Divine Emperor of Heavenly Destiny

And Commander Ke had also said that Lu Chao was currently in a stalemate against Chi Xingxun and his five companions.

Once again, Cheng Yunsu’s gaze fell upon her Fire Sparrow Bracelet. Her expression hardened as she said with determination, ”No matter what, I have to shatter the Storage Ring of Young City Lord Red Sword.”

The moment she spoke... THUD!

She raised the bracelet again, frantically pouring True Qi into it, and smashed it down hard.

It was useless. Chi Xingxun’s Storage Ring remained completely unscathed.

Cheng Yunsu gritted her teeth and continued to smash... THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

The bracelet and the Storage Ring repeatedly crashed against each other, yet neither item showed any sign of damage. No matter how much True Qi Cheng Yunsu poured in, it was all for naught.

After countless strikes, Cheng Yunsu gave a faint, bitter smile...

’Mother, you left me this bracelet. After I awakened the will of the Fire Phoenix Divine Emperor inside, nothing else has happened.’

’I can’t form a bond with it. Besides being beautiful, it does nothing else.’

’Is this really just an ordinary bracelet meant only to store the spiritual will of the Fire Phoenix Divine Emperor?’

Cheng Yunsu thought to herself, having always hoped the bracelet held new secrets, a clue to find her mother.

But as her Martial Arts Realm grew higher and higher, the bracelet remained the same.

Its material was incredibly hard, yet it still couldn’t break Chi Xingxun’s Storage Ring.

Suddenly, Chang Yuan exclaimed in a low voice, ”That Commander Ke, his deciphering speed is too fast! In just this short time, he seems to be catching up to Brother Lu Chao and Young City Lord Red Sword. He’s moving with such ease.”

Upon hearing this, Cheng Yunsu’s whole body trembled as she looked into the realm...

It was just as Chang Yuan had said. Although she didn’t quite understand what she was seeing, Commander Ke’s progress was unnervingly smooth, the picture of perfect composure.

It was as if he had done this hundreds, even thousands of times before...

There were eighty-one Soldier Dao Battle Arrays that had to be completely organized, continuously sorted, and their illusory soldiers fully dispatched and integrated, all while being placed in their proper array positions.

If the Illusory Battlefield was a game of chess...

Then Lu Chao was the player who had never encountered such a complex game, yet his powerful talent allowed him to feel his way forward at a respectable pace.

The Young City Lord was a player of mediocre skill, but he had five people helping him.

Commander Ke, however, looked like someone who had played this very game many times over.

’No, I can’t give up. Otherwise, we’ll all die.’

’I’m not afraid of death, and I’m even less afraid of dying with Lu Chao. But I don’t want to never see my father again, to never find my mother. I don’t want Lu Chao to die without avenging his deep-seated hatred. Lu Dingtian and Lu Hanyang are still alive!’

’And I don’t want to see the Azure Flame Domain plunged into misery and death.’

THUD...

Cheng Yunsu continued to smash the ring. Before she knew it, her hand was bleeding. Her face had turned pale from the exertion, and the sight caused Chang Yuan’s wife, Le Chun, to watch with a pained heart.

”Little Sister Xiao Su’er, why don’t you let Chang Yuan try smashing it?” she said softly, her eyes welling with tears.

But Cheng Yunsu just shook her head and kept smashing. Blood from her hand streamed onto the bracelet. At first, it dripped from the bracelet onto the ground, but slowly, the dripping stopped.

Le Chun was about to say more, but Chang Yuan suddenly pulled her back.

He lowered his voice, his tone laced with shock. ”The bracelet... it’s absorbing Sister-in-law’s blood...”

Hearing this, Le Chun immediately noticed it as well.

Her eyes widened, and she let out a soft cry, ”There’s—there’s fire! It’s burning!”

Beside them, Little Chang Duan’s eyes were wide with disbelief. ”I think I hear the cry of a Fire Sparrow! And I think I see two Fire Sparrows dancing on Auntie Yunsu’s bracelet!”

His words made the Chang Yuan couple immediately notice it too.

Indeed, the fire on Cheng Yunsu’s bracelet was growing larger. The two carved Fire Sparrows seemed to have come to life, beginning to coil and fly around her hand.

Suddenly, Chang Yuan noticed something and yelled, ”You have to stop! Your blood is going to be drained dry!”

He saw that Cheng Yunsu’s face was growing paler and paler as her blood was swallowed by the bracelet like a flowing stream.

But Cheng Yunsu seemed to be possessed, not hearing him at all, and continued to smash Chi Xingxun’s Storage Ring.

In truth, by this point, Cheng Yunsu had lost so much blood that she was beginning to hallucinate.

She began to murmur...

”Mother, don’t go. Don’t abandon Su’er.”

”Lu Chao, don’t die! Do you remember the Xiao Su’er from outside the Great Wu Imperial City?”

”Lu Chao, I’ve become something that’s neither human nor ghost. I can’t drag you down. I’m just a fleeting passerby in your life... but why does my heart ache so much? I want so badly to hear you call me Xiao Su’er again.”

She murmured on and on...

Her entire consciousness was sinking into a mire of painful memories and hallucinations.

Tears streamed from her eyes. Finally, a single teardrop fell upon the Fire Sparrow Bracelet... SCREECH!

A sharp cry rang out from within the Fire Sparrow Bracelet.

And then...

A dazzling flare of fire erupted from the bracelet, surging up Cheng Yunsu’s arm and engulfing her entire body. She looked as if she had burst into flames, yet she instinctively kept her grip on the bracelet and brought it down on the Storage Ring.

CRACK...

At that moment, Chi Xingxun’s Storage Ring finally let out a crisp sound, and then exploded with a BANG.

Countless miscellaneous items scattered across the cliff rock.

At the same time, Cheng Yunsu seemed to awaken from a dream. The hallucinations vanished, and she murmured, ”It worked. I finally smashed it.”

However, her body was still wreathed in intense flames, and it was as if two Fire Sparrows were still dancing around her. She wanted to search for the two pages of the Nine Palace Array Map, but she found she couldn’t move at all.

’My True Qi... it’s going wild. My blood... it feels like it’s on fire...’

’No, I have to find what I need right now. I have to get it to Lu Chao.’

Enduring the agony wracking her body, she scanned the jumble of items that had spilled from Chi Xingxun’s exploded Storage Ring. Her eyes quickly found two pages glowing with a golden light and a strange, ancient-looking stone plate...

Suddenly... BOOM!

The flames around Cheng Yunsu flared violently. With a sudden burst of strength, she stretched out her hand and seized the two items.

Then, with a sharp twist of her body, she took a step and pierced through into Lu Chao’s Illusory Battlefield.

On the cliff rock, only Chang Yuan’s family of three remained, staring at each other in stunned silence.

A moment later, with no time for words, they all turned their gazes toward Lu Chao’s Illusory Battlefield.

「Inside the Illusory Battlefield...」

Lu Chao was still engrossed in deciphering the eighty-one Battle Arrays when he suddenly felt a stir and turned to look. He saw a deathly pale Cheng Yunsu, wreathed in flames, flash into the realm.

He immediately spun around and rushed to her side. ”Xiao Su’er, what happened to you?”

In Lu Chao’s eyes, Cheng Yunsu was a figure engulfed in fire, looking exactly as she had when she resurrected him.

This made Lu Chao tense to the extreme.

Hearing his voice, Cheng Yunsu gave a weak smile. ”Lu Chao, I finally used the bracelet my mother left me to shatter that Storage Ring. Here are the two pages of the Nine Palace Array Map and... the Azure Flame Array Plate!”

”I’m fine. I think... I’ve bonded with the Fire Sparrow Bracelet.”