Stealing the Heavens

While Wu Qi was building up his forces in Great Wu, Pangu Continent had plunged into complete chaos.

For the mere title of ‘Sacred Emperor’, mortal kingdoms from outer heavenly realms were warring and annexing each other, and for some excellent blessed sites, immortal sects were dragging each other into fierce battles. Although the energy level in any random mountain throughout Pangu Continent was at least a hundred times richer than the planets these immortal sects had once occupied, immortals’ greed was limitless, and they always fixed their eyes on the best blessed sites.

You Xiong Army, led by King Wei Shan, was suppressing Great Yu’s western provinces. He had taught those mortal kingdoms some fierce lessons when he had the opportunity, and had wiped out several smaller ones. However, as his forces were held back by the rebel army led by King Xin Shan, he could not always send out his army to attack the invading kingdoms at will.

King Xin Shan, who had settled down in the southern region of Great Yu, had raised the banner of the Human Emperor and announced that he had founded a new empire called the ‘New Yu’. He claimed that Great Yu was a rotten and corrupted dynasty; for the sake of the human race’s future, New Yu would certainly replace Great Yu, and he would lead the human race to a brighter future.

To prove his claim, King Xin Shan had sent countless men to spread rumors in Great Yu’s territory, accusing Emperor Haozun of extravagance and murder, the aristocracy of feeding on human flesh and drinking human blood. He spread things such as Emperor Haozun had to kill a thousand virgins every day to make delicious dishes. These rumors spread like plagues across Pangu Continent, and the simple and honest people could not tell whether they were real or not, leading to panic throughout the continent.

Soon, people living near Great Yu’s southern region began to migrate to the southern region with their families. In New Yu’s propaganda slogans, these people were persecuted by Great Yu and forced to flee their homes. Meanwhile, all kinds of natural disasters continued to occur throughout Great Yu’s territory. Flood, droughts, plagues, and other disasters had shaken the local administration’s control over the provinces and counties while weakening Great Yu’s strength.

In the great hall of the imperial palace, Emperor Haozun was convening a council of courtiers and preparing to mobilize the army to conquer New Yu.

Emperor Haozun, seated on the throne, looking grim. The New Yu founded by his rebellious son had become a major threat to Great Yu. The dynasty situated in the southern region had a mighty military force and more high-level Supreme Oracles. If it were not annihilated, Great Yu would not be able to freely mobilize its army to deal with those mortal kingdoms and immortals who continued to land.

Once those mortal kingdoms matured immortal sects had found their blessed sites to set their roots deep in Pangu Continent, it would be extremely difficult for Great Yu to deal with them. Only by destroying New Yu with a thunderous strike, executing King Xin Shan and all the other traitors, and then mobilizing all the armies to wipe out every single mortal kingdom and slay all immortals, could Great Yu survive this crisis.

Slapping hard on the armrest of his throne, Emperor Haozun cried out in a stern voice, “At all costs, even if we have to spend everything in the treasury, recruit soldiers, train the raw recruits, and arm the army. After wiping out all the traitors and those invading forces, we will…”

He looked up at the ceiling as he clenched his jaws and said, “We will launch an attack against the Thirty-three Heavens, wipe out Heaven, and then attack Gridhrakuta Mountain! We have to let those people know that we, the human race, are not something they can play with at will!”

Upon hearing that, the courtiers’ pulses raced. Everyone, including King Yang Shan, bowed their heads at the emperor and answered in unison.

Just as Emperor Haozun was about to issue a decree to deploy military forces against New Yu, a eunuch ran hurriedly into the great hall, then bowed to him and said in an urgent voice, “Your Majesty, we have received urgent messages from the military towns in the east, north, and west! There are people flying past our checkpoints without permission, and the no-fly restrictive formations in the military towns cannot stop them! Hundreds of generals have been wounded!”

Emperor Haozun was shocked, and the courtiers in the great hall terrified. Long Mo gave a cold snort from beside the emperor and lightly clapped his hands, causing a light screen to fall from the ceiling. Different landscapes were shown on the screen, which were the areas around You Xiong Plain.

Through the light screen, they saw a plume of green smoke in the east, tens of thousands of miles long and shaped like a dragon, was rushing for Liangzhu with loud whistles of wind, and beams of bright light were flashing in the military towns along its way. These towns were all surrounded with no-fly restrictive formations which prevented any ordinary immortal from flying past them. However, when the green smoke passed, the formations crumbled and disintegrated, and even the walls in some of the towns were cracking and collapsing.

Hundreds of tiny purple light dots surrounded the smoke, attacking it with all their might. But, whenever the smoke twisted and turned, dozens of them were thrown to the ground. These light dots were Great Yu’s generals stationed in various military towns, and the weakest of them had the cultivation base of the Nine Stars Realm of the Second Pangu Heaven. And yet, in the face of this green smoke, they were easily defeated like tiny ants around a huge dragon.

A black torrent, also tens of thousands of miles long, was approaching from the north. The raging water rolled across the sky with countless pitch-black icebergs bobbing and slamming at each other in it, producing a deafening rumble that crumbled the no-fly restrictive formations in the military towns along the way. The generals of the garrisons did not even have the chance to attack it; before they could get close to the black torrent, the loud noise had already knocked them unconscious and thrown them to the ground.

What was coming from the west was a beam of silver light. It was extremely bright and fine, and only about a thousand miles long. When it pierced through the sky, it produced a sharp, jarring noise, and left behind a striking black trail in the void, a wound that would take the void a long time to heal. And it was fast, frighteningly fast…at least ten times faster than the green smoke and the black torrent. The generals in the military town along the way could not even catch up with it, not to mention stop it.

Emperor Haozun’s face darkened. The jade dais beneath his feet suddenly cracked and was filled with lines that looked like a spider web. He took a deep breath, and then a bright starlight flashed on his body. In the blink of an eye, all the cracks disappeared, and the dais was whole once again.

The courtiers were startled at the sight of it. Clearly, Emperor Haozun had just manipulated the time within the small area around him, reversing it to a little while back. Anyone with the overall strength of a Primordial expert could accelerate time, but only a Dao Breaking expert could reverse time. Without activating the defensive formation of Liangzhu, their emperor had possessed the overall strength of a Dao Breaking expert!

Emperor Haozun had absolutely no cultivation base of a Dao Breaking expert before the major change! All the courtiers in the great hall stared blankly at the intact jade dais, and their faces were soon covered with wild excitement.

All of a sudden, the light screen flickered violently. Three vast streams of pressure poured out of it while a deep, powerful roar shook Long Mo and made him tremble. The green smoke, black torrent, and silver beam had discovered that someone was peeking at them, and were counterattacking with some magic. With beads of cold sweat breaking out of his forehead, Long Mo snorted coldly, preparing to bite his tongue and spit out a mouthful of blood essence to stabilize the light screen.

Emperor Haozun waved his hand lightly, stopping Long Mo from risking his life. “You’ve come a long way to visit us, my lords! Heh, please forgive me for not welcoming you at an earlier time!” The emperor cried out in a low voice.

A terrible pressure enveloped the entire Liangzhu, and then three figures appeared out of thin air in front of You Xiong Palace.

The man in the middle was clad in a green robe and surrounded in tendrils of green smoke. He was thin but looked energetic, his face ancient and dignified. The man to his left wore a silver robe, standing roughly ten feet tall with a body as strong as a lion. When he glanced about, bright gleam shone from his eyes, and his gaze was sharp as a blade. The last man, standing to the right, was clad in a black robe. He was tall and skinny, and he had an evil look on his face; his eyes were filled with unspeakable malevolence.

Great Yu’s courtiers bowed their heads together. The green-robed man was the Eastern Green Emperor, the silver-robed man was the Western White Emperor, and the black-robed man was the Northern Black Emperor. They were all figures who had existed since Pangu created the world, the true gods who were the condensation of the Laws of Heavenly Dao, the formidable almighty experts, and leaders who represented the three great powers of the gods today.

They walked slowly into the great hall and stood about a mile from Emperor Haozun.

Emperor Haozun rose to his feet and flew down from the dais, then cupped his fist and bowed to the three. “Emperor Haozun, the present Human Emperor of the human race, sends his greeting to my lords.”

Green Emperor twitched the corners of his mouth, signaling that he had smiled. Then, he spoke in a deep, low voice, “Emperor Haozun, you need to give my brothers and I an answer.”

Emperor Haozun was silent for a moment. He carefully thought of the words he would use, and then said slowly, “Please have a seat, my lords. I have in my palace the special fruit wine produced by the Palace of Empress Wa, a rare vintage, and I will have my servants bring you the various immortal fruits harvested from Mount Kunlun.”

White Emperor interrupted his words with a cold snort. “Don’t waste our time with such fake courtesy,” he said indifferently. “It is useless for you to intimidate us with Empress Wa. Even though she is the one with the most virtues in the universe, she cannot protect the human race this time.”

“We have come here to seek justice from Great Yu,” said Black Emperor in a sinister voice.

Emperor Haozun’s face flickered as he asked respectfully, “If I may ask, what justice are my lords seeking from us?”

Green Emperor narrowed his eyes and sneered. “My brothers and I have been cultivating in seclusion and not paying any attention to the outside world in recent years, and yet, Great Yu has taken this opportunity and bullied our people! A few years ago, the heirs of our disciples were killed by Great Yu, and now we want you to give us an answer to that!”

Emperor Haozun’s heart sunk. The consequence of killing the Sovereign of Myriad Immortal Alliance had finally arrived today.

After remaining silent for a moment, he said solemnly, “With all due respect, my lords, don’t you know the cause of this? The heirs of your disciples were killed by mistake. What puzzles me is why your disciples appeared in the ranks of Great Yu’s enemy?”

Green Emperor laughed and shook his head. “Judging by what you’ve just said, it seems to me that you are not going to reason with us, are you?”

White Emperor said coldly, “Since the Human Emperor is not going to reason with us, then don’t blame us for seeking justice with our own hands!”

“The heirs of our disciples cannot be killed for nothing,” Black Emperor said sinisterly, “Great Yu must pay the price!”

After saying that, they flicked their sleeves, then spun and left. As they walked away, they cried out in unison, “Three days from now, the mighty army of our race will launch an attack against Great Yu and seek justice for the disciples who have died so tragically!”

With a gloomy face, Emperor Haozun’s eyes followed the three ancient emperors as they walked toward the great hall’s door. Suddenly, he clapped his hands, and the door swung shut with a loud bang. The three emperors looked over their shoulders at him in shock, and saw him drawing the Xuanyuan Sword, his jaws clenched tight.

“Fu*k you! Why should I reason with you when you are all unreasonable? Courtiers of Great Yu, kill them now!”

The great hall shook as Emperor Haozun activated Liangzhu’s defensive formation, causing the natural energy in the entire You Xiong Plain to surge violently.