Stealing The Heavens
Chapter 90: Confrontation

One after another, footprints were deeply branded on the floor of Heaven's Will Palace. Each footstep was three inches deep and with a clear outline; one could even see the fine lines of the toe on it. Clad in a white robe, with his hands behind his back and his hair hanging loosely on his shoulder, Nie Baihong was seen walking into the hall, one step at a time.

From the corner of his eyes, Wu Qi gazed at those footprints left behind by Nie Baihong. Naughtily, he was pondering whether this man would destroy the floor wherever he went. Even the rock solid floor of Heaven's Will Palace, which was protected by defensive arrays, couldn't withstand the sword energies leaking from Nie Baihong. If he visited the palace of Great Yan Dynasty, could he also slice the floor in the palace into a messy state? Would Yan Dan ask him to pay up for the losses?

Wearing a peculiar smile on his face, Nie Baihong came beside Wu Qi. He bowed his head and looked at Wu Qi, who appeared to be at his last gasp. Blood filled and flowed out from his mouth, and he had a couple of sword wounds scattered across the body. Actually, Wu Qi looked like at his last gasp because he had exercised the aura concealing technique from Scroll of Stealing, which allowed him to hide his aura. His mouth was filled with blood, that was the result after he himself forcefully shook and injured his own viscera; the sword wounds on his body were caused by himself too. He had even wounded his own viscera, so how would he mind these external wounds?

In brief, Wu Qi looked severely wounded, like a poor cat who had repeatedly been stepped over by ten elephants.

With great effort, he barely opened his eyes. Wu Qi squeezed out a wry smile on his face, then said towards Nie Baihong, "Mas… Master, why did Elder Qin want to kill me?"

It was a simple question. But with it, not only was Wu Qi able to tighten the relationship with Nie Baihong, but he also pushed all the responsibility onto Qin Xuewen. In front of nearly one hundred apprentices of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, he had just addressed Nie Baihong as his Master, and because of that, Nie Baihong would have to settle this matter fairly. Once fairness was taken into consideration, things became apparent: it was Qin Xuewen who wanted to kill Wu Qi, and Wu Qi was merely trying to defend himself. Thus, it was needless to say who was the one who had to bear all the responsibility.

An upward curve appeared on the corner of Nie Baihong's lips. It made the peculiar smile on his face become more obvious.

Nie Baihong moved his fingers. A light silver pill was taken out and thrown over to Wu Qi. Wu Qi opened his mouth and swallowed the pill. In an instant, a medicinal force that carried tiny threads of slicing power circulated throughout his entire body. It quickly and swiftly healed the injuries that were caused by the thunderous force. Bright electric arcs could be seen bursting out from his pores, as a blue glow was jumping over his skin, turning him into a glowing man.

Nie Baihong snorted coldly, and said with an unhappy tone, "It is indeed the Raging Thunder Force of Gold element. Elder Qin, you're getting worse as you grow older. Why are you assaulting an apprentice who just joined the sect? You are a Human Immortal of Gold Core realm, yet you had assaulted a Daoist of Xiantian realm, and even badly wounded by him. Do you ever care about the reputation of the Elder Council of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect?"

Lying on the floor, covered in blood, with torn flesh and dirty, tousled hair, Qin Xuewen didn't put up any response. No matter who it was, having his dantian nearly pierced through and the Gold Core damaged and cracked, with the source energies in both lungs and kidneys deprived, it was impossible that he could still remain conscious. Fresh blood slowly flowed out from Qin Xuewen's body, dripping onto the floor and spreading into a large puddle of blood. Nie Baihong didn't say anything. Thus, none of the apprentices who came along with him to the Heaven's Will Palace dared to attend to Qin Xuewen's injury.

Wu Qi panted for a while, before he rose and stood on his feet again. He bent and bowed toward Nie Baihong, before saying with a serious expression, "I'm grateful for the kindness of Master, giving me a miraculous medicine to heal my wounds. What a strange skill is this Raging Thunder Force? I was nearly killed by it. Sigh, I can accept being hurt by innate energy, but why is he slicing me with the sword? Now, my body is filled with scars, how am I going to find a wife in the future?"

While complaining endlessly, Wu Qi took off his shirt, exposing all the sword wounds in front of the Heaven Breaking Sword Sect's apprentices. After that, he continued sighing and questioning Nie Baihong on why Qin Xuewen wanted to kill him, Wu Qi took out a medicinal paste and carefully applied on those sword wounds. Using it, he stopped the bleeding, and circulated innate energy to close up the wound. Though the wounds looked frightening, it was in fact, not much of a danger.

Nie Baihong heard Wu Qi's question. He signed lightly and said, "I'm afraid because Elder Qin's cultivation is growing too quickly, his mentality isn’t keeping up proportionately with it. That is why he became so wild and arrogant. But no matter what, he is an Elder of the sect. Assaulting a new apprentice and getting himself wounded like that, this is not what he is supposed to do."

Wu Qi didn't say anything. Both men remained standing side by side, quietly staring at Qin Xuewen, who was still lying on the floor. Qin Xuewen's blood dripped out from his body drop by drop, and light gold colored core energy leaked out from his dantian thread by thread. The core energy was the root for the Gold Core, and with every part of it that was lost, the cultivation would be reduced by a degree. Currently, Qin Xuewen's cultivation was nearly decayed to the beginner tier of Gold Core. In just another fifteen minutes, his entire cultivation of Gold Core would be gone.

If his Gold Core were gone completely, Qin Xuewen's few hundred years of hard work in cultivation would be all gone as well, and he would become an ordinary mortal immediately. An ordinary mortal only possessed the life expectancy of around one hundred years, and Qin Xuewen had lived longer than that. Thus, once the Gold Core was gone, he would be faced with the only consequence of having all his cultivation gone and dying miserably.

What Wu Qi and Nie Baihong were watching quietly right now was the progress of how a Human Immortal of middle tier Gold Core walked step by step into his own death.

Time passed. Wu Qi saw Qin Xuewen start to show a sign of difficulty in breathing. Only then did he pretend to be kind and asked, "Master, despite what he did, Elder Qin is still one of our sect's elder. Shouldn't we save his life? Ai, it is not easy to cultivate into Gold Core realm. It is rather a pity if he just dies like that!"

Nie Baihong seemed to ponder for a brief moment, then from his sleeve, he took out two medicinal bottles and tossed over to Wu Qi.

"Alright. After all, he is still the elder of our sect. What he did is detestably absurd. Indeed, he is wrong for intentionally trying to kill you, but as the junior of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, you have to answer his grudge with kindness. Use these and doctor Elder Qin.This will make him owe you a favor. With that, he won't assault you again!" Nie Baihong was laughing joyfully, yet hiding a strange expression under this smile.

Wu Qi narrowed his eyes and laughed as well. Inwardly, he thought, 'Qin Xuewen, you're now severely wounded by my explosion, and your foundation of cultivating Dao has also been stolen by me. Yet, you're still going to owe me a favor! How are you going to play tricks with me again? Would you still have the courage and dignity to appear in front of me? Also, Nie Baihong, you're really mean, what you asked me to do is to push Qin Xuewen to death!"

With both hands behind his back, Nie Baihong sighed briefly and said, "The favor of saving his life, ah!" He clicked his tongue.

Tilting his head up proudly, Nie Baihong had his vision land on the ceiling of the Heaven's Will Palace, and slowly his eyes went out of focus. Obviously, his mind had wandered to somewhere else.

Smilingly, Wu Qi brought two medicinal bottles and came beside Qin Xuewen. First, he used the 'Nine-Ganoderma Heaven-patching Paste' to doctor Qin Xuewen's external wounds. Then, he fed a 'Triple-Golden Life-Saving Pill' into the mouth. After that, he stimulated the medicinal strength, using it to forcefully trigger Qin Xuewen's life force and woke him up quickly. Qin Xuewen was, after all, a cultivator of Gold Core realm. Once he was awakened, his body would react to the medicinal strength itself.

The light green colored Nine-Ganoderma Heaven-Patching paste was quickly absorbed into his body. New flesh began to regenerate near the wounds around his dantian. The bowl-size hole was healing fast with the speed that could be witnessed with naked eyes. A faint white mist was bursting out from the top of his head, as the Triple-Golden Life-Saving pill was breaking up the clogged blood within his body and fixing his broken meridians, recovering the lost energy because of the injury.

The lost energy essence was rather easy to recover. However, as the innate foundation of cultivating Dao was an incorporeal thing, how was it possible for the medicinal pill produced by the cultivation world to replenish it? Before this, Qin Xuewen was beaming with vigorous energy, having a strong and burly body. But now, he looked skinny, thin as a piece of aged bark and had lost all of his original grandeur.

To further enhance the misfortune of the miserable man, right after Qin Xuewen was awakened, Wu Qi smiled and nodded his head while saying, "You've awakened, Elder Qin? Ai, it is your junior, me, who used the Heaven-Patching paste and Life-Saving pill to save your life. I'm the one who saved you, you better don't mistake someone else for saving you!"

Upon hearing what Wu Qi said, Qin Xuewen immediately became angry and panicked. As both his lungs and kidneys had lost too much of their innate source energies, they both struck him with severe pain at the same time. A mouthful of strange colored warm blood, light silvery and mixed with dark substances, was burst out from his mouth. It was actually the blood essence that came reversed from his lungs and kidneys. With this mouthful of blood spat out, his foundation was damaged by thirty percent again.

The miserable look of his made Wu Qi shut up immediately. Hastily, he put away the medicinal bottles and took a few steps back. He couldn't provoke Qin Xuewen again, or else, if this old fool really died because of his anger, then who was going to pay Wu Qi for the life-saving favor?

Although Wu Qi had stopped talking, an indifferent voice came from beside him; it was Nie Baihong. "Well, as a respected elder of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect, you were brought into such a nasty situation by a new apprentice…this is a disgrace. In the name of Heaven Breaking Sword Sect's Sect Leader, I now remove Qin Xuewen from the Elder Council. Wu Qi, you have the ability to defeat a Gold Core Elder in a face to face fight. Putting aside your bone structure and cultivating talent, you have a rare courage and excellent capacity for change. From now on, you will be my direct disciple!"

With that, Wu Qi had just taken a huge leap, skipping the status of Second and First Grade apprentice, and becoming the direct disciple of Nie Baihong.

Wu Qi didn't reject the promotion. Without hesitation, he quickly bowed towards Nie Baihong, smiling joyfully and thanked Nie Baihong for the promotion.

The unsightly old face of Qin Xuewen fell instantly. He stared straight at Nie Baihong's face as a hissing sound came from his throat, like a broken wind pipe. Suddenly, he threw out three mouthfuls of blood essence again. After that, he fell on his back, and the aura on his body was reducing quickly.

Wu Qi was greatly frightened. Was this old fool going to die because of anger?

The corner of Nie Baihong's lips curved up again. Once again, a strange smile emerged on his face.

Suddenly, a clump of black watery beam shot into the Heaven's Will Palace from the outside. A cold, stern voice rung out, scolding furiously, "What is the purpose of such a decision, Sect Leader? Are you really wanting to push Old Qin to death? As a Sect Leader, your words and actions do not make any sense. You've provoked a Sect Elder with words, this is simply, simply ridiculous!"

The watery beam landed beside Qin Xuewen. A tall and skinny lady, clad in a black dress, was revealed from behind the beam. This lady was taller than Qin Xuewen, yet her body was flat and skinny like a chopping board; no curves whatsoever could be seen. But she had a beautiful face. However, on this beautiful face that looked like a sixteen years old teenage girl shone a shivering expression, and she sent forth a feeling that like a thousand years old mummy who just climbed out from her coffin.

Nie Baihong gazed at the lady, sneered and said, "Elder Shangguan, what do you mean? Are you saying that I am trying to frame Elder Qin?"

The lady in black, Shangguan Yuhong, fixed her gaze on Nie Baihong's face. Then, she suddenly snorted coldly, as a black beam shot out from her waist like a sudden thunderbolt, aiming right at Wu Qi's chest. She shouted aggressively, "Today, I'll kill you, a little scum who has no respect for elders!"

Her action triggered Nie Baihong's anger. "How dare you! Wu Qi is an inner circle disciple determined by me, and nobody can touch even his hair!"

Razor sharp sword energies instantly shot out from Nie Baihong's body. He opened his mouth, and a thirty feet long white beam sprung out while whistling, clashing into the black beam and tangling in a fierce fight. Ringing clash of swords was being heard. Nie Baihong's body didn't move, but on the other side, Shangguan Yuhong's body was trembling and shivering while she was forced back continuously for eighteen steps. Basically, for every clash between the black and white sword beams, she would be forced to take a step back.

Right after the eighteenth step, a mournful cry came ringing in the scene. A great amount of dazzling sparks burst out from the black sword beam. Its color became faded, and was backing off at top speed.

A painful shriek came spewing out from Shangguan Yuhong's mouth. Two warm blood streams violently burst out from her nostrils.