Stealing The Heavens

A patch of sky, about ten feet across and a mile away from the main entrance to Great Yu’s imperial palace, suddenly broke open, from inside of which Wu Qi jumped out.

No sooner had he leaped out of the opening than over a dozen threads of powerful divine senses came pouring over and locking down on him. Even then, twelve black Supreme Towers silently emerged next to him and completely sealed off space and time. All the natural energy vanished without a trace at that moment; the void around him had become an absolute vacuum, where even space and time had ceased to exist.

A deep chime rang out of the palace. From all over Liangzhu tens of thousands of Oracles in black robes flew up into the sky, their auras blended with one another and slowly soared up the air like a great mountain, transforming into a terrible pressure that could destroy everything and silently pressing toward Wu Qi. His bones began to squeak, and it seemed soon his body would be completely crushed under such a mighty pressure.

Beads of cold sweat broke out of his forehead. Wu Qi tried to scream, but his voice caught in his throat.

He never dreamed that Liangzhu’s defense was so terrifying. His intention was to save time, so he had jumped out of the alien dimension at a spot that was not far away from the palace’s main entrance. He never thought his appearance here would immediately trigger such a major reaction.

Was this still the same old, closed, rigid, and lifeless Liangzhu? Wu Qi was taken aback by the speed with which the city responded, and he saw enormous runes and lines of formation began to flash on the ground all over the city, with the palace as the center. Apparently, it was a colossal formation nearly a hundred million miles across that was constructed with the whole Liangzhu as its heart.

A formation that was nearly a hundred million miles across?

Wu Qi could not imagine how powerful this formation would be, nor how much effort and resources were used in its construction. He also could not think of a place other than You Xiong Plain, where natural energy was unlimited, that could support the running costs of it. Despite all that, he believed that the power the formation could unleash was more than enough to instantly kill even a first-tier Primordial expert.

And this was only the force that was known to the public. Wu Qi had yet seen an Oracle from the Secret Palace, whose robe was white. Secret Palace was the lair of Great Yu’s strongest force, where the craziest, maddest, and mightiest freaks of Great Yu were dwelling.

Just when Wu Qi was about to be crushed to pieces by the pressure, an Oracle in a black robe suddenly emerged on the Supreme Tower across from him. Old and shriveled, the Oracle with a head of white hair gave Wu Qi a glance, carefully studied his feature and aura. A few moments later, he slowly lifted his right hand and gave it a light wave.

At the gesture, the immense pressure vanished instantly. Even then, all the Oracles returned to their original positions, the huge runes and lines of formation flashing on the ground went out gradually, and the deep, powerful chimes faded away in the air. After that, the old Oracle twitched his lips, nodded at Wu Qi, and said, “Congratulation for your new achievement, Marquis of Dong Hai Province! You have truly stepped into the realm of Supreme Oracle, and the strength of your flesh has also stepped into the realm of Third Pangu Heaven. No wonder you can survive the pressure. A body-and-magic cultivator is indeed amazing!”

The Oracle tittered. While bending his fingers, he said, “You are the seventy-ninth Oracle who broke through the void and jumped out right in front of the imperial palace after stepping into the realm of Supreme Oracle. Oh, and you are the only one who is not hurt. So, just as I said, a body-and-magic cultivator is truly extraordinary.”

Wu Qi was struck dumb. He was the seventy-ninth Oracle who did this? “If I may ask, what happened to all the previous Oracles?”

Shaking his head, the old man said with a smile on his face, “Nothing serious. The shortest one had stayed in bed for half a year, and the longest one is able to jump up and down healthily after resting in bed for three years. Oh, if you have your own family in the future, do remember to remind your children that even when they have the cultivation base of a Supreme Oracle, they cannot jump out right in front of the imperial palace like what you have just done. Not only will they give the Oracles on duty a fright, but they will also give themselves a fright as well!”

Wu Qi swallowed and laughed dryly.

He gave the surroundings a glance. No matter how he looked at the city of Liangzhu, he could not tell it had such an insane defense from the outside. He had known the defense within the imperial palace was extremely strong, but he never expected that even its entrance was so heavily guarded. He was a Primordial expert, and yet he was almost seriously wounded by the auras the Oracles on duty emanated. How absurd was this?

Soon after, he pulled out the medallion that gave him permission to seek an audience with Emperor Haozun at any time and showed it to the Oracle. The old man inspected it briefly, then waved his hand. At the gesture, a few internal officials of the court clad in black clothes walked up and brought Wu Qi into the palace.

Wu Qi met Emperor Haozun once again in the same great hall. He looked the same, still sitting on that throne of his, and still wearing the same cloth. It made Wu Qi wondered that was Emperor Haozun sitting here all year round, without even eating, drinking, bathing, and shitting?

A vast stream of starlight mixed with natural energy and Pangu Sacred Energy poured down from the sky like a waterfall, constantly fusing with the emperor’s body. Squinting at Wu Qi with a faint smile, Emperor Haozun said, “Congratulation, Marquis of Dong Hai Province. Well, it had only been days… how did you manage to step into the realm of Supreme Oracle in such a short space of time?”

Wu Qi bowed deeply at the emperor, then began to tell him what had happened in the past few days. Of course, he focused on how he had killed seven Primordial experts and destroyed a small part of the mortal worlds, but never mentioned that he had robbed Buddha Futu and Liu Bang. After all, it was not a glorious deed, wasn’t it?

Emperor Haozun rose to his feet in surprise. “You have killed seven Primordial experts?”

“It’s the credit of the Kunwu Swords the Sacred Emperor gave me! I dare not claim any credit out of it!” Wu Qi explained hurriedly.

The emperor roared with laughter. Nodding, he said, “Regardless, you have rendered an outstanding service! Herald, announce my decree: I now promote Marquis of Dong Hai Province to King of Dong Hai Province of the upper ninth-grade, and apart from his original fief, he can choose two provinces adjoining to Dong Hai Province as his extra fief.”

King of Dong Hai Province? Wu Qi was somewhat struck dumb. So, just like that, he was a King? Although it was of the lowest grade, he was given two extra provinces as his fief!

After a moment of daze, he quickly bowed and thanked Emperor Haozun.

The emperor did not conceal his approval for Wu Qi. Smiling, he asked Wu Qi to give him a detailed account of what had happened, during which he asked many questions. When Wu Qi mentioned that he was caught up by True Lord Gu Yi on the way back and managed to seriously injure that fellow, Emperor Haozun shouted ‘Well done!’ and gave him an extra reward: two palaces and dozens of manors and fields located outside of Liangzhu.

With the two palaces, Wu Qi now had the right to stay permanently in Liangzhu with a fixed number of his kin and subordinates. The palaces and manors located outside of Liangzhu could not be bought with money. Apart from the native residents who had been living here for generations, one could only obtain them through Emperor Haozun’s reward. When a person owned a palace or manor outside of Liangzhu, it also meant that he or she had the right to stay permanently here, and he or she had truly become Great Yu’s inner subject.

An example was Bo Zhongfu, the current Prefecture Overseer of Zhong Province. Although he was a Prefecture Overseer, he had his own residence in Liangzhu, and that made him the inner subject of Great Yu.

Clearly, Emperor Haozun was very satisfied with what Wu Qi had accomplished in the past few days. He was so happy that he clapped his hands and said, “I’m really gladdened by your outstanding service. Someone, prepare the feast… wait, never mind!”

As soon as he mentioned ‘prepare the feast’, Wu Qi’s face turned pale, and the emperor’s face turned unsightly as well. “Ha, I can tell that King of Dong Hai Province is weary from your mission. I think what you need now is proper rest. Oh, if that King of Han dares to come back, I need you to keep a close eye on him. As for King Bai Shan…”

After a moment of hesitation, Emperor Haozun shook his head and said, “You can ignore him for now. I’ll talk to him myself!”

Even as he said that, the emperor’s expression turned extremely ferocious, and he clenched his palm so hard that he crushed the armrest of his throne.

Wu Qi lowered his head hurriedly and bowed respectfully to Emperor Haozun. Then, he took his leave of the great hall with a few internal officials.

Great Yu’s internal officials were very efficient. Though Emperor Haozun had just promoted Wu Qi as King of Dong Hai Province, the official papers, medallions, and even the deeds of the palaces and manors had been prepared when he left the great hall. After handing over everything to Wu Qi, these internal officials told him that his promotion was out of ordinary, and his attendance was required when the next time Great Yu holds the sacrifice ceremony, because they needed to announce his promotion to all the Ghost Gods. Also, his attendance at the imperial feast after that was compulsory.

They were a month and a half away from the next sacrifice ceremony. When the times came, Wu Qi was required to attend on time, only then he could complete his promotion.

Wu Qi felt his scalp went numb when he heard the sacrifice ceremony and the imperial feast. However, as he had experienced it once, he knew how to avoid all the unnecessary sufferings.

After leaving the imperial palace with a clenched jaw, Wu Qi immediately summoned Huang Liang and others and ordered them to keep a close watch on Changle Palace. Then, he made a trip back to Dong Hai City. There he spent a few days to settle everything, before returning to Liangzhu with Princess Zhang Le and a group of men closed to them, with another large group of men hiding in his interstitial world.

With Emperor Haozun’s decree, Wu Qi could bring no more than ten thousand kin, subordinates, servants, and maidservants to stay in Liangzhu, as to befit his title of King of Province of upper ninth-grade. The location and the scenery of the two palaces the internal officials had picked for him were decent. In total, there were over thirty great halls and hundreds of outbuildings scattered across them. And they were not far apart, just separated by a river and were connected by a stone bridge. The dozens of manors were all situated around them.

The clusters of manors located about a hundred thousand miles from Liangzhu. For someone like Wu Qi, such distance was nothing. According to Great Yu’s classification, this place was considered the outskirts of the city, which made it an excellent location. Under the manors there were a total of over a million acres of fertile lands, all with excellent yearly yields. Together with them hundreds of small towns and villages who cultivated these farmlands were given to Wu Qi as well, and all the people within had become the people of his personal fief.

After settling all the trivial affairs of his fief in a haste, Wu Qi immediately announced that he would enter secluded cultivation to stabilize his cultivation base. Then, he entered the underground chamber beneath the palace that was specially built for such a purpose.

Once inside the chamber, Wu Qi produced two Blood-draining Celestial Fiends to confuse the prying eyes and ears. Only then he brought the princess and dived a hundred million miles below the surface of You Xiong Plain.