Chapter 184

Chapter 184
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**Chapter 184: Tri-Origin Return to Origin**

The Tri-Yang Return to Origin Art stood among the Tang Clan’s most closely guarded secret techniques. It distilled three streams of yang energy into a single, supreme peak—an internal practice centered on the fiercest, most unyielding yang force, as its name made plain. Its sole shortcoming lay in this very quality: it could never carry a practitioner into the Ascendant Realm. Yet in every other respect, it aligned perfectly with the Tang Clan’s way of martial life.

The clan rested on two foundational pillars. Poison arts and concealed weapons were merely outgrowths, not roots. Long ago, a gathering of physicians and blacksmiths who had lost their families to the violence of the martial world had come together to form the Tang Clan—and their true foundation was medicine and metallurgy. The Tri-Yang Return to Origin Art offered distinct advantages for both. Its intense, unyielding yang force flowed like molten iron, lending itself perfectly to metalwork forged in fire. And that same yang energy could burn away invading toxins within the body, letting practitioners explore the arts of medicinal poison with greater safety and freedom.

Seen in this light, it was clear the Nine Schools and Five Great Clans had fashioned a practice tailored perfectly to the Tang Clan’s nature.

That was why, even after more than a century, the clan could never set the Tri-Yang Return to Origin Art aside. It led toward a known, fixed end—but it was also the most well-trodden, clearly laid path. The real problem lay in how heavily it leaned in one direction.

Full-body energy circulation or balanced reciprocal flow might be beyond its reach, but the Harmonious Heaven Principle Origin Art could mirror the internal energies of other schools with near-perfect accuracy. He began to reshape his own internal force, remolding it into the rigid yang form described in the Tri-Yang Return to Origin Art’s formulas and precepts.

*Whoosh! Fwoosh!*

When he exhaled, sending that energy spilling from his fingertips, flames burst to life. This was Triune True Fire—a blaze only those of profound internal strength and deep cultivation could summon. At its core, it was qi made flame. Fire consumed dross and corruption, so a flame born of qi was inherently purifying. Every Daoist sect that practiced advanced alchemy had its own teachings on wielding Triune True Fire, and the same held true for the Tang Clan: their work with poisons meant they could never cast aside the properties of unyielding yang energy. The same logic applied to their concealed weapons—yang force carried within it the very essence of sudden explosion.

Even drawing upon such extreme yang energy as he did now, he could not ignore the imbalance. He paused to consider: could scales remain level if weight was heaped only on one pan? The art inclined so sharply toward a single direction; the further one advanced, the more extreme that disparity would grow.

The answer came as clearly as the question. If one side bore too heavy a load and tipped the balance, one simply placed counterweight on the other. It could be yang energy of the same kind, or something entirely different.

If he chose to build from yang alone, weaving insight for the Ascendant Realm from that single thread, the Tri-Yang Return to Origin Art would follow the same path trod by the Sun Divine Art of the far-off Southern Manor. It would become a way of utmost extremity—yet balanced all the same, running straight and true without deviation. But there was another consideration.

The Tri-Yang Return to Origin Art drew its core from the Three Talents built upon half of the Taiji principle. Yin and Yang together formed the Taiji, the source of all things, an endless cycle. To take only one half was to embrace yang in its purest excess, to halt the cycle where it should turn, to accept imperfection where wholeness was meant to be. That severed, incomplete principle had been filled out with the fine nuances of the Three Talents. It was not the flowing give-and-take of Yin and Yang, yet the Three Talents held within them their own kind of interplay—like draping a veil over an empty space, spanning the gap rather than filling it, as one might cover one’s eyes rather than see what lay beyond.

The simplest course was to seek balance entirely through yang energy itself. It was possible to reach the Ascendant Realm even along such a sharply inclined path. But it would be far harder than walking the way of equilibrium and harmony. This was exactly why orthodox traditions were said to climb higher than unorthodox or so-called demonic paths. Worse still, an overabundance of yang would clash with the poison arts at the heart of the clan’s practice.

The subtle, newly devised Carbon-White Subtle Transformation Formula was founded on union: drawing together what was different, and drawing together what was alike. Which of those two was simpler did not require debate. If the new form of the Tri-Yang Return to Origin Art was to align with the formula’s work—especially the fusion that lay at its core—it must move toward impartial harmony, not narrow bias.

*I must show the way*, he thought. *I must see what the Tang Clan cannot and set their course aright.*

In ages past, travelers had lifted their faces to the heavens to find their bearings. He did the same, his gaze passing straight through the ceiling as though it were nothing, seeking the stars wheeling in the dark sky beyond.

Refashioning the Tri-Yang Return to Origin Art was not, in truth, a difficult task. Without the memories of his past life he might never have seen the solution, but for Yang-hui this question had weighed on him for a lifetime. The real challenge lay in ensuring the new practice honored every established tradition of the Tang Clan—so that the elders would not have to discard all they knew and begin again.

He found his answer: *Remake the half-Taiji Three Talents foundation into the Harmony of Six Unions, rooted in Three Talents and Three Origins.*

From one and three, to three and six.

Interwoven Origins. Taiji. Three Talents. Four Images. Five Elements. Six Unions. Seven Stars. Eight Trigrams. Nine Palaces. Ten Stems—these were the ten fundamental principles from which all the world’s myriad forms arose. And among them, the one he had truly mastered was the principle of the Six Unions.

*My clan’s foundational art is the Principle Harmony Six Unions Art*, he reflected. *Heaven-Covering and Harmonious Heaven both sprang from it. My own roots lie in the Six Unions.*

What, then, were the Six Unions? The four directions, joined by heaven and earth—six in all. The Three Talents were heaven, earth, and humanity. To apportion the six—heaven, earth, and four directions—among the three did not fit. Two of the Three Talents were heaven and earth; two of the Six Unions were also heaven and earth. The numbers did not align, and the structure was inherently unbalanced. To force the principles together would create inconsistency and strain.

*Another way*, he searched. *Another path…*

Settled in the lotus posture, he turned these thoughts over endlessly. Thought crystallized into intent—and intent was the power by which humanity stood against the vast natural forces of heaven and earth. Vital Intent Energy, will woven into force, stirred to life and began to flow through his veins of its own accord. Unnoticed, Yang-hui rose a foot above his bed.

*No other path*, he realized. *This is the way.*

The Tri-Yang Return to Origin Art must be reborn, its foundation built upon the Harmony of Six Unions through Three Talents and Three Origins. But how?

*The Dao’s earliest master, the Supreme Elder Lord, left this teaching: One gave rise to Two; Two gave rise to Three; Three gave rise to all things that are.*

This was the essence of Three Taiji. It was not merely the Three Talents, but Three Talents together with Three Origins. In the strictest sense, the Three Talents could not become Three Origins. Heaven and earth were the wellsprings of all things; humanity stood between them, but could it claim equality as an origin? It might rise to stand level, yet it could not be an origin in the same way. Unless—unless the foundation was not Three Talents, but Three Taiji.

Three Taiji encompassed all things. Though each pole corresponded to heaven, earth, and humanity, the underlying principle was different. If the Three Talents were three pillars standing apart, Three Taiji was those three woven into a single whole.

He smiled to himself. *It is nothing more than a play upon words.*

Yet enlightenment had always been found in such things—grasping at clouds, finding truth in turns of phrase. The Dao was there. And so the Tang Clan’s Tri-Yang Return to Origin Art would find its own Dao through just such a play of words, opening a road to the distant Ascendant Realm.

*Woooong!*

Energy began to circulate of its own will. His eyes were closed, yet what had been hidden became clear. To “see” in this way had always been the symbol and essence of enlightenment since the earliest times.

*Woooong!*

Energy was by nature without color, without form, without mark. Yet as it coursed through him, it began to take on hue and shape.

*To watch a blade of grass bend in the morning breeze… to marvel at the grace of a tiger hunting its prey… to feel the heart swell at sunset from a mountain peak.*

Great masters of old had found enlightenment in such ordinary sights, and from them forged arts without equal.

*I drew the Heaven-Covering style from the outstretched wings of an eagle spanning the sky.*

Creating martial arts was itself an imitation of nature—taking the world outside and making it part of oneself, so that one carried heaven and earth within. To perceive the flow of the world through one’s own eyes and embody it in one’s own practice. In that sense, the finding of the right words was itself the Dao.

*So be it*, he thought. *Let us find more words for the Tri-Yang Return to Origin.*

His spirit soared; his qi unfolded like a flower opening. This was the pure joy of reaching higher ground. He let his mind drift free of fixed thought. What was Three Taiji? He would take it in and make it his own. Before there were ten thousand things, there were three.

*Let heaven, earth, and humanity return to the state of mixed origin—united in a single qi.*

Three Taiji added humanity—the one who stands between heaven and earth—to the primal Yin-Yang Taiji. And so humanity must be defined, brought into harmony with the whole. What was humanity? A being born between heaven and earth, yet striving to stand equal to them. A part of nature, yet facing it as an equal. A thing that could be as sharp and potent as poison.

And so: of the Three Origins, heaven was yang qi. Humanity was poison qi. The principle of yang was already there, woven into the very nature of the art. The principle of poison qi was established through the Carbon-White Subtle Transformation Formula. The third origin—earth—was empty, waiting to be filled: the principle of Yin.

The core truth of the reborn art found its name: *Tri-Origin Return to Primal*. Three principles, three origins. All returning to the primal unity from which they sprang.

*Woooong!*

Understanding settled upon him, centered in threefold harmony. Yang-hui did not yet know what this would mean. But above his head, three buds were forming, delicate and distinct. Not yet in full bloom, yet unmistakable: Three Flowers Gather at the Crown.

—

Days passed in this rhythm. He spent his hours discussing martial arts, caring for Chui-dal and Baek Heon-so, turning his deepest attention to the inner workings of cultivation. In the quiet moments he meditated without cease, losing himself in contemplation. Even now, after a long session of circulating his energy and searching inward, it was hunger that finally drew him back to the present.

“Phew… that was truly rewarding.”

He had laid down a theoretical framework that united the Three Talents with Three Taiji and Three Origins. He called it a game of words, yet this was how every great art had begun. In that shaping, Yang-hui had touched genuine enlightenment.

“Three Talents… Tri-Yang… Three Origins… Three Taiji. Perhaps the path leads always toward three.”

He had not yet mastered the three attainments required to reach Super Peak: Vital Intent Energy, Void Grasping, and Spirit-Sword Unity. But these three he contemplated were not pillars to be raised apart—they were a vessel to be shaped as one.

*Heaven, earth, humanity—three. Body, heart, qi—three. Essence, energy, spirit—three.*

To reach the Peak Realm, one united body, heart, and qi into a living whole, then raised three pillars within that unity. Super Peak was the reverse: first to set three attainments as pillars, then to roof them with the perfect union of essence, energy, and spirit. To stand upon that roof and look upward—this was the Super Peak Realm.

“Perhaps… I may bring three new flowers to bloom.”

Three Flowers Gather at the Crown—three blossoms upon the head. Each one an attainment, a truth of nature made part of oneself. He laughed softly. “How strange. I walk the path backward.”

He had not mastered Vital Intent Energy, nor Void Grasping, nor Spirit-Sword Unity—yet here he stood, gaining insight into the very essence of essence, energy, and spirit. The gift of lives lived again had turned even the order of his journey upside down.

“First, I must set this down before it slips away.”

He took brush and ink and wrote the core of Tri-Origin Return to Primal in a single, flowing stroke. He had grasped only the foundation; the full formulas were not yet formed. But what he set down was enough to set the Tang Clan seeking the rest.

“Extraordinary…” he murmured, reading what he had written. “Who could have conceived such beauty?” The words and the form were as fine as a masterpiece of painting or sculpture. With that thought lingering, he stepped out into the daylight.

“Brother! You have awakened!” Baek Heon-so greeted him with a bright, delighted smile, though his eyes held a hint of concern.

“Awakened?” Yang-hui blinked. He had withdrawn into his room at midday—and midday it still seemed. Little time could have passed at all.

“You have been in meditation for seven days,” Baek Heon-so told him gently. “I saw that insight was upon you, and so I waited without disturbing you.”

That explained the gnawing hunger.

“Then I must ask for food. First, though, I will visit Tang Brother—I will return shortly.”

“At once, Brother.”

He went straight to Dang Gun’s quarters and placed the written pages in his hands.

“Hui Brother… what is this?”

Yang-hui had spoken the name once before, when he first heard the Tri-Yang Return to Origin Art described three months earlier. Now, upon the cover, four characters were written clear: *Tri-Origin Return*.

Dang Gun’s eyes widened. “It cannot be…”

“It is as it appears,” Yang-hui said. “I have laid the groundwork. Only the beginning, as yet.”

The full formulas were not there—only the core principles, the foundation upon which everything else would rest. “Read it. I would value your thoughts.”

Dang Gun read. When he finished, he turned back to the first page and read it again, lingering over every word as one might savor the rarest delicacy. Half an hour passed in silence.

Then—*Bam!*

Dang Gun sprang to his feet, clutching the pages, burst out through the door, and returned moments later to hoist Yang-hui across his shoulders, rushing off at full speed. Their destination: the quarters of Clan Leader Dang Seong.

“Clan Leader!”

Dang Seong looked up, his gaze taking in his nephew—book in hand, Yang-hui carried like a sack across his shoulders—and frowned. “You carry yourself with little dignity. But you do not act without reason—speak.”

“Read this first! No—summon all the elders first!”

Though Dang Gun was still young, not yet having reached the Later Heaven stage, he was among those Dang Seong trusted most deeply. He sent a servant to call the assembly, then sat and began to read. Slowly, his hands began to tremble.

“Created… in but three months?”

Just then the maid returned. “All the elders have gathered in the great hall.”

Dang Seong tucked the book safely away, lifted Dang Gun across one shoulder and Yang-hui across the other, and leaped from the chamber.

*I seem to have become nothing more than baggage*, Yang-hui thought.

Moments later, that feeling changed. He stood in the center of the great hall, the object of every eye. *Now I feel less like a guest and more like a prisoner brought before judgment.* And indeed, a long, searching inquiry was about to begin. He braced himself for the questions that would come.