Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  "I will be no match for her. Things will be even worse if she is in her true form. Junior Martial Brother Zhong, you've been very good at planning since the beginning? What do you suggest we do now?"

  With a bitter laugh, Zhong Yue answered, "You overestimate me, senior martial brother. I might still be able to kill her if she stands still without resisting. Otherwise, I won't be able to anything against her either ... Wait!"

  All of a sudden, Zhong Yue's eyes lit up as he said, "I have an idea! There are celestial temples everywhere in the West Barren!"

  Upon hearing Zhong Yue’s idea, Gu Hongzi also laughed and asked, “You mean….”

  "That's right! We will enter the celestial temple of the many celestial races out here! No matter how powerful she is, she will not risk waking up the slumbering godly spirits in the West Barren! I've received the million gods' picture of the Bai Zhe Clan so I can disguise as any celestial race to enter their celestial temple! As for you…."

  "I will have to ask you to disguise as my servant," said Zhong Yue with a polite smile.

  Gu Hongzi then nodded, "Doesn't matter. I really need to disguise myself because there are quite a lot of people out there that can recognize me."

  As he spoke, his body shrunk, and his face turned old as he became a middle-aged monster. Besides that, he restrained his power as well to match that of a servant and followed beside Zhong Yue who was disguised as a young man Zhu Jian Celestial Race.

  Zhong Yue quickly inspected Gu Hongzi and suggested, "Senior martial brother, your strength is still too much, you have to suppress it by a little more."

  Gu Hongzi nodded and did as Zhong Yue suggested, bringing his strength down to Heavenly Dharma level while Zhong Yue gazed a thousand miles away with his divine third eye.

  His divine third eye enabled him to see what others couldn't, and as he opened up his divine eye, he saw an eagle's view of everything within a thousand miles from him in his line of sight, including a few celestial race's people.

  After comparing the appearances of these few celestial race's people with the description of the million gods' picture, Zhong Yue said, "In front of us is the Bi Fang Celestial Race and one of their temples. Just follow this path, and we will be there in no time!"

  The two then started rushing towards the front, and before they got close to the Bi Fang Celestial Race's place, Zhong Yue turned into a Bi Fang Celestial Race's Qi Practitioner and headed straight to the temple with Gu Hongzi!

  At the same time in the Gu Diao Celestial Temple, the pretty woman, Xuan Su had a mirror placed in front of her showing both Zhong Yue and Gu Hongzi.

  And when she saw Zhong Yue turn into a Bi Fang Celestial Race's Qi Practitioner, and she hesitated before putting her hands into the mirror and took it out immediately as she said, "What a cunning boy…."

  Suddenly, a thunderous noise came from the skies above Zhong Yue and Gu Hongzi, and when they looked up, a strange-looking insect with a huge clamp on its head was staring at them maliciously!

  Their face changed immediately, and at this crucial moment, a single legged fiery bird flew into the skies and turned into the single legged Bi Fang Celestial Being that charged straight towards the insect with a blazing divine aura!

  "Who are you! How dare you harbor ill intentions towards my people!"

  With a loud battle cry, the celestial being looked towards the insect which quickly disappeared back into the void.

  Zhong Yue and Gu Hongzi then thought to themselves in relief, This really worked out well! But this old ancestor of the Bi Fang Celestial Race might be too strong! He is as strong as Demon Saint back in his peak form! This old ancestor might be someone incredible back in the old days! I wonder if my disguise can hide from this godly spirit of the Bi Fang Celestial Race. If I can't, then things won't be any better than before….

  Fortunately for them, after the insect disappeared, the Bi Fang Celestial Race's godly spirit looked away and returned to the celestial temple, quickly disappearing again. Within the blink of an eye, everything had returned to normal save for the priests of the Bi Fang Celestial Race as they were still in a panic about what had caused the reappearance of their old ancestor.

  In the midst of chaos, Zhong Yue and Gu Hongzi quickly got away through the back door of the celestial temple, and they rushed towards the next celestial temple.

  Meanwhile, Xuan Su was still paying close attention to them as she suddenly said to herself, "I am curious about the number of forms you can change into. You might be able to change your appearances to that of the Bi Fang and Zhu Jian Celestial Races, but how many more do you have in your bag?"

  Next was the Lu Wu Celestial Race, and when Zhong Yue passed through their border, he took the form of the Lu Wu Celestial Race and walked into the celestial temple just like that.

  Xuan Su then bit her lips as she wanted to make a move but was too afraid to do so.

  Previously, just when she attacked the two of them, she immediately drew the attention of the Bi Fang Celestial Race's godly spirit and almost exposed her location to the godly spirit. With that, she dared not recklessly act as there were still many slumbering godly spirits all over the West Barren. And with her strength as it was now, she wouldn't be unable to go against all of them at once.

  If she were exposed, the plans and everything that was done by the Insect Race for all these years would be flushed down the drain within seconds! Xuan Su could not afford this risk, even if she were desperate to kill Zhong Yue and Gu Hongzi!

  "Let's see how long can you keep this up, Zhong Yue!" Xuan Su smirked as she forcefully bit her lips.

  But what caused her eyes to twitch and spasm again and again was that Zhong Yue seemed to be able to change his appearance into every celestial race he came across. In fact, not only did Zhong Yue changed his appearances, but he also altered his aura to match each of the different celestial races as he needed to. Thus, he was able to safely slip through every territory he came across without so much as a hitch.

  "What a great talent. You can become a thief like this, junior martial brother. This is like an art that is perfectly suited for thieving bandits!" Gu Hongzi said suddenly.

  "If you transform, enter their celestial temple, and steal their treasures, you can definitely make a considerable fortune.

  Zhong Yue was momentarily stunned before realizing the genius behind what Gu Hongzi said. He then replied, "That's right. If I turn into one of them, I can easily steal their treasures… Wait… This celestial race here is…."

  "Xiao Mang Celestial Race!" Zhong Yue looked towards the front with his divine third eye.

  In front of them was the territory of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race, one which occupied a considerable portion of the West Barren. Their land, however, shrunk severely after the old headmaster of Swords Gate killed the Xiao Mang elder priest.

  "Perhaps, I can steal something from their celestial temple," said Zhong Yue as he looked at the Xiao Mang Celestial Temple.

  “What do you want to steal?” asked a puzzled Gu Hongzi.

  Zhong Yue looked at Gu Hongzi for a few moments before suddenly blinking his eyes and answering, "A lady."

  Chapter 414: As Easy As A Breeze |

  “A woman?”

  Gu Hongzi warned with a strange expression, "Junior martial brother, dwelling too much on this sort of things will only slow down your improvement. It will greatly weaken your body. Besides, the ladies of Xiao Mang Celestial Race all have three heads. They will all have many little thoughts in their mind. Even someone like Feng Xiaozhong was tricked by one of them, resulting in the birth of the traitor, Feng Wuji."

  Zhong Yue was momentarily stunned and immediately realized that Gu Hongzi had misunderstood him, "Don't worry, I am not going for the ladies of Xiao Mang Celestial Race, and I have no interest at them. This lady that I'm targeting is very important, and she is heavily guarded. It is extremely dangerous to smuggle her out of the Xiao Mang Celestial Temple, so I want to ask for your help, senior martial brother."
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  Realizing Zhong Yue's determination, Gu Hongzi sighed and thought to himself, Who would have thought that Zhong Yue, the man deemed as a great threat by countless races out there, would fall for a woman to this extent. Fine, I will help you this time.

  Light wheels appeared behind Zhong Yue's head, and he opened up his secret realms, saying, "Senior martial brother, hide inside my secret realms for the time being. My secret realms are quite big and are no smaller than a magnate Qi Practitioner's. I will take you into their celestial temple, and once we get there, I will have to rely on senior martial brother to deal with the security guards there."

  After entering his secret realms, Gu Hongzi looked around and exclaimed in awe, "Junior martial brother's secret realms are about as vast as mine. Unbelievable, simply unbelievable! How did he manage to cultivate the sixth secret realm?"

  His questions, however, were left unanswered while Zhong Yue turned into a Xiao Mang Celestial Race's Qi Practitioner and entered their territory. It did not take long before Zhong Yue landed on the celestial temple's gate. He then immediately barged in just like that.

  Even after losing their high priests Yin, Qing, Yuan, and Que, there was not much deterioration in the Xiao Mang Celestial Race's overall strength. They still had many strong Qi Practitioners and remained one of the biggest clans in the West Barren.

  As Zhong Yue entered the celestial temple that was built against the mountain, he saw white-robed priests, one after another, on his way toward the top of the temple. Most of them were Heavenly Dharma level Qi Practitioners with a few True Spirit Practitioners occasionally being seen.

  There may be a few Imminent Deity level Qi Practitioners around … I must not expose my cover, or I might not be able to leave this place alive, not to mention stealing the lady away.

  Yin, Qing, Yuan, and Que were the priests of the four directional celestial temples of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race. They were garrisoned there to safeguard the borders of Xiao Mang Celestial Race, and they were all Imminent Deity level Qi Practitioners. But they were not the high priest guarding the main celestial temple.

  The four border celestial temples held a lower significance compared to the main celestial temple. Thus, Zhong Yue concluded that there should be more than just one Imminent Deity level Qi Practitioners in the main celestial temple that he infiltrated.

  But it was the old ancestor of Xiao Mang Celestial Race that occupied the moon who posed the most threat, not these Qi Practitioners!

  And the scariest thing was that he had been receiving the worship of millions of the people out there instead of the real moon spirit for countless years. He even took down the moon core and the moon spirit that was about to ascend as an innate god, hiding them underneath the celestial temple to siphon away their power.

  God knew what would happen if Zhong Yue were to draw his attention!

  Everything proceeded smoothly on their way to the top, but just when he was about to reach the highest floor, a passing white-robed priest him looked at Zhong Yue with a razor-sharp stare as he said, "This is a restricted area of the temple. Only the priests are allowed here! Who are you! Do you not know the rules?"

  "I am Xiao Zhongshan. I was stationed at the outside previously, and I was recently promoted by the high priest. He ordered me to come forth…."

  Putting up a disgusted expression upon hearing Zhong Yue's reply, the white-robed priest smirked and said, "Another one who got promoted by the high priest! Constantly letting the young ones take up important positions in the temple ... it seems like he is plotting something big! Does he no longer have faith in these old dogs?"

  The high priest in question was, in fact, Feng Wuji. And judging from the white-robed priest's angry tone, he was obviously unhappy that Feng Wuji was appointing his own subordinates to high positions in the temple.

  With a bow, Zhong Yue looked as the priest walked down the mountain in disgruntlement. When Zhong Yue raised his head again to continue walking toward the top of the celestial, his face had transformed into that of the white-robed priest.

  "Brother Chuzheng, I thought you had business at the bottom of the mountain? Why did you turn back?" said another white-robed priest.

  "I forgot something, so I turned back to deal with it," replied Zhong Yue in the same voice of the white-robed priest that went down the mountain just now.

  The white-robed priest glanced around for a moment and suddenly whispered, "Brother Chuzheng, what do you think Xiao Wuji and Sha Qishan were discussing about? What are they hiding that they did not even want us to know?"

  “Xiao Wuji?”

  Stunned for a moment, Zhong Yue immediately realized that Xiao Wuji was now Feng Wuji. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Feng Wuji changed his first name immediately when he arrived at the Xiao Mang Celestial Race. But Sha Qishan’s presence in the Xiao Mang Celestial Race was out of Zhong Yue’s expectation.

  “What else can it be?”

  Zhong Yue smirked and said, "He is not able to sit in that position firmly right now, so he is trying to fortify his position through Sha Qishan's help. They probably even want to invite the Kun Peng Celestial Race here, and this is what I can't accept. The West Barren's area is so small. If they come here, do we have to give them part of our land?"

  "Exactly! Why don't we ally with the other priests to impeach and overthrow him!"

  With a nod and a serious expression, Zhong Yue said, "But we must not let any word reach him too early. Go, you will get in touch with the other senior martial brothers while I come up with a plan. Once everyone's here, we will discuss this. You know where to find me."

  Without a word, the white-robed priest nodded and left quickly.

  Zhong Yue instantly felt relieved, and from what he remembered, he walked towards the end of the temple. When he last visited here to acquire the moon spirit, his psyche was attracted by the moon spirit that was all the way in the supreme celestial temple, past various long halls, through the sealed walls and underground tunnel before finally leading to the sealed moon god.

  Thus, Zhong Yue knew his way to his destination at ease.

  It did not take long until he arrived at the supreme celestial temple – the sacred ground of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race's saint mountain.

  Just as Zhong Yue was about to enter the supreme celestial temple, he sensed something and immediately sealed all of his pores to prevent his Qi from leaking out. He then heard Feng Wuji's voice, "Chuzheng, what are you doing here? Can't you see that I am entertaining a guest right now?"

  Feng Wuji could then be seen walking out of the temple, and his eyes immediately on Zhong Yue.

  Zhong Yue's heart tightened, and an ear-piercing voice could be heard laughing, "High priest Feng, seems like your subordinate knows little about rules. How dare he barge in, knowing that you and I are having a top secret discussion. You may have the name and position of a high priest, but from what I see, you still don't have the power of the high priest grasped firmly in your hand."

  Then, Sha Qishan walked out of the temple with an ashen face and a feeble presence. He had yet to recover from the wounds that the Bai Zhe Clan

  gave him.

  Sha Qishan's strength was now only about 30 or 40 percent of its full potential.

  Zhong Yue quickly bowed and replied, "High priest, the other priests out there just said that your bloodline is impure, and they all want to impeach and overthrow you. They even invited me, and I pretended to accept their invitation while I quickly came to report this to you!"

  “Overthrow me?”

  Feng Wuji's face darkened, and he said, "Such bravery! I became the high priest because the ancestor personally appointed me as the high priest! How dare these old dogs do this to me! Chuzheng, you did a nice job for telling me this, I will not be selfish with your rewards!"

  Zhong Yue then bowed even lower and replied, "High priest, you are the rightful leader of our clan right now, so it is natural that I support you."

  Then, with a laugh, Feng Wuji said toward
s Sha Qishan, "Mr. Sha, you suspect that if I can wield the power of the entire clan, so why don't you follow me to have a look at it?"

  “My pleasure, High priest Xiao!”

  Feng Wuji then looked at Zhong Yue who quickly replied, "High priest, if I follow you, they'll know that I am the one who reported this to you. By then, they might not be able to do anything about you, but it'd be difficult for me to stay here anymore. Please forgive me!"

  "What are you afraid of? You are one of my trusted subordinates."

  “But I am afraid that there will be someone stabbing at me from the back….”

  "Fine, I will not force it on you then. From now on, you work for me sincerely. Keep an eye on these old dogs, and report all of their movements to me, and I will make sure you are compensated to your satisfaction!" Feng Wuji said as he walked away with Sha Qishan.

  Once they disappeared from his view, Zhong Yue quickly stood up again and entered the supreme celestial temple.

  He turned around and measured the temple, realizing that there was an extraordinarily fierce and majestic-looking three-headed celestial being on the altar.

  Zhong Yue quickly shifted his gaze away to prevent being exposed by the celestial being, and he suddenly changed into the same look, aura, and presence of Feng Wuji.

  The Million God's Picture and the Immortal Body become such an incredible technique when combined!

  Should I steal the treasures hidden or occupied in the West Barren?

  Zhong Yue blinked his eyes as he reached a wall with luxurious paintings that depicted various wonderful totem carvings that turned into divine seals.

  He then opened up his divine third eye and shot out rays that landed on the seals.

  "Junior Martial Brother Zhong, you can't open godly level seals just like that!"

  Gu Hongzi, who was looked at the seals from Zhong Yue's secret realms, gravely warned, "Don't act recklessly! If you make a single mistake, you will be dragged into the seal as well! Divine seals are all extremely...."