Chapter 239.1: Lu Changsheng Has Come, and Everything Is Secure! (I)

Lu Changsheng had finally entered the Heavenly River Sacred Land—as a titled elder, no less.

Within the Heavenly River Sacred Land, titled elder was no ordinary position. It was very nearly the highest status an outside Martial Saint could attain.

Once Lu Changsheng had been granted his identity token and assigned a cave residence, he went straight into the secret chamber of that residence and immediately set about refining his Saint Body.

He called up the Status Panel.

[Status Panel]

Host: Lu Changsheng

Perception: 551,000 (Praised for a Hundred Generations)

Primordial Chaos Saint Body: Momentum of the Masses (1%)

The momentum of the masses remained at one percent, seemingly frozen despite how much time had passed. But now, at the slightest reach of his senses...

Whoosh!

A vast tide of momentum surged over him at once, and it was a hundred times greater than what he had drawn while at the Sacred Earth Heavenly Sect. Empowered by that tremendous momentum, his Primordial Chaos Saint Body finally stirred.

As Lu Changsheng turned his senses inward, he could feel clearly that the Primordial Chaos Saint Body was advancing, bit by bit.

It was the first time Lu Changsheng had ever felt so much momentum of the masses, and so he lost himself entirely in the work, cultivating ceaselessly within the chamber.

Just like that, the months went by...

Lu Changsheng had remained in his cave residence for a whole six months, not once stepping foot outside.

Boom!

Suddenly his whole body trembled faintly. He felt his Primordial Chaos Saint Body rise, at long last, by another thread.

Lu Changsheng finally opened his eyes and called up the Status Panel at once.

[Status Panel]

Host: Lu Changsheng

Perception: 612,000 (Praised for a Hundred Generations)

Primordial Chaos Saint Body: Momentum of the Masses (2%)

The progress of his Primordial Chaos Saint Body had just risen from one percent to two percent, and no one understood better than he what that meant. He had spent half a year of cultivation for a single percentage point of progress. At this rate, bringing the Primordial Chaos Saint body to one hundred percent would take six hundred months, which was roughly fifty years.

Of course, five hundred years was an insignificant amount of time to a Martial Saint, given their lifespan of three thousand years.

As long as Lu Changsheng kept up with his cultivation in the Heavenly River Sacred Land, his Primordial Chaos Saint Body would undoubtedly reach one hundred percent. Once he accomplished that, he could try to advance to the Earthly Saint Realm.

Regardless, fifty years was still too long for Lu Changsheng. He had not even lived for fifty years yet, so how was he supposed to spend fifty years just for one undertaking?

I'm not spending fifty years on this... I need to find a way to speed up my cultivation.

At the moment, he could think of two options: either gather even more momentum from the masses or just find some way of making this cultivation process more efficient. Both options were easier said than done. For starters, he had no idea whether any other method of improving efficiency even existed, and as for increasing the momentum of the masses, there was only one way to do that: raising his standing within the Heavenly River Sacred Land.

Lu Changsheng was a titled elder, the highest status an outside Martial Saint could attain in the Heavenly River Sacred Land. Still, he could keep expanding his influence to gain even more momentum from the masses.

"Influence..." Lu Changsheng murmured to himself.

Since arriving at the Heavenly River Sacred Land he had not once walked its grounds, having stayed the whole time in secluded cultivation. He could not expand his influence if he didn't even know anything about the place.

And so, without wasting any more time, he rose and left his cave residence.

Lu Changsheng spent several days wandering Heavenly River Sacred Land and came to understand its workings well enough. But before he could form any plan for building influence, his communication stone lit up with a message.

"Elder Immeasurable, please come at once to the great hall for council."

It turned out that Lu Changsheng's title as an elder was "Immeasurable." Outside, some people called him "Immeasurable Martial Saint," while others addressed him simply as "Saint Lu." Regardless, such things were of little consequence to him.

What did strike him as unusual, however, was being summoned to council in the great hall barely half a year after his arrival. The message had come from the sect master of the Heavenly River Sacred Land himself.

Lu Changsheng did not hesitate. He swept up into a streak of flowing light and flew toward the Heavenly River Great Hall. If anything had happened, he would find out shortly.

He arrived quickly, and one streak of light after another came down outside the hall alongside him. All of them were hall masters or elders, the closest thing the Heavenly River Sacred Land had to a core.

"Greetings, Elder Immeasurable."

"I heard long ago that our Heavenly River Sacred Land had gained a titled elder, though I never had the fortune to meet you. At last, we met."

"Elder Immeasurable, you carry yourself with real dignity. Quite the bearing."

The hall masters and elders all brightened at the sight of Lu Changsheng, greeting him with warmth and courtesy as though they were old acquaintances. This was Lu Changsheng's first time laying eyes on any of them, so he did not even know their names. Still, their goodwill was unmistakable.

Over the past several days of looking into the workings of the Heavenly River Sacred Land, he had learned that outside Martial Saints were, as a class, to be kept at arm's length.

It did not matter how much they accomplished or how long they stayed. Outside Martial Saints never quite fit among the Martial Saints native to the Heavenly River Sacred Land, and always seemed to drift somewhere beyond the core.

That was only natural. An outside Martial Saint felt no belonging to the Heavenly River Sacred Land to begin with. The arrangement was simply one of mutual convenience. The Heavenly River Sacred Land supplied the momentum of the masses for their cultivation, and in exchange they lent their strength to handle matters on the sacred land's behalf.

These people would certainly show no such friendliness to other outsiders. Lu Changsheng, however, was a different story, and the reason for that was quite simple: his divine abilities were immeasurable. More than that, he had forged his Saint Body on the foundation of those divine abilities.

In sacred lands, elders and hall masters were bound to look down on outside Martial Saints, treating them with arrogance, perhaps even with a hint of disdain. However, for a martial artist capable of condensing the immeasurable divine ability, they held sincere admiration.

Even within a sacred land, not just anyone could condense an immeasurable divine ability. In fact, fewer than ten people had managed that feat throughout the entire history of the Heavenly River Sacred Land. Of course, each of those people had been tremendously talented, fit to be called Heavenly Saint material.

"So what is this about?" asked Lu Changsheng.

"We know just as much as you."

"We shall find out in the hall."

"After you, Elder Immeasurable."

Lu Changsheng nodded and stepped into the Heavenly River Hall along with the others.

The hall was already crowded with elders and hall masters. Seated at the head of the table was the sect master of the Heavenly River Sacred Land. This was the first time Lu Changsheng had laid eyes on him, though the master himself seemed to be quite familiar with Lu Changsheng.

Catching sight of Lu Changsheng, he smiled and said, "Elder Immeasurable, you are a titled elder of the Heavenly River Sacred Land. Please take the third seat on the left."

Lu Changsheng glanced over at the third seat. It was not a low position; quite the contrary, it was rather prestigious. Every seat in the Heavenly River Hall carried meaning; the farther forward, the higher the standing.

He took his seat, and the two seats in front of him soon filled as well. Several dozen Martial Saints had gathered in the Hall, and every one of them was a Martial Saint of the highest caliber, nothing like the ordinary Martial Saints of the outside world.