Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  Shui Zian laughed and said, “A great story indeed. I have no proof that you are a demonic god just like you do not have proof that I am the traitor of the Swords Gate. Our assumptions are merely our own assumptions and backed by no concrete evidence.”

  Zhong Yue replied, “With that said, Elder Shui still has your own ways to kill me, right?”

  Shui Zian started walking and he said, “Of course. Let’s go, the celestial race pursuers are near.”

  Then, a confused Zhong Yue followed the footsteps of Shui Zian as he had no idea what he was thinking and the purpose for which he told him so much.

  This enigma of an old man was someone he could not be see through at all.

  The West Barren was incredibly vast and when Zhong Yue got here, he was on an airship that flew pass mountain after mountain. The airship flew very close to the ground as they tried to avoid the various celestial temples of the celestial races to prevent unnecessary troubles.

  Now, as they tried to escape from the West Barren on foot, they saw different scenarios from a different point of view but unfortunately, Zhong Yue was unable to spare any extra attention to be spared for these beautiful scenarios.

  Is Shui Zian purely suspecting me or does he really want to kill me through the hands of the celestial races? Why did he speak of the suspicions drawn to him if he did not want to kill me? Shui Zian, Elder Shui, just whose side are you on?

  He really couldn't understand what this old man was thinking. Shui Zian spoke of the suspicions on both himself and Zhong Yue loud and clear. However, if he intended to kill Zhong Yue, there was no need for such talks at all.

  As they progressed, they walked out of the jungle unconsciously and suddenly, Shui Zian took a turn and he headed into a territory of a celestial race instead of the direction of the Swords Gate.

  Zhong Yue had a shock and he thought, My success on reverse opening the five great Yuan Shen secret realms has spread all over the West Barren and Shui Zian too, said that any celestial race territories would be unsafe to enter as they all want to kill me. So we should avoid their lands. Then why is he entering this celestial race territory? Is he really trying to kill me through the hands of the celestial races?

  All Zhong Yue could only do now, despite his palpable apprehension, was to follow Shui Zian closely as things progressed to this extent.

  This celestial race was one of the smaller races in among all the other races. On their path of advancement, the surroundings were very empty with only some ancient ruins standing on the plains while they occasionally saw some humans and monsters living in here. They also saw some huge totem pillars and palaces with no one residing inside.

  Zhong Yue measured these totem carvings and he saw the carvings were about an abnormal god with a human’s head, horse’s body and hair, tiger’s back and tail, wings.

  This celestial race had long dwindled rapidly judging from the lack of maintenance huge palaces and temples as well as the vastly abandoned land in the territory. Zhong Yue had also not seen even one disciple from this celestial race on their journey as well.

  Not long later, they got to a tiny mountain that seemed to be unguarded, leading into the mountain.

  Shui Zian just walked into the gates and together with Zhong Yue, they arrived at a weathered celestial temple. Although it looked very old and weathered, Shui Zian bowed and said respectfully, “Senior Martial Brother Ying, do you still remember our promise?”

  “Of course!”

  From the weathered temple, an old voice could be heard saying, “I owe you a promise and I will honor it. Now, could it be that you intend to call in this favor as you brought this young human here while there were a few tens of strong Qi Practitioners chasing after you? Hmph, this young man here must be the one that reverse opened the five great secret realms, the one they call Zhong Yue? Zhong Yue from the Zhong Shan Clan? Are you not afraid that I will kill him after bringing him here?”

  Shui Zian smiled and said, “Of course not because you owe me a great deal as I was the one who saved the last remaining bloodline of your Ying Zhao Celestial Race.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  The old voice asked again, “Ensure the safety of this young man?”

  Shui Zian nodded and said to Zhong Yue, “Enter the temple and with the presence of old man Ying, you will be safe.”

  “What about you, Elder?” asked Zhong Yue.

  Shui Zian smiled and said, “There are too many pursuers behind us so I’ll help to reduce their numbers by a bit. Senior Martial Brother Ying, I will hand the boy over to you now. When I return, if he has lost even a hair, I will kill the last remaining bloodline of your race and let you watch as your race faces extinction!”

  “Hmph! Let him in right now!” said the old voice with obvious malcontent.

  Chapter 184: Swords Like Dragons |

  Zhong Yue walked into the ruined temple, it was devastated for a long time and gradually fell into a state of disrepair. However, from the murals on the walls, he could see the glorious moments of this celestial race, the days where they were at the peak of their times.

  In the temple, an old and tottering elder walked over while supporting himself on a walking stick, and there was a young lady assisting him by the arm, gazing over at Zhong Yue.

  This lady, is she the last celestial of the Ying Zhao Race that Elder Shui had have saved before?

  The young lady was about sixteen or seventeen years of age, looking only a year or two older than himself.

  While he was measuring the young lady with his eyes, she was also observing the unexpected visitor in the temple with her eyes filled curiosity, she slightly bowed her body and greeted, “Ying Nu greets the senior martial brother from the human race, please forgive Ying Nu for not being able to greet you fully. Senior martial brother of the human race, why are there so many experts hunting you?”

  Zhong Yue returned the formality and replied, “I’ve reversed open the five Yuan Shen realms, and killed a couple of Xiao Mang celestials, that’s why.”

  The tottering elder, Old Man Ying sneered coldly and said, “The deaths of a few Xiao Mang celestial disciples aren’t worth these experts’ precious time and energy. The main reason is that this brat has reverse opened the five Yuan Shen realms! Hei-hei, what a sky-breaking achievement that is. Many years before this, a human from the Feng Clan fought a bloody path through the East Barren, leading millions of human slaves into the Great Wilderness. Blood streamed like rivers and bodies piled like mountains, innumerable celestials died under his sword. In those battles, the Feng Clan member ascended into a god; in the revolts, the strongest celestial race in the East Barren was driven into an incorrigible spiral to destruction — this Feng Clan member, was also one who had reverse opened the five Yuan Shen realms!”

  Ying Nu was shocked, she glared at Zhong Yue and exclaimed involuntarily, “You’re also a human that has reverse opened the five Yuan Shen realms, will you also be that strong?”

  “It’s too early for that! This brat has the looks of one who dies early on. Who knows when he will die; it’s still an uncertainty whether if he could live up to that one day.”

  Old Man Ying suddenly coughed violently, he gasped for a few breaths of air and continued, “Hei-hei, Shui Zian might not even be able to keep him alive for long enough.”

  Zhong Yue’s heart was moved, he beseeched, “Elder, the Feng Clan member that fought a way out of East Barren, was he the first headmaster of our Swords Gate? Can the elder tell me more about him?”

  The Feng Clan member that led millions of human slaves, revolted out from the East Barren, fought their ways into the Great Wilderness, killed the Tian Myriad Mother who inhabited the land, and sealed the demons away. And from then onwards, it was the start of the peaceful times, the humans extricated themselves from the names of slaves and breathed the air of freedom, built and lived on the land, and the humans’ holy land, the Swords Gate was founded — these were all legends, tales of the first headmaster of Swords
Gate!

  However, the historical records in Swords Gate regarding that time were scarce. Even the older generations of Swords Gate knew little about it; while on the other hand, the celestial race in the East Barren had even more detailed recordings about it.

  It was the most glorious and resplendent days of Swords Gate, an era that enthralled the spirit of every human that learned about it; which was why, Zhong Yue could not refrain himself from asking the Ying Zhao elder to tell him more about it.

  “You’d want to be the second Feng Clan member and fight your way out of the East Barren? Hei-hei, I won’t tell you!” Old Man Ying supported himself by the walking stick and tardily sat down.

  Ying Nu said apologetically, “May the senior martial brother forgive us, the chief is quite bullheaded at times. In the East Barren, the humans are food to most of the celestial race, but not the Ying Zhao race, we are vegans. Although there are human slaves within the territory, their situations are no different to those in the Great Wilderness, they only needed to offer some oblations from time to time. In fact….”

  Her complexion turned red as she mumbled softly in embarrassment, “The Ying Zhao celestial race are all vegans, we’re unable to stand the meat.”

  Zhong Yue was enlightened, he said smilingly, “That explains why the humans I’ve come across in your territory are living a peaceful and serene life in spite of their poverty.”

  Ying Nu turned downcast and said, “In the future, when the chief leaves me, I’ll be the last chief of the Ying Zhao Celestial Race, and after me, there’ll no one else to take over my place … The Ying Zhao Celestial race, will come to an end….”

  Zhong Yue could not help but sympathize her and he attempted to comfort her, “Junior martial sister, don’t worry, I’m sure there will be others of the Ying Zhao Celestial Race living in some other places in this world….”

  “It’s fine even if there weren’t!”

  Old Man Ying said harshly, “Before I die, I’ll snatch over a few males of high bloodlines and marry them to you, this way, I will secure the continuation of our race! Even if your children aren’t purebloods, but as long as the numbers are large enough, one of them will surely be the pureblood we need; and even if that doesn’t work, we can still purify the bloodline in them. One day, the Ying Zhao Celestial Race will regain the honor and glory our ancestors once held!”

  A pale-white complexion climbed onto her face, she resisted, “Chief, I don’t want….”

  “Shut up, if it isn’t because that you are too young and I’m too old, I’d personally do it myself!”

  Old Man Ying sneered and continued, “This is not about love and relationship, this is about the prosperity of our race! There is no time like the present, this brat is capable of reverse opening the five Yuan Shen realms, he is not too bad ... the two of you can mate now!”

  Zhong Yue was shocked, he quickly said, “Elder, we are of the different race…”

  The old man’s tone turned frigid, “Different race? It doesn’t matter at all. What the Ying Zhao Celestial Race seek from you is your seed, not your blood. When the child is born in the future, the human blood flowing in the child’s body would be smitten away!”

  Ying Nu’s face changed drastically, she refused and said, “No, chief, I don’t want to! I’ve only just met with senior martial brother, and we’ve only exchanged a few words….”

  “This is not up to you to deci- … Ey? The battle started?”

  Old Man Ying could not care to continue on forcing the two youngsters to do as he wanted and so he tottered his way to the entrance and opened the temple door. Meanwhile, Zhong Yue quickly followed behind while casting his gaze out. Behind them, Ying Nu walked over and furtively glanced at Zhong Yue from the side, she pursed her lips and whispered softly, “Senior martial brother of the human race, you also wouldn’t agree with it, right?”

  Zhong Yue nodded inattentively, he was looking out from the temple. A few hundred miles from here, there was a sudden outbreak of battle; one after another, strong and terrifying auras pierced through the clouds, even if he was in the temple, he could still feel the incredibly overwhelming prowess of the experts!

  There were more than over thirty auras from afar – strong and domineering. He could see the essences of the celestial experts piercing the clouds. Clearly, the hunters that came after him were no weaklings, they were all at least experts at the levels of elders!

  Even more so, Zhong Yue could still feel another surge of godly aura, trembling the air and quaking the sky, it was extremely dreadful.

  As the battlefield was ravaged by the incredible auras of the experts, the air was compressed distorted, as a result, lightning was forced to emerge out of thin air —Ka-cha ka-cha. It struck at all places erratically!

  The auric fields of the experts were extremely strong that the air pressure was unevenly disrupted, causing the air to flow violently and turbulently, and the frictions between the air with this turbulence had spawned the lightning!

  In mid-air, various kinds of specters appeared as if they were the bodies of the gods standing in midsts of clouds.

  “Impressive, elder priests of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race, Shan Shen Celestial Race and Gui Shen Celestial Race ... they all came!”

  Old Man Ying was surprised, he said, “Ey? Someone slipped past Shui Zian and headed over here!”

  One after another, they flitted over at great speeds to the front of the small temple; and when they stopped down abruptly, the figures of strong and formidable members of the celestial races were unveiled.

  A brawny Xiao Mang celestial instigated tremors on the hill as he took a step forward. He bowed and greeted, “Elder Ying, please hand over the human to us. The three celestial races are all here for him, may Elder Ying help us in granting our request.”

  Zhong Yue gazed around, these celestials before him were all at the same level as the hall masters, they were at least the Atman Body Qi Practitioners while some were even in the level of Heavenly Dharma!

  In the face of such a strong force, the little temple was looking like a petty bug, any one of them could have crushed it easily with a simple kick!

  “Shui Zian has sent him over to me, so I’ll have to keep my promise to ensure his safety, who cares what celestial races you brats are from?”

  Old Man Ying said indifferently, “As long as he stays in my little temple, he will be left untouched by you lot.”

  One of the Shan Shen celestials stepped forward and said coldly, “The Ying Zhao Celestial Race is only a shadow of its former self, Elder Ying should know it very well yourself….”

  Peng——

  With a lift of finger, the Shan Shen celestial was blasted into pieces, body parts scattered around the floor and even his Yuan Shen was cleaved into half as he died on the spot.

  The other celestials were shocked, they hurriedly retreated back while the Xiao Mang celestial quickly said, “Elder Ying, your temple, we dare not intrude; but how long can you safeguard this brat? If you kept saving his life, you’d be working against all of the celestials in the East Barren. We beseech the elder to reconsider your decision!”

  Old Man Ying smirked and replied, “Don’t you worry, as soon as Shui Zian returns, I’ll chase them out of the temple myself.”

  The Xiao Mang celestial smiled along with him and said, “I’m afraid that Shui Zian might not make it back alive. Among the experts that are besieging him, there are eighteen priests while the rest are all Heavenly Dharma Qi Practitioners, and also, the Xiao Demon God of our Xiao Mang Celestial Race is also there!”

  “Xiao Demon God came personally?”

  Old Man Ying’s face stiffened up, then a warm bright smile transformed on his face, “If Shui Zian is dead, I’ll throw him out to you all after he mates with my little girl.”

  The celestial Qi Practitioners outside of the temple heaved a breath of relief; this Old Man Ying was a hard to deal with old geezer, also an enigmatic magnate with unpredictable prowess. Although the
Ying Zhao Celestial Race had waned, there still resided a godly spirit within the temple.

  Although the celestial race was only left with two celestials, it was an incredibly strong force!

  A small temple with a huge god — this was the situation of a small celestial race like the Ying Zhao Celestial Race!

  Zhong Yue stood at the celestial temple door, casting his gaze out to the intense battlefield. From afar, he could see a giant mountain pulverized into crumbs, followed by countless prismatic rays shooting into the sky, stirring the clouds like giant dragons intertwining with one another!

  【Sixty-Four Sword Styles】!

  Zhong Yue’s heart skipped a beat, that was the full and complete Sword Cocoon sword silk array formation, the unrivaled【Sword Sixty Four Styles】blooming in the hands of Elder Shui Zian, each and every rainbow ray was Shui Zian’s Sword Qi!

  These Sword Qi were incredibly impressive, it was hard to imagine that within the body of this little old man contained such an earth-shakingly strong power!

  Strange, the Sword Cocoon sword silk array formation is meant to be inconspicuous and unassuming, striking at your enemies in the dark to catch them off guard. So why is Elder Shui making his Sword Qi so flamboyant and dazzling? Zhong Yue was puzzled.

  As of now, Shui Zian’s sixty-four Sword Qi were ravaging the air like dragons. Sword bodies were akin to giant pillars, wherever it slid through, the mountain rocks would be slashed away into dust and powder!

  Such strong and dazzling Sword Qi were indeed powerful, but it was the exact same reason that allowed his enemies to dodge the attacks easily.

  All of a sudden, Zhong Yue’s heart shuddered in coldness, tens of Sword Qi out of the sixty-four suddenly disappeared, and all of a sudden, blood was splattered for a distance of a few hundred miles away, the tens of giant dragon-like Sword Qi had shrunk into thin threads in the blink of an eye!

  The celestial experts had lost track of the Sword Qi and were executed immediately right after!