Top-Tier Perception Starts From Basic Fist Techniques

Chapter 182.4: Battle Atop Goose Mountain! A Strike from Lu Changsheng! (IV)

Whoosh!

Just then, a flying boat came to a halt in midair. A figure stepped out and slowly walked in the air.

"Yu Feixiao! It's Yu Feixiao!"

"He's finally here!"

"The legend who held first place on the Foundation Establishment Candidate List for ten whole years!"

Yu Feixiao's arrival immediately lifted the spirits of the Immortal Masters.

He swept a glance across the surroundings, then clasped his hands behind his back and closed his eyes. He did not descend, choosing instead to remain suspended in midair, as if the battle to come did not concern him in the slightest.

Of course, hovering in the air like that consumed mana, yet Yu Feixiao showed no intention of holding back or conserving his strength. That alone spoke volumes about his confidence.

"So Yu Feixiao is finally here, but where's Lu Changsheng?"

Naturally, many martial artists were eager to see Lu Changsheng, and fortunately, they did not have to wait long.

Rumble...

A deep rumbling sound tore through the air. In the next moment, a vast Mind Space unfolded before everyone’s eyes, and within it, two figures slowly emerged.

"Lu Changsheng is here!"

"And Hall Master Zhong Yu is with him!"

"He's finally here!"

The crowd immediately burst into cheers. Ever since the Divine Fortification Realm, Lu Changsheng had been pulling off a series of miracles, and among martial artists, his reputation had long since reached an incredible height. Now, he was even standing as the one to represent Martial Dao against Immortal Dao. Could there be a greater honor than this?"

However, Lu Changsheng disregarded the cheering around him. The moment he landed, Zhong Yu disappeared from sight, but his voice sounded in his ears.

"Lu Changsheng, everything depends on you now. Don't disappoint me."

He knew Zhong Yu had not gone far. The man was watching from nearby, ready to step in if anything went wrong. The Flying Goose Tower might have experts maintaining order, but in a battle like this, no one could account for every possibility. Whatever happened during this fight, Lu Changsheng could afford to lose, but not to die.

"Huh..."

Lu Changsheng looked up toward the unfamiliar figure in the sky. He did not even need to release his Sense Domain. From the murmurs in the crowd, he could tell that was Yu Feixiao.

One combatant stood on the ground, while the other stared down from above. From the very start, the two of them seemed to be standing on unequal footing.

Yu Feixiao opened his eyes, his gaze falling from above. "So, you're Lu Changsheng?"

Though his tone was calm, hovering like that in the air gave him an unmistakable air of arrogance, which caused Lu Changsheng to frown.

"I am. And you plan to fight me from up there?"

Yu Feixiao kept his hands behind his back, and his tone now shifted with a hint of arrogance. "Why not? Or is it that you can't do anything to me while I'm in the air? You don't even have the right to stand as my equal. How do you expect to fight me?"

The Immortal Masters erupted in excitement.

"Hahaha, that's right! That's exactly how it should be. We Immortal Masters stand high above. What is a mere Divine Treasury martial artist supposed to do?"

"Exactly. Divine Treasury martial artists can't fly. With that much distance between them, what can he possibly do?"

"Immortal Masters are different. Even from that far away, an Immortal Master can still attack Lu Changsheng. That alone puts Yu Feixiao in an unbeatable position."

"As expected of Yu Feixiao! So what if Lu Changsheng is the greatest Divine Treasury martial artist in history? Yu Feixiao can still look down on him from above, and Lu Changsheng can't touch him at all!"

"What, does Lu Changsheng expect Yu Feixiao to come down to him on his own?"

For a good moment, the Immortal Masters were visibly pleased, their spirits lifting. To them, this was how an Immortal Master should stand: high above, looking down on all things. Martial artists were simply part of what lay below, while they themselves stood between heaven and earth, proud and untouchable.

The martial artists, on the other hand, fell silent. Regardless of how loudly the Immortal Masters were shouting, not a word came from their side.

Indeed, flight was the greatest weakness of Divine Treasury martial artists. They simply had no means to take to the air. Only Dao Foundation experts could rely on their Material Mind Space to actually fly. In other words, one had to forge the Dao Foundation to stand on equal footing with Immortal Masters. At that stage, there would be no gap between them.

But between a Divine Treasury expert and an Immortal Master, that gap was still very much there, and these moments before the fight made it all too clear. Yu Feixiao stood in the sky, looking down on Lu Changsheng, who was limited to the ground. At a glance, the difference between them seemed all too clear.

"So, has the battle begun then?"

There was no frustration in Lu Changsheng’s tone, not even the slightest change in his expression. Instead, his gaze shifted toward the martial artists of the Flying Goose Tower nearby.

Those martial artists were momentarily at a loss as they looked toward their Vice Tower Master. Even he had come in person, and he clearly had not expected Yu Feixiao to take such a lofty, condescending stance.

From the moment Yu Feixiao appeared, he had already put Lu Changsheng in a difficult position. In terms of presence alone, it was as if Lu Changsheng had been stepped over from the very start. And yet, Lu Changsheng showed no sign of unease. If anything, he seemed completely calm.

"The battle begins!"

Without wasting any more words, the Vice Tower Master waved his hand. Everyone had gathered here to watch Lu Changsheng and Yu Feixiao fight, not to listen to someone speak.

Lu Changsheng nodded, then turned back and looked at Yu Feixiao in the air. "Are you sure you won't come down?"

"I'm right here. What can you do about it?" Yu Feixiao challenged him.

Indeed, what could Lu Changsheng do? His Domain could cover a certain range, but his adversary had to have an enchanted treasure ready to use. With it, he could withstand Lu Changsheng’s Domain head-on and simply rise back into the air.

The way things looked, Yu Feixiao could simply hover outside Lu Changsheng's range and wield his treasure from above, striking without pause. That was the strategy he had devised for this fight. In his eyes, victory was well within reach.

Immortal Master Ling Miao was taken by surprise. Huh... Clever.

It looked unfair, but at the end of the day, this was the most effective way to deal with a martial artist. Immortal Masters were not cut out for close combat, so there was no reason to get close in the first place. As long as they remained in the air, martial artists simply could not touch them.

Ling Miao could not help thinking back on the battle at Spirit Gathering Mountain. What if she, too, had taken to the skies? Would the outcome have changed?

Before reaching the Dao Foundation, martial artists truly did have a fatal weakness against Immortal Masters. Most Immortal Masters rarely paid much attention to this, but once it came to combat and got serious, they deliberately exploited this weakness, leaving martial artists almost no chance of winning.

"Is this how it's going to be? Yu Feixiao is so cheap."

"Lu Changsheng can't fly. What can he even do?"

"There's no helping it. This is a martial artist's flaw, or rather, weakness. Yu Feixiao caught onto it, so what can anyone do?"

"We don't have things like enchanted artifacts or enchanted treasures. In the end, martial artists our arsenal is lacking."

"Damn it. Lu Changsheng is probably going to lose..."

Many martial artists felt their hearts sink. They could see it clearly: this was far from being a fair fight. If Yu Feixiao chose to remain in the air and attack from above, Lu Changsheng would be stuck defending. A martial artist's greatest strength lay in their offensive capabilities, but how was one supposed to win if they could not fight back?

Yu Feixiao kept his hands behind his back, not moving from the air. Clearly, he was in no hurry to make a move. He simply wanted to see what Lu Changsheng could do in this situation. Besides victory, the goal was humiliating Lu Changsheng before everyone. This had to be a crushing defeat, a one-sided slaughter.

"Ling Miao," he said with a proud smile. "Just because you failed doesn't mean I will too. I am first on the Foundation Establishment Candidate List. No one can shake my position. Today, I shall stand at the very top of both lists!"

Even Zhong Yu, the Hall Master of the Enforcement Hall, frowned at this. Not even he could think of a way to deal with Yu Feixiao in this situation. Could Lu Changsheng really find a way? No matter how much of a genius he was, he was still only at the Divine Treasury Realm, which meant he was unable to fly.

How is he supposed to fight Yu Feixiao?

In that moment, all eyes were fixed on Lu Changsheng. Contrary to everyone's expectations, he did not falter.

Buzz.

And he did not hesitate to manifest his Mind Space.

Rumbleee!

His Mind Space shook violently, then spread outward without restraint, covering a hundred li in an instant.

The sight shook all martial artists.

"A hundred-li Mind Space?!"

"Lu Changsheng's Mind Space has actually reached a hundred li?"

"He hasn't even been in the Divine Treasury for a full year, and he already managed to expand to a hundred li?"

"But so what if his Mind Space has reached a hundred li? He still can't fly. What, is he planning to forge his Dao Foundation right now?"

"But if he does that, he'll become a Dao Foundation expert, which would invalidate this fight with Yu Feixiao."

Many of them were well aware that Lu Changsheng had not been cultivating for long and had only stepped into the Divine Treasury Realm less than a year ago. A hundred-li Mind Space was already enough to astonish many, but even so, that was not enough to bridge the gap between him and Yu Feixiao.

However, everyone had one thing wrong: Lu Changsheng did not need to fly. He just had to strike from afar.

Buzz!

In the next instant, the massive Golden Heart Sword shook within his Mind Space.

SHING!

Lu Changsheng released more than eighty percent of its power in a single breath. The Golden Heart Sword shrank drastically, nearly eighty percent of it condensing into one strike as its power surged outward.

"Sever!"

Lu Changsheng’s voice rang out, and the Golden Heart Sword flashed. In the next instant, it was already before Yu Feixiao.

"Is this—"

Yu Feixiao activated his enchanted treasure instantly, but it did nothing. It completely failed to stop the Heart Sword. The golden sword passed straight into his body.

"I..." His eyes widened.

In that instant, an indescribable pain erupted within his mind. Before he could even react, that pain had already spread through his entire consciousness. The next moment, he could no longer sense anything, and everything went dark.

Thud!

Yu Feixiao fell from the sky and crashed to the ground with a sickening thud. His body bore no injuries, yet no trace of life remained.

Just like that, Lu Changsheng had killed Yu Feixiao with a single strike.