Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  The sake skin pouch on the middle of the mountainside was also triggered, turning into a lotus giant python, with its head lifted out and hissing continually at the giant hand. It looked like a snake slithering on the back of the giant six-eyed Star Toad!

  Even more, there was a thin length of chiffon floating up from the mountain, surrounding the Star Toad as if it was a string of clouds, concealing its power deep within!

  One after another, the Atman Body and Inner Core soul weapons were activated by the arcane array formation, blasting their powers out in order to protect the mountain!

  Gu Hongzi’s giant hand had only slammed down for a bit and was instantly crushed by the array formation, dispersing into thin air.

  Yuchi Li was stunned. She stood with her mouth agape behind Gu Hongzi. The other girls on Singing Goose Mountain were also stammering at the result of the test.

  This was beyond their understandings. In their eyes, the incomplete array formation placed down by Zhong Yue would have little to no power at all. And yet, the array formation had just worked, and its power was incredibly strong, even fending off Gu Hongzi’s strike!

  This result was way too unfathomable!

  The ways of sculpting taught by the old man were way more than what was simply presented, how abstruse….

  Zhong Yue didn’t have time to think much, he quickly moved around the mountain and extended his psyche out to check on the six inner cores’ arcane energy consumption. When the strike came, he wasn’t the one that powered the Star Moon Array Formation. Instead, it was powered from six sources: the six inner cores!

  When the array formation sensed a danger, it would be automatically triggered, consuming the power of the inner cores and unleashing its power. That was why the inner cores were very important.

  And now, Zhong Yue was checking on the inner cores to estimate how long would they last.

  When Zhong Yue sent his psyche over, he found out that the inner cores had shrunk greatly. Furrowing his brow, he thought to himself, The Inner Core and Heavenly Dharma inner cores can only last for an hour of attacks before their energies are depleted and render the array formation useless. It seems like this array formation is a big eater, only a few inner cores can’t sustain it for long.

  The Star Moon Array Formation was also an offensive array formation. Itt would also return the favor to its attacker at the same time it was attacked. It was strong enough to fight off a Heavenly Dharma expert, but it could not last long.

  Furthermore, the inner cores would also deplete by themselves as there would be slight surges of energy leakage. These inner cores would at most, last for a few years before their energies would dry up. The Heavenly Dharma inner cores would last longer, but not any more than seven to eight years.

  I need more inner cores, moreso those at the higher grades, just so the array formation can last longer. But where do I get more of the stronger and better inner cores?

  Just when Zhong Yue was thinking about it, Xin Huo said with great excitement, “Brat Yue, go and kill more experts, that’s how you can get more inner cores!”

  Such a suggestion was naturally, filtered away by Zhong Yue. He thought in his heart, It’s only lucky for me to get so many inner cores. But such a luck would not favor me forever, I might just die the next time.

  He stopped the inspection and returned back to the palace He pressed his hand down in the air and in tandem, the hundred and eight totem pillars slowly sank into the ground, disappearing from the surface of the mountain.

  Following this, the soul weapons also disappeared, leaving behind only the hefty ones, such as the snake spear, bright moon, and Wu Yang River.

  These soul weapons were connected to the whole Star Moon Array Formation, he would not need to worry about them being stolen or taken away. To do so, it would mean that the array formation was getting intruded upon, and naturally the array formation would repel such an action that threatened its existence and activate itself to fight back.

  These inner cores can only maintain the array formation for three to five years. After that, it will need more inner cores.

  Zhong Yue told the girls to refrain from touching the soul weapons. For now, the girls were looking up to him as if he was their god, surely they would listen to his words.

  “With only the nine of you, it’ will be hard to manage my ever-growing territory. Qing He, Chun’er, Yuchi Li, handpick a few talents from the human and monster races, send them to my mountain and I’ll nurture them personally,” Zhong Yue instructed them, “And when they have become Qi Practitioners, they would be given the rights to manage a piece of my land as a lord under my jurisdiction, they will be my trusted aides.”

  The girls bowed as they received their orders, before dispersing and going out to chose talented younglings from the monster and human races in his territory and send them to the mountain.

  ------

  After three days, the selection came to a total of over twenty younglings, having equal numbers of humans and monsters. Fear consumed these younglings as they thought that they were chosen and gathered here to be sacrificed for the forging of an evil soul weapon. But truth proved otherwise. They had never been so grateful in their lives after they reached the mountaintop and listened to the explanation that they were chosen with no other reason than to be imparted with the ways of cultivation so that they could serve their lord better.

  “Yuchi, Qing He, come and join us,” Zhong Yue told the girls.

  The nine girls were shocked and overjoyed. They quickly sat down and listened carefully, especially Yuchi Li and the other dragon girls, as they were not Zhong Yue’s cronies but the subordinates of the Ao Clan. And yet, Zhong Yue was willing to tell them his cultivation knowledge and attainments, this gave them an even better impression of Zhong Yue.

  Zhong Yue then started his lesson. He picked up the stone pillars that were left unused before, and engraved them with the totem patterns of the【Soaring Dragon Hundred Forms】while teaching them the visualization art of the Jiao Dragon, fully imparting them his knowledge in the【Soaring Dragon Hundred Forms】.

  Ao Fenglou didn’t teach him the cultivation art of the【Soaring Dragon Hundred Forms】and only imparted him with the skills. But Zhong Yue was not the amateur he was before, his perception had allowed him to perceive and extract the cultivation art from the skills.

  He explained the knowledge from shallow to the deep. Yuchi Li and the other girls were cultivators and they have the foundation to understand his teachings, enthralling themselves with the abstrusities he presented to them. On the other hand, the new younglings were stunned, not being able to understand most of his words.

  But Zhong Yue only talked about it once, he didn’t repeat himself and only left behind the stone pillars engraved with the dragon totem patterns for them to study.

  ---

  After three days, Zhong Yue finished engraving the dragon totem patterns on the stone pillars. He placed them in the Knowledge Teaching Palace in the master monastery. He turned and told the others, “These stone pillars contain the skills and art of the【Soaring Dragon Hundred Forms】. Anyone can enter the Knowledge Teaching Palace and study them as you like. Qing He, bring out the medicinal pellets and the other materials.”

  Qing He quickly took out all of the medicinal pellets. There were a total of over forty thousand medicinal pellets with different uses. Zhong Yue had killed countless Atman Body experts on his way to Xian Kong Saint City, and when he advanced into the Atman Body level and established a force of his own, the other greater and lesser forces had all greeted and congratulated him with countless gifts.

  Qing He, Long Chun’er, and the others then bought the medicinal pellets with the other items that were useless to them. In addition to the medicinal pellets produced in his territory, he now had a substantial amount of medicinal pellets.

  And most of all, Zhong Yue had the beast god inner core, so he didn't need any medicinal pellets to cultivate, and hence, the number kept growing higher
and higher.

  “These medicinal pellets will be placed in the Medicinal Pellet Palace. Chun’er and you girls will make a set of rules regarding the amount of medicinal pellets you will be distributed to aid in your cultivation progress, and those medicinal pellets will be given out on a monthly basis. Rather give more than less.”

  Zhong Yue smiled gently and ended the day with the last sentence, “Your master I will now be in closed-door training, nothing shall disrupt me in this period of time.”

  The girls were surprised and overjoyed, and so were the younglings; they quickly bowed and thanked him.

  Ostensibly to the outside world, Zhong Yue was in closed-door training, but in actual fact, he left the Gu Xia City’s territorial land and headed toward the Savanna Wasteland, treading the path back to his homeland: the Great Wilderness!

  Lei Hong is dead, but is Tian Myriad Mother still in Swords Gate? Everything will be clear to me as long as I return back. By then, I will know if Lei Hong was really the celestial messenger or was he only a petty scapegoat that was pushed out...

  Chapter 253: Fishing |

  In the Savanna Wasteland, Zhong Yue removed his disguise and as his mind moved, fire rose around his body, making him look extremely wild. Even his hair was covered with fire and floated in the air.

  The fire of the sun!

  In an instant, he was shrouded with fire, just like a fiery being.

  Flames then emerged behind him and whenever he walked, he would leave flame behind him, as if there were huge amount of oil in the underground that allowed the flames to burn nonstop. The flame then started to spread across the plains little by little and after a while, it looked like a fiery dragon had just descended onto the plains, causing them to burn.

  Zhong Yue then suddenly dashed away, riding on the flames towards the Savanna Wasteland.

  ---

  About four or five days after he left, the ground of the Savanna Wasteland rumbled vigorously as one after another huge Pan Aos surged towards the plains and started looking for tracks and traces via sniffing around on the ground. These Pan Aos had followed the scent of Zhong Yue to the plains, but here, they completely lost track of Zhong Yue as the entire plains were burnt down by Zhong Yue, leaving only the smell of charred grass and ash.

  The Pan Aos then looked around for a moment before they scattering everywhere to continue their search for Zhong Yue.

  There were even some of them that flew into the air, trying to find something in the air flowing through the sky, but to no avail.

  “Strange….”

  An incredibly huge Pan Ao even among the other huge Aos suddenly walked towards the center of the plains. When it spun around, it turned into a white-robed priest. It was the Xiao Mang Celestial Race’s Celestial Temple’s Xiao Chuyun, and in his eyes, one could clearly see confusion.

  The huge Pan Aos around him suddenly ran towards him and merged into his body continuously and quickly, leaving him standing alone in the burned plains.

  These Pan Aos were all formed from the dragon scales on his body, something similar to how Zhong Yue formed his Jiao Dragons with his psyche, which made them one of the best ways to look for something or someone.

  This Long Yue brat’s scent disappeared exactly right here. Where could he have gone to?, thought Xiao Chuyun.

  “Elder, Zhong Yue is still somewhere around Gu Xia City.”

  Suddenly, a voice was heard and Lang Qingyun could be seen walking towards Xiao Chuyun with a soul lantern in his hand. That soul lantern was Zhong Yue’s soul lantern, and Lang Qingyun laughed as he said, “You are pursuing him in the wrong direction.”

  Xiao Chuyun smirked and replied, “If the soul lantern was of some use, you would have killed him long ago. Qingyun, the soul lantern is useless when it comes to him, you will never be able to track him through the soul lantern.”

  Lang Qingyun was stunned and after a brief moment of thinking, he asked, “So he has a way to hide himself from the detection of soul lanterns? No wonder I lost track of him suddenly back then in Xian Kong Saint city.”

  “Soul lanterns are not unstoppable and there are indeed ways to hide from the detection of soul lanterns. This Long Yue must have received some way to hide himself from the soul lanterns through the teachings of some of the magnate figures in the dragon race, and we will not be able to catch him with the soul lantern!”

  Xiao Chuyun continued coldly, “And now, he burned the plains here to destroy the scent he left behind. With this, he managed to get away! This method was exactly the same as the method used by the murderer of Xiao Chuqing to destroy the evidence, which means that he must be the one who murdered Xiao Chuqing!”

  He looked around and observed, “The Savanna Wasteland is connected with the West and East Barren, as well as the Great Wilderness. Now, we have no idea where he went! Qingyun, return to the city and I will look around myself. I will rush towards the location of Long Yue as soon as his whereabouts are known!”

  Lang Qingyun nodded and left the scene quickly.

  ------

  Meanwhile, Zhong Yue has arrived at the bottom of Swords Gate Mountain and the Four Ken Beast residing on the golden summit of the Swords Gate Mountain immediately noticed him. It quickly notified the headmaster. Not long after, Elder Pu came down on from the mountain and quickly brought Zhong Yue back up into the mountain. Then, he led Zhong Yue to the Heart Questioning Palace and announced that due to the many problems occuring around Swords Gate, the headmaster changed his mind and let Zhong Yue out earlier.

  “Elder Pu, what happened during the death of Lei Hong?” asked Zhong Yue as he could not hold back his curiosity anymore.

  Elder Pu hesitated and replied as he shook his head, “This matter has caused quite a shock around Swords Gate. Feng Wuji was about to advance into the True Spirit level, but with the mess caused by Lei Hong, he almost lost control of himself, which then inflicted heavy injuries on him. The Qi Practitioners of the Lei Hu Clan are now living in fear ,as they are afraid of the headmaster blaming them for what Lei Hong did. After all, Feng Wuji and the headmaster are both from the Feng Clan…”

  Zhong Yue then pressed, “I want to know the whereabouts of Shui Qingyan after the death of lei Hong.”

  “Shui Qingyan?” Elder Pu then said, “This was quite a huge thing. She managed to reach the Atman Body level and now, she is the second hallmaster in place in the Seal Suppression Hall. There was also one disciple that improved as fast as her and you know this disciple as well, Qiu Jin’er. She is also an Atman Body level Qi Practitioner now and she too, was given the same position as Shui Qingyan. Oh right, what is your level now?”

  Zhong Yue however, was not paying attention to Elder Pu anymore as soon as he heard that Shui Qingyan had become the second hallmaster in place in the Seal Suppression Hall and he thought, Tian Myriad Mother is acting so high profile in the Swords Gate and she even became a hallmaster… Who gave her the bravery to do this?”

  He then shivered and reached a conclusion, Lei Hong is just a scapegoat! There’s someone behind all of this!

  There was obviously something off with the speed of Shui Qingyan’s improvements, which were not any slower than the Innate Spirit Body individuals.

  Although Zhong Yue was fast in his improvements as well, he knew what was going on with himself. While the others thought that he was a Innate Sun Innate Spirit Body, he was actually taught and guided by Xin Huo with the addition of the countless intensified battles he encountered on the outside. It was not exaggerating to say that his strengths were all gained and he trained himself through betting his life on the front line!

  But for Shui Qingyan to pull this off, then something odd must have happened, yet it did not garner any attention. Someone even assigned her such a heavy position, which meant that the celestial messenger possessed incredible power in Swords Gate!

  Who is this, who is the real celestial messenger? This celestial messenger is really good at hiding his true identity, as he managed to exploit and toy wi
th Lei Hong to such an extent that even when he was about to die, Lei Hong did not expose the celestial messenger’s identity… Wait a minute, something's not right!

  Zhong Yue then thought of something. He once suspected that the celestial messenger was among one of the four young aces of Swords Gate, because Jun Sixie got ambushed and was almost killed. But what if the celestial messenger was not one of them, but instead, one of them was a spy?

  The headmaster once said that the greed in Lei Hong was very strong, which ultimately got Lei Hong killed. Then if Lei Hong was the human spy working with the celestial messenger, the celestial messenger must be someone else!

  A moment of realization struck Zhong Yue as he continued thinking, The celestial messenger must be someone in Swords Gate that holds high power and a high position. He wants to take advantage of the dying old headmaster so that he can usurp and become the Swords Gate’s headmaster!

  Elder Pu did not mind Zhong Yue not paying attention to him as he continued saying, “Since you are out, it is better if you pay a visit to the headmaster first. After all these days of hard work, he has gotten even older, and heaven knows how much time he has left…”

  Zhong Yue followed him as they walked towards the golden summit while he thought, He must have an overwhelming power in Swords Gate, such that he could even bring Tian Myriad Mother out of the Demon Ruins, permit the Shui Tu Clan’s elders to allow Tian Myriad Mother to possess Shui Qingyan, frame Shui Zian, and even has the power to access the safe path in the Divine Battlefield.

  He could even control Lei Hong! Lei Hong might be indebted to him, which allowed him to exploit Lei Hong’s gratitude, and the same goes to the Crocodile Dragon back then!

  He has such huge power in Swords Gate that he could use someone suspicious like Shui Qingyan without fearing anything, and place her insuch an important position!

  So what was such a big deal with the Seal Suppression Hall?