Stealing The Heavens
chapter-705

A boundless green rain of light sprinkled down, piercing through everything that came in contact with it. The dark clouds in the sky, the thunderbolts within the dark clouds, the hailstones beneath the thunderbolts, and the mountain rocks that sparked when hit by the hailstones…everything was pierced by the green drizzle. Just like them, the armors worn by Wu Qi and the others were pierced, and so were their bodies. Stabbing pain washed through them, and it was so painful that they roared and twitched while tumbling down to the ground.

"Pagoda, rise!" Wu Qi gave a thunderous roar. Immediately, the three-colored pagoda shot out from the top of his head, emanating a massive sheet of colorful light that engulfed their surroundings. After fighting the immortals for countless years, the Directorate of Celestials had figured out numerous strange mystic arts, which allowed them to temporarily wield the immortal artifacts crafted by the immortals with natural energies.

Unlike the immortals, who controlled their immortal artifacts by fusing their immortal souls with them, the Oracles used a completely different method. Using hand incantation gestures and spells, they compressed the natural energy and converted it into something similar to the immortal's divine sense, then used it to activate the various arrays found in the immortal artifact and unleash a part of its power. As all immortal artifacts were sentient beings, and usually the item spirits in them were all very strong, these mystic arts had to first suppress or wipe out the item spirit before the immortal artifact could be used. However, that also meant that the power of the immortal item would be reduced significantly.

But, the reason the Oracles activated the immortal artifacts was not to fully unleash their power. What they after was exactly what Wu Qi was doing now —after unleashing the pagoda which he seized from Li Qinghua, he performed a hand incantation gesture and pointed it at it. An invisible fluctuation of energy rumbled out of his fingertips, and in the next instant, a miserable howl could be heard coming out of the pagoda. In the next instant, the pagoda shockingly exploded with a deafening boom!

The sky was blotted with tumbling strong tricolored light, which spread out in a flash, transforming into a tricolored sea of clouds that measured a hundred miles in thickness and tens of thousands of miles in width. Gradually, the drizzle of green light dissolved in the tricolored light, and its terrible aura capable of destroying everything could no longer be sensed.

Yangqiu Fengbo, whose body was riddled with countless tiny holes and skin was covered with countless tiny beads of blood, threw his head back and let out a furious roar, then reached out his hand and grabbed toward the void in front of him. Plumes of purple gas sprayed out of his fingertips, ripping apart the void as they grabbed the two struggling dragon pythons by their necks and pulled them back to him.

Wu Qi gave the two pythons a quick glance. The chaotic energy in his body surged as it wrapped around the bloodline of dragon python which he obtained from Gold Horn and Silver Horn. In the next moment, a faint aura of dragon pythons spread out of him, but then disappeared in just a flash. As it was so subtle, Yangqiu Fengbo and the other military officers, whose soul was no stronger than an average human's, did not notice anything unusual.

However, the two pythons, who were still shooting out beams of strong light, cleverly shut their mouths and obediently shrunk their bodies to about a foot in length. Then, they flew up into the air from Yangqiu Fengbo's hand and landed atop Wu Qi's shoulders, coiling their tails around his neck and hanging themselves on his chest like two necklaces. With a faint smile on his face, Wu Qi gave them an approving look and nodded. While laughing, he gestured at the military officers around him, then spun and left without hesitation.

Each of these valiant military officers possessed the cultivation base above the realm of the Second Pangu Heaven. In other words, they were as strong as Gold Immortals. Although they were unable to use magic, their fleshly bodies were strong enough to make them fly, and their speed was no slower than an immortal flying with an escape art. In addition, as all of them were shrouded in a faint layer of purple mist, and had a long tail of purple light trailing behind them when flying, they looked like a cluster of purple meteors streaking across the sky. Violent coughing was heard coming from across the distance. Behind the mountain where the green shower of light was coming from, a middle-aged Daoist walked out slowly. He wore a moon-white Daoist robe, and his hair hung loosely about his shoulders. He had a two inches wide, white headband bound around his forehead with a purple gemstone socketed in the center. In his hand, the Daoist held a whisk glinting with a green gleam. Apparently, the green shower of light capable of destroying everything was unleashed from this whisk.

With just a casual attack, the sturdy bodies of Wu Qi and the others were riddled with holes. Fortunately, they were protected by the Pangu Sacred Energy, and although it was true that the green rays came with an incredibly strong force of penetration, they lacked explosive power. There was no doubt that they were wounded, but the cuts on their bodies were too tiny. By just making the purple gas swirl around them for a brief while, these openings were completely healed. To them, it was not a serious injury, and at the most, they had only lost a bit of their energy.

The middle-aged Daoist was none other than the Sovereign of the Myriad Immortal Alliance, who was identified as Immortal Ding Jun, a prominent minister in charge of half of the alchemical workshops in the Heaven. He had a fair and rounded face; however, it now had a faint gray undertone, and the corners of his eyes and his brows were stained with sweat and filth. The immortal body of a mighty Primordial Immortal could never be soiled by mortal filth. The fact that his face was stained with sweat and dirt showed that his immortal body was aging and decaying at a shocking speed. To Primordial Immortals, it was the sign that his immortal body and immortal soul were about to disintegrate.

After a few violent coughs, the Sovereign looked up at the dissipating tricolored light and said indifferently, "So, you've captured Qinghua? Are you trying to lure me to something by purposely detonating this pagoda? Or, is this a warning? Hah, why should I be afraid of you?"

He paused as a sly smile crept upon his face, then he suddenly bellowed at the top of his lungs, "Release my son now, you despicable human! Also, the two dragon pythons are the spirit herbs I've ordered in advance, so you better hand them over to me right now!" As he burst into laughter, a plume of purple smoke suddenly erupted from the top of his head, spreading at an incredible speed to form a hundred miles wide purple cloud. On top of the cloud, three jade lotus thrones shrouded in purple rings of light rose up slowly.

Of the three lotus thrones, the first held a ball of pale green flame; the second held a hazy pill cauldron emanating clouds shaped like tigers and dragons; the last one had a three-feet tall, fully naked boy sitting cross-legged on it. Oddly enough, blood could be seen slowly seeping out of the boy's skin; the dragon and tiger-shaped clouds around the pill cauldron shattered as soon as they appeared, and the ball of pale green flame was fluttering, barely maintaining its shape as tiny wisps of flame kept departing from it.

"You can't escape from me!" The Sovereign beckoned at the chariot casually and the bead curtain parted to reveal a figure entirely formed from purple gas. Then, he flew into the chariot, driving it to chase after Wu Qi and the others. A purple cloud that was a hundred times stronger than before wrapped the chariot, amidst which, the figures of hundreds of Gold Immortals could be seen vaguely. From time to time, the wild roars of fierce beasts could be heard coming out of it as well.

The chariot chased after Wu Qi and his company like a bolt of lightning. Whenever the three crystal heaven horses flapped their massive wings, an enormous twister would rise from the ground, which instantly pushed the chariot a few miles closer to its target. In just a few breaths' time, the chariot was almost at Wu Qi's heel, less than a thousand feet from them.

Accompanied by a strange laugh, the Sovereign narrowed his eyes and reached out his hand. Almost instantly, the violent natural energy in the surrounding atmosphere calmed down, and in the next moment, they began to rush into his palm. Before long, a giant hand, a few miles wide and shrouded in roiling purple gas, was formed in the void, grabbing toward Wu Qi and his company. Their speed slowed down by a few times as soon as the palm appeared, and their bodies were being pulled over by it.

Wu Qi felt as if his body was trapped in an invisible vortex, and an immense pressure was pushing against him from the surroundings. It was so strong that he could not break free from it, no matter how hard he circulated the chaotic energy in his body or exercised the True Body of Heaven and Earth Scripture, the Dragon Transformation Script, and the Dragon Kill at the same time. The fearsome pressure made his bones produce cracking noises, and even his internal organs were moaning sorrowfully.

Although the Sovereign was severely wounded in terms of both his immortal body and immortal soul, his casual attack was not something that Wu Qi and the others could resist. If truth be told, he did not even use a bit of his immortal energy. By relying solely on his incredibly powerful divine sense and profound understanding toward the Law of Heavenly Dao, he was able to trigger the Law of Heavenly Dao with just a barely notable divine sense to unleash a divine ability stronger than that of a top-tier Gold Immortal.

This was the so-called 'a mere thought leads to the birth of myriad magic.' After stepping into the realm of Primordial Immortals, an immortal's every single movement contained the Heavenly Dao. When the Sovereign grabbed with his hand, it was equivalent to this part of the world capturing Wu Qi and his company. Therefore, unless their prowess was strong enough to break free from the restriction of this part of the world, they could not escape from the Sovereign.

The cultivation base of Yangqiu Fengbo and the others was stronger than Wu Qi's. They were all formidable existences in the realm of the Second Pangu Heaven, which made them as strong as Gold Immortals. But, that did not spare them from being controlled by the Sovereign. Without an exception, their bodies flew up toward the giant palm, not even having the strength to resist. The condition of some military officers was worse than even Wu Qi. They had strong fleshly bodies, but as they did not cultivate divine abilities or magic, the slight hint of the Law of Heavenly Dao in the giant palm had easily wounded their fleshly bodies and souls. Blood streamed endlessly out of their seven orifices, and it seemed they were about to be crushed to death by the enormous pressure.

Just then, Wu Qi took a deep breath and cried out at the top of his lungs, "It's time to strike, elder brothers Yang Qiu!"

Although it was difficult, Wu Qi managed to flick his finger. A palm-sized, triangular black flag shot out from his fingertip, swaying in the breeze as it quickly expanded into a large flag that was about a thousand feet wide, fluttering wildly in the sky. At the same time, the four Yang Qiu brothers did exactly the same, throwing out four identical flags which expanded and hovered next to the first flag. The air rang with shrill and eerie ghost howls as five dark torrents rushed out of the flags with a deafening whistle.

The flags were vicious magical artifacts crafted by Yu Gu, called the 'Thousand Gu and Rotting Corpses Flags.' In each of the flags was a space, inside of which, countless poisonous insects and venomous rotting corpses were constantly killing and devouring each other while fresh poisonous insects and rotting corpses were added every year. As Yu Gu had been refining them for tens of thousands of years, the poison contained in these five flags had reached an unimaginable level.

The five torrents were the mixture of fluid from decaying corpses and the venom of various insects. Not only did they come with a pungent foul smell, but they were also extremely filthy and contained a deadly poison. As soon as the torrents poured onto the Sovereign's giant palm, a jarring noise of ice water touching a red-hot metal plate immediately rang out.

As the giant purple palm began to melt away, the Sovereign's body swayed, a line of blood suddenly trickling down from the corner of his mouth while the complexion of his face grew darker. Yu Gu was, after all, a Supreme Oracle who was as strong as a Primordial Immortal, which made the vicious magical artifact crafted by him incredibly powerful. Although the five torrents had merely made contact with the Sovereign's divine ability, the deadly poison was able to rip through the void and bore into his body.

A weird smile appeared on the Sovereign's face as the giant purple palm above him suddenly disappeared, then he coughed out a mouthful of stinking dark blood before growling, "A shady tactic from the Ghost Domain! Hehe, hehe...You better give me back my son now, as well as the two pythons I've ordered!"

Taking advantage of this brief delay, Wu Qi and the others had already arrived next to the valley filled with the Spirit Seizing Black Gas. Without hesitation, they dove into the valley and quickly disappeared into the dense dark gas. A loud noise echoed out as dozens of banners flew out of the valley, fluttering wildly in a vast expanse of dark gas. Clearly, there was a vicious formation in the valley.

After glancing at the valley and at the cluster of rugged hills next to it, as well as the many tunnels boring through them, then finally at the lofty mountains in the vicinity, the Sovereign had the same weird smile on his face once again. With a cold snort, he drove the chariot into the valley after Wu Qi and the company.

"What a superficial trick...Why should I be afraid of you, a bunch of insignificant ants?"

A thunderclap rang out of the chariot as the Sovereign unleashed a commonly seen palm thunder. The thunderbolt streaked across thousands of miles, ripping the dozens of banners in the valley to shreds. Immediately, Wu Qi and the others were completely exposed before the eyes of the Sovereign.