Divine Emperor of Heavenly Destiny

After he finished speaking, however, Marquis Longyin didn’t explain to his subordinates what Yin Ye had said.

It was because of those words that the Dragon Flame King had decided to send him here. And it was because of those words that the Dragon Flame King was determined to support Dragon Flame Academy. What Yin Ye had said was...

”The Fake Lu Chao’s Soldier Dao is hardly any weaker than Fan Changcun’s. He is the true supreme commander behind the Chaotic Hundred Countries.”

When Marquis Longyin had first heard this, he hadn’t believed it at all. But Yin Ye wasn’t audacious enough to deceive his king.

He could only believe it!

’The Fake Lu Chao is so young, yet his skill in the Soldier Dao is so formidable. His future is truly limitless.’

The Six Great Flame Countries and a host of Small Kingdoms had to hold out against the Great Wu Empire, while the Dragon Flame Kingdom was left to face the Nanye Dynasty almost entirely on its own.

’A powerful Supreme Commander of the Soldier Dao is just too important—far too important.’

”However, we can only ensure he doesn’t face any gross unfairness. For everything else, he’ll have to rely on himself.”

”We can’t let the Saint Bone Zheng Family feel that the Dragon Flame King is showing too much favoritism toward Dragon Flame Academy.”

At this, Marquis Longyin waved his hand, signaling his men to take away the injured from Wind Wolf Academy and depart.

「As they left...」

Marquis Longyin couldn’t help but mutter to himself, ’With such skill in the Soldier Dao, is the Fake Lu Chao really a fake? Brother Wang said the Heavenly Destiny Bones of the real and fake Lu Chaos don’t match at all... Could it be that everyone named Lu Chao is a Military Genius?’

「Elsewhere...」

Lu Chao, of course, had no idea that he had a patron in the form of Marquis Longyin.

They followed the route on the map, drawing ever closer to the finish line. The rest of the journey was uneventful.

However, just as they were about to arrive, they found twenty teams standing on the mountain path just before the finish line.

Most of these teams were comprised of students from the powerful academies of the Seven Great Flame Countries.

Among them were Weihu Academy, who they’d encountered at the start of the first trial, and Yan Jun’s Wind Wolf Academy. Of course, the Dragon Flame Kingdom’s second-strongest academy after Celestial King Academy was also present...

Just then, another academy team from a Small Kingdom was ahead of Lu Chao’s group.

They were the first to be stopped.

A student from the Little Kingdom Academy asked, his voice trembling, ”What are you doing? Why are you stopped here instead of going to the finish line?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Yan Jun from Wind Wolf Academy took a heavy step forward.

He squinted, a smirk on his face. ”You’re from Mad Snow Academy of the Mad Snow Country, aren’t you?”

”Haha, sixty academies can pass this first trial, and we’ll be the ones to decide who they are. If you from Mad Snow Academy want to reach the finish line, that’s fine. Just leave behind your... toll.”

Hearing this, the students of Mad Snow Academy were stunned.

Their lead disciple stepped forward and asked, ”What kind of toll... do you want?”

「At the same time...」

Lu Chao had already signaled for the Dragon Flame Academy students to duck into the nearby woods, keeping their arrival hidden from Yan Jun and his group.

Yan Jun kept his gaze on the Mad Snow Academy students, a smile spreading across his face as he spoke.

”Don’t worry, we won’t ask for too much.”

”Just leave all your Weapons and Elixir Pills behind.”

The students from Mad Snow Academy gaped, staring at Yan Jun in disbelief before looking at the other students from the major academies.

The Mad Snow lead disciple asked again, ”Without Weapons and Elixir Pills, how are we supposed to compete in the second trial?”

Yan Jun laughed, and nearly all the students from the blockading academies laughed with him.

Another tall young man, this one from Weihu Academy, stomped forward. He looked down on them condescendingly.

”What’s the point of having so many trials for this placement battle?”

”It’s too much trouble. So, we’ve decided to settle all twenty spots right here in the first trial. Useless Little Kingdom Academies like yours aren’t qualified to enter the Beast Flame Academy anyway.”

”So of course, you won’t have to worry about the second trial.”

The expressions of the Mad Snow Academy students changed in unison. They stared in disbelief at the crowd before them.

A young woman from one of the Fox Flame Kingdom’s academies stepped out, giggling. ”But don’t you worry. As long as you do as we say, you Innate Students still have a chance to enter Beast Flame Academy.”

”When the time comes, you can just join one of our Outer Courtyards.”

Her meaning was clear...

Mad Snow Academy as a whole was not qualified to become an Outer Courtyard, but they, as individuals, could be. They could switch academies to get into Beast Flame. When the time came, they could pick any of the twenty Outer Courtyards.

At that, an impulsive student from Mad Snow couldn’t help but roar, ”By what right?”

A second student chimed in, ”Exactly! The competition for Beast Flame Academy was supposed to be open to all academies of the Hundred Countries! Your Seven Great Flame Countries already occupy the seven Inner Courtyards. By what right do you get to claim the Beast Flame Outer Courtyards as well?”

This was blatant bullying. They had been promised a fair chance to compete, even for academies from Small Kingdoms.

But now, the powerful academies blocking their path were all from the Seven Great Flame Countries. They were furious.

But Yan Jun just retorted, ”Who said they’re all from the Seven Great Flame Countries? Isn’t Zhongyue Academy from the Zhongyue Kingdom right here with us?”

As he spoke, he pointed to one of the academies in the blockade.

The Zhongyue Kingdom was the strongest kingdom after the Seven Great Flame Countries, which was why they were deemed worthy of becoming a Beast Flame Outer Courtyard.

In short, they were the ones making the rules now.

The Small Kingdom Academies that lacked strength were simply ganged up on and excluded.

”As for ’by what right’?” Yan Jun added forcefully. ”The right is that if we don’t move, you don’t pass.”

The tall student from Weihu Academy added, ”Make your choice. If you resist, our twenty Outer Courtyards won’t accept any of you. Then, even if you beg on your hands and knees, we won’t take a single one of you.”

The faces of the Mad Snow students flushed red with anger and humiliation.

They looked toward the distant finish line, where a few groups of people were already standing.

Those people were empty-handed; they must be from the other Small Kingdom Academies that had already compromised with the blockade.

’Do we have to compromise, too?’

The Mad Snow Academy students clenched and unclenched their fists, momentarily at a loss for what to do.

Yan Jun and his cronies weren’t in any hurry. They simply stood there, smiling at them.

「In the woods nearby...」

”Senior Brother Lu Chao, what should we do?” Jiang Yu asked, her face pale.

The other Small Kingdom Academies could lay down their Weapons and compromise to get past, but Dragon Flame Academy couldn’t. They would never get past Yan Jun, and all the academies of the Seven Great Flame Countries would want to crush them.

Besides, compromise wasn’t an option for them.

But with only ten of them, they had no hope of breaking through a blockade of twenty powerful academies.

Lu Chao slowly retracted his gaze, a slight smirk playing on his lips. ”We made it to about thirtieth place. Judging by the number of people and the uniforms at the finish line, not all of the Small Kingdom Academies have compromised.”

”In other words, some have resisted.”

”They left without compromising, so they must all be hiding somewhere in this forest.”

There were about a hundred people at the finish line.

Judging by the uniforms, about four Small Kingdom Academies had surrendered their Weapons. The blockade was made up of twenty academies, which accounted for twenty-four total. Since Lu Chao’s group was fast enough to reach around thirtieth place...

...that meant there were five other Small Kingdom Academies that hadn’t compromised. They weren’t anywhere in sight, so they had to be in the forest.

”Let’s go. We’ll find those five academies that want to fight back.”

”Let’s see if they have the courage to band together and smash through these twenty so-called ’blockaders’.”