Divine Emperor of Heavenly Destiny

Fan Jinhua had actually managed to escape with two thousand men.

From the sixty thousand troops under her, Lu Hanyan’s, command, every last one of them had gotten away. It was an utter disgrace.

Among her sixty thousand troops, over a hundred Innate Masters knelt, trembling in fear.

As the vice-general was being furiously whipped, one of the Innate Masters suddenly mustered his courage. ”My Lady,” he said, ”there’s another crucial reason we let Fan Jinhua escape. It’s because of a man who was also named Lu Chao...”

”Hm?”

Lu Hanyan didn’t wait for him to finish. Killing intent flared in her eyes.

The name Lu Chao made her extremely uncomfortable, but she took a deep breath and said, ”Continue. Speak.”

The Innate Master was terrified, but he still described what Lu Chao had done.

The moment he finished... THUD!

Lu Hanyan slammed her foot onto the man’s head, grinding it furiously into the ground.

”Are you trying to say that anyone named Lu Chao is terrifying? Is that why you suffered such a humiliating defeat?”

”Such a pathetic excuse. Die.”

Right then and there, she stomped the Innate Master’s head into a pulp.

Including the whipped vice-general, everyone fell deathly silent. No one dared to utter the name ”Lu Chao.” The vice-general especially didn’t dare mention a single word of Lu Chao’s parting message about ”wanting to meet Lu Hanyan.”

It seemed that having killed someone allowed Lu Hanyan to vent some of her anger, and she calmed slightly.

”Lu You.”

Suddenly, Lu Hanyan spoke coldly, ”Send a message by carrier pigeon. Have the generals stationed nearby to defend against the Hundred Countries dispatch some of their forces. I want every road from the vicinity of Zhengyang Mountain to any kingdom sealed off.”

Upon hearing this, Lu You immediately acknowledged the order and went to send the message.

’Fan Jinhua...’

’You won’t get away. After making me suffer such humiliation, I will flay you all alive.’

’No one can make me fail... ’

’Neither my brother nor my father-commander can allow anyone to say that ’without Lu Chao, we don’t know how to fight a war.’ ’

Nearby, Lu You, who had just sent the message, fell silent upon hearing her words.

’This is the main reason Lady Hanyan is so furious.’

’The Hundred Countries’ Armies are showing signs of resurgence, and back in the Great Wu Empire, rumors are spreading that Emperor Star Lu Chao was unjustly killed. If her father and the two of them lose their first battle after Lu Chao’s death...’

’...then those terrible rumors would undoubtedly spread like wildfire throughout the Great Wu Empire.’

Suddenly, Lu You hesitated, then spoke in a low voice, ”My Lady, about that Life-taking Bone, Lu Chao...”

Before she could finish, Lu Hanyan whirled around in a rage. ”Hm?”

Taking a deep breath, Lu You chose her words carefully and said softly, ”The man with the Life-taking Bone seems quite remarkable. I asked the soldiers; he was the key reason Fan Jinhua and his men were able to escape.”

This time, she avoided saying the name ”Lu Chao.”

Lu Hanyan snorted. ”Just a mindless brute,” she said dismissively. ”Fan Jinhua must have been the one who planned everything. The latest intelligence indicates he’s more than just a master from Tiger Flame Academy.”

’I’d rather not dwell on this Lu Chao person,’ she thought. ’Besides, he’s a nobody who hasn’t even reached the Innate Martial Artist realm.’

After that, Lu You dared not mention it again.

...

「Nighttime, by a small river deep in the Zhengyang Mountain Range.」

The two thousand surviving members of the extraction team were hidden nearby. This was the resting spot Lu Chao had chosen.

The area was overgrown with weeds, the terrain complex.

A good place to attack from or defend, complete with multiple escape routes.

Lu Chao had yet to appear and Fan Jinhua was still unconscious. A heavy, oppressive atmosphere settled over the two thousand survivors.

Wu Caicai’s voice suddenly piped up. ”Everyone, we escaped! Why the long faces?”

The group of young people, Tan An included, looked up at her with bitter smiles.

The petite Yu Xiaoping replied softly, ”Our elders led us here. Now, only Uncle Fan is left.”

Wu Caicai’s expression froze instantly. She had only been trying to lighten the mood.

Tan An ground his teeth. ”My father... their bodies are still hanging from the Yangzhou City Tower.”

The young man in green robes from before also spoke in a low voice...

”Our extraction team was originally five thousand strong. Now, there are fewer than two thousand of us.”

”My name is Luo Wendeng. The elders appointed me leader of the extraction team. Among us were dozens of sons and daughters of the assassins.”

”Now...”

He pointed to Tan An, Yu Xiaoping, and the other youths, tears suddenly streaming down his face as he choked out, ”Now... there are fewer than ten of us left.”

As he spoke, sobs broke out among the small group of young people.

Wu Caicai stood there, at a loss. ’I shouldn’t have come over here,’ she thought.

Suddenly, a hoarse, weak voice spoke up. ”It’s all our fault... The intelligence was flawed.”

Everyone quickly turned toward the sound. Fan Jinhua had regained consciousness at some point and was slowly sitting up, supported by Uncle Leng. He spoke in a pained voice, ”Lu Hanyan... she’s too strong.”

All the youths clenched their fists.

They all wanted to know: why was Lu Hanyan’s true power so vastly different from what the intelligence had suggested?

”The legends say that Emperor Star possessed a Saint Bone,” a soft female voice suddenly echoed in the night. ”And not just one.”

Everyone looked over to see Cheng Yunsu approaching gracefully from the riverside.

Beside her stood a straight-backed figure—it was Lu Chao.

At the sight of him, everyone subconsciously rose to their feet. His safe return was a joyful surprise; without him, not only would Fan Jinhua have been unable to dispel the power of the Water Chant Palm, but they all would have been annihilated.

Fan Jinhua was the first to recover, asking, ”Young Madam Lu, what did you mean by that?”

Cheng Yunsu glanced softly at Lu Chao beside her...

”The Great Martial Emperor Star,” she began, ”was executed by Lu Dingtian under the charges of insubordination and slaughtering prisoners of the Hundred Countries. His body was smashed to pieces.”

”But why,” she asked, ”was it so important to shatter every single one of his bones?”

At this, everyone’s expression, Fan Jinhua’s included, turned grave.

Luo Wendeng, the man in green, murmured, ”Could it be...”

”Lu Dingtian killed his own foster son to dig out his Saint Bone and fuse with it. And if there was more than one, then Lu Hanyan must also have one of the Great Martial Emperor Star’s Saint Bones inside her.”

Suddenly, Lu Hanyan’s terrifying power made sense.

At that moment, Cheng Chuming walked over. ”Yunsu, that’s just a guess, isn’t it?”

’Of course it wasn’t a guess,’ Cheng Yunsu thought. ’Not when Emperor Star Lu Chao is standing right next to me.’

Before Cheng Yunsu could say anything...

Fan Jinhua’s voice suddenly gained strength. ”No, that has to be it. I’m one hundred percent certain Emperor Star Lu Chao would never slaughter prisoners or civilians. He’s nothing like what Lu Dingtian wrote on the Blood Stele.”

”Lu Dingtian used that as an excuse to kill him. His real goal was to take his Saint Bone and fuse with it.”

Hearing this, Lu Chao stared at Fan Jinhua in stunned silence.

Finally, Lu Chao had to ask, ”Master Fan, how can you be so certain? Have you met him before?”

’Fan Jinhua’s tone was so absolute, and he even said ’one hundred percent.’ Does he know me that well?’

’Could we have crossed paths on the battlefield before?’