Divine Emperor of Heavenly Destiny

A member of the Blood Sword Guard on the cliff to their right also sneered relentlessly...

”And here I thought this Azure Flame Sect disciple was supposed to be some big shot.”

”Looks like he’s just following a map to break the arrays. And it’s obvious he hasn’t even fully mastered the Soldier Dao Battle Arrays for the first seven floors.”

”Otherwise, he wouldn’t need to be cramming at the last minute.”

Clearly, in the eyes of Commander Ke and the Blood Sword Guard...

They believed Lu Chao had only gotten ahead of them and reached the 7th Floor so quickly because he had the first seven pages of the Nine Palace Array Atlas. Now that he had just entered the eighth floor, he was already pulling out the booklet to study it...

This had to mean that Lu Chao hadn’t even fully grasped the content of the first seven pages.

’What a piece of trash!’

They had no idea that Lu Chao had cleared the Illusion Realms of the first seven floors without consulting the Nine Palace Array Atlas at all. They were even more oblivious to the fact that Lu Chao had only just obtained the first seven pages of the Azure Flame Nine Palace Array Atlas from a skeleton on the 7th Floor.

Cheng Yunsu and Chang Yuan simply ignored the jeers from Commander Ke and the Blood Sword Guard, paying them no mind.

Cheng Yunsu even turned to Chang Yuan and his family, speaking in a low voice.

”They have no idea that Lu Chao and Marshal Fan figured out the Illusion Realms for the first seven floors on their own. Now that Lu Chao has a systematic Seven-Page Nine Palace Array Atlas, he’s bound to make enormous progress.”

”Lu Chao will definitely win!”

Chang Yuan nodded emphatically, his confidence in Lu Chao growing.

Then, they went back to ignoring the people on the cliffs to their left and right. They continued sorting through their various gains from the 7th Floor, all while trying to find something that could smash Chi Xingxun’s Storage Ring.

In front of the crowd...

There were still two misty portals, or perhaps two mirrors, through which they could watch the competition to break the arrays.

If Commander Ke were to step off the cliff now, a third misty mirror would appear. But he refused to move, determined to wait for Lu Chao to fail and be forced back to the 7th Floor.

「Inside the Illusory Battlefield where Lu Chao was...」

He couldn’t see Chi Xingxun’s progress. He still didn’t begin breaking the array. Instead, his consciousness delved into the first seven pages of the array atlas, constantly absorbing the Soldier Dao knowledge within.

Just as Cheng Yunsu had said, the array atlas contained a systematic teaching of the Soldier Dao.

’If my previous methods were self-taught and unrefined, I now have the perfect knowledge of the Azure Flame’s Soldier Dao for the first seven floors.’

’So that’s how you can solve the 6th Floor...’

’And you can arrange the troops and formations on the 7th Floor like this, too. If I’d had this earlier, my speed in clearing the 7th Floor would have been at least double, if not several times faster...’

’Incredible...’

’With this single maneuver, forty-nine Battle Arrays link together to form thousands of battle lines, leaving the enemy with nowhere to run.’

As these thoughts ran through his mind, Lu Chao absorbed the contents of the first seven pages like a sponge.

It was as if he had forgotten he was on the Illusory Battlefield of the eighth floor. Everything that was once unclear was becoming transparent, and the battles he had fought in the past resurfaced in his mind...

Combining his battlefield experience with his understanding from clearing the first seven floors, he began to improve at a frantic pace.

「Time passed...」

On the cliff to the right, one of the Blood Sword Guard stared at Chi Xingxun’s Illusory Battlefield and laughed heartily. ”The Young City Lord is incredible! It looks like he’s almost finished. I’d say he’ll be done in about an hour.”

A second member of the Blood Sword Guard looked toward Lu Chao and snickered, ”That Azure Flame Sect disciple still hasn’t moved. Don’t tell me he’s gotten lost in the Seven-Page Nine Palace Array Atlas and can’t find his way out?”

”He probably got stuck on a difficult point and is trying to figure it out,” a third chimed in.

Commander Ke also smiled nonchalantly. ”You two women had better prepare yourselves to receive our Young City Lord’s favor.”

He, too, was a Soldier Dao expert and had even studied the final two pages of the Nine Palace Array Map. He had no worries whatsoever about the Young City Lord losing. The Azure Flame Sect disciple wasn’t even trying to break the array—how could the Young City Lord possibly be defeated?

Chang Yuan and his family, however, lost the confidence they had just moments before. They looked at Cheng Yunsu in a panic.

But Cheng Yunsu’s expression remained resolute.

”Don’t worry. The more patient Lu Chao is, the better his chances of victory...”

”We’ve sorted through everything from the storage rings on the 7th Floor. There are a lot of complete secret manuals, but nothing that can smash Young City Lord Red Sword’s Storage Ring.”

Indeed, they had sorted through quite a few of the Azure Flame Sect’s secret manuals, and they were complete, not the usual Fragmented Classics.

Because they had been kept inside Storage Rings, many items had not been eroded by time. But whether it was the Swords or any of the other Weapons inside, none of them could so much as scratch Chi Xingxun’s Storage Ring.

Just then, another member of the Blood Sword Guard spoke up...

”Pathetic insects. You want to smash our Young City Lord’s treasured Storage Ring? You’d need a treasure even more powerful than his to have a chance. For a bunch of country bumpkins from the Azure Flame Domain like you, it’s impossible...”

The Blood Sword Guard had, of course, seen Cheng Yunsu repeatedly trying to smash their Young City Lord’s Storage Ring.

So they couldn’t resist taunting her again.

Hearing this, Cheng Yunsu’s entire body trembled slightly. Her gaze slowly drifted to the bracelet on her wrist.

Just then, Little Chang Duan suddenly cried out, ”Uncle Lu Chao is starting!”

At the sound of his voice, Cheng Yunsu quickly tore her eyes away and looked back at Lu Chao’s Illusory Battlefield. She saw her husband finally put away the Seven-Page Nine Palace Array Atlas and flash into the battlefield proper...

He was beginning to break the array.

The members of the Blood Sword Guard couldn’t help but burst into laughter again. ”He’s finally starting. Break the eighth floor in an hour? In his dreams.”

As they had said, their Young City Lord only needed about an hour more.

However, fifteen minutes later...

Commander Ke’s previously relaxed and carefree expression froze. He cried out in shock, ”Impossible! He clearly hasn’t seen the eighth page of the Array Map, so how can he be using the formation techniques from it?”

Thirty minutes later...

”He’s already halfway done? How can he be this fast?” Commander Ke’s stiff expression slowly morphed into one of disbelief.

But one of the Blood Sword Guard shouted, ”Don’t worry! He’s just fast at the beginning. It’s bound to get more and more complex later on.”

And it was true; the latter half would surely be more complex.

But to their disappointment, Lu Chao’s pace didn’t slow in the slightest. The once-chaotic Illusory Battlefield was becoming more and more orderly.

Finally, as Lu Chao’s progress became increasingly smooth...

Commander Ke finally began to panic. He couldn’t help but say, ”This is bad. The Young City Lord probably isn’t going to win. I have to start breaking the array as well... As soon as that Azure Flame disciple is done, he’ll definitely head straight for the 9th Floor.”

”We have to catch up to him on the 9th Floor.”

With that, Commander Ke, all his earlier nonchalance gone, leaped from the cliff.

A third Illusory Battlefield appeared!

And not long after Commander Ke began, the Illusory Battlefield where Lu Chao was located was completely solved and broken. In the eyes of Cheng Yunsu and the others, he was just a single step ahead of Chi Xingxun.

That was right. Chi Xingxun was also about to finish, but he was just that little bit slower than Lu Chao.

Under the excited gazes of Cheng Yunsu and the others, suddenly... VMMMM!

A white light struck the four of them, and they instantly vanished from the cliff. Now that Lu Chao had completed the trial, the people he had brought in naturally had to leave the Illusory Battlefield with him.