Stealing The Heavens
chapter-696

Pangu Continent was absorbing chaotic energy from the void and expanding all the time rapidly.

It was said that during the period when the Great Saint Pangu had just turned his body into Pangu Continent, it expanded by a centimeter in a day and a night. But, after countless Aeons, as the continent grew larger, the chaotic energy it absorbed each day and night caused it to expand by a million miles! If the continent were a disk, its radius was increased by a million miles in just a day and a night. This was a very horrible concept; in other words, the area it added every day was equivalent to the land size of dozens of provinces.

Because of this, although Great Yu was the master of Pangu Continent, it did not fully occupy the whole continent.

The Human Emperor had once decreed that all the people of Great Yu had the innate responsibility to reproduce more offspring. That was to say, the Human Emperor encouraged his people to reproduce as many children as possible! In response to the emperor's call, all direct descendants of noble clans in Great Yu had at least thirty to fifty wives and concubines, and at most three hundred to five hundred, or even more than two thousand wives and concubines. Relying on their strong and healthy bodies, they worked very hard every night to plant seeds; therefore, the large clans of Great Yu usually had a large number of members.

Every eighteen years, Great Yu would gather a large number of descendants from large clans and let them take soldiers and people to build new provinces, counties, and cities in all directions. Even so, their efforts could not keep pace with the expansion of the continent. The edge of Pangu Continent was still filled with billions of miles of undeveloped land. In those regions, there were no people, only the newly formed hills and mountains, tenacious plants, and all sorts of natural treasures directly produced in the chaos.

Wu Qi and the others were now near a mountain that was born just three years ago.

The mountain was very far from King Yang Qiu's field headquarter in Mingu Province. Even if Wu Qi flew with all his power or ran without a rest with Kuafu Steps, it would take him at least a thousand years to reach here, a place on the edge of Pangu Continent. Luckily, King Yang Qiu had Yu Gu, a Supreme Oracle, at his service. With the ability of his Supreme Tower to shatter through the void, it took them only three days to get here.

Standing in their current position and looking into the distance, one could see the dark sky and flickering stars, as well as a thick layer of grayish white gas that blanketed the sky. That was the legendary energy of chaos, which Pangu Continent absorbed directly from the void and turned into its own mountains and rivers. Occasionally, when some essence of the chaos energy condensed together, it turned into all sorts of spirit herbs that Immortals cultivators had always dreamed about.

Because it was only about three years old, the weather in the region ten billion miles around the mountains was very unstable. Spring, summer, autumn, and winter were not obvious here. There would be thunderstorms pouring down from the sky at one moment, and the next moment would have it be replaced by a heavy snow. Frequently, in just less than a quarter of an hour after the snow fell, hailstones as big as hills would rain down with deafening roars.

When Wu Qi arrived here in Yu Gu's Supreme Tower, they were struck by a terrible hailstorm.

Although Wu Qi was a man of wide experience, and he had even witnessed countless terrible natural hazards in the high altitude, he was still stunned and rendered speechless by the magnitude of the hailstorm. The smallest hailstones were about a thousand feet in diameter, and although they looked like hailstones, they were actually highly concentrated forms of Acquired Water-elemental energy. Each hailstone was like a meteor, falling from the sky with a long bright tail. As soon as they hit the ground, they erupted into huge mushroom clouds. It was like millions of nuclear warheads were being detonated simultaneously in this area. The terrible force of impact made the land billions of miles across tremble violently.

But, all that they could cause was the trembling of the ground. The rocks and dirt on Pangu Continent were exceptionally strong, especially on fresh land like this which had just been born from the chaos. It was so strong that even ordinary Gold Immortals could not dig a hole on the ground. So, despite the incredible power of the hailstorm, not even a small stone fell from the mountain. Instead, the hailstones burst into thick and cold liquids that poured down from the thousands of miles tall mountaintops and rushed into the plains like waterfalls.

Each drop of the liquid, which was the physical shape of acquired water-elemental energy, weighed ten thousand pounds; and when they came pouring down from the top of the mountain in the form of waterfalls, the strength and momentum they showed made the few military officers, all of whom were in the realm of the Second Pangu Heaven, take a few steps backward in awe.

"No wonder His Majesty imposed a ban on anyone below the realm of Second Pangu Heaven from approaching new lands that have not been solidified for more than ten thousand years!" A general shook his head and said, "Without the overall strength equivalent of ours, the only consequence when someone is caught up in this waterfall is death!"

Wu Qi nodded in agreement. A place like this was indeed dreadful, but it was also a true land of natural treasures. The extremely rare acquired water-elemental energy had almost flooded the whole land! If an immortal were to conjure all kinds of water-elemental Yin thunder here, he did not have to worry about the raw materials running out!

Suddenly, a strong light caught Wu Qi's eyes; it was from a spirit plant on the mountaintop which had only seven leaves, but twenty-one green-and-blue fruits. Like a black hole, the spirit plant absorbed every drop of liquid, that was the acquired water-elemental energy, around the mountain. Wu Qi clearly saw that the blue in the fruits was getting darker now. Then, the plant flickered and sank into the mountain, leaving Wu Qi no time to pick it.

Hiding in his ear, Ao Buzun sighed and said in a low voice, "What a pity, that's an excellent treasure! It's called 'Taixuan Water-elemental Fruit', or 'Water Dragon Ascending Fruit', an innate spirit herb. If an average flood dragon consumes it, he will immediately become a water-elemental white dragon, and have the innate divine abilities to control water. Well, well, it's a priceless treasure to both the dragon clan and flood dragons!"

Wu Qi's eyes lit up. He let out a loud cry as his body began to spin like a top. Shrouded in a dense layer of purple mist, he shot out like a meteor from the entrance of the Supreme Tower, smashing his fist heavily on the surface of the mountain. He wanted to break the mountain and get the Taixuan Water-elemental Fruits.

*BOOM!*

Sparks darted out between Wu Qi's fist and the surface of the mountain. The mountain was undamaged, but his wrist bone was instantly broken. Fortunately, the cultivation of the True Body of Heaven and Earth Scripture had brought his fleshly body an incredible self-healing ability. He was able to recover his wrist to its original condition by just sucking in a breath.

"Damn it, what a hard rock!" Wu Qi looked at the mountain in astonishment.

The few generals who came with Wu Qi could not resist the desire for the rare treasure. Like him, they jumped into the air and smashed the surface of the mountain with their fists. Soon, the air was ringing with painful shrieks and howls. Wu Qi only had a broken wrist, but the generals, whose cultivation bases were all above the Seven Stars Realm of the Second Pangu Heaven, who were strong enough to fight head-on against fifth-grade or even fourth-grade Gold Immortals, ended up even more miserable. Because they smashed the mountain with all their might, the bones in their arms, from the finger bones all the way up to their shoulder blades, were shattered by the backlash!

If truth be told, the toughness of mountains that had just born in the chaos was almost equivalent to that of an innate spirit artifact. If a Primordial Immortal were here, he might still be able to smash this mountain to pieces and get the treasures inside. But, those who were merely as strong as Gold Immortals...they'd better not provoke it!

Wu Qi stared at them dumbfoundedly while the group of generals, all of whom were so full of muscles that even their brains were almost replaced by muscles, looked at each other and laughed awkwardly. They had hurt themselves even before meeting the enemy. If this were to spread, King Yang Qiu would definitely flay them.

Wearing a long black robe like a ghost, Yu Gu slowly walked out of the Supreme Tower while clearing his throat. When he saw Wu Qi and the others laughing foolishly there, he snorted coldly and said, "A bunch of boys who have exaggerated opinions of their abilities! This is a mountain frame just formed from the chaos which has not contaminated by the acquired aura or the human aura, and we called it an innate mountain frame! Even a Primordial Immortal has to work very hard to break it. As for you boys..."

Shaking his head and heaving a long sigh, he said, "I've never seen anyone as stupid as you!"

After lecturing the group of impulsive guys, Yu Gu pointed at Wu Qi and cried out, "Tan Lang, if you want to lay out a formation, do it now and do it quickly. My strength is not in the field of formations, so I can't help you study the formation maps. But, if you need any help during the process, speak up and I'll naturally do whatever I can!"

Wu Qi cupped his fist and bowed to Yu Gu, then said respectfully, "Of course, I do need Old Mister Yu's help. When the time comes, please show us your mighty divine ability."

King Yang Qiu wanted to kill the Sovereign and take the credit for it, so he could not let the information leak out. Because of this, he could only rely on his own trusted subordinates who were loyal to him on this mission.

The best way to ambush and kill a powerful enemy was to use formations. However, of all the people who served King Yang Qiu, except Yu Qingcheng and his disciples, no one dabbled in the field of formations. And, because King Yang Qiu did not want to use Yu Qingcheng, the job of laying out the formation was assigned to Wu Qi.

Although Yu Gu was a Supreme Oracle of astonishing cultivation base, he only studied various evil poisons and vicious curses in Directorate of Celestials. Because he devoted all his energy to these two fields, it made him completely ignorant of the field of formations. Therefore, he could not be counted on for the job of laying out the formation.

Wu Qi spent some time observing the landscape near the mountain and then looking out into the distance for a while, before finally choosing a good location to lay down the formation.

It was a valley that was about a thousand miles long and less than a mile wide, which looked like a tiny crack on the ground from high up in the sky. It went as deep as a hundred miles, filled with a thick, heavy, and black poisonous gas—Spirit Seizing Black Gas. It was a kind of extremely heavy acquired murderous aura, and if any immortal cultivator were to touch it by accident, there would be a risk of having his Dao foundation collapsed and his immortal soul dissolved and dissipated.

"A good place, a good place indeed!" Wu Qi gave the valley a look, then pointed a finger at it and said with a smile on his face, "Let's lay down a small maze formation and a small killing formation in this valley first. The most suitable ones are those simple formations that can be discovered at a glance!"

Then, he pointed at a cluster of rugged hills near the valley and said, "That area has a very complex terrain, and the hills are riddled with holes and tunnels, which make it the perfect place for us to lay down our real formation! The enemy's strength is too strong, so we do not need to use any fair and above-board means. I think we'll just use the Myriad Poisons Formation! Although it is a rather insidious formation, as long as it can be used to kill the enemy, it is still a good formation!"

While smiling, Wu Qi bowed to Yu Gu and said, "Old Mister Yu, all your evil poisons will come in handy in the formation!"

Yu Gu smiled gladly and gave Wu Qi an approving pat on the shoulder.

'This kid is smart enough to curry my favor with a poisonous formation,' thought Yu Gu contentedly. When Wu Qi chose the Myriad Poisons Formation as their trump card, it meant that the countless evil poisons owned by Yu Gu would certainly play a vital role in it, which was equivalent to giving him more than half of the credit!

'I like this kid!' Now, even Yu Gu thought that King Yang Qiu had really found a very capable and talented man this time!

At Wu Qi's command, everyone quickly moved into action.