Stealing The Heavens
chapter-742

Dozens of large flying ships, including three Dark Turtle flying ships, nine Green-tail Scorpion flying ships, eighteen Fire Wyrm flying ships, and thirty-six Green-scale Serpent flying ships, were flying slowly at an altitude of about ten miles from the ground, each appearing empty.

Under Great Yu's military system, every province was equipped with only a limited number of standard flying ships that were used solely as a means of transporting troops. If any province wanted to acquire other large instruments of war, it must use its own funds to purchase from the Temple of Craftsmen under Liangzhu's Military Court. However, these flying ships were purchased by Ji Ao at his own expense for Wu Qi.

Dark Turtle flying ships were known for their incredible defensive strength. Green-tail Scorpion flying ships had amazing lethality, capable of unleashing poisonous attacks from their stingers that frightened even peak Gold Immortals. Fire Wyrm flying ships were weak when they were attacking alone, but they could cause havoc when in a group; once launched, they could easily turn a hundred miles wide land into a sea of fire. Therefore, they were particularly effective against immortals and itinerant cultivators who came in groups. The major characteristic of Green-scale Serpent flying ships was their flying speed, which made them the best vehicles for hunting down fleeing enemies or rushing straight through the enemy line and killing the leaders.

Wu Qi had only ten thousand soldiers, but Ji Ao had given him sixty-three large flying ships, the smallest of which was at least a few miles long. Even though they were easy to control, when ten thousand soldiers were equally assigned across them, it was only natural that they looked empty.

All the ships were flying at their slowest speed and seemed in no hurry to get back to Dong Hai Province.

Right beneath the You Xiong Plain was a colossal spirit cave, so the places closer to it had a higher concentration of natural energy and Pangu Sacred Energy. Although it was not as ridiculous as in You Xiong Plain, it was still at least a thousand times higher than those blessed spots and immortal abodes. Therefore, Wu Qi had purposely made these ships fly slowly, so that he could absorb more natural energy along the way.

The soul of Taotie was floating above his head. Its core, which was originally its sentience, had been replaced by him with a wisp of his divine soul. At the moment, it was greedily sucking up everything that was in the surroundings, including the energy of the five elements, other energies that formed the natural energy such as thunder and wind, and Pangu Sacred Energy that gushed out endlessly from the ground. There was an immeasurable amount of energy flowing into Wu Qi's body with every passing moment.

Pangu Sacred Energy was rapidly merging into his vital organs, limbs and bones, constantly strengthening his fleshly body and pushing his cultivation of the True Body of Heaven and Earth Scripture to a higher level. All the various chapters of the scripture, including Skin Refining, Flesh Tempering, Bone Forging, Blood Changing, Tendon Changing, and Marrow Washing, were working at the same time, strengthening every part of his body at a speed that was a hundred times faster than the Foundation Chapter. As there was virtually an endless amount of Pangu Sacred Energy here, Wu Qi could make himself tougher in the most extravagant way.

Meanwhile, various natural energies were swiftly fusing with his chaotic energy, being converted into his own cultivation base. His innate Chaotic Divine Soul was sitting cross-legged in his spiritual ocean, emanating an immensely bright light that lit up the boundless void within. Earthquake, flood, wildfire, tornado, wind, rain, thunder…a variety of natural phenomenon were demonstrating their power in his spiritual ocean. At the same time, the various divine flames and the seeds of ghost flames he owned—the Divine Flame of Order, the Divine Flame of Void, the Divine Flame of Great Tranquility, Inferno of Hell, and Nine Nether Ghost Flame—hovered above his innate Chaotic Divine Soul like little suns while radiating blinding light of different colors that shone for thousands of miles.

In addition, shadows of many different divine beasts and fowls could be seen rapidly wheeling around Wu Qi's innate Chaotic Divine Soul. A vast amount of chaotic energy was constantly rushing into their bodies, nourishing them and making them grow faster and stronger. Every once in a while, a shadow would flicker, and the divine beast or fowl would make a quick appearance behind his back. That was when a strange aura would emanate out of his body, which felt vast and mighty like that of an extraordinary beast from the great wilderness of antiquity.

An Innate Chaotic Divine Soul could attend to multiple things at once, and its magical power could not be described with words at all. Wu Qi had only used a small part of his mind to control the Taotie's devouring of natural energy and the working of the True Body of Heaven and Earth Scripture, the Seven Foundation Elevating Technique, the Dragon Transformation Script, and other cultivation techniques he had mastered, whilst focusing the majority of his mind on the Kaleidoscopic Star Core he had placed in his chaotic interstitial world.

There was only one method to obtain the Great Daos contained in this star core, whose secrets many Masters and Elders of the previous and current generations of Yan Tian Palace, including Yu Chen, had failed to discern. They could only be extracted with unique hand incantation gestures and spells, and chaotic energy was also required as a lead-in. Other than that, no matter how mighty one was, one could only destroy it and never be able to reap any benefits.

At the moment, the Kaleidoscopic Star Core was floating in the boundless void in Wu Qi's interstitial world, emitting dazzling starlight to fill every inch of space. Amidst the flickering colorful starlight, a total of 108,000 huge silver masses of light could be faintly seen, spinning rapidly. Mysterious energy fluctuations emanated from these silver masses of light from time to time, causing the endless chaotic energy in the interstitial world to tremor violently.

Every muscle in Wu Qi's body was trembling as the corners of his mouth curved upward, and he almost burst out laughing.

Apparently, this Kaleidoscopic Star Core contained 108,000 Great Daos, corresponding to birth, death, disaster, blessing, mystery, pitfall, dilemma, impasse, joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure, nobility, humility, purity, and turbidity, a total of sixteen different fortunes. Each Great Dao was vastly different from the power of all the stars in the present-day, and they were filled with endless profound mysteries. If one could comprehend just one of these Great Daos thoroughly and accumulate enough natural energy to materialize the true form of the star, then one could immediately become a Celestial Lord who was no weaker than a peak Gold Immortal.

Patriarch Miao Ying, who dwelt in the Dark Abyss under the Northern Ocean, was conferred Nine Yin Celestial Lady Lord by the Heaven because she had mastered the Great Dao of innate Nine Yin of the Nine Yin Star and materialized its true form. It was with the help of the Great Dao contained in the Nine Yin Star that she broke through the bottleneck of Gold Immortal realm and became a Primordial Immortal.

And now, Wu Qi found a total of 108,000 Great Daos in this Kaleidoscopic Star Core!

After chucking to himself for a moment, Wu Qi shook his head. This Kaleidoscopic Star Core was clearly a supreme treasure in the Chaos of the ancient time, he reckoned, much stronger than those innate stars which had only given birth to dozens or hundreds of Great Daos. But, a man's ability was limited, and he did not think he could comprehend all the 108,000 Great Daos thoroughly. So, for him, the only use of this star core was to lay a formation and boost his actual combat effectiveness.

"What a pity!" Wu Qi sighed softly, but then laughed again and said, "What a luck!"

He felt pity that this Kaleidoscopic Star Core had not evolved into a star, which he thought was a waste of the 108,000 Great Daos it had conceived in the boundless Chaos for countless eons. But then, he also felt lucky that it had not fallen into the hands of those discerning almighty experts; otherwise, not only would they have gained themselves a powerful artifact, Wu Qi would have missed this amazing fortune.

"Even though I can't fully comprehend all these Great Daos, this star core can still bring me other benefits!"

As his hands blurred into incantation gestures, the Kaleidoscopic Star Core disintegrated with a deafening boom, splitting into 108,000 silver masses of light and spreading out in a magical spiral trajectory across his interstitial world. A great suction came spewing out of them, hungrily drawing the chaotic energy that filled Wu Qi's body. It was so strong that his chaotic energy was depleted in just a flash.

Wu Qi grunted; the sudden suction caused his body to collapse inward, and blood started oozing out of his seven orifices. Without hesitation, he gave a low cry, causing all the mountains and hills in his interstitial world, which he had seized from Green Cliff Planet, Myriad Immortals Planet, and other places, to crumble and disintegrate into a vast stream of energy. Together with all the large energy veins he had seized, they rapidly fused into the light masses that were so eager to form their celestial bodies.

In just three short breaths of time, 108,000 silver specks that were the size of sesame seeds had taken their shape in Wu Qi's interstitial world, forming a giant spiral galaxy with sixteen arms as they began to slowly orbit around an invisible point in the void. A very mysterious aura was constantly emanating from this galaxy, and Wu Qi was able to feel that his innate Chaotic Divine Soul was benefiting greatly from it all the time. His divine soul was gradually growing stronger, and his cultivation of the Dao was slowly improving.

In addition, he felt as if he had comprehended something from the Great Daos contained in this galaxy. But when he tried to find out what he had learned, he found that he did not seem to have comprehended anything. All in all, it was a queer feeling that he could not describe with words.

'Well, it looks like I owe Yu Chen a big favor!' Wu Qi thought as he made Taotie's soul devour the natural energy at a quicker rate to replenish his depleted chaotic energy. The benefits this Kaleidoscopic Star Core brought him were indescribable, and it could even be said that it had laid the foundation of Great Dao for him and the countless disciples of the Underhand Sect. He felt he had to find a way to return the favor.

With a flick of his left hand, a pale silver wolf appeared in his palm. It was the true form of the Greed Star, a star that was found in the present-day, which Wu Qi had materialized with a technique of borrowing the power of stars commonly used by immortals. The little wolf emanated a strong and pure aura of greed and killing as soon as it appeared, and a cold and somber air filled the chamber Wu Qi had taken for himself in an instant.

He smiled faintly and flicked his right hand. Immediately, a strange black wolf appeared in his right palm, having three heads with saliva dripping off the corners of its mouths. It was the true form of the Nether Wolf Star, which was one of the 108,000 stars evolved from the disintegration of Kaleidoscopic Star Core. It represented the Dao of Slaughter.

Without the aura of greed like the Greed Star, a pure murderous aura frantically spread across the void from it. However, it was mixed with an indescribably mysterious evil aura; together, they suppressed the energy fluctuation emanating from the Greed Star in just a flash.

"Splendid!" Wu Qi burst into laughter. Clearly, the stars evolved in his interstitial world were more powerful than the stars in the present universe!

Of course, the stars in his interstitial world were still weaker than the stars in the present universe, as they were only as large as sesame seeds currently while the latter each had a diameter of more than a few million miles at the very least. But, given enough time and natural energy, he could certainly cultivate them into terrifying existences that were no weaker than any of the stars in the present universe.

"A bright future lies ahead!"

Wu Qi felt his mind become crystal clear and his heart extremely calm, without any worries. It was as if no obstacles under heaven could bother him.

Just as he was indulging in such a wonderful feeling, he heard a loud and long roar of a tiger, and the flying ship he was on suddenly trembled.