Inside the golden pool.

Zhou Yuan cut through the water, eyes fixed his guide Tuntun as he closely followed.

As they continued to dive deeper, Zhou Yuan began to feel a powerful pressure surge towards him from all directions. The magnitude far surpassed that of ordinary water.

"What a strong pressure. Even though I’ve already stepped into the Heaven Gate stage, it’s still a bit unbearable." Zhou Yuan’s expression was grave. The depths of the golden pool was clearly not a place ordinary people could go to.

Dark gold Genesis Qi began to flood out of Zhou Yuan’s body, wrapping around him.

However, it was not long before his Genessi Qi barrier already gradually reached its limits.

Zhou Yuan helplessly came to a stop, revealing a bitter smile. He had not expected it to be so difficult to reach the bottom of the golden pool.

Tuntun swiftly swam back upon realising this. It pondered for a bit, before laying itself on Zhou Yuan’s head. Powerful Genesis Qi spread, enveloping Zhou Yuan like a bubble.

The overwhelming pressure immediately vanished.

"Thanks." Zhou Yuan rubbed Tuntun’s head.

Tuntun waved its paw, and began rapidly descending with Zhou Yuan once again. After a few minutes, they finally saw their destination...

The bottom of the golden pool was covered in resplendent golden light. Numerous rocks had been dyed gold, making them exceptionally dazzling.

Zhou Yuan’s gaze swept across the area, a puzzled look in his eyes. His Spirit sense was not weak, but was unable to discover anything out of the ordinary.

Tuntun continued to descend, landing on the bottom of the pool, before its paws suddenly began to dig at a certain spot.

Countless golden rocks were sent flying.

A long while later, Zhou Yuan’s eyes suddenly concentrated. As Tuntun continued to dig, he saw a damaged stone tablet appear at the bottom of the golden pool.

Zhou Yuan waved his sleeve, sending out a wave of Genesis Qi that swept away the scattered rocks, allowing the stone tablet to be fully uncovered.

The stone tablet was mottled and pretty badly damaged, covered in the vestiges of erosion. It seemed to be exceedingly ordinary, but Zhou Yuan’s gaze were still glued to its surface.

One would find ancient patterns on the surface of the stone tablet. These patterns looked as if they were naturally formed when the world began, mysterious and immeasurable.

Weak rays of light connected the patterns to each other, forming an ancient and mysterious rune of light.

Zhou Yuan stared hard at the mysterious rune. He felt the Genesis Qi in his body turn sluggish at this moment as if under an indescribable pressure.

It was obvious that this pressure originated from the mysterious rune.

"There is a slightly familiar aura from it..."

Emotions churned in Zhou Yuan’s heart. Moments later, his eyes suddenly flashed. "I remember it, it’s the same aura from the Saint Tablet!"

But this was not strange. The Saint Remains Domain had after all originated from the fallen Saint.

"This is a Saint Rune..."

Mumbled Zhou Yuan to himself. The rune was definitely from the fallen Saint. Although he was unable to unravel its mysteries, anyone with half a brain would know that the Saint Rune was extraordinary.

If not, Tuntun would not have been so insistent.

Tuntun extended its paw at this moment, pointing towards the stone tablet then pointing towards Zhou Yuan.

"You want me to touch it?" Asked Zhou Yuan.

Tuntun nodded repeatedly.

Zhou Yuan hesitated for a moment, but ultimately gritted his teeth. His figure descended as he reached out his hand and very carefully touched the ancient and mysterious Saint Rune on the stone tablet.

Bzz!

The instant Zhou Yuan’s finger made contact, blinding rays of light exploded from the Saint Rune, shooting into the spot between Zhou Yuan’s brows.

Boom!

An explosion resounded in Zhou Yuan mind the moment the light touched him.

Zhou Yuan’s Spirit rippled violently as the world began to spin around him. An unimaginable enormous ancient rune appeared in front of him, slowly revolving as a terrifying pressure swallowed him.

Crack!

Cracks instantly appeared on Zhou Yuan’s Spirit, clearly unable to withstand such pressure.

Zhou Yuan’s heart was filled with terror. He knew that his Spirit would not last even ten breaths under the ancient rune’s pressure. If this continued, his Spirit would surely be turned to dust.

"How did this happen?!" A cry of horror echoed in his heart.

"I cannot panic. This Spirit pressure is from the ancient Saint Rune!" Zhou Yuan forcibly calmed himself down. He knew that panic would likely only lead to his Spirit’s demise.

"If it’s the Spirit..."

Zhou Yuan took in a deep breath and suddenly closed his eyes as the Primal Chaos Divine Grindstone Visualisation Method began to flow in his head.

Boom!

The space behind Zhou Yun began to shatter, turning into an endless starry sky. Within the primal chaos, a seemingly endless mottled grindstone slowly appeared.

The mottled grindstone loomed from behind Zhou Yuan, heading straight for the ancient Saint Rune.

Creak!

Two similarly ancient existences met in the void.

It felt as if the entire world had begun to crack due to their clash.

The Spirit crushing pressure finally faded as Zhou Yuan gasped as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. His heart thudded loudly as he looked towards the two behemoth existences.

"What exactly is this Saint Rune. To think that it so frightening that even master Cang Yuan’s Primal Chaos Divine Grindstone Visualisation Method is unable to pulverise it." Zhou Yuan was inwardly shocked.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The divine grindstone mark between his brows was inscribed by Cang Yuan and contained a sliver of the divine grindstone’s aura. It was due to this very mark that anyone who used Spirit attacks on Zhou Yuan in the past had succumb to terrible fates.

Every one of these Spirit attacks had ultimately been crushed by the divine grindstone.

This time however, the divine grindstone could not display an effect akin to a hot knife through butter. Instead, the ancient Saint Rune had been able to withstand its might.

The two titans were stuck in a deadlock.

"The only thing I can do now is wait." There was nothing that Zhou Yuan could do. A clash of such proportions was not something an advance Illusory stage like him could interfere in.

Therefore, he sat down and watched.

This lasted for only god knew how long, until even Zhou Yuan Spirit began to feel a little exhausted...

Boom!

Just as Zhou Yuan was no longer able to endure, a loud noise suddenly rang out. Zhou Yuan hurriedly looked over, only to see the mottled divine grindstone slowly backing away, before ultimately disappearing into the murky primal chaos.

On the other hand, rays of light exploded from the ancient Saint Rune as it rapidly shrank. In the end, it transformed into a flash of light that descended from the sky and shot into Zhou Yuan’s head.

At the bottom of the golden pool.

Zhou Yuan tightly shut eyes finally opened at this moment.