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…”