Stealing Heaven

Stealing Heaven is a classical xianxia novel by the web author Xue Hong. It was serialized on Qidian from 2011 and completed in March 2012. A traditional-Chinese print edition was published in volumes by Taiwan's Nine Star Culture starting in November 2011, totaling 65 volumes. Built on the premise that "he who steals a hook is executed, he who steals a kingdom becomes a lord, and he who steals heaven, earth, and the human heart may become a divine immortal or a Buddha," the book follows Wu Qi, a disciple of the Steal Heaven and Swap Day sect. He travels with his master Wu Wang and a close friend to investigate ruins at Machu Picchu, where they accidentally trigger a void-shifting formation left by an immortal. Shangguan Ye, having lost the contest for sect leadership, brings Miao Yuan Daozhun of Mount Qingcheng to seek revenge; the master and the close friend die one after another. Wu Qi, bearer of the Seven Mysteries Heaven-Stealing Meridian, receives the true transmission of the sect's Scripture of Theft and barely survives, only to be transported to an unfamiliar world of cultivation. Thereafter he must make his own way amid the contests among immortal sects, the Buddhist order, and ancient esoteric texts, maneuvering between the great powers of Buddhism and Daoism. The book uses "stealing" to unite cultivation and character: stealing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, the shifts of the human heart, and the choice between good and evil are woven into one. It is one of Xue Hong's representative works marking his turn from urban and fantasy fiction to orthodox xianxia. This entry covers the series as a whole; the print edition consists of 65 serialized volumes whose plots run continuously, so reading in volume order is recommended.