Chapter 144: Four-Grade Source Beast

"Myriad Transformations..."

Zhou Yuan's fingers traced the ancient genesis rune, and his eyes sparkled with understanding. In that instant, he fully comprehended the rune's function.

His hand slowly tightened around the Heavenly Yuan Brush. The next moment, the brush vibrated violently. A powerful surge of genesis qi seemed to erupt from within the brush, and the snowy white bristles at its tip suddenly expanded and lengthened.

Zhou Yuan flicked the brush, and the bristles transformed into a long, snowy-white whip that swept out abruptly. *Whoosh!* As the white whip lashed past, the air vibrated violently. With a single sweep, the towering ancient trees nearby were instantly severed at the waist, their cuts as smooth as a mirror.

The bristled whip trembled again. The next moment, it completely separated into countless hair-thin white threads, enveloping the area in front like a vast net. *Swish! Swish!* The mountain wall ahead was riddled with innumerable tiny, bottomless holes.

Zhou Yuan’s arm shook, and the countless snowy white bristles shot back, disappearing completely into the brush tip. "So this... this is the Myriad Transformations!" Zhou Yuan exclaimed, his eyes burning with fervor and excitement.

This third genesis rune seemed to imbue the Heavenly Yuan Brush with true sentience, allowing its bristled tip to adopt myriad forms. This made the Heavenly Yuan Brush even more unpredictable and difficult to defend against. In future confrontations, the Heavenly Yuan Brush, with its ever-changing forms, would undoubtedly cause significant trouble for his opponents.

"It's a pity, though," Zhou Yuan murmured with some regret. "Even after activating the third rune, the Heavenly Yuan Brush has only recovered to the level of a Mid-Grade Profound Genesis Armament." He had initially hoped it would reach High-Grade. However, a Mid-Grade Profound Genesis Armament was sufficient. With three ancient genesis runes unlocked, the Heavenly Yuan Brush's power was no weaker than many High-Grade Profound Genesis Armaments. In fact, after activating the Myriad Transformations rune, its unpredictable nature made it superior to many High-Grade Profound Genesis Armaments.

Zhou Yuan continued to play with the Heavenly Yuan Brush for a moment longer before reluctantly transforming it back into its miniature form and tucking it into his waist.

"Next, I should seize the opportunity to hunt genesis beasts, extract their pure genesis qi, and strengthen myself," Zhou Yuan muttered. "I need to break through to the Heavenly Barrier Stage as quickly as possible." There was a significant gap between the Qi Nourishing Stage and the Heavenly Barrier Stage. To put it bluntly, the Qi Nourishing Stage was merely a foundational phase, while true destructive power only came upon entering the Heavenly Barrier Stage. This was because only at the Heavenly Barrier Stage could the genesis qi within one's body freely burst forth, revealing its true might.

Currently, even with the profoundness of the Heavenly Python Genesis Qi and his Profound Genesis Arts, Zhou Yuan could only temporarily project genesis qi from his body. However, this still fell short compared to a true Heavenly Barrier expert. The most apparent difference was that even when traveling, he could only leap and sprint, unable to sustain flight by carrying himself with genesis qi, unlike Heavenly Barrier masters.

Therefore, breaking through to the Heavenly Barrier Stage was Zhou Yuan's top priority. Over the next few days, Zhou Yuan embarked on a relentless hunt. Everywhere he went, entire mountain ranges were turned upside down, and fierce genesis beasts became casualties of his brush. As he continued to slay, Zhou Yuan could feel the genesis qi in his Qi Dwelling growing stronger and more turbulent each day.

However, what puzzled Zhou Yuan was that despite all this, he still didn't feel any signs of a breakthrough. In a deep valley within the wilderness, wolf carcasses littered the ground. Zhou Yuan sat cross-legged in the valley, looking quite disheveled, with bloodstains on his body, clearly indicating a recent fierce battle.

Indeed, half a day earlier, Zhou Yuan had discovered this wolf valley, home to over a hundred Ironbone Wolves. More than twenty of them were comparable to Heavenly Barrier Stage practitioners, while the rest were at the Qi Nourishing Stage. Although individually their strength wasn't superior to the Golden Ape he had previously encountered, their sheer numbers made them incredibly formidable. For Zhou Yuan, it had clearly been a grueling fight.

Zhou Yuan sat on a rock in the valley. Wisps of white mist rose from the wolf carcasses, continuously flowing into his body. Zhou Yuan absorbed it with his eyes closed. About half an hour later, he finally opened his eyes, a frown creasing his brow. He still showed no signs of breaking through.

"How can this be...?" Zhou Yuan murmured, his eyes full of confusion. He had seen individuals at the peak of the late Qi Nourishing Stage before, but the genesis qi accumulated in his Qi Dwelling clearly far surpassed the normal level for that stage.

"Normally, when genesis qi becomes sufficiently dense, it should burst out of the Qi Dwelling and charge directly into the Heavenly Barrier. Why am I not seeing any movement?" Zhou Yuan wondered aloud. He scratched his head. It was truly inconvenient without Yaoyao by his side; he had to figure out cultivation matters on his own.

"Why won't the Qi Dwelling break open?" Zhou Yuan pondered for a long time. Then, a flash of insight seemed to strike him, and he mused with some hesitation, "Could it be... because of my blood-red Qi Dwelling?" Normally, a Qi Dwelling has a capacity limit. Once that limit is reached, the genesis qi would surge out of the Qi Dwelling, assaulting the Heavenly Barrier, thereby allowing the Qi Dwelling itself to expand.

But that was for ordinary Qi Dwellings. Zhou Yuan's, however, was an unprecedented blood-red Qi Dwelling, so its capacity limit must be far beyond that of a common one. "So, in the end, I'm being hindered by my own unique blood-red Qi Dwelling," Zhou Yuan said with a wry smile after understanding the situation. It seemed that to break through to the Heavenly Barrier Stage, he first had to completely fill his blood-red Qi Dwelling.

However, Zhou Yuan also felt a slight sense of anticipation. Since his method of breakthrough was so unique, he thought that when he finally did break through, the results would surely be extraordinary, right? And so, another few days of hunting ensued.

As this period passed, Zhou Yuan gained a better understanding of the Saint Remains Domain. He also gradually began encountering many other prodigies who had entered the domain, but he had no intention of teaming up with anyone, choosing instead to cultivate alone. Through this period of cultivation, Zhou Yuan also began to vaguely sense that his blood-red Qi Dwelling finally seemed to be nearing its limit.

"This is truly not easy!" On a mountaintop, Zhou Yuan sighed, shaking his head. If it were anyone else, they would likely have broken through to the Heavenly Barrier Stage by now, yet he was still struggling. It felt as if others only needed ten months to carry a child, while he needed three years.

He stood up, intending to delve back into the mountains. Just then, he noticed that many of the prodigies who had been hunting genesis beasts in this area were suddenly heading downhill. "What's happening?" Zhou Yuan asked, puzzled, as he swiftly moved to intercept one of them.

The person he stopped looked impatient and, seeing Zhou Yuan's Qi Nourishing Stage strength, was about to snap at him. However, Zhou Yuan calmly threw a punch to the side. A violent surge of genesis qi erupted, instantly clearing a large patch of dense forest to his right.

The person, who had been about to retort, swallowed their words and grudgingly explained, "Word just came out that a genesis beast was discovered in the mountains three hundred miles away..." "That beast is said to have cultivated a Lesser Heavenly Genesis Art. Everyone in this area is rushing there now." Upon hearing that last sentence, Zhou Yuan's eyes immediately shone with brilliant light. He had, in fact, been searching for a genesis beast that had cultivated a Lesser Heavenly Genesis Art for quite some time, but without success. He hadn't expected to finally encounter one today.