Stealing The Heavens

At Bai Qi’s order, three hundred sixty flying ships that formed the vanguard halted at the same time. Behind them, the left wing, right wing, the main force, and the rearguard stopped in midair together and fell into a rigid formation. Standing on the prow of the foremost ship with his hand rested on the hilt of his sword, Bai Qi cried out, “Listen, those of you fighting ahead of us: the army of Dong Hai is on the march, make way or you will be deemed as challenging us!”

His voice shook the ground a thousand miles around and sent clouds of dust rising up into the air. The pursuing army halted abruptly and shrank back into a round defensive formation, while the fleeing army raced on. Under the banner, Ji Dai, covered in sweat and dust and blood, screamed, “I’m King of Dong Hai’s acquaintance, please get him…”

Before he could finish, however, his eyes rolled upward, and a croaking noise was heard coming out of his throat. In the next instant, a stream of blood mixed with chunks of gore poured out of his mouth, and soon his face turned purple as he seemed to have a difficulty in breathing. Clearly, some gores had clogged his throat.

Bai Qi clenched his fingers tightly around the sword hilt and narrowed his eyes. He seemed displeased. ‘Why is he Wu Qi’s acquaintance? That means I can’t kill them now!’ Over the past few days, the group of warriors from the six states, including him, was like a pack of tigers who had just been released from the cage. The warring and killing had been fun for them. Although the group of civil officials, such as Su Qin, Zhang Yi, and a few others had melted the resistance of those cities and towns with dirty tricks, Bai Qi and others were still able to conquer several towns with force.

They had spent two thousand lonely years on Myriad Immortals Planet and suffered a few years of grievance on Pangu Continent. Now, with their cultivation bases skyrocketed and a great army under their command, it was time for them to enjoy the pleasure of warring. But, just as he was thinking to slaughter both armies, the first man that came to him was Wu Qi’s acquaintance! Bai Qi felt his stomach clenched hard as a stone.

Touching his nose, Bai Qi thought of a naughty idea. “Well, pray the gore choked you to death, and I’ll be able to torture your army at will. Yes, that’ll be nice!” So, with his head tilted to one side, he stared at Ji Dai and did not ask a messenger to inform Wu Qi about what happened here.

Luckily, Wu Qi’s divine sense was blanketing more than half of You Xiong Plain at all time. As soon as he saw what happened, and while Bai Qi was still thinking about some bloody tortures, he had flown past the vanguard and landed next to Ji Dai. Pulling the man up, he snapped at the few nearby officers, “Are you dead? Can’t you see your lord is seriously wounded? Why are you not healing him?”

While scolding the few officers, Wu Qi pressed his palm against Ji Dai’s back, sending a stream of Pangu Sacred Energy into his body and broke down the gores that clogged his throat. Ji Dai opened his mouth and coughed out bits of gores, dark purple and smelled awful. As the blood touched the ground, the earth sizzled and dissolved into a hole as large as a man’s head. Clearly, not only was he suffered from an internal injury, he was poisoned as well.

After that, Wu Qi produced a life-saving pill and shoved it into Ji Dai’s mouth, then ran his fingers across his back. Soon he found three marks, each sunk one inch deep into Ji Dai’s vital meridian node. Judging by their appearances, Ji Dai was struck by a Vajra Staff, the Buddhism League’s weapon. Wu Qi also discovered that the energy in his body was in a mess, and all his internal organs were invaded by a sticky, cold energy, which almost wiped out their vitality.

As Wu Qi lightly pressed a finger on the back of his head, Ji Dai screamed in pain. He thought for a moment and then waved his finger, causing three tiny ghost heads to emerge in a cloud of dark smoke near his fingertips. As soon as they appeared, they began to suck as the back of Ji Dai’s head. Immediately, a voice of chanting echoed out, while wisps of Buddha’s light rushed out, accompanied by an auspicious aura that moved like water. Lotus flowers about the size of beans could be seen spinning in the aura, on top of each sat cross-legged a shadow of a Bodhisattva.

The color finally returned to Ji Dai’s face when the ghost heads devoured all the Buddha’s light and aura. He struggled to his feet, swaying, clutched Wu Qi on the arm, and cried out, “You have to go back to Liangzhu now! It’s urgent! Someone is trying to harm my Father!”

Waving the bowl-sized Buddha’s light on his fingertip, Wu Qi frowned and asked, “Be patient. Are there someone from Buddhism League in Liangzhu?”

A venomous look spread across Ji Dai’s face. He glanced back over his shoulder at the army and sneered, “I’m not sure if they are really from the Buddhism League, but some of them are using the Vajra Staffs, and I was struck once on my head. While I was running for my life, there were numerous bald donkeys chanting and cursing in my mind, and they almost throw my soul into transmigration!”

Amid Ji Dai’s cold laughter, the soldiers he brought with him had closed in around them, gathering under the flag. They had exhausted all their energy, and as soon as they were safe, they fell to the ground on their back. But as they practiced human cultivation technique, every one of them, including the wounded ones, had only laid on the ground for some time, absorbed some Pangu Sacred Energy to heal themselves, and they were back on their feet again, full of spirit and energy.

On Pangu Continent, especially You Xiong Plain, human warriors had a great strategic advantage. Unless they were beheaded, they could always be healed no matter how serious was the injury. Even if their limbs were severed or their internal organs were ripped, these soldiers would heal completely after resting for some time.

It was the same for the pursuing troops. They spent about an hour to reorganize themselves, and when all the soldiers were fully healed, three generals clad in purple armors rode forward on a dragon, a roc, and a tiger.

The general in the middle, who rode a yellow dragon, pointed his spear at Wu Qi and said, “King Dong Hai, please hand over King Qing Qiu now. I’m Suiren Di, the commander of the Right Flying Bear Army, and I was ordered by the Crown Prince to hunt down King Qing Qiu.”

While pressing a hand against Ji Dai’s back and sending Pangu Sacred Energy into his body, Wu Qi laughed coldly and said, “Crown prince? I’ve never heard of a crown prince in Great Yu. General Suiren, if I may ask, who is this crown prince? And how does he have the authority to order the hunt for Great Yu’s King?”

Suiren Di frowned and made no answer. Ji Dai laughed coldly and said, “His Majesty passed away seven days ago. His soul slip in the Secret Palace has broken, however, no one saw his body, and a eunuch has taken out a secret edict His Majesty left behind when he was still alive, which says he is passing the throne to my Father.”

He took a deep breath and spat a glob of stinking blood to the ground, then went on coldly, “His Majesty’s eldest prince, Ji Yu, King Xin Shan, refuses to recognize the secret edict. Instead, with the support of some fawners, he proclaims himself as Great Yu’s Crown Prince and is planning to take the throne by force. As my Father and several other Kings do not agree with him, he sends out his army to capture me, so that he can force my Father to support him.”

Wu Qi frowned. ‘What the hell is this? Is that King Xin Shan a fool? Proclaiming himself as the crown prince and planning to take the throne by force? Don’t you know that by forcing your way to the throne before you’ve calmed down this group of imperial kings, you’ll tear Great Yu part? If you could capture King Qing Qiu or even kill him, things might have been different, but why are you letting him flee the city? Do you think this is a child play?’

“Rubbish!” Wu Qi made a comment on what King Xin Shan had done.

After thinking for a few moments, Wu Qi asked, “What’s Liu Bang doing these days?”

Ji Dai’s expression became very strange. “On behalf of Heaven, he strongly advocates that we follow His Majesty’s secret edict, making my Father the new Human Emperor.”

While Wu Qi and Ji Dai were talking, Suiren Di shouted impatiently. Just now, when he saw the great army of Dong Hai, he had quickly ordered his army to shrink back into a defensive formation, but now when he saw the opponent was not moving, and Wu Qi and Ji Dai were whispering to each other, he spread out his soldiers once again, forming them into nine spear-shaped formations that pointed at Dong Hai Army.

Wu Qi laughed coldly and cried out, “Suiren Di, I’m a King conferred by His Majesty. Are you really going to attack me?”

“Even though you are a King, you’ve committed a capital crime by trespassing You Xiong Plain,” said Suiren Di with a cold grin, “and by bringing with you an army to the outskirts of Liangzhu, your whole family will be executed. Put down your weapons quickly and surrender now! Perhaps I can spare you some of your crimes.”

Wu Qi thought of negotiating with Suiren Di. After all, he had come so close to Liangzhu, and perhaps some high officials in the court were watching them right now. If he killed the man without first negotiating, it might put him in a bad position when he arrived in Liangzhu.

But before he could figure out what to say, Suiren Di suddenly let out a scream. Three green vajra staffs, each as thick and long as a man’s arm, came thrusting out of the void less than ten feet from Suiren Di and slammed into his chest, exploding out from his back. Wu Qi did not sense any energy fluctuation at all.

The staffs pierced through Suiren Di’s body. As blood sprayed out of his chest, he retreated in a hurry and cried out at the top of his lungs, “King Dong Hai and King Qing Qiu have colluded with the Buddhism League, and they are attacking Great Yu’s subjects! Kill them all!”

As his voice echoed across the field, hundreds of thousands of troops swarmed up from behind him toward Dong Hai Army. The generals were taking out spirit talismans made of bones from their storage artifacts, preparing to active them and cast various defensive spells on their troops.

Wu Qi’s face darkened. He realized that he was made the scapegoat. A vicious smile crept up his face. ‘If you want to make me the scapegoat, if you want to be unreasonable, so be it. Since the situation is in a mess, I’ve no other choice but to untangle it with force!

‘I’ll make the blood run in streams and corpses pile up into hills. Let’s see how much benefits I can loot from Liangzhu this time.’

Not giving the generals behind Suiren Di time to activate their talismans, Wu Qi put his palms together and performed a bizarre incantation gesture. Wisps of dark smoke swirled rapidly in his palms, forming quickly into a ferocious ghost head. Then, he roared and threw the head out. A deafening boom rang out as if a million thunderbolts had exploded at the same time. Blood sprayed out from the seven orifices of all the soldiers Suiren Di had brought here; most of them collapsed to the ground without making a sound while some stronger ones were still charging, but they had lost their orientation, running like drunken men.

Waving his hand forward, Wu Qi cried out, “Kill them all!”

A wild roar towered into the sky. Bai Qi was the first to draw his sword and charge out.