My Arts Evolve When Perfected

[Secret Technique: Flaming Illusion (Stage One)]

[Description: Consume a massive amount of Spirit Charm to create a Flaming Illusion that takes the place of your real body. It can withstand a fatal blow and confuse your opponent.]

Jiang Qiu glanced at his updated status panel and let out a long sigh. "One hundred and twenty-one Ice Crystal Fruits... I used up one hundred and one of them in just seven days. That really wasn’t easy."

Using such a huge amount of Ice Crystal Fruits just to replenish his Spirit Charm and learn [Flaming Illusion]... if this happened at Northwest Martial University, it would be the top post on the campus forums.

Most students wouldn’t even dare to dream of having that many fruits, let alone consuming them all in such a short time. It was like running a mint inside an incinerator—utterly absurd.

But the good thing was, he had now mastered the Forbidden Secret Technique.

"Brother Jiang Qiu, is that genius named Tang Guang coming to North Border City today?"

Catching sight of Ice Lotus’s innocent and slightly nervous face, Jiang Qiu smiled slightly. "Yes. And after some quick repairs, the arena is ready to open again. The challenge against Tang Guang should happen this afternoon."

His Dragon Spirit had also grown stronger after absorbing pure Spirit Charm time and again, and was now powerful enough to summon a hundred-foot-tall Flaming Azure Dragon Dharma Aspect. Both the purity and capacity of the Spirit Charm within his body had taken a great leap forward.

Although there was still a huge gap between him and Tang Guang, he had, at the very least, closed the distance between their strengths.

Besides, Tang Guang would be suppressing his Realm, so the focus of the fight would be on combat ability...

DING!

Suddenly, the sound of a notification alert broke Jiang Qiu’s train of thought. He casually pulled out his phone to look, his pupils constricting slightly. "Blizzards have appeared in multiple places across the Northern Wilderness?"

The message was from Lin Wei. After accepting a mission for the rookie competition, he had left North Border City and was traveling between the various Settlements outside. The accompanying pictures showed Blizzards that blotted out the sky. The small town-like Settlements looked like pebbles at the feet of a snowstorm giant, ready to be crushed with a single step.

’Why would such a major incident happen so suddenly?’

’Does this mean Tang Guang won’t be able to take the Hundred Machines Giant Kite to North Border City?’

Jiang Qiu’s brow rose. His fingers tapped against the screen—TAP TAP TAP—as he tried to confirm more information with Lin Wei.

[Lin Wei: Tang Guang definitely won’t be able to make it to North Border City. A lot of the Settlements around me have already been swallowed by the Blizzards, and large numbers of the Demon Race are invading the residential areas that are still somewhat intact.]

[Lin Wei: I’ve only heard of a situation like this once. Legend says that when the Northern Wilderness was first formed, a super-Blizzard swept across the entire region. After that, three extremely important Medium-sized Secret Realms appeared, which in turn gave rise to the North Snow Wolf Clan, the Ice Armor Bear Clan, and the One-eyed Snow Owl Clan...]

Right after he sent that, the messages stopped abruptly. Jiang Qiu sent several more, but there was no response. The other party had gone offline. It felt as if an invisible hand had seized his heart, leaving him deeply unsettled.

The three great Demon Races of the Northern Wilderness: the North Snow Wolf Clan, the Ice Armor Bear Clan, and the One-eyed Snow Owl Clan.

Of the three, the North Snow Wolf Clan was the weakest, with only two or three Ancestral Great Demons, and they occasionally had their Ice Crystal Fruits stolen. But it was undeniable that they possessed the Ancient Snow Wolf Emperor’s Ice Palace Secret Realm, and the quality of their bloodline was very high. Moreover, the Wolf King’s power on North Snow Ridge was enough to rival a Grandmaster.

The other two clans also had their own legacy Secret Realms, and their overall strength was much greater. The total number of their Ancestral Great Demons far exceeded the number of Dharma Realm Martial Artists in North Border City.

In other words, they were the true masters of the Northern Wilderness. The land of ice and snow was named for their legacy Secret Realms.

’Did this sudden situation mean the three great Demon Races are gathering all the demons in the Northern Wilderness for a joint attack on North Border City?’

Jiang Qiu took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on the various local news reports popping up on his phone. A single glance made his heart pound with fear.

[Shocking!!!]

[News is spreading from a Settlement where members of the North Snow Wolf Clan in their Transformation forms are active. It claims that the Wolf Emperor Secret Realm, located deep within North Snow Ridge, was plundered by people from Xia Country! They stole the Wolf Emperor’s legacy and slaughtered over a thousand members of the North Snow Wolf Clan!]

[It is said that the Wolf Emperor’s legacy contains the purest Wolf Emperor’s Essence Blood, which can help certain special Martial Artists, as well as most of the Demon Race, undergo Ancestral Return and obtain power from ancient times...]

’Wolf Emperor’s Essence Blood?’

’When the hell did I get my hands on something like that?!’

Jiang Qiu’s eyes went wide, and he sucked in a sharp breath.

Demon Generals, Demon Marshals, and Demon Kings could all be called Ancestral Great Demons. The legendary Wolf Emperor’s Essence Blood could undoubtedly help a member of the Demon Race achieve an incredibly terrifying level of Ancestral Return.

Furthermore, there were no Demon Kings in the Northern Wilderness. Which of the three great Demon Races wouldn’t want to be the first to attain that title?

Even those Martial Artists in North Border City who were colluding with the Demon Race would benefit greatly from the Wolf Emperor’s Essence Blood!

’The North Snow Wolf King wants to kill me by proxy.’

Jiang Qiu clenched his fists, a sharp, ferocious glint flashing in his eyes.

So that was why the incident on North Snow Ridge hadn’t caused so much as a ripple. The Northern Snow Wolf King had been biding his time, using the Wolf Emperor’s legacy as a pretext to unite the various Demon Races. His goal was to get revenge on Jiang Qiu, and by extension, every member of the Human Race living in the Northern Wilderness.

For the past century, there had been constant friction between humans and demons in the Northern Wilderness, with major conflicts occasionally breaking out. But to instigate a dispute of this magnitude, it couldn’t just be about the Wolf Emperor’s legacy. The Demon Race must have the confidence to annihilate North Border City in one fell swoop...

TAP, TAP, TAP.

The sound of urgent footsteps came from outside the Cultivation Chamber, followed by the ringing of the doorbell. Jiang Qiu strode over to open the door, and a Martial Arts Team Captain with a deeply furrowed brow came into view. "Mr. Jiang, the front lines of North Border City are in crisis! General Zhu is looking for you to discuss an urgent matter."

"Alright, I’ll go right away."

Jiang Qiu agreed at once. He told Ice Lotus to stay in the Xia Country Hotel, then followed the captain to Zhu Weiyi’s command room.

Watching their retreating figures from a distance, Ice Lotus frowned, her heart thumping wildly.

Outside the lobby of the Xia Country Hotel, the sky was a dreary gray. Pedestrians hurried along the streets as Xia Country Martial Artists evacuated the crowds that had begun to swell for some unknown reason.

A strange sense of resonance enveloped her heart as the clamor from the streets reached her ears.

After absorbing over a hundred Ice Crystal Fruits, she had obtained sufficiently pure Soul Ice Spirit Charm. Her Perception Power for Soul Ice Spirit Charm had increased by a huge margin, equivalent to stepping into the Realm of a Spiritual Great Demon, though her combat abilities were still somewhat weak.

At this moment, the Soul Ice Spirit Charm in the sky above North Border City seemed to be disturbed by something, scattering about in chaos. It was like dust swirling uneasily before the arrival of a Blizzard...

’Is North Border City about to face an attack from the Demon Race?’

Ice Lotus clutched the hem of her bright red, cotton-padded jacket, her lips pressed so tightly they turned white.

She had heard countless legends of how North Border City stood firm in the Northern Wilderness, a paradise yearned for by thousands of wanderers. She had thought its warmth would last through all four seasons.

But only a week had passed, and dark clouds were already gathering overhead.

And this was different from the wars between humans and demons described by the surviving wanderers outside North Border City. The area of the Soul Ice Spirit Charm’s disturbance was vast, suggesting that an Ancestral Great Demon on the level of a Wolf King was about to get involved.

A connection, pulling at her from the other end of her bloodline, told her that the Northern Snow Wolf King was leading his clansmen in a slaughter of the outer Settlements.

And there was another contingent of the North Snow Wolf Clan’s bloodline roaming within North Border City itself!

They were scattered throughout the Belli Family’s estate, the city’s liveliest taverns, the underground black market, and even atop the city walls...