Top-Tier Perception Starts From Basic Fist Techniques

Three days later, several hundred members of the sect gathered at the sect’s grounds, settling their eyes on their new Supreme Elder. Lu Changsheng intended to make his name known to all the martial artists in the Hundred Flowers Mountain Range, and the whole sect wanted to see whether he could put his money where his mouth was. Could he actually keep them safe?

Whoosh.

Lu Changsheng stepped out, sweeping his senses across the mountain range.

An instant was all it took to know if anyone was out there.

"Hm?" Lu Changsheng’s gaze cooled instantly. "Three Earthly Saints are still here... Floating Cloud Sect's ancestor has left, but these three haven't. Confident in themselves, eh?"

Three people left meant three to make an example of. Of course, he would still be courteous first, then forceful if needed.

"The three days are up, but I'll say it once more. Any Earthly Saint still inside the Hundred Flowers Mountain Range should leave now, or you’ll die where you stand!" he bellowed.

His voice rolled through the mountains, and everyone definitely heard it.

He had actually given some leeway, as only Earthly Saints were asked to leave. Anyone below that rank was left alone and allowed in the range. The range was enormous and full of medicinal herbs, so those below Earthly Saint had naturally come to gather them.

The Hundred Flowers Sect had never been high-handed enough to stop that. However, an Earthly Saint was a different story. Any Earthly Saint nearby could watch the sect and threaten it, so none of them could be allowed nearby.

"Is that the Hundred Flowers Sect's new Supreme Elder?"

"He means it, then."

"Nothing to do with us. We're not Earthly Saints; we can still come and go."

"From the sound of it, it seems like somebody stayed."

"So we're about to watch a fight between Earthly Saints?"

Every martial artist left in the range extended their senses at once. A battle between Earthly Saints was rare. They wanted to know who had stayed, and how the new Supreme Elder was going to drive an Earthly Saint out of the mountains.

Boom.

His words had barely finished before a terrible presence erupted somewhere in the range, then another, and then a third. There were three of them, and all three were Earthly Saints.

An old man in white robes walked up to Lu Changsheng one step at a time, his Earthly Saint Dao Body unfolding around him until the presence of it blotted out the sky.

"Big words. I've been gathering medicinal herbs in these mountains for years, and one sentence from you is supposed to chase me out?"

A second figure of a man in black followed. His Dao Body came out like some demon god, with black flame pouring off of it. He clearly had no intention of leaving either.

The last one was an incredibly beautiful woman in red robes, barefoot and with bells chiming somewhere on her with every movement.

Lu Changsheng faced the three Earthly Saints with his hands behind his back, and his voice stayed calm. "Alright, you're certain you'd rather fight me than leave?"

The three traded gazes, and one of them laughed coldly. "And if we are? You don't force us out of these mountains with a sentence."

Lu Changsheng nodded. Taking them on one at a time was more trouble than it was worth. "Fine, come at me together. Once we start, I won't be holding back, so think it over. You could die here."

It was a naked threat.

One man against three, and the one least worried about it was Lu Changsheng. Down at the sect grounds, the elders of the Hundred Flowers Sect watched with worry.

"Sect Master, isn't it dangerous to face three at once?"

"None of those three are weak. In fact, all of them are top tier. If any of them has condensed the embryo of a Martial Dao, it gets worse."

"He's strong, but this is surely overreaching."

Zhang Ling said nothing at first as she could not see through him. What she did know was that the grand formation had not touched him, which put his strength somewhere she had no way to measure.

The Floating Cloud Sect's ancestor had walked away with one sentence from him, and the old man was not nearby at all, which told her plainly enough what he thought.

"Put your minds at rest," she said. "The grand formation was laid by our Heavenly Saint ancestor himself. Even after a million years pass, it'll still hold; it could not touch the Supreme Elder. Draw your own conclusions."

That settled them, and their eyes went back to the three figures in the sky.

Truthfully, it was more than just the sect watching. Earthly Saints at a distance also had their senses fixed on the same patch of sky, the Floating Cloud Sect's ancestor included.

He was strong enough to have condensed the embryo of a Martial Dao, which was how he had founded a sect of his own and come to covet the Hundred Flowers Sect in the first place. Standing in front of Lu Changsheng, though, he had felt something enormously dangerous emanating from the man, and that feeling had driven him out of the sect's mountain range. However, he had not left happily.

"Let's see what you're made of," he grunted.

If Lu Changsheng turned out to be less than advertised and could not handle three Earthly Saints, the old man was perfectly willing to come back and make a move himself.

The fight mattered both to the Hundred Flowers Sect and to him. On the other hand, Lu Changsheng was not treating it as anything much. He knew exactly how strong he was. Before he condensed the Infinite Martial Dao, a handful of Earthly Saints could still match him or beat him.

However, he had already refined Martial Dao fragments, put his own Martial Dao in order, and condensed an embryo out of it. Furthermore, it was the embryo of the Infinite Martial Dao. Among those at his level, who could fight him?

"Kill him!"

The three moved together without any pretense of fairness. Three Dao Bodies stood up, and every attack looked capable of destroying the world. The sky went dark, and Lu Changsheng was locked under attack from every side.

One of them went further and let his Martial Dao embryo loose. It carried a Martial Dao Will with it that swept the space ahead of it, leaving nothing in its path.

"That's a Martial Dao Will!"

"Only an Earthly Saint who's created his own Martial Dao and condensed an embryo has one."

"He doesn't even have to lift a hand. His Martial Dao Will alone will suppress an opponent."

"Any Earthly Saint with an embryo and a Martial Dao Will is no doubt top tier."

The spectators erupted at the sight of it. Those who had a Martial Dao Will and those who did not were worlds apart. A Will suppressed an opponent and cut into his fighting spirit, sometimes leaving him with half his strength or less.

How hard it suppressed them depended on the embryo behind it. The stronger the embryo, the heavier the Martial Dao Will, and a clash between top-tier Earthly Saints usually came down to whose Martial Dao Will weighed more.

The Martial Dao Will came down on Lu Changsheng like a mountain, but he did not move. He stood there perfectly composed, as though nothing had touched him at all, and this was not supposed to happen.

Lu Changsheng smiled. "That's a good Martial Dao Will!"

He had wanted to feel what another Earthly Saint's Martial Dao Will was like.

That's it?

The praise was only for show. It was so weak it had not raised a ripple in him.

Boom!

His Dao Body came up, and a Martial Dao Will came off him in the same instant, like a storm breaking loose.

"Infinite Martial Dao!"

It was the first time he had released the Infinite Martial Dao Will, and the first time anyone had seen it. The embryo itself, he still could not unleash it, so all he could do was suppress an opponent with the Martial Dao Will.

Only a Heavenly Saint had condensed the embryo the rest of the way into a true Martial Dao, and only then could a man suppress everything with the Martial Dao itself.

Even so, what came off him dwarfed anything the other side had produced. The Infinite Martial Dao Will rolled out in a frenzy, flattened the other Martial Dao Will without effort, then came down on the three of them like a mountain. All three Dao Bodies sank beneath it.

"What? My... Dao Body is being restrained?"

"Eighty percent of it!"

"That can't be right! The strongest Martial Dao Will can normally only restrain others by half!"

"What kind of embryo did he condense?!"

Shock went through all three at once. If four-fifths of a man's strength were restrained, how would he fight?

Lu Changsheng had not stopped. His Dao Body stood tens of thousands of meters tall, and it put out three heads and six arms all at once. Six arms reached for the three Dao Bodies.

His opponents struck back, for whatever it was worth. Nothing they threw made any difference as the six arms went straight through their attacks and closed around all three.

"Stop!"

"We yield!"

"Fellow Daoist Lu, we admit defeat. Have mercy—"

They were frightened. They had not blocked a single exchange, and he had them dangling like chicks in his fist. They gave up and begged, because anything else was going to cost them their lives.

However, Lu Changsheng paid no attention. They had been given their chance and had not taken it. It was now too late to beg.

With the eyes of everyone in the mountain range on him, he closed all six hands around the three enormous Dao Bodies and squeezed.

Bang!

All three burst as he crushed them in his hands.