On the arena atop the mountain, Xu Yan lowered his head, his expression ashen as he gazed at strange blood lines that had appeared on his arms. The lines of blood gave off a bitter aura of resentment that made one shiver uncontrollably.

It was obviously some kind of terrifying poison.

“Do you think that a tiny bit of poison can scare me?”

Xu Yan’s voice was laced with frost. Genesis Qi swiftly began surging in his body, sweeping towards his arms in an attempt to expel the Dragon’s Resentment Poison.

However, the instant his Genesis Qi came into contact with the poison, he realized to his horror that his Genesis Qi was turning blood-red as if it had been infected, causing him to lose control of it.

As a result, a strange blood-red lines on his arms began to grow even darker.

A sliver of terror finally appeared on Xu Yan’s face. He stared at Zhou Yuan and shouted, “What kind of poison is this?!”

It was so domineering. Mere contact was all it took to infect even Genesis Qi. He had never heard of such a tyrannical poison.

Zhou Yuan flung off the blood on his arms, before falling to the ground on his butt. He cast a nonchalant glance at Xu Yan, and said, “If you’re smart, don’t use your Genesis Qi for the time being. If the infection spreads too deep, I’m not sure if it will be possible to save you.”

No one knew better than him how frightening the Dragon’s Resentment Poison was. It was basically impossible to neutralize. Xu Yan was currently only at the initial stage of the infection. If it worsened and the poison went berserk, he would experience pain that would make one beg for death.

“What?!”

Xu Yan’s face twisted, rage filling it as he looked towards Zhou Yuan. If he could not use Genesis Qi, how would he kick Zhou Yuan out?

“You... you’re too devious!” Xu Yan’s voice was brimming with anger.

Only now did he understand. Zhou Yuan may have appeared foolish previously when he chose to engage in a Genesis Qi clash within their bodies. His true goal had been to send the Dragon’s Resentment Poison into Xu Yan’s body.

However, Zhou Yuan merely raised his eyelids in response, basically ignoring the former. There weren’t many rules for the purple sash selection, allowing one to rely on any means one chose. Calling him devious, humph. Was Sword Cometh Peak honorable for sending so many gold sash disciples after him?

Was it not underhanded for Xu Yan to use all of his veteran purple sash disciple strength to overpower Zhou Yuan in an attempt to kick him out of the selection?

Since it was within the rules, no one could blame him.

Moreover, Zhou Yuan clearly understood that it was practically impossible for him to defeat Xu Yan at this point in time. Hence, Zhou Yuan had selected to take an unconventional approach, forcing both parties to suffer such that Xu Yan would not have any energy left to kick him out.

Both of them had now lost all their battle power. All they could do now was wait...

The corners of Zhou Yuan’s mouth curled upwards. He continued to ignore the fuming Xu Yan and began to inspect the injuries on his arms.

Xu Yan’s face had nearly turned green due to Zhou Yuan’s complete disregard of him, barely able to hold himself back several times from completely exploding in anger. But when he saw the strange blood liens on his arms, he could only do the rational thing and forcibly suppress his rage.

He could sense how dreadful the blood-red poison was. If he tried anything reckless and irreversible damage was done, he would certainly dearly regret it.

Thus, all he could do was stand there, not daring to make any moves.

As such, the situation instantly turned rather awkward. The two of them had been locked in a bitter struggle just moments ago, but now, one was seated on the ground, while the other was standing there, still as a statue, as he glared at the former...

This strange scene naturally caused a torrential uproar when it landed in the eyes of the countless disciples outside the mountain range.

“What are they doing?”

“Why isn’t Xu Yan attacking? Zhou Yuan has even sat down… is he resting?”

“What exactly is going on?”

“......”

Numerous disciples were completely baffled, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry. They had been fighting just a second ago, why were they now peacefully sitting and talking?

Countless confused whispers spread.

Fortunately, there were some sharper disciples in the crowd that said with some hesitation, “There seems to be something strange about Xu Yan’s condition.”

“It’s not that he doesn’t want to move, but has been forced into this situation by Zhou Yuan...”

“Zhou Yuan must have done something during that Genesis Qi clash earlier.”

“......”

The other disciples thoughtfully nodded their heads when they heard this. This conjecture did seem to fit. It was the only way to explain why the usually rational Zhou Yuan would make such a seemingly foolish decision to clash Genesis Qi with Xu Yan.

The former clearly had a goal.

Xu Yan, on the other hand, had fallen prey to the trap due to underestimating Zhou Yuan.

From the current situation, if Zhou Yuan and Xu Yan continued in this manner, the giant incense stick would eventually be fully burnt. When that happened, Zhou Yuan would be the one who managed to endure the longest...

And the title champion would naturally become his.

When they realised this, countless disciples looked towards Zhou Yuan’s figure in shock. Although the latter’s current state of gently wiping away the blood off his arms appeared quite pitiful, it did not stop amazement and respect to rise in the hearts of numerous disciples.

He had given them far too many surprises.

Maybe no one would think much of these surprises if they only appeared on occasion, but if they happened too regularly, such surprises would in truth no longer be simple surprises...

Evidently, this new disciples that had spent less than a year in the Cangxuan Sect was nowhere near as simple as they had imagined.

...

“Why did this happen…”

Beside the river, Lu Xuanyin gazed upon this scene with a pale face. She stumbled in disbelief, falling to the ground on her butt as disappointment and despair appeared in her eyes.

She never imagined that even Xu Yan himself would fail to finish off Zhou Yuan, and had instead been forced into such an awkward situation by him.

Fear surfaced on her face as she looked at the figure in the mirror. She had repeatedly targeted Zhou Yuan, only to end up thwarted each time. As a result, she was now becoming quite afraid of him.

Such a person was just far too strange and unfathomable.

...

On the highest peak.

Genesis Qi rippled from six imposing figures as they watched the battles occurring on the peaks deep within the mountain range.

Sect master Qing Yang and the other five peak masters looked towards Xu Yan’s figure. Beings as powerful of themselves were able to view the interior of his body with a single glance, clearly seeing the strange blood-red thing restlessly stirring inside Xu Yan’s arms.

“Eh…”

A soft sound of surprise was emitted from sect master Qing Yang when he saw the blood-red Dragon’s Resentment Poison. He had evidently detected a peculiar undulation from it.

Sect master Qing Yang slowly remarked, “What a domineering poison… even one such as I have never seen such a thing before.”

The other peak masters nodded in agreement.

The Snow Lotus Peak master Liu Lianyi smiled and said, “The little one called Zhou Yuan is quite a surprising kid. It’s hard to believe he forced the seventh layer Xu Yan to give up with the strength of the third layer.”

She glanced at peak master Ling Jun, the mockery in her words impossible to miss.

Peak master Ling Jun’s expression appeared rather calm. However, those familiar with him knew that he was someone who loved face, and could not possibly be calm inside when Sword Cometh Peak had been humiliated so badly today.

Peak master Ling Jun indifferently said, “He merely relied on poison.”

Sect master Qing Yang shook his head and said, “The participants are allowed to utilise basically any methods they want in the purple sash selection, and poison is also a kind of strength. Zhou Yuan is weaker than Xu Yan, but he is adept at finding opportunities. He made excellent use of the fact that Xu Yan was underestimating him to deploy an unconventional tactic that ultimately landed Xu Yan in his trap. The fact that he has such rich battle experience is extraordinary.”

Peak master Lin Jun was silent. It was impossible for him to be unaware of these points. However, he was unable to be fully composed due to the great defeat suffered by Sword Cometh Peak today.

Sect master Qing Yang looked towards Zhou Yuan in admiration as he said, “This little one is not bad at all. It’s a pity that he went to Saint Genesis Peak…”

His voice was filled with regret. Since Zhou Yuan was already Shen Taiyuan’s disciple, he could not possibly be so shameless as it snatch away a disciple from an elder of the sect, regardless of how greatly he cherished talent.

...

“I never imagined that Zhou Yuan would still have such a trick hidden up his sleeve…”

The scene in the Genesis Qi mirror stunned Li Qingchan for quite some time, before she softly mumbled some praise. Her perspective of Zhou Yuan had been changed once again.

She had originally believed that it would be impossible for Zhou Yuan to turn things around this time.

Who could have imagined that he would create a miracle once again, turning an unwinnable fight into a stalemate… though if one considered the rules, it would actually be Zhou Yuan’s victory.

If they continued in this manner, Zhou Yuan would be the one to benefit.

In fact, one may even say that the championship title was already his...

“He really can’t be judged through normal means…”

She looked towards Yaoyao and sighed. “You’ve won the bet again.”

Yaoyao lifted her face and focused on Zhou Yuan’s figure. However, there was no joy on her face. Instead, her brows were slightly furrowed, while traces of anger could be seen.

“He’s too reckless…”

“This is the period when the Dragon’s Resentment Poison will soon go berserk once again. I can’t believe he actually dared to stir it up…”

“You’re the one who is going to suffer if the Dragon’s Resentment Poison erupts again.”