Top-Tier Perception Starts From Basic Fist Techniques

The Heavenly Spirit Sacred Sect...

He had heard of this great Martial Dao sect more than once.

"Every sacred sect has a Heavenly Saint anchoring it. Martial Saints are actually divided into three realms, the Heavenly Saint, the Earthly Saint, and the Human Saint, also called the Three Saint Realms. The Heavenly Saint stands at the very top of the three, at the peak of the Three Saint Realms. In all the Sacred Earth, the Heavenly Saint reigns supreme."

Lu Changsheng nodded. Still, it was all far too distant from him. He had only just let a single immeasurable divine ability transform. He still had two more, and he couldn't say how long it would take for them to transform as well.

The Three Saint Realms, or rather, the Heavenly Saint Realm was too far off.

"So there really is no way?" Lu Changsheng asked.

"No, no way at all. The Heavenly Spirit Sacred Sect doesn't sell Heavenly Spirit Water on a whim. They sell only a fixed quota each year, and sometimes the quota is cut. For that bit of quota, every major power and merchant association plies its own methods to court the Heavenly Spirit Sacred Sect, which has only driven the price higher and higher.

"But no one can give up Heavenly Spirit Water. The price will probably keep climbing. Eleven thousand, thirteen thousand, fifteen thousand, even twenty thousand spirit stones a drop is not out of the question."

Lu Changsheng could tell that Li Guang was far from happy with the situation himself. Regardless, there was nothing to be done. If the Heavenly Spirit Water was in the hands of the Heavenly Spirit Sacred Sect, what could the Li Clan Merchant Association possibly do?

Even the Li Clan's grand elder was no more than a Human Saint, and he still had to bow down to the Heavenly Spirit Sacred Sect.

In the Sacred Earth, martial strength reigned supreme just the same. Without strength, obtaining anything was as hard as climbing to the heavens.

"So Heavenly Spirit Water can't be controlled, and there's even a quota. What's the Li Clan Merchant Association's quota for a year?" Lu Changsheng asked.

"About a hundred drops a year."

"Only a hundred?"

"That's right. This year's quota has basically all been bought up by you, Brother Lu. So if you want to buy Heavenly Spirit Water from the association, you'll have to wait until next year. Next year I can decide to set aside half for you, at seventy percent of the price. How does that sound?"

Half came to fifty or sixty drops, more or less. But even those few dozen drops would have to wait until next year. As for the price, Li Guang had truly done his best to offer Lu Changsheng a decent deal.

So obtaining Heavenly Spirit Water now comes down to two problems: spirit stones, and the quota. The quota is easy enough to solve; I simply have to deal with a few more merchant associations. The most important issue is the spirit stones. There has to be a place that can steadily produce them, only then can the Sacred Earth Heavenly Sect plant itself firmly in the Sacred Earth.

A flurry of thoughts crossed Lu Changsheng's mind, and they eventually led to the origin of spirit stones.

That's right! They come from mines.

As long as one had a spirit stone mine, one could simply extract the spirit stones directly. Naturally, the larger the mine, the more stones it yielded. Moreover, there was plenty of spirit energy in nature.

With a large gathering formation set up, the spiritual energy could continually replenish the vein of the mine so that spirit stones would keep growing without end. So, long as one kept the mining to a measured pace, spirit stones were practically inexhaustible.

Thus, the hardest part was actually to find a spirit stone vein. And where was one to find a spirit stone vein? wuNear the Heavenly Sacred City, nearly every vein already had an owner. To get a vein, there was only one way: seizing it.

"Brother Li, can you draw on the Li Clan Merchant Association's resources to get me the exact locations of the spirit stone veins near the Heavenly Sacred City, along with detailed information on the powers behind them?" Lu Changsheng asked.

Li Guang gave Lu Changsheng a long look. Clearly he had already guessed what Lu Changsheng meant to do. Given how their relationship had evolved, he would naturally grant him such a favor.

"No problem. I'll have it prepared right away. You'll have it tomorrow, Brother Lu."

Lu Changsheng nodded.

"One more thing. If I wanted to establish a faction, say a sect, under what circumstances would the Heavenly Sacred City not move to stop it?" he asked.

"Establishing a sect..." Li Guang gave him another long look, pondering for a while.

"Well, no one really gets involved in the struggles and bloodshed between factions within the Heavenly Sacred City, as long as the factions don't cause major chaos and maintain order, and don't provoke a faction with a Martial Saint.

"But take care. Many of the Heavenly Sacred City's factions are bound together by tangled, intricate ties. Some factions are even dependent on certain supreme ones."

Lu Changsheng nodded in understanding.

"Still, I'm not entirely without backing. For instance, I have you behind me, Brother Li, and behind you stands the Li Clan, and a Martial Saint. Isn't that so?" he said with a smile.

Li Guang returned the smile. Indeed, given his relationship with Lu Changsheng, who would doubt it if they claimed the Li Clan stood behind him?

The next day, Li Guang had the documents sent over. Lu Changsheng went through them carefully.

The documents were quite detailed: the spirit stone veins near the Heavenly Sacred City, the powers behind those veins, even the tangled, intricate ties between those powers and others, all recorded in meticulous detail.

Some of the information could be considered top secret, the kind only a large faction like the Li Clan Merchant Association could possibly possess, and now it had all been handed to Lu Changsheng at once.

This thorough information alone showed that the Li Clan was no small thing. They were indeed the local overlords of the Heavenly Sacred City.

The Heavenly Sacred City has eight supreme factions in all. These eight are divided into three upper factions and five lower ones. The three upper factions each currently have a Martial Saint anchoring them, while the five lower factions have been founded by Martial Saints and have produced Martial Saints in the past, giving them deep heritage. Though the five lower factions have no Martial Saint now, every one of them has a Martial Venerable anchoring it.

Lu Changsheng read through the documents one by one, and he noted that each of the five lower factions had a Martial Venerable.

Martial Venerable was not actually a realm of cultivation, only a title, an honorific for combat power. A Martial Venerable was still a Divine Ability martial artist, the term meaning one who crushed all before him at the Divine Ability Realm, unmatched and invincible, with practically no rival.

The Divine Ability Realm could advance no further than that. One who had earned the title of Martial Venerable had most likely never tasted defeat. Whenever such a man took the field, he was certain to be the victor.

This struck Lu Changsheng as a little strange. By rights, Martial Venerables should be very few, and yet each of the five lower powers had one.

Martial Venerable... Some of these are probably just puffed up, Lu Changsheng thought to himself with a smirk.

Martial Venerable was only an honorific, a title that attested to someone's combat power. And since it was just a title, there was a great deal of room to use it, boasting being one example.

Lu Changsheng had started out as a weak martial artist, slowly making his way in the jianghu to get where he was now. During journey thus far, he had encountered a fair share of conceited martial artists with all sorts of monikers and titles and no strength to back it up.

Sword God, Sword Saint, Blood Butcher and so on. Plenty of imposing monikers and titles out there, and yet very few could actually live up to those names in combat. Some were so conceited that they gave themselves titles like Suppressor of the Western Pass. [1]

Ultimately, Martial Venerable was just a jianghu title, and with a bit of maneuvering, a title like that was easy enough to come by. Given the heritage and influence of the five lower factions, manipulating it couldn't be that difficult.

That was why, though the five lower factions had no Martial Saint, they had a Martial Venerable in every generation, the line scarcely ever broken. In reality, could so many people become true Martial Venerables?

"The five lower factions..." Lu Changsheng looked more closely. Apart from the so-called Martial Venerables, he noticed that the five lower factions were all deeply tied to the three upper factions.

Even the Li Clan, one of the three upper factions, had deep ties to one or two of the lower factions. This was what Li Guang had meant: the powers were tangled together at the roots, exceedingly complex.

So the lower factions are untouchable...

Lu Changsheng cared nothing for these so-called Martial Venerables. He himself was a Martial Venerable—a true one, with an immeasurable divine ability in his arsenal. How could those so-called Martial Venerables of dubious strength possibly compare to him?

Regardless, if the lower factions were also tied to the upper factions, with Martial Saints entangled in it, Lu Changsheng still had to tread carefully. After all, he meant to establish the Sacred Earth Heavenly Sect, to give the martial artists of the Ancient Region Heavenly Sect a chance to come and plant their feet in the Sacred Earth. Thus, he had to play everything safe.

Even in seizing a spirit stone vein to enrich the Sacred Earth Heavenly Sect's foundation, he had to ensure there would be no lingering trouble. Everything had to be clean and decisive. So, the eight supreme factions, upper or lower, were all off-limits.

Below the eight factions came the second-tier factions. These were many, but few of them held spirit stone veins.

After all, any vein worth having had basically already been carved up by the eight supreme factions. What chance did the rest have? And yet, for various reasons, some second-tier powers did hold spirit stone veins.

I need to get a spirit stone vein. The only question is, which power should I make an example of first?

Lu Changsheng would not hesitate.

The Sanluo Merchant Association?[2] Hmm, its background is quite complicated. It's said to be entangled with many factions outside the Heavenly Sacred City. It does hold a spirit stone vein, but seizing it by force would likely bring about endless trouble. I could normally deal with trouble, but not when it comes to the Sacred Earth Heavenly Sect. A steady stream of trouble would put the sect in jeopardy.

The Myriad Sword Manor? Hmm... A Sword Dao noble family that has produced many Sword Dao experts in the past, and holds a spirit stone vein of decent quality. The background of the Myriad Sword Manor is pretty straightforward, with no great entanglements with other powers. It's likely they secured that spirit stone vein legitimately, purely by strength.

The Myriad Sword Manor has a true Martial Venerable, namely Chen Peng, the Sword Venerable. He's a supreme Divine Ability martial artist, and he's condensed a Sword Dao major divine ability. With its unrivaled sharpness, Chen Peng has wielded his sword against the world and remained invincible, thus earning the title of Sword Venerable.

The more Lu Changsheng analyzed the Myriad Sword Manor, the more his eyes lit up.

"Sword Venerable Chen Peng..."

By relying on his Sword Dao major divine ability, Sword Venerable Chen Peng had crushed all before him, unmatched and invincible, earning his renown and winning the Myriad Sword Manor a spirit stone vein.

You're the one, Cheng Peng of the Myriad Sword Manor!

A sharp glint flashed in Lu Changsheng's eyes as he made up his mind. He rose up and went looking for Li Guang at once.

"Brother Li, I want to challenge the Sword Venerable Chen Peng of the Myriad Sword Manor to a duel. If Chen Peng loses, the manor gives up the spirit stone vein it holds. If I lose, he can do with me as he wishes."

Contending for a vein could be done openly. After all, Lu Changsheng was no weakling. Being a Martial Venerable, he was well qualified to issue such a challenge. That title alone gave him unbound confidence.

A Martial Venerable going against a Sword Venerable was, by all means, a fair fight. If Chen Peng lost, the Myriad Sword Manor would merely lose a vein. The manor would still stand.

But if Chen Peng refused the challenge, then Lu Changsheng would have to move against them in the dark, and that would mean removing them by the roots. If it came to that, the Myriad Sword Manor would face destruction.

"Brother Lu, does it really have to be this way?" Li Guang could not help asking, hoping to convince Lu Changsheng to be more cautious.

"You've condensed an immeasurable divine ability, indeed," he went on, "but Sword Venerable Chen Peng has fought a hundred battles without facing defeat even once. He earned his title with every single swing of his blade."

"I've thought it through, Brother Li. It has to be this way." Lu Changsheng's tone was firm.

"I see... Fine, then I'll deliver your message to the Myriad Sword Manor. You're issuing a challenge as a Martial Venerable. I doubt Chen Peng will decline."

Lu Changsheng nodded. "Thank you for your trouble, Brother Li."

Any message would carry more weight if it was carried directly by the Li Clan.

After Li Guang left, Lu Changsheng sat quietly and waited for the manor's reply.

1. Suppressor of the Western Pass is a title of Zheng Tu, a character from the famous Chinese classic Water Margin. He was a tyrant who oppressed others in the novel. ☜

2. Sanluo is a Chinese medicine term meaning "wrist". ☜