Stealing The Heavens
chapter-175

The Lake of Four Waters was where four rivers met. Thus, its surface was always covered with roaring waves. However, underneath the surface of the water was a complete calmness. Apart from some swift undercurrents that flowed in specific routes, there was beautiful scenery everywhere, and it actually looked like an underwater paradise.

The catfish-flood-dragon's cave was located in a deep trench slightly to the west from the center of the lake. The depth of the water here was over thirty miles, and the lake bed was paved with strange stones, white like jade stones and shaped like coral. These strange rocks could be found everywhere within a region one hundred miles wide. Amidst these strange rocks, there was a deep trench that stretched tens of miles long, measured nearly one mile from edge to edge, and plunged one hundred miles straight down. The catfish-flood-dragon's cave was built in one of the underwater cave found in this deep trench.

The front door of the cave was not very wide. It was fashioned into an arched door like a city gate. A plaque made from ten thousand years old 'Water Yin Wood' was seen hanging on top of the door. Three characters that looked like the scratch marks of chicken feet were engraved on it: 'Catfish King's Cave'. Several thousand pearls of various sizes were mounted on the rock walls to the left and right of the arched door, emitting green, white, red, blue, all sorts of bright lights. They illuminated the surrounding area and made the entire deep trench look like it was in broad daylight.

Behind the arched door was a huge cave, about ten miles in circumference. A large rock bed was placed in the center of the cave. It should be the place where the demon catfish usually carried out her meditation and cultivation. Countless small caves were excavated on the walls of the large cave. Some aquatic demon beasts were seen swimming in and out of these caves.

Right after Wu Qi brought catfish-flood-dragon into her cave, he immediately fell down to the ground. He had burned off ninety percent of his blood essence and brought himself a tremendous energy, allowing him to exercise a mystic technique that brought him one thousand miles away in an instant. Any ordinary human who lost ninety percent of his blood would have long died. But luckily for Wu Qi, he knew a mystic technique that could prevent that from happening, so he was able to keep his life safe and sound. However, he had depleted all his energies. He felt that his body was emptied like a riddled gunnysack, and could not exert even a tiny bit of strength at all.

The catfish-flood-dragon stumbled and fell as well, but she immediately sprung back up, waved her arms in the air while crying out loud, "My children, shut the doors, activate all the formations! Some evil humans want to catch your granny! Quickly! Activate all the defensive mechanisms! Aye, deliver the message to old Dragon King and ask him quickly come save our life!"

As the loud cry of catfish-flood-dragon echoed out, groups of bizarre little demons such as crabs, shrimps, carps, mudfishes, and some other strange fishes instantly bounced out from their caves, sprinted towards the entrance and shut the three feet thick front door made from 'Yin Water Element True Silver'. They then barred it from inside using three metal bars. After that, these little demons began bustling around, bringing out formation flags and some similar objects, waving them up and down anxiously. Suddenly, the underwater cave trembled, as a defensive formation had been activated.

Wu Qi took a deep breath, pulled out two bottles of pills that could quickly restore his energy and breath, and poured them into his mouth. After that, he grabbed the arm of the panic-stricken catfish-flood-dragon and said, "Give me thirty percent of your blood essence, hurry up! And all your treasures! Quick, quick! I can't afford to provoke those men outside. I'll have to leave immediately after taking what is promised to me!"

Just now, when those little demons were activating the defensive formation of the cave, Wu Qi had taken a glance at the formation flags and magical items placed on top of the formation platform. It was a formation that could communicate with the underwater vein, and gathering the surrounding underground energies - the 'Three-Dragons Sucking-Water Formation'. The formation had connected the energies coming from the underwater vein of three river branches, transforming them into a vast Water element defensive formation. Once the formation was functioning in full force, the enormous Water element energies from three river branches would turn into three water dragons and attack the enemies.

But, it was, after all, a pure Water element formation. It lacked the variations generated from the mutual promotion and restraint between the five elements. On top of that, apparently, the person who constructed the formation did not possess good knowledge in the Dao of formation, as the formation flags and those magical items used to support the formation were poorly crafted. At most, the formation could only unleash less than thirty percent of the strength of three underwater veins. With such little power, how could it stop the attack coming from Ying Zheng and his men?

Wu Qi was nearly killed by Ying Zheng's generals who laid ambush just now. So, he had personally experienced the formidable cultivation base of those Great Qin's generals, and the extraordinary treasures possessed by them. The large bow use by Li Xin, and the three mirrors used by Wang Jian and his descendants, their power was up to par with upper-grade magical treasures. Even the Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, who claimed to be the strongest sect among all thirteen Immortal sects of Great Yan Dynasty, only owned five flying swords of lower-grade magical treasure.

Of course, Heaven Breaking Sword Sect did have a Dustless Lamp, which was an Innate Spirit Item. But that precious treasure was stolen by Wu Qi.

In any case, no matter it was their cultivation base or their magical treasures, they were all extraordinarily remarkable. So, how was this crude and simple underwater cave going to stop them, a group of aggressive and ruthless men? Wu Qi would never want to die together with this catfish-flood-dragon once the Three-Dragons Water-Sucking Formation was broken.

Although the catfish-flood-dragon was a demon beast born with fierce and malicious temperament, she had developed into a rather honest character. Upon hearing Wu Qi's request, she quickly ran to the side of her rock bed, then fished out several dozens of magical items from a secret drawer at the head of the bed, each glinting brightly in various colors. Straightforwardly, she told Wu Qi, "Apart from my flood-dragon-core, all my treasures are here. As for the thirty percent of my blood essence, I'll give it to you right now."

Then she cut her fingertip immediately. Her body shivered, and a jet of golden-blood shot right out from the cut.

Wu Qi stretched his hand and grabbed the golden blood, refined and fused it into his own body. An enormous energy essence instantly exploded and spread out inside of his body, merging into all his cells in top speed. Cracking noises were heard coming from his body, and the strength of his body was once again skyrocketed. His spirit and energy were climbing up rapidly, and in a blink of an eye, they were many times greater than before. The catfish-flood-dragon had a huge stature, thus thirty percent of her blood essence was almost equal to the total blood essence of several hundred ordinary cultivators. In addition to that, as her cultivation base was at the level of Earth Immortal, the energy essence contained in her blood essence was even more enormous and pure.

Wu Qi could barely absorb and digest a tiny portion of the blood essence, and his body could no longer endure the powerful energy. He hastily stored the remaining blood essence into his body, placing it into the stamen of the silver lotus and nourishing them with innate energies of five elements. After that, he took a deep breath and rose to his feet with beaming energy. Not only was his blood essence fully restored, he also gained a huge surplus. Currently, Wu Qi felt his body was full of strength and energy, as if he could lift a huge mountain easily.

He placed all the treasures given to him by catfish-flood-dragon into his storage ring, as he did not have the time to identify what kind of treasures they were. Then, he cupped his fist and turned to catfish-flood-dragon and said, "Well, since our deal is concluded, I'll make a move now. Fellow Daoist, please be careful. I don't think those people will give up so easily in an attempt of capturing you."

The catfish-flood-dragon kept nodding her huge head while saying in a muffled voice, "Let's see if they are really capable of claiming my life! Hmph, I'm sure those useless fools who escaped before must have brought the news to the old Dragon King. Also, I've asked my children to send out the rescue message, so the old Dragon King will soon come to the rescue."

The old Dragon King! Wanying Dragon King! When Ying Zheng was fighting the catfish-flood-dragon, Wu Qi had heard this name. He was the one who wounded Ying Zheng and annihilated several tens of thousands of elite soldiers. He was a demon dragon who had almost stepped into the realm of Heaven Immortal! Once he was managed to do so, he would would possess a True Dragon's body, and his overall strength would be at least one hundred times stronger than now. Wu Qi was wondering, what kind of good items did a giant of demon clan have in possession?

Nevertheless, Wu Qi knew that although he could mess around with Ying Zheng and his men, compared to this giant from demon dragon clan who had lived for unknown ages, he was just a juvenile. Unless he could form his own Nascent Soul, no magic or cultivation technique could stand before absolute power. If he really wanted to fish some advantages from this old dragon, he would have to wait until his cultivation base became stronger in the future.

He rested his eyes on the catfish-flood-dragon's face, who looked rather silly and straightforward. Wu Qi decided to bid her farewell and left this place, but suddenly, three beams of green, white, and blue color plunged down from above, and completely enveloped the entire underwater cave. A series of shrill wolf howls kept echoing in the air, accompanied with numerous bolts that came pouring down at high-speed, hit and exploded on top of the cave and surged up tall waves on its surface. The ground and ceiling shook, as a dozen of formation flags and magical items placed on top of the formation platform fell down to the ground.

"Dam* it!" cried the catfish-flood-dragon, as she quickly leaped onto the formation platform flustered, picked up a few formation flags in a great bustle, and began controlling the formation to defend against the enemies.

However, it seemed this catfish-flood-dragon was not an expert in the Dao of formation, as not only she placed a few formation flags in the wrong positions, she also performed some wrong incantation gestures when trying to control the magical items. Originally, the formation could still defend the enemies by itself, but because of what she did, its power was disturbed, and in a blink of an eye, more than half of the Water element energies gathered by the formation was destroyed.

Noises of water splashing could be heard coming from outside of the cave, then immediately followed by Ying Zheng's voice, "Foul demon and the little thief, I'll not let both of you escape this time!"

A water screen emerged on top of the formation platform, showing an image of the outside situation. Bringing with him a large troop of soldiers and generals, Ying Zheng had lined them up in a great formation right above the cave. Li Si was seen standing in the heart of the great formation, writing characters of 'mountain' quickly one after another. Very soon, he finished the last stroke, and he lightly flicked his writing brush, throwing the numerous characters of 'mountain' into the air. They wheeled a few rounds above his head, then the lake bed began shaking suddenly, as a huge amount of Earth element energies came rolling up toward those characters.

A great mountain, several feet tall and one foot wide on its base, suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Li Si panted, pointing his finger at the mountain and then pointed again at the cave. In the next second, the great mountain plunged down together with a deafening noise, clashing heavily onto the one-mile thick black water waves outside the cave.

Over ninety-nine percent of the Water element energies gathered by the Three-Dragons Water-Sucking Formation was shattered and dispersed by the great mountain. Countless waves rolled and rocked into all directions, leaving only a very thin layer of water vapor that was still protecting the cave. The tremendous pressure coming from the great mountain had crumbled the surround cliff walls, and the raging impact crushed the broken rocks into tiny sand particles. With just one strike, the landscape within one hundred miles from the cave had changed forever.

"Finished! I'm going to die this time!" Cried catfish-flood-dragon in anxiety. Suddenly, the formation flags in her hand, and all the magical items placed on top of the formation platform exploded after a series of cracking noise. She was caught unprepared and blown off the platform by the explosion of a formation flag. Enshrouded in dark smoke, she rolled and came before Wu Qi.

While Wu Qi was hesitating whether he should help her up or take this opportunity to run away, a golden flood dragon, several dozen feet long and with a body as thick as a water bucket, suddenly shot out from a hole dozens of feet in diameter at the deepest area of the cave. Behind it followed a dozen strange and weird looking demon beasts. Some looked like big fishes, some like giant serpents, some like pangolins, but they were all flood dragons, as they all had a dragon horn on top of their head. Four claws poked out from the side of their bellies, and gold or silver dragon whiskers were growing beside their mouth.

Upon looking at the golden flood dragon whose body was enshrouded in a layer of faint watery cloud, the catfish-flood-dragon immediately cried out joyfully, "Wanying the old Dragon King, save me!"

Then she pointed at Wu Qi and said, "This little brother is a good man, as he had saved my life. Those on the outside are all bad guys. They want to capture me in order to cultivate some kind of Nine Dragons Cauldron Grand Magic!"

The golden flood dragon twisted its body and transformed into an old man. His hair were gray, and his old face wore a ferocious and ruthless expression. He was clad in a golden robe. Wanying old Dragon King gave Wu Qi a fierce glare, then let out an evil laugh and said, "Nine Dragons Cauldron Grand Magic? He, what a familiar name!"

He smacked his lips and continued saying in a gloomy voice, "My children, find some places and hide yourself. We'll wait until they come into the cave, and we'll give them a surprise!"

The group of strange and weird looking flood dragons transformed into human form and quickly went to stand in every corner of the cave. Many peculiar looking aquatic demons were seen shooting out from the hole where they came just now, and in a blink of an eye, the cave was fully filled with countless aquatic demon beasts.

Finally, Wu Qi laughed. It was a very joyful laugh.