Spurt...

The sword’s tip precisely pierced Lu Yan’s chest, right where the Little Fire Sparrow was burning. Blood sprayed forth.

The scene seemed to freeze in that moment. Cheng Yunsu’s eyes widened in delight.

But... WHOOSH!

The burning Little Fire Sparrow abruptly vanished into smoke, and Lu Yan’s hand suddenly clamped down on the sword Lu Chao had plunged into her chest.

In an instant, the potent True Qi of the Transformation Realm surged back into Lu Yan’s body, becoming dense and substantial once more.

Lu Yan snapped her head up.

Blood trickled from her lips as she let out a sinister laugh. "Young Master Lu Chao, what a real shame. You’re merely at the Postnatal Sixth Layer. You’re too weak to truly ignite the seed of power the Marshal left inside my Heavenly Destiny Bone."

Just moments ago, Lu Yan had been terrified. Now, her face was twisted in a vicious sneer.

She broke into loud laughter once more...

"To think the once-great Great Martial Emperor Star is so weak now."

"Even knowing my greatest weakness, you’re still utterly powerless against me."

"The greatest genius the Death Warrior Camp had ever seen, the fearsome prodigy the Marshal himself adopted, the Young Master Lu Chao who made every last one of us Death Warriors jealous enough to burst... I’m finally going to crush you under my heel for real."

Lu Yan gripped the sword embedded in her chest, letting blood from her palm drip to the floor as she began to slowly pull it out.

Her voice was filled with triumphant glee.

Once upon a time, Lu Chao had been just a little beggar, plucked from the streets by Lu Dingtian’s men.

He was initially sent to the Death Warrior Camp. Lu Yan, being a few years older, was tasked with his training. But in a mere three years, Lu Chao’s terrifying talent had exploded forth, catching the eye of Lu Dingtian, who then adopted him.

On that day, everyone in the Death Warrior Camp was overcome with jealousy.

And so, Lu Yan went from calling Lu Chao ’little brother’ to calling him... Young Master.

Just over a month ago, Lu Yan had watched with her own eyes as Lu Chao’s bones were ground to dust, and her heart had soared with delight. Now, she had the chance to crush him underfoot herself.

It was a feeling that was simply too good to be true.

Yet, just as she was slowly extracting the sword, Lu Chao suddenly barked, "Star Devouring Bone! True Qi impact! Meridian separation!"

The words had barely left his lips when the triumphant look on Lu Yan’s face warped again, and her entire body trembled.

She couldn’t help but cry out, "What is this now?!"

Fear gripped her once more. It seemed Lu Chao still had some other hold over her. All at once, the flow within her meridians descended into chaos.

Lu Chao stared at her...

"For Lu Dingtian and his children to fuse with my Heavenly Destiny Saint Bone, they would have needed to experiment on living subjects. You were all part of those experiments, weren’t you?"

"On the battlefield, whenever Lu Dingtian killed an enemy who possessed a Heavenly Bone, he carved it out of them."

"He took those Heavenly Bones and used all of you as test subjects. He had the Death Warriors and the others try to fuse with even more powerful Heavenly Bones, allowing him to gradually master the technique. It was all practice so that he could successfully fuse with my Heavenly Destiny Saint Bone."

"Am I wrong?"

Lu Chao spoke quickly, but every word was perfectly clear.

Across from him, Lu Yan couldn’t contain her shock. "You... How do you know all this? It’s obvious that..."

Before Lu Yan could finish, Lu Chao cut her off sharply.

"’It’s obvious that Lu Dingtian kept me in the dark,’ right?"

"I didn’t know about it, it’s true. But now that he’s carved out my Heavenly Destiny Saint Bone, how could I not have figured it out?"

"What isn’t yours can never truly be yours."

"And a Heavenly Bone that was fused into your body can, of course, also be separated."

As he spoke, the True Qi from Lu Chao’s Star Devouring Bone pulsed violently toward Lu Yan’s Heavenly Bone. Using the Clear Eyes and Clear Wind Guide to perceive her meridian flows, he forcefully threw them into disarray.

His aim was to sever the fusion between the foreign Heavenly Bone and Lu Yan’s body.

The Heavenly Destiny Bone inside Lu Yan’s body had never belonged to her. If it could be fused, it could be stripped away.

"AHHHHHHH..."

Lu Yan screamed madly as the sound of grinding bone seemed to fill the air around her. She shrieked, "Get... out of me!"

At this moment, Lu Yan used every ounce of her strength to pull out the sword Lu Chao had left plunged in her chest.

Lu Chao was using the sword as a conduit for his True Qi. If she pulled it out, he would lose his advantage over her.

But how could Lu Chao possibly let Lu Yan succeed?

The True Qi throughout his body roared to life. He still had some of the Bone-Nourishing Spirit Pills he’d seized from the Qianling Trading Company. He quickly took one out and swallowed it.

BOOM... Postnatal Seventh Layer.

Lu Chao’s gaze was firm and resolute. If he couldn’t completely strip the Heavenly Bone from Lu Yan, both he and Cheng Yunsu would surely die.

The gap between their cultivation realms was simply too vast.

From the moment he’d told Wu Caicai to leave, every move Lu Chao made had been a desperate gamble.

He appeared calm, but he was walking on a knife’s edge with every step.

Furthermore, Lu Chao could not let Lu Yan leave the Cheng Mansion alive. If she did, Lu Hanyan would certainly come for them. What’s more, the Great Wu army currently engaged with the Hundred Countries would, upon a single order from Lu Dingtian, undoubtedly turn around and besiege them near Yangzhou City.

As long as he, Lu Chao, was alive, he was a target of immense importance.

The moment Lu Dingtian learned he was still alive, he would spare no effort to have him killed.

Even after reaching the Postnatal Seventh Layer, the gap was still too great.

Lu Yan’s hands gripped the blade tightly, trying to force it out inch by inch. Her eyes were filled with madness.

Suddenly, Cheng Yunsu flashed behind Lu Yan, a Fire Sparrow roaring from her palm as she yelled, "Die!"

BAM...

Cheng Yunsu’s attack failed. She was sent flying backward. At only the Postnatal Third Layer, she was completely unable to break through Lu Yan’s defenses.

However, Cheng Yunsu’s attack did have an effect.

In the split second that Lu Yan was distracted, Lu Chao viciously shoved the sword deeper.

TING! With a crisp chime, the sword’s tip struck the Heavenly Bone in Lu Yan’s back. In that instant, a surging wave of True Qi from the Life-taking Star-devouring Bone enveloped Lu Yan’s Heavenly Bone, intending to shatter its fusion with her meridians.

Suddenly... RUMBLE.

Something unexpected happened...

The Life-taking Bone in Lu Chao’s chest suddenly began to glow with a dark, eerie light.

The eerie light then surged down Lu Chao’s arm, through the sword, and slammed into Lu Yan’s body, crashing violently against her Heavenly Bone.

Even Lu Chao was stunned by this turn of events.

Before Lu Chao could even process what was happening, an even more incredible scene unfolded.

He watched as Lu Yan’s Heavenly Bone, enveloped by the dark light, was forcefully severed from all the surrounding meridians. Then, the Heavenly Bone began to retract, pulled back along the path of the dark light...

In other words, the dark light was literally ripping the Heavenly Bone out of Lu Yan’s body.

At that moment, Lu Yan let out a wretched scream. She stared in disbelief as her Heavenly Bone was pulled from her, crying out, "My Heavenly Bone! Give it back!"

But with her Heavenly Bone carved out and her meridians shattered, she was now a complete cripple.

At the same time, the Heavenly Bone shot back along Lu Chao’s sword and into his own body. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

In a flash, it arrived at the Life-taking Star-devouring Bone, which then proceeded to swallow it whole.

Lu Chao was completely dumbstruck. His Life-taking Star-devouring Bone could not only devour the Star Heavenly Destiny Bone from his Bone Inner World.

It could even devour a real, physical Heavenly Destiny Bone.

Everything had happened in the blink of an eye, but Lu Chao now understood completely. The instant his sword tip had touched Lu Yan’s Heavenly Bone, his Life-taking Star-devouring Bone had activated and directly devoured it.