Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  These experts … other than Xiao Mang, Shan Shen and Gui Shen, there are still four more celestial races!”

  Zhong Yue identified the celestials from their glittering eyes, his heart stiffened up, The other celestial races have also sent their experts to come after me….

  “Human, Shui Zian is currently entangled by Xiao Que, you are out of options.”

  Their eyes glittered in the dark, a pair of eyes among them hovered forward, the owner of the pair of eyes said eerily, “The ones who have reverse opened the five Yuan Shen realms will have to die regardless of the races, let alone the humans! Now, you have nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. So, sit down and embrace death!”

  Zhong Yue kept his mouth shut while standing in front of the temple door, the aura of these experts was too overpowering to him, way beyond the level he could even hope to put up a fight. They were all at least experts at the level of hall masters. The surrounding air seemed to stagnate as they instilled the despair into their surroundings.

  Although he had reverse opened the five Yuan Shen realms, he was still too weak and tiny in the eyes of all these experts, so petty that he was nothing more than an ant against their seemingly unstoppable might.

  When will it be … that I become an earth-shaking expert, to ride the clouds and gallop on the earth, and wherever I go, the celestials would kneel down and shudder in fear?

  Zhong Yue kept mum, he thought, I’m not one yet, as of now … But in the future, I swear that I will turn that into reality!

  “Not saying a word, are you? Did fear just swallow your heart and shatter your guts?”

  A pair of eyes flared in the dark, pressing forward towards Zhong Yue while continued smilingly, “But no matter what, your death must be confirmed!”

  All of a sudden, a terrifying strong air erupted out, getting closer and closer to the little dark celestial temple. With the help of the moonlights, Zhong Yue could see a mountainous body with muscles bulging out of the skins bolting over while reaching his hands out clawing at Zhong Yue!

  A hall master-levelled expert, had finally made a move!

  Right at the moment where the celestial expert acted, the three skyscraping willow trees swayed on their own in the windless air, the twigs of the willow trees undulated in the air and abruptly, they shot out like nocked arrows finally let loose —Hu hu hu— they twined on the mountainous body and dragged him into the little temple!

  The celestial expert let out a shrill shriek in pain and terror. It was as if the cry was a signal, the other celestial experts instantly launched their attacks and the after-impacts of their skills quaked the earth, trembling the air!

  Strong and powerful skills blasted around centering at the little dark temple, their prowess could infuse fear into the weaklings, ravaging the land of a hundred miles in radius around the little temple with various terrifying specters emerging in the air!

  Other than that, there were still soul weapons dancing in the dark, flitting across the air like strikes of lightnings; some were dead quiet as they moved around while the others rumbled like thunder!

  In front of the little dark temple, Zhong Yue could see the soul weapons and skills interweaving with one another like a dense network of attacks. Also, there were the strong and powerful celestial experts leaping here and there, filling the surroundings with their after-images.

  Whether if it was the soul weapons, skills, or the celestial experts themselves circumnavigating the little temple, any one of them could kill an Awakening Qi Practitioner like him a thousand times over!

  And yet, the little dark temple and the three willow trees were unschated despite being in the center of all the bombardments, while Zhong Yue who was a few steps away from the temple door was also left untouched. With the moonlight showering down onto the ground, Zhong Yue could see the willow twigs shuttling in and out all over the places, the images he could perceive were blurry but he could vaguely tell that twigs penetrated through the skills and crushed the soul weapons!

  One after another, every time the twigs come back, there would be wreathed celestials that were dragged into the little dark temple!

  Moments later, a few celestials soared into the air and fled away, their cries were shrill as they echoed through the night air, “The three monstrous willows, this is the Zombie King Temple of the She Bi Zombie Race!”

  “Wasn’t the temple abandoned? How are there still celestials living in it?”

  “Run, run!”

  ….

  In a trice, the skills that ravaged the land were no more, the once exquisite soul weapons were shattered into parts and fell down from the sky —Chi chi chi— piercing down into the soils around the little dark temple. There was one, huge like walls, smooth and shiny, it was the blade of a saber; another one was spherically-shaped, two to three men tall, it was the tip of a soul weapon; and there were more lying around the ground.

  Zhong Yue was greatly shocked, in the blink of an eye, the celestials that chased after him were either dead or severely injured, even their soul weapons were destroyed, while more of them were dragged into the little celestial temple.

  “Zombie King Temple?”

  He never felt anything before this, but as he cast his gaze over and looked at the pitch-black colored little temple again, his heart quivered and he was tingling in horror. The melodiously sweet voice of the same lady came chortling from the temple, “Living meat and fresh blood … and they are all of high quality … Ummm, yummy … it’s been a long time since I’ve had such an enjoyable meal….”

  Sounds of chewing could be heard, it sounded like a beast was gnawing ferociously on its food — the unfortunate celestial experts that were dragged into the temple.

  What is this celestial temple? What kind of celestial race is residing in it?

  Zhong Yue was terrified, while the voices of the lady rang in his ears, she praised in a soft voice while eating her meal, “These celestials are tastier than the human boy outside of the temple, sadly, that evil brat Shui Zian forbade him from entering the temple, or otherwise I would’ve also … I’ve missed the taste of humans … quick, quick, eat, I’ve been starving for so, so long….”

  Zhong Yue’s hair bristled up, he dare not speak a word nor did he dare to breathe heavily.

  Moments later, there were only sounds of chewing coming from the temple, the lady in the temple was really a big eater, she was eating and eating without pause!

  Zhong Yue braced himself as he walked two steps closer. The lady was still enjoying her meal, there were no other movements.

  Thankfully, the fella in the temple isn’t dangerous anymore once she gets to eat….

  Zhong Yue heaved a breath of relief, he then turned his eyes onto the shattered soul weapons on the ground. His eyes brightened up, Nice stuff, these are all good things! All these celestial experts are at the level of Atman Body, Inner Core and even, Heavenly Dharma! Their soul weapons are so much better than the ones of the Awakening Qi Practitioners; the five elemental Qi are thicker and heavier; if I can absorb them and distill them into the five elemental Qi and use them to solidify the Wu Xing realm, it’ll allow me to cultivate my Wu Xing Realm to the peak!

  Cultivating the Wu Xing Realm required a substantial amount of five elemental Qi to strengthen and expand the realm. It would cost years of cultivations for ordinary Awakening Qi Practitioners to harvest the five elemental Qi so that they could continue expanding the Wu Xiang Realm to the peak and proceed with the opening of the next realm.

  The Qi Practitioner of Swords Gate would usually rely on high grade medicinal pellets like the Five Qi Pellets, and the lower grade medicinal pellets such as the Wood Qi Pellets, Gold Qi Pellets, to cultivate and nourish their Wu Xing Realm.

  While Zhong Yue had opened all give Yuan Shen Realms, and he cultivated the exceptionally powerful【Great Boundless Sword Qi】. Unlike the other Qi Practitioners that relied on medicinal pellets, he could directly extract the Wood Qi, Gold Qi, and all the other five elemental Qi out
of these broken soul weapons, and refine them at a great speed!

  Quickly, he roamed around the little temple and collected all the shattered pieces together, piling them up into a little hill. Each and every one of them were exquisitely forged to the highest caliber, the five elemental Qi within them were overwhelming!

  Zhong Yue was shocked and overjoyed, while at the same time feeling slightly anxious, That thing inside the temple, just exactly how strong is it … even soul weapons like these can be easily crushed away, could it be like what the celestials have said? The thing inside the temple is the Zombie King, or otherwise why would the temple called the Zombie King Temple?

  He composed himself and started to cultivate in front of the temple, extracting the five elemental Qi from the soul weapons and expanding the Wu Xing Realm in his Yuan Shen. At a great speed, the Wu Xing Wheel behind him was visibly expanding quickly!

  Soon, the Wu Xing Realm had increased in size, it was sized like a bowl and it turned into the size of a basin. Another hour soon passed, and it eventually grew to eight feet in radius; its expansion had still yet to stop!

  When the first ray of sunlight shone down onto the ground, his Wu Xing Wheel was already thirty feet in radius, revolving slowly while emanating the almighty power of the five elements!

  Nearly half of the shattered pieces of soul weapons before him had been consumed when Zhong Yue opened his eyes to see the sun rising above the horizon. He thought to himself, Elder Shui said that I’ll have to enter the little temple at dawn; when the rays of the sun shone onto the soil, the danger of the temple would be lifted; and now, it is time….

  He turned and looked back, the scenery that met his eyes caused the hairs at the back of his neck to bristle and his heart to shudder. Terrified as he was, the dark black little temple was never the temple he thought it was. Instead, it was a huge coffin colored black – a one hundred and eighty feet dark black coffin erected vertically upright!

  While the three willow trees were grown on the top of the coffin cover!

  And all these while he was standing right in front of the dark black coffin!

  The coffin cover was slightly opened, it was through the gap that the strange hand had reached out from and also the where the voices of the lady emanated out of!

  Chapter 187: Deadly Goddess |

  The dark black coffin made of willow woods was so huge that it looked like a little temple; parts of the coffin was covered with soils and dirts, that was where the willow trees took root on, and eventually growing into the three skyscraping three willow trees.

  In the dark, when the cover of the vertically upright strange coffin opened a small gap, Zhong Yue could not tell at all that it was not a temple!

  This coffin is the celestial temple … is the girl in the coffin a corpse or a celestial?

  Zhong Yue was terrified, stunned by his discoveries. He knew that the celestial races in the East Barren were weird and peculiar, but this was the weirdest and strangest he had ever seen before!

  He was frightened by the scene, Shui Zian said that if dawn broke and he had yet to return, then Zhong Yue would have to enter the ‘dark little temple’, but now that he was aware of the true face of the ‘temple’, he was reluctant to enter.

  Do I really have to enter this black coffin?

  All of a sudden, there were the sounds of creaking coming from the black coffin; the sun had risen above the horizon, basking the world under its warm light. The cover of the giant coffin was slowly closing, and not only that, the whole coffin was also sinking into the mountain rocks, inch by inch, seemingly as if to avoid the sunlight.

  Moreover, the three ancient willow trees were also sinking into the ground, not long later, all three willow trees and the black coffin would completely vanish away into the ground!

  It seems like this is why the celestials said that the Zombie King Temple of the She Bi zombie race had vanished. Because the Zombie King Temple would sink underground at dawn and only rise above the earth at dusk.

  Zhong Yue could sense them, the celestials that survived and escaped, they were still lingering around the Zombie King Temple, he could perceive the strong and overpowering air of the experts from afar, faintly discernible.

  Clearly, the experts had regarded him as their life and death enemy, the greatest threat to the whole East Barren, and they would not stop until they were able to reap his life!

  Well, since Elder Shui Zian instructed me to enter the coffin at dawn, I’ll do as he said!

  Zhong Yue clenched his teeth, he picked up the rest of the weapon fragments and threw them into the coffin, then he slid into black coffin before it sealed the opening away!

  Bang——

  The coffin cover slowly closed on the gap and disturbing noises could be heard continually as the giant coffin sank into the earth and soon disappeared from the surface. The three willow trees also followed the giant coffin and vanished.

  After a period of time, when the blazing sun rose to the top of the sky, celestials could be seen cautiously flying in the upper air to scout out the area in search of the She Bi zombie race’s Zombie King Temple and the three skyscraping willow trees. However, they were unable to find anything at all, even Zhong Yue was nowhere to be seen.

  “Strange, where did the Zombie King Temple go?”

  A Heavenly Dharma Qi Practitioner of the Shan Shen race extended his four arms out, the eyes in the center of his palms scrutinized the ground beneath. His gaze penetrated through the rock and soil to reach over thousands of feet deep beneath the ground. Every minutia was clearly visible to his eyes!

  This Shan Shen celestial expert hovered in mid-air, directing his palms down at the ground and searching all over the land of a hundred feet in radius, but he still could not find the Zombie King Temple.

  “The She Bi zombie race is afraid of the sun, they will never show themselves under the bright daylight. They would only make their appearance at night. I once thought that this celestial race had already gone extinct. Who knew they still lingered within the East Barren!”

  “Search around and smoke them out! The She Bi zombie race is weak during the day time, dig them out of their petty holes and obliterate them out of existence!”

  …

  In the Zombie King Temple of the She Bi Zombie Race, Zhong Yue gazed around as he stepped into the giant coffin — the space was vast and huge, it was like the room of a maiden, a light and thin curtain cascaded down from the roof to the sides of the bed. The coffin was clearly sealed airtight, with no way for wind to enter, and yet the curtain could be seen gently swaying as if a gentle breeze were blowing across it.

  The lamp glowed in an outlandish green luminescence, coloring the dark space with an even more strange and eerie hue.

  He removed a green lamp from the wall and walked down the path cautiously, he did not even dare to breath heavily, lest he would awaken the ‘She Bi zombie celestial.

  Chi——

  All of a sudden, he felt something moist and sticky beneath his feet, he raised his leg up and checked it out — the whole surface of the sole of his feet was painted red as if blood had soaked through his shoe.

  It was then that he realized that the whole floor was smeared with blood, and the fresh blood was still flowing as if they were alive; while severed limbs and corpses were scattered about on the ground.

  Zhong Yue’s hairs bristled up as recognition flashed across his eyes; they were the celestials that came for him, the ones that were dragged into the coffin by the willow twigs. And now, their remains were as such due to the thing that devoured them.

  Dek-dek-dek….

  He could hear his teeth chattering in fear. It would be a lie if he said he was not afraid at all. Entering a giant coffin all by himself with so many corpses surrounding him, how could he not be scared?

  Elder Shui said to enter at day, is this really safe at all?

  He traipsed past the remains of the celestials, raised the lamp to the front and walked forward. The curtain
behind him swayed softly and brushed through the nape of his neck, it was cold and frosty, giving him the shock of his life. Almost instantaneously, he turned back and looked over, heaving a breath of relief upon finding out that it was just the curtain.

  “Thankfully it’s not a hand … Ah!”

  Suddenly, a hand fell down from the top and dangled right in front of his face, causing him to let out a shrill and effeminate cry in shock. When he saw that it was actually from a corpse that was hanging down from the girder, he heaved yet another breath of relief, realizing that it was not a ghost or specter. However, these continued surprises left an indelible impression on his heart, causing it to continue thumping heavily.

  “Hehe, your grandfather I, am forty-eight years old, travelling the world, on my own, one day I’ve come to, a Shan Shen temple, there was a pretty girl, bathing in the pool, her skin white like snow, her butt smooth like oil….”

  Zhong Yue hummed the folk rhyme he learned from the monster saint city as a way to distract himself from his abject terror, braving himself as he walked deeper in the Zombie King Temple. There were more and more curtains drooping down from the roof, giving an itchy sensation as the whitish curtains brushed through his face.

  Up until now, he had yet to meet any living things at all, there was nothing other than severed limbs and grayish-white bones on the floor. In this Zombie King Temple, the She Bi zombie race had devoured innumerable celestials and their remains cluttered the floor, but they were all seemingly in fresh and unspoiled condition, exhibiting no signs of decaying or decomposing.

  “... the lady asked me, to join her in her bath, I was so happy, like a flower bloomed, in my heart….”

  Zhong Yue cast his gaze forward and his eyes were met with countless grayish-white bones paving the floor. Skulls of the different celestial races with different sizes came together to form a skeletal bed. There were also long and tall leg bones on the edges of the bed acting as posts for the whitish curtains that faintly cloaked the skeletal bed.