Stealing The Heavens

Somewhere in the vast expanse of space beyond Pangu Continent, a small patch of void suddenly distorted. Silently, Wu Qi and Princess Zhang Le emerged from the distorted void. The Immovable Lotus was spinning gracefully beneath them. Grayish, foggy, and barely visible, the lotus throne was divided into nine tiers and consisted of a total of 360 petals. Wisps of chaotic energy surrounded the couple, stopping any prying eyes and ears.

From here, the colossal Pangu Continent was nothing but a tiny speck of light a little larger than the tip of a needle. When they turned their back on the continent and glanced into the distance, they saw a huge landmass named ‘Far Heaven’ was approaching with a long tail of flame behind it, smashing and shattering any space debris that got in its way.

Among all the outer heavenly realms, Far Heaven was classified as an upper-tier realm. Once part of Pangu Continent, it was three million miles thick, with a total surface area about the same as four Zhong Provinces combined, and was ruled by a Celestial Lord, who was an eighteenth-tier Gold Immortal. He was assisted by thirty-six immortal officials who were Heaven Immortals, and thousands of immortal clerks who were itinerant cultivators.

Like all the other realms ruled by Heaven, there was an immortal city on Far Heaven, which served as the venue for immortals and itinerant cultivators, both local and visiting, to trade and gather. Great Yu had also stationed a Protector of the People there, who brought with him an army of a hundred thousand soldiers. Apart from them, no one else was allowed to stay permanently in this realm.

A great amount of natural energy was accumulated on Far Heaven. Its concentration was so rich that it could even be compared with some places on Pangu Continent with rarefied energy. But now all that was left was wisps of energy, for most of them had been gathered by some almighty experts and turned into a huge sun in the void.

Far Heaven’s position was replaced by the sun; those stars once circulated it were now circulating around the sun. Because of that, there was no change to the positions of all the stars, and no natural disasters were triggered.

Three months ago, Great Yu’s Protector of the People stationed in Far Heaven had a conflict with some passing itinerant immortal, who later hacked his head off with a sword. A Great Yu’s general, who had broken through to the Six Stars Realm of the Second Pangu Heaven, was slain by a passing itinerant immortal. No doubt it was a clumsy and laughable excuse, but it happened all the same. After he was killed, his subordinates continued to have conflicts with some passing itinerant cultivators and immortals. In the end, the army of one hundred thousand soldiers fell apart, with some killed, some fled, and some went missing.

After Great Yu’s army was disintegrated, the Celestial Lord the Heaven posted in Far Heaven immediately opened the realm and the tens of thousands of blessed cave abodes on it to the outside world, and then summoned all the nearby immortal sects and asked them to choose a cave abode each to build their bases.

For countless years, only Heaven’s Celestial Lords and immortal officials could permanently reside on Far Heaven. But now it was packed with immortals and itinerant cultivators, including over thirty Gold Immortals, thousands of Heaven Immortals, and hundreds of thousands of itinerant cultivators below the realm of Nascent Divinity.

In addition to these itinerant immortals and cultivators, many mortal kingdoms controlled by immortal sects had also migrated into Far Heaven with countless civilians. Among all the immortal sects in outer heavenly realms, even the smallest one could control a planet with rather thin natural energy. Each of these planets was inhabited by mortal kingdoms of big or small, which ruled over billions of civilians.

Now, those mortal kingdoms controlled by immortal sects had also moved into Far Heaven, together with a small part of their population from hundreds of different planets. With Far Heaven’s surface area that was nearly as large as four Zhong Provinces combined, it was more than enough to provide for so many civilians.

Bringing with it so many immortals and mortals, Far Heaven was driven away from its original location by some almighty experts, flying towards Pangu Continent at a speed that was as fast as a Gold Immortal. On top of that, it was constantly accelerating. If it continued to fly at this speed, it would collide with Pangu Continent in at most half a year.

“Why do they trying to make Far Heaven and Pangu Continent collide?” Princess Zhang Le wrinkled her brows, her hands tucked under her sleeves. A few moments later, she grinned coldly and said, “Oh, are they trying to piece them back together? These outer heavenly realms were once part of Pangu Continent, and since they are of the same source, they will soon be absorbed by the continent and fused together. Then, those immortals and mortals…”

Wu Qi gave a cold laugh and said, “Those immortals and mortals will naturally be able to set up camps on Pangu Continent!”

He counted on the fingers on his hand. “Even if Great Yu could kill those from the immortal sects, it could never touch these mortals. For generations these mortals live in outer heavenly realms, they… they are not Great Yu’s people, but Heaven’s!”

Princess Zhang Le narrowed her eyes and said, “Using this method, they are sending large quantities of immortals and mortals from outer heavenly realms back to Pangu Continent. Putting aside those immortals, if there are pawns raised by Heaven hiding among the mortals, and everyone in these mortal kingdoms are also cultivating the cultivation techniques of the human race, so long as they start a war, they will be able to combine these mortal kingdoms into one or a few super powerful human dynasties!”

Wu Qi sighed. “And when supported by the recent natural disasters that happened across Pangu Continent, as well as those rumors, these new human dynasties will be the dynasties established by the so-called Sacred Emperors, and Great Yu’s Human Emperor will be the fatuous ruler who should be brought down from the throne. Ha, perhaps Heaven can take this opportunity to expand their power once more.”

Princess Zhang Le looked at him curiously and asked, “At best, Heaven can use human race to subvert Great Yu, I don’t understand how they can expand their power at the same time?”

Wu Qi laughed coldly, clenched his teeth and said, “Have you forgotten theInvestiture of the Gods ¹ that happened during the era of King Zhou of Shang?”

The princess’s expression changed instantly. She bit her fingernails, sinking in thoughts. At length, she nodded slowly and said, “It’s indeed a well-thought plan. By putting Great Yu’s dead generals and Oracles into the Investiture of the Gods, they will become pawns control by Heaven. Through this method, the more Heaven fights, the stronger it grows and the weaker Great Yu becomes, until finally Heaven replaced Great Yu and became the ultimate master of Pangu Continent!”

Wu Qi smiled bitterly and finished for her, “From then on, mortals are at immortals’ mercy, and Pangu Continent will become immortals’ back garden, where they can freely take away all the spirit herbs, energy stones, or anything else. On top of that, with a continent that is constantly expanding, even if immortals are to face Apocalypse of Heaven and Earth in the future, it will be greatly delayed, and their Primordial Immortals will no longer fall like raindrops whenever there is an apocalypse.”

Princess Zhang Le fell silent, and Wu Qi did not say another word but followed Far Heaven with his eyes, which zoomed past them at high speed.

Heaven and Buddhism League had indeed found an excellent method to control the human race and Pangu Continent. In order to reach this step today, how much effort had they poured in, and what were the preparations they had made in advance? Perhaps, the war that eventually led to the Investiture of the Gods during the era of King Zhou of Shang was just a rehearsal for what was going to happen on Pangu Continent! And it was possible that such a rehearsal had been carried out many times in the worlds of mortals.

Everything they had done, they did it for the ultimate goal of controlling the human race and Pangu Continent!

Wu Qi wondered who came out with this plan? Was it the few old fogies, Heaven’s Great Celestial Emperor, or Buddhism League’s Lord Buddha? With his understanding of the few old fogies, he knew they would not meddle in such a matter, for they only after for their own safety.

But if they were not involved, how could Heaven and Buddhism League have the courage to do something like this at the risk of enraging Empress Wa? The fact was, even Empress Wa was trapped in her own palace by someone! There was a lot to ponder about in this.

Besides, Wu Qi suddenly realized that Great Yu had given Heaven and Buddhism League too many excuses through the way they handled Myriad Immortal Alliance. Great Yu had killed too many immortals and itinerant cultivators, even including the Sovereign, who was a high minister of Heaven. After that, Prabhutaratna Buddha was also slain when he sneaked into Liangzhu. Both Heaven’s Primordial Immortal and Buddhism League’s Buddha were killed by Great Yu, just this excuse alone was more than enough to make the few old fogies, who in Wu Qi’s memory were some shameless fellas, to negotiate with Empress Wa. Perhaps, the result of their negotiation was that Empress Wa could not support Great Yu this time!

“So apparently, by killing three Primordial Immortals from Heaven and three Buddhas from Buddhism League, I’ve provided them more and better excuses?” Wu Qi slapped himself on the back of his head, and recalled that the crown prince of Heaven was still hanging on Dong Hai City’s south gate. These excuses were more than enough!

Princess Zhang Le had also seen the truth in this. She sighed, a little worried. “Could it be that the crown prince was purposely sent here so he could be killed by us?”

Wu Qi narrowed his eyes and laughed coldly. Shaking his head, he said, “Just look at Ying Zheng’s attitude towards his empress. For those mighty emperors, the death of a few wives and sons doesn’t mean anything. If necessary, I reckon that the Great Celestial Emperor will not care how many sons he has lost!”

The princess fell silent once again. At length, she looked up and murmured under her breath, “They’d better leave Dong Hai alone, otherwise… hmph!”

Suddenly, a bright golden light flashed in front of Far Heaven, which had flown another million of miles after it zoomed past the couple. A squad of Great Yu’s soldiers in suits of golden armor appeared in front of the landmass. A general, mounted on a single-horned qilin and carried a barbed mace in one hand, who had reached the peak-level of the Nine Stars Realm of the Second Pangu Heaven, came to the forefront and snapped, “You have intruded Great Yu’s territory! Back off now! Otherwise…”

The enormous landmass rolled over silently, showing no sign of stopping. The general roared furiously and quickly kicked his mount into a gallop, barely escaped the tragic end of being slammed by such a huge object. But the soldiers behind him were not so lucky. In just the blink of an eye, they were all crushed into pieces. Far Heaven was a fragment fallen off from Pangu Continent, and Pangu Continent was transformed from Pangu’s body. The soldiers practiced the cultivation techniques of the human race could destroy stars in space, but the could never destroy Pangu Continent.

As a result, all thirty-thousand elite soldiers of Great Yu were smashed to pulp by Far Heaven. After that, it continued to fly toward Pangu Continent without even pausing for a brief moment.

The general roared with fury, swung his barbed mace and jumped into Far Heaven.

The voice of someone calling the name of Buddha suddenly rang out in the void. In the next moment, seven Buddhas from the Buddhism League came next to the general at the same time, waved their hands and unleashed beams of Buddha’s light, which held him in place. Even then, from each of dozens of blessed cave abodes on Far Heaven a flying sword shot whistling up into the sky, all turning into shafts of bright light and pierced through all the vital spots across the general’s body. Seven Buddhas and over thirty Gold Immortals had struck together, reducing the general into minced meat even before he had the chance to counterattack.

Wu Qi sighed. He gave the speeding Far Heaven a glance and shook his head lightly.

“Let’s go back, Zi Xuan. It’s time to prepare for the war!

“The Investiture of the Gods? Ha, that’s something interesting!”