Smoke and Fire Rise from the Earth

On the second day in the Azure Prison Spirit Realm, the colors of heaven and earth changed abruptly.

The once dusky-blue sky gave way to thick red clouds like clotted blood.

Dark-red lightning flashed through the clouds from time to time, trailing rolls of muffled thunder.

The cool fragrance of grass and trees had vanished from the air. In its place came hot, dry fire spiritual energy and acrid gray smoke that smelled of char.

Chu Bai sat behind a blackened rock, feeling a burning sensation in his lungs.

"The Law Net's fluctuations have grown stronger... Or rather, a powerful cultivator is interfering with it." Chu Bai spoke under his breath and held out a hand. A wisp of water gathered at his fingertip.

The watery gleam that once formed in an instant now trembled faintly, then rapidly dispersed in the rising heat.

In this extreme fire-aspected environment, water-based spell arts took at least thirty percent longer to form, and their power was heavily suppressed. Yet his spell power drained even faster than it did in an ordinary fierce battle.

Meanwhile, in the void of his sea of consciousness displayed by the Mind-Link Mark, the rankings had shifted again.

[Current points: 480]

[Current rank: 15th]

After a full day of relentless hunting, Chu Bai had secured his place among the front-runners.

At this stage, hunting low-level demon beasts alone could hardly produce a dramatic leap in rank. The top twenty were too tightly packed in points.

Most students who had lasted this long either carried powerful treasures or cultivated unusual techniques. To them, ordinary demon beasts at the Qi Induction level were no longer their main source of points.

"Whew—"

Chu Bai drew a deep breath and circulated his Proficient Level Origin Return Formula.

Anyone cultivating a purely