Although the Yi clan wanted to keep it a secret that Zhou Yuan was selected as one of the external assistance members, there were too many people in the Yi clan, making it difficult to control what everyone says. And so, news of this very quickly spread throughout Xuanzhou City.

As the news spread, it unsurprisingly caused a lot of uproar.

Obviously no one thought that the Yi clan would invite an intermediate Divine Dwelling stage expert as an external assistance member in the Prefecture Lord battle. Adding to this, Zhou Yuan could be said to be a nobody in Xiaoxuan Prefecture, and he had no impressive achievement or reputation.

Therefore, the various forces were very surprised by the Yi clan’s move.

In the Prefecture Lord battle, each side only had five places, which could be said to be extremely precious. But the Yi clan had given one of the external assistance places away to Zhou Yuan. This was similar to breaking one of their own arms before the battle.

Their action was extremely unwise.

“What the Yi clan has done is ridiculous.”

“The head of the Yi clan has passed away, and now Yi Qiushui is in charge. She’s just a little girl, so she is no doubt inexperienced and a little naive.”

“Hey, I heard that Zhou Yuan’s appearance isn’t bad, and it was also Yi Qiushui who brought him back. Could he be her little boyfriend? That’s why she insisted on asking him her external assistance for the battle?”

“I’m surprised that the two Heavenly Sun elders of the Yi clan agreed to this.”

“Sigh, it seems that the Yi clan is going to suffer a big loss in the Prefecture Lord battle this time. If the Prefecture Lord position were to fall into the hands of the Qiu clan, the Yi clan’s plans in Xiaoxuan Prefecture all these years would most likely crumble. They will perhaps also have to withdraw from Xiaoxuan Prefecture.”

“Yes, the Qiu clan has even summoned Qiu Ling, who was training in Heavenly Spirit Sect. It seems they are determined to win the position of Prefecture Lord.”

“.....”

The majority of the people in Xuanzhou City wasn’t optimistic about the Yi clan’s outcome in the Prefecture Lord battle.

And towards these criticisms in Xuanzhou City, the people of the Yi clan had no choice but to swallow the insults even though they were irritated. They could only direct their anger onto the culprit of all this, Zhou Yuan.

.....

The backyard of the Yi clan’s residence.

In an independent courtyard set in a beautiful garden sprawled with lush vegetation, the huge trees shrouded half the courtyard, making them appear peaceful and quiet.

On a stout trunk of an ancient tree, Zhou Yuan was sitting cross-legged with his eyes slightly closed.

Since he had accepted Yi Qiushui’s bet to win the Prefecture Lord battle, he naturally had to do his best. Although Xiaoxuan Prefecture couldn’t be compared to the Cangxuan Sect, he also understood that Hunyuan Heaven was the strongest of all heavens and shouldn’t be underestimated.

Above Zhou Yuan’s knees was a mottled black brush suspended in the air, swallowing the Genesis Qi of the universe.

It was the Heavenly Yuan brush.

Zhou Yuan’s eyes snapped open, revealing a trace of helplessness as he glanced at the Heavenly Yuan Brush. Ever since the awakening of the Heavenly Yuan Brush’s fifth Genesis Rune, Genesis Breaker, the sixth Genesis Rune still hadn’t been completely awakened.

The Heavenly Yuan Brush was now at the low-grade Genesis Weapon level, and if awakened once again, it could reach even the high-grade level.

Even in the entire Hunyuan Heaven, a high-grade Genesis Weapon was certainly a divine weapon that even ordinary Heavenly Sun stage experts wouldn’t necessarily possess.

Of course, what Zhou Yuan paid more attention to wasn’t the grade of the Heavenly Yuan Brush, but the awakened Genesis Runes. The fifth rune, Breaker Rune, had already brought so many benefits to him.

If the fifth rune was already so mysteriously powerful, then what about the sixth rune?

However, in the past two years, Zhou Yuan had kept the Heavenly Yuan Brush with him at all times, but the sixth rune still hadn’t appeared, which showed that the Heavenly Yuan Brush had a huge appetite...

“It looks like it’s still going to take some time.”

Zhou Yuan mumbled to himself. But these years of cultivation weren’t completely useless. At least he could see that the sixth ancient Genesis Rune on the body of the mottled brush was beginning to glow.

The awakening of the sixth Rune had to be near.

These thoughts skimmed across Zhou Yuan’s mind. He ignored the Heavenly Yuan Brush for the time being and folded his palms together. Wisps of Genesis Qi began to hover between his palms. And, following repeated compression and rotation, vague traces of extremely powerful and sharp aura spread out.

Chi!

The sharpness gradually tore even the air around it.

Like sword qi.

Those sharp sword qi continued to gather and compress in Zhou Yuan’s palm. It was almost half a day later when he began to see a little sword qi pill around the size of a bean forming in the palm of his hand.

Zhou Yuan studied the little sword orb with a pensive expression. What he was currently practicing was naturally the Sword Cometh Peak’s Devil Sweeping Sword Orb technique.

Since he had come to Tianyuan Region, he needed to continuously enhance his strength, and the seven Cangxuan techniques that he had obtained before leaving the Cangxuan Sect were what he needed to practice.

Among these techniques, the Devil Sweeping Sword Orb was purely a killing technique with frightening destructive force. Zhou Yuan had already coveted this technique back when he was at the Cangxuan Sect. Therefore, after it came into his hand, he had been trying to comprehend it whenever he had time. But it was only now that he finally saw results.

“But to refine the sword orb, I also need to fuse the Qi of Aged Gold with Genesis sword qi. At present my sword orb is still floating in the air and not strong enough,” Zhou Yuan muttered to himself.

However, the Qi of Aged Gold needed to be extracted from rare divine treasures, and their value was quite high. Zhou Yuan was now alone and poor, and everything he had was destroyed in the turbulence of space. Even the materials he needed to upgrade the Ancestral Dragon Scripture were shamelessly obtained from Yi Qiushui. How would he have enough divine resources to refine the Qi of Aged Gold?

Zhou Yuan fiddled with the empty spatial bag at his waist with a bitter look on his face.

It’s the Saint experts of the sacred race’s fault for messing up the space transportation!

Zhou Yuan clenched his teeth, eyes gleaming with malice. He would remember this!

While Zhou Yuan was feeling distressed, two beautiful figures were approaching from outside the courtyard. It was Yi Qiushui and her personal guard, Zhao Yue.

Noticing them, Zhou Yuan moved his body a little and immediately reappeared in front of them.

“Is brother Zhou used to living here?” Yi Qiushui asked with a smile.

“It’s pretty good.”

Zhao Yue, who was behind Yi Qiushui, slightly pursed her lips and muttered, “Of course you’re good, but our Yi clan has become the laughing stock of Xuanzhou City.”

Zhou Yuan cleared his throat and remarked, “What would those ignorant people know?”

Zhao Yue rolled her eyes.

The entire Yi clan was saying that they had never seen such a thick-skinned man before, and it was indeed true.

Yi Qiushui curiously studied Zhou Yuan. His carefree and indifferent attitude did not seem fake at all.

She patted the spatial bag at her waist, and streams of light flashed out. Several golden boxes landed on the ground. “These are all the materials you need.”

Zhou Yuan’s face immediately lit up with joy. Hunyuan Heaven was indeed truly blessed by heaven. He was able to gather all the materials needed to upgrade the Ancestral Dragon Scriptures in Xiaoxuan Prefecture alone.

It should be said that Yaoyao had been searching in the Cangxuan Sect for a long time but still hadn’t acquired them all.

“Thank you.” Zhou Yuan expressed his gratitude.

Yi Qiushui shook her head and joked, “These materials are very rare. Some of them aren’t even found in the Yi clan’s treasure trove. I had to ask Uncle Lui’s Mysterious Eagle Chamber of Commerce to gather all the materials. Brother Zhou, your price really isn’t low at all.”

Zhou Yuan’s face flushed with embarrassment, and he could only force a smile.

But immediately he sighed inwardly. All the materials needed for the Ancestral Dragon Scripture were ready, but the problem now was the Devil Sweeping Sword Orb technique.

Yi Qiushui, who was attentive and sensitive, naturally noticed the worried frown on Zhou Yuan’s face. “Brother Zhou, do you have other concerns?”

Zhou Yuan coughed out loud. This was something you chose to ask of your own initiative.

“There’s one more thing that I’d like to ask Qiushui for help with.” Zhou Yuan felt rather ashamed to say this. “Right now I also need some divine treasure to refine the Qi of Aged Gold.”

Zhao Yue’s eyes went wide, and she glared at Zhou Yuan.

“Don’t worry, I won’t take them for free. I’ll exchange half of the high-grade Divine Dwelling medicines for it!” Zhou Yuan hurriedly added.

Zhao Yue laughed. The Yi clan will only give you the one hundred high-grade Divine Dwelling medicines after you win the Prefecture Lord battle. But you already think it’s yours?

Yi Qiushui knitted her brows, gazing directly at Zhou Yuan, who also did not evade her eye contact. She could see a look of helplessness in his eyes but not any guilty conscience.

Yi Qiushui was silent for a good while before she explained, “Brother Zhou, we have already offered such a high price to ask for your help. If I were to give you other resources, I am worried about how to explain to the clan.”

Zhou Yuan scratched his head and smiled helplessly. “I understand.”

“I can’t take things from the clan any more, but I have my own secret stash that I can lend to brother Zhou.”

Zhou Yuan stared at Yi Qiushui in stunned silence and didn’t know what to say for a good while.

“Miss!” Zhao Yue couldn’t help but overstep.

Yi Qiushui waved her beautiful hand. “I will ask someone to bring them over later.”

While speaking, she took a deep look at Zhou Yuan before turning and leaving with Zhao Yue, who was furious.

Zhou Yuan stood where he was, gazing at Yi Qiushui’s beautiful and elegant silhouette as she left. He muttered, “What an amazing person...”

It was clearly just a mutually beneficial transaction, but Yi Qiushui had instead made Zhou Yuan owe her a favour. Now, Zhou Yuan really had to fight with all his strength in the Prefecture Lord battle. After all, if he were to lose, all his face would be destroyed.

The key point was that he couldn’t say that Yi Qiushui deliberately planned this. Her way of making him constantly accumulate debt had deliberately targeted his weak spot.

If Zhou Yuan was really heartless, Yi Qiushui’s move would have been useless, but she clearly saw through that Zhou Yuan wasn’t that kind of person.

The new head of the Yi clan is indeed extraordinary.

Zhou Yuan sighed and then waved his sleeve and stored away all the boxes.

It seemed that he couldn’t relax for the next few days. He had to fully master both the Ancestral Dragon Scripture and the Devil Sweeping Sword Orb technique in preparation for the Prefecture Lord battle.