Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  “I’ll keep the Divine Wing Saber in the copper lamp for now, because one day in the future, I’ll definitely be able to wield it!”

  As he stopped to discuss with Xin Huo in his psyche ocean, Ao Longan thought that he was hesitating about his decision on the Peng feather, shocked and anxious, Ao Longan quickly said, “You can only choose one. And once you’ve chosen, you can’t change your decision! So, why aren’t you moving now?”

  Zhong Yue and Ao Longan walked out of the Million Treasure Pavilion, both of them were content with the outcome of this trip. Right away, as Ao Longan have chased Zhong Yue away from the Million Treasure Pavilion, he immediately went back to the golden palace to report to the clan master.

  The elderly clan master laughed, “Well done! That Peng feather can’t be repaired without the Kun Peng totem patterns, it has been left in the Million Treasure Pavilion for tens of thousands of years and no one would ever be able to make it shine again. It should’ve been thrown away a long time ago. Junior Martial Brother Longan, you’ve rendered a significant merit by being able to sacrifice trash for a treasure!”

  Ao Longan was also overjoyed, he said smilingly, “This is all because of the greed of that little human brat’s heart. He might’ve thought that the Peng feather is extraordinary as it was part of the Kun Peng Race saint weapon, but little did he knew, that he had just wasted a huge opportunity done by choosing it.”

  “Humans … always so lacking in foresight.”

  The elderly clan master laughed, “The other four clans are still suppressing that Sha Qishan’s rebellion. New intelligence has just arrived, the Kun Peng experts that teleported here have been annihilated, but the severely wounded Sha Qishan managed to escape to the demon territory across the seas. The dragon race and the demon race hold a deep enmity against one another. There is a great risk in hunting for him in the land of the demons. The four clans are coming to the Dragon City for a round of discussion on whether or not we should send five magnates with five divine weapons into the land of demons to take down that traitor. Furthermore, the Ancestral Dragon Ritual of the dragon race is drawing near, we will also have to discuss about the details and nominate the candidates for the quota of dragons!”

  Ao Longan nodded, these two matters were of great importance, they must be carried out without a single mistake.

  Especially the Ancestral Dragon Ritual, they would have to choose the best dragons in the levels in the Spirit Nurturing to Inner Core level; in this grandest ritual of the dragon race, the dragons would have to go through a series of bone-rattling battles before the Ancestral Dragon would bestow his blessings to the best dragons of each level!

  “This Zhong Shan Clan member is very greedy, how dare he thinks of taking part in the ritual to gain the blessings from the Ancestral Dragon, he is destined to return disappointed.”

  The elderly clan master smiled, “But I did promise him a spot, and the dragons never go back on our words. He will be given a spot but if he was defeated in the battles, he can only blame himself for his lack of ability. Also, remember to keep close watch of him, the other clans must not be able to get in touch with him! And one last thing, what was said here, stays here; his identity as a human must not be exposed, as this is his secret that the Ao Clan will use to subdue him! If the other clans knew about it, he will no longer be ours to control!”

  Ao Longan concurred, he then left to go and prepare for the events.

  In the Earth Courtyard, Zhong Yue calmed himself down and carefully nourished the Peng Feather Golden Sword with his atman. The seriously damaged Peng Feather Golden Sword was now even weaker than the ordinary soul weapons. There were too many cracks on it and nearly all of the Kun Peng totem patterns on it were broken. With the remnant power of the Coiling Dragon Sword inside it, the Peng Feather Golden Sword was too weak to take any more blows at all, even if he were to nourish it with his atman, he would still have to be meticulously cautious.

  He dared not add any totem patterns to the Peng feather, afraid that it would completely destroy the golden sword. He could only continue to nourish it with his atman so that the Peng feather would turn into his own soul weapon and regard him as its master.

  “The dragon race is known for their stinginess, the higher the position they hold, the more stingy they would be. They want to conquer the East Barren but they are unwilling to pay any price at all, only willing to give me a feather. However, this feather will soon be the dagger that makes their hearts bleed in pain!”

  Zhong Yue could feel his atman seeping into the Peng feather as it was refined by him. Soon, he could control it freely as he liked; however, the Peng feather remained fragile and powerless. He sent it a hundred miles and was able to clearly perceive its position, but he thought, This isn’t enough, I need to nourish and refine it to the extent where I can sense it wherever it goes, that’s when I would be able to find the Divine Wing Saber!

  This Peng feather could not be in touch with the sunlights, once he had taken it out from the shade, there would be a surge of strange and odd force that attracts it that would make it want to fly out of his hands.

  This was because the Peng feather was part of the Divine Wing Saber, not a day would pass that it didn’t long to return back to where it belonged – the Divine Wing Saber. Zhong Yue could only keep it locked away in his Yuan Shen secret realms so that it would not fly away.

  The deep sea was perennially steeped in darkness, and if the Peng feather were to leave now, he would not be able to sense its whereabouts once it passes a radius of a hundred miles of his position. He would have to keep on nourishing it with his atman to the point it became a part of his atman, that was when he could start his expedition in searching for the Divine Wing Saber.

  “Brat Yue, we’re being watched by the dragon experts.” abruptly, Xin Huo said.

  With a thought, Zhong Yue walked around the courtyard under Xin Huo’s guidance, along the way, he indeed saw many dragon experts around his room. They were hiding their breaths and auras, but he could still sense their terrifyingly strong presence. There were even two Ao Clan elders!

  The Ao Clan is worrying that I’ll get in touch with the other clans and cooperate with them.

  He was very clear himself, the Ao Clan had already regarded the East Barren as their’s. Surely, they would not allow him to come into contact with the other clans. He thought, Pity, if only I can cooperate with a few more clans, I would be able to gain more benefits….

  He had thought of cooperating with different clans to reap the benefits of playing multiple sides, but the Ao Clan had implemented their measure before he was able to act. They even tasked their dragons to follow him to the toilet, not to mention when he was out on the city streets, the dragons were all so highly vigilant that they nearly went to far as surrounding him in the street center.

  When Qing He’s eyes were fully recovered, Zhong Yue sent her out to gather some intelligence, and even she was surrounded by the Ao Clan experts.

  Fine then, I’ve already gotten two huge benefits, there is no need to stir the pot, or otherwise, the Ao Clan might stab me in the back if I cross the line.

  Zhong Yue gave up on his plan and continued nourishing the Peng feather.

  This day, Ao Fenglou had returned back to the Earth Courtyard, he was tasked to annihilate the remaining forces of Sha Qishan’s army. He led the dragon armies to wage war from all over the Eastern Sea. Although he was young, he was a great dragon that was nearly at the grade of the magnates, he was truly a young and promising talent who was stronger than most of the dragon elders.

  The power he commanded was greater than most of the dragon elders, and the position he held was higher than young generals such as Ao Xiu and the like, or otherwise, the Earth Courtyard would not be under his control at all. The Earth Courtyard, as the name suggested, was a dragon race department that was in charge of the matters regarding the earthly lands.

  Right when Ao Fenglou returned, he invited Zhong Yue over and they had a talk;
when he found out that Zhong Yue was given a treasure from the Million Treasure Pavilion and special permission from the elderly clan master to partake in the dragon race’s Ancestral Dragon Ritual, his facial expression slightly changed before returning to its usual calm.

  “Clan master, the dragon race is not sincere in this matter, since you’ve promised him a treasure, just give him the best we have!”

  Ao Fenglou bowed to greet the clan master, he then raised his head and said, “We shouldn’t have given him a useless feather. Although he is fine now, when he finds out that the feather is useless in the future, he would harbor resentment towards the dragon race!”

  However, the elderly clan master smiled and replied, “Fenglou, he chose the feather himself, so how can he hold grudges to the dragon race?”

  Ao Fenglou’s face stiffened as he sighed quietly in his heart and said, “Then what about the Ancestral Dragon Ritual? He is not a dragon, no matter what he does, he will never receive the blessings of the Ancestral Dragon. He doesn’t know about this fact yet, but paper can’t hide a fire. He will come to know the truth one of these days, and by then, he would know that the dragon race was never sincere to him! This time, Zhong Yue has traveled millions of miles to the Eastern Sea, the dragon race should act as his support, wholeheartedly backing him so that he would swear his loyalty to the dragon race! Treating him like this and not willing to bare even the slightest of losses in securing his loyalty will only serve to drive him further away from us!”

  While the elderly clan master suddenly laughed, “Fenglou, you are still too young and naive. Regardless of how well the dragon race treats him, his loyalty will never lie with dragon race but instead, the only race he has always had and always will have in his heart – the human race. Furthermore, the dragon race is only working with him in appearance, wouldn’t the dragon race one day take over the whole of East Barren? It’s only a matter of time before we turn into enemies, so, wouldn’t giving him treasures now be like supporting our enemies?”

  Ao Fenglou was stunned, he felt helpless and powerless in his heart. He sighed and answered, “Since the clan master has decided, then Fenglou has nothing else to say.”

  He didn’t want to stay any longer and returned back to the Earth Courtyard immediately, he saw Zhong Yue and his heart was unsettled with guilt. A few moments later, he said, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, if you have any hardships or difficulties in the future, you can come to me at any time. I will do anything I can to help you as much as possible!”

  Chapter 224: The Ancestral Dragon Ritual |

  Zhong Yue felt a little bit surprised, and asked, “Why are you saying this, Brother Fenglou?”

  Ao Fenglou sighed, but he did not say anything as he thought to himself, The elders of our Ao Clan have crossed the line. I’m doing this so that there is still room for negotiation in the future and we will not become enemies.

  He hesitated for a while, and finally he took out a high quality jade, made it into a token with the word “Lou” on it and said, “I will not give you empty promises, Junior Martial Brother Zhong, so please accept this token and in the future, you may ask me to do any one thing in my capability for you using this token!”

  Zhong Yue was shocked and thought, Could it be that Ao Fenglou felt that the dragons treated me poorly, and did not give me proper treatment as their ally, so he is trying to reimburse me?

  He did not hold any grudges to the dragons; they might be stingy, but both the Golden Feathery Peng Sword and the Ancestral Dragon Ritual were way too important to him.

  However, he still accepted Ao Fenglou’s token, as he wanted Ao Fenglou to feel better about what his elders had done. Ao Fenglou was also one of the most talented individuals among the dragons, which would make this token of his quite valuable in the future.

  Besides, if Zhong Yue did not accept his token, Ao Fenglou would not let his guard down. With his personality, he might even think that Zhong Yue held a grudge towards the dragons, which would bring harm to the dragons in the future, and so Ao Fenglou might try to kill Zhong Yue.

  From Zhong Yue’s viewpoint, Ao Fenglou really might do it!

  ------

  After a few more days, the Dragon City became more lively as the Clan Master and the elders of the Li, Yu, Po and Jiao Clans arrived to discuss some matters regarding the Ancestral Dragon Ritual and their plans to go ashore to pursue the Sea King Sha Qishan.

  Because the Ao Clan had the eldest bloodline among the bloodlines of the Ancestral Dragon, whenever the other clans had important matters to discuss, everyone would gather in the Dragon City of the Ao Clan.

  Other than these older generation Qi Practitioners, Qi Practitioners of the great clans’ younger generations and from the other smaller clans also arrived in the Dragon City for the Ancestral Dragon Ritual.

  The Ancestral Dragon Ritual took place once every thirty years. Thirty years might be enough for humans to get married and have their children or grandchildren, but to the dragons, thirty years passed like the blink of an eye.

  Dragons could live on for a very long time, which allowed most of them to become Qi Practitioners. Three decades was nothing to them, and when some of the dragon Qi Practitioners could not make it in time, they could still participate in the Ancestral Dragon Ritual the next time as long as they had yet reached the level of Heavenly Dharma.

  Some of the more talented dragon Qi Practitioners, that managed to achieve the level of Heavenly Dharma, would have no need to take part in the Ancestral Dragon Ritual anymore. Because of their talents, the Ancestral Dragon Ritual would not benefit them much. Normally, the dragons would pour in even more effort and resources into these talented individuals, which would bring them even more benefits, in order to cultivate them.

  Ao Fenglou was one of those talented individuals; he had managed to reached his current level in less than thirty years, and his talent was one of the rarest even among the dragons.

  In the city, many of the dragons’ young Qi Practitioners challenged each other, and the challenges among the great clans were even more frequent and vigorous, especially the Jiao Dragon Clan that was very well known for its combat prowess. These challenges and fights among the dragons made the city very lively even before the Ancestral Dragon Ritual started.

  Zhong Yue received a challenge invitation from a servant of Jiao Qingtu, stating that Jiao Qingtu wished to compete with him in the Ancestral Dragon Ritual.

  On the same day, the five great clans stopped their discussions as they came into agreement on selecting five magnate Qi Practitioners, each leading their troops ashore to hunt down Sha Qishan.

  Then, the five great clans announced an unusual list of selected candidates for the Ancestral Dragon Ritual, causing an uproar among the dragons.

  This time, from the level of Spirit Nurture up to the level of Inner Core, each clan would be able to select ten candidates from each level to partake in the Ancestral Dragon Ritual. With that, there were a total of two hundred candidates!

  “Why are there so many people taking part in the Ritual this time? There were only eighty people at most previously….”

  “I heard that it was because of the rebellion of Sha Qishan. The captured rebels under the command of Sha Qishan were sacrificed to the Ancestral Dragon, and with that, the Ancestral Dragon has bestowed a much generous reward on us, allowing more people to be selected.”

  “There’s still some time left before the Ancestral Dragon Ritual starts, and if we dragons manage to capture Sha Qishan and sacrifice him to the Ancestral Dragon, the Ancestral Dragon Ritual this time would be even grander!”

  ------

  The Ancestral Dragon Ritual finally began, and this Ancestral Dragon Ritual was even grander than the previous Ancestral Dragon Rituals. It took place not in the city, but instead on the ocean surface.

  On this day, almost all of the dragons headed out of the city and rose to the surface, standing on the vast expanse of the sea. Then, under the lead of the Clan Masters of the
five great clans, along with the elders behind the Clan Masters, they all started to pray to the heavens and earth.

  Zhong Yue and the other one hundred and ninety-nine candidates participating in the Ancestral Dragon Ritual stood at the side, while the other dragons stood in midair. Some of them even turned into their true form as they danced and moved in the skies. At that moment, dragon species like the Jiao Dragons, Po Dragons, Li Dragons, Fish Dragons, White Dragons, and many other dragons could be seen covering the skies with their long, slender bodies.

  Other than the dragons, there were also gigantic creatures that emerged from the sea. Huge giants and monsters stood on the gigantic creatures, slamming their fists onto the drums in front of them, playing a rhythm Zhong Yue had never heard before.

  The giant monsters then started blowing horns made from the ivory of unknown gigantic creatures more than five feet long, with deep yet clear tones.

  After the prayers, the deepest part of the sea rumbled, and something started to emerge from the depths. When Zhong Yue looked down, he saw a huge landmass ascending slowly from the sea floor.

  It was a very ancient land lying deep in the abyss of the ocean, and the prayers of the dragons were meant for this ancient land.

  This land had always been the ancestral land of the dragons, an ancient yet sacred place filled with traces left behind by the ancestors of the dragons.

  As the land emerged, the sacred palace, ancient mountains, and huge holy statues also showed themselves, as if they were trying to bring everyone back to the ancient days of long ago.

  This entire land was a huge altar. Countless dragon armies brought up the rebels commanded by Sha Qishan. Although most of the rebels were killed on the battlefield, the dragons managed to captured over forty thousand of these rebels.

  As the magnate figure of all sea races under the command of the dragons, Sha Qishan had many potential armies under him. Excluding the five great clans of the dragons, his faction was the strongest in the entire Eastern Sea.