Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  Pearly Tears Lute, Raksha Saint Clan’s greatest treasure!

  Zhong Yue raised his brows, and he kept the Golden Crow Wings. He turned into the three-legged celestial being and stood on the Golden Peng Sword, hovering in mid-air.

  Behind him, the magnates finally rushed out from the sandstorm and caught up to him.

  “Hmph! Sun Innate Spirit Body, you are the human Zhong Shan Clan member! Shura Parasol!”

  The Shura Saint Clan's clan master strode forward, and he threw a golden umbrella into the sky. The umbrella spun as it grew larger and larger while the demon god-leveled totem patterns sealed the sky and locked them all inside a dome.

  All of a sudden, a dark ray flashed into the dome through the sky-sealing seals —Chi— A trident pierced into the ground and painted the yellow sands pitch-black.

  Yaksha’s clan master was standing on the end of the trident, sealing the desert ground.

  Zhong Yue looked around, the magnates from the eight saint clans and the eight clan masters themselves were all here, looking at him emotionlessly as if he was already a dead man.

  More demon Heavenly Dharma giants were coming in, surrounding the perimeter to prevent him from running again.

  Zhong Yue laughed out loud, and he stood still on the Golden Peng Sword, wiping off the blood trickling down his mouth as he mocked, "The honorable eight saint clans, surrounding a mere Inner Core Qi Practitioners with so many giants and magnates, even the clan masters themselves with the divine demon weapons. You really think so highly of me."

  The eight clan masters were all here, other than the Asura Saint Clan had their Sun Chariot plundered away by Feng Xiaozhong, and the other seven saint clans brought their clans' greatest demon divine weapons!

  These divine demon weapons were the soul weapons of Shura, Ji Xiang Heavenly Lady, and the others. Their powers alone were appalling enough, and any one of the eight was among the best of the best of divine weapons, no inferior to the Azure Dragon Marked Banner that Zhong Yue had in his hands!

  “Zhong Shan Clan member, don’t be too full of yourself.”

  The Yaksha clan master shook his head gently and said mildly, "Us and the divine demon weapons are here for Demon Saint. As for you, you are still too weak for us to act ourselves. Any one of these giant cultivators could easily kill you on the spot."

  Laughed, Zhong Yue replied, "Any one of these giant cultivators could easily kill me on the spot? Then why are all of you here? Moreover, with the greatest demon divine weapons of your clans? Why don't the clan masters send a few giant cultivators to kill me?"

  The Yaksha clan master's face became strained. Zhong Yue had killed Demon Saint, and his prowess was already peerless among those at his level. In terms of overall prowess, he already stood on par with Heavenly Dharma cultivators, able to contend with the giant cultivators.

  If a few Heavenly Dharma giant cultivators were sent to kill him, not only would they be unable to do so and allow him to escape, but he might even manage to turn the situation around and kill them instead, considering that he had the Golden Peng Sword and Demon Saint's emerald leaf sword!

  "Human Zhong Shan Clan member, words are meaningless."

  Tian Xiang clan master said leisurely, "You, will die today. Hand over the cultivation technique that has allowed you to achieve the state of [Celestial Demon as One], and the eight saint clans shall show you mercy by gifting you a quick death. You should know that even if you refuse to give it up willingly, we still have ways to search your soul and memory."

  The other magnates were alerted as they all had their own agendas on their minds.

  Zhong Yue had achieved the state of [Celestial Demon as One] and had defeated Demon Saint with it. Such a cultivation technique would surely be way stronger than Demon Saint's【Heavenly Saint Godly Radiating Art】!

  Ever since history had begun being recorded, not a single talents nor geniuses had been able to unify the fortes of both celestials and demons. No one was able to surmount the deeply rooted antipathy that was intrinsic between the two races. But right now, standing right before them was the first person to have ever achieved such a feat. He had the secret to the state of [Celestial Demon as One] in his hands, and they couldn't help themselves but lust for his technique!

  As long as they got their hands on his cultivation technique, it would supplant every other cultivation technique in their respective clans to become to the greatest cultivation technique of all!

  Zhong Yue clasped his hands, and he greeted the demons. He said sincerely, "I've killed Demon Saint for you demons, this is a meritorious contribution to the whole demon race. So, why do you all have to force me into a dead end like this? It is not a wise choice to do so, after all, the demon race will not want to and is also unable to bear the consequences. Why not you all let me leave in peace, and the human race will work with the demon race in an alliance against the celestial race."

  The demon experts looked at one another and saw the disbelief in each other. Then, clamorous laughter resounded throughout the sky. There was even a magnate that had choked himself from his own laughter. He pointed his finger at Zhong Yue and said in tears, "He said that the demon race will have to bear the consequences if we kill him…."

  Another giant cultivator was also in tears as he continued, "He also said that the demon race won't be able to bear the consequences! Is he an idiot? Does he really think that the eight saint clans will step back just because of a few empty threats?"

  "An alliance between the humans against the celestials?"

  The Ji Xiang old lady laughed ear to ear that Zhong Yue could even count the number of teeth she was missing. She said, "Does he not know that the humans are nothing more than walking herbs to us demons? The humans I've eaten and killed are more than I can count!"

  But Zhong Yue continued to hold the same smile, and he removed a little puppet from his Yuan Shen secret realms as he sighed, "The demon race is really plagued with misfortune. It seems like the third calamity is now unavoidable … Although I'm a man of kindness and I usually don't kill for no reason, for my survival, I have no choice but to do so…."

  The little wood puppet had three faces, of which two of the three were laughing nefariously, and the other one was closing its eyes in a solemn and dignified manner.

  Zhong Yue's smile suddenly disappeared, and his face stiffened up as he surged his soul into the little wooden puppet and activated the Demon God Contracted Puppet.

  Chapter 376: Song of the Dead |

  “What is this?”

  The demons startled when they saw Zhong Yue taking out a little wood puppet, no one knew what it was. At the far side, Shura and the other seven saint clan grand ancestors looked at one another and none of them knew what it was, either.

  In the Ancestral Star, there was a huge gap in between the records of history, one that was caused by a drastic event hundreds of thousand years ago, which also caused the records regarding the Demon God Contracted Puppet to be lost in history.

  Even the eight demon gods that founded the eight saint clans didn’t know what a Demon God Contracted Puppet was and what use it had. Only the madman Feng Xiaozhong who dug the demon gods’ graves would know what it was.

  However, Shura and the other former demon gods were incredibly experienced, they were cautious and the drinking they had done with Zhong Yue had made them stand aside and not participate in the mission of killing Zhong Yue.

  “May the great senior descend!” Zhong Yue bowed and he said solemnly.

  As he bowed and his soul entered the Demon God Contracted Puppet, the little puppet floated into the sky on its own as if there was an unknown force moving it up from another dimension!

  The little Demon God Contracted Puppet linked the Void World and the real world together, it was the pathway for the slumbering demon spirit to come, for him to descend down from the evervoid to the material world.

  A bizarre energy seeped through from the Void World, putting immense pressure on the demons and the
dimension around the little Demon God Contracted Puppet was distorted, making the little wood puppet appear bigger.

  This was the dimensional space overlapping another, the little wood puppet was not a single inch bigger but it was the dimensional spaces around it that were overlapping one another, magnifying the size of the Demon God Contracted Puppet, making it bigger and bigger.

  If a ten foot dimensional space was distorted, the Demon God Contracted Puppet would look as if it was ten foot tall but if a thousand feet was distorted, then the little puppet would look as if it was a thousand feet tall.

  Such methods were not able to be casted by the mortal body but focused on one’s ability to manipulate the dimensional space, way beyond the level of Heavenly Dharma Qi Practitioners’ Avatar.

  Many gods that had cultivated the Pure Yang Yuan Shen could have done it but only if it was tens of feet. While this Demon God Contracted Puppet was magnified by thousands of feet, the dimensional space around was made bigger and pulled closer!

  In everyone’s eyes, this Demon God Contracted Puppet had grown into the size of a sky-piercing mountain, hovering above the yellow sands of the desert.

  The demon god’s aura was thickening, so strong that it even started disintegrating the yellow sands into nothingness, into thin air. With the disappearance of the yellow sands, the skeletons buried deep in the desert were exposed to the demons, the leftover bones suddenly stood up, millions of skeletons were across the desert, ornamenting the yellow land with countless white dots.

  Demons, beasts, Qi Practitioners of other races and many others, there were more living things than anyone could count that died in this dreary land, buried deep down beneath the yellow sands.

  And now, all of them stood up, those decapitated bodies, severed limbs, beasts and livings, even Demon Saint’s corpse crawled up.

  The dead started dancing, waving their limbs and bodies, dancing happily while they clapped and sang, “The dead have no kings, no commands they listen to;”

  The dead beasts then stomped their feet, singing, “Hei ha!”

  The skeletons then continued, “The dead have no subordinates, nothing they work for;”

  The dead beasts then stomped again, shouting, “Hei Ha!”

  “The dead have no time, the four seasons are nonexistent;”

  “Hei Ha!”

  “The dead have no worries, no pain to suffer from;”

  “Hei Ha!”

  The corpses were dancing and singing, clapping their hands, “Death is the best, best of the best! I have lived and suffered a million pains, I am now dead but embracing endless joy! The living are worse off than the dead, the dead are better than the living. So die, die now and die, die, die, die!”

  The dead in the desert were all singing, it was utterly bizarre and all of the demon experts were looking at one another in shock, puzzled at the development of situation. Even Zhong Yue was puzzled, thinking, This Demon God Contracted Puppet’s master’s entrance is looks really imposing. But from the song, it sounds like he is a crazy fella, being alive is way better than being dead and yet he said that only death will grant endless happiness.

  After the ended, the corpses all turned silent and seconds later, they all collapsed back to the ground.

  The mountainous Demon God Contracted Puppet then opened his eyes and his sight fell onto Zhong Yue, the three mouths then spoke in a world-trembling voice, “Years after years have passed, I can’t even recall when was the last time a summoner emerged….”

  The Demon God Contracted Puppet’s body turned as if it was alive, his necks lengthened and the three giant heads moved down from the clouds and looked at Zhong Yue, his heads covered the whole sky blocking Zhong Yue’s vision and his breath raised a strong gale that made Zhong Yue’s clothes flutter violently.

  “The palatable smell of souls … Summoner, you have summoned the great Shi Tuo, what wish do you have for me?”

  His voice rumbled across the whole desert, causing the yellow sands to shudder as he said, “Offer your soul to the great Shi Tuo and you shall be granted two wishes!”

  Zhong Yue nearly collapsed to the ground in the demon god’s aura, his knees nearly fell to the ground but he pressed against the godly aura anyway, he answered, “The great Shi Tuo, I have only one wish….”

  “Are you planning to say that your one wish is to have hundreds and thousands more wishes?”

  The Demon God Contracted Puppet winked his eyes and said nefariously with a smile, “The last time a summoner asked for this they ended up in my stomach right away. Hehehe, I only grant wishes that I’m willing to, I’ll do it for sure if it's as easy as blinking an eye, but if you intend to play around with words and set a trap for me, then I’m more than happy to enjoy your delicious soul….”

  Zhong Yue bowed and he said, “The great Shi Tuo is the wisest of all, how dare I fool you? My wish is fairly simple….”

  He raised his head and looked around at the demons, the Shura clan master’s heart skipped a beat and he shouted, “Strike now before it gets out of control!”

  Krong——

  The demon divine weapons all burst out with immense power, the Thousand Woods Demon Saber was casted by the Yan Mo Saint Clan clan master and experts, sending out thousands of demon sabers and strikes at Zhong Yue and the Demon God Contracted Puppet!

  The Shura clan master also grabbed the golden umbrella in his hands, the Shura Parasol was pulled back and a strong pulling force sucked Zhong Yue and the Demon God Contracted Puppet toward the umbrella!

  The Tian Xiang Treasure Seal was also casted by the Tian Xiang clan master, the engravings on the treasure seal came alive and leaped towards Zhong Yue and the Demon God Contracted Puppet.

  Ji Xiang clan master and the old lady came together to cast out the Sixteen Heavenly Demon Art in a dance array, striking at Zhong Yue and the Demon God Contracted Puppet.

  The Yaksha clan master swung the trident and strode forward; the Raksha female clan master carried the lute in her arms and played a sad song, assaulting Zhong Yue and the Demon God Contracted Puppet with the invisible soundwaves!

  Yama and Asura clan masters also cast out their soul weapons and demon divine weapons; the magnates and giants all had also jolted into action, striking their soul weapons at Zhong Yue and the Demon God Contracted Puppet!

  They had all sensed that the situation was developing out of their control, the Demon God Contracted Puppet’s master could breakthrough the dimensions and descend down from the Void World on his own without being worshipped, it was simply unimaginable to them!

  Although this Demon God Contracted Puppet’s master was seemingly a crazy man, but his prowess was nothing they had seen or heard of before!

  At this point in time, the Demon God Contracted Puppet’s prowess had yet to reach its peak and if they were to strike now, they had a chance to take down the Demon God Contracted Puppet and Zhong Yue together!

  Zhong Yue kept his focus and bowed at the Demon God Contracted Puppet, he said, “May the great Shi Tuo sentence them to death!”

  The seven saint clans’ greatest demon divine weapon had struck over when the Demon God Contracted Puppet raised his heads, three mouths saying at the same time, “Just this? How easy, I thought you’d throw some hard questions at me…”

  The Demon God Contracted Puppet strode forward and reached his hand out, the Thousand Woods Demon Saber was shrunk into a little tree and fell into his hands, the Yan Mo clan master’s face changed drastically and he surged all of his arcane energy in an attempt to retrieve the demon divine weapon. Yet, all of his efforts were in vain as the Thousand Woods Demon saber stayed rooted on the Demon God Contracted Puppet’s hand, not moving at all no matter how hard he tried!

  From afar, the Yan Mo Saint Clan’s grand ancestor, Yan Mo’s face also changed drastically and he shouted, “Not good!”

  He was the one who crafted the Thousand Woods Demon Saber and it was his soul weapon, but now, he could sense the markings he had left on the Th
ousand Woods Demon Saber being wiped off in just a few seconds of time!

  His prowess was once at the level of the heavenly demon god in his past life, an expert who had created a great saint clan and one could easily infer how hard would it be to wipe his markings off, at the very least, it would need to be a demon god who cultivated the Pure Yang Yuan Shen!

  The Thousand Woods Demon Saber then grew bigger in the Demon God Contracted Puppet’s hand and the wood branches quivered lightly, then slashed out with countless saber strikes in all directions!

  “The Thousand Woods Demon Saber’s power are all unleashed!” Yan Mo exclaimed in shock.

  Shura, Yama, Raksha and the others were also shocked, their faces turned pallid as they all knew exactly how strong of a power the demon divine weapon held. When the Thousand Woods Demon Saber’s full power was unleashed, it could easily slaughter anyone present!

  Yan Mo clan master was beheaded and his body was crushed in the saber strikes, the sixteen heavenly demons of the Sixteen Demon Heavenly Demon Art were killed and the painting scroll fell to the ground while the beautiful lady was lacerated into pieces!

  Yaksha clan master who had come forward with the trident was sliced into minced meat before he could even get any closer to them.

  The Tian Xiang Treasure Seal was struck and it fell to the ground with all its powers lost and the Tian Xiang clan master behind it was also crushed into dust by the striking sabers!

  The Demon God Contracted Puppet never moved a step at all, all he did was grab the Thousand Woods Demon Saber and unleashed its power on the surrounding area, killing everyone around.

  Under the Shura Parasol, the Shura clan master was sliced into little bits by the demon saber strikes and the running Ji Xiang old lady disintegrated into dust when struck by the saber strikes.

  The Asura magnate morphed into the three-taloned Golden Crow and flew away but was beheaded in the next second, crashing into the yellow sands from the high sky.