Divine Emperor of Heavenly Destiny

Lu Chao’s voice rang out from atop the walls of Yinzhou City, crashing down upon Guan Zanyi.

Guan Zanyi stared directly at Lu Chao and suddenly roared, ”You dare set me up?”

In that instant, he understood everything.

Fan Jinhua and his men had deliberately deceived Lei Zhen, telling him the assassination was a success. Lei Zhen, taking them at their word, reported it to him. Then, Fan Jinhua’s group tricked him into publicly announcing the achievements of Lei Zhen and his son.

In this way, they had trapped him with his own words. How utterly despicable.

To this, Lu Chao calmly replied, ”Grand General Guan, whatever do you mean? It was General Lei who commanded us.”

He repeated the line.

’Since you’ve already declared that Lei Zhen commanded the assassination, this can only be Lei Zhen’s problem.’

Guan Zanyi’s fists clenched in rage, and he roared again, ”You dared to deceive General Lei, telling him you succeeded?”

He had no other choice but to claim that Fan Jinhua and his men had deceived Lei Zhen.

Lu Chao enunciated each word. ”You can’t just make baseless accusations. When did we ever deceive General Lei?”

GRIND...

Guan Zanyi’s teeth ground together audibly. His entire body suddenly erupted with True Qi, and his Heavenly Destiny Bone unleashed rolling waves of blade-light.

He directed the crushing pressure toward Lu Chao. ”Brat, is that silver tongue of yours just begging for death?”

Unable to win with words, he resorted to martial threats.

Fan Jinhua’s expression changed drastically, and he moved to stand in front of Lu Chao. But Lu Chao simply took a step forward, gestured toward the people from the other Flame Countries, and said, ”Grand General Guan, the envoys from the other kingdoms are watching.”

At these words, Guan Zanyi’s expression stiffened, and he slowly retracted his True Qi.

Although the various Flame Countries were united in their stance against the descendants of the Azure Flame Sect, in other matters, they would certainly not hesitate to kick a man when he was down, especially after he had just snatched the credit for ”assassinating Lu Hanyan” for the Tiger Flame Kingdom.

The envoys from the other kingdoms would definitely not let him get away with this easily.

Seeing his opportunity, Lu Chao spoke again. ”Whether we lied or not... won’t it all be clear once we have General Lei come and face us?”

This brought Guan Zanyi back to his senses...

’That’s right. As soon as Lei Zhen arrives, I can accuse Fan Jinhua and his men and punish them for their deception.’

”That’s not right...”

Lu Chao’s interjection of ”That’s not right...” made Guan Zanyi and the onlookers’ hearts jump. They then heard Lu Chao say, ”General Lei is likely about to be killed in action. Lu Hanyan has already retaken Yangzhou City.”

The moment his voice fell... WHOOSH.

A cold wind howled across the walls of Yinzhou City. Guan Zanyi could no longer contain himself... BOOM!

His powerful True Qi erupted once more. He strode toward Lu Chao, his body burning with roiling fury.

Yet Lu Chao remained fearless, stating calmly, ”After General Lei dies in battle, Lu Hanyan will carve a path straight to the walls of Yinzhou City.”

The moment he said this, the faces of the envoys from the various Flame Countries changed drastically. One after another, they rushed forward to block Guan Zanyi.

An envoy from the Wolf Flame Kingdom spoke up. ”Grand General Guan, please calm down and let’s ask about the specific situation first.”

Whether Lu Hanyan was dead or alive made a huge difference.

It wasn’t just a matter of her marching on Yinzhou City. If Lu Hanyan wasn’t dead, the Great Wu Empire’s forces wouldn’t fall into chaos, which meant the other Flame Countries would have to completely redeploy their troops on every front.

Therefore, these envoys from the other Flame Countries, who were here to liaise with the Tiger Flame Kingdom, had to find out what was really going on.

They couldn’t let Guan Zanyi act recklessly...

A middle-aged woman from the Fox Flame Kingdom turned to Lu Chao and demanded, ”What exactly is going on? Is Lu Hanyan truly alive? If so, why did the Great Wu forces suddenly mobilize toward Zhengyang Mountain two days ago?”

Lu Chao had been doing all the talking. Now, nobody was paying any attention to Fan Jinhua.

The reason Guan Zanyi, and by extension Lei Zhen, had assumed the assassination was a success was because Lu Hanyan had mobilized her troops to blockade Zhengyang Mountain. This led all the Flame Kingdoms to believe that the Great Wu Empire was furiously seeking revenge for her death.

Only if the assassination had succeeded and Lu Hanyan was dead would the Great Wu Empire mobilize its army.

If the assassination had failed and Lu Hanyan was alive, why would there be a need to mobilize? With Lu Hanyan’s capabilities, she would have wiped out the assassins long ago.

What the Flame Kingdoms could never have imagined was...

...that although the assassination had failed, Lu Hanyan had been unable to eliminate the assassins. In fact, they had escaped, which was why she needed to mobilize her troops.

Looking at the middle-aged woman from the Fox Flame Kingdom, Lu Chao’s expression grew serious.

”Under General Lei’s command, our assassination failed. However, we successfully escaped into Zhengyang Mountain. Then, once again under General Lei’s command, we led Lu Hanyan on a chase throughout the Zhengyang Mountain Range...”

”It seemed that General Lei was so brilliant that he was about to lead us right out of her hunting ground.”

”Lu Hanyan couldn’t bear the thought of us escaping alive, so she mobilized her army to seal off the Zhengyang Mountain Range.”

”But the mighty and awe-inspiring General Lei then had Junior General Lei lead us in a surprise counter-attack, seizing Yangzhou City.”

Every sentence Lu Chao spoke attributed everything to Lei Zhen; it was all under his command.

Of course, everyone on the wall understood the truth...

This had absolutely nothing to do with Lei Zhen. It was all the work of these descendants of the Azure Flame Country. They had managed a heaven-defying escape from Lu Hanyan’s encirclement.

This was what had led everyone to believe Lu Hanyan was dead.

At this, Tan An couldn’t resist chiming in...

”The mighty and awe-inspiring General Lei told us to go on ahead. He intended to take his troops and fight Lu Hanyan all by himself.”

”It’s truly a tale worthy of song and tears.”

Including Fan Jinhua, every descendant of the Fan Yan Sect on the wall wore a cold, mocking smile.

At this very moment, the frustration of having their credit stolen in Yangzhou City and the rage from Guan Zanyi’s oppression were released all at once.

’Steal our credit?’

’Fine. Then you can take the blame for the failed assassination!’

Guan Zanyi looked ready to explode. He pointed a trembling finger at Fan Jinhua, then at Lu Chao. ”You... you...”

He was speechless. After all, he was the one who had so eagerly declared that Lei Zhen had commanded the assassination.

Suddenly, a carrier pigeon came speeding over from the direction of Yangzhou City.

One of Guan Zanyi’s adjutants quickly caught it, retrieved the message, and after a quick glance, began to exclaim in alarm.

”Grand General Guan, Lu Hanyan has retaken Yangzhou City! General Lei and his son are fleeing back toward Yinzhou City with their surviving men.”

”He says to send reinforcements immediately! Lu Hanyan is in hot pursuit and not letting up!”

At his adjutant’s words, a chill ran down Guan Zanyi’s spine. Soon, it would be his turn to face Lu Hanyan.

Just then, Lu Chao spoke again.

”Grand General Guan, you can’t let General Lei die. Otherwise, how will he be able to confront us?”

”Your Excellency should hurry and lead your troops to rescue him.”

His voice echoed across the wall, making the disoriented Guan Zanyi snap his head up.

He suddenly roared like a madman, ”Fan Jinhua! I order you to take your men and reinforce General Lei at once! If you fail to bring the general back alive, all of you will... lose your heads!”

At this command, a chill ran through Tan An and the others, and fury flashed in their eyes.

But Lu Chao replied firmly, ”As you command. We guarantee the mission will be completed.”

Having spoken, Lu Chao immediately turned and leaped straight off the top of the wall. Fan Jinhua and the others were stunned for a second before they too followed him, quickly leaping down to instantly rejoin their two thousand surviving soldiers below.