Garnering Attention

As it turned out, getting to the Zixiao region would prove a little difficult. There were 2 main ways of getting there, teleport array, or walking. The latter of which being incredibly dangerous. There were forests filled with wild Genesis beasts which were at least Grade 6, meaning they were essentially on the same level as people who were at the Heavenly Sun Stage, something that Julong was very far off. But that didn't mean teleporting there was any easier either.

The teleport array was guarded by Nascent Stage experts under the control of a Law Domain expert. Walking there seemed to be the more viable option, but neither seemed quite doable.

Although he had the fortune of his name being able to stir the hearts of the people in the region of Wanzu, it still wouldn't be enough to leave unless he was given the proper means. Evidently, that was something he would have to figure out himself, unfortunately.

Sure he could buy a ticket to leave, but he was rather unsure about that, since the transaction record could be kept and give away where he went, and the second issue was the fact he would only be able to get such money from the Wan family, which obviously didn't help him.

Though, there was something that he could try. It was probably even harder than the first two options, but it was something that could be attempted at the current point in time.

Attracting the attention of a Zi Xiao.

Even Julong laughed at himself when he had such a thought. But it was worth giving it a try, it's not like he had anything to lose from doing it anyway.

Every year there was a meeting between the 9 Saints of the Hunyuan heaven, or what was left of them ever since Cang Yuan left. It just so happened that such a meeting was being held in Wanzu in a few weeks, which was much faster than trying to accrue funds for purchasing a ticket to teleport to the Zixiao region. It was also much safer than trying to walk there. In addition, almost like a stroke of luck, it meant that Wan Zu would be held up with trying to make preparations, and as such would have no time to look for a mere Qi Nourishing Stage Practitioner like himself.

When the meeting was over, Julong would try to use his blessing to send something akin to a message to Zi Xiao. While he wasn't strong himself, his blessing was still something akin to a weak Ancestral Dragon Qi, something which still could rouse even a Saints attention.

While that was certainly the most difficult part of his plan, there was still the issue that Zi Xiao might not take him. His last name might stop her from taking him in fright of Wan Zu retaliating, or she might just not want him at all. To stop the former he was ready to change his last name, it wasn't a name he wanted after all.

As such, he changed his last name to a name he liked; Xiaoyao. He couldn't really understand why he wanted that name, as it was something that had just popped up in his head, but it struck accord with him, so he decided to keep it.

Xiaoyao Julong. It has a nice ring to it.

If he managed to rouse the attention of Supreme Sovereign Zi Xiao, that would be how he introduced himself.

He smiled to himself as he looked into the sky. He had been held out in a mountain range for the past few days, only going into the main towns and cities for information. He was able to easily gather such things by flaunting his looks at unsuspecting victims. He had unsurprisingly heard the Wan family were frantically searching for him, which made him scoff.

He already had a date for the meeting, or the start of his plan and all he had to do now was wait. So he resigned himself to cultivating, and in turn trying to strengthen his blessing, even a little.

He spent two weeks on the mountain, near the peak where the cold would solidify into snow. Thanks to this, under the guidance of the blessing in his body, he had done a little bit of exterior cultivation by using the cold on top of the mountain. It hadn't allowed him to achieve much, and if he was to equate it, he would still be near the very beginning of the Qi Nourishing Realm, but it was still progression of some kind.

Not truly being unconscious, he had counted the days as they passed and had purposefully awoken at such a juncture. He directed all his attention to his blessing and forced it to exert its presence in a concentrated amount. Generally, he wouldn't be able to control his Blessing in such a way, but just like how Julong wanted a Master, the Blessing residing in him shared the same idea. Thanks to the combination of his Spirit and the Blessing he was able to look outside of the Dimensional Fabric. Though it should be said that using something so powerful was not something he was properly able to take. The harsh downside was that he could only do it for around 10 breaths and it took a considerable strain on his body, leaving him exhausted afterwards.

It worked however and he locked onto a powerful female presence. He knew that this presence was Zi Xiao as she was the only female Saint of the 8 Saints there. From the short glimpse he received of her, she was rather beautiful, even despite her millennia-old age. She looked almost like a celestial being, her dark purple clothing complexion and deep hazel eyes only added to this fact as they seemed to reflect galaxies of stars inside of them.

Once locked on, he sent the concentrated Qi toward her.

At first, Zi Xiao didn't react too much causing a small amount of panic to set in. It wasn't strange for Ancestral Dragon Qi to reach out to someone, but a normal person would generally jump at the opportunity. Though it seemed as though Saints had a different thought process - hence she didn't even bother to stop it from reaching her. Though, surely someone of her level would quickly discern the difference between his Qi and normal Ancestral Dragon Qi.

He could instantly tell when she did notice the difference as he felt piercing gaze rupture space and lock onto him. It wasn't so much a hostile gaze, but an intrigued one. She must have been surprised that someone at the Early Stage of Qi Nourishing would be able to garner her attention.

"What are you doing Supreme Sovereign Zi Xiao?"

Wan Zu had cast her an intrigued gaze. It was nearing the end of the meeting, and as the host, he was finally closing up everything. He was not insulted but surprised that she had found something that had actually interested her. The Region Saints didn't actively look over their Regions most of the time, let alone someone else's.

"A vein of low-grade Ancestral Dragon Qi reached out to me."

If a vein reached out to someone, only they would be able to follow it back to its source, not even another Saint could follow the strand that had supposedly reached out to Zi Xiao. Ancestral Dragon wasn't known as the most Powerful Qi in the world for no reason. It was very mysterious and elusive. It was able to avoid being found in some cases. It was honestly just astonishing that the Qi Nourishing Expert below had been able to control it. In turn, she didn't want to reveal the boy to them as she had taken some interest in him. From what she could tell, he was sure to become a very famous Heaven Pride in the future if he survived, and as such didn't want the other regions to find out about him.

"I see. Allow me to close out the meeting, then you can go to refine it."

Zi Xiao nodded indifferently. Her only concern was that Genesis Beasts in the area might notice the feint run off of the Genesis Qi. In the same way it was elusive, it was also incredibly attractive, regardless of who you were.

Julong who was still concentrating on moving the Ancestral Dragon Qi toward Zi Xiao was slowly becoming tired by the second. He could also sense some stray Genesis Beasts approaching the mountain he was on. They seemed to be a very low grade, and if it came to it he could fight them, the only issue was that there was a very large amount of them.

Right as he had that thought, a Genesis Beast at least double his size appeared in front of him. Out of shock, Julong cut the flow of Ancestral Dragon Qi and scrambled to his feet. He could feel the gaze of Zi Xiao soften and finally stop watching him. He wasn't sure what it meant and felt his stomach sink.

There goes his chance of getting into the Zixiao Region.

He rose to his feet quickly, not having time to mope in his failure. His eyes were droopy, and his body felt laggy, but fortunately, it would still be enough to kill the Genesis Beast in front of him.

In a single breath, he appeared in front of the Genesis Beast and punched it with Omni Python Qi, immediately causing a gaping hole to open in its body before exploding. The remains that were flying in the air then slowly faded into very faint Genesis stars, which only roused the other Genesis Beasts in the area.

"Well, that's not good."

He was rather indifferent about the situation, it was either fight or die. And at this point, judging from the sheer amount of Genesis Beasts that had gathered in the hundreds - all he could do was hope that Zi Xiao was willing to save him.

As the Genesis Beasts jumped toward him, the Blessing inside his body was quick to provide him with a technique. It seemed to be a form of Sword Qi manipulation, a simple one too. So simple it basically allowed him to merely look at it and be able to use it.

In the next instant, Julong held his hand out and a gold shuttle made of Omni Python Qi appeared. It appeared to charge quickly before unleashing a barrage in all directions of incredibly sharp crescent-shaped Sword Qi. It was strong enough to knock back the Genesis Beast and lightly injure the closer ones. Though, it wasn't enough.

It wasn't like before when he had full reserves. Instead, he had channelled almost all of his strength to kill the initial Genesis Beast in one hit. Thanks to this he was already exhausted and didn't have enough power to supply the technique to make it into a threat, it was merely a hindrance for the Beasts.

"Come on!"

Out of desperation, he pushed the last bit of Genesis Qi he had into the technique making the blades sharper, but it eventually faded from existence, leaving him open to the Genesis Beasts.

I don't want to die! Not yet! I can't die yet!

He looked into his Qi Dwelling. If he could break through to the Middle Stage of the Qi Nourishing Realm, he might be able to escape, even without Zi Xiao's help. It would be able to increase his reserves to the point that he could use the Technique again and actually make it somewhat powerful.

Using the time he made for himself by pushing the Genesis Beasts back, he sat down and began refining the Universe Genesis Qi in the air around him. It funneled into him like a vortex at speeds which he had never achieved before. Though unfortunately, there was still a looming sense of doom. He knew he didn't have long and could feel the Genesis Beasts getting closer once more.

It was now or never.

As a Genesis Beast launched toward him, an undulation of Qi ruptured around Julong and burst outward. It immediately executed the Genesis Beast that was attempting to harm him. This undoubdtedly signalled that Julong had broken through to the Middle Stage.

At such a juncture he had felt his Qi reserves skyrocket, that didn't mean they were full though. He was still in a pickle and needed to buy enough time for him to escape as he would soon run out of Genesis Qi again.

He once again activated the new technique he had learned minutes prior and began sending out even sharper blades of Genesis Qi. In Julong's moment of surprise thanks to this development, he was finally able to injure the closer Beasts properly, however, he could still feel his reserves quickly depleting.

He surveyed his surroundings and tried to find a way out, but it was almost like a sea of Genesis Beasts, meaning there was almost no way out. It was almost like every time he killed one, three more would appear. The amount which used to be in the hundreds was beginning to steadily soar into the thousands.

Seeing this he could only hope that Zi Xiao would help out.

He surged his Genesis Qi to its absolute max and the crescents of Sword Qi intensity rose to another height, beginning to cause fatal damage and eventually start killing any Genesis Beasts that got too close. He wasn't too surprised at this, since he was able to injure them before with low Geneses Qi output, but unfortunately, this also meant that his Qi Dwelling would run out even faster.

In a final show of power, slashes burst outward killing anything within 30 metres and depleting the last of his Genesis Qi, leaving him even more exhausted than before, and more importantly to the mercy of the Genesis Beasts - or rather to Zi Xiao's judgement of saving him or not.

At that moment in time, he was convinced that Zi Xiao had no interest in saving him. He tried at least.

Just as such a thought crossed his mind, something unbelievable happened.

A powerful spirit barrier arose around his body, and only his body. Profound fire of unbelievable power began to rain down from the sky. It incinerated anything it touched, turning Genesis Beasts in nothing but ash as soon as even a strand of their hair came into contact with it.

Even through the incredibly powerful Spirit Barrier, one which would be able to kill him with a single though, he could feel the tremendous and earth-shattering power this fire held. Coming from a Saint, even a general manipulation of Genesis Qi would have this effect, but seeing the horrifying ability of the flames he could only come to one conclusion.

"Is this... Saint Fire?"

Looking into the sky he noticed a beautiful figure slowly descending. He wanted to stay awake, but he couldn't stop his eyes from closing. That was until he heard a soft voice in his ear.

"It's okay. Sleep for now. You've done well."

His eyes snapped shut and darkness ensued, almost like she had forced him into such a state. All that followed was nothing but a beautiful giggle from the Saint herself.