Divine Emperor of Heavenly Destiny

THUMP THUMP THUMP...

Zheng Zhuhai’s expression changed drastically as he stumbled backward without stopping. The entire crowd stared wide-eyed. He had actually broken through to the Innate Realm.

Yin Ye, however, felt a wave of relief. No wonder Lu Chao had been so confident.

’Now that he’s reached the Innate Realm, what kind of surprises will Lu Chao pull off?’

GULP...

Sun Shijin swallowed hard again and again. ”How could you break through at a time like this? You haven’t even fully adapted to the Bone of Myriad Stars yet!”

’He broke through! The amount of True Qi is too great, and it’s undergone a qualitative change. It could easily shatter the concealment of the Bone of Myriad Stars.’

But now, Sun Shijin couldn’t call for a stop anymore.

Calling for a stop would be a sign of weakness, wasting all their previous efforts. He could only pray silently that the aura of Lu Chao’s Life-taking Bone wouldn’t burst forth.

’Everyone else with a Life-taking Bone tries their best to hide it carefully. But this kid... he clearly didn’t need to keep fighting, so why is he still charging forward? Couldn’t he just let Yin Ye negotiate forcefully with Zheng Liyuan?’

Everyone from Dragon Flame Academy, from top to bottom, felt their nervousness turn to exhilaration, their fists clenched tightly.

Lu Chao, however, gripped his sword and stepped toward the retreating Zheng Zhuhai. ”I broke through to the Innate Realm. That shouldn’t count as cheating, right?”

As he spoke, he looked at Zheng Liyuan. ”Open your damn eyes and take a good look. Did I cheat?”

The moment the words left his mouth, he charged!

It was still the True Qi of the Fire Sparrow Map fueling the Nine Primordial Yang Swords. Each slash carried a searingly hot sword glint, while Zheng Zhuhai countered with a blue, ocean-like sword light. Fire and water clashed relentlessly.

In an instant, the two exchanged over a hundred moves, seemingly at a stalemate where neither could gain the upper hand.

Even though Lu Chao’s True Qi was only at the Innate First Layer, it was in no way weaker than Zheng Zhuhai’s Innate Fifth Layer. He was overwhelmingly powerful.

Yin Ye stared at Zheng Liyuan, remaining vigilant against any sneak attacks, and said, ”Zheng Liyuan, do you see clearly now? If you dare call it cheating again, I’ll take your life right here.”

Zheng Liyuan ground his teeth in fury. He desperately wanted to make a move and kill Lu Chao, but Yin Ye would never let him.

At this moment, Sun Shijin finally stepped forward. ”Young man, you’ve proven it wasn’t cheating. That’s enough. There’s no need to fight anymore.”

They really couldn’t continue fighting. Sun Shijin was terrified.

To this, Lu Chao replied without looking back, ”Elder Sun, it’s not that I can’t end the battle. I’m just waiting for Celestial King Academy to say three words: ’A death match.’ So, it can’t be over yet.”

When he said this, the entire crowd was stunned. What did he mean?

Everyone quickly understood. Lu Chao was saying... he could defeat Zheng Zhuhai, but he was waiting. He was waiting for Zheng Liyuan to declare a death match so he could kill Zheng Zhuhai with just cause.

His words seemed simple, yet they were so domineering they seemed to dismiss everyone and everything.

An Innate First Layer was claiming he could easily kill an Innate Fifth Layer from a Saint Bone Family.

Everyone from Celestial King Academy erupted in fury.

Zheng Zhuhai felt deeply insulted. He roared, ”Kid, I’ll show you the consequences of being too arrogant!”

He unleashed a frenzied assault, using his most desperate techniques.

But the corner of Lu Chao’s mouth tugged into a slight smile. This was exactly what he wanted—for Zheng Zhuhai to fight desperately. In terms of combat experience, Zheng Zhuhai was not even in the same league as Lu Chao. If he fought with his life on the line, Lu Chao would take that life.

Once he lost his composure, he was full of openings.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Lu Chao even sheathed his sword and attacked with his legs.

The first kick slammed into Zheng Zhuhai’s shoulder, the second into his waist, the third into his left knee, and the fourth into his right knee.

After the four kicks, Lu Chao casually spun around and landed!

With a THUD, Zheng Zhuhai hit the ground as well, but he had come crashing down and was now lying flat on the floor.

He scrambled to get up, but... THUMP!

Zheng Zhuhai felt a tearing pain shoot through both of his knees, and right there, in front of Lu Chao, he... fell to his knees!

In response...

Lu Chao gave a faint smile, turned, and walked away without another word.

The young people in the crowd gaped at the scene, their mouths wide open. How did Zheng Zhuhai end up on his knees?

Only the various experts had seen Lu Chao’s last moves—he had targeted the knees...

Yin Qixing was the first to rush out, laughing loudly. ”Since you’re kneeling and begging for mercy, we won’t need that death match after all. You’re forgiven.”

At his words, Zheng Zhuhai’s face turned beet red as he tried to stand up.

But he couldn’t get up!

CRACK CRACK CRACK...

Zheng Liyuan’s teeth ground together with a ”CRACK”. The way that kid had forced Zheng Zhuhai to his knees was even more humiliating than killing him.

Finally, Zheng Liyuan could only roar furiously, ”Someone, get him up now!”

Someone from Celestial King Academy immediately rushed out to help Zheng Zhuhai up.

Then, Zheng Liyuan glared at Lu Chao’s back and asked in a cold voice, ”Kid, leave your name.”

Lu Chao stopped in his tracks. ”Dragon Flame Academy. Heavenly Destiny Myriad Stars Bone. Lu Chao!”

This answer declared that Lu Chao, for the time being, did not have a Life-taking Bone, and that he would represent Dragon Flame Academy.

”I’ll remember you. You made someone from my Saint Bone Zheng Family kneel. You will pay a heavy price for this...”

”We’re leaving!”

Zheng Liyuan left them with this threat, then departed with the people from Celestial King Academy, dragging ten corpses with them.

He had no choice but to leave. With Marquis Jilong here, he couldn’t possibly gain any advantage.

He was the one who proposed the life-and-death battles, and the Life and Death Contracts were already signed. No matter how unwilling he was, he could only endure it for now.

One by one, the instructors and students of Celestial King Academy muttered through clenched teeth, ”Lu Chao must die!”

Suddenly, someone said in a low voice, ”Why does that name sound a little familiar?”

Many others also felt it sounded familiar.

But the Dragon Flame Kingdom was far from the Great Wu Empire, and they had never been in direct conflict, so they couldn’t place it for the moment.

”WOAH...”

Finally, after Celestial King Academy had completely departed, the whole of Dragon Flame Academy erupted.

Instructors and students alike stared at Lu Chao with immense excitement, their eyes filled with absolute admiration.

He alone had resolved Dragon Flame Academy’s great crisis.

Just then, a group of instructors, led by Dean Jiang, surrounded Sun Shijin. ”Elder Sun, so you took such a remarkable closed-door disciple! It turns out you were the one to turn the tide. You truly are the pillar of our Dragon Flame Academy!”

It wasn’t just Zheng Liyuan; everyone at Dragon Flame Academy thought Lu Chao was Sun Shijin’s closed-door disciple.

At this moment, Sun Shijin himself felt like he was in a dream, an intense feeling of unreality washing over him.

’The kid with the Life-taking Bone resolved Dragon Flame Academy’s great crisis. Could it really be as Yin Ye said... fighting fire with fire?’

’Am I the pillar of Dragon Flame Academy? Didn’t I almost bring ruin to it?’

His mind was in chaos. He subconsciously replied, ”He’s not my closed-door disciple. He was brought here by Marquis Jilong. In fact, I previously refused to let him enter our Dragon Flame Academy.”

As his words fell, Dean Jiang and the others, who had been ecstatic, froze. Re-re-re... jected?

Why?

”Because he’s...”

Sun Shijin started to answer subconsciously but quickly caught himself. ”Because he... is not from the Dragon Flame Kingdom!”