stealing the heavens

Chapter 8 – The Alliance

A bright spark blinked in front of his eyes. Wu Qi flipped his body backwards and performed 18 somersaults by instinct, instantly hiding himself behind the archery tower.

‘Shoo’, a deep yet subtle sound. A thumb sized sharp as a needle prickle about 1.5 meter long flew past Wu Qi’s body closely, then penetrated into the ground 7-8 feet behind him. When the object flew past him, Wu Qi was able to smell a sweet yet stinking aroma. It was obvious that the prickle was poisonous.

Among the villagers, two ripped men were too late to evade; the prickle penetrated into their bodies. In just a few breaths of time, these two ripped men’s bodies suddenly turned black, and then they died on the spot. Their bodies were violently cramping. The two more than 2 meters tall and ripped men soon shrank down to the size of an ordinary kid. Blood poured out from all seven apertures, and it quickly stained a large part of the dirt.

Wu Qi felt pins and needles all over his scalp after witnessing this. The poison on these prickles was too strong.

On the other side of the river, there were at least 700-800 barbarians approaching while screaming. They carried strong bows made from rattan, and kept shooting out prickle after prickle. Together with the sound of laughter, several prickles fell down from the sky like rain, leaving the villagers close to the suspension bridge in a sorry stage.

The 30 barbarians who were running the fastest, in just the time it took to release two or three rounds of prickles, they had crossed the floating bridge and had come closed to the side of the suspension bridge.

The village elder who was talking to Wu Qi just now suddenly raised the stick in his hand high up into the air. All of his five fingers on his left hand curved a little, forming into a symbol. He suddenly took a deep breath. The short and skinny elder raised his chest up high, and then he roared with a deep voice as he tightened his fist. He did not loosen his fist until he stopped roaring.

A wild wind swept across out from nowhere, covering more than 50 meters’ radius of area.

Another round of prickles fell down from the skies at the same time. The wild wind scooped up the prickles and shot them towards those barbarians who were starting to close in on the suspension bridge. Those 30 barbarians who were the quickest were so scared it felt like their hearts were going to jump out. They threw away the strong bows in their hands and jumped into the river for their lives. Prickles impaled deeply into the bodies of a few barbarians who were too slow, and in the blink of an eye their bodies turned black and died.

Wu Qi’s eyes lit up as he stared at that elder. This skill was included in the ‘Scroll of Stealing’, it was amongst the most foundational and basic Five Elements skills, a Wood Element skill called ‘Wind Summoning’. The elder’s cultivation base was not strong, and the wind that he summoned could only cover around 50 meters’ radius of area.

A strong ‘Wind Summoning’, once it is used, it can even change the climate in a radius of ten thousand miles. However, this was not something an elder from this remote village could accomplish.

The sharp noise of something piercing through the wind sounded out from above. The villagers on top of the few archery towers had started readying their crossbows. Dozens of arrows shot out together with a loud sound. The heads of those barbarians who had jumped into the river just now emerged from the water. The powerful arrows had penetrated deeply into their bodies, killing them all on the spot.

The barbarian leader surrounded by black gas on the other side of the river let out an angry roar. He raised both his hands up high and screamed in an odd fashion, and then he twisted his body and started moving in a weird rhythm. The dark green skull within the black gas opened its mouth and spat out another green fireball.

The elder shouted loudly, those villagers who were near the suspension bridge started evading on after another. The villagers who were standing guard on the archery tower were pulling the suspension bridge up with all their strength, trying to retract it. However, the fireball flew right onto the archery tower that was connected to the suspension bridge. With a loud bang, the green fireball exploded. The explosion destroyed most of the archery tower, and the villagers who were on top of the archery tower tore into pieces by the explosion. The suspension bridge forcefully fell back down.

The barbarians screamed out, they threw away their strong bows, and then they drew their huge blades and swords from their back. While shouting ‘awawawaw’, the pushed through the floating bridge.

The leader of the barbarians proudly let out a wild cry towards the skies, and then another large group of barbarians emerged from the forest behind him. The barbarians were totaling nearly a thousand, and they were all carrying some sort of weapon in their hands. They screamed out with excitement as they started pushing through to the village entrance.

Rapid footsteps sounded out from behind, the young men in the village had heard the alarm from the horn. They grabbed their weapons and rushed to the village entrance. The Meng Village had a large population, there were nearly 1300-1400 young men gathering, and all of them were strong and capable.

Doggie grabbed two long swords and passed one to Wu Qi.

“Big brother Wu Qi, you be careful! Damn it, both the Qifu Barbarians and Huazu Barbarians… These two tribes have allied! Hey, if they didn’t, where would they find the guts to attack our Meng Village?”

Wu Qi took the long sword, and his arm instantly sunk down. He gazed at Doggie while gritting his teeth; Wu Qi was smiling bitterly in his mind.

This sword was almost 1.6 meters long, and it had the width of an adult’s palm. The thickest part of the sword was nearly 1 1/3 inches, and it weighed nearly 50 kg. It was a perfect weapon for those ripped men in the Meng Village, their strength and size was just perfect to cause the maximum damage with this sword. However, for Wu Qi, this sword was too heavy, too long, and too bulky. He could almost use this sword as a shield!

With a bitter smile, he stabbed the sword into the ground. Wu Qi looked around, and then he pulled a prickle that was used by the barbarians out from the ground.

The prickle had the diameter of a thumb; it was about 150 cm long, and it weighed not more than 1 kg. It was pretty solid. Wu Qi tried bending it with his finger, but it was almost as hard as raw steel. This thing, it was just perfect for Wu Qi, and it already came with poison. The damage it can cause is not any less than that of the huge sword.

Doggie gazed at Wu Qi with a surprised expression; he shook his head doubtfully.

“Sigh… Big brother Wu Qi, your strength is weak! In our Meng Village, you won’t be able to find a woman!”

Doggie’s words did not have any bad intentions; it was simply a sneer with good intentions. However, Wu Qi’s face still blushed. He looked at the huge sword on the ground once again, and then he shook his head yet again. This weapon, he really does not have the ground to use it. Although he had inherited the ‘Scroll of Stealing’, he has not had the time to cultivate it systematically, and he does not have the ability to transform into a superman just by shaking his butt.

Taking a deep breath, Wu Qi held the prickled in his hand as he stood next to Doggie. In his hand, the prickle held steadily. In addition, a cold briefly swept across the surrounding area. Wu Qi slowly injected the prickle with his Innate Water Energy. A thin layer of water reflection emerged on the tip of the prickle.

Another round of rapid footsteps, thousands of women from the Meng Village were emerging from the village while holding strong bows in their hands. They held their position on the high ground behind the archery tower, or on the rooftops, or on the top of some rocks, or on the top of some trees. They pulled their bows and started shooting arrows.

Screams were heard everywhere. Those barbarians who were like raging beasts immediately suffered over 50 casualties. The arrows with diameters of an adult thumb had penetrated deeply into their bodies and come out on the other side of their bodies. However, there was no blood.

Those barbarians who were struck by the arrows screamed and cried. After some violent cramping and trembling, their bodies turned hard, and then they died. Just like those barbarians, the arrows made by the Meng Villagers were fed with poison as well. Those hit by arrows, even if they did not hit anything vital, they would certainly die.

The barbarian leader who was standing on the other side of the river let out an angry howl. He grinded his teeth and started twisting his waist, then two streams of blood suddenly shot out from his nose. The black gas hovering around him started rolling, and the dark green skull within the black gas started making some ghost-like growling sound. Suddenly it opened its mouth, then it spat out three fist sized green fireballs.

A few of the village elders alerted everyone with their shouts. Those villagers who stood close to the suspension bridge hurriedly backed off.

Three green fireballs flew across the river surfaced and slammed onto the area closest to the suspension bridge’s bridgehead. Three loud explosions sounded out, the ground underneath the bridgehead exploded and became three wide craters filled with large amounts of green flame. No one could get close to these craters because of the flame.

The retreating villagers had distracted the women, causing the speed of arrows being shot to slow down.

During this small window of distraction, dozens of barbarians who had the biggest bodies as well as the most ferocious tattoos on their skins managed to push through onto the suspension bridge. They drew the hand axes hanging on their waists, and with a shout, they threw the axes towards the villagers.

An elder shouted, “Shield!”

Dozens of huge shields made from a few layers of beast skins were set up, firmly guarding all the villagers.

Each of these barbarians were carrying 12 hand axes. A few hundred hand axes approached together with the sound of the wind shattering. The axes forcefully slammed onto the huge shields.

Tens of villagers who were holding the huge shields were forced back by the huge force coming from the hand axe. A few of them spat out blood due to the huge impact, but their bodies still stood straight, and they still held onto the shields firmly. Wu Qi saw the veins in their arms expanding, the skin on their hands and muscles breaking off, and blood flowing down from the surface of the shields.

Doggie hit Wu Qi forcefully with his elbow, he roared with a deep voice, “Big brother Wu Qi, don’t lose your focus! These barbarians dared attack our village, perhaps there is some evil plot going on. If we’re not careful, we will die!”

Before he finished his words, dozens of hand axes managed to slip through the gaps between the huge shield and fall into the groups of villagers.

Screams and cries sounded out, tens of ripped men from the Meng Village were sent flying into the air by the hand axes while spitting out mouthfuls of blood. One of the hand axes hit a man right on his chest, resulting in becoming emaciated. A few rib bones even came out from his back.

Doggie shouted loudly, “Shit! Uncle Meng Tu is gone!”

Looking at the hand axes’ effectiveness in killing the villagers, the barbarians started cheering.

An elder suddenly shouted, and the arrows shot out suddenly became dense again. Thousands of strong women villagers shot their arrows at the same time, the rain of arrows had sealed of the suspension bridge’s bridgehead. Those barbarians who had thrown their hand axes were now screaming in a horrified manner. At least half of them had become like gratings with bodies full of holes.

The suspension bridge was only 5 meters long, and the back of the bridge was packed with barbarians. Those barbarians standing at the front knew that there was no way for them to evade this arrow shower, so they could only do what the first batch of barbarians did, jump off the bridge.

Terrifying screams kept sounding out. A few fishes that looked like crocodiles, but had a sharp horn sticking out from their heads suddenly emerged from the bottom of the river. These river fishes possessed razor sharp teeth. They opened their mouths and crazily leapt at those barbarians. Arms, legs, it was all torn off by these fishes. The river soon became red.

The river started boiling; countless fierce river fishes started approaching with great speed. They opened their big mouths and started biting those barbarians who had fallen into the river.

Arrows kept raining down, the barbarians on the suspension bridge were unable to push through, and they were unable to fall back as well. They were now in an extremely awkward position.

The elder who had unleashed the ‘Wind Summoning’ skill breathed out a sigh of relief. With a laugh, he said, “These barbarians has come to seek death once again. Every year they always come and disturb our Meng Village three to five times, and they get defeated every time. This is just giving our Meng Village merit out of nothing!”

All the villagers were laughing as they watched the wonderful scene of the arrow shower killing those barbarians.

Just when the villagers had all their attention on the barbarians on the suspension bridge, the sky suddenly turned dark.

Wu Qi suddenly raised his head up, and then he saw more than a hundred eagles with wings spanning close to 20 meters rapidly descending from the sky.

Followed by ear piercing howling, a few hundred short-bodied barbarians wearing clothes made from feathers and identical tattoos on their exposed skin jumped off the back of these eagles, they all carried long pikes in their hands.

These barbarians landed right in the middle of the villages, and then they started cruelly thrusting the pike in their hands at these villagers.

In the blink of an eye, a few hundred villagers had been struck by these pikes; they bled and fell down.

The eagles flying in the air flew directly to the women who were standing on high ground shooting arrows. The huge claws rapidly descended from above, then they grabbed a few women, and then those eagles flew back into skies and started flying in circles.

The villagers formation was immediately broken, and the arrows stopped being shot.

The long sword in Doggie’s hand fell onto the ground. With a roar he said, “Fuck! Since when did the Bird Barbarian tribe ally with them?”

In the blink of an eye, a long pike, like a poisonous snake, stabbed towards Doggie’s chest while making a ‘shhshh’ sound.

When Doggie saw this long pike, it was already too late for him to evade it.

Chapter 8 – The Alliance

A bright spark blinked in front of his eyes. Wu Qi flipped his body backwards and performed 18 somersaults by instinct, instantly hiding himself behind the archery tower.

‘Shoo’, a deep yet subtle sound. A thumb sized sharp as a needle prickle about 1.5 meter long flew past Wu Qi’s body closely, then penetrated into the ground 7-8 feet behind him. When the object flew past him, Wu Qi was able to smell a sweet yet stinking aroma. It was obvious that the prickle was poisonous.

Among the villagers, two ripped men were too late to evade; the prickle penetrated into their bodies. In just a few breaths of time, these two ripped men’s bodies suddenly turned black, and then they died on the spot. Their bodies were violently cramping. The two more than 2 meters tall and ripped men soon shrank down to the size of an ordinary kid. Blood poured out from all seven apertures, and it quickly stained a large part of the dirt.

Wu Qi felt pins and needles all over his scalp after witnessing this. The poison on these prickles was too strong.

On the other side of the river, there were at least 700-800 barbarians approaching while screaming. They carried strong bows made from rattan, and kept shooting out prickle after prickle. Together with the sound of laughter, several prickles fell down from the sky like rain, leaving the villagers close to the suspension bridge in a sorry stage.

The 30 barbarians who were running the fastest, in just the time it took to release two or three rounds of prickles, they had crossed the floating bridge and had come closed to the side of the suspension bridge.

The village elder who was talking to Wu Qi just now suddenly raised the stick in his hand high up into the air. All of his five fingers on his left hand curved a little, forming into a symbol. He suddenly took a deep breath. The short and skinny elder raised his chest up high, and then he roared with a deep voice as he tightened his fist. He did not loosen his fist until he stopped roaring.

A wild wind swept across out from nowhere, covering more than 50 meters’ radius of area.

Another round of prickles fell down from the skies at the same time. The wild wind scooped up the prickles and shot them towards those barbarians who were starting to close in on the suspension bridge. Those 30 barbarians who were the quickest were so scared it felt like their hearts were going to jump out. They threw away the strong bows in their hands and jumped into the river for their lives. Prickles impaled deeply into the bodies of a few barbarians who were too slow, and in the blink of an eye their bodies turned black and died.

Wu Qi’s eyes lit up as he stared at that elder. This skill was included in the ‘Scroll of Stealing’, it was amongst the most foundational and basic Five Elements skills, a Wood Element skill called ‘Wind Summoning’. The elder’s cultivation base was not strong, and the wind that he summoned could only cover around 50 meters’ radius of area.

A strong ‘Wind Summoning’, once it is used, it can even change the climate in a radius of ten thousand miles. However, this was not something an elder from this remote village could accomplish.

The sharp noise of something piercing through the wind sounded out from above. The villagers on top of the few archery towers had started readying their crossbows. Dozens of arrows shot out together with a loud sound. The heads of those barbarians who had jumped into the river just now emerged from the water. The powerful arrows had penetrated deeply into their bodies, killing them all on the spot.

The barbarian leader surrounded by black gas on the other side of the river let out an angry roar. He raised both his hands up high and screamed in an odd fashion, and then he twisted his body and started moving in a weird rhythm. The dark green skull within the black gas opened its mouth and spat out another green fireball.

The elder shouted loudly, those villagers who were near the suspension bridge started evading on after another. The villagers who were standing guard on the archery tower were pulling the suspension bridge up with all their strength, trying to retract it. However, the fireball flew right onto the archery tower that was connected to the suspension bridge. With a loud bang, the green fireball exploded. The explosion destroyed most of the archery tower, and the villagers who were on top of the archery tower tore into pieces by the explosion. The suspension bridge forcefully fell back down.

The barbarians screamed out, they threw away their strong bows, and then they drew their huge blades and swords from their back. While shouting ‘awawawaw’, the pushed through the floating bridge.

The leader of the barbarians proudly let out a wild cry towards the skies, and then another large group of barbarians emerged from the forest behind him. The barbarians were totaling nearly a thousand, and they were all carrying some sort of weapon in their hands. They screamed out with excitement as they started pushing through to the village entrance.

Rapid footsteps sounded out from behind, the young men in the village had heard the alarm from the horn. They grabbed their weapons and rushed to the village entrance. The Meng Village had a large population, there were nearly 1300-1400 young men gathering, and all of them were strong and capable.

Doggie grabbed two long swords and passed one to Wu Qi.

“Big brother Wu Qi, you be careful! Damn it, both the Qifu Barbarians and Huazu Barbarians… These two tribes have allied! Hey, if they didn’t, where would they find the guts to attack our Meng Village?”

Wu Qi took the long sword, and his arm instantly sunk down. He gazed at Doggie while gritting his teeth; Wu Qi was smiling bitterly in his mind.

This sword was almost 1.6 meters long, and it had the width of an adult’s palm. The thickest part of the sword was nearly 1 1/3 inches, and it weighed nearly 50 kg. It was a perfect weapon for those ripped men in the Meng Village, their strength and size was just perfect to cause the maximum damage with this sword. However, for Wu Qi, this sword was too heavy, too long, and too bulky. He could almost use this sword as a shield!

With a bitter smile, he stabbed the sword into the ground. Wu Qi looked around, and then he pulled a prickle that was used by the barbarians out from the ground.

The prickle had the diameter of a thumb; it was about 150 cm long, and it weighed not more than 1 kg. It was pretty solid. Wu Qi tried bending it with his finger, but it was almost as hard as raw steel. This thing, it was just perfect for Wu Qi, and it already came with poison. The damage it can cause is not any less than that of the huge sword.

Doggie gazed at Wu Qi with a surprised expression; he shook his head doubtfully.

“Sigh… Big brother Wu Qi, your strength is weak! In our Meng Village, you won’t be able to find a woman!”

Doggie’s words did not have any bad intentions; it was simply a sneer with good intentions. However, Wu Qi’s face still blushed. He looked at the huge sword on the ground once again, and then he shook his head yet again. This weapon, he really does not have the ground to use it. Although he had inherited the ‘Scroll of Stealing’, he has not had the time to cultivate it systematically, and he does not have the ability to transform into a superman just by shaking his butt.

Taking a deep breath, Wu Qi held the prickled in his hand as he stood next to Doggie. In his hand, the prickle held steadily. In addition, a cold briefly swept across the surrounding area. Wu Qi slowly injected the prickle with his Innate Water Energy. A thin layer of water reflection emerged on the tip of the prickle.

Another round of rapid footsteps, thousands of women from the Meng Village were emerging from the village while holding strong bows in their hands. They held their position on the high ground behind the archery tower, or on the rooftops, or on the top of some rocks, or on the top of some trees. They pulled their bows and started shooting arrows.

Screams were heard everywhere. Those barbarians who were like raging beasts immediately suffered over 50 casualties. The arrows with diameters of an adult thumb had penetrated deeply into their bodies and come out on the other side of their bodies. However, there was no blood.

Those barbarians who were struck by the arrows screamed and cried. After some violent cramping and trembling, their bodies turned hard, and then they died. Just like those barbarians, the arrows made by the Meng Villagers were fed with poison as well. Those hit by arrows, even if they did not hit anything vital, they would certainly die.

The barbarian leader who was standing on the other side of the river let out an angry howl. He grinded his teeth and started twisting his waist, then two streams of blood suddenly shot out from his nose. The black gas hovering around him started rolling, and the dark green skull within the black gas started making some ghost-like growling sound. Suddenly it opened its mouth, then it spat out three fist sized green fireballs.

A few of the village elders alerted everyone with their shouts. Those villagers who stood close to the suspension bridge hurriedly backed off.

Three green fireballs flew across the river surfaced and slammed onto the area closest to the suspension bridge’s bridgehead. Three loud explosions sounded out, the ground underneath the bridgehead exploded and became three wide craters filled with large amounts of green flame. No one could get close to these craters because of the flame.

The retreating villagers had distracted the women, causing the speed of arrows being shot to slow down.

During this small window of distraction, dozens of barbarians who had the biggest bodies as well as the most ferocious tattoos on their skins managed to push through onto the suspension bridge. They drew the hand axes hanging on their waists, and with a shout, they threw the axes towards the villagers.

An elder shouted, “Shield!”

Dozens of huge shields made from a few layers of beast skins were set up, firmly guarding all the villagers.

Each of these barbarians were carrying 12 hand axes. A few hundred hand axes approached together with the sound of the wind shattering. The axes forcefully slammed onto the huge shields.

Tens of villagers who were holding the huge shields were forced back by the huge force coming from the hand axe. A few of them spat out blood due to the huge impact, but their bodies still stood straight, and they still held onto the shields firmly. Wu Qi saw the veins in their arms expanding, the skin on their hands and muscles breaking off, and blood flowing down from the surface of the shields.

Doggie hit Wu Qi forcefully with his elbow, he roared with a deep voice, “Big brother Wu Qi, don’t lose your focus! These barbarians dared attack our village, perhaps there is some evil plot going on. If we’re not careful, we will die!”

Before he finished his words, dozens of hand axes managed to slip through the gaps between the huge shield and fall into the groups of villagers.

Screams and cries sounded out, tens of ripped men from the Meng Village were sent flying into the air by the hand axes while spitting out mouthfuls of blood. One of the hand axes hit a man right on his chest, resulting in becoming emaciated. A few rib bones even came out from his back.

Doggie shouted loudly, “Shit! Uncle Meng Tu is gone!”

Looking at the hand axes’ effectiveness in killing the villagers, the barbarians started cheering.

An elder suddenly shouted, and the arrows shot out suddenly became dense again. Thousands of strong women villagers shot their arrows at the same time, the rain of arrows had sealed of the suspension bridge’s bridgehead. Those barbarians who had thrown their hand axes were now screaming in a horrified manner. At least half of them had become like gratings with bodies full of holes.

The suspension bridge was only 5 meters long, and the back of the bridge was packed with barbarians. Those barbarians standing at the front knew that there was no way for them to evade this arrow shower, so they could only do what the first batch of barbarians did, jump off the bridge.

Terrifying screams kept sounding out. A few fishes that looked like crocodiles, but had a sharp horn sticking out from their heads suddenly emerged from the bottom of the river. These river fishes possessed razor sharp teeth. They opened their mouths and crazily leapt at those barbarians. Arms, legs, it was all torn off by these fishes. The river soon became red.

The river started boiling; countless fierce river fishes started approaching with great speed. They opened their big mouths and started biting those barbarians who had fallen into the river.

Arrows kept raining down, the barbarians on the suspension bridge were unable to push through, and they were unable to fall back as well. They were now in an extremely awkward position.

The elder who had unleashed the ‘Wind Summoning’ skill breathed out a sigh of relief. With a laugh, he said, “These barbarians has come to seek death once again. Every year they always come and disturb our Meng Village three to five times, and they get defeated every time. This is just giving our Meng Village merit out of nothing!”

All the villagers were laughing as they watched the wonderful scene of the arrow shower killing those barbarians.

Just when the villagers had all their attention on the barbarians on the suspension bridge, the sky suddenly turned dark.

Wu Qi suddenly raised his head up, and then he saw more than a hundred eagles with wings spanning close to 20 meters rapidly descending from the sky.

Followed by ear piercing howling, a few hundred short-bodied barbarians wearing clothes made from feathers and identical tattoos on their exposed skin jumped off the back of these eagles, they all carried long pikes in their hands.

These barbarians landed right in the middle of the villages, and then they started cruelly thrusting the pike in their hands at these villagers.

In the blink of an eye, a few hundred villagers had been struck by these pikes; they bled and fell down.

The eagles flying in the air flew directly to the women who were standing on high ground shooting arrows. The huge claws rapidly descended from above, then they grabbed a few women, and then those eagles flew back into skies and started flying in circles.

The villagers formation was immediately broken, and the arrows stopped being shot.

The long sword in Doggie’s hand fell onto the ground. With a roar he said, “Fuck! Since when did the Bird Barbarian tribe ally with them?”

In the blink of an eye, a long pike, like a poisonous snake, stabbed towards Doggie’s chest while making a ‘shhshh’ sound.

When Doggie saw this long pike, it was already too late for him to evade it.