Stealing The Heavens
chapter-258

Wu Qi was now shooting forward, riding on the Acquired Magnetic Swordbeam. While doing so, he was comparing the pros and cons of this sword maneuver art with all the others that he had mastered. Although the escape art of innate five elements he learned from Scroll of Stealing could travel at a very incredible speed and was a very miraculous technique, as it was an innate escape art, it could easily attract covetous eyes. Hence, he could not use it openly.

Meanwhile, the sword controlling art of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect only focused on the might and offensive strength of the sword beam, but not the traveling speed. For such reason, he felt rather ashamed of using it. He would rather ride on a cloud and drift through the sky slowly than riding on a sword beam that flew slowly, as that would make him into a laughing stock for all the other sects of Great Yan Dynasty.

However, this sword maneuver art which was recorded in the technique of Acquired Magnetic Swordbeam that he robbed from Zhang Yi, its speed had simply put a fright in him.

The Sword of Greedy Wolf was completely wrapped by a layer of magnetic force, while magnetic forces from the surrounding were attracted, using them to increase the speed of the sword beam. There was a magnetic force pulling the sword beam at the forefront, while there was another magnetic force pushing it from behind. The further Wu Qi traveled with the dark beam, the faster the speed of the sword beam became. Right when he stepped onto the sword and flew into the sky, its speed was merely fifty-one and a half times faster than using the controlling art of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect. But, after he flew over a distance of two thousand miles, the speed of it had increased to three times.

Like a dark shadow, the black beam streaked through the sky soundlessly. As the surrounding air was pushed away by the magnetic forces, it allowed Wu Qi to travel at high speed without generating any wind breaking noises, like a fish swimming in water. "This sword maneuver art is indeed Zhang Yi's specialty, it is too wonderful for words!"

He reckoned the power of the Acquired Magnetic Swordbeam in his mind meticulously. If this sword technique were exercised together with magnetic force, the power it could unleash was just too strong for words. On top of that, it was the natural enemy to all flying swords and magical treasures that were made using metal. Once these weapons and treasures made using metals were greeted with this Acquired Magnetic Swordbeam, it was no different than sending a herd of sheep to a pack of wolves. They would definitely be ground to shreds by the sword beam.

And yet, in the world of cultivators, how many of their flying swords and magical treasures were not made using metal?

Through his calculation and comparison, Wu Qi was shocked to find out, that once he cultivated this sword technique to the perfect stage, the speed of his sword beam would be at least one hundred times faster than when he exercised the escape art of five elements. This was a sword maneuver art that ranked at the top for speed. Furthermore, in the future, if he could turn this Acquired Magnetic Swordbeam into Innate Magnetic Swordbeam by nourishing it with innate earth element energy essence, his flying speed would definitely reach a jaw-dropping level.

"Excellent!" Wu Qi chuckled strangely, while hastily placing all the Long Bo men back into Spirit Breeding Ring. After that, he retracted the sword beam, then exercised the escape art of earth element as he stealthily and carefully sneaked towards the territory controlled by Great Yan's army. As he was still in the territory controlled by Great Qin's army, he could not fly openly in the sky with a sword beam. Once his trace was detected by some experts from Qin army, he would be in a perilous position.

Although he still had a trump card - the Heavenly Hundred Spirit Warring Formation deployed by those Long Bo men, the formation caused too great a consumption to the one hundred Long Bo men. When he used it to defeat Zhang Yi just now, the formation had depleted Long Yuan and all his people's energy. With the cultivation base of Long Yuan and all his people at present, this formation could only be used as the last resort, and yet a trick that he could use regularly.

Off Wu Qi went for another one thousand miles of distance, avoiding several hundred teams of Qin scouts along the way. Then suddenly, he noticed a very peculiar aura coming from the peak of a mountain to his south. The aura felt ancient, obscure, profound, and when it rippled it matched perfectly with the Dao of Heaven and Earth. If not for Wu Qi's Nascent Divinity being born out of the nourishment from innate energies of five elements, which put it on a level that was extremely matching with the Dao of Heaven and Earth, he would have never discovered the existence of this aura.

"An extraordinary treasure is about to be unearthed? Or, someone is using a very rare and extraordinary treasure?" Wu Qi felt his heart itching with excitement. He hesitated for a brief moment, but at last, the desire for the extraordinary treasure surpassed the consideration of his own safety. Once the decision was made, he turned the escape art of acquired earth element to escape art of innate earth element, transforming his body into a partly visible yellow beam that connected with the entire ground. When that was done, he moved carefully towards the direction where the aura was sensed to be coming from.

When he used the escape art of acquired earth element, he could travel under the ground like a fish swimming in the water, and when he used escape art of innate earth element, he could turn himself into the ground, and move to any direction he wished thought the impulsive motion of the ground. No matter it was the elusiveness or the speed, the escape art of innate earth element was millions of times better than escape art of acquired earth element. And, this was the difference between innate and acquired. Unless there were some other people who were also cultivating innate techniques, and were fortunate enough to possess a thread of innate energy, nobody could discover Wu Qi's trace.

While traveling underground, Wu Qi carefully summoned a thread of Divine Flame of Order, using it to wipe out the Nascent Divinity seal that Zhang Yi left on the storage ring. It turned into some wandering soul particles, and were immediately absorbed and digested by Wu Qi, becoming a small tonic to his soul. After that, he sent his divine will into the ring, and what he saw made him burst out with a shocking cry.

In the meanwhile, at a distance of over one thousand miles away, Zhang Yi had just climbed staggeringly out from the large trench. As he looked at the Thousand-Mountains Seals and Mountain-Controlling Bell held in his hands, the two prime treasures of his, he felt like weeping but had no tears. Blood suddenly burst out from all seven apertures of his. He let out a painful howl, threw his head back and cried furiously, "Wu Qi, you filthy thief! You... with your cultivation base of Gold Core realm, how is it possible that you can crack my Nascent Divinity seal? You... you little b*stard! What kind of evil method had you used to break my defensive mechanism?! Those are my private belongings that I've spent two thousand years to accumulate!"

When Wu Qi sent his divine will into the storage ring, what he saw was several dozens of bookshelves, all fully filled with books. Wu Qi ran his divine will over these books, and to his surprise, those were all mystic techniques and cultivation techniques practiced by the civilian and military officials of Great Qin Dynasty. On top of that, all the books had the comments left behind by Guigu'zi, Xu Fu, Li Si, Zhang Yi, and some other people. Obviously, the civilian officials of Great Qin Dynasty were conducting a systematic analysis and optimization of these techniques.

The books found in Zhang Yi's storage ring should be the daily tasks that he had to carry out. However, since his storage ring was robbed by Wu Qi, these books of techniques that embodied the painstaking work of many civilian and military officials of Great Qin Dynasty had now become Wu Qi's war trophies. Looking at these books, Wu Qi could not help but have a big smile on his face. Among them, some were mystic techniques of five elements, and he could always practice them himself.

Apart from that, he could also offer these books of technique to Yan Dan, and that would be an extremely huge merit! Basically, with these books, half of the divine abilities and cultivation techniques of all the civilian and military officials of Great Qin Dynasty were now fully exposed. However, Bai Qi and some other formidable experts would never take out the most profound part of their cultivation technique and let someone else study them. As a matter of fact, they were considered selfless, when they were willing to take out half of their cultivation technique and let someone else optimize for them.

Nevertheless, with these books that covered half of their cultivation techniques and divine abilities, a huge merit was already in Wu Qi's grip. All his internal organs were shivering with excitement. He thought to himself, that this Zhang Yi was such a generous man, or perhaps, Zhang Yi never worried that he would be captured alive by someone, and even have his storage ring robbed by someone else? Wu Qi shook his head. Sure enough, no man should be overconfident of himself, as that would turn into arrogance, and arrogance always made one suffer losses.

Wu Qi reached out to a book with his divine will, as he wanted to know the secret about the mystic technique that contained in this book - the 'Analysis of Dark Water Centipede'. But suddenly, countless tiny runes shot out from the book, forming a fireball that burned towards Wu Qi's divine will. Wu Qi quickly retracted his divine will, and dared not to steal a look at any of the books again. Sure enough, all the books were attached with countless restrictive runes. Unless they were opened with some specific methods, the books would self-destruct when someone tried to open them by force.

He shook his head and murmured under his breath, "Well, no matter what, after I offer these books to Yan Dan, he will surely record this as my credit. As for whether can they open these books, that is not my business anymore, for that will depend on those Imperial Advisors and sinecures of Great Yan Dynasty, if they do have the ability to do that. Presumably, this protective method is developed by Guigu'zi. Old Mister Mo Di, Old Mister Xun Kuang, both of you can't be defeated by him!"

Apart from these books, in the ring was a massive amount of spirit pills and medicines, demon cores, blood essence of demon beasts, and all sorts of very rare and valuable treasures that looked strange and bizarre. Although on the average, the quality of these treasures was one grade lower than of those found in Black Dragon Spirit Ring, and the quantity was lesser as well, they could still be considered a wealth of an astronomical figure. After all, these were the private possessions of Zhang Yi that he had accumulated over two thousand years, and even if he already spent most of them on his own clan members, there was still plenty left in the ring.

There was also an extra surprise for Wu Qi, as he actually found an Acquired Pearl of Fire Element that had fully taken shape, and two clumps of acquired energy essence that had yet to take their final shape, but looked extremely condense and could be directly used in crafting upper-grade magical treasure or even spirit items. The elements of these two clumps of acquired energy essences was water and wood, and they were the variants of acquired energy of five elements. The water element energy essence was a clump of freezing cold air, while the wood element energy essence was a ball of electric energy that was emitting a blinding gleam.

"Wonderful!" Wu Qi laughed again. By just robbing Zhang Yi alone, he had gained himself such a marvelous loot. How could that not make him happy?

Perhaps, he should work something out, so he could use the Heavenly Hundred Spirit Warring Formation to rob those important ministers of Great Qin Dynasty when they were alone and away from their comrades. Even though all of them had their bodies containing the suicide blood curse left behind by Guigu'zi and Xu Fu, which prevented Wu Qi from killing them, they were all moving treasure vaults!

While pondering who his next target would be, Wu Qi had stealthily arrived at the proximity of the lofty mountain, poking his head out from a cliff densely covered with wisterias. Right opposite to him was the lone peak of the mountain. There, he saw 108 young boys and girls with a grim face, each carrying a long, black banner with a map of stars drawn.

Then he saw Guigu'zi, with a strange-shaped turtle shell that was several dozen feet wide, hovering in front of him. Using a very ancient looking writing brush that was made using a bone, Guigu'zi was quickly drawing one rune after another, that looked very profound, on the turtle shell. There were various images of mountains, rivers, and people, blinking and flashing on the turtle shell. But, they looked vague, as if there was a layer of frosted glass lying on top of them, obscure and blurry.

Next to Guigu'zi stood Ying Ziying, face pale and grim. He was looking at Guigu'zi casting the spell with a nervous expression in his eyes.

All of a sudden, Guigu'zi cried out with a stern voice, "Listen to my command, all the ghosts and deities between the Heaven and Earth! With the Heavenly Stars the spirit is condensed, with the Nether Evil the soul is gathered! For all the energy of Spiritism will be gathered in this place!"

Then, he waved his hand in the air, and with that, a chilly wind immediately came blowing by and filled the mountain ridges. After that, a vast spirit light suddenly shot out from the top of Guigu'zi's head, in which, a token was seen bobbing up and down. Its surface was engraved with countless images of ghosts and deities.

Wu Qi shook his head. Although this token was also a rare treasure, it was definitely not the aura that he sensed earlier, as the aura he sensed had a higher grade than this token.

When the token made its debut, the strong light emitting from the turtle shell became stronger and brighter. However, the vague images of those mountains, rivers, and people were still obscure and looked partly visible.

Guigu'zi frowned. He cried out in a low voice and pointed his finger out, and immediately, a dim, white beam shot out from his fingertip.

In an instant, the ancient, obscure aura appeared once again. Guigu'zi's frown deepened as he looked at the white beam, then he clenched his jaws as if he just made up his mind. He bit the tip of his tongue, and sprayed out a mouthful of blood onto the white beam.