Divine Emperor of Heavenly Destiny

In an instant, all three deans agreed to Zheng Liling’s demands.

”Ha, hahaha...”

Zheng Liling roared with laughter. He personally helped each dean to their feet, then declared, ”At the Three Academies’ Tournament, we will slaughter that Fake Lu Chao! We’ll tear him limb from limb!”

As he spoke, Zheng Liling’s expression twisted, and he began to grit his teeth. He, the dignified Patriarch of the Saint Bone Zheng Family, had been all but driven into a corner.

He, Zheng Liling, had employed countless arrangements, schemes, and plots. He had painstakingly laid the groundwork in the Dragon Flame Kingdom and the Six Great Flame Countries, only for some Fake Lu Chao to show his hand and tear it all to shreds.

Zheng Liling hated Lu Chao to his very bones.

...

Just as Zheng Liling was bringing the three deans under his control...

At that very moment, Lu Hanyan and her twelve Death Warriors were on their way back to the Great Wu Empire.

Suddenly, she received a message by carrier pigeon from Zheng Liling. She gritted her teeth and hissed, ”Fake Lu Chao... at the Three Academies’ Tournament, I will kill you.”

The letter Lu Hanyan received stated: The Three Flames Soldiers and Horses have been utterly defeated. The only remaining option is to kill the Fake Lu Chao during the Three Academies’ Tournament.

At that moment, one of the Death Warriors asked, ”Young Miss, there’s still no word from Patriarch Ming. Should we wait for him?”

A cold glint flashed in Lu Hanyan’s eyes. She replied dismissively, ”With Patriarch Ming’s strength, he could escape unscathed even if he ran into Dongfang Ren. There’s no need to worry about him. This is the territory of the Hundred Countries. We need to hurry back to Great Wu.”

After she spoke, Lu Hanyan glanced again toward the ruins of the Azure Flame Sect. Her mind was still filled with the image of the Fake Lu Chao outside the Forbidden Land.

His repeated calls of ”Little Sister Hanyan” echoed in her mind, leaving her agitated and unable to shake the memory.

’Fake Lu Chao, you must die.’

’Otherwise, you’ll become a demon in my heart. Even if you’re the Fierce Ghost of the real Lu Chao, I’ll just have to kill you a second time.’

Lu Hanyan’s beautiful face contorted. Finally, gritting her teeth, she departed with her twelve Death Warriors.

Next, she had to prepare for the Three Academies’ Tournament. She needed to break through to the True Fate Realm before it began.

...

Azure Flame Sect, the Forbidden Land!

Lu Chao, Cheng Yunsu, and Dongfang Ren had arrived.

Gazing at the deep, dark entrance to the Forbidden Land, Lu Chao made a quick assessment. ”There are no new signs of a fight. It looks like Ming Huasheng has either already left or is trapped inside. Let’s hurry in.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the three of them stepped into the first layer of the Barrier.

Beforehand, he had, of course, instructed Dongfang Ren to be ready for a fight at a moment’s notice.

He quickly broke through the first layer, then the second, the third, the fourth... In the space beyond the fourth layer, Lu Chao saw someone: the very same Tiger Flame expert who had previously been trapped on the 6th Floor.

This was the man who had been repeatedly screaming, ”I don’t believe it! I don’t believe it!” before Sun Shijin knocked him unconscious.

Later, because Lu Hanyan and Ming Huasheng had arrived...

At the time, Lu Chao’s group had simply left him there. Now, he was awake again, and though still weak, he spoke with a crazed look in his eyes, ”Fake Lu Chao! If you’ve got the guts, take me to the 6th Floor again!”

Lu Chao flashed forward and stared at the Tiger Flame expert. ”No problem. But you have to tell me, how is Elder Sun?”

Hearing this, the Tiger Flame expert broke into a wide grin. ”They were really something else...”

And so, the Tiger Flame expert began to recount the events to Lu Chao and the others.

When Fan Changcun and Sun Shijin returned to the space beyond the fourth layer, he had just woken up. At that very moment, Ming Huasheng was about to kill Sun Shijin, but the Tiger Flame expert suddenly lunged out and latched onto Ming Huasheng’s thigh...

This allowed Fan Changcun to successfully drag Ming Huasheng into the Illusion Realm of the 5th Floor.

Hearing this, Lu Chao was stunned. He asked, ”You... why did you grab Ming Huasheng’s thigh?”

The Tiger Flame expert grinned. ”Do you even need to ask? Because Ming Huasheng is an expert from the Great Wu Empire.”

Instantly, Lu Chao understood.

As a man from the Tiger Flame Kingdom, this expert assigned to monitor Marshal Fan hated the Great Wu Empire to his core. Now that his mind was on the verge of shattering, his first instinct was to cause trouble for anyone from the Great Wu Empire.

Thinking of this, Lu Chao let out a slight sigh of relief. At least Elder Sun had been safe before entering the 5th Floor.

”You grabbed Ming Huasheng’s thigh and actually managed to survive. You’re pretty lucky,” Lu Chao remarked softly.

The Tiger Flame expert chuckled again. ”I was about to die, but then Marquis Jilong, Yin Ye, showed up. He gave me some Elixir Pills and saved my life.”

At these words...

Lu Chao was stunned once more. He had only just realized that Marquis Yin Ye had also come to the Forbidden Land. He immediately recalled Dragon Flame Master Wang’s earlier warning; it seemed they had come here targeting Zheng Liling.

Lu Chao breathed another sigh of relief. With Yin Ye’s arrival, the danger to Elder Sun was even lower.

But then, Lu Chao muttered, ”Can Marquis Yin even break through the 5th Floor?”

Previously, Yin Ye had been completely unable to break through the 5th Floor. He might be trapped in the 5th Floor’s Illusion Realm right now.

Without another word, Lu Chao stepped into the Barrier of the 5th Floor, this time with the Tiger Flame expert joining his group.

When Lu Chao broke through the 5th Floor and emerged on the other side, his gaze froze once more...

Dongfang Ren stepped out and scanned his surroundings. ”There are traces of a battle here—the auras of Ming Huasheng, Yin Ye, and Sun Shijin. But they’re all gone now. They must have successfully entered the Barrier to the 6th Floor.”

After a brief pause, Dongfang Ren added, ”But it’s obvious that even with Yin Ye and Sun Shijin teaming up, they were still no match for Ming Huasheng.”

Lu Chao nodded slightly...

Several pools of blood were visible on the ground, likely left behind by Marquis Yin and Elder Sun.

”Marshal Fan must have deliberately lingered in the Illusion Realm to give Elder Sun time to recover from his injuries. Meanwhile, Marquis Yin must have broken through the formation quickly, successfully clearing the 5th Floor and catching up to the Marshal.”

Lu Chao continued his thoughts aloud, ”With Yin Ye’s Soldier Dao, he would normally never be able to catch up to Fan Changcun.”

”But Fan Changcun couldn’t just rush through every Illusion Realm, so by the time they reached the space beyond the 5th Floor, Yin Ye had caught up. That’s when he and Sun Shijin joined forces.”

”In the end, though, they still had to rely on Fan Changcun to pull everyone into the Illusion Realm of the 6th Floor.”

Taking a deep breath, Lu Chao said, ”Come on. Let’s enter the 6th Floor.”

And so, Lu Chao led everyone charging into the Barrier of the 6th Floor. A short while later, they emerged.

They had arrived in the space of the 6th Floor, an area filled with the skeletal remains of the Azure Flame ancestors.

Behind them, a Martial Arts Illusion Realm had already formed, blocking their path of retreat.

Lu Chao and Dongfang Ren ignored everything else, their eyes quickly scanning the area. Cheng Yunsu was the first to speak. ”There’s no one here. Could they have entered the seventh floor? No, that can’t be right. There are no signs of a battle...”

Indeed, there was no sign of Fan Changcun or his companions in the 6th-floor space, nor were there any traces of a fight.

So where had Fan Changcun’s group gone?

A jolt went through Lu Chao. He whipped his head around and exclaimed, ”They’re still inside the 6th Floor’s Illusion Realm! Marshal Fan is deliberately taking longer to break the illusion so that Elder Sun and Marquis Yin can rest and heal their wounds.”

”We got out faster than them... Huh? They’re coming out now!”