Top-Tier Perception Starts From Basic Fist Techniques

"They're gone?"

"Three warships, each weighing over ten thousand tons, were destroyed by Lu Yuan alone. And now they've all sunk to the bottom of the sea..."

"Can a human being really possess that much power?"

"Evolvers... So this is what people who have evolved are capable of. It really does feel like we're entering the age of evolvers..."

Countless people were utterly horrified. Warships, cannons, missiles, and all the other weapons humanity had developed over generations had proven powerless against a single martial artist—a single evolver.

The battle had already been captured from countless angles and spread across the world through recordings, livestreams, and news broadcasts. In an astonishingly short time, people everywhere saw Lu Yuan destroy three warships with his own hands, leaving countless viewers shaken by what it meant for the future.

After today, every nation in the world would likely pour resources into cultivating evolvers and studying the Extreme Martial Dao. And Lu Yuan alone was the reason why. His combat power was practically equivalent to an entire army, perhaps even an entire fleet. Such strength meant there were few places in the world capable of stopping him.

Whoosh!

Lu Changsheng, however, was not paying attention to any of that. Still standing on the surface of the sea, he suddenly raised his head as his awareness reached into the void. There, the Martial Dao had begun to expand, and something within it was changing.

He knew, in this moment, that his plan to use this battle as the catalyst to expand the Martial Dao had succeeded. And the transformation that he had been waiting for was finally starting.

Boom!

Loud rumbling swept through the void, but ordinary people heard nothing and sensed nothing. Only those who had already broken their limits and reached Second Growth were capable of perceiving what was happening.

The Extreme Martial Dao had not been spreading for long, but the world's population exceeded ten billion. Among so many people, there was no shortage of extraordinary talent. Even within such a short period, a small number had already broken through their limits and entered Second Growth, which meant they could sense the transformation unfolding within the void.

"What is this? What's happening?"

"It feels like something is about to form..."

"What exactly is going on?"

Lu Changsheng stood silently on the sea's surface as his emotions stirred. More than two years had passed, and at last, the day he had been waiting for had arrived.

Boom!

The void roared once more, and what had once been only an indistinct outline of the Martial Dao fully coalesced into a complete Martial Dao. Lu Changsheng looked at the Martial Dao that was suspended high within the void, emanating light across the entire world.

Finally! The Martial Dao is ready!

From this moment onward, cultivating the Martial Dao in this world would become significantly easier. More importantly, since a complete Martial Dao was now established, reaching transcendence would be at least ten times easier than before.

Even Lu Changsheng profited immediately. The instant the Martial Dao took shape, a sudden flash of insight swept through him. His figure expanded once more as the limits of his physical form shattered.

He had entered Fourth Growth!

Lu Changsheng's figure expanded wildly. From his original height of over nine chi, he grew to twelve chi, then fifteen, eighteen, twenty-one, twenty-four... This dramatic transformation stemmed from the nature of the Extreme Martial Dao itself.

The Martial Dao Lu Changsheng had created in this world followed a very different path from that of the Sacred Region. There, Martial Dao revolved around blood qi and Laws, so an increase in strength did not cause the body to expand to such an exaggerated degree.

The Extreme Martial Dao of this world, however, pursued sainthood through the physical body. All of a practitioner's strength was concentrated within the flesh, making it, in essence, a path of body refinement. Under this system, a stronger body meant greater physical power, and greater size meant a stronger foundation.

This became especially apparent upon reaching Fourth Growth. If Third Growth corresponded to Qi Refinement, then Fourth Growth was equivalent to Dao Foundation, and the difference between the two was enormous. Similarly, this breakthrough was far more than a simple increase in strength—it marked the true establishment of Lu Changsheng's Martial Dao foundation.

And Lu Changsheng was not merely forging his own foundation. As the creator of the Extreme Martial Dao, he was laying the foundation of this world's entire Martial Dao with his own body. For a path centered entirely on the flesh, the stronger that body became, the stronger the foundation it represented.

His fleshly body therefore continued to grow until he finally stood nearly thirty chi tall.[1]

He could clearly feel the tremendous power contained within his new body. Compared with what he had possessed before, it was on an entirely different level. If those three warships were placed before him again, he could practically treat them as toys.

Lu Changsheng's entire transformation had taken place in full view of the world. Countless cameras were still trained on him, while livestreams and recordings transmitted the sight of his thirty-chi-tall body across the globe.

"What's happening? How did Lu Yuan suddenly grow to thirty chi tall?"

"According to the Extreme Martial Dao system, every time someone breaks another physical limit and advances to a higher level, their body becomes larger. The greater their size, the stronger every aspect of their body becomes."

"Lu Yuan was already at Third Growth before this, far beyond anyone else in the world. Seeing how he's gone from a little over nine chi tall to nearly thirty chi, he must have broken through again and reached Fourth Growth!"

"At Third Growth, he could already destroy warships weighing over ten thousand tons. How powerful is he supposed to be now that he's reached Fourth Growth and grown to thirty chi? What weapon could possibly threaten him anymore?"

"Are we really entering an age ruled by evolvers?"

"At Fourth Growth, Lu Yuan is no different from the gods in ancient myths!"

"Precisely. At this stage of his evolution, what's the difference between him and a god capable of shattering heaven and earth?"

Many were deeply shaken by what they had witnessed, and more still began to ponder the deeper implications. Before today, modern civilization had been ruled by guns, missiles, warships, and every other weapon produced through technological progress. But Lu Yuan had just overturned that assumption before the eyes of the entire world.

At Third Growth, the Extreme Martial Dao had already allowed him to destroy warships weighing more than ten thousand tons with his bare hands. Now that he had reached Fourth Growth, his body had expanded to nearly thirty chi, and his strength had likely increased several times over.

If others could eventually reach the same level through the Extreme Martial Dao, then the balance of power that had governed the world for generations was going to change. After all, this was no longer simply the emergence of a new method of cultivation but the beginning of a shift in what kind of power could dominate an entire era.

"Compress!"

Lu Changsheng immediately began compressing his enormous frame. Upon reaching Fourth Growth, he had gained absolute control over his own body, so shrinking it was no longer difficult.

His towering figure rapidly contracted until he once again looked like an ordinary man. But this appearance was merely the result of compression. His true form actually stood nearly thirty chi tall, the natural physique he possessed after reaching Fourth Growth.

Of course, this type of body-refining Martial Dao had its limitations. If every advancement depended on continuously enlarging and strengthening the physical body, there would eventually come a point when further progress became impossible.

Its ultimate potential was lower than that of the Martial Dao practiced in the Sacred Region. But that was no longer Lu Changsheng's concern; he would soon return to the Sacred Region anyway.

As for how far the Martial Dao of this world could ultimately develop, and how its people would overcome the limitations of the path he had created, that was something they would have to discover for themselves.

Lu Changsheng pulled up his Status Panel to check his current state.

[Status Panel]

Host: Lu Yuan

Extreme Martial Dao: Fourth Growth

As expected, the Extreme Martial Dao had reached Fourth Growth. However, unlike before, there was no progress indicator beside it.

Lu Changsheng was not surprised, though. He knew Fourth Growth was currently the limit of the Extreme Martial Dao. There was no higher stage to advance to, because the energy level of this world itself only reached the Dao Foundation level, and Fourth Growth already stood at that level. This meant he had effectively reached the world's current ceiling.

If the energy level of the entire world could somehow rise in the future, then the Extreme Martial Dao could also gain room to develop beyond Fourth Growth, perhaps even reaching a stage comparable to the Golden Core Realm. But raising the energy level of an entire world was no simple matter, so for now, Fourth Growth was the end of the path.

As Lu Changsheng stared at his Status Panel, a thought flashed through his mind.

With my thirty-chi body at Fourth Growth, I wonder if I can shatter the Martial Dao by unleashing my full strength. If I can break the Martial Dao and obtain its fragments, there'd be no reason to remain in this secret world until my true body's power can be projected inside. I could leave immediately and return to the Sacred Region.

I mean, there's no harm trying. If I fail, I'll just have to continue waiting.

1. Roughly ten meters ☜