nChapter 4 Totem God Pillars

nRare pellets and herbs? For someone who lives in poverty like me, not starving is already considered extremely good. How am I supposed to afford these expensive pills and herbs?

nZhong Yue shook his head. He picked up the weathered lamp and got ready to return to Swords Gate. Under Xin Huo’s curious stare, he suddenly stopped and turned back. Zhong Yue bent down and took out a hoe from the medicine basket. He then spent almost half an hour digging a hole and he prayed for the dead body before burying it. Lastly, he filled up the hole and prayed for another moment before leaving.

nInside the weathered lamp, Xin Huo showed his approval. He waited quietly until Zhong Yue finished doing what he was doing. Later, Zhong Yue hung the lamp in front of his chest and started climbing up the cliff. Xin Huo could not help but say, “As a formidable member of the celestial race, I can’t believe you can’t even fly and have to walk with your legs. You’re a disgrace to the celestial race! Members of the pure-blood celestial race are natural sacred beings, they can fly by controlling the air with their tails.”

nZhong Yue climbed up the cliff and said while laughing, “I have no tail and I am no celestial race member, so it is completely normal that I cannot fly.”

nXin Huo immediately jumped out from the lamp. He walked around on top of Zhong Yue’s clothes while touching his tailbone and said, “You do have a tail, but it is not fully grown yet. I’ve encountered the Fuxi celestial race before, and all of them had a tail. How come yours is not grown yet? If you don’t believe me, go and touch your butt to check if there’s any sign of a tail.”

nZhong Yue listened to Xin Huo’s words and touched his own butt. He was shocked when he felt the signs of a coccyx.

nCould it really be that we humans are really the descendants of the Fuxi celestial race? But that is impossible, our race is so weak, to the point that we are considered the weakest race among all races. How can we possibly be the descendants of the most honorable royal race among the celestial races?

nHe collected his thoughts and continued climbing the cliff. With the help of Xin Huo and the bronze lamp, the black haze would not be able to cause him any trouble. In a flash, Zhong Yue had reached the top of the cliff. When he looked down, all he could see was the black haze that covered everything beneath them.

n“Xin Huo, can you see what is inside the black haze?”

n“As a member of the formidable celestial race, you can’t possibly not know how to use your god’s eye. Right … your god’s eye has devolved. Just touch the area between your eyebrows, is there an area that is slightly sunken? That is the location of the god’s eye, the third eye of the Fuxi celestial race!”

nZhong Yue touched the area and found out that there was really a sunken area. Curiosity grew in his heart and he thought to himself, The Sui Sovereign in the【 Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】also has a third eye, maybe we humans also have a third eye?

nThe light illuminated by the weathered bronze lamp became brighter and brighter and shone further and further. It pierced through the black haze even though the haze was very thick.

nZhong Yue’s eyes followed the light and looked around beneath him. He then got the shock of his life.

nA huge foot stepped into the deep valley. For some reason, there was no flesh on this foot, only a skeleton about half a mu in size!

nHe looked up and saw an immense skeleton giant standing in the thick black haze, wearing a full set of weathered armor that has been corroded by a few hundred thousands year of time.

nAll sorts of beautiful symbols were carved onto the skeleton of this giant. It was like the carvings on totems. The skeleton started moving forward and its tail started swinging around. What kind of race did this giant belong to?

nA ragged flag glided past Zhong Yue silently in the air. After that, one by one, multiple huge skeleton legs fell from the sky and walked silently within the black haze. To his surprise, the feet of these giants were already a few times bigger than Zhong Yue!

nLater, uncountable skeletal giants slowly rose from the ground and joined the army of skeletons. The strange thing was that although they surfaced from the ground, they left no trails on the dirt or stone.

nTotem carvings were all over the skeletons of these giants, showing no traces of fading even after centuries. Similar to apparitions, these giants have no physical body at all. They would just pass through mountains as if the mountains were not there and they would walk across water as if the water was just land. Without making any sound, they followed closely behind the floating flag and devoured the flesh of any living beings they encountered.

nNot long later, gigantic skeleton beasts appeared one after another. Rotten flesh hung on the skeletons of these beasts, and ghostly fire burned brightly in their skulls. The giants rode on these gigantic beasts. There were even some giants that had various animal meats hanging on their bodies.

nThere were other flags that floated in the air somewhere even further away. Even more gigantic skeleton giants and beasts appeared along with the flags, but they were nowhere close to the vicinity of Zhong Yue’s current eyesight, thus, all he could see was the spirit fire that represented the eyes of those giants and beasts.

nAll of a sudden, the lush green areas around Swords Gate that are filled with flora and fauna became a shadow isle rampant with ghostly shadows!

n“These are the devil souls. If the grievance of gods condense after they die, devil souls will be formed naturally,” Xin Huo whispered from the lamp. “Such strong grievances, something extraordinary must have happened here that made them resent so much. Besides, they look like they are trying to search for something. This thing that they are searching for must be incredibly precious if they are still looking for it even after their deaths.”

nZhong Yue said shockingly, “They are of the celestial races?”

n“There are both celestials and demons, but they’re the low ranked. Only the nine honorable races like Fuxi, Nuwa, Huaxu, and Yanzi are the real royal celestials with the most distinguished bloodlines. You have the bloodline of the Fuxi celestial race in you, but it is too diluted, to the point that you are even weaker than these dead low-level gods. Therefore, you are not suitable for the heritage of Xin Huo, or you would’ve been the new inheritor of Xin Huo1.”

nZhong Yue identified the right direction and walked toward the Swords Gate.

n------

nWhen he walked out of Juyun Mountain, the devil souls within the black haze had already dispersed. Around half a day later, the black haze disappeared too.

nAs soon as the black haze was gone, Xin Huo also stopped talking. These last few days, with the company of this talkative and bizarre little being, Zhong Yue did not feel bored at all. When Xin Huo suddenly stopped talking, Zhong Yue could only feel a little bit uncomfortable.

nHe. opened up the lamp chimney and discovered that Xin Huo had disappeared from his normal lamp plinth, leaving only a flame that was the size of a fingertip

n“Xin Huo, are you still there?” Zhong Yue shook the lamp and asked.

n“Don’t disturb me.” The flame vibrated and Xin Huo's little head appeared faintly along with a yawn. He then said, “I’ve been resisting the black haze for these few days and used up too much of my psyche. Right now, I need to rest a little bit more and look for an inheritor of the Xin Huo heritage to live in his soul, or I won’t be able to hold on any longer and evaporate. I’ve been asleep for too long and am much weaker than the old me….”

nXin Huo then fell asleep again. Zhong Yue stood there and after a brief moment of thinking, he put the lamp into the basket and covered it up with herbs before walking into Swords Gate.

nDifferent treatments are given to the outer disciples according to their level. Those who achieved the Soul Liberty level get to stay in the upper house, are distributed ten Yuling Pellets every month, and get more advanced techniques. I have to head to the Cloudless Hall and pass the examination to improve my treatment!

nZhong Yue went straight to the Cloudless Hall as today was the day for the registration of the Soul Liberty examination that occurred once every month. If he missed it, he would have to wait for another month.

nThere were a lot of outer disciples in Swords Gate. The absence of Zhong Yue did not attract any attention from Swords Gate at all. Besides, for someone like him that came from a small tribe like the Zhong Shan Tribe, he would not be able to cause any commotion even if he died outside.

nSoul liberation, I wonder if I can achieve that with the【Swords Gate Visualization Art】instead of the【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】?

nZhong Yue was a little bit worried, as Swords Gate valued their heritage greatly. If they discovered that his technique was not from the heritage of Swords Gate, he would be expelled. If worse came to worse, he could even end up losing his life.

nWhen he reached Cloudless Hall, he found around a hundred outer disciples gathered there, waiting for their turn at the examination. A few of them that were holding totem god pillars carved with strange figures anointed with the blood of exotic beasts.

nIn the Great Wilderness, totem pillars were the god pillars that were used for purposes of worship in the human tribes. These pillars had magnificent effects when it came to nourishing souls and cultivation.

nIn most cases, only upper-class tribes were qualified to possess any totem pillars.

nSuch totem pillars could only be crafted by Qi Practitioners, which meant they were accessible by those tribes with Qi Practitioners. Meanwhile, the spirit that was cultivated by Qi Practitioners was also a type of totem, called the totem spirit.

nThe spirit and the totem were tightly related. If a tribe’s Qi Practitioner's totem spirit was a mystical tortoise, then the totem of the entire tribe would also be that particular mystical tortoise. If the entire tribe worshipped the mystic tortoise totem, the Qi Practitioner’s strength would also be increased.

nOn the other hand, tribes that did not have any Qi Practitioners would naturally have no totem god pillars. The tribe that Zhong Yue originated from was one of the smallest tribes, so they did not possess any treasures like totem god pillars.

nJust as he walked closer to the hall, an uproar occurred and a loud voice among the crowd could then be heard shouting, “Someone has died!”

n“Someone died in the examination, his soul has completely scattered!”

nZhong Yue’s heart thumped quicker and he saw two men dressed in white carrying a teen’s corpse out of the hall, which belonged to the outer disciple who had died during the examination.

nThis caused the outer disciples to tense up. The examination was very strict and just achieving the Soul Liberty level was not enough. One’s soul must also be very strong and good in combat consciousness as the exam could result in serious injuries.

nIf one was unlucky, it could be very deadly!

nOutside of Cloudless Hall, the outer disciples awaiting their turn felt very nervous and worried. They knew that the examination was deadly beforehand, but there was a great difference in seeing for themselves and just hearing it. This had caused some of them to hesitate and even think of giving up.

nZhong Yue moved forward and thought, In cultivation, one must be determined. If one gives up once, then he will continue to give up in the future. What is the point of cultivating then?

nAn old man in white who is in charge of the entire hall sat at the front. His eyes were shut and before Zhong Yue said anything he had already asked, “Which tribe are you from?”

n“Zhong Shan Tribe, Zhong Shan Clan, Zhong Yue!”

nThe old man in white raised his head and gave Zhong Yue a measured look. He then said, “Get inside then. Next! Which tribe are you from?”

n“Wei River Tribe, Shui Tu Clan, Shui Qingyan.”

nAfter Zhong Yue had walked halfway into the hall, he suddenly heard a very nice voice coming from behind, “Zhong Yue? Brother Yue from the Zhong Shan Clan? Is that really you? What happened to you? You have become so thin that I almost did not recognize you anymore.”

nZhong Yue turned back and saw a young girl following behind him. The girl was about thirteen or fourteen. She had smooth white skin, an extremely pretty face, and wore a white fur hat. Her eyes were crystal clear and she smelled lovely. Shui Qingyan walked toward Zhong Yue quickly while carrying a tiny totem god pillar before her. She then said happily, “It really is you! I went to look for you a few days ago, but you were not there. I even thought that you had an accident and it really scared me! What happened to you? You’re so thin now….”

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