My Arts Evolve When Perfected

Chapter 240: Chapter 239: Watching Helplessly as Jiang Qiu Approaches the Enlightenment Fruit

After being forcibly expelled from the Celestial Kun Illusion Realm, Jiang Qiu found himself back on Northern Boundary Peak, gazing at the massive Enlightenment Fruit Tree.

The first time he entered the Celestial Kun Illusion Realm, he hadn’t realized where he was. Unable to confirm the Kun’s existence, he couldn’t use the wisp of the Primordial Ascendant’s aura he had inherited from the North Sea Palace.

It was only after Feng killed Ji and Jiang Qiu himself had left the Celestial Kun Illusion Realm that he understood everything. He then smoothly released the aura of the Primordial Ascendant’s True Form.

This was why there was no need to be overly concerned. The Primordial Ascendant had long ago left behind a countermeasure for the Kun.

’Right now, Feng is still inside the Celestial Kun Illusion Realm, locked in battle with the Kun. It’ll probably take them a while... This seems to be the perfect time to pick the Enlightenment Fruit.’

’Even if time flows differently in the Celestial Kun Illusion Realm, it won’t be easy for Feng to defeat the Kun. And for the Kun, the Refinement of Feng—who has already been resurrected once—can’t be done in a short amount of time either.’

’In any case, by the time they’re done fighting, the survivor will have paid a steep price in both time and energy. I might have already eaten the Enlightenment Fruit by then.’

With this thought, Jiang Qiu gripped his Northern Snow Lance and charged toward the Enlightenment Fruit Tree. He sprinted at first, closing a distance of several hundred meters in just a few steps. But the moment he set foot in the area of Ancient Inscriptions beneath the tree, an immense weight, like a million-ton mountain, slammed down upon his shoulders. His feet sank into the ground, and every step became a struggle.

He was startled. ’I didn’t expect a protective ward like this under the Enlightenment Fruit Tree!’ All his focus shifted to resisting the pressure.

THUD, THUD, THUD.

Each footstep landed with the force of a collapsing mountain. The pressure on his shoulders intensified sharply with every ten meters he advanced. Even for someone with a physique as formidable as Jiang Qiu’s, he was now completely covered in Ice Armor, his chest rising and falling faintly.

"Ice Prison!"

In an instant, frigid energy surged like an ocean wave within a hundred-meter radius. The Ice Armor on Jiang Qiu’s body grew even harder, resembling an ice peak jutting up from the seabed. He forged ahead, crossing into the thirty-zhang radius of the Enlightenment Fruit Tree. By now, the cumulative pressure had reached a terrifying state.

Fortunately, however, his progress with the Ice Prison Fire Tower was also advancing. As he drew closer, the numbers on its progress bar began to jump at a visible rate.

"Fire Tower!"

Suddenly, Flame erupted from Jiang Qiu’s body. He became like a living torch, a searing heatwave spreading out to clash with the Ice Prison that had formed around him. Steam billowed up only to fall again; ice crystals formed only to melt.

An extreme sense of contradiction emanated from Jiang Qiu. The residual Spirit Charm within him was also draining away at a frantic pace, as if a cracked hourglass had been flipped over.

"This Enlightenment Fruit really isn’t easy to get!"

With a low growl through clenched teeth, Jiang Qiu pressed forward. The Flame on his body never diminished; on the contrary, it blazed even more fiercely against the mounting pressure.

Time seemed to crawl by, but the progress bar for his Ice Prison Fire Tower had already passed the halfway mark and was advancing rapidly.

’This is the perfect place for Body Refining and Foundation Establishment! The Ancient Rune Array Hub under my feet works in tandem with the pressure. It’s as if someone prepared all this long ago, just for my arrival, to temper my body.’

Even though he was in the Northern Boundary, a land depleted of Spirit Charm, he could feel a constant stream of it flowing from the array hub. However, it was consumed almost instantly, leaving him feeling just as drained.

’If we’re going by Blue Star’s system of Realms, my physical body is now equivalent to the Dharma Realm, and it’s still progressing steadily.’

’In truth, according to the classification system of the ancient Cyan Simurgh Palace, everything below the Peeping Dao Realm is considered the Foundation Establishment Stage. The Ice Prison Fire Tower is just a Cultivation Technique for the body’s Foundation Establishment.’

’Fundamentally, this kind of Cultivation Technique shouldn’t require much Spirit Charm. It’s just that the development of Cultivation Techniques on Blue Star is so poor that they’re inefficient. They require absorbing huge amounts of Spirit Charm to bolster one’s Realm, but the actual combat power isn’t necessarily a match for a pure Jade Sinew Realm cultivator from the ancient era.’

’Let alone me, currently in a transitional state between the Dao Forging Jade Sinew Realm and the Peeping Dao Realm.’

Jiang Qiu had a feeling. ’From a purely physical standpoint, my original body, even without the boosts from my Dharma Aspects, couldn’t compare to what I am right now.’

THUD!

He took another step, and the Flame on his body shot up five or six zhang. Within a hundred-meter radius, steam churned violently, as if forming an inviolable Realm.

He finally stopped and looked up at the Enlightenment Fruit directly above him. Swallowing a mouthful of hot saliva, he thought, ’If I can just withstand the pressure and leap about thirteen zhang, I can grab the Enlightenment Fruit!’

His knees bent slightly. Jiang Qiu was just about to leap.

VMMMM—

A familiar spatial ripple emanated from just outside the Enlightenment Fruit Tree’s domain. A figure stumbled out, collapsing to the ground. His right hand clutched a blood-stained blade; his left arm was gone, the stump bleeding profusely from a clean-cut wound.

It was Feng. The wings manifested on his back were half-shattered, and a monstrous killing intent poured off him. His eyes were bloodshot, as if he were possessed.

Jiang Qiu stared, stunned for a moment. ’Feng was the one who survived?’ Suddenly, he heard the pitter-patter of rain coming from the sky, which was obscured by the branches of the Enlightenment Fruit Tree. The heavily injured Feng stood alone in a crimson downpour.

’Is that... blood raining from the sky?’

’The Kun’s blood.’

"Jiang Qiu, that Enlightenment Fruit is not for you!"

With a roar, the one-armed Feng vanished like a bolt of Thunder. In the next instant, he reappeared, blade in hand, inside the perimeter of the Enlightenment Fruit Tree. BOOM! His right foot slammed down onto an Ancient Inscription, and he was instantly pinned in place. His back buckled, and his pupils trembled violently. "There’s a trial here?!"

He had exhausted every resource, used up all the power Lord Chen had granted him, and even activated a Secret Technique that damaged his very Soul just to finally slay the Kun in the Celestial Kun Illusion Realm.

He had assumed too much time had passed—that the Enlightenment Fruit would have been taken and the contest of the chosen would be over.

But he never imagined Jiang Qiu would still be under the tree, with the Enlightenment Fruit still hanging from its branch.

And now, all he could do was watch helplessly as Jiang Qiu prepared to act. He himself couldn’t move an inch. His legs trembled, and he was standing only by relying on the last dregs of his strength.

"Damn it!"

Feng’s blood-red eyes bulged to the size of a bull’s testicles, a spiderweb of veins spreading across them. A savagery he rarely showed twisted his features.

’Ever since I set foot in the Northern Boundary, I’ve never been in such a pathetic state. I was always invincible, always had a plan. Even when Jiang Qiu killed me, I had the trump card of the Cold Heaven Stele to revive me. I had nothing to fear.’

’But now... my trump cards are truly spent. My Spirit Charm and stamina are completely exhausted. Only my physical body is left, barely holding on!’

’The Enlightenment Fruit is right there, but it’s impossible to complete the mission Lord Chen gave me. And now I have to watch as Jiang Qiu claims the very prize I came to the Northern Boundary for!’

’Damn it all!’

Confirming that Feng had no way to overcome the pressure, Jiang Qiu breathed a silent sigh of relief. He ignored the man’s jealous and furious glare, bent his knees again, and fixed his eyes on the Enlightenment Fruit overhead.

’I’ll just ignore him. Get the fruit first.’

CRACK—

Suddenly, an incredibly sharp killing intent, like a pair of fangs, shattered the Ice Armor on Jiang Qiu’s back. A pool of black sludge seemed to spread out from his feet, ignoring the immense pressure of the array hub.

PFFT—

Jiang Qiu’s pupils contracted. All the strength drained from his body as if swept out by a tide. In the instant before his consciousness faded, his head lolled forward. Reflected in his dying eyes was a hand bursting through his chest, clutching the shredded remains of his heart.

’It’s a human hand... Its aura isn’t even that strong, yet it somehow broke through a defense that not even the Kun could breach.’

’They were hidden so well...’