In the depths of a particular cave dwelling.

Endless pure Genesis Qi flowed out from the eye of a spring, transforming into a faint mist that swirled around the cave.

Zhou Yuan was silently seated on a boulder beside the spring. The roar of a dragon echoed from inside his body as a powerful suction force spread from his nose. One could only watch as the surging Genesis Qi transformed into white smoke that was sucked into Zhou Yuan’s mouth and swallowed into his body.

After doing this several times, the Genesis Qi in the cave became somewhat fainter.

Only then did Zhou Yuan gradually come to a stop. He opened his eyes and looked towards the center of his right palm as he frowned slightly. A lump of heart palpitating scarlet-red sat there like the figure of a slightly sinister dragon.

It was the Dragon’s Resentment Poison.

Ever since Zhou Yuan took back the majority of Wu Huang’s sacred dragon blessing, the Dragon’s Resent Poison in his body had grown stronger. Zhou Yuan could faintly feel that it was more domineering and violent than before.

“The Dragon’s Resentment Poison outbreak occurs once every three years, and the next three year date is fast approaching.” Zhou Yuan sighed deeply. Time had passed by so quickly, and it was now nearly three years since then.

When the previous Dragon’s Resentment Poison outbreak occurred, Zhou Yuan had yet to even unblock his eight meridian channels. In contrast, he was now an Alpha-Origin stage practitioner, an almighty force in the Great Zhou Empire.

Though he had grown, the Dragon’s Resentment Poison in his body was likewise very different from before.

Before it could be fully controlled, it would always be a potential danger.

Zhou Yuan touched his palm as he mumbled to himself, “It seems that I have to think of a way to make the Dragon’s Resentment Poison work for me instead.”

The sacred dragon blessing was contained within the Dragon’s Resent Poison. If Zhou Yuan was unable to make the poison fully submit to him, he would be unable to properly bring out its powers. Thus, if he succeeded in this endeavour, it would give him an extremely lethal trump card.

Zhou Yuan pondered about it for a moment before withdrawing his thoughts. There should still be some time before the Dragon’s Resent Poison outbreak, and the most important matter he had to deal with currently was still the battle with Cao Shi.

Cao Shi was after all a veteran gold sash disciple and a true-blue fifth layer Alpha-Origin practitioner. Such strength was not just a little bit better than Lu Feng.

None of the people that could reach this level would be easy opponents.

However, since Cao Shi had decided to block Zhou Yuan’s way, he had no choice but to step over this stumbling block.

But it must be acknowledged that the other party was an elite amongst the fifth layer Alpha-Origin, someone who boasted overwhelming battle power. Hence, Zhou Yuan know that he could not afford to underestimate this opponent.

While Zhou Yuan was deep in thought, his hands suddenly came together as a ball of light floated out from his palm. Inside was an old book that seemed akin to the rising sun, giving off a scorching aura.

It was the prize Zhou Yuan had received as the champion of the peak selection ceremony, the low grade Heaven Genesis technique, the Heavenly Sun God Record.

Zhou Yuan senses began to probe the ancient book, only opening his eyes a long time later.

“As expected of a true Heaven Genesis technique, it’s going to be extremely complex and troublesome to practice.” Zhou Yuan frowned. The power of the Heavenly Sun God Record was indeed terrifying, far surpassing anything a little Heaven Genesis technique could muster. However, the conditions to learn it were exceedingly strict, likewise far beyond the difficulty of the little Heaven tier.

To learn the Heavenly Sun God Record, one required the assistance of external resources such as the Nine Suns Crystal, the Heavenly Flames Rock Essence and other similar items. All of them were pretty rare, and it would likely take quite some time to gather.

After giving it some thought, Zhou Yuan kept away the book again. His match with Cao Shi was too close, and there was clearly no time to spend on the Heavenly Sun God Record for the time being.

“It’s a pity that the Genesis Marrow Baptism needs two more months of preparation before it will be ready, or I would have been able to reach the next level through it.” Zhou Yuan shook his head regretfully.

The other prize from the peak selection ceremony was the Genesis Marrow Baptism, but since the time was not right, he would not be able to utilise it for now.

While Zhou Yuan was still mulling over the situation, he suddenly heard the sound of faint footsteps approaching. He turned his head, to find Yaoyao gracefully walking over with Tuntun in her arms, while several jade bottles jung from between her slender fingers, giving off clinking sounds with each step.

“I can’t believe that you managed to fall into such trouble after a single morning lesson.” Yaoyao’s red lips parted slightly as she glared at Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan laughed helplessly, before replying with a sigh, “Can’t do anything about it. New disciples have no reputation or influence, so no one is willing to accept me receiving benefits. Since someone has jumped out to offer himself up as an example for the rest, I have no choice but to go along.

This was very normal. A new disciple would surely be bullied by the senior disciples for a period of time. It could be said to be a certain unspoken rule of sorts, but Zhou Yuan really did not have the time to bother with such things.

If he wanted to accept the purple Genesis cave dwelling with a clear conscience, he would have to first ensure all the other disciples had no objections, or it would only bring about more trouble in the future.

To prevent such disputes, the most direct method was to display his strength and force the senior disciples to acknowledge him.

Hence, even if Cao Shi had not provoked Zhou Yuan, he would have looked for some other avenue to display his prowess.

“Your opponent is a fifth layer Alpha-Origin, don’t end up getting beaten instead.” Teased Yaoyao.

Although she spoke in such a manner, she still tossed the five jade bottles towards Zhou Yuan. “These were just delivered by Shen Wanjin.”

Zhou Yuan caught them and opened their caps. The thick, pungent smell of blood immediately dashed out transforming into five beast silhouettes that gave off an aura filled with howling killing intent.

These were obviously five bottles of Genesis Beast essence blood, and appeared to be of pretty high quality, every one likely reaching grade 5.

Joy flashed in Zhou Yuan’s eyes as he could not help but praise, “As expected of the inner mountains, you can even obtain grade 5 dragon type Genesis Beast essence blood here!”

He had tasked Shen Wanjin to station himself at the Glittering Jewels Pavilion with the goal of purchasing dragon type Genesis Beast essence blood. Zhou Yuan had originally predicted that he would end up with two bottles at most, but Shen Wanjin had ended up surprising him with five.

With these five bottles of essence blood, his Nine Dragons Canon would progress to the next level.

“You’re pretty ambitious, take care not to end up overwhelmed by the savage aura if you refine too much essence blood.” Cautioned Yaoyao.

Zhou Yuan touched the palm on his right hand as he grinned, “No matter how savage they are, can they beat the Dragon’s Resentment Poison?”

He shook his head, speaking no further on this topic as his gaze suddenly locked onto the creature lazily resting in Yaoyao’s arms. An extremely kind and friendly smile appeared on his face as he asked, “Tuntun, do you want to try the delicacies in the inner mountain Hundred Fragrances House?”

The ears of the originally sleepy looking Tuntun immediately stood up as its excited gaze shot towards Zhou Yuan, even its tongue poking out from its mouth.

Yaoyao shook her head in a slightly exasperated manner as she threw Tuntun out by its ear and said, “Unable to learn from your mistakes, you’ll end up being sold off sooner or later.”

How could she not know that it would have to give its blood once it ate its fill.

Zhou Yuan grinned widely as he picked up Tuntun. “Big sis Yaoyao, tell the others that I will be secluding myself to cultivate and won’t be attending the next morning class.”

Yaoyao acknowledged before turning around to leave.

...

The Dao Seeker Hall.

It was the Shen Taiyuan faction’s turn to cultivate here again.

When Cao Shi arrived, the first thing he saw was Zhou Yuan’s empty seat. The former chuckled in amusement, evidently already aware of latter’s secluded cultivation session.

“Resorting to such unnecessary measures even though you only have a few short days.” Cao Shi shook his head, a slight sneer and contempt flowing out in his eyes.

“Zhou Yuan ah Zhou Yuan, you’ve already shown all your cards during your fight with Lu Feng. If that’s all you have, don’t blame your senior brother for bullying you…”

Several of his gold sash disciple friends around him softly chuckled. Looks like there was going to be entertaining show in a few days.