Stealing The Heavens

Inside the Fiend Slaying Sword Formation, ninety-nine huge silver sword beams revolved slowly around a golden pagoda a hundred miles high. Powerful sword energy mixed with the power of the stars was slicing away the immense light emanated from the pagoda, layer by layer, but as the pagoda was constantly pouring out a golden torrent, the sword formation could not truly touch the pagoda itself.

Buddha Futu, wearing a sad face, was sitting cross-legged on the gourd-shaped top of the pagoda. A golden lotus throne hung upside down over him, emitting a purple-and-golden light that had him protected within, and his true form, the pagoda, had also provided him tight protection. No matter how the formation changed at the outside, he did not even arch a brow, for he was not worried about his own safety at all. From time to time, he would clap his hands and sent out a few beams of golden light, which would cause a huge ripple in the fireworks-like silver light all around him.

However, when compared to his formidable defense, his offense was pitifully weak.

As Lord Buddha’s personal treasure for so many years, Buddha Futu was purely a defensive artifact, who occasionally was used to suppress some fearsome beings. Therefore, when it came to offensive techniques, he really wasn’t very good at them. Where did he find the time to study all the highly offensive divine abilities of the Buddhism League, when his first priority was to cultivate his true form into human form, so that he could merge his spirit and flesh as one?

Buddha Futu’s formidable defense had made him fearless of the sword formation, but he could not cause any damage to it either. Unless Wu Qi could have an overall strength matching to that of Lord Buddha, he would not be able to destroy the pagoda and truly kill Buddha Futu.

Just then, Wu Qi emerged in front of Buddha Futu, wearing his true appearance with a faint smile hung on his lips.

At the sight of him, Buddha Futu cried out in anger, “You despicable worm! How could you take advantage of Buddhism League? The planet has promised to King Tang Qiu so that he can break through the realm of the Third Pangu Heaven! How could you take it away from us?!”

Wu Qi smiled and paid no heed to Buddha Futu’s reproach. Stepping on a mass of silver light, he made a few circles around the pagoda. As he did that, his body began to grow taller, while purple-and-golden dragon scales flipped out from beneath his skins. Two dragon horns, each with nine forks and about ten feet long, stretched out of his forehead. Rays of light radiated out of the rainbow-colored horns, and very quickly they condensed into a dazzling cloak streaming thousands of feet down his back.

When his body grew to about a hundred feet tall, he clenched his palms into fists and thrust one of them toward the pagoda.

Ninety-nine silver sword beams that were Kunwu Swords flew down, all went for the point where Wu Qi’s punch was aiming at. At that moment, the light of all the countless stars in the formation dimmed down, for all their powers had been drawn and gathered in this attack. The swords pierced through the void in single file, turned into a long beam of silver light and instantly struck the pagoda.

An epithet burst out of Buddha Futu’s lips, and a great sheet of golden light erupted out of his body, instantly lit up the surroundings. The golden pagoda suspended in the void without moving an inch. When Wu Qi’s fist was still dozens of feet away from it, the force that came with the punch was gradually dissolved by the golden light, and in the end, his punch just brushed past the pagoda as powerless as a gust of gentle breeze. The swords could not touch the pagoda either, as the void around it trembled suddenly and deviated their course, causing them to miss the target.

Grinning coldly, Buddha Futu fixed his eyes on Wu Qi and said, “You can never break my defense, little fellow. If I am that easy to kill, Lord Buddha would have been killed multiple times by others. You may have better luck if you can find a peak first-tier Primordial expert, or even the First Master of your Secret Palace here! You? Keep on trying! Haha!”

Wu Qi sighed. This was the reason why Buddha Futu was a tough nut to crack. His defense was too strong. With Wu Qi’s current cultivation base, he might have a chance to devour his spirit with an ambush, but if he were to fight him head-on, he could never defeat him.

And he dared not to disguise himself as Amitabha to fool Buddha Futu into taking down the protection. Unlike the three unlucky buddhas, Buddha Futu had followed Amitabha for countless eons, so he was very familiar with Amitabha’s aura. Wu Qi could fool others, but it was impossible for him to deceive Buddha Futu, who was almost considered a part of Lord Buddha. Instead, he might expose the fact that he had mastered the Great Light Indestructible Amitabha Treasure Scripture, which, would force Lord Buddha to hunt him down across the world.

Frowning at Buddha Futu, Wu Qi considered for ten minutes, only then he nodded slowly and said, “You are right, I can’t kill you now. But, I have the confidence to keep you in captive. If I go all out and sacrifice all the 108 Kunwu Swords, I can completely suppress you and keep you from the outside world for billions of years. You will have no access to any energy, you will not be able to obtain even just a bit of the power of faith, and you will not be able to cultivate your true form and truly become a Buddha.”

Wu Qi had studied the cultivation technique Amitabha was cultivating, so naturally he could tell what was Buddha Futu’s biggest flaw.

Amitabha had enlightened Buddha Futu, allowing his spirit to transform into human form, and giving him the overall strength of a Buddha. But the body transformed from his spirit was frail. Evidently, he was hacked in two by Wu Qi last time, and his lower body had boosted Wu Qi’s overall strength. He had to cultivate his true form, the pagoda, into human form, then merge it with his spirit, only then could he become a true Buddha.

Given the pagoda’s formidable strength, if Buddha Futu could cultivate his true form into human form, his avatar would definitely be stronger than all the Buddhas in the Buddhism League. It might be even stronger than his master, Amitabha. With such a promising future waiting for him, Wu Qi did not believe Buddha Futu would allow himself to be kept in captive for countless years.

After much consideration, Buddha Futu pointed to the swords spinning in the void, smiled bitterly, and said, “This has definitely not been my day! Well, I admit that you do have the overall strength to keep me in captive forever. As long as you put me in a confined space that can cut off the connection between Lord Buddha and me, I’ll not see the light of day forever. But, are you really willing to part with these 108 Kunwu Swords?”

Wu Qi fell silent for a while, then rubbed his right thumb, index, and middle fingers against each other. Smiling at Buddha Futu, he said, “How about like this, if you can give me treasures enough to sway my decision, I will let you go right away. What do you think?”

There could not be a better proposal for Buddha Futu. The only thing important to him was his true form, the pagoda, and he did not attach much importance to all the other external things he possessed. After all, he was Amitabha’s absolute confidant, and as Buddhism League owned so many treasures, he could have anything he wanted, so long as he could return safely to Amitabha’s side.

Without hesitation, he clapped his hands, and the golden lotus throne hovering over his head flew in front of Wu Qi. “This is the Dharma Lotus Throne of Transcend, grown from one of the first nine lotus seeds Lord Buddha’s Eight Treasures Lotus Throne had produced,” Buddha Futu said in a deep voice. “Apart from me, only the eight Supreme Buddhas of the Buddhism League have one each.”

Wu Qi opened his mouth and swallowed the lotus throne. Smiling, he nodded and said, “Not enough. I want more. Monk, you have a prestige status that no others can compare. Let me get this straight. Turn in all your valuables but your pagoda, and I’ll guarantee you safe passage out of here.”

He inclined his head and listened attentively for a moment, then smiled at Buddha Futu and said, “You better be hurried, monk! I’ve accidentally shattered the planet and its moon just now. If I am not mistaken, the mortal world is a place where a small accident will cause a devastating chain reaction, right? I wonder how big will the trouble be, when a planet and its moon are destroyed?”

Buddha Futu, who had been perfectly calm and collected all along, suddenly had his face turned dark as coal. He jumped to his feet, pointed at Wu Qi and began to let loose a torrent of abuse. “Fu*k you! Fu*k all your ancestors, men and women! Bastard, why did you destroy the planet when you can just destroy a few of the mountain ranges? I swear… I swear…”

Wu Qi immediately interrupted him. “If you dare to swear that you will kill me someday, bald donkey, I’ll have you imprisoned today, even if it would cost me a serious price!” he said hideously. “Now, swear that you will never attack me! Quick, swear it with your natal spirit, swear it by the name of your master, Amitabha! Swear it that you will stay billions of miles away from me when you see me in the future, and you will never attack me!”

Buddha Futu froze. He was so angry that his face flushed purple, and he almost coughed up blood.

Trembling all over, he pointed at Wu Qi and scowled, “What lousy luck! How did I come across someone as cunning and shameless as you? Those ox noses of the Dao League had been accusing use from the Buddhism League crafty and witty, and japing that the brains of you from the human race are as hard and stinking as the stones in the latrine pit, but why are you so deceitful? Y-yo-you… are you really from the human race? Or are you actually some demon?”

Wu Qi spread his arms and said lazily, “Cut the crap. Swear it, and take off your monk robe first. Aye, your kasaya and robe look nice. There are at least a few thousand relics and pearls inlaid on them, aren’t there? They always said monks are poor, but it seems to me that all you Buddhas are very rich!”

Buddha Futu chuckled. Wagging his head, he said, “It sure is. Who could be richer than us, the Buddhas?”

As soon as he said that, Buddha Futu realized that he should not continue with the topic. Laughing dryly, he took off his kasaya and monk robe and threw them to Wu Qi. After that, he obediently followed Wu Qi’s words and swore an oath.

In addition to his kasaya and monk robe, Wu Qi also took his magic belt woven of dragon tendons, his pair of sandals made of jade Bodhi leaf, his monk pants, and the string of beads he wore on his wrist. The largest bead was a storage treasure, which contained all of his personal collections.

Wu Qi left Buddha Futu nothing but a pair of underpants.

He had thought of taking away the pair of underpants made of rare and precious materials, but he could not find the courage to swallow that filthy thing. Because of that, Buddha Futu was spared from returning to his master fully naked.

After carefully examining Buddha Futu and making sure that there was nothing else he could loot, Wu Qi sighed and waved a hand. As the starlight began to fade, he said, “Wait here for a moment. I’ll send you away when I am done with the others.”

Narrowed his eyes, Buddha Futu sat back down on the pagoda and murmured to himself, “The others? Who else is alive?”

In the next moment, Wu Qi appeared with a faint smile on the side of the flying ship where Liu Bang and others were hiding.

The Sky Veiling Flag of Chaos had turned into a large black cloud and wrapped up the ship, struggling to withstand the attack of twelve Kunwu Swords.