Divine Emperor of Heavenly Destiny

Seeing Lu Chao by the lake, Bai Xin was so frightened she fell to the ground. A sword was instantly at her neck.

It was Cheng Yunsu’s sword.

Suddenly, Lu Chao gently reminded her, ”Xiao Su’er, her life is for your father to take.”

Cheng Yunsu trembled slightly, as if the words had finally calmed her. She then clenched her jaw and shut her eyes tightly.

Suddenly... CLANG!

She threw down her sword, swung her hand back... and began slapping.

”AHHHHHHHH...”

By the lakeside in the dead of night, piercing screams echoed, along with cries for help: ”Brother Mi, come back and save me!”

But Lu Mi and Cheng Yunxiang were already long gone. There was no way they could hear her voice.

After who knows how many slaps, Bai Xin’s screams had faded to a near-inaudible whimper.

She lay collapsed on the ground, as limp as a pile of mud.

There wasn’t an uninjured spot on her body. In the end, Cheng Yunsu dragged Bai Xin away and threw her into Doctor Liu’s clinic.

Only then did it seem Cheng Yunsu had finally vented her fury. She looked at Lu Chao. ”My father... How is he going to bear it?”

Lu Chao gave a helpless, bitter smile. ”At least Cheng Yunxiang can be killed.”

He remembered his father-in-law’s letter, which had instructed them to spare Cheng Yunxiang, but that was no longer necessary.

Cheng Yunsu froze for a moment, then gritted her teeth and nodded.

”Actually, there’s a second secret, and I’m afraid it’s even more difficult to bear than the first.”

The bitter smile on Lu Chao’s face deepened, and he proceeded to tell her everything he had heard from Cheng Chuyan.

For a moment, Cheng Yunsu nearly lost her footing. Her eyes glazed over as she looked toward her father’s sickroom.

After a long while, she murmured, ”No wonder my grandmother hated me so much when she was still alive. I always thought it was because of my mother. I never imagined I had another, my real grandmother.”

The first grandmother she mentioned was Cheng Gai’s maternal grandmother. The second was the one who had been driven to her death by Cheng Weishan.

She smiled bitterly. ’These two things will be too cruel for Father to bear.’

”At least killing Cheng Weishan will be satisfying.”

”And you don’t have a single drop of Cheng Weishan’s filthy bloodline. That’s a good thing.”

It was the only comfort Lu Chao could offer, and Cheng Yunsu seemed to brighten instantly.

’He’s right. I don’t have a single drop of the Cheng Mansion’s blood in me.’ Thinking of all the things Cheng Weishan had done, Cheng Yunsu felt surprisingly fortunate. ’No matter what kind of powerful figure my real grandfather is, he has to be better than Cheng Weishan.’

Saying no more, Lu Chao spoke, ”Xiao Su’er, let’s return to the Cheng Mansion for now.”

And so, with Cheng Chuming on his back and the limp form of Bai Xin in one hand, Lu Chao returned to the Cheng Mansion.

They could not stay here any longer and further implicate Doctor Liu.

When they returned to the Cheng Mansion...

Cheng Yunsu froze, greeted by a scene of carnage—a river of blood. At the same time, she heard the screams of the Cheng Mansion’s household servants and Household Generals: ”The Life-taking Bone Calamity Star is back! Patriarch, the Young Miss has returned as well!”

The Household Generals scrambled toward the Cheng Mansion’s main hall. Inside, Cheng Weishan was trembling uncontrollably.

Uncle Leng, meanwhile, stood guard outside the hall’s entrance.

Upon hearing the Household Generals’ report, Cheng Weishan immediately rushed out from the main hall, his hair and beard in disarray.

”Chuming, my son! How could you die?”

Cheng Weishan had, of course, seen Lu Chao carrying Cheng Chuming on his back.

He had no idea that Cheng Chuming had been saved and assumed Lu Chao was carrying a corpse.

While Lu Chao was away, Cheng Weishan had been trying to figure out how to survive. His final plan hinged on one thing... Cheng Yunsu’s soft heart.

So he had to put on a show of utter grief, to cry as if it were real.

He... SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!

Cheng Weishan slapped his own wrinkled face furiously, deliberately striking hard as he cried, ”I’m so full of regret! I must have been out of my mind! I’m old and senile! How could I have listened to Bai Xin’s malicious words and forced Chuming to take that poison?”

”Yunsu, you’ll forgive your grandfather, won’t you?”

If this had been before, Cheng Yunsu might actually have been moved. But now... she felt nothing.

Her eyes held nothing but cold indifference. Ignoring Cheng Weishan completely, she said, ”Lu Chao, let’s go back to our room to rest.”

Nodding, Lu Chao also ignored the theatrical Cheng Weishan. He casually tossed the unconscious Bai Xin to a household servant of the Cheng Mansion and ordered, ”Throw her among the corpses of Bai Wenrong and the others. She... is not allowed to die!”

With that, he took Cheng Yunsu and Cheng Chuming and returned to their room.

”Yunsu, don’t go! Please say you forgive your grandfather!” Cheng Weishan continued to wail, rushing toward Lu Chao.

But... BAM!

Lu Chao sent Cheng Weishan flying with a single kick, then looked to Uncle Leng. ”Uncle Leng, if you would be so kind.”

Hearing this, Uncle Leng smiled and replied, ”It’s nothing at all.”

SLAP...

With a single slap, he sent Cheng Weishan flying back to the entrance of the main hall, then watched until Lu Chao and the others were out of sight.

Back in their room...

Lu Chao placed Cheng Chuming on the bed, then turned to Cheng Yunsu. ”Tomorrow, after your father wakes up, I’ll go to the Lu Mansion and bring back Lu Mi and Cheng Yunxiang. Then, we will reveal the entire truth.”

He had let Lu Mi and Cheng Yunxiang go at the lakeside precisely so he could wait for Cheng Chuming to awaken before settling all accounts, one by one.

He didn’t want to cause too great a stir before Cheng Chuming was conscious.

「In the blink of an eye, the night passed.」

The sky brightened to a hazy gray. Having barely slept for several days, Lu Chao had dozed off at Cheng Chuming’s bedside.

Suddenly... VMMMM!

Lu Chao’s eyes snapped open, filled with a murderous glint. The True Qi in his body surged and erupted uncontrollably.

Startled awake, Cheng Yunsu, who had been dozing by her father’s bed, quickly looked at Lu Chao and asked, ”Lu Chao, did you have a nightmare?”

Just then, Lu Chao was trembling violently, his forehead drenched in sweat.

He gave a slight nod, but then immediately shook his head. ”It’s not just a dream. I have a very strange feeling, as if something that belongs to me is steadily approaching.”

Cheng Yunsu didn’t pay it much mind, still convinced that Lu Chao must have simply had a nightmare.

She hurried over and began to gently wipe the sweat from his brow.

But suddenly, a series of powerful shouts rang out from outside the Cheng Mansion: ”By order of the City Lord, everyone is to return to their homes, no matter who you are! A very important, distinguished guest is arriving in Yangzhou City! All streets must be cleared!”

The shouts echoed again and again...

It was men from the City Lord’s Mansion, shouting in the streets.

Cheng Yunsu and Lu Chao exchanged a look. Wu Xin had left Doctor Liu’s clinic in such a hurry the previous night precisely because of this guest’s arrival.

They hadn’t expected the guest to only enter Yangzhou City at dawn.

The shouting gradually faded into the distance...

Lu Chao had stood up without realizing it. He spoke in a daze, ”Something really is approaching me. Why do I have this feeling? Could it be... that this ’something’ is with the distinguished guest in Yangzhou City?”

”Xiao Su’er, I’m going to take a look...”

With that, Lu Chao darted out of the room.

After a moment’s hesitation, an inexplicable worry came over Cheng Yunsu, and she quickly followed him.

One after the other, they leaped directly onto the wall of the Cheng Mansion nearest to their room.

Far in the distance, they saw a long procession on the street in front of the Cheng Mansion, heading their way.

As the procession drew closer, Lu Chao’s trembling intensified.

Completely bewildered, Cheng Yunsu asked with concern, ”Lu Chao, are you okay? You’re scaring me.”

After a few breaths, Lu Chao suddenly turned to Cheng Yunsu and said hoarsely, ”It’s my Heavenly Destiny Saint Bone approaching me. The Heavenly Bone Saint Bone that Lu Dingtian dug out of me is calling to me.”