Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  “Back then, I was also terrorized, afraid of being killed by Dao Venerate Fu Min, but after I gathered up the clues and linked these incidents together like a puzzle, I finally had my answer.”

  King Xiang said, “The one that noticed this first was probably Great Sui. Great Sui had this ancestry rule, a culture which stated that every clan master of the Yanzi Clan had to be buried in the Ancestral Star, returned to the land that nurtured them after their death. Behind this rule is probably a long story and I believe Great Sui created this rule because he had arrangements that could deal with these old dogs’ control, which is also why they did not dare to dig the tombs in the Ancestral Star and eat the bodies. The Fuxi Celestial Race also had the same rule, resulting in the rise in numbers of the monarchs buried in the Ancestral Star and scaring these old dogs further away.”

  This revelation stunned Zhong Yue greatly and he exclaimed, “There was more to the story behind why the monarch tombs are in the Ancestral Star?”

  “But I am just guessing, this is all just my own conjecture.”

  King Xiang explained, “But later on, the Heavenly Monarchs of Fuxi Celestial Race and Yanzi Clan are all buried there, Dark Monarch and the others are also too afraid to touch the tombs in Ancestral Star. From this, I am pretty sure about my guess and they probably ended up badly before trying to enter Ancestral Star, by badly I mean really bad. Little Fuxi, you are still too weak, you may be impressive now but you are still nothing more than just a pawn before these old dogs. Just think of Dao Venerate Fu Min, how impressive and overwhelmingly powerful he is, but after fighting with them for such a long time, they remain standing…. You….”

  He shook his head, “It’s time you take your leave, you are only bringing me trouble by staying here!”

  Zhong Yue bowed right away and just as he was about to leave, King Xiang suddenly said, “Dao Venerate Fu Min once came back to life somewhere in the past and passed me a message. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to tell you this but….”

  Zhong Yue hurriedly stopped.

  King Xiang hesitated awhile more and he gave in, “He said that if there a Fuxi were to arrive at this place in the future, he wanted me to tell them to return the Ancestral Star to the Ancestral Court. Strange, if the Ancestral Star is protected by the imperial monarch tombs’ seals, why would he want the Ancestral Star to return to the Ancestral Court? If the Ancestral Star is returned, then the seals of the imperial tombs would be lifted and the tombs would be revealed… Why?”

  Zhong Yue’s heart thumped quickly as he finally understood what Dao Venerate Fu Min’s goal was!

  What a magnificent plan!

  Chapter 1161: Who Can You Trust Your Life To |

  In the Ancestral Court, the Heavenly Monarchs of Fuxi and Yanzi placed down layer after layer of slaughtering arrays and seals. Then, Dao Venerate Fu Min linked the corpses of the 3,000 ancient monarchs to Ancestral Court, effectively turning it into the strongest and most terrifying slaughtering array in the cosmos!

  The Fuxi Imperial Star was the burial ground of the Yanzi Heavenly Sovereigns and Fuxi Earthly Sovereigns. Their monarch weapons were all stored in and guarded over their own imperial tombs.

  From King Xiang’s words, it seemed like the culture of setting up the imperial tombs in Ancestral Star was arranged by Great Sui against Dark Monarch and the others. With the imperial tombs, the Ancestral Star would be turned into a great slaughtering array that was no weaker than the Ancestral Court, it could be said to be the second strongest slaughtering array in the cosmos!

  If the Ancestral Star was returned to Ancestral Court, what sort of unworldly powers would be unleashed by the first and second strongest slaughtering arrays together?

  Even Zhong Yue couldn’t imagine it.

  Once the Ancestral Star was returned to Ancestral Court, it would become the last line of defense for the Fuxi Celestial Race, able to be used both offensive and defensively offense and also defense. The Ancestral Court will become our greatest trump card and carry the light of hope for the Fuxi’s rise!

  Zhong Yue inhaled deeply, he bowed and thanked King Xiang again.

  On the other hand, King Xiang quickly waved his hand and said, “Don’t thank me, I didn’t provide you any guidance, I didn’t teach you any knowledge nor imparted you with any arts. We merely conversed and I lent you a leg of mine which I expect to be returned to me in the future. I am a timid one, it’s already a bold move for me to actually meet and talk to you. Don’t come and find me anymore after this, I don’t want to get dragged into your messes! Quickly leave, go away!”

  Zhong Yue sailed the thousand-winged ancient ship and left, his heart was still pounding in shock.

  The day when the Ancestral Star was returned to the Ancestral Court would be the day of the final showdown!

  In King Xiang’s cave, Gui Tree was talking like a chirping bird, “Master, quickly teach me how to transform, I want to go out and have fun in the outside worlds!”

  “Have fun?” King Xiang sneered coldly, “Look at how messy it is out there now. You are not heading out to have fun, you are heading out to get eaten! Careful of what you wish for! But…”

  The old turtle thought, he said, “Those old fools and Heaven are extending their hands in worldly affairs now, even fighting for the throne of Heavenly Monarch and trying to snatch domination over the universe from Heaven’s ruling. A new age of chaos is coming, there will be dangers after me if I still keep on laying low. Hmm, I need a disciple to walk the worldly worlds for me, one that will not put shame to my name…”

  His turtle shell hovered up in midair, the patterns on the shell glimmered rhythmically in a mysterious pattern. It looked like he was running calculations to divine the future.

  “It’s a mess, it’s all messed up now. These fools have messed it all out, the future is unforeseeable!” The turtle shell returned to King Xiang’s back, he said, “You’ve followed me for a long time, born symbiotically with my birth. You are a Dao Friend to me and have helped me through many deadly incidents. I owe you greatly. But you were unable to cultivate and I wasn’t able to grant you a soul. But it is not the same now, you have a soul from the Fuxi, you can now cultivate. Now then, I will take you as my pupil…”

  “Pui, what a shameless old turtle!” Gui Tree said angrily, “I was still your Dao Friend a moment ago and now you are degrading me to your disciple? How shameless!”

  King Xiang’s face blushed as he answered, “I’m to teach you cultivation, wouldn’t that make me your teacher? Furthermore, you are not strong now, if there wasn’t someone like me sheltering you, you’d be killed sooner or later. How about this, I’ll let you choose. One, you and I remain as Dao friends, I will teach you the ways of cultivation but you cannot use my name in the outside worlds; two, be my disciple, I will teach you the ways of cultivation and you will be able to shelter yourself with my name in the outside worlds. No matter what troubles you’ve gotten into, I will come and get you out of it. You choose now.”

  “The second choice!” Gui Tree said decisively, “If you are there to handle the messes I’ve gotten into, of course I will have to choose the second option. Being your disciple is no big deal, it’s only a matter of putting myself a generation lower than you.”

  King Xiang’s face turned gloomy, “Don’t you swear and curse that much! I am also a reputable and knowledgeable man, having accumulated many virtues over the years. You acting so unscrupulous will put shame on my name.”

  “Your mother I will keep that in mind.”

  King Xiang was speechless, he paused for a moment and continued, “You will inherit my surname of the turtle’s Gui, pronounced the same as Gui Tree’s Gui. You are the Gui Tree, so you will be named Guihua.”

  Gui Tree was stomping her roots in anger as she refused, “What the? If I turned out to be a monarch in the future, am I to be called Monarch Guihua? You just said you were knowledgable, can’t you come out with a better name?”

  “Chi!” King Xiang sneered and
dismissed her, “Strength doesn’t come from a good name! If you are powerful enough, whatever name you possess will still sound domineering to others; on the other hand, if you have a good name but are a useless one, that would really be a joke! Nevermind the names, just cultivate under me!”

  …

  The thousand-winged ancient ship sailed out of the Heavenly River, Zhong Yue turned back to look and was stunned by its grandiose appearance. He praised, “What an amazing monarch weapon!”

  Xin Huo was puzzled, “Monarch weapon? What monarch weapon?”

  “The Heavenly River.” Zhong Yue smiled, “King Xiang is truly incredible despite failure of opening a new world. This Heavenly River contains his Daos, doesn’t it make it his monarch weapon? Not all ancient Deity Kings are bad guys. I’m hoping to see him pick up the Heavenly River one day in the future, it must be a spectacular view.”

  Xin Huo looked at the grand Heavenly River through Zhong Yue’s eyes, he was also stunned.

  The Heavenly River was way too huge, spreading great length and width. If the Heavenly River was really King Xiang’s monarch weapon, what kind of power would it display when it was wielded?

  “Zhong Yue, what cultivation level are you on now?” Xin Huo suddenly remembered and he quickly asked.

  “Still a Deity Emperor, I guess?” Zhong Yue was unsure himself, he answered, “Although I have disintegrated my spirit and reopened the secret realms, I have not reached the level of Creator yet. But my visions ahead have turned translucent, it feels like I could break through the levels in just a step as if the bottlenecks between levels don’t exist anymore.”

  His expression was strange and weird, filled with questions. The cultivation levels of Qi Practitioners and gods were laid down by Great Sui, separated into stages and levels by the challenges they had to face at each level.

  But as he recreated the Dao Yi Secret Realm and evolved the Innate Eight Trigrams Sacred Ground, he was at the point of deviating away from the conventional cultivation levels set by Great Sui. The lines of separation between the cultivation levels had now become blurry to him.

  Senior Martial Brother Feng once said, when one’s knowledge and attainments reached a certain standard, the obstacles between cultivation levels would cease to exist. But only he has managed to do it, I am still far away from his level. The heavenly men, maybe only he and Dao Venerate Fu Min are considered to be one?

  The thousand-winged ancient ship sailed back to Zhongyang Clan’s sacred ground. There, Mu Xiantian and King Zi Guang had already returned but there was still no word about Celestial Monarch Jin Wu’s location.

  Zhong Yue asked Jin Hexi and she shook worryingly, “I can’t reach teacher.”

  Hearing it, Zhong Yue frowned. Celestial Monarch Jin Wu was injured and Demon Monarch Yang Hou seized the chance to attempt on killing him. They were archnemesis, one could easily imagine how precarious the battle would be.

  “When Queen Goddess initiated her plan, the ancient universe’s demon race had also launched a full assault on the ancient universe’s celestial race. The situation may be far direr than we could imagine.”

  Zhong Yue requested to see Mu Xiantian, he said, “The war in the ancient universe is of utmost importance, it directly determines the outcome of the final battle. If Demon Monarch Yang Hou is victorious, the ancient universe will fall into his hands and he will be powerful enough to stand on par with Zi Wei. The only plan now is to send immediate assistance to the ancient universe’s celestial race. As for our current situation, Queen Goddess will not be able to touch us and Your Majesty needs time to recover the lost powers. I propose—I will lead an army to the ancient universe and help Celestial Monarch Jin Wu in the war and stabilize the situation.”

  King Zi Guang nodded, “Once the situation in the ancient universe is stabilized, Celestial Monarch Jin Wu will have extra manpower to dispatch to Zi Wei and help us defeat Queen Goddess.”

  Mu Xiantian looked at Zhong Yue, he asked, “How many men does King Yi need?”

  “The ancient universe is different from Zi Wei, the animosity between the celestial race and demon race is the strongest of every other place in this cosmos. The celestials will not stand any demons nor will the demons stand any celestials; whichever race we bring along, we will be attacked by the other one.”

  Zhong Yue smiled, “Furthermore, picking only the celestials from the armies will bring disruption to the armies’ orders and formations. Thus, I plan to use neither the celestials nor demons, but humans. The Star Torrent Fortress’s humans were natives of the ancient universe, they are familiar with the culture and environment, and they belonged to neither of the two races. Hence, I’d like to lead the Star Torrent Fortress’s army.”

  Mu Xiantian nodded, rays flashed in his eyes, he said, “Yan Sovereign is also from the human race, he has a human army in his command. He will follow King Yi in the expedition.”

  Zhong Yue immediately knew Mu Xiantian’s intention while King Zi Guang’s heart skipped a beat, he quickly said anxiously, “Your Majesty, Jiang Yiqi is the Human Sovereign, the supreme ruler of the human race, how can he leave Zi Wei? Without him, I’m afraid that the human race will…”

  “The humans are puny, what troubles can they cause?” Mu Xiantian was insouciant, he smiled, “I have decided. Zi Guang need not convince me anymore.”

  “If so…” King Zi Guang said immediately, “I’d like to follow King Yi as well!”

  Mu Xiantian frowned, “King Zi Guang and King Yi are my left and right arms. If both of you departed to the ancient universe, who will help me handle the homebase? No, you will have to stay.”

  King Zi Guang smiled, “Then I plead Your Majesty to leave Jiang Yiqi in Zi Wei. Your Majesty, you should be well aware of my friendship with Jiang Yiqi, I’m afraid for his safety if he joins King Yi in the expedition.”

  Mu Xiantian smiled, “With King Yi, what danger is there to threaten his life? King Zi Guang, you need to have your eyes on the bigger plan.”

  King Zi Guang’s face turned dark, he solemnly removed the purple king’s robe and took out king’s seal, he placed them in front of Mu Xiantian and said emotionlessly, “Your subject here has served Your Majesty for many years, I may have not done many great merits but I sure have given my best efforts. Your subject here is willing to exchange the efforts and hard work with Your Majesty to retract the order.”

  Mu Xiantian’s beautiful countenance frowned as he looked at the king’s robe and seal in front of him. Then, he pushed them back with a smile, “King Zi Guang, what are you trying to do? Quickly, put these away. I understand your concerns. Fine, Yan Sovereign will stay, he will not follow King Yi in the expedition to the ancient universe.”

  King Zi Guang heaved a breath of relief, he kept the robe and seal, stepped to the side and kept quiet.

  Mu Xiantian said, “King Yi, the Star Torrent Fortress’s army may not be enough, do you need more men? The ancient universe is a dangerous place, the Star Torrent Fortress alone would not suffice.”

  Zhong Yue stood up, he ensured, “Your Majesty, please rest assured. When I first commandeer the Heaven Suppressing Prefecture, I didn’t have many men with me either; but now, I lead a military of hundreds of million warriors! The Star Torrent Fortress alone is enough to conquer the ancient universe! Furthermore, I’d also like to bring my dear wife and her Jinwu army along.”

  Mu Xiantian hesitated for a second, he looked at King Zi Guang and the latter conducted his psyche and whispered, “Your Majesty, have no worries. Let Goddess Xi follow him, Goddess Xuan will still be here.”

  Mu Xiantian understood King Zi Guang’s meaning, he smiled and nodded, “King Yi, be safe!”

  Immediately, Zhong Yue headed out to assembled the Star Torrent Fortress’s army and asked Jin Hexi to gather her Jinwu army. Soon after, they were ready to depart.

  King Zi Guang came to send them off. Zhong Yue looked at him with a smile, “Senior Martial Brother Zi Guang, you have offended His Majesty for Jiang Yiqi, is it r
eally worth it?”

  King Zi Guang smiled back, “Does King Yi have any friend who you can entrust your life to?”

  Zhong Yue was startled while King Zi Guang continued with a calm voice, “I have. Yiqi can entrust his life to me and I can entrust mine to him!”

  Zhong Yue’s heart was shaken, he now finally knew King Zi Guang’s deadliest weakness. But this weakness, it was unable to be exploited.

  “It is Yan Sovereign’s luck to have a friend like you.” Zhong Yue shook and sighed.

  “No, you are wrong.” King Zi Guang corrected solemnly, “Zi Guang is the luckiest to have an elder brother like Yiqi! King Yi, your ambition is rampant, and abilities to match it. But can you say that you have a friend like this?”

  Zhong Yue was silent for seconds, then he answered bitterly, “I can’t.”

  King Zi Guang smiled, “So it is my luck.”

  Chapter 1162: Clashes of Wisdom |

  “King Yi, your ambition is too wild, this has stopped you from having friends you can trust your life to. Unlike you, I have one. My life is more complete than yours!” King Zi Guang laughed smugly as he said.

  “Senior Martial Brother Zi Guang, you have your own dreams and I have mine. There is no true comparison to say who’s lived a more complete life.”

  Zhong Yue waved his hand and boarded the thousand-winged ancient ship, he ordered, “Men, heed my order. Cast the Heavens above the deck and hover the Star Torrent Fortress above the ship. We will make haste to the ancient universe!”

  As he only brought the armies of Star Torrent Fortress and Jinwu Clan, the thousand-winged ancient ship was enough to contain all of them. With the ancient ship’s speed, they would take only half a year’s time to reach the ancient universe and another half year to reach the Jinwu Celestial Race’s sacred ground, the Valley of Tang.