Mountain Beyond the Mountain, as everyone knew, had eight Divine Sovereigns.

Every one of them was a being of unsurpassed exaltation, capable, with a lift of the hand or a stir of the foot, of ruining heaven and destroying earth.

Divine Sovereigns of such infinite might, whoever they were, would not, in ordinary times, so much as look directly at common soldiers. To them, common soldiers were ants — no matter how many, they were meaningless. For a Divine Sovereign to spare a common soldier even one extra glance would waste his precious time.

But today —

A Divine Sovereign had set his sights on this Zhongxi Legion, riding its winning streak.

He was the one who, of Mountain Beyond the Mountain’s eight Divine Sovereigns, was said to be top-five in ranking, second only to God-Slayer and Hei Zhou — the Southwest Divine Sovereign “Shafeng.”

How had the Zhongxi Legion provoked Southwest Divine Sovereign Shafeng? The story had to begin two days earlier… When the winning-streak-boosted, morale-soaring Zhongxi Legion had pressed forward, they had run into a West Camp force that had been dropped in at Feishi Valley, and a life-and-death battle had broken out. The Zhongxi Legion was already a heavily-marked target, and the West Camp soldiers they’d attacked happened to be the direct subordinates of the Southwest Legion’s “Chenbao War-General.”

Chenbao War-General was one of the Southwest Divine Sovereign Shafeng’s nineteen illegitimate sons, and quite formidable.

When he learned that the airborne legion under his command had been surrounded by the Zhongxi Legion —

He immediately took his elites and set out to reinforce them.

Meaning to wipe out this so-called invincible Zhongxi Legion in one stroke.

The moment this fellow appeared, Yue Yang, for his part, had no way to keep playing bit-part. Before the Zhongxi Legion could clash with Chenbao War-General, he had to quietly pick off Chenbao — who had been about to make a grand display of divine power — and “accidentally” leak news of the elite ambush to Zhongxi and his men, so they’d be on guard and ready.

Poor Chenbao War-General. His strength was far above Zhongxi’s, and yet before he could even make a move he was picked off by Yue Yang. A true Mountain-Beyond-the-Mountain version of “died before he ever took the field.”

His elites, morale collapsed with their commander dead, still tried for revenge but could not stand up against Zhongxi’s men, who were fighting in a berserk frenzy — and least of all with Yue Yang, for his part, waiting to strike from the shadows. In the end they had to swallow the bitter fruit of failure. The rescue had turned into a wipe-out… If only a legion or two had been destroyed, the Southwest Divine Sovereign Shafeng — a top-tier boss — would never have been stirred. But the “died-before-he-took-the-field” Chenbao War-General whom Yue Yang had killed was Divine Sovereign Shafeng’s illegitimate son! Even if Shafeng had rather a lot of illegitimate sons and did not care much for any one of them, a son was a son. What Yue Yang, for his part, had done was, for the high-and-mighty Divine Sovereign Shafeng, a merciless slap in the face.

If Yue Yang had known that Chenbao War-General was Shafeng’s son, he certainly wouldn’t have finished the man in one hit. He’d have merely crippled him and driven him off.

Attracting the aggro of a Divine Sovereign-tier boss now — that gained him nothing.

Yue Yang had still been hoping the eight Divine Sovereigns would go to war against each other, and once they had wounded each other, he’d jump out in the middle to scavenge… A duel with a Divine Sovereign at this point was premature and not part of his plan.

The problem was that plans could not keep pace with change.

Chenbao War-General’s appearance had been an accident. Killing him in one blow was even further off the plan.

Yue Yang now had no second choice. However mighty he was, he had no “load save” function. Chenbao War-General had been dead for over two days, and Yue Yang, not knowing he was Shafeng’s son, had never had time to adjust his course. By the time he sensed Southwest Divine Sovereign “Shafeng” appearing in the sky, it was already too late.

The heavens lit up with divine light, brightening the dim sky beyond measure. The super-being in the middle — bright as the scorching sun, impossible to look at directly — was the Southwest Divine Sovereign, the Mountain-Beyond-the-Mountain boss Shafeng.

The instant Shafeng showed himself, his divine majesty crushed everyone. Even the ten-in-a-row-winning, morale-blazing Zhongxi Legion had its morale zero out on the spot; not a shred of will to resist could rise. Never mind the common soldiers — even the steely-willed Zhongxi let out a long sigh and stood there, waiting to die. The one arriving was a Divine Sovereign. However strong his fighting will, he could no more raise a fist against a Divine Sovereign than he could stop the tide. And even if he did try to resist, it would have no meaning.

Never — never — could Mountain Beyond the Mountain produce a war-captain who could stand against a Divine Sovereign…

The gap in strength was simply too vast.

Compared to a Divine Sovereign —

A war-captain of divine-envoy tier probably had less than one ten-thousandth of the Divine Sovereign’s power. Like a tiny ant — how could it possibly defeat a mammoth?

“Any one of you who can withstand a single move of mine — this Sovereign will spare you!” As Southwest Divine Sovereign Shafeng descended, he did not explain the reason. Never mind Yue Yang — even Zhongxi War-General, well-versed in the affairs of Mountain Beyond the Mountain, did not know the truth. The blame did not lie with anyone here. If blame was to be assigned, it lay with Chenbao War-General for dying so fast. If Yue Yang, for his part, had earlier called out “Come — name yourself!” this whole situation might not have arisen. And if Southwest Divine Sovereign “Shafeng” had not, on a whim, decided to inspect his sons’ battle fronts and thereby learned so quickly of Chenbao’s death, he wouldn’t have come here in a rage to take revenge.

All of this was coincidence.

The will of heaven.

Not what Yue Yang had planned.

Not something within human control…

Yue Yang, for his part, was pondering whether to play dead and dodge the fight — or ignominiously slip back into Grimoire World and wait for Shafeng to leave. A duel with Shafeng at this moment would absolutely not be the best outcome. It would draw the attention of the other seven Divine Sovereigns and scare off Ji Wuri. If Ji Wuri caught wind that Yue Yang was also in Mountain Beyond the Mountain, would that cautious fox easily show himself again?

If not, killing him would become extremely difficult!

While Yue Yang was still hesitating, another blaze of divine light lit up half the sky.

Like a dragon, like a flame — the divine light crossed the sky from a great distance, arriving in an instant, and stopped before Southwest Divine Sovereign Shafeng.

“Chiqiu!”

Southwest Divine Sovereign Shafeng snorted, exceedingly displeased. “You meddling — as a Divine Sovereign yourself, do you really want to poke your nose in? Do you think I don’t have the standing to punish these criminal ants?”

Standing across from Shafeng, ceaselessly burning strange divine flames and radiating ten-thousand-fathom light — the uninvited guest — was God-Slayer’s staunchest supporter in the East Camp, the Divine Sovereign of Mountain Beyond the Mountain’s Southeast Divine Nation, “Chiqiu”! This Chiqiu was also the sovereign whom Yue Yang’s acquaintances — Griffin Marshal, Golden Eagle General, and old Mao — served. He was, at the same time, the mortal enemy of Southwest Divine Sovereign Shafeng.

Even with the peace pact among the eight Divine Sovereigns, Chiqiu and Shafeng had had a grudge going back a long, long time.

Ten thousand years without resolution.

If anything, only deeper.

To Shafeng’s demand, Chiqiu burst into laughter that shook heaven and earth: “How grand — nice piece of your specialty, that. If you want to indict someone, no lack of excuses. Shafeng, as an exalted Divine Sovereign, you’re lowering your hand against a group of weak soldiers. Ha — even if you don’t blush, I blush for you!”

“All I know is that, as a Divine Sovereign, my divine dignity brooks no provocation. Anyone who dares cross my line will suffer this Sovereign’s thundering wrath.” Southwest Divine Sovereign Shafeng jabbed a furious finger at Chiqiu, snorting. “Even you, Chiqiu, are no exception. I ask one last time, Chiqiu: are you really going to shield these Northeast soldiers? I hadn’t realized you were quite so cozy with ‘Qingyun’ of the Northeast! Qingyun declares neutrality — turns out it isn’t a genuine love of peace after all. It’s a scheme, is it?”

“Unlike that coward Qingyun, I, Chiqiu, have never feared a fight!” Chiqiu answered with pride. “Never mind you, Shafeng — even Hei Zhou couldn’t force me to take half a step back!”

“Very well. The battle you and I would have fought one day — let’s have it now.” Shafeng’s voice went cold and eerie, his eyes brimming with killing intent.

“Fight if you want to fight. Who’s afraid of whom?” Chiqiu did not flinch in the slightest.

With two great bosses about to face off, Zhongxi hurried his men into a retreat.

City gate catches fire, and even the pond fish are in trouble… Two Divine Sovereigns going at it was no joke. Once they started, a thousand miles around would be smashed to rubble. When else was there time to run? Aside from Yue Yang, for his part, quietly slipping into hiding to watch, every soldier took off, regretting that his parents had shorted him a couple of extra legs.

Southwest Divine Sovereign Shafeng did not much care about the ground-level Zhongxi Legion’s retreat.

One reason was that if he wanted to wipe them out, he could do it any time, anywhere — they could flee to the edge of the world and the outcome would be the same. The other was that the primary target now was his fellow Divine Sovereign Chiqiu, and he could afford no distraction.

Shafeng and Chiqiu began to circle each other.

Each looking for the other’s opening.

Neither wished to lose. Ten thousand years of covert scheming had left them well-acquainted with each other, down to the roots. When two Divine Sovereigns of comparable strength fought, the only way one could win was to find a decisive flaw in the other. Otherwise, a draw was guaranteed.

“Oh? Something interesting seems to be happening here — a fight? My favorite!” A voice sounded from somewhere, and by the time it reached Yue Yang’s ears he found that another Divine Sovereign had joined the field. Even his Heavenly Eye of Wisdom could not catch the newcomer’s arrival, and moreover his stealth-talent seemed dangerously close to being seen through. The uninvited Divine Sovereign, unlike Shafeng or Chiqiu, was not oblivious to Yue Yang’s presence — his gaze swept along the ground in a questioning way, passing three times over Yue Yang’s hiding place. Fortunately, in the end, Yue Yang, who had raised the Creation Domain, managed to fool him.

“This fellow’s more of a big shot than Shafeng or Chiqiu…” Yue Yang wiped away a cold sweat and did not dare so much as glance upward, lest the uninvited Divine Sovereign notice him.

“It’s you, Zhaoxi!” Southeast Divine Sovereign Chiqiu’s expression changed. “So you plan to gang up on me with Shafeng, do you, proud North Divine Sovereign Zhaoxi?”

“You aren’t worth the fuss just yet!” Compared to Chiqiu, Shafeng looked visibly pleased. After all, the newly-arrived North Divine Sovereign Zhaoxi was one of the West Camp’s great pillars — his strength second only to Hei Zhou’s. Without Zhaoxi to check the staunchly-God-Slayer-supporting South Divine Sovereign Tianchou, the West Camp’s ability to overwhelm the East Camp would be no easy thing!

“Gang up — Chiqiu, allow me, Shuanghan, to correct one small verbal flaw. Two can only be called a joint strike. Only three or more count as ganging up — like the three of us here now.”

A flurry of snowflakes drifted down from the crown of the sky, and the ground beneath began to ice over.

White frost bit the earth.

Within ten kilometers, everything became, in an instant, a world of ice and snow.

A few wounded soldiers of the Zhongxi Legion who hadn’t managed to get outside the ten-kilometer perimeter — the stragglers at the back — a cold wind blew, and every last one of them was frozen into an ice sculpture! Only one, the rear-guard war-captain Zhongxi, had barely escaped, and even then his hands and feet were stiff, his face was purple-blue, his whole body was shaking without stop. If two comrades hadn’t turned back at the risk of their lives to catch him, he’d have frozen to death right there.

Shafeng alone, as old an enemy as he was, would not have concerned Chiqiu.

When North Divine Sovereign Zhaoxi appeared —

Chiqiu, one against two, was now at a disadvantage — and secretly felt things were bad. When the third Divine Sovereign — Northwest Divine Sovereign Shuanghan — appeared, Chiqiu’s expression changed drastically. He now had thoughts of retreat… One against three? Chiqiu was not arrogant enough for that, and his strength did not permit such recklessness.

North Divine Sovereign Zhaoxi alone was already very hard to chew — never mind adding Shafeng and Shuanghan, neither of whom was any weaker than him?

The most terrifying part was — this looked like a trap.

The enemy was aiming to gang up three-on-one to strike him down!

Yue Yang, for his part, on the other hand, watched with delight. He at once sat down on a boulder, pulled out snacks, and stared without blinking at the Divine War about to break: three-on-one? Not to worry — quickly, use the ultimate move, Celestial Dance Treasure Wheel!

Sadly, Yue Yang had forgotten — Chiqiu was not the Gold Saint Shaka, and he did not have the group-attack-plus-invincible-defense Celestial Dance Treasure Wheel…

(End of Chapter 1165)