Divine Emperor of Heavenly Destiny

At this moment, Zheng Liling had lost all his previous composure. Only boundless fury remained.

But Lu Chao remained rooted to the spot. ”Patriarch Zheng,” he said, ”do you know who else is leading the troops outside, besides Vice General Yin?”

Instantly, a name flashed through the minds of the Zheng family members: Fan Jinhu.

A man who had carved a bloody path through the Hundred Countries, Fan Changcun’s grandson, a figure who had to be taken seriously the moment he had soldiers under his command.

That was right...

To this day, everyone who hadn’t personally met him believed that Fan Jinhu was the one leading the armies that were wreaking havoc in the Chaotic Hundred Countries.

His name alone was incredibly intimidating.

But Zheng Liling didn’t stop. ”So what? Does he dare touch me?”

As the Patriarch of a Saint Bone Family and the ultimate master behind the Celestial King Academy, his status was immense.

”And you think he doesn’t dare touch you?” Lu Chao sneered.

Any other young man in this situation would have been shrinking back in fear. After all, Zheng Liling was a major figure in the Dragon Flame Kingdom, a man whose stomp could shake the very earth.

But Lu Chao, the former Great Martial Emperor Star, a man who had already died once, was not the least bit inferior in presence...

This was no longer a negotiation. It was a standoff, a contest of wills.

”You tried to take Master Fan’s life at the Royal Capital City Gate.”

”Do you think Master Fan wouldn’t dare take your lives in return? Do you, Zheng Liling, truly believe that just because your family has grown powerful and established the Celestial King Academy, no one dares to touch you? That you can act like tyrants and ignore everyone else?”

”And sorry, but when we’re pushed into a corner, we have a fondness for mutual destruction!”

Right now, Lu Chao, Cheng Yunsu, and the others were, for all intents and purposes, deep in the enemy’s den.

Before them stood Zheng Liling and the other masters of the Zheng Family.

Surrounding them were Elder Lady Su and the members of the Su Family who looked down on him. With their own troops yet to arrive, their situation was perilous. Therefore, they had to project an aura of unstoppable resolve to make Zheng Liling and his people hesitate.

With troops on the way and Vice General Yin holding the Zheng Family’s most talented prodigy hostage, Lu Chao had earned the right to this standoff.

Facing a despicable and lawless opponent like Zheng Liling...

Lu Chao’s strategy was simple: ’If you dare touch me, I’ll drag all of you to Hell with me.’ It was a classic case of fighting fire with fire.

Sure enough, Zheng Liling was bluffed into halting his advance.

He began to hesitate, his gaze sweeping past Lu Chao before landing on Cheng Chuming and his daughter.

And in that brief moment of hesitation... WHIIIIRRR!

The sound of arrows slicing through the air suddenly erupted. A sky-blotting volley descended, aimed at Zheng Liling and all his men.

Zheng Liling froze at the sound, then jerked his head up.

He saw twenty Flying Bird Demon Beasts hovering over the Su Mansion. Two people stood on each beast, meaning forty archers were simultaneously drawing their bows and loosing arrows at the Su Family members below.

Judging by their uniforms, they were none other than the Flying Cavalry of Jilong Prefecture.

Flying Cavalry...

Whether in Great Wu, the Hundred Countries, or the Southern Dynasty Imperial Court, they were an extremely rare type of military unit. This meant that every member of the Flying Cavalry was a formidable Martial Artist in their own right. Their arrows, imbued with powerful True Qi, were incredibly lethal.

Masters like Zheng Liling and Zheng Liyuan were naturally not afraid, but they had to protect Zheng Zhugong and the others behind them.

Thus, the Zheng Family masters had no choice but to shield them, blocking the sudden rain of arrows...

At that exact moment, Lu Chao shouted in a low voice, ”Old Yu, Father-in-law, let’s go.”

The volley of arrows was, of course, cover for their escape from the Su Mansion.

Without a shred of hesitation, Yu Fei grabbed Lu Chao and Yunsu, flashing out of the Su Mansion’s rear courtyard. Cheng Chuming, now a master at the Sixth Layer of the Transformation Realm, immediately caught up.

Such swift action...

It made Zheng Liling, who was busy deflecting arrows, curse inwardly. He’d been tricked. The Fake Lu Chao’s posturing had obviously been a stalling tactic.

”Trying to escape? Not a chance!”

Zheng Liling roared, viciously batting aside a falling arrow as he flashed in pursuit.

But... WHIIIIRRR!

The arrows kept coming, this time focused entirely on Zheng Liling. While the arrows couldn’t stop him, they could slow his pursuit.

At that moment, the Su Family members were also jolted into action by the arrow attack.

Someone shouted, ”Elder Lady, we can’t let our future matriarch go! We have to stop them!”

As the words fell, Elder Lady Su immediately rushed out in pursuit as well.

Her Martial Arts Realm was also beyond the Transformation Realm. Although she was not as powerful as Zheng Liling, the gap was not immense.

Her face contorted, Elder Lady Su shrieked, ”Lu Chao, leave our Saint Bone Awakener behind, now!”

A cold glint flashed in Lu Chao’s eyes. He yelled to the sky, ”On her! Fire!”

Half of the forty Flying Cavalrymen immediately turned their attention to Elder Lady Su, unleashing a continuous volley of arrows upon her.

With the pressure on him sharply reduced, Zheng Liling immediately accelerated...

In an instant, his terrifying speed brought him right up behind Cheng Chuming, who was at the rear of the group.

At that same moment, Lu Chao and his group had already crossed the many rooftops of the Su Mansion and were approaching the outer wall.

Seeing Zheng Liling closing in behind them, Lu Chao yelled, ”Father-in-law, get down!”

Cheng Chuming shuddered and, without a moment’s hesitation, dropped flat.

In that instant...

A stream of arrows suddenly shot forth from a distant rooftop, grazing the heads of Lu Chao and his group as it flew toward Zheng Liling behind them. Archers from the Jilong Marquis’s Mansion had appeared on the far-off roofs.

Zheng Liling had just been reaching out to grab Cheng Chuming.

Seeing the volley of arrows flying at him, he didn’t dare to meet it head-on, no matter how high his cultivation. With a WHOSH, he dropped from the rooftop.

Behind him, Elder Lady Su was stunned and quickly leaped down from the roof as well.

In an instant, the stream of arrows passed over where their heads had just been.

Lu Chao’s voice rang out again. ”Father-in-law, get clear of the Su Mansion and mount up!”

Hearing this, Cheng Chuming immediately leaped from the rooftop down to the street.

There, he saw Fan Jinhu galloping toward them on a tall warhorse, leading several other mounts.

In an instant, the group leaped from the roof and landed perfectly on the warhorses...

Once mounted, Lu Chao raised his long spear and declared, ”Let’s go! We’ll rendezvous with the main force.”

Instantly, the warhorses galloped away, carrying the small group into the distance.

Hearing this, Zheng Liling and Elder Lady Su leaped back onto the roof.

Gazing into the distance in the direction Lu Chao’s group had fled, Zheng Liling angrily snatched an arrow that was embedded in the roof tiles.

He hurled it after them.

An explosive surge of True Qi propelled the arrow straight toward Lu Chao’s back. Zheng Liling’s furious roar boomed out, ”Fake Lu Chao, die!”

Yet Lu Chao didn’t even turn his head. He casually swept his long spear back.

BANG...

The arrow, carrying Zheng Liling’s terrifying True Qi, was instantly obliterated. This wasn’t because there was no gap between Lu Chao’s and Zheng Liling’s power, but because the arrow itself was no divine weapon. It couldn’t handle the strain of Zheng Liling’s immense True Qi.

The slightest touch was enough to make it detonate.

Of course, any other Innate Second Layer Martial Artist would never have been able to pull it off with such casual ease.