Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  There were lights glowing eerily in the color of green behind the curtains, revealing the silhouette of a beauty lying on the bed.

  “She Bi Zombie Race….”

  Zhong Yue gulped, he meticulously plodded over and all of a sudden, the sounds of hissing coming from within the curtains gave him a shock. The curtains slitted open as two green snakes slithered out from the back, raising their heads and staring down on him.

  He stood steadfast while peeking through the narrow slit between the curtains; there was a young and beautiful lady in a deep slumber on the white skeletal bed. She had the face of a human but the body of a beast, her countenance was incredibly stunning despite her pallid complexion as she was perennially bereft of the light of the sun. Solely judging from her countenance, she was even more charming than Qiu Jin’er and Shui Qingyan.

  On top of her head were a pair of cat ears with the two green snakes hooked around them. Her cat ears flickered from time to time, while the green snakes hissed incessantly, staring right at Zhong Yue as they were readied to protect their master in the case he launched an assault.

  As he was observing the sleeping beauty, the little token in her hands caught his attention, it was the three willows token meant for the She Bi Zombie Race given to him by Shui Zian; and if the token was now in her hands, then there would be no doubt that she was of the She Bi Zombie Race!

  This young girl … she is of the She Bi Zombie Race that was feared by the celestial experts?

  Zhong Yue was startled as doubts filled his heart, from the outward appearance of the young lady, one wouldn’t think that the She Bi Zombie Race which was purported to be bestial and barbaric-looking would be the diametric opposite — charming and beautiful.

  However, just as Zhong Yue started imagining the scenes of the young She Bi zombie lady devouring the celestial experts bit by bit, he was no longer able to regard the young lady as a beauty anymore.

  “So delicious….” even in her sleep, she was still dreaming of the feast she had, saliva trickled down from the edge of her cherry lips as she mumbled in her sleep.

  Zhong Yue quietly receded back, he searched for the shattered fragments of the broken soul weapons and continued the extraction of five elemental Qi from them to strengthen his Wu Xing Realm. He thought, This young lady may look innocuous and unassuming now, but this is definitely not her true form. She is extremely dangerous at night! When the sky darkened, she wouldn’t be anywhere close to the definition of cute and charming at all … I can tell from her fingers, they are now pallid white but the hand I saw last night was dark and icy-cold….

  This suggested that the appearance of the She Bi Zombie Race would differ greatly during day and night; cute and charming in the day and dreadful at night!

  I need to look closely at the time, it’s a must to leave the coffin before the sky darkens, before this sleeping beauty turns into a dreadful beast, or otherwise, I’d die for sure!

  Zhong Yue sat down quietly, extracting and refining the five elemental Qi, while the Wu Xing Wheel on his back slowly expanded and strengthened. This was a golden opportunity to him, having so many soul weapons of the highest caliber for him alone to aid his cultivation.

  The five elemental Qi in these soul weapons of the celestial experts were highly refined, strong and of high purity, allowing Zhong Yue to greatly solidify his Wu Xing Wheel and expand it with ease!

  Not only that, but the Wan Xiang Wheel was also benefiting in tandem with the Wu Xing Wheel. Ordinary Awakening Qi Practitioners would first open the Wu Xing Realm, cultivate it to the peak before proceeding on with the second realm — the Wan Xiang Realm. And when the second realm was opened, the five elemental Qi of the Wu Xing Wheel could then nourish the Wan Xiang Realm and help in expanding it.

  While Zhong Yue had reverse opened all of the five Yuan Shen realms; hence, as he cultivate the Wu Xing Wheel, the five elemental Qi could also nourish the Wan Xiang Realm at the same time, allowing it to expand together!

  Behind him, the Wan Xiang Wheel emerged and started to expand, however, the rate at which it was expanding was somewhat slower than that of the Wu Xing Wheel.

  Not only that, but it was like a series of chain reactions, the growth of Wan Xiang Wheel spurred the Shen Cai Wheel, followed by the Yin Yang Wheel and finally, strengthening of the Dao Yi Wheel.

  However, the growth rate of the Wu Xing Wheel was the highest, while the same for the other four were not that great.

  Even so, the benefits he gained were incredible, the Wu Xing Wheel was the source of the multicolored godly rays, a slight movement and the five elemental Qi would erupt out, extracting more five elemental Qi from the soul weapons at an ever increasing rate!

  While the Wan Xiang Wheel augmented his strength, the Shen Cai Wheel increased his life force, the Yin Yang Wheel nurtured the Yin and Yang Qi, and lastly, the Dao Yi Wheel granted him the almighty power to command all five realms at will — his prowess was increasing by leaps and bounds!

  Unbeknownst to him, the fragments of the broken soul weapons were nearly depleted, by this point, his Wu Xing Wheel behind the Yuan Shen was now a hundred feet in radius, almost reaching its peak!

  All of a sudden, from the corner of his eyes, he noticed a slight surge of movement coming from the curtained skeletal bed, his heart instantly stiffened up and he quickly turned and looked over — the sleeping beauty was bigger and sturdier than before, the petite and charming young lady had now turned into a giant beast!

  Not only that, but the two three inch long green snakes were now over thirty feet long, their bodies curled around the posts while the snakeheads were above the head of the bed, staring right a him with their saliva drooling like streams of river water onto the ground.

  Chapter 188: Life-Saving Token |

  The two green snakes got larger and larger, growing to the size of six feet from the previous size of two feet in just the blink of an eye! The huge bodies of the two snakes wound all around the pillar and their bloody red eyes stared fixedly at Zhong Yue, watching over his movements carefully.

  Not only that, the aura of the two snakes became even more intimidating to the extent that they exuded a feeling of being ferocious dragons instead of snakes!

  Zhong Yue had goosebumps and he felt the power of these snakes surging drastically. Before long, their strength had surpassed his, reaching a point where they were almost as strong as the Atman Body level Qi Practitioners, and their powers were still on the rise!

  Then, after some eerie noises, willow roots swarmed out from the coffins one after another and they spread all over the walls while appearing like eerie-looking snakes in red!

  The huge “beauty” that lied down on the bone bed started to snore and as the sound of her snoring increased in volume, the air she breathed out grew increasing putrid.

  Then, the body of the “beauty” became larger and horrifying, pushing up the gauze and stressing the bone bed until it gave off creaking sounds, as if on the verge of collapse.

  The feeling and aura she emitted became stronger and her power spiked vertically in an instant!

  Her snow white skin turned dark and her pretty hands became dark and long! These mysterious changes were all caused by the setting of the sun and the advent of the dark night!

  The She Bi Zombie Race’s member is going to wake up!

  Cold sweat dripped out from Zhong Yue’s forehead as loud hissing and panting could be heard as the two snakes breathed. At this time, the two snakes had already become ten plus feet long in size!

  The stenchful air streams were released by the nose of the snakes each time they breathed, causing Zhong Yue to uncontrollably release rivulets of perspiration. Then, the ‘beauty’ on the bone bed was on the verge of waking up as her snoring sound became lower and lower.

  Zhong Yue continued to apply strength to the cover of the coffin, trying to lift it up and after another few moments, the snakes had almost reached the back of his head and he could feel that their tongues were licking his neck
with every one of their hisses!

  Open it up, Wan Xiang Wheel, power of Wan Xiang!

  Zhong Yue shouted and he pushed very hard towards the coffin, as a result, the huge coffin shook slightly and he actually moved the coffin cover slightly, opening up a gap that allowed the moonlight to seep through. Then, he realized that unbeknownst to him, the coffin had ascended from the underground and had already partially drawn close to the surface.

  He felt happy and when he was about to return back to his work, he heard a girl laughing and saying, “Pretty boy from the human race, you entered my room and I’ve been bored for a few ten years. The last one who entered my room before you was Shui Zian but he was an old man, which would make it less juicy if I chewed and toyed with him. But unlike Shui Zian, you have a strong body physique and you look very muscular….”

  Ha!

  Zhong Yue shouted and as he mustered up his strength, the Dao Yi Wheel behind his Yuan Shen shook and along with the Wu Xing Wheel, Wan Xiang Wheel, Shen Cai Wheel and the Yin Yang Wheel, the power of the five great secret realms were unleashed, triggering his full potential as he pushed towards the coffin cover with his Yuan Shen.

  Ge ji Ge ji——

  He finally opened it up and as he dashed out, a willow root suddenly grabbed onto his ankles and pulled him backwards.

  Half of Zhong Yue’s body was already outside of the coffin but as the willow root pulled him back, he was slowly dragged back into the coffin!

  Damn, the She Bi Zombie Race’s member has awakened….

  His heart sank to the bottom but suddenly, an old and skinny hand grabbed onto his hand while a tiny Sword Qi flew past his face and cut off the willow root.

  Then, the old and skinny hand lifted him up and dragged him out of the coffin.

  As soon as Zhong Yue landed, he quickly looked around and he felt relieved as soon as he saw Shui Zian standing at the side. For some unknown reasons, although he suspected Shui Zian as a traitor of humanity and the Swords Gate, he felt that Shui Zian could make someone feel extremely safe as long as he was around!

  It was just like if you handed a task to him, then you will no longer have to worry anything as he would carried the task out beautifully!

  And that is why the old man and Feng Shouzhu said that Shui Zian held the conviction of the latter never betraying the humans.

  “She Qingniang, how old are you this year? Why are you still making fun of these little kids?” said Shui Zian as he looked at the black celestial temple that rose from the ground.

  “Hmph! Shui Zian, you intruded my Zombie King Temple years ago and spent three nights with me, ensuring my safety during the day when I was weak from my enemies and because of that, I managed to survive.”

  The girl from the She Bi Zombie Race in the Zombie King Temple said, “I was grateful and so, I gave the Three Willow Toten to you and promised that whoever possesses this token would be safe from harm’s way if that person were to come to me for protection. However, I did not say that I would not eat that person if he dared to enter my Zombie King Temple.”

  Shui Zian nodded and he laughed as he said, “Of course you did not and I noticed that as well. That’s why I told him not to enter the temple and only stand under the willow tree outside of the temple. Of course, during the day when you are weak and need to sleep, he may enter the temple temporary. The She Bi zombie race may be very fierce and ruthless but I know that they are all people of their words.”

  “Fine!”

  The girl suddenly smiled and said, “Such heavy injuries? I could sense heavy injuries on both your body and Yuan Shen. Shui Zian, I have paid all my debts to you and I owe you nothing now. Are you not afraid that I will kill you along with him after you coming to see me late at night with such injuries and even after robbing me of my food?”

  “Qingniang, enough with the jokes.”

  Shui Zian replied calmly while Zhong Yue’s heart squeezed after hearing the girl speak, “I may have suffered heavy injuries during the battle with Xiao Moshen and Xiao Que but you do not have the capability to kill me. Without people to worship the spirit of your race, it gad perished long ago and without its presence, you would not be able to kill me if I really wanted to leave this place. You may be able to kill this brat beside me but I will come for you during the day and drag you out of your temple before taking you to a place where the sun shines the brightest and leaving you there. Then, you will be tormented by the sunlight and only after being completely mutilated by the sunlight, will I kill you!”

  The girl in the coffin kept quiet and after a moment, she said, “Fine. Now, go!”

  Shui Zian laughed and he swung his sleeves as he said, “Zhong Yue, follow me.”

  Zhong Yue visualized the golden crow wings and he followed Shui Zian as he asked, “Are your injuries very serious, Elder Shui?”

  The duo left quickly and Shui Zian replied in a serious manner, “It is indeed quite serious. Xiao Que managed to get his hands on a moon crescent soul weapon called “Waning Moon Star Illuminator” and it was as strong as my sixty-four Sword Cocoon. With that soul weapon of his, he could control the starlight and turn them into miniature stars that rammed towards me. Too bad my sword cocoon was left behind in the Swords Gate or I would have dealt with him long ago.”

  Suddenly, he laughed and said, “Zhong Yue, the reason why I managed to befriend all sorts of Qi Practitioners from various races was not only that I was a strong Qi Practitioner, but also because I had saved quite a few strong Qi Practitioners. After saving them, they would often gift me a token that could save a life in the future. Now, after saving you twice and consuming two life-saving tokens, aren't you supposed to give my one life-saving token?”

  “Me giving you a life-saving token?”

  Zhong Yue was speechless as he said, “Elder Shui, I am just an Awakening level Qi Practitioner and compared to the likes of you, I am probably still a tiny figure. So why do you still want a life-saving token from me?”

  “Will you remain at this level forever?”

  Shui Zian replied with a smile, “If you actually remain at this level forever, then there would be no point saving you at all and I will turn back and throw you back to the pursuers. Quick! Make a life saving token and give it to me now. I need to keep it safely so that it might come in handy in the future when you have grown into your potential.”

  Then, the speechless Zhong Yue cut off a piece of wood from a huge tree and he carved it into a shape of a token with his Sword Qi. The word “Zhong” was carved onto the token and on the other side was the totem carvings of the Sun Moon Taichi. He then handed it over to Shui Zian.

  Shui Zian took it over and he opened up his Yuan Shen secret realm and he placed the token into it carefully as he said with a smile, “See, my collection is marvelous, right?”

  Zhong Yue looked towards the Yuan Shen secret realm and he was shocked to see a huge stockpile of hundreds of ‘life-saving tokens’ within it!

  Shui Zian then said proudly, “These tokens are my biggest wealth and the capital for me being able to travel around safely and freely. Just look at Feng Shouzhu who is being chased everywhere and living his life outside of Swords Gate in abject bitterness while I am welcomed by all sorts of people from various places. Whenever messengers of the Shui Tu Clan were sent out, they would all receive the best treatment – this is the difference between him and me. However, in order to protect you, I too, am facing the same fate as Feng Shouzhu now.”

  Zhong Yue inhaled deeply and he murmured, “Only the strong will be able to win the friendship and respect of others. Elder Shui managing to achieve all of this was mainly because you are strong. This applies to a race as well, if we humans want to get the respect and friendship from the other races, we would have to become stronger as well.”

  “That is not something for you to worry about, you are just a demon wearing the skin of we humans, you traitor.” replied Shui Zian coldly.

  “You still suspect that I am a devil soul in the Devil Soul
Forbidden Land underneath Swords Gate?” said a stunned Zhong Yue.

  “Of course.”

  Shui Zian replied calmly, “Don’t think that I am trying to save you, I am merely following the orders of the headmaster.”

  Zhong Yue laughed and said, “If you suspect me for being a devil soul, then why did you save me? Just like what you said, if I am dead, the headmaster and Elder Feng would not suspect you at all and instead, they would try to comfort you. So why did you save me not once but twice and even at the cost of consuming your life-saving token?”

  “Don’t overthink it. I saved you for a better cover and you will definitely die in front.”

  Shui Zian said with a smile, “What are you rushing for? Aren’t you also suspecting that I am a traitor of humanity? As a traitor, I would have to act like one so I will not let you die so quickly and I will try my best to save and pretend that I could not save you in the end so that headmaster and Shouzhu would not harbor suspicions of me.”

  The way he said that could be taken as serious or facetious, giving Zhong Yue no headway in discerning the sincerity of his remarks from his expressions.

  “If you wanted to kill me so much, why did you still ask for a life-saving token from me?” asked Zhong Yue.

  The face of Shui Zian stiffened up and he said angrily, “It is none of your business! This old man hates smart people like you because all of you think you are smart and die too quickly in the end!”

  Chapter 189: Divine Battlefield |

  Zhong Yue sighed as Shui Zian was a man that could not be comprehended easily but at the same time, he admired the old man’s wisdom as well.

  After the two battles, the pursuers were either dead or in retreat, giving them a peaceful day with few disturbances.