Rise of Humanity
chapter-321

Beside the headmaster's jade seal was a little cage that was made with exquisite craftsmanship. The cage was enclosed in nine bars that extended from the top to the bottom in a beautifully angled teardrop arc, and it glimmered with a moonlight sheen. Looking from afar, it was as if it were a shining droplet of water.

On this water-droplet-like cage was a sealing incantation charm. The charm had the picture of three celestial dogs surrounding a moon – it was utterly marvelous.

However, this was not what shocked Zhong Yue. What shocked him was the thing that was sealed in this cage — at the center of the cage was a tiny floating altar that seemed like it was a little part chopped down from a big altar.

In the middle of the altar was a little jade pool that was only the size of a washbasin.

In the jade pool were various specters hovered around a blooming lotus. The lotus flower petals emitted a marvelous luster, while the phantoms of the stars and planets orbited above the lotus, and the mountains and seas were dancing around it.

"Saint Spirit…." Zhong Yue's heart palpitated, and his brows undulated as he mumbled.

Elder Pu brought out a Saint Spirit from Swords Gate!

The Saint Spirit was a spirit that had transcended from the level of god to saint – it was even stronger than godly spirits. Zhong Yue had the chance to see a Saint Spirit guarded by the Monster God Ming King underneath East Barren's Xian Kong Saint City. That Saint Spirit was also a lotus, and he even stole the jade liquid from the lotus's jade pool to his considerable benefit, while the Saint Spirit gave him a near-death experience.

However, that Saint Spirit underneath Xian Kong Saint City had yet to ripe, the lotus flower hadn't bloomed, and the one Elder Pu had taken out from Swords Gate was a matured Saint Spirit!

The Saint Spirit was as strong as the gods before someone refines it. Even if Feng Wuji came here in his true self, he wouldn't be able to take it away, let alone his incarnation Elder Pu. How could he have done it?

Zhong Yue looked at the cage and the totem patterns on the sealing charm and thought, This water-droplet cage is suffused with a divine aura, and there are the markings of a god. A god also made this sealing incantation charm. Elder Pu must have used these two items to capture the Saint Spirit, sealing it away with part of the altar! It wouldn't be Xiao Chu-Changshan who gave him these. It must be that Xiao Mang Celestial Race's god that resides in the moon!

Suddenly, a voice traveled from the golden summit down to the sky above Zhong Yue. Jun Sixie said, "Seal Suppression Hall Hall Master, bring the headmaster's jade seal back to me now!"

She didn't leave the golden summit at all; even killing Elder Pu was done from atop the golden summit while casually playing the zither. After all, Zhong Yue had imparted the【Great Boundless Sword Qi】to her, and her cultivation base and strength had made dramatic leaps from that.

Zhong Yue picked up the headmaster's jade seal from the ground and kept the water-droplet cage in his Yuan Shen secret realm. He then walked toward the golden summit of Swords Gate.

“Brat Yue, the Saint Spirit is gone.” Xin Huo suddenly said.

“Gone?”

Zhong Yue was puzzled, he said, “The lotus is right here….”

"The Saint Spirit lives in the lotus, but the lotus is not the Saint Spirit, it is just an embryo that siphons the jade liquids which is made of the other gods' spirits to nourish the Saint Spirit. The moment the lotus blooms is the moment the Saint Spirit matures. The Saint Spirit in this lotus left the lotus when the lotus bloomed; someone has taken it away, leaving behind only the lotus embryo that nurtured the Saint Spirit."

“Someone took it away?”

Zhong Yue frowned, he mulled, "Who can sneak into Swords Gate without anyone of us noticing, even finding the Saint Spirit and taking it away…."

Elder Pu was Feng Wuji's second incarnation, and it seemed like not even Feng Wuji knew what the true Saint Spirit looked like, which was why he only plundered the lotus, while the true Saint Spirit was taken away by someone else.

"Judging from this lotus, it just bloomed not long ago, 20 days at most. Which means that the one who has taken away the Saint Spirit must have entered Swords Gate twenty days ago."

Xin Huo looked carefully, and he said, "Whoever it is, he must have had detailed intelligence about the maturity time of the Saint Spirit. He went into the Swords Gate underground and took away the Saint Spirit before anyone else."

“Twenty days ago?”

Zhong Yue's heart skipped a beat, "That is exactly a day before the incident where the traitors showed themselves and Elder Pu disappeared. However, he must have only found the lotus and altar a few days ago, which means that the Saint Spirit was taken away long before his arrival. Just exactly how did this particular person sneak into Swords Gate? There is the Four Ken Beast that overlooks the Great Wilderness; we would surely have been alerted by it if there were any cultivators of note that infiltrated Great Wilderness. Even if this particular man had eluded the Four Ken Beast's detection, how did he make manage to enter the Swords Gate underground?"

The night before the incident at Swords Gate, it was impossible to infiltrate Swords Gate without being spotted, since during that point in time, the whole of Swords Gate was steeped in tension, and everyone's guards were at their highest!

Sneaking into Swords Gate would have been utterly impossible, so how did he manage to enter Swords Gate and reach its underground?

"What if … he entered the Swords Gate underground without going through Swords Gate?"

Xin Huo contemplated and said, "There is another way to enter from the outside — the Devil Soul Forbidden Land. From the Devil Soul Forbidden Land, he can reach to the giant heart and right above it would be exactly where the altar and Saint Spirit is at. He might have taken this route, and this would explain why he could have avoided intruding into the old headmaster and the other magnates' senses."

"The pool I came out from the Devil Soul Forbidden Land! The seals there were loosened! That is exactly where and how he could have entered without getting noticed!"

Zhong Yue's eyes lit up, but a series of doubts rushed into his mind after as he couldn't believe it. He shook his head and said, "The devil souls and the pseudo beast gods are incredibly strong. Did he really fight his way to the giant heart and break through the flesh walls and reach to the Saint Spirit? Furthermore, a matured Saint Spirit is strong like a god, how did he take it away?"

Xin Huo was also puzzled, and he couldn't think of any reasonable explanations to the questions.

The existence of the Saint Spirit underneath Swords Gate was a secret only known to a handful of people; of the whole Swords Gate, probably only Zhong Yue and the now departed old headmaster knew about it.

Then there was Tian Myriad Mother and Feng Wuji.

All in all, only a few knew about it, and none of them were clear about the Saint Spirit. Someone knew of the Saint Spirit's maturity date, came precisely in time and took it away without anyone knowing a thing at all — this was utterly absurd for one to believe.

"Weird, this is so strange … But the Saint Spirit has been taken away, what use do this altar and lotus have any more?" Zhong Yue said in disappointment.

Xin Huo then replied laughingly, "Then you are making a huge mistake here. If it were me, I would rather have the lotus than the Saint Spirit. The Saint Spirit is nurtured by the spirit of the gods, thousands of celestial gods and thousands of demon gods were killed just for this one Saint Spirit. Just imagine the hatred and resentment these gods had before their deaths, their curses alone are strong enough to kill even a god! Although the Saint Spirit is strong, the curses, hatreds, and resentments of the gods lurked in it. It is very hard to be cleansed, and even an ordinary Qi Practitioner would die by just going closer to it! While this lotus is the embryo that nurtured the Saint Spirit, although it is not as strong, it is free of the negative elements, unlike the Saint Spirit. This lotus can be described as a saint herb and also a divine weapon!"

“Saint herb and divine weapon?”

Zhong Yue startled, Xin Huo did say before that the Saint Spirit contained too much hatred, he was warned to keep a distance away from the Saint Spirit, but Xin Huo's statement that the lotus was a saint herb and a divine weapon was utterly incomprehensible to him.

"Back in the black mountain, the immature Saint Spirit controlled the lotus to hunt after you, the lotus roots nearly penetrated through the void, considering it as a divine weapon is definitely alright, isn't it?"

Xin Huo smiled proudly, "But this saint weapon's biggest use is not to be used in a fight, it's to be eaten! Not you, but your Yuan Shen! This efficacy of this huge tonic will definitely enhance your body until your blood even starts rushing out!"

Zhong Yue was shocked, he said, “Blood rushing out from my body? Xin Huo, is there any hatreds and resentments of the gods in this lotus?”

“I’m only just describing how strong the efficacy of this saint herb is, don’t you be afraid so easily!”

Xin Huo quickly explained, "It's definitely not something common with if it were a saint herb that enhanced the Yuan Shen. Of course, its medicinal efficacy must be unimaginably strong! If you want to cultivate the【Mystic Duplication Technique】quicker, cloning a second and third inner core, and then a second and third Yuan Shen ... This saint herb will come in super handy! Or otherwise, you will have to be like Feng Wuji, spending tens of years to cultivate the【Mystic Duplication Technique】 successfully!"

"Are you sure about the absence of the gods' hatreds and resentments?" Zhong Yue was hesitant, and he asked with obvious diffidence.

“None at all, definitely no!”

Xin Huo assured him, he patted on his tiny chest and said, “Don’t worry, even if there is any, it will be so trivial that it is literally negligible, you will not be affected!”

Zhong Yue didn't fully trust Xin Huo's words, after all, Xin Huo had proven that he could be completely unreliable at times, this was even more so for the times he was especially certain of what he thought the outcome would be. However, the【Mystic Duplication Technique】was nonetheless very alluring to him. Having a second and third inner core and Yuan Shen was incredibly attractive and was worth the risk.

The lotus is within grasp, just as long as the seal charm is taken down, I will be able to consume it. I wonder how far a saint herb can propel my Yuan Shen? His heart palpitated at the prospect of finding.

When passing by the precipice, Zhong Yue looked down and found the flesh meat was distinctly reduced, some of the ancient totem patterns on the mountain body that were once covered by the flesh were now visible. And looking at it now spurred a wave of sorrow to engulf his heart.

These flesh meats have dwindled considerably, meaning that Elder Feng Shouzhu exterminated a significant number of the devil souls and pseudo beast gods, I wonder if he is still alive….

Once Feng Shouzhu entered the Devil Soul Forbidden Land, he would have to face unceasing barrages of attacks from the devil souls and pseudo beast gods. Feng Shouzhu would have to go all out in order to survive in this relentless blood war, and the only time he could rest would be in the afterlife.

Nineteen days since his entrance into the Devil Soul Forbidden Land was a length of time that not even the Feng Shouzhu in his prime days could withstand, let alone the old and withered Feng Shouzhu?

Twenty days ago, that man went into the Devil Soul Forbidden Land, reached to the underground of Swords Gate and took away the Saint Spirit, while Elder Feng Shouzhu entered the Devil Soul Forbidden Land nineteen days ago.

His eyes lit up, and his breath quickened, If that man had stayed longer, Elder Feng might have met with him before … But even if so, Elder Feng is probably dead by now … Would there be any possibility that Elder Feng might still be alive?

Zhong Yue stood on the side of the precipice, he held still for a few moments and suddenly, he gritted his teeth, He summoned an inner hall disciple and handed over the headmaster's jade seal to him, tasking the disciple to deliver the jade seal to the headmaster in the golden summit. He then walked to the edge of the precipice.

“Xin Huo, let’s enter the Devil Soul Forbidden Land again!”

Zhong Yue then leaped down from the high precipice, plummeting through the layers of seals above the precipice before descending into the abyss once more.

“Ha! I've never thought that there will be so many interesting things here in the Ancestral Star. I originally thought that this was such a boring place that not even a bird would bother to take a shit here!" Xin Huo happily said as he stood on Zhong Yue's head.