Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  But ultimately, this is only the plight of mediocrity. Only those who are endowed with incredible talent can go beyond such limitations.

  And Tan Zhen was obviously the latter!

  The huge stakes flew everywhere while he was maintaining the operation of the 【Great Jungle Sword Array】, passing through the iron vines without any hindrance before shooting towards Zhong Yue. As the 【Iron Vine Barrier Formation】 and the 【Great Jungle Sword Array】 were all created from the psyche of Tan Zhen, they formed a synergistic death array despite seeming to be incongruous with each other. The 【Iron Vine Barrier Formation】 would not interfere with the 【Great Jungle Sword Array】 and the【Great Jungle Sword Array】would not cause any damage to the 【Iron Vine Barrier Formation】.

  However, it would be a different situation for those who were trapped inside. With the two arrays together, their power would be amplified into sometime greater than simply the sum of their parts, and with the 【Iron Vine Barrier Formation】 limiting the movement of those who were trapped inside, they could only helplessly wait for their lives to be reaped by the Sword array!

  Chapter 101: Twin Dragon Contending For Supremacy |

  “Nice move! But your Wood Sword Qi is not as good as mine.”

  Zhong Yue ignored the huge stakes and Wood Sword Qi unleashed by Tan Zhen. As he ignored the attacks, the huge stakes and Wood Sword Qi collided with each other, creating loud noises. At the next moment, there were six stakes weighing ten thousand pounds that knocked on his body with one of them even directly slamming onto his face!

  Boom boom boom——

  The strong inertia made the ten thousand pounds stakes to keep pressing forward, thus, creating an incredibly strong knocking power that shattered them into pieces exploded everywhere.

  Amidst the hail of the shattered wood fragments, Zhong Yue stood firmly without flinching an inch as he neutralized the power of the Great Jungle Sword Array with the Xuan Wu Totem Carvings around his body.

  “The【Iron Vine Barrier Formation】is a joke, did you think that such a formation could immobilize me?”

  A Jiao Dragon then formed under his feet with its head raised up high, lifting him up into the air while it walked through the iron vines without any problem.

  His psyche then gushed out and manifested innumerable Jiao Dragons that flew fiercely in the iron vines, destroying the iron vines within seconds, exposing Tan Zhen’s position.

  Boom Boom!

  Huge explosions resounded as Jiao Dragons drilled and disappeared into the ground. Upon seeing this, Tan Zhen’s eyes shone and he suddenly hunched over, appearing to be like a fish-tailed dragon. Behind him, the fish dragon Yuan Shen also hunched over before transforming into a fish dragon and together with Tan Zhen, they vaulted up into the skies!

  As soon as they jumped up, fissure cracked open on the ground at his previous position and the Jiao Dragons charged ferociously towards him. At the same time, Zhong Yue opened up his palms and Sword Qi in the shape of Jiao Dragon extended out from his fingers and formed five dragons before they shot right towards Tan Zhen.

  Tan Zhen’s fish dragon Yuan Shen then opened up its wings and enveloped the entire area around Tan Zhen in its snow-white feathers. It then swung its wings and its feathers that were as sharp as swords flew towards the Jiao Dragons, cutting them down one after another while Zhong Yue’s five dragons approached them. Tan Zhen lips subtly curved upwards in a smile as he lifted up his palms, shooting out a Wood Sword Qi from his fingers and destroyed the five Jiao dragons.

  Meanwhile, a scarlet red Sword Qi flew out from one of the beheaded jiao dragon’s mouth. It was the Xiang Dragon Sword Qi, slicing towards Tan Zhen’s throat in high speed.

  Ding——

  A clarion sound ringed out and a dragon scale shield emerged from Tan Zhen’s throat, blocking the attack of Zhong Yue. He then laughed and said, “Exciting, truly exciting! Junior Martial Brother Zhong, you are indeed very strong, making me want to go all out with you!”

  The clear sound then continued to be heard as Zhong Yue’s Xiang Dragon Sword Qi moved about seemingly aimlessly, circling around Tan Zhen but they were all blocked by his dragon scale shield that was also circling around Tan Zhen. The shield managed to block Zhong Yue’s every attack, leaving him with no opportunity to advance his assault!

  Zhong Yue countenance soon turned grave and he shouted while charging forwards. The Xiang Dragon Sword Qi transmuted into a bona fide Xiang Dragon that bit towards Tan Zhen with its wide jaw!

  Behind Tan Zhen’s back, the fish dragon’s wings slashed forward and clashed together with the Xiang dragon. At the same time, Zhong Yue also rushed towards Tan Zhen with totem carvings covering the entire surface of his skin and bone structure while he delivered a punch filled with tremendous dragon power and bolstered with the totem carvings by his psyche.

  “Qi Practitioners could do what Martial Masters could as well! Yuan Shen Augmentation, Dragon powered god fist!”

  Tan Zhen shouted and the fish dragon Yuan Shen behind him delivered a punch as he raised his hands. Both Tan Zhen and Zhong Yue flinched backward as their fists collided with one another.

  One of them is a Martial Master with the power of the Xiang dragon and the other one is empowered by the fish dragon strength of the fish dragon Yuan Shen. The both of them must be equally powerful to result in this stalemate!

  Zhong Yue’s initial surprise quickly morphed into a frenzied anticipation as the prospect of finally fighting a worthy opponent lit a fire of excitement within him.

  “I dared not use my full power just now, fearing that I would kill someone accidentally. Since Senior Martial Brother Tan has such outstanding abilities, I will use my full strength now. Please be careful!”

  As soon as he finished his sentence, Zhong Yue stomped in the air, inciting an explosive roar akin to a dragon’s bellow. At the same time, two rays of Sword Qi flew out from his body; they were the Xiang Dragon Sword Qi and the Wood Sword Qi. The two rays of Sword Qi came in the form of a tiny Xiao dragon and a tiny sapling, circling around Tan Zhen, stalking their prey as they sought for their chance to strike!

  Tan Zhen shouted and he expanded his wings, flying up into the sky like a carp that had transformed into a dragon. At the same time, the fish-dragon Yuan Shen imbued Tan Zhen with its divine power as he fought fiercely with Zhong Yue. His attacks caused the air to tremble and continually generated deep dragon roars.

  The pair of wings behind Tan Zhen’s back and the fish-dragon Yuan Shen’s wings continued flapping, launching out Sword Qi as they flapped to parry the Xiang Dragon Sword Qi and the Wood Sword Qi. At the same time, they shot out their feathers that were formed by the Sword Qi, circling around Zhong Yue, waiting for their chance to strike him down.

  Roars could be heard in midair and the two mythical creatures fought fiercely. Although they were called dragons, the Xiang Dragon was actually quite different from the fish dragon as the Xiang Dragon looked like a horse dragon while the fish dragon still resembled a fish in some ways.

  Zhong Yue’s attacking speed was just like a god with many hands, attacking with such speed that afterimages could be seen following his movements. Whereas for Tan Zhen, his attack speed was also tremendously fast as he was armed with four wings, each launching huge salvo of Sword Qi with every beat of its wings.

  “These two guys are actually that strong!” said the stunned Sword Qi hall master as he stood beside the other seven equally flabbergasted hall masters.

  Zheng zheng zheng——

  Xuan Wu Golden Spirit shields appeared around Zhong Yue, fending off the Sword Qi, preventing them from closing in. As time passed, Tan Zhen eventually began to exhibit signs of fatigue as his attack and reaction speed lagged behind Zhong Yue even after he was powered up by the fish dragon Yuan Shen!

  Boom!

  Suddenly, Zhong Yue’s punches breached Tan Zhen’s defenses and knocked him down into the bottom of the cliff. Zhong Yue followed up and suddenly stopped his movements
as metal clanking sound could be heard from the bottom of the cliff. Huge iron vines suddenly grew rapidly from the bottom of the cliff, nearly piercing him!

  The Jiao Dragons formed by Zhong Yue’s psyche immediately roared and charged towards the iron vines. At that moment, thunder light flashed in the skies while raucous thunder claps roared across the skies. The Jiao Dragons dived below, tearing the iron vines apart as they continued their charge towards the bottom of the cliff.

  At the Ganoderma Stage, the spectating Qi Practitioners quickly flocked towards the cliff to have a look on what happened down there but they the awkward positioning of the Ganoderma Stage’s obstructed their view.

  With their views being blocked by the Ganoderma Stage, the spectators resorted to their own methods to continue watching the battle. Forming wings with their psyche on their backs and flying out of the cliff as well as riding atop clouds and floating in midair were some of the measures taken. As they flew out, they could see Zhong Yue and Tan Zhen was standing erect perpendicular to the steep walls of the cliff before they started dashing and engaged in a fierce bout across the walls. Their every movement was concomitant with a vigorous tremble of the cliffs.

  The duo formed dragon claws on their feet that clasped onto the cliff, affording them the same maneuverability and agility on the steep cliff walls as they would have on the ground.

  Suddenly, the cliff trembled vigorously as huge stakes and Jiao Dragons breached out from inside the walls, forming an array before clashing together!

  As they moved and fought on the cliff walls, countless huge stakes and Jiao Dragons moved in tandem with them, fighting fiercely with their lives on the line!

  “Not bad! Zhong Shan Clan’s member, you’ve lived up to the title of this year’s number one of the upper house, being able to improve your strength to such extent that you are almost as strong as me!”

  Tan Zhen knew that his attack speed and reaction speed was not as fast as Zhong Yue, thus, he no longer opted to increase his attack speed. Instead, he focused his efforts on the power of his attacks, making them more and more powerful. He then laughed and said, “Our fight today is neither because of a woman nor because of my cousin, but for the competition! Zhong Shan Clan’s member, show me your true strength or you will lose for sure!”

  “I’m afraid that you might not be able to withstand my full strength!” said Zhong Yue with unbridled pride as he laughed.

  Tan Zhen triggered his fish dragon Yuan Shen, trying his best to amplify his power whereas Zhong Yue attacked as fast as he can, leveraging his forte his speed as much as he could. Therefore, although his strength fell short of Tan Zhen’s, his attacks were not to be taken easily due to his high attack speed!

  However, Tan Zhen’s punches continued to become increasingly brutal with the support of the fish dragon Yuan Shen, causing cracks to spider web over Zhong Yue’s Xuan Wu Golden Shield. With Tan Zhen’s strength, even Zhong Yue’s incredibly strong body that was on par with that of a Martial Master would suffer heavy injuries!

  Other than that, the duo’s Sword Qi encircled each other and anticipation of their chance attack.

  Both of them controlled their Sword Qi with their Yuan Shen; Tan Zhen’s Sword Qi was the enormous amount of feathers on his wings while Zhong Yue only had two Sword Qi but they were both top graded.

  The essence of Zhong Yue’s Sword Qi was the Great Boundless Sword Qi, therefore, even though the quantity of Sword Qi Tan Zhen commanded was greater than his, their quality was unable to match Zhong Yue’s.

  Suddenly, the two of them jumped up into the air; one stepped on the air while the other flew with wings. The both of them fought fiercely together as the battlefield soon became a hurricane of Sword Qi flying in all directions!

  The duo could then be seen falling down from the skies as they were both hit by each other’s attacks; Zhong Yue shattered the wings behind Tan Zhen’s back, and his Wood Sword Qi then found a hole in his defense, leaving behind a long wound on his back.His dragon scales tore apart as the little sapling attacked. Tan Zhen on the other hand, smashed his huge stakes onto Zhong Yue’s chest as soon as he crushed Zhong Yue’s Xuan Wu Golden Shield!

  At that moment, female disciples could be heard shouting in shock as they saw the duo falling down from the skies. Zhong Yue and Tan Zhen were still fighting ferociously even in midst of plummeting from the skies!

  Dong, dong!

  Two loud noises could be heard as the both of them landed on the mountainside instead of the bottom of the mountain. Then, from the point of view of the spectators, trees in the forest at the mountainside fell down and dust covered up the entire forest as if there were two gigantic beasts battled each other ferociously.

  Suddenly, a palm raised upwards and pressed downwards, instantly dispersing the dust and smoke in the air.

  As Zhong Yue dispersed the smoke and dust, he and Tan Zhen immediately saw each other!

  There was blood all over their bodies and they were both panting heavily, staring at each other fiercely.

  Suddenly, the duo both slapped their hands onto the ground and shouted.

  “Iron vines!”

  “Thunder Jiao Dragons!”

  Suddenly, the earth trembled as iron vines, breaching out from the ground and flying straight to Zhong Yue while Jiao Dragons flew out and charged straight towards Tan Zhen!

  They then both jumped high up and looked below, only to find countless sharp iron vines and huge thunderous Jiao Dragons gushing towards their targets, trying their best to devour them!

  “Gold Sword Qi, shattering and piercing the skies!”

  Tan Zhen laughed and reached out his hands and the iron vines let out shrieks before flying up into the skies, turning into a huge cone, just like a pyramid, stabbing right towards Zhong Yue as if it wants to nail him to the sky!

  “Zhong Shan Clan’s member, you have never thought of this eh? My iron vines jungle is not just a simple array, it was also the gold Sword Qi that I have been cultivating all the time!”

  “Xiang Dragon Sword Qi!”

  Zhong Yue controlled his Xiang Dragon Sword Qi and it became bigger and bigger, just like a real Xiang dragon as the beast god’s essence gushed all over the Sword Qi. He then swung the Sword Qi towards the gold Sword Qi cone.

  The next thing they knew, the Xiang Dragon Sword Qi had pierced through the entire iron cone and Xuan Wu totem carvings emerged on the surface of Zhong Yue’s skin. They formed a phalanx of Xuan Wu shields that superimposed atop one another as the iron cone pierced through his shields, approaching dangerously close to him!

  At the same time, the Jiao Dragons under Tan Zhen’s legs suddenly became as thin as silk threads and the 64 Jiao Dragons transformed into 64 silken Sword Qi rays, all shooting towards Tan Zhen!

  “The sword silk array of the Shuitu Clan? No… This is the【Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill】, you had the【Spring Thunderbolt Sword Skill】 and the【Jiao Dragon Winding Body Totem Art】combined into the sword silk and use them to power up your array and there is even the sword controlling technique from the Jun Shan Clan!”

  Chapter 102: The 64 Sword Styles |

  Cold sweat rush out of Tan Zhen’s forehead, the 64 sword strands flowed like silk, although it was not as good as the authentic sword silk array of the Shui Tu Clan, it had been mixed with the sword controlling techniques of the Jun Shan Clan; Jun Sixie’s sword controlling technique was from the Jun Shan Clan, she cultivated it into the zither string allowing her to have the ability to kill stealthily.

  Zhong Yue had merged the Spring Thunder Sword Qi and Jiao Dragon Totem into a sword silk imbued with the devastating power of thunder. Although not as strong as the Jun Shan and Shui Tu Clan’s core inheritance, it was still something that couldn’t be ignored!

  Stealthily, the sword silks broke through the shield totems around him and silently sliced through his wings as if they were tofu.

  All of a sudden, the metal awl stopped right in front of Zhong Yue, and almost simultaneously,
the 64 sword silks also stopped abruptly, sparing Tan Zhen from getting lacerated into pieces.

  “There is no irreconcilable hatred between us….”

  Zhong Yue and Tan Zhen laughed at the same time, Zhong Yue lifted his hand up and recalled the sword silks and Tan Zhen also kept his metal awl back. Tan Zhen said, “Stop, stop, the winner can only be decided with the use of soul weapons; but you and I both don’t have any of them now. Furthermore, there is no deep hatred between us, there is no need for a fight to the death. Leave, scatter away, if even I am unable to defeat Junior Martial Brother Zhong, then neither can any of you!”

  He waved at the crowds, cracking a dark smile while saying, “Or do you all think that you are stronger than me? Just leave already.”

  The faces of the over twenty Qi Practitioners that came to challenge Zhong Yue turned red as they all left quietly. Ta Wulu hesitated for a few seconds before he also turned to leave.

  Tan Zhen’s cultivation base was stronger than his own and so was Tan Zhen’s prowess, and yet he was still unable to defeat Zhong Yue. Surely, Ta Wulu would also be helpless against Zhong Yue as well. In addition to that, he would have to consider the shame of taking advantage of Zhong Yue’s fatigue. Despite the flaws in his character, he had his own pride and was naturally unwilling to do so.

  The eight inner hall hall masters’ palms were soaked in perspiration and they all heaved a breath of relief.

  The battle between Zhong Yue and Tan Zhen was too intense, culminating to point where finishing moves were cast all over and they were at the brink of killing each other. But thankfully, the two of them showed a forbearance rarely seen in those their age and stopped at the last second or otherwise, there would currently be two dead bodies on the ground.