Carp Flowing Intent was a martial arts technique modeled after carp.
Carp were one of the sacred creatures of the Daoists, known as the foremost of all fish.
Thus, it was perfectly normal for Mount Luofu, one of the blessed grotto-heavens of the daoist tradition, to possess a technique modeled after carp.
"He who attains the Dao may soar bodily into the clouds above and dive-swim through rivers and seas below. Thus Xiao Shi rode with a soaring phoenix through the void, while Qin Gao mounted a crimson carp into the abyss—these are proof thereof."
This passage meant that those who had attained the Dao could ride red carp and roam the depths of the abyss.
Daoists believed that one needed to ride a carp to ascend into immortality, because carp possessed spiritual nature, could commune with gods, and could reach the "two poles" and the "two realms." Thus, people could ride carp into the heavens without being hindered by heaven and earth.
In truth, some carp really could do such things. It was said that a great carp demon had seized a long river and proclaimed itself a god. Its divine powers were vast and its magic boundless. With a single spell, it could freeze over an enormous river eight hundred li wide and of unknown length overnight.
But as an eighth-rank martial arts technique, this Carp Flowing Intent certainly could not achieve that level.
The concept behind this technique drew upon the carp swimming upstream against the current. It emphasized moving beneath the water, enduring for long stretches, being slippery as an eel, and skillfully evading the flow.
It also drew upon the image of a carp leaping the Dragon Gate: patiently accumulating strength amid endurance and evasion, then erupting in a single wave and pouring out every