Stealing The Heavens
chapter-88

An ear-splitting noise of slicing was heard coming with the old man, loud and echoing in the emptied and spacious hall.

Six dark swords were seen spinning slowly in a circle behind the old man, forming a perfectly round circle of swords. Invisible sword energies were shooting out from these swords, scratching on the pitch-black floor of the hall and producing a large amount of sparks. As the old man kept striding forward, fire sparks kept bursting behind him. The noise was so loud and jarring that it made those who heard it feel pain in their ears, and make their head spin.

Just like Nie Baihong, this old man was also a Human Immortal of Gold Core realm, a Human Immortal with an extremely formidable cultivation. As a matter of fact, the six swords behind him were not real swords, but a strange sign formed from the leaking Core Energy from his body. It was similar to the footsteps left by Nie Baihong on the surface of the water, an external sign where a Human Immortal attracted the power of the Dao that existed in the natural environment.

However, compared to the strange sign caused by Nie Baihong, the six swords appeared on the back of this old man had a stronger offensive strength, aggressive and menacing. If not because the floor in Heaven's Will Palace was protected by a formation, at least half of the hall would be dismantled by this old man.

Haoying Xiong and the rest hastily rose to their feet when they saw the arrival of the old man, each addressing him as 'Elder Qin'.

Haoying Fengying also bowed and greeted the old man hurriedly while secretly whispering at Wu Qi, "This man is Qin Xuewen, the Elder of Punishment Court and the youngest brother of current Clan Leader of Qin Clan. He is the Great-Uncle of Qin Qingshui, who is the Chief Supervisor of Scouting Office's Central Wind Guard, and he is cultivating with the 'Raging Thunder Sword' of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect. Bow your head and greet him quick, delay no more!" Haoying Fengying dared not to raise his head. He compressed his voice into a tiny thread and transmitted into Wu Qi's ears.

The Great-Uncle of Qin Qingshui? Wu Qi suddenly recalled the long horse face of that man. He could still remember clearly that during the day when Lu Chengfeng was ambushed, how Qin Qingshui gave out the order to capture Lu Chengfeng and wanted to interrogate him. Qin Qingshui was definitely not Wu Qi's friend. Thus, it was obvious that his Great-Uncle wouldn't have any favorable impression on their first meeting.

Wu Qi bent and bowed deeply towards Qin Xuewen, smiled and said, "Wu Qi offers greeting, Elder Qin. It is an overpraise to say that Wu Qi is an excellent talent. Wu Qi is just an ordinary martial art practitioner, joining Heaven Breaking Sword Sect is just to seek an opportunity. I'm not worthy of such a compliment."

Qin Xuewen walked slowly in front of Wu Qi, and suddenly placed his palm over on Wu Qi's shoulder. He let out a loud laugh and said, "You deserve it. When I was on the outside just now, I heard your conversation. A five feet tall Nascent Embryo, able to keep thirty percent of energy… This proves that you have an excellent talent in cultivation. My focus on cultivation is the Raging Thunder Sword, a variant of Gold elemental sword technique. Your elemental affinity is Water, and as Gold gives birth to Water, I'm the perfect master that can teach you!"

An invisible force of thunder suddenly burst out from the palm on Wu Qi's shoulder and rushed into his body, flowing through his meridians and rampaging within the body. With Wu Qi's current cultivation, although the force of thunder couldn't cause any risk to his life, yet it was more than enough to injure his meridians and even damage his foundation of cultivation. If thing got worse, this thread of thunderous force could even shatter his meridians into pieces, putting an end to his path of cultivation.

Wu Qi was greatly shocked. Without hesitation, he took a few steps back. However, Qin Xuewen was like a shadow. Even though it seemed like he didn't move at all, his right palm was still tightly on Wu Qi's shoulder, and he followed Wu Qi's movement and chased up a few steps. A loud laugh came from his mouth as he said, "Be obedient, Wu Qi. It is your fortune to have me, the Elder, to take fancy to you. Now, kneel down and kowtow before me, and then you'll be my apprentice!"

After finishing saying that, Qin Xuewen exerted more force into his right palm. Every single piece of muscle on Wu Qi's body started to shiver. The force of thunder was raging and surging wildly in his meridians, causing all his viscera to vibrate at an extremely high frequency. The powerful electric current was moving back and forth within his body, causing Wu Qi to twitch and struggle. The short hairs on his head were now all standing up, and a few dazzling sparks suddenly burst out from the tip of his hairs.

Haoying Xiong and few others were looking at how Qin Xuewen pressing his palm against Wu Qi's shoulder, yet none of them dared to make any noise. A Human Immortal of Gold Core realm had struck and wanted to kill an apprentice who newly joined the sect. Although the apprentice was backed by Lu Chengfeng, a Duke of Great Yan Dynasty, yet who dared to say a word about it? Lu Chengfeng was merely a rookie who just inherited the title of Duke. If Wu Qi was backed by Yu Xuan or other people with similar backgrounds, people might think twice before hurting him. As for Lu Chengfeng? It was still far from that degree.

A bright gleam was seen shining from Qin Xuewen's eyes. He stared straight at Wu Qi, who had his body trembling endlessly, and said with a faint smile, "Why do you still not want to kneel and kowtow? You know what? Having me as your master will bring you a lot of great benefits. The Raging Thunder Sword technique is the fiercest and strongest technique of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect. I don't care what grade of apprentice you are, I'll teach you the essence of it straightaway, isn't that enough?"

Wu Qi's body had become stiffened, shivering uncontrollably under Qin Xuewen's palm. He felt as if his nerves and his corporeal body had been separated. No matter how furiously he roared in his mind that he wanted to take control of his body, he couldn't move even a single finger. His eyes went wide as he stared at Qin Xuewen. His eyeballs were slowly protruding from the sockets. It seemed they were almost ready to burst out from his eye sockets by the powerful force of thunder.

"Kneel down, kowtow, carry out the ceremony of accepting me as your master. Don't tell me you are not willing to do it?" An unhappy expression emerged on Qin Xuewen's face. He sneered and said, "Am I not having the qualifications to be your master? Or, you think that I am not qualified to teach you? Hmph, don't you think that with that tiny bit of innate talent of yours, you would have a great achievement in the future. In my eyes, you're no different than an ant!"

Wu Qi opened his mouth and wanted to let out a few words of cursing, but as all the muscles near his throat were numbed by the electric current, he couldn't roar out a single word. He kept staring straight at Qin Xuewen's face, and only an indistinct sound of airflow could come out from his throat. Blood started to flow out from his seven apertures, dripping down onto his fair skin that looked offending to the eyes.

Haoying Xiong and few others still remained in silent. They had no courage to say a word, their heads bowed, as they didn't even dare to look at Wu Qi's face now. Even for Haoying Fengying, who had agreed to form an alliance with Wu Qi, was bowing his head, looking at his own feet quietly. The so-called alliance, the so-called code of the brotherhood, when they were faced with the mighty pressure from a Human Immortal of Gold Core realm, they were nothing more than a fart.

Qin Xuewen laughed, a pleased laugh it was. Wave after wave of thunderous force kept bursting out from his palm, rushing and squeezing into Wu Qi's body. While laughing, he kept scolding, "You're really not giving face to me. I've agreed to accept you as my apprentice, yet you just keep your mouth shut and don't even give me a single response. Wu Qi oh Wu Qi, how should I teach you? Who is the person that gave you such an arrogant attitude, and not show any respect to me?"

*Crack* A sound of cracking rung out. Qin Xuewen suddenly clenched his palm, and the tremendous force exerted by him immediately caused a dozen of cracks on Wu Qi's shoulder blade. Wu Qi was struck by severe pain, and it brought a darkness into his eyes. The innate energy flowing in all his twelve principal meridians and eight extraordinary meridians instantly came to a halt. They clogged up in a few meridians found on Wu Qi's left shoulder, causing the meridians to swell like some chicken intestines, expanding and protruding on his skin. It made his shoulder looked bigger.

Wu Qi stared furiously at Qin Qingshui's face. He swore in his mind, no matter what background did Qin Xuewen and Qin Qingshui have, no matter what kind of a prestigious clan that Qin Clan was, he swore that he would kill every single member of Qin Clan. This was the second time that the member of Qin Clan was trying to kill him without any reason. The first time it was Qin Qingshui, but too bad he failed in doing that. But this time, it was a Human Immortal of Gold Core realm who struck personally!

The innate water energy was still flowing slowly in the water meridians found in both arms, continuously swallowing and absorbing the thunderous force that rushed into his body.

Among the Five Elements, Gold element gave birth to Water element. The Raging Thunder Sword technique which Qin Xuewen was cultivating with belonged to a variant of Gold element sword technique. Thus the thunderous force unleashed by him was a kind of Gold element energy. The innate water energy was now absorbing these thunderous force bit by bit, and turning them into Wu Qi's cultivation. Using his water meridians as the core, Wu Qi's blood had formed into two gigantic vortexes, that kept transforming the thunderous force and storing them into his water meridians.

This was a cultivating technique that was completely different from those orthodox cultivating techniques. Although Qin Xuewen had formed his Gold Core and he owned an Immortal body, he still couldn't discover this miraculous transformation in Wu Qi's body. For those who were cultivating with Scroll of Stealing, no matter he was a grand thief or petty thief, he would be an expert in concealing his aura. If what he did could be easily found out by others, how was he going to steal the profound meaning of this world?

It was all because of Wu Qi's body, which kept transforming the thunderous force, that allowed him to endure the torture and not get himself killed. If it was any other cultivators of Xiantian realm, having faced with the murderous struck of Qin Xuewen, their viscera would have long been burned into ashes by the electric current.

"It seems to me that you're not willing to accept me as your master. You don't want to learn the profound technique of Raging Thunder Sword?" Like a cat toying with mice, a teasing smile appeared on Qin Xuewen's face. He liked to see how people struggled in a miserable situation, and he loved to see the despairing expression on other's face. Wu Qi was able to endure the torture for such a long time, this had brought him a psychotic feeling of enjoyment. The longer Wu Qi could last the better, as Qin Xuewen loved to play tricks on one slowly before killing him.

"So, you're not giving any face to me, the Elder? Tell me, who exactly gave you your arrogant attitude?" Qin Xuewen let out a loud laugh.

Haoying Fengying, who had been standing aside quietly for a long time, gathered his courage and raised his head carefully. Using a low voice, he said, "Elder Qin, Wu Qi is here because of the order from Princess Zhang Le."

Qin Xuewen furiously turned his head, focused his vision and unleashed an invisible sword beam, striking Haoying Fengying and knocking him back nearly one hundred feet away. The swift and forceful sword beam sliced through Haoying Fengying's body, bringing away a dozen streams of blood arrows. Qin Xuewen roared angrily, "Who are you? Who gave you the audacity to interrupt me? What a manner-less dog!"

Qin Xuewen's curse was foul, and it actually hit on Haoying Xiong as well. Haoying Xiong was so angry that his face darkened. If Haoying Fengying was a dog, didn't that also mean all the members of Haoying Clan were dogs as well? Although Haoying Clan had just risen during the last few hundred years, someone from their clan was one of the Nine Senior Ministers. Their clan was one of the top prestigious clans of Great Yan Dynasty!

Haoying Xiong tilted his head up and gazed at Qin Xuewen. He strode toward Haoying Fengying, brought out a pill that healed external wounds and helped Haoying Fengying stop the bleeding. While busying doctoring his junior, Haoying Xiong said with a deep voice, "Elder Qin, I'll report to the Elders in my clan regarding what you had said just now."

Qin Xuewen's eyes widened. He sneered while saying, "Oh? If that is the case, then you'll join him and lay on the floor!"

Qin Xuewen retracted his right palm. Using it, he formed a sword gesture and pointed toward Haoying Xiong.

However, Qin Xuewen never expected what would happen next. Right after he retracted his right palm, Wu Qi had moved. Using the quickest speed possible, and a secret method in Scroll of Stealing that would hurt his own blood essence, Wu Qi forcefully swallowed all the thunderous force in his body. As there was no more thunderous force that came into his body, he immediately regained the control over his body. He glared at Qin Xuewen furiously and took out a thick stack of Explosive Talisman from his storage ring.

During the past few days, Wu Qi had purchased these talismans from Yan Bugui with a hefty price. They served the purpose of self-protection. Ji City was a place where one was vulnerable to get into trouble. As Wu Qi had inherited the basic instinct of Wu Wang, which he always equipped himself to the teeth, so Wu Qi waited until Lu Chengfeng had inherited the title of Duke. He then immediately used the gold and silver he obtained from Little Meng City and bought himself two hundred Explosive Talismans. The thick stack of talismans in his hand right now contained all the two hundred Explosive Talismans he owned.

Using the quickest speed, he shoved all two hundred Explosive Talismans into Qin Xuewen's waist belt. After that, Wu Qi circulated all his innate water energy and exercised the escape skill of innate water. Within the time it took to blink an eye, he had fled to a distance of over few hundred feet away. Then, Wu Qi formed a finger gesture and shouted loudly, "Burst!"

A miserable shriek, together with a loud boom, filled the scene instantly. The main hall of Heaven's Will Palace was enshrouded in a dazzling explosion. Under Wu Qi's divine sense, two hundred Explosive Talismans exploded at the same time.