My Arts Evolve When Perfected

He didn’t pay much mind to his opponent. This opponent wasn’t hand-picked by the Celestial Star Arena; he was just some blockheaded Fusion Realm cultivator who happened to stumble into the hype surrounding the Arena’s promotion.

In this world, there weren’t that many Fusion Realm cultivators to begin with. The Desolate Realm couldn’t compare to a top-tier Great Realm like the Yin Yang Great Realm; the number of Fusion Realm cultivators here hadn’t reached the point where they could afford to throw their lives away.

In reality, every cultivator who reached the Fusion Realm possessed their own unique skills. Unless they were forced into a corner, they wouldn’t give up their lives so easily.

So, when Celestial Star announced that Tian Ming was about to have his first battle in the Celestial Star Arena, not many Fusion Realm cultivators rushed to sign up. The few who were interested deliberated again and again, considering whether Tian Ming posed a significant threat.

Only this challenger had, from the very beginning, boasted that he would challenge Tian Ming and become his first opponent. His attitude was incredibly arrogant and conceited.

In his view, Jiang Qiu was just all bluster, and this Tian Ming who appeared later was the same.

It was actually his first time in the Desolate Realm, and also his first time at the arena. But from the moment he arrived, he had heard many legends about Jiang Qiu. The tale of a Spirit Body Realm cultivator insta-killing a Peak of Fusion Realm cultivator was just too absurd; he didn’t believe a word of it.

As for his own public statements, after being cursed out in private messages by a large number of cultivators online, he tracked them down one by one to deal with them. To him, most of those cultivators were just small fry; a good beating was enough to make them behave.

And for the few who were also in the Fusion Realm, he gave them a warning. Seeing his strength, they didn’t dare say much more, only retorting, "If you’re so tough, go challenge Jiang Divine!"

Of course, he agreed. He refused to believe that a fighter propped up by hype was the real deal. A legend with a fifty-win streak? Someone who, if offended, could cause the Soul Race—the strongest clan in the Desolate Realm—to be wiped out overnight? It was all too absurd and ridiculous.

However, he hadn’t found Jiang Qiu yet, so he had to settle for signing up to take down this Tian Ming who came after Jiang Qiu. He suspected this was another fake act pushed by the Celestial Star Arena, designed purely to generate hype, with no real substance.

And so, now he stood in the arena, facing Tian Ming. He sized him up for a while but couldn’t clearly discern his realm. Everyone said he was in the Fusion Realm, so he probably had some kind of talent for concealing his realm. ’That’s nothing special,’ he thought. ’I have one too. Outsiders have no idea what my true realm is!’

The official realm he had shown to Celestial Star was the Initial Tier of the Fusion Realm, but in reality, he was already at the Peak of Fusion Realm, or rather, the Half-Step Unity Realm!

Such a realm was exceedingly rare. In all his travels across numerous worlds, he had yet to encounter many beings at his level. If a small world had even a few dozen, it would be considered prosperous. The Desolate Realm, for example, was at about that level, but he had a faint feeling that all the Half-Step Unity Realm beings were in seclusion and never showed their faces.

This was also why he was confident enough to stand here and arrogantly declare his challenge to Jiang Qiu.

It was precisely because he possessed such great power that he knew just how formidable a Peak of Fusion Realm existence was. How could a mere Spirit Body Realm cultivator even compare?

’A first-level Spirit Body Realm insta-killing a Peak of Fusion Realm cultivator? What if it was a Peak of Fusion Realm cultivator like me?’

’Could Jiang Qiu insta-kill me?!’

’What a load of bullshit.’ He had traveled so many worlds and even sparred with Unity Realm beings. Even they would have to put in some effort to crush him. Yet now, in the Desolate Realm, he heard about some guy named Jiang Qiu who could insta-kill Peak of Fusion Realm cultivators without even blinking—a single wave of his hand, and they were dead!

’The biggest joke in the world! Utterly ridiculous!’

Today, he would bring glory to the Fusion Realm! He would show the world what the Fusion Realm truly was, what a powerful cultivator with Fusion Realm strength looked like, and what the strongest realm beneath the Unity Realm was capable of!

’I will not be like those paper-thin Fusion Realm dregs in the video replays!’

With such thoughts in his mind, the challenge began. He started to channel his ultimate killing move. Instantly, the sky and earth changed color, as if an unprecedented storm was about to descend and destroy Arena No. 1.

But in reality, it was just his aura being too immense. Arena No. 1 was built to withstand battles between Initial Tier of Unity Realm cultivators; it couldn’t be destroyed by a single Half-Step Unity Realm cultivator. However, Celestial Star, who was observing from the sidelines, immediately felt the surging pressure from him and was shocked. "How is he at the Half-Step Unity Realm?!"

’There have been far too many challengers with hidden realms lately!’ Celestial Star hadn’t personally inspected the opponent’s realm this time and had completely failed to anticipate another case of a hidden realm.

The Half-Step Unity Realm was, in essence, still considered the Peak of Fusion Realm. It was just that the cultivator had walked too far down the Dao they were preparing to harmonize with, reaching a bottleneck and a summit. They had to seek Unity to break through their shackles, which was why it was called Half-Step Unity. It was equivalent to having no other path forward, the peak of the Peak of Fusion Realm—the most powerful tier within that stage.

He was practically the emperor of the Fusion Realm. Without peerless talent, it would be impossible to defeat him. After all, reaching his stage was a feat only achievable through peerless talent. It could be said that even a prodigy would find it difficult to cross several tiers from the Initial Tier of the Fusion Realm to defeat him.