Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  Shui Zian quickly tried to understand what happened and he inhaled a long breath in shock as he measured and praised Zhong Yue, “Another bright star for the Swords Gate. Only the first headmaster of we Swords Gate managed to reverse open the five great Yuan Shen secret realms, which explains why the celestial races want you dead!”

  It was Zhong Yue’s capability to reverse open the five great Yuan Shen secret realms that caused such a palpable killing intent to rise among the celestial races. Successfully opening those five realms was the hallmark of a talent that would only be seen once in a thousand years!

  “Now the situation has gotten slightly out of hand….”

  Shui Zian said, “If this hadn’t happened, I could still use my fame and my position to bring all of you into the territory of the other celestial races in exchange for some protection and ensure that all of us could return to Swords Gate safely. But now, I don’t even dare to enter their territories anymore.”

  The matter regarding to Zhong Yue reverse opening of the five great Yuan Shen secret realms had touched the nerves of many people and if he was not dealt with, he would definitely become another god for the humans – something that would significant bolster the holistic strength of humanity as a species! All of these were unacceptable for the many celestial races in the West Barren, thus, causing them to go all out to kill him before Zhong Yue managed to grow!

  Although Shui Zian was smooth and slick in establishing social relations even with the different strong and powerful celestial races, but all of these relations were nothing in face of this matter!

  “Judging by the current situation, all we could do is split into three groups with Zuo Xiangsheng and the others being the first group. They would definitely be able to return to the Swords Gate safely. The second group consisting of Senior Martial Brother Feng with Qiu Jin’er and Tian Yanzong. The last group would comprise of Zhong Yue and me!”

  Shui Zian continued saying, “It might still be dangerous if Senior Martial Brother Feng took Qiu Qin’er and Tian Yanzong with you, but there are still some chances of returning to Swords Gate safely if you rushed back to the Great Wilderness with great haste. Unlike Senior Feng, the path Zhong Yue and I will walk will be the most dangerous one as we will attract most of the dangers towards us.”

  Zhong Yue’s heart squeezed as he thought, Me? Following Shui Zian alone?

  He was worried about it as he suspected Shui Zian as complicit in the conspiracy involving Tian Myriad Mother, meaning that he was a traitor of humanity.

  Besides, Zhong Yue felt incredibly bad as Shui Zian suggested that they split up with Zhong Yue following him alone.

  Feng Shouzhu frowned as he considered Shui Zian’s suggestion and he sighed before he said, “Seems like that’s the only way. Zhong Yue, Elder Shui is very familiar with the West Barren and he has many friends all over this place. If you followed me, you will die for sure and you might live if you followed him! We will split up now and you will follow Elder Shui!”

  Zhong Yue opened up his mouth but he did not say anything.

  Shui Zian then said, “The time is against us, we must act now! Zhong Shan Clan’s member, follow me!”

  He then walked out of the airship and said, “We will travel by foot!”

  Without no choices left, Zhong Yue forced himself to follow Shui Zian out of the airship while Feng Shouzhu said, “Take care!” while Qiu Jin’er waved goodbye and said, “Senior martial brother, I’ll wait for you back at Swords Gate!”

  Zhong Yue and Shui Zian waved back at them before they walked away

  “The humans split up?”

  In the Xiao Mang celestial temple, the high priests stood in front of a mirror, beside which was a tower. On the tower, there was a person who slowly moved a huge mirror that emitted lights that shot towards the direction of the airship, following the airship wherever it went.

  As the light shined on the airship, the Ming mirror would show real-time footage of the airship.

  A white robed priest then shouted, “One spiritual mirror is not enough! Initiate the second and third spiritual mirror and observe Shui Zian and Zuo Xiangsheng carefully.”

  On the other towers, the people of the Xiao Mang Celestial race answered and they initiated the mirrors on the tower, which then shone their light onto Shui Zian and Zhong Yue while another light then shot far away for a few million miles away towards the Shen Ya celestial temple.

  Then, another few more Qi Practitioners brought in two huge spiritual mirror and placed them in front of the priests. Then, the mirrors flickered through different scenes rapidly as they searched for the location of Shui Zian, Zhong Yue, Zuo Xiangsheng and the others.

  Not long later, they successfully located Shui Zian and Zuo Xiangsheng but another spiritual mirror was still searching for Zuo Xiangsheng and the others all over the vast area occupied by the Shen Ya celestial temple

  Suddenly, when the third mirror on the tower shined lights on the Shen Ya celestial temple, it locked onto a person with a bird’s head and human’s body that emitted a majestic aura, like a conqueror that looked at his kingdom on his throne. Upon seeing this, the hearts of the priests of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race squeezed tightly and they shouted, “Quick! Move the mirror away from that person! Move it to another direction and don’t shine it at him!”

  The Qi Practitioners on the tower then tried to push to mirror away from that direction, but they found that they could not push it at all as the mirror seemed locked onto that person by some inexplicable force that seemed to fixate the mirror to shine on the same position.

  The person showed in the mirror was the high priest of the Shen Ya Celestial Race! He felt something and he looked towards the light emitted by the mirror and then he walked towards it. Although they were a few million miles apart, they felt like the high priest of Shen Ya Celestial Race was going to walk out of the mirror with each step he advanced.

  “Damn, he discovered it!”

  The body of the high priest of Shen Ya Celestial Race became bigger and bigger as it filled up the entire mirror. Suddenly, the spiritual mirror burst into flame and burned the Qi Practitioner operating the mirror on the tower into ashes!

  The fire did not stop there as it suddenly shook, turning into a fiery crow, flapping its wings as it charged towards the priests!

  “Senior martial brother, why the anger? They were just making a little joke with you.” A huge hand flew out from the Xiao Mang celestial temple and grabbed onto the neck of the fiery crow, destroying it with little effort as the voice of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race’s high priest could be heard.

  “Hmmph!”

  The shattered fiery crow then turned into countless tiny fiery crows that danced around before merging into a huge crow head shrouded in blazing fire. It stared at the priests of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race as it said with a sharp voice, “Don’t even think of messing with my son-in-law! You could do what you want with the others from the Swords Gate but don’t you dare touch my son-in-law or I will fight to the end with you!”

  Huuu——-

  The crow head disappeared along with the fire.

  The high priest of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race humphed and suddenly, the Qi Practitioner on the second tower shouted happily, “I have found Shui Zian and Zhong Yue!”

  “Good! Time to send them to hell! Warriors of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race, assemble and attack!”

  “Go! Rip them into pieces and let the imbecilic humans understand their place!”

  ….

  Then, after numerous rounds of howling, Qi Practitioners of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race charged out from the celestial temples before some of them turned into three-headed coiling Aos. They flew into the air while riding on the cloud and various other means, charging towards their targets!

  “Shui Zian and Feng Shouzhu are both difficult to be dealt with. Feng Shouzhu managed to roam around the world for one to two hundred years without dying and Shui Zian is a strong Qi Practitioner and the progenitor of th
e【Sixty Four Sword Styles】. This time, Xiao Que and Xiao Moshen, the two of you will have to stall Shui Zian and Feng Shouzhu respectively while you leave the others to the boys and the other celestial races!”

  In the celestial temple, the two strong Qi Practitioners received their orders with alacrity and they left to pursue their targets quickly.

  At the same time, elites from the Shan Shen and Gui Shen Celestial Races started charging out of their territories as well. However, unlike the Xiao Mang Celestial Race, the majority of these elites charged towards Shui Zian and Zhong Yue!

  Zhong Yue’s capability to reverse open the five great Yuan Shen secret realms reminded them of the human hero that led those slaves out of the West Barren to create the Great Wilderness millions of years ago. Hence, how could the celestial races in the West Barren allow someone like Zhong Yue to grow into his full potential?

  Chapter 183: Patriot or Traitor? |

  Zhong Yue and Shui Zian continued walking and they eventually entered a jungle where ruins, rubbles and burnt totem pillars were strewn about.

  No one could be seen around and other than the chirping of the birds and the noises made by the insects, the surroundings were eerily quiet.

  They moved very fast and Shui Zian moved incredibly fast past all the obstacles while Zhong Yue followed behind warily, all the while maintaining his silence.

  “Zhong Yue from the Zhong Shan Clan, you seem to be very wary of me?”

  Without turning back, Shui Zian suddenly said with a laugh, “And you seem to have a very bad impression of me. Could you please tell me what I did to have warranted this suspicion?”

  Zhong Yue’s heart clenched as he was fraught with trepidation as soon as Shui Zian volunteered to group up with him and now, after the latter had asked his question, Zhong Yue was put into an unprecedented level of alertness.

  “What are you trying to say, Elder Shui?”

  Zhong Yue said cautiously, “I don’t dare to have any prejudice against Elder Shui.”

  Shui Zian however, said, “I do things in a way that would always cause people to suspect that I have betrayed the Swords Gate and the whole of humanity. Therefore, it is normal that you suspect me as well, am I right?”

  The nagging feeling in Zhong Yue’s heart continued to burgeon and he said, “Elder Shui is a senior in the Swords Gate and you have rendered significant merits to the Swords Gate for a very long time. If it weren’t for Elder Shui, the Swords Gate would be in an even more dangerous situation by now.”

  Without turning back, Shui Zian continued to walk and said while shaking his head, “Not really. Even though we gave an excuse for the Xiao Mang Celestial Race to declare war on us, they wouldn't dare to because the headmaster of Swords Gate is not dead yet. They will continue to exercise restrain and only would only declare war once the headmaster passes away, as that is the best time for them to conquer the entire Great Wilderness. This was the reason why I went everywhere to invite the various strong individuals from various races, but they did not provide much help as well. After all, the Xiao Mang Celestial Race would only play nice with us until the death of our headmaster.”

  Zhong Yue frowned as people would only try to claim all the credits and honor while Shui Zian did not accept the honors but instead, proceeded to analyze the reason why the Xiao Mang Celestial Race would not declare war on the Swords Gate.

  Shui Zian then suddenly said, “You are suspecting me because of Tian Myriad Mother, right?”

  Goosebumps appeared all over Zhong Yue’s body and he almost let out a shout but he managed to force himself to regain his ground!

  Shui Zian looked backwards and he slowed down his speed to walk side to side with Zhong Yue. He then stared at Zhong Yue and said, “Tian Myriad Mother is Shui Qingyan, right? You found out about this and you knew someone in the higher-ups of the Shui Tu Clan summoned Shui Qingyan so that she could be devoured by Tian Myriad Mother, am I right?”

  Zhong Yue grew increasingly alarmed and he felt Shui Zian’s gaze was akin to that of a poisonous snake! Shui Zian gazed at him as if Shui Zian could see through him and glean whatever thoughts ran wildly in him!

  “During the previous Lawless Battle, Shui Qingyan used my sword cocoon and sword silk when she fought with you, which ultimately caused you to suspect that I was the one who summoned the real Shui Qingyan and let Tian Myriad Mother to devour her, is that right?”

  Shui Zian continued saying with a smile, “And the sword cocoon sword silk is one of the ten Malefic weapons and I am the owner of this weapon. Therefore, Shui Qingyan’s possession of a sword cocoon is naturally given by me to her, which is why you are suspecting me right now.”

  Zhong Yue coughed and he immediately felt his lips were dry and his throat was sore as he said, “What are you trying to say after telling me so much?”

  Shui Zian replied, “After what I said, do you still not understand at all?”

  Zhong Yue breathed in deeply and he said seriously, “Elder Shui Zian, please clarify your intentions!”

  A calm Shui Zian then said casually, “Of course I’m going to kill you so that the secret will not be exposed. Chances are hard to come by so I want to take this chance to kill you. My identity has been exposed by you and previously, it was hard to kill you as I would immediately reveal my true intentions to the others. But now, no one would be able to connect your death to me, especially in this dire situation of being hunted by the celestial races.”

  Zhong Yue had goosebumps and he felt extremely threatened!

  Shui Zian laughed and said, “Opportunities like this will not come by anymore if I missed my chance today. In fact, I don’t even need to kill you as all I have to do is let the celestial races do the wet work for me and no one would be none the wiser if I pretended to fight to death to escape from their pursuit. Not only would the Swords Gate not suspect me of your death, they would even try to comfort me and ask me not to feel responsible over your death!”

  In Zhong Yue’s psyche ocean, Xin Huo however, looked casually at the vigorous waves in the thunder ocean, which was a result of the incredible turbulence Zhong Yue’s emotions.

  “Brat Yue, just relax. This old man doesn’t yet seem to have any intention of killing you.” said Xin Huo lazily.

  “Really?”

  Zhong Yue was stunned and he said in disbelief, “If he did not want to kill me, then why did he say such things?”

  The little fire boy replied, “How would I know? I guess he is just toying with you.”

  Zhong Yue still felt wary despite Shui Zian not wanting to kill him for now. He could have killed him easily without any consequences through the borrowed knife of the celestial races!

  Shui Zian stared at Zhong Yue and said, “Are you not worried for your life? You will soon be killed by me.”

  Zhong Yue acted calmly and said, “Is there any use for me to be worried now?”

  “There really is no use at all.”

  Shui Zian yawned and said, “I could kill you easily if I wanted to, but there is still a worrisome matter lingering in my mind. There was once an ordinary young boy that entered the Swords Gate long ago, someone who simply drifted among the mediocrity without any improvement for the longest time. This boy had undergone such momentous changes such that his improvements shook even Zuo Xiangsheng!”

  Suddenly, Shui Zian then shifted the direction of his words to Zhong Yue and he said, “This young boy felt like he had completely changed to another person. In the Demon Ruins, so many people had died and among them were even two elders. But the young boy remained unharmed. But his performance after that incident was even more shocking than before it. Thousands were killed in the Beast God Ridge and he returned unharmed yet again! During the Lawless Battle, he even outmatched the core disciples of the top ten clans and fought on equal terms with Tian Myriad Mother to gain the first place among the outer disciples!”

  Shui Zian recounted the incidents Zhong Yue were involved in as his gaze turned sharper and sharper and he sa
id, “Then, out of everyone’s watch, he did not attempt to obtain the spirit of Swords Gate but instead, quietly left Swords Gate and headed towards the territory of the monsters. After becoming a Qi Practitioner, he saved one of the four young aces of Sword Gate, Jun Sixie and when he returned to the Swords Gate, he displayed outstanding talent and became a Rebirth level Qi Practitioner instantly without even going through the Spirit Nurturing stage first. So tell me, a little disciple from the inconsequential Zhong Shan Clan, hitherto unheard, suddenly garnering such fame ... is someone like this worthy of my suspicion?”

  Zhong Yue let out a breath of relief and he asked as he smiled, “It is indeed worthy of any suspicions but may I know what are you so suspicious of?”

  Shui Zian replied with a smile, “I did not suspect him based on nothing. My suspicion was based on an incident that happened in the Swords Gate before the young boy became so outstanding and that incident was the eruption of the Devil Soul Forbidden Land.”

  His gaze was as sharp as swords that pierced straight into Zhong Yue’s heart and he said, “Devil Soul Forbidden Land is just like a catastrophic land to most Qi Practitioners as they had no clue of what is lurking in that abyss. However, to those strong individuals that are the pillars to the entire Swords Gate, they could feel that the things lurking in that abyss were still as strong as ever! Those were the remaining souls of the demonic gods! Therefore, I suspect that a demonic god’s soul had infiltrated and taken over the body of the young and little disciple of the Zhong Shan Clan. Therefore, just like how Shui Qingyan is no longer the Shui Qingyan before she was devoured by Tian Myriad Mother, this little disciple is no longer the little disciple he used to be, am I right?”

  Zhong Yue felt speechless and he said, “What a great story, Elder Shui.”