Stealing The Heavens
chapter-365

Right at the moment when Wu Qi and his company walked out of the teleportation formation inside of Ji City, an immense murderous aura towered into the sky from the vicinity of Mount Yu, while a loud, long screech of ghosts shook the entire city, throwing many ordinary civilians to the ground. The sinecures of Great Yan's Cloud Swallow Pavilion had already set out, activating the defensive formations located around the city. Defensive barriers with their power enhanced by experts of White Cloud Immortal Sect rose up to the sky one after another. When the invisible ghost screech came slamming onto these defensive barriers, they rippled with large patches of pale-green gleams, making it look as if the entire Ji City was enveloped in a ball of ghost flame.

Looking at the unusual phenomenon in the sky, Wu Qi was shocked as he asked, "What is happening?"

Xun Kuang frowned, casually pointing his finger toward the sky, shooting out a beam of golden light that exploded into a glorious halo in midair, shaped like a scroll. Very soon, two beams of green light came shooting towards them, transforming into two scholars with tall, dark crowns mounted on their heads, clad in long white robes and wearing pairs of dark long boots. The scholars landed before them, then bowed and said, "Master, Princess Zhang Le brought a force with her and destroyed Mount Yu, killing over several tens of thousands of Yu Academy's apprentices, and has executed the current leader of Yu Academy, Yu Wende. After that, Yu Qianqian used a mystic talisman to summon a Heavenly Ghost from the Ghost Realm. They are fighting a fierce battle at Mount Yu now!"

The Ghost Realm? The Nether Ghost Realm? Heavenly Ghost? Was that a Heavenly Ghost that came from the Ghost Realm?

After inheriting Lady Dark Gold Water's memory, Wu Qi was no longer an absolute ignorant when it came to the knowledge and history of this universe. The Ghost Realm was once part of Pangu Continent. During a war between countless Immortals, Deities, Buddhas, and Fiends in a forgotten Aeon, a fairly huge part of Pangu Continent was broken off, falling into the vast expanse of space. Eventually, it plunged into a clump of innate filthy ghost energy left over by the Great Saint Pangu when he was opening up the universe.

This clump of ghost energy was the first ghost energy that ever existed in this universe. Just like the rest of the innate energies, it possessed a magical power that one could never imagine.

After several Aeons, countless Immortals, Deities, Buddhas, and those who died in the war on that fragment of Pangu Continent awakened, and they had already been transformed into Ghosts. Their temperaments were also influenced by the innate ghost energy, which turned them into existences that were treacherous, eccentric, wild, savage, and ruthless.

Just like living humans, these Heavenly Ghosts had the ability to mate and produce offspring. As a result, the population of Heavenly Ghosts on that fragment of Pangu Continent grew larger and larger, until one day, a war that shook the Heaven and Earth broke out between them and the rest of the Immortals, demons, and fiends. The result of that war was that the Ghost Realm became an existence that was officially acknowledged by all the other powers in the universe. But at the same time, the Ghost Realm was sealed by a joint force of many almighty experts, preventing any Heavenly Ghosts from leaving freely, except those with an overall strength of Gold Immortal realm or above.

Heavenly Ghosts with an overall strength of Gold Immortal realm or above were able to control the instinct in their hearts which made them want to devour the flesh and blood of living things. On the other hand, those Heavenly Ghosts with an overall strength below Gold Immortal realm would behave based on their instinct. If they were at the Ghost realm, their instinct would push them to reproduce as much as possible, while if they were in any other galaxies or heavenly realms, their instinct would make them hunt for Immortals and ordinary mortals, so they could devour their energy essence, flesh, and blood.

Now, using a mystic talisman, Yu Qianqian had summoned a Heavenly Ghosts from the Ghost Realm!

Upon hearing the news, Wu Qi stamped his feet repeatedly with anger as he cursed Yu Qianqian's ancestors with a loud voice. With blood rushing to his eyes, he flew into the sky, transforming into a dark beam as he shot straight towards Mount Yu. Wu Qi had a very good eyesight, and when he exercised Mystic Eyes of Universe, he could see what was going on near Mount Yu even from the distance of over one hundred miles. He saw Princess Zhang Le wielding a longsword that measured several tens of miles long, hacking right onto the top of a Heavenly Ghost's head, who stood over ten thousand feet tall and had an ugly and ferocious-looking appearance.

The longsword shattered abruptly, splitting into countless streaks of brutal thunderbolts that looked like flood dragons, while exploding on the Heavenly Ghost's body. Balls of electric plasma, as huge as small hills, shot randomly in all directions. It greatly frightened many Great Yan's cultivators who were attacking the Heavenly Ghost from all directions, forcing them to flee in a flurry. Nevertheless, a few Gold Core cultivators were still smitten by the thunderbolts, howling miserably as they fell to the ground with dark smoke curling up from their bodies, twitching convulsively while tiny electric arcs and sparks kept darting out from their skins.

When the longsword shattered, Princess Zhang Le spun and left without the slightest hesitation. A five-colored auspicious cloud carried her from below, giving her a flying speed faster than Wu Qi using the Acquired Magnetic Swordbeam. Wu Qi was stunned as he gave Princess Zhang Le a glance, then quickly threw out Sword of Greedy Wolf, which transformed into a pitch-black beam of light, with fourteen wolf heads the size of water buckets wheeling around it. It pierced through the air and shot straight towards the Heavenly Ghost.

The Heavenly Ghost, whose body crept with a tingling sensation after being hit by the longsword that took shape from thunderbolts, threw its head back and gave a furious roar. Flustered and exasperated, it sprung tens of miles up into the sky, then came leaping down from above while stretching out all four long claws of it, trying to catch Princess Zhang Le with them.

Jing Ke transformed into a beam of white light and shot over from a corner, slamming onto the Heavenly Ghost's body with a loud clang. The dark-green skin of this Heavenly Ghost was extremely tough; after the white beam generated a large number of white sparks that sprinkled all over the place, Jing Ke could only rip open roughly ten feet wide skin near its abdomen. A few drops of dark, stinking blood oozed out of the wound, yet it did not cause any actual damage to the Heavenly Ghost.

Instead, Jing Ke revealed himself from the white beam as he stopped exercising the technique, holding his head with both hands while moving backward at his top speed. His neck was twisted in a very unnatural manner, as the heavy blow just now had dislocated his neck. Fuming with rage, Jing Ke cursed Yu Qianqian under his breath, while quickly retreating back into the group of Great Yan's cultivators. Hastily, a few tall and burly generals came to him, holding his head and began to twist and turn.

Amidst a shrill wolf howl, Sword of Greedy Wolf stabbed right into the Heavenly Ghost's chest. A loud crash rang out, and the sword was knocked several hundred feet back, while a roughly one foot long, one-inch deep wound was ripped open on the ghost's chest. Once again, a few drops of dark, stinking blood oozed out of the wound, while it still did not cause any actual damage to the Heavenly Ghost.

"That's a really tough skin! This Heavenly Ghost does live up to its reputation!" Wu Qi cried in shock.

According to Lady Dark Gold Water's memories, these Heavenly Ghosts were extremely difficult to kill, unless someone could attack them with special ghost-subduing divine ability from Buddhism, or the even rarer Tranquil Clouds technique from Daoist Sects. Generally speaking, Heavenly Ghosts were capable of fighting someone three realms above them. In other words, a Heavenly Ghost whose overall strength was equal to a Thirty-Sixth Tier Heaven Immortal could easily challenge a Thirty-Third Tier Heaven Immortal with its tough skin and muscle.

When fighting a Heavenly Ghost, one could never fight it head-on. The only way to defeat it, or even kill it completely, was to tangle it in a prolonged battle, relying on numerical superiority to deplete all its energy.

Wu Qi cried out with a loud voice, telling everyone the method to defeat this Heavenly Ghost that he just thought of. Far away from him, sitting in the chariot, Yan Dan gave out his command as he heard Wu Qi's method. Immediately, countless Great Yan's cultivators changed the pattern of their formation and began to attack the Heavenly Ghost with a guerrilla-style, not fighting it head-on.

All of a sudden Princess Zhang Le caught a glimpse of Wu Qi, and she roared with a hearty laughter instantly. With agile movement, she avoided the Heavenly Ghost's giant claws, and with a spin of her body, she came right next to Wu Qi and hugged one of his arms. Impatiently, she ran her hands all over Wu Qi's body, then gave him a thorough glance. Finally, she said joyfully, "That's nice, all your arms and legs are still here. Are you hurt? Have you suffered any internal injury?"

Wu Qi gave her a smile, placed his arm around her slender waist, and said, "I'm fine, not even a strand of my hair is hurt." While saying that, Wu Qi was laughing bitterly in his heart. There were a few times he was almost killed by someone on Xue Yuan Planet, not to mention a strand of his hair being hurt. Especially the torture Lady Dark Gold Water made him suffered, and the few forced kowtows that made him cough blood! Nevertheless, how could he tell Princess Zhang Le about all these bad experiences?

Upon hearing Wu Qi tell her that he was unhurt, Princess Zhang Le breathed out a sigh of relief. After that, she finally thought of Yan Qijun as she asked, "How about my dad? He hasn't died yet, right?"

Evidently, there was a vast difference between the attitude Princess Zhang Le had for Wu Qi and Yan Qijun. When she saw Wu Qi, she asked if he were hurt or suffered any internal injury, while when it came to Yan Qijun, her attitude was casual as she just asked 'He hasn't died yet, right?'. She was giving off an impression that even if Wu Qi's finger were slightly cut, it would be a grave matter, while if Yan Qijun were crippled permanently by the enemy, as long as he was still alive, she would have her mind at rest.

Yan Qijun, who followed closely behind Wu Qi and rushed over to the battlefield, was so angry that his facial features were twisting. Apparently, this was the treatment he received from the beloved daughter he adored the most!

Gritting his teeth, Yan Qijun forced a smile on his twisting face and said, "Zi Xuan, daddy is safe and sound. Thanks to Wu Qi, all of us were rescued from the calamity. If not for him, I'll be surely killed by the enemy!" He stared at Mount Yu coldly, which had already turned into an emptied field, then said, "My darling daughter is very clever indeed, as you've come to settle the scores with Yu Academy! It is the people from Yu Academy that instigated someone to assassinate your daddy!"

Princess Zhang Le's beautiful face turned cold. Hastily, she told them what had happened during the past few days.

Wu Qi raised his eyebrows in extreme anger as he learned what happened. An immense killing intent rose from the bottom of his heart and rushed into his brain. Yu Qianqian actually sent someone to disguise as Lao Ai, trying to scheme against Princess Zhang Le?

He wrapped his arms tightly around Princess Zhang Le's shoulder, and right before Yan Dan, Yan Qijun, and all the Great Yan's cultivators, he gave her cherry lips a deep, powerful kiss. Princess Zhang Le struggled weakly, with her little hands gently punching a few times on Wu Qi's chest. Then, she simply extended her arms and braced Wu Qi's neck from behind.

Yan Dan and Yan Qijun's eyes nearly popped out. Especially Yan Qijun, as he was trembling from head to toe with anger. ‘Do both of you have any respect for your father and your father-in-law? Also, there are so many people around, don't you think it is too bold to do that right here, right now?’

After a long, deep kiss, Wu Qi grabbed Princess Zhang Le up and threw her to the back. Laughing loudly, he said, "Be obedient and stay behind me, Zi Xuan! Let us, the men, do all the dirty work of killing and slaughtering! Haha, Yu Qianqian the spinster, Master Wu Qi is here!"

Letting loose a loud cry, Wu Qi cast out his sword beam, with both hands gripping an immortal talisman personally made by Patriarch Jiang Yun each. He began to quickly thrust towards the Heavenly Ghost, who was showing its might amidst the group of Great Yan's cultivators. This Heavenly Ghost possessed a great physical strength, and its fleshly body was extremely tough. Although it did not use any magical power or divine ability, it could easily destroy any defensive treasures used by those Great Yan's cultivators with just a casual punch. While Great Yan's cultivators had employed the guerrilla fighting style, they were still steadily losing their ground.

Yu Qianqian was standing on top of the Heavenly Ghost's head, glancing around coldly.

When she heard Wu Qi's laugh, her face turned even more unsightly. Unconsciously, she looked towards her dress stained with blood, then suddenly pointed her finger at Wu Qi and roared wildly in a hysterical manner, "Heavenly Ghost, kill, kill, kill, kill him!!!"

The gigantic Heavenly Ghost, who could move with extreme agility, let loose a loud cry. Suddenly, it turned its head, fixing its gaze right at Wu Qi.

The surrounding void turned dimmed abruptly, as if all the light had been absorbed into the Heavenly Ghost's body. All the available light sources within one thousand miles had disappeared, with only a tall and big Heavenly Ghost hovering midair, its body emitting a faint green light. An enormous, bizarre pressure was pressing heavily against everyone's heart. Apart from Xun Kuang and Mo Di, who were rushing to the battlefield at top speed, no one in the field could move even just a little bit.

Slowly, the Heavenly Ghost opened its mouth. A ball of blinding light was seen spinning slowly inside its huge mouth.

All of a sudden, the Heavenly Ghost let loose a loud cry, while amidst countless bloodcurdling ghost screeches, a beam of green light that measured several hundred feet in diameter smashed mercilessly towards Wu Qi.

The heaven and earth trembled violently, as rifts opened amidst the void, while countless ghost flames emerged out of thin air.