Emperor of The Cosmos

“The Three Realm Theory was discovered by the work of countless Spiritual Masters and Psychologists, and has since become a staple and underlying principle of human cultivation. The first person to mention the theory was Wang Chao’s wife. It was later that research completed the theory. It has become something of an empirical truth like Newton’s laws of motion. Ah this is not a part of the study curriculum, but I’ll talk a bit about it for you.”

Miss Blade gestured at the cup of water in front of them. “If you were to hold this cup, what would you do first?”

Jiang Li stopped for a moment. “I’d stand up, then just pick up the cup?”

“No.” Miss Blade shook her head. “The simple act of holding a cup involves the Three Realm Theory. First, to raise the cup, a thought must be produced by the brain, a cognition. But this simple cognition cannot lift the cup, and thus what does the brain do? It controls the body to stand up, extend the arms, and lift up the cup. It is after these steps that we can achieve the desired result. Do you understand the theory now?”

“No.”

Jiang Li shook his head.

“Stupid!” Miss Blade cursed, “The mind’s thought process of lifting the cup is the Nether Realm, the Metaphysical Realm, the Realm of God. The cup is the Physical Realm. Your body bridges the gap between the two. The Three Realm Theory is about the relationship between the mind, the body and the physical world. If you did not use your body, would you be able to raise this cup?”

“No.” Jiang Li was frank in his answer.

“That’s correct. If you could, then that would mean possessing the power of mind over matter.” Miss Blade asked another question, “If this cup was a pool, would you be able to lift it?”

“No.”

“Yep. Even if your mind and spirit is strong, without an adequate body to interact with the physical realm, it is impossible to get things done. It would mean strong mentality but weak vitality.” Miss Blade continued, “Of course, if your spiritual cultivation reaches a certain height, it is possible to directly interact with physical objects. This state is called Epiphanic. It is just as ancient civilizations coined it the Buddha has made its presence! Or God has made its presence! In fact that is how the mind and spirit can influence physical objects. What are entities like the Buddha and God? It is the metaphysical constructs of the heart and spirit. It is the Nether Realm, the Realm of God. It does not exists in the real world but rather in people’s imaginations. It is a part of the mind and spirit. Heed this, where there is a heart there is a god. Mr Wang Yang once said, ‘having left my heart, nothing ceases to exist’. The Three Realm Theory can be likened to the relationship of Heaven, Earth and Man. Heaven represents the mind and spirit; imagination. Earth is reality, whilst Man the body.”

“So that’s how it works!” Having heard this Jiang Li immediately felt like he had gained a deeper understanding of cultivation.

“The Epiphanic state is well above Fetal Respiration. I’ll tell you a little about it. Till now, the levels of spiritual cultivation has always been Deep Sleep first, then Stasis and then Fetal Respiration. After Fetal Respiration is Zuo Wang. The word Zuo Wang first appeared with Chuang Tzu, a great sage. It was said ‘Forgetting one’s body, one’s mind, one’s manifestations. One with the Dao, and thou shalt be in Zuo Wang.’ It means that by overlooking one’s physical presence, including mental matters like knowledge and conscience, one will merge with the Dao, and achieve Zuo Wang.”

[TL Note: (坐忘/Zuo Wang) - a state of deep meditative absorption and mystical oneness, during which all sensory and conscious faculties are overcome and which is the base point for attaining Dao]

“Zuo Wang?” Jiang Li rolled around this new term in his mouth.

“In the Tang Dynasty of Ancient China, there was a Daoist called Sima Chengzhen who wrote texts covering the topic, called the Theory of Zuo Wang. But you shouldn’t read that for now as this is a state concerning Spiritual Masters. It will do you no good. Right now you should just stick to cultivation via Deep Sleep.” Miss Blade advised.

“This I know.” Jiang Li nodded her head. “So then, Epiphanic is above Zuo Wang?”

“Yep. the spiritual cultivation of man is first Deep Sleep, then Stasis, Fetal Respiration, Zuo Wang and Epiphanic. Who Knows? Maybe humans will achieve new levels of cultivation, for we will always progress. However, even in the Elite District, only few can break through the barrier between mind and matter, and carry out epiphanies.” Miss Blade continued. “If you want to raise your spiritual cultivation, I recommend learning Hypnotism, because it trains the mind and spirit. Of course, right now for you sufficient nourishment is of the greatest concern. You can go to our school’s student department where there should be suitable missions for you issued by the Police Agency. Try there.”

“Yes miss!” Jiang Li stood up, bowed and exited the room, closing the door behind him.

He felt himself convulse over again due to hunger.

He went to the canteen to eat. Though his stomach was full, he still felt hungry.

There was no other way around it, for the nutritional value of common food was low. His appetite got triggered by the nutrition serum. It was extremely dangerous that he couldn’t feel it before.

It is like when people are hungry and want to eat, however they are so starved that they cannot ingest food. That is due to excessive hunger without proper nourishment, which meant the body ate away at stored fats and sugars, and in a way overdrew their life potential.

Jiang Li was at a similar situation before. In the absence of hunger, he thought he was getting healthier, which was in fact the opposite of what was happening. Good thing he just had a nutrion serum, which had recovered his ability to feel hungry.

He entered a building of the school.

“Fellow sister, could you help me find a high-pay mission?” Jiang Li directed his words at a girl with delicate features and long shoulder length hair that was operating a holographic computer.

“Shoo off with your titles! I’m still in grade 12.” The girl gave Jiang Li a flitting glance, “Give me your student I.D.”

Jiang Li rummaged out a thumb-sized chip and swiped it on the holographic computer. Personal details immediately appeared.

“A life force of only 0.7?” The girl had hints of mockery on her face. “You can only do house work, cleaning and normal jobs like that.”

Having seen the disdain on the girl’s face, Jiang Li didn’t say a word. He suddenly twisted his wrists, creating crunching sounds with his bones. Lightly propelling it, it made a trail in the air.

Pa!

His hand shook like a reinforced steel bar, his fingers as if riled vipers, ready to strike. It would make people fear for their lives for this was not a hand but rather a metal python.

“What? [Boneless jiujitsu], C rank martial arts? [Twisting Bone Attack].”

The girl was flabbergasted, “Do you really only possess a life force of 0.7?”

She was not ignorant, otherwise she wouldn’t have gotten a job at the school.

“I do not like being the talk of the town. During the tests I hid potential. I plan to amaze people in the Astral University entrance exams. “ Jiang Li knew he had suppressed the girl’s talk with those moves, for those that could learn [Boneless Jiujitsu] were all influential personnelles of the school; the creme de la creme of the student body.

“If that’s so I’ll help you find a job that pays a lot then. What about helping the police in solving a case?” The girl went on, “This pays the most, but there are dangers involved.”

“Alright, I’ll do case solving missions then. Out of the notices which one pays the most?” Jiang Li’s eyes were hopeful.

“The highest reward is 5000 star coins,” the girl said. “It’s helping the police to catch a dangerous criminal. Recently a criminal had entered the city and committed many crimes. He is very strong, and knows the ways of Hypnotism.”

“5000 star coins!” Jiang Li was shocked, for this was a huge sum of wealth.

But the criminal knew Hypnotism. For sure he was a very dangerous guy. Even his brother was probably no match for him, but since it’s about assisting the police in cracking down on the guy, direct confrontation was not required.

“Ok, I’ll accept this job.”

“You sure?”

“Yes I am.”

“Ok, I’ll print the related documents.” Very quickly, a sheet was printed out and handed to Jiang Li.

“Go to the police agency to report yourself in. People will accept you if you have this school document. But since your life force is quite low on paper, when you get there you must demonstrate your power, otherwise they won’t let you join the task force.”

“Ok, I understand.” Jiang Li turned around and left.

“Very interesting… There was a person like this in school. A life force of 0.7, yet effortlessly uses [Boneless jiujitsu]. I have remembered you Jiang Li.” Looking at Jiang Li’s departing figure, the girl smiled.

The police station was located at a very important area of the city. It was a big building, with hover cars zooming past it from all sides. Jiang Li’s family could not afford cars like these for they were very expensive. Nowadays all cars were powered by an energy core which could let the car travel up to 30,000 kilometers without pollution.

Normal households could not finance such expensive cars, yet low grade cars were not produced for the government wanted to limit pollution.

Those who possessed cars were all from high-class and wealthy backgrounds.

“I’m here to report for a temporary job.” Entering a hall with many policemen working, Jiang Li walked up towards a counter and handed over the school documents.

A policeman of about 30 years old received the files and immediately had a look of disdain on his face. “What the fuck? A life force of 0.7 wants to help us catch the criminal?”

Whilst talking he chucked the files back at Jiang Li.

“Wait!” Jiang Li extended his arm and lightly repressed the policeman’s hand.

“Huh?” The policeman tried to retaliate with the ancient martial technique [Silk Hands] that could break the perpetrator’s arms by lightly wrapping around them, but Jiang Li’s arms could turn a larger degree than him, and in the short exchange Jiang Li swelled his hands up by more than 5 centimeters and stabbed the policeman’s shoulder.

“Ow!”

Sharp stinging pain numbed the policeman's shoulder, as if half of his body was struck by lightning.

“[Twisting Bone Attack]? [Projecting Bone Stab]!” He wailed. “Such extents of bone pliability and toughness!.”

“Oh really? This student has learnt [Boneless Jiujitsu]? That’s a C rank martial arts.”

“He could use [Boneless Jiujitsu] in a real fight?”

“It’s been awhile since there’s been a student of this caliber.” A few policemen crowded around. They all had a life force of 0.8 and were experienced in combat.

To become a police officer, a life force of 0.8 was a prerequisite.

“Since you know C rank martial arts, you are more than up for the job.” A middle aged police came over and flicked through Jiang Li’s data. “Hmmm seems like you’ve hid quite a bit of talent. We’ll allow you to enter the police taskforce, but you must do as we say, and not brashly try be the hero. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir!”

“Follow me.”

Jiang Li was brought to an office, which housed the task force for major cases. There were more than ten policemen, each a combat expert which were responsible for this case.

Besides them, there were also a few boys and girls that were quite obviously students. But they were quite old, each of them university students above the age of 20. Of course, they couldn't have been from Astral University. They were probably from normal universities.

Mankind had tens and thousands of famous universities, but none of them could be comparable to Astral University. Everyone from Astral University were practically invincible.

The university students were surprised to see Jiang Li enter the room, as they didn’t expect a high school student would come here to work.

“This is Jiang Li, a year 12 student. He knows the C rank martial art [Boneless Jiujitsu], and is proficient enough to use it in combat.” The middle aged policeman introduced Jiang Li.

“C rank martial arts, dayum.”

Immediately everyone looked at him differently.

“I don’t know anything so please take care of me.” Jiang Li acted humble.

“We wouldn’t be able to take care of you since you know C rank martial arts. If you try for Defense Universities you rank would be higher than us,” a policeman commented, “But this case is especially tricky. We are lacking personnel and wished for excellent assistance. Your arrival is very welcomed! This is the basic outline of the case, you should read it first.”

“Ok.”

Jiang Li did a army salute, his posture straight as if like a professional soldier. This was a quality that all students should have.

In these times student cadet training was very long. There is a cadet training program of up to one year in both primary schools and high schools . This was a policy forcefully implemented by the government to increase student quality.