Rise of Humanity

Yu Feiyan and Li Xiuniang’s faces changed drastically, they quickly shouted and tried to stop him, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong come back!”

Zhong Yue strode forward at a speed that was even faster than an elite steed, he replied, “If the buck reaches his teacher, none of us will make it out alive!”

The two young ladies watched as he maneuvered like a Jiao Dragon, making his way up to the mountain in a few moments and disappearing from their sights!

“Junior Martial Brother Zhong is trying to buy us some time, otherwise, if the monster Qi Practitioner is alerted, we will all die here!”

Li Xiuniang quickly said, “Immediately catch up with Tao Daier and the others, leave the Beast God Ridge and inform the Swords Gate!”

Yu Feiyan nodded, the two ladies flew into the skies, Yu Feiyan with her pair of wings and Li Xiuniang stepped on the lotus flowers that bloomed beneath her feets, they quickly chased up to the others.

It was not long before they reached up to the other disciples, they all decisively departed out of the Beast God Ridge. Li Xiuniang and Yu Feiyan cast their gazes downwards and saw Zhong Yue closing distance with the buck, the man and beast both clashed for a slight second, but the beast did not want to be entangled in protracted fight; he made a leap again leaving Zhong Yue behind, the blood from his wound sprinkled across the air!

Let’s hope that Junior Martial Brother Zhong can slay the buck before the monster Qi Practitioner is alerted and that he can return back safely… The young ladies prayed in their hearts.

In the woods, the buck was incredibly strong, he fought with Zhong Yue and the unsuspecting trees were crushed away whenever they clashed. It was true that the bigger the body, the stronger the strength, the buck was over 90 feet tall; a single leap could propel him 60-70 feet off the ground and across a few miles of land - he possessed an incredible explosive force!

If it were under normal circumstances, Zhong Yue would not be able to guarantee his odds of defeating the buck, but fortunately, the buck’s previous machinations had inadvertently jeopardized his own chances of surviving his current plight. Moreover, he had suffered from injuries in his attempt to lure Zhong Yue into his trap. These were further compounded by his failure to lure the Swords Gate disciples in initiating an offensive from their end; instead, suffering from the strikes of Li Xiuniang to the point of severe injury - a few broken ribs and skin that was wounded to beyond recognition.

His prowess was seriously impaired, but even so, Zhong Yue did not dare to let his guard down, although the buck was severely wounded, even a worm will turn into a dragon if pushed too far, the buck still possessed the prowess to force a mutual death together with him.

If he was unmindful and careless, he could be faced with an unexpected failure, then it would truly be a great loss!

“Brat Yue, the way he is heading is where the beast god essence is.”

Suddenly, Xin Huo’s voice sounded in Zhong Yue’s psyche ocean, he said, “It seems like the buck’s teacher, who is also the monster Qi Practitioner is trying to break off the beast god seal and take away the beast god essence.”

Zhong Yue’s face stiffened up, “If the Qi Practitioner is in the beast god seal, not only would I be unable to get my hands on the beast god essence, but I will also die in his hands…”

“You underestimate the beast god seal. The beast god sealed its soul and essence so that it will live for eternity, it’s soul will live forever if it was worshipped.”

Xin Huo sneered, “The seal, even if it wasn’t perfect anymore, will still not be that easy to break. Beings like this can place countless perilous seals in its body with a single thought before it dies off. This monster Qi Practitioner is most probably busy breaking the seals, it’s not an easy ride to get to the beast god essence.”

While the conversation was going on, Zhong Yue continued to chase up to the buck, he jumped and landed on the buck’s back, sword rays flashed behind him and the Dragon Scale Sword turned into a streak of lightning that pierced towards the buck’s heart!

Right at this moment, Zhong Yue suddenly fell off from the buck and the Dragon Scale Sword missed its target as the buck suddenly shrunk down to the size of a tall man.

The buck ran upright, he was human-bodied with a buck’s head and legs, wearing a goat fur coat. There was only one goat horn intact on his white-bearded buck head, while the other goat horn was sliced off by Zhong Yue.

“Little bastard, my teacher is just nearby, I swear that you will not die in peace!”

The heavily wounded half-man half-buck monstrous beast threw a final of death glare at Zhong Yue before his legs launched him into the air like a compressed spring, evading the Dragon Scale Sword and thunderous Sword Qi, escaping towards a mountain cliff.

The mountain cliff was like a white curtain that laid down in the middle of nowhere, its appearance was fairly incongruous with the rest of the Beast God Ridge.

If it were Li Xiuniang or Yu Feiyan or the others, they would be surprised as they had never once seen such a blanched cliff the past times they were here in the Beast God Ridge - the cliff had only emerged recently!

But it was Zhong Yue, a man who was never here before, hence he was not surprised, all his focus was concentrated on the escaping buck.

“Teacher, teacher save me!”

Gongyang was surrounded by the thunderous Sword Qi, he ran into the mountain cliff without the slightest slow down in speed nor any hesitation and he cried out for help, “Teacher…”

The buck’s speed was great, if he rammed into the mountain cliff with this speed he would have slammed himself into a lump of crushed meat. Zhong Yue abided it all and the lightning beneath his feet flared-up, his speed became faster and was getting closer to Gongyang.

But just right at the moment Gongyang seemingly collided with the mountain rocks, the mountain rocks blurred as if they were ethereal illusions, allowing the buck to disappear into the mountain rocks.

Zhong Yue’s heart thumped quicker in surprise, he then followed in pursuit, the mountain rocks became magnified to fill his vision as he drew closer to it and prior to the point of collision, the rocks blurred and Zhong Yue passed through smoothly without encountering any obstruction. 𝘧𝔯e𝗲𝙬ℯ𝙗𝓷o𝘷e𝗹.𝐜𝑜𝒎

“Sword Qi!”

Zhong Yue mumbled out, lightning surrounded his body and protected him like a cradle, fending him off from any sneak attacks. He then looked around at the surroundings.

Xin Huo quietly praised in his heart, if it was a month ago, Zhong Yue was still a bold and naive brat, his experiences were not even comparable to Ting Lanyue, Tao Daier and the others, often needing them to point out obvious mistakes. But now, Zhong Yue had matured into an experienced and sophisticated man, his improvements were substantial.

“Ey, what is this place?”

Zhong Yue gazed around, the surroundings were different from the outside; although the mountains were steep and treacherous in the Beast God Ridge, from afar the view was still mesmerizing. However, this place was different, the surroundings were laden with a wicked and nefarious air.

Numerous stone tablets were erected tens of feet high, between them there were various kinds of flora and streams of rivers; often there were also some high platforms in between the stone tablets.

But all of these items were moving, the stone tablets were changing places, the flora was shifting positions, everything was seemingly alive!

The only things that did not move were the high platforms.

The buck had already entered the forest of stone tablets, he was not far away from Zhong Yue and seemed to be very cautious, standing there hesitating to take the next step.

“This should be the beast god seal.”

Xin Huo observed the surroundings through Zhong Yue’s eyes, he said, “All these items, the stone tablets, the floras, the high platforms, they are all the transformation of the beast god’s psyche before it died. Look carefully, these things aren’t moving at all, they are just constantly in a state of flux between disintegrating and reforming.”

“Transformation of psyche?”

Zhong Yue focused his sights on the items, sure enough, he could then see the subtle changes of the items, they were all disintegrating into the purest form of psyche and then reforming itself from the psyche again!

The changes took place in less than a split second, it was hard for the naked-eyes to capture these images. Luckily Zhong Yue had refined his soul with the lightning and his body with the Jiao Dragon, only then could he barely capture these subtle changes, but his current ability did not allow him to closely inspect the full scope of this phenomena.

“Before the beast god died off, it placed the seals with its psyche so that its essence would not disperse, the stone tablets were all carved with totem markings, each and every stone tablets carries a killing potential.”

Xin Huo observed and said, “Because all these things are formed with its psyche, if anyone ever steps into it, the beast god psyche will activate the killing skills on the stone tablets and slay the intruders. Every stone tablet is surrounded by six others, that would then make seven stone tablets together, forming a Seven Slaughtering Array.”

Zhong Yue pondered for a moment, “That said, every stone tablet is a Seven Slaughtering Array? Every Seven Slaughtering Array is different from each other, the ways to break through the Seven Slaughtering Arrays are also different, the same way wouldn’t work on another array?”

“That’s right.”

Xin Huo praised him for his deduction, “But this is merely the appetizer. Look at the high platforms, every high platform is surrounded by forty-nine stone tablets, this would then be another bigger array, it is a medium slaughtering array formed by forty-nine Seven Slaughtering Arrays, linking the small arrays together with it, triggering the small arrays will also trigger the big ones. The small arrays can easily slaughter the Qi Practitioners like pigs while the medium ones can kill people such as Fang Jiange, Zuo Xiangsheng and the like. While there are forty-nine of these high platforms which again form another large slaughtering array. As for this large slaughtering array, Hei-hei, it is even more horrendous, even your headmaster of the Swords Gate will be powerless against it.”

Zhong Yue raised his head and looked around, he said, “There are only forty-eight high platforms.”

“That’s the reason why the beast god essence leaked out.”

Xin Huo was also looking around, he said, “The forty-ninth high platform is still here, but it was shifted away to the underground, probably because there was a disastrous earthquake that took place in the Great Wilderness which lead to the changes of topography right here. Without the forty-ninth high platform, the large slaughtering array couldn’t function anymore and that is why the seal was imperfect. This array is too complex and exquisite, the slightest deviation will lead to more flaws. The connections are linked to each other, once a connection is broken off, so too will the link be broken off. The paths and tracks of the stone tablets will deviate and the array’s power will be impaired. Some stone tablets couldn’t form the Seven Slaughtering Array anymore, giving full access to the intruder. If this is still a complete sealing array, even I will have to crack my head to enter it, but now it is much easier. Brat Yue, I will guide you on ways to enter the sealing array, we will despoil the beast god essence into our own hands!”

“What about the buck?”

“That little sheep just took the wrong step, he is now a piece of moving dead meat.”

Zhong Yue turned to the buck, the stone tablets around Gongyang stopped moving, there was blood flowing out from the stone tablets, the blood started to form markings of various kinds of wicked and strange totem carvings on the stone tablets.

Blood flowed out from seven stone tablets at the same time, the totems on the stone tablets were getting clearer, Gongyang quickly escaped away in terror, but seven gods suddenly appeared out from the stone tablets, they grabbed onto Gongyang’s head and four limbs, a single pull and the buck was dismembered into pieces like a torn ragdoll, devoured away by the seven gods!

The blood on the stone tablets flowed down, the seven gods vanished into thin air and the totem carvings on the stone tablets disappeared along with it.

“You see that? A wrong step and you will end up just like that sheep.”

Xin Huo said proudly, “But with me guiding you, you can easily enter the core of the array without any difficulties!”