Top-Tier Perception Starts From Basic Fist Techniques

Lu Changsheng opened his mouth but hesitated to speak.

"Aiya, this family has boarded a pirate's ship, but so be it. You're the only son of the Kao Clan, and any trouble for you is trouble for the Kao Clan as well. Take me to meet the temple's leadership. I intend to have a proper talk with them. If you're joining this temple, they are not making a foot soldier out of you..."

There was real nerve in the old man and real confidence as well. The Kao Clan's fortune ran deep, and its business covered the whole of Shanan Prefecture. If the Kao Clan was joining, his son was not going to start at the bottom. Even if a road had to be paved, the temple was not going to take Kao Wen lightly.

After a long moment, Lu Changsheng clapped his hands lightly together.

Whip, whip, whip!

Hard, capable figures came pouring in from outside the residence and into the hall in an instant.

"We greet the progenitor!"

Many men in black, all of them blood descendants, knelt respectfully on the floor.

Lu Changsheng spoke slowly, emphasizing each word. "Father, Mother, see it for yourselves. The Temple of Flesh and Blood is something I built with my own hands..."

For a while, nobody said anything. The whole household went silent enough to hear a pin drop.

The progenitor? Nobody who moved about Drum Mountain City had failed to hear of the progenitor. He was the founder of the Temple of Flesh and Blood and was a figure of vast and mysterious power by every account, strong enough to kill even a true demon.

And this terrifying Flesh and Blood Progenitor, whom the rumors said had three heads and six arms,[1] was Kao Wen, the young master of the house? That couldn't be true!

His father recovered first, looking rather awkward about it. He had just finished laying out every failing of the Temple of Flesh and Blood and calling its ambitions wolfish, which amounted to cursing his own son. That would not do! Nobody curses his precious boy.

His hand twitched, his face turned solemn, and his voice dropped. "Good! You're the prodigy of the Kao Clan, exactly as I've always said. My boy is made for great things. Building the whole Temple of Flesh and Blood in such a short time? The world is falling into chaos, but my son has the bearing of a king!"

The look on Lu Changsheng's face was not quite a smile. The old man doted on his son past all reason. Even if he rebelled against the throne, his father would still throw himself into helping, which was the result of three generations of the Kao Clan having only one heir each time.

A moment ago, the temple was wolfish and doomed to a short life. Suddenly, Kao Wen had the bearing of a king. The old man's opinions definitely moved quickly.

One way or another, both parents had accepted that their son was the Flesh and Blood Progenitor, and that was all that was needed.

"Father, Mother, I'll convert you into blood descendants myself now. There are a great many benefits to it."

He handled his parents personally, and the blood descendants he had brought with him handled everyone else. In a short while, the entire household was converted.

"Extraordinary..."

"I feel younger!"

"The aches are gone. Actually gone..."

Both parents came through the conversion with delight all over their faces.

Lu Changsheng had taken a little extra trouble with them and carried both of them straight to Second Growth. A Second Growth constitution was about enough to keep them healthy and full of energy. When he reached Fifth Growth or Sixth Growth himself, he would raise them further.

"My son, go and do great things and be bold about it. Don't waste a thought on us. Even if you rebel or make yourself the master of a whole region, the Kao Clan is behind you either way. If it ends with the lot of us beheaded and the family wiped out, then the Kao Clan goes down together."

The old man wasted no time about anything. His instructions were clear. The Kao Clan was his backing, but his son could not let the Kao Clan hold him back. If it all came apart, they would die together, and that would be the worst-case scenario.

With the household settled, Lu Changsheng returned to the Temple of Flesh and Blood. All he had to do now was wait quietly.

***

In Shanan City, a city in the Shanan Prefecture, an undercurrent was growing stronger. No, it was no longer an undercurrent but a flood, and a violent one. A power calling itself the Temple of Flesh and Blood had forced its way into the city.

From the government office, gangs, merchant guilds, to every trade beyond counting, Shanan City held a great many powers. It was also in chaotic times, with the look of a dynasty's last years about them, and the authorities had grown weak. Powers of every kind, outlaws among them, had naturally risen to the surface, and the government office could do nothing but hold on as best it could.

Inside the Black Shark gang's hall, men in black had the gang surrounded on every side. The Black Shark gang controlled every dock and gambling house in Shanan Prefecture, large and small, which made their influence formidable. Having somebody that would move against them was astonishing in itself.

However, the gang's chief did not look one bit astonished. His face was dark as he spoke. "How long has your Temple of Flesh and Blood even been in Shanan City, and you already can't wait to move on the Black Sharks? Do you really think we're yours for the taking?"

A tall man stepped out of the crowd with an intimidating air pouring off him. "The world is a sea of bitterness and all beings suffer in it, but heaven has sent down the progenitor to save us.

“The infinitely merciful and compassionate Flesh and Blood Progenitor grants you the chance to be converted into blood descendants and helps you leave that sea behind. You should be grateful."

The chief laughed coldly at that. "A pack of mad temple loonies! Don't imagine that the Black Sharks are afraid of you. Kill them!"

He had fought and scrapped his way to where he stood, and he was not about to watch the Temple of Flesh and Blood swallow his gang while he stood there.

The tall blood descendant let out a long sigh and shook his head slightly. "People are ignorant and cling to their delusions.

“Regardless, the infinitely merciful and compassionate Flesh and Blood Progenitor is willing to give you a chance and help you leave the sea of bitterness behind. Sea of flesh and blood, wash the filth from this world..."

The blood descendants in black cut their fingers and flung their hands hard at the gathered gang. Blood filled the hall in an instant and was everywhere. Wherever a drop touched a Black Shark, it got absorbed straight into him. The pain that came with it was violent enough to put them past bearing it, and they went down convulsing on the floor.

"It hurts! It hurts too much!"

"What demon sorcery is this?"

"It hurts! Make it quick, just kill me..."

The blood descendants watched the state of the gang without moving a muscle. "To ascend forever into bliss, you must first be converted and become our brothers and sisters. The pain before the conversion is the filth being washed out of you. Bear it for a while, and it will pass..."

What these blood descendants called the "net of flesh and blood" was exactly what it sounded like. It involved a great many of them spraying their blood at once, covering the ground or covering the men themselves. It converted ordinary people on its own, and it stripped them of any ability to fight on the spot. The temple's blood descendants had worked the technique out in real fighting, and it was super effective.

Lu Changsheng himself did not know that the temple and the blood descendants he had created were growing at a speed beyond anything he had imagined, or that changes he could not have predicted were coming out of them.

Naturally, whether those changes were good or bad was not clear to him either.

Four hours later, the Black Sharks came slowly back to themselves. The pain was gone and in its place was a keen alertness and more energy in them than they could find a use for. They had all been converted.

"Welcome, brothers and sisters! You have all been converted into blood descendants. From this day on, we bathe together in the light of the infinitely merciful and compassionate Flesh and Blood Progenitor. The great Flesh and Blood Martial Dao! Let us leave the sea of bitterness behind and ascend into bliss together!"

At once, the whole hall erupted into a fever pitch.

1. 三头六臂: a figure of speech from Buddhist iconography, where fierce deities are depicted with multiple heads and arms. It describes someone with superhuman capabilities, not a literal deformity. ☜