My Arts Evolve When Perfected

A Rare Snow Patterned Deer is an exceptionally scarce creature. You might not find a single one in a herd of several hundred Snow Patterned Deer, and even if you do, such a herd isn’t easy to hunt.

The Rare Snow Patterned Deer is often protected by its herd, making it difficult to hunt. However, they are typically quite intelligent, and it’s said they can be tamed, though the cost is extremely high.

Regardless, getting the milk of a Rare Snow Patterned Deer is very difficult. It’s also an excellent supplement for increasing the purity of one’s Luminous Blood. Many Warriors in the tribe probably wish their own children could drink its milk.

"Uncle [Xiong], did the tribe catch a Rare Snow Patterned Deer?"

Jiang Qiu hugged the bag of deer milk, which he hadn’t finished yet, and sloshed it around a couple of times. The dull, heavy sound suggested it was still quite full.

’This is good stuff. I just took a sip, and the progress of my Luminous Blood increased by a bit. That’s already equal to two months of progress.’

"We didn’t catch it. Those bastards from the West Ice Tribe stole it."

[Xiong] didn’t look up. The butcher knife in his hand came down hard on a deer leg, its hacking and chopping creating a rhythmic CLANGING sound.

"The West Ice Tribe?"

Jiang Qiu froze for a moment, his brow furrowing slightly.

The North Snow Tribe wasn’t the only Human Race tribe in the Northern Boundary. Among the more powerful ones was the West Ice Tribe. They lived to the west and would occasionally clash with the North Snow Tribe over disputes about prey.

In this resource-scarce world, discovering a fruit tree or a Demon Beast habitat was a stroke of immense luck, and the various tribes would fight over such finds.

It wasn’t just between the Human Race; sometimes the Demon Race would also join the fray, as they didn’t exactly occupy the most favorable living positions either.

Death and injury were common occurrences.

"Yeah. Our tribe was hunting on the western side of the Ice and Snow Mountain Range when we discovered a herd of deer coming from the west. It took considerable effort, but we finally trapped the herd. After killing a few strong stags, we caught the Rare Snow Patterned Deer." [Xiong] paused, and with a CRACK, his butcher knife split a leg bone. "But then the West Ice Tribe’s Hunting Team charged in from the west. By then, our stamina was nearly depleted, and we were no match for them.

It didn’t take them much effort to drag away the Rare Snow Patterned Deer—whose leg we had already broken—and the carcasses of several adult stags. All we were left with were the few bags of milk we had managed to squeeze out on the spot."

"Then this deer leg..."

A strange glint flashed in Jiang Qiu’s eyes as he stared at the thick deer leg, which had already been chopped in two.

"The tribe can’t starve. We found another herd later, killed one, and brought it back. I was given one of the legs."

A flash of anger crossed [Xiong]’s eyes. He repositioned the deer leg and began hacking away at it with his butcher knife.

Jiang Qiu hugged the deer milk and fell silent.

It wasn’t the first or second time that tribes had stolen prey from each other. If there was anyone to blame, it was their own Hunting Team for not being strong enough to protect their kill.

However, that kind of thing usually happened before the prey was secured—while everyone was still in the middle of the encirclement, the other party would jump in and pierce the animal with their own spear.

A situation like the one [Xiong] described, where the prey was already captured and even being milked, yet was still stolen—that was rare.

’It seems the other tribe’s Hunting Team is incredibly strong, even much stronger than [Xiong], who is already close to the Steel Bone Realm. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to snatch the prey so easily...’

GULP, GULP~

Jiang Qiu tilted his head back and began chugging the deer milk.

’There’s no point in thinking about all this right now. I should just hurry up and drink this milk, perform well at the bloodline test, and focus on getting stronger as soon as possible.’

’With such a large bag of deer milk, my Luminous Blood progress is sure to improve significantly. I might even make it into the top ten!’

[Absorbing the essence of the Rare Snow Patterned Deer]

...

「Three days passed in a flash.」 The eligible children of the tribe gathered before the Altar, standing reverently at the foot of the steps and gazing up at the Elder Witch Priest, who was arranging tables and bowls on the platform.

The tribe’s Hunting Team went out to hunt as usual, bringing back fresh meat to keep the tribe from starvation.

Meanwhile, some of the women and elders who weren’t particularly busy, along with adolescents not yet part of the hunting parties, also gathered around. They formed a semi-circle, crowding the periphery and whispering among themselves.

"Will any superior bloodlines that can awaken a Bloodline Talent appear in this year’s test?"

A lame old man leaning on a cane muttered to himself, his liver-spotted face creased with wrinkles. His cloudy eyes no longer held any trace of light.

"Why wouldn’t there be? Didn’t Uncle [Xiong] bring back a Chosen One?"

A childish voice came from below. Looking down, he saw [Stone]’s little girl, [Flower], staring up with bright, spirited eyes, faint white puffs of air coming from her nose.

Little girls her age had seen too little of the world. They only ever heard stories of heroes and yearned for all things legendary.

But she wasn’t wrong. The various Chosen Ones recorded in history all had their unique qualities and were often able to awaken superior Bloodline Talents during the bloodline test.

However, those Chosen Ones tended to show extraordinary traits even before the test. For example, there were records of a Chosen One named [Food] who had a massive appetite after being brought back to the tribe. He could digest Demon Beast Meat in less than a month, and by the time he was half a year old, he could eat as much as an adult Warrior.

Then there was the Chosen One named [Zhuang], who could stand and walk just a few days after being found. At half a year old, he dared to leave the settlement to accompany hunts, his roar loud enough to intimidate smaller Demon Beasts.

Every Chosen One is chosen for a reason.

But ever since [Hill] was brought back by [Xiong], he had acted no different from most children. In fact, he was a little strange; he could occasionally be seen in the courtyard, dancing with a spear like a butterfly.

’That weapon is all about a single, fatal strike. What’s the use of dancing around with it?’

The lame old man even suspected that [Hill] wasn’t actually a Chosen One, but an abandoned infant from another tribe. However, since [Hill] had no obvious defects, he didn’t say anything more.

At least he was a healthy baby. Once he grew up, he could still add to the tribe’s manpower, which was also excellent.

After grumbling internally for a while, the lame old man forced a few indistinct words through his shriveled lips: "We’ll see. I hope he really is the Chosen One..."

"The Chosen One"—these three short words were embedded in the tens of thousands of years of the Northern Boundary’s history, each one bursting forth with a light as dazzling as Polaris.

Why was the North Snow Tribe a great tribe?

It was because of the dozens of generations of Chosen Ones they had been fortunate enough to find. Generation after generation, these Chosen Ones led the tribe to the Peak of the Human Race in this world, allowing them to occupy an excellent habitat.

In the very beginning, the North Snow Tribe was just a small tribe of a few hundred people, in constant danger of being annihilated by the powerful North Snow Wolf Clan.

It was only with the first-generation Chosen One, [Zhuang], that they were able to stand on their own feet and grow into the great tribe of tens of thousands they were today.

Even now, a memorial tablet for [Zhuang] stood on the Altar behind the Elder Witch Priest.