Stealing the Heavens

Early morning the next day, the fog was still hovering around and it was drizzling. Wu Qi, with a pale face, was sitting in front of the General’s Office, popping his head out sneakily and staring in the direction of the Mayor’s Mansion. In his hand was the same porridge bowl and pastries, with an odd smile on his face.

Drinking the porridge one mouthful at a time and munching on the pastry slowly, those Mayor Mansion’s guards and servants passing by were used to seeing him like this. Therefore, no one paid him any attention. At most, some servants from the Yi Family would scold him secretly behind his back, treating him like a villager who didn’t know any manners and who couldn’t even sit down properly when having his breakfast. Also, it seemed he had taught Lu Chengfeng the same bad manners.

The fragrance of pine wood used on clothes came by together with the morning breeze. The aroma was from Lu Chengfeng. He was holding a porridge bowl in one hand and had a pastry in his mouth, slowly strolling up to stand beside Wu Qi, and sat on the door sill as well.

Popping his head and took a few glimpses at the Mayor Mansion, Lu Chengfeng whispered to Wu Qi, “What’s the show today?”

Wu Qi took a sip of porridge and said with a vague voice “How would I know? I am just used to sitting here.”

Before his last words dissolved into the air, they immediately saw few coffer room guards running madly with pale faces. These men looked like they had been haunted by ghosts, not even watching where they were running. As a result, when they came to a set of stairs, these men slipped at the same time, slamming onto the ground.

These guards cried out in pain, rolling and crawling on the steps for a short distance before they stood up again and started running madly toward the Mayor’s Mansion. The leading guard suddenly let out a loud scream, his voice trembling like a string that had been pulled tight, making an ear-splitting noise.

“Young master! Young master! We were robbed! We were robbed! The coffer room was robbed! All the most valuable items among the offerings have been stolen! Soul stones, herbs, ores, and those treasures you gathered for a few princes and marquis! They have all been stolen!”

Hearing the unfortunate news, those guards who were standing in front of Mayor Mansion couldn’t stand still anymore. They sat down on the floor instantly while the weapon on their waist hit on the ground, producing some muffled noises. The loud screams and howling, as if someone had just died, resounded within the Mayo’s Mansion. The few hundred guards of the Mayor’s Mansion had spread this bad news everywhere.

Each year, Little Meng City had to send a large quantity of gold, silver, and all sorts of treasures to the Lu Kingdom as a tribute. This was the biggest reason for Little Meng City’s existence. Dozens of marquises and princes in the Lu Kingdom had their own interests in Little Meng City. Usually, they would purchase all sort of treasures through the Mayor of Little Meng City.

The offerings and treasures that had been gathered all these years had been stolen. This hit the most vulnerable spot of Yi Yan.

If Little Meng City couldn’t send gold, silver, and treasures to the Lu Kingdom, the government wouldn’t mind appointing a new Mayor. Losing all the treasures those marquises and princes had purchased for a huge sum of money, those high ranking men wouldn’t mind crushing Yi Yan and his siblings into tiny bits.

Hopeless and miserable howls burst out from the backyard of the Mayor’s Mansion. That was from Yi Yan, Yi Xing, Yi De, and Yi Cu, “Oh Heaven, oh Earth, what sin have we done? Which deity or ghost have we offended? Why do you want to punish us in such a way?”

Although their personal wealth was stolen, which was a painful experience for them, as long as they were still government officials, they could get all the money back by squeezing people for a few years. But when those offerings and treasures, which had been gathered all these years, were stolen, putting aside if these four brothers could still maintain their jobs, they first needed to worry about keeping their lives!

A series of hasty sounding steps came from the direction of the Mayor’s Mansion. Yi Yan, who was wearing nothing more than underpants and thus exposing his pale white fat, sprinted out from his backyard. Following behind of him were his three siblings, with their clothes in a messy state. They brought with them a group of guards and rushed in the direction of the coffer room.

With an extremely pale complexion on his face, Yi Yan kept spitting blood while he was running madly. The blood had smeared all over his pale chest, making him look really terrifying. Blood could be seen dripping down Yi Xing and the other two sibling’s lips too. They were breathing rapidly with their mouths open like a drowning dog.

“Hurry, hurry! Go and check what had been stolen!” While running in such a disorderly manner, Yi Yan kept yelling at his men.

Wu Qi shook his head, licking up the rest of the leftover porridge in the bowl. He knew what he had done yesterday. Wu Qi had spent fifteen pieces of lower tier water stone to replenish his energy. He kept pumping out his energy at the maximum level in order to increase his speed and strength. After spending two and a half hours, he had finally stolen everything that he could move in the coffer room.

There were too many things in the coffer room, and Wu Qi could only choose to steal the most valuable items. Besides that, he also stole all the gold and the majority of the silver. There were some items which he had no way to steal, and, thus, he had no choice but to destroy them. For example, those precious leather skins from all different kinds of rare beasts, they were now filled with numerous holes poked by Wu Qi with the dagger, making something worth a few hundred thousand gold coins became a piece of crap.

Because of the busy work last night, it made Wu Qi look pale and weak all over, but it just matched his ‘seriously injured’ condition.

Currently, there were two water stones underneath his armpits, and Wu Qi was constantly absorbing the energy within to replenish his lost energy. The cool and refreshing water vapor kept being absorbed by his arms, turning into waves of innate water energy and rolling through his body constantly.

However, by overusing and exhausting his energy, then replenishing the losses with water stones, Wu Qi’s cultivation had increased by another 30%! Once again, he had come very close to the peak of the Houtian level. But, Wu Qi used this innate water energy to strengthen his meridians again, and did not attempt to break through to the Xiantian level.

Some noise of hustle and bustle came from afar. It was a group of guards carrying Yi Yan and his three siblings, who had all fainted. Obviously, the aftermath in the coffer room had given Yi Yan and his siblings an excessive shock, making them all spit out blood like a water fountain and faint again.

Wu Qi gazed at those guards who were carrying Yi Yan and his siblings back messily, then casually passed his bowl to Lu Chengfeng.

Lu Chengfeng, not paying attention to his actions, grabbed Wu Qi’s bowl, then he heard Wu Qi say, “Now that they lost their offerings, what will be their punishment from the Lu Kingdom?”

Raising his brows, Lu Chengfeng replied instinctively, “Best case? Removal from his office and the loss the job. Worst case? Imprisonment and being escorted back to the Capital for a hearing.”

Rubbing his palms a few times, Wu Qi asked Lu Chengfeng again, “So, young master, do you have a friend or two in the Capital? You know, someone in one of those influential families in the Capital who we can provide some information about this event?”

Lu Chengfeng’s eyes glowed suddenly. While nodding his head, he said, “Of course I do have a few good friends, but they are all in similar situations as me, having awkward positions in their families.”

Standing up hastily, Wu Qi sneered, “Awkward or not, I don’t care. Young master, you better hurry and write a letter of impeachment about Yi Yan and his siblings, saying they are corrupt and have defied the laws, misappropriating the offerings of the Lu Kingdom. The more serious you can make their crimes sound, the better. Send the letter to the Capital as soon as possible. Also, write a letter to a few of your good friends from influential families, and ask for their help in spreading this news in the Capital.”

Lu Chengfeng stood up instantly with two bowls in his hand, nodding his head excitedly, “Brilliant! With this, we can get rid of them once for all, and they won’t have any chance to come back. Before the assignment of new Mayor, you and I can do anything we want in Little Meng City!”

Puckering a smile, Lu Chengfeng said with an insidious expression, “Little Meng City is a remote place, and many government officials die each year. I don’t think there will be anyone willing to come here on their own will, unless there are those who have nowhere else to go and only want to make money!”

Wu Qi gazed at Lu Chengfeng and grinned, “So what is young master waiting for? Let Xiaohei bring thirty barbarian hunters together, and remember to give them more gold, silver, and jewelry. Ask those good friends of yours to think of a way. We need them to provide you the position of acting Mayor!”

Lu Chengfeng stared back at Wu Qi strangely, “Why not the official Mayor position?”

Wu Qi looked at Lu Chengfeng like he was looking at an idiot, “Those siblings of young master, do you think they will allow you to be a Mayor? Acting Mayor is just a name, and with this, no one will look at you, even if you have Little Meng City completely in your pocket. But if young master becomes the official Mayor, hmph… there might be complications…”

That look had awakened Lu Chengfeng, and he slammed his head with a porridge bowl, turned around, and sprinted away.

After running a few steps, Lu Chengfeng suddenly realized something. He looked down at the two porridge bowls in his hand, turned around and stared at Wu Qi over his shoulder with a look of depression. Didn’t this guy know he was just the hanger-on? How dare he let his young master clean up his bowl?

Twitching his lips, Lu Chengfeng shouted and asked, “Wu Qi, where are you going then?”

Wu Qi placed both his hands on his back, and started strolling in the direction of a few of the Mayor’s Mansion’s guards happily. With a bright smile on his face, he said, “Where am I going? I am off to cook up some story and spread it around! By losing the offerings of the Lu Kingdom, those Yi brothers are going to experience a bloody journey soon. Tsk! I’ll let you witness how, with just my tongue, I can blow away these few thousand guards of the Mayor’s Mansion!”

Lu Chengfeng’s eyes glowed again, and he felt excited and full of energy right now. He immediately shouted, “Xiaohei, Xiaohei! Come here! Hurry!”

Using his fastest speed, Lu Chengfeng wrote an impeachment letter, then wrote few more private letters which were filled with the emotion of brotherhood. After that, he inserted these letters into separate copper pipes [1] and sealed them with wax, passing them to Xiaohei with a serious manner. At the same time, he gave him a lot of instructions on what he should do in the Capital.

Half an hour later, Xiaohei and thirty barbarian hunters were riding the fastest rides they could find in Little Meng City, leaving at the fastest speed. Contained within a leather pouch on Xiaohei’s waist, besides the impeachment and private letters, was a thick stack of gold notes [2] exchanged from the money house [3] in Little Meng City, worth one hundred thousand pure gold coins. One hundred thousand gold coins were more than enough to buy the position of a Governor in a province, let alone a remote small city like Little Meng City.

All the money that poor fellow Yi Yan had squeezed from his people the past few years was now all being put to good use by Wu Qi and Lu Chengfeng.

Right when Lu Chengfeng was busy arranging and executing their plan, Wu Qi had come to the side of a few of the Mayor’s Mansion guards, smiling and greeting them in a friendly manner. As he was the chief hanger-on of the General, none of these guards dared to show any disrespect. They quickly returned the greeting with utmost politeness.

With a bright smile, Wu Qi cupped his fist and asked with a friendly voice, “Brothers, are you guys the servant or guards from Yi family?”

These guards started to look at each other, then, at the same time, they shook their heads.

When Yi Yan and his siblings came to Little Meng City, they only brought few hundred of their own guards. The current few thousand guards in the Mayor’s Mansion were all recruited within the past few years.

Wu Qi nodded his head slowly, placed both of his hands on his back, and started to stroll away. While walking slowly, in a voice full of emotion, he said, “A thief broke into the coffer room and stole all the offerings for the Lu Kingdom. I think the Mayor is going to leave soon. Brothers, you are all paid to do your work, not born to be their servant or guards. When he is gone, how are you guys going to earn a living?”

In just an hour, the news had spread across Little Meng City.

The Mayor was doomed, and, as for those guards who had been hired by him, what should they do? The Mayor Yi Yan couldn’t even pay their next month’s salary! Should they just quit and find a new job, or perhaps they should join with the new General?

Rumors were abound, and everyone was worried.

By this time, Xiaohei was already a hundred miles away from Little Meng City!

Notes:

[1] Copper Pipe – a small container used to contain letter

[2] Gold Notes – paper money actually, as gold and silver are heavy in bulk, they use this as the representative of gold/silver in bulk

[3] Money House – old-style private bank, you can exchange gold/silver to notes in any branches