Rise of Humanity
chapter-364

The wooden boat flew at high speed, but the Bo Xun's head was even faster. The distance between him and the wooden ship was drawing a thousand miles nearer with every second, and when Shura and the others looked back, their souls nearly flew out of their bodies from the terror.

“Ten, nine, eight, seven….” In Zhong Yue’s psyche ocean, Xin Huo was counting down leisurely.

What is this Xin Huo doing? At this time of life and death, how can he still have the mood to count numbers?!

Zhong Yue was puzzled and continued to power the wooden boat with all his might. The little flame had counted down from ten, and he became startled the count went down to zero.

Then, the little flame hopped into the air in anxiousness and said, "Strange, how is it not turning back to the stone? His injuries are severe, and by right, he shouldn't even have been able to sustain for so long! Oh owh, this doesn’t look so good!”

"Xin Huo, you are saying that the Bo Xun's head will petrify back to the stone mountain, that's why you are so insouciant?" Zhong Yue implored.

Xin Huo nodded and answered, "If he doesn't turn back to stone now, he will die forever as even his last remnant, the scattered spirit will be vanquished into nothingness. I've counted from ten to zero, and I thought that he would petrify once I reached zero, but who knew that this brat is still holding on. How presumptuous, how dare he go against my will, shaming me in front of you. Wait for me, I'll count down from ten again. Ten, nine…."

Zhong Yue shook his head as he was used to the fact that the little flame would sometimes plunge into a mentally impaired state. He surmised that the Bo Xun's scattered spirit could last longer as he had eaten the nine demon gods and the Heavenly Saint Demon Embryo. The pure energy in them had supplied and sustained him for a longer period of time!

The wooden boat was flying faster in an attempt to swing the tail away, but Bo Xun was drawing nearer. Cold sweat sized like green beans rushed down their foreheads as the giant skull was only a distance of ten miles away from them.

Hu——

The skull opened his mouth, and the dimensional space collapsed into the center of his mouth. The wooden boat that was flying ten miles away from him stalled for a split second before it was uncontrollably sucked back into the Bo Xun's mouth!

Alongside the wooden boat was the mountains on the side, these seemingly immovable mountains crumbled like tofu as Bo Xun's mouth inhaled them!

The feeble wooden boat was sucked into Bo Xun's mouth, and his sharp teeth clenched down toward them.

"Our end is near…." The crowd on the boat sighed in hopelessness.

Even the insouciant Xin Huo turned anxious, he had just counted to five and suddenly, a loud rumbling sound ravaged their ears, and the teeth stopped above them. It only slightly pierced into the two taller men's scalps – Shura and Zhong Yue.

The suction force disappeared, and a few mountains were lunged over at the Bo Xun's head due to the inertia and were crushed into pieces upon coming into contact with it.

The crowd on the boat were waiting for the god to death to take their lives, and yet, those sharp teeth never delivered on their morbid expectations.

"I … I think … he, he, he … he has turned - turned back into … the, the stones…." Shura's teeth quivered as he barely managed to utter a sentence. As the grand ancestor of the Shura Saint Clan, and an ancient demon god of the past, Shura felt embarrassed, but couldn't help himself from the fear that caused him to stammer in speech.

Zhong Yue pulled his head away from the sharp teeth and walked out of the wooden boat with his face painted red with his own blood. He flew out and looked back; plumes of dust billowed up from the was the shattered mountains debris, and Bo Xun's head was now petrified back to a stone mountain.

"I haven't even counted to one yet…." Xin Huo's voice was also quivering.

“Bo Xun?” Zhong Yue looked at the stone mountain and whispered.

"Brat Yue, are you looking to die!" Xin Huo growled. Evidently, even the little flame was shocked by the near-death experience.

The petrified head was unmoving, and Zhong Yue heaved a breath of relief, he then called Bo Xun for another few more times, but the stone mountain remained still.

Zhong Yue eased his unsettling heart and thought, Bo Xun might have really died of the severe injuries.”

The crowd on the wooden boat were all still in shock, and they all flew out from Bo Xun's mouth. They flew over to Zhong Yue and looked back at the giant mountain while their hearts still thumped heavily.

"The Black Well Keep is gone, as well as a few tens of thousands of Qi Practitioners, over hundreds of Inner Core Qi Practitioners, dozens of Heavenly Dharma Qi Practitioners, and thirteen magnates disappeared along with it."

Xiu Hongsu mumbled in stupefaction, "What did we do for such a calamity befall the demon race…."

The losses were so high that even the ordinary wars between the two races wouldn't have brought about such a catastrophic outcome. Too many demons had died, way too many; even the demon concubines and court ladies that followed Demon Saint had all died with only Demon Queen narrowly escaping death!

Meanwhile, around ten of the court ladies that were following Zhong Yue were also killed, Tian Mo Concubine's brother would most probably be dead during the Triad Ritual along with some other young and talented demons.

Among the demon race's Ten Talents, other than Demon Saint, Xiu Hongsu, and Zhong Yue, the others were all sacrificed in the ritual and of those that have entered the Heavenly Demon Secret Realm, only Demon Saint and Demon Queen, in addition to Zhong Yue, Shura and the crowds survived.

However, Sha Qishan was an uncertainty. He was, after all, a magnate cultivator, but given the power of the Triad Ritual, the odds of his survival were nigh negligible.

In just a trip into the Heavenly Demon Secret Realm, the demon race had taken such a devastating blow unlike any they had suffered in recent memory. The Ten Talents of the demon race were all potential magnates, and even the demon concubines had potential to be important pillars of strength to the demon race. But now, merely a handful of them was left.

“We survived….”

Ji Xiang Concubine heaved a long breath of relief, and she let herself fall freely to the ground in a manner unbecoming of a woman of her stature. But she chuckled nevertheless on the ground and said, "We lived!"

Kacha——

Just as she leaned her back on the head-like mountain, the sounds of stones cracking could be heard, and Ji Xiang Concubine's hairs bristled up while she lunged forward like a shocked rabbit. Tian Mo Concubine, Shura, Zhong Yue, and everyone else withdrew back as far away as they could, and their faces turned pallid.

Kacha … Kacha …. Kacha——

More sounds came from the inside of the mountain, and the crevices started to emerge on the surface of the saint mountain. The cracks were getting greater in number – they were bigger, wider, and longer.

All of a sudden, a sharp symphony of cracking sounds blasted into their ears and the whole mountain, the petrified head of Bo Xun, crumbled into pulverized rock. They spread across the floor for over a distance of two hundred miles. While in the midst of the crushed rocks, a white and chubby little child stood up and looked dumbfoundedly at them.

The boy child had a pretty face and was only a foot tall, his eyes were pitch black, and he sported light jade-like complexion.

They were all stunned at the sudden emergence of the young child, and suddenly, Zhong Yue exclaimed out in shock, "The Heavenly Saint Demon Embryo!"

A thought flashed across his mind when he saw the young child. The Heavenly Saint Demon Embryo was eaten by Bo Xun and by the looks of it, it hadn't been digested, but instead, Bo Xun had hidden it away for something grander scheme — his resurrection! The Heavenly Saint Demon Embryo was the perfect vessel for him to infuse his scattered spirit and power into it so that he could be revived from the Heavenly Saint Demon Embryo!

The young child looked at Zhong Yue, and an expression of fear climbed onto his fair countenance. He then let out a shrill cry and ran away at a deceptively fast speed!

They all lunged forward in pursuit of the young child, but how could they catch up to him? The young child's figure flashed across their eyes like a blur, and in just the blink of an eye, he had disappeared from their sights. One could infer just exactly how fast he was!

Why does he fear me?

Unlike his peers that chased after the young child, Zhong Yue stood still and mulled over the matter, Is he not Bo Xun? Xin Huo said that Bo Xun's scattered spirit couldn't be revived easily due to the severe injuries he suffered, and a rash attempt at resurrection will only lead to his death. So, when he infused what was left over of him into the Heavenly Saint Demon Embryo, does it result in his resurrection or the birth of a new life?

This young child that emerged from the Heavenly Saint Demon Embryo was clearly not entirely unrelated for Bo Xun as he carried certain parts of the Bo Xun scattered spirit in him. He remembered Zhong Yue's aura, and he also knew that the last Xin Huo inheritor killed Bo Xun. Thus, he had equated Zhong Yue to that inheritor that killed Bo Xun, which would explain his seemingly irrational the fear."

Bo Xun is not the Heavenly Saint Demon Embryo….

Zhong Yue was startled, and he suddenly laughed loudly with joy.

Demon Saint's Triad Ritual was stopped, and he would never be able to sniff the heights he once reached in his previous life, let alone surpass them. In addition to Bo Xun's confirmed death, these were all events worthy of celebration to him!

As for that young child, that wasn’t related to him anymore.

Although the calamity had passed, and the aftermath remained unresolved. Demon Saint's Triad Ritual had resulted in the death of tens of thousands of demon Qi Practitioners. In addition to the eight magnates from the eight saint clans and also the dragon race's five elders; these would undoubtedly cause an uproar in the whole demon race. There would be no place that would welcome Demon Saint in the Eight Barren anymore!

The eight saint clan themselves held grudges against Demon Saint since time immemorial, but they didn't dare to act upon these grudges as he was regarded as a saint to the demon race. However, as Demon Saint had now overtly conspired against his own people, sacrificing a countless number of his peers for his own benefit, he was now wholly vilified by the entire demon race. It was now no longer an issue for the saint clans to openly act on their grudges in light of Demon Saint's new reputation.

A bounty was now on Demon Saint's head, and he had now lost all of his supporters. The whole demon land was hunting for him, and every day he remained in the Eight Barrens would be another day he was faced with the possibility of capture!

Even if he left the demon race Eight Barrens, he wouldn't be able to live an enjoyable life in the outside world either. After all, the celestial and demon were perennial rivals, and thus, the celestial land was not an option, and neither was the dragon race. Wherever he went, his situation would still be the same as if he were to stay in the Eight Barrens!

"Demon Saint is now wasted!" A demon magnate remarked.

As for the currently running Heavenly Saint Demon Embryo, all of the demon experts were searching every corner of the Eight Barrens in search of him, but ever since his disappearance, no one had ever seen him before, and no one knew where he was.

While at the location where the Black Well Keep was, in the ocean of demon fire and godly fire, magnates were plundering the many treasures that were in it.

Zhong Yue was embraced by the eight saint clans as their most celebrated guest, and they all invited him over to banquets and feasts almost daily. The eight saint clans knew very well that he was ranked high among the Ten Talents and that he was able to fight with Demon Saint without being defeated. Now knowing that his future was bound to be bright, they wasted no time in clamoring to build good relations with him and if possible, tempt him to join their saint clan through various enticements.

All of a sudden, at the height of the festivities around Zhong Yue, Demon Saint had released a bombshell — Mo Luo was not a demon, but in fact, a celestial. He had practiced a cultivation technique that could unite both celestial and demon as one, and that he was nothing more than a celestial spy planted in the demon race.

The Bo Xun behind Mo Luo was also non-existent. Bo Xun was the name of the Creator, and when Mister Mo Luo called for Bo Xun, he was, in fact, calling for the awakening of the Creator!

His words have shaken the demon world, and instantly, many demons began to realize it as well. Zhong Yue could feel the demons around were starting to get colder, they were getting a little anxious about the leaked news, and some experts began watching him closely, hiding their killing intents behind amicable appearances.

In comparison to Demon Saint, he was also a huge threat that was no smaller than the Demon Saint. If not, then greater. If he were proven to be a celestial instead of a demon, the demon experts would try to take him down with even greater fervor than Demon Saint!

As the saying goes, ‘Those who are not our kin are sure to be of a different heart!’

However, before the eight-saint clan processed the news, another shocking news came — Demon Saint now formally challenges Mister Mo Luo into a death battle, ten days from now in the Desolation City!

Demon Saint has exposed my identity, this is to be expected, but whether or not Bo Xun is the Creator would only be mere conjecture on his part. However, regardless of whether or not he knows the truth, letting out such news would erase any credibility that I had Bo Xun as my backer.

In the Fiend Capital, Zhong Yue was surrounded by the ladies while his face turned gloomy while in thought, But if I don’t accept his challenge, the eight saint clans will work themselves to prove my identity as a demon! This brat, Demon Saint is forcing me into a challenge with him, trying to seek revenge from me as I’ve stopped his Triad Ritual!

Zhong Yue's face turned solemn, and he mulled over it for a few moments before saying, "Tian Mo Concubine, spread the word. I accept Demon Saint's challenge of a death battle. I will see him in the Desolation City ten days later."