Top-Tier Perception Starts From Basic Fist Techniques

At this moment, Lu Changsheng was in the new capital of the Jade Dragon Kingdom. The kingdom's former capital had been destroyed by a nuclear bomb, and after the annexation of the Flame Dragon Federation, the Jade Dragon Kingdom had chosen to relocate its seat of government. The newly established city had therefore been named New Capital.

Within the city stood the Extreme Martial Dao Center, where Lu Changsheng was staying.

By now, the outside world's reverence for him had reached an unprecedented level and had given him many titles. They called him "The Founding Martial Artist," "The Founder of Evolvers," "The Greatest Saint of All Time," and many other titles. In the eyes of the people, his achievements had already surpassed any legends of the past.

Lu Changsheng's influence had grown accordingly, too. Although he held no official position within the Jade Dragon Kingdom, a single word from him could determine the fate of even its highest-ranking officials.

However, he did not really care about all of that. After settling the troubles caused by the Flame Dragon Federation, he returned to his cultivation chamber, meditating in silence as he counted down the remaining days.

After some time, he raised his head and looked toward the Martial Dao that had condensed within the void. The Martial Dao formed in this world seems to have... gone somewhat astray.

The Martial Dao had been condensed from the collective beliefs of all living beings, which meant those beliefs naturally influenced what form it took.

Lu Changsheng had spread the Extreme Martial Dao throughout this world, and fundamentally, it was still a genuine Martial Dao. However, this was a civilization built upon science and technology, and the people here had stubbornly interpreted the Extreme Martial Dao through that same framework.

In their eyes, martial cultivation was evolution, and martial artists were evolvers, and each breakthrough became another stage in biological evolution. At first glance, the distinction seemed insignificant. In practice, however, it had begun to change the path itself.

The Martial Dao native to this world had always possessed an unbreakable upper power limit at the Dao Foundation level. But once cultivation was understood as "evolution," people began searching for ways around that limitation.

Nations that made little progress with Extreme Martial Dao turned to technology instead, stimulating the body, reinforcing the flesh with the aid of technology in an effort to reproduce the effects of evolution through artificial intervention.

Some evolvers had even grasped strange and mysterious abilities of their own, which they called superpowers.

And so, the perfectly legitimate Extreme Martial Dao Lu Changsheng had created was gradually reshaped by the beliefs of this world into something closer to supernatural evolution. It was not all that surprising, though; after all, every world had its own underlying rules, and those rules were not so easily overturned.

Still, the Martial Dao had successfully condensed, and it had become exceptionally powerful. Given another few decades or a century, it could advance to the Golden Core Realm, effectively raising the upper limit of power that this world could sustain.

Lu Changsheng, however, was not going to wait around to see that. He had become invincible in this world and hundreds of millions now revered him, but he had never forgotten that his goal here was to obtain the Martial Dao fragments.

"Just over thirty days remain..." Lu Changsheng counted carefully.

In a little more than thirty days, the Immortal Martial World and this secret world would reach their closest point, perhaps even momentarily colliding with one another. When that happened, the power projected from his true body would allow him to shatter this world's Martial Dao and obtain its fragments. Then finally, he would be able to return to the Immortal Martial World.

But until then, all he could do was wait.

***

With the rise of the Extreme Martial Dao, nations across the world had begun devoting enormous resources to training evolvers, setting human civilization on a path very different from the one it had followed before.

Technology, however, had not stopped advancing because of that. Astronomy in particular continued to develop rapidly, and many nations had constructed large observatories to study the cosmos.

One of these facilities had originally belonged to the Flame Dragon Federation, but after the Federation was annexed, it had naturally come under the control of the Jade Dragon Kingdom. For most of its existence, the observatory had been relatively uneventful.

The surrounding cosmos appeared calm, and there was rarely anything unusual enough to attract serious attention—until now.

"Isn't that Dark Star? It's the celestial body closest to us, but we could barely detect it before." One of the researchers suddenly noticed an abnormality in the region of space closest to their planet.

Another researcher examined the readings more carefully. "It does look like the Dark Star... but why has it suddenly become so bright?"

A third researcher stared at the data, and his expression quickly changed. "It hasn't become brighter. The Dark Star has exploded!"

"If the Dark Star exploded, some of its fragments could be thrown toward our planet."

"Fragments... Wait, that means—"

The researchers immediately redirected every available instrument toward the shattered star.

The results were even worse than they feared. Countless fragments were hurled outward by the explosion and had scattered across space. Most were relatively small, but among them was one large fragment approximately one-tenth the size of the original Dark Star, and it was flying toward Secret World No. 18.

The Dark Star itself was not particularly large by astronomical standards, but a fragment one-tenth of its size was still enormous, and if it struck the surface, the consequences would be catastrophic.

One of the researchers stared at the calculations in disbelief. "Is this... the end of the world?"

***

Ten more days... Lu Changsheng let out a long breath. It is almost time!

Even as an Earthly Saint whose will was nearly impossible to shake, he could not completely suppress the faint excitement stirring within him. He had spent three years in this world for the sake of obtaining its Martial Dao fragments, and after all that waiting, success was finally within reach.

Lu Changsheng raised his head and looked toward the Martial Dao condensed in the void. Sustained by the collective will of all living beings, it continued to grow stronger with each passing day. But regardless of how much power it accumulated, its fundamental energy limit remained at the Dao Foundation Realm.

Raising that limit was not something that could happen overnight—it would likely take several decades, perhaps even a century. But that no longer mattered to Lu Changsheng.

Once the two worlds drew close enough for the power of his true body to descend, even an advancement of one or two levels would make no difference. His true body's power would still be more than enough to shatter the Martial Dao and seize its fragments.

Ring! Ring! Ring!

The sudden ringing of his phone broke the silence of the cultivation chamber. But before Lu Changsheng could answer, Senior Sister Xiang's voice came from outside. "Master."

"What is it?" he frowned slightly. His phone would only ring if something extremely important had happened, and Senior Sister Xiang knew better than to disturb his cultivation without good reason.

Senior Sister Xiang pushed open the door and entered, anxiety plain on her face. "Master, something serious has happened. You need to see the news."

She turned on the television. And almost every news channel was reporting the same story: a meteorite, split off from the explosion of the Dark Star, was hurtling toward this world.

Although the fragment was only around one-tenth the size of the original Dark Star, it was still enormous compared to the planet they were on. According to current projections, if it struck, the impact would be powerful enough to knock the planet out of its orbit.

The world itself could survive the impact, but every living thing on it would not. It was, in the truest sense, an impending apocalypse.

News programs around the world were now debating the only possible response humanity had managed to devise—launching nuclear warheads at the meteorite in the hope of either destroying it or altering its trajectory.

Lu Changsheng watched for a moment before asking, "How long until impact?"

"No more than a month," Senior Sister Xiang replied.

Lu Changsheng fell silent. Less than a month... Even if every nation in the world devoted all its resources to finding another solution, there was almost no time left to implement one.

After considering the situation, Lu Changsheng asked again, "What are the chances of using nuclear weapons to destroy it or knock it off course?"

"Destroying it is essentially impossible. Deflecting it may also be beyond us. There simply are not enough nuclear weapons left. At present, only the stockpile inherited from the former Flame Dragon Federation remains, and even that only gives us a handful...

"But nuclear weapons are the only option anyone has come up with. Nations around the world are pressuring the Jade Dragon Kingdom to launch them. The government wants your decision."

Lu Changsheng nodded. In the Jade Dragon Kingdom, his influence had long since surpassed that of any government official. On an ordinary matter, there was no need to consult him.

However, when the decision involved using the last remaining nuclear weapons in an attempt to determine the fate of the entire world, the Jade Dragon Kingdom's leadership would not act without Lu Yuan's approval.

Lu Changsheng picked up the still-ringing phone and answered. The highest-ranking officials of the Jade Dragon Kingdom were waiting on the other end.

"Launch all of them," Lu Changsheng said. "Whether it succeeds or not, we have to try."

After the call ended, the Jade Dragon Kingdom immediately began preparing the operation, and the government announced their decision to the world: three days later, seven nuclear warheads would be launched at the incoming meteorite in an attempt to alter its trajectory.

The announcement immediately sparked celebrations across the globe. No one knew whether the plan would succeed, and humanity was far from safe. But at least now, they had hope.