Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  “So difficult! These hundred and eight stairs are even more difficult than flying up the skies!”

  Yu Xuanji looked very serious and his eyesight brushed through the other Qi Practitioners as he said, “Everyone, why don’t we temporarily cooperate to solve these hundred and eight stairs and compete with each other for the heritage of monster god Ming King after entering into the palace?”

  A few more strong-looking Qi Practitioners walked towards them and one of them said, “Only the stronger ones would be able to detect the changes of the totem carvings on the stairs. I say now is not the time we fight with each other, rather, we should work together to get past this obstacle first!”

  King Teng who was standing on the first step of the stairs suddenly said, “Alright, we work together to get past these stairs, after which, we shall decide what to do with the heritage once we get into the palace!”

  “Hmmm? Long Yue is not here yet?”

  Hu Qimei looked around for Zhong Yue but to no avail and something struck her as she whispered, “He is incredibly strong, there’s no reason for him to be defeated or killed on his way here so how could he not be here yet?”

  “The Black Mountain’s secret realm is incredibly dangerous. If one is not careful, even Awakening level Qi Practitioners would die in that forest back then, not to mention Rebirth level Qi Practitioners.”

  Something flashed across Yu Xuanji’s eyes and he replied, “Brother Long might have ended up suffering a tragic fate if he is not here yet.”

  The Black Mountain’s secret realm was way too dangerous for them, they only managed to get to this point by exercising extreme caution, avoiding the mysterious insect race and battles. They also saw some monsters who met their sad ending when they encountered the insect race. Thus, they were all cognizant of the horror of the insect race.

  In such a dangerous place, even Awakening level Qi Practitioners might lose their lives, not to mention the fact that there is not a much of a gap between Zhong Yue and their own capabilities that were clearly inferior to that of Awakening level Qi Practitioners.

  Somewhere in the darkness of the jungle, a golden ray was encircling around Zhong Yue, moving as fast as lightning while it kept on clashing with the Sword Qi dancing around Zhong Yue, each collision created bright sparks that intermittently lit up the darkness.

  The golden ray tried to breach the perimeter of the【Fourth Sword Style】and it almost managed to make contact with Zhong Yue multiple times!

  Although the【Fourth Sword Style】was incredibly strong and imperceptible, it was its first time going up against such a tenacious opponent. The main reason for this was that of the small body size of the insect race within the gold ray, which lent it the ability to escape from the the【Fourth Sword Style】’s encirclement with relative ease.

  The failure to trap this insect race meant that the full power of the【Fourth Sword Style】could not be unleashed!

  No wonder the Sword Cocoons sword silks was listed as eighth among the Ten Malefic Weapons. Everything has their own fortes and weaknesses – the Sword Cocoons sword silks also have something that they wouldn’t be able to contend against!

  Dang——

  A loud sound resounded out as the golden ray harshly clashed with the Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Shield in front of Zhong Yue, the impact inflicting considerable damage such that it caused cracks to crawl all over the shield like spider-webs. Unlike its tiny body size, the strength of this insect race was incredibly strong!

  With its hundred legs, the centipede moved quickly in the air just like how the martial art grandmasters traveled in the air, with the addition of its three pairs of incredibly sharp cicada wings, its speed was incredibly fast. Other than that, under its tiny body was hidden a tremendous power that with each charge, it could inflict heavy impact that would cause a bout of dizziness onto Zhong Yue with each collision and threaten to shatter Zhong Yue’s shield!

  So it's this little thing! Monster God Ming King!

  Zhong Yue’s body moved and visualized the eight-handed Ming King. At that moment, with all of the Sword Qi in his eight hands, he swung them down continuously towards the golden ray in a high-frequency barrage.

  Before the golden centipede could recover from its dizziness after knocking on the Xuan Wu Gold Spirit Shield, Zhong Yue’s attack had already rained down on the centipede like an unstoppable hurricane! Zhong Yue aimed his attack at only one spot as he kept on swinging his Sword Qi onto the back of the centipede like a rapidly-rotating propeller, creating a chain of loud noises. As the raucous symphony subsided, what was left was a centipede that was sliced in half!

  Such incredible defense!

  Zhong Yue exclaimed in awe. If it were any other Qi Practitioner, no matter which race they were, be it the monsters, humans or the celestial race, they would have been sliced into pieces after being hit once, not to mention the high-frequency onslaught that Zhong Yue had released on the six-winged golden centipede. However, the insect race’s defense was so strong that it took Zhong Yue so much effort just to kill it!

  This golden centipede was made of pure Gold Qi, just like a centipede shaped golden spirit pearl!

  Zhong Yue picked up the sliced centipede and he exclaimed in awe again as he examined the body; the internal organ structure was very complicated and was laden with totem carvings, which allowed them to convert everything they consumed into pure Gold Qi in their body.

  They lived up to their name as a creation of the demons! This golden centipede must still not have reached adulthood. If it was an adult golden centipede, its size would have been even bigger and more terrifying. It would’ve been something that was simply beyond my capabilities to handle!

  As soon as Zhong Yue thought of this, he suddenly shivered and quickly leaped away from his position. He then quickly flew away and as he turned back to look, he saw a huge six-winged golden centipede chasing behind him, vaporizing everything in its path that came in contact with the centipede!

  An adult golden centipede!

  Zhong Yue skin rippled with goosebumps as the adult golden centipede gained on him, turning into a golden ray and getting ever-closer to Zhong Yue!

  This is bad!

  Zhong Yue kept on moving and kept on changing directions in order to shake off the golden centipede’s pursuit. Cold sweat started dripping on his forehead and suddenly, even more, golden rays could be seen in front of him and loud chirping noises could be heard. Those golden rays were the heaven silkworms!

  The heaven silkworms are not really big, only the size of an inch, but how many of them would there have to be in order to enshroud the entire area of a hundred mu in front of him!

  Zhong Yue took a hard turn, barely missing the hundred mu of heaven silkworms as he quickly ran away. As he turned, the hundred mu of golden ray shined even brighter and countless heaven silkworms chirped even louder as they maintained their relentless pursuit!

  Zhong Yue glanced behind himself as he ran and all he saw was the adult centipede hot on his tail while the heaven silkworms closely followed behind it. Everything in their path was smashed into dust!

  I’ve really stirred up the hornet nest this time … Ehh — there really is a hornet nest in front!

  Zhong Yue lamented as he saw a huge hornet nest dangling from the cliff in front of him. The nest hung close to the cliff and appeared to be dark in color as it was made up of pure dark gold. Countless poisonous hornets each the size of a basin could be seen circling around their nest, occasionally showing off their stinger.

  Sword Qi Splitter – Mountain Opener!

  Zhong Yue bit his lips as five Sword Qi appeared and flew towards the mountain, piercing into the mountain like a drill. With his Sword Qi, he opened up a hole that allowed him to continue his advance.

  However, as Zhong Yue opened up a hole in the mountain, it also drew the ire of the poisonous hornets at which point, they quickly joined the fray behind the six-winged golden centipede and the heaven silkworms. The dense insect races charged
towards Zhong Yue crazily and the golden centipede was the first one that charged into the hole created by Zhong Yue. As it couldn't fly in the limited space, it immediately began its frenzied charge on its innumerable legs!

  I will kill you all here!

  In the mountain, Zhong Yue abruptly stopped and he let out a furious shout as he merged the five Sword Qi together and cleaved his Sword Qi towards the golden centipede!

  Eight armed Ming King, Might of the Xiang Dragon!

  Boom boom boom – hands appeared on his body, grabbed and amalgamated the Sword Qi into a five-colored Sword Qi.

  Zhong Yue’s muscles vibrated with a high frequency and the Xiang dragon totem carvings appeared on his bones while the monster god Ming King totem carvings appeared on his skin With a loud and furious roar, he swung his Sword Qi towards the six-winged golden centipede!

  Booom!

  The mountain shook vigorously and the head of the centipede was split open by Zhong Yue, causing it to let out a helpless shriek before it rolled onto the ground, shaking the mountain as it caused an avalanche of rock to fall. Then, the golden centipede spits out some poisonous golden mist but Zhong Yue repelled it by visualizing the Sui Sovereign while a round of moon and the sun emerged behind the Sui Sovereign, which let out moonlight and fire to disperse the mist and the dust!

  Die die die!

  Zhong Yue kept swinging his Sword Qi and with the power up of the Sui Sovereign, with the moon and the sun, he almost lost himself in his rampage, nearly losing his ability to maintain rational thought. He swung his sword swiftly and ferociously, which prompted the centipede to back off, however, it was blocked by the poisonous hornet and the heaven silkworms, barring its path of escape!

  Dang——

  A huge sound could be heard and the head of the centipede was split open by Zhong Yue. The centipede then died in the mountain as the poisonous hornets and the heaven silkworms tried to crawl into the mountain.

  The Sword Qi in the hands of Zhong Yue then split back into five and his eight hands reached towards the five Sword Qi while the other three hands launch a ferocious flurry of punches and slaps towards the incoming swarming poisonous hornets and heaven silkworms.

  The mountain continued to tremble vigorously as they fought, lasting for about half an hour before it subsiding completely.

  In the tunnel, Zhong Yue was covered in blood as he stood there, panting as all of his muscles cramped up, trembling vigorously. At the same time, the corpses of the poisonous hornets and heaven silkworms piled up and filled the entire tunnel, leaving not even a single inch of free space.

  Xin Huo then flew out from his glabella and looked blankly at the corpses in the tunnel before murmuring, “There is a spiritual pearl in every heaven silkworm and poison hornet. You are rich now… Brat Yue, if you could do it again, you will gain even more!”

  Zhong Yue, however, did not say anything as he had already fainted due to exhaustion.

  Chapter 126: How Hard Can It Be? |

  *Cough cough*

  Zhong Yue woke up in a fit of coughing. As he coughed up bloody phlegm, he visualized the moon and sun that circled around him as they slowly treated his injuries, purging the dead flesh and dirt in his wounds for a quicker recovery speed.

  He was lucky enough to survive as he had more than hundreds of wounds all over his body and he had torn most of his muscles during the battle. Currently, he used up all of the Lingyu Paste he took out from the Swords Gate on his wounds. With the help of the【Sun Moon Prodigious Emanation Art】, his recovery speed sped up significantly.

  There are fractures all over my bones as well….

  He looked inwards and inspected his internal organs and the bones, only to discover that they too suffered heavy injuries due to the relentless ramming of the insect race into him. With such injuries, it would take up to at least four days for him to fully recover.

  I almost died this time and Xin Huo actually asked me to try another time.

  After quite a while, Zhong Yue only started to get up slowly and he could feel extreme pain all over his limbs. He looked around the tunnel he created and he saw corpses of the thousands poisonous hornets and heaven silkworms littered around the tunnel.

  This was all my doing?

  Zhong Yue breathed in deeply and all he could feel was a tingling horror, as if he hadn’t fought to the end, he might have been completely devoured by the insect swarm. He would’ve been left with no trace of himself remaining in the world!

  At this rate, I would be done for if I were to encounter another one or two insect race. I should just quietly stay here and recover my injuries. Besides….

  He looked at the corpses of the heaven silkworms, poisonous hornets and the adult golden centipede while he thought, There are so many spiritual pearls in their bodies and I can’t carry them all at once. I would also need time to fully absorb the power of these spiritual pearls to cultivate my five elemental Sword Qi!

  He triggered his psyche and slashed at a rock on the top of the tunnel entrance. The rock then fell down and covered up the entrance of the tunnel.

  I wonder how long it would take to fully absorb the essence of all these spiritual pearls.

  Zhong Yue’s psyche gushed out and the corpses of the insect races suddenly moved as his psyche extracted the spiritual pearls out of their bodies. Their spiritual pearls came in various types; the spiritual pearls of the poisonous hornets had mostly water, wood and fire elemental spiritual pearls while the heaven silkworms had mainly gold, wood and earth elemental spiritual pearls. Other than that, the sizes of their spiritual pearls greatly varied – some were as big as pebbles while some were as small as sesame seeds.

  There were about ten thousand spiritual pearls but only a few of them could be considered large.

  Zhong Yue started cultivating his【Great Boundless Sword Qi】 and continued to absorb the power of the spiritual pearl in order to further strengthen his Sword Qi. After a few more days, his injuries had fully recovered, but he did not stop his cultivation; instead, continuing it.

  In the tunnel, the number of spiritual pearls decreased significantly and seven Sword Qi were floating beside him. At this stage, other than the Xiang Dragon Sword Qi and the Coral Sword Qi, he had already cultivated the five elemental sword qi and they were getting stronger and stronger!

  As time passed, the five elemental Sword Qi’s power had almost become as strong as the Xiang Dragon Sword Qi, but Zhong Yue had no intention of stopping. By this point, he had already used up all of the small sized spiritual pearls.

  “Long Yue might have already died halfway seeing as he is still not here yet.”

  In front of the monster god Ming King’s palace, Yu Xuanji looked behind and he failed to discover any trace of Zhong Yue. He then shook his head and said, “The survivors are all here already and those who did not show up had most likely already died in the black jungle. Never had I thought that so many of our people died in this jungle….”

  At the stairs in front of the palace, King Teng, Yu Xuanji and the others had already advanced over eighty steps and the palace began to draw near.

  Behind them was another group of Qi Practitioners that came afterward. Kong Ban was among the second group of Qi Practitioners and they were working together to decipher the puzzles on the staircases.

  King Teng and the others poured huge amounts of effort in order to solve the totem carvings on the stairs and they immediately removed their own totem carvings as they solved totem carvings on the stairs. They did not give any chances to Kong Ban’s group of Qi Practitioner but Kong Ban and the others didn’t seem to mind. After all, they were competitors; in fact, they would even grow wary if King Teng and the others had given them any extra chances in case they were plotting something nefarious for them.

  The two groups of Qi Practitioners consisted of only fourteen of them. This means that out of the sixty plus Rebirth Qi Practitioners that had entered the Black Mountain’s secret realm, only fourteen of them were able to mak
e it to this point whereas the others had seemingly lost their lives in just the black forest underground!

  Time slowly passed and after over ten days, King Teng, Yu Xuanji, Hu Qimei and the others managed to decipher another ten plus steps. With that, their excitement was on the verge of boiling over as they were now only eight steps away from the entrance of the palace. However, they ultimately managed to maintain their composure.

  “Thank god we worked together to solve the totem carvings on the stairs. We might’ve taken years to decipher these totem carvings if we had acted alone, not to mention the extremely high risk of dying!” a Qi Practitioner laughed.

  “Saint city lord is indeed powerful. What a godly character, to be able to walk all the way here alone and enter the palace of the Monster God Ming King to obtain his heritage!”

  King Teng shook his head and said, “Saint city lord did not walk here all by himself, during that year, there were many Rebirth level Qi Practitioners that entered this secret realm but he was the only one who survived until the end. With the power he had at the time, he only managed to enter the palace through his cooperation with the other Qi Practitioners.”

  “Everyone, work harder and enter the palace as fast as possible!”

  The monsters then all worked up and continued with their work. After another few more days, they managed to decipher the first hundred and seven steps of the stairs, leaving only the final one remaining!

  Hu Qimei turned back and looked for the final time, before shaking her head when she still failed to see Zhong Yue. She then said, “Seems like Long Yue truly is dead, too bad, he was such a competent one.”

  “Even if he is still alive, there’s nothing he can do anymore.”

  Yu Xuanji replied, “He’s just one person and it would be impossible for him to solve the totem carvings on the stairs by himself. We aren’t going to turn back for him after having achieved so much. Besides, our relationship is not so good so as to risk everything for him.”

  Hu Qimei nodded in acknowledgment.