Stealing the Heavens

Chapter 145: Escape From The City

Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh_

Wu Qi tried grabbing Princess Zhang Le, but he failed. Looking at how she brought together eight Ghost Immortals and rushed towards Ji City, he dared not hesitate and quickly ordered Xiong Qing brothers to follow her. As Princess Zhang Le possessed the cultivation base of Gold Core realm, with the protection from fourteen experts of Gold Core realm, out which the cultivation base of Xiong Qing brothers was middle tier and above, her safety was guaranteed.

But, what exactly was happening right now? Why was there such a great disturbance suddenly? Wu Qi threw his glance over at the thick layer of energy barrier hovering above Ji City, and numerous gigantic runes flashing and glinting inside of the barrier, each at least several feet in both length and width. Obviously, the last strategic defensive formation of Ji City had been activated. It was a terminal formation which completely cut off the access from both sides. Once it was activated, not only the people in the city could not come out, even the people outside could not get in.

Unless it was a cultivator who had his Nascent Divinity completely formed, no one could make a breakthrough past this ultimate defensive formation of Ji City. At present, the only weakness of Ji City’s defense was the city gate, which was destroyed from inside of the city moments before the energy barrier was unleashed. Currently, twenty thousand soldiers of Blood Swallow Army had occupied the land of several miles outside of the city near the damaged city gate, forming a barricade through which not even a drop of water could trickle. A fierce battle had broken out between them and the large troop of men who barged out from the city just now.

It was a violent battle. At the vicinity of the city gate, nearly one hundred soldiers of Blood Swallow Army, each clad in the same blood red war robe, were seen swinging and slashing their swords, unleashing ball after ball of thunder-flame, trying their best to completely seal off the city gate. However, there was a group of old men, each clad in a long light-golden robe, who had occupied a small area near the city gate. They kept unleashing one after another talisman with incredible power, breaking and ripping the energy barrier which came stretching down from the top of the city wall.

Streams of light were seen stretching from the surrounding city walls towards the city gate. As long as these streams of light could connect with each other, the ultimate defensive formation of Ji City would be able to completely seal off this only breach on the wall. But, those golden robe old men had occupied the city gate. While controlling their flying swords and fighting with the cultivators of Blood Swallow Army, they kept unleashing specially made talismans which could break the formation, tearing and ripping apart those streams of light that came in top speed.

This city gate was the only escape passage for those who had been trapped inside the city.

Suddenly, a loud boom rang out. Amidst the few hundred cultivators of Blood Swallow Army, nearly half of them pulled out a ‘Thunder Smasher’, each the size of a human fist, red in color and made with ‘Firethorn Steel’. After forming a finger incantation and triggering the Thunder Smasher, they quickly threw it over to those golden robe cultivators in the city gate.

These Thunder Smashers were magical items secretly made by Mo Sect. Once the outer shell made from Firethorn Steel exploded, it would shoot out 3600 needles, each one foot in length, into all directions. On top of that, the thunder-flame inside it was a mixture of Devil Flame of Pure Yang harvested from underground, and the Ninth Heavens True Flame of Pure Yang harvested from the sky, merged together using a method of Five Element Thunder. It came with an incredible power, and once it exploded, everything within the radius of several hundred feet would be shattered easily.

Nearly 50 Thunder Smashers were being thrust out at the same time. Then, all the cultivators of Blood Swallow Army rode on their flying swords and retreated instantly. One hundred sword beams sprung and shot back at top speed, producing a near indistinct noise of wind breaking as they reached several thousand feet away. Meanwhile, all the golden robe cultivators in the city gate had their expression turn wan. They let out a shrill laugh together summoned back their sword beams, using them to form a thick layer of a five-colored energy barrier inside the city gate and in front of them.

In the next second, a loud boom rang out. All the Thunder Smashers exploded at the same time, as a brilliant glow burst out from within the city gate. As the defensive formation had been activated, the city gate did not suffer any damage from the explosion. The power of the Thunder Smashers thrust out from the city gate and gushed towards both sides of the wall. Several dozens of golden robe cultivators in the city gate had their body ripped into thousand pieces by the explosion, while their sword beams were shattered by the powerful thunder-flame. A fire pillar that was several hundred feet thick rushed out from the city gate, hitting the battlefield where the soldiers of Blood Swallow Army and the troop of men were fighting, instantly killing a few thousand men from both sides.

The fiery red flame rolled and swept out together with a deadly temperature, burning and charring the ground nearly two miles in the vicinity of the city gate. Soldiers of both sides had their bodies turned to ashes in an instant. Even the armors clad on their body were melted down by the extremely high temperature. All the men that barged out from the city just now were growling and howling miserably. Upon witnessing such a scene, many people in the battlefield simply broke down, losing all their courage to fight anymore.

The soldiers of Blood Swallow Army too had witnessed the death of their comrades, yet none of them made any noises. They were like the most precisely made machine, following the formation which they had trained for numerous times as they quickly filled the gap which was left by the death of their comrades, maintaining a tight encirclement around the enemies.

The streams of light bursting out from top of the wall suddenly became stronger, as countless rays were now rushing towards the damaged city gate at an incredible speed. Within the blink of an eye, they converged and only left a tiny slit which was smaller than two feet in diameter. As long as this crack was sealed, the entire Ji City would be completely sealed off, and no one inside of the city could make their escape.

The very moment when the Ji City was going to be completely sealed off, a large golden-red umbrella, bringing together a fierce flame that blotted out the sky, suddenly shot out from within the city. It was an umbrella, tens of feet in diameter. From its 36 steel wires, tiny threads of light that looked extremely sharp burst out, slicing and ripping the rays shot out from the defensive formation on the wall into tiny fragments. There were twelve red gemstones mounted on the umbrella, each shooting out a flame that stretched several thousand feet away. Within this frightening flame, one could even see several hundred tiny green shadows of snakes. Specks of green thunder were being spat out from these tiny snakes, hitting onto the city wall and exploding, causing the entire wall to shake violently.

A burly man who stood nearly ten feet tall was holding the large umbrella, standing firmly inside of the city gate. With a loud voice, he screamed, “Somebody, escort young miss out from the city! Hurry up! The defensive formation has fully activated. I can’t hold on for too long!”

Right after the burly man let out the loud scream, a group of over thirty eunuchs, each clad in the same high-ranking robe of Imperial Eunuch, suddenly appeared on top of the city wall. They were each carrying a thirty-six feet long flagpole in their hand, and a flag with approximately ten feet in both width and length was waving quickly on top of it, unleashing vortexes of light that looked like a deadly whirlpool in the ocean. As these Imperial Eunuchs begun to unleash their attacks from the top of the city wall, a one thousand feet huge flame suddenly burst out. Amidst the flame were countless twisting runes, flashing and blinking rapidly. With that, the strength of Ji City’s defensive formation had increased to another level.

Originally, when the defensive formation of Ji City was activated, it functioned exactly like the map of formation in the cave of Sword Stems From The Mind, merely a dead formation. But now, when all the layers of the city wall in Ji City were controlled by these Imperial Eunuchs with the formation flags, the defensive formation that enveloped the entire Ji City had transformed into a live formation, a live formation with incredible strength and power.

The difference in power between a dead formation and a live formation was huge. Currently, its strength had been increased at least ten times than before.

Suddenly, the burly man in the city gate howled, as both his legs could no longer withstand the sudden increase of pressure coming from the defensive formation. They started to burst out with blood. Forcefully, he kneeled onto the ground, then cried out with a hoarse voice, “Go now! What are you guys waiting for? Bring young miss and leave immediately!”

*Buzz!* The glow of the defensive formation grew stronger, as several dozens of balls of green thunder the size of a human head took shape at the city gate. Upon their appearance, they quickly clung themselves onto the umbrella and exploded in an instant. An ear-deafening loud boom rung out, and the tremendous tremor shook the ground and caused all the soldiers of Blood Swallow Army and their opponents to lose their balance and fall onto the ground. Out of twelve gemstones mounted on the umbrella, seven of them were destroyed.

A miserable shriek echoed out, as the burly man had both his arms shattered by the enormous explosion. With blood bursting out from his mouth, he too fell to the ground.

Like a severely wounded savage beast, the burly man let out a furious roar, “Young miss, please inform the Patriarch. His servant had received a deep kindness from him, and I’ve no other way to repay this debt of gratitude. Today, I’ll open up a passage for young miss to escape from Ji City! Please tell Patriarch that when he saved my life many years ago, I had pledged to repay his kindness with my life. And today, I will fulfill my pledge!”

Countless streams of light surged and rushed towards the city gate and were about to seal it completely. Suddenly the burly man had his eyes stretched wide, as a golden light glinted from near his dantian. Then, his body simply transformed into a clump of blood mist and shot out. A golden flame swept across the entire city gate, wiping out the defensive formation near it. It was not only the self-explosion of his Gold Core, the large umbrella in his hand had exploded as well. The remaining five gemstones and all thirty-six umbrella frames had exploded at the same time, sending out a fiery red flame mixed with the dazzling golden light, and nearly collapsed the entire city gate.

It was at this moment that Princess Zhang Le, together with eight Ghost Immortals and Xiong Qing brothers, arrived at the city gate.

Noticing that a golden red rolling flame was thrusting towards their direction, Princess Zhang Le immediately cried out. The five colored divine rays rolled up and unleashed several hundred tiny beams, interweaving into a net of light before her, trapping and absorbing all the flame that came towards her face. However, the flame was, after all, a force that was unleashed from the self-destruction of a Gold Core. Although Princess Zhang Le was cultivating with a magical technique, the kickback still forced her to take a few steps back. As a result, she tripped on her own feet and tumbled down to the ground, rolling back on for several hundred feet on the ground which had its upper layer melted off by the steaming airflow.

Eight Ghost Immortals let out a shrill scream at the same time. Without hesitation, they spat out grayish white sword beams and tightly sealed off the city gate. Meanwhile, Xiong Qing brothers had transformed back to their true form of bears. An armor identical to the one clad by Blood Swallow Army appeared on their bodies. However, their quality was of upper tier magical items. Waving six great maces in their hands, the six brothers sprung and dashed towards the city gate while roaring out aggressively.

Affected by the self-destruction of Gold Core, the lights enshrouding the city wall now looked dimmer. However, within the blink of an eye, it grew stronger again. Countless streams of light quickly slithered towards the city gate like some nimble snakes, trying to seal it off once again.

A jarring noise of wind breaking was heard. Six flying swords enshrouded in purple lightning were seen piercing through the air and came from inside the city. Countless lighting strikes splashed and streaked out from these flying swords, colliding and impacting onto the defensive formation near the city gate to make it blink rapidly. Then, these six flying swords with indiscernible shapes flew into the city gate as six balls of greenish-white lightning, forming a tiny reverse Array of Three. With that, no matter how those thirty Imperial Eunuchs standing on top of the city wall tried to form finger incantations and recite spells, the six flying swords just would not budge an inch.

Eight Ghost Immortals let out a sharp cry together, thrusting their grayish-white sword beams full of shivering ghostly energies towards the six flying swords.

A mocking sneer came from the city gate. Then, the voice said, “You’re courting death! As ghosts yourself, how dare you to touch the Ninth Heavens Evil Subduing True Thunder?”

The flying swords collided and clashed as countless tiny lightning the size of human hair shot right out from the center of impact. In an instant, eight grayish-white sword beams shattered and exploded into countless grayish-white specks that flew around like fireflies. In addition to that, several dozen wandering lightning streaked out from the city gate and forcefully impacted onto the body of eight Ghost Immortals. Wisps of green smoke billowed out from their bodies while they howled and retreated hastily.

Traditionally, thunder had been served as the signal of the heavens. Yet, this Ninth Heavens Evil Subduing True Thunder was one of the purest Yang energies under the heavens, an energy that especially restrained all evils and ghosts. On top of that, the quality of these six flying swords was pretty high. As the eight Ghost Immortals were ghosts in nature, they were being greatly restrained by the flying swords. The lightning had smitten them and made their bodies billow with smoke. Every wisp of the green smoke was actually their nascent energy. They even had their Ghost Cores nearly shattered by the attack.

Noises of wind breaking came into the scene again. Escorted by a large troop of men clad in a golden robe, Wei Xiaoxiao was seen panic-stricken, sitting inside a flying coach and rushing quickly towards the city gate. In a blink of an eye, the company had entered the city gate, and was about to rush out from the city.

Suddenly, a loud voice that soared high up into the sky was heard coming from inside of the city, “Wei Merchant has colluded with some vassal kingdoms and conspired against the dynasty. They had assassinated Duke Buji, the Duke of Yan Le, and conspired to topple the dynasty. For all the people of Great Yan, those who kill these traitors will be handsomely rewarded. Every member of Wei Merchant, the prince hostage of Xian Kingdom, Mang Kingdom, Jiu Yang Kingdom, every single member of thirty-seven kingdoms, are eligible to be captured and killed by every person of Great Yan!”

Following right after this loud voice was a deafening rumble coming from within Ji City. A smoke mixed with green and white color was seen billowing up into the sky.

Then, Yan Dan’s voice resounded through the skies, “With merely a little formation, you’re trying to trap me? What a wishful thinking!”