Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  These were also warnings and acknowledgement of their arrivals from the Xiao Mang Celestial Race.

  The following day, Feng Shouzhu led them deep into the territory of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race. From afar, they could see a steep and majestic mountain, one that was no inferior to the Swords Gate Mountain. However, there were barely any trees on the mountain as nearly every inch of land was taken by the temples and palaces, one layer after another!

  Countless buildings were built on the mountain, enormous celestial palaces, sky-high temples, and ancient statues — they had transformed the mountain itself into a mountainous city!

  The Xiao Mang Celestial Race took the form of the Pan Ao, or the Tian Gou. Hence, all over the mountain, one could see statues of the three-headed Pan Ao celestial beings – dog-headed, human-bodied, and with a long spear in their hands. Even the art that adorned the mountain slopes were engraved with the totem patterns that depicted the worshipping ceremony of a large group of Pan Ao. It was a scene that trembled the heart!

  The humans measured the statues with their eyes — the Pan Ao were creatures covered in dragon scales all over their bodies, except for their heads which were covered with furs instead.

  “The Xiao Mang celestial temple.”

  Rays flashed in Feng Shouzhu’s eyes as the ship gradually landed. He lowered his voice, “Be cautious, there will be provocations from the celestials to probe our prowesses. Keep my words in mind — never show your true prowess. Endure and bear the humiliation that would come, all for the safety of our dear homeland, Great Wilderness!”

  They all nodded.

  Feng Shouzhu then turned to Zhong Yue as he transmitted his voice over, “How is the sword eye going?”

  Zhong Yue nodded and replied, “Replying to the elder, it’s done!”

  His old and tensed face visibly eased as he said happily, “Good, good! Once we’ve entered the celestial temple, I’ll come and watch over you when you opening the Dao Yi Realm. Remember, you are the secret weapon of Swords Gate, your mission is to duel with the Awakening Xiao Mang celestial — never try to reverse open the Dao Yi Realm on your own. Also, if any Xiao Mang celestial provok….”

  “Hahahaha! Feng Shouzhu, Brother Shouzhu, finally, you’ve all arrived!”

  An deafening laughter resounded through the air, quivering their blood essences. Zhong Yue and the others quickly looked over to see a few white-robed priests walking down from the celestial temple on the top of the mountain. One of them had three heads and six eyes with an icon of the moon crescent sewn on the front of his white robe. He would be the priest from the Xiao Mang Celestial Race; while another one had one head with only one eye and a mouth and without a nose.

  And there was one with four arms extending out in all directions, one head and a face with no eyes, his eyes were in the palms of his hands!

  The appearance of the last priest was a peculiar looking bird-headed human wearing a white robe with a sun totem pattern sew on it. In the sun totem pattern, there was a fire crow.

  “They are invited over by Elder Shui Zian as moderators. The one-eyed priest is from the Wei Celestial Race, also known as the ghost celestial race. The one and only eye they have is their divine eye, it is very strong. The one with four arms is from the mountain celestial race, the eyes in their palms watch over in all directions. The bird-headed human is from the crow celestial race, they are born with the ability to command fire. These three celestial races are as strong as the Xiao Mang Celestial Race, ones who can contend against the Xiao Mang Celestial Race over the title of the strongest celestial race in West Barren. Elder Shui Zian has invited them over so they could suppress the Xiao Mang Celestial Race, leveraging their prowess to our advantage! However, they also have their eyes on the Great Wilderness, they cannot be completely trusted!”

  Rays flashed in Feng Shouzhu’s eyes, he transmitted a message into the disciples’ ears. The ship landed on a huge platform on the middle of the mountain slopes, Feng Shouzhu strode forward and walked down from the ship, whispering to them, “Come down, the formalities and manners must not be taken lightly!”

  Zuo Xiangsheng, Tian Yanzhong, Zhong Yue and the others all walked down from the ship, they greeted the white-robed priests who completely ignored them, walking forward with a smile plastered on their faces and said, “Brother Shouzhu, I was too busy the last time we met, it’s a regret we did not have the chance to have a chat with you, today will be just the right day to drink until we are all drunk!

  Feng Shouzhu’s startled and smiled, “Those brats of the Swords Gate aren’t settled down yet, I’ll make a toast the fellow junior martial brothers after they have settled down….”

  “Let them be handled by the people in the Xiao Mang Temple. The Xiao Mang celestial race won’t pull any tricks with our presence. If they did, their reputation in the West Barren will be gone!”

  The few white-robed worshippers grabbed him by the arm and laughed, “Let’s go, let the kid’s matter be settled by kids!”

  Feng Shouzhu frowned and felt something was not right. These three worshippers were helpers employed by Shui Zian, if he offended them, they wouldn’t stand a chance. Zhong Yue had already cultivated the sword eye and he needed to stand guard when he reverse opens the secret realm; if he is taken away by the worshippers, who will protect Zhong Yue?

  Without the presence of a magnate-level cultivator to protect Zhong Yue, the reverse opening of the secret realm would be very dangerous!

  “Disciple of the Zhong Shan Clan, do not open the secret realm until it is necessary, wait for my return!”, Feng Shouzhu said, while escorted by three white-robed worshippers.

  Zhong Yue frowned slightly. A Xiao Mang Celestial Race worshipper came forward, watching them as if they were merely a slab of walking flesh. His face was blank as he said, “Humans… follow me!”

  He lead the crowd into the Xiao Mang Temple, until they walked into the temple, only Zhong Yue and the others knew how wealthy and luxurious the Xiap Mang Celestial Race was. The place was magnificent, gold and silver tiled the floor, carved with mysterious totem patterns, and glittering jewels all colors and sizes to be seen everywhere!

  The Xiao Mang Celestial Race decorated the palace with treasures, cultivating them into soul weapons with the help of all types of totem carvings. No doubt that the palace would be sparkling during the night, illuminating the saint mountain as if it were daytime!

  When they walked past a wide plaza, there were the sounds of intense battle. Zhong Yue and the others looked down from the walkway above and saw dozens of Xiao Mang Celestial Race Qi Practitioners sitting and watching the battle on the stage, while a Xiao Mang Qi Practitioner was engaged in a battle against more than ten human Qi Practitioners on the plaza.

  Tian Yanzhong, Zuo Xiangsheng and the other hall masters halted their footsteps. The ragged and shabby clothes of the humans gave a strong hint that suggested that they were the Qi Practitioners chosen among the human slaves and trained by the Xiao Mang Celestial Race. They were all well talented, cultivating to the level of Rebirth; flickering and moving around as if they were flying, manipulating all sorts of soul weapons, and their attacks were strong and daunting!

  The Xiao Mang Celestial Race had enslaved more humans than any other celestial race. They had raised the human Qi Practitioners not to nurture them, but simply to raise them as training targets for their celestial disciples.

  Chapter 168: Fatality |

  The human Qi Practitioners were not weak at all. If they were Qi Practitioners in the Swords Gate, they may not be able to enter the Dragon and Tiger Challenger Board but their auras were much stronger than some of the Swords Gate’s Qi Practitioners on the Board. These human Qi Practitioners attacked like enraged beasts, delivering all sorts of lethal attacks, causing the faces of those who had not experienced any fierce battles like Qi Feng and Yu Zhengshu to blanch in horror.

  This was a battle of life and death, thus, these Qi Practitioners had to use their full strength or they would
die.

  The Xiao Mang Celestial Race’s Qi Practitioner was also a Rebirth level Qi Practitioner, but his strength was horrifyingly powerful. He did not make any mistake despite surrounded on all sides by ten plus Qi Practitioners. He suddenly shook his head, forming a three-headed beast behind of him. The gigantic beast then roared and created terrifying soundwaves, bursting the heads of the charging human Qi Practitioners!

  Zheng zheng zheng——

  The human Qi Practitioners’ soul weapons landed but failed to leave any wounds on the celestial race practitioner, simply being repelled off the hard surface of his skin.

  Zhe——

  The Xiao Mang Celestial Race’s Qi Practitioner raised his hands and he swiftly cracked on a human Qi Practitioner’s head, exposing the grey matter beneath.

  Then, he moved like a ghost as he unleashed stormy attacks, severing limbs and ripping bodies apart. In just a split second, the ten plus Qi Practitioners were all completely slaughtered!

  Dong——

  A human’s detached head flew and landed on the hall as the blood dripped from the neck while Zhong Yue and the others stood in front of it.

  Everyone was enraged and a few of the hall masters could not bear it and their arms and legs trembled in anger. They may have had been warned by Feng Shouzhu that the Xiao Mang Celestial Race would taunt them, but none of them would have thought that it would come so soon. And neither did any of them think that it would come in the brutal form of slaughtering their own kin in front of their faces instead of verbal insults. The Xiao Mang Celestial Race was clearly making a humiliation of the entire human race as they slaughtered them in front of other humans!

  As Feng Shouzhu was absent, Tian Yanzong became the leader by default and as soon as he saw the angry faces, he said with a deep tone, “This is not related to our purpose here, do not act rashly!”

  “Oh, it's the Great Wilderness’ Sword Gate’s senior martial brothers.”

  The Xiao Mang Celestial Race’s member looked up and said with a mocking expression, “Interested in joining the fun with me? Don’t worry, you are all our guests so I definitely will not slaughter you like how I slaughtered these cattles.”

  Another Xiao Mang Celestial Race’s member stood up and said, “Dear senior martial brothers of Swords Gate, we the Xiao Mang Celestial Race will not humiliate you. This is just a friendly match, are you all afraid of something like this? Other than that, this is my junior martial brother, Xiao Zhen. He is not one of the participants in the upcoming battle so it’s fine if you have a duel with him, don’t worry about him getting injured.”

  Everyone looked towards Tian Yanzong and he shook his head as he said, “Suck it up.”

  Then, he turned and said to the white-robed priest, “Elder, where is the place we are going to stay?”

  The white-robed priest kept quiet and Xiao Zhen suddenly said, “Since you are not going to accept my invitation, I will have to kill another few more human Qi Practitioners for I am not satisfied yet and to provoke you guys!”

  Yu Zhengshu got mad and he whispered, “How can we sit here and watch our people being slaughtered like cattle! I will fight with him!”

  Tian Yanzong quickly stopped him by grabbing his shoulder and said, “No, bear with it or our plan will be disrupted!”

  Yu Zhengshu struggled but failed and he looked up as he said, “Hall Master Tian!”

  Tian Yanzong looked back at the white-robed priest and said, “Elder, please show us the way.”

  “The humans sure are capable of holding back their emotions.”

  The white-robed priest laughed and said as he walked forward, “Follow me.”

  He dragged his feet to stall for time, meanwhile, another ten human Qi Practitioners were brought up again. But this time, they were all girls. These girls put up a frightened expression and they were all trembling in fear as they were brought up to the stage like helpless sheep.

  “I don’t want to die….” said a female Qi Practitioner as she knelt on her knees and cried.

  Suddenly, Zhong Yue dashed forward, appearing almost instantaneously in the air on top of the square from his previous position in the long hallway. Then, the ground shook and a loud sound could be heard as Zhong Yue landed a few feets away at the front of Xiao Zhen!

  Tian Yanzong and Zuo Xiangsheng’s face changed and they both shouted, “Zhong Shan Clan member, come back!”

  Zhong Yue looked up and said, “Dear senior martial brothers, senior martial sisters and hall masters, don’t worry. There’s no need for me to use my triumph card on someone like him and if we do not accept their invitation, we will be mocked by them. This would adversely affect our morale for the battles to come.”

  Tian Yanzong shouted again, “Elder Feng told us not to act rashly and be provoked easily….”

  “Why would I restrain myself against garbage such as him?”

  Zhong Yue looked at Xiao Zhen and said, “Senior martial brother Xiao Zhen, do you want to have a friendly match or a duel of life and death?”

  Something struck Zuo Xiangsheng suddenly and he said, “I know that Zhong Shan Clan’s member would never fight a war unprepared. Senior Martial Brother Tian, just let him be and all we have to do is watch.”

  Tian Yanzong and the other hall masters took a deep breath and Tian Yanzong said to the white-robed priest, “Senior, about this….”

  The priest smiled and said, “Why don’t we head over there and observe the battle.”

  “Alright.”

  Zuo Xiangsheng, Tian Yanzong and the others then walked down from the hallway and stopped at the edge of the square.

  Xiao Zhen looked surprisingly at Zhong Yue as he said, “So there’s someone among the humans that dared to accept my challenge? I thought the humans of Swords Gate were simply frogs stuck in their wells. Well, since you stood out, I’ll give you a chance. It will be a friendly match if your companions save you before I kill you and if they can’t save you before you die, it will become a death match.”

  The six hall masters of Swords Gate’s faces changed and Jun Lutang quickly shouted, “Do not promise him! They have back ups of the level of elders that possess strong power, making it easy to save him. If you seek a fair and square battle that would not risk life then request for a friendly battle!”

  Zhong Yue nodded and replied, “Let’s proceed with what senior martial brother Xiao said.”

  The hall masters looked at each other and in worry as they all understood that this match was heavily skewed against Zhong Yue, and yet, he still insisted on continuing with those unfavorable terms. Their hearts were all filled with a sense of omen.

  Yu Zhengshu got up and said quickly, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, let me take over. After all, I have been cultivating for a long time and I am confident in my victory….”

  Xiao Zhen laughed and suddenly, he unleashed his full power, shrouding the entire square with an aura that was much stronger than the time he slaughtered the human Qi Practitioners. He then laughed and said, “You may think that the power I showed just now was my full power but in fact, I have been hiding my full power. Now, the two of you will be no match for me even if you two fight side by side.!”

  Boom——-

  His aura was so strong that it actually pushed the air around him aside, creating a vacuum space around his immediate vicinity!

  The aura was just thick and viscous like blood. A three-headed celestial being covered in blood could be seen forming behind him. It was an abnormal phenomenon formed by his QI and blood instead of his Yuan Shen. Simply with only his Qi and blood, he already emanated a tremendous pressure towards everyone around him!

  Yu Zhengshu groaned and his face changed as he couldn’t do anything but summon his Fish Dragon Yuan Shen to resist the stress given to him by Xiao Zhen.

  He was just walking towards the center of the square when Xiao Zhen had unleashed his full strength, which forced him to summon his Yuan Shen just to resist his aura!

  Not to mention the fact
that he was quite a distance away from the epicenter of that aura explosion, and yet the diluted pressure was already summoned beyond the limits of his resistance. One can only imagine the terrifying pressure borne by Zhong Yue who was standing right in from of Xiao Zhen!

  “Zhengshu, back down at once!”

  Nan Mingshan reached his hands out and grabbed Yu Zhengshu back to the stage as he shouted, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, come back at once. There’s no need to fight anymore. He is clearly stronger than you by….”

  Before he could finish talking, Xiao Zhen was already dashing towards Zhong Yue in hysterical laughter as he shouted, “Too late!”

  Hou——-

  Behind Xiao Zhen, a three-headed coiling Ao was formed and each of its heads roared simultaneously, sending huge sound waves towards Zhong Yue. At the same time, Xiao Zhen’s neck moved and two more coiling Ao heads grew out from it before joining in the deadly symphony!

  Together with the roars, the sound waves created were so strong that even the spectators were all greatly affected!

  It was a type of voice technique. With the six heads roaring together and performing the art at the same time, the power of each roar would be superimposed over each other to culminate in a single roar of monstrous proportions!

  Xiao Zhen proclamation that he was holding back previous really wasn’t just empty bluster as with just this, he could have killed those human Qi Practitioners back then.

  But instead, he had expended so much effort to prolong their suffering so as to rouse Zhong Yue’s and the others’ desire to fight him!

  The roars echoed and compressed the air as it transmitted everywhere. Xiao Zhen then followed tightly behind the sound waves and he raised up his hands, smashing towards Zhong Yue!

  On the stage, the faces of Tian Yanzong, Lei Teng and the others changed while Qi Feng and the other lower level Qi Practitioners became pale except for “Shui Qingyan’ and Qiu Jiner. As individuals who knew of Zhong Yue’s capabilities clearly, they showed no worries at all.