Chapter 1081: Long Hán's Number One Heavenly Master (Third Update!)
If it were in the past, U Minh Thái Tử and Âm Thiên Tử would definitely have thought he was boasting shamelessly, but Long Kỳ Lân had easily broken the Thiên Hà Thủy Sư, so they had no choice but to believe that Long Kỳ Lân truly had this ability.
Long Kỳ Lân couldn't help but feel proud and arrogant, loudly reciting: "Read ten thousand books, no one knows you; meet wind and cloud, transform into a dragon! Today is the day I show my skills!"
U Minh Thái Tử praised: "Hiền đệ is truly talented! Worthy of being called Long Hán's number one heavenly master under heaven!"
Yên Nhi looked even more adoring.
Even Âm Thiên Tử had to praise him a couple of times, though he felt bitter inside, thinking: "Once this kid holds off the Heavenly Court's army, I'll find an opportunity to steal the Lưu Ly Thanh Thiên Tràng and leave!"
The Heavenly Emperor was reducing the feudal lords, and the four extreme heavens of the Cổ Thần Tứ Ngự had all fallen under the Heavenly Emperor's control. The four imperial lords were held captive in the Heavenly Court, without territories, and thus without divine-demonic armies, leaving only their descendants to guard their heavenly palaces.
Long Kỳ Lân, relying on a single Lưu Ly Thanh Thiên Tràng and the Đằng Xà Thần Nữ and Huyền Quy Thần Nhân of the Huyền Vũ Thiên Cung, had been able to rout the Thiên Hà Thủy Sư in complete defeat—this indeed qualified him as a genius.
One should know that the Thần Vũ Nhị Vệ, Bắc Lạc Sư Môn, and the Thiên Hà Thủy Sư joining forces—not to mention flattening Bắc Lạc Sư Môn—even if all the current Đế Tọa powerhouses in the world joined forces, they could easily be trampled flat!
If he could withstand the combined siege of the Thủy Sư, Thần Vũ Nhị Vệ, and Bắc Lạc Sư Môn, then the title of number one heavenly master under heaven would be well deserved!
The three great armies surrounded the Huyền Vũ Thiên Cung on all sides, trying to hold back this heavenly palace from advancing north. However, holding back this palace was extremely difficult. U Minh Thái Tử was the son of the Bắc Đế, and his cultivation had already reached the Đế Tọa realm.
Moreover, the Bắc Đế was a sacred being born from the Thiên Hà. The Huyền Vũ Thiên Cung was advancing north from the Thiên Hà, protected on all sides by the Lưu Ly Thanh Thiên Tràng—it was simply impossible to block this palace with ships.
Using ships to block it would only result in them being crushed by the palace.
Using chains to lock down the palace wouldn't work either. The Lưu Ly Thanh Thiên Tràng contained many treasures with immense power. When hooks attached to chains caught onto the palace, the disciples inside controlling various treasures would activate their power and sever the chains.
Although the Huyền Vũ Thiên Cung wasn't very fast, being unable to stop it was a helpless situation.
"The one controlling the Lưu Ly Thanh Thiên Tràng is a grand formation master!"
The number one heavenly master of Bắc Lạc Sư Môn was named Thương Bình Ẩn, also a genius from the early years of Long Hán. However, his brilliance was overshadowed by the Cửu Thiên Tôn. His attainments in numerology were extremely high, but he wasn't as famous as the Đạo Tổ—still, he was no small figure.
He was even more proficient in formations, having deeply studied the physical structures of the ancient gods and the great Dao runes, creating countless formation patterns. All the various armies of the Heavenly Court trained in his formations for deployment—he was the number one formation heavenly master of the Long Hán era.
It wasn't until later, when the Đạo Tổ's disciple Nhạc Đình Ca rose to prominence—Nhạc Đình Ca's talent was peerless—that he was replaced.
Thương Bình Ẩn circled around the Huyền Vũ Thiên Cung once, examining the various formations, his expression grave, saying: "The one who set up the formations for the Huyền Vũ Thiên Cung has extraordinary wisdom. Many of the formations even I cannot fully see through. If I could exchange ideas with this formation master, it would be enough to satisfy my life's ambitions! Could it be U Minh Thái Tử? He truly keeps his talents hidden!"
He grew excited, his blood boiling, and laughed heartily: "I will command the various armies to break the formations and face off against this formation master!"
His robes fluttered as he spoke with fervor: "The most beautiful language in this world is numerology! Formations constructed with numerology are the most magnificent poems in this world! Using the most beautiful language and the most magnificent poems to meet a fellow master through the art—this life is complete!"
He laughed loudly, mobilizing the formation patterns of the various armies, and charged into the Lưu Ly Thanh Thiên Tràng!
The military strength of the Huyền Vũ Thiên Cung was negligible. The Huyền Vũ bloodline disciples inside the palace weren't at very high cultivation levels either, but with the Lưu Ly Thanh Thiên Tràng—the number one supreme treasure—even millions of divine-demons found it difficult to break in.
However, to fully unleash the power of this treasure, one still needed a person of transcendent wisdom.
Long Kỳ Lân, under Tần Mục's guidance, immediately mobilized and changed the formations, using formations to break formations.
The Heavenly Court's number one heavenly master, Thương Bình Ẩn, was burning with passion. As the saying goes, when a chess master meets an equal opponent, or a general meets a worthy talent, this battle gave him a great feeling of finding a kindred spirit. He commanded the Thiên Hà Thủy Sư, Bắc Lạc Sư Môn, and Thần Vũ Nhị Vệ, using formations to break formations, pushing the Long Hán era's formation arts to their absolute limit!
Yet the Huyền Vũ Thiên Cung was like a colossal numerology-computing divine weapon. Various formations interwove, shifted, and constantly transformed. The formation master inside the palace was so formidable, so wise, that he blocked all the formations Thương Bình Ẩn deployed and broke them all.
Among the Heavenly Court's armies, the strongest were the Thập Vệ. Any single divine or demon from the Thập Vệ could be pulled out and made a commander of any army. Yet even such a powerful army, charging into the Lưu Ly Thanh Thiên Tràng, suffered devastating casualties!
Thương Bình Ẩn grew even more excited, his demeanor more fervent, his brain spinning at full speed. He paid no heed to the casualties of the various armies, focused solely on dueling with the master inside the Huyền Vũ Thiên Cung, to test each other's cultivation.
The waters of the Thiên Hà were dyed red by the corpses of countless divine-demons, almost becoming a red river flowing through the endless starry sky. This battle lasted from morning to night, and from night to day.
For several consecutive days and nights, Thương Bình Ẩn remained extremely excited, changing various formation patterns, urging the armies to charge into the Lưu Ly Thanh Thiên Tràng.
His wisdom was extremely high—he actually managed to break through layer after layer of heavens, from the first heaven all the way to the twenty-sixth heaven, about to break through the twenty-eighth heaven of the Lưu Ly Thanh Thiên Tràng and charge into the Huyền Vũ Thiên Cung!
By this time, the various armies had already suffered more than half casualties!
The disciples inside the Huyền Vũ Thiên Cung also suffered heavy losses. Long Kỳ Lân, after all, was not Tần Mục. Although he received Tần Mục's guidance to adapt on the spot, he was always a step behind.
Moreover, Tần Mục's divine consciousness injuries were too severe—sometimes he fell unconscious, sometimes he was awake—so the descendants of Huyền Vũ inevitably fell and perished as well.
Tần Mục mobilized his divine consciousness to face off against Thương Bình Ẩn, the number one heavenly master of Long Hán. This consumed his divine consciousness enormously, making his condition worse and worse, with the risk of his divine consciousness being extinguished at any moment.
Even U Minh Thái Tử was mobilized by him, repeatedly going into battle, clashing head-on with the Thần Vũ Nhị Vệ, nearly being cut down by them several times.
"Long Phi, make this number one heavenly master despair."
Tần Mục's divine consciousness transmitted: "Today, I will establish your fame. Activate the Lưu Ly Thanh Thiên Tràng, reverse the twenty-eight heavens."
Long Kỳ Lân, upon hearing this, bowed to the Lưu Ly Thanh Thiên Tràng. Then, the twenty-eight layered canopies of the Lưu Ly Thanh Thiên Tràng folded inward layer by layer, then spread open once more!
Thương Bình Ẩn had already broken through to the twenty-sixth heaven, about to reach the Huyền Vũ Thiên Cung, when suddenly space shifted. Layer after layer of heavens expanded outward, transforming the twenty-sixth heaven back into the first heaven!
Countless divine-demons of the Heavenly Court armies saw victory within reach, only to suddenly find themselves back at the outermost edge of the Lưu Ly Thanh Thiên Tràng. Inside the green canopy, layer upon layer of heavens were now heavily guarded with killing formations. The heavens they had just broken through with their lives piled up were now restored to full integrity, transformed into killing arrays!
The soldiers of the Thiên Hà Thủy Sư, Thần Vũ Nhị Vệ, and Bắc Lạc Sư Môn instantly collapsed, their will to fight gone, despair spreading through all the armies.
"Waah—"
Thương Bình Ẩn's face flushed red, then he suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. With a thud, he knelt on the river's surface. His hair visibly turned white at an alarming rate. Before long, his black hair had become white, as if he had aged into old age.
His Dao heart collapsed and shattered. He could no longer muster the thought of competing with the formation master inside the heavenly palace. His fighting spirit was completely gone.
"Retreat!" He raised his head and shouted hoarsely.
Cheers erupted from the soldiers around him, and the various armies withdrew.
Thương Bình Ẩn, white-haired, spat out mouthful after mouthful of blood, kneeling there, his voice hoarse: "Which master set up these formations? Would you show yourself so that I, Thương, can lose with full conviction?"
Long Kỳ Lân stepped forward from the crowd, standing outside the gates of the Huyền Vũ Thiên Cung, meeting his gaze, and said loudly: "It was I, Long."