Chapter 1699 — The Hermit of Dragon Mountain

Before the Southern Heaven Pass, the two Celestial Masters each marshaled their forces, the battle formations of both armies shifting by the instant, breaking formations with formations, breaking formations with sheer force!

Shang Pingyin and Meng Yungui were both masters of divination arts and masters of formation arrays, and from this contest of arts one could discern the strength and weakness of each side.

Shang Pingyin had risen to fame extremely early; as far back as the early years of Longhan he had already made a name for himself, and even before the Dao Ancestor founded the macro divination arts, he had already achieved some distinction in the field. At the time he too had been researching macro divination, but he had diverted his attention to the study of formation arrays and the art of deploying troops and laying out battle lines, and so his progress had been somewhat slower than the Dao Ancestor's. Later, when the Dao Ancestor achieved mastery of the macro divination arts, Shang Pingyin was eclipsed by him.

Yet he too was a man of genius, and by his own attainments in formation arrays and divination arts he became the Celestial Court's foremost Celestial Master; the formation arrays and formation diagrams of every army in the Celestial Court bore a profound connection to him.

However, when the Longhan house divided, he personally led a great army to block the departure of the Northern Emperor Xuanwu's Heavenly Palace from the Celestial Court, only to suffer a devastating blow, defeated by the Hermit of Dragon Mountain who laid out a formation with the Glazed Azure Heaven Canopy. That defeat was utter and complete; Shang Pingyin's Dao heart was damaged, and for several hundred thousand years he languished, brooding endlessly on how to break the great formation of the Glazed Azure Heaven Canopy.

It was not until Yue Tingge rose to prominence and broke the great formation of the Glazed Azure Heaven Canopy that Shang Pingyin finally emerged from the shadow—only to step into the shadow of Yue Tingge. After Yue Tingge was lost in the Grand Void, Shang Pingyin once again became the Celestial Court's foremost Celestial Master, and it was at this time that Meng Yungui rose to prominence, threatening to supplant his position.

Meng Yungui never revealed his talents, always concealing his wisdom and strength, yet from the way he marched troops and laid out formations, and from the frequency with which the Heavenly Venerable sought his counsel, it was clear that Meng Yungui's wisdom actually surpassed his own! But the two had never directly contended, and the battle of the Southern Heaven Pass was the first time they had crossed swords.

Meng Yungui held the advantage of terrain, while Shang Pingyin held the advantage of military strength. The great army under his command consisted of the Divine Martial Two Guards of the Celestial Court's Ten Guards.

Tempered through every manner of battle, the Divine Martial Two Guards were the most outstanding beings among demigods; any single one of them could serve as the chief of Meng Yungui's Yuhua Camp! When the Divine Martial Two Guards' formation was activated, they could even do battle with a Heavenly Venerable!

Yet when clashing with a second-rate divine-and-demon army like the Yuhua Camp, the Divine Martial Two Guards' formation power could not be brought to bear at all. The Yuhua Camp's formation was like a needle threading into a seam, inserting itself into the Divine Martial Two Guards' formation, preventing the formation from operating and the formation diagram from functioning.

Every variation of the Divine Martial Two Guards' formation was countered by the Yuhua Camp.

Shang Pingyin excelled at waging upright, frontal assaults, and against an opponent like Meng Yungui, his every skill was difficult to bring into play.

Yet the Divine Martial Two Guards were simply too strong; in a pure contest of attrition, Meng Yungui could not outlast him either! This was the general trend Shang Pingyin had spoken of.

So long as the Yuhua Camp's soldiers continued to fall, he would still emerge victorious!

Just then, Meng Yungui suddenly rose to his full height and drifted down from the tower, cutting sideways into the Yuhua Camp's formation diagram. Shang Pingyin laughed aloud and shook his head: "A commander entering the formation himself—how foolish! Once you enter the formation, you become a chess piece within it, unable to survey the whole board, unable to make formation changes at any time and place.

Meng Yungui, your greatest strength is your formation changes, and now you abandon this strength to become a mere man of valor—you are unworthy of being a Celestial Master!

" He immediately manipulated the Divine Martial Two Guards' formation diagram, using formation changes to trap the Yuhua Camp to death. Yet the Yuhua Camp's formation changed at the same moment, still holding the Divine Martial Two Guards' formation diagram in a death grip, making it difficult for them to change formations!

Even if Shang Pingyin forcibly changed formations, it would immediately be countered by the Yuhua Camp!

Meng Yungui was also a great expert at the Imperial Throne realm, moving through the formation diagram like a fish in water, slaying the Divine Martial Two Guards' great generals, inflicting casualties upon them!

"No—within the formation, he cannot survey the whole board.

How does he discern my formation changes? " Shang Pingyin's expression darkened, and he thought: "Moreover, situated within the formation, how does he direct all the Yuhua Camp's soldiers, commanding them as if they were his own limbs? Wait—it is Jingping's Three Primes Spirit Convergence Formula! " His expression changed drastically.

Among Jingping's reforms was a cultivation art called the Three Primes Spirit Convergence Formula, the most wondrous art on the battlefield, unmatched in the speed with which it deployed troops and directed generals. Back in the Grand Void, Emperor Yanfeng and Emperor Jingping's Imperial Preceptor Jiang Baigui, one transformed into a monk and the other into a Daoist, had led the armies of Wuyou Township and clashed repeatedly with the Celestial Court's forces, slaying countless enemies.

The Celestial Court's four Celestial Masters and four Heavenly Kings had found these two a frightful headache.

In the end, it was Meng Yungui who saw through the two men's true nature, broke Emperor Yanfeng's great formation, and pursued Emperor Yanfeng for tens of thousands of li, nearly slaying that bald monk. At the time, Meng Yungui had been able to break the formation because he had sent spies to Jingping to secretly learn the Three Primes Spirit Convergence Formula and discover the method to counter it!

Clearly, Meng Yungui had not only countered the Three Primes Spirit Convergence Formula but had also learned it himself!

"The Three Primes Spirit Convergence Formula—I do not know its methods, so I cannot counter it. But if Meng Yungui can grasp the whole situation, it means he must have eyes and ears outside, watching the battle!

" Shang Pingyin was exceedingly clever, and he immediately looked around, his gaze falling upon the area before the Southern Heaven Pass, where an oval, convex bright mirror hung before the pass.

Shang Pingyin raised his hand, took up his divine bow, drew it and loosed an arrow; the mirror instantly shattered into dust. He breathed a sigh of relief and changed formations once more—still countered by Meng Yungui.

Shang Pingyin frowned and continued looking around. Suddenly he drew his bow again, shooting out a sun in the sky so that it was extinguished! With that sun extinguished, the sky grew dim and uncertain.

Shang Pingyin looked again and saw that the formation was still suppressed by Meng Yungui. "He has other eyes and ears!

" Shang Pingyin pointed at his brow, and the vertical eye at his forehead opened.