This change undoubtedly created even more uncertainty in the purple sash selection.
…
While the Cangxuan Sect was abuzz with news about them, Zhou Yuan and Yaoyao seemed to have vanished from sight, locking themselves away in Spirit Rune Hall, while completely ignoring everything else that was happening outside.
Spirit Rune Hall had begun collecting countless ancient Genesis Runes ever since the Cangxuan Sect was established, and boasted an amazing collection. Thus, even Yaoyao had grown quite excited after entering, wanting to bury herself here forever and never leave this place.
Zhou Yuan was likewise overjoyed by the collection in Spirit Rune Hall. However, his understanding of Genesis Runes was not as deep as Yaoyao’s, and was thus limited to study the Genesis Runes at his level.
Even so, Spirit Rune Hall’s collection was an eye-opening experience. The numerous strange and wondrous Genesis Runes drawing nothing but praise from him.
Hence, the two individuals spent their days submerged in the vast sea-like Spirit Rune Hall, even forgetting the passage of time.
In a short few days, Zhou Yuan could already feel his Genesis Rune mastery increase. If he were to duel with Xia Yu again now, he believed that he would have nothing to fear in a direct clash.
...
On a particular day.
Zhou Yuan stood in front of an old stone shelf, as he voraciously flipped through a tattered old book, the ancient Genesis Runes recorded within captivating him deeply.
Some distance away, a few Spirit Rune Peak disciples would look over from time to time, their gazes filled with both respect and wariness. The boundary breaking trial a few days ago had clearly convinced these proud Spirit Rune Peak disciples of his strength.
While Zhou Yuan was immersed in the old book, his ear suddenly twitched a little as a faint fragrance entered his nose.
He lifted his head, and found an innocent looking young girl standing nearby, watching him with her large eyes. It was the little senior sister of Spirit Rune Peak, Xia Yu.
Upon seeing Zhou Yuan look over, Xia Yu involuntarily took half a step back, but soon gritted her teeth to stop her retreating feet.
“Is there something I can help you with little senior sister Xia Yu?” Zhou Yuan gave a hollow laugh when he saw this. It seems that his actions back then had left quite a shadow in this little senior sister of his.
Xia Yu very cautiously approached and said in a low voice, “A junior sister from Cangxuan Peak called Gu Hongyi asked me to pass you a message. She said to be careful of Sword Cometh Peak in the purple sash selection.”
Zhou Yuan was taken aback, but soon began to frown. Sword Cometh Peak?
“Thank you little senior sister Xia Yu.” Zhou Yuan cupped his fists together and smiled.
Xia Yu shook her little head, her large eyes gazing at Zhou Yuan as she spoke again, “I’ve heard that you’ve become one of the popular contenders for champion in the purple sash selection.”
“And most of the ones who spread this come from Sword Cometh Peak, creating quite a reputation for you.”
Zhou Yuan was stunned. He and Sword Cometh Peak were not really on good terms, and he had even played a part in disrupting Kong Sheng’s plans. Why would they so kindly build his reputation? It was impossible.
As he gazed upon Xia Yu’s large and bright eyes, a certain notion suddenly struck him, and he calmly remarked, “What a brilliant plan.”
They were obviously intending to put him on a pedestal, making everyone feel that he had a chance at the championship. Afterwhich, they would send him crashing to the ground, making his fall hurt even more than it should.
The one who had thought of this was truly insidious.
Zhou Yuan cupped his hands towards Xia Yu again. The girl before him was clearly a smart one, and had seen through their intentions. Hence why she had come to warn him.
“Little junior sister Xia Yu, I’m really sorry about before.” The girl had held no grudge against him, and even came to inform him of this critical information. This act made Zhou Yuan feel quite apologetic for being so ruthless during the trial.
Xia Yu shook her head, casting one last glance at Zhou Yuan, before she turned her head in embarrassment and left.
Zhou Yuan frowned as he watched her leave. It seems that his spectacular performance had made some people raise his danger level, resulting in them coming up with such tactics to beat him into his place during the purple sash selection.
“Your luck with women is not bad…” While Zhou Yuan was lost in thought, a slightly teasing voice rang out behind him.
He turned his head, and saw Yaoyao leaning against a stone shelf, the corners of her lips slightly raised as she looked at him.
Under the stare of her clear eyes, Zhou Yuan let out a forced laugh and said, “Little senior sister Xia Yu is just a kind girl.”
Yaoyao lazily responded, “You’d better remember where we currently are. If you don’t want trouble, don’t have designs on the little flower on other’s peaks.”
Zhou Yuan’s gaze scanned the area. Sure enough, he discovered some hints of unfriendliness in the eyes of the Spirit Rune Peak disciples, as if unable to believe he actually dared to seduce their little senior sister.
The corners of Zhou Yuan’s lips could not help but twitch.
Yaoyao seemed to smile as she threw an old book to Zhou Yuan.
“You should fool around less. I picked this out for you. If you don’t want to end up being targeted during the purple sash selection, I advise you to learn it during these next few days.”
Zhou Yuan hastily caught the book, his eyes widening slightly as his gaze swept across it.
“Heavenly Lightning and Mystical Fire Boundary.”
Yaoyao nonchalantly explained, “This boundary should be your limit for now. Once you master it, it will become one of your trump cards.”
Zhou Yuan was elated, a smile revealing itself on his handsome face as he cornily said, “Big sis Yaoyao still treats me the best.”
“Heh…”
The corners of Yaoyao’s red lips slightly curved upwards, before turning around to leave with a swish of her black hair.
“You should save such words to trick other young ladies, they won’t have any effect on me…”
Chapter 363 Taoyao Wine
A study room of sorts in Spirit Rune Hall.
Zhou Yuan sat before a desk with a serious expression, the Heavenly Yuan Brush in his hand. A jade tablet had been placed in front of him. His brush fell, emitting a faint glow as almost magical strokes appeared one after another, while the surrounding Genesis Qi faintly began to gather over.
He was in a state of complete focus, the brush in his hand continuing to twirl for quite some time. With a final faint jerk of his wrist, he breathed a sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders as he gazed upon the rune that now adorned the jade tablet.
Zhou Yuan carefully placed the jade tablet on the table, where dozens upon dozens of other jade tablets could be found. On each tablet, one would find a complex Genesis Rune.
For the past month, he had been studying the Heavenly Lightning and Mystical Fire Boundary Yaoyao had selected for him.
This boundary was strong even amongst grade 4 boundaries, and successfully setting it up required one to coordinate several hundred Genesis Runes. For the sake of mastering these runes, Zhou Yuan spent an entire month tirelessly practicing.
The tremendous effort and energy invested pushed even Zhou Yuan to his limits, oftentimes finding himself so tired that he would fall asleep mid practice.
Fortunately, he had managed to endure this rigorous training, and was now quite confident in drawing the several hundred runes that composed the Heavenly Lightning and Mystical Fire Boundary.
However, being able to draw these runes did not mean much, because these runes were only akin to the components of a machine. To complete the boundary, he would still need to properly assemble them together.
&nbs
p; This required even more practice.
Creak.
The study room door was pushed open as Yaoyao walked in with a stack of ancient texts in her arms. She arrived in front of the table and dumped her load, before fluidly swiping up the Genesis Rune jade tablets in front of Zhou Yuan.
She quickly checked through them, only taking a minute to separate a dozen jade tablets from the pile. She then pointed towards the dozen separated tablets and said, “These do not meet the mark, redo them.”
A pained look immediately filled Zhou Yuan’s face.
Yaoyao’s bright eyes swept a glance at him as she said, “Although these runes of yours are barely passable, some of the strokes are not satisfactory. They may seem fine at first glance, but if you use them to assemble the boundary, these tiny imperfections will cause the entire boundary to fall apart.”
“If you don’t plan on your hard work culminating into a defective product that can be easily destroyed with a few attacks, you’d better obediently practice more.”
After being lectured by Yaoyao, Zhou Yuan could only nod with a bitter smile.
However, after knocking him down a peg, Yaoyao gave a faint nod and said, “But reaching this level in a month is already pretty good.”
Truthfully speaking, ‘pretty good’ was quite an understatement. If any of the Spirit Rune Peak disciples found out about this, their jaws would surely drop from shock. The Heavenly Lightning and Mystical Fire Boundary was a grade 4 boundary that boasted astonishing power. Most disciples would take at least half a year just to grasp the basics.
Zhou Yuan took out another jade tablet and placed it in front of him as he chuckled. “Don’t worry, I will fully master it before the purple sash selection.”
Yaoyao nodded in satisfaction, looking as if her efforts on a little child had paid off.
She gracefully seated herself beside him and said, “I’ve been hearing that you’ve become quite a hot topic with regards to the purple sash selection, even catching up to the first seat gold sash disciples from the master factions of their respective peaks.”
She seemed to ponder as she continued, “It seems that someone plans for you to have a rather bad fall.”
Compared to Xia Yu and the other master faction’s first seat gold sash, Zhou Yuan’s foundations were quite shallow. And yet, he had someone been hyped up. It was clear that someone was pulling the strings, intending to make a fool of him during the purple sash selection.
“It should be someone from Sword Cometh Peak…” Zhou Yuan was not surprised as he smiled and said, “I played a part in foiling Kong Sheng’s plans in Genesis reservoir, and since they don’t dare to go after you, they have naturally turned their sights to an easier target like myself.”
Yaoyao gently tapped the table, her bright eyes looking towards Zhou Yuan as she said in a low voice, “Patriarch Cang Xuan mentioned that he suspects his death has something to do with the Cangxuan Sect…”
“Could the Sword Cometh Peak master Ling Jun have…”
Zhou Yuan raised his head, and exchanged a look with Yaoyao as she fell silent.
“We cannot make wild guesses without any evidence.” Zhou Yuan muttered as he shook his head. “The implications of such matters are too great. Without any evidence, even sect master Qing Yang would not dare carelessly take action.”
Yaoyao gave a slight nod, not speaking any further on the topic. Such matters were still far beyond them. The most important thing now was to somehow make Zhou Yuan the chief disciple by the year end, before entering the sealed main peak, and obtaining the second Saint Rune.
She had the feeling that someone would certain begin to move in the sect when the Saint Genesis Peak’s main peak was opened once again.
The two decided not to dwell any longer on this topic, and began to busy themselves with other tasks.
Yaoyao flipped through the ancient texts she had brought in earlier. A long while later, a soft gasp of surprise suddenly sounded. Zhou Yuan raised his head, only to find that her a look of joy on Yaoyao’s usually cold and expressionless face.
She was currently holding an aged yellow piece of tattered paper, happiness clearly present on her face.
“What is it?” Zhou Yuan could not stop his curiosity. What could possibly cause Yaoyao to show such an expression?
Yaoyao’s pink tongue gently licked her red lips, before passing the tattered paper to Zhou Yuan with sparkling eyes.
Zhou Yuan received it and took a look. He was first struck by confusion, before black lines began to appear on his forehead. He realised that he was looking at an extremely old alcohol brewing method.
“Making a fuss about nothing.” Said Zhou Yuan in a grumpy voice.
Yaoyao softly snorted and said, “What do you know. This is obviously a long lost recipe, and it's a great fortune to have encountered it here.”
Her fingers lightly tapped the surface of the tablet, her other hand propping up her cheek as she looked at Zhou Yuan and said, “I want you to make it for me.”
Zhou Yuan’s eyes widened. The little miss was quite the character, to think that she could so righteously make such a request.
“How can I possibly know how to make it!”
Yaoyao stood up, her palms leaning on the table as her body stretched forward. Her beautiful face looked down at Zhou Yuan, a whiff of fragrance surging towards him as she expressionlessly said, “Are you going to do it?”
With her face at such close proximity, Zhou Yuan’s mouth immediately went dry, his eyes spinning in thought as he asked, “Is there any reward?”
“What kind of reward do you want?” Yaoyao seemed to smile.
Zhou Yuan wet his lips and blinked.
Before he could speak, however, Yaoyao’s cold hand reached out and gently rubbed Zhou Yuan’s face. Just as he was beginning to enjoy the sensation, she suddenly smiled icily as she pinched his ear.
“Zhou Yuan, it seems that you’ve become quite a bad boy. To think that you would even dare to take advantage of me. Do you believe that I will let Tuntun devour you?”
In a corner of the room, Tuntun snorted as it disdainfully glanced at Zhou Yuan, before turning around to to show him its round butt.
Zhou Yuan’s face twitched. In the end, he hastily begged for forgiveness. “Alright, alright, I’ll think of a way to help you!”
Only then did Yaoyao sit back down in satisfaction. “Good boy. Hmm, I’ve thought of a name for it… it shall be called Taoyao wine.”
With both hands propping up each cheek, a look of anticipation rose on her face.
Zhou Yuan rolled his eyes, but could not help but chuckle in his heart. He could feel that Yaoyao’s aloofness and indifference was slowly fading recently. Of course, this was only towards himself… in addition, he could sense that Yaoyao had grown much more comfortable with him.
This should be them growing closer, right?
He glanced at the unknown recipe before him, before turning to view the rare sliver of anticipation in Yaoyao’s bright eyes as he grinned a little.
Back then, master Cang Yuan had entrusted Yaoyao to him in hopes that he would take care of her, but for the past few years, it had been Yaoyao who was always helping him instead. Without her, Zhou Yuan did not know if he would have managed to make it all the way here.
Hence...
I will do whatever you want, even if it's to reach out and pluck the stars from the sky.
…
Time quietly flowed in the Cangxuan Sect, as the purple sash selection rapidly neared...
As the event approached, the atmosphere around the Cangxuan Sect gradually began to bubble with excitement, once again drawing everyone’s eyes.
After all, for many disciples, the promotion to purple sash represented both glory and status, which was also their key concerns. As such, even the buzz over the boundary breaking trial in Spirit Rune Peak gradually began to be smothered by the hype for the upcoming purple sash selection...
With the purple sash selection just arou
nd the corner, the most widely discussed topic in the sect became who would become the champion, many disciples even betting amongst themselves.
The highly supported contenders consisted of Su Wan from Cangxuan Peak, Wu Yue of Hongya Peak, Mu Chunlei of Snow Lotus Peak, Le Tian of Sword Cometh Peak, Wang Chen of Lightning Prison Peak and Xia Yu of Spirit Rune Peak… these individual were the first seat gold sash disciples of their respective master factions, and most formidable amongst the participants. Thus, their popularity.
Many people predicted that the champion would be decided amongst them.
Right on their heels, was no one other than Zhou Yuan. Due to his surprising display on Spirit Rune Peak and certain hidden forces, Zhou Yuan became quite a popular contender, nearly even catching up to the top few.
This led to quite a number of disciples feeling rather confident in Zhou Yuan, even betting heavily on him.
However, several of the more informed disciples merely shook their heads and sneered at such behaviour. Zhou Yuan had indeed been quite dazzling in the boundary breaking trial, even managing to break through Xia Yu’s defense. However, everyone found out later on that he had merely managed to catch her off guard.
After all, though Zhou Yuan’s Spirit cultivation had ascended to the next level, he was still very new to the mid Corporeal stage. Xia Yu, on the other hand, was certainly more experienced, and her foundations could only be sturdier than Zhou Yuan’s.
Moreover, Zhou Yuan’s trump cards had already been revealed during the trial, enabling the other participants to take precautionary measures. Therefore, it would not be very likely for him to catch anyone off guard any more.
At the very least, the majority felt that a prepared Xia Yu should be able to triumph over Zhou Yuan.
Thus, many felt very skeptical about Zhou Yuan being a championship contender, and believed that his true face would be revealed when the purple sash selection began.
Hence, some of the more discerning disciples paid no heed to the recent hype surrounding Zhou Yuan, even lecturing the disciples that had placed bets on Zhou Yuan, shaking their heads and calling them fools if they still did not listen.
Dragon Prince Yuan c1-1251 Page 198