Chapter 454 Third Level (1/2)

On a certain misty mountain.

Zhou Yuan was seated on the water and fire tempering dragon stage. His body was currently drenched in sweat as it faintly tembled without end. It was obvious that he had just endured another session of the fire and water Genesis Qi.

The fight with Wu Hai had long been thrown to the back of Zhou Yuan’s mind. He paid no attention to the ripples it caused, and instead buried himself in his training deep within the mountains.

The chief disciple selection was getting nearer and nearer, and he could no longer afford to relax.

“Oww…”

Groaned Zhou Yuan. His body had grown much stronger after reaching the jade skin stage, causing the first level of water and fire Qi to become much less effective.

Hence, Zhou Yuan had gritted his teeth and moved straight to the second level.

Though the tempering effect would be more effective, the pain he had to endure would also far surpass the first level.

Zhou Yuan got to his feet with some difficulty, and leaped onto the cliff before falling back down on his butt.

However, he did not take a rest, but instead retrieved a mottled tree scale from his clothes. Rich Yimu Qi spread from it, causing him to feel a surge of energy.

The day before, he had managed to chop off over twenty more tree scales with old Xuan’s help. Due to the heavy consumption of vital energy during his body tempering sessions, the single Taiyi Green Wood Markk in Zhou Yuan’s body had been pretty exhausted by his recent training. If he did not replenish it, it would have likely disintegrated.

Without the Tiayi Green Wood Mark, Zhou Yuan obviously could no longer undergo such intense daily physical tempering. If that happened, his cultivation progress would slow to a crawl.

Zhou Yuan closed his eyes as the scale began to float between his palms. Strand after strand of dark green energy rose from it and streamed into his body.

Dark green specks of light glimmered faintly in his flesh, as a somewhat faded ancient pattern started absorbing the light, slowly recovering its shine.

Bit by bit, vigorous vital energy and life force surged once again in Zhou Yuan’s body.

His originally somewhat pale complexion gradually returned to a healthy red, while the intense pain from earlier also stealthily faded away...

Two hours later.

Zhou Yuan opened his eyes as the tree bark between his palms turned to dust. The Yimu Qi within it had already been completely absorbed.

As he felt the replenished vital energy in his body, Zhou Yuan spat out a deep breath.

“There’s only slightly over twenty days till the chief disciple selection.”

His eyes narrowed as a look of thought flitted across them. At his current strength, there was no longer any need to fear an opponent on the level of Wu Hai. Even so, it was still clearly not enough.

Because the most troublesome opponent was Yuan Hong.

In their brief encounter previously, Zhou Yuan had felt a dangerous aura from Yuan Hong. He was most definitely going to be the biggest obstacle in the upcoming selection.

Even though he had achieved the jade skin stage of the little Mythic Saint Body, it was still not enough according to Zhou Yuan’s estimates. He would only feel confident if he managed to progress in the little Mythic Saint Body again and reach the silver bone stage.

However, it clearly won’t be easy to reach the silver bone stage.

It was already amazing for him to have mastered the jade skin stage in a month, while the silver bone stage was obviously going to be a much higher mountain to climb.

In fact, even though he had raised the water and fire Genesis Qi to the second level, his bones still showed no indication of transforming.

While Zhou Yuan was lost in thought, old Xuan’s voice sounded from the side, “Kid, hurry up and continue training since you’re done resting, what are you wasting time?”

In the broken stone pavilion beside him, old Xuan was grinding leaf tobacco into powder between his fingers and pouring it into his pipe. He lit the pipe and puffed, causing smoke to rise, while his murky eyes seemed to pierce through the smoke and lazily look towards Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan’s gaze faintly flickered in thought. A hint of struggle could be seen for a moment, before quickly being replaced by determination.

He raised his head, looked towards old Xuan and said, “Elder, I plan to raise the water and fire Qi to the third level.”

The old hand holding the pipe shook as rarely seen astonishment appeared in old Xuan’s eyes. “Do you not value your life? The second level is already very unbearable to your current self, and yet you still dare to challenge the third level?”

He stared at Zhou Yuan, under the impression that this was just some whimsical request. However, he was only met with Zhou Yuan’s determined gaze.

“Are you for real?” Old Xuan was a little in disbelief.