There was only silence in the hall, every gaze tinged with a sliver of disbelief as they gazed at Zhou Yuan’s figure. Everyone had clearly been shocked by the timing of over 6000 breaths.

This was 6700 breaths!

One must know that even in the history of Saint Genesis Peak, the most outstanding disciple had only managed to reach 5800 breaths during his first time!

While Zhou Yuan had just surpassed this record by nearly 1000!

How the hell did he do it?!

Everyone found it unimaginable.

Even Zhou Tai, Zhang Yan and the rest of the purple sash disciples were stunned. They clearly understood what this number represented. It meant that during the Alpha-Origin stage, Zhou Yuan’s cultivation speed would surpass all of them.

Because he was capable of bringing back several times more Alpha-Genesis Qi than them!

"Junior brother is extraordinary indeed. It is no wonder that teacher Shen has placed such high hopes in him." Zhou Tai felt rather gratified. His was gentle and frank by nature, and did not feel threatened by the potential Zhou Yuan had displayed. Instead, he was genuinely happy that such an amazing disciple had appeared in their Saint Genesis Peak.

However, it was clear that not every disciple shared the same feelings. At the very least, Cao Shi’s expression was fluctuating indeterminately as he stared at Zhou Yuan’s figure.

He had never really given much thought to Saint Genesis Peak’s current circumstances. In his opinion, such matters were the problem of elder Shen and the other elders, and had nothing to do with him. He was only a gold sash disciple after all.

But Zhou Yuan’s arrival had begun to threaten Cao Shi’s status and benefits. Not only had Zhou Yuan been given the gold Genesis cave dwelling he had been eyeing, even the gold sash third seat that was originally his was now being occupied by the former.

All of these factors clearly made him extremely furious. In his point of view, no matter how talented Zhou Yuan was, and regardless of how much potential he had, he was ultimately only a new disciple. What right did he have to step over Cao Shi’s head?

Of course, the main reason why due to his jealous heart.

He had climbed his way up in Saint Genesis Peak for so many years, step by step from a normal inner mountain disciple to his current position, and faced all kinds of difficulties along the way. But what about Zhou Yuan? he had practically ascended the heavens in a single step the moment he stepped into the inner mountains. How Cao Shi’s heart remain calm in the face of this?

In this world, there were always those that would find fault in others instead of first examining themselves.

At this current moment, the numerous disciples in the vicinity were looking at Cao Shi with strange gazes. After all, he had been the first one to start mocking Zhou Yuan. Who could have expected Zhou Yuan to counter so mercilessly, practically giving the former a blow that made him see stars.

These gazes caused the expression in Cao Shi’s eyes to darken, evidently extremely embarrassed and angry.

He had originally intended on saying something to redeem himself, but ultimately swallowed the words at his throat. All he did was icily glare at Zhou Yuan’s figure, grit his teeth and secretly say to himself, "Kid, I’ll let you be happy for now. After five days, I will naturally make you understand that there are rules in this place!"

The Alpha-Origin Qi Zhou Yuan brought back had indeed astonished Cao Shi, but so what? Zhou Yuan was still only a second layer Alpha-Origin.

While Cao Shi was a formidable individual even amongst the fifth layer Alpha-Origin!

The gap between them was enormous.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Therefore, Cao Shi planned on teaching Zhou Yuan that no matter how great your potential, it was at the end of the day only potential. The current Zhou Yuan did not have the qualifications to butt heads with him.

"Regardless of how much potential you have, you should come back only after you’ve turned that potential into strength. As for now, you’d better behave yourself!"

Under the numerous gathered gazes of shock, Zhou Yuan opened his eyes as he felt the Genesis Qi filling his Qi Dwelling, Genesis Qi star after star flickering within it as they gave off peculiar undulations.

The number of Genesis Qi stars in his Qi Dwelling was now over 400, a number much greater than when had he initially reached the Alpha-Origin stage.

The Alpha-Origin Qi he brought back just earlier had increased the number of stars by nearly 10, showing just how effective this training session had been.

A pleased smile appeared in Zhou Yuan’s eyes. At this rate, it would not be long till he broke into the third layer Alpha-Origin stage.

"The Alpha-Origin Qi I brought back this session lasted over 6700 breaths."

"If I only take the Alpha-Origin Cliff and Timeless mat into account, I should be able to hit roughly 6000 breaths. This means that the additional 700 breaths are attributed to the Saint Spirit Crystal."

Zhou Yuan was somewhat surprised, clearly not expecting the Saint Genesis Crystal to possess such a function, a function that he had neglected before. Looks like the Saint Spirit Crystal was a cultivation treasure that did not lose out to the Alpha-Origin Cliff and Timeless Mat.

As he calmed the emotions in his heart, Zhou Yuan lifted his head, only to discover traces of remnant shock in the numerous gazes around him.

His expression appeared rather cool. After all, he had already experienced a similar event in the outer mountains, while also knowing what 6000 breaths represented.

The silence in the hall gradually vanished as the numerous disciples in the hall met Zhou Yuan’s gaze. This time, however, there was less scrutiny in the eyes of the senior disciples were.

They had been skeptical of Zhou Yuan earlier because they felt that he was not worthy of Shen Taiyuan’s expectations.

But now, Zhou Yuan had at last displayed some of his potential. Although the amount of Alpha-Origin Qi one brought back would not be able to decide everything, it proved to everyone that there was indeed something special about him.

"Zhou Yuan, you’ve done well."

It was at this moment that a voice was heard. Numerous disciples looked over, only to find Shen Taiyuan gazing at Zhou Yuan with glowing eyes, an extremely rarely seen smile appearing on his usually stern and rigid face.

It was obvious that he was extremely satisfied by Zhou Yuan’s performance.

"Besides that, congratulations for breaking the all time record for most amount of Alpha-Origin Qi brought back on the first time utilizing the Alpha-Origin Cliff and Timeless Mat." Shen Taiyuan chuckled as he pointed towards the wall.

Light began to appear as a row of words appeared in the spot where first place had originally been recorded.

"Zhou Yuan, 6743 breaths!"

Zhou Yuan was also somewhat astonished, clearly surprised that he had accidentally broken the all time record.

Afraid that Zhou Yuan would lose himself to joy, Shen Taiyuan immediately warned, "But don’t become complacent. A record such as this is merely a tiny bit of encouragement, and will not guarantee your future accomplishments. You still have to work hard."

"Disciple understands." Zhou Yuan chuckled. A record like this would only be dismissed by a laugh from him, because he clearly understood that this record meant nothing. After all, bringing back more Alpha-Origin Qi did not mean his future achievements would be greater.

One needed to courageously advance on the path of cultivation. Only the accumulation of effort and time would bring about results in the future.

Shen Taiyuan nodded, feeling more and more pleased with Zhou Yuan. It seems that the heavens had not abandoned their Saint Genesis Peak. To think that they would welcome such an astonishingly talented disciple even in such miserable times.

However, he soon recalled the duel between Zhou Yuan and Cao Shi in five days. After some hesitation, Shen Taiyuan said, "You have great potential, there is really no rush for you to compete with the others now."

However, just as the words left his mouth, Cao Shi’s gaze flashed as he suddenly cut in, "Don’t worry teacher Shen, even if Zhou Yuan loses and the purple Genesis cave dwelling ends up with us, as long as the other fellow brother disciples do not object, disciple is willing to withdraw and let junior brother Zhou Yuan have it."

His generous words made several disciples cast looks of amazement at him, clearly surprised that the one who had been making things difficult for Zhou Yuan at every step would suddenly choose to give in.

However, Cao Shi’s actions also made some of the senior disciples frown slightly, feeling that teacher Shen was being quite unfair to the former. This made them sympathize with him a little, while also giving rise to a slight rejection towards Zhou Yuan.

After all, many disciples felt that Zhou Yuan was already given a lot of benefits, benefits that were taken from the share of senior disciples like them.

Zhou Yuan coldly watched Cao Shi’s generous and righteous performance, seeing through the latter’s intentions. Cao Shi was undoubtedly applying to concept of retreating first in order to advance further, making the other disciples pity him, while giving rise to certain criticisms about Zhou Yuan.

From the looks of it, Cao Shi’s tactic had some effect. After all, Zhou Yuan currently did not have any influence here, and had no way to sway the others.

Hence, he shook his head and said, "Teacher Shen, since the match has already been fixed, there will naturally be no such thing as changing it, If not, how will disciple find a place for himself here in the future?"

He could not be bothered with such petty tricks, because they would not amount to much at the end of the day. As long as the scheduled match five days later took place, Zhou Yuan would naturally teach Cao Shi the meaning of despair.

Upon hearing this, Shen Taiyuan did not speak any further on the matter, only nodding his head.

"That will be all for today’s morning class, everyone is dismissed."

The numerous disciples acknowledged one after another.

Cao Shi also bowed and cupped his fists together, but while his head was lowered, he shot a glance at Zhou Yuan from the corner of his eye as a sneer rose from the corners of his lips.

So what if you have potential. At the very, dealing with you now is easy as a flip of my hand!

I’m dying to see how disappointed teacher Shen and the other disciples will be when you lose to me five days later.

Previous Chapter