Divine Emperor of Heavenly Destiny

At his words, the middle-aged man in black and the others froze, their gazes shifting to the True Qi Net formed by nearly ten of their guards.

But inside, there was no sign of Lu Chao.

The next moment... AARGH! AARGH!

Two bloodcurdling screams erupted from beside the Beast Vehicle, drawing countless wide-eyed stares.

Somehow, Lu Chao had appeared at Cheng Chuming’s side. The two black-clad guards holding Cheng Chuming were already on the ground, screaming in agony.

Before anyone could react, Lu Chao had grabbed Cheng Chuming and was flying toward Luo Wendeng.

It all happened in the blink of an eye.

Lu Chao, who should have been trapped by the Innate Masters’ siege, had instead unleashed a peculiar flash of sword light. He’d then broken free, charged to the edge of the Beast Vehicle, and rescued Cheng Chuming.

He had slipped through more than a hundred black-clad guards and a master at the Ninth Layer of Transformation to save a man.

The middle-aged man in black, who had been so arrogant just a moment ago, was completely stunned.

Even the two experts in the Beast Vehicle, both beyond the Transformation Realm, were too stunned to react.

They had never imagined Lu Chao could be so audacious.

They never would have thought that a mere youth at the Postnatal Ninth Layer could, in such a terrifying situation, so precisely break through their encirclement. Nor that he would dare to single-handedly plunge into a group of Innate Masters to rescue someone.

Remember, Cheng Chuming was right beside the Beast Vehicle.

This meant Lu Chao had to approach the most powerful experts in the group and snatch someone away from right under their noses.

”Su Shangmo, pull them back here.”

Just as Lu Chao grabbed his father-in-law and darted away, a hoarse, cold voice rang out from within the Beast Vehicle.

It was tinged with a palpable fury.

Of course she was furious. A Postnatal Ninth Layer boy knocking down her guards right under their noses was already a huge loss of face.

If he was allowed to get away with the man, then... what would be left of their dignity?

Su Shangmo, the middle-aged man in black atop the Demon Beast, instantly snapped back to his senses.

He unleashed his True Qi, creating a powerful suction force aimed at Lu Chao and Cheng Chuming.

A torrent of True Qi was about to engulf the father and son-in-law, but Lu Chao suddenly roared, ”Everyone, attack me in unison!”

At his command, the two thousand Descendants of Azure Flame acted on pure instinct. They unleashed their strongest techniques, sending a unified torrent of power surging toward Lu Chao. It was a deluge of True Qi from two thousand warriors.

At that exact moment, Lu Chao leaped high into the air, carrying Cheng Chuming with him.

The power of the two thousand Descendants of Azure Flame flashed under his feet and collided heavily with Su Shangmo’s suction force from behind.

BOOM...

With a deafening explosion, all the black-clad guards were thrown back, letting out muffled grunts. Meanwhile, Lu Chao, still in mid-air, hurled Cheng Chuming toward the ranks of the two thousand Descendants of Azure Flame.

He then spun around and landed on a warhorse that had charged out from the ranks.

In the blink of an eye...

Lu Chao was back in front of Luo Wendeng and the others. From atop his warhorse, he looked directly at Su Shangmo and spoke. ”I know I might have been overreaching, but I had to try. And by some stroke of luck, I succeeded in rescuing my father-in-law.”

This was Lu Chao’s response to Su Shangmo’s earlier assessment of him...

Su Shangmo’s face, however, slowly turned ashen. His condescending air was gone, replaced by a profound sense of humiliation.

Again, it came back to the same point: he had let this young man rescue someone right from under his nose.

Then, Lu Chao spoke again. ”Of course, I couldn’t pull that off a second time.”

Of course he couldn’t do it a second time. He had taken advantage of their underestimation of him—Su Shangmo’s, the two supreme experts’ in the Beast Vehicle, and even every single black-clad guard’s...

As for countering Su Shangmo’s suction force, that had been the result of the combined attack from the Descendants of Azure Flame.

And why were the two thousand Descendants of the Azure Flame Sect able to attack so quickly?

It was due to the rapport they had forged through countless battles. They attacked on instinct the moment they heard Lu Chao’s command, without a shred of hesitation.

If it were any other army, it would have been equally impossible.

But succeeding once was enough.

Su Shangmo’s gaze grew dangerously cold. ”Do you have any idea what the consequences of this are?” he said, his voice like ice.

Smiling slightly, Lu Chao slowly raised the Sword in his hand...

He faced the two thousand Descendants of the Azure Flame Sect behind him and roared thunderously, ”Everyone, hear my command! From now on... we fight to the death!”

BOOM...

In an instant, the two thousand Descendants of Azure Flame erupted. All traces of their earlier confusion and panic vanished, replaced by a terrifying, unified killing intent and will to fight. It was the aura of those who would fight to the death and never retreat.

The combined aura of two thousand warriors surged toward Su Shangmo and his men like a tidal wave.

Su Shangmo’s gaze froze again. The black-clad guards, terrified, instinctively cried out, ”Protect the Old Matron!”

They flashed back to the Beast Vehicle’s side, forming a defensive circle as they stared nervously at Lu Chao’s group.

The tables had turned...

The Descendants of the Azure Flame Sect—once scorned, despised, and looked down upon—had become a source of terror for the black-clad guards.

Lu Chao, in turn, returned Su Shangmo’s cold stare...

”The consequence is that we will all die in battle... while on your side, the only survivors will be the two inside that Beast Vehicle.”

”Including you. You will all die here.”

Lu Chao’s ruthless voice reverberated across the battlefield, its power soaring to the heavens. The battle intent of the Descendants of the Azure Flame Sect surged to new heights.

Su Shangmo’s expression grew even uglier.

Suddenly, the old woman’s voice boomed out again from within the Beast Vehicle, ”With just the likes of you?”

This time, her voice carried the force of True Qi from a realm beyond Transformation. It rolled directly toward the two thousand Descendants of the Azure Flame Sect, an attempt to awe them into submission, to make them fear her overwhelming power and superior realm.

But it was useless... SHING! SHING! SHING! SHING!

Every one of them drew their Weapons, pointing them toward the Beast Vehicle as they roared in unison, ”That’s right! With just us!”

As their words faded... SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

The next instant, several figures rushed over from outside the town. It was none other than Fan Jinhua and several old disciples of the Azure Flame Sect.

They landed swiftly, and Fan Jinhua, not understanding what had happened, didn’t hesitate.

He unleashed his Heavenly Destiny Tiger Roar Bone and threw the question back at them, ”And what if you add us to the mix?”

They had returned from Jizhou City.

After Cheng Chuming was captured, Luo Wendeng had hurriedly sent them a message by carrier pigeon.

The arrival of Fan Jinhua and his companions bolstered their battle intent even further. The trials of blood and fire they had endured had long since made them fearless in the face of death.

...

From a large tree in the distance, Marquis Jilong, Yin Ye, couldn’t help but exclaim, ”He’s incredible. This Lu Chao with his Life-taking Bone... he’s exactly my kind of person.”

Yin Qixing remained silent at his words, but now he saw it all clearly.

Lu Chao’s combat prowess, courage, and judgment were all terrifyingly exceptional. Furthermore, his command over the Descendants of the Azure Flame Sect proved he was the true leader of the Azure Flame Chaos of Hundred Countries.

Finally, Yin Qixing asked in a low voice, ”Marquis, shouldn’t we go out now?”

’We can’t let the Saint Bone Family and the Descendants of the Azure Flame Sect come to real blows.’

And just as Yin Ye nodded, preparing to flash out...

The old woman’s voice, now laced with madness, boomed from the Beast Vehicle once more. ”Adding a few more of you is useless! In all my life, I’ve hated being threatened most of all. But what I hate even more is defiance from my juniors!”

With that, the curtain of the Beast Vehicle was lifted, and a slightly hunched old crone leaning on a cane walked out.