Top-Tier Perception Starts From Basic Fist Techniques

After returning from Void Spirit Mountain, Lu Changsheng made his way back to the Sacred Earth Heavenly Sect.

As soon as he arrived, he announced he would go into seclusion.

Being just outside Heavenly Sacred City, the sect was effectively part of the city's domain. And thanks to its close relationship with the Li Clan Merchant Association, the Sacred Earth Heavenly Sect had prospered considerably in recent days. Furthermore, with Lu Tong overseeing the sect's affairs, Lu Changsheng had no reason to worry while he was in seclusion.

Inside the cultivation chamber, he took out the porcelain bottle with two hundred drops of Heavenly Spirit Water.

Two hundred drops of Heavenly Spirit Water... even if the Four Symbols Prison and Five Elements Decomposition are more powerful than the Mental Black Hole, it should be enough for one of them.

Lu Changsheng took a deep breath. He weighed his options for only a moment before his mind was made up.

Buzz...

With a low hum, the massive illusion of a Divine Ability Dao Fruit emerged above his head. It was the Dao Fruit of the Five Elements Decomposition.

Lu Changsheng opened the bottle, and drops of Heavenly Spirit Water immediately rose into the air, streaming into the Dao Fruit. As it absorbed the Heavenly Spirit Water, the faint image of the Dao Fruit gradually became more materialized.

Time slipped by, one drop at a time. Ten drops, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty... Before long, a hundred drops of Heavenly Spirit Water had been refined into the Five Elements Decomposition Dao Fruit.

However, the transformation Lu Changsheng had been anticipating had yet to occur. The Dao Fruit continued to consume the Heavenly Spirit Water. One hundred and ten drops, one hundred and twenty drops, one hundred and thirty drops, one hundred and forty drops...

Boom!

Finally, at a hundred and fifty drops, a violent tremor ran through the Dao Fruit. Then, it split open, and the divine ability within burst free.

Whoosh!

Lu Changsheng slowly opened his eyes.

With a single shift of thought, a five-colored light bloomed out of thin air, and the cultivation chamber around him began to collapse. Earth gave way, metal buckled, stone walls crumbled to nothing, all of it stripped apart by the Five Elements Decomposition divine ability. From a distance, it would have looked like the whole room was simply melting into the ground.

It worked! A glint flashed across Lu Changsheng's eyes as he surveyed the destruction around him. The Five Elements Decomposition divine ability can break down anything that falls within the Five Elements. Power like this is almost unimaginable!

Lu Changsheng surveyed the chamber. It was riddled with holes, the walls eaten away, the floor gouged out by the decomposition. If he continued to unleash the divine ability, the ground beneath him would decompose as well. And if its reach ever grew wide enough, he could erase an entire city with it, Heavenly Sacred City included. One attack using the Five Elements Decomposition, and the city would simply cease to exist.

Immeasurable divine abilities are really something else! And this one stands above all others, possessing the truest form power could take!

Although Lu Changsheng had previously transformed the Mental Black Hole into an immeasurable divine ability, its destructive force could not even compare to a minor divine ability. It was still an exceptional divine ability, but its effects focused almost entirely on the mind.

By that measure, Lu Changsheng had never possessed the overwhelming power people would expect from a Divine Ability martial artist. Now, however, things were different.

The Five Elements Decomposition had completed its transformation, and now, Lu Changsheng possessed two immeasurable divine abilities. More importantly, unlike the Mental Black Hole, the Five Elements Decomposition wielded terrifying physical power. Anything that fell within the scope of the five elements would simply decompose.

Suddenly, a thought crossed Lu Changsheng's mind.

The Five Elements Decomposition can break down anything formed from the Five Elements... And when Martial Saints forge their Saint Bodies, they are actually refining materials that fall within the Five Elements. If that's the case, can the Five Elements Decomposition decompose a Martial Saint's Saint Body?

A Saint Body was created by refining external materials and tempering the flesh until it perfectly harmonized with a divine ability. Once the process succeeded, the divine ability would become one with the physical body, allowing every movement a martial artist made to carry the ability's boundless power. And more importantly, the Saint Body could amplify the strength of a divine ability by ten times, or even a hundred times in some cases.

A Divine Ability martial artist like Lu Changsheng stood nowhere near a Martial Saint. A Martial Saint could shake heaven and earth with a casual strike, and taking them down with the Five Elements Decomposition was no more than a theory he had just thought of.

The Five Elements Decomposition was indeed powerful, but there was a possibility that the elements in a Martial Saint's Saint Body were too strong to break. For example, water could extinguish fire, but a fire hot enough could just as easily turn that water to steam. After all, the physical amplification resulting from the Saint Body was unimaginable.

Lu Changsheng was not so arrogant to assume he could contend with Martial Saints. Still, the idea had already taken root in his mind, and it would not be easy to forget.

Regardless, he decided to focus on his next steps.

It took approximately one hundred and fifty-three drops of Heavenly Spirit Water to transform the Five Elements Decomposition Dao Fruit completely. Since the Four Symbols Prison Dao Fruit is of a similar level, it should require roughly the same amount.

Lu Changsheng quickly calculated his remaining resources.

I have forty-seven drops of Heavenly Spirit Water left, so I only need to buy around a hundred and ten more to complete the transformation of the Four Symbols Prison.

But I shouldn't rush to get more Heavenly Spirit Water now. I should just use what I have left on the Four Symbols Prison Dao Fruit, and once I run out, I'll head to the Li Clan Merchant Association. By then, the grand elder of the Li Clan will have likely decided whether to recommend me to the inner division of the Martial Saint Institute.

***

While Lu Changsheng was cultivating in seclusion, Li Guang and Li Chengwu had already reached an agreement. The two made their way to the clan's secret grounds[1] to seek an audience with the Martial Saint Grand Elder, the pillar of the entire Li Clan, Li Zhenggang.

The moment they entered the secret grounds, both men knelt to the ground. "Li Chengwu, current patriarch of the Li Clan, along with the patriarch's heir Li Guang, pay our respects to the Grand Elder!"

Neither dared show the slightest disrespect. The old man before them had protected the Li Clan for more than a thousand years. Throughout that long history, the clan had experienced countless rises and falls, but as long as Li Zhenggang remained alive, the Li Clan could weather any storm.

That was what it meant to have a Martial Saint presiding over an organization. A Divine Ability martial artist could live for eight hundred years, but a Martial Saint enjoyed a lifespan of three thousand. Any organization capable of producing a Martial Saint could secure prosperity for generations to come.

"Li Chengwu? I remember you," Li Zhenggang said slowly. "Tell me, what trouble has the clan run into this time?"

For centuries, he had secluded himself within these secret grounds and rarely involved himself in clan affairs. Only matters of great importance would reach him.

Keeping his head lowered, Li Chengwu answered carefully, "Grand Elder, this matter concerns Lu Changsheng. He wishes to enter the Martial Saint Institute and requires the clan's recommendation. So..."

"The Martial Saint Institute..." Li Zhenggang merely repeated the name without any visible reaction.

Truth be told, he was not the least bit surprised. Perhaps every Divine Ability martial artist out there dreamed of joining the Martial Saint Institute. For anyone seeking to forge a Saint Body and become a Martial Saint, the institute was a shortcut that could spare a lifetime of struggle.

One could still become a Martial Saint without the institute, but the difference would be like comparing a rogue cultivator to a disciple of a major sect. Even if both eventually forged Saint Bodies and became Martial Saints, the disparity in their foundations and future accomplishments would remain enormous.

After a long silence, Li Zhenggang lowered his gaze. "Recommending a martial artist to the Martial Saint Institute is no small matter. Has the family produced any promising talent these past ten years?"

"Well..." Li Chengwu kept his head bowed. "I beg the Grand Elder's forgiveness. We have failed the clan..."

Li Zhenggang nodded slowly. Indeed, the new generation of the Li Clan had been awfully mediocre for a decade now, and none of those martial artists showed any potential to forge a Saint Body. More than a thousand years had passed since the clan's rise, yet the Li Clan still relied entirely on a single Martial Saint—Li Zhenggang.

Once Li Zhenggang was gone, the clan's decline was all but certain. Still, his own end was nowhere in sight. He had over a thousand years of life left, more than enough time for the clan to nurture another outstanding successor.

After thinking for a long while, Li Zhenggang spoke again. "Very well. Lu Changsheng may receive the recommendation, but on one condition. If he passes the institute's assessment, enters the inner division, becomes an inner division martial artist, and later forges a Saint Body, he must bring me a Heavenly Rain Creation Pill. Only that pill can heal what remains of my Saint Body and restore me fully.

"I still have over a thousand years ahead of me, but how much of that I can actually endure is another matter. Every time I fight, my Saint Body crumbles even more and my lifespan drains faster. Given Lu Changsheng's talent, once he becomes a Martial Saint, obtaining a Heavenly Rain Creation Pill shouldn't be too hard."

Centuries earlier, Li Zhenggang had suffered injuries in a great battle, and his Saint Body still bore the scars of those injuries. Even with the full resources of the Li Clan behind him, he had never managed to secure the miraculous pill needed to heal himself.

Treasures like the Heavenly Rain Creation Pill were priceless and generally unobtainable on the open market. Even among Martial Saints, few possessed the means or connections to secure one.

However, Li Zhenggang held great confidence in Lu Changsheng. He was well aware of Lu Changsheng's talents and he was sure that if Lu Changsheng became a Martial Saint, he would be able to receive the pill he so desperately needed.

"Understood, Grand Elder," Li Guang said with a firm nod. "We'll pass this along to Lu Changsheng. I believe he will agree to your terms."

"Go on then." Li Zhenggang waved his hand, and the two withdrew.

1. In Wuxia or Xianxia, it refers to a restricted, highly secure, and hidden location of a clan. Its purpose depends on the clan. It could serve as a place where the clan keeps its ultimate techniques, ancestral insights, or a cultivation holy land, a dangerous testing ground for their young elites, or where the clan's (dying) grand elders go into isolated cultivation. ☜