Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  Suddenly, a bright light appeared in front of them, forcing them to close their eyes. When they opened up their eyes, they saw clear blue skies with white clouds, a bright sun, and there was also a moon on the other side of the sky!

  Around them were tall mountains, clear rivers, and lush plains exposed under the warm sunlight.

  Then, they saw something even more strange when they looked into the distance. They saw layers of skies, where skies stacked atop each other with colorless sky membrane separating them. They could only see the location of the colorless sky membranes when the sun shone brightly on them.

  Some other compound layers of skies were on top of the layers of sky above them, and there were even larger moons and suns hanging up high, while some were connected with each other.

  (Ed. Note: Instead of an onion layer, think of each layer subdivided, stacked atop one another in ‘skins’ of cloud layers, some of them with their own sun and moon.)

  From here, they could see four suns and moons in total!

  “This is bad! We have accidentally entered the secret realm of the celestial race magnate Qi Practitioner’s secret realm!”

  Zhong Yue’s face changed and when he turned around, the copper palace vanished in an instant, as if it was not there from the beginning!

  One after another wheels emerged from the back of Qiu Jin’er as she swung a Sword Qi through the air, but nothing happened as she couldn’t pierce through the secret realm!

  Then, “Shui Qingyan” extracted her sword cocoon sword silk and sliced down at the air, but she faced the same thing as Qiu Jin’er. She then said, “Even after his death, his Yuan Shen secret realm did not crumble due to his immense strength. We probably accidentally entered his secret realm, and it’s easy to enter but incredibly hard to get out.”

  Zhong Yue pressed his hands down onto the air, releasing a loud clap of thunder, but the secret realm remained standing, causing him to frown.

  He then leapt into the air and flew towards the edge of the secret realm, while the two girls followed behind him.

  The secret realm was not that big and soon, they reached the edge of the secret realm. Zhong Yue then released a Sword Qi that slashed towards the sky membrane. It trembled slightly before an incredible power erupted from it, sending Zhong Yue flying away.

  Qiu Jin’er then flicked her fingers, planting sword seeds into the sky membrane. She stimulated the seeds, causing them to turn into Sword Qi that shrouded the sky with their shadows and rained down at the sky membrane. To her surprise, the sky membrane vibrated vigorously, and she lost control of her Sword Qi... before it shot back at her!

  Qiu Jin’er spun her wheelchair around, unleashing more Sword Qi that clashed with the uncontrolled Sword Qi. After fending off her own Sword Qi, she sat there in shock.

  “Why is that so? Why is my own Sword Qi attacking me?” asked a confused Qiu Jin’er.

  Zhong Yue then flew back and said as he frowned, “The same happened to me as well. Strange, really strange…”

  “Shui Qingyan” on the other side, smirked and said, “How is that so difficult to understand? This is the secret realm of that celestial race Qi Practitioner. Once your power is unleashed, it will no longer belong to you, as it will be converted into the power of the secret realm. With that, you will attack yourself if you attack the secret realm!”

  Qiu Jin’er then asked, “Then do you know of any way to get out from here, junior martial sister Shui?”

  “Shui Qingyan” shook her head as she said in frustration, “If I had more power or the completed sword cocoon sword silk, I could try ripping this secret realm apart. But now, I am out of ideas as well…”

  She was now an Atman Body level Qi Practitioner, and her strength was about the same as Zhong Yue’s, making it difficult for her to break open the secret realm. Right now, the only way to shatter this secret realm was to break it in one shot with overwhelming power, as any attacks would be reflected back to the attackers.

  “Shui Qingyan” sighed as she walked towards the sun hanging high up in the sky and said, “Seems like we are stuck here and we will have to live here until we die. I guess that we will get married here and have our children, but too bad there’s only a man here…”

  Qiu Jin’er blushed immediately while she looked at Zhong Yue sneakily and thought, If we are stuck here, do I really need to have babies with senior martial brother Zhong? What about junior martial sister Shui?

  “Shui Qingyan” then said again, “Senior martial sister Qiu, let us go and find if there’s any treasures around. If we find the soul weapon of this celestial race Qi Practitioner, we might be able to destroy the secret realm and get out from here so we will not have to marry the same man!”

  Qiu Jin’er blushed even harder as she quickly flew towards the moon in an attempt to search for the celestial race Qi Practitioner’s soul weapon.

  “Both marrying me?” Zhong Yue blinked his eyes and murmured to himself, “You must be dreaming, Tian Myriad Mother! Xin Huo, do you have any ideas?”

  Xin Huo then looked around and said, “It’s easy to get out, just use your Golden Feathery Peng Sword to hack this secret realm into pieces. Magnate Qi Practitioners’ secret realms are not as strong as godly spirit level Qi Practitioners, so their secret realms can be destroyed easily by godly weapons. However, if you hack this secret realm apart, the other secret realms will crumble as well, causing more loss than gain.”

  Originally, Zhong Yue also thought of using the Golden Feathery Peng Sword, but he was afraid of the sword being reflected back at him. He would die, as the sword was way stronger than he was now.

  And after hearing what Xin Huo said, he felt relieved and asked again, “Why is that so?”

  Xin Huo replied, “This Qi Practitioner’s power is almost on the verge of becoming a god! If you managed to retrieve his secret realm, you could cultivate it into a soul weapon!

  “You could even imprison people within it, or even store treasures.”

  Zhong Yue was moved, recalling one of Qiu Jin’er’s precious items that was used to store other items. It was made from the secret realm of a Heavenly Dharma level Qi Practitioner!

  However, because of the level of that Qi Practitioner, the storage space was not big enough, and it was of little use.

  Xin Huo continued saying, “This celestial race Qi Practitioner must have hidden his soul weapon in his own secret realm. After he died, it will certainly not disappear. Therefore, the soul weapon of this Qi Practitioner…”

  Zhong Yue looked at the goat hide with the information on this celestial race Qi Practitioner before he shook his head and said, “This man’s name is Kui Zheng from the Kui Long Celestial Race, it is written that his soul weapons were destroyed in the battle. There will not be other soul weapons in this secret realm.”

  Back then, Swords Gate paid greatly to capture this celestial race magnate Qi Practitioner. After the intense battle, there were barely any soul weapons that managed to survive.

  Although it remained a question of how this person manage to cultivate his body into an immortal body, his soul weapons were destroyed and his treasures were probably all looted by Swords Gate after he was captured.

  After all, there were also weird yet strong older generations in Swords Gate that would not leave even a copper behind whenever they raided something.

  “If that’s the case, it seems all we can do is destroy this secret realm.”

  Xin Huo sighed and said again, “ No treasures were left behind and the only valuable things are the five great secret realms...What a shame. This is the Wan Xiang Secret Realm, which is the most suitable one for item storing…”

  “Senior martial brother, I’ve found something!”

  Suddenly, Qiu Jin’er’s voice could be heard shouting in joy and surprise. Zhong Yue immediately flew towards the moon where Qiu Jin’er was waiting. “Shui Qingyan” also quickly rushed towards the scene. When Zhong Yue landed on the moon, he realized that this moon was very small. H
e also found out that instead of being made by solid objects, this moon was actually a ball-shaped liquid and when Qiu Jin’er looked around, she suddenly said happily, “Senior martial brother, look!”

  “This is…” Zhong Yue was shocked as bright light illuminated from the moon. In an instant, this moon looked just like a lake glowing with a bright light.

  The moon essence? No… such immense life energy….

  Zhong Yue had a scare as this moon was made with immense and vigorous life energy, and the life energy was stronger than anything he ever seen!

  Qiu Jin’er had a Wood Innate Spirit Body, while Jun Sixie had the Water Innate Spirit Body, causing both of them to be filled with immense life energy. But compared to this moon, they were like ants compared to an elephant!

  Qiu Jin’er plucked a strand of her hair. When she stirred it in the water and threw it into the air, that strand of hair grew immediately to a huge size before slamming onto the ground heavily!

  That scene was incredibly scary, as even though that strand of hair was dead, it continued growing after being filled with the life energy of the moon!

  So the secret of this Kun Long Celestial Race Qi Practitioner’s immortal body lies within this moon?

  The trio looked at the moon with surprise and “Shui Qingyan” coughed before she said, “Every witness will have their share. We will divide this moon into three portions and each of us will take one!”

  Qiu Jin’er looked to Zhong Yue, and he smiled as he said, “Finders keepers, this was found by junior martial sister Qiu, so it is natural that it belongs to her.”

  Qiu Jin’er hesitated and said, “But senior martial brother, this moon is too big and I cannot take all of it…”

  Zhong Yue smiled and said, “Don’t worry, you will be able to keep it later.”

  He then looked at the sun. After noticing where he was looking, “Shui Qingyan”’s heart thumped and she quickly flew towards the sun as she shouted, “I am the one who will discover the sun first!”

  “Are you sure? But you have not discovered the secrets in the sun!” replied Zhong Yue as he also charged towards the sun.

  Chapter 260: Contending for the Sun |

  Although they didn't know what kind of treasure the sun was, when they saw the immense life force in the moon, Zhong Yue and ‘Shui Qingyan' both realized that the sun's value would not be any inferior to the moon!

  Their speed was incredible as they bolted out like arrows set loose toward the sun.

  With a thought, ‘Shui Qingyan' released uncountable Sword Qi that formed into the Sword Cocoon Sword Silk Array that enclosed Zhong Yue in the middle. She was one of the Shui Tu Clan's young and promising disciples; surely, the Shui Tu Clan would spare no expense in nurturing her, even imparting her with the true quintessence of Shui Zian's【Sixty Four Sword Styles】.

  In order to get her hands on the sun before him, ‘Shui Qingyan’ initiated the first strike!

  Zhong Yue had a taste of the Sword Silk Array's power before this, even he knew of the sword array; however, he hadn't been taught the complete art and hence, his version would not be as strong as ‘Shui Qingyan''s.

  Furthermore, ‘Shui Qingyan''s【Sixty Four Sword Styles】contained the Sword Cocoons in it, among the sixty-four Sword Qi, only sixty-three of them were the Sword Qi she had cultivated, the last was actually one of Shui Zian's sixty-four Sword Cocoons!

  All of a sudden, the Golden Crow wings emerged behind Zhong Yue's back, and as he beat his wings, golden sword feathers blasted out through the Sword Cocoon Sword Silk Array and surrounded ‘Shui Qingyan.'

  These golden sword feathers were the Golden Crow Sword Qi, every one of which was made from sunfire; its burning force was so potent that it could set any soul weapon ablaze!

  However, these sword feathers weren't his true trump card; the true trump card was the Golden Peng Sword hidden in the midst of the sword feathers that was waiting for the perfect chance end it!

  This soul weapon was incredibly strong, after all, it was part of the Kun Peng's saint weapon — the Divine Wing Saber. It was strong and unbreakable, and if it were to strike its final blow at ‘Shui Qingyan,' her death would only be an inevitability despite her being a demon god!

  The demon god spirit was incredibly hard to kill, even Fang Jiange failed to do so previously; however, Fang Jiange's sword was not a divine weapon, let alone a saint weapon.

  Hence, Zhong Yue had a certain confidence that the golden feathery Peng sword would be able to do what Fang Jiange's sword couldn't!

  The two of them have both plunged into a life and death situation — Zhong Yue trapped ‘Shui Qingyan' in his sword array that was formed by the golden sword feathers. The Golden Peng Sword was standing by waiting to give her the final blow; on the other hand, Shui Zian's【Sixty Four Sword Styles】was indeed appallingly strong, Zhong Yue had seemingly all chance of escaping once ‘Shui Qingyan' trapped Zhong Yue in her sword array formation!

  The both of them were trapped in one another's array formation, they cast out all their skills and went all out in an attempt to break through the array formations, but both of them were only strong as the other, unable to overcome the arrays they were trapped in. The two of them only ended up being covered in their own blood.

  "Zhong Shan Clan, do you really want to do it?"

  ‘Shui Qingyan''s pretty countenance suddenly turned hideous. She was on the verge of transforming into her Tian Myriad Mother form to continue the battle with Zhong Yue as the felt the hidden threat of the sword feathers. She gave a loud shriek, "If I die, I'll bring you along with me to hell!"

  Jiao Dragons were soaring around Zhong Yue, forming into the【Thousand Dragon Wall】to fend down the incoming sword silks. As he heard her words, killing intent suddenly burst out in Zhong Yue's heart. It was no longer a matter of deciding whether or not to retreat; the situation had already careened out of their control into the worst possible scenario!

  As of now, they were no longer holding anything back; every skill and strike they launched was strong enough to end the other's life. He couldn't be sure that she wouldn't continue her savage attacks if he were to try and retreat, and neither could she. Their only option now was to kill the other before the other killed them!

  Their vicious battle eventually brought them ramming into the side of the sun.

  Their Sword Qi was ignited and vaporized away while the sword silks and sword feathers were all incinerated. Only the Golden Peng Sword and the Sword Cocoon was left behind.

  The sun was incredibly hot; even their mortal bodies were severely burned to the point they could be reduced to ashes at any moment.

  All of a sudden, streams of water emerged out of nowhere. They slowly began to take the shape of Jiao Dragons as they enveloped ‘Shui Qingyan' to help her ward off the heat.

  Right at this moment, she could feel a tremendous surge of life force flooding over and glutting her body. The wounds caused by the sword feathers immediately stopped bleeding and started to heal, and the dried scabs quickly fell off to reveal pristine skin!

  The moon is the condensed life energy while this sun is the condensed life force!

  ‘Shui Qingyan' was shocked and overjoyed; the life energy was like water while the life force was akin to fire — one water and one fire, one moon and one sun. An exuberant and vibrant life force was the foundation for a powerful mortal body!

  With such heat, this celestial magnate's life force has to be incredibly strong! If this life force can nourish me, in addition to the blood essence of my old mortal body, my cultivation base and prowess will skyrocket to a whole new level. I can reach the grade of the magnates in one leap!

  She lifted her head up and saw a three-legged celestial being standing behind Zhong Yue with the sunfire revolving around it; then, then the three-legged celestial being slowly coalesced with his mortal body, turning into a two hundred feet tall celestial being!

  In the state of [Atman Body as One], Zhong Yue had morphed into a three-legged cel
estial being. In such a state, not only did the immense heat of the sun fail to harm him, but it felt incredibly comfortable. It was as if he was a fish that had returned to the embrace of the water, a bird that had returned to the freedom of the sky.

  "The Great Sun Golden Crow celestial being!" ‘Shui Qingyan''s face changed slightly. She quickly leaped out from the sun, reluctant to stay any longer.

  Although it wasn't a real sun, it was still incredibly hot. Fighting with Zhong Yue in the sun would only slowly affect her strength, and eventually, Zhong Yue, who was unaffected by the heat of the sun, would be strong enough to kill her.

  In the corner of her eyes, she saw the Golden Peng Sword, and her beautiful countenance underwent a change. She was even more convinced of her decision and dared not stay to fight him anymore.

  This sword, this sword….

  A chill traveled down her spine, although it was only a small feather, the Golden Peng Sword gave her an even greater shock than any other divine weapon. From a glance, she could tell that the golden feathery Peng sword was incomplete — only a tiny part of a soul weapon, but this golden sword was strong enough to threaten her life!

  If this sword were to slash her, she would surely die without a doubt!

  How … how did he get such a soul weapon? This sun, I can’t contend with him anymore….

  ‘Shui Qingyan’ quickly dived down from the sky, she left and stopped contending with Zhong Yue for the sun, thinking in her heart, This celestial magnate can cultivate the Immortal Body, even the headmaster of Swords Gate can't kill him. Then his Immortal Body must not only have the life energy and life force, but there must also be something else … Oh yes, it's the life essence! I'll let him take this sun, the life essence of this magnate might not be any inferior to this sun and moon!

  She was, after all, a demon god, she glanced around, and her eyes brightened up upon seeing a river in the mountains. She then quickly flew down toward it.