Rise of Humanity

Sun Guardian’s face was smashed flat on the floor, only able to move after the ancient ship had rammed past him. He quickly leaped out in anger but found that the thousand-winged ancient ship had already sailed far away.

“King Yi is a daring one to invade our Heaven Court, do not let him escape!”

Countless generals and soldiers joined in the search. Nets were thrown up into the sky to seal the place while many Tian Yan Celestial Race and Tian Ting Celestial Race scrutinized the place for Zhong Yue’s location.

“There!”

The gods were agitated, they swarmed toward the direction pointed to them and shouted, “Bei Dou Heavenly Lord has topped him. He mustn’t be let free!”

Before the gods rushed to the scene, a blurry voice with no emotions asked, “Heavenly Lord, do you know the innate Daos?”

Bei Dou Heavenly Lord sneered, “Idiot! I am an Imperial Emperor, what is there that I don’t know? My innate Dao is the Death Dao. It will take your life!”

Krong!

The gods heard a loud boom and quickly looked up to see a huge ship smashing down on Bei Dou Heavenly Lord. The old man was coughing blood out of his mouth while on the deck, stood an absentminded young man. He was shouting in anger, “You liar! You don’t know anything!”

The huge ship pushed Bei Dou Heavenly Lord on the bottom while it sailed forward and rammed past the countless heavenly generals and heavenly soldiers.

“Zhu Shi Celestial Lord, do you know the innate Daos?”

“King Yi, stay if you still have any guts! I will show you the divine pen I’ve forged with my innate Dao! It is a treasure that writes history… You little shit, get down of the ship now! What kind of hero are you to rely on the ship’s power? Oh my… I’ll stop him from the bottom of this ship. You people, quickly notify Her Majesty!”

…

The heavenly generals and heavenly soldiers were in turmoil, scattering all over the place to search for Zhong Yue.

The Heaven Court was extremely vast, it would take a long time to travel from one end to the other. But Queen Goddess was quick to receive the news. She was shocked and personally led the gods to capture Zhong Yue. But when she arrived at the scene, Zhong Yue was already long gone.

“Useless, worthless, pieces of trash! How did all of you let a mere Deity Emperor in and even allowed him to cause such a ruckus for so long!”

Queen Goddess was angered, she screamed, “What are you waiting for? Find him!”

The ruckus continued for a long time, but they still couldn’t find Zhong Yue.

…

At the end of Heavenly River, a huge nose appeared in front of the thousand-winged ancient ship. It belonged to a giant turtle. Its eyes were bright like the burning suns.

It said with the pair of eyes filled with curiosity, “Fuxi, you are looking for me?”

Zhong Yue bowed, he asked, “Senior, do you know the innate Daos?”

“I am formed from the innate Daos, how would I not know?” The giant turtle was enormously huge, it smirked and answered, “I heard the ruckus you’ve caused in the Heaven Court. You were asking them if they knew the innate Daos. What a joke, how would they?”

Zhong Yue’s thoughts returned to him, he was bestirred and quickly bowed again, he pleaded, “Senior, please enlighten me.”

The giant turtle who was also an ancient Deity King swam toward the origin of the Heavenly River. It smiled, “Don’t call me senior. They all address Earthly Sovereign as King Xiang, you can call me that too. Follow me to my cave, I’ll explain it to you.”

Zhong Yue quickly cast the ancient ship to follow behind. At the origin of the Heavenly River, there was a huge cave that appeared in front of them where star sands compressed from stars were flowing out from the cave.

When they entered the cave, he found them arriving in a vast space with a clear and transparent sky.

“This was where I once tried to open up a new world but failed. The failure wounded me greatly and so I set up my cave in here. The Heavenly River is what is left behind from the failure to open the new world.”

King Xiang smiled, “It was an era of chaos, war was everywhere. The failure had left me severely wounded. But fortunately, Lei Zhe and Pao Xi came to rescue me. To repay Monarch Pao Xi’s debt, I gifted him with the Heavenly River. He used the Heavenly River to guard the Imperial Star and started the Earth Order Era.”

Zhong Yue was greatly shocked as he stared blankly at the giant turtle. He had heard of the legends before. The Heavenly River was the remainder of an ancient expert’s attempt to open a new universe. But he never thought that that ancient expert would be King Xiang.

Moreover, he never knew this ancient Deity King would have such a deep relationship with the Fuxi Clan.

“Here is the right place for you to come. If you ask the other innate Deity Kings about the innate Daos, they wouldn’t even look an eye at you. But if you ask me, I will tell you all about it.”

The old turtle was excited, he said, “Listen carefully as I explain it to you.”

He opened his mouth but was puzzled as no voice was coming out from his throat. The old turtle hesitated for a second, then he opened his mouth again but soon forgot what he wanted to say again.

Zhong Yue waited for a few moments while old turtle King Xiang was still opening and closing his mouth without saying a word.

“Dao is just right inside of my mind, but I’d forgotten about it the moment I wanted to say it. How strange, how bizarre!” King Xiang apologized, “Perhaps, Great Sui’s divine language is unable to elucidate the innate Daos. I will use the Dao language to explain it to you.”

He opened his mouth again but still couldn’t say a word.

Moments later, the old turtle was disappointed, he said, “Even the Dao language cannot elucidate the true innate Daos. I wanted to tell you about it, but I didn’t know how to explain. It was just in me, but I couldn’t seem to remember what I wanted to say when I opened my mouth. The innate divine language is the language of the old gods, but I’m afraid that even the innate divine language couldn’t elucidate the true innate Daos.”

Zhong Yue was let down while old turtle King Xiang pondered, “Maybe, only through the psyches, can I impart my knowledge of innate Daos to you. Open yourself and receive my psyches!”

His psyches rumbled, it was incredibly abundant like the cosmos itself.

Zhong Yue’s psyche reached out to his psyche but still couldn’t find any information getting transmitted to him.

Old turtle King Xiang grew irritated, “I wanted to tell you, but I just couldn’t. What is going on?”

“Dao cannot be spoken?” Zhong Yue was dumbstruck, then he murmured.

King Xiang was startled, he repeated, “Dao cannot be spoken?”

Zhong Yue nodded, “Dao cannot be spoken, what can be spoken is not Dao. If one forces it, the innate Daos will become the postnate Daos. Be it the Dao language or divine language, or even the totem patterns, they can only elucidate the superficial surface of the innate Daos. It cannot be taught, it cannot be learned, it can only be understood.”

King Xiang’s body morphed into a bald old man with white brows and a turtle shell on his back, he said, “A Fuxi once said it before. He was here to see me, to learn my innate Daos. I taught him what I knew and he said it was only the surface that could be learned, the true Dao has to be understood. This Fuxi’s monarch appellation was Hao Yi. Little Fuxi, what you seek, I cannot teach you.”

His white brows waved as the wind breezes, he mulled and continued, “Maybe, the postnate living beings’ cultivation needs a new breakthrough from the totem pattern cultivation system. Someone has to step up and achieve what Great Sui and Dao Venerate couldn’t—the last and final step that shatters the line of separation between innate and postnate. Understand this, and you will be a postnate innate god; failure to do so, you will still end up a pile of bones in the future no matter how far you manage to walk in your life.”

Zhong Yue was startled, he dove into his own thoughts. There was an obstacle that stopped his progression, but his own ability was incapable of breaking through it.

“Great Si Ming said the postnate living beings are already guilty the moment they laid their eyes and looked up to the skies. That’s why they were eternally punished with life and age, death and sickness. There seem to be some other meanings in his words…”

He was murmuring as he thought. He felt himself getting close to the truth, but the fog clouding his mind was still there, he couldn’t see what was covered behind it.

“Feng Xiaozhong said the souls and spirits are nothing more than measures used to pursue powers, but these powers were only on the surface not the core. He said the totem patterns are the same…”

“Why did Great Sui create the totem pattern cultivation system? Why pursue only superficial knowledge? How does one get to the core and true essence?”

“There are countless Daos and even more skills, but what is the core of it all?

“Dao Venerate Fu Min’s prowess was already as strong as a Dao God, but why can’t he still break free from the restrictions?”

…

He hurled out question after question, but none of these questions he could answer. King Xiang saw him questioning so much and slowly going crazy about it, he quickly shouted, “Little Fuxi, don’t force for Daos!”

Zhong Yue was still unaffected while his questions grew even more and harder to answer, “Why are the ancient Deity Kings learning the totem pattern cultivation system? They are already the Daos themselves, so why still learn the clearly inferior totem patterns?”

“Since the totem patterns are created to imitate them, why are they imitating themselves?”

“Are they trying to surpass themselves and become Dao Gods? But how?”

“Why are they breeding fish? Why are they fishing for them? What are they trying to do? What are they asking for?”

King Xiang’s bald head listened to the questions, he shouted, “When Fu Min, Hao Yi, and the others came to see me, they’ve never questioned so much, so why are you questioning so much? Why have you still not realized it?”

He shouted with the Dao language, trying to awaken Zhong Yue from his thoughts. Zhong Yue shuddered but still remained lost in his thoughts, he continued murmuring, “Why are the innate gods born from the innate sacred grounds with limitless lifespans? Why are the postnate living beings born from reproduction with limited lifespans?”

King Xiang couldn’t answer any single of it, he shouted in anger, “Because we are Daos!”

“Aren’t we all, aren’t the postnate living beings Daos also?”

Zhong Yue was puzzled, “I’ve watched the toads before, there have the Dao in their eyes; I’ve watched turtles before, they also have Daos in their eyes.”

“I’m the turtle born from heaven and earth, look into my eyes.” King Xiang was raging as he showed his true form, he said in his hoarse voice, “Look, look at my eyes! Are they any different from the little turtles you’ve observed?”

Zhong Yue looked at King Xiang’s eyes, he said, “No.”

King Xiang picked him up and said angrily, “Go wake yourself up in the river!”

Zhong Yue, who was picked up in midair, looked up and asked, “Is the whole cosmos an innate sacred ground?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” King Xiang randomly answered. He planted Zhong Yue in the origin of the Heavenly River and said, “I’ll plant you here and see if you can grow into an innate god?”

A thought crossed Zhong Yue’s mind, he murmured, “If the whole cosmos is an innate sacred ground, then why are we postnate living beings not formed from Daos?”

“Yes, yes, yes, you are all also formed from Daos.” The old turtle once again gave a random answer. Then, he dug up a pile of star sands and covered Zhong Yue’s body, leaving only his head exposed.

“Then why can’t we live eternally? Is it because we’ve imitated you? Yi Dao, then what is not Yi?”

“There you go again!” King Xiang returned to his cave, he laughed and answered, “Great Sui opened the Yuan Shen secret realms to borrow the powers of heaven and earth, to borrow the powers of Daos, to borrow the powers of gods, you should go ask Great Sui! Why did he create the Dao Yi Secret Realm, Yin Yang Secret Realm…”

“Dao Yi?”

Zhong Yue was bestirred, the star sands around him exploded away and he murmured, “Dao Yi… Why is it called Dao Yi?”

King Xiang stopped, he turned back and pressed Zhong Yue’s head down. He dug up another pile of sand and attempted to bury Zhong Yue again while Zhong Yue quickly shouted, “King Xiang, stop, stop! I know now! It’s the Dao Yi, it’s Dao Yi! There are countless Daos and even more skills, but they are all just one, one Dao! It’s Dao Yi! King Xiang, dig me out, I understand now!”

King Xiang stopped, he asked, “Understand what?”

Zhong Yue said in excitement, “It’s the Dao Yi, it’s Pan Gu! I think, I will have to smite my spirit away and take my soul as the spirit. Once my spirit and mortal body have coalesced, I will be innate!”

“What rubbish is this, smite your spirit away and you’d be dead!” King Xiang shook, he buried Zhong Yue with the star sands and slapped on the sands to solidify them.

Then, he turned and left while murmuring, “I will not play crazy with you. Your questions have caused me a headache. You can do the thinking on your own. I will dig you out once your mind is right again. Hmm, I’ll let it accompany you.”

He took out a Gui Tree from his cave and planted it beside Zhong Yue, he said, “Take your time with your crazy musings.”