The Cangxuan Sect was wrapped in a busy and excited atmosphere.
However, Zhou Yuan paid no heed to any of this, hiding himself deep in the mountains as he poured all of his heart and soul into practicing the Omega Saint Spirit Art.
The Omega Saint Spirit Art was a high grade Heaven Genesis technique, which was also the highest level of technique he had ever come into contact with over the years. He was naturally filled with expectation towards it, and was dying to witness its powers first hand.
...
Deep in the old mountains.
Zhou Yuan was seated atop a giant boulder overlooking a deep gorge. His expression was solemn as he concentrated every fibre of being on the glowing ball of Genesis Qi between his palms.
Within the ball was a mysterious light that seemed similar to primal chaos, making it impossible to clearly see inside.
The primal chaos like ball of light was the Saint Spirit Seed Zhou Yuan was attempting to create.
Ten Genesis Beast Spirits had already been refined and fused into this seed. Zhou Yuan had discovered that the difficulty would increase with every Beast Spirit he successfully fused in.
As the number of fused Beast Spirits increased, the incomplete Saint Spirit Seed grew more and more complex. All it would take was a slight mistake for the seed to collapse and fall apart.
If that happened, all of his hard work would go up in smoke.
Zhou Yuan gazed at the slowly stabilizing Saint Spirit Seed between his palms. With a wave of his hand, another Beast Spirit crystal flew out from a copper chest beside him.
The copper chest was currently filled to the brim with Beast Spirit crystals.
Over the last ten days, Zhou Yuan used up many many Beast Spirit crystals. If not for Saint Genesis Peak"s support, he would run out of resources long ago.
This made Zhou Yuan sigh somewhat. Cultivation resources were indeed far too important on the path of cultivation.
However, he was also quite horrified at his progress after using up so many Beast Spirit crystals. So far, he had managed to fuse ten Beast Spirits into the seed, and was still very far off from ninety, let alone the final nine core Beast Spirits...
Zhou Yuan looked at the floating crystal in front of him as he lamented. He had only managed to achieve such progress due to his Spirit cultivation that was far more advanced than any ordinary person. Otherwise, it would basically be impossible to achieve a fusion of ten Beast Spirits within ten days.
After lamenting a little, Zhou Yuan directed the Beast Spirit crystal to slowly descend towards the primal chaos like Saint Spirit Seed, before they ultimately touched.
Bzz Bzz!
Chaotic undulations immediately erupted, causing Zhou Yuan"s expression to tense. His Spirit senses rapidly circled around the seed, neutralizing and resolving the clas.h.i.+ng undulations.
However, there were far too many clas.h.i.+ng undulations, causing him to be a little fl.u.s.tered for a time.
"The Beast Spirit fusion process is far too complicated. It"s still crazily difficult though the wills of the Beast Spirits have already been wiped clean." A grave look flitted across Zhou Yuan"s eyes as he did all he could to stabilize the seed.
While he was fully focused on eliminating the chaotic undulations from the seed, a thought suddenly struck him.
"I wonder if… the Decoder Saint Rune will work…"
The Decoder Saint Rune was one of the four Saint Runes. It was not offense oriented, but more a.n.a.lytical in nature, and was especially effective against Genesis techniques.
Previously, Zhou Yuan had just barely managed to control the situation with his Spirit senses, but as the number of fused Beast Spirits slowly increased, things were becoming more and more difficult.
If Zhou Yuan had enough time to slowly work on the seed, he was confident that he would be able to complete it in a year. However, with the Genesis reservoir ceremony fast approaching, he needed to raise his strength as quickly as possible.
While such thoughts flitted across his mind, Zhou Yuan cast away his hesitation. With a thought, a mysterious glowing rune began to flow out from the depths of his pupils.
The Decoder Saint Rune!
The world before him immediately began to change. Zhou Yuan stared at the primal chaos like ball of light between his palms, as the previously unviewable places became impossibly clear in his eyes.
Most importantly, he found the source of the seemingly endless chaotic undulations inside the bundle of light, the resistance from two different Beast Spirits fusing.
It was due to this disharmony that made the fusion process become very problematic.
As long as he precisely eliminated and suppressed the sources of disharmony and chaos, the fusion process would become smooth.
"It works!"
Zhou Yuan was overjoyed. Since he could now see the sources of disharmony, things would undoubtedly become much simpler.
While Zhou Yuan was elated, his control over the seed weakened a little, allowing one of the chaotic undulations to spread, causing a chain reaction that began a series of explosions.
Bang!
The ball of light between Zhou Yuan"s hands exploded, turning into smoke that quickly faded away.
The Saint Spirit Seed embryo was gone just like that.
Zhou Yuan was stunned, but did not feel any regret. Instead, a smile emerged on his face. His guess had not been wrong, the Decoder Saint Rune had once again displayed its near magical abilities.
Next, he only needed to use the Decoder Saint Rune"s miraculous powers to cultivate the Saint Spirit Seed, which would drastically improve his chances of success.
However, it was also good to note that the Decoder Saint Rune would only allow him to discover the sources of resistance and disharmony in advance, and he would still have to rely on his own abilities to suppress them before they spread.
Regardless, Zhou Yuan was now confident in cultivating the Saint Spirit Seed with the aid of the Decoder Saint Rune.
Zhou Yuan lifted his head to look at the sky, before he nodded in satisfaction and rose to his feet. With a wave of his sleeve, he kept the copper chest filled with Beast Spirit crystals as his figure soared into the sky.
He left the mountains, heading straight back to his cave dwelling. Several dozen minutes later, the cave dwelling appeared in his sights as his figure slowly descended.
However, he was a little startled when he landed, due to the three figures outside the cave dwelling. One of them was naturally Yaoyao, while the other two surprisingly belonged to Li Qingchan and Ye Ge.
Zhou Yuan walked to Yaoyao"s side, and curiously asked as he looked towards his two guests, "What are you guys doing here?"
"Junior brother Zhou Yuan."
Ye Ge smiled at him, a polite and gentle expression on his handsome face.
Zhou Yuan had a rather favorable opinion of this individual, because he could not sense any of the usual arrogance of the Chosens from Ye Ge. Compared to the likes of Zhao Zhu and Kong Sheng, Ye Ge was undoubtedly much better company.
The only gripe Zhou Yuan had was that Ye Ge seemed to have his sights on Yaoyao, and hoped to take her away from Zhou Yuan.
Li Qingchan"s gorgeous face was frosty as usual, like a G.o.ddess of an icy mountain. She glanced at Zhou Yuan and said, "Saint Genesis Peak seems to be in quite a pinch for the upcoming Genesis reservoir ceremony."
Zhou Yuan chuckled but did not comment.
Upon seeing his carefree appearance, Li Qingchan"s brows furrowed slightly as she said, "Don"t think for a second that your Saint Genesis Peak will be able match Sword Cometh Peak just because you managed to get Yaoyao on board."
Zhou Yuan smiled and said, "What else can we do? Since they plan to vent their anger on us during the ceremony, we can"t possibly idly sit by and wait for death, right?"
Li Qingchan exchanged a look with Ye Ge. "Our Snow Lotus Peak and Spirit Rune Peak may be able to help."
Zhou Yuan was quite surprised. Although the two of them were Chosens, the Genesis reservoir ceremony affected all of the disciples from their respective peaks. If they chose to help Saint Genesis Peak, it would undoubtedly pit them against Sword Cometh Peak, which did not seem to be worth it from the standpoints of their two peaks.
Though he was on good terms with Li Qingchan, it had clearly yet to reach the level where she would go against the majority to help Saint Genesis Peak.
Upon seeing Zhou Yuan"s surprise, Li Qingchan calmly said, "There"s a condition of course."
"What condition? Do we have to pay a protection fee again?" Zhou Yuan"s eyebrows raised slightly.
"How much Genesis essence can you guys possibly collect…" Li Qingchan rolled her eyes at him before turning towards Yaoyao. "The condition for our aid is for Yaoyao to join either one of our peaks after the Genesis reservoir ceremony. As for which peak, our two peak masters will discuss it when the time comes."
Zhou Yuan was taken aback. It turns out that Snow Lotus Peak and Spirit Rune Peak were after Yaoyao. In fact, it appeared that this was the will of the two peak masters.
Li Qingchan stared at Yaoyao and slowly said, "I"m personally more than happy to help, but as a Chosen of Snow Lotus Peak, I have to prioritise the interests of my fellow peak disciples, and thus cannot selfishly choose to help on my own accord."
There was no doubt that she greatly admired Yaoyao, and very much hoped that she would come to Snow Lotus Peak. Their peak master would surely regard Yaoyao very highly, which would, in Li Qingchan"s opinion, be countless times better than her current treatment here in Saint Genesis Peak.
"If junior sister Yaoyao needs me, I"m ready to risk facing punishment from my peak master to help out." Ye Ge softly chuckled as he calmly looked towards Yaoyao.
Li Qingchan immediately glared at him.
Zhou Yuan frowned and said, "Yaoyao is not a bargaining chip, and she can go anywhere she wishes. Likewise, if she does not wish for it, I"ve zero interest regardless of how good a deal you offer."
Li Qingchan looked at him in surprise, before she teased, "If you perform too badly in the Genesis reservoir ceremony, your position as the chief disciple may draw criticism."
Zhou Yuan let out a carefree laugh. "A mere chief disciple position can"t compare to even a single hair of Yaoyao"s."
Li Qingchan was immediately sickened by his cheesiness. "Enough!"
Yaoyao also shot Zhou Yuan a look, but a faint smile seemed to have appeared on her lips.
Li Qingchan looked towards Yaoyao. The former still wanted to know what the latter thought.
Under her gaze, Yaoyao gently shook her head, her eyes looking towards the cave dwelling as she spoke with a rarely seen tenderness, "I like this place a lot, and don"t want to go anywhere else."
As for how highly the peak masters regarded her, it could not match even a single blade of gra.s.s in the cave dwelling.
Li Qingchan helplessly sighed upon hearing this, before she worriedly said, "Although you"re helping out, Saint Genesis Peak cannot beat Sword Cometh Peak because your foundations are just far too weak."
Yaoyao pulled back a strange of her black hair as her clear eyes turned a little cold.
"I originally did not have much interest in the Genesis reservoir ceremony, but I keep hearing people say that Sword Cometh Peak is impossible to overcome, I"m not a little more interested…"
"Fine, let"s see how Sword Cometh Peak intends to vent their anger on Saint Genesis Peak then."
The beautiful girl"s clear voice sounded outside the cave dwelling, but instead of the usual listlessness in her tone, there was a rarely seen firmness that startled both Li Qingchan and Ye Ge, who had never seen this side of Yaoyao before.
Zhou Yuan"s mouth hung slightly ajar as he looked at her glowing face from the side, somewhat split between wanting to laugh or to cry.
Yaoyao had previously agreed to partic.i.p.ate on his behalf, but now, it seems that she had grown serious about it...
A serious Yaoyao was a sight that even Zhou Yuan rarely saw.
However, Zhou Yuan could not help but raise his thumbs at this queen-like demeanor from Yaoyao as he wildly cheered in his heart.
"Big sis Yaoyao, you"ve really got swag!"