Chapter 232 (1/2)

In the following few days, having tasted the sweet fruits of success, Gu Hongyi came by the creek practically everyday to receive Zhou Yuan's aid in mastering the Ethereal Form technique.

With Zhou Yuan's help, she progressed by leaps and bounds. In a short four days, the number of apertures she had unblocked rose from 10 to 25.

One must know that the later apertures would become harder and harder to sense. In a normal situation, Gu Hongyi would at best unblock 5 apertures in four days.

The rapid progress under Zhou Yuan's guidance slightly alarmed even Gu Hongyi herself. Hence, even someone as prideful as her was now a little more respectful when she saw Zhou Yuan during these few days.

However, Zhou Yuan did not pay much heed to her change in attitude. After all, the Genesis jade he wanted was already his...

The only thing that bothered him was that this tiny amount of Genesis jade was still nowhere near enough to rent out the high grade little Heaven tier Nine Dragons Canon.

...

A creek flowed within a mountain.

Zhou Yuan was seated on a rock, his eyes shut in cultivation, while Gu Hongyi was also present nearby.

Huu.

Zhou Yuan suddenly opened his eyes as he slowly expelled a breath of white Qi from his mouth. At this moment, a peculiar undulation spread from his body.

One could only watch as half his body gradually turned incorporeal, giving off a faint feeling of transparency.

”You… you've mastered the first level?!” A shocked voice sounded from the side. Gu Hongyi had opened her eyes, and was now staring at Zhou Yuan in astonishment.

Etherealising half one's body was only achievable when one reached the first level of the Ethereal Form technique.

Zhou Yuan's expression did not change as he swept her a look and said, ”You've already completed 25 apertures, is it that strange for me to reach the first level?”

Gu Hongyi froze momentarily, feeling a little foolish due to how shocked she was. When she thought about it, however, she felt that it was a very normal reaction. It was after all far too rare for someone to reach the first level in such a short span of time.

“Now that I’ve mastered the first level, any attack that lands on my body will have its power neutralized by nearly 30%.” A satisfied look filled his eyes as he looked at his etherealized hand.

Do not look down on this 30%, because it would often be enough to bring about a reversal in battle.

Of course, the neutralization effect was not absolute, and there existed certain special methods that could counter it. If not, the Ethereal Form technique would not be limited to a mere mid grade little Heaven Genesis technique, but instead be qualified to enter the ranks of even the true Heaven tier.

All in all, the Ethereal Form technique would greatly boost one's survivability on all fronts.

“You’re actually pretty low-key…” Gu Hongyi suddenly laughed as she looked at Zhou Yuan. ”Although you appear to be a first layer Alpha-Origin, after spending these past few days with you, I've come to realise that you should have a place amongst the recently established outer mountains' top ten.”

Nearly half a month had passed since the many disciples arrived at the Cangxuan Sect. The acclimatization period was basically over for everyone, causing them to naturally shift their attention to competing and comparing.

As such, after some estimation and general consensus, the outer mountain disciples came up with the so-called ten great outer mountain disciples. It had spread like wildfire during the past two days, making it one of the hottest topics in the outer mountains.

The one who stood at the top was to no one's surprise, Lu Feng.

While Gu Hongyi was second.

Amongst the ten great outer mountain disciples, seven were geniuses from the Shengzhou continent, while only three were from the other continents… and it just so happened that Qiao Xiu was number ten.

As for Zhou Yuan… no one had even mentioned him. He was after all a first layer Alpha-Origin, and there appeared to be just too huge of a gap between him and the third layer Alpha-Origin disciples.

However, Gu Hongyi was clearly not of the same opinion, hence her previous words.

From what she could see, Zhou Yuan was too good at concealing his strength. If he wanted to, he would surely have a place amongst the ten great outer mountain disciples.

Zhou Yuan mere chuckled when he heard this. ”Is there any meaning to these rankings? It's not the peak selection ceremony will be decided based on it.”

He was indeed not the slightest bit interested in it. After all, the higher one was ranked, the more humiliating it would be if one ended up being unable to match up in the peak selection ceremony.

Moreover, it was preposterous that Yaoyao had not even been included in the ten great outer mountain disciples, a fact that only made Zhou Yuan look down on its weight. He knew that if Yaoyao were to act, even Lu Feng would not be her match.

Gu Hongyi frowned slightly. ”We're all youngsters, if we don’t have aspirations, we won’t have drive. How then will we aim for even greater heights? You’re the weird one, so young and yet so similar to an old man.”

Zhou Yuan could only helplessly roll his eyes. Can't I not be a part of your pointless rankings?

”Oh?”

Just as Zhou Yuan was about to speak, he suddenly sensed something and lifted his head towards a certain direction where the sound of rushing wind could be heard.

A figure hurriedly flew over, his round, fat figure making it painfully apparently as to who it was.

It was naturally Shen Wanjin.

Shen Wanjin was currently dripping with sweat. The moment he caught sight of Zhou Yuan, he hastily shouted, ”Little Yuan bro, Zhu Feng is heading here with several others! They don't look friendly at all.”