Chapter 96: The Origins of Humanity

Jun Laoye pointed toward the arena. "Something's happening with the cold energy."

The chill radiating from the beads instantly spread across the arena, swirling violently before splitting into three distinct streams of energy.

The first portion surged straight into Song Ping's body. The Yang Purifying Water enveloped him, purifying and mitigating the cold, yet the lingering chill still made him shiver uncontrollably. His body, already weakened, couldn't withstand the invasion, and he groaned before slipping back into unconsciousness.

The second portion spiraled upward, merging with the cold energy that already surrounded the Frost Dragon. As an ice-cold spiritual entity, the dragon absorbed the additional spirit qi like a supplement. Its spiritual body grew denser and more solid.

The largest portion drifted freely across the arena. Once freed from the Yin Ocean Pearl's control, it became extremely violent and cold, piercing everything it touched. It far surpassed any of the world's existing cold energy.

The cultivators below the arena hurriedly stepped back, wary of being contaminated by the freezing force.

Watching the chaos, Lu Chen muttered, "This isn't good. I've only made things worse."

He immediately gathered the rogue cold spirit qi and neutralized it, dispersing it safely into the air.

"Little Lu, you really are a walking disaster," Wind Dragon teased, circling above him. "Trouble follows you everywhere, regardless of whether you're talking or trying to help."

"Wind Dragon, enough! It was an accident," Lu Chen said.

He scooped up the dragon and flung it backward, then extended his hands and released his spirit qi to get rid of the remaining cold energy around Song Ping.

"Why stop me from speaking?"

Wind Dragon shook himself off the ground and perched on Nantian Wan'er's shoulder. "Miss Wan'er, don't you agree? He causes chaos wherever he goes and can't clean up after himself."

Lu Chen shot back, "That's not true! I'm different now! I'm chief disciple of the Serene Void Academy now, which makes me the senior martial brother to all of them."

At the same time, he secretly sent his spirit qi into Song Ping's body.

Wind Dragon snorted. "Hmph. I'm still not impressed with your trouble-making skills."

He settled comfortably on Nantian Wan'er's shoulder. "If something happens, don't come looking for me."

"Looking for you? Never."

Jun Wudi noticed Lu Chen's subtle movements and glanced at him midair. Finding nothing unusual, he returned to manipulating the formation, pulling the Frost Dragon upward.

Lu Chen probed deeper into Song Ping's meridians with his spirit qi, inspecting his Heavenly Pool. He discovered something unusual.

Perhaps due to the Yang Purifying Water, the Spirit Light Chains, or Song Ping's unique constitution, the cold spirit qi harmonized perfectly with his body. Instead of causing harm, it gradually strengthened his meridians and Heavenly Pool as it circulated.

Each trace of cold spirit qi completed several full cycles through his meridians before returning to the Heavenly Pool, lingering in Song Ping's sea of qi. As it continued to nurture him, the cold spirit qi slowly converted Song Ping's own spirit qi into innate cold spirit qi.

Lu Chen frowned at Song Ping's unusual condition. "Wind Dragon, are you there?"

He smiled up at the dragon. "Great Wind Dragon, wake up! I have a question for you."

"

Huh?

A question? Why would I be questioned?"

Lu Chen reminded him, "Didn't someone just claim they were very powerful?"

Wind Dragon lazily opened his eyes and mimicked Lu Chen's tone, mocking, "I'm not the senior martial brother, nor the chief disciple of the Serene Void Academy. I'm still the same as before."

"Wind Dragon, please! I'm just trying to show off!"

"Keep going, don't stop showing off. I'm an old relic, and I know nothing."

Wind Dragon turned slightly and wagged his tail. "Besides, I'm unwanted here, so none of that matters."

"It matters! It really does!" Lu Chen quickly scooped him up, smoothed his fur, and placed him back atop his head. "Great Wind Dragon, you're the most important to me."

"

Hmph...

now you understand my importance," Wind Dragon said, circling above to find a comfortable spot. He blinked and continued, "Since I'm so important to you, I'll explain the ins and outs here."

"Perfect! That's truly generous of you, Wind Dragon."

Lu Chen hurriedly recounted his observations. "Do you think there's a problem? This cold spirit qi doesn't seem to affect him at all."

"There are no problems. Song Ping has long practiced ice-attribute techniques, giving his body a natural tolerance to cold spirit qi," Wind Dragon explained, lifting his head proudly. "Plus, with your Yang Purifying Water protecting and purifying him, he'll wake up soon."

Wind Dragon continued, wagging his tail and tapping Lu Chen with it. "But that man's bloodline is unusual. His blood contains a unique aura, one of ancient ice energies from primeval times."

Hearing the mention of bloodline, Lu Chen's curiosity spiked. "Could it be an ancient bloodline? Like my Green Sovereign bloodline?"

"No, the Green Sovereign bloodline is the oldest. The bloodlines of most human cultivators today all evolved from the Green Sovereign bloodline."

"Is that so?"

Lu Chen listened intently as Wind Dragon continued. He recalled the humanoid beast that appeared during the era of primordial chaos.[1]. He remembered that whenever the humanoid beast was injured, a pool of blood would spill forth.

After some time, an entire humanoid race emerged from that blood. They reproduced and spread, gradually prospering.

"So that person... was the ancestor of human cultivators."

Sorting through his thoughts, Lu Chen asked, "Bai Ze showed me memories of the bloodlines, but they never clearly explained the development of human cultivators. How do you know it so precisely?"

"

Hmph.

How long have you been cultivating? I followed the Green Emperor himself and helped usher in a new era of ascension to the Outside."

"Alright, alright. I am young and ignorant. Please continue."

Wind Dragon snorted disdainfully. "Back when the great ones roamed the continent, they investigated the origins of the human bloodline. Naturally, I learned about it as well."

"But... the strange thing is that Song Ping's blood contains fragments of demonic beasts' essence[2]. Humans and demonic beasts should be incompatible."

The dragon tugged at Lu Chen's hair, pondering aloud. "His bloodline should have been far too thin for any demonic beast traits to be detectable. So why is that?"

Lu Chen reminded him, "Wind Dragon, doesn't Wan'er have the Phoenix Ancestor bloodline? She's human, too."

"Wan'er is different. The Phoenix Ancestor bloodline, like the Green Sovereign bloodline, was directly formed from the primal energies of heaven and earth."

Lu Chen rubbed his head, urging him on. "So what's the difference? We all clearly look human."

Wind Dragon explained, "In the earliest times, all beings were called demonic beasts, though names differed between races. Bai Ze's kind were the first traditional demonic beasts. Humans were called demonic humans. I represent elemental demonic beasts, and there's another type, law demonic beasts, which I've never seen myself."

"I know that," Lu Chen said. "But what does it have to do with Wan'er?" He tapped on Wind Dragon impatiently. "Just get to the point."

"Wan'er may have the body of a human, but she possesses an ancient bloodline. That means she isn't entirely human."

Wind Dragon withdrew the spirit qi from his eyes and continued, "You're the same. You may possess a human body, but the blood within you is ancient. At best, you and Wan'er can only be called demonic humans."

Lu Chen laughed in disbelief. "What does that mean? So neither Wan'er nor I are truly human? We're just demonic beasts in human form?"

"You could put it that way."

With a flick of his tail, Wind Dragon tapped Lu Chen's brow, sending a stream of memories directly into his mind. These memories differed from those Bai Ze had shared. Bai Ze's recorded the history of the traditional demonic beasts, while Wind Dragon chronicled the history of human cultivators. Despite being fragmented, they clearly depicted the process of human differentiation.

In the later stages, the divisions between races became increasingly distinct. Elemental beasts, demonic humans, traditional demonic beasts, and law demonic beasts all coexisted in the world.

Demonic humans reproduced rapidly, steadily increasing in number and gradually forming various clans. Tribes intermarried repeatedly, and through these chaotic unions, the original human bloodlines slowly disappeared. Their bloodlines became increasingly mixed, and the power they could pass on waned.

As reliance on bloodline cultivation waned, the wiser demonic humans developed techniques to absorb spirit qi, supplementing their bloodline power and specifically enhancing their human strength.

These developments laid the foundation for the eventual divergence of humans and demonic beasts.

Of course, some demonic humans had existed from the very beginning, formed directly from the bloodshed across heaven and earth, and they naturally possessed powerful bloodlines. To preserve purity, they preferred unions to happen within the clan or used special inheritance methods.

Those with innate bloodline talent still called themselves demonic humans. Over time, they gradually branched off, abandoning humans with impure bloodlines.

The discarded—those whose bloodlines were weak or nearly extinct—no longer maintained purity. Their inheritance accelerated, their numbers swelled, and they gradually occupied most of the habitable world, losing their original bloodlines entirely.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

These humans no longer possessed bloodline power, but they had superior intelligence and resourcefulness. They created unique cultivation methods, including body refinement, qi absorption, talismans, spells, formations, and enchanted artifacts. They even developed systems to use spirit qi to enhance their bloodlines, achieving strength far beyond ordinary demonic beasts.

Meanwhile, demonic beasts relied solely on bloodline cultivation. Struggling with inheritance difficulties, their numbers dwindled, and their clans gradually diminished.

The humans, seeing themselves as the rightful heirs of the continent, labeled all other beings as demons and firmly separated themselves from them.

"

Hmm...

that actually makes sense."

After reviewing Wind Dragon's memories, Lu Chen asked again, "But what happened to those with bloodlines? I haven't seen anyone with pure bloodlines until now."

"How could you? You haven't seen demonic humans because they disguise themselves as ordinary humans, establishing sects and gradually expanding their influence."

Wind Dragon rolled his eyes. "In our era, demonic humans were called bloodline cultivators. And every time the world moved into a new era, more than half of the trailblazers were bloodline cultivators."

1. This is referring to the illusory scene Bai Ze showed Lu Chen in Chapter 33 ☜

2. The original text described it as "demonic beasts' information." We assume the author meant something like genetic information, but that'd be out of context in a xianxia setting. Hence, we've decided to call it "essence". ☜