Stealing The Heavens
chapter-373

Minor Heavenly Circle Realm was one of the many low-lower grade heavenly realms in this vast universe. While nobody really knew exactly how many more heavenly realms such as this were out there in the universe, they were all tiny fragments knocked off Pangu Continent, the smallest, most broken fragments with the least amount of natural resources and energies.

The Minor Heavenly Circle Realm that Wu Qi and his company currently were standing on was a landmass roughly the shape of a rectangle, measuring about one billion miles in length, five hundred million miles in width, and one hundred million miles in thickness. The gravity here was ten times that of Myriad Immortals Planet. If an ordinary mortal were brought here unprepared, the sudden increase in gravity force would crush him to death.

The density of the natural energy here was slightly lesser than of Myriad Immortals Planet, but the difference was not too great. Although Minor Heavenly Circle Realm was a low-lower grade heavenly ream, it still had a great number of energy veins, and the natural energies produced by them on a daily basis culminated into a significant amount. More importantly, although it was a vast landmass with many energy veins, it was only occupied by very few humans and beasts.

The Immortal Monarch who was in charge of this place was 'Immortal Li He', a Thirty-Fourth Tier Heaven Immortal from the Heaven. He was aided by a group of Immortal officials comprising of two Thirty-Fifth Tier Heaven Immortals and eight Thirty-Sixth Tier Heaven Immortals, while the rest of the officials were all of the Nascent Divinity realm, making them less than fifty in total. Apart from them, this landmass was inhabited by their direct relatives and clan members, which made up a total population of fewer than thirty thousand people.

Although the Minor Heavenly Circle Realm was a vast landmass with the total number of energy veins ten times greater than the Myriad Immortals Planet and White Cloud Planet combined, it was only inhabited by so few people. On top of that, after a thorough purging, besides Immortal Li He, his Immortal Officials, and their clan members, not even a single demon beast could be found here. As a result, the consumption of the natural energies was so little that after years of accumulation, the difference between the total volume of natural energies here and Myriad Immortals Planet was negligible.

There were several dozens of galaxies of different sizes revolving around the huge landmass of Minor Heavenly Circle Realm in the vast expanse of space. Liyuan Galaxy was one of them, the smallest and the remotest one. Nevertheless, it still had several hundreds of planets, where cultivators could live, and several dozens of immortal sects of various sizes. All these planets and immortal sects were nominally ruled by Immortal Li He.

When Wu Qi and the company walked out of the teleportation formation, a young-looking Immortal clad in a purple robe had already been waiting for them. He had a white jade medallion hanging from the waist, on the surface of which, three lively lotus flowers were carved, and were exuding wisps of immortal energies that shrouded the young Immortal. This Immortal was none other than Immortal Li He, the Immortal Monarch that ruled this part of the universe.

After inhering Lady Dark Gold Water's memories, Wu Qi had gained a deep understanding of the ranking of officials in the Heaven. A white jade medallion with three lotus flowers was a symbol of a Thirty-Fourth Tier Immortal Official. As a Thirty-Fourth Tier Immortal Official in charge of the administrative work in Minor Heavenly Circle Realm, a place so remote in the universe, his rank was similar to a village cader back on Earth, and was a deputy cader of a very poor village.

Immortal Li He's face was suffused with a flattering smile when he saw Immortal Green Staff. He came forward quickly, cupping his fist while he kept bowing and said, "Senior, Exalted Immortal, welcome back! Has everything gone well on your journey? Are you well? And who are these fellow Daoists...?"

Immortal Green Staff responded half-heartedly, "This is Patriarch Jiang Yun, the founding Ancestral Master of White Cloud Immortal Sect in Liyuan Galaxy. He is also my youngest disciple. Hmm, these kids are Jiang Yun's disciples. Immortal Monarch, if they need any help in the future..."

Although Immortal Green Staff did not finish his words, Immortal Li He had immediately made a promise by saying, "Don't worry, you can count on me! Patriarch Jiang Yun of White Cloud Immortal Sect? Aye, if only I'd known earlier that Patriarch Jiang Yun is senior Immortal's disciple, I'd have long paid him a visit! You may rest assured that I'll take all White Cloud Immortal Sect's matters as mine!"

Immortal Green Staff answered indifferently, tilting his head up as he said, "Adjust the teleportation formation and make Puluo Heavenly Realm as the destination. We need to rush back as soon as possible."

Immortal Li He nodded his head vigorously. With utmost hospitality and flattering manner, he brought the company into a Cave Abode several miles away. There stood a very complicated teleportation formation, with a total of thirty-six layers of formation maps constructed throughout its internal and external structure. Furthermore, it was not an ordinary energy stone that was socketed at its core, but a head-sized, pale-golden immortal stone that was exuding a faint immortal energy.

Wu Qi's pupils constricted to the size of a needle tip as he stealthily stared at the immortal stone.

An energy stone was a body of energies that took shape from natural energies. Even a Heaven Immortal could extract energies from it to improve his cultivation base. However, for Immortals above the realm of Heaven Immortal such as Gold Immortals, energy stones were like firewood scattered across the roadside, merely serving as some consumable products. What Gold Immortals needed were no longer energy stones, but immortal stones - the stones that formed purely from immortal energies.

A portion of immortal energy was equal to the power of ten thousand portions purified supreme-grade energies. So, in theory, the value of an immortal stone was similar to ten thousand pieces of supreme-grade energy stones. With that, it was not tough to calculate how valuable an immortal stone was.

Immortal stones came in two ways. One of them was being produced from the rare immortal energy veins, forming themselves from immortal energies. The other was being found in the best energy stone veins, and produced through constant compressing and tempering of at least one Aeon of time. No matter which way did they came from, the preciousness of immortal stones was self-explanatory.

What made an immortal stone so precious was that once all the immortal energies contained in it were fully extracted, as long as it was placed in a place full of immortal energies for a period of time, the level of immortal energies in it would be fully restored. It was exactly like having a battery that could be recharged unlimitedly. Although the time it took to be fully recharged was longer, that still gave it its greatest value. Compared to ordinary energy stones, which would turn into useless stones after all their energies were extracted, immortal stones were much more precious.

Wu Qi had countless of energy stones in his possession, but he did not own even one immortal stone.

Although there were countless energy veins on Myriad Immortals Planet, Cang Ao Immortal Abode was the only place that one could find immortal energy. In addition to that, the immortal energy vein in Cang Ao Immortal Abode was not a natural energy vein, but one that was forcibly transformed from natural energies by someone using an Energy-Condensing and Immortal Ascension Ball. As a result, Cang Ao Immortal Abode did not produce even a single immortal stone.

The unexpected encounter of an immortal stone here had filled Wu Qi's heart with a burning desire, wishing that he could just grab it over with one swift move.

Nevertheless, as Immortal Li He and Immortal Green Staff were standing not far away from him, he dared not to act recklessly.

Giving the immortal stone a covetous gaze, Wu Qi held Princess Zhang Le's hand as he followed behind Immortal Green Staff and walked into the huge, complicated teleportation formation. He glanced around with his divine will and remembered all the key components of it in his mind. He did not find any description of this teleportation formation in the Scroll of Stealing. Obviously, its age was not as ancient as the shadow figure that passed the Scroll of Stealing to Wu Qi, so it was reasonable for the shadowy figure to not have any knowledge about it.

Because of the presence of Immortal Green Staff, Immortal Li He dared not to utter any nonsense. With lavish hospitality, he invited everybody into the teleportation formation, and did not even ask the fee for using it, which was a usual practice. Instead, he personally produced a great amount of upper-grade energy stones and mounted them in the formation. Then, while wearing a big smile on his face, he bid farewell to Immortal Green Staff before activating the teleportation formation.

Wu Qi was sneering inwardly. It seemed to him that these Immortals carried themselves just like ordinary mortals, eagerly currying favor with those in power. As Immortal Green Staff came from Yuan Hua Sect of Puluo Heavenly Realm, Immortal Li He had used his own energy stones to pay for the fees that needed to maintain the regular functioning of the teleportation formation. And, he was even an Immortal Official of the Heaven!

In the next moment, a tremendous pressure came pressing at Wu Qi from the surroundings, forcing him to let out a muffled snort. A stream of energy sprayed out from his body as it transformed into a bright energy barrier and protected him and Princess Zhang Le within. The energy barrier kept wobbling and shivering, and there were a few times it was nearly crushed by the pressure. Glancing around, Wu Qi noticed that everyone had cast out their defensive treasures. The most appealing one was Catfish-flood-dragon, as she produced her big, custom-made hammer, and had it hovering above her head, while she was surrounded by a sheet of pitch black, watery barrier. Among all of the ones present, she had the most relaxed look.

Time passed. It seemed only a blink of an eye, but it also felt as if a few days and nights had gone by. In any case, during the process of breaking through space at high speed, time would lose its real meaning.

A bright light leaped into their eyes again, then they felt their bodies become even heavier. Wu Qi and his companion had arrived at a place with a splendid scenery. The place was fully surrounded by mountains off in a distance, right in the middle of which was a lake of green water. There was an island in the lake, and the teleportation formation that Wu Qi and his companion came out from was located on this very island.

This was Puluo Heavenly Realm, a mid-lower grade heavenly realm. Its length and width were thirty times that of Minor Heavenly Circle Realm. The Immortal Monarch stationed in this place was 'Immortal Chuan', a Twenty-Fifth Tier Heaven Immortal officially assigned by the Heaven. Under him were nearly one hundred Immortal Officials of Heaven Immortal realm, and over one thousand officials of Nascent Divinity realm. The density of the natural energy here was comparable, and sometimes even greater than Myriad Immortals Planet, and it had an incredible gravity as well, fifteen times stronger than Myriad Immortals Planet.

When standing before Immortal Li He, Immortal Green Staff could put on the look of a lofty and senior expert. But, when he arrived at this place, he turned himself into someone with a low profile. He smilingly cupped his fist and bowed at a few Nascent Divinity cultivators who were keeping guard near the teleportation formation, then paid them a sum of upper-grade energy stones according to a fixed price.

A total of 180 upper-grade energy stones were paid. 120 was the number of energy stones that Wu Qi and his companions had used during the teleportation process, while another 60 was paid to Puluo Heavenly Realm as a road toll. The few Nascent Divinity cultivators dared not to show the slightest disrespect. While addressing Immortal Green Staff 'Senior Immortal', they asked respectfully if he were here to pay a visit to Immortal Chuan or having any other business.

Immortal Green Staff laughed. While he was about to say something, a strong light suddenly burst out of a teleportation formation right next to them. A group of people was revealed amidst the strong light.

Upon looking at the people that appeared inside the teleportation formation, Immortal Green Staff's face flickered instantly as he smote the ground forcefully with the wooden staff in his hand.

"Ke He, why am I seeing you wherever I go?" Immortal Green Staff actually took the initiative and provoked the newly arrived people.

Among the group of people was a middle-aged Daoist. He stood less than five feet tall, and was so thin that it made him look like a mere skeleton. The middle-aged Daoist rolled his eyes that were flickering with flames as he cast a glance over. "Green loggerhead! Has your woman's face gotten any better? Tsk, tsk, how is the taste of my magical treasure, huh?" He said while roaring with a loud laughter.

Immortal Green Staff snorted coldly. A large sheet of green light leaped out from his wooden staff.

Wu Qi's eyes darted from side to side. Then, he pointed at that Immortal Ke He suddenly and taunted, "Where does this stray dog come from? Why is it barking and trying to bite people here?"

Immortal Green Staff was taken aback, and he burst into a laugher and said, "He is indeed a stray dog!"

Immortal Ke He flew into a great rage instantly. Pointing his finger at Wu Qi, he roared furiously, "What an ignorant kid! You are courting death!"

Opening his mouth, Immortal Ke He shot out a sword beam, smashing it viciously down towards Wu Qi's head.