Stealing The Heavens
chapter-91

Nie Baihong let out a cold laugh. Three streams of thumb-sized white mist suddenly shot out from the top of his head, transforming into three sword beams and wheeling in the air for some time before merging into one and returning back to his body. After that, the sword beam that shot out from his mouth flew nine rounds around his body and eventually turned into a more than one-foot long cold beam. It was as thin as a strand of human hair, sending forth a freezing breeze, and was swallowed back into his mouth as well.

Shangguan Yuhong's face turned livid with rage. She stared right into Nie Baihong's face, sneered and said, "The Unity of Profound Swords. Sure enough, Sect Leader has mastered the supreme sword technique of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect. But what a pity, both sword techniques of Earth and Fire are missing from the book of Heaven Breaking Sword Technique, thus Sect Leader can only merge three into one. If Sect Leader could merge five into one, I'm sure that would be the time for you to form your Nascent Soul, eh?"

Nie Baihong smiled proudly, then said with a cold voice, "Even though both Earth and Fire sword techniques are missing, the Unity of Profound Swords is still the supreme sword technique of our sect. Elder Shangguan, are you convinced this time? Let me repeat myself again, Wu Qi is my inner sect disciple now. Do you still dare to touch even one strand of his hair?"

A complicated look was glimmering within Shangguan Yuhong's eyes. She kept staring at Wu Qi and didn't say a word.

Another few bright lights suddenly flashed from the outside of Heaven's Will Palace. A few old men, clad in different outfits and having different appearances, were revealed behind these sword beams. Upon their arrival, all of them immediately glanced at the severely wounded Qin Xuewen, then they turned their sight over at Shangguan Yuhong, who had her chest smeared with a large patch of blood. After that, they threw out their question together.

"Sect Leader, why is Elder Qin wounded? And who wounded Elder Shangguan?"

Nie Baihong kept sneering and didn't answer the question. He tilted his head up proudly and gazed at these elders from the corner of his eyes. For the time it took to finish a pot of tea, he didn't respond to any of these elders and simply ignored them. When these elders had their expression turned dark and nearly broke out in rage, only then did Nie Baihong speak with a rather indifferent voice, "My disciple, Wu Qi, explain what happened to these Elders."

With his face filled with grievance and fear, Wu Qi carefully took a few steps forward. Then, like a frightened bird, he suddenly moved closer to Nie Baihong. He lowered his voice, like a man who just suffered from injustice, and narrated what happened to the elders. Within Wu Qi's narration, Qin Xuewen had transformed into a murderous evil man, trying to kill him without any reason or explanation, and Wu Qi was just an innocent apprentice who suffered from unreasonable treatment and torture. Because he was being pushed to the desperate situation, only then did Wu Qi risk his life and initiated a counter attack, which eventually severely wounded Qin Xuewen.

Pitifully, he looked at Shangguan Yuhong and few other Elders, "I was forced to do that!" Wu Qi said with a bitter tone.

All Elders were exchanging glances with each other. Then, they once again threw an examining look over at the horrible wound on Qin Xuewen's body. They sent out their divine sense and detected his cultivation base, which had dropped by one realm, and his greatly decayed aura. They couldn't help but furrow their brows at the same time. A bald-headed Elder, who only had a little wisp of white hairs on the back of his head, sneered and shouted out, "This Wu Qi is from which clan?"

Wu Qi let out a mild cough, bowed toward the Elder who spoke and answered, "Wu Qi is the chief hanger-on for the West Supervisor, Duke Yan Le, Lu Chengfeng."

All Sect Elders sunk into a long moment of silence. After a long while, the white hair Sect Elder suddenly sneered, "Ha, haha, hahaha, interesting, this is really interesting. The hanger-on of Duke Yan Le actually had the courage to wound Sect Elder of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect. This is lawlessness, absolutely lawlessness! I thought Duke Yan Le is Yan Buji? Why it suddenly changed to Lu Chengfeng?"

Nie Baihong also let out a mild cough, then he told all the Sect Elders about the news of Yan Buji's accidental death, and the fact that Lu Chengfeng was the first son of his who arrived at Ji City and inherited all his legacy. After that, he continued saying emotionlessly, "Recently, all of you were in secluded cultivation. Thus, you haven't heard the tidings about the replacement of Duke Yan Le."

Shangguan Yuhong suddenly interrupted him. She pointed her finger at Wu Qi and snapped, "Sect leader, you've let Elder Qin get seriously wounded without helping him, just because of a hanger-on who worked for that lucky Lu Chengfeng? And not only Sect Leader doesn't avenge Elder Qin, instead, you even cover up for him? What exactly is Sect Leader's purpose behind all this?"

Nie Baihong's face fell instantly. He stared at Shangguan Yuhong and said with a gloomy voice, "If he were merely Duke Ya Le's hanger-on, whether he was dead or alive wouldn’t bother me at all. But, Princess Zhang Le personally sent her subordinate and requested me to take Wu Qi as my apprentice. In Princess Zhang Le's words, if anything bad happens to Wu Qi, she would detain Heaven Breaking Sword Sect's next year supply of energy stones and magical items, and all future supply would also be greatly reduced."

Nie Baihong snorted angrily and said, "Let me ask you this, if Elder Qin really killed Wu Qi and triggered Princess Zhang Le's anger, which leads to her detaining the supply of energy stones, magical items, and other supplies, who would bear the responsibility? Who? If any Sect Elder has the courage to solve this issue, I'll put my hands off the matter between Elder Qin and Wu Qi! Now, tell me, who can solve this issue?"

No one seemed to have anything to say.

Shangguan Yuhong shut her mouth tightly while the other few Sect Elders were also looking at each other, pretending they heard nothing. No one had their eyes on the severely wounded Qin Xuewen again.

Nie Baihong laughed coldly, then he breathed out a long sigh, stared at those Sect Elders and said, "If we put aside Princess Zhang Le, just look at the fact that Elder Qin is a Human Immortal of middle tier Gold Core realm. His body had transformed into the Immortal body. Despite all that, he was severely wounded by Wu Qi, a mere Daoist of Meridian Cultivating tier. Not only that, it was Elder Qin who launched a sneak attack at Wu Qi first. Yet, in the end, he was the one who got badly beaten. If this was heard by any outsider, could Elder Qin still have the dignity to face the public?"

Qin Xuewen had just regained some energies, and was quietly circulating his energy in healing his injury. But what Nie Baihong said had instantly distracted his thoughts. He opened his eyes and furiously stared at Nie Baihong. At the same time, sticky blood was seen bursting out from his seven apertures. With a trembling hand, he pointed at Nie Baihong and let out a raging cry into the sky, "I'm so pissed off!" After that, his body simply stiffened and fell back to the ground. The white-haired Sect Elder hastily gripped Qin Xuewen's arm and hugged him with both arms.

All the Sect Elders were exchanging glances with each other. Two of them shook their head, transformed into sword beams and left the scene.

Shangguan Yuhong, the white-hair Sect Elder, together with another three Sect Elders still remained in the Heaven's Will Palace. A hint was given with the eyes between them, and they communicated for a brief moment using a secret method. It was still Shangguan Yuhong who stood out. She took two steps forward and continued questioning Wu Qi. "Despite all that, Wu Qi didn't show any respect to his Elders. He had used Explosive Talismans and wounded Elder Qin. Although because of Princess Zhang Le, we cannot expel him from the sect, he still has to face punishment."

The white-haired Sect Elder nodded his head and quickly affirmed her idea, "Elder Shangguan is right. If everyone acted like Wu Qi, who simply attacked Sect Elder without proper reason, then our Sect Rules will not be obeyed and respected. Among all the Sect Rules of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, showing respect to the sect and seniors, forbidding from deceiving master and assaulting ancestors, this is the rule that topped all the others!"

Nie Baihong's face turned solemn. He snorted coldly and narrowed his eyes.

Wu Qi suddenly sighed. A moment ago, he was behaving like a timid and coward apprentice who had suffered from injustice. But now, he suddenly straightened his back, placing both hands behind his back, and kept sneering while staring at all the Sect Elders. He spat out a thick lump of sputum on the ground, then using his boot, he aggressively stepped onto it and gave it a forceful rub. "It seems to me that all of you Sect Elders are fucking blaming me to the end of the world, eh? You're not giving up easily, aren't you? And you are determined to fix me, right? You just want to push me to the death?"

He stretched out the middle finger of his right palm, pointing it toward the nose of Shangguan Yuhong and few other Sect Elders, then ferociously cried, "Look at you, a bunch of useless fools who behave like thieves and prostitutes that had ganged up together, what good is in you? Each of you is an old fool who has lived for more than few hundred years, yet you still want to haggle with me, a junior who in his twenties? What have you done during the past few hundred years? Have you lived your life like a dog?"

Using his hand, he slammed on his chest forcefully and roared like a man who had given up everything, "You want to kill me? You want to fix me? Come on, Elder Shangguan, use your flying sword and stab right into my heart. If I, Wu Qi, blink my eyes when you do that, I'll be a dog raised up by you! Come on, stab me now, unleash your flying sword right now! If you have no courage to do it, then you're raised up by Wu Qi's concubine!"

Wu Qi's words were foul to the ears. They had instantly turned Shangguan Yuhong's face red with rage. She roared in a near frenzied manner, as the black sword beam was once again unleashed. Wu Qi narrowed his eyes and fixed his glance on Shangguan Yuhong's sword beam. If her flying sword really approached him, he would definitely exercise the secret skill he learned from Scroll of Stealing, risking all his source energy essence and flee from this place. After that, he would really give up everything and fight these few Sect Elders of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect to death.

But, before Shangguan Yuhong's sword beam could be shot out, Nie Baihong had let out a cold snort and stood in front of Wu Qi. He sneered and said, "Wu Qi, shut your mouth up. Elder Shangguan, all of you are such a failure. I agree to something Wu Qi said… All of you had lived for more than few hundred years, and what have you done during those years? Are you living your life like a dog?"

Shangguan Yuhong's face turn darkened as she saw Nie Baihong stand up and provide protection to Wu Qi. She pointed her finger at Wu Qi and cried out furiously, "What an unbridled kid, you are... you are..." Since when did Shangguan Yuhong meet someone like Wu Qi before, who could spew out foul words in front of an elder? And as she was an existence who sat aloft in the sect, since when did someone ever curse her like that? She even had to ponder for some time before she could fully understand what the meaning behind Wu Qi's foul words was.

When she finally realized what the exact meaning behind Wu Qi's nasty remarks was, she was nearly driven nuts because of anger. She swore to herself that despite Wu Qi being supported by Princess Zhang Le, she would still kill him at all costs!

But, Nie Baihong was standing between her and Wu Qi, and she was not a match for Nie Baihong!

Wu Qi let out a few cold laughs, gazing at these Gold Core realm Sect Elders with an arrogant expression. They were merely a bunch of Gold Core realm Human Immortals. If Wu Qi were given enough time, in his eyes, these Human Immortals would be like tiny ants who he could kill with a pinch. Even though he was not the match of Human Immortals right now, but if Shangguan Yuhong really wanted to kill him, that would be a tough mission to complete.

In addition to that, he now had grasped the pulse of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect. He had learned about some conflicts and interests concerning the people here. He was placing a bet now, betting that no matter how great he offended Shangguan Yuhong, Nie Baihong would still side with him, protecting him at all cost. Since he had figured out this point, then why should he still behave like a child bride who suffered from ill treatment? Naturally, the more arrogant and unbridled he could be, the better!

Wu Qi spat out another thick lump of sputum onto the floor. He gazed at Shangguan Yuhong disdainfully and said, "You have no courage to kill me, I'm certain about that! Elder Shangguan, even if I borrow all the courage from three dogs for you, none of you would kill me! You're just a woman, and you have no balls to do that. If you have the courage, stab your flying sword right into my heart, right now!" Once again, Wu Qi slammed on his own chest forcefully.

Shangguan Yuhong's eyes turned bloodshot because of the rage. Her body was shivering, when she let out a furious roar into the sky suddenly, and a stream of blood immediately shot out from her mouth.

The white-haired Sect Elder had the corner of his eyes twitching violently. Together with the other three Sect Elders, they took a step forward, eager to launch an attack.

Nie Baihong snorted coldly as three streams of white mist once again shot out from the top of his head, transforming into sword beams and wheeling around him at top speed.

Nie Baihong's action made Wu Qi burst with joy. He couldn't hold down the wild joy in his mind anymore, tilting his head up and letting out a loud laugh into the sky. His laughter was sore to the ears of those Sect Elders, and it shook the entire Heaven's Will Palace, causing it to vibrate endlessly.