Chapter 102: Humans and Gods

"Just because it has always been this way, does that make it right?"

"Should gods truly be held high above all else?"

"That man gave his response with a sword."

The azure clouds shook, and the pavilions collapsed.

Even Baize became extremely agitated when speaking of the story of Great Emperor Xuanyuan changing the heavens and the earth.

"Actually, before the Great Emperor changed the heavens and the earth, there was one thing I always wondered about."

"My Demon Race is an extremely inclusive race; scaled fish, feathered birds, beasts and insects, flora and spirits, stones and magical objects—almost every race that gains wisdom can be classified within the Demon Race."

"Unlike the 'demon' that you curse today, in the distant past, the word 'demon' itself actually represented a spirit that had opened its wisdom."

"The Emperor had great resolve; with his own strength, he bore the monstrous Causality to establish the Demon Race."

"Wherever there are living beings between heaven, earth, mountains, and rivers that open their wisdom, all may enter the name of Demon. Although there are many races beneath it and frequent conflicts, it is an unprecedented Great Dao of living beings, gathering the living beings of the entire world under the name of Demon to forge the Supreme Divine Court of my Demon Race!"

"But what I find puzzling is why, in that era, the Emperor would rather accept savage beasts that slaughtered living beings into the demons, yet would not accept the naturally intelligent primate beings—humans—into the Demon Race."

Hm?!

Listening to what Baize said, Li Xiang suddenly fell into deep thought.

That's right.

If demons, as Baize said, are truly a great race of wise living beings, then why, as demons who are naturally wise, were they excluded and reduced to blood-food?

This left Li Xiang very confused.

Baize shook his head and suddenly smiled.

"It wasn't until Great Emperor Xuanyuan pacified Kunlun Mountain that I realized all of this was the decree of the gods of Kunlun Mountain."

"Although I do not know why, the gods of Kunlun Mountain seemed extremely wary of the Human Race, yet they were unwilling to take action themselves."

"They ordered the two Emperors of my Demon Race to lead the Demon Race to annihilate the Human Race and wipe them out."

"It was only because the Emperors were compassionate and unwilling to carry out this act, yet unable to defy the gods' decree, that they ordered the demons to oppress the Human Race and drive them to the North Sea, where no living beings are seen."

"Of course, this process was not very friendly; many humans died, and they did indeed become blood-food."

Li Xiang suddenly spoke up to ask.

"Even as powerful as your Demon Race is, opening a Heavenly Palace and having two Emperors suppressing the mountains and rivers, you still dared not defy the decree of Kunlun Mountain?"

Baize shook his head.

"You do not understand how powerful Kunlun Mountain is."

"The Central Plains is the dwelling place of the gods."

"Even when the Demon Race was powerful enough to issue decrees over the mountains and rivers and have the Heavenly Palace hang in the clouds, with two Emperors in its midst, they were only on equal footing with the Kunlun Mountain of the Central Plains, and the two Emperors always maintained awe toward the gods of Kunlun Mountain."

"Of the five regions of heaven and earth, the demons occupied four; only the Central Plains was left for living beings to dwell in without being managed, to avoid conflict with Kunlun Mountain."

"Born divine—what a supreme honor that is."

"They were born as the most powerful beings, able to manipulate the heavens, earth, mountains, and rivers with a casual wave of their hands, summoning wild winds and thunder."

Baize pointed lightly, and the azure clouds shifted, seemingly wanting to conjure the appearance of Kunlun Mountain.

But for some reason, the azure clouds suddenly exploded violently and scattered, disappearing.

It seemed this involved a terrifying Causality that even Baize could not touch.

He sighed.

"Before the rise of the Emperors, there was actually no such term as 'demon' in this world."

"The ten thousand races were ignorant and slaughtered one another; even if a living being occasionally opened its wisdom, it was only through scheming and treating each other as prey to be hunted, upholding the most primitive wildness."

"At that time, all kinds of baleful energies of heaven and earth were rampant; although the mountains and rivers were divinely beautiful, they were also dangerous. If one was not careful, one would be ground away by the gales and baleful energies between the mountains and rivers."

"The world belonged to the divine; all other living beings were merely servants, pets of the gods."

"If living beings were not united, they would never have a day to rise."

"These divine beings were born as existences with lifespans equal to heaven and earth; they were powerful, intelligent, perfect, and born as the embodiment of the Dao."

"But they did not possess the character that a god should have."

"The few Heavenly Gods were fine; although powerful, they often slept for years and were unwilling to manage the development and changes of other living beings in the world, letting them develop and fight on their own."

"But the other Subordinate Gods and Earth Deities, however..."

Bang!

The azure clouds shook, and the powerful backlash caused Baize to furrow his brows; he wanted to speak, but did not know how to say it.

Some things, even after immeasurable ages have passed, are not for him to tell.

The past of the gods cannot be spoken of.

Baize hesitated for a moment and frowned.

Then he spoke:

"I cannot speak of it, but I know you understand."

"Before the Emperors rose, the suffering of living beings was like being hung upside down; it would have been better to just perish."

"It was not until the Emperors rose, a demon banner was planted, a vast Heavenly Palace was opened above the nine heavens, and the mountains and rivers were re-decreed, that the divine beings restrained themselves."

"But even so, the Emperors did not dare to be completely at odds with the Heavenly Gods."

A light flashed in Baize's eyes; he seemed to really, really, really want to tell the story of the Emperors' rise properly.

But he looked at Li Xiang and shook his head.

"Alas, what a pity. I will tell you about the Emperors another day; let us continue with Great Emperor Xuanyuan."

"I do not dislike the Human Race because I know that, in fact, there is no great difference between humans and demons; both are living beings that have opened their wisdom."

"The Human Race lived miserably in those years, and the root cause had everything to do with Kunlun."

"Between the ten thousand races and the Human Race, you know, the Emperor had no choice."

"Unless the Emperor is willing to burn bridges with Kunlun and fight to the death, but that actually has no meaning."

"Later events also proved the Emperor was right; after long-lasting stability, living beings multiplied and developed, and in less than a thousand years, a second living being reached the Emperor's level, took charge of the Heavenly Palace, and stood on equal footing with the Emperor."

Baize gave a bitter smile.

"Of course, this might be extremely unfair to the Human Race, but this was already the best choice."

"When Huangdi attacked the Demon Race's Heavenly Palace, the Emperor once told him the underlying reasons and urged him to lie low, to wait until the Human Race was powerful before considering further action."

"The Emperor was actually doing it for the good of the Human Race; after all, there were three Heavenly Gods in Kunlun, and those three Emperors, plus the Heavenly Gods also mastered the power of heaven and earth, so in a head-on confrontation, the chances of winning were very low."

"The Emperor said that if Huangdi was willing, he could completely hand over the North Sea to the Human Race, letting the Human Race dwell there."

"Even if it were just considered compensation to the Human Race for these past years."

"But Huangdi was quite disgusted by the two Emperors and was unwilling to let the Human Race join the Demon Race, and the conversation was not very pleasant, so they parted on bad terms."

"Before leaving, he even used a sword to challenge the Nantian Gate and slaughtered a million demon troops, causing the two Emperors to almost overturn the North Sea to fight a great battle with Huangdi again."

"Even though the Human Race had produced a peerless Great Emperor, in truth, no one believed that Xuanyuan would really go and look for trouble with Kunlun Mountain."

"After all, that was Kunlun, the center of the entire world, the sacred mountain that all divinity worshipped."

"But Huangdi..."

The corners of Baize's mouth twitched slightly.

He took a deep breath and slowly recited:

"Just when everyone thought Huangdi would lay down his arms, rest and build up his strength in the North Sea, and wait for the times to change."

"He took a sword, along with thirty thousand elite troops under his command."

"He went to Kunlun!"

"He said these gods were not worthy of being gods; they mastered the power of heaven and earth but only knew how to enjoy themselves, and while they received the worship of living beings, they had no heart of mercy; they were called Heavenly Gods, but in reality, they were Heavenly Demons."

"Especially since these fellows also targeted the Human Race."

"Displeased by this, he led his troops to strike the mountain and conquer Kunlun!"

Speaking to this point, a glimmer of light flashed in Baize's eyes.

That was,

That was a kind of yearning?!

Li Xiang was surprised; Baize seemed to be very fond of the Human Race's Great Emperor, and his expression actually revealed a look of yearning.

"Haha, don't be surprised; for someone as strong as him, let alone me, even gods would admire him."

"At that time, I was still young, only just two hundred years old, and my cultivation was barely at the Second Grade."

"As for what exactly happened, my Demon Race did not participate, so there are no very detailed records."

"I only know that after the battle that day, Kunlun Mountain was gone."

"Ten thousand miles of land, clouds touching the sky, the very center of the entire world, that Kunlun Mountain which had nurtured hundreds of Innate Gods, was turned into a flat plain."

"Three Heavenly Gods stronger than the Emperor, ninety Subordinate Gods comparable to Yao Commanders, and thousands of other Innate living beings of Great Demon level."

"From that day on, no one ever saw them again."

"Huangdi had a few more powerful living beings by his side, as well as an extremely formidable female cultivator who was surrounded by divine Spiritual Qi and seemed to have some connection to Kunlun; at the time, whenever others asked, they were all tight-lipped and only said they didn't know what had happened."

"The Emperor guessed that perhaps some of the gods of Kunlun chose to follow Huangdi."

"Actually, the Emperor was also very surprised; after all, given the temperament of that group of gods on Kunlun Mountain, how could they choose to follow a human?"

"How much charisma must that take."

"You have to know, they were gods!"

"How could gods possibly bow their heads to a human?!"

Speaking of the past of Great Emperor Xuanyuan, Baize's expression was very complex.

This was a living being who was ridiculously strong, strong enough to almost suppress an entire era.

Strong enough that even one as brilliant as the Demon Race's Emperor—that Emperor who brought all the living beings under heaven into one race and created an era of unification—could not contend with Huangdi.

"The history books of the Demon Race once briefly recorded this matter."

"But I don't know why, it wasn't detailed, and it seemed to be a taboo; when I flipped through it, I only saw a simple sentence in the history book recording this event."

"Year 3744 of the ** Era."

"There was a divine decree: humans shall be purged, and the Emperor was ordered to pacify the North Sea."

"On that day, Huangdi was enraged, entered Kunlun, and slaughtered the gods!"

A very plain sentence, yet it directly ended the era of the gods.

In such an era where humans and gods coexisted and the Demon Race rose and fell.

One man, one sword, he carved out a path for the rise of the Human Race.

Words are few, unable to fully describe his greatness.

After this battle, between heaven and earth, no one dared to call themselves a god again.

Reforming heaven, changing the earth.

One man, one sword, he ended the era of the gods.

Yet it still made Li Xiang's blood boil.

It seemed that deep within his own bloodline, some unique inheritance was resonating and surging with it.

At this moment, he even had an impulse.

He wished he could cross through time, go to that battlefield where the Human Race rose at Kunlun, and be a small soldier waving a flag and shouting.

To see how Huangdi sought justice for the Human Race, and how he, with one man and one sword, wiped the heavens clean of all divinity.

Huangdi was enraged, entered Kunlun, and slaughtered the gods!

Recalling the old farmer he had just seen, Li Xiang only felt that his brain was not quite enough to process it all.

Is this really something that old farmer could have done?

Strengthen our Humanity ancestor!

Too strong!

So strong it's simply insane.

The first ten years, invincible here.

The middle ten years, changing the heavens and the earth.

"And then!"

"What happened after that, what was the final outcome for Huangdi?"

"And also..."

Li Xiang continued to ask excitedly; he really wanted to know if, after Huangdi pacified Kunlun, the Human Race safely took control of the Central Plains.

Could the Human Race and the Demon Race really coexist in peace?

Why, when Huangdi had already become so strong, has he not left behind any legacy or information in this day and age?

A man who ended the era of gods with a single sword and carved out the future for the Human Race—how could he leave no trace in history?

This is unreasonable, this is too unreasonable!

Before Li Xiang could continue, Baize shook his head.

"I cannot say more, fellow Daoist."

"If I say any more, there will be trouble."

"I only know that the Central Plains later became yours, the Human Race's. As eternal ages passed and the seas turned into mulberry fields, even the Mountain and Sea Ancestral Land sank and became the East Sea, yet you of the Human Race have always occupied the most magnificent Central Plains in this world."

"A thousand years, ten thousand years, a hundred thousand years—on the land of the Central Plains, may Humanity prosper forever!"

"That is the story of Great Emperor Xuanyuan; as for his ending..."

"I really cannot say anymore."

"Even if you don't care about your life, I still care about mine."

Baize sighed, appearing somewhat wistful.

He wanted very much to tell it, but he had no choice but to remain silent.

"I actually do not dislike the Human Race."

"The Emperor initially wanted to include the Human Race in the Demon Register, but the Heavenly Gods of Kunlun wanted the Emperor to pacify the Human Race."

"You know the rest of the story; Great Emperor Xuanyuan had a fiery temper, and even though he knew the Emperor's hidden difficulties, he was unwilling to pay the Emperor any mind."

"Come to think of it, many, many years ago, when I was fishing in the North Sea, it was just like today—drinking wine and eating meat with Great Emperor Xuanyuan, how joyous it was."

"At that time, he entrusted me to look after the Human Race a little in the future."

"I was puzzled then; with the Great Emperor's power, how could it ever be the turn of a little fellow like me to look after the Human Race?"

"Thinking of it now, I only feel the Great Emperor was magnificent, as if he had seen the future long ago."

"If it weren't for..."

Bang!

Before he could finish, a violent tremor arrived.

The entire azure Heavenly Palace shattered.

Baize suffered a backlash, a trace of blood left the corner of his mouth, and he looked extremely disheveled.

"Hahaha."

"It won't do; my cultivation is still too low."

"Even telling a story has become this strenuous."

"However, if you have the chance to find the supreme treasure of your Human Race, the Mountain and River State Map, perhaps you can learn some of the stories of what happened back then."

Li Xiang's expression suddenly became very strange.

"Wait, what did you just say?"

"The Mountain and River State Map?!"

"Ah, this..."

Ten thousand words completed, continuing tomorrow.

(End of chapter)