The two titans were stuck in a deadlock.
“The only thing I can do now is wait.” There was nothing that Zhou Yuan could do. A clash of such proportions was not something an advance Illusory stage like him could interfere in.
Therefore, he sat down and watched.
This lasted for only god knew how long, until even Zhou Yuan Spirit began to feel a little exhausted...
Boom!
Just as Zhou Yuan was no longer able to endure, a loud noise suddenly rang out. Zhou Yuan hurriedly looked over, only to see the mottled divine grindstone slowly backing away, before ultimately disappearing into the murky primal chaos.
On the other hand, rays of light exploded from the ancient Saint Rune as it rapidly shrank. In the end, it transformed into a flash of light that descended from the sky and shot into Zhou Yuan’s head.
At the bottom of the golden pool.
Zhou Yuan tightly shut eyes finally opened at this moment.
Chapter 176 Leap in Strength
Bzz!
A frightening ripple abruptly pulsed from between Zhou Yuan’s brows the moment he opened his eyes. The pulse shook the bottom of the golden pool, forming a gigantic whirlpool with Zhou Yuan at its epicenter.
Endless golden light whizzed over, flooding into Zhou Yuan’s body.
Pahpah!
As the boundless golden light poured in, pitter-patter noises sounded in his body. His flesh and blood began to boil, while more and more golden light flowed into his Qi Dwelling, causing the Genesis Qi inside to grow steadily.
In a short period of several minutes, a layer of foul-smelling scabs appeared on the surface of Zhou Yuan’s body. It was the impurities that had been expelled.
Zhou Yuan shook slightly, breaking the scab layer, and revealing skin under which golden light flowed. It was an extremely magical sight.
Dazzling light blossomed in Zhou Yuan’s eyes as he felt the strong surge of power in his body, causing bliss to appear on his face.
Zhou Yuan shut his eyes and began to view his Spirit. It silently sat between his brows, giving off a gentle glow. Compared to before he had entered the golden pool, his Spirit was undoubtedly more concentrated and corporeal.
The illusory feeling from before was gradually fading as it began to shift toward being corporeal.
This was a sign that his Spirit was about to corporealize.
Once his Spirit stepped into the Corporeal stage, its amazingness and wonders would gradually be revealed. The Spirit would even be capable of leaving the body and perform numerous Spirit attacks, making it even more unfathomable.
“What a crazy blessing. Spirit cultivation is so difficult. I had originally forecasted at least half a year of training to reach the peak of the advance stage, but I ended up reaching it so quickly.” Zhou Yuan’s heart was filled with joy.
Back then, he had spent nearly a year bitterly training to raise his Spirit from the mid Illusory stage to the advance level.
Above his seated Spirit, the milky white Saint Spirit Crystal hovered, giving off holy light that tempered the Spirit bit by bit.
It was the Saint Spirit Crystal from the Gu clan. The golden pool blessing may have been the main reason for the rapid progress of his Spirit cultivation this time, but the Saint Spirit Crystals tireless nourishing was not to be ignored.
In addition, a faint glow surfaced between the brows of Zhou Yuan’s Spirit, an ancient rune barely visible...
The rune was ancient, holy and sacred, as if it had been born the moment the world was created.
“Is this… that Saint Rune?!”
Zhou Yuan’s heart shuddered violently. This rune was clearly the same ancient and mysterious Saint Rune from before!
“That mysterious Saint Rune has been imprinted onto my Spirit?” Zhou Yuan was shocked.
He did not know what exactly this mysterious Saint Rune was, but it was definitely of unbelievable origins, something that could clearly be seen from how it was able to match the primal chaos divine grindstone.
“I wonder what function this mysterious Saint Rune has.” Zhou Yuan tried to activate it, only to discover that even after giving his all, the rune merely brightened a little without any other response.
“Is it because my strength is lacking?”
Zhou Yuan let out a bitter laugh. Evidently, a tremendous amount of power was needed to activate the mysterious Saint Rune, which he was currently still unable to provide.
He inwardly shook his head, and temporarily gave up on the idea, turning his attention instead to his Qi Dwelling.
“The Genesis Qi inside my body has upgraded, reaching the mid Heaven Gate stage.”
Zhou Yuan peered into his blood-red Qi Dwelling, finding that the dark gold Genesis Qi whizzing about within was more concentrated and abundant than before, a sign that it had already reached the mid Heaven Gate stage.
“As expected of the Saint Remains Domain, a single blessing is akin to reaching the heavens in a single step!”
Zhou Yuan’s heart overflowed with happiness. His progress was nothing but amazing. His Spirit had grown more corporeal, while his Genesis Qi had received a breakthrough again, ascending to the mid Heaven Gate stage.
Most importantly of course, he had obtained the mysterious Saint Rune. Although he had yet to discover its abilities, he just knew that they would surely be extraordinary.
“If I encounter Wu huang again now, I will finally be able to truly face him in battle!”
Battle intent burned in Zhou Yuan’s eyes. The first time he met Wu Huang, the latter’s aura alone had been able to suppress him, while each subsequent meeting had been pretty much one-sided.
However, this did not make him depressed. Instead, each thrashing merely served to fuel his growth as the gap between them continued to shrink.
Until today...
“Wu Huang, it is time for us to settle the grudge between us once and for all.”
Iciness flitted across Zhou Yuan’s eyes.
Crack!
The sound of something shattering was suddenly heard at the bottom of the golden pool. Zhou Yuan looked down, and saw the mottled stone tablet began to crumble, turning into dust, while the mysterious Saint Rune on it also disappeared.
Zhou Yuan felt his forehead. He knew that the rune had already been imprinted onto his Spirit.
Following the disintegration of the stone tablet, Zhou Yuan felt the golden light in the pool begin to dim as the golden water gradually returned to clearness.
The mysterious energy that filled it also started to fade.
“Could the golden pool’s energy have come from the Saint Rune?” Mumbled Zhou Yuan to himself.
With the Saint Rune now imprinted on his Spirit, it was naturally unable to distribute its energy, causing the golden pool to become normal.
While Zhou Yuan was still lost in thought, the pool waters rippled.
Tuntun swam over, circling around Zhou Yuan twice as its beady eyes stared at the spot between Zhou Yuan’s brows in amazement as if sensing something there.
“I almost died because of you.” Zhou Yuan sullenly said. The mysterious Saint Rune clearly possessed terrifying power. If not for the divine grindstone mark master Cang Yuan had left him, not only would he have been unable to obtain the Saint Rune, he would have likely instead by crushed by its terrifying pressure.
Fortunately, Zhou Yuan had managed to ride it out and had even obtained an enormous reward.
Risk and opportunity always came hand in hand.
Hence, Zhou Yuan did not complain any further, beckoning to Tuntun as he swam towards the surface. After several minutes, he pierced through the water surface with a plop and landed by the side of the pool.
“Zhou Yuan, you’re finally out!”
Luluo’s voice was heard the moment he emerged.
Zhou Yuan turned his head, and found Luluo with her hands on her waist nearby, eyes wide open as she stared at him in amazement. “You’ve been in there for half a month!”
; “Half a month?”
Zhou Yuan was stunned. He had been under the impression that it had only been half a day. To think so much time had already passed. One would indeed lose track of time when cultivating.
“Sorry.”
Zhou Yuan apologetically looked towards Luluo and Zhen Xu. It was obvious that they had been waiting here for him all this time.
Zhen Xu’s face was still the same pale white, but from the Genesis Qi undulations spreading from his body, it was clear that he had benefited greatly from the golden pool too.
He shook his head and said, “However, a storm has been gathering in the Saint Remains Domain over the past half a moth. You’ve missed several major events.”
Upon hearing this, something clicked inside of Zhou Yuan as he immediately raised his head to look at the Saint Tablet high up in the sky. Next, surprise, astonishment and amazement flooded out onto his face.
“To think that such a huge change has happened to the Saint Tablet…”
Chapter 177 Saint Tower
Light still flowed on the Saint Tablet, but an enormous change had occurred to it when compared to half a month ago.
The most eye-catching change was the greatly increased number of names on the tablet.
Originally, there had only been a handful of people; Yaoyao, Wu Huang, Ye Ming, Zhou Yuan and the rest. But now, the number of names had reached 38!
“38 people have gotten their names on the Saint Tablet?” Zhou Yuan was rather stupefied.
Since when had it become so easy?
Luluo also raised her face as she explained, “You may not know this, but during the past half a month, blessings and gifts continuously appeared in the Saint Remains Domain. After an intense struggle, they were ultimately won by several fortunate individuals.”
“The clear outcome from obtaining such blessings was the rapid increase in strength, allowing one to ascend the heavens in a single step.”
“Numerous geniuses that had been stuck at the advance Heaven Gate stage had managed to use this opportunity to step into the Alpha-Origin stage!”
“What’s more, the Saint Tablet’s rules seemed to not be limited to battle accomplishments. Anyone who can obtain blessings and step into the Alpha-Origin stage will be able to leave their names on the tablet.”
“In other words, the 38 individuals on the tablet all possess the strength of the Alpha-Origin!”
Amazement surfaced in Zhou Yuan’s eyes. So you only needed to step into the Alpha-Origin stage to leave your name on the Saint Tablet.
However, only a handful of geniuses had been able to reach the Alpha-Origin before entering the Saint Remains Domain. Now however, that number had increased to 38. From this, one could see just how beneficial the Saint Remains Domain was.
Zhou Yuan sighed and began to earnestly inspect the Saint Tablet.
“Eh?”
While he was looking, his eyes suddenly widened. He had seen a familiar name.
Li Chunjun.
The one known as Blind Sword from the Sword Empire had helped him fend off Wu Huang once.
“Li Chunjun, defeated Fang Zong (Dongxuan Continent).”
“Fang Zong? He should be one of the four apex level geniuses following Ye Ming from the Dongxuan Continent. Looks like Ye Ming and gang had went searching for Li Chunjun.” Mumbled Zhou Yuan to himself.
However, Li Chunjun was clearly too powerful, and had ended up beating the apex level genius from the Dongxuan Continent instead.
Luluo piped in, “Although Li Chunjun defeated Fang Zong, he later encountered Ye Ming. It is said that an epic battle was fought between the two, ultimately ending in Ye Ming’s victory.”
Zhou Yuan continued to look. Sure enough, he saw another row of words behind.
“Lost to Ye Ming by a single move.”
Zhou Yuan frowned slightly. “These Dongxuan people are purposely targeting the apex level geniuses in hopes of weakening the morale of the other geniuses, making them no longer have the courage to contest.”
Simply put, Ye Ming was making an example.
And the most famous Luluo, Li Chunjun and the rest were clearly the best choices.
“Ye Meng is indeed very capable.”
Zhou Yuan had came into contact with Li Chunjun before and knew just how strong he was. He was someone that could put up a fight even against Wu Huang, hence why it was pretty unexpected that he had lost to Ye Ming.
Zhou Yuan continued to look downwards. After a while, his gaze suddenly paused
“Ning Zhan went a 108 rounds with Wu Huang but ultimately lost.”
“Who is Ning Zhan? I can’t believe he was able to push Wu Huang so far.” Zhou Yuan was rather amazed. Wu Huang’s strength was immeasurable, and even in the many times they had met, Zhou Yuan could feel that the latter was still holding some of it back. He never imagined that this person called Ning Zhan would be able to last so long against Wu Huang.
Luluo grinned and answered, “He’s also one of the apex level geniuses of the Cangmang Continent, the Ning clan’s Battle Junky. Have you not heard of him? This battle junky encountered Wu Huang in one of the blessing zones and fought an earth-shaking battle. However, Wu Huang still managed to take the upper hand in the end.”
Zhou Yuan sighed. “There truly are many hidden dragons and crouching tigers.”
He had finally finished reading the entire Saint Tablet. Practically every person on it had become the greatest benefactors of this batch’s Saint Remain Domain.
“The two of you also seemed to have stepped into the Alpha-Origin?” Zhou Yuan’s gaze turned towards Luluo and Zhen Xu. He could feel that the Genesis Qi inside their bodies had grown much stronger. Those undulations clearly belonged to the true Alpha-Origin.
“We’ve at last managed to take that final step thanks to the blessings of this golden pool.” Zhen Xu’s raspy voice sounded.
Both himself and Luluo had originally been a single stop from the Alpha-Origin. In fact, Zhen Xu had previously been considered a quasi Alpha-Origin. By borrowing the power of the golden pool, he was now a true-blue Alpha-Origin.
Luluo cut in, “The Alpha-Origin stage has the ability to connect to the Alpha-Origin Heaven, drawing Alpha-Origin Qi from within to refine Genesis Qi. However, we only advanced recently and do not dare to make any rash attempts.”
The Alpha-Origin Heaven was said to be an extremely mysterious space that appeared when the world was created. However, one would only be able to sense it after reaching the Alpha-Origin, and enter to absorb the Alpha-Origin Qi to refine one’s own Genesis Qi.
This was also how the Alpha-Origin stage had derived its name.
Zhou Yuan nodded as he sighed. It seems that he was not the only one that had grown. The apex level geniuses had borrowed the blessings in this place to rapidly upgrade themselves.
It was likely that Wu Huang, Ye Ming and their group had also made substantial progress over the past half a month.
If they were to meet again, there would surely be an epic earth-shaking battle.
“When does the Saint Remains Domain end?” Asked Zhou Yuan.
Luluo and Zhen Xu shook their heads. “Every batch is different, so no one knows what will happen. Normally speaking however, once the greatest blessing is taken, the Saint Remains Domain will change…”
“The greatest blessing?”
Zhou Yuan frowned. Just as he was about to speak again, a faint stabbing pain was suddenly felt between his brows.
An ancient rune seemed to appear and flicker for a split second. It was at this moment that every genius in the Saint Remains Domain heard a strange rumbling noise emerge from the Saint Tablet.
Millions and millions of light rays slowly blossomed from the Saint Tablet.
Rays of light extended as a giant tower slowly emerged from within, appearing within everyone’s sights.
Light also gathered in front of the tower, forming a platform.
Meanwhile, an ancient voice that seemed to have travelled through time ec
hoed across the land, filled with an indescribable dignity and mysteriousness.
“Those whose names are on the tablet may enter the Saint tower.”
“The one that ascends the top of the tower may obtain the greatest blessing.”
The entire Saint Remains Domain instantly exploded into an uproar.
Countless geniuses wailed, because they had yet to leave their names on the tablet. All they could do now was watch, unable to vie for the greatest blessing.
Bzz!
The names on the Saint Tablet suddenly started glowing brightly one by one, transforming into pillar after pillar of light that descended from the sky.
The light pillars landed, enveloping 38 figures...
The fight for the ultimate blessing of the Saint Remains Domain had finally began at this moment.
Chapter 178 Gathered
Swish! Swish!
Giant pillars of light fell from the sky under the attention of countless watching eyes. It was truly a grand sight.
The light pillars landed in various areas of the Saint Remains Domain, but at the end of every pillar was a figure...
These people were clearly the owners of the names on the Saint Tablet!
In the vicinity of the golden pool.
Three pillars of light also descended from the sky, falling upon Zhou Yuan, Luluo and Zhen Xu.
Tuntun however, was stuck outside the light pillars.
Tuntun let out a low roar of dissatisfaction and slammed into one of the light pillars twice, but the latter did not budge at all.
Zhou Yuan was somewhat stunned, but he soon shook his head. Looks like Genesis Beasts were not allowed to obtain the greatest blessing of the Saint Remains Domain, and did not even have the right to enter.
“Tuntun, wait here for us.” Zhou Yuan attempted to pacify it.
Tuntun gloomily lay down, displaying a dispirited and downcast look.
Luluo regretfully said, “What a pity. If Tuntun could tag along, it would be a huge aid.”
Tuntun’s battle power was not to be underestimated. Didn’t everyone see how even Wu Huang had been injured by it?
Dragon Prince Yuan c1-1251 Page 99
