Stealing The Heavens

When the people of Wu Xian were still an important part of the human tribal alliance and existed in a similar capacity as the spiritual mentors, they were best known not for curses but drugs. They were good at concocting all kinds of elixir that could raise the dead and heal the wounded, make missing arms regrow, expel poisons, as well as powders that could kill enemies.

Among the countless drugs they had concocted, the most famous one was the Wu Poison. It was shapeless, traceless, colorless, and imperceptible. By the time one realized he had been poisoned by it, one would already be a dead or half-dead man, and one’s outcome would be only determined by the will of the person who had put the poison on him.

Green Emperor, Black Emperor, and White Emperor stared at Wu Xian in horror. Their bodies were shaking violently, and an ominous gray was slowly creeping up their toes, the soles of their feet, ankles, calves, knees, thighs…

Their bodies were constantly flashing with the unique colors of their natal divine energy. But, no matter how hard they tried, they were too badly wounded to stop the dull gray from spreading through them. As the gray reached their waists, Green Emperor gritted his teeth and pulled out of his sleeve a fist-sized pill bottle carved out of some cyan wood, from which he poured out three ring-sized pills that glowed with a blue light.

Wu Xian twisted his body and muttered mockingly, “Refine the branch of Fusang and the water of Spring for nine days and you will get these immortal divine pills… Aye, amazing…I wonder which is more powerful, my Wu Poison or your immortal divine pills? Heh…nice…nice…Go on, consume the pills now!”

Green Emperor carefully gave Black Emperor and White Emperor each a pill, and then they swallowed the pills together. A bright blue light instantly burst out of their chests and bellies while plumes of blue smoke rushed out of their heads and condensed into three dense, tree-shaped clouds, each with nine branches. A huge, golden three-legged crow was perched on each of the branches; as soon as they appeared, they began to caw while numerous golden runes flowed out of their beaks, turning into raging torrents and pouring into the emperors’ bodies.

Amidst a rapid crackling noise, the gray, which had reached the waist of the trio, gradually receded, and their blurred bodies gradually solidified and hardened. The medicinal strength of the immortal divine pills was fighting against the Wu Poison while quickly replenishing the energy they had lost when they were chased by Emperor Haozun.

A vast wave of divine power swept all around and pushed the grayish aura away, revealing a small piece of normal space around the emperors. Wisps of tricolored light swirled about their bodies, and the cracks on their natal divine artifacts were rapidly healing. The immortal divine pills had provided them an immense power, which they turned into their energy essence and injected into their artifacts, triggering them to heal themselves.

The figure that Wu Xian manifested applauded loudly as he nodded approvingly and laughed. “What a great elixir of immortality! That’s it, that’s it! You have to get back to your best forms for me to swallow you! You must restore to the strongest forms, for such fruits are the most delicious!”

Wu Xian’s voice was deep and hoarse with a long echo. Hiding aside, Wu Qi picked his ears and felt a little uncomfortable. The situation had become so treacherous that he was afraid to act rashly. ‘Why did Wu Xian let them take the pills? Isn’t he creating trouble for himself?’ The dull gray had been driven to the emperors’ knees, and their divine power was growing stronger and stronger, gradually exceeding the limits of what Wu Qi could perceive now, which showed that they were quickly regaining all of their divine power. ‘Does Wu Xian really have the confidence to devour the three emperors in their peak forms?’

Even the formidable Great Yu had to rely on the formation in You Xiong Palace and a great host of courtiers to trap the three emperors before badly wounding them. Did Wu Xian think he alone could match the strength of the entire Liangzhu?

Just as Wu Qi was pondering, Wu Xian burst into a strange, triumphant laughter.

The three emperors had gradually forced the gray to their ankles and were about to expel it completely. At that moment, Wu Qi heard the laughter and saw their faces suddenly turn gray while the ominous color spread from the top to bottom at a speed that was ten times faster.

Their bodies trembled violently as they kept on mustering their natal divine energy, but it seemed to have fused with the gray, and their bodies seemed to have fused with the gray space around them. Although their natal divine energy was very powerful, they couldn’t expel their bodies. They roared in horror and chanted incantations, trying to expel this dreadful gray.

Wu Xian sighed lazily. “Well, it seems that the immortal divine pills are no more than that.”

After laughing for a while, he shook his head and murmured to himself, “When my people were still Supreme Oracles of the human race, the chiefs of the human tribal alliance at that time only allowed us to research all kinds of life-saving medicines, and we were not allowed to touch those vicious and hostile drugs. But then we left the human race, and all the Great Celestial Emperors of Heaven were good enough to let us research whatever we wanted, and always provided us with enough materials.

“After all these years, Green Emperor, I reckon you haven’t even changed your prescription for the immortal divine pills, have you? But, the prescription of my Wu Poison changes every 10,000 years. It has become more and more poisonous, more and more virulent and unpredictable. In fact, the Wu Poisons concocted by us have cultivated themselves into demons. How can it work when you still use the old way to expel the poison?”

He gestured at the surroundings and muttered in a low voice, “The gray world you see here is an interstitial world transformed by a Wu Poison with a mighty cultivation base. It’s a world made of Wu Poison. Everything is poisonous. You’ve been in here for so long that your bodies have been infected with the poisonous gas. It has fused into you and can never be separated.”

Wu Qi broke out in a cold sweat. Although his predecessor, Lord Yuan Ling, claimed to have the highest attainment in the field of pill refinement, he had not reached the level of Wu Xian. It was said that all divine pills had their spirits, but the fact that they were able to cultivate themselves into demons was just too…crazy. He found that it was indeed a groundbreaking idea that the pills who had cultivated themselves into demons could form their interstitial worlds, which were filled with lethal poison.

‘Maybe my pill art should move in this direction too? After all, it has been so long since my predecessor left this world, and the people of Wu Xian have spent that time delving into prescriptions and poisons. Their research into elixir and poisons is obviously more extensive and complex than my previous life.’

He glanced at Wu Xian with a hint of greed in his eyes as he made up his mind that he would find an opportunity to steal from the old monster and see if he could get his medicine book. ‘The poisons of Wu Xian’s clan can be very useful for Dong Hai…For example, I can concoct the drunken dragon incense into a world of its own like the Wu Poison, and if anyone comes in, they would get drunk instantly. Together with my Dao of Formations, they will make a deadly combination.’

Wu Qi’s mouth watered at the thought of it. He licked his lips and then carefully circled Primal Purple Energy through his body. ‘Wu Xian must be ready to strike, right? When he’s ready to swallow up the three emperors, it’s my best moment to strike.’ Judging by Wu Xian’s disgusting appearance, he should be practicing some evil cultivation technique, and the divine ability of the Buddhist League should be very destructive to him. Wu Qi was ready to transform into the avatar of the Buddha.

The emperors had almost become gray statues, with only a small patch between their eyebrows where the core of their divine souls lay managing to retain the color of their flesh. If the area was invaded by the gray, they would be thoroughly assimilated by the Wu Poison, and Wu Xian would be able to devour them with ease. With the mighty cultivation base the three of them had retained since the world was created, Wu Xian may have a chance to step into the realm of Dao Fusing.

No one could hurt a Dao Fusing expert unless Pangu World collapsed and the Laws of Heavenly Dao were completely destroyed. Even if there were a hundred Dao Fusing experts who joined forces to attack a Dao Fusing expert, they could at most suppress him, badly injure him, or even force him into transmigration, but they could never wipe him out.

‘I might not be able to make a direct breakthrough, but if I can devour the three emperors, I should be able to push my cultivation base infinitely close to the Dao Fusing realm…’ Wu Qi was calculating in his mind. ‘If I have that overall strength, heh…all the almighty experts in this would have to be careful. They better don’t give me a chance or I’ll make them cry! You’ll cry, no matter you are a Buddhist Patriarch or Dao Patriarch!’

Wu Xian could not help laughing at the sight of the three emperors convulsing violently. “Don’t struggle, it’s useless!” he whispered. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…My lords, since you came from Heavenly Dao, you should be happy to return to it today. Why should you be so sad? Heh, stop the struggle and merge with me. It’s the most joyful experience you will ever have!”

No sooner had he finished than he heard a terrible tearing sound. A very thin sheet of golden light suddenly chopped down from above and ripped the gray world apart. It contained an extremely horrible power of fire; it was hotter, more brutal and unreasonable than the Nirvana Flame Wu Qi had collected in the Chaotic World. The power exploded with a boom like a spark fallen into a barrel of gunpowder, igniting the gray world. It was just a few seconds before Wu Xian’s world of Wu Poison was completely burned off.

Wu Qi quickly touched the golden light with his divine sense and was shocked by the finding. The power of fire in it was a fire-element divine ability which combined dozens of vicious flames of the same rank as the Nirvana Flame and refined with the caster’s blood essence and divine soul. In his previous life, he had refined a similar flame called ‘Yuan Ling True Flame’, which he used as the foundation of pill refinement and artifact refinement, but he had no time to collect all the brutal flames in this life. So, although he knew the method to refine this kind of natal fire-element divine ability, he did not have the time to do it.

In his previous life, it took him 3,600 eons to collect all the required materials, and another three eons of hard work before he finally produced the Yuan Ling True Flame. How many years had he lived in this life?

He looked up carefully. A golden glow hung over the crowd, emitting a terrifying heat. A majestic, irrefutable voice rang out, “Wu Xian, the antidote.”

Wu Xian’s body was completely frozen. Ten minutes later, he carefully took out three black pills and threw them out.

There was a flash of gold, and in the blink of an eye, the three emperors and the golden glow disappeared without a trace.

“They cannot die. It’s not in our interest!” The majestic voice echoed in the void.

Wu Xian wanted to curse, but he quickly shut his mouth and flew in dismay for the Thirty-three Heavens.