Stealing The Heavens

The human race on Pangu Continent valued transmigration the most. The belief was buried deep in their blood. To them, a newborn baby was the gift of the heaven and earth, the creation of nature. They lived and reproduced on Pangu Continent, but they all ended up in dust.

All human beings came from nature, and when their lifespan was over, it was natural for them to give themselves back to nature. Therefore, all the people of Great Yu, including the Human Emperor, were buried directly after their death, and there were no luxurious coffins or magnificent imperial tombs. Even the Human Emperor’s corpse would be mixed with the dirt. Because of that, Great Yu paid the most attention to worshiping their ancestors’ souls, instead of the custom of sweeping tombs.

Of all the people in Great Yu, the generals and Oracles with profound cultivation bases were eligible to receive a certain number of spirit herbs to prolong their lifespans. But, spirit herbs were limited, and so was their effect. Emperor Haozun, with the entire dynasty supporting him, had lived only for three eons. As for the other kings, their maximum lifespans were usually dozens of periods, no more than that.

Whether it was the emperor, kings, or others, when their lives ran out and there were no more spirit herbs for them, they would enter the transmigration.

But, the Supreme Oracles were an exception. At the end of their lifespans, they could enter the Temple of Truth and become one of the revered elders, if they wanted to. The Secret Palace would put them into hibernation with a mystic art that could keep them alive almost indefinitely.

Over the years, the Temple of Truth had been home to countless Supreme Oracles whose lifespans were nearly exhausted, some of whom had gone into hibernation even before the Human Emperor of several hundred generations before today. The remaining lifespans of these Supreme Oracles ranged from fifty years to a few months. But, no matter how much life they had left, once they woke up from their hibernation, they all could fight with the overall strength of a Supreme Oracle, enough to fight against Primordial experts.

Although using some powerful magic might instantly drain their remaining life, if only one magic could severely injure an enemy, they would be considered as valuable.

The cultivation techniques of the human race were quick to attain a significant result in. With the right qualification, it only took Great Yu one to two hundred years to produce a Supreme Oracle. Since Great Yu was founded and the Secret Palace was established, tens of thousands of people had sat on the throne of the Human Emperor. Even if there were only thirty to fifty Supreme Oracles voluntarily entering the Temple of Truth to become revered elders in a period, with so many years having passed, perhaps even the First Master of the Secret Palace could not figure out how many of them were hibernating in the Temple of Truth now.

These hibernating revered elders were the ultimate strategic power of Great Yu, a force that deterred Heaven and Buddhist League from acting arbitrarily. Whether in the face of Apocalypse of Heaven and Earth or other calamities, Great Yu relied on this army to stand firm.

Compared with Great Yu’s vast army of revered elders, the apparent strength of Heaven and Buddhist League looked pitiful.

In Heaven, there were only six of them who had the overall strength of a first-tier Primordial Immortal—the Great Celestial Emperor and the Celestial Emperors of Five Directions. Buddhist League, on the other hand, had only four—Amitabha the Lord Buddha, and three other Buddhas of the present. In total, both powers had less than twenty second-tier Primordial experts, less than forty third-tier Primordial experts, and about three to four hundred fourth to seventh-tier Primordial experts. The number of eighth and ninth-tier Primordial experts was greater. But, even if they were combined with those Primordial of Virtues who were forcefully lifted into the realm of Primordial with the immense virtues of the mortal world, they were still lesser than the population of a remote village in Great Yu.

But now, the Temple of Truth was invaded, and all revered elders’ lives were in the hands of outsiders.

King Yang Shan and the others were soaked with cold sweat, nearly scared to death by Buddha Sole’s words. The hibernating revered elders had no power. They were like a bunch of dead people lying there, and even a three-year-old could kill them by slitting their throats with a pocket knife.

And now, it was not a three-year-old in the Temple of Truth, but Buddha Sole, the founding patriarch of Buddhist League’s evil branch.

The Kings of the council stood there stiffly, their minds blank. They were utterly confused. Meanwhile, King Xin Shan and his followers were cheering wildly. They had grasped Great Yu’s most important weakness, and now, they had an absolute strategic advantage.

Nearly a thousand black Supreme Towers slowly appeared next to King Xin Shan and others, each with a Supreme Oracle standing on top of the spire while emanating a strong aura of Ghost God. From top to bottom, the towers were fully stood with numerous Oracles in black robes. These towers had revealed their true sizes—huge structures that were several miles tall, hovering in midair like hills. With so many of them put together in one place, it was an awe-inspiring sight, and the Kings of the council felt an immense pressure weighing down on their nearly crumbled minds.

King Yang Shan fixed his eyes on an old man with eyebrows nearly three feet long, who stood on a Supreme Tower closest to King Xin Shan, and snapped, “Youchao Buhuang! You…Where are the Grand Oracle and the Left and Right Oracles of the Directorate of Celestials?”

The old man grinned, with wisps of black cold air visible to the naked eyes drifting out of his mouth. “They’re dead. Don’t ask me how they died. In any case, they’re dead.” He laughed, pointing triumphantly at the Supreme Towers and Oracles around him and said, “Liangzhu has been in turmoil these days. Crown Prince is vying with you for the throne, but the Directorate of Celestials has chosen to remain neutral, and all Oracles have been ordered to stay in the Directorate of Celestials. Hehe!”

He took in a deep breath as he narrowed his eyes and went on, “Therefore, with only a special dose of poison, all those who do not support Crown Prince are dead!”

King Yang Shan felt a sharp pain in his heart and blood poured out of his mouth. He was almost dying of pain; but, as the blood kept flowing out of his mouth, he pointed at Youchao Buhuang and growled, “As*hole, you’ve disgraced your ancestor! You, you…Heaven! The Directorate of Celestials!! They… they…”

Youchao Buhuang looked at him as if nothing had happened and said in a flat voice, “My ancestor? Do you mean that Youchao, the Sacred Emperor? Well, after going through thousands of reincarnations, I’ve long severed my ties with the secular world. Indeed, I was once part of the human race, and Youchao was my ancestor. But now, I’m Monk Wuchao, one of the Buddhist League’s future Buddhas. Youchao clan has nothing to do with me anymore.”

King Yang Shan shut his mouth, his finger trembling as he pointed at Youchao Buhuang. Blood was rushing up his throat from his chest. He tried to swallow, but it spewed out through his nostrils and stained his upper body, making him look extremely ferocious.

Wu Qi could not bear to see that. He gave a light snort, and Princess Zhang Le hurried over to King Yang Shan. She pressed her palm against his back, and injected a stream of rich wood-element life force into his body. At the same time, she fed him a few spirit pills Patriarch Jiang Yun had concocted according to the recipe found in Lord Yuan Ling’s Book of Alchemy.

With the sap of various innate divine trees in Yuan Ling Dark Realm as the main ingredients, the pills had a very strong medicinal strength. As soon as they entered his mouth, they melted into a stream of clear fluid and converted all the blood in King Yang Shan’s stomach into a refreshing, fragrant energy, which circulated throughout his body. In the blink of an eye, all his injuries were healed, and even his natal energy essence was greatly strengthened.

Glancing coldly at Youchao Buhuang, Wu Qi said, “So arrogant and proud of yourself! What have you done other than having Buddha Sole occupy the Temple of Truth?”

King Xin Shan laughed smugly. “Oh, not only have Buddha Sole occupied the Temple of Truth, perhaps the few old fools of the Secret Palace are already dead by now! Hehe, King Dong Hai, you better remove the formation. Now that I have the upper hand, it is useless no matter how hard you struggle.”

Before his voice had died away, Wu Qi had pointed a finger out. Youchao Buhuang’s head exploded to pieces with a sickening crunch, and in the next instant, the terrible power of the formation crushed the man and his Supreme Tower to shreds. Monk Wuchao, one of the Buddhist League’s future Buddhas, who had only just shown himself in a boastful way, was killed by Wu Qi.

King Xin Shan was so frightened that he shut his mouth immediately, nearly biting his tongue off.

Wu Qi stared at King Xin Shan coldly and snapped, “Buddha Sole, let’s have a competition! You will kill those revered elders in the Temple of Truth while I kill your lapdogs here. Among these Supreme Oracles, I believe many are the incarnations of some mighty figures from the Buddhist League, right? Well, let’s see if it is you who kills all the revered elders first or I who kills all your fellow bald donkeys first!”

The Kings of the council screamed in horror on hearing Wu Qi’s words. King Yang Shan and several others scrambled next to his feet as they clutched his leg hairs and cried out while looking up, “King Dong Hai, you can’t do that! You can never do that! Y-yo-you… You mustn’t act on impulse!”

In front of his avatar that stood over ten thousand feet tall, the kings looked as tiny as ants, so they could only pull at his leg hairs. Wu Qi gave a cold snort and said, “We don’t have a choice. My lords, we can only trade one life for another now. After killing King Xin Shan and the incarnations of monks, I’ll kill Buddha Sole too.”

Without giving King Yang Shan and the others the chance to speak, Wu Qi pointed out a finger. A dozen fine beams of light appeared in the void and bound them all tightly like dumplings, rendering them motionless and speechless.

Wu Qi cried out at the top of his lungs, “Buddha Sole, come, let’s do this! You kill the revered elders, and I’ll kill the monks. Let’s see who is more creative in terms of killing! I’m just a lowborn man from the wild, and I’ve nothing to lose! Haha, even if I am wanted by Great Yu later on for my sin, I can just kill myself, and I’ll be alive and kicking once again eighteen years later!”

He took a deep breath and snapped, “But you, Buddha Sole, if you just sit there and watch me kill so many bald donkeys, how many people are you going to offend in the Buddhist League? Hehe, using my short lifespan of several hundred years in exchange for your infinite lifespan…you can’t find a better deal than this!”

Amidst his wild laughter, Wu Qi waved his hand, crushing another Oracle who had betrayed the Directorate of Celestials and Great Yu.

At that moment, Buddha Sole’s roar went up in the air, “You’re a madman! Stop it! We can discuss…”

A reckless man would be afraid of an unreasonable man, and an unreasonable man would be afraid of a desperate man. Wu Qi was in desperation right now. Buddha Sole was just an evil buddha, but not a crazy buddha. He dared not go all out with Wu Qi.

Grinning coldly, Wu Qi said, “In other words, as long as one revered elder dies in the Temple of Truth, I’ll kill everyone here!”

Buddha Sole shouted, “I’ve killed the few old fogies of the Secret Palace! They can’t be resurrected!”

“Forget about those you’ve killed,” said Wu Qi in a deep voice, “but you can’t kill anyone now. Let’s talk it over and see what we can do about today’s situation!”

King Yang Shan and the others, imprisoned by Wu Qi, heaved a sigh of relief at the same time, and the way they looked at him relaxed as well.