Stealing The Heavens

In the Thirty-three Heavens, six Celestial Emperors sat unmoving amidst the everlasting bright light, surrounded by purple clouds.

The North Emperor’s face was unsightly. His thin lips squeezed tightly together like a sharp blade, and the corners of his mouth curved downward like a pair of hooks. A look at his face could send a chill down one’s back. A three-feet-long purple jade Ruyi scepter was placed across his lap. He was tapping at it with his finger as he said in a flat voice, “It’s humiliating! The group of bald donkeys is watching from the void. Seven Killing, Vanquisher, and Greed are three Celestial Lords with the most awe-inspiring reputation. Now that they are defeated, those bald donkeys might visit us tomorrow and find some strange reason to celebrate.”

The Great Celestial Emperor, Ziwei Lingying, narrowed his eyes and said with a faint smile, “So, we can only sue for peace. Fortunately, they were only defeated but not killed, for it would take at least three periods for the new Celestial Lords to match themselves with the star power of the three murderous stars. We don’t have the time to waste now.”

With a sneer, he turned to the Central Emperor sitting next to him and asked, “Brother, have you found out how they managed to cut off the star power? The Fiend Slaying Sword Formation does have the ability to seal off the void…But, as we all know, its foundation was passed down by someone at the order of the few Dao Patriarchs, and it can’t isolate the star power.”

The Central Emperor, who had three yellow pupils circling about in each eye, squinted at the lower realm for a long while before shaking his head and saying, “I can’t. The Fiend Slaying Sword Formation is difficult to see through to begin with, and that King of Dong Hai seems to have added something mysterious in it.”

He counted on his fingers for a while, then smiled coldly and said, “Twenty percent power of the three stars was lost. It will take them a great effort and a long time to recover. Something in the formation had devoured the star power. I said devoured, not consumed. Interesting…What kind of extraordinary artifact has such a unique ability?”

The six Celestial Emperors exchanged glances and then lowered their heads in thoughts. At length, the Great Celestial Emperor nodded and said, “It may not be a bad thing, for it’s best to find out if there’s a problem ahead of time. The three Celestial Lords have done nothing wrong today. If it weren’t for them, other Celestial Lords would be the victims when they fought against Great Yu in the future.”

The South Emperor, who was also known as the Crimson Emperor, said in a faint voice, “Before we can strike with all our might, we have to kill this King of Dong Hai first, or find out the reason why he can cut off the star power. Otherwise, those bald donkeys will have an advantage over us as we can’t send all our forces due to this.”

Ziwei Lingying gave a sly smile. “An advantage over us? I don’t think so…” he said softly. “The Dao Patriarchs have their own arrangements, and we just need to be careful.” He took a deep breath as he clenched his teeth and said, “If this plan works, we will be safe and secure in these Heavenly Courts of the Thirty-three Heavens forever, never having to worry about the death caused by the Apocalypse again.”

The faces of the other five Celestial Emperors flickered as they took a deep breath at the same time and flushed with excitement. The South Emperor nodded, then waved a hand and sent a ray of light toward the lower realm. Chuckling under his breath, he said, “All right, let’s not bother with a little loss of face and just bring the three Celestial Lords back.”

In front of Dong Hai Army, Liu Bang was bargaining with Wu Qi, who was standing on the bow of his ship and demanding an exorbitant price. They were like two street vendors quarreling over the price of two taels of garlic. Of course, what they were arguing about was worth more than a couple of garlic cloves. Wu Qi insisted that the three Celestial Lords had killed more than twelve million Dong Hai soldiers. If the number was rounded down, Heaven would still have to pay the pension for twelve million soldiers, the fees to train them, as well as some eighty types of other expenses.

Liu Bang, on the other hand, was swearing and gesticulating, angrily refuting Wu Qi on the number of casualties. He swore by his honor and morals that the three Celestial Lords were staunch pacifists, and that they had only mistakenly wounded three to five hundred soldiers. He wanted to clear that the alleged killing of more than twelve million soldiers was just Wu Qi’s nonsense aimed at blackmailing Heaven.

The three Celestial Lords were hung from the bow of Wu Qi’s ship, and Huang Liang stood by them with a glinting machete in his hand. All Wu Qi had to do was give the order, and he would immediately chop their heads off. Every time Wu Qi’s tone became heated, he would place the blade next to their necks; and whenever Liu Bang spoke a little harsher, he would make a few small cuts on their faces and let the blood drip down their chins.

Huang Liang’s behavior made the faces of the two Celestial Lords standing next to Liu Bang, the Lunar and the Solar Celestial Lords, extremely unsightly. At ordinary times, the Celestial Lords of Heaven were constantly fighting among themselves and divided into numerous factions of different sizes, but they stood as a group when faced with the enemy. The 84,000 Celestial Lords scattered throughout the universe were an inseparable entity and the strongest force of Heaven. As the three Celestial Lords with the most awe-inspiring reputation, if they were killed here today, it would not be a piece of good news for the other Celestial Lords.

As they watched Liu Bang and Wu Qi haggle over compensation, the two Celestial Lords boiled with rage. They wished to just kill Liu Bang and Wu Qi with a slap now and take the three captives back to Heaven.

Unfortunately, Wu Qi’s army was well-equipped and well-trained, and he had at least a dozen Primordial-level experts serving under him. Added with the tragic fate of the three Celestial Lords, even though Sun and Moon were extremely angry, they dared not to strike out at will.

Just as Liu Bang was swearing in the name of his father’s ancestors, a fine ray of light came shooting into his head from the sky. His body froze as a bright gleam flickered in his eyes. After a few moments, he narrowed his eyes and stared at Wu Qi, then said in a flat voice, “How much do you want? Just name your price. In any case, the three Celestial Lords must be returned to Heaven, or Heaven will destroy your army today at all costs.”

As his voice echoed out, countless stars blazed in the sky. The six stars of the Sagittarius, the seven stars of the Big Dipper, the stars in the east that represented the Azure Dragon, the stars in the west that represented the White Tiger, the twenty-eight Lunar Mansions, the twelve Earthly Branches, the thirty-six Heavenly Spirits, the seventy-two Earthly Fiends, and even all the stars in the three-hundred-and-sixty constellations…All the famous natal stars of the Celestial Lords burst with blinding lights at the same time. A great pressure came down from the sky, forcing some of the lower-grade flying ships in Wu Qi’s fleet toward the ground with a low rumble. Their decks were twisted and shattered while black smoke and flames were spewing out in many places.

Wu Qi’s face darkened. He pulled out the sword belonging to a nearby general and made a slash with it, chopping off Seven Killing’s left arm. The Celestial Lord’s eyes widened with pain, his body twitching. But, as his chakras were sealed, there was nothing he could do, not even scream.

Pointing the bloody sword at Liu Bang, whose face froze like a stone, Wu Qi smiled coldly and said, “Which Celestial Emperor are you? Heaven has just destroyed another six hundred of my flying ships, and we have to figure out how much you have to pay me. Ask those Celestial Lords to retract their auras now, or don’t blame me for being ruthless and killing all the three Celestial Lords here!”

The corners of Liu Bang’s mouth twitched in anger. Glancing at the dozen ships that were falling and spewing black smoke, he gritted his teeth and said, “Six hundred flying ships?”

Wu Qi sneered as he pointed the tip of his sword at Vanquisher’s forehead and said lazily, “If Your Majesty feels six hundred is too little, we can always change it to six thousand.”

The South Emperor, who had a wisp of his divine sense attached to Liu Bang, was speechless. A few moments later, he said in a deep voice, “Fine, it is six hundred then. If King of Dong Hai agrees, return the three Celestial Lords to us, and in the future, Heaven will never take the initiative to make any provocation to the provinces under the jurisdiction of Dong Hai. If you refuse to accept this, Heaven will fight you to death at all costs today!”

He opened his mouth and a beam of light shot out of it, in which was a golden bracelet entangled with nine dragons. There was a golden pearl in the mouth of each dragon, inside of which was a huge storage space. They were now filled with various energy stones, immortal stones, as well as materials for artifact refinement and pill refinement. The total amount was more than enough for Dong Hai to arm millions of recruits.

While hefting the bracelet in surprise, Wu Qi smiled and asked, “Are these three Celestial Lords really that important to Heaven?”

The South Emperor said seriously, “Heaven will never abandon any of its subjects.”

Wu Qi’s lips curled in a contemptuous smile. The South Emperor’s words were clearly contrary to his convictions, and Wu Qi was disgusted by that. They glanced at each other, then turned their heads away at the same time, almost spitting to show their disdain for each other.

With a cold snort, Wu Qi grabbed the three seriously wounded Celestial Lords and threw them out.

A beam of light shot out of Liu Bang’s forehead and turned into a sheet of clean, bright light that wrapped around them, getting ready to fly into the sky.

It was at this moment that a fragrant breeze blew by and a vast expanse of Buddhist light fell slowly from the sky. The refreshing scent of sandalwood filled the air as a Bodhisattva appeared, emitting a warm, bright light and sitting on a lotus platform. With palms put together before his chest, he said, “South Emperor, I have a life-sustaining medicine with me. These three Celestial Lords have been badly wounded, and if you have the need, I will certainly not skimp on a few pills.”

From the bright light came the South Emperor’s cold laughter. “That’s very kind of you, Medicine Bodhisattva, but Heaven is not short of life-saving medicines.”

A sharp whistle rang out as the bright light that wrapped around the three Celestial Lords vanished into the sky in a flash. The other two Celestial Lords, the Lunar and the Solar Lords, followed them and flew into the sky in two masses of light—one red and one white.

While smiling, Medicine Bodhisattva glanced at Wu Qi and then let out a peal of thought-provoking laughter. A vast expanse of Buddhist light rose to the sky, and amidst it, his tall avatar slowly disappeared.

While hefting the bracelet, Wu Qi looked at Liu Bang and said with a cold grin, “Why are you still here, King of Han? Do you want to visit Dong Hai? Well, I don’t have any good wine or meat to serve you there, but there will be a lot of torture. Would you be interested?”

Liu Bang responded with an angry sneer. He glanced up at the sky with a bright gleam flickering in his eyes, then gave Wu Qi a cold stare while peeping at Princess Zhang Le from the corner of his eyes. After that, he clapped his hands, and the heavenly soldiers clustered around him as he began flying toward the east.

Wu Qi snorted coldly and rallied his army, quickly withdrawing toward Dong Hai. They had only just moved on when the void in front of them suddenly collapsed and seven Supreme Towers appeared out of thin air.

An old Oracle, who looked no different from a skeleton, cried out from the Supreme Tower in the middle where he sat feebly, “Where is King of Dong Hai? I’ve been ordered by His Majesty to bring you something!”

Wu Qi was startled, then hurried up to meet the Oracle with Princess Zhang Le.