My Arts Evolve When Perfected

Three days passed.

BUZZ—

A command from a great distance suddenly entered [Sorrow]’s mind. His eyes shot open, and he leaped to his feet with a start. ’Have those Secret Realm Experts from the exam group already found the Celestial Xin Hall?’

But there was no need to rush. The Twelve Great Halls, including Celestial Armor, Tianyi, and Celestial Bing, had replaced all the Secret Realm portals in the ruins of Kunlun City. Nine of them had Hot Springs, holding three to four thousand captured students each. ’The experts of the Human Race are probably more focused on the Celestial Armor Hall. That one has the most students from the provincial capital’s high schools, including several peerless prodigies.’

’The ones heading for this Celestial Xin Hall definitely aren’t the strongest group. They’re basically just coming here to die. They’ll never even reach the Hot Springs. Nothing to panic about.’

’Sigh, a false alarm. In another four days, the great Spider Mother will give birth to the new king. All I have to do is watch over these supplements. That should count as a small merit, right?’

The perpetually downturned corners of [Sorrow]’s mouth lifted in a rare smile. He strolled toward the Hot Springs. An instant later, his smile vanished, and his pupils shrank. "Why is the water in the Hot Springs so pale!"

The Hot Springs no longer held their former crimson hue. A few faint wisps of red drifted in slow vortexes. At the bottom of the hundred-meter-wide lake, nearly three thousand students lay submerged. Treasures of Heaven and Earth were strewn about like construction debris beneath the bodies of the living and the dead.

Even the most magnificent hundred-thousand-year Fire Marrow was dim and lackluster, looking like a garden rockery. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Wrong, wrong, all wrong!" The droop in [Sorrow]’s eyes vanished, his lids flying wide. His heart hammered in his chest. He scrambled the last few steps and fell to his knees beside the Hot Springs, scooping up a handful of the pale red water. He gasped for air. "Why is the Spirit Charm so faint? Why is it so faint? WHY?!"

He frantically scooped at the water, but it just slipped through his fingers. At that moment, his heart pounded like thunder.

’The great Spider Mother’s plan has been a century in the making! The Nine Great Hot Springs were meant to lay the foundation for the coming new king, enough to let it achieve Transformation, Spirit Communication, and Ancestral Return in a single day—enough to approach the supreme level of a Demon King!’

This was a hundred years!

A hundred years!

’Treasures of Heaven and Earth, special pebbles, relocating Secret Realms, steering wars, planting spies... The resources consumed were innumerable. It nearly emptied the Demon Race’s entire foundation in the Northwest Province, and now even the hidden Twelve Great Halls have been exposed to the Human Race!’

The corners of [Sorrow]’s mouth, his eyes, his cheeks, and even his toes began to twitch. He stumbled to his feet. His eyes, wide and bloodshot, reflected the figure of a young man in their center.

The hundred-meter-wide lake, which served as the Hot Springs, was nearly twenty meters deep. It had already rendered at least a thousand people into corpses, while most of the survivors had fallen into a deep slumber.

Only Jiang Qiu was still standing at the bottom of the lake. He clenched his fists, the muscles of his bare upper body faintly twisting into the shape of a Flood Dragon.

He had absorbed all the Fiery Flame Spirit Charm in the entire lake!

"This much Spirit Charm—an entire lake’s worth! It’s enough to raise more than ten peerless prodigies from nothing to the Ninth Rank! The legendary Ninth Rank!" [Sorrow]’s eyes were stretched so wide they looked like they would tear. His sunken cheeks twisted his face into the mask of a Fierce Ghost. "Even Zhu Li, who underwent Ancestral Return into a Flood Dragon and possessed Ninth Rank potential, only managed to reach the Seventh Rank after giving his all! And he was hailed as the number one prodigy of Dongqi Mountain, with the potential to become one of the Ten Great Demon Marshals!

But the resources he consumed were a drop in the bucket compared to this!

There’s no way this brat could’ve devoured all the Spirit Charm!

He would have burst first!"

Along with a demented roar, a sweet, coppery taste choked the Transformed Great Demon, [Sorrow]. He spat out a mouthful of blood. His brows knitted together as black fur burst from his face, arms, and neck.

RRRIP—

His white robes were ripped apart by his Demon Beast form. A five-to-six-meter-tall, bipedal, cat-like demon arched its back and splayed its claws. It sucked in a deep breath and roared toward the Hot Springs. "ROAR—"

The Sound Waves spread, churning the surface of the Hot Springs into a frenzy. The waves grew larger and larger, as if a great chunk was being scooped out of the water.

Within the roiling waters, the two thousand-odd unconscious students suddenly shot their eyes open. They gritted their teeth and clapped their hands over their ears as blood trickled from the corners of their eyes.

Jiang Qiu’s eyes snapped open. His blood-red, vertical pupils gazed upward, locking onto the sight of [Sorrow] with its gaping, slavering maw. ’He’s reverted to his true form?’

[Flood Dragon Jade Sinews (Awaiting Incubation)]

[Spirit Charm (Flame): 9/9]

’My Spirit Charm has reached the Ninth Rank. Even though I haven’t refined a Spirit Body or achieved the Realm of a true Martial Artist, my power is more than enough.’

BOOM—

Bending and pushing off with his legs, Jiang Qiu’s body shot towards the surface like a black shark cutting through the sea. The shockwaves rippling through the water knocked over the hundreds of students who had just managed to get to their knees on the lakebed.

CRACK!

A cold light flashed as the Double Arc Blade broke the surface. Jiang Qiu leaped out, holding the spear in one hand, sending a huge splash into the air.

"Ghk! Ghk!" A strange sound escaped the twitching corners of [Sorrow]’s snarling mouth. Its bloodshot eyes were filled with nothing but Jiang Qiu’s figure. It wanted to flay him alive, rip out his sinews, shatter his bones, suck his marrow, grind his flesh, and drink his blood!

The few hundred people at the bottom of the lake who could barely turn their necks looked up, just in time to see Jiang Qiu confronting the giant cat. A tremor went through all of their pupils.

’The Transformed Great Demon has already revealed its True Form, and Jiang Qiu actually jumped up to face it?!’

’That’s a Transformed Great Demon! It has already gained initial mastery of Spirit Charm. Killing anyone below the level of a Spirit Body Martial Artist is as easy as crushing a mouse!’

The first great chasm for mortals is breaking through the Spirit Body Realm by Casting Jade Sinews. The equivalent for a Demon Beast is the Transformation Barrier. Both are enormous transformations, symbolizing a creature’s initial fusion with Spirit Charm.

After all, it’s nearly impossible for a tiger cub with baby teeth to kill a wild bull that’s spent a dozen years strengthening its massive horns!

As this thought took hold, the students at the bottom of the lake felt their hearts turn to ash. They had already passed out from the excruciating pain of being tempered as if in a wok of boiling oil, only to be awakened by Sound Waves that shattered their very souls, forcing them to face despair once more.

"Jiang Qiu! You couldn’t have absorbed that much Fiery Flame Spirit Charm! Let it out!" [Sorrow] cursed, its claws like blades, gleaming with a cold light. "I’ll give you one chance! Spit the Fiery Flame Spirit Charm you’ve hidden back out!"

"What’s with the temper? No more sighs?" Jiang Qiu snorted. His spear danced, creating a flower of flames, and his Qi Blood ignited into a visible fire around him. "You threw me into the Hot Springs to be a supplement. Now, you will die!"

[Fiery Flame Spirit Charm]

[Features: Ignites Qi Blood into Flame, Burns Flesh to Cinders]

The Spirit Charm had already been integrated into his skills, and his [Steel Body] had also transformed after being tempered a thousand times.

A phantom image of a Flaming Cyan Dragon appeared behind Jiang Qiu. Faintly, the dragon’s vertical pupils overlapped with his own. Bathed in roaring flames, he looked down upon the Transformed Great Demon, [Sorrow].

"AHHH—" [Sorrow] let out a maddened roar. Its figure flickered, and its sharp claws slashed out. The Gale Spirit Charm latched on, transforming into a crushing storm.

Although it had only just broken through the Transformation Barrier, back when it was a Top Tier Demon Beast, it had already reached the Third Rank of Gale Spirit Charm. Its foundation and potential were better than most Transformed Great Demons, and its comprehension of the Power of Slaughter was more profound.

Yet, in its blood-flecked vertical pupils, the reflected image of the boy was completely rigid. He didn’t even reveal his Realm’s aura. He just stood there without blinking, like a wooden dummy.

’Such a reaction was only normal. The gap in power is just that vast. As long as my claws touch his neck, one swipe will shatter him to pieces!’

SWISH—

As expected, the cold light of its claws slashed across Jiang Qiu’s neck. The Wind Blade that shot past him gouged a long scar into the wall more than ten meters away with a scraping sound.

But not a single drop of blood spurted from the neck before it.

The trailing Gale Spirit Charm fanned the heat concealed within Jiang Qiu’s form, and his entire body dissolved into a burst of flame.

In that instant, [Sorrow]’s heart stopped. Its pupils stretched taut like steel wires. A chill seeped down its spine. In a flash, the sense of a life-and-death crisis shot through its heart like a bolt of thunder.

PFFT—

The cold glint that arrived a moment later pierced the flesh of its back. In its mind, it instantly pictured a peerless prodigy using the [Shadow Stepping] Body Technique, empowered by Fiery Flame Spirit Charm, to flicker, lunge, and turn. His spear, now following the momentum, would be thrust forward, seamlessly connecting into a [Furious Dragon Ascending to Heaven] imbued with Fiery Flame Spirit Charm...

BOOM—

Just as it had foreseen, an Azure Dragon wrapped in a storm erupted from its back. Billowing flames engulfed it. In the instant its swollen heart was obliterated by raw Strength, bloody tears squeezed from the corners of its eyes.

’It was the honor of a lifetime to serve the great Spider Mother, but why...’

’The exam happens every year, so why this year? And why did the Celestial Xin Hall’s Hot Springs, the one *I* was responsible for, have to run into a monster who reached Ninth Rank Jade Sinews and integrated Spirit Charm into his Spear Skill in just three days?’

’It’s just one exam. There was no need for this.’