Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  “Two forbidden lands? East Barren and the Great Wilderness?”

  In his psyche ocean, Xin Huo was also puzzled, he mumbled, “What’s going on? Could there also be countless gods that died here in the Devil Soul Forbidden Land? Were their spirits also taken away? Wait, something's not right….”

  He seemed to have recalled something, Zhong Yue beseeched, “What’s not right?”

  “If these gods didn’t die in battles, then what other reason is there for them to sacrifice themselves?”

  The little flame was burning brighter, he blurted out, “There’s only one reason that can make so many gods die at the same time! That is a sacrificial burial!”

  “Sacrificial burial?”

  Zhong Yue’s atman shuddered, he shouted out involuntarily, “Sacrificing the gods? What kind of person has the capability to do that?”

  “Not a person ... but a god!”

  Xin Huo’s face was solemn and serious, he said, “Do you still remember the coffins in the Devil Soul Forbidden Land? If it’s a battlefield, how could there be so many coffins? It must be that a great existence was dying, and had prepared the coffins for these pseudo gods and pseudo demons for a sacrificial burial!”

  “So you’re saying, that beneath my Swords Gate is a tomb?” Zhong Yue mumbled.

  And if it was really a tomb, then its size and the identity of the graveyard’s owner would be something beyond his imagination!

  “It might be that the undergrounds of the Great Wilderness and East Barren are just separate parts of the same tomb.”

  Xin Huo squinted his eyes and said, “The two Devil Soul Forbidden Lands are almost analogous to one another in terms of structure, suggesting that they are just different parts of the same tomb. Weird ... what had happened all these years when I was slumbering? The heaven and earth that was once so clear familiar, how exactly did they become so clouded now….”

  Zhong Yue inhaled a deep breath of cold air, if Xin Huo’s conjecture was true, then it would be an incredibly terrifying truth, one that was beyond his imagination!

  Thankfully, Xin Huo is always unreliable, so his hypotheses should likewise be equally unreliable or otherwise… Just thinking of it sent a chill down his spine.

  “Brat Yue, let’s go into the forbidden land underneath the dark mountain, how’s that?”

  Xin Huo was filled with excitement, “We might be able to discover more ancient secrets!”

  Unfortunately, Zhong Yue threw cold water on this idea, “The seal here is not loosened like it is in the Swords Gate, how are you planning to get us out? Xin Huo, don’t you ever think about it again!”

  Xin Huo turned despondent, curiosity engulfed him as if there were hundreds of cats scratching the inside of his heart, as his burning desire to immediately explore the forbidden land was doused the cold water of denial.

  Xian Kong Saint City.

  Zhong Yue walked on the street, he glanced around and his eyes were met with monster carvings that spread all over the place. Whether it was the totem pillars of the monsters or the statues, they all differed greatly from those of the humans.

  Not only that, their abodes were also vastly different to those of humanity. The bird species monsters took the nest as their own abode; the beast species monsters were predisposed to cavernous structures; the aquatic monsters stayed in the water chambers; and there were more that lived underground, with others living on webs. It was all strangely odd – a situation of multitudinous and uncanny variations.

  Other than that, Zhong Yue’s heart stiffened up as he also saw armies formed by monster Qi Practitioners, patrolling critical areas, and his heart stiffened up.

  The monster race is indeed strong, they even have sufficient Qi Practitioners to form armies. It doesn’t need much, array formations formed by a few dozen Rebirth Qi Practitioners is enough to contend with Awakening experts. While at the Swords Gate inner hall, including the old and the frail, there is only a little over one thousand eight hundred people. In addition to the disciples of the hall masters and elders, there would only be at most three thousand Qi Practitioners fit for combat, a figure barely comparable to even three or four cities of the monster race.

  He could not help but feel a burgeoning sense of crisis that threatened to gradually asphyxiate him. The monster race was still yet to combine in a united front, and although the City Lord of Xian Kong City was the crowned ruler of East Barren, the other three islands, four keeps and six cities all had their own respective powers and forces.

  When the current headmaster dies; when the Xian Kong City Lord finally succeeded in uniting the East Barren into a focused and cohesive force, and when the time comes where he decides to march upon the Swords Gate ... that would be the day of the Swords Gate’s final reckoning in which the final bastion of humanity would face sure destruction..

  This Xian Kong Saint City, really has a place where they trade human slaves….

  Zhong Yue passed by a market in Xian Kong City and saw over hundreds of humans. The young and strong, and the ladies were all held captive in cages. Moreover, there were human Qi Practitioners that were manacled in chains that penetrated through their scapulas. His heart turned dejected and gloomy at the abject state of his brethren.

  “Where do all these human Qi Practitioners come from?”

  Zhong Yue asked Yu Xuanji, “By the look of it, they don’t seem like Qi Practitioners from the Great Wilderness.”

  Yu Xuanji smiled, “Some were bought from the other barren lands, some were the slaves of the top monster clans, while the others were brought over from the far side of the ocean. It’s really hard to capture the Swords Gate Qi Practitioners as they’re usually sequestered in the Great Wilderness, refusing to come out at all. The only exceptions are the Shui Tu Clan messengers. But Shui Zian of the Shui Tu Clan enjoys a high status in our monster race, even the saint city lord treats him kindly. Hence, the Shui Tu Clan messengers are basically left untouched. Brother Long Yue, Qimei, let’s head over to the lord’s manor, I suppose most of the Rebirth Qi Practitioners from all over the places have arrived!”

  Hu Qimei gazed at Zhong Yue, she suddenly voiced out a thought, “Brother Long Yue seems like you are very concerned about the humans.”

  Zhong Yue smiled gently and replied, “We the dragon race have our secret methods to ascend to the level of gods through worship. I’ve plans to buy a batch of humans, so I can be fit enough to have my eyes on the godly levels in the future.”

  Yu Xuanji and Hu Qimei were stunned by his words, they were left completely speechless.

  In fact, none of the monsters were able to maintain their composure after hearing what Zhong Yue said. Ascending to the level of god ... how impressively high would that breadth of spirit and verve be? The monster race has an inveterate reverence and awe towards the gods. After all, they were once the lowest of races in the ancient times, their sense of inferiority was already ingrained into their bones and passed down through generation after generation.

  Tens of millennium slipped past, and the monster race had skyrocketed to usurp the place of humanity and myriad other races. But even so, an primal instinct for reverence would rise from the bottom of their souls when they hear the word about ‘gods’.

  Saint city lord’s manor— Zhong Yue, Yu Xuanji and Hu Qimei entered the manor, the seneschal received them, and after recording down their names, they were invited into the manor. He said, “There are already quite a lot of the young and formidable ones here, they are on the Ba Shui Bridge, studying the first obstacle set by the city lord.”

  “What’s this first obstacle about?” Hu Qimei asked.

  “You’ll know as soon as you reach it.”

  The Ba Shui Bridge was constructed above the Ba Shui River, a river that was formed by a gushing spring that flowed out from inside of the mountain, running across the lord’s manor and through the saint city. The fragrance of the river water filled the air and white lotuses bloomed all over the river surface.

  The t
hree of them eventually reached the bridge. Although it was referred to as a bridge, there were many pavilions and arbors lining its sides. There were already over hundreds of young monster experts gathering here, some were accompanied with their tribal experts, some brought their own entourage of followers. The Ba Shui Bridge had at least four or five hundred monsters crowding here.

  “We’ve killed too little….” Yu Xuanji gritted his teeth and said.

  Killing intents flashed in Hu Qimei’s eyes, she softly plucked the lute strings, and immediately, the sights of countless experts from the different tribes, many of which were Awakening Qi Practitioners, converged towards her.. Hu Qimei received a great shock before she quickly retracted her killing intent.

  Zhong Yue boarded the Ba Shui Bridge, he was met with the sight of all of the monster Qi Practitioners with their heads raised staring at a stone wall, it was engraved with esoteric totem carvings that intersect to form into marvelous patterns.

  “Fragmentary god-level totem pattern!” In his psyche ocean, Xin Huo who was seeing through his eyes exclaimed in a low voice.

  Meanwhile, Yu Xuanji found the experts of Qing Long Keep and was asking for information, he then told Zhong Yue and Hu Qimei and said, “This pattern was left behind by the saint city lord, it’s the prologue of the 【Monster God Ming King Art】. The first hurdle is to examine the disciples’ talents and comprehensions, you’ll be considered as having passed once you have comprehended the abstrusity hidden within it.”

  “And what exactly is counted as comprehending the abstrusity?” Hu Qimei asked curiously.

  Chapter 118: -【Monster God Ming King Art】 |

  Before Yu Xuanji could finish his sentence, one of the monster Rebirth Qi Practitioners suddenly started to bleed out from his seven apertures, following which he fell down straight to the ground!

  “This one isn’t qualified.”

  Yu Xuanji smiled and said, “If you dare to study the prologue of the【Monster God Ming King Art】with a lacking perception and comprehension, you will share the same fate as him – disorder and chaos rampaging throughout your soul and your blood converging towards your brain until it bursts apart! This one’s punishment isn’t too excessive when all things are considered, at least he was only knocked into a swoon. I hear that there were some idiots who pushed themselves to the point of their brains splattered all over the place. It’s said that it was their souls exploding in the psyche ocean and their brains bursting apart.”

  Zhong Yue then look over to the god-level totem patterns on the stone wall and mumbled, “Monster God Yao King Art? Your brain will explode if you can’t understand? How strange is this?”

  “From the totem patterns on the stone wall, one would need to attain the hidden art within it. That’s when you’ll be considered to have passed But this isn’t a simple feat, it requires a considerable amount of talent.”

  Yu Xuanji then told them the information he received, “Elucidating the abstrusity in the totem patterns and manifesting it through visualization ... if the abstrusity is present in one’s visualization of the totem patterns, that could be proof of your talent. It had already been almost five days since the time the saint city lord placed down the totem pattern. Yet no one had been able to elucidate the abstrusity in the patterns to manifest it in their visualizations. Hei-hei, it’s time for me to shine! What foresight my teacher had in naming me Xuanji. It appears like the first one destined to achieve this task would no none other than me, Yu Xuanji!

  Hu Qimei nodded, her tone was very serious, “Such great capabilities in boasting, Brother Xuanji.”

  Zhong Yue cast his gaze over at the totem pattern on the stone wall. The god-level totem pattern was indeed very profound and esoteric to the point of inscrutable. He scrutinized it carefully, trying to elucidate the abstrusity behind it, but the pattern that looked like dragon or python was shifting incessantly. It was as if it could incite the blood essence to deluge towards his point until it was on the verge of bursting.

  Suddenly, Xin Huo said, “This art is incomplete, forcibly trying to comprehend it would bring the risk of the brain exploding.”

  Zhong Yue nodded, “This is the prologue of the【Monster God Ming King Art】, the other parts are missing….”

  “I mean, this saint city lord of the monster race, only has a fragmentary passage of the【Monster God Ming King Art】.”, said Xin Huo.

  Xin Huo’s words would cause anyone to be almost shocked to death, “Even the saint city lord doesn’t have the complete【Monster God Ming King Art】. The true first-rate arts will not simply give rise to such a barbaric risk of exploding brains. Not even the arts of the demon gods of the demon race would be this uncanny. Although the prologue of this【Monster God Ming King Art】does seems genuine, the complete【Ming King Art】would definitely not be encumbered by such a problem. It is only because of it being fragmentary in nature, that there is such a risk of brains exploding. I suppose, that this monster saint city lord’s cultivation also has this huge flaw in it. Although his gifted talents still managed to push him to the stage of a magnate cultivator and allowed him to overcome the flaws of the【Monster God Ming King Art】, which in turn, allowed him to ultimately dominate the entire Eastern Barren, but regrettably, he is also beleaguered by a huge latent danger in his cultivation path.”

  Zhong Yue’s heart shifted, this scenario was very probable. The monster race’s saint city lord circumstances were indeed very suspicious. Not long ago, just how world shockingly was the incident of Beast God Ridge, and yet, the saint city lord was ostensibly in closed-door training and failed to make an appearance at such a tumultuous event.

  Then came the crumbling of the volcanic seal in Gu Xia City, another earth-shaking event, and the saint city lord was still nowhere to be seen!

  And also, this saint city lord is said to be on par with that of the Swords Gate headmaster, the one who was venerated as the Sword God. With his prowess, he could definitely unite the Eastern Barren. But then, such a thing still hasn’t happened, this is the biggest point of doubt! Xin Huo is right, it is very probable that the incomplete art caused his cultivation to drift astray!

  Xin Huo measured the【Monster God Ming King Art】’s prologue with his eyes and said, “This art is incredibly strong, not any inferior to the Swords Gate’s【Boundless Great Sword Qi】. Sadly, it can’t be cultivated, since once you cultivate it, you will be subjected to the flaws that plagued the saint city lord; those flaws would pose a hindrance to your cultivation that would only compound the further you progress in it. It’s like a maze, one misstep and you’ll find yourself eternally trapped within the confines of its walls and condemned to the fate of captivity. But the crucial difference here is that one is still able to backtrack through a maze, but cultivating this art would be tantamount to embarking on a path of no return.”

  Zhong Yue carefully studied it, he could feel the traces of the esoteric knowledge and abstruse arts within it. It was indeed commensurate to the Swords Gate’s【Great Boundless Sword Qi】!

  In the Swords Gate headmaster’s sword token, there was the sword totem pattern which contained only the art and no skills. Whereas the【Monster God Ming King Art】’s prologue contained the skills but was bereft of the art.

  And a strong art, was exactly what Zhong Yue needed!

  As he was not truly the inheritor of Xin Huo, Xin Huo had only taught him the【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】and nothing else more. The【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】was also a kind of cultivation art, and there were no skills he could use to unleash the power of Sui Sovereign.

  Xin Huo did not speak of imparting him with more techniques, and neither did Zhong Yue request for more. After all, he was not the pure-blood Fuxi celestial race Xin Huo was looking for, and Xin Huo had already been very generous in benevolently teaching him the【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】. How could he ever be so shameful as to ask for more?

  The totem p
attern in the prologue was the prelude to a skill. The pattern was the eight-armed monster Ming King, but the third eye on its forehead was missing!

  The missing totem carvings of the third eye was precisely the reason behind the flaw whereby it would become an impediment to the flow of blood essence stymying its flow to the rest of the body by coercing all of it towards the forehead. The over-accumulation of blood essence in the head would eventually be the impetus for the brain to explode!

  So that is where the【Ming King Art】flaw lied! However, this is indeed a consummate combat art – the strongest among all of its kind that I’ve seen!

  Zhong Yue then suddenly remembered something and quickly asked, “Xin Huo, can the third eye of Sui Sovereign supplant the missing part of the【Monster God Ming King Art】?”

  “Of course it can.”

  The little flame wobbled, “Although this【Monster God Ming King Art】is very profound, but it is no match for the【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】I’ve given to you. After all, it was only an art from the Ming King, how can it possibly be compared in the same breath with the Sui Sovereign Heavenly Monarch who opened a new leaf to a new era? With the Sui Sovereign’s divine eye, it can indeed complete this art and expunge the latent flaw within it.”

  Zhong Yue heaved a breath of relief before continuing to study the【Ming King Art】prologue. The prologue itself had 126 totem carvings, forming into the seven apertures of the Ming King’s head along with its eight arms, muscles, blood vessels and legs, and even its hairs and furs. While the totem carvings themselves contained even more delicate and fine totem carvings of different kinds!

  Zhong Yue even saw seen various kinds of dragon carvings such as the Jiao Dragon totem carvings, Kui Dragon totem carvings, Chi Dragon totem carvings, Xiang Dragon totem carvings, and dragon turtle totem carvings among the various totem carvings. He had also witnessed the water carvings, cloud carvings, mountain carvings, wood carvings, beast carvings, bird carvings, and aquatic creature carvings!