Stealing the Heavens

The moment Lord Boyang killed himself, a furious roar came from the far east.

“How dare you! You’ve killed my best friend, and it is no different than chopping off one of my hands! I swear I will attack you with the strength of my entire dynasty, and I will crush you!”

Zhang Tengyun’s voice rumbled like the roars of a thousand dragons. Meanwhile, plumes of purple smoke rolled over from the east, tearing and ripping the thick mist the naval forces of Dong Hai had created. Thousands of Dong Hai flying ships at the forefront creaked as their main structures cracked and broke while wooden planks kept falling off the deck. In dozens of the great rivers, the naval forces following the army to the east shrieked and screamed; hundreds of thousands of water spirits and water demons such as fishes, prawns, crabs, and clams exploded into bloody mists and were then devoured by other fierce demons of the naval forces such as sharks and whales.

Shaped like dragons, the plumes of purple smoke rushed straight for Dong Hai army like shooting stars. Wu Qi let out a cold snort as his hair stood on their ends and black smoke gushed out of him while his body abruptly grew hundreds of feet tall, turning into the look of a dragonman. He then raised both fists and threw them out at the void.

With the punch, the void rippled like the surface of water, churning the purple smoke. Then, Wu Qi waved his hands and drew a giant bloody rune about a thousand feet in diameter in front of him, bit his tongue, and spat a mouthful of heart’s blood onto it. Then, he clutched it with both hands and gave it a hard squeeze, compressing it into a tiny fleck of blood-red light as small as the top of a needle, and threw it out.

The fleck pierced through a great distance in a flash, shooting toward Zhang Tengyun, who was sitting straight on the throne in the great hall of Wanling Palace.

Upon seeing a blood-red fleck shooting toward Zhang Tengyun’s forehead with a shrill ghost howl, all the courtiers of Ling Dynasty cried out furiously, getting ready to intercept it. But, Zhang Tengyun stopped them with a shout while casually grabbing the rune Wu Qi threw at him, then smiled derisively and said, “A grain of rice trying to fight back against…against…against…”

A loud boom rang out as the tiny fleck exploded, shattering all the thirty-three evil-suppressing runes Zhang Tengyun had placed in his palm while a powerful evil force blew the flesh and blood off his hand. It traveled through his meridians and blood vessels, causing them to swell as big as thumbs and slither frantically into his body like countless venomous snakes.

Zhang Tengyun gave a furious roar as the white jade lotus flower silently flew up and enveloped him with an immortal light. In the blink of an eye, the evil force in him was wiped away, and the wounded arm was healing rapidly. Before long, it was completely healed with not even a scar left.

Realizing that he had made a fool of himself in front of all his subjects, Zhang Tengyun’s face twisted and a murderous look crept upon his brows. “Assemble the army!” he cried out at the top of his voice. “I will lead the army myself, and I will crush Dong Hai, capture Liangzhu, and open a new era for the human race!”

Order after order was given. Zhang Tengyun would lead the main force to attack Dong Hai, and a dozen regiments big or small would march out in all directions to conquer Pangu Continent. For the time being, they would avoid making contact with the two monsters, Great Yu and New Yu, and take alternate routes to the south and north, targeting the mortal kingdoms from outer heavenly realms. They were ordered to kill these kingdoms’ emperors, take their emperor aura, and bring it back to Zhang Tengyun, so that he could achieve his great cause of becoming the new Human Emperor.

The prime minister of Ling Dynasty, Liu Bang, frowned at Zhang Tengyun from the side of the throne. It seemed to him that after the souls of the emperor and Lord Boyang had merged, all of Zhang Tengyun’s flaws had stayed, and he even grew more violent. The original Zhang Tengyun was proud, arrogant, and wild, but he was very cautious in everything he did, and would only strike with all his might when the timing was right, like a venomous snake hunting for food. He would never give his enemies any chance, and would never place himself in a dangerous situation.

But the new Zhang Tengyun… he was acting rather weird just now. How could he be so stupid as to catch Wu Qi’s rune with his bare hand? If it were the original Zhang Tengyun or Lord Boyang, they would never commit such a mistake. Why did this happen when their souls were one again?

‘Perhaps it was caused by mood swings…After all, he has just completed his soul.’ Liu Bang consoled himself.

Liu Bang had learned from his father, the South Emperor, that Heaven had poured in a lot of effort for the sake of Zhang Tengyun, and this man had an unusual background. He was once a very important figure of the Dao League, and had held a very high position in Heaven. Liu Bang suspected that he might be one of the previous Great Celestial Emperors who had fallen. The problem was, if Zhang Tengyun was the incarnation of such a mighty figure, why did he act so unwisely just now?

Even though he was protected by the white jade lotus flower, as an emperor, he should not be so careless.

Liu Bang lowered his head and put everything in his mind.

Ling Dynasty was very efficient. After all, the purpose it came to Pangu Continent for was to create wars and build a legacy. Therefore, at Zhang Tengyun’s order, it only took the main force of the army two hours to assemble. Led by the emperor himself, the army began its march toward the western border. Meanwhile, the other eighteen regiments poured out in all directions to conquer those mortal kingdoms and bring them under Ling Dynasty’s rule.

The army of Dong Hai, led by Wu Qi, cautiously crossed the eastern border, stepping into the territory currently controlled by Ling Dynasty. Wu Qi was troubled by the fact that his rune had failed to seriously injure Zhang Tengyun. He did not expect the white jade lotus flower, which had protected the emperor, was actually a Supreme Artifact of Primal. Only figures born in the Chaotic World knew what kind of a freakish thing a Supreme Artifact of Primal was. A person with such an artifact had an overwhelming advantage over an enemy of the same strength who did not.

It was true that his Heaven Refining Cauldron was also a Supreme Artifact of Primal, but it was only a supporting artifact, much less useful in battles than the lotus flower. As for Zhang Tengyun’s cultivation base, Wu Qi did not take it seriously at all. A peak Dao Reasoning expert was nothing to him.

Using the art of celestial divination Guigu’zi had taught him, Wu Qi figured out the positions of the stars today. He ordered the fleet to line up according to the positions of the stars, forming a round offensive and defensive formation, and slowly flying toward the city of Ling Dynasty situated closest to the eastern border.

Plumes of smoke and clouds swirled over the city, which had not even carved its name on the plaque hung on top of the gates. The garrisons in the city had activated the city’s defenses. In the face of Dong Hai’s fleet that blotted the sky, the people of Ling Dynasty working in the fields outside the city uttered cries and screams that shook the sky as they frantically rushed into the nearest cities and towns, praying those seemingly though walls could protect them.

But, Dong Hai army was too fast. While many people were still running in the fields, they were caught and forcibly pulled up into the flying ships with magic by the Oracles. Wherever the ships passed, houses were crushed and all the people abducted. The fleet only halted when it was about ten miles from the city.

Wu Qi’s flagship was thirty miles long, so huge that anyone who looked at it would gape in awe. But, the thousands of defenders on the city walls did not stir.

From among them, a general in heavy armor flew to less than a thousand feet from the ship and pointed a finger at Wu Qi, who stood at the prow, as he snapped, “Leave now! This is Ling Dynasty’s territory! You are not allowed to be here!”

After a moment of silence, Wu Qi laughed and said, “The emperor of Ling Dynasty, Zhang Tengyun, is supposed to be the so-called new emperor of the human race, right?”

The general, suddenly became very fanatical as he cried out at the top of his lungs, “His Majesty is the heaven-chosen Sacred Emperor of the human race! He will lead the human race forever and his legacy will never end! The human race on Pangu Continent has decayed, His Majesty will replace the old dynasty with a new one! A new chapter of the world is coming soon, and the human race will rise once again!”

Wu Qi looked at the general, who possessed the cultivation base of a Gold Immortal. He was a genuine Gold Immortal, and what he practiced was not the cultivation technique of the human race, but the immortal arts of the Dao League. Wu Qi could not help but smile coldly. The human race had never acknowledged immortals as a part of them. So, it would be an absurd idea to them that they had to rely on a group of immortals to bring them a new chapter and make them rise once again.

He was about to argue with the general when Princess Zhang Le casually pointed a finger and threw a beam of blood-red light into the general’s forehead, blowing his body apart. A soul flew out of the broken body, sped into the sky, and vanished in a flash.

When the general’s soul flew out, there were not less than a hundred thousand men in Dong Hai army casting restrictive spells at the same time, trying to capture it, including a group of Great Chu’s courtiers and their emperor, Qu Ping, who had mastered the arts of ghosts and gods. However, the soul was as slippery as an eel soaked with oil. Although countless restrictive spells fell on it together, it vanished without a trace in just a flash.

This was not the first time something like this had happened. When Lord Bowang was slain, his soul had also vanished without a trace in a flash.

The crowd was shocked. How did it happen?

Wu Qi pondered for a moment. While frowning, he reached out a hand and performed a grabbing gesture. A group of soldiers standing shakily on top of the city walls shrieked as a dozen of them were pulled up into the air. Then, the Blood Centipede Sword flew over and sliced through their throats, beheading them in the blink of an eye. Amidst cries of agony, dozens of bloody souls sped into the sky and vanished in a flash.

As he threw out the sword, Wu Qi had already cast a soul-capturing spell to imprison those souls. But, his spell was resisted by a very mighty force, and no mattered how hard he tried, he failed to take down the souls of the soldiers who were only a group of Heaven Immortals.

Princess Zhang Le rolled her eyes and casually pressed her palm downward. In the river beneath her, a carp demon with the cultivation base of Gold Core realm was suddenly blown to pieces with a boom. While trembling, his soul flew up into the sky, and Princess Zhang Le reached out a hand, trying to grab it. But, she failed as well.

“It seems…” Wu Qi and Princess Zhang Le exchanged a glance. It seemed to them that the enemy had completed their most important plot.

Just as Wu Qi was contemplating the impact of this situation, clouds of smoke and dust rose from the horizon ahead of them. Led by Zhang Tengyun, the army of Ling Dynasty, a military force that was larger than the Dong Hai army, was approaching at high speed on clouds.

Meanwhile, the stars in the sky suddenly glowed. Nearly a thousand little stars, which were not so important and situated near the edge of the sky, plunged towards the ground in fine beams of starlight, all falling into the army of Ling Dynasty.

Wu Qi’s face flickered. The descent of the Celestial Lords indicated that Heaven had struck. It seemed that Heaven’s plot had completed, and they could not wait to swallow Pangu Continent, the delicious piece of meat they had drooled over for long.