Chapter 123: Martial Arts Heart: Its Name Is Origin
Chapter 123: Chapter 123: Martial Arts Heart: Its Name Is Origin
The Martial Dao—Senluo Myriad Manifestations!
As if struck by an epiphany, Zhu Ge threw a simple punch forward.
Nothing around him reacted. There wasn’t even a breeze from his fist, just the kind of force an old man might use practicing tai chi in the park.
But Zhu Ge faintly understood. This was his Martial Dao.
Senluo refers to the dense growth of plants, arrayed in abundance, which by extension means the vast and complex tapestry of all things in the universe.
Myriad Manifestations, in turn, refers to all things and phenomena, both within and without the universe.
This meant that Zhu Ge’s Martial Dao didn’t require him to deliberately study any single type of living being. Instead, he could make use of the suitable traits from all of them.
The Martial Arts Heart that Zhu Ge was consolidating with this as his foundation would grant him the ability to draw upon these techniques at will.
Whether it was a dragonfly skimming the water or an old ox plowing a field, he could learn from it, comprehend the corresponding Martial Dao within it, and put it to use.
He could even rapidly master Martial Arts Cultivation Technique Secret Manuals like the "Angry-Eyed Vajra Palm."
This was his Dao.
It could be called the Heart of Senluo Myriad Manifestations, or it could be called the Heart of Origin!
The Martial Dao—Heart of Origin!
"Hooo..."
’It’s time.’
With that one punch thrown, Zhu Ge slowly exhaled, then retracted his fist, stood still, and closed his eyes to quietly experience the change.
The wind stilled, the trees ceased to sway, and the sun blazed like a fiery inferno.
Not far away, Zhu Sisi, who had been observing Zhu Ge’s practice, stopped munching and forgot to continue eating her mulberry leaves.
Liu Jianjian and Sword Hero also paused their sparring and cast astonished gazes in his direction.
They were no strangers to that inexplicable process Zhu Ge was undergoing.
Because it had been the same when they condensed their Demon Hearts.
"I wonder what kind of Demon Heart the Great Master will condense," Sword Hero said softly. "With the Great Master’s strength, shouldn’t it at least have the feel of a waterfall?"
"A waterfall?" Liu Jianjian shook her head. "When a Demon Heart beats, some are like a trickling stream, others like a gushing spring. But those are all ordinary Demon Hearts."
She looked at Zhu Ge, her eyes filled with pure adoration and anticipation. "Master can fight a Second Realm opponent while in the First Realm like he’s swatting a fly. He disabled a Second Realm Transformation tiger with a single punch."
"Even my Demon Heart, when I reached the Transformation Realm, sounded like a small river flowing. My Master is transforming—bah! My Master is becoming a Mountain Shattering Martial Artist, and he’s so powerful! I bet when his Martial Arts Heart starts beating, it’ll have to be like rolling Celestial Thunder!"
"Celestial Thunder..." Sword Hero was stunned. "According to legend, a Martial Arts Heart that sounds like thunder has only been achieved by Body Refining Martial Artists of the Ancient Era... wait, the Great Master *is* a Body Refining Martial Artist!"
"Exactly!" Liu Jianjian’s face was alight with excitement.
"Legend says that the strongest sound a Martial Arts Heart can make when it condenses is like the roar of the mythical Yellow River, but I’m sure Master’s Martial Arts Heart will sound like Celestial Thunder!"
Celestial Thunder!
To members of the Demon Race like Liu Jianjian and Sword Hero, who had spent many years in the Second Realm Transformation Realm, there were clear distinctions in condensing a "Heart."
Whether it was a Demon Heart, a Confucian Heart, or a Martial Arts Heart, the principle was the same.
The sound of the heart’s first beat represented one’s potential.
The human body has three palaces.
The Upper Yuan Palace, also known as the Purple Mansion.
The Middle Yuan Palace, also known as the Jiang Room, is the heart—the central foundation.
The Lower Yuan Palace is the Dantian, which stores energy.
In the First Realm, the energy generated by all living beings condenses in the Lower Yuan Palace.
In the initial stage, one stream occupies the Lower Yuan Palace; in the middle stage, two streams occupy the Lower and Middle Yuan Palaces.
At the peak of the First Realm, Blood Qi resides in the Upper, Middle, and Lower Yuan Palaces. The Blood Qi circulates through them endlessly, becoming almost self-sustaining.
And to break through from the First Realm to the Second Realm, one must condense a new heart within the Middle Yuan Palace.
The function of this new heart is different from the original, yet similar.
It is the energy hub for the entire body.
While the physical heart pumps blood throughout the body, the new heart pumps Blood Qi.
Moreover, the new heart will also truly transform the physical body, allowing it to slowly grow stronger.
This is also why most practitioners from schools like the Confucian Family, which use reading and knowledge as cultivation elements, still possess strong physiques.
Just like the Teacher and Yu the Scholar—those two from the Confucian Family are by no means weaklings who can’t even truss a chicken.
In terms of pure physical strength, it would be no problem for Yu the Scholar to kill an ordinary, non-Demon Beast tiger.
Furthermore, the new heart’s transformation of the body can also make the body more attuned to the characteristics of its specific "energy."
A Demon Heart allows a Demon Beast’s body to gradually transform, making it more suitable for generating and circulating Demon Qi.
A Confucian Heart allows a person’s body to handle more Literary Energy, and a Martial Arts Heart does the same for Blood Qi.
And for Zhu Ge, this new heart is a Martial Arts Heart, which will allow his body to bear even more Blood Qi.
Combined with his Great Sun Glaze Body technique, his physical body is destined to become stronger and stronger in the future.
’This is... the Mountain Shattering Realm?’
Just then, Zhu Ge opened his eyes.
He looked down and felt a faint phantom overlaying the position of his heart.
It was the origin of all things he knew.
There was a great python constricting its prey, a woodpecker eating insects, a clumsy bear rubbing against a mountain, a hungry tiger pouncing on its food, a carp leaping over a river...
These myriad scenes left Zhu Ge deep in thought and also stunned Liu Jianjian and the others not far away.
Their Demon Hearts had never shown any phantoms!
"A Human Race... prodigy?" Sword Hero muttered to himself.
To be able to condense a Heart with phantoms in the Second Realm meant that one’s path was incredibly firm, solid, and profound.
The crucial point was, this sort of condensation usually only produced one or two phantoms.
For example, Venerable Rain Swift, the creator of the Xu Family Rain Swift Fist, had an incomparably powerful Martial Arts Heart, yet it only condensed into the form of a rain swift.
Even Sword Hero, a demon who had followed humans before, was seeing a Martial Arts Heart with so many phantoms for the first time.
And Liu Jianjian? Even more so.
She had spent her years surviving in the wild, where Demon Beasts couldn’t be bothered to think about their future paths. They basically just advanced whenever they could.
That’s why most members of the Demon Race had mediocre potential and couldn’t even defeat Zhu Ge when he was in the First Realm.
As for phantoms?
From the limited information Liu Jianjian had gleaned from eavesdropping on gossip, it seemed that was something only Divine Beasts of the Ancient Era could condense.
A Divine Beast like that would suppress the current Plague God Sparrow and Red River Dragon Python in terms of sheer status. They might even be born with the power of the Third Realm.
But that was a Divine Beast!
At this thought, Liu Jianjian felt a wave of dizziness and was suddenly speechless.
Her... her Master... his heart had condensed so many phantoms?
No, it wasn’t that there were many.
It was that every single phantom was equivalent to the power of some kind of Divine Beast!
"Master..."
Liu Jianjian opened her mouth, but couldn’t say a word.
But then, suddenly, she froze.
"Huh? Why can’t I hear a heartbeat?" Liu Jianjian asked subconsciously.
Sword Hero noticed it too and looked at Zhu Ge in confusion.
"A heartbeat?"
Zhu Ge had learned about this from Liu Jianjian and the others before. He shook his head. "It already beat. You just didn’t hear it."
It already beat?
Liu Jianjian and Sword Hero exchanged a look, completely baffled.
There were some beings whose condensed Demon Hearts were so weak that their beat was as faint as the buzz of a mosquito.
But, judging from the phantoms they had just seen on Zhu Ge’s Martial Arts Heart, that shouldn’t be the case at all!
Zhu Ge shook his head and said no more on the matter.
Liu Jianjian and the others were naturally unaware of a certain saying.
The greatest sound is silence.
The oceans and the sun are constantly in "motion," and the magnificent sounds they produce naturally far surpass those of great rivers.
And the so-called sound of Celestial Thunder couldn’t even compare to the Yangtze River, let alone the vast ocean, let alone the sun.
Zhu Ge’s heart had, of course, beaten. It was just that the sound was something only he himself could faintly perceive, not hear.
’The gains... are quite good...’
’Let’s see how much my lifespan has increased.’