My Arts Evolve When Perfected

To be precise, even with the creature lying prone, Jiang Qiu wasn't even as tall as the fur on its forearm. It could have swallowed him in a single bite—a true behemoth!

Its eyes were as scarlet as blood, yet they held a faint glimmer of spirituality, which kept them from looking completely ferocious. Still, if anyone else had been here to face it, even a fleeting glance would have been enough to scare them to death.

The creature's form was indeed massive, and overall, quite majestic. But among the ancient trees, it looked like a small monkey. The tree trunks were even more immense; a dozen Jiang Qius linking arms couldn't have wrapped around a single sapling.

Within this ancient forest, Jiang Qiu looked up. Hundreds of meters above, tiny, fragmented slivers of daylight seeped through the all-encompassing canopy, only to be intercepted by the upper branches. As a result, not a single ray of light could fully illuminate the ground. The surroundings were dim, yet they held a unique luminescence, likely from peculiar mushrooms and stones emitting a faint, barely perceptible glow.

This place was so vast that Jiang Qiu felt like a tiny gecko. No, more like a tadpole. He was just too small, far too small!

'What a powerful inheritance trial. It actually managed to conceal my Cultivation and transmigrate me into a time and place like this.'

Jiang Qiu sighed inwardly, his thoughts drifting to his experience in the Northern Boundary. Back then, he had also been directly transmigrated into a world of ice and snow, into the body of a Chosen One, and was then taken in by Xiong of the North Snow Tribe.

This kind of technology—or rather, this Great Dao, this Secret Technique—for creating life was not absent in the Primordial World Cluster. In fact, it wasn't just passable; it was quite prosperous. Even some Cultivators who dabbled in puppetry could attempt to create living beings.

Besides, isn't that how the Yin Yang Great Realm operates?

For countless millennia, it has reincarnated those souls over and over, trapping them in an eternal cycle. Generation after generation, their bodies are all created by Yin Yang. It shows that creating life isn't actually that high of a bar.

Of course, the difficulty is relative. Yin Yang is the will of the Yin Yang Great Realm, a level of existence far beyond the Peak of Unity Realm. It's the collective will of countless Unity Realm experts, cultivators, and living beings. The two can't be compared.

However, as someone who had once reached the Half-Step Unity Realm, Jiang Qiu had some understanding of the matter. He knew that creating life was possible and had heard of people who pursued creation ex nihilo, driven to madness in their quest.

'But how could my current body have been created by an ordinary person?'

'There's no such thing as creation without a cause!'

'Back in the Northern Boundary, who created the body of that Chosen One? And what about the dozens of generations of legendary Chosen Ones before—who created their bodies?'

'What kind of price would have to be paid to create all of that?'

'Creating life is easy. But creating life from nothing is hard—so hard it's practically impossible!'

Back in the Northern Boundary, the Human Race body was one thing. A body based on a human template wasn't that difficult to make. Besides, the core Soul was my own; simply creating an empty shell was simple. 'I feel like I could even try to study it myself,' Jiang Qiu thought. A Half-Step Unity Realm expert might not be able to create anything incredible, but they could at least scratch the surface.

But now... a Dragon Race bloodline, nurtured from scratch in the form of a Dragon Egg. An excessively pure Dragon Race bloodline!

This purity was a strange kind of purity. It wasn't just about the absence of other bloodlines. This purity seemed to declare that no other like it could ever exist in the world—a purity that was utterly unique!

Jiang Qiu could sense this, which was why he was so puzzled and, at the same time, shocked. Who on earth could have created the body he was now using?

'The Dragon Emperor...?'

It was the most likely possibility, but he didn't understand. It wasn't that he doubted the Dragon Emperor's abilities. After all, that was an existence who had achieved Transcendence from this world. No matter how powerful one imagined him to be, it wouldn't be an exaggeration. If someone called him an omnipotent god, who would dare to question it?

But the crucial question was, if the Dragon Emperor could create such a pure Dragon Race bloodline and body, what would be required?

If he recalled correctly, the Dragon Race had been wiped out in the last epoch. Besides Emperor Chen, whose existence was a mystery, there was only the Dragon Emperor himself—and the Dragon Emperor had fallen.

'To create a Dragon Egg with a pure Dragon Race bloodline, and then for it to hatch and nurture a body, you would surely need Dragon Blood, right?'

'From the dragon, Chen?'

It didn't seem likely. Chen himself seemed to have had minimal contact with the Dragon Emperor; some historical texts only recorded that he followed the Dragon Emperor. And even if he were to sacrifice his own Dragon Blood, Jiang Qiu doubted it would even be good enough.

Clearly, the Dragon Blood in his current body was exceptionally pure. It might even allow him to gradually unlock the Dragon Race's legacy—the complete legacy, the kind that included the path to Transcendence!

This intuition left him feeling overwhelmed, and he naturally doubted whether Chen's Dragon Blood was worthy. If that dragon could really provide blood this significant, he wouldn't still be searching for a method of Transcendence.

In that case, it was highly probable that the blood flowing through this body was... the Dragon Emperor's blood!

At this thought, Jiang Qiu sucked in a sharp breath, his pupils dilating. He instinctively clenched his claws, and a faint wisp of Dragon Qi puffed from his nostrils. It was as if immense power was brewing. An imperceptible 'click' seemed to strike the Bear Demon's chest. The demon felt as if he saw the phantom of an insurmountable beast materialize behind Jiang Qiu, gazing down upon all of creation with utter contempt!

"CLACK... CLACK-CLACK-CLACK..."

It was the sound of Xiong Batian's teeth chattering. His body, which weighed dozens of tons, had gone as soft as mud, as if he would be swept away and dissolved by a flood in the next second.

'That Celestial Spirit from High Heaven... its aura is just too terrifying!'

'I'm scared to death!'

'Are all the beings from High Heaven this terrifying?'

Xiong Batian was too inexperienced to comprehend what he was witnessing. Jiang Qiu, however, gradually retracted his aura, his pair of Dragon Eyes flashing with a sharp light. "I understand now. This isn't some ordinary Dragon Emperor inheritance, nor is it some leftover scrap from a greater legacy. This might be the most important inheritance in the entire Dusk Holy Ruins!"

Going even further, the entire Dusk Holy Ruins might exist solely for this inheritance. The countless Secret Realms outside are just an illusion, and the so-called rankings and slaughter are merely a pretense.

This bold speculation surprised even Jiang Qiu himself. After all, his luck had been too good. Because Xue could keenly sense the Dragon Emperor's inheritance, he had come here. But after entering, Xue had been stripped away!

He could no longer sense Xue's presence, nor could he feel the presence of his former self. It seemed he had entered a new life and would have to live as a Dragon Race hatchling for a long time to come.

Such a coincidence was too outrageous. It was as if someone was orchestrating all of this from behind the scenes. This wasn't the first time Jiang Qiu had doubted Xue's identity. He always felt that Xue's past life was diverging more and more from his initial assumptions.

But... none of that was the most important thing. The priority was to pass this Dragon Emperor's trial as quickly as possible, fully unlock his Dragon Race bloodline, obtain the Dragon Race legacy, and then go back, kill Zuo Xuan, and save Liu Zili!

"Xiong Batian, do you know what this place is? What kind of situation are we in?"

Jiang Qiu asked Xiong Batian again. The demon thought for a moment, seemingly not understanding the question. "Isn't this... here? Aren't you and I... right here, Sir? What... what kind of situation?"

'Damn, he's an idiot!'

Suddenly sensing the disdain in his gaze, Xiong Batian flinched, curling up like a ball of black fur. He wanted to cry, but he had no tears.

He was afraid of dying. Terrified.

All at once, he seemed to have a breakthrough. He answered tentatively, "Sir, are you asking which Celestial Realm this is?"

Logically, a Celestial Spirit like him shouldn't have appeared here. He also looked completely lost. Clearly, he'd come to the wrong place and was now asking for directions!

Just as he thought, Jiang Qiu's expression finally softened slightly. "What do you mean by 'Celestial Realm'? How many are there in total?"