Stealing The Heavens
chapter-76

"Hahaha!" The joyful laughter of Wu Qi suddenly rang out within the dagger drawn hall.

He clapped his hands relaxedly and wiped off all the blood. He then brought out a long robe from his storage bag and clad on his body, covering the broken shirt and pants on his buttock. While wearing a relaxed, joyful smile on his face, the crimson glow in Wu Qi's eyes quickly faded away. He waved his hand casually at those armored soldiers, who had their bodies turned stiff and their nerves so tense that they nearly broke down.

"What are you doing? What are you all trying to do? My young master and Prince Ci are relatives to each other, and Prince Ci is also the senior of my master! The senior is having a chat with his junior. Why are you clustering here and distracting them? Yan Fu, Yan Fu! Give each of them a stack of gold coins, then bring them out and serve them good wine and good meat!"

Though Yan Fu was greatly frightened by what happened and had his face turned deadly pale, he still maintained a proper air and manner of the chief steward who worked at the Duke Mansion. He came into the hall and brought all the armored soldiers out from the hall like chasing a flock of ducks. Yan Heluo was captured, and though these soldiers didn't want to leave him alone here, they had no choice but to follow Yan Fu and leave the hall, turning their heads over their shoulders while on their way out. After that, Yan Fu quickly shut the door of the hall.

Wu Qi nodded his head while smiling at Yan Heluo, then forcefully pointed his finger a few times on the captured man's body, shutting off the meridians of his entire body and sealing off his innate energy. He was using a finger skill of shutting off meridians- 'Sky-Covering Finger', which he learned from the Scroll of Stealing. It was a profound and miraculous skill which could be used on humans and also be used to seal demon beasts, spirit beasts, or even immortal and divine beasts that only existed in legends.

Lu Chengfeng squeezed out a smile on his face. He slowly retracted his soft-sword, grabbed Yan Heluo and dragged him into the inner hall.

Wu Qi applauded and gave Yan Bugui a smile, gracefully following into the inner hall. Yan Bugui breathed out a long sigh and frowned as he looked at the messy scene filled with blood and flesh. He shook his head helplessly, stomped his feet and rolled his eyes, before hastening into the inner hall as well.

The inner hall was a magnificently decorated little room. Everything inside was luxurious and extravagant. Two toad like incense burners were spitting wisps of light purple scent, and a strong aroma of lily flower lingered in the air, washing off any smell of blood that came from the front hall. Lu Chengfeng dragged and pushed Yan Heluo to sit down on a low couch, while he also quickly sat beside the man.

Lu Chengfeng had retracted the soft-sword that coiled around Yan Heluo's neck. It was now hiding in his right sleeve, and his right hand was pressing tightly against Yan Heluo's rib. The tip of the sword poked through Yan Heluo's cloth, nearly poking a hole on his skin. If he tried to put out any struggle, Lu Chengfeng just had to muster his innate energy and the soft-sword would pierce through his skin and his rib, tearing right into his heart.

Wu Qi sat down cross-legged on the couch opposite to Yan Bugui, smiling as he kept swaying his body back and forth. He narrowed his eyes and gave the pale-faced Yan Heluo an examining look. Yan Bugui had undertaken the temporary job of a servant. He took up a silvery white pot placed on top of a small stove in the corner of the inner hall. He made a pot of tea using the hot water in it, and poured everyone a cup.

Yan Heluo's neck was besmeared with blood, and so were the clothes on his upper body. With a trembling hand, he took up the cup of tea and gulped down like a thirsty man in the desert, despite it still being boiling hot. After drinking the tea, he breathed out a long sigh, as if the hot tea had just brought him some energy. Gradually, a slight hue of red was brought back upon his cheek.

While holding the teapot and turning the lid over and over in his fingers, Wu Qi gazed at Yan Heluo from the corner of his eyes, sneered and said, "Tell us, Prince Ci. What makes you come to my young master's mansion? And why are you behaving like you're here to bully us? In terms of title, you're a Prince. In terms of seniority, you're a senior to my young master. In terms of power, you are one of the eight Princes who govern the national affairs of Great Yan Dynasty. I really don't understand, just for the sake of a few iron mountains, do you really have to wreak havoc in our place?"

Yan Heluo glared at Wu Qi with a rather complicated look. He nearly couldn't hold himself and cursed out loud.

Wreaking a havoc? With the status of Yan Heluo, let alone using fisheries, pearl fisheries, and jade mines to exchange for a few iron mountains, even if he wanted all of them without giving back anything, who in the Great Yan Dynasty would reject his request? Even Yu Xuan, the man infamous for his stinginess, would at most just request for an equal value exchange.

Lu Chengfeng was just a young lad who recently came to Ji City. He had no foundation, no political power, a Duke who possessed only title but power! By personally paying him a visit and asking to exchange some properties, Yan Heluo had already given him a great honor! Why would everything turn into such a messy situation?

Yan Heluo's intention was just to put fear in Lu Chengfeng's mind, killing his hanger-on and making Lu Chengfeng obey all his requests. He was Prince Ci, what was so special about killing a few people? Why did Wu Qi have such a violent reaction? And why would Lu Chengfeng assault him, one of the eight Princes who governed the national affairs, just for the sake of a mere hanger-on?

A wry smile appeared on his face. Yan Heluo sighed faintly and said, "Is there a necessity to do this? I didn't come with the intention of becoming enemy with Duke Yan Le!"

Wu Qi smiled while saying, "You don't have the intention of becoming an enemy with my young master? But you had given out the order of killing me!"

Wu Qi placed the teapot on the couch, then took out a razor sharp dagger from his storage bag, using it to fix his fingernails in a leisurely manner. Rather proudly, he continued saying, "Wu Qi is not an important person. Although I have the status of chief hanger-on for my young master, the relationship between us is like brothers. You were trying to kill me in front of my young master, which proved that you were not giving face to him. Since you're not giving him face, why should you expect that from me?"

Lu Chengfeng smiled, it was a bright smile, filled with affection. He pushed his right hand slightly forward, and the tip of the sword immediately poked through Yan Heluo's skin. A stream of fresh blood slowly flowed down along Yan Heluo's skin. Yan Heluo's expression turned unsightly again, which had slightly recovered just now.

Wu Qi sighed, shook his head and said, "If we kill Prince Ci, one of the eight Princes, and bring his head to the territory controlled by those barbarians, I supposed, we can live a good life, right? Women of barbarian are really pretty, and their foods and drinks are no inferior to those of Great Yan Dynasty either. If we're really bored, we can bring a few barbarians and come out from the forest, kill somebody and seize some lands. Isn't that a merry lifestyle?"

Prince Ci laughed. "Go and seek refuge with barbarians? They won't believe you."

Wu Qi sneered and said, "I've told you, we'll be using your head as the token. With the head from one of the eight Princes who govern the national affairs of Great Yan Dynasty, do you think they will believe us or not? Or perhaps, we can just bring you alive and seek refuge with them. With you as our testimonial, I think they should believe us, right?"

Prince Ci's face fell instantly. He opened his mouth, but words seemed unable to come out from it. He finally realized that Wu Qi was an outlaw, a true outlaw. No matter what he did, no one would feel surprised. If they really brought Yan Heluo's head and sought refuge with barbarians, those barbarians would definitely take them in with great joy. Even if they didn't seek refuge with barbarians, as long as they could escape from Ji City, they could live anywhere in the Great Yan Dynasty, which had a vast land filled with many kingdoms!

Upon thinking of the severe consequences, Yan Heluo couldn't help and produce a forced smile. "I shouldn't have come. Why am I bringing trouble to myself? Not only have I lost many loyal soldiers, I even lost two Sinecures that I spent a great effort in recruiting. Sigh, why should I bring all this suffering to myself?"

Yan Bugui snorted coldly, cupping his fist and asked Yan Heluo with a deep voice, "Prince Ci, for whom did you come to negotiate with Duke Yan Le?"

Yan Heluo moved his eyes over to Yan Bugui, then said with a hollow voice, "It was all because of my newly taken concubine. She is the one who begged me to do this. Her elder brother had his eyes on the seven iron mountains and five iron smelting plants in Duke Yan Le's fief. So she begged me, asking me to use those few fisheries, pearl fisheries, and jade mines to exchange for them. I just didn't expect that I would have to suffer because of her begging!"

The brother of Yan Heluo's newly took concubine had his eyes on the properties in Lu Chengfeng's fief?

Wu Qi and Yan Bugui exchanged a glance, the corner of their lips twitching at the same time, with a smile as if they were thinking about the same thing.

"That newly took concubine of Prince Ci, what is her background actually?" Wu Qi asked with an indifferent manner.

Yan Heluo was startled for a brief moment before his face started to twitch. "She is the daughter of the Monarch of Xian Kingdom. Hmph, Xian Kingdom? It seems the prince hostage of Xian Kingdom was killed the night before yesterday, and it was related to Duke Yan Le? Someone is trying to use me as their blade? This is absurd!"

Yan Heluo was fuming with rage. If not because the tip of the sword was still pressing against his rib, he would have risen and cursed with the foulest words he could think of.

Wu Qi gave Yan Bugui a look. Without saying anything, Yan Bugui rose and left the inner hall. Not long after that, the aura of green wood energy could vividly be sensed coming from the outside, and some faint howls of Wind Breaking Wolf could be heard as well. In just some brief moments, Yan Bugui made his return to the inner hall. He had dispatched his subordinate to report the new information they found back to the Scouting Office.

Wu Qi had his eyes rested on Yan Heluo, whose body was smeared and stained with blood. He pondered for some time, then breathed out a long sigh. "After all, you're the Prince of Great Yan. It is beyond our courage to kill you. However, we also don't have the courage to set you free just like this. As one of the eight Princes, if you want to give some troubles to my young master, it would be just a piece of cake."

Not waiting for Yan Heluo to speak a word, Wu Qi sprung up and came to sit intimately beside him. Wu Qi stretched his arm and hugged on Heluo's shoulder, smiling as he said, "How about like this? You can use the cruelest, most poisonous oath of life essence to swear, and give us your blood oath. Once you have the thought or any behavior of seeking revenge from my young master, including anyone who serves him, you'll die without a proper burial ground. Your dead body will be devoured by millions of animals, your soul will be exterminated for all eternity, and you will die without descendants. In addition to that, all the members of Yan Clan under you will not die a natural death. What do you think?"

Yan Heluo stared at Wu Qi like he was looking at a ghost. On the other side, both Lu Chengfeng and Yan Bugui's expression had also turned extremely strange.

Wu Qi stared into Yan Heluo's eyes with a smiling face. Suddenly, he used the dagger in his hand and savagely stabbed into Yan Heluo's thigh.

"If you don't swear the oath, I'll consider that you, Prince Ci, will definitely seek your revenge in later days. If that is the case, please don't blame us for not allowing you to leave Duke Yan Le's Mansion!"

Wu Qi ferociously twisted the dagger a few times, and the severe pain made Yan Heluo instantly let out a shrill cry.

Left with no option, Yan Heluo was forced to follow every single word Wu Qi said, and swore the extremely cruel and poisonous oath. As cultivators existed in this world, and ghosts and deities were also a common belief for the people, by forcing Yan Heluo to swear such an extreme oath, he would never give Wu Qi and Lu Chengfeng a problem easily.

The only thing Wu Qi felt bad about himself was his cultivation. If he had the cultivation of Gold Core realm, he would have been able to seize Yan Heluo's Nascent Divinity, and force him to swear with his Nascent Divinity, as that was the safest solution. But as for now, what he could do was to be extra careful, and hope that the oath Yan Heluo just made could truly restrict his behavior.

Fifteen minutes later, Yan Heluo had changed into a clean cloth, and he left Duke Yan Le's Mansion with an unsightly expression.

Right after he stepped out from the mansion, words of order immediately spewed out from Yan Heluo's tightly clenched teeth, "Put Princess He to death! Kill her elder brother with cane sticks!"

Wu Qi was standing at the entrance of the mansion. An icy smile was brought to his face when he heard Yan Heluo's order.