Rise of Humanity
chapter-556

“Xin Huo, will your sacrificial array formation be seen through by her?" Zhong Yue watched as the altars were activated and his heart tensed up in anxiety.

Xin Huo laughed and comforted, “Don’t worry, definitely not! This sacrificial array formation is not a simple one. It’s called the 【Heaven and Earth Sacrificial Art】. When conventionally used, it will extract the energy in the heaven and earth and sacrifice the energy to remedy the wounds or help in increasing the cultivation base. When used in reverse, the user’s energy will be extract, meaning that whoever is in the array formation will be sacrificed to the heaven and earth!”

Zhong Yue nodded softly, his goal was to let Mother Da Zhen place the array formation and sacrifice herself!

Although Mother Da Zhen was just a step away from death, she was way too cautious, carefully probing the array formation before entering.

The 【Heaven and Earth Sacrificial Art】 was cast to the end by Mother Da Zhen. The energy of the heaven and earth funneled down in the center and lit up the totem patterns carved on the altars.

The altars glimmered brighter. Suddenly, the totem patterns engraved on the altars hovered in mid-air and flashed toward the center faster than lightning!

In the center, an unsuspecting creature that was thrown in by Mother Da Zhen. Its huge tail curled around the body while the totem patterns surged right into its body.

The creature was engulfed in great terror but its body was growing at an incredible rate. The muscles were bulging out and its psyche was also growing at an amazing speed!

Monstrous Qi started to burgeon within its body. At just the drop of a hat, it turned into a monster beast, rapidly advancing into a monster cultivator!

Not long after, the creature was already over forty feet tall, huge like a small hill while suffusing monster Qi!

Mother Da Zhen was shocked and overjoyed at the same time. Even Zhong Yue was also filled with surprise, he mumbled, “Xin Huo, this 【Heaven and Earth Sacrificial Art】 is really amazing. With this array formation, wouldn’t one be able to easily become a deity!”

Xin Huo shook his head and laughed, “How can it be so easy? This art doesn’t borrow the power from the heaven and earth, it steals. There is a huge difference between the two, what’s borrowed will always need to be returned, but what’s stolen will be yours forever. It may sounds tempting now, but when the consequences comes right after....”

“Steal the power of heaven and earth? Consequences?" Zhong Yue startled and asked, “What consequences?”

As he finished his words, a flash of lightning made a beautiful arc across the sky and within a split second, struck right on the creature’s head. A wave of smoke rose from the center of the altars while a charred object was left on the ground!

“That’s the consequence, it’s call the Karmic Retribution." Xin Huo explains, “Steal the power from the heaven and earth, and you will have to face Karmic Retribution. Even if you can escape it now, you will still have to face it in the future. Sometimes, it can come at the most unexpected or inconvenient timing. It might not even happen on you personally, your family and those who you care for aren’t necessarily exempt from the curse.

“The creator of this 【Heaven and Earth Sacrificial Art】 had been evading the Karmic Retributions for all his life. He was a true talent, the brightest star among his peers. Yet, his friends and families all died in all kinds of horrible ways. Later on in his life, his last wife gave birth to a son. In order to protect his last son, he reversed the art and sacrificed himself to the heaven and earth. It was only because of that his son was able to grow in peace.”

Zhong Yue suddenly thought of something and asked in panic, “But Qi Practitioners that cultivate the energy of heaven and earth... are they also stealing. Would it bring the Karmic Retribution to us?”

Xin Huo shook his head, “The Qi Practitioners can be said as stealing but also borrowing at the same time. Cultivation is different to plundering arts like the 【Heaven and Earth Sacrificial Art】. The Qi Practitioners have a limited lifespan on them, even if they become a deity, they still cannot escape the ravages of time. They are all doomed to eventually return to dust. After their deaths, their cultivation base will disperse and return to the heaven and earth, thus, returning what was borrowed. But you are asking about cultivating to true immortality… then that is a different matter altogether.”

Zhong Yue nodded softly, “If the mother god recovers to her peak state, she might be able to evade the Karmic Retribution for some time. It’s still better if we reverse the array formation and sacrifice her right away!”

Mother Da Zhen giddy with excitement, she blew the charred creature into ashe and took her place at the center of the formation. The lamp god was not lying to me. This array of altars can really recover my wounds to the peak state! However, what’s with that sudden flash of lightning?

That flash of lightning was so quick that even she couldn’t see where it came from. And the fact that the lightning strike was directed on the creature gave rise to a little discomfort in her.

Nevertheless, Mother Da Zhen had let go of her suspicions and activated the altars again. Zhong Yue’s heart tensed.

The altars shone and the energy of the heaven and earth funnelled down onto them. Totem patterns glimmered and swarmed into the body of the mother god.

This time, it was at a larger scale. The energy of heaven and earth from a few tens of thousand miles were dragged over and turned into a huge swirl above the altars. The energies were compressed to near solid form and cascaded down on the mother god!

Mother Da Zhen felt an endless wave of energy surging into her body. It was so pure, so abundant!

The lamp god wasn’t lying! Not only did he not lie to me, but he just gifted me a quick way to get strong!

The mother god was lost in her joy as she let out a shrill whistle out satisfaction, With this art, I will no longer fear the Ancestral Star gods! Soon, I will be able to return to my peak state and even break through to become the new mother queen!

As she was just thinking about it, the copper lamp’s lamp lid opened. Zhong Yue flashed out and stamped his hands on the floor. Immediately, totem patterns crawled out on the floor like spiderwebs. They wove together and spread across the altars in just seconds, forming a new array formation above the altars!

“Reverse!" Zhong Yue yelled loudly. The totem patterns that covered the altars started glimmering as the altars’ totem patterns began to reverse.

Xin Huo had left out a crucial part in the 【Heaven and Earth Sacrificial Art】, and that was imparted to Mother Da Zhen, all just for this moment!

At the instant the totem patterns array formation placed by Zhong Yue was activated. The totem patterns engraved on the altars started to respond as well. The flow of energy that was cascading down from the sky stalled for a second before moving in the opposite direction right!

At the center of the altars, Mother Da Zhen had transformed from the beneficiary to the giver!

The mother god’s blood essence boiled and evaporated into the surroundings while her arcane energy and psyche gushed out from her body at an even faster rate!

Krong—

Her mortal body was torn into pieces and were disintegrating into the smallest particles. These particles would then further decompose into the purest form of energy, returning to the heaven and earth!

Even her Yuan Shen was forcibly divided back into two parts, the spirit and soul!

Just like the process of receiving the energy of heaven and earth, the reversed process was also as magnificent!

Mother Da Zhen was in absolute terror, she could feel herself being broken down into the purest form of energy. As if she was offered to the heaven and earth!

“Zhong Yue!" Mother Da Zhen gave a shrill cry.

Her mortal body was shattering into smaller parts, into tiny bits of divine gold. Her mortal body was wholly forged from divine gold, even the sacrificial array formation wasn’t able to disintegrate her within such a short time!

In just a few moments, more than half of her blood essence and arcane energy had been extracted out, and the energy in her soul and spirit was also fading away quickly!

An invisible force methodically pulled apart her essence as her flesh and blood began to become visible as her divine gold essence was extracted. After another few moments, her mortal body would revert back into its pure flesh and blood form again!

Her cultivation base was also disintegrating at an alarming speed. At this rate, it would only require a few more moments for her to disintegrate into nothingness within this heaven and earth!

Zhong Yue heaved a breath of relief. But all of a sudden, the altars quaked and began to crack. Zhong Yue’s face changed drastically and he quickly asked, “Xin Huo, what’s going on?”

Xin Huo stood on Zhong Yue’s shoulder, he glanced around at the cracking altars and abruptly shouted, “Oh! I mistook a totem pattern! I’m afraid that this will cause even the altars to be sacrificed…”

Zhong Yue was in utter disbelief, he stared vacantly at the altars as they crumbled, collapsing and disintegrating into thin air.

All I wish for now is to let Mother Da Zhen die before the altars!

Cold sweat burst out in Zhong Yue’s hands. The sacrificial fire swallowed the altar one by one and the whole piece of land before him became an ocean of fire.

The sacrificial fire burned stronger and grew ever-more terrifying. Zhong Yue was forced to take a few steps back.

Finally, when all the altars were destroyed and turned into nothingness, the sacrificial fire stopped as well. Only a piece of charred land was left on the ground.

“Pain…”

Within the burned land, a loud and shrill cry mourned in pain, “Zhong Yue....”

“Mother Da Zhen, weren’t you calling me lamp god before this?" Zhong Yue smiled and said.

As he was smiling, he slowly took out the Divine Wing Saber, pouring all of his arcane energy into it. The totem patterns on it glimmered as the saber grew longer and sharper.

His eyes brightened up and he opened the divine third eye in search of Mother Da Zhen’s Yuan Shen.

All of a sudden, the meat blocks flew out from the ground and combined into a huge mother insect. Zhong Yue raised his brows and searched all around but couldn’t found where her Yuan Shen was, missing a good chance to kill the mother god!

The huge mother insect squirmed and was adjusting on the meat.

“How painful…" The mother insect’s body turned and twisted in the most bizarre way ever. And suddenly, it turned into a naked lady with stitches all over her body. She looked like a puppet made from a grotesque combination of different parts.

However, the insect god’s aura and the nefarious air around had not changed in the slightest!

Zhong Yue’s heart sank, he thought, How much of her strength is left after the sacrifice? How much power does she still have?