Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  Hence, it was evident how attractive the sun pupil and moon pupil were to him!

  After a long time, Zhong Yue had shown all of the totem permutations of the sun pupil and moon pupil to him. He glanced at Shi Buyi who was still immersed in the enthralling divine eyes and was attaining the abstrusity in them. He sneered coldly in his heart and said, The greater your attainments, the greater the pain you’ll suffer. Without the sun spirit and moon spirit, even if you were to attain all of the abstrusity, you still wouldn’t be able to cultivate the sun and moon pupil!

  Soon, Shi Buyi recollected his thoughts and he gazed deeply at Zhong Yue, smiled and said, “Good disciple, your teacher will now pass my attainments in the【Monster God Ming King Art】over to you.”

  He raised his finger up and his psyche billowed like ocean waves into Zhong Yue’s forehead. In the psyche, it contained a huge clump of cluttered messages that turned into a multitude of patterns, attainments, abstrusities, combat skills, and even methods of forging the Ba Ji Weapons — all of it rushed rushing into Zhong Yue’s mind and branded itself into his memory!

  Zhong Yue could feel that all sorts of cultivation-related arts relating to the【Monster God Ming King Art】were in his head. Some were even ones that he had never thought of, while some he had yet to attain. He was surprised and overjoyed in his heart.

  Shi Buyi was in a hurry to study the sun pupil and moon pupil. That was why he had just recklessly tossed over all of his knowledge to at Zhong Yue. He then took out a dark-green colored copper lamp and said, “My good disciple, this is the soul lamp, one that could only be lit up by your soul. Once you’ve lightened it up, I would then be able to know your whereabouts. And if you are in trouble, I can know your position in the first minute so that I can rush over and save you. Now, light this lamp with your soul, then you may return to the Fengbo Palace and study the attainments I’ve given you. Don’t disappoint your teacher.”

  Soul Lamp?

  Zhong Yue’s heart thumped heavier, he cast his gaze over at the copper lamp, his heart was hesitating. In his initial plan, he would be departing back to the Gu Xia City right away after the inauguration ceremony and ratifying his status as the saint city lord’s disciple. He was simply unwilling to stay in this perilous place, beleaguered by enemies that wanted his head.

  And now, Shi Buyi was asking him to light up a soul lamp, something that would expose his location to Shu Buyi at anytime like a tracking device.!

  That said, even if he had left the Xian Kong Saint City, wouldn’t Shi Buyi still be able to know it easily?

  Zhong Yue knew that Shi Buyi would never let him off, although he would not do it himself, he would still definitely end Zhong Yue’s life through the hands of others. If Zhong Yue had lightened up the soul lamp, Shi Buyi would be able to know his positions and when the word got out, Zhong Yue would be tracked and hunted down by his innumerable enemies. Only death would await him!

  Not only that, if he lights up the soul lamp, then he would not be able to return to the Great Wilderness. Otherwise, Shi Buyi would realize and easily surmise that he was not from the dragon race, but a spy from the human race!

  “Yue’er?” Shi Buyi smiled warmly while rays like sword flashed across in his eyes.

  Zhong Yue remained placid and cast out out his atman to light up the soul lamp. With that, Shi Buyi was finally content, he retrieved the soul weapon, smiled and said, “You may now return back to your palace and study the arts.”

  Zhong Yue bowed and left, he slowly strolled out of the saint city lord’s manor and leisurely ambled back to Fengbo Palace.

  In the middle of Shi Buyi’s forehead, a divine eye suddenly opened, the eye moved slowly, watching at the walls. It was as if his divine eye could see through the walls and reach Zhong Yue, carefully observing every facet of Zhong Yue’s being; his expressions, his heartbeat, even the flow of his blood!

  “The rate of your heartbeat and the blood flow wasn’t disturbed at all, interesting….”

  Shi Buyi mumbled to himself, “Although the sun pupil and moon pupil you’ve shown me are full and complete without concealing anything, I didn’t believe a single word you’ve said. What a shrewd and sneaky little brat….”

  Zhong Yue furtively heaved a breath of relief when he arrived at the Fengbo Palace, and his face turned solemn. In his psyche ocean, Xin Huo turned back to a little flame from the fireball, he said, “Brat Yue, that saint city lord, none of his words are trustworthy!”

  Zhong Yue nodded and said, “His words, I’ve taken in none of it to heart. But the knowledge he has given me is true, except that some of the core attainments were missing. He has kept a hand in the shadows. He is probably doing so just in case I survive so that he can use them against me in the future! But all of this doesn’t really matter, what’s more important is that I lit up the soul lamp, no matter where I am, I can’t hide from Shi Buyi. If he knows my whereabouts, then I’m dead for sure!”

  Xin Huo laughed and said, “What’s so hard about it? It’s just a soul lamp. Well, if he has placed some seals in your body to surveil you, then it would indeed be a very knotty problem. But soul lamp, it’s a toy that can easily be broken. I have a small trick, it’s called the【Can Carrier】, it can change the oscillations of your soul and render the soul lamp ineffectual. Find a plum wood, sculpt yourself with it and immerse it with your soul for two days, let the plum wood carry the air of your soul, and then change your soul’s oscillation frequency, the plum wood totem pillar will then become the substitute soul in your place. What the soul lamp detects would then be the position of the plum wood, while you yourself would be free and unfettered, able to stroll freely to wherever your heart so desires!”

  ……

  Zhong Yue was shocked and overjoyed, he said, “There’s still such intriguing and marvelous little tricks?”

  Xin Huo turned proud and conceited, “This is because my twenty-first Xin Huo inheritor had too many lovers, he had to create this little trick to mislead his wives and lovers so that he can continue gallivanting and finding more lovers.”

  Zhong Yue was speechless, he asked in a very stately and serious manner, “Xin Huo, do you think that we the Fuxi Celestial Race has waned to such an extent because our ancestors had placed too much attention in this area?”

  “Pui ! This was for the noble purpose of passing down the esteemed bloodline of the celestial race, this isn’t some basic promiscuity!”

  Xin Huo preached solemnly, “Only by finding more lovers to make love with can we produce more celestials. This would in turn cause the Fuxi Celestial Race to flourish and prosper, so that the inheritance can be continued to be passed down from generation to generation! You don’t know how much hard work and effort the Xin Huo inheritors had poured in for their posterity!”

  “They were just horny people, spending all of their time on females!”

  Xin Huo was heartbroken and aggrieved. He lamented, “Young man of the Fuxi Celestial Race, I am so very disappointed in you, you spit at the diligence and arduous endeavors that your ancestors undertook to ensure the prosperity of the race!”

  The plum wood was not hard to find, Zhong Yue managed to find himself one but he did not start sculpting immediately. He first soaked it with his soul and allowed the aura of his soul to permeate through the plum wood.

  Another two days passed, rays flashed in Zhong Yue’s eyes and he mumbled, “I can’t stay in the Xian Kong Saint City any longer. But this【Can Carrier】can’t be used now, I can only use it when I’m back in the Gu Xia City. Otherwise, if I were to use it right after I leave the city, Shi Buyi will definitely be able to notice the abnormalities. His psyche is too strong, he can identify my movements with just a single scan and if he checks with the soul lamp again, he would soon realize that I had tampered with the soul lamp. But, if I don’t use it now, I would lose my opportunity to leave the city. At that point, my enemies will definitely come after me….”

  The journey back to the Gu Xia City seemed like it
would be another journey beleaguered with danger!

  Chapter 147: Leaving Saint City Alone |

  “Long Yue moved, laying low for two days, and you’ve finally lost patience, departing back to Gu Xia City already?”

  In the saint city lord’s manor, saint city lord Shi Buyi reached out to the soul lamp and he mumbled, “You can’t trust me, can you? Suspecting that I’ll make short work of you because you’ve acquired the【Monster God Ming King Art】right? That’s why, you want to avoid me, leaving the saint city as soon as possible back to the little nest you’ve built. My dear disciple, soon, you will come to understand the old saying that the older gingers are spicier than the younger ones….”

  “Lang Qingyun, the heart of a wolf filled with wild ambitions, half of his blood belongs to the monster race while the other half is of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race. He suspects you only because he was worrying that you might replace him. So if this soul lamp was accidentally stolen away by him, he must be very happy to tell your whereabouts to your enemies.”

  Shi Buyi smiled and said, “How can my own disciple die by my own hand? Wouldn’t it be better to kill him with the borrowed hand of others? Don’t you worry, Lang Qingyun will definitely be able to steal this soul lamp away … what I’m going to deal with, is Yu Xuanji’s teacher, the Lord of Qing Long Keep and Hu Qimei’s teacher, Lord of Luo Ying City — these two old brats, how dare they have their eyes on my【Monster God Ming King Art】!”

  Xian Kong Saint City, Qing Long Keep’s assembly building – Yu Xuanji, Hu Qimei, Hei Hu, Hu Qingqing, they all stood reverently below an old man and a beautiful woman whose faces were solemn, while the atmospheric air was also thick and heavy.

  “The【Monster God Ming King】is very important, Shi Buyi will definitely prohibit his cultivation technique from being leaked, Xuanji and Qimei will surely be exterminated by him!”

  The old man was Yu Xuanji’s teacher, the Lord of Qing Long Keep. He said solemnly, “Now, the problem is, how are we going to send them back safely. With his prowess, Shi Buyi can easily kill either one of us, he could hang us up and batter us!”

  The beautiful woman smiled and said, “We split up.”

  Lord of Qing Long Keep shook his head and said, “Splitting up will only allow him to break us down one by one, it’d be even worse!”

  “No, I mean, splitting up into dozens of groups, and leave at the same time!”

  The Lord of Luo Ying City softly clapped her hands, one after another, female Qi Practitioners of the Luo Ying City walked out from the back of the hall, all of them were grasping lutes in the arms. Standing alongside with Hu Qimei, even their clothes and ornaments were the same as Hu Qimei. From appearance alone, it would be nigh impossible to distinguish the real Hu Qimei among them.

  “Masks,” Lord of Luo Ying City then behested.

  The female Qi Practitioners then raised their hands up and all of them donned masks of the same patterns. While one of the ladies tucked a mask into Hu Qimei’s hands. This additional measure made it even harder to identify the true Hu Qimei among this sea of doppelgangers.

  The Lord of Luo Ying City glanced at them and her eyes filled with unbearable grief, “You are all honorable Qi Practitioners of our fox race. Today, for Qimei, I need you all to be her scapegoats, and I don’t know how many of you can make it back to Luo Ying City….”

  The female Qi Practitioners answered in unison, “The city lord need not say anymore, for the fox race, we are willing to die in place of Qimei!”

  Hu Qimei took a step forward, she turned and knelt down onto the ground, crying and sobbing as she spoke, “Qimei thanks the senior martial sisters….”

  The harried sounds of the ladies speaking could be heard, “Quick, quick, get up, the【Monster God Ming King Art】relates to the revitalization of our fox race, it must not be lost. We aren’t doing this for you, but for the fox race!”

  The Luo Ying City Lord then turned to the Qing Long Keep Lord and said, “Keep Lord, this is my stratagem – a diversion! Preoccupy Shi Buyi with these look-alikes so that he wouldn’t be able to neglect one in place of another. Like this, he would surely be unable to identify the real Hu Qimei. And not only that, I’ll personally bring one of the ladies myself to attract Shi Buyi’s attention so that Qimei can escape away easier.”

  The Qing Long Keep Lord pondered earnestly before saying abruptly, “Alright! My Qing Long Keep will do the same to protect Xuanji! Hei Hu, get me our warriors and form a death squad, let Xuanji return back to the Qing Long Keep safely! And pick the closest-looking one, I’ll personally bring him along to mislead Shi Buyi!”

  Hei Hu bowed, turned and left while Yu Xuanji said shudderingly, “Teacher….”

  The Qing Long Keep Lord laughed and said, “Don’t you think too much, as long as you live, everything will be worth it. Rest assured, your teacher won’t die, I’ll live long enough to see you ascend to be the next Lord of Qing Long Keep!”

  Yu Xuanji went all down onto the ground and kowtowed, “If your disciple, I, survives this, I’ll never forget what teacher and the other senior martial brothers have done for me today!”

  Lord of Qing Long Keep supported him up by the arm and said, “The one that enlightened and warned you all was the closed door disciple of Shi Buyi, Long Yue? He is worth making friends with. Sadly, the time is not our friend, we don’t have time to meet with him. From what I see, he is in an even more dangerous position, Shi Buyi will definitely not let him walk away alive. But judging from his intelligence, he would’ve known of his precarious situation already. I am certain that he will surely leave the saint city as soon as possible!”

  It was midnight and the moon was at its zenith. The Xian Kong Saint City was inundated with killing intent. Although the totem pillars on the sides of the streets have illuminated the city to be as bright as day, other than this saint mountain itself, the surroundings were completely steeped in darkness.

  In the Fengbo Palace, there were dozens of coffins among the congratulatory gifts from the major forces. Naturally, Zhong Yue would not bring any along with him; and he did not bring any of the gifted soul weapons either, he had concerns as to whether these soul weapons were marked and that if he were to bring them along, they would provide a beacon with which his enemies could traced him down.

  These past two days, he had extracted all of the Gold Qi and Wood Qi out from the soul weapons that the envoys had gifted him to nourish his five elemental Sword Qi. However, other than the coffins and soul weapons, he had brought along all of the medicinal pellets given by the major forces.

  There were quite some high caliber medicinal pellets among the gifts, and if he was hurt, these medicinal pellets could have saved his life!

  “Now, it’s time to leave this chaotic saint city and return back to the Gu Xia City. Although that place was still dangerous, the Gu Xia City belonged to the Gu Hongzi and with his wild ambitions and high aspirations, he would not tolerate any other monsters wreaking havoc in his territory! Especially when I’m one of the lords under his territory despite having become the closed door disciple of the saint city lord. Surely, he wouldn’t sit by and watch as I’m exterminated by the other forces!”

  Rays flashed in Zhong Yue’s eyes and he walked out of the Fengbo Palace under the cover of darkness and headed straight for the city gate.

  Just as he left, the next moment, the servants in the Fengbo Palace all moved, they went out and reported his movements to the monsters that were hiding beside the Fengbo Palace.

  It was never a problem for the major forces that held resentments against Zhong Yue to bribe the servants in the Fengbo Palace.

  The saint city was menacing with dangers and perils. One after another, Qi Practitioners of the major forces moved and waited on the side of the pathway to Gu Xia City, lying in wait to ambush him.

  Meanwhile, Lang Qingyun had also smoothly ‘stolen’ away Zhong Yue’s soul lamp without any difficulties, he thought in his heart, It is true, Shi Buyi wants Long Yue to die
, that’s why he purposely let me stole the soul lamp away!

  Zhong Yue stood before the city gate of the Xian Kong Saint City, he turned back and looked at the grandiose saint city. He knew that once he stepped out of this saint city, his life would be at stake, and along the way, there would be foul wind and bloody rain, it was still uncertain whether if he could make it back to the Gu Xia City!

  He turned and walked into the shade, allowing the darkness to completely engulf him.

  This was a night where the fish and dragons danced, a night where he left the saint city alone.

  And the night that was destined to be stripped off from its usual calm and peace.

  Just as Zhong Yue left the gate, figures began to dash out of the saint city. They were wearing masks and their clothes were the same as Yu Xuanji. Then, there were ladies following behind, leaving the city, this time, their clothes were the same as Hu Qimei — they have all scattered out, diverging from one another to disappear into the darkness.

  Meanwhile, the Qing Long Keep Lord and Luo Ying City Lord also brought one man and lady along with them into the shadows.

  “These two old cunning foxes, but if you think you can bring out the【Monster God Ming King Art】like this, wouldn’t you be underestimating me?” In the city lord’s manor, rays flashed in Shi Buyi’s eyes as he sneered coldly.

  Zhong Yue did not take the shortest path back to Gu Xia City, instead, he first turned to the direction of Southwest, the path he had chosen was thirty thousand miles longer than the shortest route!

  The Southwest region of the East Barren was where the south keep — Yan Qiu Keep was positioned at. The location connected the East Barren and South Barren together, and it was close to the Gu Xia City, but the only thing was that taking a detour would naturally increase his travel distance.

  Zhong Yue traveled quickly in the dark. He did not fly in the clouds, opting to stick close to the ground. This was mainly due to the unneeded attention he would attract if he were to fly in the air. There were many bird species among the monsters; eagles, hawks, cranes and others. Their eyes were sharp and flying in the upper air would leave him vulnerable to their keen eyes. This would pose a significantly greater risk as compared to flying close to the ground.