Lu Chao froze. ’Xiao Su’er actually made the Fire Sparrow Bracelet acknowledge her as its master?’
It was precisely because it had acknowledged her that it could unleash its true power and shatter Chi Xingxun’s Storage Ring.
"Inside my body, it feels like something is awakening, a bit like that time at the Saint Bone Su Family..."
"I’ll be fine after I cultivate for a bit."
As she spoke, Cheng Yunsu tossed the items to Lu Chao, then sat down cross-legged right there in the Illusory Battlefield.
Lu Chao caught the two Array Map pages and the Array Plate in a daze, but he still said, "Xiao Su’er, let me check your condition first."
The words had barely left his mouth when Cheng Yunsu quickly interjected, "That Commander Ke is deciphering too fast, and the Young City Lord Red Sword has six people working together. Don’t worry about me. I can feel it—I’ll be fine."
Hearing this, Lu Chao kept his eyes fixed on Cheng Yunsu...
He confirmed she wasn’t actually being burned by any flames, just enveloped in the intense aura of the Fire Sparrow Bone. Gritting his teeth, Lu Chao steadied himself and swiftly sent his consciousness into... the ninth page of the Array Map.
’I’ll ignore the eighth page for now. First, I’ll just follow the ninth page’s instructions and see what happens.’
In that instant...
The key points of troop deployment and formation from the ninth Array Map page flooded Lu Chao’s mind.
His consciousness seemed to pass through every Soldier Array and topographical layout on the map. He saw the endless variations of its formations, constantly cross-referencing them with the 9th Floor’s Illusory Battlefield.
’There are too many variables.’
’But I’ll ignore them for now. I just need to finish the decoding.’
Lu Chao voraciously devoured the entirety of the ninth Array Map page, committing it to memory.
Then he began deciphering and arranging the eighty-one Battle Arrays...
He had discovered long ago that while the formations of the Illusory Battlefield were complex, they were only a fraction of what was on the Array Map.
As long as he grasped the general idea, he could break through.
In other words, grasping the core principles was enough to succeed. The illusion was, after all, just an illusion. On a real battlefield, one would need to use the Array Map to make all sorts of detailed adjustments.
To put it bluntly...
The Illusory Battlefield was just theory—war games on paper. The true application of the ninth Array Map page was meant for an actual battlefield.
And now, what Lu Chao had to do was take that theory and apply it to its absolute limit. Of course, this also required talent and battlefield experience—two things Lu Chao happened to have in abundance.
’I have to be fast. Who knows how many times Commander Ke has studied the ninth Array Map page. I’m just a beginner.’
’Faster. I have to be faster than him...’
Within the Illusion Realm, Lu Chao continuously issued commands to the eighty-one Battle Arrays.
Outside, Chang Yuan’s family had their fists clenched tightly. They could see Lu Chao accelerating at a frantic pace. Though they still couldn’t quite understand what was happening, they could feel the intensity.
Chang Yuan’s wife, Le Chun, said, "Brother Lu Chao is far outpacing that damn Young City Lord and his five companions."
Little Chang Duan added, "Commander Ke is still chasing, but he’s not gaining as fast anymore."
「Time flowed on...」
The 9th Floor was far, far more complex. In the blink of an eye, half a day had passed.
Cheng Yunsu was still in the Illusory Battlefield, cultivating with her eyes closed. Chang Yuan’s family watched nervously, but now they were completely lost.
「Slowly, another day passed.」
They could finally understand it again, because the eighty-one Battle Arrays were starting to become orderly. At least, Lu Chao’s and Commander Ke’s formations had become organized, and the two now seemed to be neck and neck...
Although they weren’t in the same Illusory Battlefield, for Chang Yuan and the others, the competition was as fierce as it could get.
As for Chi Xingxun’s group of six, they could be ignored.
"Why is it taking so long? It’s been almost two days," Le Chun said, so nervous she was sweating all over. She had no idea who would win.
Suddenly... HUM!
A flash of white light enveloped them, and Chang Yuan’s family was instantly pulled out of the 9th Floor.
After the white light faded, they saw the exhausted figure of Lu Chao in the darkness.
They also saw Cheng Yunsu, who had been cultivating for nearly two days and seemed to be in a state halfway between cultivation and unconsciousness...
"Uncle Lu Chao, you won!"
At that moment, Little Chang Duan couldn’t help but shout excitedly. In his youthful excitement, he had forgotten the earlier crisis.
All he knew was that Lu Chao had won again.
But Lu Chao’s face remained cautious. He had won the 9th Floor, yes.
He had finally reached the deepest part of the Forbidden Land, but whether it held something to deal with their powerful enemy, whether it contained the ultimate secret of the Azure Flame Sect, or whether there was a way to contact the Green Bone Palace... all of that was still unknown.
Right now, they were far from out of danger.
Thus, Lu Chao quickly looked at the space beyond the ninth floor of the Forbidden Land. In the darkness, he saw a massive stone door.
On the stone door were four large words: Azure Flame Secret Chamber!
In the middle of the stone door, there was also something like a keyhole, or rather, a token-shaped indentation... It seemed only a specific token could open the secret chamber’s door.
An idea struck Lu Chao, and he immediately took out a token: the Azure Flame Sect Leader’s Order.
He muttered, "I don’t know if this Azure Flame Order will work. This one was left behind by the Azure Flame Sect Leader from forty years ago. Perhaps the real Sect Leader’s Order fell into the hands of the Cyan Sword Great Empire two hundred years ago."
With that, Lu Chao quickly flashed to the stone door and fitted the Azure Flame Order into the indentation.
It was a perfect, flawless fit.
Then Lu Chao stared intently at the stone door again.
Back then, Marshal Fan had given Lu Chao the Azure Flame Martial Dao Order and the Azure Flame Sect Leader’s Order. But just as Lu Chao had said, perhaps the true Sect Leader’s Order had been lost two hundred years ago, and the one in his hand was just a later imitation.
One breath, two breaths, three breaths...
The stone door remained perfectly still, causing Lu Chao’s heart to sink to the depths. ’The Sect Leader’s Order really is an imitation.’
Just then... THUMP THUMP THUMP.
Little Chang Duan quickly ran up, calling out, "Uncle Lu Chao, here are two tokens that look exactly like yours."
Lu Chao froze at his words and turned around. He saw Little Chang Duan holding two Azure Flame Sect Leader’s Orders. For a moment, even Lu Chao was stunned. ’How are there two of them?’
"One was found in Young City Lord Red Sword’s Storage Ring, and the other was found in the six Storage Rings from the seventh floor."
At this point, Chang Yuan hurried forward to explain...
And Lu Chao instantly understood...
The first Azure Flame Order fell into the hands of Red Sword City, along with the two Array Map pages, after the Sect Leader was ambushed and killed two hundred years ago.
The second one must have been a spare.
Two hundred years ago, during the great turmoil within the Azure Flame Sect, it must have fallen into the hands of those sect experts who died in the Forbidden Land. They entered using the spare Azure Flame Order but perished on the seventh floor, unable to reach the deepest level.
’In other words, the token in my hand is a later imitation, while the other two are both real.’
Without further thought...
Lu Chao quickly took the two Azure Flame Orders, removed the imitation one from the door’s indentation, and then fitted one of the real ones back into the slot.
This time, there was no need to wait... RUMBLE!
With a heavy groan, the stone door slowly began to open.
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