Divine Emperor of Heavenly Destiny

"ARGH! ARGH! ARGH! ARGH..."

No matter how prepared his several thousand troops were, Lu Chao could not mobilize all of them at once. He had only managed to channel the power of less than a third of them. In that instant, every one of those men was sent staggering back, vomiting blood.

At the same time, Lu Chao was also violently thrown back, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

He looked up.

As expected, the one who had landed before him was the pale-faced Commander Ke. Lu Chao gripped his spear tightly and said, "Commander Ke, you are the esteemed Commander of Red Sword City’s Red Sword Guard. Aren’t you ashamed to be assassinating a nobody like me from the Azure Flame Domain?"

Commander Ke froze on the spot.

He stared at Lu Chao in disbelief. ’He actually foiled my strike?’

His eyes flashed wildly. Commander Ke said, "To be able to instantly mobilize a portion of your troops for a Gathering Power technique at such close range... you’re no nobody. It seems you’ve learned the Azure Flame Nine Palace Array Map very quickly."

As he spoke, Commander Ke seemed to recall something, and a deep, seething hatred filled his eyes...

Being relentlessly hunted by Mo Jing wasn’t too humiliating. After all, Yan Soul City was one of the Ten Great Cities of Cyan Sword.

But their experience inside the Azure Flame Sect’s Forbidden Land was something Commander Ke and Chi Xingxun considered a profound humiliation.

Especially since Chi Xingxun’s two pages of the Nine Palace Array Map had been stolen. That was what allowed Lu Chao to get ahead of them and venture deeper into the Azure Flame Sect’s Forbidden Land.

As a result, they came away with nothing.

It was also because of Lu Chao that they were cornered by Mo Jing. Whether or not Lu Chao had actually led Mo Jing to them was irrelevant. If everything had gone smoothly in the Azure Flame Sect’s Forbidden Land, they wouldn’t have been delayed for so long.

Every last bit of it was because of this disciple from the Azure Flame Sect.

At this thought, Commander Ke stepped forward, still limping, and said, "A pity you only brought a few thousand soldiers. Killing you will be a breeze. You’re already injured. Even with the power of several thousand men, you can’t stop me."

Killing intent billowed from his entire body...

Just as he had said back at the Grand Marshal’s Mansion, he had come out to check on Lu Chao’s situation. As long as Lu Chao had few troops with him, he would strike directly.

And with only a few thousand soldiers, Commander Ke naturally felt there would be no problem at all.

The first attempt was assassination. Now, it was time for a brute-force kill.

Lu Chao stared back at Commander Ke, a cold glint in his eyes. "Commander Ke, where is your Young City Lord? With his personality, shouldn’t he want to slice me into a thousand pieces? Is it really alright for you to kill me so quickly?"

He was stalling for time again. He had just told Yin Ye and the others behind him to halt, but now he needed them to move closer and get into position.

He wanted to ensure that Commander Ke couldn’t escape even if he grew wings.

Commander Ke replied coldly, "Of course it’s not alright. That’s why after I kill you, I’ll seize your woman and present her to our Young City Lord."

His gaze slowly fell upon Cheng Yunsu.

"Of course, you have one chance to avoid dying right now."

"Hand over everything you took from the Azure Flame Sect’s Forbidden Land, as well as our Young City Lord’s belongings, and I might let you live."

This was what Chi Xingxun wanted. Just killing Lu Chao directly would be deeply unsatisfying.

Chi Xingxun still wanted to chop off all of Lu Chao’s fingers, one by one. But if he didn’t kill him, he wouldn’t get back the things from the Azure Flame Sect.

"But you’re never going to hand them over, so... die!"

As Commander Ke spoke, he charged forward with explosive force.

But at that very moment, Lu Chao suddenly shouted again, "Vice Commander Liu is dead! I killed him!"

As the words fell, Commander Ke’s entire body shuddered, and he faltered for a moment.

And at that exact moment, Lu Chao explosively gathered the power of his thousands of soldiers and roared again, "Nu Long... Slash!"

The slash shot out, slamming viciously into the momentarily stunned Commander Ke and knocking him back several steps. Lu Chao and his thousands of soldiers were once again thrown back violently. Even while stunned and heavily injured, Commander Ke’s power was still terrifying.

Commander Ke came to his senses, looked up, and said, "So you killed Vice Commander Liu. So what? He’s dead, and that’s that. You used it to block my second attack, but it’s just a pointless struggle."

With that, Commander Ke charged for a third time...

But... WHIZZ! WHIZZ! WHIZZ! WHIZZ!

Suddenly, a furious volley of arrows flew at him, causing Commander Ke’s expression to change drastically. He instantly unleashed a blast of True Qi, blowing all the arrows to smithereens.

He looked around and said, "The True Qi on these arrows... they’re all from cultivators at the Transformation Realm or higher."

The words had barely left his lips when Commander Ke looked up again. The surrounding rooftops were now packed with people—all of them experts at the Transformation Realm or higher. Every single one had a longbow drawn, aimed at Commander Ke.

In that instant, Commander Ke stared blankly at Lu Chao. "You... you... you..."

He suddenly realized. ’I’ve fallen into a trap?’

"Lu Dingtian didn’t respond to Mo Jing. That’s highly unusual."

"You’re the only ones who could make Lu Dingtian ignore him. Mo Jing was hunting you, so the probability of you being in the Great Wu Imperial City was extremely high."

"I knew you’d want to kill me, so I decided to lure the snake from its hole. It’s a shame Chi Xingxun isn’t with you."

Lu Chao’s words boomed out one by one, answering Commander Ke’s unasked questions. Finally, he roared, "Everyone, fire! Everyone, join my Gathering Power and charge! Send Commander Ke to meet that Vice Commander Liu... Kill!"

A bone-deep chill rolled through Commander Ke. He let out a strange, explosive cry, "Young City Lord, run! We’ve fallen into a trap!"

As he spoke, the whizzing sound returned as a wild storm of arrows shot through the air!

Lu Chao used the cover of the arrows to charge Commander Ke. This was an expert Above the Creation—the second one Lu Chao had faced, besides Mo Jing—and he still didn’t dare to be the least bit careless.

As expected, Commander Ke was terrifyingly powerful...

He fought with crazed desperation to give Chi Xingxun a chance to escape. It took a long while before they finally managed to beat him to the ground.

And finally... THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!

Commander Ke was dead, pierced by a flurry of arrows.

Lu Chao had actually wanted to spare his life. But for an expert of this level, unless his Heavenly Destiny Bone was shattered, there was likely nothing in the entire Azure Flame Domain that could imprison him. The only choice was... to kill!

The first expert Above the Creation had died in the Great Wu Imperial City of the Azure Flame Domain.

Lu Chao took a deep breath and then shouted again, "With me, now! We’re hunting down Chi Xingxun and Lu Dingtian!"

And just like that, Lu Chao led everyone in a charge toward Lu Dingtian’s Grand Marshal’s Mansion...

Unfortunately, the Grand Marshal’s Mansion was already empty.

Suddenly, a furious roar came from the North City Gate. "General Lu Chao, Lu Dingtian has fought his way out! Lu Dingtian has left the city!"

A cold glint flashed in Lu Chao’s eyes. He let out a sharp call for his Flying Feather Black Eagle and gave chase with explosive speed.

Soon, he burst out from the North City Gate and, just as expected, saw Lu Dingtian and Chi Xingxun fleeing wildly with several hundred cavalry.

"Lu Dingtian, Chi Xingxun..." Lu Chao began to roar.

But just as he was about to continue the pursuit, his brow twitched. A dozen or so Flying Wolves shot into the sky, surrounding him on the spot. The riders on the Flying Wolves were all dressed in the fashion of the Great Wu Empire.

But Lu Chao recognized them despite their attire. He said in a low, grave voice, "Yan Soul Guard."

One of the Yan Soul Guard moved forward coldly. He spoke in a low voice, "So you’re the Lu Chao who caused our Young Master and Lord Mo Jing so much trouble? You’re finally alone. Now, we’ll send you to Hell."

"And don’t worry, we’ll kill Chi Xingxun, too."

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