They also understood why that group of ancestors from the Azure Flame Sect who had ventured out two hundred years ago had died in the outside world.
After a moment of thought, Lu Chao immediately asked, "So the Cyan Sword Great Empire isn’t invading just because the Azure Flame Sect was destroyed?"
In response, Yan Mu gave Lu Chao a strange look...
"No. What the hell do we care if the Azure Flame Sect is destroyed or not?"
"Once the prohibition is lifted, we can invade your Azure Flame Domain. The Green Bone Palace won’t interfere."
HISS...
Yin Ye, Sun Shijin, Dongfang Ren, and the others who understood the situation couldn’t help but gasp.
So re-establishing the Azure Flame Sect wasn’t going to stop the Cyan Sword Great Empire from invading after all.
How could the current Azure Flame Domain possibly fend off an invasion from the Cyan Sword Great Empire? There was no way they could stop them.
The disparity... it was simply too vast...
At that moment, Yin Ye couldn’t hold back and blurted out, "Is there any way to keep the Cyan Sword Great Empire from invading?"
Yan Mu gave Yin Ye another strange look and replied, "How would I know?"
"If you don’t know, then you die." Yin Ye seized Yan Mu by the neck, radiating killing intent.
Instantly, Yan Mu was once again scared half to death.
He hurriedly shrieked, "There’s only one way! Get the Green Bone Palace to issue another prohibition! But you people can’t possibly contact the Green Bone Palace! You’re just a bunch of ignorant hicks! The Azure Flame Sect is already a ruin!"
Hearing this, Yin Ye retreated again. His expression shifted erratically, and for a moment, he was at a complete loss.
Everyone who heard Yan Mu’s words swallowed hard.
But then, Yan Mu’s pampered-young-master syndrome flared up again. He declared arrogantly, "You people can’t possibly stop us. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll be my dogs. Do that, and I might spare your pathetic lives after the war."
Everyone exchanged glances, still utterly at a loss.
At that moment, Sun Shijin couldn’t help but ask in a low voice, finding the words difficult to say, "If your Cyan Sword Great Empire occupies the Azure Flame Domain... what will become of the people here?"
Hearing this, Yan Mu replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world...
"Do you even have to ask?"
"The strong will become our dogs, the commoners will become our slaves. The Cyan Sword Great Empire is in desperate need of slaves right now."
Anyone else in his position might not have said such a thing...
After all, his life was in their hands. But Yan Mu was a young master who had been spoiled rotten since childhood; he saw nothing wrong with anything he said.
Everyone exchanged glances as a chill seemed to rise from the ground beneath their feet.
Lu Chao replied, enunciating every word, "There is no chance of getting lucky. We cannot hope for the enemy’s mercy. The only path is to fight!"
At his words, Yin Ye and the others shut their eyes tightly. They would rather die standing than live on their knees as dogs.
Without another word, Lu Chao gripped Yan Mu and accelerated forward.
Unconsciously, every one of them was now steeled with the resolve to fight to the death.
Behind them, the Sword-Winged Ice Wolves continued their pursuit...
Black-armored Niu Dong roared incessantly at Lu Chao and his men.
Lu Chao’s gaze was ice-cold. Slowly, the Hundred Countries Army came into view.
Staring at the vast Hundred Countries Army, Niu Dong and his men prepared to attack. Niu Dong roared madly, "I don’t believe it! I don’t believe you, you bumpkin, would actually dare to sacrifice the lives of your own comrades."
’If I can’t rescue the young master now,’ Niu Dong thought, ’I’m a dead man when I get back. I’ll be executed for sure.’
’I might as well risk it all and go for a ruthless play...’
’If this hick Lu Chao still cares about the lives of his subordinates and friends, he’ll have no choice but to return the young master.’
’If the young master is killed, we die. If we fail to rescue the young master, we also die...’
’Our only chance of survival is to rescue the young master right now.’
To put it bluntly...
Niu Dong was going to attack with the Sword-Winged Ice Wolves. He would ignore Lu Chao’s threats involving their young master and just go on a desperate, murderous rampage.
He had to charge down and save him before the enemy could rendezvous with the Hundred Countries’ Armies.
And so, Niu Dong and his men, riding their Sword-Winged Ice Wolves, dove down thunderously, charging right at Lu Chao’s thousands of cavalrymen.
All the cavalrymen turned in unison, nocked their arrows, and prepared to fire...
But suddenly, Lu Chao barked, "All of you, stop! Do not fire!"
Everyone froze. Then, Lu Chao stepped back with Yan Mu in his grip. Gazing at the descending Sword-Winged Ice Wolves, he abruptly tossed Yan Mu into the air, throwing him directly at Niu Dong and his men.
The entire scene left everyone stunned. Why would Lu Chao release the hostage at a time like this?
Even Niu Dong himself hadn’t expected it...
He reacted in an instant, however, catching Yan Mu and quickly tossing him to his subordinates for medical attention. He then fixed Lu Chao with a deathly stare.
"You hick, do you think just because you released our young master..."
RUMBLE...
Before Niu Dong could finish his sentence, the hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the Hundred Countries’ Armies had assembled behind Lu Chao.
Lu Chao stared coldly at Niu Dong and replied in a heavy voice, "I’ve returned your man to you. If you don’t get lost now, my armies will open fire."
As he said this, Lu Chao slightly raised his hand. Nearly every one of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers raised the Bow and Arrow in their hands, aiming at the flying Sword-Winged Ice Wolves. Under the guidance of Lu Chao’s Dragon General Bone, a powerful momentum surged toward the heavens.
Niu Dong’s gaze froze, and the words caught in his throat.
Finally, he had the Sword-Winged Ice Wolves retreat higher into the sky...
His cold voice drifted down, "Little hick from the Azure Flame Domain. You’re Lu Chao, right? I’ve memorized your name. When our young master invades, your entire family will die without a proper burial."
With that said, the Sword-Winged Ice Wolves flew high into the sky and disappeared. They didn’t linger for even a moment, as it seemed treating their Young Master Yan Mu was of the utmost importance.
Everyone let out a long sigh of relief, but their gazes immediately turned to Lu Chao.
Dean Jiang couldn’t help but ask, "Why did you let Yan Mu go? With such an important hostage, we should have had an opportunity to negotiate."
At that moment, Lu Chao’s eyes were filled with frost...
But Yin Ye had already stepped forward to answer, "An incompetent fool as their Supreme Commander is far easier to deal with than a real general sent by the Cyan Sword Great Empire. This buys us more time to find a path to survival for the Azure Flame Domain."
This was precisely Lu Chao’s reason for releasing Yan Mu.
After speaking, Yin Ye stared deeply at Lu Chao for a moment before giving a firm order, "All students of the Dragon Flame Academy, follow me! We’re taking a detour to the temporary town for the Three-Academy Competition. We have to hurry and save our people now."
It was just as Lu Chao had said earlier...
Lu Dingtian would surely try to kill everyone to silence them. Now that the issue with Yan Mu was resolved, they had to go and rescue the others immediately.
And just like that...
The entire Dragon Flame Academy, along with experts like Dongfang Ren, took the detour and charged toward the temporary town.
The ones remaining by Lu Chao’s side were the Hundred Countries’ Armies and the various junior deans. He finally spoke, "Lu Dingtian and Nan Zhuiming are catching up. Charge with me... We’ll kill as many of them as we can."
At his command, Lu Chao led the junior deans and over ten thousand cavalrymen in a direct charge toward the temporary town, taking no detours.
...
Meanwhile, Lu Dingtian was leading a group of experts at the True Fate Realm and above, rushing directly toward them...
They were still trying to figure out how to rescue Yan Mu from Lu Chao’s hands.
But just at that moment, they saw a cloud of dust filling the sky in the distance, accompanied by the thunder of galloping hooves. They all came to an abrupt halt.
Zeng Quan asked frantically, "What’s happening?"