“You’ve made quite some progress due to the nine dragons baptism.”

In the purple Genesis cave dwelling, Yaoyao carefully looked Zhou Yuan up and down, as surprise appeared on her gorgeous face. It appeared that the latter’s progress had somewhat surpassed her expectations.

“Come on, it is a nine dragons baptism after all…” Zhou Yuan chuckled. However, it was clear that he was extremely satisfied with his Genesis Qi improvements. He had initially felt it would be pretty good if he managed to reach the sixth layer, but who could have expected that the nine dragons baptism would leapfrog him straight into the initial seventh layer.

In the future, he would be able to send his Spirit into the seventh level of the Alpha-Origin Heaven, and absorb even more Alpha-Origin Qi to strengthen his Qi Dwelling.

Zhou Yuan sat down by the table and offhandedly said, “The truth was that the baptism had already finished a month earlier, but I was worried that the rapid progress would destabilize my foundations, and this did not leave immediately. Instead, I continued to cultivate for the following month, only leaving once my foundations were completely stable.”

“It appears that you do have a little smarts.” Yaoyao faintly nodded in approval, as she praised Zhou Yuan for his prudence. His growth this time had been too rapid, the number of stars in his Qi Dwelling basically doubling. If he had not spent time and effort to properly control this power, it would undoubtedly cause Zhou Yuan’s Genesis Qi to become unconcentrated, and affect his foundations.

Her bright eyes swept a glance at Zhou Yuan. When she saw his pleased expression, she nonchalantly said, “Although you’ve improved substantially, you’re still not number one amongst the chief disciples of the seven peaks.”

Amongst the current seven chief disciples, Cangxuan Peak’s Tang Muxin and Lightning Prison Peak’s Xia Yan were not newly promoted chief disciples, but veterans that had dominated their positions for a long time. As such, they were naturally stronger than the other chief disciples.

After the most recent Genesis essence baptism, both of them had likewise grown even stronger, and their Genesis Qi foundations had likely also surpassed ten thousand stars, making them no weaker than Zhou Yuan.

Upon hearing this Zhou Yuan stubbornly said, “We won’t know that for sure till we fight.”

If it was two months ago, Zhou Yuan would indeed have felt very pressured if he were to face Tang Muxin or Xie Yan. But since they were now at similar levels, Zhou Yuan was quite confident that he would have a fighting chance.

However, he had no quarrel with either of them, and they likewise did not find him an eyesore like Baili Che had. Hence, there was no conflict between them, nor reason for them to fight.

Yaoyao continued, “Even if you’re ranked one amongst the chief disciples, your chances will not be good even against the last ranked Chosen Zhao Zhu. After all, everyone else has not been slacking off while you were improving.”

“The Mythic Utopia will be a gathering of the countless geniuses in the entire Cangxuan Heaven, and there will be no lack of Chosen level individuals amidst them. Your strength will most likely appear lackluster amongst them.”

After repeated blows from Yaoyao, the pleased look on Zhou Yuan’s face finally dissipated, as he rolled his eyes and sullenly said, “Alright, alright, I understand. I won’t become complacent.”

How could he not realize that Yaoyao was afraid of him growing overly confident, and had intentionally poured cold water over him to wake him up.

“However, the Mythic Utopia… is indeed going to be an unprecedentedly major event, and it likely won’t be easy to obtain blessings inside.” Zhou Yuan rubbed his chin and sighed.

Yaoyao suddenly rose to her feet, and sat down beside Zhou Yuan. Her bright eyes stared hard at him, as her voice turned extremely serious, “No matter how hard it is, you have to do your best!”

Zhou Yuan was taken aback. “Because of the third Saint Rune?”

Yaoyao was silent for a moment, before she shook her head and said, “Although the third Saint Rune is important, it is not the most important reason…”

This only confused Zhou Yuan even more. He was interested in the Mythic Utopia purely because of the third Saint Rune that existed within it, but Yaoyao was saying that even the Saint Rune was not the most important thing inside?

“The Mythic Utopia is one of the greatest places of blessing and opportunity in Cangxuan Heaven. At the very minimum, you must secure a blessing that will allow you to reach the seven heavens Divine Dwelling when you advance to the Divine Dwelling stage in the future!” Yaoyao's normally indifferent face had turned exceptionally solemn and serious at this moment.

When one reaches the Divine Dwelling stage, one’s Qi Dwelling will transform into a Divine Dwelling.

The highest rank Divine Dwelling was to establish nine heavens, and was known as the nine heavens Divine Dwelling.

As for a seven heaven Divine Dwelling, it required one to establish at least seven heavens!

“Seven heavens Divine Dwelling?” Zhou Yuan was a little alarmed. This was no simple feat. Even for the Cangxuan Sect’s current batch of ten great Chosens, Zhou Yuan estimated that not a single one of them was close to reaching a seven heavens Divine Dwelling.

Majority of practitioners who reached the Divine Dwelling stage would end up with a three heavens Divine Dwelling or lower, while only a few outstanding ones would achieve a four or even five heavens Divine Dwelling. Those that could reach six heavens Divine Dwelling were already considered rarely seen top tier geniuses in hegemon level sects.

Yaoyao slowly said, “Right, the Divine Dwelling you establish in the future must at least reach the seven heavens level!”

Zhou Yuan’s expression turned solemn. Minimally a seven heavens Divine Dwelling? This was a very stringent requirement indeed.

“Why?” Asked Zhou Yuan in a serious manner. He knew that there was surely a reason behind this requirement.

Yaoyao fell silent. A long time later, her lips finally cracked open as she said, “Because a seven heavens Divine Dwelling is the minimum requirement to reach the third level of the Ancestral Dragon Scripture. If you can’t even establish a seven heavens Divine Dwelling, the Ancestral Dragon Scripture will be stuck at the second level now matter how hard you work.”

There were three levels to the Ancestral Dragon Scripture.

The grade 5 Omni Python Qi.

The grade 7 World Subduing Heavenly Serpent Qi.

And the grade 9 Galaxy Sacred Dragon Qi.

There actually also a fourth level that surpassed grade 9, but it was a thing of legend.

Zhou Yuan was currently between the first and second levels. He had originally started with the grade 5 Omni Python Qi, but it had evolved after he took back half of Wu Huang’s sacred dragon Qi, and reached grade 6.

Zhou Yuan’s expression turned extremely grave at this moment, He had not expected the Ancestral Dragon Scripture to be so stringent.

Yaoyao softly said, “The Ancestral Dragon Scripture is no ordinary Qi cultivation method. When you decided on it back then, I had already warned you that it will be a very difficult path to tread. Moreover, you are only permitted to advance, and cannot retreat.”

She looked at Zhou Yuan’s tense face as her eyes lowered slightly. “However, you’ll still be pretty decent even if you’re stuck at the second level. The grade 7 World Subduing Heavenly Serpent Qi does not lose out in power to ordinary grade 8 Genesis Qi.”

“No!”

A firm and decisive voice rang out.

Yaoyao raised her face, and found Zhou Yuan's determined face staring at her, as he shook his head and said, “If my goal is merely a grade 7 Genesis Qi, why would I have chosen it back then?”

Ambition filled his eyes, together with an unwavering will.

Yaoyao’s heart shook as she gazed at this eyes and mumbled, “Why do you do this to yourself?”

To chase the limits of the Ancestral Dragon Scripture required an unimaginable amount of effort, and may even put one’s life at risk.

Zhou Yuan was silent for a moment, as he stared at Yaoyao’s bright and clean face. A long while later, he softly said, “Because I had a feeling that if I did not make that choice, I would not even have the qualifications to stand at your side in the future.”

The tip of Yaoyao’s heart shivered.

Zhou Yuan’s expression turned complicated. The girl before him had always been at his side for many years. She had been there when he walked out from the tiny Great Zhou Empire, she had been at his side every step of the way since he was an immature kid who could not even find his eight meridian channels. In fact, she was still accompanying him even till today.

Master Cang Yuan had clearly tasked her to him, and yet, Zhou Yuan understood just who had been protecting who for the past few years.

Even after so many years together, Zhou Yuan still felt an untouchable mysteriousness from Yaoyao. From the occasional tidbits of information he managed to garner from master Cang Yuan and patriarch Cang Xuan, Yaoyao was obviously no ordinary person.

The implications behind her were far too great.

He was still very weak now, but he hoped that when he became strong in the future, he would be able to protect Yaoyao like she had protected him for the past few years.

As one of his strongest trump cards, how could he easily give up on the Ancestral Dragon Scripture?

As Yaoyao dazedly stared at the young yet determined face, the indifference in her eyes quietly retreating, while ripples began to emerge in her heart.

Specks of dust seemed to dance under the falling light at this moment.

Zhou Yuan gazed at the gorgeous face that seemed to have suddenly come alive with emotion, and smiled a little, before he slowly said in a soft but determined voice, “It’s just a seven heavens Divine Dwelling right…”

“I will definitely achieve it!”