Stealing The Heavens

Wu Qi cursed as he fled, feeling like he was at the bottom of his luck recently. It all began when someone tore through the void with a mighty artifact and threw him into the Ghost Realm. He had managed to compensate his mental loss by taming a group of heavenly ghosts and finding himself some natural treasures, and his anger had slightly eased after bumping into a long-perished ancient immortal who brought him an amazing gift.

But, just as he thought his luck was getting better, he was visited by two ghost immortals, who were as strong as peak-level Gold Immortals, and a group of high-level heavenly ghosts. And now, they were hot on his heels. It seemed that instead of getting better, his luck was turning worse.

The two ghost immortals did not pose an immediate threat, though. They were chasing at a distance that was neither too far, nor too close behind him, letting out gruesome howls from time to time. But, the group of high-level heavenly ghosts had given him a hard time. They lingered close to him, and would charge out of a random dark cloud next to him every now and then to surprise him with an attack.

It was said among the immortals in the outside world that one should never compete in speed with heavenly ghosts when they were in the Ghost Realm, because it was a crushing and despairing thing to do. Even some Primordial Immortal had admitted that no ordinary Primordial Immortal could match the speed of heavenly ghosts when they were both in the Ghost Realm.

Although the cultivation bases of the two ghost immortals were stronger than Wu Qi’s, they could not match his speed. On the other hand, it was clear that these heavenly ghosts were far weaker than him, but they could fly incredibly fast. Although they could not penetrate the void and teleport, their speed was still much faster than his.

From time to time, some heavenly ghost would jump out and throw a punch or a kick at him; occasionally, a few long tails would dart over to coil up his body. The constant harassment had prevented him from flying at full speed, and allowed the two formidable ghost immortals to gradually draw closer.

Roaring furiously, Wu Qi mustered all his strength and thrust a fist toward a heavenly ghost who was leaping at him.

The heavenly ghost was a very beautiful young woman. Her lips were cherry red, her teeth whiter than snow, and her body slender and curvy. She could be considered a top beauty even in Pangu Continent. When they cultivated to the realm of Gold Immortals, heavenly ghosts had a chance of reforging their bodies, transforming themselves into appearances that were ninety percent similar to that of human beings. And when their cultivation bases reached the realm of Primordial Immortals, they could evolve their bodies to be exactly like the human beings.

As the woman leaped over, each of her ten fingernails stretched more than a foot long, their sharp pointed ends ripping through the void and leaving ten green trails of light as they went for Wu Qi’s neck. At the same time, her slender tail that was about two hundred feet long suddenly swung out from between her legs like a spear, going straight for Wu Qi’s brow.

The heavenly ghost’s tail was incredibly tough, and its strength was stronger than the limbs. The long tail brought forth a gust of foul wind as it thrust toward Wu Qi, and when its pointed end was still a hundred feet away from him, a wisp of cold breeze had already pressed against his brow and made his skin sink for a few millimeters.

Then, she shrieked miserably as Wu Qi’s heavy punch struck her claws and crushed her arms before landing forcibly on her chest. She howled and suddenly dissolved into a plume of thick smoke that drifted away, only to reappear inside a dark cloud several miles away in the next moment. A vast stream of ghost energy visible to the naked eyes could be seen rushing into her body, and her twisted and broken arms were healing rapidly amidst an eerie cracking sound.

This was the reason why heavenly ghosts were so difficult to deal with. Their fleshly bodies were extremely strong to begin with; and as they were now fighting in their own ground, the Ghost Realm, the endless supply of innate ghost energy made them literally impossible to kill. It was especially true for these heavenly ghosts of Gold Immortal realm. As long as Wu Qi did not completely wipe out their life force with one single strike, and as long as they could still breathe, they could always make a full recovery in just a few breaths of time.

Even when their souls were severely wounded, they could still be fully healed in a few breaths of time! This was the incredible blessing heavenly ghosts received when they were in the Ghost Realm, and the reason why the Ghost Realm had dared to challenge both Great Yu and the Heaven with merely thirteen Great Heavenly Ghost Kings and four hundred Ghost Saints.

Even if dozens of Primordial Immortals or Supreme Oracles dared to visit the Ghost Realm, they might not be able to kill a Great Heavenly Ghost King. However, any of the Great Heavenly Ghost Kings, who was almost impossible to be killed, could fight as long as he liked with any enemy in here. On top of that, as natural energy did not exist in the Ghost Realm, a Great Heavenly Ghost King could easily starve any enemy to death.

The sound of cloth ripping apart could be heard as several heavenly ghosts swooped down on Wu Qi and tore his clothes with their sharp claws, leaving deep bloody scratches on his tough skin. Dark green venom entered his body from their nails, causing his blood to quickly turn pale-green and stink of decay as soon as it flowed out of his body.

Wu Qi was shocked by the terrible venom of these high-level heavenly ghosts. He hastily exercised the Dragon Kill and his body abruptly grew to a hundred feet tall, with three layers of dragon scales densely covering him all over. As an immense pressure spread, Wu Qi turned to one of them, opened his mouth, and sprayed out a stream of crimson flame. The violent true flame of the dragon whistled across the void in a tens of feet thick column. The heavenly ghost’s face turned pale with fear as he hurriedly dodged the flame, but one of his legs was licked by the flame, and it vanished into ashes in just the blink of an eye.

However, something happened that left Wu Qi depressed. The heavenly ghost had only retreated for a few miles away and took a few deep breaths as his leg, which had been burned to ashes, immediately grew back, looking identical to the one before he was wounded.

Wu Qi gave a long helpless howl. Pale-green blood was oozing out of the wounds the heavenly ghosts had given him, but the scratches quickly healed as his muscles wiggled rapidly. Dragon Kill was a formidable divine ability Great Yu had specially invented for those who cultivated both fleshly body and magic, and it had a very strong resistance against any evil power and poison. Although the venom was strong, as these heavenly ghosts were weaker than him, they could not do him real harm.

Coiled about Wu Qi’s neck, as soon as Ao Buzun saw the true flame of the dragon being effective against these heavenly ghosts, he quickly opened his mouth and showered the surroundings with flames, forcing the foes to scatter in a flurry.

At the same time, the dragon python sisters growled in deep voices, then opened their mouths and unleashed beams of light, half gold and half silver. With that, Wu Qi was fully surrounded by a sea of crimson flames and a rain of gold and silver lights, which forced the approaching heavenly ghosts back. A few of them were struck by the beams of light; regardless of their color, gold or silver, they left holes as large as a man’s head once they struck these ferocious ghosts, forcing them to retreat so they could absorb the innate ghost energy to heal their wounds.

Wu Qi, Ao Buzun, and the dragon python sisters struck at the same time, and managed to forcibly push through the heavenly ghosts. But, before they could fly far enough, the two ghost immortals suddenly howled at the same time. The one with an iron chain flicked his hand once again, and the iron chain immediately transformed into a giant net, swooping down toward Wu Qi and his companions. Meanwhile, the other ghost immortal gave a cold snort and his medallion transformed into a huge and thick iron plate, smashing toward Wu Qi’s back.

As soon as the medallion flew into the sky, it transformed into a colossal iron plate measuring about a hundred miles long, tens of miles wide, and three miles thick. A strong evil aura shrouded the medallion as it plunged down with a suffocating pressure while a massive suction pulled at Wu Qi’s body, preventing him from lifting even a finger.

Wu Qi glanced back over his shoulder at the medallion, and his heart jolted violently. It was definitely a supreme-grade Gold Immortal Artifact, one that had reached the first or second grade. And the suction was familiar to him, being exactly the same as the suction that emanated from the mountains surrounding the valley where the heavenly ghosts he had tamed lived.

The fact that the medallion could restrict his movements proved that it was extremely powerful. Wu Qi felt his body become incredibly heavy, as if there were countless mountains pressing down on him.

He smiled wryly, and just as he was about to unleash the Blood Centipede Sword to kill all these ghost immortals and heavenly ghosts, a loud and sonorous dragon roar suddenly came from across the distance. Upon hearing the dragon roar, the two ghost immortals and all the heavenly ghosts had their faces turned uglier than ghosts.

A great sheet of golden light slanted through the dense dark clouds, in which was a gallant golden dragon, about a mile long, flying toward them on a purple cloud. A handsome youth in white clothes was standing atop the dragon’s head with a jade flute in his hand, looking at them with a warm smile on his face.

“Would you stop? This man is an important minister of Great Yu, and I forbid you from hurting him! Otherwise, don’t blame me for paying a visit to your Master and making the lot of you dance for three to five years!”

The two ghost immortals’ face turned extremely unsightly. They exchanged a glance, then put away their magical artifacts at the same time. With their jaws clenched tightly, they bowed deeply toward the youth and let out a sharp whistle, before retreating.

While flying at a high speed, the ghost immortal with a medallion turned his head and shouted at the youth, “Since this man is under Prince Chang Qin’s protection, he is certainly a good man. This was a misunderstanding, and we hope Prince Chang Qin does not take this to heart!”

Prince Chang Qin? A thought suddenly came to Wu Qi’s mind.

‘Shijun is the grandson of the Yellow Emperor, and his descendants are the people of the State of North Di. There is a Mount Mang. There is a Mount Yao. There is a person on Mount Yao, whose name is Prince Chang Qin. Zhuan Xu begets Lao Tong, Lao Tong begets Zhu Rong, Zhu Rong begets Prince Chang Qin, who stays on Mount Yao, making music. And according to The Commentary of Zuo, there were three kinds of birds with colorful feathers, one called Huang, another called Luan, and the last one called Phoenix… and they all come when he plays music.’ [ 1 ¹ ]

This Prince Chang Qin was the lineal descendant of Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan, born with a jade zither in his arms and the talent to compose all kinds of music, having the ability to make beasts and fowls dance to his music.

Wu Qi stared blankly at Prince Chang Qin.

As a lineal descendant of Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan, Wu Qi could well imagine what kind of status this man had in Great Yu. But, why was he here?

He was a figure of ancient times. Even Emperor Haozun and Ji Kui were his grandsons of heaven knew how many generations. Why was he in the Ghost Realm?

But most importantly, how did he know Wu Qi was a subject of Great Yu? And how did he happen to bump into Wu Qi here?

Riding on his dragon, Chang Qin came to Wu Qi with a smile on his face, then nodded and said, “Come with me. Where are your men?”

Wu Qi was in a daze, but he produced his Dark Yin Celestial Tower and the Jade Armor Dark Turtle flying ship all the same.