Stealing The Heavens

Dong Hai was no longer at war.

Ling Dynasty had recalled all the military forces it had sent to attack Dong Hai, and Princess Zhang Le did not bother to provoke any more strife, for it was just a waste of soldiers. She was busy restraining Qixia from making trouble everyday. The nature of the Shapeless Heavenly Fiend was to kill people and create trouble; peaceful days were not suitable for an ancestral existence such as Qixia.

Had it not been because Princess Zhang Le was able to control Qixia, she probably would have gone to cause trouble in Ling Dynasty with the group of cannibals under Wu Qi.

Because Princess Zhang Le watched her so closely, Qixia had nowhere to go, so she focused all her energy on torturing the soldiers in Dong Hai. She had split herself into hundreds of millions of clones and trained the soldiers in the cruelest possible way, torturing and murdering them in their dreams, making the latest batch of soldiers who had finished the training all seem mad. However, their combat effectiveness was at least fifty percent better than soldiers of the same cultivation base, which gave Princess Zhang Le nothing to complain about.

But, letting Qixia train recruits had also brought a negative side effect. In just one month, sixty-seven incidents of mass mental breakdown occurred in the barracks of recruits. Amidst the chaos, tens of thousands of soldiers were seriously wounded and countless suffered minor injuries; the soldiers who went mad almost destroyed half of the city. That was the price of letting Qixia improve the soldiers’ combat effectiveness by fifty percent.

As for the sudden haunting of the city, the episodes of men who went insane stripped themselves naked and ran around the city in broad daylight, or some other curious events, were obviously mischief made by Qixia in her boredom. The nature of the Shapeless Heavenly Fiend was this bad, and no one could do anything about it. In the end, Princess Zhang Le was exhausted from running here and there to settle the problems Qixia had created.

While Princess Zhang Le was busy and miserable, inside Ying Zheng’s palace on the top of a mountain outside the city, the emperors of the six states were sitting around a round table. In front of each of them was a small gilt lacquer tray, on which were placed a set of exquisite wine pot and glass, as well as a few plates of fine dishes.

The dishes all seemed to be carefully prepared, with the ingredients taken from the most precious and delicious parts of demons who lived in mountains or rivers. For example, one of the dishes, the cold carp whiskers, was prepared with the silver whiskers of carp demons who had lived for at least a thousand years and cultivated their Nascent Souls. It was not only crispy, refreshing, and delicious, but also had the effect of calming the mind and strengthening the physique. This was a delicacy that average people would never taste. Only Dong Hai, with its huge population of water demons, could prepare such a rare dish.

The monarchs of the six states, Ying Zheng, Qu Ping, Yan Dan, Wei Wuji, Tian Wen, and Zhao Sheng, were drinking and looking through the open windows at a grove of peach trees whose flowers blossomed like clouds. Ying Zheng had picked a great place to build his palace. The grove had existed for at least ten thousand years; the trees were so ancient that their trunks twisted and turned like dragons, and their branches were as hard as steel. They had little leaves now and large clusters of flowers, whose petals were red and stamens green, making them look as if on fire and smearing the whole mountain red.

A gust of sea breeze blew through the grove. Flowers fell with the wind, turning into red tornadoes that soared straight into the sky. The scenery was beyond words; only by being there could one experience the soul-shaking beauty. But, the six monarchs who sat in the palace were firm-minded, and at times could even be considered as harsh and cold. So, they just looked at the beautiful scenery quietly, and none of them spoke.

Ying Zheng upended his wine pot and sucked the last drop of wine from the spout, then shook it hard to make sure there was no more. Subsequently, he put down the pot and drummed his fingers against the table before sighing, “Beautiful scenery, good wine, and food… A life like this is no different from that of a pig kept in pens. We are living like livestock!”

Qu Ping arched his eyebrows, Yan Dan rolled his eyes, while Tian Wen and Zhao Sheng made no comment. But Wei Wuji, the most hardened and aggressive of them all, laughed grimly as he stared at Ying Zheng and said, “Why did you say like that? If you want to be livestock, go ahead yourself and don’t drag us with you!”

Ying Zheng gave him a sideways glance and sneered, “Oh, so you still have a temper?”

Looking up proudly, Wei Wuji said in a cold voice, “Why don’t I have a temper?”

Ying Zheng shook his head and said, “I thought you had all been made fat pigs by this easy life! Ha! Haha! Hahaha!” After laughing for a while, he sighed and went on, “Hundreds of millions of formidable soldiers and countless people…Do you still remember who you are? We are the monarchs of the six states…We are the heroes of the Warring States Period!”

A faint but aggressive aura began to spread out of their bodies. Just then, some people in the city were looking at the mountain, and they were shocked to find that the peach blossoms gradually withered on top of the mountain. Soon, the red-clad mountain turned dead gray—all the peach trees and even the grass under them had died.

“I actually miss the shining spears and armored horses of those years…Life has been so easy since we joined Dong Hai,” Yan Dan sighed.

He turned to look at Ying Zheng and said coldly, “I remember sending Jing Ke to assassinate you, my brother. It’s the greatest regret of my life that I didn’t succeed in killing you!”

Ying Zheng nodded slowly. He glanced at the other five monarchs and sighed, “Even though Great Qin had eventually succeeded in unifying the six states, it is also the greatest regret of my life that I had not been able to kill you myself.” He swept the small tray before him to the ground, then laughed proudly and said, “But, I no longer have the heart to do that now!”

Zhao Sheng straightened his back and said with a smile, “Great Zhao’s heavy cavalry is ready to strike! Over the years, Great Zhao has thrived by relying on Dong Hai’s resources, and we now have trillions of people and hundreds of millions of fearsome forces, all of whom are heavy cavalry.”

Wei Wuji laughed. “My army has never been weaker than yours!”

“The military forces of Great Qi have long been ready,” Tian Wen said calmly.

With his eyes narrowed and his hands tucked under the sleeves, Qu Ping suddenly sang, “The trip to Pangu Continent will be a boring one if I have to hide under Dong Hai’s wings for the rest of my life! Although I like to recite poems, I would rather lead Great Chu’s army to war!”

Yan Dan said nothing but picked up the wine pot and poured himself some wine, then it suddenly vanished into wisps of smoke in his hand.

Ying Zheng burst out laughing. “Great! Who is that Zhang Tengyun? To me, he is nothing more than a fool. How dare such a fellow covet the throne of the Human Emperor? If you are all ready, my brothers, let us turn Pangu Continent upside down with our armies!”

He suddenly rose to his feet and cried out, “We are all real heroes! If they can fight for the throne, why can’t we? If those lesser men who are driven like hawks and dogs by others dare to fight for the throne, why don’t we? Brothers, we were so weak that we had to take refuge under the wing of Dong Hai. But today, we are stronger than ever, and we have fought many battles for Dong Hai. We have repaid his favor.”

Staring at Yan Dan with blazing eyes, Ying Zheng asked, “What do you say we should do, Yan Dan?”

Yan Dan squared his shoulders and said proudly, “I’m afraid you are right. None of us have the heart to kill each other now. In that case, let’s fight it out with those fools! Whoever takes the heads of the emperors of the Ling Dynasty and Jin Dynasty wins the game. What do you think of this suggestion?”

Qu Ping smiled. “Why don’t we have a point system,” he said lightly. “Depending on their rank and cultivation base, we assign them different points. The two emperors will have the highest points, of course, and then their ministers and generals. Oh, don’t forget to include the immortals of Heaven and monks of Buddhist League. We will work separately, and when we get together in the future, we will see who has the highest points. How about that?”

Wei Wuji clapped his hands and praised, “Excellent! I agree with this method. Whoever gets the highest point, the rest of us will wholeheartedly support him to become the Human Emperor and unify the entire Pangu Continent. What do you think of this idea?”

The six monarchs laughed and applauded, and were about to clap each other’s hand to make the oath. But suddenly, a rainbow glow flashed over the table, and then Qixia appeared in front of them. She rolled her eyes and glanced at the six monarchs as she smiled and said darkly, “How come my husband doesn’t have a place in such a fun game? Well, can Dong Hai join as well? If my husband wins, you all will willingly support him as the next Human Emperor. What say you?”

Her eyes gleamed with an extremely naughty but also dangerous light. The six monarchs exchanged a glance and burst into laughter. “It’s all good, it can never be better! Now that you’ve spoken, what else can we say?”

Qixia burst out laughing as well. She sat excitedly at the round table and began to discuss the details of the game with the six crafty monarchs.

The issue of the six states leaving Dong Hai to reestablish their foundations was extremely complicated, involving the division of Dong Hai soldiers and the migration of their people, as well as providing them with all kinds of ordnance, wages, food, and countless other supplies.

What they did was a bit like cutting the ground on which Dong Hai stood. But, the monarchs of the six states, even their courtiers, were all Wu Qi’s father-in-law. So, he would have nothing to complain about, for they were just taking away what belonged to them.

Qixia made the agreement on behalf of Wu Qi with the monarchs of the six states. They calculated in detail how much the people of the Ling Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty, the Heaven, the Buddhist League, and other mortal kingdoms were worth, what points they would get by killing them or capturing them alive, and then vowed that they would never cheat. After the agreement was made, the decision of the six states leaving Dong Hai to reestablish their foundations was settled.

Princess Zhang Le was happy to see them came to such a decision. She generously divided the vast army of Dong Hai into seven equal parts, giving one-seventh to each of the states. She also promised that as long as the six states had the need, she could provide them recruits trained by Dong Hai.

In addition, she also provided them with countless arms and provisions, and even allowed Xiang Yu and Huhai, the two warriors Wu Qi had trained, to return to their respective states.

After busy preparations, the six states quietly left Dong Hai.

Three months later, the banners of the six states were flashed at the same time in Great Yu’s northern region.

Great Yu, although taken aback, did not take them seriously. Great Qin, Great Chu, Great Yan, Great Zhao, Great Qi, and Great Wei, who knew where did these small mortal kingdoms come from? Great Yu had so much to worry about these days that it didn’t give a damn about the strife between these lesser kingdoms.

But, King Yang Shan almost fainted when he got the news.

He knew that since the six states dared to display their banners, it showed that they had attained the strength that he could not underestimate.