Divine Emperor of Heavenly Destiny

The entire arena fell silent at Lu Dingtian’s announcement of the rules.

It was the Great Wu Empire’s turn to set the battlefield for this Three-Academy Battle, which meant they also set the rules. And these rules were different from any battle before.

This time, Lu Dingtian had declared an all-out battle royale on the arena stage.

Moreover, no one was allowed to surrender for the first fifteen minutes. In other words, people were guaranteed to die.

After the initial shock, everyone’s gazes fell upon Lu Chao and the members of the Beast Flame Outer Courtyard. If people were going to die, it would surely be them. After all, who was it that had mortally offended the other two great powers?

Suddenly, someone added in a low voice, ”You mean he’s offended three great powers. Don’t forget the Beast Flame Inner Courtyard.”

Besides Great Wu and the Nanye Dynasty, the Beast Flame Inner Courtyard also wanted Lu Chao dead!

At that moment, Lu Dingtian suddenly boomed again...

”Everyone, return to your original positions! Then, all students from the three academies, get on the stage!”

With that, Lu Dingtian flashed away, landing on a high platform reserved for him.

After him, the Second Prince of Great Wu, Wu Zhiqiu, stared intently at Lu Chao for a few moments before returning to his own high platform. Then, Nan Zhuiming, Wu Tong, Wu Ye, and all the other important dignitaries landed on their platforms as well.

”Up on the stage! Let’s kill the Fake Lu Chao!”

Lu Hanyang declared grimly. With a wave of his hand, he led all the participating students from the Great Wu Imperial Academy onto the stage. The platform was already divided into three sections, and they took their place in the area designated for the Great Wu Imperial Academy.

The Nanye Royal Academy, led by Nan Ke, also stepped onto the stage.

In the blink of an eye, only the Beast Flame Academy from the Hundred Countries was left. Meanwhile, Zheng Liling and Zeng Quan had yet to ascend to the viewing platforms.

THUD...

Zeng Quan took a heavy step forward and announced, ”Lu Chao, I am the head dean of Beast Flame Academy. I hereby declare that your Beast Flame Outer Courtyard is limited to twelve participants. Choose your team.”

As he finished speaking, Zheng Liling grinned sinisterly. The three surviving deans, including the head of the Beast Flame Tiger Institute, also broke into wicked smiles.

Even now, they were still trying to assert their authority over Beast Flame Academy.

’We’ll give you twelve spots and see how twelve of you can possibly withstand a siege from over three hundred people. We’ll make you despair from the very beginning. Let’s see if you dare to refuse...’

’If you don’t, we’ll immediately join forces with Lu Dingtian and Nan Zhuiming to annihilate you completely.’

’Or, as they would put it, let them come out and ”uphold justice.”’

Just as they expected, Sun Shijin stepped forward forcefully. ”Ridiculous! Does the Beast Flame Inner Courtyard even exist anymore? I dare you to try setting foot in Beast Flame Academy again!”

The current Beast Flame Academy was under the complete control of the Dragon Flame Kingdom. A so-called ”head dean” like Zeng Quan couldn’t even dream of setting foot inside.

To put it bluntly, their authority existed in name only.

But Lu Dingtian just snorted coldly and retorted, ”Before this Three-Academy Battle began, we held a council of the three academies. We have already recognized Zeng Quan as the head dean. Naturally, his word is final.”

Nan Zhuiming also nodded grimly, affirming that they only recognized Zeng Quan as the head dean of Beast Flame.

The two men even went so far as to say that if Zeng Quan were to expel Lu Chao with a single command, they would bar him from participating in the Three-Academy Battle.

It was sheer tyranny, a complete, united front against him.

Faced with this, Sun Shijin, Dean Jiang, and the others looked like they wanted to argue further...

But Lu Chao stopped them. He spoke calmly, ”Twelve it is. We’re going onto the stage.”

Lu Chao had actually agreed!

Neither Lu Dingtian, Nan Zhuiming, Zheng Liling, nor Zeng Quan could believe it. They had expected to haggle and eventually be forced to give the Beast Flame Outer Courtyard more spots.

They never imagined Lu Chao would be so agreeable.

And so, the crowd watched as Lu Chao and the other eleven Dragon Flame Students ascended the stage, taking their place in the area designated for Beast Flame Academy.

Dean Jiang couldn’t help but cry out, ”Lu Chao...”

”Don’t worry. We fought our way through the qualifiers for the Beast Flame spots just like this,” Lu Chao said gently, facing Dean Jiang and the others.

During the qualifiers, there had been ten students from Dragon Flame Academy. Now they had two more: Cheng Yunsu and Wu Caicai.

But Dean Jiang and the others were still incredibly worried. The qualifiers couldn’t be compared to this Three-Academy Battle. Their opponents now were the strongest geniuses in the entire region.

Any other set of rules might have been manageable, but a battle royale with no surrender allowed was something they hadn’t anticipated.

But at that moment...

Lu Chao had already closed his eyes. His consciousness entered his Bone Inner World. He was about to begin devouring a Star Heavenly Destiny Bone.

Ever since breaking through to the Transformation Realm, Lu Chao hadn’t devoured a single Star Heavenly Destiny Bone.

At his current level, he could already absorb at least two. The reason he hadn’t done so earlier was that in the early-stage Transformation Realm, he hadn’t been able to see enough Star Heavenly Destiny Divine Bones in the distant sky.

There simply weren’t enough for him to choose from.

But now, he was at the peak of the Fifth Layer of the Transformation Realm and could see over twenty Star Heavenly Destiny Bones in the far-off expanse.

’The reason I held off on devouring one was that I wanted to see the rules for the Three-Academy Battle first.’

’Now that the rules are out, I’ll devour the Star Heavenly Destiny Bone best suited to them.’

Lu Chao murmured to himself within his Bone Inner World. His gaze fell upon the twenty-some Star Heavenly Destiny Bones in the distance, and without hesitation, he made his choice. ”Star Divine Bone, come down!”

That’s right. It was the Violent Bone.

The bone Lu Dingtian had gouged from him was the Heavenly Destiny Violent Saint Bone. Now, Lu Chao was going to devour something he was intimately familiar with. The only difference was that all the Star Heavenly Destiny Bones in the distant sky were Divine Bones, making them even more powerful than his original.

WHOOSH...

The Star Violent Divine Bone descended, merging with the very earth of his Bone Inner World.

The devouring and fusion began!

Meanwhile, Dean Jiang, Yu Fei, and the others were still fraught with worry.

But Luo Wendeng answered calmly in Lu Chao’s stead, ”Everyone, Brother Lu Chao has always said that we are here to beat everyone into submission.”

Hearing this, the people from the Beast Flame Outer Courtyard and the Dragon Flame Kingdom trembled.

Beating everyone into submission—that was the core of Lu Chao’s philosophy, all the way from Jilong State in the Dragon Flame Kingdom until now.

”Hahaha...”

Just then, Zheng Zhuhe’s booming laughter suddenly erupted...

He soared onto the stage, leading all ninety-six students of the Beast Flame Inner Courtyard with him. These were the geniuses from the Six Great Flame Countries, and among them, naturally, was Wu Yiyi of the Lion Institute.

Zheng Zhuhe roared with laughter. ”Beat everyone into submission? You’re dreaming.”

At his command, the ninety-six students immediately surrounded Lu Chao’s group of twelve.

Both the Inner and Outer Courtyards were technically students of Beast Flame Academy...

So, of course, Zheng Zhuhe and his group landed in the area designated for Beast Flame Academy, allowing them to completely surround Lu Chao’s party of twelve before the battle had even started.

This scene...

...caused Wu Fenyu, who stood beside Wu Ying, to look on with worry. Her junior brother, Iron Shield, was on that stage.

Wu Fenyu couldn’t help but murmur, ”The Three-Academy Battle has somehow turned into Dragon Flame Academy against the world.”

At this moment, even Yin Ye’s expression was grim.

His heart pounded in his chest. The Dragon Flame Academy of the Dragon Flame Kingdom was pitted against two great empires and the geniuses of the Six Great Flame Countries.

No, it was the geniuses of the Seven Great Flame Countries, because one must not forget the Celestial King Academy of Dragon Flame.