Emperor of the Human Way

Chapter 1- Dream of a thousand autumns

The day wasn’t bright yet and the night’s veil covered the Great Wilderness of a hundred thousand li, but sunlight already shone on the Sword Sect’s mountain. Floating clouds rose in spirals around this strange mountain’s middle and they drifting lazily. The sunlight first fell on the golden peak.

From the golden-roofed temple on the mountaintop burst out a golden light in every direction, illuminating the sea of clouds. It was extremely dazzling to the eyes.

And on the mountain surrounded by the cloudy sea, many an imposing antique hall similarly floated above the sea of clouds, sacred and solemn.

This place was the common holy land of the three thousand human tribes in the hundred thousand li Great Wilderness, the Sword Sect!

Qi Refining Warriors poured forth from the Sword Sect and protected the hundred thousand li Great Wilderness. Everyone in the three thousand human tribes aimed to become a Qi Refining Warrior of the Sword Sect; it was the highest of glories.

The Great Wasteland’s environment was harsh and humankind was weak. Without the protection of the Sword Sect the three thousand human tribes would probably have long been exterminated to ashes.

The sect mountain stood tall through the clouds. On its back were the residences of the sect disciples where tens of thousands disciples lived.

There were many Qi Refining Warriors in the Sword Sect. The three thousand human tribes sent their young men and women to train on the mountain. If those with no backing would usually live there. Tribes with deep backgrounds usually had Qi Refining Warriors in the Sword Sect who could direct the disciples to their branch.

Zhong Yue woke up very early. He stood bare-chested beside the well and poured a bucket of water on himself. He quivered fiercely then drowsily turned back.

The water slipped down from his body and splashed on the slabs of limestone.

He had solid muscles and a well proportioned body with his skin tightly wrapped over his muscles, making him look very strong. There were three deep claw marks on his chest left by some unknown fierce beast; they had already become scars.

When Zhong Yue turned around there were also trace after trace of claws on his back, and there were marks left by the bite of a fierce beast on his left arm. He had a dozen scars all over his body and did absolutely not look like a fifteen years old.

Zhong Yue carried a medicine basket on his back and quietly walked out of the sect’s gate, going down the mountain.

Outer sect disciples had a very low status and could only learn the most superficial methods from the Sword Sect. Only after reaching spirit completion would you become an inner sect disciple in name. Then you would be able to worship at the hall of a Hall Master and obtain the Sword Sect genuine inheritance. But for a an outer disciple without any backing, how difficult was it to become an inner disciple?

In the Great Wilderness were three thousand human tribes. Small tribes had up to ten thousand tribesmen, great tribes had over several million people. Countless people drilled towards the Sword Sect with means fair and foul, wishing to become an inner disciple of the Sword Sect, become a Qi Refining Warrior. The competition was this fierce.

The Sword Sect had the rules of the Sword Sect, and if you couldn’t cultivate to spirit completion before sixteen years old you would be expelled from the Sword Sect. In the Great Wilderness, the sons and daughters of tribes big and small would naturally have various spirit herbs and spirit dan to enhance their cultivation, helping their sons and daughters to cultivate spirit completion before sixteen years old.

Even if their aptitude was average, as long as you had enough spirit herbs and spirit dan you could be choked full on them until you became a Qi Refining Warrior!

While poor and ordinary children didn’t have this treatment and could only rely on their own diligent cultivation.

It was difficult for houses to produce noble sons, and few poor people could manage to become a Qi Refining Warrior.

Zhong Yue came from the Zhong Mountain tribe. It was an insignificant little tribe with only less than a hundred people left due to successive years of famine. It could be said that it was the smallest of tribes in the Great Wilderness.

This kind of tribe even had trouble guaranteeing their own survival, how could they provide enough for someone to become a Qi Refining Warrior?

Hence even if Zhong Yue strived a hundred times harder than others, he was still a distance away from cultivating to spirit completion.

This time he had gone down the mountain so early in a search for spirit herbs inside old forests deep in the mountains, so he could to refine Feather Spirit Dan and nourish his soul.

Feather Spirit Dan was the most common medicine dan, and the herbs needed for the Feather Spirit Dan were likewise ordinary, but he couldn’t afford to buy even such ordinary spirit dan or spirit herbs and he could only refine them himself.

Gathering herbs himself and refining dans himself, the amount time he spent and the hardship he went through were naturally much higher than others.

The sky was already bright two hours after Zhong Yue had left the Sword Sect mountain in search of herbs. The Sword Sect’s inner sect disciples and outer sect disciples had already long been awake and cultivating when they suddenly heard hasty bell rings coming from up in the mountain. Qi Refining Warriors with strong auras flew down from the peak and shouted loudly from afar: “The Demon Souls Haze has appeared. Every disciple in the Sword Sect listen to orders, everyone is prohibited from going outside!”

“No one is even allowed half a step outside the sect mountain!”

“The Demon Souls Haze is extremely dangerous, only the Sword Sect can defend against it, no one is allowed to leave the sect or they will most certainly die!”

…

The whole Sword Sect was in an uproar. There was a loud rumble and the imposing Mountain Gate suddenly closed. In the air at half the mountain’s height, the halls covered within the curly misty clouds all released countless rays of light, while golden light was bursting from the golden peak, illuminating the darkness with matchless brightness.

“How could this Demon Souls Haze break out in advance? Normally it should have broken out five days later?” A sect disciple murmured.

At this time oppressive sounds suddenly came from the below the ground, like demons and monsters were running amok underground. Suddenly black air surged out in a valley not far from the Sword Sect mountain, like a fountain “gudu gudu” spraying black haze in the air!

Very quickly this black pillar became even taller than the Sword Sect mountain. It pierced the clouds, then the black haze scattered in every direction. This scene resembled an incomparably immense black umbrella slowly spreading open.

Heaven and earth suddenly became dark, with only the Sword Sect mountain’s rays of light illuminating the black haze. The rolling black haze pressed down from above and was stopped outside the Sword Sect mountain when it came near it, as if there was an invisible light curtain protected the Sword Sect mountain and prevented the black haze from coming inside.

And inside that black haze were seemingly terrifying creatures issuing scalp-numbing roars. From time to time the creatures in the black haze crashed on the Sword Sect mountain’s light curtain, transmitting one loud oppressive sound after another. It seemed extremely alarming.

In front of a big temple on the heights of the Sword Sect mountain, several Qi Refining Warriors looked at this incomparably terrifying Demon Souls Haze, and some quietly said: “Some outer disciples had gone out of the mountain gate and haven’t come back yet, I fear they won’t be coming back anymore…”

The place Zhong Yue had gone to pick herbs was called Cloud Gathering Mountain. There were many spirit herbs on Cloud Gathering Mountain. It was located in an area southeast of the Sword Sect mountain. He had been a Sword Sect outer disciples for all those years and although he hadn’t learned any profound technique he had built a sturdy body. One step of his could cross a distance of more than ten feet, so he could wander around the mountains with unmatched ease.

When he reached Cloud Gathering Mountain the sky was already bright and from the mountain came from time to time the roars of beasts.

This place was off the beaten track and there was no nearby tribe hunting there. There were a great many fierce beasts on the mountain. Zhong Yue carefully walked inside the forest, searching around, and in a short time he had gathered several spirit herbs.

“Other spirit herbs are all easy to find, there’s only the Five Fragrance Grass that’s hard to search for. I have to rely on luck.”

Traversing the mountain, Zhong Yue suddenly vaguely smelled a strange herbal fragrance, faint and indistinct, easy to miss, but when he walked closer the fragrance became more pronounced.

In this herbal fragrance were five kind of strange scents, sweet, fragrant, refreshing, fiery, mellow. It was precisely the smell of the Five Fragrance Grass!

He followed the trail of the smell and came to a cliff. Leaning his body and looking down he only saw steep cliffs, protruding rocks, and he couldn’t see the bottom of the quiet ravine.

Thirty feet away from the cliff was a huge protruding rock with a shallow stream flowing down above the cliff, moistening a few strains of grass.

“Five Fragrance Grass!”

Zhong Yue was delighted and carefully climbed down along the cliff. Although the cliff was steep, his handling was extremely secure and there wasn’t much danger for him.

After a moment he came near the huge rock and when he looked down he saw a patch of darkness inside the ravine. Cold wind blew upwards from the bottom and chilled him to the bone.

Zhong Yue became increasingly careful and finally arrived to that huge protruding rock. Just as he was trying to pick the Five Fragrance Grass the sky suddenly darkened. He lifted his head and looked up in surprise.

He only saw a big bird resplendent with golden light flying above the cliff. That bird had a wingspan of ten feet long. It even had two pairs of wings and was flapping them as it dived down in his direction, his claws revealing a cold metallic light.

“What kind of bird is that?”

Before that golden four-winged bird’s pounce had reached him, violent wind had already come rushing and painfully hit his face, almost blowing Zhong Yue off the rock.

As the four-winged golden bird threw itself in his direction, Zhong Yue hurriedly grabbed a few strains of Five Fragrant Grass and leaped down from the rock. The big bird missed its mark and flapped his four wings, looking around, then saw that Zhong Yue hadn’t fallen off the cliff but

had grabbed a vine hanging ten feet under the huge rock.

There was a vague light coming from the ravine’s bottom; Zhong Yue couldn’t distinguish what was emitting that light. Suddenly he heard above his head the sound of rushing wind and saw a giant skeleton fall from above, passing his body on its way to the ravine’s bottom.

He was shocked, that skeleton was precisely the skeleton of the four-winged golden bird!

In only a moment it looked as if this four-winged golden bird had been eaten by something in the black haze with only his bones left!

Zhong Yue felt his blood run cold. He lifted his head and saw a black haze rush extremely quickly along the cliff in his direction. He hurriedly slided down the cliff at flying speed. Suddenly “Peng Peng” several vines fell from the cliff and Zhong Yue fell towards the bottom along those vines.

In panic he reached his hand out in every direction and tried to grab onto something. He finally managed to hold onto a branch from an ancient tree protruding from the cliff and finally stop his body’s fall. Zhong Yue raised his head and saw that the black haze was only forty to fifty feet away from him. He also saw near that sturdy ancient tree a cave mouth the size of a water jar. “Xi Xi Suo Suo” hissing sounds came from that cave mouth and a giant three horned head drilled out from within. It raised up high, stared at Zhong Yue with great interest. It was impressively an unimaginably big python!

The huge python made hissing noises and looked very interested in him.

This grade of great python had frightening killing strength. It was a king among the Great Wilderness’s beasts and even Qi Refining Warriors had trouble killing this kind of ominous beasts, let alone him?

Zhong Yue clenched his teeth, let loose of the branch and his body immediately resumed its fall.

This huge and long hiss-spitting python was about to dive at him but suddenly the black haze shrouded it and swallowd it.

Crash! A thirty feet long serpent skeleton fell from the black haze, following after Zhong Yue as they both fell to the bottom.

In the cold depths of the ravine, dead branches and leaves covered the ground in a thick layer. Zhong Yue didn’t sustain too much impact from his fall. In a ghostly light[1] The young man observed his surroundings and saw a heap of bones accumulating on the ravine’s bottom. It must have been the bones of wild beasts eaten by that big python and strange bird.

“That huge python from earlier also died, this black mist in the end… damn!”

Zhong Yue’s expression quickly changed as the black haze also reached the bottom of the ravine. Everywhere around him the ghostly light was swallowed bit by bit inside the black haze.

Looking around Zhong Yue saw the black haze rush in his direction, almost within the reach of his hands and couldn’t repress a silent sight: “This strange haze ate the golden bird and huge python, I’m afraid I’ll also certainly die… eh, why isn’t this black haze moving anymore?”

The black haze suddenly had suddenly stopped advancing when it was ten feet away from him, as it was kept outside by an invisible force forming a half-spherical protection globe.

Zhong Yue saw a huge white bone claw clawing forward from within the black haze and grasp this half-spherical protection globe. It made “Gezhi Gezhi” ear-grating creaking sounds but failed to make a scratch

He had no idea which monster this white bone claw belonged to, even a simple finger segment was bigger than him!

Zhong Yue had been tempering his muscles and bones these years and his body was somewhat taller than even adults, but even a finger segment from this white bone claw was much bigger than him. It was very hard to imagine how big the owner this white bone claw would be!

“This is…”

Zhong Yue saw in the center of this small protection globe a skeleton sitting in the lotus position, raising a lamp in its hand as if illuminating the way for people in the dark.

The lamp’s light was faint and not much brighter than the ghost lights, as if likely to go out at any time.

“Strange, this man has already been dead for so many years, only leaving bones, how could his lamp still be lit?

Zhong Yue was extremely curious and went forward to carefully observe. Only then did he discovered its strangeness; this skeleton couldn’t be called a human skeleton. It wasn’t sitting in the lotus meditation position either, but rather in the crossed position.

This so called crossed didn’t stand for cross-legged, because this man didn’t have legs but rather a long snake tail. The tailed was coiled together, and the upper body had the appearance of a man, with head and neck, hand and arm.

This was the skeleton of a strange human headed snake bodied person!

“Is this lamp that’s blocking this strange black haze?”

Zhong Yue paid respects to the strange person’s skeleton and carefully picked this lamp from its hand. He saw the lamp’s fire shake, about to be extinguished at any moment, and he hurried shielded it with his hand. Suddenly he heard a lazy voice: Dreaming for a thousand autumns, which year is the present dusk? Young man, which generation Fuxi[2] presently reigns?”