Swallowing the Heavens Chapter 2

Dong Sheng G.o.d Continent, Three Thousand Celestial Kingdoms!

Each Celestial Kingdom had its own Protector Shangxian to ward off evils.

East Yue Wu was one of the Three Thousand Celestial Kingdoms.

Deep night, in the one of the Harem Palace’s of the Royal City “Xi He Palace”, the ministers and va.s.sals have disbanded after the banishment of Wu Yu.

The Palace was gloomy and dark, illuminated only with a single candle. The dim light flickered, casting dancing shadows across the room. If you noticed closely, you would be able to make out the shadow of a woman, ghost-like and evil in the night.

Xi Fei had already dressed up, her seductive face no longer wretched and pitiful but cold and devilish. However, deep in the recesses of her eyes lay a tinkling of emotion, the unmistakable glint of excitement and happiness.

“Thanks Master for today’s incident!” said Xi Fei, kneeling on the floor and bowing down low.

“You’re my student; stripping the Martial Ability of a Prince Heir is only a little mundane task to a Celestial Daoist like me. It’s not worth mentioning. Tomorrow, spread the word that I have appointed Yuan Hao as the New Emperor.”

Xi Fei was the only person in “Xi He Palace”; Hao Tian Shangxian’s youthful and indifferent voice seemed to come from thin air!

Yuan Hao, was Xi Fei’s eldest son.

“Please accept my thanks once again, Master. Little Xi will service you well!” Xi Fei shuddered with excitement, beautiful eyes flas.h.i.+ng.

“Even though Yuan Hao does not have enough talent to practice Martial Arts, he still has my blood flowing in his veins, so I cannot let him waste away his life. To let him become a Mortal Emperor…. ah, that’s a good idea!”

If their conversation was to be leaked out, it would absolutely shock the world. Yuan Hao, was in fact Hao Tian Shangxian’s son!

The relations.h.i.+p between the two was certainly f.u.c.ked up.

“Master, I’m still worried. Since young, that Wu Yu was the producer of miracles, and the means by which he accomplishes things is very effective. Even though his Martial Prowess has been stripped and he has been exiled, I am afraid he will make a comeback!”

Under the dim light of the lone candle, Xi Fei’s eyes shone red with bloodl.u.s.t. She needed Wu Yu dead.

“Do not worry, I have already sent Wan Qing to a.s.sa.s.sinate him. I promise you that he’ll not live to see the next day. When I do things, I finish them. Completely. Who wants a snake biting their back when they’re in the direst of situations?”

“Senior Sister Wan Qing!”

Xi Fei shuddered at the name. Wan Qing was just too… horrifying.

Many people disappear suddenly in the dark depths of the Royal Palace. Myths say that a big snake resides within the Royal Palace, occasionally coming out of its hiding place to swallow people alive.

……………

“Ka Cha! Ka Cha!

Based from the sounds and the violent shaking of the prison carriage, Wu Yu determined that he was currently traveling on a mountain road.

After swallowing and digesting the “Soul Severing Powder” for a night, he could feel that his Martial Arts foundation had been destroyed.

To reach the 5th Heavenly Stage of Martial Arts, one had to forge their muscles, grind their tendons, refine their bones, strengthen their organs and change their blood. After changing his blood, Wu Yu had the strength and power of 50 battle horses, frequently charging by the lonesome in the battlefield, smas.h.i.+ng into enemy ranks, unstoppable!

But now, his muscles, battle blood, tendons, bones and organs have all been deprived of their former strength, leaving behind a weak body unsuitable for combat.

Wu Yu opened his eyes to the dimness of dawn and daybreak. The sun hadn’t risen, and the surroundings was murky and overcast, but he could glimpse the shapes of around 100 soldiers, responsible for sending him to the frontiers, where most of the battlefields were.

Walking next to the carriage was a tall, tan 100 man squad leader, expression indifferent and apathetic. He was in charge of looking over Wu Yu, to ensure that he did not do any funny stuff, like escape.

The carriage trundled on, and soon the company entered the forest. And right at that moment, all h.e.l.l broke loose!

That surprised Wu Yu, so he raised his head to see what had happened. The rock path they were currently on was very narrow, so the contingent was quite spread out, and because the sky hadn’t really brightened yet, he could not see what was happening in the front.

“This stench!”

The stench jogged Wu Yu’s memory of the time when a daemon, under the manipulations of a neighboring kingdom tried to a.s.sa.s.sinate him on the battlefield. Of course he’d fought back and killed it, and when it revealed its true form after death, he discovered it was a spider.

“Daemon!” It must be a daemon! No other living thing could have this stench!

“Snake! Snake!”

Tragic and shrill screams came from the front of the troop, causing chaos to run amok.

“It’s just a wild beast, don’t be afraid; brothers, come with me to slay it!” The 100 man squad leader by Wu Yu’s side shouted, drawing his knife and arming his s.h.i.+eld, coordinating soldiers to charge forward in formation. His act stabilised the situation, but the shrieks and screams did not stop; in fact, they just got more and more harrowing.

The speed of the daemon was quite fast; Wu Yu stood up, dilated his pupils, and… he saw it!

It was a fifty feet long snake, wide as a tree trunk, and had a three feet long forked tongue. Black poison dripped from the sharp tip of its teeth, landing on rocks and the earth, leaving behind numerous little holes.

The aura of the daemon permeated the air, horrifying and uncomfortable on the skin.

Tear!

The soldiers hacked at the monstrosity with their swords, slashed it with their spears, but it was futile! None of their attacks had broken open its skin and wounded it! On the contrary, the snake, who had already developed a human’s intelligence, moved about unhindered, tearing, smas.h.i.+ng and ramming into the soldiers. In a few heartbeats, many of the 100 soldiers in the company had either been eaten alive, torn apart or rammed to pieces by the daemon’s tail.

“Run, Run!!”

It was h.e.l.l on Earth!

Even the 100 man squad captain had been devoured alive!

There were only 15 soldiers left, and each of them quickly put down their weapons to escape;  the other soldiers, under the ravaging of the snake, were left with ripped bodies and minced bodies, lifeless on the bloodied ground.

“It’s looking at me.”

Wu Yu noticed that even though the snake was slaughtering the soldiers, it had always put its attention on him.

And as expected, it did not chase after the escaping soldiers, but slithered towards Wu Yu, indicating its objective.

On the Mortal Realm, there were Mortals, and there were also Celestials, who have descended from Heaven to slay sinners.

On the Mortal Realm, there were beasts as well, who absorb the essence of Heaven and Earth to evolve into Daemons, terrorising the people; this snake must be one of them, and it is quite obvious it had lived for some time.

The snake came closer, and its stench pounced at Wu Yu’s nose, incredibly nauseatic and disgusting.

“Fu!”

And at that moment, the Daemon changed into human form; Wu Yu did not expect that to happen!

The enormous pale green snake started to shrink, its flesh and scales started to transform, and in the end, a woman in a pale green robe appeared right before his very eyes. Her hair was messy and long, face narrow and lengthy, chin sharp, eyes slanted, and though her body was slender and graceful, she emitted a snakish aura that induced terror.

“Wan Qing.”

Wu Yu recognised her on first sight; she was the student of Hao Tian Shangxian, and was constantly seen by his side. This recognition, however, had quite the impact on Wu Yu.

“Hao Tian Shangxian, a Protector Shangxian, has the role of protecting the common man by slaying evils. Hahahaha! I wouldn’t have guessed that he would raise a snake daemon!”

“In the capital city of my East Yue Wu, 1368 people have disappeared without a trace. No matter how hard we tried to trace the kidnappers, no results turned up; they must have been used to feed Wan Qing!”

Wan Qing’s appearance led to Wu Yu understanding one thing; Hao Tian Shangxian wanted him dead.

She clambered atop the wagon, and the ghastly daemon aura she emitted was like a pair of hands, constantly molesting and touching his body.

“Wu Yu, we meet again.” said w.a.n.g Qing, sticking out her blood red and narrow forked tongue to lick her rouge coloured lips. She stared at Wu Yu with her dark green eyes, as if he was some kind of tasty snack she was going to feed upon.

Upon noticing that he was calm and indifferent, she smiled gruesomely “Today marks the day of your death; You should thank my Master, because you can now go to the Yellow River* to keep your father company! You know, to kill him, I had to waste many of my Master’s pills and medicines.”

“Oh.”

No wonder father, who was still in his prime, aged and died within a year.

The animosity against Hao Tian and those involved for murdering his father was like a roiling sea of blood, surging and battering against his body, trying to break free.

“Hao Tian, Xi Fei these two b.a.s.t.a.r.ds; ah, it’s not surprising.”

Father, even though he was Emperor, had a lot of women and children, so the love Wu Yu could get from him was limited. But father was father, so against all odds, he let him ascend the throne; this was love!

“Unfortunately, you don’t have the opportunity to pay a debt of grat.i.tude.”

Wan Qing did not give mercy.

“Die!”

She extended her two hands, and those two hands held at least 10,000 jin* of power! Enough to rip Wu Yu into shreds!

“You daemon!”

Suddenly, a shout came from the sky, and a golden light flashed past.

“A Daoist Celestial!”

At that instant, Wan Qing’s face became incredibly pale; without saying another word, she used her horrifying speed to race into the surrounding forest, not even bothering to finish off Wu Yu.  Encountering a big river, she jumped in to hide in its dark depths, body shuddering from fear, fleeing for her life!

Wu Yu, who was facing imminent death, was shocked by the change in events.

“Shua!”

A Daoist suddenly appeared in front of Wu Yu’s eyes out of thin air. His raven black hair waved in the wind, with deep, profound eyes, the very image of a handsome middle aged man. Deep within the the recesses of his eyes Sword Qi* could be seen sweeping about, and his whole body emitted Sword Qi that twined around him, causing dust and dirt to swirl about his vicinity.

“s.h.i.+t, I let that sinner escape, and have let it cause such a catastrophe!”

Hope!

Wu Yu saw light at the end of the tunnel!

Because of Wan Qing, a Celestial had arrived! He must grasp hold of this opportunity!

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*Yellow River – It’s the place where dead souls rest in Chinese Mythology; basically, it’s like h.e.l.l

*Jin – Jin is a measurement of ma.s.s/weight (depends on whether you want to be a normal person or an absolute scientific r.e.t.a.r.d) used by the Chinese; the conversion rate is 1 Jin : 0.6048 Kilograms.

*Qi – It’s kind of hard to translate this; It literally translates to Sword Air in that example, but means Sword Aura. I couldn’t use Sword Aura because then the whole sentence wouldn’t make sense, so I just stuck with the Pinyin.