Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  But this was also his biggest secret. It was the core of what separated him from other cultivators.

  Even if there were an opponent whose bloodline, arts, cultivation level, skills were at the same level, Zhong Yue’s unique advantage meant he could still easily defeat them; all because of his Innate True Soul!

  Back then, the Reverse Emperor’s Blood Banner could’ve siphoned Zhong Yue’s blood essence and cripple his Yuan Shen. But now, Zhong Yue’s Yuan Shen would not even flutter by the slightest even if the Reverse Emperor cast the Blood Banner again!

  “Brat Yue, you need to get your hands on this soul-targeting skill!” Xin Huo suddenly said, “During the Fire Order Era and Earth Order Era, although there are also skills targeted to souls, they aren’t prevalent enough to form a cultivation system of its own. However, this Hell’s cultivation system is mature enough and has incorporated some of the attainments from the Six Paths Reincarnations. Learn, attain, and study it, and you might be able to glean more of the evil existence’s secrets!”

  “Brothers, this【Six Soul Banner】, can you teach me?” It was hard to attain the insights of the Six Paths Reincarnations, and seeing that the【Six Soul Banner】might just come in handy, Zhong Yue steeled himself and asked, “In Hell, I might need to use some of these skills to protect myself.”

  Bi hesitated, “It was a great judge that imparted it to us, we were told not to teach it to anyone else.”

  Whereas, An frowned, “Although the great judge did say so, desperate situations call for desperate measures; it’s very dangerous to enter Hell without while lacking such protection. It’s fine for us to break the promise, as long as the man is freed. Fortunately for us, the great judge who imparted the skill to us is not in this Six Paths World, it’s fairly impossible to meet with him anymore in this life.”

  The brothers discussed and soon came to a decision, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong, we both swore that we would never teach it to anyone else. But, there is a loophole in our promise that can be used—if each of us teaches you half of the skill, it won’t be considered as breaking our promises.”

  Then, the two of them each taught half of the skill to Zhong Yue. Immediately as he learned, he could already tell the level of abstrusities within the totem patterns.

  The totem patterns of the【Six Soul Banner】were classified into six classes with each class containing 108 types. These 648 types of totem patterns formed the【Six Soul Banner】and were specifically targeted toward the soul. As long as one’s soul was still within the Six Paths Reincarnations, they would be greatly affected by the skill.

  Zhong Yue spent the next three days studying it. Three days later, Qiu Jin’er returned with a brimming aura, but unfortunately, she had still yet to awaken her Innate True Spirit.

  Bi and An glanced at her and they said, “You are just a hair’s breadth away, nothing can be done now. If you can attain what’s needed to advance, you will awaken your Innate Wood Spirit in no time; but if you can’t, then that’s it.”

  Qiu Jin’er was placid as she didn’t really care. She only started cultivation to cure her crippled legs, this goal then slowly evolved to cultivating so that she can continue to stay by her senior martial brother’s side. Among all of them, she was the one that cared the least about her actual strength and power.

  Bi and An handed them two spirit tablets and two cloaks, one black like ink and the other white like snow. Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin’er placed the tablets on their waist while putting on the cloaks.

  The cloaks were were huge and the hoods covered their faces, they look as though they were hovering above ground when look at from afar.

  These cloaks were actually divine weapons engraved with totem patterns that Zhong Yue had never seen before.

  Bi and An then took out two masks, just as Zhong Yue was about to wear it on, Bi quickly stopped him and said, “Hold on! Wearing the masks will bring you directly to Hell, take it off and you will return back here.”

  Zhong Yue was bewildered, “What?”

  “They are treasures from Hell, you will know once you wear it.” An prompted, “Hell shares the same world we are in now, but a different dimension. Junior Martial Brother Bai, cast your Curse Spirit and curse them two, let them be shrouded with the air of death.”

  Bai Canghai scratched his head and asked, “How?”

  “The worse the better.”

  Bai Canghai then cast our his spirit and cursed, “I hope you die in Hell and your soul disperses into thin air!”

  Zhong Yue laughed loudly, he held on Qiu Jin’er’s hand and the two wore on the masks.

  Right when they wore the masks, the dimension around them turned gloomy and cold breeze swept across their body. Zhong Yue glanced around and found many ghost fires hovering across the place. Although the Bi An Precipice and structures were still here, the holy and saint air they once had was replaced with a malefic aura.

  “Be careful…-ful…-ful….” Bi’s and An’s voice echoed in their ears as though they were very far away.

  “Senior martial brother, I can’t feel my mortal body!” Qiu Jin’er exclaimed in shock.

  Zhong Yue too couldn’t feel his body, but could still sense his Yuan Shen. It was truly peculiar.

  Not only that, but the dimension in here seemed to be incredibly weak, Qiu Jin’er could even cause the space around her to ripple by simply swinging her hand.

  The two of them calmed themselves and looked up. There was a flowing bridge hovering high in the sky, souls flew out from the ghost fires and merged with the glowing bridge before flying toward a single direction.

  Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin’er exchanged a look and flew up while Zhong Yue looked down and found his and Qiu Jin’er’s mortal body staying still on the ground.

  This is… Zhong Yue was shocked, Our mortal bodies!

  Their bodies was still on the same spot; what flew up were their Yuan Shen!

  Qiu Jin’er noticed it as well and tightened her grip on Zhong Yue’s hand in response.

  The Yuan Shen could fly faster than the mortal body, and soon enough, they had arrived at the glowing bridge. Such a speed was far beyond their imaginations.

  There were a countless number of souls on the glowing bridge, all of whom were moving toward the same direction while the bridge was flowing on its own at a great speed as well.

  Looking down, there were many stars and planets glowing in green lights quietly flowing past the glowing bridge.

  The whole Prison Realm was a huge galaxy itself, billions of living creatures died every second; after their deaths, their souls would be sucked into the glowing bridge to silently move along with it.

  Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin’er flew forward for a distance they had already lost track of long ago.

  In stark contrast to the souls beneath them, their Yuan Shen were huge like giants.

  Despite having seemingly traveled an almost endless distance, the glowing bridge had still yet to reach to its end.

  All of a sudden, a loud groan pounded into their ears, Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin’er stopped and quickly looked over—a demon god’s Yuan Shen was sucked toward the glowing bridge!

  The demon god was strong and powerful, but in the face of the strange force of attraction, his power suddenly seemed so feeble that it couldn’t even resist it for a single second.

  “I am not dead, I can still be saved!” The demon god’s malefic face guffawed, “You want me to reborn into another weak fetus!? Keep on dreaming! I am a god, a demon god! How dare you sentence me to death even without asking!?”

  Krong—

  His body grew larger, he sucked and devoured millions of souls on the glowing bridge while he praised, “Delicious! How delicious! Fine then, I shall devour all of you here before I slaughter Hell and return home as the greatest demon god in history!”

  The demon god continued devouring the souls and all of a sudden, a large metal chain dark like ink pierced through the demon god’s Yuan Shen and curled around his throat. The dark metal chain
was yanked, and the demon god’s soul was extracted out from his Yuan Shen.

  “How dare you disrupt Hell’s peace and order!”

  Zhong Yue traced the metal chain to its other end and saw a celestial being with an ox’s head. The ox-headed celestial pulled the chain and dragged the demon god’s soul to the front of his face.

  The celestial was huge like a star, he lifted the demon god’s soul in his hand while the demon god knelt down and begged for his life.

  “You’ve asked for it yourself, defy Hell and you shall be sentenced to—an eternal death!” The celestial being raised a scythe on his other hand and beheaded the demon god, killing him for good.

  “After all, if you didn’t break the rules of Hell and devour the souls, how would I have the chance to kill you and devour your spirit? Hehe, too many souls in here, but only a little few belong to gods. It’s hard to find some quality food nowadays. What luck!” Rays flashed across the ox-headed celestial’s eyes while he stared at the demon god’s leftover spirit.

  He clenched on the demon god’s spirit and just as he was about to eat it, he saw Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin’er out of the corner of his eyes. He was shocked and quickly placed the demon god’s spirit down while he thought, Shit, I’m exposed! Whatever, I’ll just kill these two Wu Chang experts and wipe all traces away to cover myself! Even if the judges investigate into this matter, they won’t find anything useful at all!

  Immediately, the ox-headed celestial being reached his hand out and slammed down on Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin’er!

  Zhong Yue was shocked and he quickly cast out the【Six Soul Banner】, the ox-headed celestial being groan in pain as his soul was sucked into the banner, leaving just his spirit behind.

  “Please, I beg your pardon!” In the【Six Soul Banner】, the ox-headed celestial being’s face emerged and begged for mercy.

  Wait… what? How am I that strong? Zhong Yue was completely bewildered as he thought, He is a god, a bona fide god! How was I able to catch him so easily?

  Chapter 631: Secrets of Heaven Shall Not Be Spoken |

  The ox-headed celestial was definitely a god. It was impossible for Zhong Yue to defeat a god even if he gave it his all, let alone imprison one!

  Yet, a god like that was now trapped in his【Six Soul Banner】!

  Could it be the【Six Soul Banner】? No, no, I know a few other emperor-level skills myself even my【Celestial Demon Yi】and【Worship of Gods】are emperor-level skills themselves. The【Six Soul Banner】is strong, but it can’t have the ability to imprison a god in one strike…

  Zhong Yue was puzzled; the【Six Soul Banner】’s power was far too strong in his hands. Even Bi and An had to cast it out together, yet he had done it on his own, and his【Six Soul Banner】was far stronger than theirs; not to mention his cultivation was also weaker than Bi’s and An’s.

  In truth, this was all because of his Innate True Soul. Although he had yet to awaken the Innate True Soul, the fact that his soul was already in the innate state had placed him at a significant advantage compared to the ox-headed celestial being.

  Zhong Yue took out the tablet given to him and waved it in front of the ox-headed celestial, “Recognize this?”

  Terror immediately overtook the ox-headed celestial’s heart, and he knelt with his head down, “Emissary, emissary, I beg for mercy!”

  Emissary? Zhong Yue was startled, Seems like the tablets given to us are really valuable. I wonder how high an emissary’s status truly is….

  Qiu Jin’er took out her tablet and gave a cold sneer, “You recognize this tablet, so you should know very well why we are here, correct?”

  The ox-headed celestial grew even more horrified, he lowered his head down to the ground and said, “The Hell Overseers are the Hell’s eyes and acts upon Hell’s will. They have the power to sentence a guardian to death even without giving them on a trial. Overseers, please forgive me!”

  Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin’er exchanged a look and spotted the same joy in each other’s eyes.

  “Senior martial brother, this Hell Overseer title sounds very useful, it might be able to clear our path through Hell and make things easier.” Qiu Jin’er said to Zhong Yue through her psyche. She asked, “Since we are clear of what the tablets are now, there’s no use for him now. Should we kill him?”

  “No.” Zhong Yue mulled and said, “We still need him to lead the way. He lives here and is familiar with the environment. He can save us a lot of time searching for our destination.”

  Qiu Jin’er nodded silently.

  They did not belong to Hell’s forces; although they had the tablets of Hell Overseers, they wouldn’t be able to fake it through if there were any inspections. Thus, they could just let the ox-headed celestial handle the unnecessary inspections and reduce the risk of exposure.

  Most importantly, the ox-headed celestial being’s life is in their hands, it was easier for them to manipulate him without having to fear betrayal.

  “What is your name?” Zhong Yue asked while releasing the ox-headed celestial being’s soul back to his body.

  The ox-headed celestial quickly answered, “Dear emissary, I am Lan Si from the Ox-Head Celestial Race Lan Shan Clan. You can call me Little Si’er, and I am the guardian of the Bridge of Helplessness.”

  “Lan Shan Clan Lan Si God… Step forth and heed to my command!” Zhong Yue clasped and raised his hands up while he said solemnly, “The lords of Hell have neglected their duties and the peace of Hell is no longer persisting. The higher-ups ordered us to investigate into this matter and restore Hell’s long disturbed harmony. Little Si, now that you know who we are, you know what to do, don’t you?”

  Lan Si God was terrified, he quickly laughed and said, “I know, I know! I will let this demon god back to the Bridge of Helplessness, and I will make sure he is reincarnated in accordance to the rules of Hell…”

  Qiu Jin’er gave a cold sneer, “How dare you! This demon god has devoured millions of innocent souls, how do you think Hell will maintain its reputation if a murderer like him is forgiven so easily? Send him to the Hell Abyss, he will never be reincarnated and shall live in torment for eternity!”

  Lan Si God was shocked, his body shivered in terror while he lowered his voice, “This punishment is far too severe… He has only devoured a few million of souls, that isn’t a warranting exile to the Abyss…”

  Even though he was already breaching the rules of Hell to devour the demon god’s spirit; Lan Si God still didn’t dare to touch the demon god’s soul as it would quickly elevate into a capital offense if he did.

  On the top of it, sentencing one’s soul into the Hell Abyss was a far graver punishment than killing one’s soul itself.

  Qiu Jin’er replied frigidly, “You dare to question me?”

  “No emissary, I didn’t mean to…” Lan Si God lowered his head.

  Meanwhile, Zhong Yue praised in his heart. Qiu Jin’er only wanted the demon god to be sent into the Hell Abyss so that Lan Si God would lead them directly to the Hell Abyss; there, it held captivated the prisoner Bi and An requested to be freed.

  “Little Si’er, the punishment is fair and just.” Zhong Yue explained, “The higher-ups are displeased by Hell’s performance lately. The lords are not upholding their responsibilities and the guardians aren’t carrying out their duties either. Not only that, but some even colluded with those they shouldn’t be in contact with and it has brought enormous disruptions to the order we have all sworn to protect. That leads us here—to investigate the true severity of the matter.”

  Lan Si God shuddered in fear, he didn’t dare to utter anything and could only quietly return the demon god’s soul back to the spirit before chaining him up.

  Zhong Yue continued, “That’s why he shall be punished severely, as a message to the other miscreants. Now, we’ve finished our discussion of the demon god, it’s your turn now.”

  Cold sweat burst out of Lan Si God’s forehead while Zhong Yue gave his usual warm, bright smile, “Although we are the
Hell Overseers, we are no natives to Hell. The Hell Lords have their own factions and minions, they will not hesitate to stand in our way if they knew we are coming for them. Thus, we need a native to cover for us.”

  Lan Si God immediately knelt down, “Little Si’er is willing to serve the emissaries!”

  Zhong Yue held him up and said while smiling, “If you serve us well, not only that we will not pursue your wrongdoings, you will even be promoted.”

  Lan Si God was shocked and overjoyed, he thought, Blessings and misfortunes always come in pairs!

  Qiu Jin’er gave a cold sneer, “From now on, we will be your servants. Be extreme careful not to expose us. Don’t worry, we will make sure we kill you first before we die!”

  Lan Si God nod consecutively and asked, “May I ask how I should call you? Least I can reply when the others ask who you are.”

  Zhong Yue mulled, he asked, “You can call me Chang Tianji, and she will be Chang Buyu.”

  Upon hearing their names, Lan Si God’s heart sterned up and quickly lead the two on the Bridge of Helplessness.

  It was the same world one would see in Hell, but also a different one as the ambiance in here was extremely eerie.

  The cold breeze swept across them, and a huge castle was suddenly seen floating beside the bridge. Lan Si God shouted, “Ma Wang King, Ma Wang King!”

  “Senior Martial Brother Lan Si, what do you need?” A horse celestial being walked out of the castle and asked.

  Lan Si God smiled and said, “I have something to do and would need to leave for half a year. I will not be able to carry out my duties for the said period of time, please do help me take care of any emergencies if there are any.”

  “Rest assured.” Ma Wang King nodded, he then looked at Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin’er and asked, “These two are?”

  “My new servants. What are the two of you doing? Why aren’t you greeting Ma Wang King?”