Rise of Humanity

Chapter 161 - Confrontation

“Senior Martial Brother Zhong, please come in.”

‘Shui Qingyan’ held a warm bright smile and invited Zhong Yue into her cave dwelling without the slightest sign of enmity or hatred. She smiled, “Senior Martial Brother Zhong is really a man of his word, coming in time as he promised. What a scenic night this is, a bright moon and a beautiful partner. Is Senior Martial Brother Zhong getting a little enamored?”

Zhong Yue followed her into her cave dwelling, he raised his head up and indeed, the moon was dangling high in the sky and he could vaguely perceive the landscape on the surface of the moon, it was clear and bright.

Although it held the name of a ‘cave dwelling’, it looked more like a palace. It was not really a cave, but rather a courtyard. It was the early days in the history of humans where they would stay in the caves, but ever since the emergence of the You Chao Clan and the Fuxi Era’s Da Ting Clan, most of humanity evolved from cave dwellers to vast and wide houses.

Her cave dwelling was embellished with beautiful lanterns and the walls were adorned with night pearls. There were also different totem pillars perfusing the surroundings with their colors as the moonlight shone on them — it was truly the courtyard of a young lady. Even in the darkness of the night, it had an inimitably idyllic ambiance.

“What a picture-perfect moon!”

Zhong Yue praised nonchalantly, “There is indeed a bright moon, but maybe not the beautiful partner, whereas enamorment is utterly absurd.”

‘Shui Qingyan’ walked shoulder to shoulder with him as her sweet-scented fragrance wafted their way into Zhong Yue’s nose. Cold rays flashed in her eyes and she said smilingly, “Senior martial brother has taken Junior Martial Sister Xiao Chuqing’s moon spirit, bathing under this spectacular moonlight would be quite beneficial for your cultivation base.”

“Junior martial sister’s words, I don’t understand them at all”

Zhong Yue responded laughingly, “To be honest, talking to the Tian Myriad Mother who is tens of thousands of years my senior, yet acknowledging you as junior martial sister ... quite a novel concept I must admit.”

Words were merely characters one uttered; although he had said so, the expression on his face betrayed nothing.

Their conversations were laden with hidden meanings, directing onto one another — Zhong Yue denied that he killed Xiao Chuqing as he was worried that the young lady possessed some sort of arcane skill that could record his voice, or that there may be some other experts hiding in the shadows, waiting for the chance to accost him once he admitted his guilt.

Suddenly, ‘Shui Qingyan’ chortled, “Senior Martial Brother Zhong is very vigilant, please, take a sit.”

They walked past the pontoons and reached the gazebo in the middle of the pool, a fire burned atop her fingertip as she brewed a pot of tea. Standing up, she poured him a warm cup of tea and said, “There are no outsiders here, our conversation is concealed from the ears of others.”

She smiled coquettishly, “When Junior Martial Sister Xiao’s death news reached back to Swords Gate, I was greatly shocked. I’ve made my way to the celestial messenger and guess what he said? He heaved a breath of relief and rejoiced her death.”

Zhong Yue’s facial expressions shifted slightly, Xiao Chuqing’s death gave rise to a series of difficulties, and yet the celestial messenger hiding in Swords Gate cheered for her death. It was not hard to infer that the celestials were not a unified front. Xiao Chuqing’s arrival had threatened the celestial messenger’s position and hence, he longed for her death.

And more importantly, ‘Shui Qingyan’ told him a very crucial piece of information — that there was a celestial messenger hiding in Swords Gate!

She must have thought that I know all these things already, that’s why she mentioned the celestial messenger. It seems like the celestials have seeped their influence into Swords Gate already.

Zhong Yue thought to himself, Who would this celestial messenger be….

‘Shui Qingyan’ saw his expressions and her heart shook, she instantly knew that she had revealed information that Zhong Yue was never aware of, This brat, the things he knows weren’t as much as I thought. I’ve miscalculated, but he won’t be able to find out more information from my mouth anymore!

Zhong Yue smiled and asked, “Junior martial sister invited me over, this can’t possibly be about the dead Xiao Chuqing right? This celestial race must have some words for me?”

‘Shui Qingyan’ smiled while covering her alluring lips with her hands and said, “His requests are simple — I’ll represent the Swords Gate in the duel with the Xiao Mang Celestial Race while you sit by and watch quietly. And also, Senior Martial Brother Zhong should stay low a little bit more, and be compliant and obedient for a little longer. After all, it is the bird that flies at the front that gets shot down first, and the giant among the men that dies the fastest. As long as a single word about you killing Xiao Chuqing reached to the ears of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race, you will definitely die by their hands with no chance of survival at all. Don’t forget, you are the man that had been to the moon.”

She gazed deeply at Zhong Yue, intentionally emphasizing on the last sentence.

‘The man that’s been to the moon,” this one reason was enough for the Xiao Mang Celestial Race to exert their utmost strength in exterminating him!

All because he has been to the moon and discovering the biggest secret of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race ... it was of the utmost importance!

The disappearance of the moon spirit with the replacement of Xiao Mang Celestial Race great ancestor’s spirit — if the world were to find out about it, it would cause an earth-shaking uproar, and the Xiao Mang Celestial Race’s schemes of tens of thousands of years would vanish overnight!

All these years, the races that paid obeisance the moon were actually strengthening the Xiao Mang Celestial Race great ancestor’s godly spirit. If this nefarious scheme were exposed, no one would continue worshipping the moon and manifest the moon spirit anymore.

Hence, the Xiao Mang Celestial Race can never abide a single word of this matter to be leaked!

“I see.”

Zhong Yue answered bluntly, “I refuse.”

‘Shui Qingyan’ sneered coldly, a flash of killing intent crossed her eyes, “So Senior Martial Brother Zhong is planning to have a life and death struggle? Even if you were to divulge my identity as Tian Myriad Mother to the world, who would believe you? However, if the celestial messenger said out that you’ve killed Xiao Chuqing, you’ll undoubtedly die for sure!”

Rays also flashed in Zhong Yue’s eyes, he replied with a smiling face, “I’ve attained the headmaster’s heritage, I could be considered as a half disciple of the Swords Gate headmaster. My weight that my words now carry are a far cry from before, even the elder council must take it into consideration!”

‘Shui Qingyan’ chuckled merrily and asked, “Alright then, how did you tell that I’m Tian Myriad Mother? And what evidence do you have to prove such statements?”

Zhong Yue’s heart sank, ‘Shui Qingyan’ gazed at his face and noticed his forlorn expression. She suddenly laughed and said, “You have your own secrets, don’t you? It was because of the little secret of yours, that you could realize that I’m Tian Myriad Mother. You want to divulge my identity as the Tian Myriad Mother, but when the world demands you to show evidence, your little secret will be exposed as well, am I right?”

Zhong Yue’s heart sank deeper, This old demon god from ages ago, she is indeed a chore to deal with!

‘Shui Qingyan’ chortled with her jade-like complexion hand covering her mouth, “I’ve long suspected that you’re not the Zhong Shan Clan member anymore, but some other god that took residence in this mortal body. This would explain a lot of your sudden increase in strength and potential. You are unwilling to expose your secrets as well because you are also a god yourself! Well, since you’ve discovered my origin, why don’t you and I be frank and honest to each other …. Just exactly who are you? Show yourself!”

Zhong Yue’s heart shifted, he guffawed and all of a sudden, his voice turned hoarse and wizened, “Little girl, to my surprise, you’ve seen through the cover….”

Then it all changed again, a young and thick voice mixed in, forming an eerie union of two voices speaking together, it was inimitably bizarre, “Tian Myriad Mother, in my face, you are merely just a petty flea. When I was at the prime of my life, I was able to kill countless fleas like you with a pinch of my fingers! My identity and origin is something far more beyond what you can comprehend!”

‘Shui Qingyan’’s heart shuddered greatly, and her face changed drastically as she gazed at him in bewilderment.

There were two sounds interweaving together from Zhong Yue, it was as if there were two men of different ages speaking the same words at the same time. It was not hard for her to infer that it was Zhong Yue’s mortal body and atman speaking at the same time, it was only that his ‘atman’ was way more ancient than his mortal body, which was the cause for such a bizarre situation to happen!

Zhong Yue’s heart was perturbed, while Xin Huo was thrilled in excitement. The interweaving of sounds, one came from Zhong Yue himself, and the other was from Xin Huo as requested by Zhong Yue.

They had done so to scare her, Xin Huo was a ballsy brat who knew no fear. Surely, he felt nothing but joy and excitement. But Zhong Yue was worried that the lady demon god would see through them, and if Tian Myriad Mother realized that he was fooling her, her embarrassment might just drive her to expose him to the world for killing Xiao Chuqing!

If that was the case, the Xiao Mang Celestial Race would pour all their efforts in obliterating him!

“You fooled me!”

‘Shui Qingyan’’s face suddenly changed drastically, the gazebo beneath Zhong Yue’s feet suddenly exploded, the roof was blasted into the sky while the four pillars were launched away. The young lady stood up abruptly and her sleeves flung like giant white pythons towards Zhong Yue’s neck, she sneered coldly, “It’s true you are a god, but you will definitely not be stronger than me! You want to fool me, and yet you didn’t want to reveal your identity? How could it be that easy? Now, show yourself!”

Zhong Yue remained steadfast and flicked his finger over, ‘Shui Qingyan’’s sleeves wobbled, and suddenly —Chi chi— her sleeves were torn apart to unveil her jade-like arms beneath. Scales started to emerge beneath her skin as her arms quickly morphed into two pythons with her palms as the python heads. They opened their mouths wide and lunged at Zhong Yue!

Zhong Yue receded back horizontally with the same posture, while ‘Shui Qingyan’’s arms-morphed pythons followed behind, growing bigger and thicker. Dragon horns suddenly emerged on their heads, suffusing the surroundings with a fierce and dreadful air!

“Fight with me? You’re still too unskilled!”

Manggu—— a loud burst of voice came from Zhong Yue’s throat, he flipped his palms and pressed down heavily, blasting in the air and slamming it onto the python heads, causing the pythons to quiver as if they were shocked by lightnings. ‘Shui Qingyan’ swung her arms and the pythons morph back into her arms. She dashed to his front and manipulated the Sword Cocoon of the Ten Malefic Weapons —Chi chi chi— sword silks flitted in the air and struck over at Zhong Yue!

At the same time, a dark black ray rose from her back, turning into a long pitch-black whip with a tail hook reeking of an awful stench. It latched onto the Sword Cocoon sword silk array formation and targeting at Zhong Yue’s head!

Zhong Yue swayed his body and a shadowy figure emerged on his back and extended its arms out; another pair of wings shining in golden rays flared out as they shot their sword-like to fend off the Sword Cocoon sword silk.His arms moved to grab towards the tail hook.

Hu——

Zhong Yue channeled his strength into his hands and heaved the young lady up and hurled her away. Krong krong krong — one after another, crashing sounds could be heard as ‘Shui Qingyan’ collided into the walls!

This was not the authentic【Monster God Ming King Art】, he had merged the bird-headed winged celestial being form of the Golden Crow with the form of the eight-armed Ming King together, intentionally contorting the two so that his identity as Long Yue would not be exposed.

Zhong Yue followed closely behind, all of a sudden, his heart was alerted — a winter-white elephant trunk thrust out from the crumbled walls —Wongg— the elephant trunk enlarged egregiously into a large sack, sucking him into the elephant trunk!

“Still doesn’t want to reveal yourself? I’ll batter you till you do!” ‘Shui Qingyan’ smirked coldly and said.

Zhong Yue’s wings flared up, he flew into mid-air. The buildings around crumbled and the palace was devastated, the young lady’s four limbs morphed into blade likes sickles while her long trunk swung around and the pitch-black tail hook thrust from her back, to engage him in combat!

“Fighting in close-quarter combats, how will I be afraid of you?”

Zhong Yue morphed into an eight-arm, six-eyed being — both of them were unlike humans, clashing into one another and bringing the buildings around to ruin. In a trice, ‘Shui Qingyan’’s cave dwelling was swept away into a flatland by the aftermath of their battle!

The two of them shifted their movements and positions in the air, clashing over thousands of times. Suddenly, there were sounds of people approaching. One after another, figures flitted in and dashed over from the other cave dwellings — the other Qi Practitioners felt the battle and they too came forward to inspect.

‘Shui Qingyan’ quickly dispersed her Tian Myriad Mother form while Zhong Yue also dispersed the heteromorphisms on his back. The battle was still ongoing but how could ‘Shui Qingyan’ be his match in close-quarters combat without her Tian Myriad Mother form?

Zhong Yue lunged a punch and slammed the young lady onto the ground, quaking the earth and forming a crater that was a dozen feet deep and over a hundred feet in radius. It seemed as if a meteor had fallen from the sky.

“I’ve said, I can kill countless numbers of you with the pinch of a finger!” Zhong Yue reached his hand out and clenched onto the young lady’s neck, lifting her off the ground as he sneered coldly.

‘Shui Qingyan’’s clothes were torn and shabby, abruptly, her legs coiled and curled onto his waist, with a twist, she threw him onto the ground and sneered coldly back at him, “Maybe not!”

“Who is it? Who is there?”

One after another, Qi practitioners flew over, there were flames burning in the air that cast their lights down. What met their eyes was the image of a young man and young lady curled and entangled with one another. Their clothes were torn and shabby. The Qi Practitioners in the air were all stunned, some of the female Qi Practitioners blushed red and shifted their countenance to the sides.

“The big mating bull of the Zhong Shan Clan, Junior Martial Sister Shui has fallen into his evil hands….”

There were male Qi Practitioners mumbling to himself, he was dazed and stupefied. Looking around the surroundings, they could see that it was ravaged and devastated, as if a calamitous battle had just occurred here. Clearly, their actions were especially hot and animated.