Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  Zhong Yue looked at the Sui Sovereign statue, an expression filled with satisfaction spread across his face.

  The Sui Sovereign statue was sculpted based on his own Yuan Shen's totem patterns. It was a masterpiece of his painstaking effort, and it was truly his most magnificent artwork by far.

  The statue was like part of him, even if he couldn't stay in the tribe forever, the statue could. It could be left here to receive the tribesmen's worship and return its blessing to them.

  Worshipping the statue was tantamount to worshipping Zhong Yue. They would be blessed with safety and ideal weather.

  Furthermore, if the time was long enough, and the worship was sufficient, the structure of the statue would change over time, and turn into flesh and blood.

  "When I die in the future, my atman will come back to the statue. It would be like a second vessel for me," he thought in his heart.

  The second vessel was actually a statue that was sculpted in the image of one's Yuan Shen. It would have to be continuously worshipped by the tribesmen, and after the Qi Practitioner's death, the atman would infuse itself into the statue. Hence, allowing the atman to stay in this world of mortals and achieve longevity in another sense.

  Other than the Qi Practitioners, there was also the godly spirits that resided in the Void World. Their people would forge a second vessel for them, worship the statues for centuries and during the outbreak of a war, the godly spirits of their respective races would descend from the Void World into the statues to fight in battle for them.

  However, the second vessel was not equivalent to a second body, as the second vessel wasn't truly a mortal body. It was merely a statue that their owners could find refuge in; it was an item that allowed the soul and spirit to linger in the mortal plane. They would usually be imprisoned in a slumbering state when the statue was not called upon for battle.

  And if the tribe were to be annihilated, the worship would stop, and the atmans would eventually dissipate. Hence, this was only a last resort for Qi Practitioners to protect their people after their deaths.

  Zhong Yue recalled his thoughts; he instructed the tribesmen on how to worship the statue, and how they could use beast blood to nourish it. After that, he dove into his research on his Sui Sovereign Yuan Shen.

  He had only attained the Sui Sovereign Yuan Shen from a flash of inspiration while sculpting the Sui Sovereign statue. Now he had to focus on deepening his attainments in order to consolidate its foundation fully.

  The Sui Sovereign Yuan Shen wasn't a spirit; his spirit was still only the sun spirit and moon spirit which he hid in his eyes. The only reason for the emergence of the Sui Sovereign Yuan Shen was because of the【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】.

  He had cultivated the【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】and the strength of his soul was far beyond most other Qi Practitioners. Moreover, his soul was now even stronger than his sun spirit and moon spirit!

  This was the crux to successfully acquiring his Sui Sovereign Yuan Shen!

  The others reached out to the spirits and coalesced the spirits with their souls into the Yuan Shen. Along the process, the spirit became dominant over the soul, which was why the Yuan Shen appeared in the form of the spirits, and that the mortal body would morph into the spirit's form when in the state of [Atman Body as One].

  The【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】morphed the soul into the form of Sui Sovereign, placing the soul in the position of dominance. Whether it be the sun spirit or moon spirit, they were just ancillary aides to the core of the soul!

  This cultivation technique had brought Zhong Yue enormous benefits, and now, the benefits have taken a huge leap. His soul was able to supplant his sun spirit and moon spirit to form his third Yuan Shen!

  This completely flew in the face of the common knowledge of the world. To embark on a path that none had walked before would be deemed absurd, but it was this uncertainty that pushed Zhong Yue through his journey of cultivation!

  With the spirit predominating, the Qi Practitioner's soul wasn't as strong, and if the said Qi Practitioner died, the spirit could be saved through worship, but the soul would disperse regardless. In order to preserve the soul, one needed to be as strong as the gods. Even True Spirit magnates couldn't preserve their souls after their deaths, and only their spirits would remain.

  This was also the reason why the memorial tablets of the ancestors were commonly known as the spirit tablets instead of the soul tablets.

  If the soul was predominating, then the soul and spirit could be retained together after death.

  Qiu Jin'er didn't interrupt him, she sat beside and stared affectionately at her senior martial brother. After a few days, Zhong Yue finally stood up and tried to morph into the state of [Atman Body as One] to transform his mortal body into Sui Sovereign form. But he failed miserably even after countless attempts.

  In the end, Zhong Yue eventually stopped and pondered deeply, When Xin Huo was controlling my mortal body into the Sui Sovereign's form, he did it by first morphing into the Fuxi true form before the Sui Sovereign's form. Probably, the Fuxi true form is a prerequisite for the Sui Sovereign Yuan Shen's state of [Atman Body as One]?

  He had yet to master the Fuxi true form, which was a massive hindrance to him achieving the state of [Atman Body as One].

  Furthermore, the Fuxi bloodline in me is still considerably faint. The Fuxi true form can only last for a few moments; it'll be tough to achieve the state of [Atman Body as One] with the Sui Sovereign's Yuan Shen!

  He heaved out a breath of helplessness and stopped pushing for it. He thought, Xiao Yuan's markings must have been scraped away from the mirror by the godly aura in the copper lamp by now? Such a long time, I wonder if the mirror will be crushed away by the Divine Wing Saber's divine aura?

  He quickly took out the copper lamp while Qiu Jin'er stepped forward, the two of them looked into the lamp, and Qiu Jin'er asked curiously, "Senior martial brother, why is there a little banner in your lamp?"

  She was puzzled, the banner was small and triangular in shape, it looked like one of the three banners the Zhong Li Celestial Race experts were waving in the Lesser Void World.

  All of a sudden, a possibility flashed across her mind, and she stammered, "Senior martial brother, you … you…."

  She thought of the times they were in the imperial palace. She recalled the fight Zhong Yue and herself had with the Zhong Li Celestial Race's Martial Divine Masters over the Azure Dragon Banner. Her eyes were blinded by the divine rays from back then, while Zhong Yue dashed out and came back like a sneaky thief.

  Now that she came to think of it, her senior martial brother must have rushed over and kept that Azure Dragon Banner, which explained why the Zhong Li Celestial Race locked down the Lesser Void World!

  "The Zhong Li magnates were waving the other three banners. They must have been trying to recall the Azure Dragon Banner?" Qiu Jin'er was stunned, her heart was palpitating in shock with her mouth agape, thinking back to it made her terrified.

  “This is the Azure Dragon Cloud Marked Banner, it requires the cultivation base of a magnate to use it, so we can’t use it yet.”

  Zhong Yue cast out his Golden Peng Sword, and the golden sword turned into a feather into the copper lamp, he said smilingly, "But we can use Xiao Yuan's mirror now. Something is odd about this mirror, how is it not crushed by the godly aura…."

  The Golden Peng Sword flew into the galaxy-like lamp oil, it came to the bottom of the mirror and lifted it up, bringing it out from the copper lamp.

  Moments later, the mirror was brought out, Zhong Yue kept the Golden Peng Sword, but the mirror didn't fall. Instead, it hovered on its own in the air, and it was really bizarre.

  "What material is this?" Zhong Yue looked carefully at the soul weapon and found out that the material it was crafted from was strangely odd. It wasn't any known metals nor jades. It was something he had never seen, one that could glimmer in moonlights on its own.<
br />
  Qiu Jin'er hadn't seen before either, she placed her hand on it, and she instantly felt a cold sensation. She could even sense the immense energy it concealed.

  “Ey?? This is … the moon’s core!”

  In Zhong Yue's psyche ocean, Xin Huo suddenly exclaimed, "This is a piece of the moon's core. Moreover, this piece was gilded with the aura of a god, no wonder it can withstand the godly aura of the Divine Wing Saber!"

  “Moon’s core?”

  Zhong Yue's heart skipped a beat, "Xin Huo, is this moon's core very valuable?"

  "Of course, it is, it is a crafting material for the divine weapons. It's not something easily found!"

  Xin Huo's voice suddenly turned solemn, "Furthermore, this moon's core is glided with the moon god's aura, it is even more precious than normal. If the moon spirit has ascended to the level of gods, she will then be an innate god. Just imagine how strong a natural god's aura would be. This moon's core has her innate godly aura. It's now a few more grades higher than the ordinary moon's core. Let's put it this way, the material that the Divine Wing Saber is crafted from is not even worthy of being compared to the ordinary moon's core. Do you understand the value of this moon's core now?"

  Chapter 305: True Spirit Magnate |

  “Better than the material that crafts the Divine Wing Saber?”

  Zhong Yue was stunned, it was too unbelievable; the Divine Wing Saber was the saint weapon of the Kun Peng Race. Ordinary divine weapons couldn't even compete with this saint weapon. This mirror was only the soul weapon of a magnate, Xiao Yuan, it was supposed to be inferior to even the Ten Malefic Weapons, but now he was told that the material it was made from was superior to the Divine Wing Saber's!

  All of a sudden, he lunged out the Golden Peng Sword and slashed down on the Bright Moon Mirror —Zheng— a shrill metallic ring rang in his ears as they clashed, he took a look at the mirror and found it perfectly unscathed by the Golden Peng Sword.

  "What an incredible material! The Xiao Mang Celestial Race ancestor has stolen the moon's core. Surely the Xiao Mang Celestial Race can take out such high-grade materials."

  Zhong Yue was excited, he held the Bright Moon Mirror in his hands and thought, I suppose only the Xiao Mang Celestial Race can do such things ... crafting ordinary soul weapons with materials that were baptized with the innate god's innate godly aura.

  Rays flashed across his eyes, he suddenly thought of the moon's core and the slumbering moon god in it below the Xiao Mang Celestial Temple. He thought in his heart, If only I can steal that moon's core….

  “Lucky for us, this moon’s core is still useable.”

  Xin Huo inspected the Bright Moon Mirror through Zhong Yue's eyes. It was only the size of a plate; however, the mirror was already refined to the incorporeal state, something that was extremely rare among soul weapons.

  The higher the grade of the materials, the harder it was for it to reach the incorporeal state, and vice versa.

  The moon's core was an incredibly high-grade material. It could only be imagined how much time and energy was needed for Xiao Yuan to refine it to such a stage.

  Zhong Yue inspected it carefully, and the more he looked at it, the happier he got. Only the moon spirit totem patterns were best suited for materials that came from the moon's core. Clearly, Xiao Yuan knew this very well and in order not to waste the precious moon's core, she had been refining this Bright Moon Mirror purely with the moon spirit totem patterns. There wasn't a single trace of any other kind of totem patterns!

  This was also why Xin Huo said that the moon's core was still usable. If there were the other totem patterns, not only would the Bright Moon Mirror's power not be enhanced, its potential would be limited.

  The Xiao Mang Celestial Race was indeed way beyond any other races in the study of the moon spirits, unbeatable by the any other. The moon spirit totem patterns in the Bright Moon Mirror were complex and innumerous – many of such them were ones that Zhong Yue had never even seen before!

  His moon spirit, the six-eyed Star Toad, was only one of the myriad moon spirits. It didn't contain all of the moon spirit totem patterns, but with this Bright Moon Mirror, he could attain more insights from it and heighten his cultivation base to the next level. It could significantly strengthen his Star Toad Yuan Shen.

  All of a sudden, Zhong Yue sensed something, and he flew up to the sky to hover above the clouds. He looked toward the direction of Swords Gate. Qiu Jin'er also sensed him, and she came to his side to join him.

  Tens of thousands of miles away, the summit of Swords Gate Mountain could be seen above clouds, shrouded by a thick and heavy mist.

  All of a sudden, a sudden burst of aura emanated out from Swords Gate. An expert's air pierced through the firmament, and when looked at from afar, the faint figure of a god appeared above the clouds, swirling them and blasting the winds.

  Zhong Yue cast out his divine third eye and looked over; that god was gigantic. There were two dragons beneath its feet while two white serpents dangled on its ears. Then, a huge golden beam rose up from the mountains like an aureate sword. As it fully rose to the sky, the godly figure then clenched it in its hands.

  The godly figure was, in fact, a Yuan Shen phantom; however, in contrast to other ones, this Yuan Shen was so life-like that it seemed like it was truly a god itself that had cultivated to an extreme state whereby it could manifest a corporeal form!

  A True Spirit!

  Zhong Yue's heart skipped a beat, "Someone in Swords Gate had successfully cultivated a True Spirit and had broken through the cultivation barrier. Whoever this is, he or she can now be considered as a magnate cultivator!"

  Qiu Jin'er was also looking at it. However, should couldn't see it as clearly as Zhong Yue could. She asked curiously, "But who is it? Who is this new magnate?"

  “Fang Jiange.” Zhong Yue heaved a breath and spurted out a name.

  Qiu Jin'er's eyes brightened up, she smiled and said, "A new magnate within our Swords Gate, his ascension will surely further help in staving away the danger that we face."

  Zhong Yue shook his head and said nothing. It was crystal clear in his heart that the danger of Swords Gate wasn't something that could be neutralized by the ascension of one or two magnates, especially considering the inevitable death of the old Sword Gate headmaster!

  The peace in Swords Gate was only an illusory bubble that existed due to the existence of the old headmaster. His cultivation base stood at the peak of the Imminent Deity; and although he wasn't truly a god, his strength had garnered him the appellation of Sword God. He was the embodiment of fear and terror in the hearts of his enemies.

  Fang Jiange had only just ascended to the True Spirit level. He was only at the lowest boundary of the grade of magnates. He would have to at least reach to the level of Imminent Deity and be on par with the old headmaster, or otherwise, he wouldn't be able to neutralize the threat even if he did become the next headmaster.

  Furthermore, other than the external threats, there were still the celestial messenger and the traitor hiding among themselves, waiting for the right time to strike the final blow!

  All of a sudden, when the myriad thoughts streamed through Zhong Yue's mind, another aura flooded his senses. If Fang Jiange's aura was sharp like a sword, then this aura was like an elegant mistress, it was ethereal and ever-changing. Oftentimes, it felt like a stream of flowing water, then it felt like a torrential wave in the ocean. At times, it even felt like an ocean itself!

  Zhong Yue looked over with his divine third eye — clouds were billowing like waves of water as if the sky was the ocean. In the midst of the cloud ocean, there was the image of a god who appeared to have the head of a snake and the body of a human. A dark serpent coiled around its arm while it stood on the head of a black dragon, unleashing its prowess to the world as it stood tall in the clouds.

  This godly figure was gently plucking the strings of a zither that it held in its arms; however, they were too far to hear any voices.

  This
was in fact, another True Spirit!

  The Qi Practitioner's spirits came from the spirits of the world; once the Qi Practitioner had acquired the spirit's recognition, the spirit would merge with the Qi Practitioner. It would be of the same kind, but it could only be said as a forged spirit, a mere imitation of the true spirits of nature. Not only that, but it was also fragile and small upon initially merging with the Qi Practitioner.

  As the cultivation base of the Qi Practitioner increased, the Qi Practitioner's spirit would also be refined along the way, slowly turning itself into a true and authentic spirit. And finally, when the Qi Practitioner ascended to the True Spirit level, the spirit would finally make the leap to a genuine spirit, materializing into existence as if it were a godly spirit. Even if the True Spirit Qi Practitioner died, the spirit would not dissipate so easily, and it would still be able to live independently in the world.

  As of now, a second True Spirit had emerged in Swords Gate, echoing with Fang Jiange's Gold God Spirit from the other side of Swords Gate. It was strong and not inferior to the Gold God Spirit, clearly announcing to the world that there was a second cultivator who had successfully cultivated a True Spirit, ascending to the grade of magnates alongside Fang Jiange!

  "Senior martial brother, is this Feng Wuji or Senior Martial Sister Jun?" Qiu Jin'er couldn't see the changes of Swords Gate, and she asked curiously.

  “It’s Senior Martial Sister Jun Sixie.”

  Zhong Yue locked his brows, and he mumbled lowly, "Strange, what special day is today? Why have two magnates suddenly appeared in Swords Gate on the same day?"

  “A good day!”

  Qiu Jin’er answered happily, “With these two new magnates, headmaster need not worry so much anymore!”

  Zhong Yue slowly shook his head; all of a sudden, there was another burst of aura along with the emergence of the third True Spirit; it had a human's body, a snake's tail, and two faces. One of the faces was facing the front with two arms on its shoulders, and another face was facing the back with another six arms on its shoulders — it was utterly bizarre.