Chi Jing admired Zhou Yuan’s confidence very much. She nodded. “You have courage. No wonder the master thinks highly of you.
“By the way, the materials you mentioned before are quite special. I’m searching for them now for you, and they shouldn’t be a big problem, but it will take some time.”
Zhou Yuan nodded. The materials he had asked Chi Jing to help him find were what he needed for Silver Shadow’s evolution. He had gathered some of them, but many were quite special and incredibly rare.
When Chi Jing’s voice faded, she waved her hand, and a jade box appeared before them. It opened by itself, revealing four different glowing beast spirit crystals. Each one emitted a ruthless roar, causing the air to vibrate violently.
“These are the beast spirit crystals you wanted. They are all grade 6.”
She thoughtfully looked at Zhou Yuan and said, “You have awakened the Heavenly Yuan Brush to the Spirit Devour stage?”
Zhou Yuan chuckled, “Senior sister is indeed intelligent.”
The nostalgia in Chi Jing’s eyes soon turned to jealousy. “I begged our master for a long time, but he refused to give me the Heavenly Yuan Brush. In the end, it went to you.”
Zhou Yuan forced a smile and dared not speak.
“But it’s good that you’re prepared. The Heavenly Spirit Sect has been plotting for the position of the chief pavilion masters for many years. Given old man Xuan Kun’s personality, he will inevitably give Lu Xiao as much help as possible. Of course, you don’t need to worry, because he won’t dare to go too far,” Chi Jing cautioned.
“Senior sister, don’t worry. I will also go into closed-door cultivation soon.”
Zhou Yuan grasped the red copper sphere, feeling the heat emitting from it.
He knew that Lu Xiao was only the first of the more difficult obstacles on the path to obtain the Ancestral Dragon Lantern. No matter who his opponent was, as long as that person obstructed him from helping Yaoyao recover, Zhou Yuan would defeat them!
Chapter 869 Closed-door cultivation
Wind Island.
When Zhou Yuan returned, Yi Qiushui came to find him right away and reported everything. “The Fire Pavilion and the Mountain Pavilion have suddenly lifted the ban of the four mother runes and permitted the sales of the four mother runes in the two pavilions.”
Zhou Yuan’s eyes flashed when he heard this. “What do you think about this?”
Yi Qiushui hesitated for a moment before she responded, “It must be because the opposition is too great, and they couldn’t suppress them anymore.”
Zhou Yuan chuckled. “I don’t think that’s the most important reason. It’s because the chief pavilion master battle is next month, and the outcome of all the competitions will appear then.”
Yi Qiushui’s pretty face changed slightly. “You mean Lu Xiao no longer intends to use these little tricks but wants to properly defeat you in the chief pavilion master battle? And then after gaining the position of chief pavilion master, he will have the final say in everything in the entire four pavilions?”
At that time, Lu Xiao could even ask Zhou Yuan to surrender the refining method of the four mother runes with various reasons. If Zhou Yuan refused, he could dismiss him from the position of wind pavilion master!
Ye Bingling’s cold, beautiful face also grew serious. Lu Xiao’s retreat at this time wasn’t a real retreat; it was to gather more terrifying strength for his next punch.
This time it would undoubtedly be a powerful attack.
“He’s smart,” Zhou Yuan remarked calmly.
Lu Xiao’s decision was flawless and could kill in one strike. As long as he wins the position of chief pavilion master, the previous adverse wind would all be reversible.
“What about Lu Xiao himself?” Zhou Yuan asked.
Yi Qiushui shook her head. “It is said that ever since the Heaven Flame Ritual, Lu Xiao hasn’t been seen much. If my guess is correct, he should be preparing for the chief pavilion master battle.”
“What do we do?” A worried look crossed Ye Bingling’s beautiful face. The pressure brought by Lu Xiao wasn’t small. It didn’t matter that the Wind Pavilion had defeated the Fire Pavilion in recent confrontations; she knew very well that the reason for this was that Lu Xiao, the strongest trump card of the Fire Pavilion, hadn’t made a move.
Although Zhou Yuan was strong, if he were against Lu Xiao, even Ye Bingling wouldn’t have much confidence in him.
Lu Xiao’s prestige in the Tianyuan Region wasn’t derived from the Heaven Spirit Sect.
“There’s nothing to worry about. My goal of coming to the Wind Pavilion isn’t just the position of pavilion master.” Zhou Yuan smiled, revealing his ambition. There was bound to be a battle between Lu Xiao and him.
“I will leave the Wind Pavilion to you guys for a period of time. I’m going to go into closed-door cultivation.”
Zhou Yuan waved to the two women and then strode out.
Watching the rear figure of Zhou Yuan as he left, Yi Qiushui and Ye Bingling looked at each other. They could see the shock in each other’s eyes. It seemed that from the beginning Zhou Yuan had come for the position of chief pavilion master. His appetite was really big.
But immediately they let out deep sighs. They naturally hoped Zhou Yuan could become the chief pavilion master. However, Lu Xiao was a fierce tiger blocking his path.
If Zhou Yuan failed, the power that the Wind Pavilion had gained recently would be severely suppressed.
A worried look crossed the two women’s faces.
In a closed-off room.
In the center, a bronze cauldron stood quietly with Zhou Yuan sitting cross-legged inside it.
The cauldron was inscribed with many ancient patterns, which emitted a faint golden glow. A fiery heat lingered around them that caused the temperature in the cauldron to be extremely high. Even metal would be melted inside the cauldron.
Zhou Yuan was extremely satisfied with his environment. This was a unique cultivation room of the Wind Pavilion, and its effects were far stronger than other rooms on Wind Island.
He opened the palm of his hand, and a red copper sphere shot out.
Blazing golden flames were inside the red sphere, resembling flowing golden lava.
“Heavenly Sun Flames.”
Zhou Yuan’s eyes blazed. Immediately, without any hesitation, he operated his Spirit to open the red sphere, and countless golden flames roared out like a fire dragon, flooding the entire cauldron.
The temperature in the cauldron suddenly soared to a terrifying level.
The clothes on Zhou Yuan’s body instantly turned into nothingness. He closed his eyes slightly and inhaled deeply only to see the golden Heavenly Sun Flames turn into a line of fire and whizz into his mouth as he breathed.
When the raging Heavenly Sun Flames poured into his body, even Zhou Yuan’s incomparably tough body trembled violently, and an indescribable burning pain spread throughout him as if to incinerate him.
Zhou Yuan’s face contorted in a grimace of pain, and his eyes reddened. He gritted his teeth and didn’t even groan in pain once.
He guided the movement of the Heavenly Sun Flames through his body and brought them to the Divine Dwellings.
There, six of the Divine Dwellings were connected, and within them were millions of Genesis Qi stars flashing brightly amidst mighty Genesis Qi surging endlessly.
The moment the Heavenly Sun Flames entered the divine palace, it was like a flame rushing into a pot of oil. Wisps of Heavenly Sun Flame frantically erupted into a sea of flames and directly engulfed the tens of millions of Genesis Qi stars.
The golden flames incinerated the Genesis Qi stars, producing wisps of faint mist.
The bulk of the Genesis Qi stars seemed to be reducing.
But from this shrinkage, Zhou Yuan could see that the rays of light bursting out from the Genesis Qi stars were getting stronger and brighter.
That feeling was as though the Heavenly Sun Flames were burning away the a
lmost imperceptible impurities contained within the Genesis Qi.
“Is this the effect of the Heavenly Sun Flames? Impressive.”
Feeling the changes of his Genesis Qi stars, Zhou Yuan was filled with wonder and amazement. He was eager to break through to the Heavenly Sun stage. After all, that meant he could produce Heavenly Sun Flames as he wished to refine his Genesis Qi.
Under this kind of refining, the Genesis Qi cultivated by Heavenly Sun stage experts was most likely better in terms of grade and quality than natural Genesis Qi and those cultivated by people of lower cultivation levels.
Moreover, as the Heavenly Sun Flames raged in the Divine Dwellings, Zhou Yuan found that the barrier leading to the seventh Divine Dwelling began to show signs of melting.
This made Zhou Yuan even more pleased because as long as the Divine Dwelling barrier was melted away, he would be able to connect the seventh Divine Dwelling and completely step into the advanced Divine Dwelling stage!
As for how much his Genesis Qi foundation would grow after connecting to the seventh Divine Dwelling, Zhou Yuan had great expectations.
“No wonder the Heaven Flame Ritual is one of the two great benefits of the Tianyuan Region to attract heaven prides.”
Zhou Yuan cleared his mind. He knew that this kind of refining would last for a period of time, but he wasn’t in a hurry and knew he had enough time.
At this time, Lu Xiao, Han Yuan and Mu Liu were also doing everything they could do to improve their strength in preparation for the upcoming chief pavilion master battle.
And once Zhou Yuan opened up the seventh Divine Dwelling and reached the advanced Divine Dwelling stage, he had the confidence that he wouldn’t be weaker than any one of them in any way.
Thinking of the chief pavilion master battle approaching in one month, Zhou Yuan was filled with fighting spirit.
For that day, he had been working incredibly hard ever since he came to the Tianyuan Region. He had gotten rid of all the obstacles along the way; therefore, he needed to pass the last hurdle.
Nobody could stop him!
Chapter 870 Zuo Ya
The shock caused by the Heaven Flame Ritual disappeared after about half a month. After all, in Tianyuan Utopia, the core of the Tianyuan Region, there were too many amazing things happening everyday that kept everyone’s attention fully occupied.
Here, even experts of the Heavenly Sun stage weren’t considered too extraordinary. If it weren’t for the special status that the four pavilions had in the Tianyuan Utopia, the topic of the Heaven Flame Ritual would have lasted less than half a month.
Therefore, even Zhou Yuan, the pavilion master who stood out at the Heaven Flame Ritual, was quickly forgotten and only occasionally mentioned.
But as time passed, the names of Zhou Yuan, Lu Xiao, Han Yuan and Mu Liu had unknowingly and gradually gathered interest in the Tianyuan Utopia.
This was only because of the upcoming battle between the four pavilion masters.
The hierarchy in Tianyuan Utopia was incredibly strict. In addition to the five high and mighty grand elders, the elders of the elder committee were most respected. And even the five grand elders would compete for a seat in the elder committee.
In the absence of supreme sovereign Cang Yuan, there was no one in the entire Tianyuan Region who had the final say in major decisions. Instead, those major decisions had to be voted on through the elder committee, which clearly showed the importance of the elder committee in the Tianyuan Region.
But to hold an elder position in the Tianyuan Region, the first condition was to reach the Nascent Source stage, and they also had to pass through various tests. The difficulty of this could not be said to be low.
But there was one exception to this—the position of chief pavilion master.
This position was extremely unique because the four pavilions represented the new blood of the Tianyuan Region in the future, so the chief pavilion master was the only one not required to meet the condition of possessing strength of the Nascent Source stage. Even so, the position was equivalent to an elder of the elder committee, and the holder had the right to vote on major decisions.
Therefore, once one ascended to this position, one could be said to have reached heaven in a single bound and was a well-deserved higher-up.
Therefore, the four pavilions’ pavilion masters, including Lu Xiao, wouldn’t attract much attention in the Tianyuan Region. But if any one of them were to ascend to the position of chief pavilion master, even experts of the Heavenly Sun stage wouldn’t dare be disrespectful to him, and he would even be on the same level as some Nascent Source stage experts.
This was the status that the chief pavilion master of the four pavilions had.
The four pavilion masters also garnered interest because the entire Tianyuan Utopia was spiritedly discussing the upcoming chief pavilion master battle. The attention was far from what Zhou Yuan had experienced before, and even the Heaven Flame Ritual didn’t have such an impact.
Tianyuan Utopia, at a grand manor on an island.
Bored, Yi Qiushui stared down from the upper levels of a building at the young boys and girls laughing and chatting. They were emitting an aura of liveliness and youth.
It was a gathering.
Yi Qiushui’s grandfather, Yi Yan, was one of the high and mighty elders who often had to attend many events, whereas Yi Qiushui usually spent most of her time in the Wind Pavilion. But ever since the Heaven Flame Ritual, the four pavilions had been unexpectedly peaceful and Zhou Yuan had been in closed-door cultivation for many days, so she naturally returned home to accompany Yi Yan.
Of course, the most important thing was that her little sister Yi Dong’er had been brought to the Tianyuan Utopia a few days ago. Worried that she would be bored, she agreed to Yi Yan to attend the day’s banquet.
The young boys and girls below were naturally not ordinary people. They, like her, possessed extraordinary backgrounds, but the majority were too young and hadn’t reached the Divine Dwelling stage, so they weren’t able to join the four pavilions.
Of course, they obviously hoped to join the four pavilions very much, so Yi Qiushui’s presence naturally attracted a lot of attention, and to avoid being bothered, she had to hide on the upper floor of the building.
“I wonder how Zhou Yuan is?” Yi Qiushui gazed in the direction of Wind Island, a worried frown on her beautiful face.
She knew that the upcoming pavilion master battle brought a great deal of pressure to Zhou Yuan, and his closed-door cultivation was his hope of breaking through to deal with Lu Xiao.
Ye Qiushui couldn’t help much in a battle of that level, and she could only deal with the many matters of the Wind Pavilion for him so that he wouldn’t have to worry and would be able to concentrate on his breakthrough.
Yi Qiushui sighed gently in her heart, then suddenly noticed a commotion in the courtyard below. There seemed to be an argument, which she didn’t care about until she heard a familiar voice. It was Dong’er.
Yi Qiushui’s slender brows knitted together in a frown, and her delicate body moved. Genesis Qi flashed as she appeared in the middle of many people.
At this moment, there were several young girls arguing. There were three on one side and one on the other. It was Yi Dong’er.
Yi Dong’er’s face was flushed with anger as she stared at the three bossy girls.
“Dong’er, what’s the matter?” Yi Qiushui asked as she ran her eyes across the three girls. She recognised they were all daughters from famous families in the Tianyuan Utopia.
Yi Dong’er pouted. “They insulted big brother Zhou Yuan and said he cheated.”
Yi Qiushui realised that the families behind the three girls belonged to the Heavenly Spirit Sect. The sister of one of them was also the vice pavilion master of the Fire Pavilion. Recently, the Wind Pavilion had repeatedly beaten the Fire Pavilion under the leadership of Zhou Yuan and had made the Fire Pavilion lose face.
As people who were inextricably linked to t
he Heavenly Spirit Sect, they naturally didn’t have any good opinions of Zhou Yuan.
Zhou Yuan had saved Yi Dong’er’s life before, so she had always liked and respected him. When she heard insults directed at Zhou Yuan, she naturally had to argue back.
Yi Qiushui stared coldly at the three pretty young girls. The three girls all possessed strength of the Alpha-Origin stage, but they immediately felt a pressure that weakened their domineering manner when she stared at them coldly.
Yi Qiushui, however, had a gentle nature and didn’t bother arguing. She stretched out her hand to hold Yi Dong’er and turned to leave.
But just as she turned around, a mocking laughter sounded.
“Yi Qiushui, the little children are just telling the truth. Is there a need to be so serious?”
Yi Qiushui halted her footsteps and turned her head to see a slender and tall silhouette coming out of the crowd. She came to stand next to the three girls, looking at her provocatively.
“Zuo Ya?”
Yi Qiushui’s pretty face was icy cold. Of course she knew the tall girl in front of her—she was the vice pavilion master of the Fire Pavilion.
Yi Qiushui glanced at the three girls in front of Zuo Ya, knowing that Zuo Ya had most likely directed the quarrel.
The confrontation between Yi Qiushui and Zuo Ya suddenly became the most eye-catching in the courtyard. Many young boys and girls gathered around, staring at the two women curiously. After all, both Yi Qiushui and Zuo Ya were high-ranking members of the four pavilions.
Seeing more and more people gathering around, the corners of Zuo Ya’s red lips slightly curved upwards. These young boys and girls are most likely going to step foot into the Divine Dwelling stage in perhaps a year or so. The majority have important backgrounds and extraordinary talents, so it is worth some effort to pull them into joining the Fire Pavilion’s side.
It was precisely because of this thought that she set up the current situation. She wanted to take advantage of the occurrence to strike at Zhou Yuan and the Wind Pavilion, so as to create a bad impression of the Wind Pavilion in the hearts of the gathered seedlings.
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