Stealing The Heavens

“The Soul-seizing Evil Baby? What a petty craft!”

Disdainfully, Princess Zhang Le pointed nineteen times in the air as the black waves had barely come to her. Threads of bright light shot out from her fingertips and formed the outline of nineteen talismans, each about a foot long. Deep sounds of nature rang out of them, including the rumble of a spinning star, the thunder crash of tidal waves, and the deafening rustle when a gust of strong wind blew across a forest of pines.

Using the sounds of nature to destroy the evil tunes, the princess’s counterattack was truly amazing.

But the cultivation base of the person who crafted this black skull was clearly much stronger than hers. As soon as the black waves and the talismans crashed together, a series of loud boom rang out and the surrounding air was pushed away. Dozens of nearby flying ships were knocked back by the blast, while a few of them, unable to withstand the impact, shattered and exploded into pieces. Amid the noises, Princess Zhang Le’s talismans broke, and with each one that was destroyed, she was forced a step back with Wu Qi in her arms, and her face became paler.

When all nineteen talismans were destroyed, her face had become deadly pale. But her lips were unusually red, as if it was smeared with blood. A streak of blood slowly trickled down from the corner of her mouth as she said, clenching her teeth, “Although it’s a petty craft, the person’s cultivation base is too strong. I am no match of him!”

The black skull hovered in front of everyone, and suddenly two balls of red flame shot out of its deep eye sockets. Then, it opened its mouth and began to laugh, its two rows of pitch-black teeth clattered evilly. “Why are you so loyal to Great Yu? If you not, the situation would not have been as it is now!” A deep, old voice came drifting out from the skull.

King Yang Shan took a deep breath. In a hurry, he pulled out a dozen bone talismans and slapped them onto himself and Ji Ao. When he was done, he said, “Baihuang Zongling! Has Great Yu ever treated you badly? For generations your clan had been Great Yu’s subject, why did you do such a thing now?” Even as he said that, the talismans exploded, and then both he and Ji Ao were protected under tens of layers of light barriers, and their souls, which had been seriously wounded by the shrill cry, were healing rapidly.

A strange laugh came out of the skull. “After killing you all, I’ll still be Great Yu’s loyal subject. Who knows what I’ve done?”

A thick black liquid dripped from the skull’s mouth, and each drop swelled slowly on the deck, growing into a human-shaped skeleton about ten feet tall. These skeletons’ bones were slim, and they emanated an evil aura. They looked almost identical to human skeletons, except that at the end of their arms there were no palms, but two pitch-black, six-foot-long, sharp bone knives.

More than a thousand drops of black liquid dripped out of the tiny skull, growing into more than a thousand evil skeletons. They raised their arms together and shuffled toward Wu Qi and others.

The flying ships escorting them had noticed something was wrong here. Right after Princess Zhang Le and Baihuang Zongling had a brief exchange a moment ago, causing a few of the flying ships to be destroyed, King Yang Shan’s private army had immediately leaped out of their ships, rushing toward them.

But suddenly thousands of windows were thrown open along the left and right side of the ship Wu Qi was at. From behind them, the three thousand soldiers from the Right Division of You Xiong Army made their appearance, their faces expressionless. Each holding a strongbow, they unleashed a rain of arrows toward the approaching soldiers. The bows were specially crafted by Great Yu for You Xiong Army, which required the strength that could move a planet to be pulled, while the arrows, which were also specially crafted, were incredibly fast and powerful. A Gold Immortal, even protected with a defensive Gold Immortal Artifact, could hardly defend himself against these arrows.

These elite soldiers of You Xiong Army could shoot an average of one hundred arrows per a flick of the finger, while the strongest few captains could fire a thousand arrows in a row every second. The deadly rain of arrows sealed off every inch of space around the ship; many soldiers in King Yang Qiu’s private were pieced by them, each of which ripped a hole about the size of a basin through their bodies. Those who were struck were killed on the spot.

Bodies fell from the sky like raindrops as lives left them quickly. In the end, only dozens of Second Pangu Heaven captains who King Yang Shan had brought here managed to stay alive in the rain of arrows and rushed up the ship, roaring and shouting furiously. But no sooner had they set their feet on the deck than the tiny black skull let out a shrill, unpleasant wail of a child. These loyal captains trembled, and before they could produce spirit talismans to protect their souls, black blood had oozed out of their seven orifices, together with some white matters that were their brains.

With just a wail, dozens of Second Pangu Heaven captains were killed. Baihuang Zongling’s voice could be heard coming out of the skull once again, “A bunch of rubbish. Oh, I think it’s almost time for the three of you to get on your way!”

He gave a mysterious laugh, then cursed under his breath, “King Yang Shan, you will be dogs and pigs for the next ten thousand incarnations; King Yue Feng, you will be chickens and ducks for the next ten thousand incarnations. King of Dong Hai Province… haha, a man so lowborn as you should never have dragged yourself into this matter! You will not enter the transmigration, for someone has made a reservation for your soul! As for this little girl… hehe, I’m very interested in her!”

In just a few words, Baihuang Zongling had decided the destiny of Wu Qi and others. King Yang Shan could not help but burst into laughter. “Who do you think you are, Baihuang Zongling? How can you decide what I will become after I die? My loyalty for Great Yu is unquestionable, and I’ve rendered uncounted meritorious services, none of which is a treacherous scheme. So, even if I die, I should also be reincarnated in my next life in a wealthy clan of Great Yu, enjoying a life of rich and honor. A man like you can never decide my destiny!”

Baihuang Zongling’s voice drifted across the void, “I naturally cannot decide what you will become after you are dead. But of the eighteen Buddhas of the Buddhism League preside over the Netherworld and in charge of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, three are stopping in the void of some outer heavenly realm now, waiting for your souls. King Yang Shan will be dogs and pigs for ten thousand incarnations, and King Yue Feng will be chickens and ducks for ten thousand incarnations, only then can both of you be reincarnated as human again. As for King of Dong Hai Province…”

He gave a derisive laugh and said, “How can a man so lowborn as you inherited the Sacred Emperor’s legacy? And who gave you the audacity to kill seven Primordial experts from the Heaven and the Buddhism League? Well, for what you’ve done, you are denied the chance to enter the transmigration!”

Wu Qi coughed, spat a few mouthfuls of dirty blood as he slowly opened his eyes. Shaking his head, he stared listlessly at the skull and said with a cold grin, “My chance to enter the transmigration is denied? Then, how about yours?”

His mouth opened suddenly, and a beam of green light shot out of it, which transformed into four Kunwu Swords and hovered in front of him. Then, he threw one to each of King Yang Shan, Ji Ao, and Princess Zhang Le, while he took one himself. “My lords, Zi Xuan, I’m too seriously wounded to construct the Fiend Slaying Sword Formation. Let’s fight them together! Kunwu Swords are the Sacred Emperor’s divine weapons, and these are evil things… hehe!”

He dashed forward like a bolt of lightning, made a side cut and broke the spines of three skeletons, knocking them to the ground. Kunwu Swords were extremely sharp, and they were the divine weapons capable to destroy any evil things, so none of these skeletons could withstand a single blow from them. King Yang Shan and Ji Ao roared with laughter at the same time. With such a mighty weapon in hands, they felt their hearts were filled with courage, and their fear for Baihuang Zongling had reduced significantly.

King Yang Shan bellowed, “Save your breath, Baihuang Zongling! If you can’t kill us now, you will never have the chance later! The guards His Majesty sends out to escort us must be not far away from here now!”

A burst of shrill laughter rang out from the skull. “How could His Majesty possibly know what’s going on here? You may think that the fight between the little girl and me just now had produced a loud noise, but the fact is that none in Liangzhu are aware of what’s happening here! I have at least an hour of time, which is more than enough for me to kill you all!”

The sound of heavy footsteps filled the air as three thousand elites of You Xiong Army marched out of the ship’s hold. Very quickly they took control of the various high grounds across the deck, and then pointed their arrows at Wu Qi and his companions. Princess Zhang Le’s face flickered. The five-colored divine ray behind her back tumbled and transformed into a mass of lotus-shaped smoke, which had Wu Qi and her protected within.

Wu Qi opened his eyes wide. Plumes of gray ghost smoke sprayed out of his eyes as two beams of light shone hundreds of feet out like two searchlights. He glanced into the distance with the Eye of the Thousand Ghost, and saw that twelve Supreme Towers had formed a circle about three thousand miles in diameter around this ship. A black curtain of light was swaying gently between the towers, completely cut off the connection between this part of the void and the outside world.

He sighed and said in a low voice, “Get ready to fight to the death. Twelve Supreme Oracles have sealed off this part of the void. There is no way out for us. I just hope His Majesty can discover what’s happening here sooner and dispatch a rescue. Otherwise…”

Baihuang Zongling said casually, “There’s no otherwise. You are all going to die before His Majesty can send a rescue!”

He gave a strange laugh and said, “Besides, even if His Majesty does send a rescue, who will he send? How do you know that your saviors are not here to kill you?”

King Yang Shan and Ji Ao’s faces turned extremely unsightly. Just as their minds were in turmoil, three thousand elites of the Right Division released their bowstrings at the same time. In the blink of an eye, a hundred waves of arrows, each contained three thousand arrows capable of penetrating stars, came whistling toward Wu Qi and others.

Cursing, King Yang Shan took a step and placed himself before Wu Qi and others. As a supreme expert of the Third Pangu Heaven, his flesh and bones were very strong, many times stronger than that of Ji Ao, who had only the cultivation base of the Second Pangu Heaven.

Waves of arrows hit King Yang Shan’s body, but all exploded to pieces on his mighty flesh. Unmoving, he laughed and said, “Do you really think that you, a bunch of rebels, can kill me? I will be pigs and dogs for ten thousand incarnations? Hehe, when I execute your whole clans, I’ll definitely inject their souls into the bodies of pigs and dogs, and then make them as sacrificial offerings!”

Before his wild laughter came to a rest, a figure flashed in the distance, from where a light arrow came piercing through the void.

King Yang Shan spun. The arrow missed his vital spots, but pierced through his right shoulder, sending blood in all directions.

A deep, powerful voice rang out, “How about me? Can I kill you?”