Stealing The Heavens

Liu Bang stood up, and with hands clasped behind his back, he looked at Wu Qi in great seriousness.

“What we are trying to do is to put an end to the Apocalypse of Heaven and Earth, once and for all. From then on, there will be no more struggles and disputes in the world!” As he said that, the morning sun was hanging right behind his head, wrapping it in a ring of light and giving him an air of majesty dignity and holiness. And his voice was especially serious, earnest, and persuasive.

But Wu Qi did not believe a single word he said. To put an end to the Apocalypse of Heaven and Earth? Based on all those things Liu Bang had told him previously, there could be only one way to stop the immortals from fighting each other: give them all the resources they need! A group of mice would beat each other bloody for a few peanuts, but would they miss those peanuts, if they were thrown into a barn full of rice?

A barn full of rice? Wu Qi lurched to his feet. He glanced around, and saw purple mists surging beneath the vast expanse of You Xiong Plain; the air was filled with endless Pangu Sacred Energy and natural energy; the ordinary trees around Liangzhu were so full of energy that if anyone were to hack off a random branch, the sap oozed out of the cut could be served as a superior-grade ingredient for some spirit pills in the outside world. And the sand here was the finest jade and gemstones. Even a stone randomly dug out from the ground contained energy many times more than that of an upper-grade immortal stone.

At that moment, he suddenly realized that Pangu Continent by itself was a gargantuan barn, one that was constantly absorbing chaotic energy to expand. With all kinds of precious innate objects could be found in those newly formed wild lands around its edge, had it not because Great Yu had heavily guarded all the important places and exercised strict control over the passages immortals used to enter Pangu Continent, the immortals in outer heavenly realms would have long swarmed over and settled down here.

Theoretically, Pangu Continent, a fertile land who could expand by itself without any limit, had room enough to accommodate all the immortals out there.

Wu Qi stared fixedly at Liu Bang. “The Heaven wish to control Pangu Continent? When the Heaven is founded, the divine rule the ancient Saints had put down is that the human race governs the earth, and the Heaven governs heaven. So now the Heaven wants both heaven and earth?”

Liu Bang smiled, shook his head lightly and said, “No, the Heaven does not have such a wild ambition. In the future, we will still be governing immortals, and Pangu Continent will still belong to mankind. No immortal under the Heaven will violate the rules and enter Pangu Continent without permission. Never will!”

His smile was sly and secretive. Wu Qi looked at him while going through countless of thoughts in his head.

Perhaps it was because he was constantly absorbing Buddha Futu’s enormous willpower, Wu Qi’s divine soul was experiencing rapid growth recently, and the result was that his intelligence had taken a great leap. Actually, the reason that there were so many wise monks in the Buddhism League was because of their cultivation technique. Having almost formed his own natal relic now, Wu Qi’s intelligence was at least a hundredfold better than it was a few months ago.

In just the space of a few breaths, Wu Qi had come out with a possibility. Grinning coldly, he said, “The immortals from the Heaven will, of course, not enter Pangu Continent, as that is clearly a violation of rules. But what if those mortals who are controlled by the Heaven establish other kingdoms on Pangu Continent? I suppose if that happened, all the resources in the land they occupied will go to you, right?”

Liu Bang’s face immediately turned dark as a thundercloud, so did his companions. “Perhaps any immortal sects in outer heavenly realms can build their own kingdoms on Pangu Continent, through the hundreds of millions or even billions of mortals they control,” Wu Qi went on. “With that, they can enjoy all the resources the mortals gather for them without having to come here personally. Herbs, energy stones, minerals, anything. The mortal kingdoms establish by immortal sects with strong overall strength will be more powerful, and naturally they will have access to more resources. Am I right?”

Liu Bang opened his mouth, but no word came out of it.

With his eyes narrowed, Wu Qi considered for a while, then nodded and said, “Great Yu is a tough nut to crack, so you can’t take any advantage of it. The reason you work together with King Zhang Qiu and even his father is to weaken Great Yu’s strength. Of course, this is not enough.”

He paused in silence for a moment, then went on, “The best option is to move the mortals on those planets in outer heavenly realms over to Pangu Continent. But Great Yu will never accept them. So, in order to do that, you have to find a reason that Great Yu cannot reject. What is that reason?”

Slowly, Han Xin edged up on Wu Qi. A strong killing intent surged around him, and his eyes were already shot with blood.

Two beams of light radiated out of Xiao He’s eyes, locking down on Wu Qi’s body. Under the gaze, the void around Wu Qi froze, and even the time was slowing down.

As for Zhang Liang, he slowly took out a writing brush, a book, and slowly drew a faint ink trace in the air. As the tip of his brush moved across the air, the sunlight in the surroundings turned into brilliant rays and gradually gathered around it. Soon all the light around them seemed to fade, and only the writing brush in his hand was shining with a strong light that no one could look straight at it.

A fierce battle was about to break out when suddenly a loud cry echoed out from somewhere outside Changle Palace. “Marquis of Dong Hai Province, I’ve come to pay you a visit. Why are you still wasting your breath in that fellow’s house?” As the loud cry kept on ringing, Ji Ao could be seen flying straight toward Wu Qi, stepping on a dark cloud. He was followed by a group of several hundred heavily armored captains and soldiers, all of who had the cultivation bases above the Second Pangu Heaven.

Liu Bang’s face flickered, and suddenly he roared with laughter. “What are you doing? Stand down! Marquis of Dong Hai Province is my guest, and this is not the way we treat our guest!” After ordering Han Xin and others to hold back their attacks, Liu Bang lowered his voice and whispered to Wu Qi, “Yes, you’ve guessed it right, but so what? There is no way you can stop us now! Now that I’ve told you so much today, I’m not afraid you know what we’re going to do!”

He gave a cold laugh, clenched his teeth and said, “It is all because of Pangu’s blessing that the human race can enjoy the fortune of the heaven and earth alone, because half the bloodline of the human race came from Pangu’s blood essence! And, Empress Wa has been taking care of you, otherwise, with the Heaven’s current overall strength, we’ve long conquered the entire Pangu Continent!”

Taking a deep breath, he went on, proud and self-satisfied, “One more thing, a few Seniors who are of the same seniority as Empress Wa have joined us. Though Empress Wa has immense virtue and mighty magic power, the few Seniors’ cultivation bases are not weaker than her. She can’t protect the human race this time!”

He chuckled, then clapped his hands and cried out, “Guards, send our guest out! Ji Ao, you are not welcome here, please leave! Otherwise, I’ll make a complaint to the Human Emperor for your rudeness. If you dare to cause any trouble in my palace, you will be the culprit who damaged the brotherly relationship between the Heaven and Great Yu!”

Ji Ao spat. Wu Qi gave Liu Bang a lingering look, then turned and left Changle Palace without saying a word, dragging Ji Ao with him. As they sped away on a cloud, he hurriedly told Ji Ao what Liu Bang had told him previously, together with his guess. He asked Ji Ao to quickly report this to Emperor Haozun.

Ji Ao had come here early in the morning to congratulate Wu Qi after learning that he was given the permission to say in Liangzhu. His face fell when he heard what Wu Qi told him, and he nodded immediately and brought a group of his attendants rushing toward Liangzhu. Fearing that Wu Qi did not have enough manpower here, he left half of his captains and soldiers behind.

When back in his mansion, Wu Qi spread out his divine sense to blanket the entire Changle Palace, watching closely at every activity. Since his divine sense was born out of his chaotic energy, it could easily fuse with the rich natural energy and Pangu Sacred Energy in the surroundings. Every piece of tile, brick, and pillar in the palace was soaked through by his divine sense, and no matter what Liu Bang and others were doing, they could not hide from him.

Less than a quarter of an hour after Ji Ao hurried off with his men, Liu Bang took a group of confidants with him to a secret chamber under Changle Palace. Soon after they entered, a subtle ripple of void spread out, and then they were gone. Wu Qi carefully analyzed the ripple, and found that it was the unique ripple of a short-distance teleportation formation, and based on the direction the ripple went, Liu Bang and his men had traveled straight into Liangzhu. Evidently, they had constructed a teleportation formation in the city.

Wu Qi smacked his lips. It was against Great Yu’s laws to construct a teleportation formation in Liangzhu, he knew. Even a King of Great Yu, if found constructing such a device in his own mansion, would have his entire family executed, not to mention the fact that it was Liu Bang who had used it to enter Liangzhu, someone with a special status. How was the Human Emperor going to react, if he learned that an Immortal King of the Heaven was able to enter Liangzhu at will without anyone knowing? And, if left unchecked, could it be that in the future, all those Primordial Immortals from the Heaven were able to freely enter Great Yu’s imperial palace?

With a cold smile on his face, Wu Qi gave the command of the army to Huang Liang and ordered him to watch for any activity in Changle Palace. Then, he leaped into the sky and flew toward Liangzhu.

Standing on a hill outside the city and hiding behind a big tree, Wu Qi had just waited for a moment when he saw a blue flying ship covered with Gale tail feathers flying out of the city at an incredible speed. A flag was fluttering atop the ship, a symbol that it was from King Bai Shan’s household, and standing in the bow was a young man who looked very much like King Zhang Qiu.

He had high cheekbones, and on his gaunt face he had a big hooked nose that King Zhang Qiu did not have. His eyes flickered with a cold gleam as he glanced about, and his narrow lips gave him a mean and cruel look. Clearly he was not easy to get close to.

The speed of the flying ship was so fast that it was almost as fast as a peak Gold Immortal traveling with teleportation. In just a flash, it was already on the horizon.

Just as the ship flew over him, Wu Qi transformed into a gust of breeze and rose into the sky, clinging himself tightly on its hull. Quietly he activated the bloodline of Gale and emanated an energy ripple that was exactly the same as the tail feathers that wrapped the ship. With that, no one would ever find him again.

He had put Ao Buzun and the four dragon pythons into his interstitial world, so he did not have to worry that they would expose him.

After flying for a quarter of an hour, the ship left You Xiong Plain. Just then, a huge black flag appeared and fluttered, and immediately the ship was sent into the shattered void and vanished without a trace. Hiding in a feather, Wu Qi was brought into the void as well.