Stealing The Heavens

Wu Qi retreated from Greathorns’s territory with extreme caution. Not daring to leak his aura, he carefully drifted along an energy vein and came to Pangu Continent’s edge, ripped apart the void next to a mountain filled with violent power of thunder which had just emerged from chaos, and stepped into it.

He could never leave behind any clues for Greathorns to track him down. Even though he had wiped out his traces with the Primal Purple Energy, he was not sure if someone among the eighteen Saints possessed an innate talent or divine ability that could discover his traces. So, the safest way was to return to Great Wu with an alternate route, and the Nether World was his best option.

In the boundless Nether World, uncountable souls were struggling and crying desperately in the Yellow Springs that stretched as far as the eyes could see. Groups of Yakshas, fierce and savage as ever, were roaming back and forth, riding on all kinds of giant beasts while laughing wildly as they pulled souls that looked delicious out of the water and shoved them into their mouths.

A group of about ten thousand Yakshas cast a huge net into the rocking Yellow Springs, fishing out a large number of souls as if they were fishermen. They were not so bold to hunt and eat souls in large number like this in the past when Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha and the others were still here. But, with the bodhisattvas and arhats of the Buddhist League’s Nether Branch gone, the Nether World had become their paradise, and they naturally acted on their instinct.

With a cold snort, Wu Qi threw out a palm-thunder and blew the group of Yakshas into a mass of sticky, foul-smelling yellow liquid which quickly mixed into the Yellow Springs. His face turned dark when he glanced about and saw many other Yakshas doing the same evil thing in the distance. He flew toward them and killed them as well. Some Yakshas who saw their friends getting killed quickly plunged into the water, but his powerful divine sense caught up with them and killed them all the same.

Wu Qi felt a little regret when he saw these Yakshas slaughtering the souls. If he had known this would happen beforehand, he would have spared a few bodhisattvas and arhats so they could guard the place. It was like the relationship between a pack of wolves and a herd of sheep. He had driven the wolves away, and the sheep had flourished and grown stronger.

When the sheep grew stronger, the grass, or in this case, the souls, were destined to have a hard time. In fact, whenever a soul was devoured by a Yaksha, part of the karma was pinned on Wu Qi’s head. He counted on his finger gloomily and was shocked to discover that his virtues had reduced significantly. Had it not been for the fact that he had accumulated an enormous amount of virtue in the past, he would have been shrouded in evil karma now.

Wu Qi glanced helplessly at the boundless Yellow Spring and muttered, “I’ve brought them into this dreadful situation, although it was not my original intention… Aye, karma is really powerful! I was only escorting Yuji and the other two women into transmigration, and it made me cross the group of bald donkeys. I was only punishing them, and in the end, my action caused the obliteration of so many innocent souls… Looks like I have to be more cautious in the future. Who knows who would be affected because of a casual decision from me?”

The sudden enlightenment made Wu Qi’s mind shine as bright and transparent as a crystal. The divine energy he had stolen from the three poor emperors, as well as the energy essence from the Origin Tree of Fire, began to convert into Primal Purple Energy, filling every part of him. His body flickered and blurred as if a void was gradually taking shape in him, while tendrils of starlight converged into countless nebula, spinning rapidly. Soon afterward, a mass of white flame, as glossy and refined as a pearl, slowly spread out into his limbs and bones.

His body was quivering. Standing over the Yellow Springs, the interstitial world in him was slowly disintegrating and merging with him. Once the merging was completed, his body would become a world of its own. The Heaven Refining Grand Magic was working at top speed, helping him absorb and digest the energy, countless energy veins, mountains, rivers, and everything in the interstitial world.

A mass of bright light emerged in his palm, in which a tiny world could be seen. Countless heavenly ghosts were living freely in it, and they did not notice something strange happening in the outside world. Wu Qi smiled, and the bright light in his palm flickered, with which the Yellow Springs a million miles around him vanished in an instant. Together with all the Yakshas in the area, they were sucked into this little world.

“They will serve as the heavenly ghosts’ training partners. Only by honing them with these fierce, savage Yakshas can I produce powerful heavenly ghost soldiers.”

Glue-like yellow water slowly poured over from all directions to fill the gap. Wu Qi breathed a puff of white smoke with a faint fragrance as he glanced about, then plunged himself into the filthy water. The Yellow Spring completely devoured the last bit of trace he could have possibly left behind, and with that, no one would be able to track him with any divine ability.

His body was rapidly digesting the benefits he had gained over the past few days.

The divine energy he stole from the three emperors was not a big deal, for it had only pushed his magic power to the limit of sixth-tier of Dao Breaking realm. However, the insight of Heavenly Dao in the cores of their divine souls had brought him endless benefits. He lay in the Yellow Spring and let the waves carry him away while his divine soul was absorbing and digesting these insights. Sensing the changes in his aura, the filthy yellow water around him transformed into a pool of clear water about a hundred acres wide, and lotus flowers bloomed across its surface.

It was a wisp of aura leaked out of him when he was digesting Green Emperor and Black Emperor’s insights. The essence of the Yellow Spring was water, so it was still under the control of the law of water. As Wu Qi was digesting Black Emperor’s insight, he could naturally convert the water’s attribute at will. As for the lotus flowers, they were conjured from Green Emperor’s aura.

As the waves carried him further away, Wu Qi had completely digested the divine energy from the three emperors, and his magic power stood firmly at the peak sixth-tier of Dao Breaking realm. After that, he began to digest the enormous energy essence he stole from the Origin Tree of Fire. Primal Purple Energy was constantly being produced, gradually being compressed into his energy essence and filling every part of him.

To Wu Qi’s surprise, after drifting in the Yellow Spring for a full month and relying on the stolen energy essence of the divine tree, his magic power made a breakthrough into the fourth-tier of Dao Breaking realm. He could not help but wonder how enormous the energy essence contained in that divine tree was, and if it would instantly step into the realm of Dao Fusing once it cultivated its sentience and human form!

No wonder Greathorns valued the divine tree so much. He had been meditating right next to it day and night, and as a result, his spirit, energy, and soul were all connected with it. If the tree manifested its human form, it would become someone as close as a family member to him, and he would have himself a great help of Dao Fusing realm.

It was a pity that the divine tree would have to wait for several more eons at least to manifest after it was ravaged by Wu Qi. What he had seized from it was its energy essence, which could not be replenished in days. In any case, the blame should be pinned on Daoist Longbrows, for everyone had seen with their own eyes how he had slammed Yao Ling into the tree and made a large hole out of it.

Wu Qi could not help but chuckle when he thought of his brilliant move.

After working hard for a month, all the energy essence he stole had been converted into his own. His cultivation base was now standing firmly in the fourth-tier of Dao Breaking realm, and his flesh was tougher than ever after being tempered by the Yuan Ling True Flame. His overall strength was at least a hundredfold stronger now than it was a month ago. It would take him a little more time to absorb the insights stolen from the three emperors though. After all, the current strength of his divine soul was nowhere near as powerful as the three old freaks who had existed since the world was created. If he wished to absorb all the insights, he would have to improve his divine soul to their level.

He glimpsed a faint light ahead. Unknowingly, the waves had brought him near the Wheels of Transmigration.

Wu Qi stood up languidly and threw a casual glance in the direction of the great wheel, and then was struck dumb by the sight. The mountain range, which he had completely destroyed, had appeared once again in the Yellow Springs, covered in exotic flowers and plants that gave off a rich fragrance to wash away the foul smell of the Yellow Spring. Countless luxurious palaces were constructed across the mountains, and numerous bodhisattvas and arhats from the Buddhist League’s Nether Branch could be seen carrying materials and building new palaces like some hard laborers on the streets, their faces gloomy.

The person who led them was none other than Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha.

Wearing a sad face, Kṣitigarbha was carefully attaching a tiny piece of tile carved of green jade on the outer surface of an exquisite palace. Every part of this palace, be it the roofs or the pillars, was constructed with the same material that was as thin as a cicada’s wings and about the size of a thumbnail. As a result, it was completely translucent and gleamed like a rainbow, so beautiful that it was almost dream-like.

“Who’s so extravagant to use bodhisattvas as laborers?” Wu Qi was dumbfounded. “And why is he or she torturing them like this?” The roof of the palace was about several thousand feet in circumference, and it was entirely constructed with the tiny tiles. On top of that, countless pearls and jades were embedded between the eighteen layers of tiles as decorations. As each was carved into its own shape to form different patterns across the roof, it required a very delicate hand to be laid out properly.

The task was not too tiring for Kṣitigarbha, but it was too tedious. And apparently, no magic power was allowed to be used in the construction; everything could only be built by hand! Wu Qi felt a little embarrassed when he saw Kṣitigarbha carefully attaching one tiny piece of tile after another. This would not have happened today if he had not abducted them.

As Wu Qi was wondering who was torturing Kṣitigarbha and his fellow monks, he heard a harsh rebuke boom out of a palace on the top of a mountain.

“Trashes! A bunch of good-for-nothings! I had only asked you to collect the first drop of tear shed by 4,900 maidens born at a specific time, and yet you have failed to bring me even after so long! Why should I keep you? Tell me, why should I keep you? If I keep a dog, I can kill it and eat its meat, but what can you offer me when I kill you? Your meat stinks!”

A mass of rainbow light drifted out of the palace, and a dozen streams of light stretched out of it as they lashed about violently like whips. Before long, a group of arhats rolled down the mountain with their arms wrapped around their heads, their bodies bloody.

Wu Qi was still some distance away, but the light mass somehow managed to see him with a glance. “Who dares to peep here?” A shrill, harsh roar towered into the sky.

A mass of rainbow-colored thunder as tiny as a bean came whistling through the void, shooting right toward Wu Qi’s forehead.