Stealing The Heavens
chapter-18

The hall was filled with laughter. They were all laughing at Wu Qi’s recklessness and his insolent manner.

While munching on the deer tendon, Wu Qi stared at the man with a cold eye. Then, when he saw the happy look in the eyes of Yi Xing, the Officer of Records, he suddenly realized that even if he had shown good manners, this guy would have still stood up and provoked him. What he had just done was simply given too good an opportunity for them to pass up.

Gazing at that guy out of the corner of his eye, Wu Qi picked up a chunk of bear’s paw and put into his mouth while glaring at the Officer of Records.

Munching on the bear’s paw, Wu Qi sneered and said with a rather slurry voice, "I was eating my food. Why the fuck do you care?"

Laughter burst out again. The rude word of Wu Qi had spoken gave them another reason to laugh at him. The man who started it raised his head up proudly, and said while laughing out loud, "What a rude savage man. Are you really supposed to be here?"

Suddenly, Lu Chengfeng let out a cough.

The cough shut everyone’s mouth. Even Yi Yan, who was laughing till all his fat was trembling, shut his mouth.

Lu Chengfeng stood up slowly and glanced at everyone with an indifferent expression, then, with a deep and strong voice, he said, "Wu Qi had saved my life. Without him, I, Chengfeng, would have been killed by some assassins outside the city. In light of this, I made him my right-hand man. It is I, Chengfeng, who brought him here. Do any of you object me bringing him here?"

All of the officers lowered their heads. Except for Yi Yan and his three siblings, no one dared to look into Lu Chengfeng in the eyes.

Lu Chengfeng smiled briefly, then he took up his chopstick, grabbed a few slices of meat and put into his mouth, munching on them with large noisy bites.

"I have gone through a long journey to get here. I felt hungry, so when I saw these delicacies and fine wine, I ate few bites of them recklessly. Does anybody wish to speak up and stop me?"

The hall went completely silent. No one dared to make any noise. Some of the more cowardly officers began to tremble, their legs touching the low table in front of them and making some noises. With just a few words, Lu Chengfeng had shown his imposing manner.

Yi Yan shook his big fat head, looking to his left and right. He then suddenly burst out with a laugh, "Hey, it is just a misunderstanding. General Lu is a man with a straightforward nature, hahaha... Everyone, let’s ignore those troublesome customs. Ah, really, it was all a misunderstanding! Let’s eat! Everyone, drink till you drop. If you’re not drunk tonight, you’re not giving me any face!"

Lu Chengfeng smiled, then he raised his head and sat back down. He turned around, holding the wine glass in his hand and gave Wu Qi a toast.

Wu Qi clinked his glass with Lu Chengfeng while continuing to feast and drink, and said with a smile, "Thank you, young master! That was very kind of you!"

After raising up his glass and drinking to the toast, Wu Qi jumped up and flipped forward, throwing the wine glass at the man who had provoked him just now. It all happened so sudden, and with Wu Qi moving faster than the wind, the man standing there did not know what happened when the wine glass forcefully smashed into his face, breaking his pointy nose.

‘Crack’. The man screamed out in extreme pain. Two streams of blood shoot out from his nose.

Wu Qi crooked his finger at the man and said with a sneer, "Who didn’t tie his belt and let you escape? I was here eating and drinking by myself, but you provoked me for no apparent reason. What was your purpose? Was your master trying to show his power over my master?"

The smile on Yi Yan’s face suddenly froze, but soon, an even brighter smile jumped on his face.

The Officer of Records, Yi Xing, gazed at Wu Qi and said with a cold shoulder, "Outrageous! Why would I want to provoke General Lu? And, how dare I to provoke General Lu? My hanger-on is a simple and honest man. He always follows the customs and rules. Therefore, he became angry when he saw what you did."

With the wine glass in his hand, Lu Chengfeng sneered, "So, you mean that it was Chengfeng’s hanger-on who didn’t respect the custom, and he is a man with loose conduct?"

Yi Xing changed his expression and didn’t say another word. It was pretty obvious he had admitted to what Lu Chengfeng just said.

Lu Chengfeng’s face immediately darkened. He looked at Yi Xing, sneered, and said, "Wu Qi, since that’s what they want, let’s have a good fight with this gentleman. Remember, don’t ruin the reputation of Liyang’s Lu Family!"

Yi Yan drank some wine and didn’t stop this from happening.

Yi Xing stuck out his chest and shouted, "Number One, since General Lu has said that, you’ll fight with this warrior, Wu Qi. Remember, don’t disgrace the reputation of Ruyang’s Yi family!"

Complete silence reigned in the hall. No one dared to say a word. The situation had taken a sudden turn and turned into a fight between two prominent families, how was it going to end? All the officers sat quietly without looking away or making any noise. They were just some low ranked officers in a remote city. If they got themselves involved in a fight between two prominent families, it would cost them the lives of their entire family!

But, these officers had a bit of excitement in their minds. They had heard a lot about the arguments between young masters from prominent families. Usually, they would end with a fight between their hanger-ons, but today was the first time they had personally witnessed this, and it really excited them!

Also, Lu Chengfeng was from the Lu Family in Liyang. This was the most powerful clan in the Lu Kingdom besides the royal family. If the only hanger-on of Lu Chengfeng was killed here, what would the reaction of the Lu family be? If the Lu family had their revenge on Yi Yan and his siblings, perhaps the government of Little Meng City would experience some changes and everyone here would have an opportunity to move up in rank!

With a nasty grin, Yi Xing’s hanger-on, Number One walked with long strides to the middle of the hall, then raised up his huge fists and beckoned at Wu Qi. With a sarcastic look in his eyes, Wu Qi gazed at Number One’s body, which was taller than him, then he shook his head in disdain.

Anyone could tell that Wu Qi was not taking Number One seriously. Number One’s face became dark. He angrily asked, "What weapon are you using?"

Raising his hands up into the air, Wu Qi sneered and said, "Do you really think I need a weapon to defeat you?"

Wu Qi had slim hands and blue veins could be clearly seen underneath his thin, bronzed skin. His hands didn’t look powerful enough. When a few of the warriors in the room looked at Wu Qi’s hands, they shook their head at the same time.

Number One stared at Wu Qi’s hand and became startled for a moment, and then a ferocious grin lit his face. Without saying anything, he struck at Wu Qi with a punch. Number One’s beefy muscles seemed to spasm, and his fist burst through the air, producing a deep noise. Everyone saw the fist flash forward and penetrate Wu Qi’s head.

The hall exploded with a scream followed by a miserable roar.

A huge amount of blood splashed on the ground. Wu Qi, who everyone thought had had his head smashed by Number One, was standing firmly behind where Number One was previously standing. Number One, who had looked down on Wu Qi, was laying down on the ground with blood flowing from his mouth.

There were only a few men there who actually saw what happened.

When Number One struck forward with his fist, Wu Qi had moved. He had leaped up to his back with lightning fast speed, like a slippery mud fish. Then, he attacked with both palms moving like a windmill, turning and hitting continuously onto Number One’s back. In a split-second, he had hit Number One’s back thirty-six times.

By combining the Hand of Webs and the Palm of Picking Stars, Wu Qi stole a thread of Qi essence from Number One and made it into his own. After this, he transformed his innate water energy into an invisible and erosional airwave, then sent it into Number One’s body and shattered all of his internal organs.

All of Number One’s internal organs were shattered. There were even broken pieces of some unknown organs contained within the blood on the ground. After a horrible scream, Number One died on the spot. The hall exploded with screams while Yi Xing’s expression turned extremely awful. He slammed on the table in front of him with both hands, sending plates and wines all over the floor.

Lu Chengfeng let out a pleasant laugh and then waved at Wu Qi and said, "Wu Qi, what a clean and quick win! Here. This is your reward!"

Lu Chengfeng grabbed something out from his waist. It was a red and yellow colored piece of ancient jade. Wu Qi’s eyes narrowed, he grabbed over the jade and thanked Lu Chengfeng. When he had the jade in his hands, Wu Qi immediately found it was a Fire and Earth double element jadestone, traditionally used for expelling coldness. This was a pretty rare item.

There was also a Fire energy mixed with the Earth energy contained within this jade, but it had been entangled deeply with the jade itself. Wu Qi had only cultivated with the ‘Source of Water Chapter’, so he had yet to have any way of extracting this energy and making it his own.

Shoving the jade into his belt, Wu Qi grabbed a wine glass from a random officer’s table and drank the wine, then he glared at Yi Xing and said, "Officer of Records, any more lessons you want to teach? I, the ignorant savage, am here waiting patiently for your honorable teaching!"

Lu Chengfeng let out a bright smile and proposed a toast to Wu Qi, not saying anything else. He had no intention of stopping Wu Qi’s provocation. He wanted to use Wu Qi to establish his power and let the people in Little Meng City know that he, Lu Chengfeng, was not an easy target.

While fiddling with the wine glass in his hand, Lu Chengfeng glanced at Yi Yan from the corner of his eye, who was sitting in the master’s position.

Yi Yan was holding and playing with a jade plate, smiling and not saying anything. His pure white skin reflected the light from the lanterns, which shined into the eyes of those who looked at him.

Yi Xing was releasing his anger on the table in front of him while breathing rapidly. He glared ferociously at Lu Chengfeng, who was acting like a gentleman, and with a sudden sneer, he said, "Number Two, your elder brother was killed by him. Now it is your turn to get some teaching from mister Wu Qi!"

A skinny man, with a height of nearly ten feet, stood up slowly and walked to stand in front of Wu Qi. The skinny man’s facial features resembled Number One, but he was extremely skinny, as if all of his blood was sucked up by some foreign beings.

When Wu Qi stared at him, he immediately felt a great evil about this man that made him feel uncomfortable. He sped up the circulation of innate water energy in his arms as a chilling water vapor flowed to every single part of his body, forming a layer of tough defense underneath his skin.

The skinny Number Two stared at Wu Qi calmly, then said with a freezing voice, "I am Number Two. You just killed my brother. Though my cultivation is weaker than yours, you must die!"

Wu Qi looked at Number Two. Although there was a distance of nearly twenty feet between them, he still casually pushed his palm forward. Wu Qi attacked with his Hand of Webs, and his innate water energy had formed an invisible, fast spinning whirlpool in his palm. The air in front of his palm became blurry, and the surrounding air started to spin rapidly, producing the indistinct whistling.

Many officers in the hall were startled and raised their heads, looking at Wu Qi’s attack shockingly.

Lu Chengfeng’s eyes narrowed and a look of surprise appeared within them.

"Marvelous! I didn’t expect a hanger-on I just recruited on my way to have such an amazing skill! He can unleash his energy out from his body and cause surrounding natural forces to behave abnormally. This proves he has cultivated to the level of peak Houtian, almost touching the Xiantian stage. Hoho. If he can achieve the level of Xiantian, then he would be of great help to me!"

Lu Chengfeng was thinking fast, and started to plan on how he could get Wu Qi to become genuinely loyal to him.

Wu Qi kept staring at Number Two. The force on his palm becoming stronger and stronger, and the air whirlpool in front of him spinning faster and faster. Soon, the color of the air began to change to a light blue, carrying with it a freezing cold energy, locking onto Number Two from afar.

Suddenly, Wu Qi pushed his palm forward forcefully and the air whirlpool disintegrated, turning into tens of light blue ropes made entirely from wind, flying toward Number Two at an extremely fast speed. If Number Two were entangled by these wind ropes, he wouldn’t be able to escape anymore unless he had a higher cultivation level than Wu Qi.

The Hand of Webs was the most powerful skill in the Underhand Sect. Although it was only a foundational skill in the Scroll of Stealing, it was still a very rare and powerful skill in the mortal world.

Looking at the wind ropes that were speeding toward him, a fear emerged on Number Two’s face. He had now lost the courage to fight Wu Qi face to face. He swung his sleeve and a three inch long white dagger appeared in his hand.