Chapter 3: Imperial Vault

"Father," Shu said, clasping his left fist with his right hand and bowing lightly.

"Imperial Emperor," General Meng Ce said, mirroring the gesture and kneeling on one knee.

"Good. You two are here. Behind me lies the imperial vault. Shu, you will select three techniques and a Practitioner weapon. As for a breathing technique to aid your cultivation, we will discuss this once we enter," the emperor said, looking at the royal guards. "No one is to disturb us. Kill anyone who approaches the vault."

"We hear and obey," the knights chanted in unison.

The emperor entered first, followed by the general and Prince Shu. It was the first time the two had been inside the vault, and they were naturally surprised. Gold coins piled twenty feet high filled a hallway that stretched as far as the eye could see. Only General Meng Ce knew why the hall was so vast—the hidden sanctuary of the ancestors lay many yards below. Still, he never expected the royal family to possess so much gold. Weapons and armor were scattered across the floor, along with precious metals and jewelry, as if they had been tossed aside like trash.

"Oh, come now. Don’t tell me you’re all surprised?" the emperor asked, noting their expressions. "The Yan Empire is the oldest empire in existence. Naturally, we would have more wealth than any other nation in the world. Land? Power? Money? None of these matter if you pursue immortality, like myself, or combat, like General Meng Ce. I dare say the Lu clan has more wealth than all the dragon hoards in the world combined. Yet, it means nothing because our family values magical weapons, magical armor, and magical artifacts. It’s a pity most mages don’t pursue immortality and settle for so little. True power lies in the heavens."

"For a vault, this is beyond messy. It’s like the inside of a mountain," Shu observed, looking around. The vault resembled a hollow cave with large hills of gold in the distance. Stone roads led further in. "How exactly do I choose what I want?"

"That, my son, is your problem," the emperor laughed. "You and General Meng Ce must search for them yourselves. Feel free to take as much gold and jewelry as you desire from this room. This is just the smallest mountain hollow. There are many more. Remember, I Lu Yi, am the ninety-third emperor. Once you reach the Spirit Master stage, you stop aging and can manipulate your appearance up to ten years younger than you were before. I lost count of how many decades I lived as emperor before your mother and I decided to have children. Let’s just say alchemy has its uses to prevent unexpected surprises from late-night activities. HAHAHA! Money doesn’t matter much, but it does in the Mortal Realm. Be sure to collect enough to bribe yourself out of trouble. I’m sure there’s a storage bag somewhere under those hills of gold coins."

"Thank you, Father," Shu said.

"Oh, almost forgot something of the utmost importance," Lu Yi said, giving Shu a crimson ring with three eyes. General Meng Ce looked at Shu, astonished. "Never take the ring off, Shu. During the first two stages, people might have suspicions, but it’s not certain until you reach the third stage. Never remove it. Also, take this scroll. It contains a demonic breathing technique called the Eclipse Indestructible Body technique, used by the Practitioners of the Lu clan. HAHAHA! Only those with high levels of pure demon blood can use this technique. It’s what made our Great Ancestor famous and forced him to escape here, to the Mortal Realm."

"Eclipse Indestructible Body technique?" Shu repeated as he took the ancient scroll from his father. "Demonic breathing technique? Aren’t I human?"

"Yes, you are. It just so happens that your many dozens of great-grandfathers include a Golden Earth Fiend," Lu Yi laughed, while General Meng Ce’s face turned pale for a moment. "The purity of your blood is so unnaturally high that your Spirit Pulse is actually demonic red instead of human gold. The ring will make your Spirit Pulse appear gold to everyone except you. Only someone at mid-stage Spirit Sage or higher can tell the difference. The ring also holds another ability you might discover later. The breathing technique will greatly aid your cultivation and make your body indestructible, though this depends on the power of your opponent. Inside the vault, there are demonic weapon techniques. Only a demon can use them, so be sure to select one."

"So the Great Ancestor is a demon?" Shu asked, turning to the general.

"A Golden Earth Fiend, to be exact. But yes. I am also a descendant. When a descendant of the Great Ancestor reaches the third stage as a Practitioner, he is granted an audience with the Great Ancestor. All I can say is that all your questions will be answered then. For now, let’s look for a blood demon weapon technique once you pick a Practitioner weapon. Most mage staffs and other trinkets are replaceable and destructible, but Practitioner weapons are chosen for life and break upon the owner’s death. The weapons you pick here might have belonged to our ancestors or Practitioners they killed," the general said sadly.

"Blood demon weapon techniques?" Shu asked.

"Techniques like those are named for their requirement of demon blood," the general shrugged. "Just to clarify, demons are stronger than humans of the same rank. Magical beasts are also stronger, and dragons are the most powerful, considering themselves a separate category of Practitioner life forms. Humans are the weakest but the most numerous and cultivate the fastest. Don’t be surprised if someone reaches the next stage faster than you. It’s because you have more potential than they do. The more talented one is, the harder the work required to break through to the next stage. Your breathing technique could be considered an innate defensive skill, so we just need you to learn a weapon technique and a bare-handed technique. Your weapon technique should be your trump card. We’ll collect some gold and jewelry while we’re at it. We might be lucky enough to find demonic cores and some magical artifacts."

"Like a treasure hunt. Cool," Shu grinned, putting on the crimson ring. "I should try to find a storage bag. In the Mortal Realm, money and power determine your future. Plus, having one will obviously help me carry so much money and items that even a caravan would hesitate to transport. The only problem is, I don’t know what it should look like."

"Ah, storage bags? Good choice. A spatial ring would get in the way," the general laughed.

Shu laughed too as he found a storage bag after searching through eight piles of treasure. General Meng Ce nodded as Shu began filling the bag with large amounts of gold and jewelry. Then, he and Shu left the area and followed the roads deeper into the vault. General Meng Ce cried out in alarm as they encountered small mounds of demonic cores.

"Those are demonic cores! You’re in luck, Shu. Quickly, eat them," General Meng Ce urged.

"Uh, isn’t eating them a bad thing?" Shu asked. "Won’t my cultivation increase too quickly?"

"Ah, right. You only became a Practitioner yesterday and lost some memories," the general laughed, slapping his forehead. "Okay, while it is true that eating demonic cores increases your cultivation, this only applies once you are at the third rank when your spirit condenses and reveals its true form. Until then, demonic cores are used to increase your foundation—in other words, to boost the amount of spirit energy you possess. Not only that, there are lion wine barrels here!"

Shu looked at the scattered barrels around the demonic cores as the general continued, "You’re a minor, so I would normally prevent you from drinking wine, but this is lion wine! Countless magical treasures are used to create a barrel of this wine. Gods. I never knew the Lu clan was so rich. Look at how many barrels there are, just lying around like discarded treasure. Well, as your father is the only Practitioner and the wine is useless except for taste at the Spirit Master stage, the barrels were forgotten. Your father, His Majesty, said there are other rooms, right? You should keep these barrels. Drink a cup of this wine a day; it should help enhance your cultivation quite a bit. Don’t worry, it’s not addictive like regular wine."

"Uh, okay?" Shu said, beginning to store the barrels of lion wine into his storage bag before walking to the demonic cores.

"Before you start eating the cores, know that all you’re doing is increasing the amount of spirit energy you can use. This no longer applies once you reach the third rank, as almost all of it will enhance your cultivation and allow you to make breakthroughs relatively quickly. Don’t rely on eating demonic cores to advance, as it limits your potential. Breaking through on your own will help you understand how to do so in the future. Only eat them this time. If you get more in the future, trade them for something more useful," the general warned. "Keep eating the demonic cores until you see cracks of red spirit energy on your body. I will see it as gold, but stop when you see the cracks. This means your body has reached the threshold for containing spirit energy. You’ll experience immense pain, but it’s the best time to perform your breathing technique and begin cultivating that spirit energy."

"So you want me to stop eating cores when I’m on the verge of blowing up just to perform the breathing technique my father gave

me?" Shu asked incredulously.

"Yes, Prince Shu. The longer you perform your breathing technique, the better," Meng Ce answered. "Having so much spirit energy in your body will cause some damage, but it will also increase the amount of spirit energy your body can hold. You see, the Eclipse Indestructible Body technique is an ancient demonic breathing technique. Every Practitioner descended from the Great Ancestor knows it, but not everyone can use it. When your body is on the verge of breaking, that’s when you must first use this breathing technique. It will ensure that your spirit energy is within your blood vessels, veins, and arteries. Your Spirit Pulse will become much more powerful. Your body will truly become indestructible to almost any assault. When someone tries to pierce or cut your skin, a white energy will appear over the area of contact, like a third layer of skin."

Shu stared silently and picked up one of the demonic cores. It looked like a crystal orb with the image of the creature it came from inside. Curious, Shu opened his mouth and swallowed it. His eyes widened in shock as he felt a rush of adrenaline surge through his body. Spirit energy seemed to gush from his stomach and spread into every fiber of his being. It felt warm and incredibly pleasant. Smacking his lips, Shu swallowed core after core to maintain the pleasant sensation.

As he ate the demonic cores and let the spirit energy spread through his body, the general quickly removed the lid from one of the barrels of lion wine Shu had missed and placed it next to him. Shu coughed a little as he continued to swallow the demonic cores like a ravenous wolf. Small cracks of red spirit energy began to form all over his body. Each time a crack appeared or expanded, Shu howled in pain, feeling as if a sword were being twisted inside him.

"Quick, jump into the barrel and read the scroll!" General Meng Ce roared, and Shu quickly jumped into the barrel.

The general unrolled the scroll containing the breathing technique. Shu’s eyes widened in surprise as the words slowly transformed into wisps of white energy. Once he finished reading the scroll, the white energy entered his body. As he read, the wine in the barrel was gradually drained by the cracks in his body. His wounds healed, and Shu found the wine level low enough that he could sit down and meditate. The general nodded as Shu began practicing the technique. The scroll served merely as a vessel for the energy; the information to practice it was embedded in Shu's memory the moment the energy entered his body.

Shu felt as if his eyes were burning as he continued to practice the technique. Slowly, the white energy began to expand outward once it penetrated his organs and bones. It settled on top of his body like an extra layer of skin before disappearing as if it had never existed. However, Shu knew it would appear to protect him as it had become a part of him. The spirit energy within his body began to condense, and Shu could see red spirit energy flowing within him, settling in the center of his chest. He began to faintly glow with a red aura around his body. General Meng Ce saw that it was a success as Shu’s sky-blue irises turned into a faint, glowing gold before closing again. As expected of the breathing technique created by the Great Ancestor, a Golden Earth Fiend.

Shu trembled in shock as he felt the familiar golden energy he had sensed before. It wasn’t his own spirit energy; it was from the golden pearl he had swallowed earlier. The pearl inside his body seemed to absorb the red spirit energy. The more he practiced the Eclipse Indestructible Body technique, the more spirit energy he absorbed into his body, with some of it being absorbed by the pearl. It seemed to crack as he continued absorbing more. Curious, Shu wanted to see it open. To General Meng Ce, it appeared as if Shu glowed with a faint gold aura, temporarily lost in wonder while cultivating spirit energy.

After an hour, General Meng Ce said, "The Second Prince is so dedicated. He has been practicing the technique for well over an hour now, but why is some of the spirit energy vanishing?"

Shu was lost in wonder as he continued pouring spirit energy into the pearl. It cracked and cracked as spirit energy flowed into it like the bottom of a waterfall. It was no demonic core, so Shu kept wondering what it was. The pearl awakened his Spirit Pulse and cured the mute disability of his body. It had to be something special—probably a magical artifact of sorts. Shu finally saw the pearl burst, and an unknown energy erupted from it, permeating through his entire body.

General Meng Ce fell on his butt in alarm as the barrel burst and Shu roared like a tiger with his arms stretched out. The image of a white tiger appeared behind him, and the pure power and vibration from the roar shook the entire vault. General Meng Ce could not believe his eyes as he saw the fifteen-foot tiger, with water circling around it, appear for a few seconds while Shu roared. As soon as he saw the tiger, he knew what Shu’s spirit would become. There was no doubt now. Whatever caused the tiger to appear must have been related to whatever awakened his Spirit Pulse.

General Meng Ce realized that Shu’s spirit was a White Ocean Tiger, one of the highest tiers of beast-type spirits below magical beast spirits. Shu would be able to learn elemental spirit techniques of darkness, lightning, and water. Shu did not have an armor-type spirit, so he could not learn light, earth, or fire spirit techniques. It was an interesting combination—water and lightning worked well together. When the clouds darkened, it signified a storm, and lightning storms always brought rain.

Shu lay back on the ground while the general was preoccupied with his thoughts. Shu was very tired but excited, brimming with spirit energy. He wrinkled his nose as he smelled something unpleasant. He looked down and saw his lower body covered in impurities, black liquid expelled from his body. Shu left the general in the vault as he washed off the impurities and returned with fresh clothes.

"Is something wrong?" Shu asked.

"You have affinities for darkness, lightning, and water. There is no mistake that your spirit will be a White Ocean Tiger, as it has the water affinity. I don’t know what happened to stimulate your Spirit Pulse, but it must have been a very powerful magical artifact. White tiger spirits with an affinity for water are rarely seen," the general said. "We’ll find you a bare-handed dark spirit technique first, preferably a speed-oriented offensive skill. Then, we’ll find a water spirit technique using whatever Practitioner weapon you find, if such a technique could be found here. I must warn you, water spirit techniques that are offense-oriented are rare, and most people don’t use them."

"What about lightning?" Shu asked.

"Lightning? Don’t even think about trying to control that element. It is much too powerful for someone below the fourth stage of cultivation to begin training in. It consumes too much spirit energy, and your Spirit Pulse has not stabilized yet," the general shook his head. "If you truly wish to learn it, you might find a technique here. However, you must promise me that you will not practice it until you reach the fourth stage. Some elements are too powerful to practice early on. Truthfully, darkness is also dangerous, but you are not completely human. Your Spirit Pulse is demonic and harmonious with the element of darkness. Just as demons can practice dark spirit techniques at the first stage, humans can practice the light element if their spirit has the affinity and they discover it early on. Do you swear not to practice lightning until you reach the fourth stage?"

Shu nodded and said, "I swear. Is it normal to have three elemental affinities?"

"Yes. The most one could have is six, but that is very rare. Most people settle for only four. The more elements one practices, the less proficient they become in each. It’s different from a mage. Mages study spells, but Practitioners study the very elements," the general answered. "If you decide to train in lightning, keep it as a secret. It is as rare as light and darkness. Best to use it as a trump card. Convince people that you do not pursue lightning by never using it."

"I understand. There is much to learn," Shu said quietly.

"Indeed. However, a Practitioner should not rely solely on elemental spirit techniques to win. Learning fighting techniques must take priority. While having an affinity is beneficial, one should first understand their body and master martial arts. Otherwise, what is the difference between you and a mage?" the general warned. "Come. Let’s get you those techniques and a Practitioner weapon."

"Okay, General," Shu grinned and followed the general deeper into the vault.