Dragon Prince Yuan

After leaving the fair, Zhou Yuan brought Zuoqiu Qingyu to a more secluded place. 

“You had your eyes set on his ancient wooden bracelet from the start, right?” Zuoqiu Qingyu looked at Zhou Yuan with an expression that seemingly resembled a smile, her red lips moving as she said, “Why do I feel as if I’ve been used by you?”

“Why do you have to put it in such an awful manner.” Zhou Yuan defended himself as he righteously said, “All we did was stand up for injustice and worked together to deal with a local tyrant.”

While he spoke, he lifted his hand as essence flames began to rise from his palm one after another. Each essence flame was wrapped in Genesis Qi, preventing their heat from spreading. 

Zhou Yuan chuckled and said, “Take a few. After all, I was the one who roped you in, and can’t possibly keep everything to myself.”

Zuoqiu Qingyu’s eyes seemed to swirl in thought as she swept a glance at the essence flames, before letting out a soft chuckle. However, she did not reject his gesture. Instead, she took two of the essence flames with a nimble wave of her hand. 

One was one hundred years old, while the other was five hundred years old. 

The combined value of these two essence flames should reach a million Genesis crystals. 

Zuoqiu Qingyu toyed with the two essence flames, as she grinned and said, “Since you have been such a good sport, let me divulge a piece of information to you…”

“What information?” Zhou Yuan was taken aback. 

Zuoqiu Qingyu’s eyes narrowed slightly as she softly said, “In the Essence Flame Vein, watch out for that fellow from Sacred Palace named Yang Xuan.”

“Yang Xuan?” A handsome face wearing a warm smile flashed across Zhou Yuan’s mind. It was the young man that had been at Zuoqiu Qingyu’s side during the day. 

“In this fight for the Essence Flame Vein, my Hundred Flowers Fairy Palace and the North Sea Dragon Subduing Hall have each sent only one Chosen. It is clear that we have no intentions of taking a lion's share, and just want a cut.”

“However, I am afraid that isn’t what your Cangxuan Sect or the Sacred Palace has in mind. Otherwise, neither faction would have dispatched two Chosens. Moreover, even such high ranking ones…”

“The Chosens from both sides are very powerful, and will be able to restrict one another.” 

“Overall, both teams appear to be quite evenly matched. However, can sometimes feel from Yang Xuan’s words that he does not think your team will be much of a threat.”

Zhou Yuan frowned slightly. Yang Xuan wasn't a Chosen, and his status in Sacred Palace should be equivalent to the veteran purple sash disciples such as Qin Hai and Bai Li, right? 

Furthermore, from their brief encounter during the day, he could feel that Yang Xuan’s strength should around the seventh layer Alpha-Origin stage, which was on the same level as Qin Hai and Bai Li. So where did his confidence stem from?

A thoughtful look flashed across his eyes. 

He ultimately failed to come up with an answer. Hence, he nodded at Zuoqiu Qingyu and said, “Alright, I will keep an eye out.” 

When Zuoqiu Qingyu saw this, she nodded. 

The two of them talked a little longer, before they went back to their respective rooms.  

The first thing Zhou Yuan did when he returned was to quickly retrieve the ancient wooden bracelet as he stared at it in anticipation. 

This ancient wooden bracelet was filled with rich Yimu Qi, and was clearly made from some kind of rare thousand year ancient wood. One could just barely be able to make out Genesis Runes on the wood, a sign that it had crafted into a Genesis artifact. 

When wearing this bracelet, one would be able to swiftly recover from even serious physical injuries. This would naturally give one a huge advantage in a fight. 

In a manner of speaking, it could be considered a defensive treasure. 

Even if it was for the Taiyi Green Wood Mark, Zhou Yuan was still quite reluctant to absorb it... 

With a sigh, he sat down cross-legged on his bed, and positioned one palm above the other. Golden Genesis Qi spread, causing the wooden bracelet to float between his palms. 

The golden Genesis Qi vibrated gently, breaking the wooden bracelet between his palms. Ten mottled beads were left slowly rotating in the air. 

He slowly shut his eyes. 

Wisps of dark green Qi were gradually extracted from the spinning beads, flowing along Zhou Yuan’s palm and into his body.  

“Such rich and potent Yimu Qi!”

Zhou Yuan immediately felt the difference when the first strand entered his body. The Yimu Qi he absorbed today was extremely pure, and filled with such rich life energy that it made his body give off a faint shine. 

This sensation filled Zhou Yuan’s heart with joy. There was no way this thousand year ancient wood could be compared to the ancient wood he absorbed previously. Regardless of whether it was richness and purity, there was a vast gap between the former and the latter. 

After a moment of joy, Zhou Yuan regained his composure and began to manipulate the Yimu Qi, slowly merging it with his blood and flesh. At the same time, his Spirit ensured that the Yimu Qi would take the shape of mysterious markings at the instant of fusion.

These actions were already very practised due to the numerous times he had done them during the past half a month. 

The only difference was that he would often be forced to stop mid-way due to the lack of Yimu Qi. Though there was still some progress, it was extremely slow.

As such, not even a tenth of the Taiyi Mark had been completed after half a month... 

However, as the Yimu Qi poured into his body this time, he finally felt the long stagnated Taiyi Mark finally begin to progress little by little at a speed which he had never experienced before… 

At this current rate, Zhou Yuan felt that he would make significant progress on the Taiyi Mark in a few days. 

By that time, even though the Taiyi mark would still not be complete, Zhou Yuan was confident that he would be more than half done. This was definitely considered extremely rapid progress. 

Furthermore, some the Taiyi Green Wood Mark power should begin to reveal itself. 

At this point, even with his mental fortitude, Zhou Yuan felt a tinge of excitement rise within his heart. 

“Looks like I will have to go all-out for the next three days...”

　　…

The next day, the commotion stirred by Zhou Yuan in the fair caused his name to spread across the entire Black Flame City. Every genius from the various factions now knew that a disciple called Zhou Yuan had opened ten high quality essence flames in the rock gambling area, and there was even a thousand year one amongst them...

Furthermore, even Su Duan, the junior sect master of the Flame Cauldron Sect, had lost to him in flame rock gambling...

This became a topic of interest for a time. As such, every faction now knew the individual known as Zhou Yuan. 

Meanwhile, when elder Wu of Cangxuan Sect called for Li Qingchan, Zhao Zhu and the other disciples to gather together and discuss their strategy for the upcoming fight, they realized that Zhou Yuan was absent. 

“Zhou Yuan mentioned that he was going into secluded cultivation for the next three days.” Said Li Qingchan. 

Zhao Zhu asked in an indifferent voice, “He was so full of energy last night. Is he hiding now to avoid the growing attention? Or is he trying to make a last ditch attempt to become a little stronger?” 

Qin Hai and the other Sword Cometh Peak disciples began to laugh in a hushed manner. 

There was an unhappy expression on elder Wu’s face. He was naturally aware of what happened last night. However, in his opinion, the art of gambling rock was merely a frivolous skill. Moreover, Zhou Yuan was not very strong, and yet he was skilled at these useless games. From what elder Wu could see, Zhou Yuan was clearly unreliable and useless. 

Although he never had high expectations of Zhou Yuan, such frivolous behavior was quite infuriating.  

Nonetheless, he did not say anything on this matter. Instead, he waved his hand and nonchalantly said, “Leave him be. If he won’t even help himself, he will only have himself to blame.” 

His opinion of Zhou Yuan had clearly lowered once again. In fact, he was even considering giving Zhou Yuan a bad grade after the fight for the Essence Flame Vein. 

“Let’s begin the discussion.”

　　…

Time stealthily passed as the atmosphere in the chaotic Blame Flame City became more and more heated

Three days unknowingly passed.