Top-Tier Perception Starts From Basic Fist Techniques

At Drum Mountain City Yamen, the magistrate Zhang Qing sat with a heavy look on his face, unable to keep still.

He was not a muddle-headed official. He simply had no wish to involve himself in anything and wanted a quiet post in a quiet town. However, for the last few months, he had been getting the faint sense that Drum Mountain City was not quiet at all.

"The Temple of Flesh and Blood..." he murmured under his breath. He knew of its existence and had known for some time. What he did not know was what sort of power it actually was. Was it demons or something else entirely? He truly had no idea.

He had seen how uncanny and how frightening a blood descendant was, and he leaned toward demons being behind the whole thing.

In recent times, the court was blind and incompetent, and everything seemed to paint the picture of a dynasty in its last years. Zhang Qing had sent request after request up the chain asking that a half-demon be dispatched to look into the situation, but no half-demon had ever arrived, which left him pacing in circles.

He had been sharp enough to notice that a great many people in his own yamen had quietly been converted into blood descendants. He feared that it would not be long before the temple moved on him as well.

Just then, a jade token landed on the desk in front of him.

Clack.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

A man in black stood there, and there was no telling when he had appeared. His eyes were blood red, and a strong, faintly murderous air hung about him. One look was enough to know he was not a man to provoke.

Zhang Qing saw the token and was on his feet at once. His face flooded with joy as he bowed. "I greet the envoy."

An envoy was another title for a half-demon. It turned out that his repeated requests had done some good after all, and someone above him had finally sent a half-demon envoy to investigate Drum Mountain City.

"Lord Zhang, I'm a busy man, so keep it short. What exactly is the trouble in Drum Mountain City?" The envoy's question came out cold with no courtesy in it.

Zhang Qing took no offense. He had heard long ago that half-demon envoys were short-tempered and had no empathy for ordinary human dealings, which was normal enough. A half-demon envoy had to hold his demon nature down with his human nature every waking moment, so it would be a wonder if his temper were pleasant.

"In these last few months, something called the Temple of Flesh and Blood has appeared in Drum Mountain City. The temple is extremely uncanny. By some strange way that nobody understands, it can turn ordinary people into what they call blood descendants.

"I fear a great many people in the whole of Drum Mountain City have been converted by now. Even the yamen has been infiltrated, and a great many of the clerks have already been turned. I suspect true demons are at work, which is why I asked that an envoy be sent to investigate."

Zhang Qing set out everything that had happened in the city, point by point.

Plain interest flickered across the half-demon envoy's face. "The Temple of Flesh and Blood can turn people into blood descendants?"

Then his voice went cold. "You're telling me there are converted blood descendants in this very yamen? Then call one in. I want to see this blood descendant for myself and find out what sort of true demon it really is."

"Yes, envoy. I will send for one of the clerks who was converted, and one look at them will tell the envoy everything. Just a fair warning that these blood descendants seem to have bottomless strength and are formidable fighters. Please be careful." Zhang Qing offered a warning for what it was worth.

Using his authority, he summoned a clerk from the yamen. It was a man named Zhao Hu.

Zhao Hu was a tall, sturdy man from the shoulders to the waist and had a fierce face. Some years back, he had taken a leg wound going after a criminal and had been left partly crippled by it. As he stood there, his leg had completely recovered, which was the mark of a blood descendant. Those who had long-standing ailments of every kind were cured overnight.

Had a blood descendant not been quite so uncanny a thing, Zhang Qing would truly have liked to try it himself, given the trouble he had for years in the bedroom. It could very well cure his trouble and restore him to his former vigor.

Zhao Hu bowed respectfully, though the old awe for the magistrate had long gone from his face. His eyes were bright and his whole bearing brimmed with vigor. "Lord Zhang, what are your orders?"

"Zhao Hu, this is the envoy. He has some questions, and you are to cooperate fully."

"The envoy?"

Something stirred in Zhao Hu, and he turned to look at the man standing to one side.

In the very next instant, his face changed. The envoy's figure blurred and he crossed the room like a gust of wind, standing at Zhao Hu's side with five fingers spread and reaching straight for his arm. His hand had turned rough with fur, like the clawed paw of a beast.

A half-demon!

The envoy in front of him had to be one of those rumored half-demons from the imperial court. Zhao Hu let out a roar as veins stood out all over him. His body swelled visibly and surged with blood qi as he drove a fist toward the half-demon.

Bang!

One punch was all it took for the half-demon to feel the overwhelming force coming out of the man's fist.

His expression turned grave, like a man who had stumbled onto something important. "Strength like that... is a match for an ordinary true demon. You don't carry the scent a true demon carries, though, so you're not a true demon. What in the world are you?"

Zhao Hu burst out laughing, close to madness even. "Hahaha! The world is a sea of bitterness and all beings suffer in it. The great Flesh and Blood Martial Dao will help us ascend forever into bliss!"

The intimidation pouring off him was terrible to anyone who stood nearby.

However, a half-demon was still a half-demon. Once he transformed all the way, he would become a terrible true demon in his own right. When that happened, there was no winning.

A few exchanges were all it took before the half-demon snapped Zhao Hu's arm and scooped the heart out of his chest.

Though Zhao Hu's vitality was stronger after becoming a blood descendant, a blood descendant was not a demon and could still die. With wounds like those, Zhao Hu still ended up dead.

The death gave the half-demon no pleasure. Instead, what it left him was a thread of fear.

"That strength is frightening! Being able to match a true demon? Not to mention it fights like a beast, and that vitality is frightening, too. Luckily, its one weakness is that a blood descendant can die. Yet being able to wound the body of a true demon? What kind of monster is this?"

The half-demon was truly afraid.

A monster!

Zhao Hu struck him as a monster through and through. Not a demon, and yet able to wound one. He even had a feeling that, had Zhao Hu killed him, he would have truly died.

The question came out of him before he could stop it. "Lord Zhang, how many blood descendants are there?"

At the other end, Zhang Qing was shaking with fright. Zhao Hu's corpse lay in front of him, and the sight of it frightened him badly, but there was no avoiding the question.

"Envoy, if you mean blood descendants like Zhao Hu, I would think most of Drum Mountain City..."

The half-demon's eyes went wide. "The whole city is filled with blood descendants?"

He could hardly believe it. That would be tens of thousands! A hundred thousand, even! A hundred thousand men, each a match for a true demon? The thought was past imagining.

A hundred thousand blood descendants! Never mind Drum Mountain City, the county towns around it, and even the prefectural city would all be flattened if they decided to attack.

Truthfully, Zhang Qing and the half-demon had both misunderstood. Zhao Hu was no ordinary blood descendant. He was one of the few men in the whole of Drum Mountain City who had achieved Second Growth, which did make him a match for a true demon.

Second Growth blood descendants like him numbered no more than ten in the entire Temple of Flesh and Blood. Every one of them was a man born with extraordinary physical talent, and only such men could climb straight to Second Growth in a single stride upon conversion.

The half-demon then posed another question to the magistrate. "The one who controls the Temple of Flesh and Blood, or whoever it is that makes these blood descendants. Do you know who he is?"

"His identity isn't clear, but the blood descendants call him the Flesh and Blood Progenitor." Zhang Qing answered quietly.

The half-demon envoy drew a deep breath, already preparing to withdraw. "The Flesh and Blood Progenitor, is it? This is no ordinary business, and it may be very serious. I'm going back to request that experts be sent to wipe out the Temple of Flesh and Blood."