Divine Emperor of Heavenly Destiny

That’s right. Every mask shop in the city had been completely plundered.

Just as the shopkeepers were about to curse out the Fake Lu Chao’s departing troops, they discovered a bag of money had been left in their shops.

The owners of the small shops were utterly bewildered...

They had no idea why the Fake Lu Chao’s troops would steal their masks, nor why they would leave money behind.

In any case, they all scurried back into their shops to wait for the conflict to pass.

Outside the city, Lu Chao led his troops, advancing at high speed under the cover of night.

The troops were flanked on both sides by a forest.

Suddenly... ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

Innumerable cries of birds and beasts erupted from the forest, as if a large group of people was hidden within. The soldiers drew their Weapons and glanced to their flanks, going on high alert.

Immediately, countless birds, beasts, and small Demon Beasts charged madly out of the woods.

”Ambush! It’s an ambush!”

”Protect General Lu Chao! Quickly!”

The troops seemed to descend into chaos. With such a huge number of birds and beasts, they feared a large enemy force lay in ambush within the forest.

However... SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Dozens of black-clad figures suddenly shot out from amidst the chaotic swarm of birds and beasts.

One of the figures, moving like a phantom, charged toward the heavily protected Lu Chao, closing the distance in an instant...

At that moment, the Fake Lu Chao in the assassin’s eyes was still wearing the mask of Great Wu Lu Chao.

A smirk formed on the assassin’s lips beneath his black mask. ”Fake Lu Chao, your life is mine.”

The words had barely left his mouth when the assassin slashed his sword toward Lu Chao... SQUELCH!

A head, still wearing the mask, flew high into the air.

The assassin caught it, then held the severed head high. He laughed boisterously, ”Fake Lu Chao, you’re finally dead! You damn bastard, you died so easily.”

As he spoke, the dozens of other black-clad figures closed in, one by one... hehehehe.

They let out sinister, terrifying laughter.

The assassin didn’t leave immediately, however. ’With the enemy commander, the Fake Lu Chao, dead, the troops are sure to fall into disarray,’ he thought. ’Under the cover of night, escaping will be laughably easy for someone of my cultivation level.’

Staring at Lu Chao’s head, the assassin sneered, ”I am Dean Lion of the Lion Institute. My Lion King Technique stirred the birds and beasts into a chaotic stampede. Killing a little brat like you was child’s play...”

”Now, let’s see the look on your face before you died.”

With that, Dean Lion reached out, grabbed the mask, and ripped it off.

As he tore it away, the mask shattered...

Dean Lion couldn’t help but complain, ”The quality of this mask is so damn poor. It’s like some piece of trash sold on the side of the road.”

As he spoke, he looked down at the face...

He was doing this on purpose. Ever since the competition for spots at the Beast Flame Outer Courtyard, he’d been miserably bottling up his frustrations. Not only had he been shot by an arrow, he’d also been slapped by the Lion Flame King. He was about to explode with rage.

Now that he had finally gotten rid of that troublemaker, the Fake Lu Chao, he was determined to savor the moment.

However, when he got a clear look at the face, the expression under his own black mask froze. The face on the severed head wasn’t the Fake Lu Chao at all—it was clearly a middle-aged man.

He recognized the face. It seemed to be the City Lord from the city they had just passed.

In that instant, the hair on Dean Lion’s body stood on end.

Seeing this, another black-clad assassin shrieked, ”This is bad! It’s a trap! Let’s get out of here!”

Despite the assassin’s warning, Dean Lion roared, ”Don’t panic! We’re not leaving! My Lion King Technique can keep the beasts charging. We still have a chance! Find the Fake Lu Chao for me!”

He refused to accept this. With his and his subordinates’ power, they still had a chance to kill the Fake Lu Chao.

Their cultivation levels also gave them a decent chance of escaping under the cover of the beasts. In short, Dean Lion was determined to kill the Fake Lu Chao.

But when Dean Lion finished speaking and looked up to find Lu Chao, he was stunned once more.

He saw Lu Chao’s troops, who had been thrown into some disarray by the beasts, all look up at him. Then, his gaze swept across them, and he saw nothing but a sea of goddamn masks. Every single one of them was wearing a mask.

However, they weren’t all the mask of Great Wu Lu Chao. There were all sorts of masks.

In that instant, under the dark night sky, Dean Lion and his men felt a wave of dizziness. How could they possibly find Lu Chao now?

”Go! Now!”

With no way to find Lu Chao and no target, Dean Lion could only order a frantic retreat. And just like that, at his command, all the black-clad assassins scrambled into the forest.

The next moment, Lu Chao’s voice finally boomed through the night. ”On my command! Volley!”

WHIZZZ...

Countless arrows streamed toward Dean Lion and his men.

At the same time, Lu Chao issued another heavy command, ”All masked men, follow me! We’ll circle around to the front and cut off Dean Lion!”

With that... THUMP THUMP THUMP!

Warhorses charged forth, and all the masked men followed Lu Chao closely, plunging into the forest.

The unmasked troops in the rear continued to fire volleys of arrows in Dean Lion’s direction. Agonized screams echoed through the forest as Dean Lion’s men were shot down one by one.

「An hour later...」

Inside the forest, Dean Lion fled frantically with a dozen or so remaining men.

Just then, the thunder of hooves suddenly erupted ahead. Lu Chao and his masked elites blocked the fleeing Dean Lion’s path. The Dean, who had already been struck by an arrow, saw this and could only turn to flee frantically in the other direction.

Dean Lion cursed under his breath, ”Damn it! Damn it all to hell...”

「Thirty minutes later...」

The unmasked troops chasing from behind caught up to Dean Lion, blocking his path and surrounding him.

Many of them still had their bows drawn and aimed at Dean Lion’s group. If they dared to run again, they would become pincushions.

No matter how high their cultivation, they couldn’t withstand a torrent of countless arrows.

Dean Lion wanted to flee forward, but the sound of hooves echoed once more. They were completely surrounded.

Just then, a man wearing a lion mask strode out from among the masked elites. He slowly removed the mask and said, ”Dean Lion, I’m right here.”

The man in the lion mask was, of course, Lu Chao.

He gently crushed the lion mask in his hand, then continued, ”Dean Lion, you were right earlier. These masks really are from roadside shops. The craftsmanship is shoddy and the quality is terrible, but they’re quite useful.”

”I didn’t expect my mask to be so popular recently. A lot of little shops are selling them.”

Indeed. In the previous city, Lu Chao had managed to acquire a good number of masks that looked like his.

Ever since the incidents in Sword Tooth City of the Tiger Flame Kingdom and the Chaotic Hundred Countries, Lu Chao’s mask had indeed become a hot-selling item. Many in the Hundred Countries made knockoffs, and some people there even considered him a hero.

Of course, some children also bought his mask to play the villain in their games.

To the Hundred Countries, Great Wu Lu Chao was, of course, the villain.

In any case, Lu Chao hadn’t prepared a second mask for himself, but he had managed to buy one in the city they just passed through.

Thus, he executed a grand deception and trapped Dean Lion like a turtle in a jar.