I Shall Steal the Heavens 232 Chapter 231: Damage Control

"At this point, do you think we will believe you?"

"I know you won't." Song Si Yuan sighed, and dropped to the ground. He raised both his hands in surrender. "That's why…from now on, I will no longer be participating in the battle." He glanced at me, who was still rampaging throughout the plaza and throwing the three Holy Guardians about. "You can try and stop him if you want."

"Same." Xie Zhi Zhang mirrored his actions and also raised both his hands wearily. "We've been thoroughly beaten and sustained irrecoverable losses. Right now, the most important thing is to minimize further damage and loss of life."

"Heh!" Tian Yu Di cackled. "And why should we help you stop Sect Leader? I'll be happy to let him wipe out the Martial Arts Alliance in my stead!"

"He won't be able to sustain that for long," Shen Tian Yi pointed out gravely. "Sooner or later he'll collapse after expending so much qi. And I don't know if his body can handle it. You had best stop him before he overexerts himself and sustain fatal injuries."

Zi Da Ji looked worried, but Tian Yu Di merely snorted.

"I know that better than any of you. But…" he grinned. "That damage won't happen for a few hours at least. I'm content to let him rampage until he reaches his limits." Scoffing, he leaned back against a Spirit Engraved Pillar. "You'll need to offer us a better deal than that for us to cooperate. After all, it's your damned Martial Arts Alliance's fault that everything came to this in the first place."

The three high-ranking experts traded glances, looking as if they were at a loss at what to do. Before any of them could speak up, however, a new voice cut in.

"Second Uncle! Uncle Song! Elder Shen! There is no need to negotiate with these villains! We should just take care of this ourselves!"

Xie Jing Lian's clear and cold voice was carried across the plaza. She and Yang Zhong had finally arrived after the major battle. The both of them had chosen to stay back before the Sunburst explosions, presumably because they were forewarned that Nine-Tailed Fox Sect still had a hidden trump card that would prove to be devastating to the invading forces.

But even they did not imagine the explosions of the seven Sunburst bombs to be this destructive and cause such a massive number of casualties. To think that they were capable of decimating ninety percent of the invading forces…

"Girl from the Xie family." Long Shen narrowed his eyes as he glanced at her disapprovingly. "So you've finally decided to show up. Were you hiding all this while to stay safe from the battle earlier?" it was clear that he regarded her as a coward.

"Miss Xie." Shen Tian Yi nodded politely. In contrast to Long Shen, he didn't seem to harbor any resentment against her late arrival. "Are you here to help your uncle wrap things up?"

Xie Zhi Zhang sighed as he strode over to talk to his niece.

"A pity," he remarked with a shake of his head. "If we had known about Fei Wu and his abilities, we would have recruited him into the service of the Xie Clan. Did we not have any insiders watching for such potential in Wu Ling Academy?"

"…we do," Xie Jing Lian admitted curtly. Her uncle stared at her with a hard look.

"They report directly to you, don't they? None of them mentioned anything about this boy?"

"…no, they didn't."

"Actually, they did tell us how Fei Wu achieved second place in the Wu Ling Academy tournament last year." Yang Zhong was a snitch, but a great snitch. "But my lady was discouraged by his One Star Constitution, and focused her efforts on recruiting people with higher talent, such as Zhu Jiao or Bai Ning Xue."

"A One Star Constitution achieving such a high finish in the tournament – there is a very high chance that it was all down to luck," Xie Jing Lian explained. "And most likely he had favorable matchups. I refused to risk the Xie Clan's resources on such an unknown factor."

Yang Zhong sighed and shook his head bitterly, evidently in disagreement. At that time, he had reasoned with Xie Jing Lian and tried to persuade her to recruit me into the service of the Xie Clan, but she stubbornly refused.

"You call this luck?" Xie Zhi Zhang asked sharply, his tone rising. He gestured toward the horrific destruction, and me basically kicking the three Guardians away. "You call this luck?!"

"Certainly, this surpasses simple luck," Song Si Yuan agreed in a more conciliatory manner and stroked his chin. "To think he would be able to invent Spirit Bombs of such magnitude, and even attain the Divine Origin Spirit…"

Long Shen burst out laughing. Snorting, he turned his vicious gaze upon Xie Jing Lian and sniggered.

"Girl of the Xie family, you really don't have an eye for people," he mocked. "Luck! Ha ha ha ha! He won all his consecutive matches and reached the finals of his school tournament through luck! He got accepted into Blood Blades of Nine-Tailed Fox Sect because he was 'lucky'! That's got to be the funniest thing I have ever heard!"

Slapping his thighs, he wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Compared to the young miss of the Song family, you are completely outmatched. If it had been Song Ting Yu who had spotted Fei Wu, I'm sure she would have recognized his potential right away and have him wrapped around her little finger! That brat would be following every single command from her obediently! Hell, I doubt anyone would be able to chase him away! He will willingly sell his soul to the Song family!"

Shen Tian Ya nodded dully.

"If only Fei Wu had joined the Martial Arts Alliance instead, then Nine-Tailed Fox Sect wouldn't be so difficult to deal with, and hurt us so badly and irreversibly." He glanced at the three Holy Guardians, who had scattered again. "My Heavenly Way Sect, Brother Long's Green Dragon Sect and the Kunlun Sect should be fine – we did not dispatch all of our very best forces, but I fear the Seven Valley Sects, Divine Shadow Sect, Dark Asura Sect and Cloud Sky Mountain will be finished after this."

Xie Zhi Zhang and Song Si Yuan exchanged a dark glance at that, the both of them already knowing the eventual fate and demise of these ten sects. Xie Jing Lian was aware of it too, somewhat, though she was still too young to comprehend the full extent of the hypocrisy and corruption that plagued the Martial Arts Alliance.

None of them was stupid enough to mention that to their allies in the subordinate sects, though.

Instead, Xie Jing Lian met Long Shen's gaze evenly and nodded indifferently. "I am indeed not her match in this aspect."

Long Shen chuckled, but he no longer paid any attention to her. Instead, he glanced in the direction of the fierce battle.

The biggest guy of the three Holy Guardians was trying to punch me, but I easily dodged his fists. Before I could retaliate, the other two guys rushed from behind, trying to flank me.

Spinning around, I slashed at the guy with a sword, but he parried my strike before drawing another weapon to grab hold of my Azure Lotus Sword. I immediately dropped it, but instead of fighting the swordsman, I twisted around and kicked the other guy. He stopped and blocked my foot with his arm, realizing that it was too late to dodge, and my kick actually broke his hand.

"Argh!"

He fell back as he screamed in pain, but my next kick slammed into his chest and sent him hurtling a few dozen meters away.

The second guy then charged at me with his sword, but I dodged under his slash. Instead, I grabbed my Azure Lotus Sword with my right hand, and then rammed his elbow with my left fist when I yanked him forward, before he realized what was happening. There was a sharp crack, and he yelped as his arm gave way with a sickening snap.

As he fell to his knees, I kicked him in the gut, sending him flying several meters back. He crashed onto the ground, unconscious, but not dead. If he hadn't blocked my foot with that interesting jitte that he used to grab my sword, he might have died.

The last, biggest guy then grabbed me from behind, trying to grapple with me and wrestle me into immobility. Unlike Goonmoonryong, I wasn't going to jump back and smash him to the ground. Instead, I slammed my elbow into his chest, knocking the air out of his lungs. Then I spun around, breaking his nose with another elbow. As he staggered back, I kicked him in his midriff, and even his large body was lifted off the ground for a few seconds before tumbling backward.

"No way…" Shen Tian Ya murmured softly. "Even the three Holy Guardians have been taken out?"

Jiang Yuan screamed when I descended upon him. Using a footwork technique, I closed the distance between us, disappeared past his subordinates and landed on his face. Unleashing Seismic Step, I obliterated him an instant.

"Hu…"

Exhaling, I turned my murderous gaze upon the frightened subordinates of Cloud Sky Mountain. They screamed and fell over, tumbling over one another as they tried to get away. Some of them even pissed themselves, the stench of urine filling the air as they fell, a dark stain in their pants.

"No, please…!"

"Let us go!"

"I'm sorry! We're sorry!"

"We never meant to…!"

Oh, come on. Do you really expect me to believe that you never meant to invade Nine-Tailed Fox Sect? What utter bullshit.

I punished their lies with decapitation or brutal deaths. The air was filled with screams and stank of fear.

I reveled in it all. The dark fury pulsed in my veins, threatening to overwhelm me. No, my sanity had long been consumed by the hatred and sheer need for vengeance. I had killed those directly responsible for Tang Qi Hong's death, especially that bitch Jiu Liu Yu, but my rage had not been spent yet. I needed more victims.

All of them. I was going to kill every single one of them…

"All right, that's enough. Fei Wu. Stop."

Someone slammed down in front of me while I was looking for fresh new targets. A flying motorbike (I was tempted to call it a jetbike) had just skimmed across the heavens and its rider jumped off the seat to land in the middle of the plaza.

"Zhu Jiao?!"

Tong Xue gaped at the newcomer. Beside him, Lian Rou covered her mouth with her bloody hands, not aware of the red fluid dripping off her fingers and staining her face.

"What is Zhu Jiao doing here?"

"Seems like a lot has happened." Zhu Jiao sighed and shook his head as he glanced around, then he turned to face me. "Time to bring you back, Fei Wu."

Don't get in my way.

My mind pounded and throbbed. I was vaguely conscious, but my sanity had been wiped clean by the Divine Spirit Origin, and most of my vision was shrouded in berserk darkness. I hardly recognized Zhu Jiao as a friend.

Right now, I only saw him as an impediment. Someone who was getting in my way of slaughtering all of my enemies.

And I was going to kill everyone who got in my way.

With a yell, I charged forward, intending to barge Zhu Jiao away.

"Whoa…looks like he really has lost it." Zhu Jiao gulped, perspiration dripping down his face. "Not only that, he has gotten so much stronger. Is this really Fei Wu?"

"Something happened," Tong Xue informed him shakily. "Something to do with his Heaven and Earth Formula going out of control. I don't know the details" he glanced up at Tian Yu Di above. "You'll have to ask that elder above."

"Maybe later. For now I'll have to stop this guy."

He used his gauntlets and clad himself in full body armor in an instant, the golden metal gleaming under the sun. Lowering his arms, he then caught me as I rammed into him.

"Got you!"

However, I had anticipated that, my body subconsciously reacting thanks to Heavenly Flow and Earthly Steps. Flipping myself up at the last moment, I avoided Zhu Jiao's grasp and swung my foot down in a devastating kick that connected with his helm.

Boom!

"Ugh!"

Zhu Jiao's skull would have been crushed from that kick if he had not conjured his full body armor earlier. Raising his Heavenly Golden Draconic Gauntlets, he swung a vicious punch in my direction, trying to punch my lights out.

Twisting my body aside, I parried his Heavenly Golden Draconic Gauntlets with my Azure Lotus Sword, and then flipped myself away before his other fist could land. Whirling around, I delivered a riposte that he deflected before evading a retaliatory punch.

"…!"

Zhu Jiao unleashed a Golden Kirin Holy Blast at pointblank range that forced me back, but I then plunged my Azure Lotus Sword into the ground and froze the entire place in ice.

"Whoa!"

Zhu Jiao stumbled back, ice rapidly expanding over his body. But he gritted his teeth and unleashed his qi to shatter the ice. He then unleashed his Golden Kirin Divine Fist at me just as I swung my sword down to cleave him in half.

His gauntlet met my blade before eveyrthing exploded, hurtling me back. I flipped in midair and landed on the ground, skidding back. Zhu Jiao was also staggering back, his armored feet leaving crumbling trails in his wake.

"So powerful!" he gasped. "What the hell sort of drugs is Fei Wu on?"

"Fei Wu didn't take any drugs," Tong Xue said dryly. Zhu Jiao groaned and suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.

"I know! It was just a manner of speaking!"

However, he wasn't able to retort much because I was lunging at him again, my eyes flashing murderously. Zhu Jiao shuddered, feeling a chill in his spine, but he met my charge with Golden Kirin Divine Claws.

Clang!

I found myself batted aside by Zhu Jiao's superior strength, but he was stumbling back, his arms vibrating intensely from the collision.

"What the hell?! How did he get so strong!?"

"I told you, it's that Heaven and Earth Formula thing…"

"I know!" Zhu Jiao snapped when Tong Xue explained again. "It was just a rhetorical question, okay?!"

The poor guy was getting stressed out from facing a deadly enemy like me. He gritted his teeth and raised both his arms to guard himself when I kicked him. He stumbled back from the tremendous impact, but unleashed a Golden Kirin Holy Blast to force some distance between us. However, I merely sliced the qi wave apart with my Azure Lotus Sword.

Flicking my sword to free the blade of the sparks, I then dropped to an aggressive stance, holding my blade parallel to the ground.

Kicking off the ground, I charged at Zhu Jiao, who somehow managed to parry my strike with one of his gauntlets. He then countered with a fist to my midriff, but I was spinning away. Lashing out with a kick, I struck his knee and caused his leg to buckle. Zhu Jiao grunted and countered with a backswing, but I deflected it with my Azure Lotus Sword. While ice continued to spread over both his gauntlets as a result of coming in contact with Azure Lotus Sword, I kicked a stunned Zhu Jiao down, almost cracking his Golden Kirin Sacred Armor.

"Damn it!"

Cursing, Zhu Jiao unleashed a colossal blast at pointblank range, almost catching me by surprise. I managed to block most of the effects with Azure Lotus Sword, but even so I was knocked off my feet and sent sailing backward a few meters. Landing on my feet, I took a deep breath and immediately launched myself at him again.

The existences beyond the fourth wall must be confused. They were wondering why Zhu Jiao was able to fight back against me even though I so easily killed Jiu Liu Yu, Fu Chang, Ji Liu and Jiang Yuan, and even defeated the three Holy Guardians from the Heavenly Way Sect. Surely Zhu Jiao, who was weaker than these esteemed experts who led their own sects, shouldn't be able to last so long against a berserk me?

The answer was simple. He had plot armor. He was the protagonist. Of course he had to come save the day and solve everything. And he would never die, because of his massive plot armor and role as the story's protagonist.

That was why he was defying logic and fighting me toe-to-toe. Okay, maybe he was losing and giving ground gradually. Blood was streaming down his exposed face, his Golden Kirin Sacred Armor was cracked in several places and he was tiring from having to continue expending qi to shatter the ice I froze around him.

But he could still hold me off, and he definitely had some way of bringing me back…even if he had to kill me to do it.

"Um…any help would be appreciated now!"

For some reason, Zhu Jiao yelled to the skies above.

"Huh? What's going on?" Tong Xue and Lian Rou, and several of the Blood Blades around us stared up in confusion.

Their query was answered with a thunderous bang. A helicopter had flown past, and yet another newcomer descended. Lightning followed her as she crashed down on my position, unleashing a gigantic bolt of electricity.

Frowning, and aware that I wouldn't be able to dodge it in time, I slashed upward with my Azure Lotus Sword and unleashed Heavenly Draconic Meteor Strike to nullify the gigantic lightning bolt. The two massive blasts of qi met and exploded, causing shockwaves that rippled throughout the plaza.

The owner of the lightning hit the ground, rolled and sprang to her feet, raising her silver sword that crackled with electricity.

"You sure took your time!" Zhu Jiao complained.

"I didn't expect you to have this much trouble," Bai Ning Xue replied coolly. She then frowned and studied me. "Is that really Fei Wu? He's…different."

"Fei Wu has gone berserk," Tong Xue explained. "Some effect of…"

"I heard," Bai Ning Xue cut him off. "Is there any way to turn him back?"

"Well…" the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect members glanced in the direction of Tian Yu Di. The ancient elder shrugged with a mischievous grin.

"Defeating him would be a start," he said.

"Bastard," Zhu Jiao muttered under his breath. "He knows it's not so easy to defeat him."

Tian Yu Di merely watched, to Song Si Yuan and Xie Zhi Zhang's surprise.

"Aren't you going to stop them?" Long Shen asked, equally shocked at his passiveness. After all, when Long Shen attacked me earlier, Tian Yu Di had intervened.

Ancestral Master laughed. "I'm not so despicable as to lower myself to the level of interfering with a battle between children." His grin widened. "Besides, it'll be interesting to see how these brats struggle against my grand disciple."

"What if they defeat him?" Xie Zhi Zhang asked disbelievingly.

"I would expect nothing less from the kids that Sect Leader has befriended!" Tian Yu Di guffawed heartily.

Meanwhile, below, Bai Ning Xue and Zhu Jiao were engaging me together in battle. Tong Xue, after some hesitation, joined in, striking from the back with his short sword while I was distracted by Zhu Jiao's frontal attacks and Bai Ning Xue's lightning.

"I see now why you have so much trouble against him," Bai Ning Xue remarked, perspiration rolling down her snow-white face. "He is a lot stronger than before."

"What the hell happened to him?!" Zhu Jiao demanded as he ducked under my sword, and tried to counter with a punch. I evaded it and kicked him, but was forced to pull back when Bai Ning Xue delivered a lightning strike. "What caused him to turn into a monster? And no, I'm not referring to his martial arts!"

"Tang Qi Hong was killed."

"What?!"

"Huh?!"

Both Zhu Jiao and Bai Ning Xue turned to stare at Tong Xue in shock, but they were forced to snap out of their stupor when I came barreling at them.

"How did that happen!?"

"Qi Hong is…dead?"

The two of them were still drowning in disbelief as they fought against me, more from reflex than conscious will now. They glanced in the direction of Lian Rou and finally caught sight of Tang Qi Hong's body for the first time.

"Impossible!"

"No way…"

As if the mere mention of Tang Qi Hong's name enraged me, my attacks intensified and I actually drove both Zhu Jiao and Bai Ning Xue back with a single swing of my sword. The ground in front of me ruptured from the devastating qi blast as the both of them leaped back to safety.

"How?!" Zhu Jiao demanded, his voice filled with disbelief. "How did Qi Hong die?"

"That bitch from Dark Fiend Valley Sect, Jiu Liu Yu, killed her." Tong Xue's reply was as bitter.

"Where is that Jiu Liu Yu now?" Bai Ning Xue asked, her voice turning extremely icy, to the point anyone who heard her shivered uncontrollably.

"Fei Wu destroyed her," Tong Xue replied as he ducked under my kick and tried to stab me with his short sword. I countered with my Azure Lotus Sword and he winced and fell back, ice encasing both his arms.

"Seriously?!" Zhu Jiao gaped. Then I kicked him in the chest, my foot cracking his breastplate and sending him staggering back. He then shut his mouth and nodded. "Never mind…given his current state now, I can't say I'm surprised."
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"To think he could actually kill a sect leader on his own…" Bai Ning Xue's brow wrinkled. "Just what is this Heaven and Formula technique?"

"To be fair, Jiu Liu Yu was heavily injured by the Sunburst bombs' explosion, so she wasn't at her best." Tong Xue dodged under my sword and jumped away before I could eviscerate him. He winced. "Jiang Yuan of Cloud Sky Mountain was also wounded by the shockwaves and blasts, but not as much, and Fei Wu was still able to crush him…"

"He even defeated the three Holy Guardians from Heavenly Way Sect," Lian Rou added, glancing at the unconscious trio.

"This guy is insane…" Zhu Jiao gritted his teeth. He glanced at Bai Ning Xue. "I'm going to use that move. Ning Xue, Tong Xue, can both of you hold him off for ten seconds?"

"Certainly."

Bai Ning Xue jumped forward, creating a web of electricity with her sword.

"White Tiger's Thunderbolt!" she shouted as she swung her sword down at me. I parried it head-on, the ground beneath my feet crumbling and turning into a crater from the sheer force of the collision. Bai Ning Xue pressed down, but I easily fended her off.

However, it was never her intention to defeat me with this strike. Instead, she flicked her sword and wrapped us within a web of electricity.

"Heavenly Lightning Web!"

I glanced around wordlessly, feeling the intense static electricity weighing down on me. Normally I would be paralyzed by it, but in my current state, I could not be stopped. Even so, such was the power of Bai Ning Xue's technique that my movements slowed to a crawl. My limbs felt leaden and heavy, the electricity coursing mercilessly through them and trying to cut off the nervous signals being transmitted to them from my brain.

Cursing, I took a deep breath and tried to discharge the electric qi out of my system by earthing it into the ground. However, Bai Ning Xue refused to give me the chance. Trapped in the same electric cage as me, she slashed ruthlessly at me, forcing me to block. I parried her silver blade and stumbled, but dug my heels in.

With a roar, I unleashed a tremendous surge of qi that knocked her away and against her lightning web. Blood trickled from Bai Ning Xue's mouth as she crashed into her electric barrier. Plunging my sword into the ground, I not only discharged the electricity infesting my body into the earth, but I also produced a huge blast that disintegrated the lightning web in an instant.

"Ugh…"

Coughing out some blood, Bai Ning Xue hit the ground and rolled away helplessly. She glanced at Zhu Jiao.

"Sorry, I couldn't…"

"No, you've bought more than enough time."

Zhu Jiao had created a gigantic qi sword with his gauntlet, one that stretched several times his height.

"Golden Kirin Divine Blade!"

He then lunged at me. Snarling, I whirled around and swung my Azure Lotus Sword to meet his attack.

A blinding explosion rang across the plaza as our blades met, and a golden conflagration expanded ferociously across the site, devouring concrete and corpses alike.

"Ugh!" Tong Xue was forced to jump back.

"Ah!" Bai Ning Xue was also thrown off by the immense shockwaves, but she managed to flip herself in midair and land somewhat gracefully on her feet. Huffing, she wiped the blood from her mouth and wounds as rubble pelted her surroundings.

Everyone watched with bated breath as the conflagration continued to expand into an enormous orb that reached the heavens. The Spirit Engraved Pillars trembled from the blast, but the Spirit Diagrams inscribed into their surface glowed and protected them.

Then, as suddenly as it happened, it was all over.

The conflagration vanished, and only the figures of me and Zhu Jiao were left.

"…damn it…"

Zhu Jiao's Golden Kirin Sacred Armor shattered, pieces of his golden armor raining down around his feet. Blood streamed down from wounds all over his body and he staggered, but he refused to fall. Gritting his teeth, he maintained his posture.

As for me, I merely stood there, still breathing heavily. The ominous fog continued to billow around me as I exhaled.

"Don't tell me that didn't work?!" Zhu Jiao growled. "Fuck!"

"…depends on what you were trying to do," I replied. Zhu Jiao's eyes widened. It wasn't just him. Tong Xue, Lian Rou, Bai Ning Xue – and all of the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect members were staring at me with bated breath.

"Fei Wu…? You're back?"

"Ah…" I reached up with a hand and wiped the blood from my face and glasses. The dark fury that had been overwhelming my consciousness and sanity was abating now, and I was able to think a lot clearer. The venomous, murderous rage that had consumed me with its thirst for vengeance had now lowered to a simmer, and was dissipating gradually. All that remained was a dull throbbing in my temples. "You whacked me so hard that I'm having one hell of a headache right now."

Chapter end