"Brother's the best!"

"Haha! I told you Chu Feng could win! That Zhou Hong might look imposing, but that's all just a facade!"

"Che! You can say that in hindsight, of course, but who was the one who predicted that Chu Feng would lose because wind was weak against fire?"

The praise and murmurs from the nearby onlookers left Chu Feng preening, and he returned to the Chu delegation with a smile. 

In truth, Zhou Hong and Chu Feng were equals in terms of strength, but compared to Chu Feng, Zhou Hong didn't expend much effort on hunting; he would do just enough to qualify for gene fragments from the kill. His team did much of the work, whereas he sat back and reaped the rewards.

On the other hand, Chu Feng was very interested in hunting, and he often tried to defeat relatively strong lifeforms alone, with his team used only as backup. The two hunters differed not in terms of their techniques, framework, or gene fragments, but rather in terms of their experience in life-or-death situations.

Zhou Hong scurried back to his delegation, defeated.

"Haha! As expected of a scion of the Chu family! I'll be sure to report on your successful match against Zhou Hong to your father, and you'll be richly rewarded for your efforts."

Chu Zhennan was very pleased that Chu Feng had defeated his counterpart in the Zhou clan. Although Chu Feng wasn't his son, he would be the successor of the Chu clan. The stronger Chu Feng was, the prouder he would be.

The Zhou elder's face darkened. He was the one who had proposed staking the Eclipse Sage's inheritance on these matches, but his representative had lost the first match! They would surely have to win the next two matches in order for him to safeguard his reputation, so he was going to be very careful about choosing the candidate for the next fight.

Opposite him, Zhang Lie refused Yun Bing's offer to step forward and walked into the arena instead. He did so to guarantee that he would win the next match; given his current strength, he was all but peerless among those hunters of the same generation.

Of course, this assumed that his opponent didn't have any underhanded tricks up his sleeve—if his opponent were to bring out something like the orb of primality, then he couldn't be certain of his victory.

Although Zhang Lie looked rather relaxed as he stepped forward, he was still carefully inspecting those hunters around him.

The three major clans conferred for a moment before dispatching Zhang Quan, from the ministry of ruins. Zhang Quan was only 25. He was in the same generation as Zhang Lie, and he was also still in the first realm of the dimensional world. 

He didn't know why the Yun and Chu clans were so protective of Zhang Lie, but he knew that, if he were able to defeat Zhang Lie, then he would have more authority with regards to matters involving the two clans.

"I shall be the representative for this match!" Zhang Quan announced, fully confident of his success against an unknown hunter like Zhang Lie.

The elders from the three clans wore relaxed expressions on their faces. After all, Zhang Lie wasn't a famous hunter, and the events of the Blacksteel settlement hadn't spread much beyond it. There were few hunters who knew that he was the mastermind behind the affairs at the venombane glade, and he was easily underestimated as a result.

Most importantly, Zhang Quan had an earth-attuned framework, which would counter Zhang Lie's obvious water attunement—there was a cloud of mist surrounding him. If they were at equal strength, Zhang Quan would easily overwhelm his opponent.

As for Zhang Lie, however, he didn't care just who showed up, or his opponent's elemental attunement, because he was absolutely confident that he would be able to dominate them in terms of stats alone. After all, he had surpassed the usual limit for basic and mutated gene fragments, and even filled his superior gene fragments to capacity.

"Hey,  who on earth is this fellow? Just what are the Yun and Chu clans trying to do?"

 "They're fielding a weakling and throwing the match, of course—either they get a lucky win, or they lose quickly and take out a far stronger opponent. Either outcome would benefit them."

"Ah, really? Zhang Quan's really quite strong, so he should make short work of that other fellow."

"But that other guy's facing a steep elemental disadvantage, isn't he? Is there any chance of him winning at all? If it were me, I'd just admit defeat immediately!"

As usual, Zhang Lie ignored the comments of those around him.

Zhang Quan, standing opposite him and feeling supremely confident about winning, finally noticed something amiss. He had been preparing for battle, but Zhang Lie had done nothing after sauntering forward. His insouciant expression made it seem as though he didn't care for his opponent at all.

That indifference infuriated Zhang Quan. After all, Zhang Quan was an official in the ministry of ruins, whereas Zhang Lie was just a nameless hunter! Shouldn't he be the one looking down on his opponent?

"You're asking for it!" Zhang Quan shouted, then shoved a palm forward, activating the genetic energy that had been surging throughout his body. "[Burial Palm]!"

The ground beneath his feet churned, and his genetic energy manifested in the form of an earthen hand taller than he was. The buildings nearby, already half-destroyed by the explosion from the previous match, crumbled under the force of the attack.

Zhang Quan was indeed a very strong earth-attuned hunter! Most hunters present didn't think they would be able to survive a direct attack from that palm, but Zhang Lie remained motionless, with his lips quirked up into a smile.

In anger, Zhang Quan used his full strength, as if he wanted to slap Zhang Lie dead with his earthen palm. [Burial Palm] was a rare technique that he had acquired by chance; allegedly, when trained to its extreme, he would be able to manifest a palm a kilometer wide.

As he howled, the gigantic earthen palm slammed toward the ground.

"This—that hunter isn't going to die, is he?!" someone shouted. Chu Zhennan glanced toward Chu Feng, as if asking Chu Feng if he would need to step in to rescue Zhang Lie, but Chu Feng immediately shook his head in refusal.

"Compressing the earth with genetic energy, then saturating it with energy and charging up for one deadly attack... it isn't a bad technique, but it's a pity!" Just as the palm was about to strike Zhang Lie, he shifted his left arm, releasing a black fog in his vicinity.

With the hiss of a snake, a series of black ripples began to emanate from his arm. These unassuming ripples were all it took to disrupt the attack, dissolving the gigantic palm almost from within and ignoring Zhang Quan's supposed elemental advantage—all just from one activation of Zhang Lie's [Fists of the Silent Sea].

Zhang Quan's eyes widened, and that moment of hesitation was enough to conclude the match. By the time he came to his senses again, there was a finger by his forehead.

"Admit defeat, or I'll make you suffer!" Zhang Lie called out.

Zhang Quan was at a loss for words.