Stealing The Heavens

The three Celestial Lords—Seven Killing, Vanquisher, and Greed—hovered in front of Dong Hai Army, releasing an almost corporeal killing intent to envelop the entire fleet. Soldiers were struggling to resist the immense killing intent; their spirits were like candles in a storm, which could be extinguished at any moment.

The Celestial Lords of Heaven were no more than cultivators who were ordinary mortals but made Celestial Lords after cultivating to a certain level, which allowed them to inherit the power of the corresponding stars. The three here were the old subjects of Heaven who had served seven Great Celestial Emperors. They were indeed the prestigious subjects of Heaven who held high status and mighty power in their hands.

Unlike Primordial Immortals, who spent considerable effort in cultivating themselves, the strength of these Celestial Lords was not measured by their attainments or magic power. They represented the power of the Laws. Even if they were only ordinary Heaven Immortals, once they were made Celestial Lords by Heaven, they could inherit all the power of the corresponding stars.

These stars were born in the Primal Chaos when Pangu created the world. They contained an infinite star power and corresponded to some Laws of Heavenly Dao in Pangu World. Over the years, generations of Celestial Lords had fallen, but these stars had always existed.

The three Celestial Lords—Seven Killing, Vanquisher, and Greed—represented slaughter, the chaos caused by war, treachery, cunning, and some other similar Laws. Over the years, the power of their natal stars had grown stronger by absorbing the Immortals, of faith associated with these Laws in Pangu Continent and the mortal worlds. As a result, they were the strongest three Celestial Lords among all their predecessors.

And now, they were unreservedly releasing the aura of their natal stars. The strong killing intent almost wiped out the entire Dong Hai Army.

Luckily, Princess Zhang Le had reacted quickly. As soon as they appeared, she gave a furious cry and released her nine avatars of the Ancient Gods. With that, an enormous divine power blanketed the entire fleet. The soldiers who almost had their spirits extinguished breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, sitting on the ground and panting, with cold sweat trickling down their bodies.

After the princess struck, those Oracles of Dong Hai awakened as well. Without hesitation, they produced numerous bone talismans and crushed them to activate various spells, protecting the soldiers against spiritual impact and stabilizing their souls. Meanwhile, the magic that could stimulate morale was cast on the soldiers as well. Recovering from their fright, the soldiers rose to their feet and began to curse and bellow at the three Celestial Lords, their eyes bloodshot.

Not knowing which general took the lead, but the soldiers began to stamp their feet and slam their weapons against their shields, filling the air with a deafening rumble while crying ‘kill! kill! kill! in unison. A monstrous, murderous aura gradually rose from within the battle array, condensing into a blood-red mist that lingered in the sky.

But, something alarming happened. The stronger the killing intent became in the soldiers’ hearts, the more terrifying the murderous aura emanating from the Seven Killing and Vanquisher turned. Gradually, even Princess Zhang Le’s divine power could not stop their murderous aura. Her body trembled, and her face turned pale, and then, a trace of blood suddenly oozed out of the corner of her mouth. Her internal organs were wounded by the dreadful murderous aura.

Wu Qi was shocked. He hurriedly held the princess and shouted sharply, “Soldiers and generals of Dong Hai! Put down your weapons, sit down to regulate your breath, and stabilize your mind! Discard all the thoughts in your heads!”

As the three Celestial Lords governed warfare and slaughters in the mortal worlds, the stronger the killing intent emanated from the soldiers, the more killing intent their natal stars absorbed, and the faster their overall strength increased. In other words, the more the soldiers cried ‘kill!’, the more they cheered and strengthened their enemies.

But, Wu Qi’s command came one step too late. Celestial Lord Seven Killing let out a long howl and cried out, “Kill!”

Among the soldiers who were about to slam their weapons against their shields, over seventy percent cried out ‘kill!’ along with Seven Killing. A loud noise that sounded like a sudden thunderclap rang out of their chests as these soldiers coughed blood at the same time while chunks of organs sprayed out of their mouths along with their shouts.

Celestial Lord Seven Killing had controlled the soldiers’ murderous aura and wounded them with it.

The rest of the soldiers, whose cultivation bases were stronger, were bleeding from their mouths and noses as well, falling backward on the ground. Compared with their peers, their only advantage was that they could barely keep their eyes open and speak.

The fact that almost the entire Dong Hai Army was defeated by a single shout had started Wu Qi and all the generals. So, this was the power of Heaven’s Celestial Lords?

At that moment, Princess Zhang Le whispered an incantation. With that, countless fingers of green mist drifted out of the surrounding forest, turning into a sweet-smelling green rainstorm and sprinkling on the fleet. The wounded soldiers were wrapped in spirit liquid full of life force, and their injuries quickly recovered. They stabilized their minds and ignored whatever was happening around them while rotating their cultivation techniques and absorbing Pangu Sacred Energy to heal themselves. A rich purple mist surrounded the entire fleet, and the power of the three Celestial Lords could no longer affect the soldiers.

Wu Qi nodded silently. Judging by the fact that the Pangu Sacred Energy the soldiers had attracted to heal their wounds could effectively resist the attack of the three Celestial Lord’s killing intent, it seemed to have a powerful repulsive effect against the immortal power. It was something he could use.

He gave Princess Zhang Le a glance, and the latter nodded. Then, she gently began to rub her palms against each other, and bright specks soon shot out of her fingertips. An earth vein beneath the fleet stirred with a rumble, and a plume of purple smoke shaped like a huge dragon rose to the sky, holding the entire fleet in its mouth.

The faces of the three Celestial Lords flickered, and then they shook their heads indifferently. Seven Killing said in a flat voice, “Come forth and face your death now, King of Dong Hai! We are the Celestial Lords from the upper realm, and we can’t stay in the lower realm for too long to prevent our immortal avatars from being contaminated by the filthy aura of the mortal world.”

Wu Qi walked slowly up. Standing on the ship’s prow, he stared coldly at the Celestial Lords and said with a smile, “Now that you are here, you better stay here forever. Actually, the lower realm is a nice place, and there are scenic places with excellent Feng Shui everywhere. You can choose yourself an ideal gravesite, and I promise I will bury all three of you there when you die!”

Celestial Lord Greed burst into laughter. While shaking his head, he said, “A man who has an exaggerated opinion of his abilities…You are just a king of Great Yu! What gives you the courage to utter such a wild statement? Let me tell you the reason that caused your death: the Great Celestial Emperor of Heaven, Ziwei Lingying, has personally decreed us to kill you and avenge Lord Bowang, our Crown Prince. You can only blame yourself for what you ought not to have done, and not blame us for being ruthless.”

Staring at the three Celestial Lords, Wu Qi nodded and said, “Well, if you have no other last words, I am going to attack now!”

The three Celestial Lords laughed in unison, their voices full of ridicule and disdain. As they laughed, Wu Qi opened his mouth and spat out the Blood Centipede Sword, which shot toward Vanquisher in a beam of blood-red light.

Vanquisher cried out in a deep voice, “Are you trying to defeat me with a mere innate spirit artifact? You over-confident bas*ard!”

High in the sky, the Vanquisher Star burst into dazzling light; the star that used to be the size of a bean was now several times larger than the sun. A silver stream of light whistled down from it and poured into Vanquisher’s body; in the next instant, rings of silver waves spread out around him while the earth trembled. Countless bottomless cracks appeared across the ground, each measuring tens of thousands of miles long.

Celestial Lord Vanquisher, whose body had become glaring silver and features were obscured, raised his right hand and grabbed the sword that was coming at him.

The sword twitched and twisted and rubbed against Vanquisher’s palm, making a shrill squeak. But, with the blessing of the star power from his natal star, Vanquisher had now reached an unimaginable level of strength. So, no matter how hard the sword struggled, it could not break free.

Vanquisher sneered under his breath. Just as he was about to laugh at Wu Qi for overestimating himself, a seemingly ordinary, dull sword flew out of the light that surrounded the Blood Centipede Sword. Wu Qi had hidden the Heaven-pacifying Sword in the light, and it was now flying slowly toward Vanquisher’s forehead from right in front of his face.

Heaven-pacifying Sword could freeze the stars in the sky, the elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and even the void. As soon as it made its appearance, the star power around Vanquisher halted abruptly; he could only look stiffly at the sword slowly coming at his forehead, its tip gradually piercing into his skin, and then his skull.

Just as Vanquisher was about to be killed by Wu Qi, Greed roared and punched the blade of the sword. The force of the punch was so terrible that the sword whined and flew back to Wu Qi in a beam of light.

Wu Qi saw stars dancing in his eyes. Greed’s punch was insanely powerful, as it was able to shatter the time and space frozen by the Heaven-pacifying Sword. It was even more powerful than what Wu Qi could deliver now with the full force of his flesh. This was not the power that a normal immortal could gain through cultivation. As Wu Qi nourished the sword with his soul, it was connected to his soul as well. When it was struck hard, it affected him directly.

This was the dreadful foundation of Heaven’s Celestial Lords. Their strength came not from their own cultivation, but directly from the natal stars they had inherited. Since time immemorial, those stars hanging high in the sky had accumulated an unimaginable power.

Wu Qi coughed and stepped back slowly. His previous incarnation, Lord Yuan Ling, had never dealt with Heaven’s Celestial Lords, so he did not know what they had up their sleeves. From what he saw just now, it seemed that he would face a very difficult battle today. The cultivation bases of the three Celestial Lords here were probably equivalent to the level of Gold Immortals, but the terrible fighting strength they could unleash allowed them to easily kill ordinary Primordial experts with a punch.

Seven Killing stepped forward and stood before Vanquisher. He smiled and nodded to Wu Qi as he said, “Not bad! I can’t believe you own a Chaotic Spirit Artifact and nearly killed Vanquisher with it. Amazing! Well, as a token of appreciation for your surprise attack, we will kill all your men after killing you.”

Before his voice had died away, Seven Killing threw a simple punch at Wu Qi’s face.

Wu Qi snorted coldly and placed his arms in a cross in front of his face to block the punch.

Up above in the sky, the Seven Killing Star burst with brilliant light while an irresistible massive force came crushing at Wu Qi. He felt a sharp pain in his arms and tasted a sweetness in his throat, then opened his mouth and coughed out a mouthful of blood as the punch knocked him backward. He had a clear fist mark on his arms straight onto the bones, and he could not feel his arms at all.

Wu Qi fixed his eyes on Seven Killing and snapped, “What a tough fist! Everybody, let’s attack together!”

Ao Buzun and the others could hardly contain their anger. At Wu Qi’s order, they rushed forward while brandishing their weapons.