Stealing the Heavens

About half a month after the Golden Buddha Pills were concocted, Princess Zhang Le finally returned with all her loot. Seven Primordial Immortals from Heaven, two Primordial experts from the Fiend Realm, one Primordial expert from the Demon Realm, and thirty-two Buddhas from Buddhist League were the fruits of her trip.

Wu Qi did not stand on ceremony and immediately refined all these Primordial experts into medicinal pills. After that, everyone quickly returned to Dong Hai.

After distributing the pills containing enormous energy essence to his closest confidants, including Ao Buzun, Wu Qi convened a secret meeting with everyone. Later, he let it be known that he had begun to cultivate in seclusion, leaving all his clones of Blood-draining Celestial Fiends in Dong Hai, ordering them to disguise as him and occasionally appear in front of the public. He then asked Princess Zhang Le to take over all the administrative affairs in his place. Having done all this, he left Dong Hai with the two great masters, Guigu’zi and Mo Di.

Dong Hai had reined in its sharp claws, holding only the provinces around it and parts of the eastern frontier, and allowing those mortal kingdoms and immortal sects from outer heavenly realms to freely wreak havoc elsewhere. The mighty forces of Dong Hai, who had set off a storm of blood not long ago, had become as calm as a pool of stagnant water.

Heaven and Buddhist League had lost a great number of Primordial experts. As for how they would pursue the matter, it had nothing to do with Dong Hai anymore. Wu Qi and Princess Zhang Le did it neatly, leaving no evidence at all. So, no matter how hard the top figures of the two powers cracked their brains, they could not relate it to Dong Hai. Under Princess Zhang Le’s control, Dong Hai quietly saved up strength, and was ready to respond.

Seven days after Wu Qi’s departure, in the remotest part of Great Yu’s southern region, a strong gust of wind and clouds burst from a nameless mountain. Three huge white cranes carrying three men dressed in Daoist robes soared into the air and flew lightly up into the sky.

The man dressed in a blue Daoist robe embroidered with clouds, water, and dragons, with a pair of buns on his head and a three-feet-long sword on his back, was none other than Wu Qi. He had altered his features ever so slightly that even those who were very close to him could not recognize him now.

The second man, dressed in a black Daoist robe embroidered with patterns of the six stars of Southern Dipper and the seven stars of the Northern Dipper, his body as skinny as an ancient pine, his eyes shining with blue light and giving off an air of vicissitude, was Guigu’zi. On his back was carried a six-feet-long sword made of the heart of an old mahogany tree, its blade mottled with dark crimson runes, giving it a mysterious air.

The last man was wearing an iron-gray Daoist robe, his sleeves embroidered with fingers of flames, his face square and solemn as he looked angry all the time while his body was exuding a threatening heat. He was Mo Di. He was sitting cross-legged on the back of the crane with a six-feet-long hammer placed across his lap, its head as large as a winter melon and its weight enormous. The cranes on which the three rode were almost equally large, and their cultivation bases about the same—three demon cranes who had formed their gold cores. Yet, Mo Di’s crane was the slowest, panting all the way as it flew among them. It was all because of the massive hammer.

Wu Qi had given each of them a spirit talisman made by himself. Infused with Primal Purple Energy, the talismans had an excellent effect of hiding aura, and had suppressed their auras to the peak-level of Gold Immortal realm, infinitely close to the realm of Primordial. No one would ever find out their true overall strength unless the few almighty experts whom he feared the most forcibly probed their cultivation bases right in front of them.

Riding on the cranes, the three flew three thousand miles into the sky before slowly heading east.

Winds blew strong in the sky. The cranes let out sonorous cries as they glided eastward slowly, and mountains and rivers drifted by beneath them. This was an extremely remote place in Great Yu’s southern region. Often, not a single soul could be found for trillions of miles. It was infested with only countless poisonous insects and beasts, and there was even a giant, about a hundred feet long serpent coiled around the top of a lofty mountain, breathing clouds and mists which turned into a boundless colorful fog to harm all the nearby living beings.

Wu Qi sat on the back of a crane with his eyes narrowed, spreading his divine sense in all directions. Everything that happened around him was clearly visible in his mind.

The serpent coiled up on the mountain suddenly looked up and sucked in a breath. A powerful suction trapped the three cranes, trying to pull them into the giant creature’s mouth. Wu Qi sneered as the sword behind his back let out a sharp whistle and flew out of its sheath. It turned into a long beam of white light that was about a thousand feet long and made an arch in the air before slashing down hard.

The serpent uttered a long, violent hiss as the sword chopped it into eighteen pieces, and blood spurted out like a fountain. However, because serpents generally had very tenacious vitality, although it was seriously injured, it did not die instantly. Instead, it was twitching and struggling on the ground while letting out miserable cries.

Wu Qi pointed out a finger, and the sword flew back to its sheath behind his back. With a sneer, he said, “What a bold creature! Who gave you the guts to stand in our way? You really deserve to die!” When he finished, he raised his hands and began to perform a hand incantation gesture and chant a spell. Five dark, sticky masses of vapor condensed on his fingertips and fused into one amidst a deep thunderclap, compressing into a fist-size thunderbolt and falling down slowly toward the serpent.

The thunderbolt fell on the serpent and produced a low, muffled noise before blowing up and shattering its body. The splash of blood quickly turned black as soon as it touched the dark clouds released when the thunderbolt exploded. Amidst the rapid noise of explosions, the black blood burst violently as well. All of the blood was turned into thunderbolts and exploded, ripping the giant serpent to pieces and burning off all its flesh, leaving nothing behind.

A drop of blood with a faint gleam of lightning landed in a nearby stream, causing a chain reaction to all the water and turning them into extremely violent thunderbolts. A rapid explosion echoed out as the entire stream, more than a hundred miles long, exploded at the same time. It was as if a ferocious black dragon was wreaking havoc between the mountains. All the nearby boulders and cliffs were blown up; countless rocks flew tumbling up into the sky and then were shattered into a cloud of fine dust by the thunder force, drifting away with the wind.

At the end of the stream was a deep pond some thirty miles in diameter. As the stream kept blowing up, the explosion eventually spread into the pond. The aquamarine pond suddenly turned pitch black, its clear water becoming sticky and chilly. Suddenly, a deafening rumble rang out as the pond exploded like a bomb. The whole rock layer a hundred miles around it was lifted and thrown into the sky. Before it could fall back to the ground, it was crushed into dust by the thunder force.

There were several other streams flowing into this pond. The explosion implicated them and caused them to explode as well. All of the water was converted into lightning and then exploded. Black lightning dragons wreaked havoc in the mountains, destroying everything around them.

A thunderbolt, which was casually thrown out to kill a serpent, had eventually destroyed a forest more than two thousand miles around, killing all the creatures in it before its power died down.

A middle-aged man in an imperial robe witnessed it all from a cloud about a hundred miles away. Sitting on the back of a blue flood dragon, he stared blankly at the mighty attack and asked with a trembling voice, “My subjects…the divine ability of this Immortal…”

Several old men in black Oracle robes and tiny seven-story black pagodas hovering over their heads rested their eyes on Wu Qi, muttering to themselves, “It’s amazing…A random blow from this man can trigger a continuous explosion of water-element energy…If it’s on a battlefield and it is not water but human blood…this…”

Wu Qi’s water-element thunderbolt could explode endlessly as long as there was water, and the explosion would not stop until it had exhausted its source power. If this type of attack was used on the battlefield, the continuous burst of thunderbolts could kill almost all the enemy soldiers in an instant, as long as the blood in their bodies was triggered.

The middle-aged man sucked in a cold breath and slapped the flood dragon’s horn. The mount roared and rushed out of the cloud in the direction of Wu Qi. Facing the strong wind, he cried out at the top of his lungs, “Senior Immortals, please stay! This disciple begs you to stay!”

Wu Qi snorted as he waved his hand and sprinkled a cloud to support the three cranes, then looked back over his shoulder at the man and sneered. “Who are you? How dare you to ask us to stay? Quickly tell us your name, or else…”

With a clang, the sword behind him jumped three inches out of its sheath.

“I am the emperor of Great Wu Dynasty, Wu Tianming!” The man cried out. “I sincerely wish to invite you to pay a visit to my dynasty!”

The few old men in black robes rushed to Wu Tianming’s side and looked at Wu Qi and his companions with slight disdain. They were Supreme Oracles trained by Heaven and Buddhist League. Although they were far weaker than Great Yu’s Supreme Oracles, they did not know that, and they thought they were the strongest beings in this world. How would they take Wu Qi and his companions seriously when the three’s auras were weaker than them?

Although Wu Qi’s thunderbolt was marvelous and powerful, it was nothing more than that. They were confident that any one of them could easily defeat Wu Qi and his companions. Therefore, these Supreme Oracles were not impressed by Wu Tianming’s respectful greeting.

Glancing at these Oracles with hostility in their eyes, Wu Qi suddenly laughed.

The sword behind him gave a crisp whistle and flew out of its sheath, cut the seven-story pagodas suspended over the eight Oracles in half, then hacked downward and sliced the Oracles into sixteen pieces. They stared at Wu Qi in horror as their bodies slowly separated from the middle. Blood spurted out, and sixteen pieces of bodies suddenly fell to the ground.

Wu Qi looked coldly at Wu Tianming and said in a flat tone, “Impudent fools! No one has ever dared to stare at me like that.”

Wu Tianming was not shocked, but delighted when the Oracles responsible for protecting him were killed. Without hesitation, he dropped to his knees on the cloud and kowtowed to Wu Qi. “Senior Immortals, this disciple begs you to come to my dynasty. This disciple is thirsty for talents, and Senior Immortals are the showers after a long drought. For the sake of my sincerity, please…”

Mo Di interrupted Wu Tianming’s superfluous words as he asked bluntly in a low, muffled voice, “You want us to work for your dynasty? How much can you give us?”

Wu Tianming’s eyes suddenly shone as bright as a mouse. “Whatever you want…As long as I can find it in my dynasty, I can give it to you! Please…”

Guigu’zi interrupted him with a wave of a hand and said briskly, “Lead the way!”

Elated, Wu Tianming looked up at Wu Qi, who nodded indifferently and summoned back his sword.