Chapter 324: Profound Meaning

Chapter 324 The Essence

Li Wei arrived at the Saint Vilia Library.

Seeking answers.

After becoming a student of the Violet Class, Li Wei’s privileges expanded further.

Ninety-nine percent of the books within the Saint Vilia Library were open to him.

Only a few forbidden texts remained beyond his access.

Li Wei found books concerning Grand Mages and breaking through to the Fourth Rank, seeking answers to the doubts in his heart.

“The difference between a Grand Mage and an ordinary mage lies in the Essence.”

“What is the Essence?”

Li Wei read many books interpreting the Essence.

He felt the Essence described in the books was profound and mysterious.

So-called Essence was simply the world one believed in.

The world in everyone’s eyes differed.

To some, fire was warmth.

To others, fire was danger.

To some, lightning was thunderous rumble.

To others, lightning was shattering flashes.

To some, water was formless.

To others, water was roaring mountains and surging tides.

…

The Essence was the firm conviction a Grand Mage held regarding a certain thing.

A Grand Mage’s own interpretation of the world.

The Essence of Fire—blaze, burning, explosion, high heat, destruction, rebirth, warmth…

The Essence of Lightning—swift, fierce, overwhelming power, destruction, ruin, unmatched strength…

The Essence of Water—gentle, turbulent waves, roaring mountains and surging tides, nourishing silently, source of life, tsunamis, ripples, undulations…

…

The Essence was complex, yet simple.

Summarized in one sentence, it was the world one believed in.

The world is complex, therefore the Essence is also complex.

The Essence exists in all things, everywhere, so the Essence is also simple.

Magic itself was the mage’s ability to reshape the world.

The Essence allowed mages to reshape the world into what they saw it as.

Li Wei knew whether it was burning, exploding, or destruction, ruin, rebirth… all belonged to the nature of fire.

He could not view fire unilaterally as having only one “Essence”.

The more one understood of the world, the more one did not know.

This made it difficult for him to believe in the world as the world perceived it.

Difficult to believe in the “Essence”.

He believed fire inherently possessed so many natures.

This prevented him from comprehending his own Essence.

This was also the predicament faced by many Third Rank mages.

Because they understood the world, they could not believe in the world.

Knowledge instead became a bond and a shackle.

Grand Mages were not madmen; they were mages who had broken the shackles.

They understood the essence and true meaning of the world.

Their belief in the world they saw was not due to obsession.

But rather a conviction.

Believing they could change the world, transforming it into the shape they believed it should be.

It carried quite a taste of idealism.

Li Wei found Valen, seeking to resolve the doubts in his heart.

“Tutor Valen, what is the Essence?” Li Wei asked.

Valen glanced at him and said, “The Essence is the cognition of the world’s rules.”

Li Wei said, “The essence of all things?”

Valen shook his head and said, “You can never see through the essence of the world, just as you can never guess the world’s rules; there will always be existences that defy common sense.

Pursuing the so-called essence of the world too much makes it harder to find the Essence you believe in.

The Essence is not the world’s essence; it is your insight and understanding of the world.”

Li Wei looked puzzled, unable to comprehend.

The Essence clearly spoke of the world’s essence, the essential characteristics of all things. Yet Valen told him it was not so.

The Essence was essence, yet not essence.

The Essence was world rules, yet not world rules.

It was merely the world rules in his eyes, not the true world rules.

Valen asked, “What do you think is the essence of water?”

Li Wei answered without hesitation, “Flowing, cold, formless, source of life…”

Valen said, “Then have you ever seen solid water? According to your understanding, all water in the world should be flowing.

Have you seen water at two thousand degrees? According to your knowledge, water would have evaporated long ago under such high heat.

Yet these are all things that truly exist in the world.

When you encounter these ‘waters’, is your understanding of the world shattered?”

Li Wei said, “But I never believed what I knew was everything; I know there must be things in the world I do not know.”

Valen said, “That is precisely the key; you have never truly believed in the world you thought you knew.

You appear to be someone pursuing truth, yet you do not truly believe truth exists; you are forever doubting, questioning.

It is not that one should not question; questioning is the ladder of progress, the footsteps of pursuing truth.”

But, you must understand what exactly you believe in?"

Li Wei said, "The eternal truth of the world is change; I cannot find a rule of the world to believe in forever."

Valen shook his head and said, "You still do not understand. The esoteric principle is not a rule of the world, but your view of the world."

"I believe in the world's eternal change," Li Wei said.

"But what good is that? I do not feel I have grasped the esoteric principle."

Valen said, "Do not rush. You will understand sooner or later; the timing has not yet arrived.

Right now you only claim belief with your mouth; your heart does not truly believe, for there are things within you that will never change."

Li Wei stood stunned in place.

He questioned his own heart.

There was nothing wrong with what Valen said.

With his mouth he spoke of believing the world changes, that the only eternal constancy of all things is perpetual change.

Yet within his heart lay things he deemed would never change.

That blue planet in his heart, his red homeland.

No matter when, no matter where.

That was the homeland eternally unchanged in Li Wei's heart.

Leaving the manor, Li Wei walked the path, watching the vast script manifest before his eyes.

Some confusion lingered in his heart.

Soon, he reclaimed his goal.

At least, he could still move forward.

He would not remain stationary, stopping in his tracks.

He was luckier than many third-order mages.

He still had the opportunity to smash against the southern wall without turning back.

Others could not even find the southern wall; they had no chance to smash against it at all.

"Forget it, take one step and see; if it is slow, then let it be slow."

Thinking this, Li Wei felt his chest instantly broaden.

It was not that he could not advance, merely that his pace of advancement had slowed.

Sooner or later, he would reach that step.

"The awakening time is uncertain how long to endure; preparation for the fourth-order cultivation method must also begin."

Li Wei came to the Saint Vilia Library once again.

Seeking the Grand Mage's cultivation method.

He did not necessarily need to buy it now, but knowing beforehand certainly did no harm.

"Where is the Fire-type cultivation method?"

Li Wei circled around a few times, finding no Fire-type method, but instead discovered an important document.

"Poison Dragon Cave, occupied a thousand years ago by an adult Wind Poison Dragon.

Inside the Poison Dragon Cave, toxic fog pervaded, and poisonous creatures grew abundantly.

Once, someone found Poison Dragon Saliva Grass deep within the Poison Dragon Cave."

Li Wei felt the name Poison Dragon Cave sounded somewhat familiar.

As if he had heard it somewhere?

(End of Chapter)