Stealing The Heavens

Wu Qi also stood up and stared coldly at Zhang Tengyun.

In terms of height, he was a fist shorter than Zhang Tengyun; in terms of appearance, Zhang Tengyun’s face was almost a work of art, and Wu Qi was not as handsome. In terms of temperament, Zhang Tengyun had everything that an emperor should have: overbearing, heroic, dignified, imposing. To top that all, he was charming and elegant.

However, if they stood side by side, all eyes would be drawn to Wu Qi. It was a feeling of worship similar to when one looked up at the sky on a summer night and saw the myriad stars, and was shocked by the vastness of heaven and earth and the infinity of the universe. Zhang Tengyun was nothing but an emperor of the mortal world, but Wu Qi was an unfathomable mighty figure. Anyone who saw him would worship him, just like the primitive humans worshipping thunders and rains out of their ignorance of the Heavenly Dao.

Both of them were acutely aware of their differences. Wu Qi smiled faintly while Zhang Tengyun’s face crumpled up. The emperor was naturally ashamed of himself in the face of Wu Qi, which made him feel an unspeakable irritation.

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Tengyun was about to speak when Wu Qi smiled at Liu Bang and said, “King of Han, Liu Bang, you are so good at seizing up opportunities. Well, what position have you taken up in Ling Dynasty this time?”

Liu Bang smiled as he cupped his fist at Wu Qi and said, “You are flattering me, King of Dong Hai! I’m humbled to serve as Ling Dynasty’s Prime Minister, overseeing both military and state affairs.”

Wu Qi exclaimed in feign surprise, “Aye, you made King of Han your Prime Minister? Heh, you have to watch out, emperor of Ling Dynasty, for King of Han is not someone contented of being placed under others. You better not give him the chance to do what that Lu Buwei beside him had done…You know he had made his emperor a mere puppet and himself the regent, don’t you?”

The faces of Liu Bang and Lu Buwei turned blue with rage. They shot a furious look at Wu Qi, then bowed at Zhang Tengyun together and said, “Your Majesty, you have to understand that he is trying to stir up discord between us!”

Zhang Tengyun sneered. He forced back the hint of malice and killing intent that rose in his heart after hearing Wu Qi’s words as he gently waved his hand and said, “How could I not know it was his trick? Be faithful to me, and you will be rewarded handsomely in time to come.” After saying that, the emperor tilted his head up proudly and said to Wu Qi, “Do you really take me for such a shallow man, King of Dong Hai?”

Wu Qi arched an eyebrow indifferently and said in a flat tone, “It doesn’t matter. If I succeed in provoking you to kill both of them, I’ll have a lot less trouble to deal with. If it doesn’t work out, what’s the harm to me? Well, Lu Buwei, are you sure you don’t want to make this punk Zhang Tengyun a mere puppet? If you have the courage to kill him and ascend the throne yourself, I swear to you, Dong Hai army will help you pacify all the resistance.”

Lu Buwei’s face was no longer blue but pale green while Zhang Tengyun’s eyes were twitching with anger. He gave Lu Buwei a furious look, then pointed at Wu Qi and snapped, “Don’t make me despise you, King of Dong Hai!”

Wu Qi gave Zhang Tengyun a lazy look. Sparing Lu Buwei for now, he turned to nod at Liu Bang and said, “King of Han, you are a genius, so why should you serve someone else? If you have the desire to become the Human Emperor, you just have to swear that you will fight for the throne wholeheartedly, and I will kill Xiang Yu right now and support your cause with Dong Hai army!”

Liu Bang’s face instantly turned as pale and green as a turnip. Before he could explain himself, Wu Qi had yelled and pulled Xiang Yu out of the massive fleet behind him. While smiling, Wu Qi asked Xiang Yu, “Hegemon-King of Western Chu, Xiang Yu, if Liu Bang wishes to fight for the throne of the Human Emperor, will you let me kill you?”

Xiang Yu took off his helmet and patted himself on the neck, “My head is here. If King of Dong Hai needs it, you can take it now!”

Liu Bang was about to burst into tears, but Xiang Yu would not let him go. “Brother Liu Bang, I haven’t seen you for years. How are you? We are brothers, and although there is some misunderstanding between us, it is nothing compared to our brotherhood that is as strong as a diamond! If you have the ambition to fight for the throne, my head is yours!”

A suspicious look crept up Zhang Tengyun’s face as he glanced back thoughtfully at Liu Bang. The latter’s heart jerked with fear as he hurriedly pointed at Xiang Yu and snapped, “What nonsense are you talking about!”

After panting violently for a while, Liu Bang glared at Wu Qi and bellowed, “King of Dong Hai, as an important minister of Great Yu, why is there a fiend immortal under your command? Why are there so many mountain spirits and water demons in your army? Are you still Great Yu’s subject?” He could hardly stand Wu Qi’s continuous slander, so he grabbed hold of some of Wu Qi’s little mistakes in his desperation and began to fight back.

Staring coldly at Liu Bang, Wu Qi patted Xiang Yu on the shoulder and sneered, “Xiang Yu is my captive, so why can’t I make him fight for me? As for those water demons…” He looked down at the vast horde of naval forces in the great rivers near and far, and then smiled and nodded to Liu Bang. “They are fresh rations for my army! Does that bother you?”

“Rations?”

Zhang Tengyun, Liu Bang, and Lu Buwei fixed their eyes on Wu Qi, all feeling an urge to cough blood. A man could be shameless, but one could not be so shameless, could he? How could the countless water demons a king of Great Yu bring with him on an expedition be rations?

Well, Wu Qi was indeed shameless, but how were they going to refute him? Among those little Gold Core demons, there were lobsters, abalones, prawns, clams, and other fresh seafood. He was absolutely right when he said they were rations. If they tried to refute him by saying that they were Dong Hai’s regular army, then what was Catfish doing?

On the nearest river, Catfish lounged on the back of a giant turtle, nibbling away at two lobster demons. All around the turtle was a vast horde of lobster demons who looked like snacks she had prepared for herself.

Liu Bang was speechless. Could these water demons really be fresh rations for the army?

Utterly defeated, Liu Bang dropped his head in silence. Zhang Tengyun stared coldly at Wu Qi as he lifted a hand and pointed a few times at him while saying, “I approve of your clever tricks, King of Dong Hai. A man like you is qualified for great things. Offer the lady beside you to me, and when I step down from the throne of the Human Emperor and ascend the throne of the Heaven’s Great Celestial Emperor, I will consider passing the throne to you.”

Wu Qi looked at Princess Zhang Le and burst into laughter. “Zi Xuan, it seems you are as valuable as the throne of the Human Emperor.”

He got a glare for that. While gently stroking her belly with a hand, Princess Zhang Le said, “If the child’s father dares to trade me for anything, I’ll strangle the child now, and then die with the father!”

Wu Qi shivered and dared not make any more jokes. He then turned and pointed at Zhang Tengyun while snapping, “Just keep dreaming! Zhang Tengyun, I’m too lazy to trade insults with you. I’ve come here today with a great army, and I will not give up until my goal is achieved. Since you are here with an army as well, why don’t we negotiate an agreement to determine the future of Dong Hai and Ling Dynasty?”

Zhang Tengyun narrowed his eyes. He glanced at Princess Zhang Le, and was about to order the army to attack and destroy the enemy at all cost when a middle-aged man in a blue robe, who looked as ugly and strange as a crab, suddenly came out of the curtains of his chariot. The man leaned up to his ear and muttered a few words, then gave Wu Qi a deep look and turned back behind the curtains.

Wu Qi glanced at the man. The fluctuation of star power on him was so obvious that he should be one of the Celestial Lords who had previously descended.

After considering for some time, Zhang Tengyun nodded at Wu Qi and said, “Fine, let’s make an agreement.”

He threw a look at the vast army of Dong Hai and said with a smile, “King of Dong Hai, do you think you and my army will survive if we send all our experts out to fight here?”

Wu Qi was silent for a moment, then he shook his head lightly. In a battle between Dao Reasoning experts or even Dao Breaking experts, any carelessness would usually result in the collapse of void billions of miles around. In those years, the almighty experts in the universe had fought against each other and triggered an Apocalypse, which caused countless fragments to break off from Pangu Continent and turn into today’s outer heavenly realms. If the experts serving Wu Qi and Zhang Tengyun were to fight with all their might here, and if the group of nearly a thousand Celestial Lords of Ling Dynasty joined the battle, the odds were that both armies would perish together. In front of them, ordinary soldiers were extremely vulnerable.

Zhang Tengyun smiled and nodded. He gave Princess Zhang Le a look again, and then only said in a deep voice, “Why don’t we both swear that in the battle between Ling Dynasty and Dong Hai, only those with the cultivation base below the realm of Primordial realm can take part?”

Wu Qi thought of those Celestial Lords as he laughed and said, “What about those with the cultivation base below the realm of Primordial, but they…”

Zhang Tengyun nodded and said, “Of course, those Celestial Lords will not attack any of the soldiers from Dong Hai.”

Both men talked for a long time, negotiated a lot of terms, and finally reached an agreement.

Both sides had agreed that no one with the cultivation base above the realm of Primordial could participate in the battle, but they could give any magical artifacts, talismans, spirit pills, medicinal pills, or the likes to those who took part.

The generals, Oracles, immortals, itinerant cultivators, demons, fiends, and ghosts with the cultivation level of Gold Immortal realm from both sides would lead their armies and attack each other, and whoever captured the opponent’s capital city would be the victor. If Dong Hai army took the city of Wanling, Zhang Tengyun would admit defeat, and if the army of Ling Dynasty took Dong Hai City, Wu Qi would lose everything.

All other schemes were allowed except that they could not be carried out by experts above the realm of Primordial. For example, Princess Zhang Le was not allowed to kill some general of the Ling Dynasty with a curse herself, but she could build an altar and teach an Oracle how to do it.

Also, both sides would fight with all the forces they had right at that moment. No outside forces were allowed to interfere.

The so-called outside forces referred to Heaven and Great Yu. Ling Dynasty would be deemed as a loser if any immortal from Heaven appeared in its ranks, and Dong Hai would be deemed as a loser if Great Yu provided it even just a soldier.

After all the terms were worked out, Wu Qi and Zhang Tengyun made the announcement publicly. Neither of them swore an oath; obviously, they both knew how untrustworthy an oath was. After that, the armies of both sides simultaneously retreated to prepare for pre-war schemes and plans.

As soon as he got back on his chariot, Wu Qi grabbed hold of Ao Buzun and said, “Make babies, I want you to make a lot of babies! Only generals with the cultivation base of Gold Immortals can take part in this war! How many babies can you give birth to?”

Ao Buzun stuck out his chest proudly and said, “Give me enough women and I’ll drown the entire Ling Dynasty with an army of Gold Immortal dragons!”

Beside them, Princess Zhang Le’s face darkened instantly.