Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  A battle of words may not be a decisive factor to a battle but it could often be used in order to gain the upper hand!

  Zhong Yue’s movement broke through the sound barrier and as it got faster and faster, his movements had reached a speed twice that of the speed of sound as he dangerously neared his opponent!

  Before they clashed, their aura had already come in contact, begetting an ear-rending noise and calling forth a vicious rogue wind that was concomitant with their collision. Xiao Qin immediately felt her aura immediately trampled by Zhong Yue as it was on the verge of shattering!

  And if one’s battle aura was lost, their will would be shaken, only engendering a fear which would ultimately restrain one’s full potential!

  “【Celestial Moon Howling Art】’s 【Moon Howling】!”

  Behind Xiao Qin’s back, the Pan Ao Yuan Shen rode on the cloud as it ascended into the air before it opened up its mouths, spitting out three moons that shot towards the Great Sun Golden Crow Yuan Shen.

  “【Unlimited Great Sun】! 【Dance of The Fiery Dragons】!”

  The Great Sun Golden Crow cawed loudly and scorching sun fire was created. The blazing fire was just like a huge sun and in the sun there were huge fiery dragons mutilating the three moons.

  The Great Sun Golden Crow Yuan Shen flapped its wings again like a living Golden Crow of the sun, blasting the three moons into the huge sun. This allowed the fiery dragons to slither and wrap the moons in between their bodies while they resisted the power of the【Moon Howling】.

  The Great Sun Golden Crow then reached out its claws and crushed the moons into dust before it dived towards the Pan Ao Yuan Shen on the ground along with the dancing fiery dragons.

  The Pan Ao Yuan Shen roared and jumped into the huge sun before it fought fiercely with the Golden Crow. The three heads of the Pan Ao roared non stop and as the five wheels of the Pan Ao spun, it unleashed barrage of skills that fended off the circling fiery dragons.

  At the same time, Zhong Yue arrived and as he flapped his Golden Crow wings, eye-dazzling sword feathers shot out towards Xiao Qin!

  She quickly moved backwards and one of her heads shouted, creating layers of walls that rose out of the ground. With every step backwards that she took, a wall would be erected out from the ground. As she continued her backwards retreat, she left behind a layer of walls in her wake, each of them completely covered with the totem carvings of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race.

  In an instant, a few ten walls stood in between her and Zhong Yue.

  Boom boom boom——-

  Suddenly, these walls shattered and Zhong Yue could be seen charging through these walls without slowing down. In the air were countless fiery red sword feathers that flew over the walls before they shot towards Xiao Qin!

  By now, the broken dragon scales on Xiao Qin’s skin had regenerated completely and when the sword feathers shot towards her, Xiao Qin’s three heads continuously and adroitly cast skills to fend off the lethal sword feathers as she kept on creating walls as she back off.

  Her strength was indeed very powerful as when her aura was completely being overwhelmed by Zhong Yue, she still managed to display a high level of combat proficiency that defended her thoroughly. With that, she was waiting to launch a counterattack at the time Zhong Yue’s aura waned!

  Xiao Qin thought as she waited, He will be tired after this round of rapid attacks, his strength would be depleted after being unable to defeat me with this barrage. With that, it would then be my time for attack!

  With her three heads, she possessed an overwhelming advantage that allowed her to cast her spells three times faster than normal Qi Practitioners. As such, no matter how wild and strong Zhong Yue’s attacks were, she would still be able to fend them off completely!

  “【Sword Nine Style】!”

  Nine sword silks arrived quickly and shot towards Xiao Qin as soon as Zhong Yue shouted!

  Xiao Qin shouted and she used the power of her five wheels to suppress the five elemental Sword Qi in the【Sword Nine Style】, leaving only four more sword silks that then transformed into the【Fourth Sword Style】. Albeit it posed as a lesser threat than the【Sword Nine Style】.

  “Haha, Senior Martial Sister Xiao Qin, who is the legitimate father of Xiao Chuqing? He must be a huge figure among your race right? You even became quite rattled upon hearing me even slightly allude to him, allowing me to gain the upper hand in this battle.”

  Zhong Yue continued on breaking walls continuously as his voice continued to invade Xiao QIn’s ears from behind the phalanx of walls. He then said again, “The only one huge figure in your race that is capable of this kind of reaction from you can only be the high priest! So I guess Xiao Chuqing is the daughter of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race’s high priest then!”

  Xiao Qin’s heart clenched strongly just prior to the wall right in front of her suddenly shattering like the rolling back of a curtain to reveal Zhong Yue’s figure landing right in front of her like an imperious God of War!

  He slashed his hand that was covered in energy towards her neck with a cold expression. As he swung his hand, the five elemental Sword Qi that was suppressed by Xiao Qin returned to his hand.

  “Let me tell you another secret.”

  The five Sword Qi merged together and turned into a Sword Qi illuminating bright light and he said to Xiao Qin who was trying her best to evade Zhong Yue, “It was I who killed Xiao Chuqing….”

  The Xiao Qin became shell-shocked and her mind went blank as soon as she heard Zhong Yue’s confession. She failed to regain her senses back in time at all!

  Zhe——-

  A head then flew up into the sky after having been brutally sliced away by Zhong Yue!

  Chapter 180: Fire Spark Thievery |

  Xiao Qin’s head flew up while her other two heads contorted in horrified disbelief. The head on the left was about to yell and inform the higher ups of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race outside of the secret realm but Zhong Yue’s fist had already struck onto her mouth, crushing all of her teeth!

  Then, his fist that struck on her mouth opened up and launched five Sword Qi that pierced through her whole head before splitting it open in half!

  “High priest….”

  The last remaining head shouted out but Zhong Yue turned around and pierced her last head as he shook his hand, unleashing the highly condensed power of five wheels to disintegrate her head into dust.

  “All it took was one wrong move for your bitter defeat. Your thoughts and will were continually disrupted and eroded with everything I said. Your visualization and techniques thus suffered as a result, leaving your ultimate ending to be only death.”

  Zhong Yue murmured while he sheathed his sword while the coiling Ao Yuan Shen that was battling with the Great Sun Golden Crow Yuan Shen suddenly stopped moving and put up a vacant expression before being shredded apart and eaten by the Great Sun Golden Crow.

  “And most importantly, nothing I’ve said to you could ever be able to reach the ears of the concerned parties.”

  Zhong Yue summoned his back Yuan Shen and he ascended into the air, step after step, before landing on the ground outside of the secret realm and he said to Feng Shouzhu as he bowed, “Elder Feng, I did not let you down.”

  Feng Shouzhu nodded and he did not say much as he looked and said coldly to the high priest of Xiao Mang Celestial Race with an angry expression, “Senior Martial Brother Xiao, Xiao Chuqing is your daughter? Could you please tell me what is going on?”

  The smile on the face of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race’s high priest stiffened up and he did not know what to say.

  Feng Shui Zhu then continued saying coldly, “If she was disowned by the entire race, then there would be no problem, but if she was your daughter and was placed under our Swords Gate as a spy, then this is a huge problem!”

  The high priest of Shan Shen Celestial Race smiled happily and said, “Senior Martial Brother Xiao is indeed cunning, sending your own daughter as a spy in the humans’ Swords
Gate and killing her so that you could blame the Swords Gate in order to ask for a huge compensation. What a wise and brutal plan, I have to say that you have my respect on this!”

  His remarks were even worse as this was a dirty move pulled off by him, pinning the death of Xiao Chuqing straight on her own father, the high priest of Xiao Mang Celestial Race.

  All of this was because of the perennial conflict between the Shan Shen and Xiao Mang Celestial Race, therefore, the Shan Shen Celestial would eagerly jump at the chance to throw salt on the wounds of the Xiao Mang Celestial whenever they had the chance.

  The Shen Ya Celestial Race’s high priest also said, “Xiao Chuqin’s death might not be related to Senior Martial Brother Xiao, but some other factions that wanted to sit on the fence and wait for their chance as the humans and Xiao Mang Celestial Race fought together. However, Senior Martial Brother Xiao really did pull an irrational move as before you sent your daughter to the Swords Gate, you must have known that the Swords Gate would not allow something like this.”

  He too, would be more than happy to see the Xiao Mang Celestial Race’s high priest swallow down his own bitterness, which was why he help the high priest of Xiao Mang Celestial Race and insulted him at the same time.

  Then, the high priest of the Gui Shen Celestial Race said, “Senior Martial Brother Xiao has indeed crossed the line.”

  The high priest of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race humphed and argued back, “The allegation that Xiao Chuqing is my daughter are rumors from a mere young boy from the Swords Gate, and you people trust his words more than mine? She is not my daughter if I say she is not! Can anyone prove that she is my daughter?”

  Everyone around him quietened down as no one spoke and the Shan Shen Celestial Race’s high priest remained silent as well.

  There was a huge gap between the identity and status of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race’s high priest’s and Zhong Yue’s. This gap was clearly seen in the weight that the high priest’s words carried over Zhong Yue’s, the latter seems like nothing more than a fart when placed against the former’s. This was not to mention the statement Zhong Yue made just now was nothing more than just a guess.

  Therefore, it would be no use even if Xiao Qin publicly admitted that Xiao Chuqing was the daughter of the high priest as no one would be able to force the high priest to admit it if he did not want to.

  “Nicely done.”

  Out of the reach of everyone’s eyesight, Feng Shouzhu secretly gave Zhong Yue a thumbs up as he whispered to him before he signaled Zhong Yue to leave. He also showed no sign of being affected by the incident where the high priest of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race denied that Xiao Chuqing was his daughter.

  Zhong Yue had executed everything nicely and although the high priest did not admit it, anyone who was not blind to see anything could clearly see that the death of Xiao Chuqing had been placed on the entire Xiao Mang Celestial Race. Originally, the Xiao Mang Celestial Race had accused Swords Gate for her death. Armed with their justifications, no one would have been able to say anything even if they destroyed Swords Gate. However, because of Zhong Yue, everything was reset back to square one.

  Then, Zhong Yue bowed and went back to join Qiu Jin’er and the others but he suddenly had goosebumps all over. He quickly turned and looked around, only to find the high priest of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race staring at him. He then thought, This shitty old fogie has finally decided to kill me!

  Zuo Xiangsheng suddenly moved and stood in between him and the high priest to prevent any unscrupulous moves on the part of the high priest that could potentially harm Zhong Yue’s Yuan Shen.

  A grateful Zhong Yue then said softly, “Thank you, Hall Master Zuo.”

  “You and I are both Qi Practitioners of the Swords Gate and we are both on the same boat.” replied Zuo Xiangsheng.

  The same boat?

  Zhong Yue asked himself as he felt that there were something else hidden behind the words of Zuo Xiangsheng. Similar to him, the spirit of Zuo Xiangsheng was also the sun spirit; however, it was not the Great Sun Golden Crow but rather, the Great Sun Fiery Crow. It may not be as strong as the Great Sun Golden Crow but Zuo Xiangsheng had managed to cultivate it to an extremely powerful level.

  It was an oddly strange thing for Zuo Xiangsheng to obtain the spirit of the Great Sun Fiery Crow and cultivate the Great Sun Fiery Crow Yuan Shen as there were no such conditions in the Swords Gate that could allow him to do so.

  Therefore, he must have encountered something else for him to be able to cultivate the spirit of the Great Sun Fiery Crow.

  Tian Yanzong then looked at Zuo Xiangsheng as he said, “The fourth match is a very crucial match. If the Swords Gate wins this match, then there will be no more trouble but the situation could experience a sudden change if you lost as I could not win the Xiao Mang Celestial Clan’s Inner Core level Qi Practitioner.”

  Zuo Xiangsheng then said, “Don’t worry, with me here, you would not have to fight for the fifth match.”

  “The fourth match is set in an oceanic locale, you would be put at a great disadvantage there! Your Yuan Shen belongs to the element of fire and the oceanic locale would precisely suppress your Yuan Shen. I am sure this was the result of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race’s high priest’s decision to neutralize the power of your Great Sun Fiery Crow!”

  Zuo Xiangsheng nodded and replied, “My name is well known and the high priest must have tried his best to select a stage like this to suppress me but unfortunately for him, nothing would be able to affect me at all.”

  At the same time, the white-robed priest said, “The fourth match will take place on the oceanic locale. Contenders of Swords Gate and Xiao Mang Celestial Race, be prepared and you have only fifteen minutes to take a look of the battleground.”

  Zuo Xiangsheng, along with the Xiao Chushan, the disciple of the high priest of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race then walked out at the same time. They were both strong Qi Practitioners at the level of Atman Body, both of whom had reached the peak state of that level. Zuo Xiangsheng even kept on suppressing his level so that he could postpone his advancement into the Inner Core level!

  And Xiao Chushan bore the name “Chu”, signifying that he possessed a very distinguished bloodline as compared to Xiao Qin and the others!

  It was common knowledge that whoever had the better bloodline in the celestial race would naturally have a stronger power.

  Therefore, Zuo Xiangsheng's opponent would definitely put up a decent fight for sure!

  Both of the candidates entered the secret realm and everyone realized that the secret realm had gotten bigger than before. It turned into an ocean with a radius of four hundred miles and there were also some islands on the sea.

  This was because the candidates were Qi Practitioners of the Atman Body level, a realm that placed one among the middle class of Qi Practitioners; naturally, the power they possessed would invariably be much stronger power than that of the lower levels. Thus, an area that enabled Awakening level Qi Practitioners to fight without holding back would be insufficient for Qi Practitioners of the Atman Body level.

  As soon as Zuo Xiangsheng entered the secret realm, he immediately stopped looking around after he roughly glanced around the surroundings.

  This was all due to his Yuan Shen that caused him to despise water a lot and the ocean made him feel sick. On the other hand, Xiao Chushan took a look around the surroundings carefully, diving into the sea to observe the water current and the numerous characteristics of the landscape.

  When put together, Xiao Chushan seemed to be more cautious and careful while Zuo Xiangsheng appeared to be very arrogant.

  Outside of the secret realm, Feng Shouzhu frowned as he thought nervously, Zuo Xiangsheng may be the strongest Atman Body level Qi Practitioner, but that is only in the Swords Gate. It is unknown that if he could defeat Xiao Chushan for sure. But with that arrogant move, his chance of winning would only decrease further….

  Fifteen minutes soon passed and as the white-robed pri
est gave up the signal, Zuo Xiangsheng and Xiao Chushan did not take action against each other but they immediately cast the Spirit-Body As One!

  This move would merge the Combat Yuan Shen together with the body of the Qi Practitioner and form a special battle stance. If the Yuan Shen became stronger, the combat proficiency of the person would increase as well. The Combat Yuan Shen had always been very powerful and after merging with the body of the Qi Practitioner, one could guess how strong that union would be.

  The Yuan Shen of Xiao Chushan was the three-headed coiling Ao whose height reached twenty plus feet and after he merged with his Yuan Shen, he too grew to the same height! He stood up highly on the sea level and carried a spear just like a three-headed God!

  Whereas for Zuo Xiangsheng, he turned into a man with bird’s head and human’s body with bird’s claw and wings with fire all over his legs. In just a split second, the heat released by him boiled the sea water all around him, popping hot bubbles!

  Outside of the secret realm, as the many observing Qi Practitioners saw this scene, all of them heaved gasps of praise at the terrific display of power, save for the high priest of the Shen Ya Celestial Race. The high priest’s face changed slightly as he saw the fire all over Zuo Xiangsheng’s legs and he murmured, “Something’s not right, this fire… Stop the battle!”

  He suddenly got up and shouted after a cold humph, “Zuo Xiangsheng, are you the one who stole the fire spark of our entire Shen Ya Celestial Race?”

  As he questioned Zuo Xiangsheng, an uproar occurred all over the observer Qi Practitioners and god knew how many gazes locked onto the high priest of Shen Ya Celestial Race. The white-robed priest then quickly halted the battle and Feng Shouzhu’s heart thumped as he felt the situation at the cusp of deteriorating to an irreconcilable stage!