Stealing The Heavens

The pursuit went on, piercing through thousands of layers of natural hazards outside Pangu Continent. Just as they were about to reach into space, a cauldron-shaped jade pendant hanging from the side of Emperor Haozun’s waist suddenly let out a shrill whistle, and a striking bloody line appeared on its surface. Emperor Haozun trembled. He gave the three emperors fleeing in panic a look, then spun and flew toward Liangzhu at the fastest speed.

Xuanyuan Sword transformed into a golden torrent that wrapped Emperor Haozun up and sped away for Liangzhu. From the way he flew, it seemed that he was fleeing out of great fright, and he no longer had the poised manner of the Human Emperor who was chasing the three emperors of the gods a moment ago.

Green Emperor, White Emperor, and Black Emperor were struck dumb. Standing on the edge of a dark ice-and-wind belt near Pangu Continent’s periphery, they stared at Emperor Haozun as he fled in a hurry, confused. What was going on here? They were chased all the way by him, and were about to turn back and give him a desperate fight as they could not last for too long, yet he was fleeing right now?

Shaking his head, Green Emperor produced his natal divine artifact and waved it at the void. Streams of energy rolled over from all directions as they transformed into green torrents and injected into their bodies. The tired-looking Black Emperor and White Emperor panted as they nodded to thank him.

Emperor Haozun fled very quickly. In the blink of an eye, he was no more than a tiny golden dot beneath them, and with a flash, he was no longer in sight. White Emperor felt puzzled. “What is going on? Our secret ally attacked us instead of helping us, and our pursuer gave up when he was about to succeed…What is going on here?”

Green Emperor’s eyes flickered. Suddenly, he and Black Emperor exchanged a look, and their bodies shuddered at the same time.

“The emperor of New Yu is Heaven’s puppet,” Black Emperor whispered nervously. “How would he have the nerve to betray us if he hadn’t been instructed by Heaven?”

White Emperor got it at once. His eyes widened as he said angrily, “That Ziwei…He’s plotting against us?”

“This place is dangerous…We have to leave now!” Green Emperor cried out urgently. “Our power is greatly sapped, and we’ll be in danger of losing our lives if Ziwei strikes now! We all have princes who have befriended people in Heaven, and if we die here, the three god clans will be in the hands of Heaven!”

They were about to flee when the void suddenly stagnated and became gray all around while all of the natural energy vanished without a trace, replaced by an evil, sticky, glue-like aura that was giving off a cold, vicious stench. The three emperors froze as they felt their strength leaving them. With the total disappearance of natural energy around them, they were unable to heal their injury, and worst of all, the evil aura was constantly sucking away their energy from their wounds.

White Emperor slowly pulled out a thick, heavy sword that was as tall as himself. Like Green Emperor’s wooden staff, the sword glinting with a faint silver light was covered in cracks. It was clear that this natal divine artifact was also seriously damaged when they escaped from You Xiong Palace. He breathed a mouthful of sticky white smoke into the sword, causing it to gleam even brighter while several of the largest cracks began to gradually close up. “Who are you? Why are you getting in our way?” He cried out in a low voice.

The gray aura grew thicker, filling their internal organs with a biting chill. Meanwhile, the bizarre stench grew stronger, forcing them to shut off their sense of smell. For gods, the sense of smell was not an important thing, as they relied more on their powerful divine sense to observe the world around them.

A hoarse voice came from somewhere. It tittered for a moment, then said slowly, “I’m no one but an old spirit who hasn’t died. Heh, why are you drawing your sword? Are you trying to kill me? Oh, I know you want to kill me, but you have to find me first!”

The voice was filled with mockery. White Emperor’s eyes flickered as he carefully lifted the sword in front of his chest. Meanwhile, Green Emperor, too, produced his wooden staff and held it up before him. Together with Black Emperor, who was holding his breath and had also taken out a short black staff, they stood back to back in a defensive formation.

Hiding somewhere not far away, Wu Qi was cautiously studying the surroundings. He found the gray aura very strange. It was filled with various negative, ominous powers, and he could not obtain too much benefit out of it even with his innate thievery energy. He had carefully extracted a wisp of the aura and fused it into his body, but most of it was gone in the end, and he only managed to fuse a tiny, insignificant wisp of gray light into himself.

But with it, the pungent stench and the cold aura that filled the void could no longer affect him. He carefully analyzed the gray aura and found that it did not seem to be a kind of energy that belonged to this world. If others were here, the gray energy would have penetrated their bodies and frozen their souls and flesh, but not Wu Qi, for his cultivation base was powerful enough and his innate thievery energy was more bizarre and brutal than the gray energy.

Just as Wu Qi was stealthily studying the surroundings, White Emperor suddenly gave a loud cry. A pair of gleaming silver wings thrust out of his back and brought him up as they turned him into a very fine beam of silver light that flashed past the void. Even with his Primal Dharma Eyes, Wu Qi could only see the afterimage he left behind in the void. Somewhere in the distance, White Emperor slashed his sword at the void. A very strange sound rang out as a stream of sticky black liquid with a pungent stench sprayed onto his right hand.

White Emperor retreated quickly to Green Emperor and Black Emperor and gave his natal divine artifact to the other hand as if nothing had happened, waving it and chopping off his right arm from the shoulder. The arm fell with black smoke, and within seconds, turned into a pool of sticky, stinking liquid that was wriggling in the void like a living creature.

“Be careful! That thing’s body contains a lethal venom that can corrode even our god bodies,” warned White Emperor in a deep voice.

Green Emperor arched an eyebrow and sneered, “Even Great Yu’s Secret Palace doesn’t have this kind of venom that works so quickly on our god bodies…Aren’t you going to show yourself? You are from the clan of Wu Xian or Wu Peng?”

The hoarse voice laughed and murmured vaguely, “I’m neither Wu Xian’s people or Wu Peng’s people…I’m Wu Xian!”

A large cloud of gray smoke spread from the spot where White Emperor had just slashed with his sword, and then a strange thing slowly appeared out of it. The thing was squirming slowly, about a hundred miles wide and tens of miles high. Its entire surface was covered with holes and nodules that looked like cancer cells, which were filled with countless twisting and groaning faces. An indescribably evil aura blew across the void and caressed their faces, while the shrill cries of countless ghosts seemed to ring directly from the depths of their souls. Even Wu Qi, who was hiding by the side, felt a chill run down his back as he felt so disgusted that he almost vomited, not to mention the three emperors who bore the brunt.

“Wu…Wu Xian!” Green Emperor panicked. “How did you…How did transform into this thing?”

Wu Xian gave a strange laugh. “Long time no see, Your Majesty Green Emperor!” he said in a low voice, “I haven’t seen Your Majesty for many, many years…Aye, I almost became the husband of a girl from your clan when I was a young, handsome man…If Green Wa hadn’t died suddenly, I’d have to address you Grandpa Patriarch now!”

While laughing, Wu Xian crept slowly closer to the three emperors. “But, I look good now, don’t I?” he murmured in a low voice. “You see, what a perfect body, an immortal and indestructible body…Hehe, White Emperor, what was it like to hack me with your sword?”

White Emperor shook his head. His right arm gradually grew out, but it looked fainter than the previous one.

Wu Xian sighed and said, “Too bad I was a little bit late. I wanted to trap the Human Emperor as well, but I never expected that he had brought a spirit talisman with him that Empress Wa gave him, which alerted him and allowed him to escape just in time. Empress Wa’s power is truly mighty, and I am still far inferior to her. Even so, it’s enough for me to deal with you three old dogs.”

Black Emperor said gravely, “Wu Xian, how dare you lay hands on the three of us?”

Wu Xian let out an eerie laugh. His body wriggled and twisted, and a part of it, about a mile in circumference, slowly rose and shaped into a rough humanoid in front of the three emperors. “Why not?” he said in a strange voice. “Anyway, it is the Great Celestial Emperor who asked me to do this. So, after I have killed you, he is responsible for everything. What does it have to do with me?”

He laughed viciously, then suddenly said, “To be honest with you, it is indeed the Great Celestial Emperor who asked me to kill you with curses!”

The emperors’ faces dropped with dread. Their bodies swayed, and their natal divine energy gushed out as if it cost nothing, transforming into three suits of loose robes outlined by countless glinting runes over their bodies. “Wu Xian, don’t think you’re the only one who knows how to curse!” snapped Green Emperor. “Know that the curses your human race know all come from the heritage of the ancient gods, and that our curses are not inferior to yours!”

Wu Xian sighed once more. Shaking his head, he said with a vicious smile, “But, I can’t bear to waste that batch of excellent materials! Great Celestial Emperor has given me enough materials to kill you with curses. But, when I think again, since you have been seriously injured by You Xiong Palace’s formation and you have wasted so much of your energy, isn’t it a waste for me to kill you with curses?”

Taking a deep breath, he said, “So, I’ve left those materials for my boys to refine all kinds of instruments. As for you three…I’ll naturally kill you with my own hands. Heh, I’m very interested in your natal divine souls! If I manage to devour you, my cultivation base should reach the realm of Dao Fusing, right?”

Wu Qi squinted at the creature who was Wu Xian. Apparently, this fella was coveting the three emperors as well! In that case, he was a competitor. These three pieces of fat meat were treasures Wu Qi had decided to own, so how could he let them fall into Wu Xian’s hands?

Green Emperor, White Emperor, and Black Emperor sneered at the same time, and then Black Emperor said mockingly, “Wu Xian, you are nothing but a traitor of the human race. Who gave you the nerve to devour us?”

Wu Xian’s body wriggled slowly as he said, “By the way, don’t you think there’s something unusual?

“Have you forgotten that besides curses, we from the clan of Wu Xian are best at using poison?”

The emperors’ face turned a hundred times uglier than a scenario where they would see their wives cheating on them.