Stealing the Heavens

On the evening of the same day, Wu Tianming threw a feast for Wu Qi, Guigu’zi, and Mo Di at the back garden in Great Wu’s inner court.

The garden was dimly lit. Dozens of old eunuchs, all in their sixties, waited on them, and there was no one else. The emperor had a group of young eunuchs at his side, but as soon as they entered the inner court, he drove them all away, leaving behind only the old, wavering men.

Wu Qi studied these old eunuchs curiously. Wu Tianming had told him their background a few moments ago—they were all confidants who had been with the emperor since he was three or five years old, and had been serving him for decades.

The former emperor of Great Wu had over thirty sons. Among all his brothers, Wu Tianming, who was addicted to the pleasures of song and women, hunting and racing, reading and writing poetry and painting, had the weakest cultivation base and the lowest popularity. His mother was also the most lowborn, so he had no one from his mother’s side to rely on. For these reasons, no one had expected him to become the emperor of Great Wu. But, it was for the same reasons that very few people placed their eyes and ears around him; and these eunuchs, who had served him since childhood, were the only people he could trust and rely on now.

Today, the outer court of Great Wu was controlled by Wu Dehou, and the inner court was managed by the former emperor’s queen, the current empress dowager. No one in either the outer court or inner court was Wu Tianming’s confidant. He had no authority in the court, and was facing heavy resistance in the inner court even when he tried to order a maid to serve him in bed. All in all, he was an unhappy emperor.

For example, although he was throwing a feast in the back garden now, the chief eunuch in charge of the inner court’s affairs had provided him with only some thirty candles, barely enough to light up the pavilion they were in and a small patch of woods in close vicinity. The rest of the garden was in complete darkness. Wu Tianming was so frustrated that as soon as he sat down, he toasted the three Imperial Advisors and drank nine vessels of wine in a row.

Earlier today, Wu Qi and Wu Dehou had reached an agreement in court that if Wu Qi could not help Great Wu unify the whole valley and wipe out the other kingdoms in three months, he and his senior brothers would have to leave all their treasures and spirit pills. They would then have to get out of here, never to take a step closer to Great Wu’s territory.

But, if they succeeded, Wu Dehou would have to step down and return all his power to Wu Tianming, and Wu Qi, Guigu’zi, and Mo Di would officially become Great Wu’s Imperial Advisors, assisting the emperor in the administration of the dynasty.

After downing several vessels of wine in a row, Wu Tianming looked at Wu Qi with some concern. He opened his mouth and was about to speak, but the words turned into a deep sigh.

“Why are you sighing, Your Majesty?” Wu Qi asked, pretending to be surprised.

Wu Tianming made no immediate answer. He spent a long time pondering, and finally said, carefully and one word at a time, “I know you have omnipotent magic power, but the stakes are really…You are the only strong support I have now. What if there is a delay of a few days?”

Guigu’zi sneered, then suddenly turned his head and stared at a big tree in the darkness. A miserable howl rang out as a figure was thrown thousands of feet away from the tree into a lake, and then there was no more sound. Meanwhile, Mo Di slapped lightly on the ground with his palm. There was a loud boom and the whole back garden shook. With that, from under the ground came a few muffled shrieks which lasted only for a brief moment.

Wu Tianming’s face turned extremely unsightly. With a wry smile, he raised his wine vessel and stammered, “This… this…” Not knowing what to say, he downed the wine with great shame, then lowered his head and did not speak for a long time.

Shaking his head, Wu Qi said, “It’s just a small matter…These lackeys deserved to be killed. Your Majesty, please rest assured, my senior brothers and I have great confidence in sweeping the valley within three months. You’d better think about how to bring the court under control after that. If I may ask, do you have enough loyal people now? You know, when the Regent hands over his power, you’ll need a lot of people to take over the state affairs!”

Wu Tianming opened his mouth but failed to utter a single word, his face turning red, white, and then red again. How could he have loyal people to help him take over the state affairs? He had ascended the throne for only half a month, and with both the outer court and inner court controlled by others, he simply had no chance to recruit any helpers!

He was not even married, which meant he did not have anyone from his wife’s side to rely on. He did have two uncles though—his mother’s brothers. But, they were both butchers. How could he count on two butchers to help him deal with court matters?

Wu Qi could not help but laugh at the emperor’s miserable look. Pointing at the eunuchs standing around the pavilion, he asked lightly, “Your Majesty, if I may ask, are they worthy of your trust?”

Wu Tianming’s stiff face suddenly softened. He glanced at the old eunuchs and said gently, “If it hadn’t been for them, I wouldn’t be able to walk freely in this palace, and I wouldn’t have anyone to talk to.”

While nodding, Wu Qi slowly rose to his feet and walked over to the emperor, then took a Nine Rotations Pill out of his sleeve and put it on the table. Then, he reached into his sleeve again and took out another pill. Wu Tianming was stunned by the pills Wu Qi kept pulling out. He stared in awe as more and more pills piled up on the table, and his breathing became more and more rapid.

Seventy-two old eunuchs were standing around the pavilion. When Wu Qi took out the first Nine Rotations Pill, they held their breath and stared in awe. They had spent the whole day waiting on Wu Tianming, and had already seen their emperor take a pill in the court and immediately become a Gold Immortal. Now that Wu Qi had taken out the same pill, did it mean that one of them would have a chance to rise to the top?

Their breathing suddenly became rapid as they fixed their eyes at the pills which could transform them from the root, and their eyes gleamed brilliantly. How many of these pills did Wu Qi have in his sleeve? Which of them would be lucky enough to get the chance? If there were only a few pills, who would be the lucky ones?

One pill after another was neatly placed on the table—a total of seventy-two pills, one for each of the seventy-two old eunuchs standing around the pavilion! While trembling, Wu Tianming looked at Wu Qi as his eyes shone dazzlingly. Seventy-two Nine Rotations Pills coupled with seventy-two faithful eunuchs would give him seventy-two Gold Immortals. Together with the omnipotent Wu Qi, Guigu’zi, and Mo Di, the emperor suddenly felt like he had an infinite confidence.

Shivering with excitement, Wu Tianming rose and bowed deeply to Wu Qi. “Imperial Advisor, if you don’t mind my stupidity, please accept me as a disciple. I am willing to share the power of Great Wu with you!”

Wu Qi laughed with satisfaction. Instead of being pretentious, he simply said, “Good, very good! Kneel and kowtow! From now on, you are my disciple. If anyone dares to bully you, I will naturally support you!”

Filled with wild joy, the emperor kowtowed to Wu Qi dozens of time while he kept calling the latter ‘Master’.

Sitting back to his seat, Wu Qi flicked his sleeve and said with a smile, “Alright…you can hand out these pills now. Just consume them straightaway. I’ll guard for you and make sure nothing goes wrong!” Laughing haughtily, he pointed at Wu Tianming and said, “When you took the pill and became an immortal in the court, you were supposed to face a thunder tribulation. But, I got rid of it, just that you don’t know!”

“Oh!” Wu Tianming exclaimed with sudden enlightenment, then fell to his knees and kowtowed to Wu Qi a few more times before getting up and happily handing out the pills to every eunuch. The eunuchs were not only very discerning, but also very sensible. After they bowed and took the pills from the emperor, they came over to Wu Qi, Guigu’zi, and Mo Di and kowtowed to the three while addressing them as ‘Patriarchs’. When Wu Qi nodded in approval, only then did they consume the pills.

With Wu Qi guarding them, the eunuchs were able to absorb the medicinal strength smoothly. He even spent his blood essence to stimulate the potential of these frail eunuchs so that they could absorb the medicinal strength. The clouds of thunder tribulation, which were supposed to have descended upon them, were also scattered by his mighty divine sense. The Gold Immortal tribulation was nothing more than a joke to him now.

All the ears and eyes in the back garden were killed by Guigu’zi and Mo Di, and with Wu Qi shielding the whole area with his divine sense, no one could find out what was happening here. Therefore, no one in the whole Great Wu knew that their emperor, Wu Tianming, now owned a force powerful enough to shake the court.

After working for hours to help the old eunuchs without any foundation stabilize their cultivation base, Wu Qi cautioned them to carefully adapt to their new power over the next few days. He told them not to be angry at will, for they could not control their power at all now, and a careless mistake would blow the whole kingdom into the sky.

He asked them to regulate their auras over the next few days before gradually cultivating the techniques he taught them, starting from the most basic Dao magic and slowly getting used to their vast magic power. They had no foundation right now, and although they had the power of Gold Immortals, they could not even cast a palm-thunder. If Wu Qi wanted to put them to good use, it would take at least take a few months.

The overjoyed eunuchs solemnly lined up in a straight row and kowtowed once again to the three Imperial Advisors. Wu Qi asked them to keep their old appearances and gave them each a spirit talisman to hide their aura, only then did he let them stand up.

As soon as they rose to their feet, the faces of these old men suddenly fell. They looked at Wu Tianming in panic, then clutched their crotches with both hands as they dropped to their knees once more and cried out, “We have committed a capital offense!” The eunuchs, castrated from an early age, were terrified to find that their manhoods, which had been gone for decades, had regrown and were now pointing upward because of their vigorous energy essence and energy.

Looking at the frightened eunuchs, Wu Tianming hurriedly asked Wu Qi what had happened to them. After hearing the answer, he could not help but smile with relief and comfort them. Now that they had become Gold Immortals, their physical disabilities would be repaired naturally. Had anyone ever heard of Gold Immortals being eunuchs?

With a faint smile, Guigu’zi said, “This is what we call withered trees coming to life again. It’s a lucky thing!”

Wu Tianming burst out laughing, then raised his wine vessel and kept proposing toasts. He even allowed the eunuchs to sit down and have a good time with them. For a moment, the garden was filled with laughter.

Early the next morning, a military officer entered the palace and invited the three Imperial Advisors to receive the 100,000 soldiers assigned to them.