Stealing The Heavens

Chapter 812: A Thousand Years of Painstaking Cultivation

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After spending a month and a half underground in secluded cultivation, Wu Qi returned to the surface alone to attend the sacrifice ceremony, during which Emperor Haozun had officially announced his promotion. His outstanding achievement of slaying seven Primordial experts alone had been confirmed; both the Heaven and the Buddhism League had sent Great Yu official complaint letters. So, Wu Qi’s out of ordinary promotion was agreed by all the civil and military officials in the court, save King Bai Shan, who was nowhere to be found.

As usual, Great Yu did not respond to the complaints the Heaven and the Buddhism League had sent. When Liu Bang, who presented the complaints, took his leave of the imperial palace, Emperor Haozun had immediately rewarded the two official scrolls made with rare and precious materials including the silk of heavenly silkworms to one of the chiefs of internal officials. The eunuch, who was in charge of the emperor’s daily meals, later made a good pair of socks out of the two scrolls!

This was the attitude of Great Yu, and the Heaven and the Buddhism League had made no further moves after submitting their protests. Nothing had changed, and Great Yu had returned to its original track, continued to move forward adhering to its rigid tradition.

After the ceremony, Wu Qi hosted a banquet in his palace, entertaining a group of close friends including Ji Ao. Later, he went back to his secluded cultivation, using the same excuse that he needed to stabilize his cultivation base as he had just stepped into the realm of Supreme Oracle, while spending some time studying the mystic arts the Secret Palace had provided him. It was not a lie, as the First Master had rewarded him countless mystic arts after learning that he had made a breakthrough. Each of these mystic arts was extremely powerful and amazing.

Liu Bang had shrunk back to his Changle Palace and made no further moves, spending his days in drinking and merrymaking only. Wu Qi had ordered someone to keep a close watch on him.

Inside Dark Yin Celestial Tower, in a great hall a hundred miles long and wide, a screen of light Princess Zhang Le had constructed, which consisted of 49,000 ancient runes, was constantly vibrating and ringing with dull thuds. Wu Qi, bare-chested and with his hair hanging loosely about his shoulders, was laughing and thrusting his fists against a silver halberd and a big black knife that were coming at him.

The man wielding the halberd was Lord Xiansheng. Hundreds of years of painstaking meditation, the mystic arts of dragon taught by Wu Qi, and with his cultivation base forcibly elevated by Wu Qi, all these had made him a first-tier Gold Immortal now. Though his understanding of the Heavenly Dao was clearly weak, as he was taking the path of body cultivator, so long as the strength of his flesh was improved, he could still make the breakthrough.

Such an extreme cultivation method would give him quite a trouble in the future, when he was about to break through into the Primordial realm, but it was undoubtedly the best way to improve his overall strength quickly. The halberd in his hand was a supreme-grade Gold Immortal artifact Wu Qi crafted for him. It was an extremely powerful weapon.

Wu Qi had robbed Buddha Futu, seven Primordial experts, and Liu Bang and his companions, so he had many rare and precious materials. He had also found dozens threads of innate energies in the colossal spirit cave beneath You Xiong Plain, which he had fused with this silver halberd, and made it into a mighty weapon which was a supreme-grade Gold Immortal artifact for now. Once Lord Xiansheng made the breakthrough, he could then nourish it with his own blood essence and divine soul, and eventually transformed it into a Primordial artifact.

The halberd gave a deep dragon roar as it came thrusting at Wu Qi. Countless silver rays rained down at him like a fierce storm. Like True Lord Gu Yi, Lord Xiansheng took the path of extreme speed. But there was one thing that set them apart. As a member of the dragon clan, Lord Xiansheng’s fleshly body was much stronger than True Lord Gu Yi. And once he stepped into the Primordial realm, his physical strength would be at least a thousand times stronger. This was the innate talent of dragons, gifted by nature.

Therefore, Lord Xiansheng had True Lord Gu Yi’s speed but without his weakness in strength, which gave him a terrifying potential. Even now, if Wu Qi did not use the Rhino Cloak, he could barely catch up with Lord Xiansheng’s speed, and each of the strikes he countered made his fist pain, with a numbness crept from his wrist up to his elbow.

Sweating profusely, Lord Xiansheng roared with laughter as he launched a full force attack at Wu Qi. He was grateful to have Wu Qi practicing with him every day. Primordial experts were usually swollen with pride, he knew, and those who dwelt in the Nine Heavens would never go so low as to practice with their own disciples like this. In fact, not even their personal disciples would have such a privilege.

Each and every move of a Primordial expert contained Heavenly Secret. When he fought Wu Qi head-on, whenever he was dealt with another punch, Lord Xiansheng always felt his understanding of the Heavenly Dao had improved. Best of all, he did not have to worry that he might hurt Wu Qi. He could fight with all his power. And so he made each attack with all his strength and his understanding of the Heavenly Dao, without any reserve.

This was also one of the reasons he could progress so quickly. With a Primordial expert as his training partner, it would be embarrassing if his improvement was slow.

The rapid thuds had blended into one long rumble. Laughing wildly, Lord Xiansheng launched another wave of attack, a total of 7,200 jabs. Numerous silver rays fused into a sheet of silver light, blanketing Wu Qi in just the blink of an eye. Wu Qi, his face solemn, swung both arms and met the attacks with his fists. He managed to counter 7,125 jabs, but the rest came at a speed faster than he could handle and struck him in the body.

As bright sparks flew in all directions, Ao Buzun, with the black knife in his hand, gave a wild laugh and leaped over, pushing the edge of his weapon toward Wu Qi’s lower body.

“Taste my spear, you bastard!” Standing twenty-three feet tall with a black dragon head mounted on his shoulders, Ao Buzun swung his big black knife down excitedly. Specially crafted for him by Wu Qi, the weapon measured thirty-two feet from hilt to tip, and its blade was as wide as a door panel. At the moment, it was only a supreme-grade Gold Immortal artifact, but once Ao Buzun, who was now at the peak level of Gold Immortal realm, stepped into the Primordial realm, so long as he nourished it with his own blood essence and divine soul, he would be able to transform it into a Primordial artifact.

Out of his obscene nature, Ao Buzun had strongly requested Wu Qi to craft him a black spear, so that whenever he was facing a female opponent, he could always shout ‘Taste my spear!’, which would give him a burst of pleasure.

But Wu Qi did not fulfill his request. Instead, he crafted him this big black knife.

Of course, the black dragon was not happy with it. So, whenever they had a practice fight, he always gave Wu Qi the deadliest attacks, and he mostly aimed at Wu Qi’s lower body. Sometimes, he would try to hit Wu Qi’s face, with the intention to scratch that fair and pretty face so to quench his flame of anger kindled by the fact that he could not ask his female opponents to taste his spear.

Though he was already at the peak level of Gold Immortal realm, Ao Buzun had yet fully transformed into the shape of a human. He showed no concern of that, but it made everyone including Wu Qi more curious of who he really was. It was known to everyone that the older the bloodline of a divine beast, the harder it was for the divine beast to take the shape of a man. When even Princess Zhang Le’s pet, Little Que’er, had transformed into a pretty teenage girl, but Ao Buzun, who had the strongest cultivation base among all the other divine beasts here, still had a dragon head, it made everyone wondered who he truly was?

Wu Qi shot a look at Ao Buzun, then knocked the knife away with a kick and cast a palm-thunder with his left hand. A deafening crackle echoed out as a golden bolt of lightning, thousands of feet long and surrounded by countless thunder-flame of five elements, pierced through the air and smote Ao Buzun. The black dragon cried out in pain and retreated hurriedly, his scales falling.

Even with his cultivation base of a peak Gold Immortal, and his dragon scales that were as strong as a supreme-grade Gold Immortal Artifact, Ao Buzun’s scales and flesh were still ripped and tore from his body by Wu Qi’s attack. As tears rolled down his face because of the pain, he swung his knife down toward Wu Qi’s lower body once again.

Two comely teens, who appeared to be thirteen or fourteen years old, suddenly leaped out from the side toward the blood and flesh that flew out from Ao Buzun’s body, their eyes shone with a green gleam. “Dragon meat! The meat of an ancient divine dragon! It must be very delicious!”

The pair of teens was the human forms of Gold Horn and Silver Horn, who had also stepped into the realm of first-tier Gold Immortal. The brothers had just taken a few steps when two teenage girls grabbed them on the necks, pressed them down against the floor and began to beat them brutally. While punching the brothers, both girls cried out at the same time, “Useless fools! These meats are no longer fresh! If you want to eat, go find the fresh one!”

Upon hearing that, Ao Buzun, who was hacking at Wu Qi with his knife, felt his strength had left him. Howling, he immediately turned around and rushed out of the light screen. The dragon python brothers exchanged a glance, before jumping up and chasing after the black dragon with the two teenage girls. “Ao Buzun, please give us one of your legs!” roared Gold Horn. “It’s not a big deal for you, we know. After all, you will grow back a new leg in just three to five years! Hurry up, we just need one of your legs!”

Dragon Pythons of Fire and Ice were the natural enemies of the ancient divine dragons. Because of that, whenever Ao Buzun saw them, his instinct would make him turn around and flee. Roaring and cursing furiously, he plunged headlong into the light screen and vanished with a trace, while the four brothers and sisters were hot on his heels, determined to cut a few pieces of his flesh and have a taste.

All of a sudden, a burst of excited laughter was heard coming from an adjoining hall. “YES! I’ve made it! Nine Death and Nine Lives White Bone Pills! A supreme-grade Gold Immortal pill that can prolong one’s life for thirty-six periods!” It was Patriarch Jiang Yun’s voice.

But then his laughter ended abruptly, and was immediately followed by an angry curse. “Yan Bugui! You rascal! Why are you taking all 108 of them away? Leave one for me so I can study it further! You bastard! COME BACK HERE!”

A loud rumble rang out as the wall suddenly collapsed. Patriarch Jiang Yun had gone chasing Yan Bugui in a rush and forgot to put away his alchemical cauldron, which still had a fire burning in it. As a result, the raging flame destroyed the cauldron, causing an explosion that brought down the wall.

Wu Qi sighed, turned around and sent Lord Xiansheng flying backward with a kick, plastered him flat on the wall like a painting.

“It looks like I need to find a way to extend the lives of those captains from the Scouting Office as soon as possible… especially Yan Bugui!

“Hmm… where can I find a Primordial Immortal guilty of terrible crimes, who I can kill to be rewarded with virtue?” Wu Qi murmured in a low voice, “Aye, it’s not an urgent matter, there’s still time for a little more cultivation! We’ve only spent a little over a thousand years here, which means, only half a year has passed in the outside world!”

Within Wu Qi’s Dark Yin Celestial Tower, the sound of explosions, structures collapsed, screams and wailing could be heard continuously, and the atmosphere was one that full of life and excitement.

It was a wonderful life to be able to cultivate for another thousand years in such an environment!