Rise of Humanity
chapter-417

Feng Wuji and the others all trembled in fear. The emergence of the Xiao Mang Celestial Race's old ancestor caused tensions to rise tremendously as all the clans to tense up and release all the strength they had hidden in reserve. The situation had reached a tipping point, and with the slightest agitation, things could easily spiral out of control!

But what caused Feng Wuji and the others from his clan to tremble even more was that the Xiao Mang grand ancestor willfully scanned through the territories of the other clans with blatant disregard!

Searching through the land of the other clans was equivalent to an invasion, and when this happened, it was usually nothing less than a direct act of war!

Cold sweat dripped down their foreheads as they all trembled in fear.

If war erupted, they would be nothing more than ants in a hot pan filled with burning oil; they would have no chance of surviving this chaotic war among gods!

However, what surprised them most was that the gods of the various clans out there restrained themselves from declaring war. Perhaps it was all because the Xiao Mang grand ancestor only went so far as scanning their land but not their celestial temples too. It seemed he was aware of the other grand ancestors' bottom line and knew that it was something shouldn't cross.

Every clan had their secrets, and the most secret and sacred of these secrets were sheltered by the celestial temples. The core secrets were all hidden within their celestial temples, and if the Xiao Mang grand ancestor dared to search them, the gods and spirits of the many clans out there would definitely declare war against the Xiao Mang Celestial Race!

If that were to happen, then even someone as strong as the Xiao Mang grand ancestor would not be able to survive.

Time passed quickly, but to Feng Wuji and the others, it passed excruciatingly slowly.

Although it all seemed like a marvelous spectacle to behold, to everyone on the Ancestral Star, it felt as if they had partially stepped into the gateway to the afterlife.

After a long time, the Xiao Mang grand ancestor looked away, and his enormous body descended back into the sacred mountain.

As he dove back into the mountain, the collapsed celestial palaces' debris floated in the air and combined together to return to the state before they were destroyed.

With the Xiao Mang grand ancestor disappearance, the gods and godly spirits also followed suit to return to their resting places.

They were the strongest existences by far and the core of the chain reaction. With them gone, the awakened godly spirits and divine weapons floating on the top of the many celestial temples dispersed their power and went back into slumber.

First, it was the West Barren that returned to calm, then the east, north, south, followed by the Great Wilderness and finally, the dragons.

After the dragons were the eight demonic barrens.

With that, everything soon returned to normal, and things quietened down again.

Relieved and with sweat soaking through their clothes, Feng Wuji and the others struggled to get back up on their feet as they felt devoid of strength.

“Wuji, come and see me.”

A message entered Feng Wuji's mind as the Xiao Mang grand ancestor's psyche entered it.

Immediately, Feng Wuji entered the supreme celestial temple, then the tunnel behind the stone wall and as he got to the space underground. He asked respectfully, "What is with the anger, grand ancestor?"

"There's a thief that stole the moon core and spirit," replied the grand ancestor as his body slowly turned into stone.

If Zhong Yue were here, he would undoubtedly be greatly shocked as the Xiao Mang grand ancestor's situation was somewhat similar to Bo Xun's – both of them attempted to preserve the life force in their body!

What was different between the two was that Bo Xun was an innate demonic spirit; his body was his spirit which could live on eternally, while the Xiao Mang grand ancestor's body and soul were two separate and distinct entities. Just from that, the Xiao Mang grand ancestor would never become an innate god.

But after taking over the moon, he placed his Yuan Shen in the moon, replacing the moon spirit to receive the worship of the living beings instead. This was all for the chance to ascend into an innate god.

But that was just a probability, and not even the grand ancestor could guarantee that he would succeed as no one had ever done this before.

Thus, he would still have to siphon everything from the moon god and with that, he might be able to ascend as an innate god.

Even if he couldn't, he could still use the immortal characteristic of the innate god to maintain the life force of his body to prevent it from dying.

However, his plans were foiled with Zhong Yue robbing him of his moon core and moon god.

And the worst part was that when the moon god fully ascended to an innate god, the grand ancestor would definitely be in trouble!

Being targeted by an immortal innate god was definitely not a happy thing to happen!

Besides, the one in the moon was not the moon spirit but his Yuan Shen. If this were to become known to the outside world, no one would worship the moon again!

Without being able to siphon the power he needed from the moon spirit and being worshipped by the living to sustain himself, he would not be able to last for long!

Even after petrifying himself in stone, his voice could still be heard in the underground as he said, "I looked around everywhere just now, and I couldn't locate the thief at all. I need you to help me trace this thief!"

The news greatly shook Feng Wuji as even after he noticed the disappearance of the moon core and moon spirit, he never once thought that they were stolen!

Come to think of it, everything was due to the thief that stole the moon core and moon spirit. Because of that, the Xiao Mang grand ancestor had to scan through everywhere, almost bringing about a massive disaster!

That thief that stole the moon core and moon spirit was definitely brave, to say the least!

"This thief left small traces behind, and I still couldn't discover his traces after searching everywhere."

"But as long as this thief dares to take out the moon spirit or moon god, he will definitely be discovered by Qi Practitioners that possess moon spirits, and with that, we will be able to locate him! I want you to summon all the disciples with moon spirits to sense the presence of the moon core and moon spirit. If there are any movements, notify me immediately!"

With hesitation, Feng Wuji asked, "Grand ancestor, how should I contact you?"

The three-headed Pan Ao rock statue vibrated at Feng Wuji's question, and a god fang flew out and landed on Feng Wuji's palm.

"With this god fang, I will be immediately notified when you activate it. Tell me where the location of the thief and I will kill that thief straight!"

“But grand ancestor, what if this thief ran far away….”

“I will be able to kill the thief as long as he is still under the shine of the moonlight!”

After that, silence shrouded the surroundings while Feng Wuji walked away with the god fang as he thought, Who has such guts to steal the possession of our Xiao Mang Celestial Race? Not even a god can infiltrate our supreme celestial temple without being noticed. This thief must be a master of disguise. But it should be almost impossible to hide from our senses … Besides, Sha Qishan is here as well; his smelling ability is the strongest in the sea so he should be able to do quite well on the ground as well. But even he failed to detect anything. Wait, Xiao Chuzheng's words ... was he trying to lure me away?

He stopped walking as coldness filled his body. Someone disguised as Xiao Chuzheng had managed to hoodwink him and Sha Qishan and lure them away while he entered the celestial temple to stole the moon core and moon god!

After getting out of the supreme celestial temple, Feng Wuji checked around carefully, and the more he checked, the more shocked he become as he couldn't find out how the thief managed to infiltrate and leave the celestial temple so easily!

The thief that stole the moon core and moon god left literally no traces behind!

It seems like the only way to find him is to order the Qi Practitioners to sense the moon core and moon god! This is the only way! As soon as he took out the moon core and moon god, his location will be exposed!

He then thought again, The moon core and moon god has nothing to do with me, but I have already gained something incredible. This god fang is a very precious godly weapon!

Meanwhile, Zhong Yue rushed towards the Great Wilderness quickly, and once he reached Lian Yun Mountain Ridge, he opened up his secret realms to let Gu Hongzi out. Zhong Yue then said in excitement, "Senior martial brother, don't you think that we should go and steal something from the other races? I am very familiar with the demons' land! There's also the monsters' land that you are familiar with! Together, we can steal all of their precious items!"

Gu Hongzi, however, turned around and walked away as he said, "No thanks, you are too bold. I am afraid my luck will soon run if I stick with you!"

Zhong Yue then quickly appealed, "Senior martial brother, please hold on!"

He then said again, "The giant female insect turned into one of the Gu Diao Celestial Race called Xuan Su. You must be careful of her. She can't find me because she doesn't know my real identity, but she knows about you so she will definitely come for you."

Gu Hongzi's heart tightened for a second, and he suddenly said with a laugh, "It is actually an honor to be pursued by a god, even if that god is an insect. Don't worry, she can't catch up to me, and she can't kill me!"

He then flew away, and his voice echoed out, "I'd rather be pursued by a god then go on an adventure with you! Junior Martial Brother Zhong, listen to me, don't cause any more trouble!"

Embarrassed, Zhong Yue scratched his head and murmured, "I'm pretty sure that I am not that scary, so why so afraid of me? Am I right, Xin Huo?"

In his psyche ocean, Xin Huo nodded and said, "Isn't he a little bit too cowardly? I think you did quite a decent job. I am very fond of you!:

Immediately, Zhong Yue's heart thumped, and he thought, Hang on ... if even the crazy Xin Huo approves, then I really must have been acting way too dangerously. Shao Hao Bell told me that not to be influenced too much by Xin Huo. Can it be that I have already failed to heed his advice? It seems like I have to be more careful and keep a lower profile next time. But why can't I seem to lay low even if I want to?

And what should I do about the moon core and the lady in the moon core?

The moon core can be used to forge soul weapons, which I don't have so far. But when I went to Xiao Mang Celestial Race to sense the moon spirit, I sensed the moon god as well. Qi Practitioners that possess a moon spirit can sense the moon god as well; if I take the moon core and her out, then the Xiao Mang Celestial Race will detect them immediately. However, keeping them in the copper lantern is not a good solution as well….

In an instant, Zhong Yue felt a headache growing as he became lost on how to proceed.

"Sleep with her! Sleep with her!"

Xin Huo, however, seemed to have other ideas as he urged, "Quick! Before she wakes up, do what you need to do before she wakes up…."