Top-Tier Perception Starts From Basic Fist Techniques

Chapter 186.2: Gu Nian Falls; Lu Changsheng Ventures Out in the Third Layer of the Ancient Region! (II)

A month later, Lu Changsheng opened his eyes. He had comprehended the fire-attribute Heavenly Demon Essence Blood. He pulled up his Status Panel to check his status.

[Status Panel]

Host: Lu Changsheng

Perception: 8650 (Praised by All)

[Skills]

Fire Principle Seed: Progress 11%

Heart Sword True Mantra: Progress 1% (Golden Heart Sword)

Oh, the Fire Principle has reached eleven percent. That's an instant growth of six percent, one percent more than last time. That's great!

Lu Changsheng was overjoyed with this result.

The previous drop of Heavenly Demon Essence Blood had raised his progress by only five percent, while this one had given him six percent. Still, he knew this did not mean every drop would be better than the last.

The exact improvement depended on the quality of the essence blood. A drop of essence blood from a heavenly demon with powerful innate abilities would naturally bring greater improvement than the essence blood of a weaker heavenly demon. Hence, if the next drop only pushed him forward by four percent or three percent, it would not be surprising.

As Lu Changsheng studied his Status Panel, his gaze landed on the Heart Sword True Mantra. The Heart Sword is only at one percent, yet it was able to defeat Gu Nian. Its potential is terrifying. I should continue improving the Heart Sword.

The Heart Sword True Mantra was actually a method from the Heart Sword Sect. But for some reason, Lu Changsheng believed that even the Heart Sword Sect likely had no idea how terrifying this technique would become.

From the Divine Fortification Realm all the way to the Dao Foundation Realm, the technique had only grown stronger and more fearsome with each transformation, and Lu Changsheng believed that it would transform again.

However, the Heart Sword True Mantra had one problem. No matter how powerful it was, Lu Changsheng could not improve it. For several months, its progress had remained stuck at one percent, and nothing he tried could make it move.

Lu Changsheng rubbed his chin. Could the Golden Heart Sword's further transformation be tied to the Mental Principle?

That was the only possibility Lu Changsheng could think of.

Everyone knew that at the Dao Foundation Realm, martial artists cultivated Principles. As a Dao Foundation martial artist himself, it meant the Heart Sword he had was, in essence, already a mental secret technique of the Dao Foundation Realm. If he wanted to keep improving it, he would likely have to figure out the Mental Principle first.

Principles. That must be it. It's the basis of every Dao Foundation expert. To comprehend a Principle, I need more Heavenly Demon Essence Blood...

***

Lu Changsheng had been in the third layer of the Ancient Region for some time now, but he had never once ventured out. He had been keeping a low profile, choosing to understand the situation first before making any moves.

By now, however, he had built up a reasonably clear picture of how things worked here. And what he found was considerably different from what he had expected.

Lu Changsheng had imagined the third layer of the Ancient Region as a place filled with Dao Foundation experts and Dao Lords. Whenever Dao Foundation experts made a move, their Mind Spaces would descend like storms, and their Principles would shake heaven and earth.

However, Lu Changsheng now realized he had been wrong. He had assumed every Dao Foundation martial artist here possessed a Principle, but in reality, fewer than half did. Anyone who could wield even a single Principle already counted as a powerful Dao Foundation expert.

Principles were not so easy to comprehend. Many Dao Foundation experts would spend their entire lives without comprehending a single one. In the end, they could only return to their sects in disgrace and retire from the Ancient Region.

Huang Jiufeng, the master of Xu Haotian, whom Lu Changsheng had killed, was exactly that kind of Dao Foundation martial artist. After spending many years in the third layer of the Ancient Region without comprehending a single Principle, he eventually returned to the Yellow Heavenly Sect and took Xu Haotian as his disciple.

That was also why Huang Jiufeng could only glare at Zhong Yu in fury back then, unable to do anything despite his anger. Zhong Yu had comprehended a Principle, while Huang Jiufeng had not, and that difference alone placed Zhong Yu far above someone like Huang Jiufeng, who belonged near the very bottom among Dao Foundation martial artists.

Truth be told, Lu Changsheng had thought that, after entering the third layer of the Ancient Region, he would rank at the very bottom, but he realized that was not the case at all.

His Mind Space had been strengthened by the many fused domains he had comprehended, so it was naturally far more powerful than that of an ordinary Dao Foundation martial artist.

Coupled with the Golden Heart Sword, which had already defeated Gu Nian, Lu Changsheng's overall strength ought to place him near the top among Dao Foundation martial artists who had yet to comprehend a Principle—far from the bottom he had imagined.

At that moment, Lu Changsheng came to a realization. So when people say Dao Foundation martial artists can compete with Dao Lords and even hold a slight advantage against them, they are referring to Dao Foundation martial artists who possess Principles. A Dao Foundation martial artist with a Principle and one without a Principle are completely different from each other.

I must comprehend a Principle as soon as possible. A Dao Foundation martial artist without a Principle can't last long in the third layer of the Ancient Region. Now, how can I get more Heavenly Demon Essence Blood...

At the Ancient Region Heavenly Sect's encampment, there was no Exchange Hall, but trading was easy, especially when it came to Heavenly Demon Essence Blood. Many Dao Foundation experts bartered with Heavenly Demon Essence Blood regularly.

If someone was contemplating the Fire Principle but had killed an ice-attribute heavenly demon and obtained a drop of its blood, they could trade it with another expert for fire-attribute Heavenly Demon Essence Blood.

Of course, if one wanted to barter, they needed to have drops of Heavenly Demon Essence Blood first. With that in mind, Lu Changsheng made his decision. It's time to venture out.

***

In the third layer of the Ancient Region, very few people formed teams. Traveling with others was safer, of course, but Heavenly Demon Essence Blood was not something that could be divided so easily.

A heavenly demon could usually condense only one drop of essence blood, while the rest of it was practically worthless. To make things even more difficult, heavenly demons were not easy to find; it could take a person months of wandering before finding one. So, even if several people traveled together, they'd have to wait years, or even decades, before each person could obtain a single drop.

To a Dao Foundation expert trying to comprehend a Principle, that kind of efficiency was simply unacceptable. Hence, they usually traveled alone.

Gathering information on heavenly demons was not easy at all. No one would casually reveal the location of a heavenly demon. Even if they could not kill it themselves for the time being, they would rather pay a price to recruit others and take it down together than spread the news.

In the end, anyone who wanted to kill a heavenly demon and obtain its essence blood still had to rely on luck.

Since Lu Changsheng could not count on others for information, he had to find another way to search for heavenly demons. Fortunately, his time in the encampment had not been wasted.

Although he had not obtained a direct lead, he had learned the most useful rule for tracking them down—wherever large groups of demons gathered, there would almost certainly be heavenly demons.

Take Barbaric Bull Demons, for example. They lived in herds, and once a Barbaric Bull Heavenly Demon appeared within the herd, it would no longer be comparable to ordinary Barbaric Bull Demons.

Once its innate talent awakened, it could draw upon the power of the land to a certain extent, making it far more terrifying than ordinary Barbaric Bull Demons. That was why heavenly demons were regarded as the nobility among demons.

Most demon herds had at least one heavenly demon, sometimes more. However, a demon herd also had a large number of demons, and none of them were weak. So, if a Dao Foundation expert was surrounded and hunted down by a herd of demons, they could die, even if they had comprehended a Principle.

I need a fire-attribute Heavenly Demon Essence Blood. That means going to Flame Mountain, Lu Changsheng thought. That place is scorching hot year-round, and there'll be plenty of fire-attribute demons there. The odds of encountering fire-attribute heavenly demons there should be fairly high.

Just like that, Lu Changsheng had his next destination. Without wasting another second, he set off for Flame Mountain.