Stealing the Heavens

While the war was in full swing, Wu Qi and Princess Zhang Le had secretly left Dong Hai to the reverse side of Pangu Continent.

In the primal world located between the topside and reverse side of Pangu Continent, Wu Qi constructed a colossal Fiend Slaying Sword Formation using nine Blood-draining Celestial Fiends as the eyes of the formation and 3,600 Kunwu Swords he had condensed with the Primal Purple Energy. 108,000 fist-sized purple globes of light floated in the formation, the stars condensed from the Great Daos he had obtained from the Kaleidoscopic Star Core.

To build the formation, Wu Qi had exhausted all of his magic power. With Princess Zhang Le’s help, he meditated for seven days and seven nights before he regained his power. After leaving the Heaven Refining Cauldron at the heart of the formation so that it could absorb and supply natural energy, Wu Qi took Princess Zhang Le to the reverse side of Pangu Continent and flew straight in the direction of Greathorns’s Origin Tree of Fire.

Wu Qi wanted to kill the emperor of New Yu and seize the emperor aura in him, which he had obtained by splitting from Great Yu.

The emperor aura was very similar to the faith power of Buddhist League; they were both the power of faith generated by the respect and worship of hundreds of millions of people. Wu Qi had once stolen a wisp of emperor aura from Wu Tianming, trying to generate a new one with Primal Purple Energy. He succeeded in stealing it, but failed when he tried to combine them and convert the Primal Purple Energy into new emperor aura.

Under the impact of Primal Purple Energy, the emperor aura dissipated as quickly as dew under the sun. Wu Qi did not even have time to respond. Moreover, the dissipation of the wisp of emperor aura nearly shook Wu Tianming’s foundation of the Human Emperor. The emperor aura in him almost dissipated with it. Because of this, Wu Qi did not dare to take another chance, and stopped temporarily.

But, he had an intuition that if he was given enough emperor aura, he would be able to decipher its mysteries.

To get enough emperor aura, Wu Qi had two choices, with the first one being Emperor Haozun. But, Wu Qi did not have the power to kill him, and emotionally speaking, he just would not kill him anyway. The second choice was the emperor of New Yu. As a subject of Great Yu, it was his duty to kill the traitor. He reckoned that half of the emperor aura from the legitimate Human Emperor was enough for him to figure out exactly how this thing was created, and how he could simulate it with the Primal Purple Energy.

Both Wu Qi and Princess Zhang Le were Dao Breaking experts, and they could fly very fast. But these days, Pangu Continent had expanded so much and the surrounding terrain had changed significantly that it had taken them a month to find Greathorns’s lair.

Wu Qi nodded to Princess Zhang Le when they saw the huge Origin Tree of Fire looming between the heaven and earth from a great distance.

Princess Zhang Le gave Wu Qi a worried look as she threw her arms around him and kissed him hard on the lips. “Watch out!”

“Don’t worry!” Wu Qi said, “Greathorns is a greathearted man. He might beat me up, but that’s it. I’ve saved his life, and I’m sure he won’t kill me. Just wait here for me. If things don’t go right, we’ll teleport right into the formation. In the worst case, we will lose nine Blood-draining Celestial Fiends, but we’ll be able to leave here safely.”

Princess Zhang Le nodded solemnly, then took out of her sleeve an altar made of the skulls of immortal beasts and all sorts of strange instruments, such as incense candles and ritual swords, beginning to prepare the most powerful curse she knew. The curse was similar to the Myriad Constellation of Earth Fiends Huhai had cultivated in those days. It could connect many earth veins of Pangu Continent into the altar and use their energy to curse someone. If the target dared to resist, a careless mistake would cause great geological disasters in Pangu Continent. At that time, natural disasters would rage across the land and the target would be punished by the Heavenly Dao. Even Dao Fusing experts dared not bear such a huge amount of negative karma easily.

When she was ready, Wu Qi transformed into his former self, Lord Yuan Ling, and drifted toward the Origin Tree of Fire on a cloud condensed of Yuan Ling energy.

The lion man was lying on a branch of the enormous divine tree while yawning, and there was a trace of blood on his lips. Apparently, he had just had a good meal, but no one except himself knew whether his food was some divine beast, immortal bird, or some unlucky immortal.

Under the tree, Greathorns was stroking the big hole left in the trunk after the battle, his face sad. That day, Daoist Longbrows had grabbed Yao Ling and smashed her hard on the tree, making a hole a thousand feet around and a hundred feet deep, costing it a lot of energy. Later on, Wu Qi had stolen huge amounts of energy essence from it. Because of the significant damage to its vitality, the gleam on the divine tree’s surface was now a little dull.

Greathorns did not know what Wu Qi had done, so he had laid all the blame on Longbrows. As he stroked the tree where it had been damaged, he murmured insults at all of Longbrows’s relatives. Although Chaos Fiend Gods did not have parents or elder family members, it did not stop him from cursing. The daoist’s father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, and all eighteen generations of ancestors had been repeatedly insulted by him. The profanity coming out of his mouth was equal to that of a thousand hooligans in the streets.

Wu Qi was speechless as he listened to Greathorns’s curses from a distance.

Greathorns was once a very simple, honest, and single-minded Chaos Fiend God. But today, not only had he become a Dao Fusing expert, but his skill in cursing someone had also become extremely fearsome. Wu Qi still vaguely remembered that he only knew three-character swear words in those years. But now, he could come out with all kinds of clever words that made even Wu Qi feel inferior.

With a sigh, Wu Qi flew toward him on the cloud.

Greathorns, engrossed in the divine tree’s wound, did not notice Wu Qi’s approach, and neither did the lion man, who was digesting the meal he had just eaten. But, dozens of red-robed daoists, who were sitting under the tree and meditating by the lava sea, opened their eyes at the same time. The oldest among them, a bald man with only a handful of white hair in the middle of his forehead, which he had carefully tied into a bun as small as a date, pointed at Wu Qi and snapped, “Who are you? Why are you here?”

Wu Qi halted the cloud when he was hundreds of miles away from the tree, his face smiling. The last time he came, he did not see these daoists. He could tell that the nearly bald daoist was a third-tier Primordial expert, and the other half of the group were Primordial experts as well. Meanwhile, the remaining, about thirty of them, were peak-level Gold Immortals who could step into the realm of Primordial at any time.

It seemed that they were the proud disciples Greathorns had taken over the years. Although he did not start a sect to recruit disciples, he did not live in a vacuum either, and there were always occasions where he had to interact with others. Perhaps they were the itinerant cultivators he had taught or the lucky ones he had saved while traveling. They were considered his in-name disciples.

Now, in the face of pressure from Dao League and Buddhist League, it was possible that Greathorns had summoned them here to teach them higher knowledge, or even forcefully elevate their cultivation base and magic power.

At the sound of the bald daoist’s loud cry, Greathorns turned gloomily around and scolded, “What’s the yelling? What’s all the fuss about? What’s the big deal if someone gets in here by mistake? If they are innocent, let them go! If they are up to no good, ask your Senior Brother to eat them! Why do you have to yell? Why do you have to make so much noise?”

Without so much as giving Wu Qi a look, Greathorns pointed at the group of daoists and said, “Learn from me, all of you! What is prudence, what is maturity, what is…Damnit!”

Just as he was teaching the daoists to be mature and prudent, to stay calm in times of danger, and to have the imposing bearing of a mighty general, he caught a glimpse of Wu Qi from the corners of his eyes. He shuddered violently as he cursed, and in the blink of an eye was in front of Wu Qi, kicking him in the waist.

Wu Qi laughed wildly. With the Chaos Fiend God’s most accustomed way of fighting, he also gave Greathorns a brutal kick.

A loud rumble rang out. Although not even a breeze was created from the impact, Wu Qi’s calf broke into three pieces as he stumbled back a long way. He took a deep breath and a rush of energy circulated through his body, then the broken bone was mended instantly.

Greathorns, on the other hand, snorted and stood where he was, unmoving. He gritted his teeth and fixed his eyes on Wu Qi. While he subconsciously reached out a hand to touch the pair of horns with different lengths on his head, he said furiously, “Yuan Ling, give me back my fuc*ing horn!”

Wu Qi’s eyes grew wide as he pointed at Greathorns and snapped, “Bullsh*t! Isn’t it just a horn? What about the fact that I’ve saved your life?”

The Lord of Fire was stunned. He blinked and recalled how he had lost his horn. After a while, he bowed to Wu Qi so deeply that his body bent by almost ninety degrees. “You have a point, old monster! If you hadn’t saved my life back then, I would have perished in both flesh and soul, and I would have never become who I am today, a Dao Fusing expert. You are my benefactor, old monster!”

He straightened up and slapped himself in the chest as he stared at Wu Qi and said, “I’m a man who knows how to distinguish kindness and resentment. You have done me a great favor, so you’re my distinguished guest. In the future, whenever you come to visit me, I’ll naturally serve you the finest tea, wine, and food. But, because you had chopped off one of my horns, I’ll kick you every time you come to find me. Haha, I must make you suffer a little!”

Wu Qi’s face twitched. It seemed that this guy’s nature was still the same as before, so straightforward!

Before Wu Qi could speak, Greathorns gave a sudden roar and jumped back a dozen miles. He pointed at Wu Qi and shouted, “Damnit, I thought you had perished in both flesh and soul, killed by those ox’s noses and bald donkeys and the group of bullies they were colluding with when you were exploring that ancient sacred palace? You…How come you are still alive and kicking?”

Wu Qi rubbed his nose and said with a wry smile, “It’s a long story.”

While frowning, Greathorns nodded and said, “Tell me about it!” He then turned to the lion man and shouted, “Wake up, you lazy lion! Go to that cunning old monkey and ask him for some jars of good wine! Tell him that if he doesn’t give me the best wine, I’ll set fire to his monkey mountain and leave all his children and grandchildren hairless!”

The two old friends flew side by side to the divine tree and sat under it. There, the Lord of Fire introduced Wu Qi to his disciples, telling them that he was once the best alchemist and artisan among all Chaos Fiend Gods, and also the cruelest one, with the most eccentric temper and thickest flesh and skin…

He said a lot, until Wu Qi could no longer stand his long-winded speech and stepped on his foot. “Stop wasting time! I’m going to kill the emperor of New Yu, and I need you to conceal the Heaven Secret for me.”

Greathorns was struck dumb for a moment, then his eyes glowed with a strong green light as he grabbed Wu Qi’s shoulder excitedly.