Zhang Lie reined in his genetic energy, surveying the training ground. The members of Team Zenith lay strewn on the ground, their harsh panting indicative of their weakness. How had Zhang Lie come away unscathed from all their attacks? How had he repulsed them all so easily?

In truth, it hadn't been easy. If Zhang Lie hadn't been decisive enough about which attacks to counter and which to absorb, or if he had been just half a beat slower, he could certainly have been defeated. Indeed, he too was panting lightly.

It was only his prodigious combat experience and familiarity with his teammates that he had emerged victorious.

"As expected of our captain! To have won so easily despite us trying our very best," Sun Mengmeng groaned. The other hunters of Team Zenith also seemed a little dismal: they had thought that they would be able to defeat Zhang Lie at least once if they all worked together, but...

"No, you're wrong. I didn't win as easily as you all think I did. I just have more combat experience," Zhang Lie clarified. One wrong move could have spelled disaster.

Of course, Zhang Lie wouldn't use his most potent abilities on his teammates; otherwise, this fight couldn't be considered a warm-up anymore.

"Really?" Sun Mengmeng's eyes gleamed. Zhang Lie was acknowledging all of them!

"Yes. You've all grown far stronger than before."

Li Feng, Yang Ze, and the others whooped in joy. While Fang Yi had a faint smile on his face, he seemed to be deep in thought. As someone who had become a renowned hunter in Zhang Lie's past life, Fang Yi had likely gained some insight from the fight.

"Right, one more thing. Yang Ze, you seemed to have had a revelation about [Fists of the Silent Sea] during the middle of the fight. Focusing on that revelation right then and there made you useless to your teammates, so don't repeat that error in an actual battle."

If he hadn't held back, he could have killed Sun Mengmeng right then and there, destroying the team's offensive core.

"Yes, Captain!" Yang Ze nodded, the event weighing heavily on his mind.

By constantly reviewing their battles together and working on their teamwork, the members of Team Zenith would develop into far better hunters.

"Freshen up a little. We'll be heading to the Desert of Silence tomorrow."

Zhang Lie's gaze swept over the gathered crowd. After the fight against Zhang Lie, the mention of the Desert of Silence drew not fear, but eagerness and excitement, from the hunters.

Zhang Lie nodded. They would need this sort of willpower in order to look death calmly in the eyes in the Desert of Silence.

After a day's rest, their journey began.

The Desert of Silence was quite some distance from the Blacksteel settlement. As Zhang Lie and his team headed north, they encountered a few relatively strong lifeforms along the way, which Sun Mengmeng and the others dealt with with ease.

After an hour-long run, the change in their surroundings became obvious. The greenery had slowly ebbed and faded away, the air was dry and arid, and several of the stones around them  had even cracked from prolonged exposure to the climate.

Zhang Lie stopped by a weathered stone marker on which the words 'Desert of Silence' were written. Perhaps because of its age, the words were fading and rather difficult to make out.

"Is this the boundary of the Desert of Silence?" Sun Mengmeng glanced to her front. The skies were darkening, and a small stone path was snaking forward into the gloom. By either side of the path lay dry, crumpled leaves.

Bones were strewn along the path, and the smell of rot and decay wafted up from below. There were a few small plants growing here and there, but in strangely unsettling colors.

Zhang Lie narrowed his eyes. The Desert of Silence was well known to be a deathzone in the first realm of the dimensional world, because the density and strength of superior-grade lifeforms within were far greater than in other regions.

"Captain, when are we heading in?" Sun Mengmeng asked quietly, breaking off Zhang Lie's train of thought.

"We'll enter now. Remain alert, or you'll die," Zhang Lie said coolly, leading the way.

Sun Mengmeng and the others followed swiftly behind him. Upon passing the stone post, they could feel gusts of hot air blowing in their direction, penetrating their armor and abrading their skin.

"Isn't this place strange? The temperature and humidity changes abruptly once we pass this boundary!" Fang Yi cried out.

"That's what's unusual about this place—despite the inhospitable environmental factors, there are still countless superior-grade lifeforms who've chosen to make this place their home. Follow me. We'll start investigating from the outer perimeter." Zhang Lie glanced back at his teammates, only to find them staring all around with serious expressions on their faces.

He led the team onward down the cobbled path. The temperature grew warmer the further they walked, and everyone's foreheads rapidly began to bead with sweat.

Before them lay a barren desert. 

As hot gusts of wind blew, yellow sand drifted into the air, forming a haze that obscured the horizon. They could, however, still make out various sand dunes that rose up into the distance, and they could hear the howls of mysterious lifeforms carried by the wind.

Waves of killing intent swept toward Team Zenith.

"Is this what the Desert of Silence is like?" Sun Xiaowu was the youngest hunter in the team, and the surroundings had the greatest impact on him.

"We're still far from the depths. You'll see what the desert's truly like later on." They were still walking along the perimeter, and he wanted them to acclimate before bringing them deeper into the desert.

They could see traces of superior-grade lifeforms all around them. Because so many lifeforms inhabited the desert, the weaker ones were pushed to the outskirts, whereas the stronger ones would stay in the interior. The weaker lifeforms would have to hunt down even weaker prey, or be consumed by the howling winds and yellow sand.

Team Zenith would start from the outskirts and work their way inward, deep into the desert.