Top-Tier Perception Starts From Basic Fist Techniques

Time slipped by.

Lu Changsheng had spent three full days in deep conversation with Xiao Zhenyi at the Xiao Clan. On the third day, Zhang Shu finally returned.

"Is everything ready?" Lu Changsheng asked her.

"Everything is in order," Zhang Shu said, the old trace of worry gone from her brow. It seemed like her family affairs had been settled smoothly.

"Good. Then let's return to the Heavenly Sacred City."

With that, Lu Changsheng bid Xiao Zhenyi farewell, and he and Zhang Shu flew off toward the Heavenly Sacred City.

Once again, he noticed that Zhang Shu's flight was remarkably slow. It took a full three months for them to reach the city, and had Lu Changsheng not lent her a hand along the way, the journey would have been slower still.

The two finally reached the Sacred Earth Heavenly Sect, where Lu Changsheng installed Zhang Shu as an elder. Then, carrying the Heavenly Rain Creation Pill, he went to the Li Clan to see Li Zhenggang.

Lu Changsheng took out the pill and handed it to Li Zhenggang. "Fellow Daoist Li, this is the Heavenly Rain Creation Pill I once promised. Take a good look."

"This is..." Li Zhenggang's voice quavered with emotion. He took the pill and examined it closely, and at last, wild joy broke across his face.

"There's no mistake, this is the Heavenly Rain Creation Pill. I never imagined you would find one so quickly. Haha, now I might finally make a full recovery!" Li Zhenggang beamed.

All these years, Li Zhenggang had been plagued by a grievous injury, his strength steadily fading as he remained secluded in the Li Clan's secret chamber. His frailty had burdened not just him, but the entire clan as well. But now, at last, he had obtained the miraculous cure he had been dreaming of this entire time, the Heavenly Rain Creation Pill.

Lu Changsheng had not only saved Li Zhenggang; he had saved the entire Li Clan from potential ruination.

"Fellow Daoist Li, I am preparing to leave for the Heavenly River Sacred Land," Lu Changsheng said. "I must trouble you with looking after the Sacred Earth Heavenly Sect after I go."

There was another important reason Lu Changsheng had delivered the pill so promptly; the Sacred Earth Heavenly Sect currently had no Martial Saint at its head. There was no telling what would become of the sect after he left. The sect could not depend on him for everything; if trouble arose, he could not get there immediately. As such, having a Martial Saint nearby was essential.

If Li Zhenggang recovered, then with him in Heavenly Sacred City, the Sacred Earth Heavenly Sect would have someone watching over it, and no real trouble would befall it. Of course, if something truly serious happened, then Lu Changsheng would rush back.

"Gladly," said Li Zhenggang, nodding without hesitation. He would have watched over the Sacred Earth Sect anyway, even if Lu Changsheng had not asked him to do so.

With that, Lu Changsheng went back to the Sacred Earth Heavenly Sect, settled its affairs, and said his farewells to old acquaintances one by one.

With everything in order, he left Heavenly Sacred City without looking back and flew toward the Heavenly River Sacred Land.

The Heavenly River Sacred Land lay extremely far from the Heavenly Sacred City; even at a Martial Saint's speed, the journey would take months.

But this time, Lu Changsheng was in no hurry. He expected to remain at the Heavenly River Sacred Land for a very long while, and unless something truly important arose, he likely would not return to Heavenly Sacred City at all.

At last, after half a year, Lu Changsheng arrived at the Heavenly River. The so-called Heavenly River was a vast, endlessly surging river, so wide that no eye could find its far bank, and from a distance it seemed to join heaven and earth, hence its name.

Near the river stood a sacred land of the Martial Dao, namely the Heavenly River Sacred Land. Legend held that its founding ancestor had become a Heavenly Saint on the riverbank and established the sacred land beside it, and its inheritance had continued to this day.

Outside the sacred land sprawled a great city called Heavenly River City—home to millions, a great city in every sense. Leaning on the sacred land, the city flourished. Countless martial artists came from afar hoping to join the Heavenly River Sacred Land and become its disciples.

The sacred land opened its gates to recruit disciples once every ten years, and with word spreading, the city's population had recently boomed. The sacred land itself, of course, did not sit within the city, but outside it along the Heavenly River.

Lu Changsheng first took lodging in the Heavenly River City. He found the streets full of martial artists escorting their clan juniors, nearly all below the Divine Treasury Realm.

The Heavenly River Sacred Land recruited only those below the Divine Treasury Realm, with a strict age limit of sixteen. Even so, every recruitment drew martial artists in swarms. After all, being taken in as a disciple of the Heavenly River Sacred Land truly meant ascending to heaven in a single step.

With his aura concealed, Lu Changsheng asked around the city. Disciple recruitment came once every ten years, but a Martial Saint could seek to join the sacred land at any time, provided he passed its assessment. That assessment, however, was brutally strict. For many years now, not a single Martial Saint had managed to join, which spoke to just how demanding it was.

Lu Changsheng made his inquiries carefully until he understood the sacred land's situation well enough, then drifted out of the city toward the Heavenly River Sacred Land.

When he arrived, he found a great crowd of martial artists gathered outside, nearly all hoping to join as disciples. Walking closer, he watched the sacred land's people screening candidates one by one.

Ultimately, it mostly comes down to Perception.

The Heavenly River Sacred Land handed out a random martial art; master it within the allotted time, and you passed the first screening. Yet this single test had already eliminated ninety percent of them.

"Ahh, so close... I was so close."

"Failing the screening means going home to fade into the crowd."

"The art didn't even seem hard to me. Why couldn't I master it..."

Many lamented their failure, convinced that with just a little more time they could have completed the first assessment's art.

Lu Changsheng glanced over the martial art in question. With his Perception, mastering it would be effortless. Still, to master it within such a short period of time, by his estimate, required Perception at the level of Hidden Dragon in the Abyss.

And that was only the first assessment, with reportedly several more to follow. Lu Changsheng estimated that the disciples who made it through to the end would need Perception reaching Praised by All, or even Dragon Among Men. This showed just how much the Heavenly River Sacred Land demanded of its disciples.

After watching a while, Lu Changsheng hesitated no longer and walked straight toward the sacred land's main gate.

"Halt. To join the Heavenly River Sacred Land as a disciple, you must take the assessment. Those who have not passed may not enter."

Several sacred land disciples barred Lu Changsheng's way, and the sharp rebuke drew plenty of attention. Many eyes turned toward him.

"Don't tell me the Martial Saint assessment is also this sort of trifle?" Lu Changsheng said with a frown, glancing at the assessment art the sacred land had put forward.

"A Martial Saint?"

The disciples' expressions shifted slightly, and the surrounding crowd stirred. A Martial Saint stood as a prominent figure anywhere they went, an overlord of a whole region even. The families bringing their juniors to the sacred land's assessment were rarely Martial Saint factions themselves.

Even in a vast sacred land, one rarely got to see a Martial Saint casually walking along the street. They were exalted in status, whereas Divine Ability martial artists were more like dogs in comparison.

"You are a Martial Saint? May we ask how to address you?" the disciples said, their tone somewhat more polite than before.

But only somewhat. These individuals were sacred land disciples who had seen too many Martial Saints. Famous and ferocious Martial Saints from outside had come to attempt the Heavenly River Sacred Land's assessment, and the result? Nearly all had returned disappointed.

In the past hundred years, not one Martial Saint had joined. These disciples were not Martial Saints themselves and might never become any, but having seen so many, they cared little for outside Martial Saints.

In their minds, Martial Saints came in two kinds: those of the sacred lands, exalted and worthy of reverence, and those of the outside world, who mattered little.

"Lu Changsheng of the Heavenly Sacred City's Sacred Earth Heavenly Sect."

Even Martial Saints of other sects could join a sacred land. In this, the Heavenly River Sacred Land showed a magnanimous spirit and extraordinary bearing.

"Lu Changsheng?"

The disciples' hearts jolted at the name. Their heads snapped up, and they stared at him in disbelief. They were sacred land disciples, hardly impressed by Martial Saints from outside, but Lu Changsheng was clearly an exception.

Indeed, that name was special. It had recently shaken the entire Sacred Earth, even the sacred lands. Almost everyone knew the name of the fearsome man who had slain a Martial Saint while still at the Divine Ability Realm. The story had made the entire Sacred Earth tremble in fear and awe.

However, what the sacred land disciples were more interested in was Lu Changsheng's immeasurable divine abilities. Outsiders might merely marvel that he had cultivated them, but the people of the sacred lands understood best of all what cultivating an immeasurable divine ability truly meant.

They could scarcely imagine that someone outside a sacred land had managed it, let alone forged a Saint Body on that foundation and became Martial Saint. To the disciples of the sacred land, it sounded like a fantastic tale from the heavens, and the shock it produced was all too great.