Stealing The Heavens

Just now when he had his divine sense swept across the earth from the ice cave beneath the Antarctic, Wu Qi was surprised to find that the man who presided over the headquarter of the Underhand Sect now was his foe of old, Shangguan Ye. [1] ¹ Under this man’s leadership, Underhand Sect no longer abided by its original objective, but had become the underground overlord who secretly controlled the actual power of South East Asia.

What surprised him in particular was that Shangguan Ye’s cultivation base had reached the stage of Core Forming, and was only one step away from forming his Gold Core. As his divine sense locked down on the man, he was having a sex party with a few fair and beautiful girls, even though the day was still bright outside.

The alarm sounded when he crushed the front door with a palm-strike, and soon, countless armed men began to pour over from all directions. A sharp and harsh warning was ringing out from the speakers mounted up high across the island as dozens of attack helicopters took off from an airfield hiding behind several hills in the distance, heading straight toward the ancient building.

Before long, Wu Qi was surrounded by nearly a thousand men, and the air was filled with gun cocking sounds. Meanwhile, over fifty attack helicopters had arrived, and were wheeling in the sky above them with the missiles hanging under their wings glowing faintly under the bright sunlight.

He glanced indifferently at the helicopters. The maximum power of those missiles was about the same as a full-power strike of a Core Forming cultivator, which was so weak that it could not even scratch his skin. Even the strongest weapon on earth now, those nuclear weapons and hydrogen bombs, only had the power equivalent to a full-power strike of a thirty-sixth-tier Heaven Immortal. And it was the maximum power the humans in the mortal world could have. So, why should he take these weapons seriously?

Mortal worlds were created by those ancient Buddhas and Primordial Immortals with the bodies of fallen ancient Celestial Fiends and some precious natural treasures, a tool that they used to breed humans. They would never allow the humans in the worlds they had created to possess too strong of a power. Nuclear weapons were the extreme power the humans could have.

Then, he gave the men around him a glance, who were on their guard for all possible dangers. “Are you not coming out to face me, Shangguan Ye?” Wu Qi said with a sigh.

A deep laugh could be heard coming from a distance. Before long, Shangguan Ye swaggered out in a neat black training cloth, flanked by dozens of middle-aged men. His expression was calm. With eyes looking up at the sky, the man said in an arrogant voice, “You have proven to be someone quite talented, having sneaked into the front door of my Underhand Sect and even crushed the door. But unfortunately, such talents are not enough to keep you alive. I’ll give you two options now!”

He snorted coldly as he put up two fingers and said, “First option, bow before me and pledge your allegiance, and you can be a rich person and enjoy nice things. Second option, kill yourself, so you can spare yourself from the endless tortures when I have you captured!”

Wu Qi sighed and shook his head, revealing his original appearance.

Although it had been nearly twenty years, Wu Qi’s appearance did not change much. His face remained the way it had been, except for the maturity of his nuance and temperament. All the years had left no trace on his face. For him who possessed the cultivation base of a Gold Immortal, time had been quite powerless. Clad in the standard war robe of Great Yu, he had his hands clasped behind his back, his long hair fluttering behind his head as the sea breeze gently blew by. He squinted at Shangguan Ye as he sighed and said, “Do you still remember me, Shangguan Ye? How did you survive the Machu Picchu explosion?”

Startled, Shangguan Ye stared at Wu Qi, who had revealed his original look. He blinked again and again, as if he did not believe what he saw, and as if he was trying to remember who this face belonged to. After a full quarter of an hour, he finally said hesitatingly, “Wu… Wu Qi? You son of a b*tch, you are still alive! Y-yo-you… how could you not be dead?”

All of a sudden, he roared hysterically, then pointed a finger at Wu Qi and bellowed, “How can you still be alive? Lord Daoist had used a spirit talisman the immortal gave him to reverse the time, and eventually pieced our flesh and souls back together… You are just three mortals, and I saw with my own eyes that all three of you had been dragged into the explosion! How can you still be alive?”

Wu Qi stared coldly at Shangguan Ye, waiting for the man to finish throwing his tantrum. After that, he said in a flat tone, “Both my Master and Xiaobai are dead. Their souls have fused with mine, and we will never part from each other again. Initially, I thought I’ll never see you again, but it seems there is divine justice after all, and destiny has brought me back here!”

The bizarre atmosphere between Wu Qi and Shangguan Ye had caused the armed men around them to have their heartstrings stretched to the limit. When a few of them, whose guns were pointing at Wu Qi, heard the queer tone in his voice, their fingers cramped and the triggers were pulled. As if it was the signal to attack, all the men, a thousand of them, pulled their triggers at the same time, sending countless bullets whistling through the air at him.

Shangguan Ye’s lips curved into a ferocious grin, but in the next moment, the smile curdled, and was quickly replaced by an utter shock.

A ring of pale black flame bust out around Wu Qi, devouring and melting down all the bullets that came at him. Not even a single bullet could come close enough to hurt him. Right then, the helicopters in the air, over fifty of them, had launched thirty-six rounds of over a thousand missiles at him. Flames and smoke enveloped Wu Qi as the missiles exploded into a ball of blinding white light to devour him.

But, the Inferno of Hell around Wu Qi had only swirled, and all the flame, light, and shell fragments were instantly devoured and melted away. Even most of the sound of the explosion was devoured by the raging black flame. Although over a thousand missiles had exploded at the same time, they sounded no louder than a firecracker.

Shrouding in black flames, Wu Qi gently clapped his hands and said coldly, “It seems the weapons sold by the black markets here have not improved much after all these years. Aye, I should have expected that. After all, how could they allow the cattle in their pens to grow too strong? Well, at least the power of these missiles is slightly stronger than the full-power strike of a Core Forming cultivator, which I think is pretty decent for you, eh?”

Shangguan Ye’s eyes grew so wide that his eyeballs seemed to almost pop out of their sockets. He stared at Wu Qi in horror, backing off dozens of steps reflexively. All those present had retreated in panic as well, because they had just witnessed something unimaginably queer—not only was Wu Qi not suffering from any injury as the result of the explosion of over a thousand missiles, even the ground around him was intact. It was as if the black flames swirling around him were a bottomless black hole that had devoured all the explosions and bombshells.

Amidst the alarmed cries, the Inferno of Hell around Wu Qi split and shot out in all directions like serpents, pierced whistling through the air and striking those armed men, kindling them into balls of black flames. Soon, men with flames raging on their bodies ran about wildly while miserable howls and shrieks filled the air across the island.

Nothing could escape the scan of Wu Qi’s powerful divine sense, not even the few underground bases hiding deep beneath the island. Countless flaming black serpents penetrated through the thick layer of rocks, burning into these underground bases. The armed men busy working next to some submarines and small warships screamed in terror as the flames enveloped them and everything. Before long, massive explosions echoed out from under the island, as the ammunition and fuel stored there were ignited and exploded.

In just the blink of an eye, tens of thousands of men on the island were killed by Wu Qi, leaving only Shangguan Ye and the dozens of men standing behind him, whose faces were pale as snow. Wu Qi lightly patted Ao Buzun, and the little black dragon, who had long been overwhelmed by the desire to kill, uttered a deep roar and transformed into a huge, thousands of feet long black dragon. Then, he opened his mouth and swallowed up a middle-aged man standing next to Shangguan Ye.

The sound of flesh ripping and bone crunching echoed out from Ao Buzun’s mouth, and blood could be seen dripping down from the corners of his mouth. While chuckling, he squinted at Shangguan Ye and said, “Hehe, I never know you were from the mortal world, Master!”

Wu Qi gave Ao Buzun’s slightly bulging belly a slap while smiling. Then, he turned to Shangguan Ye and his company, who were staring at him in bewilderment, and asked, “Where are the Elders and fellow disciples of the Underhand Sect in my days?”

Shangguan Ye was shivering all over as he answered in a trembling voice, “Al… all… all dead…”

“All dead?” Wu Qi asked in a deep voice while frowning.

A middle-aged man beside Shangguan Ye suddenly dropped to his knees and screamed, “Sect Leader Shangguan is the one who did all this! He told us that those Elders and fellow disciples had not stood up for him when he was in trouble, so he begged Lord Daoist Miao Yuan to kill them all! This has nothing to do with us!”

Wits had been scared out of Shangguan Ye and his men when they witnessed Wu Qi’s mysterious ability and the legendary dragon. Their heads were all blank now, and they spilled out everything they knew in front of Wu Qi without even the need for questioning.

To sum it up, the present Underhand Sect was no longer the one Wu Qi was familiar with. All the disciples whom Wu Qi knew were killed during the great purge Shangguan Ye had commenced. Today’s Underhand Sect was the tool Miao Yuan used to control South East Asia and gather all kinds of natural treasures, a vehicle for his personal gain. It no longer abided by its original objectives.

After pondering for a moment, Wu Qi shook his head. Then he gestured at the building that was the heart of the Underhand Sect, and a worn-out wooden plaque flew out with a sharp whistle. It was the plaque handed down from the ancestors of the Underhand Sect, and had been thrown in a storeroom to get covered in dust after Shangguan Ye had cleaned the entire sect and replaced it with a new one.

He gently ran his hand across the surface of the wooden plaque, which had accompanied the sect for many years. “I’ve reestablished Underhand Sect in Pangu Continent, Uncle Master Shangguan,” he said indifferently, “and I’ll bring this plaque back to Pangu Continent once I have wiped out the Green City. I’ll hang it above the entrance of the Underhand Sect I’ve established!”

With a relaxed smile on his face, Wu Qi said, “The legacy of Underhand Sect will never end, but you are going to die today!”

Shangguan Ye was taken aback, and he roared while backing off hurriedly. However, Wu Qi would not let him escape.

The air rang with a sharp whistle as the Blood Centipede Sword swept out in a beam of blood-red light, cutting Shangguan Ye and those beside him in two at the waist. All the hills and trees on the island broke and crumbled, disintegrating into powder under the brutal strike.

Wu Qi casually thrust his palm downward, sending a bolt of lightning into the ground. In just a flash, the entire island dissolved into ashes silently and sunk into the water. Then, he took a step forward and traversed thousands of miles in just the blink of an eye, emerging above Green City.

“An old friend is here to pay you a visit, Daoist Miao Yun. Are you not coming out to welcome me?”

With a slap on his war robe, Wu Qi changed it into an ordinary Daoist robe, then shoved Ao Buzun and the dragon python sisters up into his sleeve.

A deep ringing of bell echoed out from within a valley behind the mountain that was Green City as a dozen white sword beams cut through the clouds to meet their visitor.