My Arts Evolve When Perfected

As a Bear Demon living in the Primitive Ancient Forest, it was impossible for Xiong Batian to have no enemies. In fact, after the previous Dominator died, he, as a former subject, had even offended many newly emerged powerhouses.

Of course, there might have been more than one who carved up his territory. After all, to be honest, his original territory was quite large; it had just all been divided up now.

So, he naturally had enemies. The members of the Demon Race who had snatched his territory were his enemies, and there were quite a few of them. The one he hated the most was also the strongest one!

There was no Dominator in the vicinity yet, but a few particularly powerful members of the Demon Race did exist. They were all qualified to compete for the position of Dominator, and perhaps a victor would be decided before long. Xiong Batian's nemesis was one of them.

But...

"My lord, even if you help me get my revenge, I won't be able to defend my own territory!" Xiong Batian knelt on the ground, his tone exceptionally sincere. "Could you... could you help me with Opening Spirit Veins? I don't need you to help me get revenge..."

'He knew that while he could accept Jiang Qiu's offer of revenge, Jiang Qiu likely only intended to help him with a single enemy. If he used this chance, Jiang Qiu could casually kill the Great Demon, but he himself was already injured and all alone. He definitely wouldn't be able to hold onto any territory he regained.'

'And what would be the point of that?'

'He just wanted a stable territory. He wasn't the type who enjoyed conquering everything in sight. But only with enough strength could he protect what was his!'

'Why had he lost his previous territory? Wasn't it simply because he wasn't strong enough? Otherwise, how could others have snatched so much land from him?'

'If his strength was great enough, greater than the Great Demon who had stolen his territory, or if he was even a local Dominator himself, who would dare try to take his land?'

'To him, Jiang Qiu was a fortuitous encounter—an incredibly huge one. He knew in his heart that meeting Jiang Qiu today might be the greatest stroke of luck in his entire existence, past and present!'

'A being from above High Heaven... What did that even mean?'

'It was a concept that existed only in legends passed down through the bloodline, with no way to verify it. This being before him was equivalent to a god from a myth. How could he ever hope to encounter such an existence again?'

Therefore, Xiong Batian wanted to seize this opportunity. He hoped he could break through his own bloodline's limits and set himself on a grander, more magnificent path of advancement!

The strong grow stronger. He was weak, so he hoped to change his fate. He hoped to gain the potential to become a Great Demon, and then a local Dominator, so that no surrounding creature would dare to encroach upon his territory.

This was his greatest desire.

And to advance, the most important thing for him was Opening Spirit Veins. Without the formation of Spirit Veins, how could he possibly cultivate to a higher Realm?

Yes, he was of the Demon Race, a common being born of heaven and earth whose Bloodline Awakening was simple. His bloodline was actually impure. Tracing it back through his ancestry revealed no powerful progenitors. He wasn't like a Celestial Spirit such as Jiang Qiu, who was born with cosmic phenomena that resonated with the world itself.

He was just a bear that had gained sentience.

But gaining sentience was merely the most common first step to becoming a member of the Demon Race; it was just the threshold for any living thing to begin Cultivation. Did having intelligence mean one could definitely cultivate? Did it mean one would definitely know a Cultivation method?

The answer was no. Even though he possessed a partial bloodline inheritance and knew some of the world's rules, his bloodline was impure and the inheritance was Low Level. His memories contained no Cultivation methods; the only thing he understood came from hearsay.

Opening Spirit Veins was the true starting point of Cultivation.

Weren't those Great Demons who could defeat his naturally massive self just experts who had succeeded in Opening Spirit Veins?

The reason they could so easily defeat him despite being physically smaller was because they had opened their Spirit Veins. They then used the formless Spirit Charm in the air to temper their bodies—which was really a process of hammering the body and training one's strength.

And this very process was what was known as Cultivation.

Xiong Batian desperately wanted to cultivate. He too wanted his body to become stronger so he could defend his territory!

But at first, Jiang Qiu didn't understand what he meant. "Opening Spirit Veins? What is Opening Spirit Veins?"

For Jiang Qiu, this world's system was naturally quite different from his original world's. Every piece of important information that came from Xiong Batian's mouth was something he was hearing for the first time. He had never even heard rumors of them before.

Things like Celestial Spirits, the Thirty-Three Celestial Realms, Dominators, the Primitive Ancient Forest, the Demons outside—these were all concepts he had never encountered before.

In fact, during his pursuit of the [Eight-direction Reversing Ship], Jiang Qiu had come into contact with thousands upon thousands of worlds. He had spent time in them, large and small, and knew the unique aspects of many.

But this was the first time he had seen a place so completely new, like this Dragon Emperor Secret Realm.

'Since I don't know what this place is, I'll just call it the Dragon Emperor Secret Realm for now. My current plan is to first find a way to improve my own strength, then head to the Thirty-Three Celestial Realms and find an expert who knows the secrets of this world.'

'For now, though, I just need to help Xiong Batian with his small request.'

In truth, it didn't matter whether he helped or not. The main reason was that Jiang Qiu felt he had used the other's body to test his strength and had severely injured him in the process; he should at least offer some compensation. Of course, he definitely wouldn't do anything too troublesome.