Zhou Yuan nodded. “Grand elder Mu Ni…”
Mu Ni gently said, “Since you’re Cang Yuan’s disciple, call me Aunt Ni like Chi Jing.”
Zhou Yuan glanced at Chi Jing. Upon seeing the latter nod, he said, “Aunt Ni.”
Meanwhile, he wondered in his heart, Clan elder Mu Ni seems to have some kind of relationship with master Cang Yuan...could she be his companion?
“Aunt Ni, my identity needs to be kept secret, or it will bring unnecessary trouble,” cautioned Zhou Yuan.
Aunt Ni gave a faint nod, indicating that she understood.
“Since Aunt Ni realized my identity, do you think sect master Xuan Kun and the others have also sensed something?” Zhou Yuan could not help but ask. It was no matter if Aunt Ni knew his identity, but if sect master Xuan Kun and the others found out, it would be hard for him to relax.
Mu Ni softly chuckled and said, “It is unlikely for them to know. The reason why I suspected it is because I’ve studied the Primal Chaos Divine Grindstone Visualisation Method before and am quite familiar with it. What’s more, Chi Jing’s unexplainable concern about you made me want to confirm my suspicions.
“And the outcome...seems to have exceeded my expectations in a good way.” At this point, she could not help but chuckle.
Zhou Yuan felt his face burn. His earlier caution and mannerisms had to have seemed very foolish.
Mu Ni glanced at Zhou Yuan before retrieving a green stone pendant from her sleeve. Extremely concentrated life energy pulsed from the green stone.
“I can tell that you’ve cultivated a Genesis technique that requires life energy. This just so happens to be my specialty. This is a special life stone I crafted, and it contains boundless life energy. You may use this in place of ancient wood essence in the future.
“Hmm, take it is a small meeting gift.”
Zhou Yuan could not help but swallow as he stared at the green stone pendant. The life energy Genesis technique Aunt Ni referred to should be the Taiyi Green Wood Mark. Although it did not improve his combat power, it gave him an amazing regenerative ability.
Without this technique, Zhou Yuan would not dare to be so ferocious in battle.
However, life energy from ancient wood essence was needed to continuously replenish the technique's green wood mark, making it rather troublesome. With Mu Ni’s life stone, he wouldn’t need to worry about gathering ancient wood essence for some time.
Hence, it was impossible for him to reject!
Zhou Yuan respectfully received the life stone and wore it around his neck. He earnestly said, “Aunt Ni, having a close companion like you is truly my master’s blessing.”
Mu Ni covered her mouth, but her brows betrayed her attempt to conceal her smile. She was evidently very pleased by Zhou Yuan’s honeyed words.
By the side, Chi Jing shot a glare at Zhou Yuan. This guy is way too good at flattery.
Bzz!
A streak of light suddenly broke through the air and burrowed into Chi Jing’s head.
Chi Jing’s eyes narrowed slightly as her eyes glowed dangerously.
“What is it?” asked Mu Ni.
Chi Jing frowned and said, “The elder circle informed me that the Tri-Mountain Alliance is up to something. But we don’t know what.”
Mu Ni’s brows creased. “The Tri-Mountain Alliance has been growing increasingly bossy over the years. When Cang Yuan was around, they did not dare to even jump without his permission.”
Chi Jing said, “They can’t cause any splashes. I will resolve this as quickly as I can.”
She stood up and looked towards Zhou Yuan. “Since you’ve obtained the Yin Yang Lightning Rune, use the time you have to properly study it. You can’t slack off on your cultivation either. Since discussion with regards to the nine regions tournament is already underway, it won’t be long before the details are decided.
“Your opponent in the nine regions tournament are existences that Lu Xiao can’t even compare to. You cannot underestimate them.”
Zhou Yuan nodded as his expression turned solemn. It seemed he needed to go into secluded cultivation soon.
The mountain spirit rune, the forest spirit rune, the polishing of his Divine Dwelling, and the newly obtained Yin Yang Lightning Rune all required him to invest his time and energy.
Chapter 903 Peacefully Cultivating the Four Spirit Runes
Half a month passed since Zhou Yuan had obtained the little Saint technique, Yin Yang Lightning Rune.
Over this period, huge changes occurred in the four pavilions.
Firstly, the Fire Pavilion. After Zhou Yuan’s interference, nearly half of their upper echelon was replaced, a change which undoubtedly caused large ripples. The new blood was not in the same camp as Zhu Lian and the other old guards. After all, the new blood had essentially dug away at the foundations of the Heavenly Spirit Sect.
Hence, after some discussion, Zhu Lian, Zuo Ya and the other Heavenly Spirit Sect disciples chose to oppose the new guys from various angles.
Although Lu Xiao barely appeared nowadays, he still belonged to the Heavenly Spirit Sect faction and thus silently acknowledged the actions of Zhu Lian, Zuo Ya and the others. This undoubtedly placed the non–Heavenly Spirit Sect side under a huge amount of pressure. After all, they naturally could not compare to the Heavenly Spirit Sect in terms of strength and resources.
Any random higher-up invited over by these Heavenly Spirit Sect disciples would place a tremendous amount of pressure on the non–Heavenly Spirit Sect side.
Fortunately, they knew that Lu Xiao was no longer the strongest in the four pavilions...and they were not without choice!
The new chief pavilion master was the true backbone of the four pavilions.
Hence, the Fire Pavilion’s non–Heavenly Spirit Sect upper echelon began to cast their lot with Zhou Yuan.
Zhou Yuan was already waiting for such an outcome. He quickly made his stand clear and berated Zhu Lian, Zuo Ya and the others. As a result, they did not dare to act too brazenly.
The majority of the ordinary Fire Pavilion members also began to join Zhou Yuan’s side, increasing his influence and authority in the Fire Pavilion. Any orders he gave would now smoothly spread throughout the Fire Pavilion.
Zhu Lian and Zuo Ya despaired at these changes. In the end, Zuo Ya could no longer hold back and escalated this situation to the higher-ups of the Heavenly Spirit Sect.
Sect master Xuan Kun did not personally step forward, but under his unspoken acknowledgement, several of the Heavenly Spirit Sect higher-ups began to exert pressure in the Tianyuan Utopia, saying that Zhou Yuan had disturbed the peace in the four pavilions and was unworthy of the chief pavilion master position!
However, such actions did not bear much fruit. Not only did Chi Jing step forward to suppress them, even grand elder Mu Ni, who usually did not interfere in the affairs of Tianyuan Utopia, spoke up. The majority of the Fire Pavilion members were not Heavenly Spirit Sect disciples after all, and if all of them supported Zhou Yuan, there was not much the Heavenly Spirit Sect could find fault with.
In the face of the open support from two grand elders, the higher-ups of the Heavenly Spirit Sect could only resentfully back down. It was said that even sect master Xuan Kun did not look too good over those few days.
In his anger, sect master Xuan Kun fiercely berated Lu Xiao, Zhu Lian, Zuo Ya and the others. The words useless were all but imprinted on their heads.
Zhu Lian, Zuo Ya and the rest finally gave up, and the morale of the Heavenly Spirit Sect disciples in the Fire Pavilion fell drastically.
The Fire Pavilion’s resistance crumbled along with Zhou Yuan’s greatest threat among the four pavilions.
The day after the Fire Pavilion affair died down, the mountain pavilion master, Han Yuan, personally paid a visit to Zhou Yuan. His stance was clear. Zhou Yuan had crippled even the Fire Pavilion, and if he still failed to acknowledge the situation, the Mountain Pavilion’s fate would be far worse. Hence, Han Yuan, as tactful as usual, swi
ftly chose to submit.
Zhou Yuan did not take things too far. He only gave out a small punishment before allowing Han Yuan to leave.
There was finally a clear direction in the four pavilions. From then onwards, Zhou Yuan’s voice would be the strongest in the four pavilions!
With the situation slowly stabilizing, Zhou Yuan cast away his responsibilities, leaving everything to Yi Qiushui as he entered secluded cultivation.
...
Four Spirits Origin Tower, the mountain district.
Zhou Yuan ultimately selected the mountain spirit rune for his third spirit rune.
The mountain spirit rune could augment one’s physical body, whereas the forest spirit rune could improve one’s recovery, something that was less desirable to Zhou Yuan since he already had the Taiyi Green Wood Mark.
In the mountain district, a yellow mist filled the sky.
It was not real mist but countless specks of sand. The specks filled the land, freely whizzing about the area. The Genesis marks of the mountain spirit rune were hidden within them.
The sand grains were tiny but as hard as steel. When they swept across one’s body, they created countless tiny bloody holes. When the sand fused with one’s blood, the Genesis marks within would slowly assimilate into the body.
Zhou Yuan sat down on a barren mountaintop and slapped a high-grade Mountain Mother Rune onto his body. With a wave of his sleeve, over a thousand origins coins appeared and began to burn.
Woowoo!
In the next instant, a tornado of sand descended from the sky, heading straight towards Zhou Yuan’s location.
Zhou Yuan calmly gazed at the yellow dragon-like sand tornado and slowly closed his eyes, allowing the torrential sand storm to engulf his body.
...
Zhou Yuan spent an entire month forming the mountain spirit rune.
The process was not difficult. After all, he had experience from the wind spirit rune and the fire spirit rune, and he was already very familiar with gathering Genesis marks. Furthermore, he had the Mountain Mother Rune and several tens of thousands of origin coins. In his view, it was not that amazing for him to complete the mountain spirit rune in a month.
Of course, that was only his opinion.
One must know that the other members of the four pavilions, including Lu Xiao, would take over half a year to complete a single spirit rune. In comparison, Zhou Yuan had used only a fraction of this time. Of course, there were many reasons for this such as the Four Mother Runes, his powerful Spirit cultivation and even the care given to him by the primal chaos divine grindstone in the core of the Four Spirits Origin Tower.
These many reasons allowed Zhou Yuan to achieve the impressive feat of completing the mountain spirit rune in a single month.
Zhou Yuan did not publicize his completion of the mountain spirit rune, not informing even Yi Qiushui and Ye Bingling. He felt that there was not much meaning in publicizing such matters.
Zhou Yuan did not stop or rest after completing the mountain spirit rune. He immediately turned his attention towards the final forest spirit rune.
He wanted to complete all four spirit runes. He did not know why, but he had a faint feeling that something would happen when all four spirit runes were gathered in one body.
...
Time swiftly passed.
After another half a month, the peaceful Tianyuan Region stirred once more.
There were two reasons.
One was that the date of the nine regions tournament was finally fixed. The tournament was a grand affair that every top faction in the entire Hunyuan Heaven paid attention to. With regards to scale, it was definitely one of the bigger events in Hunyuan Heaven.
The second reason pertained to the Tri-Mountain Alliance located north of the Tianyuan Region. They had challenged the Tianyuan Region, angering countless individuals.
Chapter 904 Challenge Letter
The nine regions were the overlords of Hunyuan Heaven, a common knowledge that everyone knew.
The founders of the nine regions were apex existences even in the other heavens apart from the sacred race heavens. It was their existence that allowed Hunyuan Heaven to become the hub of the resistance against the sacred race.
However, competition was unavoidable as long as there were people, and the nine regions were no exception.
Although the nine regions would fully support the resistance against the sacred race without objection, they were fiercely competitive on all other matters. All nine regions were overwhelmingly powerful, and each one wanted to suppress the others to become the true overlord of the nine regions.
However, if entities like them warred against each other to determine who was best, the entire Hunyuan Heaven would fall into chaos, allowing the sacred race to take advantage of their disorder. Hence, an entire region could not war against another, and the nine regions also did their best to avoid such a scenario.
Since the high-class battle powers could not cross swords, the fights were left to the mid- and low-tier cultivation groups. Hence, the birth of the nine regions tournament.
The participants of the nine regions tournament were the most outstanding super heaven prides of the nine regions. As representatives of the nine regions, the outcome of their battles would determine the rankings of the nine regions, allowing the entire Hunyuan Heaven to know who was the mightiest of each generation from the nine regions.
The winner would undoubtedly become the goal of the countless heaven prides of the next generation.
The tournament was a rather important affair. Only with enough talented new blood could these powerhouses ensure that every generation had their own outstanding heaven prides to lead the rest.
Besides this, it was also essential to decide who would hold the Ancestral Dragon Lantern.
The Ancestral Dragon Lantern was one of the most powerful Saint treasures—a three lotus Saint treasure—and possessed endless power. Even peak Saint stage experts regarded it with extreme importance. Moreover, the Ancestral Dragon Lantern could not be put under the sole care of any of the nine regions. Hence, only the victor of the nine regions tournament would gain the right to hold onto it until the next tournament.
Over this period, the region possessing the Ancestral Dragon Lantern would have increased their authority and influence in Hunyuan Heaven.
Due to these various reasons, the nine regions tournament was one of the grandest and most important events in Hunyuan Heaven. Hence, the announcement of every nine regions tournament would draw the attention of countless people in Hunyuan Heaven.
This time was naturally no exception.
The uncountable factions in the entire Hunyuan Heaven soon began to discuss this topic.
Amidst the discussion, the Hunyuan Heaven Divine Dwelling List became a focal point once more. Countless individuals studied the rankers on the list, trying to find any hidden dark horses among them.
Though there were dark horses, the majority still turned their attention towards the top few rankers, especially the one who had reigned as number one for many years, Zhao Mushen. Many felt that the immeasurable Zhao Mushen was most likely to defeat all his foes and become the final winner in the upcoming nine regions tournament, allowing him to truly stand at the apex of this generation.
...
In the Tianyuan Region, news of the nine regions tournament likewise drew heated debates. Contrary to the others, however, the atmosphere in the Tianyuan Region was somewhat negative and gloomy. After supreme sovereign Cang Yuan’s disappearance, the Tianyuan Region’s strength and reputation had fallen substantially.
In the previous nine regions tournament, the Tianyuan Region placed last and lost a tremendous amount of face.
This time, the Tianyuan Region’s strongest Divine Dwelling stage expert was the chief pavilion master, Zhou Yuan. But even he was only ranked fourteenth on the Divine Dwelling List. Although this wasn’t a low ranking, it did not match the status of the Tianyuan Region in Hunyuan Heaven.
/> Hence, many felt somewhat pessimistic. After all, they could not imagine how Zhou Yuan, ranked fourteenth, would be able to vie with the top-ranked super heaven prides.
If the Tianyuan Region ended up last place again, it would be an unrecoverable blow to the Tianyuan Region’s reputation.
But what could they do?
They had no one to blame but themselves for being less skilled.
While countless people in the Tianyuan Region were feeling hopeless, something else suddenly happened that caused the entire Tianyuan Region to curse in anger.
The source of this matter was the neighboring top-tier faction, the Tri-Mountain Alliance!
The Tri-Mountain Alliance used to be three first-class factions of Hunyuan Heaven. These three factions subsequently allied together, forming the Tri-Mountain Alliance. In turn, their strength soared, leaping from the first-class level to the apex, making them a top faction second only to the nine regions.
As their power grew, their ambition naturally followed. They began to covet the status of the nine regions, desiring to elevate themselves to such a level.
However, the structure of the nine regions had already been fixed for countless years. How could it be easy for a new faction to join their ranks? Hence, the Tri-Mountain Alliance could only wait patiently till a chance presented itself. Their waiting finally bore fruit in the form of supreme sovereign Cang Yuan’s disappearance. Without its leader, the Tianyuan Region’s strength began to wane, while the Tri-Mountain Alliance started to stir restlessly.
In recent years, the Tri-Mountain Alliance had been constantly challenging the Tianyuan Region’s dignity in all areas, making their ambition known to all.
In response to such provocation, the Tianyuan Region was naturally extremely angry. They had nothing but disdain towards this new faction. If supreme sovereign Cang Yuan were still around, the Tri-Mountain Alliance would not dare to look them in the eye!
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