Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  With one party merely injuring his opponent and the other now had his foes complete mercy, the result was clear.

  Suddenly, the young Lei Zhe dispersed his skill that sliced the dimension apart, Zhong Yue felt the pressure applied on him vanish and his body and Yuan Shen immediately reattached themselves to each other.

  Zhong Yue turned despondent right away but he, however, accepted and admitted his defeat with honor, he said, “I’ve lost.”

  “No, you passed.” said young Lei Zhe calmly.

  Zhong Yue and Xin Huo stunned and they both shouted at once, “Passed?”

  Young Lei Zhe looked at the innate dragon horn lying quietly on the ground which suddenly turned into a thunderbolt, and flew back to his hand along with the scales.

  “Like I said, you’ve passed. The test was to test your techniques and your talent. Throughout the fight, I will leave an opening on purpose and if you saw it and attacked it, you pass.”

  Young Lei Zhe said, “Si Ming too, broke my horn and passed, which means you have also passed this test.”

  “An opening on purpose?” Zhong Yue shouted after he recollected his thoughts, “You left that opening on purpose?”

  Young Lei Zhe nodded and answered with surprise, “You can’t possibly think that I would run out of moves just like that?”

  Zhong Yue’s mind went blank right away.

  But it was just like as young Lei Zhe said. As an innate god bred by the heaven and earth, young Lei Zhe had every heaven-gifted advantage. He was immortal and time held no meaning to him. After existing in this universe for an extremely long time, he witnessed the rise and the fall of many paragons and had lived through the reigns of numerous Heavenly Monarchs.

  How would it be possible that someone like him failed to see through Zhong Yue’s moves?

  Young Lei Zhe said, “Whatever I displayed just now were merely how much I knew when I was at your level. I will rate you depending on how much you learned in this battle and if you are able to stand your ground against me. Such is the rule of the Ancient Lei Zhe Realm ever since the ancient times. Your experience was the same as all those who have passed before you.”

  Suddenly, Zhong Yue interrupted and asked, “Did they defeat you?”

  Young Lei Zhe placed his hands behind his back and replied proudly, “No, no one will ever defeat me in this stage regardless of how talented they are, when they are at the Imminent Deity level, they are limited by their knowledge and experiences. This thus prevents them from drawing out their maximum potential. I am undefeatable and no one will even be able to stand his ground against me when I use my full strength unless the person has the knowledge and experiences of a Heavenly Monarch.”

  Zhong Yue couldn’t help but admire young Lei Zhe and he asked again, “What is the test that lies within 81st level?”

  “You’ve passed this test, as for the next test, you will know when you get there,” replied young Lei Zhe smilingly.

  Zhong Yue nodded before proceeding to treat his wounds and restore his condition before he departed for the 81st level.

  On the 81st Lei Zhe, a tree seen towering in the midst of billowing Chaotic Qi. The Chaotic Qi was incredibly heavy and terrifying, being able to stagnate the flow of air around them. Meanwhile, the Innate Divine Tree rooted itself on the soil formed by condensed Chaotic Qi with the Innate Dao Fruits hanging in between the leaves.

  These were the fruits made of the purest Innate Dao. Before Zhong Yue even got any closer to the tree, the various voices of the Dao coming from each unique Innate Dao Fruit had already blessed his soul.

  Even the Innate Divine Tree’s leaves were showing different patterns, the linings and patterns were each a different and unique Dao.

  Whereas the tree crown was formed by the countless leaves and Innate Dao Fruits and surrounded with auspicious clouds, it was truly a spectacular scene to bestow upon.

  Zhong Yue glanced around and stumbled. Other than himself, there was only the Innate Divine Tree and nothing else. But then, what would be the 81st level Lei Zhe’s test?

  All of a sudden, he heard footsteps coming from behind. Zhong Yue turned and saw young Lei Zhe walking up to the 81st level to his side and said placidly, “This is the tree that witnessed my ascension of Dao and is also my divine weapon. I wielded it in the past during the dark ages, but ever since then, I never used it anymore.”

  Zhong Yue was dumbfounded, he asked, “Why?”

  “There was no need to,” Young Lei Zhe sighed, he said, “In my long life, there have been countless geniuses, some on par with me and some even surpassing me. But none could outlive me. All of my rivals have either died in battle or of old age. Thus, this divine tree had been left here to collect dust.”

  The innate gods were the exceptions to the inviolable law of mortality. Thus, even if he had any enemies, they would’ve probably been long dead after he woke up from a long nap, and at that point, there was really no need for him to do anything anymore.

  “You can consider the 81st level to be an homage to one of my greatest enemies.” Young Lei Zhe’s said as his aura took on a complete reversal from a brutal aura to one suffused with a deep and endless demonic quality.

  He said, “The skill I will cast now belongs to him. To pass, you will have to find a way to counter it!”

  Young Lei Zhe didn’t say any more, but the demonic aura brewed stronger in him. Zhong Yue’s face changed drastically he felt as if he was no longer facing against the young Lei Zhe anymore, but an innate demon god.

  In his eyes, the young Lei Zhe’s body enlarged into a giant and he diminished into the size of an ant. He couldn’t even judge how grand and magnificent his opponent was at all.

  “[Daoless Heavens]!”

  Young Lei Zhe’s put out his hand and opened his palm. Immediately, Zhong Yue found his soul, mortal body, and Yuan Shen sink into a void of darkness. His totem patterns, skills, arts, powers, and energies were all unresponsive to his will. All he could do was watched as the palm grew bigger in his eyes before it inevitably slammed down on him!

  The [Daoless Heavens]!

  A skill that overrode every element in the universe, the Dao no longer exists, the skills, arts, and techniques, divine weapons, mortal body, and any other else would be left powerless!

  Everything in this universe a manifestation of the Dao in one way or the other.

  Yet, under the effects of young Lei Zhe’s skill, the rules of the Dao of this universe no longer seemed to exist. Every Dao was gone, meaning that every power that was engendered by the Dao was rendered useless.

  Beads of cold sweat rolled down Zhong Yue’s forehead, he tried to fight back but no matter what he tried, all his efforts were futile.

  A profound sense of helplessness engulfed his heart; if the Dao no longer existed, how would one even create a countermeasure against the [Daoless Heavens]?

  All of a sudden, the pressure was lifted and Zhong Yue gasped for breath. He looked to have just been dragged out of an ocean as he was completely soaked in his own sweat.

  “Can you do it?’ Young Lei Zhe asked.

  Zhong Yue wanted to speak, but his throat couldn’t utter a single word. It was only after a few moments of calming and comforting himself that he answered, “How does one even counter the [Daoless Heavens]? If even the Dao is gone, what is there left?”

  Upon hearing his question, young Lei Zhe immediately turned and left while saying, “You may pluck an Innate Dao Fruit.”

  Zhong Yue startled, he shouted in question, “Did I pass the 81st level Lei Zhe?”

  Young Lei Zhe shook, “No, if you had, you would’ve been allowed to take all of the Innate Dao Fruits; but you didn’t, so one fruit is all you can take.”

  Zhong Yue was stunned, if he could find a countermeasure for the [Daoless Heavens], all of the Innate Dao Fruits would be his to claim?

  Young Lei Zhe walked down from the 81st level Lei Zhe, the source of his voice now undiscernable, “A small glimpse of that skill was all that I s
howed you. In the future, if you are lucky to still be alive, you will be able to witness its true power with your own eyes, far more perfect, far more terrorizing.”

  Zhong Yue was bewildered and rushed to the edge of the Lei Zhe lightning loch to ask for more details. But when he reached the edge, he quickly stopped and looked down; the 80 levels of Lei Zhe below him had disappeared as though they were never there in the first place and only the last Lei Zhe level was left behind. And surely enough, the young Lei Zhe was also nowhere to be seen.

  In the future, I will meet with the existence that created this skill? Zhong Yue shook his head, he suppressed his questions to the bottom of his heart and strode for the Innate Divine Tree. He examined the Innate Dao Fruits and thought, Which of the Innate Dao Fruits should I take? Which of these Innate Daos is best for me?

  There were 99 Innate Dao Fruits on the Innate Divine Tree, with each representing a Dao, they totaled up to 99 powerful and unique Innate Daos. Zhong Yue craved for every single one of them, but it was a shame he could only pick one.

  After I pluck down an Innate Dao Fruit, the 81st level Lei Zhe will probably disappear along as well. There is no second chance in selecting another Innate Dao Fruit.

  Chapter 772: Lashed! |

  Zhong Yue carefully examined the types of Dao contained in the Innate Dao Fruits. There was the Innate Celestial Qi, the Innate Demon Qi, and both of the two could each be divided into another nine streams of equally powerful yet different Daos.

  He also saw the Innate Five Elemental Qi that was further divided into five types, if he could attain all five of the Innate Five Elemental Qi’s Innate Dao Fruits, his attainments in the Dao of Five Elements would improve tremendously. But it was a pity that he could only choose one fruit.

  Then, there was the Dao fo Yin Yang that was divided into nine types, each of which was able to propel his Innate Tai Yang Qi or Innate Tai Yin Qi to the extreme.

  There was also nine types of Innate Lightning Qi, containing the ultimate art of the Dao of Lightning.

  Other than that, there were also nine types of Innate Dao Fruits of the Dao of Time, Space, Life and Destruction, Changes, Emotions; four types of Dao of Myriad.

  Zhong Yue counted a total of 99 Innate Dao Fruits, any one of them contained boundless knowledge. One Innate Dao Fruit alone was enough to propel him further in his path of cultivation extensively.

  But if he was looking at reaping the most benefit from it, the best option would be to chose from the Dao of Yin, Yang, Celestial, Demon, Lightning, and Changes. If he intended to seek more innate Qi, he would have to look at the other selections, such as the Dao of Time or Dao of Space that could help him in his cultivation of the [Time Light Spatial Crystal Mystic Scripture].

  Or maybe I should choose the Dao of Yi, after all, Fuxi resembled the Yi, changes.

  Zhong Yue carefully inspected the nine Innate Dao Fruits of the Dao of Yi and pondered deeply. Then, he nodded and reached for one of the nine fruits, before suddenly stopping again just inches away from plucking the Innate Dao Fruit down from the tree.

  Zhong Yue pulled back his hand and looked down at the roots of the Innate Dao Tree in the soils. The soil was formed from Chaotic Qi and served as the nutrients to the Innate Dao Tree.

  “Xin Huo, how about the Chaotic Qi?” Zhong Yue’s eyes were blinking in rays as he asked.

  “That’s some super valuable treasures!” Xin Huo said excitedly, “The Chaotic Qi is one of the best gifts of the universe. It is the primordial Qi that has existed since the birth of the universe. Even the Innate Dao Tree can only bear the Innate Dao Fruits after being nurtured with Chaotic Qi! But Chaotic Qi is incredibly rare nowadays, perhaps this is the only place that has it in all of the 3,000 Six Paths World… What are you doing!?”

  Zhong Yue was drawing out the twin divine sabers and merged them into a lightning furnace. He then cast the [Desolate Lightning Heavenly Furnace Scripture] at the Chaotic Qi, trying to refine it into the furnace!

  Xin Huo was speechless, he quickly said, “Brat Yue, are you not afraid of death! This is the Innate Dao Tree’s nutrients, if Lei Zhe knows that you are plundering his tree’s nutrients, he’ll absolutely end your life!”

  Zhong Yue acted like he didn’t hear Xin Huo and continued regardless, “How can he not know what am I doing here? This is his territory. He very well knows what I am doing, but he isn’t stopping me. Clearly, he has tacitly agreed to it. Woah, it’s heavy!”

  It was just a small surge of the Chaotic Qi that the lightning furnace absorbed yet it showed signs of returning back into twin sabers!

  Zhong Yue was shocked and Xin Huo gave a cold sneer, “The Chaotic Qi is much heavier than the weight of the White Luminant Gold. A surge of it is heavy enough to shatter your soul weapon, even your mortal body cannot withstand it at all! None of your treasures will be…”

  Then, Zhong Yue took out the Heaven Origin Reincarnation Mirror and asked Xin Huo to take the place of the mirror spirit. With that, he kept another surge of Chaotic Qi in the Heaven Origin Reincarnation Mirror.

  “Stop! Not anymore!” Xin Huo watched as the Chaotic Qi entered the Heaven Origin Reincarnation Mirror and shuddered the continent in the mirror to the verge of crumbling and he shouted, “Any more will crush the mirror!”

  It was only then Zhong Yue stopped, he scratched his head and a few moments later, his eyes brightened up and took out a shabby copper lamp.

  Xin Huo immediately snapped, “That is my house!”

  Zhong Yue winked his eyes, “The oil’s finished.”

  “I know, but that is my house!”

  “There’s no more oil in it.”

  “BRAT, I’ll kill you!”

  …

  As he watched the Chaotic Qi flow into the copper lamp, Xin Huo’s heart would ache every time he saw the lights in the galaxy inside of the lamp extinguishing under the weights of the Chaotic Qi.

  “The Chaotic Qi is really heavy, many times heavier than the White Luminant Gold. If I can use it as a crafting material…”

  The thought flashed by his mind and he shook at it. If he forged even a small surge of the Chaotic Qi into divine sabers, they would grow too heavy for him to even wield.

  “But regardless, it’s good stuff.”

  He continued casting the copper lamp and sucked the Chaotic Qi into it. One must say, although the copper lamp was shabby, it could contain much larger capacity of Chaotic Qi in it than the Heaven Origin Reincarnation Mirror. Even after half of the galaxy in it was destroyed, the copper lamp was still able to take in more.

  “Lei Zhe isn’t stopping me, seems like he doesn’t really care about the Chaotic Qi. If that’s the case, then I guess I will just keep it all.” Zhong Yue mumbled to himself.

  It was at that moment, the Chaotic Qi billowed vigorously and shocked Zhong Yue. Then, the Innate Dao Tree beside him suddenly uprooted itself, scooped all of the Chaotic Qi away with its branches and bolted away!

  The Innate Dao Tree’s leaves wavered in the breeze, its branches and roots carrying the Chaotic Qi with the bigger roots moving like legs allowing it to run away from the shameless thief.

  Zhong Yue quickly tucked the copper lamp into his Yuan Shen secret realms, he lunged forward and held himself onto one of the many roots.

  Pak, pak, pak—

  The Innate Dao Tree’s branches lashed on his back and butt like whips, creating long and deep wounds on him.

  Yet, Zhong Yue gritted his teeth, not wanting to let go no matter what. Even when the branches had lashed on his hands, forcing him to let go. But his lower body abruptly turned into a snake tail and clung back on the tree.

  “Xin Huo, quick, take the rest of the Chaotic Qi!”

  The copper lamp hovered in the center of Zhong Yue’s six light wheels behind him, Xin Huo flew out from his forehead and unwillingly opened the lamp lid.

  Pak—

  A tree branch was lashed out at Xin Huo and it infuriated the already moody little flame, “You dare to hit me!? F
ine then, I’ll make you regret your actions!”

  The furious little flame shouted, he cast Zhong Yue’s arcane energy and just before the copper lamp’s power was unleashed, a leaf from the Innate Dao Tree flew down and wrapped him in it. Xin Huo exclaimed in shock as he fell to the ground along with the tree leaf.

  Then, another leaf from the tree flew toward Zhong Yue along with tens of tree branches lashing at him. Zhong Yue’s snake tail slithered him away from the leaf as he cast the copper lamp in another attempt to steal the Chaotic Qi from the Innate Dao Tree’s ‘hands’.

  All of a sudden, a loud cracking noise rumbled in his ears and he saw the Innate Dao Tree sever its own root. It was the root that Zhong Yue was holding onto. The tree then flashed away from his vision within seconds.

  Zhong Yue was dumbfounded, he subconsciously tucked the Innate Dao Tree’s root into the copper lamp and shouted later, “I’ve reached to this level, it is my right to be rewarded with an Innate Dao Fruit, but why are you running when I haven’t gotten one yet?”

  The Innate Dao Tree stopped for a second, Zhong Yue was overjoyed and rushed toward it with the copper lamp brimming in energy. All of a sudden, he saw the Innate Dao Tree curling on one of the Innate Dao Fruits and tossed it over in great force.

  Dong—

  The Innate Dao Fruit landed right on the Zhong Shan Clan young man’s head, causing his face to sink in as if the fruit was embedded on it. The impact force was so strong that he fell onto the ground with his legs twitching.

  On the other end, Innate Dao Tree was waving its leaves, branches and roots as if it was dancing happily, celebrating Zhong Yue’s tragedy before dashing away.

  Moments later, Zhong Yue dug the Innate Dao Fruit out of his face and spat out the broken teeth and recovered his face. He mumbled, “What a stingy and unwelcoming tree…”

  “Brat Yue, save me!” Xin Huo was heard shouting for help.

  Zhong Yue quickly rushed over to the little flame who was still curled by the leaf. Xin Huo was just in fundamental, a form of energy; yet, the Innate Dao Tree’s leaf was able to curl him in, it seems like even the leaf itself was a precious treasure.