Stealing The Heavens
chapter-136

Without hesitation, Nie Yaonu pulled Wu Qi and dragged him while rushing into the cave of Sword Stems From The Mind. Meanwhile, Nie Baihong unleashed a few threads of sword beams, thrusting them around and slashing and hacking all over the surrounding area of the main peak. When he finally confirmed there wasn't anybody hiding nearby, he quickly plunged back into the cave as well. The pair of mother and son grabbed Wu Qi from both sides, sprinting crazily into the tower of Peerless Sword Formation.

They forcefully pressed Wu Qi sat down onto a cushion. With her eyes turned bloodshot, Nie Yaonu stared at Wu Qi and cried out, "What did you say just now? The sword techniques of Mountain-crumbling and Sky-burning? How do you know about these two sword techniques? And from where did you find them?"

Beside her, Nie Baihong had both his eyes bursting with fragments of razor-sharp energies as he cried out, "These two sword techniques are missing from the Five Elements Sword Technique of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect. Without them, the most advanced sword technique of our sect, the Unite of Sword Energies Script, could never be cultivated to the mastery stage. Although based on the sword techniques of Wood, Gold and Water element, mother had reverse-inferred the scripts of two missing techniques and barely completed the Unite of Sword Energies Script, yet it is not the orthodox legacy. Its power is merely forty percent of the genuine script!"

With both hands clutching Wu Qi's shoulder, Nie Baihong asked with a deep voice, "Tell us quickly, where did you hear about the sword techniques of Mountain-crumbling and Sky-burning? And from where did you obtain them? These two sword techniques are extremely important for our sect. So, you better don't crack any joke with us now!"

Looking at both the panic-stricken folks, Wu Qi breathed out a long sigh and said, "So, it seems Sect Elder Yan did not tell you about it? I thought he should have told you before me. Yesterday at Mo Forest, I witnessed how old mister Mo Di used a ball of purple flame in burning three legacy stone tablets of barbarians, and from them, four cultivating scripts were found, including these two sword techniques. I took the opportunity and memorized them."

A sluggish look suddenly emerged on the face of both mother-and-son, and then they exchanged a glance.

Wu Qi did not tempt them further and began to tell them what happened yesterday 'in detail', how he was summoned to Mo Forest by Jing Ke and met Mo Di, and how he secretly memorized both sword techniques. After he finished saying that, he smiled at both the mother and the son and said, "Supposedly, after Chief General obtained these two sword techniques, he should have long sent someone and informed Sect Elder Yan."

Nie Yaonu snorted coldly, resting her eyes on the ceiling and did not say anything.

Nie Baihong let out a cold laugh and said, "If he really obtained these two sword techniques, he will only give them to his disciples and loyal servants, and would never hand it over to us. These two sword techniques are useless for him, as they cannot increase his energy or magical abilities. However, if they are given to my mother or me, we'll be able to complete the Unite of Sword Energies Script. Originally, it would take at least ten more years for mother to form her Nascent Soul. But now, perhaps it will only take a few months."

Wu Qi blinked his eyes, smiled and said, "Perfect! Then I'll write down the sword techniques now and give them to Master and Patriarch. But, how about my request?"

With a firm voice, Nie Yaonu said, "Except for the Unite of Sword Energies Script which I cannot teach you, I can give you all the other three sword techniques now. You said you need a crafting room? It happens that I have a pretty well-equipped crafting room here. The flame in it is the lava flame from the earth's core. No matter what the item is that you're trying to craft, this flame is more than enough to serve you."

Wu Qi clapped his hand, laughed out loud and said, "This is excellent! You're very generous, Patriarch!"

In an instant, Nie Yaonu took out three small booklets: the cultivation scripts for the sword techniques of Azure Water, Green-thunder, and Striking-lightning. Then, she personally carried a writing table over, while Nie Baihong stood beside the table and prepared the ink and brush for Wu Qi. Without delaying further, Wu Qi began to write down the cultivating scripts for the sword techniques of Mountain-crumbling and Sky-burning that he had memorized. Both sword techniques contained thirty-six maps of energy circulation, and all the incantations were written down without missing even a word.

Every time when Wu Qi finished drawing a map of energy circulation, Nie Yaonu would quickly snatch over the paper, bring it before her eyes and give it a careful and thorough examination. The more she looked at them, the brighter the smile on her face became. Meanwhile, Nie Baihong was anxiously urging Wu Qi over and over again, "You cannot make any mistake. No matter what, do not make any mistake! Once you draw a wrong circulating path, my mother would have to face the risk of energy deviation!"

Having no intention to stop, Nie Baihong kept repeating himself over and over again. Although during normal days, he was a cruel, merciless, menacing and A resolute man, today, he had turned into a nagging old nanny. In the end, even Nie Yaonu could not stand him anymore. With a grab, she threw Nie Baihong far away and scolded, "Pipe down! Why do I have a son that can hardly retain his composure? Get out from here! Go back to our sect and give it a careful examination. Find out if that old fool Yan Li has obtained these two sword techniques."

She pondered for a brief moment, then continued saying with a cold voice, "Earlier this year, Yan Li had just taken a few disciples, and all of them possessed the body constitution of Earth and Fire element. Now, it looks to me that he had been preparing for this. Find an opportunity and make these few disciples die in an accident. As for the clans behind these disciples, it is up to you to decide what to do!"

Wu Qi raised his head and threw a glance over at Nie Yaonu, who now had her face densely covered with a killing intent. He nodded quietly. Now, he knew how extreme the internal conflict of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect had become. At this critical moment, Nie Yaonu had proven that she was much more useful than Nie Baihong. Presumably, the disciples that Yan Li had taken up in advance must be some geniuses he had carefully selected, and were perfectly suitable for cultivating the sword techniques of Mountain-crumbling and Sky-burning. If Nie Baihong really assassinated these few disciples, it would be a big headache for Yan Li.

After spending almost an hour, Wu Qi finally completed the writing of the two sword techniques and handed them over to Nie Yaonu.

Carefully and meticulously, Nie Yaonu gave both sword techniques a thorough read, then she sighed lightly and said, "Finally, I've obtained the complete Five Elements Sword Technique, and no longer have to worry about those sword techniques derived from it. The Unite of Sword Energies Script of our sect has finally become one. Nevertheless, it is rather strange to me, why would the sword techniques of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect be found in the territory of barbarians? And even be refined into the legacy stone tablets by their ancestors? Also, for what reason did the Scouting Office send their men into barbarian's territory, searching for those stone tablets?"

Wu Qi too was puzzled by Nie Yaonu's questions. He pondered for some time, then gave out a vague answer. Before Great Yan Dynasty established their empire, the land belonged to the territory of the barbarian alliance. With the overall strength of barbarians during that period, presumably, breaching into some Immortal Caves left behind by Immortals and taking away some of the legacy scripts should not be a difficult task. However, as for why they only took away two sword techniques, it was a question that no one could answer now.

Yet, what Nie Yaonu said after that had provided an additional explanation to Wu Qi's answer. When she discovered this Immortal's Cave, three sword techniques were placed in three separate places, and at the places where the sword techniques of Mountain-crumbling and Sky-burning were supposed to be placed, she found nothing. Most probably, just like what Wu Qi said, these two sword techniques were robbed by barbarians.

They exchanged a glance, and both felt it was the most possible explanation. As Great Yan Dynasty was in a war with barbarians and eventually wiped out the entire barbarian alliance, they must have had a pretty good understanding of those barbarian's situation, and thus, having clues to what kind of cultivating techniques and scripts were taken away by which barbarian tribes. So, after over two thousand years of investigating and tracing, it was logical and natural that they had finally found something.

But, even the cultivating techniques of Yan Dan, Jing Ke, and a few other men fell into the hand of barbarians, which was something that really terrified Nie Yaonu. Although they were cultivating with incomplete techniques, yet, they could still wipe out the barbarian alliance. Was it because those barbarians were too weak, or Yan Dan, Jing Ke and their comrades were too strong?

Both of them shook their heads and decided not to pursue further into this question. With utmost seriousness, Nie Yaonu placed the sword techniques into her storage ring. After that, she brought Wu Qi to a crafting room. It was the same crafting room where Wu Qi saw her crafting flying swords during his previous visit of stealing the Dustless Lamp.

Using various materials that could withstand the flame, a great suppressing formation was constructed on the floor of the emptied crafting room. Nearly one thousand upper tier Earth element energy stones, each the size of a normal human head, were socketed within the formation. It served the purpose of suppressing the raging and violent lava flame, preventing it from bursting out into the room uncontrollably. A bronze three-legged cauldron, standing thirty feet tall, was erected within the array. Each of its three legs was emitting a light-green glow while emanating a freezing air into all directions. A large, dome-shaped energy barrier was seen placed in the center of the array, on top of a mere one feet wide hole, from where the flame was coming out.

After bringing Wu Qi to this room, Nie Yaonu cast a suspicious glance at Wu Qi and asked, "With your current cultivation base, the water element cultivation technique which you've cultivated yourself should have been forfeited. Although you have attained the cultivation of Xiantian realm, what are you trying to craft with the lava flame of earth core with that weak overall strength?"

Wu Qi looked back at Nie Yaonu smilingly, shook his head and said, "Please activate the formation for me, Patriarch. I suppose this bronze cauldron can be used to craft some items? I'm not trying to craft magical treasures or items, just refine some materials. Hehe, as my young master is studying the Dao of arrays and formations, I need to help him prepare some foundations of formations."

Then, with a wave of his hand, he tossed out a large pile of iron essences, refined dark irons and various materials from his storage bracelet.

Looking at those materials, Nie Yaonu couldn't help but chuckle. She shook her head and said, "Seems like I've been fighting with that old fool Yan Li for too long, which has caused me to be overly suspicious of everything. You're right. With your tiny cultivation base, what kind of items could you craft? And with these materials, haha, they are rather appropriate to be used in setting up some lower tier formations."

She threw a glance over at those materials, among which, the highest quality materials could barely be used to craft lower tier magical items. With that, Nie Yaonu had no more doubts about Wu Qi. Casually, she formed a few incantations with her fingers and activated the formation in the crafting room. The green energy barrier underneath the three-legged cauldron slowly split apart and revealed a tiny hole as wide as a human finger. Then, a stream of raging red flame shot out straight from the hole while whistling. Within a blink of an eye, the entire cauldron turned red-hot.

The temperature in the room skyrocketed while the surrounding Earth element energy stones began to blink and flash rapidly. Slowly, a heavy pressure was pressuring down from all directions, tightly retaining the threatening heat within a radius of ten feet from the cauldron.

Wu Qi started to toss various materials into the cauldron according to a strict ratio. Nie Yaonu shook her head as she lost her interest in what Wu Qi was doing, spun and left the room. She was too impatient to study the two sword techniques, and thus, did not want to waste any more time here with Wu Qi. He was merely a little guy of Xiantian realm. How big a trouble could he cause?

Hastily, Wu Qi shut the heavy stone door of the crafting room. After that, he unleashed his divine sense and scanned the cauldron. As he sensed the various materials now melting fast inside the cauldron, a pleased smile emerged on his face. He was actually forging the Minor Universal Alloy, which was a secret formula found in Scroll of Stealing. Basically, no one in the current world of cultivation had any idea about it. It was a formula researched and refined by the mysterious man who given Wu Qi the Scroll of Stealing.

To be a qualified grand thief, an escape route was the most vital element in his book. Besides all sorts of escape arts, what other escape methods could be better than teleportation arrays? It was not merely the Minor Universal Teleportation Array, even the Grand Universal Teleportation Array, and different types of formations which could travel between planetary regions, all could be found within Scroll of Stealing with detailed explanation and analysis. It was just that Wu Qi currently did not possess those high-end materials which could be used to craft those teleportation formations, and could only look at the crafting methods while drooling.

Using his divine sense, Wu Qi carefully controlled the process of melting within the cauldron, and began to merge the liquefied metal according to the unique structure of the spatial crystal, so he could turn these ordinary metals into Minor Universal Alloy. Their value was at least one million times higher than their original form.

Finally, with the help of the earth core lava flame and after twelve hours of hard work, the first piece of Minor Universal Teleportation Array Disc was finally forged by Wu Qi.

It was a disc with a diameter of eight feet and a thickness of six inches. It took a hue of light-blue, half translucent and looked like the bright blue sky. In addition to that, the marks of array maps and sockets for various energy stones were branded on it.

Wiping off the sweat dripping down from his forehead, Wu Qi continued to plunge into the task of forging. A single disc was far from enough for him to travel around in this world!