Stealing the Heavens

In the past ten days, there had been a lot of trouble in Ling Dynasty.

In the days after Liu Bang’s military advisor—Reverend Li Yang—and dozens of his friends were killed, many low-profile but important figures in the court were murdered, including three lesser Celestial Lords who had come down from Heaven to help. Their heads were taken when they were meditating in the cave abodes they had constructed outside the city.

Moreover, all the souls of the dead were gone; the artifact that the seven Buddhist Patriarchs and the nine Dao Patriarchs had crafted to collect souls did not do its job. The murderer certainly had some Primal-grade artifact that could cover up the aura, which had prevented the artifact form sensing the death and allowed him to so easily wipe out the souls.

This had shocked the Ling Dynasty. Zhang Tengyun, Liu Bang, and Lu Buwei made a panicked decision: they ordered the army to quickly disengage from Dong Hai, switching from active attacking to passive defending. Immediately afterward, they rapidly expanded the military forces and sent the armies out in both south and north, sweeping through the mortal kingdoms from outer heavenly realms like a fierce tide.

At the same time, the speed at which outer heavenly realms descended on Pangu Continent had soared several times. The Heaven Lords and Immortal Lords stationed there spared no expense in driving the massive landmasses toward the continent. It was expected that within two years at most, all outer heavenly realms would be reintegrated into Pangu Continent. By then, the immense virtues would be entirely in the pockets of Heaven and Buddhist League.

On the other side, Jin Dynasty, situated in the western part of Great Yu, was also at war. They put up a board of truce in front of Ji Ao’s Flying Bear Army, but launched a fierce wave of attacks in the north and south, sweeping through the mortal kingdoms one after another.

According to the analysis of Wu Qi and the higher-ups of the six states, both Ling Dynasty and Jin Dynasty must have sensed the bizarre atmosphere between Heaven and Buddhist League. Perhaps in private, in places unknown to Wu Qi, small and low-intensity conflicts might well have broken out between the two great powers, leading to this situation. Both sides were now working hard to gather up the emperor aura from the mortal kingdoms, striving to bring down Great Yu and their rivals in one fell swoop.

And the information Lao Ai sent back confirmed what Wu Qi and the others had suspected. Just as Ling Dynasty and Jin Dynasty called back their armies and disengaged themselves from Great Yu, three leaders of Buddhist League’s branches mysteriously disappeared. According to rumors in the Buddhist League, the trio were mighty figures who were almost as strong as the Lord Buddha—Amitabha—and yet they seemed to have died.

They were the leaders of the Heart Branch, the Mind Branch, and the Vajra Branch. These three branches had a much higher status in Buddhist League than the Delightful Branch, especially the Vajra Branch, the practitioners of which claimed to have the strongest avatars in Buddhist League. A long time ago, in order to fight for a unique artifact produced by nature, the leader of the Vajra Branch, who was wandering in the secular world, had fought against twelve Primordial Immortals alone. He was unscathed by their powerful weapons and spells, and eventually snatched the artifact from their hands.

However, such mighty figures had suddenly died. Wu Qi did not have to ask to know what happened. He had secretly lit the fire for both sides, and they had begun to boil with the flames. And yet, the only ones who could stop these little conflicts, the seven Buddhist Patriarchs and the nine Dao Patriarchs, did nothing at all, as if they were happy to see it happen.

The situation had suddenly become bizarre and unpredictable, but it was all good for Wu Qi. He no longer went out to cause more trouble to Ling Dynasty. Instead, he devoted all his attention and time on training and building up the army, selecting highly qualified soldiers from the ranks, and spending plenty of resources and energy to carry out special training for them.

In the upcoming great war, no amount of ordinary soldiers would be useful; they were just cannon fodder. A random attack from a Primordial expert could cause the earth to fall apart, making even soldiers of Gold Immortal realm vulnerable. If Wu Qi wanted to have the upper hand in future battles, Dong Hai would need more Primordial experts.

His scalp went numb whenever he thought about the countless elders hibernating in Great Yu’s Temple of Revered Elders, and the strength of the disciples the Buddhist Patriarchs and the Dao Patriarchs had hidden over so many years. When the world was in turmoil in the future, he would not be able to escape the great war unless he fled into the Chaotic World. But, how could he be resigned to leaving everything he had now and fleeing into the Chaotic World as a hermit?

The Dark Yin Celestial Tower was operating at its full capacity. With his current cultivation base of a peak-level Dao Breaking expert, Wu Qi was able to accelerate the time by 100,000 times. In other words, with only a year passed in the outside world, his immortals, oracles, and warriors had been practicing for 100,000 years. Everything went well except that the energy in the spirit cave was a little inadequate.

Half a year passed quickly amidst this frantic build-up of military strength.

For six months, there was no fighting in Dong Hai or the western region. However, the wars between Ling Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, and those mortal kingdoms were in full swing. Wu Qi’s Great Wu took advantage of the opportunity to annex a great deal of land and population, snatching many benefits from the hands of the two dynasties.

On the other hand, the situation in Great Yu was calm. Emperor Haozun was trying to win over the heart of his people, especially in the southern region which was once occupied by New Yu. He brought many courtiers to travel there day and night, managing the people’s livelihood and civil affairs. In You Xiong Plain, several kings of the imperial council were working hard to train a new army. Great Yu’s treasuries were all opened, and endless resources were pouring out of them. The kings were building a new army of absolute loyalty to Emperor Haozun at an insane pace.

Like Ling Dynasty and Jin Dynasty, Emperor Haozun had a plan to defeat all his rivals in one fell swoop.

Just when everything seemed to be going smoothly and peacefully, Wu Qi, who was teaching his many immortals about the mysteries of the Heavenly Dao in the spirit cave, suddenly received an urgent message from outside: a group of envoys had arrived from Liangzhu with Emperor Haozun’s order, led by King Yang Shan’s eldest son, Ji Dai.

In the spirit cave, Wu Qi sat cross-legged on a purple cloud. Numerous purple clouds lined up orderly around him, on top of which sat countless human immortals, demon immortals, and fiend immortals, who were listening to him explain the mystery of the Heavenly Dao. Usually, the Primordial Immortals in Pangu World were very reluctant about sharing their insights on the Heavenly Dao, not to mention those mightier figures who, like Wu Qi, had reached the pinnacle of the Dao Breaking realm. In general, they gave lectures to their personal disciples once or twice every period, no more than three times, and each lecture lasted only a few days.

But, Wu Qi had been teaching the immortals of his sect in the spirit cave for fifty thousand years without interruption. This was unprecedented! No one, including the Buddhist Patriarchs and the Dao Patriarchs, had ever been so generous to their disciples. Without making a great contribution, their disciples could never dig a word out of their mouths. It was the greatest blessing of these immortals to have Wu Qi as their master.

Wu Qi’s lecture came to a stop as soon as he received the urgent message. The immortals around him opened their eyes at the same time and took a deep breath, then leaned forward respectfully and waited for his orders.

After pondering for a moment, Wu Qi said, “Try to digest and absorb what I have taught you.” He paused, then nodded and said, “From today on, Heaven Immortals are outer sect disciples, and Gold Immortals can enter the inner sect. When you step into the Primordial realm, you will become my personal disciples. All of you must work hard to improve your cultivation base, so as to not ruin my reputation.”

All the immortals stood up, then fell to their knees and kowtowed respectfully to Wu Qi.

These immortals were all disciples of Underhand Sect, including humans, demons, fiends, ghosts, and so on. Meanwhile, among the human immortals were ordinary humans and various strange races such as Long Bo men, Feather men, Mermen, Heaveneye men, and so on. When Wu Qi was teaching the Great Daos in the spirit cave, there was a rotation of disciples every once in a while. Underhand Sect had grown so well over the years that the strength of its disciples was far stronger than before.

Wu Qi flicked out of the spirit cave. Just as he was walking out of the backyard of his mansion, Qixia suddenly emerged from his side, wiped her bloody hands against his clothes, and then said with a smile, “Bored? You’ve been down there for tens of thousands of years! Why are you so patient? Why don’t you go whale hunting with me? I’ve just killed a dragon narwhal and gotten myself thousands of kilograms of the finest ambergris!”

While smiling, he put his arm around her waist and said, “I’ll go with you later…There are visitors… Oh, heh, that’s interesting!”

With Qixia in his arms, Wu Qi teleported away and then appeared in the council hall in the blink of an eye. As soon as he arrived, he heard the familiar voice of Yu Qingcheng, “Who does this King of Dong Hai think he is? My master has been here for so long. Why hasn’t he come out to meet him?”

Princess Zhang Le, clad in a black palace dress, sat on the lofty throne, looking down on Ji Dai, whose face was beaming with pride. As for the haughty Yu Qingcheng, she did not even bother to pay him any mind.

Wu Qi’s silent appearance at Princess Zhang Le’s side startled the visitors. Two skinny-faced, mandrill-looking old men hurriedly stepped forward to protect Yu Qingcheng and Ji Dai, while two palm-sized Supreme Towers sprung out from the top of their heads, emitting powerful waves of magic that enveloped the surrounding void.

Qixia stood by Wu Qi’s elbow in silence, squinting at the group with great interest. She had an almost instinctive sense toward the presence of sine interesting prey.

Standing before the throne, Wu Qi cupped his fist and greeted Ji Dai with a smile on his face, “Greeting, King Qing Qiu! I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. Please forgive me, I was tied up with military affairs! Well, what brings you here today?”

Ji Dai, who had a thin face and a naturally mean and insidious expression, chuckled and cast a greedy glance at Princess Zhang Le and Qixia.

While he made no answer, Yu Qingcheng proudly pulled out a black scroll and said in a deep voice, “It’s nothing special. The Kings of the imperial council had discussed and concluded that because of all your years of service and hard work, you are now promoted to King Bai Shan, as agreed before. King Qing Qiu will take over the civil and military affairs of Dong Hai.”

Wu Qi’s heart sank. They were promoting him to King Bai Shan, and then giving Ji Dai the entire Dong Hai, as well as its countless soldiers and people?

‘They want to take the credit for all my hard work? Who the hell came up with this idea?’

As Wu Qi’s face flickered, hundreds of Long Bo men, who were absolutely loyal to him, walked out of the corner of the great hall and surrounded Ji Dai and his men.