Divine Emperor of Heavenly Destiny

ROAR...

The tiger claw seemed to carry the explosive roar of a tiger, viciously shaking the martial arts arena in every direction. Lu Chao, of course, bore the brunt of it.

The tiger’s roar shook him as the claw tore through the air, aimed straight for Lu Chao’s face.

’Might of the Dragon General, Nu Long!’

Lu Chao roared inwardly. The power of the Dragon General countered Chang Yuan’s tiger roar, and his blood-stained spear swept out in a domineering, sharp slash, colliding heavily with Chang Yuan’s tiger claw.

THUD THUD THUD THUD...

In that instant, Lu Chao was forced back several steps, the long spear in his hand humming and trembling.

He praised wildly in his heart, ’Such powerful force! Such ferocious True Qi!’

But that was only a fleeting thought. In the next instant, he leaped sideways, twisting his body ninety degrees as he swept out with his spear.

In a flash... CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Just as he swept his spear, several blade shadows had already appeared where he had just retreated. The shadows were like massive, protruding tiger fangs, shredding the light from Lu Chao’s spear to pieces.

The next moment, Lu Chao came to a stop more than ten meters away, while Chang Yuan appeared where the blade shadows had just been swarming.

Chang Yuan gripped his greatsword and threw his head back, laughing wildly.

”Such quick reflexes! Such a powerful instinct for combat.”

”My apologies. The moment you put on that mask, I couldn’t help myself. I just had to try and kill you. Oh, how I want to kill the real Lu Chao.”

As he spoke, his entire body trembled—a shudder of absolute excitement.

Why apologize?

Because he couldn’t stop himself from charging out to kill. He had made his move the instant Lu Chao put on the mask. He was older than Lu Chao, his cultivation was higher, and it could be considered a sneak attack. Of course he had to apologize.

But Lu Chao’s voice came from under the mask, ”This was always a life-or-death battle. There’s no need to apologize. Let’s continue!”

Though he said that, Lu Chao was well aware of the three-layer gap in their cultivation. He could feel his True Qi being suppressed by Chang Yuan’s. The last two exchanges had made it abundantly clear: Chang Yuan’s Innate True Qi, honed for over a decade, was simply too strong!

’Looks like I really will have to force a breakthrough to the Innate Seven Stars. I need to get my Life-taking Star-devouring Bone to the Heavenly Bone Level.’

’If I want to force a breakthrough, it seems my only option is to devour an external Heavenly Bone!’

Lu Chao had only been at Beast Flame for a few days, and he had already broken through three layers. If he wanted to force another breakthrough now, he would need the help of Elixir Pills or other items, but he hadn’t prepared any.

In the middle of a battle, his only choice was to use other methods.

And that method was: devouring a Heavenly Bone!

He hadn’t forgotten that when he killed Lu Yan at the Cheng Mansion in Yangzhou, he had devoured her Wolf Fang Heavenly Bone and made progress.

Later, he devoured the Splitting Wind Wolf King Bone and the Sword Mountain Bone he obtained in the Chaotic Hundred Countries. He even fused the three Heavenly Bones to create an entirely new Meridian Map. After reaching the Innate realm, however, Lu Chao had not devoured any new Heavenly Bones.

According to Lu Chao’s current understanding, the rule for devouring external Destiny Bones was likely...

He could devour as many external Destiny Bones as the number of Star Heavenly Destiny Bones he had devoured within his Bone Inner World. Including the Star Fire Sparrow Bone, he had devoured a total of five Star Heavenly Destiny Bones, which meant he could devour five external ones.

In other words, Lu Chao could still devour two more external Destiny Bones. Doing so would surely help him force a breakthrough into the Innate Seventh Layer.

At this thought, Lu Chao kept his spear pointed at Chang Yuan.

With his other hand, he gripped a Heavenly Bone he kept tucked away. This was a Heavenly Bone Level Destiny Bone, also obtained during his time in the Chaotic Hundred Countries. Back then, he had held the kings of various small countries hostage to acquire several Heavenly Bones as spoils of war.

He had kept it on his person without devouring it rashly, but now, if he wanted to win, he had to.

’This is the Heavenly Destiny Cliff Bone. It doesn’t seem very compatible with the previous three Heavenly Bones, but it doesn’t matter anymore.’

’If it’s not compatible, I’ll just have to forge it until it is.’

With that, Lu Chao touched the Heavenly Destiny Cliff Bone directly with his hand. And then... BUZZ!

The Life-taking Star-devouring Bone vibrated slightly, emitting a dark glow, and the Heavenly Destiny Cliff Bone was devoured into his Bone Inner World, just like the previous three times.

Instantly, Lu Chao’s entire body shuddered. Within the lower space of his bone, there were now four Heavenly Bones.

A vicious surge of True Qi fed back into him, causing the True Qi he had just used to break through to the Innate Sixth Layer to rise even further.

It all happened in the blink of an eye. Lu Chao’s devouring of the Heavenly Destiny Cliff Bone, in fact, took but a moment.

Across from him, Chang Yuan’s voice rang out, ”Fake Lu Chao, you really are too much like the real Lu Chao! Take my Ten Thousand Tigers Blade Shadow!”

The current Lu Chao had no time to process the changes to his Life-taking Star-devouring Bone.

Chang Yuan’s killing blade was already upon him. The long spear in Lu Chao’s hand immediately burst forth with the Fire Sparrow Dance. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! The sounds exploded continuously in the center of the arena. The blade shadows were like fierce tigers charging down a mountain, blanketing the sky and covering the earth.

The flames of the Fire Sparrow from Lu Chao’s spear were constantly being shredded by the blade shadows, only to be constantly reborn.

The entire arena had long since fallen silent...

Chang Yuan’s sudden attack had ignited a tense mood throughout the audience.

Zeng Quan, the Dean of the Tiger Institute, and the others stared intently at the wildly attacking Chang Yuan. Gradually, Zeng Quan said, ”Chang Yuan has this in the bag.”

The Dean of the Wolf Institute said, ”This Fake Lu Chao’s talent for combat is truly terrifying. To think he wasn’t instantly killed while facing Chang Yuan.”

”Sometimes I really suspect he *is* the real Lu Chao,” the Dean of the Fox Institute couldn’t help but sigh.

The Dean of the Lion Institute nodded heavily.

”I often get that feeling too. If the real Lu Chao weren’t confirmed dead, if his Destiny Bone didn’t completely fail to match, and if the gap in their cultivation realms wasn’t so large, it would really make one wonder.”

”Regardless, he’s a dead man. This farce should be over.”

It was clearly a farce of their own making, a result of their insistence on suppressing Dragon Flame Academy. Yet they blamed Lu Chao for it. But that was simply how the upper echelons of Beast Flame thought.

If it weren’t for this Fake Lu Chao, they wouldn’t have been repeatedly humiliated, and they wouldn’t be losing favor with the people like this.

Meanwhile, Marquis Longyin found Dongfang Ren and said quickly, ”Elder Dongfang, be ready to intervene and save him at any moment.”

Dongfang Ren nodded. He too could see that Lu Chao had almost no chance of winning. He was already prepared.

Up in the stands, Sun Shijin said with a tremble, ”This is bad. Lu Chao is no match for Chang Yuan. It’s not a lack of combat experience, but the gap in their True Qi. Chang Yuan’s True Qi, honed for over a decade, is strong enough to kill many Transformation Realm experts.”

”What do we do? What do we do?” Dean Jiang, Fan Jinhua, and the others were frantic with worry.

Cheng Yunsu’s fists were clenched tightly. She tried with all her might to keep her heart from wavering, to maintain her absolute faith in Lu Chao.

Everyone in the stands was on edge, their bodies taut with tension...

The twenty University Institutes, as well as Zheng Zhuhe and Wu Yiyi, were also tense, but they were smiling, eagerly anticipating Lu Chao’s death.

Among the Small Institutes, the Dean of Sky Cliff sighed, ”It’s no use. He can’t win.”

Down in the martial arts arena...

Luo Wendeng and the others stared at the two combatants. ”It’s no good,” they said frantically. ”We can’t interfere. We can’t get involved at all.”