Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  Such a man would oftentimes be described as a madman.

  But Zhong Yue was more willing to call him a pioneer.

  It was hard for Zhong Yue to see eye to eye with Feng Xiaozhong in his actions but it was difficult for Zhong Yue to hate him as well as Feng Xiaozhong had his own qualities that warranted admiration and respect.

  Beneath his feet, the Celestial Fire Star quaked and the pillars slowly sank back into the ground, disappearing from sight.

  After a long time, the Celestial Fire Star that looked like a spiked hedgehog had turned back to its usual form. The high mountain on the Celestial Fire Star also resurfaced again. If one didn’t witness the monumental changes that had just taken place here, they wouldn’t even notice any changes at all.

  “Amazing," Zhong Yue praised before turning to fly toward the Ancestral Star’s moon.

  ……

  In the Zi Wei Imperial Star, in the astronomical observatory, a god cloaked in a starry robe was hovering above the platform. His face and palms had many eyes. He raised his eight arms and observed the changes of stars and planets in all directions.

  Numerous light beams shot out into space from those eyes. The skies of the Zi Wei Imperial Star was different than the others. Here, the stars were in the form of the Six Paths Giant, their six hands raised six galaxies like light wheels on the palms.

  The 3000 Six Paths Worlds were all monitored by the astronomical observatory of the Zi Wei Imperial Star with the eight-armed god cloaked in starry robe keeping an eye at everything.

  Suddenly, a bright light flashed across the sky. It was so quick that before the god could react to it, the bright light ray had already disappeared.

  The starry-robe god was shocked, his eyes were filled with disbelief and suddenly, a shrill cry sounded out from within the astronomical observatory, shattering the longstanding peace of the Zi Wei Imperial Star, “The Celestial Fire Star has been touched, the 3000 stars are disturbed! The Heavenly Monarchs Imperial Road of the first Six Paths World has resurfaced, quick, inform the imperial emperor! NOW!”

  …

  “The Celestial Fire Star? That Heavenly Monarchs Imperial Road has been untouched for over 100,000 years, hasn’t it?”

  In a palace that shone with a golden luster on the Zi Wei Imperial Star, the imperial emperor mulled, “Ever since the rule of Heaven had changed to signal the end of the Earth Order Era, the Sovereign Races were in decline as the era of the millions of smaller races arrived. The Imperial Court has never been touched since. But now, a scintillating light ray came from that wasted star, it can’t be a good sign.”

  “Imperial emperor, I’m in the process of finding out what it is, but there is no result as of yet." Among the imperial emperor’s subordinates, the purple-robed king clasped his hands together and said, “The waste star has been devastated, the first Six Paths World had also been left to rot for over a thousand years. Logically speaking, there won’t be much trouble that arises. Imperial emperor, there is no need to worry about it.”

  But the imperial emperor shook his head, he said placidly, “The waste star is, after all, the origin of that Sovereign Race. Seventy-two reigns of Earth Sovereign Heavenly Monarchs, twenty-two from that Sovereign Race. Although its glory has long been been buried in the dusts of time, it is still not a matter we should neglect … My friend has arrived, Zi Guang, go and welcome him into the palace hall.”

  “No need for that!”

  Godly rays filled the skies outside of the palace, and melodious voices could be heard singing gracefully as a few gods shrouded in divine and demonic auras strode into the palace.

  They greeted the imperial emperor and sat down respectively.

  Then, one of the ones shrouded in demonic energy solemnly said, “The Heavenly Monarch Imperial Road has reemerged, it came from the waste star and it shall have our full attention. This might be the plans left behind by those ancient gods who weren’t satisfied with their tragic end. Daoist brother, you are intelligent, do you have any plans yet?”

  The imperial emperor laughed and said, “My fellow Daoists, you are here already, that means you already have a plan. Why don’t you tell me instead of asking me?”

  The god shrouded in demonic rays smirked, his voice trembled the surroundings, “For the past few years, we four have decided to act and take precautions before any tragic events take place. As a result, we have forged a treasure, all in preparation for this day to come.”

  The imperial emperor was surprised as he asked, “What sort of treasure?”

  “The waste planet has nurtured many Heavenly Sovereigns and Earthly Sovereigns, it was a centerpiece of two great eras, and there are still many undying ancient figures protecting it. Although I don’t want to admit it, but it’s nearly impossible to crush it." Another god shrouded in godly rays said while smiling, “So, to prevent any more world-trembling talents from coming out from there again, we have joined hands together and forged this treasure.”

  He raised his hand and opened his palm. A divine tree emerged out from thin air and enlarged on his palm.+

  The imperial emperor exclaimed curiously, “This is?”

  “This divine tree is the treasure we have forged together. Once cast, it will imperceptibly alter the laws of heaven and earth in its influence zone, in this case, it will include the whole area of the waste star. Its connection to the heaven and earth will be sealed and the martial arts era of that waste star will come to an end.”

  Another god shrouded in godly rays said while laughing, “The tree’s clandestine nature is its most impressive attribute. The changes it imposes will take place over the course of hundreds and even thousands of years. The cultivation era of the waste star will slowly extinguish, eventually making the conditions prohibitively difficult for cultivation. The Qi Practitioners will die out and a talent that could have threatened us will never be able to rise. Even the ancient Heavenly Monarchs can never overturn the sky.”

  The imperial emperor was indeed surprised, he clapped his hands and praised while smiling, “This is really an amazing treasure.”

  “There is also another use from this divine tree. As the path of cultivation is forever sealed from the waste star, a new path of evolution will take over on which the creatures of that waste star will be forced to take. And no matter how hard they study to sharpen their knowledge in it, their fate will be sealed as being forever inferior to us. Their talents and time will be wasted in this new path, and the further they travel down this path, the more luscious the divine tree will become. So long as the divine tree continues to exist, there will be no coming back from this path.”

  “We have named this treasure after the path we tailored for the creatures inhabiting waste star, hence, it is called the Divine Tree of Knowledge. The creatures of the waste star will henceforth embark on a path that will increasingly diverge away from the Dao of Heaven, making them unable to disrupt its rules any longer.”

  “The more the study the path of Knowledge, the further away they will stray from the truth of the universe. They will forever be bound to the waste star, unable leave, let alone venturing beyond the first Six Paths World. Year after year, century after century, they will devolve into baser life forms, just like the planet they are in.”

  The imperial emperor praised and he asked, “Since the treasure has already been crafted, why are you all still here for me? Why not just execute the plan?”

  The few gods looked at one another, they laughed and said, “We were on our way to do so, but the sudden emergence of the Heavenly Monarch Imperial Road has reminded us of a hole in the plan. That is, the other existences can still enter the waste star and the gods in the waste star can also fly out. If those from the waste star were to reach the pinnacle of the Path of Knowledge, they will then be able to explore the universe through the false means they discover along the way. When that day comes, they will be able to see the marvelous world outside of their little bubble and realize their mistakes.”

  The im
perial emperor pondered deeply, moments later, he agreed, “True, although they shouldn’t be a problems anymore by then, it’s still a risk that is best not left ignored. Do you have anything in mind to resolve this flaw?”

  The gods exchanged a look again and one of them said while smiling, “We need Daoist brother’s Skymetrical Scroll. I heard that you have forged a scroll that can cover the space and universe, cloaking the heaven and earth and stopping the Yin Yang and other heavenly elements. Thus, we are here to request the imperial emperor lend us your treasure.”

  “With this treasure, the waste star can be kept within the universe of your Skymetrical Scroll. The creatures on the waste star will then live within a false universe. Even after using their knowledge to craft vessels to traverse the cosmos, they will only be fruitlessly meandering within your Skymetrical Scroll.”

  “The universe they see is your universe, the universe they are in is also yours. That way, as long as these two treasures continue to exist, the waste star can be kept at bay.”

  “The plan will be flawless, none of them will be able to come out from the prison we have tailor-made for them. The waste star will truly be wasted from then on.”

  The imperial emperor laughed deeply and clapped his hands, “A flawless scheme, a perfect plan! We can sit back and relax as all our worries disappear!”

  As he finished speaking, he took out a scroll and handed it to the purple-robed king, the other gods placed the Divine Tree of Knowledge in the king’s hand as well.

  Then, the imperial emperor ordered, “Zi Guang, go to the Ancestral Star and cast the two treasures, this is of utmost importance. There mustn’t be any accidents!”

  “Understood," King Zi Guang carefully kept the two treasures and walked out from the palace. His servant gods and goddesses prepared his carriage and left the Zi Wei Imperial Star.

  Laughter continued to echo out from within the palace hall and the few gods left soon after.

  Chapter 528: The End of Ancestral Star |

  King Zi Guang sat in his carriage and left the Zi Wei Imperial Star. But before he flew far away from the galaxy, a melodious song began to play in the endless space and a god sang along with it. There was a bonfire lit up in the middle of nowhere and the smell of food that could make one salivate wafted through the air.

  King Zi Guang traced the sound and smell, he looked over and saw a few gods sitting on top of an island roasting a beast on the fire. The smell of the roasted beast and wine blew into King Zi Guang’s nose with the breeze.

  “Senior Martial Brother Zi Guang!" The gods noticed him as well and they said with surprise. The gods stood up and greeted him from afar. One of them said while smiling, “It’s rare to bump into senior martial brother, will you come and have a feast with us?”

  King Zi Guang hesitated for a second before walking down from the carriage while carrying the two treasures tightly in his arms. He walked to the bonfire and said while smiling, “Few senior martial brothers, why are you all here?”

  Among the gods, the older one was from the Lie Shan Clan, he went by the surname Jiang and was named Yiqi. He had an ox horn atop the face of a dragon and the body of a human — a hybrid race of the Zhong Li Celestial Race and humanity that carried a hint of dragon bloods. This combination lead to his bizarre appearance.

  The Lie Shan Clan’s Jiang Yiqi was a close friend to King Zi Guang, and although they weren’t under the same teacher, they had gone through many things together when they were still the young and weak cultivators.

  Jiang Yiqi laughed and replied, “We just caught a beast and is preparing it. Just nice you are here, we can enjoy it together!”

  King Zi Guang looked at the beast on the bonfire and was shocked, he exclaimed, “This beast … it’s the Zhu Jian Celestial Race, Zhu Ganglie, he is the Nong Sovereign’s ride! Why did you all kill him and roast him to eat now?”

  The gods were shocked as well, they exchanged a look while Jiang Yiqi suddenly laughed and said, “Nong Sovereign is old, it’s no big deal roasting his ride anymore. We have nothing to be worried of.”

  “True," King Zi Guang sat down, he said while smiling, “But I can’t stay for long, I have orders from the imperial emperor now. I have to cast out these two treasures.”

  Jiang Yiqi sliced a chunk of roasted meat and distributed it to the others. The skin of the roasted meat was slightly charred crispy and the meat was soaked in its natural golden oil.

  King Zi Guang took a bite and the meat melted in his mouth, he shook his head softly and praised, “So this is how Zhu Ganglie tastes like. I have always wanted to eat him but he was Nong Sovereign’s ride, I could never do it. But you guys are different, it’s no problem for you all to kill him and cook it. What a delicacy…”

  Jiang Yiqi ate a whole chunk of meat and he said whiling chewing, “Senior martial brother, where are you going with the two treasures?”

  The gods on the side raised their cups and King Zi Guang raised his as well. They all drank a mouthful of wine and King Zi Guang answered while smiling, “To the waste star, it’s a long journey but I still have to go. The Heavenly Monarch Imperial Road can send me over directly but I can’t use it, I can only go through multiple checkpoints to get to the waste star. It’ll take me at least over ten years to get there. I also heard that the Bi Xie Celestial Emperor resurrected about three years ago and is coming to the Zi Wei Imperial Star, but he is still on his way now.”

  “It’s really a tedious task. You sad child." Jiang Yiqi raised his cup at King Zi Guang and he said while smiling, “But what treasures are they, can I have a look?”

  King Zi Guang hesitated for a second, but he then carefully placed the Divine Tree of Knowledge and Skymetrical Scroll into Jiang Yiqi’s hands, he said, “You have to be extremely cautious with them, if they are damaged, not even I can bear with the consequences.”

  Jiang Yiqi looked at the Divine Tree and praised before putting it to the side. Then, he looked at the Skymetrical Scroll and praised again.The stars and planets in the Skymetrical Scroll were innumerable, one couldn’t even finish glancing through all of them so quickly. Thus, Jiang Yiqi had to take a piece of firewood from the bonfire to use as a torch.

  King Zi Guang quickly said, “Careful, don’t damage it!”

  “It’s a treasure forged by the imperial emperor, how can it be damaged so easily?”

  Jiang Yiqi laughed, just as he spoke of it, sparks of fire came out from the burning firewood and fell to the Skymetrical Scroll. Immediately, a small hole was burned on it.

  King Zi Guang was stunned for a split second, his face changed drastically as he said in the blink of an eye, he has snatched the two treasures back into his hands. He shouted, “Yiqi, what fire is this?”

  Jiang Yiqi quickly threw the burning firewood back into the bonfire, his face was pallid in fear and stammered as he said, “This Zhu Ganglie is a True Deity, the … the ordinary godly fire can’t harm him and we have … we have been to the Heavenly Flame Barren Region and stole some of the fire sparks and lit it up with phoenix wood…”

  “Phoenix wood? No wonder the fire can damage the scroll!" King Zi Guang gritted his teeth, he said, “This is bad! A small hole was burned on the Skymetrical Scroll, there will be a flaw in it now. What do we do? The imperial emperor will not spare me easily if he knows about it!”

  Jiang Yiqi forced a wry smile and said, “We can … we can try fixing the hole, who knows, we might be able to do it. Or … or we can go to the imperial emperor together and ask for his forgiveness?”

  King Zi Guang sighed, he shook his head and replied, “Do you think, with our strength, we can fix the hole on the Skymetrical Scroll? And if we go to the imperial emperor, both you and I will be skinned alive. You are still fine, you aren’t the imperial emperor’s subordinate and your punishment will be relatively lighter. But the same doesn’t apply to me. Sigh, fine. We won’t tell the imperial emperor, this is just a small hole, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. It’s all my fault, I should
n’t have stayed in the first place. I should’ve just headed straight to the waste star. But this Zhu Ganglie’s meat is way too enticing that I couldn’t help it.…”

  King Zi Guang stood up, he stopped drinking and stopped eating, he said, “I’m going to carry out my orders now. Yiqi, you need to keep this a secret. Never tell anyone about it!”

  Jiang Yiqi nodded like a pecking chicken, he also didn’t have the mood to eat carefreely anymore as he said, “Don’t worry, I will never mention a single word about it, never ever!” King Zi Guang then boarded his carriage and left.

  ***

  He took one teleportation array formation to the other and headed straight to the Ancestral Star. The trip took him almost seven years for him to reach the fringes of its solar system.

  He raised his hand and cast the Divine Tree of Knowledge into the sky. The divine tree grew enormously large and covered the galaxy. Moments later, the divine tree faded away and its presence disappeared as if it were never there in the first place.

  Then, King Zi Guang cast out the Skymetrical Scroll immediately after that. The scroll grew larger and included the solar system in it. Stars and planets emerged around it and the Imperial Road was cut off from connecting to the outside universe.

  If there were any gods or livings that have flew out from the Ancestral Star, they would only fly into the universe inside of the scroll instead of the one they were truly in.

  The universe inside of the scroll stacked one upon another, it was endless and no matter how far one flew, they wouldn’t be able to fly out from the scroll anyhow.

  King Zi Guang glanced around carefully, he could tell the slight changes going on around the waste star. But it was so slow that it would take at least thousands of years to completely change.

  The small hole on the Skymetrical Scroll has become so huge after it was cast out…

  King Zi Guang surprised, he looked at the hole that was large enough to allow a planet to pass through and knew it should be taken care of.