True Essence

Biodata

Power Progression

• Scope: The following records Lu Feng’s development of True Essence, including the condensation cycles of the Nine Extremes Essence Condensation Art. These are not universal stages for every cultivator.

Nature and Circulation

• Greater refinement: True Essence overwhelms Nei Jin in thickness and refinement. Zhao Long uses it to produce destructive claw shadows and condense defensive armor over his arms 75.
• Dantian storage: True Essence can remain present in the dantian yet be unusable if its circulation routes are blocked. After the Essence-Reversing Pill seals Lu Feng’s 108 acupoints, he cannot deliver that energy to his limbs 138.
• Outward projection: Blocked acupoints also prevent Lu Feng from projecting True Essence outward to assess others’ cultivation 139.
• Individual differences: Different people’s True Essence cannot necessarily be combined safely. During Crimson Sinking Stone refinement, mixing contributors would introduce impurities rather than improve the furnace’s heat 181.

Condensation and Liquefaction

Nine Extremes Essence Condensation Art

The Nine Extremes Essence Condensation Art compresses gaseous True Essence into liquid through nine layers spanning the Grandmaster, Great Grandmaster, and Celestial Person realms 140 141.

• Three cycles per realm: Each of the three realms requires three condensations, with repeated cultivation regressions and renewed advancement 141.
• Density increase: Each condensation doubles True Essence’s density. The reduction in occupied volume does not itself reduce the quantity of energy retained 141.
• Realm regression: A cultivator can fall from realm perfection to its early stage while retaining stronger True Essence. Lu Feng’s first condensation returns him to Early Grandmaster without undoing his gains in combat power 141 146.
• Stronger techniques: Liquefied True Essence increases the power and solidity of Lu Feng’s techniques. His formerly faint protective Gang Qi becomes a lustrous, armor-like milky-white shield 146.
• Improved endurance: After his first condensation, four hours of fighting lower-tier demons consumes less than one-tenth of his reserve 146.
• Ultimate result: At the ninth layer, the art promises complete liquefaction and endlessly replenishing True Essence. This is a stated endpoint, not an achievement documented for Lu Feng in the supplied chapters 141.

Requirements and Risks

• Purity: The art warns that impure True Essence will cause collapse at the third extreme 141.
• Meridian resilience: Fragile meridians risk injury at the fifth extreme 141.
• Other requirements: Its instructions also demand exceptional talent and unwavering perseverance 141.
• Existing injuries: The system warns Lu Feng that upgrading while severely injured, with blocked acupoints, could kill him. He postpones cultivation until his condition permits it 141 162.

Applications

Offensive Techniques

True Essence can reinforce weapons, project attacks, and intensify existing martial arts 75 82 110.

• Weapon reinforcement: Lu Feng channels it from his dantian through his meridians into the Ink-Sunken Saber, producing a black halo and an empowered cutting arc 110.
• Projected strikes: Xiao Tianqi fires a precise finger strike of True Essence through a target’s forehead 82.
• Sword Qi: Lu Shuang pours True Essence into the Frost Sword to release concentrated Sword Qi 114.
• Internal destruction: An auctioned palm technique compresses True Essence in the palm, then detonates it on contact to destroy organs and meridians without visible external wounds 203.

Protective Gang Qi

Protective True Essence forms shields or armor around the body 59 75 125.

• Qin Shuang stabilizes her Protective Gang Qi by increasing its True Essence supply after Lu Feng’s sixth slash makes it waver 59.
• Zhao Long condenses black armor over his arms to receive Lu Feng’s Saber Force 75.
• Zhao Changgeng forms a thick protective shield while retrieving the White-Foreheaded Tiger Demon King’s corpse 125.
• Lu Feng’s liquefied True Essence produces a much more solid shield than his earlier Gang Qi 146.

Movement and Sensory Arts

• Movement: True Essence powers Phantom Steps and sustained flight through Walking on Air. Continued pursuit can turn movement itself into a contest of reserves and recovery 134 135.
• Spirit Eye activation: The Supreme Purity Spirit-Observing Eye consumes True Essence to reveal illusions and internal energy flow 208.
• Circulation analysis: At perfection, the Spirit Eye reveals the detailed paths of True Essence through another person’s meridians 212.
• Identifying the real body: Lu Feng distinguishes himself from his phantoms because his real body contains flowing white Qi, while the false bodies are empty shadows 208.

Body Tempering

• During the Hundred Beasts Body-Tempering Art’s fourth-layer upgrade, True Essence carries the medicinal power of demon essence blood and Bone-Tempering Sand through Lu Feng’s body, repeatedly rebuilding muscles, bones, and meridians 130.
• The fifth-layer upgrade uses the same process with stronger materials and more violent tempering 151.

Formations and Artifact Forging

• Sword formations: Lu Shuang’s stationary sword formation requires a continuous True Essence supply, leaving exhaustion a tactical concern 114.
• Defensive formations: The Four Symbols Formation receives True Essence through its core. Vajra Temple’s protective formation requires both Origin Crystals and continuous True Essence input 155 182.
• Refining materials: Huixing raises the furnace temperature with True Essence to melt Crimson Sinking Stone. Higher cultivation and purer True Essence improve the refined material’s purity 181.
• Artifact manipulation: He Tieshan uses True Essence to guide molten stone and a white tiger phantom into the Bloodthirsty Saber during its creation 182 183.
• Activation cost: After claiming the Bloodthirsty Saber, Lu Feng expends more than half his True Essence merely filling it 187.

Consumption and Recovery

Disruption and Suppression

Reverse True Essence

The Essence-Reversing Pill converts ordinary True Essence into Reverse True Essence, which can be attached to an attack to disrupt an opponent’s circulation 136.

• Conversion pain: Reversing the flow causes needle-like pain throughout the acupoints. Stronger moves require more converted energy and therefore greater pain 136.
• Target effect: Contact throws the opponent’s True Essence into disorder, temporarily preventing circulation. The effect lasts roughly the time needed to drink a cup of tea 136.
• Demonstrated use: Lu Feng’s Sword Qi delivers the reversed energy to Hu Xiaotian, who loses access to his True Essence and retreats 137.
• Backlash: The reversed energy scorches the user’s meridians. Possible consequences include temporarily losing access to True Essence, severely slowed recovery, or permanent pain whenever it is used 136.
• Lu Feng’s injuries: After the pill wears off, all 108 of his acupoints seal shut, preventing circulation despite True Essence remaining in his dantian 138.

Spirit-Devouring Sword

• The Spirit-Devouring Sword makes Lu Shuang’s True Essence sluggish and slows the circulation of her Sword Intent 223.
• Lu Tianming describes its existing ability as suppressing an opponent’s True Essence, preventing full-strength combat. He seeks to develop it further so that it directly devours True Essence 224.