Stealing the Heavens

Midnight.

All of a sudden, fire was spreading within the Mayor’s Mansion, and the sound of crying and yelling filled the sky.

Little Meng City was now wrapped in chaos. Many of the people in the city didn’t know what had happened and were gathering on the streets, trying to figure out what was going on. While most people were filled with worry and trepidation, Wu Qi was dancing with joy as he led the rest of the City Guards, and over two thousand new recruits, out to maintain the order of the city, not allowing any people to stay on the street.

The chaotic scene in the Mayor’s Mansion lasted for nearly fifteen minutes before the main door was finally pushed open and numerous shadowy figures sprinted out from within.

Wu Qi had stolen everything from Yi Yan and his siblings, but their servants, guards, and relatives still had some money with them. If one put all that money together, it was quite a huge sum.

Wu Qi had spread all sorts of strange and odd rumors within the Mayor’s Mansion, but Yi Yan and his siblings had their minds dulled by previous events, so no one came out and clarified these rumors. They even didn’t send their loyal minions to supervise those guards they hired. Rumors could mess with one’s decisions easily. Therefore, all of the over three thousand guards within the Mayor’s Mansion came to the same decision.

That night, the two thousand guards went on strike, setting fire to the Mayor’s Mansion and robbing everything owned by those people who were close to Yi Yan, along with kidnapping a few hundred beautiful servant ladies from within the Mansion. They then opened up the front door of Mayor Mansion and sneaked out into Little Meng City.

Little Meng City was a land of anarchy. There were no other cities within a few hundred miles of it, as it was the most remote place in the Lu Kingdom. If not because the Meng Mountain produced a lot of precious products, not even a stray dog would want to be here. Because of this, the only people who came here were either tradesmen who were willing to risk their lives for a profit, those rogue barbarian hunters who were dancing on the edge of death, or outlaws, who had nowhere else they could go.

Since Yi Yan and his brothers came to Little Meng City and got rich, they had hired a lot of guards to protect themselves. The strongest people in Little Meng City were actually those rogue barbarian hunters and cruel outlaws.

These men were like a pack of bloodthirsty wolves. When Yi Yan could feed them, they would put their lives on the line for him. But, when he could no longer support these people, they would turn their heads and bite at him fiercely. Therefore, these guys now struck out without thinking twice. They took away all the money and women they could, and then sneaked into Little Meng City without any feeling of guilt.

Wu Qi was giving orders to the City Guards and keeping order in Little Meng City, but they only focused on the civilians and traders, avoiding any conflict with those guards who had betrayed their master. Frankly speaking, these guards were pretty strong, and Wu Qi’s soldiers had no way of defeating them. Also, there was no reason for Wu Qi to stand in their way, because he was not so kind hearted to sacrifice his men for Yi Yan.

Leading a team of City Guards and patrolling along the main street, Wu Qi witnessed many of these guards carrying big or small bags and dragging a few servant ladies, quickly crossing the street and disappearing into the dark.

The fire at the Mayor’s Mansion was soaring high into the air, but no one had gone to put it out. Wu Qi could barely hear the screaming of Yi Yan and his siblings, but who would go and help them now? One might as well just let them scream and yell.

In just a few days, Wu Qi had put the Mayor of the city into such miserable state. He really felt proud of himself.

The fire lasted for the whole night. After all, an important place like a Mayor’s Mansion had to be built with fine stone. The courtyards which caught on fire were Yi Yan and his siblings’ backyard. The fire had burned down all the trees and buildings within, and finally went out. Black smoke was soaring high up into the sky and the air was filled with the pungent smell of ash. Cries could be heard everywhere as the servants and relatives of Yi Yan brothers were howling and crying their lungs out too, complaining about the loss of their money, wives, and their prettiest servants.

After a night of rioting, more than two thousand of the guards of the Mayor’s Mansion were gone. The rest of them had joined up with Lu Chengfeng without hesitation.

These men didn’t mess around. They stripped out of their Mayor’s Mansion uniform in front of Yi Yan’s men, kneeled down in front of the General’s Office and asked if they could join Lu Chenfeng as his personal guards.

Of course, Lu Chengfeng had to behave like a generous young master from an influential family. By his order, he had these few hundred Mayor’s Mansion guards change into the uniform of the City Guards, grouped them into the army and assigned them to stay guard in the General’s Office.

All of these guards were cultivating their inner energy, which made them stronger than ordinary soldiers. Although their loyalty might be a problem, as long as they got paid enough, they could still be put to good use. A dog wouldn’t bite the hand that fed it. The good people of Little Meng City were pretty down to earth. As long as they were paid, there was nothing to complain about on their service.

Yi Yan immediately came out from his burned down Mansion on hearing the news, witnessing the guards, who he had hired, joining Lu Chengfeng.

Almost all the guards had betrayed him and ran away. The rest turned their backs on him and switched camps. This was like receiving two powerful slaps, making Yi Yan’s eyes turn green and his layers of fat tremble. When he saw those guards changed into the black colored City Guards uniform, he couldn’t hold it anymore and spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes rolling back as he fainted on the spot.

Wu Qi hid both of his hands in his sleeves and smiled with joy as he watched Yi Yan vomit blood and faint. He shouted with a lifeless and dragging voice, “The Mayor has just vomited blood and fainted again. Somebody, go and get some physicians here, hurry, hurry!”

With a wave of his hand, ten bronze ‘knife coins’ [1] were thrown beside Yi Yan. The ‘kind-hearted’ Wu Qi looked at a few of the servants standing beside Yi Yan. They had pale faces as they stood there, shocked, “I thought you guys might be running out of money to hire a physician, so here, this is some of my pocket change. I presume you need it as you are out of money?”

When the half-fainted Yi Yan heard the word ‘money’, he immediately yelled toward the sky,”My money, all my money, my moneyyyyy!”

Spitting out another mouthful of blood, Yi Yan had now completely passed out.

Those servants and followers of Yi Yan hurried and held his head up, trying to press on the middle of his upper lip. Some patted on his plump face, some sprinkled water on his face, and finally, they were able to wake him up. But, the awakened Yi Yan’s face had a dark complexion and stared blankly. The soft and delicate fat meat of him dried up suddenly, as if he had just lost a dozen liters of water in his body and become dehydrated.

Wu Qi narrowed his eyes and looked at Yi Yan, then gazed at those servants of the Mayor’s Mansion who were running around busily, and snorted lightly.

That night, with a stern expression, Lu Chengfeng had set up the ‘Grand White Gold Dagger Array’ outside of his own bedroom, with three pillars as the foundation. The array field covered an area of three hundred square feet, which spanned across his entire room and courtyard.

Wu Qi was squatting beside him, throwing a curious look at Lu Chengfeng, who was busying setup the array.

The Grand White Gold Dagger Array… Wu Qi knew this formation, as the Scroll of Stealing covered everything he needed to know, including the topic of arrays. It was so advanced and complex that it was beyond imagination. In the realm of cultivation, the array was like the alloy door of a safe vault, or those electronic locking mechanisms back in the Earth where he came from. They were used to protect important places and all kinds of treasures. They were also a representation of the Dao in this universe.

The Scroll of Stealing claimed that there was nothing in this world that couldn’t be stolen. If it didn’t contain knowledge of arrays, how could one break these arrays and steal the targeted items?

Therefore, one-third of the Scroll of Stealing was used to explain all kinds of theories about arrays. Beyond those frequently used arrays in the realm of cultivation, there were also extra notes on the understanding and expansions of these arrays by the author himself. It simply covered everything. No matter what kind of array one was dealing with, with the Scroll of Stealing, understanding and breaking them were as easy as breathing air; effortless.

The Grand White Gold Dagger Array, it was an elementary metal element array, and even though Wu Qi never studied the knowledge of arrays specifically, he could tell the secret of it easily. Three pillars were lying in a triangular shape and there was an incorporeal metal energy flowing between them. A thin layer of white mist was hovering inches above the ground, within the courtyard. That was the energy of the Grand White Gold essence gathered by the array.

After fifteen minutes of restless hard work, Lu Chengfeng got the array started. This elementary array had depleted all of his energy. If Laohei didn’t bring him a bowl of Human Medicine on time, Lu Chengfeng wouldn’t even have had the strength to remain standing.

Throwing an examining look at the functioning array, Wu Qi placed his hand on his chin, feeling puzzled and asked, “Is this worth the effort?”

Lu Chengfeng took a deep breath and returned the bowl to Laohei, relaxing and sitting down beside Wu Qi. He stared at the sky and said with an indifferent tone, “Someone will be here. Before Yi Yan is officially removed from the Mayor’s post and leaves Little Meng City, we need to stay on guard like this, every single night.”

Staring at Lu Chengfeng curiously, Wu Qi asked again with a disapproving manner, “But, who would attack us?”

Before he finished his word, he heard a sound of liquid splashing coming from outside the courtyard. Wu Qi’s face darkened. He was very familiar with this sound. When his teacher, Wu Wang, was on a mission to get rid of some guards, he used a dagger to cut the throat of those guards from behind, and the sound of their blood splashing out was exactly like this.

Lu Chengfeng’s body froze, then he whispered, “Someone is here, Laohei, get back into the house!”

Laohei, with a stooping shoulder, took out a black bent knife from somewhere, remaining standing beside Lu Chengfeng while his body trembled. He wanted to stay beside his young master. Wu Qi frowned and, with an extremely fast speed, grabbed the bent knife, pressed his finger on Laohei’s body and made him pass out. He carried him back into Lu Chengfeng’s bedroom.

Nodding in praise, Lu Chengfeng whispered while sneering, “Brother Yi Yan and I are not the same. After all, they are the sons of Yi family. Even though they are just sons of concubines, they have been followed by ‘assassins’ since they were young.”

Wu Qi stared at Lu Chengfeng and waited for his confirmation.

Lu Chengfeng nodded his head and said, “Assassins! Those who kill in the dark!”

Wu Qi stood beside Lu Chengfeng. After rubbing his palms, he wielded the lower tier magical dagger in his left palm. Waving the bent knife he took from Laohei, Wu Qi spoke with a cold tone, “That means, those ‘assassins’ of Yi Yan have finally come for us? Mm, not a surprise, so many things have happened in Little Meng City, and we are the biggest suspects!”

Lu Chengfeng twitched his lips. They were not just suspects. How could he explain the origin of that gold hiding underneath his bed? They were the real culprits behind the latest events. If not because he was the eldest son of the Lu Family, those assassins would have come for them when Yi Yan’s personal wealth was stolen.

“Be careful! These assassins are not so easy to deal with!” Lu Chengfeng took a deep breath, then drew out a six-foot long soft steel sword from his waist. He swung the sword casually, a bright green light emitting out from it.

“Good weapon!” Wu Qi praised. No matter the material or the production technique, this sword was flawless among ordinary weapons.

A group of shadowy figures appeared on top of the wall. There were four men in black suits quietly approaching them.

Notes:

[1] Knife Coin – a knife shaped coin, the smallest unit of money. Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife_money