Stealing The Heavens
chapter-871

A stream of five-colored light materialized into a huge hand, veiling the sky and smashing down hard onto the town. A series of crackling and explosions rang out as if countless crystal vases were shattered. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of defensive spells were destroyed, while many generals and soldiers under its protection coughed blood and collapsed to the ground.

The soldiers of Dong Hai, led by Bai Qi, charged straight into the town, their eyes shot with blood. Although most of the foes were down, they attacked all the same, swinging their swords and firing arrows ferociously. Before long, the remaining forces were completely defeated.

Troops marched back and forth through the town that had been razed to the ground. The bodies of the soldiers killed in the garrison were neatly laid aside, while the wounded were imprisoned and brought up to the flying ships in the rear to receive healing. As for those who were unharmed but knocked out by the princess's attack, they were forced to drink 'Puppet Potions', a unique drug concocted by Dong Hai's Directorate of Celestial, and then incorporated into Bai Qi's vanguard.

Zhang Yi and Su Qin followed closely after these captured soldiers, hovering midair. With their glib tongues, they were convincing them that the Human Emperor was murdered by someone, and King of Dong Hai had received a secret order, which requested him to return to Liangzhu at once. In order to strengthen the persuasion, they produced two scrolls, one they claimed was the emperor's imperial edict, and the other a secret edict.

The people of Great Yu were simple and honest, and their customs were traditional and closed. The common soldiers never dreamed that a subject of the court would forge the imperial edict. So, as soon as the scrolls were produced, everyone dropped to their knees and submitted to Dong Hai's command willingly.

Looking at the scene, Wu Qi could not help but sigh with mixed emotions. Evidently, there were advantages when people's mind were closed. These soldiers were too simple and honest, and that had saved him a lot of hassles.

Just as he was sighing, several of Bai Qi's grandsons came to him, dragging with them a few generals. A large group of soldiers guarded the perimeter, and hundreds of Oracles, whose sleeves were embroidered with golden suns, were stationed in the air. When the few generals saw how tight was the defense, although they were cursing incessantly, they did not try to escape.

The few highest-ranking generals in this town were pushed to their knees by Bai Qi's grandsons, facing Wu Qi. They were covered in wounds, and some had their limbs severed. In the face of Dong Hai's fierce attack, the outermost defense of You Xiong Plain proved to be too weak.

Looking up at Wu Qi, a general, who was only lightly injured with a small cut on his face, growled furiously, "King of Dong Hai, how dare you to forge the Human Emperor's imperial edict? This is a capital crime! As a foreign subject of Great Yu, how could you attack You Xiong Plain? You will soon be dead meat!"

Wu Qi studied the few generals, and then he smiled and said, "Someone told me just now that the Human Emperor has given you an edict today, ordering you to seal off You Xiong Plain and prevent any foreign subjects from entering. Is that true? But... according to what I've learned, the Human Emperor has passed away several days ago. Can anyone of you tell me where did your edict come from?"

The generals' faces fell instantly. Wu Qi narrowed his eyes and went on, "If you can do it, why can't I? So what if I really did forge the imperial edict? Damnit, with Liangzhu in chaos now, what's the big deal of forging an imperial edict? When the dust settled, who will pursue this trifle?"

Not allowing the few generals to speak further, Wu Qi sent a few Blood-draining Celestial Fiends into their bodies, who sucked away all their blood essences and souls in a flash. A few moments later, they rose to their feet, swaying. Their bodies were occupied by the fiends now, becoming Wu Qi's clones.

One of them strode away and cried out at the top of his lungs, "The secret edict in King of Dong Hai's hand is real! His Highness is ordered by His Majesty to fight against the rebellion, and we, the soldiers of Great Yu, are willing to join him in the mission!"

The town's remaining soldiers, eighty-thousand strong, had been confused by Zhang Yi and Su Qin, and when they saw one of their superiors jumped out to confirm the authenticity of the imperial edict, they immediately cried out in unison. And just like that, they were all incorporated into Bai Qi's army.

After looting all the war materials and armaments in the town, the army of Dong Hai boarded their ships once again and sped off toward Liangzhu.

They were now inside You Xiong Plain. In order to prevent any immortals and itinerant cultivators from trespassing, basically for every ten thousand miles, there was a big city, and every one thousand miles there was a military town. Depending on the terrain and the importance of the area, these towns were garrisoned by several thousand to twenty-thousand soldiers, while those cities that were responsible for controlling the situation for tens of thousands of miles around were garrisoned by three hundred thousand to nearly one millions soldiers.

These soldiers were just the garrisons stationed on the outskirts of You Xiong Plain, and the strongest ones were only at the level of middle-grade Heaven Immortals. They were nowhere near as fearsome as You Xiong Army. But as their numbers were huge, and with the help of solid walls and countless restrictive spells, the combat effectiveness they could bring into play was still extremely amazing.

It was too bad that they met the men of the six states under Wu Qi. Ignoring the formidable combat effectiveness of Bai Qi, Li Mu, and a few others, the wits of Zhang Yi, Su Qin, Li Si, Wei Liao, and Lin Xiangru was not something these simple and honest soldiers could counter.

The marching to Liangzhu was nothing short of overwhelming. Basically, the army met no resistance. Along the way, Zhang Yi and Su Qin were busy forging all kinds of imperial edicts, at least a hundred of them. Fortunately, they were helped by Li Si and others, who were also experts in this kind of business.

On average, it took them a quarter of an hour to capture a military town, and about an hour a big city. Under the careful and precise calculations of those from the six states, the army swept through the east defense line like an arrow, and in just a few days they had arrived at the outskirts of Liangzhu.

High up in space, three monks and three daoists stood separately on two meteors, looking down quietly at what was happening on You Xiong Plain. Unlike the two Wu Qi met previously, who stood almost shoulder to shoulder, there was a gap of at least tens of miles between the two groups here. In addition, the three daoists were shrouded in layers of flickering light, which showed that they had unleashed some defensive artifacts to protect themselves against any sneak attacks.

Their faces turned unsightly when they saw Dong Hai army was able to march straight through without facing much resistance.

When the army arrived in the outskirts of Liangzhu, one of the monks grumbled under his breath, "Why are Great Yu's soldiers so stupid?"

A daoist gave him an angry glance and said coldly, "They are indeed stupid. I wonder if you have any sound strategy to delay them?"

The monks and daoists exchanged glances, but no one spoke. A few moments later, they turned to look at the west of You Xiong Plain at the same time. There, Ji Ao was struggled to march toward Liangzhu with the main force of You Xiong Army. The cities and towns along his way had given him a lot of troubles. No matter how hard he racked his brain, the distance he managed to cover in a day and night was still less than the distance Wu Qi had covered in an hour. Wu Qi had already arrived outside of Liangzhu, but Ji Ao was still ten days away.

"Why is there a freak like him in Great Yu?" The monks and daoists frowned at Dong Hai army and sighed together.

Liangzhu was a million miles ahead. With their cultivation bases, Wu Qi and others could see the city walls from the ship's deck. The city looked different now. It was no longer calm, lazy, ancient, and magnificent as the first time Wu Qi saw it. The aura over it was in turmoil; various auras were brushing and slamming against each other, messing up the surrounding natural energy.

The walls, which were more decorative than practical, were fully hung with banners now, but none was hung properly. Wu Qi could also hear the faint sounds of horn ringing out occasionally in the city, and they sounded weak and panic like the wails let out by a dying person.

It was an ill omen. Looking at the city, Wu Qi mumbled in a low voice, "Why it looks like the dynasty is dying? Why the aura of emperor is dissipating?"

Princess Zhang Le squinted at the city, her eyes shone with a bright gleam. "It can't be helped," she said, "Over ninety percent of the city is blanketed in the aura of death. In other words, over ninety percent of the people in the city are going to die."

Wu Qi opened his mouth, but words caught in his throat. Princess Zhang Le cultivated the Primordial Dao of Divinity, and it was known that all Ancient Gods were experts in reading one's destiny. Since she had seen that the city was blanketed in the aura of death and concluded that more than ninety percent of the people were going to die, that was basically what was going to happen.

Guigu'zi, who was an expert in the art of ancient divination, gave the city a look, and then said confidently, "Someone has disturbed the destiny of this place with a mighty divine ability, preventing it from passing to the next generation. How did that happen? Oh, the person who did this is right in the center of the city!"

Right in the center of Liangzhu? "The imperial palace, Mount Torch Dragon," said Wu Qi in a low voice. "That place is the heart of Liangzhu and the entire You Xiong Plain!"

Bai Qi narrowed his eyes and looked ahead, his muscles moving like water. "The messier, the more people died, the better! I can see a towering aura of death there! The war is at hand, boys, prepare your weapons!"

Unlike Wu Qi and others, the warriors of the six states could hardly hold down their lust for battles when they saw the strong aura of death.

The fleet of flying ships made a swift approach to Liangzhu. All of a sudden, ahead of them came a loud commotion, and clouds of dust could be seen rising into the sky. A messy column of troops, about eighty thousand men, was fleeing in their direction like a swarm of refugees. Behind them, an army of at least five hundred thousand soldiers was slowly approaching in a neat formation, while a group of tens of thousands of riders was slaughtering the fleeing soldiers.

Amid the fleeing army, about two thousand soldiers clustered around a large flag, on the face of which read 'Qing Qiu'!

King Qing Qiu, Ji Dai, King Yang Shan's eldest son was running for his life!