Rise of Humanity

by <unknown>

  Qiu Jin'er calmed down again after hearing Zhong Yue's words and continued to follow him tightly. The Ling You Garden was vast; spirit herbs that emitted a pleasant fragrance speckled the ground abound, and arrays of seals surrounded the entire garden. These seals served two purposes: to prevent thievery as well as prevent the spirit herbs from escaping!

  After all, some of these herbs had been here for such a long time that they developed sentience, evolving into monsters. If left to their own devices, these spirit herbs would burrow into the ground and run away.

  Aside from the array of seals, there were also countless beasts guarding the perimeter of the garden.

  "What kind of herb materials do you seek? The ones here are 100 years old, while those over there are 200 years old, and those there are 300 years old…."

  The herbs were all categorized by their age; the older they are, the more potent their medicinal efficacy. Qiu Jin'er glanced around and was amazed at the sheer number of herbs that were cultivated in the Ling You Garden. Not only that, but every single herb here was extremely rare in Swords Gate, yet there were more than a hundred acres of such herbs here!

  Zhong Yue, however, ignored these hundred-year-old herbs as he continued walking toward the back, "I want the 1000-year-old ones."

  The guard quickly led the way and answered carefully, "There are not many of those left. If you wish to use them, I'll have to report to Priest Wei Zheng and get his permission first…."

  Zhong Yue shot a glance at him and said with a smirk, "Both of us came for the herbs, do you think that he won't give them to us? Move aside!"

  The guard did not dare to speak anymore and quietly led Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er to the herb farm with the 1000-year-old herbs. Upon reaching them, Zhong Yue's heart palpitated when he saw over a hundred of the 1000-year-old herbs!

  These herbs were all incredibly strong, and each possessed immense spiritual power!

  And right behind these herbs were a few spirit herbs that were more than 1000 years old!

  These few spirit herbs must be those herb kings that had been around for at least a few thousand years!

  There was even a godly herb!

  Zhong Yue couldn't help but feel a little dizzy, as behind the three herb kings, there was a godly herb growing on an altar!

  He once ran into a godly herb in the North Barren's ice palace. It was sealed in the ice, but unfortunately, Zhong Yue accidentally burnt it into ash when he tried to melt the black ice.

  And today, he saw a godly herb here!

  His heart rate elevated, and he dismissed the guard, "You may go now."

  The guard then said again, “I….:”

  "So, you really want to steal my recipe?" Zhong Yue questioned coldly.

  Upon hearing his words, the guard shivered and quickly walked away, but Zhong Yue suddenly halted him and said, "Give me two mounts, I want the fastest ones. Now go!"

  The guard then quickly scurried away to carry out Zhong Yue's orders.

  "Jin'er, go and harvest the other spirit herbs, the more, the better!"

  Qiu Jin'er quickly whispered, "Senior martial brother, is this really ok to do?"

  Zhong Yue then assured her, saying, "Have you forgotten that they were also one of those that tried to kill us?"

  “It’s fine, don’t worry, now go!”

  After that, Zhong Yue dashed towards the godly herb while Qiu Jin'er mustered up her courage to harvest the other herbs. Upon reaching the godly herb, Zhong Yue noticed that the seals around it were also god-level seals. Clearly, the Gui Shen Celestial Race took the godly herb very seriously that their god personally created seals to protect it.

  “Xin Huo, any idea?”

  "Of course, how can such an easy seal like this stop me?"

  Moments later, Zhong Yue got up to the altar and dug out the herb, making sure to retain the soil that contained the roots before carefully placing them in his secret realm. After that, he looked at Qiu Jin'er before rushing toward the three herb kings.

  It did not take long before the both of them were out of the Ling You Garden with Qiu Jin'er face flushed.

  "My two priests, the mounts are ready."

  The guard then walked forward and said, "These are the Lightning Vultures, the fastest mounts we have in our Ling You Garden."

  Zhong Yue measured the Lightning Vultures and saw natural thunder totem carvings all over their feathers, suggesting that they specialized in speed. He then nodded, and as he mounted the vulture, he said, "Very good. You may go now."

  Qiu Jin’er mounted the other Lightning Vulture and as they both shouted, the vultures flew up into the air and headed straight towards the outside of the sacred ground like lightning.

  After a hundred miles, Zhong Yue suddenly jumped down from the vulture, and Qiu Jin'er followed suit. As soon as he jumped off the vulture, he flicked his fingers and launched two Sword Qi that hit the butt of the vultures, which caught them off guard and scared them off. In just a blink of an eye, the vultures had disappeared from their sight.

  "Senior martial brother, why…." asked Qiu Jin'er.

  Zhong Yue then changed his appearance and replied, "This was all just a diversion. We have to change our appearance, or we will not be able to escape from our pursuers in Gui Shen Celestial Race!"

  With a nod, Qiu Jin'er changed her appearance and said with admiration, "Senior martial brother is indeed very experienced."

  Moments later, the entire Gui Shen Celestial Race was busy as magnate Qi Practitioners ascended into the air angrily and rushed towards the two Lightning Vultures.

  A few days later, Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er reached the land of the Fei Yi Celestial Race. It wasn't long before the people of that clan were also sent out in search of the thieves that stole their treasures.

  Half a month later, Qiu Jin'er asked Zhong Yue in excitement, "Senior martial brother, where to now? Who's our next target?"

  Chapter 424: Complete Annihilation |

  “Jin’er, we are not stealing, we are training.”

  Zhong Yue corrected her and said solemnly, "We are not here for the treasures but to refine our arts and skills, and also to further advance our cultivation."

  Qiu Jin’er then took out a 1000-year spirit herb and munched it like a little rabbit having a carrot. She nodded heavily and said, "Senior martial brother, where are we going next?"

  Zhong Yue also took out a spirit herb and took a huge bite on it. He took a moment to think before answering, "The bigger races ... only they have a large enough wealth … Hmm, let’s go to the Bi Fang Celestial Race!”

  For over a month's time, Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er had been gallivanting through the West Barren and stealing the treasures of the celestial races. Soon enough, their actions alerted the West Barren. The many celestial races increased their vigilance and installed layer after layer of protections just to secure their treasures.

  Even so, the Shan Shen Celestial Race's precious treasure — the Colossal Mountain River Pearl — was still stolen by the pair. And the reason why was simple — Zhong Yue disguised as one of the Shan Shen priests, and it so happened that he was tasked by the Shan Shen high priest to look over the Colossal Mountain River Pearl that day.

  …

  “We should stop now.”

  Zhong Yue had stolen the Colossal Mountain River Pearl away from the Shan Shen Celestial Race and found Qiu Jin'er. He sighed and said, "The celestial races are guarding over their treasures too heavily, it will be very dangerous to continue our training now."

  Qiu Jin'er nodded and said, "If we continue training, we won't have enough space to contain the treasures anymore."

  Their Yuan Shen secret realms were filled with countless spirit herbs and pellets. They had plundered a few treasure vaults and taken every soul weapon and material away for themselves, including two magnate-leveled ship and the other many treasures.

  All these while for the past one month, Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er had been eating the spirit herbs like candies. As such, their c
ultivation base had skyrocketed!

  After all, these thousand-year spirit herbs were all the rare and valuable treasures even to the greater celestial races. They were not something ordinary Qi Practitioners could ever hope to use. Even the priest-level figures had to go through a tedious application process despite their vaunted status.

  Yet, Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er just consumed them like common meals, seemingly ignorant of these spirit herbs' values.

  As Zhong Yue had just entered the Heavenly Dharma level, it was just the right time to further strengthen his cultivation base with treasured materials with impunity.

  Qiu Jin'er was the Innate Wood Spirit Body, and so she had a unique advantage in refining and absorbing the energies for her own use, being able to store remnant energy for future use. Thus, her cultivation base rose at a greater rate than Zhong Yue.

  Soon, she would be able to see the peak of her inner core and be ready for the next breakthrough of cultivation level.

  Zhong Yue then brought Qiu Jin'er to the territory of Zhu Jian Celestial Race, and Qiu Jin'er asked, "Senior martial brother, didn't you said we are going to stop training? Why are we here in the Zhu Jian Celestial Race?"

  Rays flitted across Zhong Yue’s eyes as he answered, “This time, we are going to train Zhu Jushan’s wife.”

  Qiu Jin'er was puzzled, but she followed him regardless. The Zhu Jian Celestial Race security had been significantly elevated. They had even invited the Xiao Mang experts to aid them with their keen sense of smell to help identify any intruders.

  The Xiao Mang Celestial Race was also more than happy to oblige by the Zhu Jian Race's request as it never hurt to build a good relationship with the Zhu Jian Celestial Race.

  Furthermore, the Xiao Mang high priest, Feng Xiaozhong, had determined that the same means were used to steal the treasures and the moon core and god. Hence, regardless of who requested their aid, the Xiao Mang experts would definitely lend a hand.

  In front of the Zhu Jian Celestial Race's treasure vaults, there was a mirror that shone upon those that came forward. Clearly, these mirrors were a type of treasure that could unveil an intruder's disguise, if there was any.

  However, although the treasure vaults were heavily guarded, Zhu Jushan's wife was not! After all, the two thieves had only stolen the treasures and who would ever think that they would actually steal a lady this time?

  It didn’t take long for Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin’er to find Zhu Jushan’s wife and knocked her off into a swoon. Qiu Jin’er then hid the lady in her Yuan Shen secret realms, the two of them then slowly stroll away.

  When Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er walked past a celestial temple, an old man was cleaning the temple, sweeping the dust and sand on the ground to the side. Suddenly, Zhong Yue's heart twitched in alertness, and he quickly grabbed Qiu Jin'er's shoulder. He then said in a solemn voice, "Please wait for a second, senior!"

  Before Qiu Jin'er could react to the sudden change, the dust and sand on the ground had blown in their faces. The granular particles suddenly grew bigger, and in just a few moments, they were as big as planets, orbiting around them!

  Everything else disappeared and only the planet and stars were left in their vision!

  A colossal god then came in their view. His size was such that even the planets around him seemed like diminutive balls. They moved past him as they slowly orbited around Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er!

  It was a skill, one that could show the dust and sands in sizes like planets!

  "Little children, it's none of my business, and neither do I care what you have against the other races, but I will not let you two bring away anything from my Zhu Jian Celestial Race, let alone a living being."

  This ordinary old Zhu Jian disciple whose status was just a celestial temple cleaner was, in fact, a god! He was suffused with the godly aura, and his power was beyond their imagination!

  Zhong Yue then answered in a solemnly, "Senior, we come in peace, we have no any ill intent. I dare not lie to your face. I am a close friend of Zhu Jushan. I am not here to steal any treasures from the Zhu Jian Celestial Race. In fact, I am here to help neutralize a threat from the Zhu Jian Celestial Race."

  The god's face was placid, he was unphased by Zhong Yue's words and said, "Go on."

  Zhong Yue then made a gesture to Qiu Jin'er, and the latter then quickly took out Zhu Jushan's wife from her Yuan Shen secret realms. Zhong Yue then said, "She is an insect."

  The god's placid face then finally betrayed an emotion, and he gazed at Zhu Jushan's wife, and it was at this time that she woke up. Zhu Jushan's wife noticed the Zhu Jian god, and her face changed drastically. With a chant, she turned into a mother insect and fled for her life.

  The Zhu Jian god raised his brow, and the mother insect was then held in mid-air, locked on the spot and slowly, her body began decomposing into the tiny particles that became blown away by the gentle wind. Left on the spot was then only the soul of an insect.

  The Zhu Jian god then pinched the insect's soul like a mosquito, and he searched through her memories. A few moments later, he said, "Thank you, little children. This little bug's memory is sealed by an insect god. If I forcibly touched the seal, the skill placed in her will wipe her memories away. Thus, I cannot see this mother insect god's face, do the two of you know anything about her?"

  Zhong Yue then answered, "It just so happens that I know who she is. This mother insect god has been in the West Barren for a long while now. She is now Su Xuan of the Gu Diao Celestial Race. The true Gu Diao Celestial Race has now most probably been destroyed. Those Gu Diao Qi Practitioners that remain now are mostly her descendants."

  “I see.”

  The Zhu Jian god pondered before saying, "You two, the Zhu Jian Celestial Race owes you once. If there is anything you need at all, you can come to me with this broom."

  As he said those last words, the planets returned to small specks of dust and sand, that flew across the ground.

  Cold sweat rolled down from Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er's heads, and they bowed at the old man before leaving immediately. While as that broom the old man was using was given to them, the old man was later leaning against the staircase of the celestial temple, lethargically bathing in the sun like an innocuous old man.

  "Childs, a word of advice from an old man: Stop."

  The old man's voices echoed directly within Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er's ears, "If you continue stealing anything at all, those old fellows of mine will then have to personally come for the two of you."

  A cold chill traveled down their bodies, and they quickly turned and bowed at the old man in gratitude. In the next second, they disappeared across the horizon.

  The old man watched as the two of them disappeared, and he then mumbled, "Insect race … how dare they even try to infiltrate my Zhu Jian Celestial Race. How fortunate that she was spotted early … When did Jushan have such eccentric friends?"

  The moment he had laid his eyes on those two, he could immediately tell that they were the humans. But even so, he did not regard Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er as the humans but referred to them as eccentric friends instead.

  Being called ‘Eccentric friends' by the Zhu Jian god was a rather high evaluation!

  "The human race is showing signs of rising. Maybe … just maybe ... our Zhu Jian Celestial Race can also seize this opportunity to go one step higher."

  The old man took a moment to continue enjoying the sun before tardily standing up, "Gu Diao Celestial Race … it's time to take care of this infestation."

  He then strode toward the Gu Diao Celestial Race, his aura was billowed, and he said frigidly, "Regardless of whether this Gu Diao Celestial Race has been completely overtaken by the insect or not, they will all be vanquished in the godly battle! So, show me what you've got, mother god of the insect race!"

  …

  Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er heaved a breath of relief as they left the Zhu Jian Celestial Race territory. Qiu Jin'er gasped huge breaths of air, and she said, "The gods are way too terrifying. Why
is such a powerful existence sweeping the ground like a lowly janitor?"

  "Maybe that's just what he likes to do?"

  Zhong Yue smiled and said, "Thankfully, this senior god is reasonable, or else, the consequences would be too much to bear."

  Qiu Jin'er nodded and whined, "But now we can't continue with our training anymore. We really do have to stop this time."

  All of a sudden, an explosion of godly aura filled the sky. Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er were shocked, and they quickly looked over. The former's heart skipped a beat, and he mumbled, "The Gu Diao Celestial Race! The Zhu Jian god is fighting the mother insect god!"

  They flew into the sky and looked over. There were two surges of godly auras piercing through the sky, causing the clouds to swirl and disrupting the atmospheric airflow. The two gods were locked in a fierce battle; deep fissures cracked across the ground, and the percussive force of their blows tore the clouds apart. Even the dimension shook as thin and narrow cracks appeared within the void itself!

  The aftermath of their attacks was so terrifying that the nearby celestial temples surged out their godly spirit to protected their respective temples!

  “Is a chain reaction triggering again?”

  Zhong Yue's brow thumped rapidly, and he mumbled, "It's definitely not my fault this time, right?"

  The battle between the two gods reached a fever pitch, and the landscape of the Gu Diao Celestial Race's territory became utterly ravaged as countless Gu Diao experts were vaporized in just a split second. Some Gu Diao Qi Practitioners revealed their true insect forms and tried to escape from the battlefield. Unfortunately, most of them were killed by the residual force of the two gods' attacks!

  The Zhu Jian god attacked with crazed as she showed complete disregard for the well-being of the Gu Diao experts. Even the complete annihilation of the whole Gu Diao Celestial Race would not ever be able to phase him!

  "The Gu Diao Celestial Race ... it is gone for sure." Zhong Yue then mumbled softly.

  Chapter 425: The Kun Peng's Arrival |

  To the gods, even magnate Qi Practitioners were like ordinary beings that could be slaughtered easily, thus, why would he even bother about the lives of the people of the Gu Diao Celestial Race? They were not even his own people.