teacher Lu Wan Mountain had arranged for Lu Sheng.

"Oh? And did you see clearly?"

Lu Chunyuan did not pursue whether Lu Sheng had been reckless or merely testing him. He looked at Lu Sheng and said:

"Do you think I am capable of being your teacher?"

Without the slightest delay, Lu Sheng bent low and bowed, saying to Lu Chunyuan:

"Master above, please accept this disciple’s bow!"

He was about to perform the formal rites of apprenticeship according to the customs of this world.

"No need for such a grand gesture."

With a gentle sweep of his arm, Lu Chunyuan sent out a surge of force that stopped Lu Sheng from bowing, and said:

"Being my student is fine, but there is no need for apprenticeship."

"Someone chosen by Ancestor Wan Mountain is not someone I have the ability to take as a disciple."

Just now, when Lu Wan Mountain left Lu Sheng behind, he had already conveyed Lu Sheng’s information to him.

Thus, Lu Chunyuan not only knew Lu Sheng’s circumstances in detail, but also understood from Lu Wan Mountain’s instructions just how highly he valued him.

For someone like that, he could teach him for the time being, but he absolutely dared not take him as a disciple.

That was why he intervened when Lu Sheng bowed, allowing him only to remain an ordinary student.

"An ordinary student? That works too."

Upon hearing Lu Chunyuan’s words, Lu Sheng thought to himself.

There is an old saying: heaven, earth, ruler, parent, teacher; and teacher and disciple are like father and son. In this world, a formal master-disciple relationship was far more binding than an ordinary one.

Lu Sheng now had far too many secrets. Unless necessary, he was not willing to seek a master for himself.

So after hearing Lu Chunyuan’s words, he went along with it and gave the ordinary salute of a student instead.

Such a relationship, compared with true master-disciple inheritance, carried far fewer constraints.

And Lu Chunyuan, because of Lu Wan Mountain’s instructions, would still have to teach Lu Sheng with all his effort.

------------

"This boy has quite the spirit."

Having lived for more than a hundred years, how could Lu Chunyuan fail to guess Lu Sheng’s thoughts from his actions?

Still, with Lu Wan Mountain’s instructions in place, Lu Sheng’s attitude would not affect his guidance of him in the slightest.

It was just that Lu Sheng’s easy abandonment of the chance to become his disciple stirred a subtle urge in Lu Chunyuan to test him.

"Let me see what sort of confidence someone valued by a great grandmaster actually has."

With that thought, Lu Chunyuan began with the basics and asked:

"From the look of you, you should already have become a martial artist."

"May I ask, at the martial apprentice stage, how far did you progress in the three levels of strength mastery before beginning to refine force into energy?"

"The three levels of strength mastery?" Lu Sheng repeated with some confusion. "What does that mean? I’ve never heard of such a thing."

"Those were only summarized by Martial Garden in the past few decades. You only arrived here today, so it is normal that you have not heard of them."

Lu Chunyuan patiently explained:

"The three levels of strength mastery refer to lifting heavy as though it were light, lifting light as though it were heavy, and controlling light and heavy at will."

"Once you reach the third level, the stage of strength mastery follows naturally, with no further difficulty."

"At that point, if you cultivate the primal harmony force, you will certainly reach perfection and comprehend the intent of primal harmony!"

These three realms were compiled only after Lu Chunyuan took charge of Martial Garden, by organizing people and investing considerable effort. After they were put into practice, the number of people who succeeded in perfecting the primal harmony force increased greatly.

It could be said that the proposal of the three levels of strength mastery was one of Lu Chunyuan’s proudest achievements.

------------

"So that’s how it is!"

After hearing Lu Chunyuan’s explanation, Lu Sheng gave an "oh" and said with some realization:

"So the three levels of strength mastery are meant for cultivating to the stage of strength mastery, not the training stage itself."

"Then it seems I should already have reached the highest level—"

"That is, controlling light and heavy at will."

As a top-tier method of refining force, once the primal harmony force reaches perfection, the stage of strength mastery becomes an inevitable result.

Although Lu Sheng had not cultivated the primal harmony force for very long at the time, after comprehending its true intent, his primal harmony force quickly reached perfection.

Naturally, he had long since reached the stage of strength mastery.

If not, he would not have been able to use his strength with ease even after it was tripled.

So after understanding Lu Chunyuan’s words, Lu Sheng instead asked in some confusion:

"Isn’t it said that once the primal harmony force reaches perfection, one naturally attains the stage of strength mastery?"

"Why, in the teacher’s case, must one first reach the stage of strength mastery and only then cultivate the primal harmony force to perfection?"

"Doesn’t that reverse the relationship between the two?"

The primal harmony force he cultivated came from the inheritance stone personally left behind by the Emperor of Jing all those years ago. It could be taken for granted that there would be no problem with it.

Thus, Lu Sheng was quite puzzled by Lu Chunyuan’s statement that one should first reach the stage of strength mastery and then refine the primal harmony force to perfection.

------------

"You... you refined the primal harmony force to perfection and then reached strength mastery?"

Somewhat astonished, Lu Chunyuan widened his eyes and looked at Lu Sheng.

When the Emperor of Jing first created the primal harmony force, it was meant to bring its practitioners to the stage of strength mastery.

Yet after so many years, those who could comprehend the intent of primal harmony at the martial apprentice stage and refine the primal harmony force to perfection remained exceedingly rare.

That was why, after taking charge of Martial Garden, Lu Chunyuan drew upon the connection between the perfection of primal harmony force and the stage of strength mastery to have people first reach the stage of strength mastery.

Then, using their mastery over force at that level, they would refine the primal harmony force to perfection and comprehend the intent of primal harmony.

By now, this method had gained wide acceptance and was gradually becoming the mainstream within the Lu clan of Great Jing.

He had not expected Lu Sheng to have also cultivated the primal harmony force to perfection by the earlier method.