As Zhou Yuan’s body passed through the barrier, he clearly felt the Spirit between his brows shake slightly as a small portion of Spirit power and vital energy was extracted from him.

A small wave of dizziness washed over him, but he soon returned to normal.

When he recovered, he realized that the scenery before his eyes had changed.

He was now standing on a giant stone stage floating a hundred feet above the ground. A giant barrier flickered behind him as figure after figure stepped out.

This was evidently the wind district of the Four Spirits Origin Tower.

At a glance, the land was filled with barren dark yellow mountains. From a distance, it looked as if giant fingers were reaching out from the ground, giving off a barbaric, ancient aura.

As he gazed upon the wind district, Zhou Yuan suddenly felt a heart-palpitating undulation appear above him. He raised his head, only for his pupils to suddenly shrink.

Dark azure storms coiled in the sky like giant dragons. He could not tell how thick they were, but they reached out in every direction, seemingly infinite and endless.

A faint, indescribable aura of terror spread outward.

“That’s the astral wind stratum.”

Ye Bingling’s voice sounded from behind Zhou Yuan. “Always remember that you cannot fly at too high of an altitude in the wind district. If you somehow fall into the astral wind stratum, even if you were at the Heavenly Sun stage, you will face certain death!—not to mention you’re currently only at the Divine Dwelling stage.”

Zhou Yuan’s heart shivered as he solemnly nodded. From those terrifying undulations, he had no doubts about its power.

As he observed from afar, he suddenly discovered that gusts of dark azure gales would occasionally descend from the wind stratum and shoot through the air like mini tornadoes.

“Those are caused by people burning origin coins to summon astral spirit gales,” explained Ye Bingling. “Let’s split up first. We’ll each find a deserted place to burn origin coins to cultivate.

“Also take note to keep a certain distance from anyone else. The astral spirit gales that are summoned will not recognize the summoner, only the position. As such, it will only create conflict if two individuals burn their origin coins too close to each other.”

After finishing, she wasted no time and used her Genesis Qi to carry her into the air before flying away in a random direction.

Zhou Yuan, Yi Qiushui and Liu Zhixuan did not linger for long either. The trio soon flew off the giant stone stage.

They maintained a low altitude as they flew. Along the way, they saw several figures, each occupying a barren mountaintop. As these figures burned origin coins, gusts of astral spirit wind descended from the sky, making the place seem rather lively overall.

Yi Qiushui and Liu Zhixuan soon found a deserted spot and landed.

With Ye Bingling’s reminder in mind, Zhou Yuan chose a location that was some distance from Yi Qiushui and Liu Zhixuan.

The place he had selected was a mountain valley that was covered in oddly shaped rocks.

Zhou Yuan sat down on a boulder but was not in a hurry to burn his origin coins. Instead, he closed his eyes to adjust his condition. Only when all the Genesis Qi in his body was calmed did his fingers move towards his spatial bag.

A crystal-like origin coin appeared between his fingers.

Zhou Yuan toyed with it for a moment before slowly concentrating.

Rays of light began to blossom from the origin coin. Zhou Yuan felt Spirit power and vital energy surge out from between his brows and body before flowing towards the origin coin between his fingers.

Ch!

A white flame emerged from the origin coin and quickly engulfed it.

“So I have to use vital energy and Spirit power to burn the origin coin.” Zhou Yuan’s eyes flashed in thought.

The coin burned, turning into spiralling azure smoke that rose into the air.

Zhou Yuan curiously looked up. After the coin burned for a few dozen breaths, an azure tornado began to descend from the azure wind layer above.

The azure tornado was about a foot wide and four feet long. From a distance, it looked akin to a flying blue python.

The azure tornado pounced directly towards the location of the burning coin.

Zhou Yuan hurriedly focused in anticipation.

The azure tornado made from astral spirit wind arrived with a roar, directly swallowing Zhou Yuan’s figure. Sharp astral winds began mercilessly slicing across his body.

Slice slice!

Bloody cuts instantly appeared on his body.

Zhou Yuan’s face immediately contorted in pain as he gasped. It felt as if a thousand knives were cutting his body, bringing unbearable pain.

This was not the worst of it. The astral winds burrowed into his body through these wounds and wreaked havoc within him. Even with his mental fortitude, Zhou Yuan tightly gritted his teeth as his body tensed in pain.

The astral wind brought intense pain, but Zhou Yuan slowly endured it. He began to sense something mystical being left behind as the astral spirit winds cut his body…

It was extremely faint and would be very difficult to detect if not for Zhou Yuan’s Spirit constantly scanning every part of his body.

With a thought, Zhou Yuan’s Spirit senses spread throughout his body, and he soon discovered several tiny azure specks of light flowing about in his flesh.

These light dots gave off a mystical rhythm. They were no stranger to Zhou Yuan, because they were the building blocks of every Genesis Rune, Genesis marks…

However, these Genesis marks were far more graceful, elegant and ancient than the ones Zhou Yuan could currently draw.

“Are these the Genesis marks of the wind spirit rune?” mumbled Zhou Yuan to himself.

The astral spirit wind tornado lasted for approximately ten minutes before fading away.

Zhou Yuan opened his eyes and extended his right hand. Ten azure light dots appeared on the back of his hand. These were the Genesis marks he had obtained from the astral spirit wind earlier, but this amount…was not even a thousandth of a complete wind spirit rune.

“To think that Genesis marks are so difficult to obtain…” After experiencing it for himself, Zhou Yuan finally understood why Ye Bingling only managed to achieve a half-complete wind spirit rune after more than a year.

“The astral spirit wind is also quite harmful to the body. An ordinary person will likely be incapable of enduring consecutive sessions.” Zhou Yuan chuckled as he glanced at the wounds on his body. This was not a problem for him.

Life energy spread from the Taiyi Green Wood Mark as boundless vital energy flowed through his body. In a mere dozen breaths, the wounds on his body rapidly healed at a rate that could be seen with the naked eye.

Zhou Yuan had already realized that vital energy and Spirit power were crucial in the wind district. They were required upon entry and were indispensable as fuel to burn the origin coins.

Even if one had sufficient origin coins, an ordinary Divine Dwelling stage practitioner would not be able to burn coins without worry if one’s Spirit and body had not reached the required standard…

However, Zhou Yuan could easily escape such restraints.

The Taiyi Green Wood Mark could provide him endless life energy to create vital energy, while his Spirit had reached the peak of the Corporeal stage and was very close to the Transformative stage. His Spirit cultivation could be said to far surpass his peers.

The three requirements of the Four Spirits Origin Tower—vital energy, Spirit power and origin coins—Zhou Yuan had a huge advantage in two of them.

With a soft chuckle, Zhou Yuan patted his spatial bag, and five gleaming origin coins appeared in his hand. Vital energy and Spirit power surged out and ignited the coins.

As the five coins turned into azure smoke, Zhou Yuan felt a small tinge of pain in his heart.

He had realized that at this rate, he would spend all 80 of his origin coins in less than five days.

He had vital energy, he had Spirit power, but he didn’t have origin coins!!

The heavens are so unfair…

Why do you have to do this to me?

Zhou Yuan sorrowfully watched a large astral spirit wind tornado descend from the sky as this question surged out from the depths of his soul.