My Arts Evolve When Perfected

When the 10,000 followers who had just left the live stream saw the notification, they flooded back into Arena #10086's stream. The viewer count began to skyrocket, reaching 100,000 online in just three minutes.

Jiang Qiu returned to the dimension of Arena #10086, finding himself amidst the same prairie landscape. He looked at an eight-legged female figure in the distance, his expression stiffening slightly. Fortunately, his mask concealed it, so no one could see his face.

"Hmm... You're Xiaoxiao, of the Spider Lady Race?"

Jiang Qiu asked out of courtesy, though he had already seen her appearance from the profile images. Still, seeing her in person gave him a jolt.

Her lower half had the classic appearance of a black spider, with a bulbous abdomen and eight steel-like legs dug into the earth. Her upper body, however, was humanoid—but not entirely.

Her head was that of a spider, with two small black pincers for a mouth and four eyes that glistened like small green dots!

'In terms of her anatomy, she's spider-human-spider from top to bottom. It's utterly jarring to the Human Race's aesthetic sense, a subconscious, soul-wrenching wrongness.'

She also exuded an eerie killing intent. This was clearly not someone to be trifled with.

"HISS—"

She parted her black pincers, and an ear-grating sound emanated from within. Though she formed no clear syllables, the message was transmitted directly into Jiang Qiu's mind: "I am."

'Her presence has an eerie quality that matches the Nether Dark Spirit Charm. It's clear this member of the Spider Lady Race is a cultivator of the Nether Dark Spirit Charm.'

She didn't seem to be a talker, so Jiang Qiu didn't press further, and she remained silent. Thus, her four eyes and his two stared at each other in a standoff, waiting for the challenge to begin.

"..."

"..."

As the two faced off, the live comments were anything but calm. Among the followers who had come specifically for Jiang Qiu, some recognized his opponent and cried out in alarm: "Holy shit, it's the Spider Lady Xiaoxiao! She's on a three-win streak, and every one of them was an instant-kill. Her venom is incredibly potent; it's impossible to defend against!"

"I don't think she'll even be able to touch Jiang Qiu of the Human Race. Didn't you see the last stream? He instantly killed Sansan of the Fishman Race, and nobody even saw how it happened."

"You can't just say that. How could there be so many powerful prodigies at the Spirit Body Realm? There's no way he did that with his own power. He most likely used some kind of Magical Treasure to instantly kill Sansan."

"In other words, that was his trump card. He definitely can't use it again now. Even if he could, it must come at a great cost. Getting one win should be enough for him; how could he possibly keep this up?"

"Dude, what kind of bullshit logic is that? Who reveals their trump card right off the bat?"

"Young Master Sansan did."

"Fuck, you son of a... never mind. Turns out you're from the Fishman Race. In that case, I'll let it slide. I've always had a soft spot for the intellectually disabled."

"Hey, wait, but seriously, think about it. Jiang Qiu didn't move at all, just lifted his hand a little. What if that was to hide how weak he actually is? He unleashes a single trump card to intimidate his opponent, so that all his future enemies will be scared of him and just surrender.

First off, while Sansan of the Fishman Race used an incredible ultimate move, he also demonstrated his Flying Ability while only at the Spirit Body Realm. His strength was nothing to scoff at.

But what about Jiang Qiu? He just stood there stiffly, chatting with Sansan. He clearly doesn't have any real skills and was just stalling for time to rake in more viewers.

Then, once Sansan's ultimate move was almost fully charged, he caught him off guard and unleashed his own trump card—probably some kind of single-use Magical Treasure—to instantly kill Sansan and make a name for himself!"

"Nice one, master of logic! You've got a point. I just noticed the viewer count for this match is already huge, and it's still climbing!"

"See? It's because the last fight had some highlights. The Celestial Star Arena staff must have edited a clip of the climax, uploaded it, and the exposure is attracting a wave of new viewers."

"For real? Holy crap, you're right! There's a video: 'Mysterious Human Clan Instantly Kills Fishman Race Saint Heir—Can You Even Follow the Action?' Man, the Celestial Star Arena officials really know how to write a title! It's only been up for a few dozen minutes and it already has over a million views!"

"Shh, quiet down! Look, the challenge is about to start!"

"Shhh—"

"Shhh—"

Soon, the challenge began. Jiang Qiu remained standing in place. He couldn't see the live comments and had no idea what was being said, but he did notice the viewer count was still climbing, so he waited in silence.

'More viewers meant more donations, which meant a bigger cut for him. But more importantly, only when his personal influence grew large enough would he have the leverage to negotiate with the Celestial Star Arena.'

'He needed that influence to demand Grandmaster Zhu Weiyi's release from the Celestial Star Arena. It wasn't just about racking up a long winning streak.'

'He couldn't put the cart before the horse. A long winning streak was just a means to gain personal influence. After all, a long enough streak would attract tons of viewers, which in turn would generate massive profits for the Celestial Star Arena.'

'From that perspective, as long as he could gain enough attention, an insanely long winning streak wasn't even that important anymore.'