Top-Tier Perception Starts From Basic Fist Techniques

By the time Lu Changsheng followed the soldiers toward the headquarters, the Flame Dragon Federation's military headquarters was already on high alert. They had set up surveillance throughout Beach City after taking over, and his arrival was detected almost immediately.

Deep within the command center, a group of senior officers stared at the live monitors, their faces drained of color by what they were seeing. The nuclear strike—a terrifying strike that destroyed the Jade Dragon Kingdom's capital just to erase Lu Yuan—had accomplished nothing. Against all laws of nature, he was still breathing.

"Lu Yuan is alive?"

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Maybe he realized what was happening and reached an air-raid shelter before the explosion."

"Maybe..."

"Then what is he doing here now? Does he actually intend to take on our entire army by himself?"

"Give the order. We must kill Lu Yuan at all costs!" The commanding officer’s order tore through the comms.

Within seconds, rows of heavy tanks, artillery batteries, and armored vehicles locked onto Lu Changsheng. Air support roared overhead, unleashing a continuous deluge of missiles and heavy ordnance. Soon, Lu Changsheng stood alone against the apocalyptic firepower of an entire army corps.

"Perfect timing." A sharp glint flashed in Lu Changsheng's eyes as he looked up at the barrage descending toward him.

Boom!

Lu Changsheng charged forward while bullets and bombs slammed into his body one after another. The battlefield filled with explosions as the Flame Dragon Federation poured everything it had into stopping him. The bombardment slowed his advance, forcing him to fight for every step, but it could not stop him.

He continued forward through the barrage until, with one final leap, he crashed directly into the enemy formation.

The surrounding soldiers stared at him in growing fear.

Tanks, armored vehicles, and rocket launchers had already turned their weapons toward him, while tens of thousands of elite soldiers surrounded the area. Lu Changsheng stood alone at the center of an entire army corps, encircled by some of the most destructive conventional weapons the Flame Dragon Federation could deploy.

"Everyone knows that the Extreme Martial Dao can lead a person into transcendence, but no one truly understands what transcendence means." Lu Changsheng's gaze swept across the army surrounding him. "Today, I'll show you. Even the path of body refinement can produce power that transcends the limits of ordinary humans."

Instead of unleashing his thirty-chi form, however, this time he simply laid a hand over his own chest.

Thump.

A deep, heavy heartbeat suddenly echoed across the battlefield.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The rhythm steadily quickened, and all the soldiers who heard the heartbeat found their hands flying to their own chests a moment later.

Within moments, the agony swept through the entire formation. It felt as though an invisible hand had seized their hearts and was slowly crushing them. Soldiers collapsed one after another, writhing on the ground as unbearable pain tore through their chests.

Countless soldiers lay scattered across the ground, crying out in agony, while Lu Changsheng walked calmly through their ranks. And with every step he took, the beating of his heart grew faster.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

As it raced faster, the soldiers began to shake, despair flooding their eyes. Many could already feel death closing in.

The commanders at the Flame Dragon Federation's headquarters watched everything through the remote surveillance feed, and their faces steadily lost color.

"Transcendence!"

"This is a human who has achieved transcendence!

"H-how does he have power like this?"

"This... is the age of evolvers..."

Suddenly, one of the commanders heard it, too—the same eerie heartbeat, somewhere deep in his own ears.

"No—" He collapsed to the floor.

"It hurts..." Another officer fell beside him.

Within seconds, officers throughout the command center were dropping to the floor, overwhelmed by the same unbearable pain afflicting the soldiers on the battlefield.

Their headquarters was ten kilometers away from Lu Yuan, and yet his power still reached them. If even ten kilometers was not enough to escape him, then what could they possibly do to fight back?

Truth be told, the "power of transcendence" Lu Changsheng had just displayed was not particularly effective against powerful cultivators or other extraordinary beings. Against ordinary humans, however, it was devastating.

Terrifying as their weapons were, the men operating them were fragile beyond belief. By turning that vulnerability against them, he struck at the very heart of human warfare in a way no blade, bullet, or warship could ever inflict.

A weapon was only as deadly as the man holding it. Although he did not kill anyone, he had rendered the humans behind the weapons completely useless.

Lu Changsheng continued toward the headquarters at an unhurried pace. In truth, his awareness had already spread across the surrounding area, and he had located the command post long ago.

He entered the headquarters and looked down at the officers sprawled across the floor.

"Take me to the highest leadership of the Flame Dragon Federation," he said calmly. "Otherwise, every soldier in this army corps will die."

The officers stared at him in horror as they realized what Lu Changsheng intended to do.

Bringing him before the Federation's leadership, with abilities like his, could only end in something unthinkable. But what choice did they have? The lives of tens of thousands of soldiers now depended on their answer.

"All right. We'll take you." The officers finally relented.

They could not simply sacrifice an entire army corps. Besides, the Flame Dragon Federation had started this war. If Lu Yuan confronted its leadership directly, there was at least a chance that the conflict could be brought to an end.

And so, without killing a single person, the defeated army became Lu Changsheng's personal escort. He sat comfortably inside one of their own military vehicles as it carried him straight toward the seat of their power—the Flame Dragon Federation’s capital, Flame Capital.

By this point, the highest-ranking leaders of the Flame Dragon Federation had already withdrawn into an underground bunker. They were well aware that Lu Yuan had coerced their army corps into bringing him to them. Overhead, satellites and spy planes logged his every step—a trivial task, considering Lu Yuan had not bothered to hide. He was driving straight toward Flame Capital, brazen and completely unbothered.

That open confidence only made the Federation's leadership more uneasy. If Lu Yuan was willing to walk straight into their capital without concealing himself, then he clearly did not believe they had anything capable of stopping him.

And it was precisely this blatant, swaggering approach that threw the Federation’s leaders into total chaos, sparking a fierce debate within the bunker.

"We've lost this war. We should stop now and negotiate a ceasefire with the Jade Dragon Kingdom."

"The age of evolvers is upon us. If even a nuclear bomb couldn't kill that monster, what exactly do we have left that can stop him?"

"Who says the nuclear bomb failed?" another official retorted. "Maybe he realized what was happening and reached an air-raid shelter in time. He's in Flame Capital now. I say we bomb him again, and this time he won't have anywhere left to hide."

"Have you lost your mind? You want to detonate a nuclear bomb in Flame Capital? Millions of people live here!"

"We need a ceasefire. Immediately! Anyone still talking about using nuclear weapons inside our own capital has gone mad."

The leadership had split into two clear factions.

One side believed this was still the Flame Dragon Federation's best chance to eliminate Lu Yuan. If they killed him, then nothing would prevent them from using their nuclear threat to annex the Jade Dragon Kingdom completely. From there, the Federation could continue expanding until it ruled over the world.

The other side considered the idea madness. Flame Capital was home to millions of people. Sacrificing the entire city for one more attempt at killing Lu Yuan was a price they refused to accept.

"Guards, arrest these men." Suddenly, the President's voice cut through the chaos. "In my capacity as President of the Flame Dragon Federation, I hereby enact full military control. Effective immediately, the nation is under martial law."

Armed guards entered at once and detained the officials who had called for negotiations with Lu Yuan and the Jade Dragon Kingdom. The President had made his choice, and there would be no further debate about it.

"This is our only chance, and we cannot afford to waste it," the President declared, laying out his plan with cold precision. "The most lethal effects of a nuclear explosion are concentrated near the epicenter, so casualties farther out should be manageable.

"Radiation will be troublesome afterward, but if we succeed, we can simply relocate the capital. Lure Lu Yuan into Federation Tower. There are no shelters beneath it. Once he's inside, drop the bomb."

Lu Changsheng remained in the military vehicle until it reached Federation Tower, one of the most important sites in the Flame Dragon Federation.

He stepped out and looked up at the towering structure.

Huh? No one here? His eyes narrowed. The tower stood completely empty, and that alone told him something was wrong. A trap?

Before he could decide on his next move, he glanced up and saw an aircraft releasing a bomb from above. Instantly, that familiar sense of danger stirred within him again.

Another nuclear bomb? Right here in the heart of Flame Capital, right beside Federation Tower, just to kill me? Ha, the Flame Dragon Federation must have gone mad! They're really willing to sacrifice anything, even their own capital.

Lu Changsheng started sprinting away from Federation Tower at once. He had already survived one nuclear explosion and understood its destructive range far better than before. The most terrifying heat and force were concentrated near the epicenter. If he could put enough distance between himself and ground zero, the damage to him would be far lower.

Before he could get far, the bomb struck the ground.

KABOOOM!

The ground shook violently, and the Federation Tower collapsed. Massive flames erupted outward, swallowing the skyline. A monstrous mushroom cloud bloomed slowly in the sky. Once again, the apocalyptic weapon unleashed its wrath. This time, it consumed the Flame Dragon Federation's own capital.