Top-Tier Perception Starts From Basic Fist Techniques

Am I... cured?

It was a very strange sensation. The agony of before had cut itself down to his bones such that he would never forget it, but now there was no pain at all. He felt as though he had more energy than he could ever use up, and his mental state was excellent.

He was, however, genuinely hungry, so he stopped worrying about any of it and wolfed the bread down.

Niu Dashan wept for joy as he wolfed down the bread. "My illness really is cured..."

Finally, the Niu Clan had hope again.

The next day, Niu Dashan was out of bed and working. First, he went and borrowed some grain from his neighbors to keep his household going for the time being. Then, he went up into the mountains to hunt. The village lived off the mountains it was nested in, and the men of nearly every house were hunters.

Niu Dashan had once been a fine hand at hunting until his illness had put an end to it. Now that he was back in the mountains, he came down with a great deal of game. He had even taken down a black bear!

The whole Niu Clan village entered an uproar when they saw it.

"Dashan, that's really something!"

"Who could have thought that he'd be this good once he got well? Even bringing down a black bear?"

"I remember last year, three hunters from this village ran into a black bear. Two ended up dead, and one ran away hurt, ending up as a cripple. A bear that dangerous and yet Niu Dashan killed it on his own!"

A great many people sang his praises.

Selling the bear's hide and paws left his household comfortable overnight, and Niu Dashan knew exactly who had changed his fortune. It was that man, the one who had given him a drop of blood.

What Niu Dashan wanted the most was to go and thank his benefactor.

A man cannot forget his promises. It was agreed that I'd join the Temple of Flesh and Blood once I was well. I think it was the Kao Clan's estate... I'll go and see tomorrow morning.

There were a great many people like Niu Dashan, more than anyone could count. Every one of them was at death's door or worn down by long illness and ended up converted into a blood descendant by a single drop of Kao Ping's blood. Afterward, every one of them returned vigorous and alive with a change of fortune.

Inside the Kao Clan's estate, Kao Ping was making his report to Lu Changsheng. "Young Master, the Temple of Flesh and Blood has been active for three months. There are around 1,823 blood descendants, but those who have joined the temple currently add up to 1,822. Exactly one man has stated plainly that he will not be joining."

At that point, Kao Ping lowered his head.

"I've failed you. Punish me as you see fit."

Kao Ping was speaking of the man who had gone back on his word and stated outright that he would not join the Temple of Flesh and Blood.

"He took what the Temple of Flesh and Blood gave him, and now he doesn't care to join? Where in this world does anyone get a bargain like that?" Lu Changsheng let the offer of punishment pass without answering it. He rose slowly, and his voice went cold. "Let's go. I'd like to meet this man. What I can give, I can also take back!"

Lu Changsheng intended to see the man himself. Something like that was certain to happen again in the future, and perhaps very often. In the future, Lu Changsheng was not going to handle every instance personally. Since this was the first case, he chose to handle it with his own hands.

The two of them left the manor and went straight to Drum Mountain City.

"Young Master, the man was a beggar here in Drum Mountain City. He was once a gentleman's son by the name of Zhang Ziyuan. His family was ruined, and he fled here as a refugee and ended up begging.

"Later, when he was close to dying of illness, I gave him a drop of blood and converted him into a blood descendant."

"Once he was well, he noticed how his body had changed and went to hire himself out as an enforcer at a gambling house. He attached himself to Boss Chen of the Kaiyuan Gambling House.

"He's living very comfortably now, and Boss Chen trusts him a great deal. That is exactly why Zhang Ziyuan is enjoying himself far too much to think of leaving and won't join the Temple of Flesh and Blood."

Kao Ping laid out every detail of the man who had gone back on his word.

"Some people forget where they came from very easily. Kao Ping, joining that gambling house and putting himself under Boss Chen is not as simple as wanting a full belly and an easy life.

"He's a clever one. He's counting on Boss Chen's influence to make us hesitate, the way a man hesitates to throw at a rat for fear of smashing the treasure beside it.[1] He's betting we won't dare touch him."

The look on Lu Changsheng's face was not quite a smile.

Kao Ping was excellent in every respect. He was loyal and did his work without cutting a single corner, but he was simply not very clever. A great many things had to be spelled out for him, which left him a long way behind Senior Sister Xiang from the last secret world.

Lu Changsheng thought, seems like I'll need to find someone sharper to help me run the Temple of Flesh and Blood.

Relying on Kao Ping alone would work Lu Changsheng into an early grave but still leave nothing accomplished.

As the two of them walked into Kaiyuan Gambling House, word instantly reached Boss Chen, and he came hurrying out at once.

"Are you Young Master Kao? Forgive me for not greeting you properly. What brings you in? Care to try a few rounds yourself?"

Boss Chen was not the coarse, bulky man one would expect. He looked far more like a scholar, and rumor had it that he had once studied for the examinations. These days, he ran a gambling house instead.

Boss Chen's eyes were bright as he looked at Lu Changsheng. What interested him was who Kao Wen was. Kao Wen was the only son of the Kao Clan and sat on a fortune worth tens of thousands of cash. If Kao Wen wanted to gamble, Boss Chen stood to become a rich man.

In a game of chance, nine games out of ten were a swindle, after all. Once a man was roped in, there is no road back. However large his family fortune was, he was sure to lose the whole of it.

Lu Changsheng shook his head. "Boss Chen, I haven't come to gamble. I've come for him."

Following the line of Lu Changsheng's gaze, Boss Chen saw the figure he meant.

"Young Master Kao, when did Zhang Ziyuan offend you?" Boss Chen asked.

"He hasn't given me any offense. He is simply carrying something of mine, and today I've come to take it back."

With that, Lu Changsheng started toward Zhang Ziyuan, one step at a time.

For reasons he could not name, Zhang Ziyuan felt his skin crawl. He was terrified.

Seeing Kao Ping in particular left him feeling guilty and exposed. Not long ago, he had been a beggar. Now, he was one of Boss Chen's most capable men, eating and drinking well, and thoroughly enjoying his life. Zhang Ziyuan knew exactly what all of it rested on.

"Boss, save me..."

Terror soon overcame him, and he ended up begging Boss Chen for help, but Boss Chen did not move a muscle. Kao Wen was no ordinary man, and the Kao Clan was not a family anyone provoked lightly.

Lu Changsheng came to a stop in front of him and spoke calmly. "Zhang Ziyuan, so you do know you're carrying something of mine. You've gone back on your word, so I'll be taking it back."

He reached out and closed his hand in front of Zhang Ziyuan.

Suddenly, Zhang Ziyuan screamed, and he collapsed onto the floor as though he couldn't handle the amount of pain he was suffering.

Bang!

The next instant, Zhang Ziyuan's body burst. All that remained of him was a single drop of dark red blood settling onto Lu Changsheng's palm.

Silence.

The whole gambling house dropped into a deathly stillness. Everyone in it was terrified. What had they just watched? Kao Wen had made Zhang Ziyuan explode! His body had been blown into a puddle of pulp. Was that something a man could do?

A demon! Only a demon could do that! Could it be that the eminent young heir of the Kao Clan was a demon? If so, he had definitely hidden it deep!

In that moment, every person present with any brains at all felt an enormous conspiracy settling over them like a net. Perhaps there was some earth-shaking secret behind all this. As the saying went, the deeper a secret ran, the less it was permitted to be known.

Now that they all knew it, what was the ending they could expect? There was likely only one. Death!

A scream was soon heard.

"Run!"

Somebody finally broke and ran for it, and the whole gambling house dissolved into chaos.

Lu Changsheng watched it happen with the air of a man who had expected nothing else.

"Ah, well. The world is a sea of bitterness and all beings suffer in it.[2]

"Only my flesh and blood will grant you bliss forever. Join my Temple of Flesh and Blood, all of you. Leave the sea of bitterness behind and ascend into bliss together."

His expression stayed perfectly calm, with only the faintest smile at the corner of his mouth. Then, he swept a hand through the air.

Plip, plop!

The whole sky seemed to fill with a rain of blood, and every drop of it flew straight at every person in the gambling house.

The corner of Kao Ping's mouth twitched. Was this the low profile that the young master had been talking about? This was what he called keeping it quiet?

Soon, every person in the house was screaming, falling, and convulsing on the floor. Not one of them escaped. Lu Changsheng converted all of them with his blood, helping them leave the sea of bitterness behind.

Boss Chen dropped to his knees and begged. "Please have mercy, Young Master Kao."

Lu Changsheng had not converted him along with the rest, and he was still in possession of his senses.

Kao Ping's voice went cold. "The young master is the Flesh and Blood Progenitor of the Temple of Flesh and Blood!"

Lu Changsheng's own tone stayed mild. "Boss Chen, I have always dealt kindly with people. The men in this gambling house of yours have run up a great deal of karmic debt and are unlikely to come to good ends.

"You are above all of them. There is a calamity of blood hanging over you in the near future, and it will be very hard to dispel."

Boss Chen set his teeth and immediately kowtowed on the floor. "The infinitely merciful and compassionate Flesh and Blood Progenitor, I beg you to save my life."

"That's easily done. I shall bestow three drops of my blood upon you. Only so can the calamity be dispelled, the sea of bitterness left behind, and bliss enjoyed forever."

He swept his hand, and three drops of blood sank into Boss Chen's body in an instant.

The reason Boss Chen received special treatment was that Lu Changsheng had taken note of the man's ability. Boss Chen had started with nothing and built an operation of such size out of it, which ought to make him a far better lieutenant for running the Temple of Flesh and Blood than Kao Ping.

Naturally, Lu Changsheng treated him differently and bestowed three drops of blood upon him rather than one.

"Ahh!" Boss Chen screamed exactly as the others had and convulsed on the floor. Naturally, three drops of Lu Changsheng’s blood carried enormous benefits to him, but in the same way, the agony was also multiplied.

1. 投鼠忌器: literally, to hold back from throwing something at a rat for fear of hitting the treasure next to it. To be deterred from striking a target because of what stands near it. ☜

2. 苦海 (sea of bitterness) is a Buddhist figure for worldly existence as an ocean of suffering that beings must cross; 极乐 (bliss) is the Pure Land waiting on the far shore. Lu Changsheng is borrowing the language of salvation for a recruitment pitch. ☜