Stealing The Heavens

Countless officials of Great Yu fled from the great hall in a haste. Stepping on dark clouds, the oracles brought those weak civil officials up into the air. Meanwhile, the military officers—clad in heavy armors with various weapons in hands—hovered midair and watched the mountain nervously and cautiously, which was wriggling violently.

The mountain that was Torch Dragon’s true-self was shaking violently. Large chunks of rocks kept falling off him, exposing his body. Over ten thousand miles long, the dragon had no front claws but two hind claws; his scales were purple-black, and his abdomen was a dazzling crimson. In place of horns, a huge torch stuck out from the top of his head. A column of blue flame was thrusting out of the torch, burning at the great hall that suspended over it.

Torch Dragon, who had coiled himself up for countless years, was wriggling violently; his body was slowly expanding and stretching out. A wild aura filled the air while numerous black tornadoes spun crazily around him. The shrill whistles of the wind filled every ear with a sharp pain, seeming to have the power to rip one’s soul apart. The ground was shaking, and because of the tornadoes, huge sinkholes emerged across the earth.

When his body was fully stretched out, and when a blue flaming cloud appeared beneath him, all the buildings in the imperial palace collapsed at the same time, while all the flowers and trees on the 136,000 mountains in the vast imperial garden shattered to splinters and bits. Countless rocks and boulders were thrown into the air by the blast, revealing the 136,000 huge bronze pillars hiding under the mountains, each measuring over a thousand feet in diameter and at least ten miles in height.

A loud clang echoed out as numerous chains that were as thick as water buckets appeared across Torch Dragon’s colossal body. They were invisible, but had shown themselves as he struggled with all his might. All the chains sunk deep into his body, with one end locked on his long spine and the other end tied to the 136,000 pillars. At the moment, each pillar was spewing dark flames, which ran along the chains and quickly engulfed Torch Dragon.

These flames were the condensation of several coldest Yin fires in the world. They looked like flames, but in fact, they were ice flames that were in opposition to ordinary flames. They were capable of freezing and shattering stones and steel. Torch Dragon’s wriggling body froze abruptly as soon as he was engulfed by them.

Before long, accompanied by a sonorous dragon roar, the Sun and Moon Torch emitted a great blue light and poured out a terribly intense heat. The air rang with miserable cries as thousands of military officers hovering closest to Torch Dragon vanished into wisps of smoke. The heat had melted them, leaving nothing behind. Everything that was blanketed by the blue light—dirt, rocks, or anything else—had all melted into glowing white lava.

The imperial garden was located in a small, isolated space. Measuring several million miles in circumference, it was filled with countless mountains and hills, rivers and lakes, as well as various rare and precious flowers, trees, and spirit herbs. It was considered the best blessed-land in Great Yu. But, as soon as it was shone upon by the torch’s light, it immediately turned into a vast sea of lava. Apart from the 136,000 bronze pillars, everything else had melted into lava.

Previously, King Xin Shan and a few other princes had rushed into the imperial palace with their armies, with the excuse that they were searching for the clues to Emperor Haozun’s murder. Now, with Torch Dragon suddenly running wild, all the princes had fled into the sky under the protection of their loyal confidants. But, the soldiers of the Flying Bear Army and the numerous private guards were not as lucky as them. Regardless of their cultivation bases, they all vanished into wisps of smoke as soon as they were shone upon by the blue light.

There was actually a prince, who was too late to flee, who died together with thousands of his confidants and guards, rising into the sky in a cloud of smoke. Of all the Oracles and civil officials who had flown into the sky, at least ten thousand cried out in unison. Clearly, they were the prince’s supporters. The death of their master had thrown them into confusion.

The casualties were more than that. There were many other people in the palace, including concubines, eunuchs, maids, imperial guards, and so on. Emperor Haozun was an energetic man, so a new batch of beautiful women was brought into the palace every once in a while to produce offspring for Great Yu’s imperial clan. According to rough statistics, there were tens of thousands of officially registered concubines, and each of them was served by a large group of maids and eunuchs. But now, under the blue light, everyone had turned into wisps of smoke and vanished.

“Mother!” King Xin Shan, King Li Shan, and all the other princes shrieked and wailed mournfully.

Torch Dragon’s full-force attack had removed about half of the ice flames that tangled on his body, but it had also killed all those in the imperial palace who were unable to flee, including the princes’ mothers. They were only ordinary women who did not have a cultivation base, and had been keeping their youth and prolonging their lives with the various spirit herbs Emperor Haozun and their sons had provided them.

With the imperial palace turned into a sea of lava, the princes’ mothers perished, and all the emperor’s concubines killed, the members of the imperial clan and the officials of the court who had flown into the sky were instantly thrown into confusion. Some conservative subjects even burst into tears and began to wail as if their parents were killed. Everyone agreed that it was a great insult. This had never happened in the history of Great Yu!

Amidst the chaos, a huge rumble echoed out from the vast square in which the great hall was situated. Thousands of Yuan Stones were blown away in all directions as the entire square, as well as the great hall, crumbled and collapsed in the raging flames poured out by the torch. Slowly, Torch Dragon lifted his upper body up in the air, then threw his head back and cried out, “King Dong Hai, you shameless punk! Give me back my soul!”

Hundreds of figures flashed through the void while Wu Qi turned into a dark shadow and quickly collected the blown away Yuan Stones. At this moment, none of those hovering in the sky were in the mood to take any notice of these external things. If truth be told, few people could recognize them. So, Wu Qi had put the stones, which contained infinite energy, into his storage right in front of everyone. But in fact, he had put them directly into his body, where they were slowly refined by the Heaven Refining Grand Magic.

A few moments later, he appeared in front of Torch Dragon, and the Fiend Slaying Sword Formation revealed itself once again in the void. Looking at the dragon, Wu Qi said with a cold grin, “Old dragon, now that things have come to such a pass, you better be honest with me…Did you collude with the enemies to murder His Majesty?”

Torch Dragon’s eyes grew wide, and the sun and the moon in them turned white-hot. He was about to attack when Wu Qi thundered suddenly, “You better think properly before you speak or act! Who have you colluded with? Don’t try to frame others by giving me random names. We won’t believe any of your words if you don’t swear a blood oath with your natal soul!”

King Yang Shan and the other Kings of the council were shouting curses high in the sky. They were all wondering why Torch Dragon’s body could suddenly move and wreak such havoc on Great Yu, since Wu Qi had taken his soul away. So, when they heard Wu Qi yell out the question, everyone shut up and waited quietly for Torch Dragon’s answer.

The dragon laughed proudly and said in a cold voice, “How could I tell you that, boy?”

As his cold voice rang out, a ten-foot-tall, white-bearded man and a six-foot-tall youth appeared at the same time atop the huge dragon head. Both men looked up disdainfully at all those hovering in the sky and said in unison, “I know who killed Emperor Haozun, who colluded with the enemies, and what the people you’re worried about are trying to do to Great Yu. But, why should I tell you all that? Do you really think you can force me to confess?”

They laughed together wildly. Suddenly, Torch Dragon’s body stretched out, and a loud boom was heard as countless wounds cracked open across his skin at the same time. Streams of purple-black blood mixed with raging blue flames sprayed endlessly from the cuts, while the sea of lava turned violent. Volumns of lava towered thousands of feet into the sky, forcing Great Yu’s subjects to fly higher.

The chaos was accompanied by hundreds of loud booms; hundreds of pitch-black Supreme Towers broke through the void and made their appearances. The Supreme Oracles who came for the rescue were the experts in various ice magic. As soon as they arrived, they cast the spells, showering the region with numerous dark snowflakes. Gusts of cold air swept out of the towers, engulfing Torch Dragon’s entire body together with the ice flames spewed out of the 136,000 bronze pillars.

The air rang with crackling noises as the sea of lava around Torch Dragon gradually solidified, while the lava waves that rose to the sky were also frozen into thick ice cubes. The high-temperature blood gushing out of his body had turned into dark-purple ice cubes, and his colossal body was frozen once more.

The two souls of Torch Dragon laughed wildly in unison, their voices shrill and unpleasant. Amidst their laughter, the young soul turned into a stream of light and returned into the dragon’s body. With that, the torch’s flame immediately shot up ten-fold, and the surrounding temperature soared. The snowflakes falling from the sky melted into hot boiling water, the frozen sea of lava became active again, and the thick ice on his body melted into a plume of water vapor amidst the roar of the fire and the whistle of the wind.

All the Supreme Oracles coughed out a mouthful of blood at the same time. They looked at the Sun and Moon Torch in horror, shocked by the power of the legendary Supreme Primordial Treasure. Although they were in the hundreds, they had failed to seal off its power. They could not help but wonder what method Xuanyuan used in those days to imprison Torch Dragon in the imperial palace, forcing him to be the core of the formation for so many years.

While the shocked expressions were still hanging on the Oracles’ faces, the white-bearded man produced the golden Xuanyuan Sword. All the subjects of Great Yu cried out in alarm, and some even fell to their knees and bowed to the sword.

Torch Dragon burst into laughter. Waving the sword, he snapped, “With the Sun and Moon Torch and Xuanyuan Sword in my control, how are you going to kill me? Hahaha!”

The immense dragon flew up once again. The chains were tugging and ripping at his body, and the sound of bones and muscles breaking could be heard from his body from time to time. He was coughing blood in pain, but with the support of his powerful souls, he managed to fly up in the air.

King Yang Shan cried out, “King Dong Hai, we can’t afford to let this evil creature escape! We must find out from him how he murdered His Majesty!”

Wu Qi answered with a loud cry. In the next instant, the Fiend Slaying Sword Formation was activated, materializing into a chaotic space and wrapping both Torch Dragon and Wu Qi in it.

Those who were close to Wu Qi, including Princess Zhang Le and Ao Buzun, plunged into the chaos as well. After that, nobody could enter it anymore.

Shrill dragon roars kept coming out of the formation, but no one could see what was going on inside.