Divine Emperor of Heavenly Destiny

Any other Innate Martial Artist would have been scared senseless by the True Qi in Zheng Liling’s arrow. Nor could they have tracked its trajectory without even looking, as Lu Chao had.

After swatting the deadly arrow aside...

Lu Chao and his companions had already vanished from the street in front of the Su Mansion.

Zheng Liling trembled with rage. He was in no mood to appreciate the casual grace of Lu Chao’s parry; he just clenched his fists tightly.

Suddenly, his brow twitched violently.

He saw the Flying Cavalry in the air and, in the distance, Marquis Jilong’s archers perched on the rooftops, all drawing their longbows and aiming at him.

”You bastards...”

He cursed aloud, then leaped off the rooftop to evade the archers’ lock, darting toward the rear courtyard of the Su Mansion.

Soon, Zheng Liling was back beside Zheng Liyuan and the others.

All composure had vanished from his old face, leaving only murder in his eyes. But before he could say a word, the ground beneath his feet began to tremble as the thunder of hooves grew closer to the Su Mansion.

Not long after...

Yin Qixing’s voice rang out from the distance once more: ”Elder Lady Su, we’ll trouble you to capture the traitor Zheng Liyuan for us.”

The moment those words were spoken, Zheng Liyuan trembled from head to toe. His face went pale as he listened to the surrounding thunder of hooves.

He quickly looked to Zheng Liling and asked, ”Patriarch, what do we do?”

As he spoke, his gaze shifted to Elder Lady Su, who had also turned back. He was terrified she would use this opportunity to finish him off.

After all, this was the perfect chance for the Su Family to eliminate him, an intruder in their mansion.

However, Elder Lady Su clearly lacked such foresight.

Her mind wasn’t on Zheng Liyuan at all right now. Instead, she was fixated on the fact that Marquis Jilong had actually dared to send troops charging into her Saint Su City.

That Lu Chao had actually managed to get his father-in-law away.

’And now he’s leading soldiers back to attack. What am I supposed to do?’

Zheng Liling’s expression shifted wildly. He gritted his teeth and said, ”We’re leaving now. We’ll exit Saint Su City from the other side.”

Instantly, the members of the Zheng Family gritted their teeth. ’So we’re just supposed to flee with our tails between our legs?’

When had their Saint Bone Zheng Family ever suffered such a great humiliation?

Of course, Zheng Liling didn’t want to retreat in such disgrace either. But Lu Chao’s earlier display of power had been too overwhelming—or rather, his willingness to risk mutual destruction was too strong. It made Zheng Liling afraid to clash with him head-on.

’Marquis Jilong, Yin Ye... that son of a bitch is clearly for real. He’s gone mad.’

Of course, even if they encountered troops, experts like him and Zheng Liyuan could retreat with ease, but the same couldn’t be said for Zheng Zhugong and the others.

If that happened, Zheng Zhugong and the others would just become prisoners in the Fake Lu Chao’s hands.

At that point, their Saint Bone Zheng Family would be in an even more passive position. Their only option was to retreat now.

And so, led by Zheng Liling, the members of the Zheng Family departed swiftly.

The rear courtyard of the Su Mansion had become somewhat chaotic.

Su Shangmo watched the departing Zheng Family members, then looked at Elder Lady Su, hesitating to speak.

Finally, he couldn’t hold back any longer. ”Elder Lady, this is the perfect opportunity to capture Zheng Liyuan! It’s the best chance to retaliate for the Zheng Family forcing their way into our Su Mansion!”

As his voice fell, a murderous glint flashed in the eyes of Zheng Liling and his men, but they paid him no mind and continued their swift departure...

Hearing this, Elder Lady Su snapped back to her senses.

She immediately looked toward Zheng Liling and his group, but Granny Yun jumped out first and shouted, ”Su Shangmo, I’m starting to think there’s a big problem with you! Why are you still worrying about Zheng Liyuan? That Lu Chao is leading troops to attack us right now!”

Hearing Granny Yun’s words, Zheng Liling and his men, who had been on guard, smiled freely.

Zheng Zhugong, one of their number, really wanted to ask, ’Has this Granny Yun from the Su Family been bribed by our Patriarch?’

However, Elder Lady Su did have some sense, after all. She said coldly, ”Zheng Liling...”

Before she could finish, Zheng Liling’s voice drifted back...

”Elder Lady Su, you had best consider my earlier proposal carefully.”

”That Fake Lu Chao is aggressive and very difficult to deal with. Your Saint Bone listens to him. Don’t let the Su Family end up becoming the Lu Family.”

That one sentence sent a violent tremor through Elder Lady Su, and a flicker of uncertainty returned to her eyes.

Zheng Liling sneered inwardly, ’A little bit of provocation and the old hag falls for it. No wonder Su Juehe used to philander all over the place back in the day... If it were me, I’d divorce a brainless creature like that first thing.’

And just like that, Zheng Liling and his men left the Su Mansion without any trouble...

A few of the Su Family Elders wanted to give chase, but their True Qi was rather weak due to the Saint Bone Ceremony.

Su Shangmo gripped his sword and smiled bitterly.

...

On the streets of Saint Su City, Lu Chao and his group regrouped with Yin Qixing.

”Lu Chao, what’s next? The Su Family should have Zheng Liling and his men trapped by now.”

”As for Zheng Liyuan, are we apprehending him or not?”

This was Yin Qixing’s question. Yin Ye had ordered him to follow Lu Chao’s lead completely during this operation.

Lu Chao smiled and replied nonchalantly, ”Zheng Liling and his men have definitely left the Su Mansion already. They’re heading out of the city from the opposite direction.”

Stunned, Fan Jinhua asked, ”No way, right?”

Although they didn’t know what had happened inside the Su Mansion, the two Saint Bone Families were mortal enemies. After Zheng Liling came to the Su Mansion to flaunt his power, would Elder Lady Su really let them just get away so easily?

Hearing this, Yu Fei sneered. ”If you had been in the Su Mansion just now, you’d have been angry enough to burst a blood vessel. There’s nothing they wouldn’t do.”

Blinking, Yin Qixing and Fan Jinhua looked at each other, completely baffled.

Suddenly, Fan Jinhua looked at Cheng Chuming.

He asked blankly, ”Hey, Brother Cheng, what did the Saint Bone Zheng Family feed you? How did you get kidnapped for a few days and end up in the Transformation Realm?”

Cheng Chuming was currently making no effort to hide his new Martial Arts Realm.

Fan Jinhua was only a few years younger than Cheng Chuming, which was why he called him Brother Cheng. He also called Lu Chao ’little brother,’ making the generational titles a bit of a mess.

But everyone was used to it.

Cheng Chuming gave a bitter smile. ”It seems... I’m now the Su Family’s Saint Bone.”

As his words fell, Yin Qixing’s and Fan Jinhua’s jaws dropped. ’Sounds like things were pretty exciting inside the Su Mansion, huh?’

Before anyone could ask more questions, Lu Chao brought them back to the topic at hand. ”It’s fine that Zheng Liyuan escaped,” he said softly. ”We can’t make things too difficult for the Marquis in this operation. He already has the Zheng Family’s strongest genius in his custody.”

This was the Dragon Flame Kingdom, after all. If the killing was too brutal, the Dragon Flame King would surely have to intervene.

But if things stayed as they were, there was a high probability the Dragon Flame King would just turn a blind eye.

The purpose of this operation was to rescue his father-in-law, Cheng Chuming.

And, as a bonus, to make Zheng Liling understand that the descendants of the Dragon Flame Academy, Jilong Marquis’s Mansion, and the Azure Flame Sect were not to be trifled with.

As for Lu Chao himself, he had already taken out Zheng Zhuhai with one spear thrust.

And Zheng Zhuhai’s death meant that Zheng Liling’s grand plan was ruined, which was already a slap in the face to them.

”However...”

”Now, I’m going to pay another visit to Elder Lady Su and see if she still wants to annul my engagement with Xiao Su’er.”

”And I’ll also inform the Saint Bone Su Family that my esteemed father-in-law will not be taking their surname.”

As Lu Chao spoke, the troops from Jilong Marquis’s Mansion continued their advance toward the Su Mansion.

Soon, they reached the street before the Su Mansion. Lu Chao gave a direct order: ”Surround the Su Mansion.”