"Well, it hardly matters. This lad won't be so arrogant when he's dead. Our plan's flawless, and I'm sure we'll be able to kill him on the day of his opening ceremony," Li Mo promised.

"Naturally. What we'll need to consider is how to deal with what happens afterwards. Although the world federation likely won't investigate his death in much detail, we had better be careful."

"I've sent a batch of shapeshifting potions to both of you," Wang Han said, his eyes narrowing as he imagined Zhang Lie's pitiful death.

The three men smiled at each other.

In another part of the capital, two middle-aged men were sitting in a pavilion as they played a game of go.

"Head, you've received an invitation from Ning." Two guards proffered two microchips to their respective clan heads.

Chu Lin and Yun Long glanced at their respective microchips and found them to be identical invitations from Zhang Lie. After looking over their contents, they turned to each other.

"Apparently, the other three are sending some third-realm hunters his way?"

"They'll field three challengers over three rounds. I must admit I'm curious as to the strength of this hunter that even Yun Bing seems to be besotted with."

The Zhou, He, and Qian clans had also convened a meeting because of Zhang Lie's invitation.

"So what if he's gotten two titles? Isn't he being a little too presumptuous?" The He clan head, He Liancheng, frowned. He had never before treated an invitation from a member of the younger generation so seriously.

"As far as I'm aware, the clan heads of all five major clans from the capital received this invitation, and some have already begun taking action because of it," the Zhou clan head, Zhou Ruo, stated calmly.

"Indeed, the Qin, Wang, and Li clans are all planning something big behind the scenes. The day of that kid's opening ceremony might well be his death," the Qian clan head, Qian Meng, added with a chuckle.

The three clan heads all had a rather strong impression of Zhang Lie, since they had lost the spoils from the Eclipse Sage's inheritance to him.

That said, they simply wanted to claim the Eclipse Sage's inheritance that Zhang Lie possessed for themselves, and they didn't bear as deep an enmity toward him as did the Wang, Li, and Qin clans.

"In that case, we'll let them do all the hard work for us, then have the officials from the ministry of ruins step in. We'll be able to extract some benefits from Zhang Lie's demise that way." Zhou Ruo's lips curled up in anticipation. "We'd better contact Zhang Quan immediately—you all know how much he despises Zhang Lie now."

Zhou Ruo crossed his arms over his chest. The more Zhang Lie clashed with the Qin, Wang, and Li clans, the better. Once they were all battered, they could step in with the ministry of ruins' authority to gouge them all. While everyone's attention was focused on the Qin, Wang, and Li clans, they could take away Zhang Lie's corpse and try to extricate the Eclipse Sage's inheritance from it.

The three clans wouldn't even have to lift a single finger until the very end.

Zhang Quan, the official from the ministry of ruins, had also received an invitation from Zhang Lie, his face a rictus of disgust. Ever since the incident in the Eclipse Sage's ruins, he had loathed Zhang Lie.  After all, the Eclipse Sage's inheritance should have gone to the branch of the ministry of ruins in Liao.

If not for the Kez invasion and Zhang Lie's subsequent acquisition of two important titles, he would have long since found a reason to target him. However, now that Zhang Lie was the darling of the media, the world federation, and the Chinese government, he could hardly strike at him given his status as a government employee.

Zhang Lie's invitation was therefore all the more infuriating to him. Just as he was about to scream in rage, his transceiver beeped: he received a call from Zhou Ruo.

"May I help you, Clan Head Zhou?"

"Would you like an opportunity to get rid of Zhang Lie?"

Zhang Quan hesitated for a moment, his features distorting. "What do you mean?" he asked, after checking that there was no one in the vicinity.

"Zhang Quan, don't forget that the Eclipse Sage's inheritance is with Zhang Lie." Zhou Ruo smiled. Zhang Quan's expression made his interest evident, so their plan would likely come to fruition.

"I know what you and the other clans are planning. I'm warning you now, the Eclipse Sage's inheritance belongs to the world federation," Zhang Quan said coldly.

"So be it." Zhou Ruo hung up.

It was Zhang Quan's turn to hesitate. He mulled things over for a moment, then called Zhou Ruo back, an implicit agreement to cooperate with the Zhou, He, and Qian clans.

A storm was brewing over the horizon.

Three days later, golden rays of sunlight gave Zhang Lie's new Zenith Dojo a resplendent glow.

The slums of Ning found itself host to a surprising number of hovercars and lavishly dressed people that day, including many from the major clans of Ning.

"This dojo must have cost quite a fair bit of gold," Qin Feng murmured to himself at the entrance to the dojo, a lavish gift in his hands.

"You'd better not run your mouth, Young Master Qin! We're attending the opening ceremony and representing the Qin clan of Ning. Don't provoke that Zhang Lie—you know how extraordinary his status is now!" one of Qin Feng's guards whispered to him. 

Qin Feng waved him off impatiently. He didn't need the reminder; whenever he thought back to what had happened at the bar that night, a shudder would creep down his entire body.

"This dojo belongs to that king of the slums?"

"Do you want to die? You can't call him that anymore!"

"Eh, so what? Even if he gets a few more titles, he's still an ordinary hunter without any backing.

"You think the Yun, Chu, Zhou, and He clans would attend this ceremony for a nobody?"

A few youths chatted with each other as they got out of their hovercars. They were young masters of various clans from Ning; if their parents hadn't forced them to attend this ceremony, they certainly wouldn't have done so.So what if this dojo's leader was the Dragonwolf Zhang Lie? He'd simply gotten lucky, nothing more.

However, before they could continue their conversation, a luxurious hovercar flew by them.

"What? There are clans from the capital here as well?" a boastful pink-haired youth cried out. He gaped, dumbstruck, as a few hunters left their vehicle further ahead: Chu Feng, Yun Bing, along with quite a few others from the clans of the capital, with some important figures from the Chu and Yun clans alongside them.

"No wonder we were all forced to attend!" one of the other youths in the group exclaimed.

By this time, they had arrived at the entrance of the dojo, which was of comparable quality to the highest-class dojos they had been to.

"They don't even have a designated greeter," another of the youth criticized.

Indeed, there didn't seem to be any hosts ready to welcome the arriving guests. The entrance to the dojo remained shut despite the hovercars arriving one after the other, and some of the guests were getting visibly annoyed.

"Hah, look at how arrogant this Zhang Lie is! Guess his dojo might not even end up opening today." 

Some of the younger hunters were whispering to each other in schadenfreude, but right after they spoke, the black, sturdy doors to the dojo slowly swung open.

The spectacle instantly drew everyone's attention. Under the radiant sunlight, the members of Team Zenith slowly walked out of the dojo, their faces groomed, their auras restrained, their bodies tempered, their expressions calm and collected.

At times they seemed like a pack of wolves, or even flames roaring amidst the darkness.

Zhang Lie, dressed from head to toe in black armor, captivated everyone's sight. The rest of Team Zenith trailed out behind him in two rows, led by Sun Mengmeng and Fang Yi. 

They were no longer nameless hunters now; after all, although they hadn't received as impressive a title as Zhang Lie, they had all been recognized as courageous warriors. Their willingness to rush into a sea of insects to save their captain had been commended by one and all.

Behind them all were Lin Xiu and Zhang Hong. Zhang Hong was a familiar face to many residents of the slums given her profession, and she was rather recognizable. 

On the other hand, Lin Xiu, rugged and bearded, was a completely unfamiliar figure. None of the residents of Ning, nor even the hunters from the major clans of the capital, had any impression of him. Not only that, he was striding forward to Zhang Lie, standing only half a step behind him, in front of even the other members of Team Zenith.

As their procession walked toward the front, Zhang Lie bowed down to everyone gathered by the entrance of the dojo. "I, Zhang Lie, representative of the Zenith Dojo, welcome you all!"

"The Liu clan of Ning greets and congratulates Dojo Leader Zhang."

"As does the Ma clan, also from Ning."

"So too the Sun clan, from Ning!"

As countless delegations stepped into the dojo, placing their gifts to the side, the crowd's displeasure at having been forced to wait outside vanished like mist in the sun.

Chu Feng shook his head: even some of the smaller clans from Ning knew to take advantage of this opportunity to develop a relationship with Zhang Lie, but the Chu clan had chosen to remain neutral at this critical juncture!

Yun Bing felt similarly, but none of her emotions could be seen from her face.

"Thank you, thank you." Zhang Lie returned each of their bows without putting on any airs.

"How could we, the Qin clan, miss out on the opening of the Dragonwolf Zhang Lie's dojo?" Just as the atmosphere seemed to be turning festive again, a cold voice interrupted the proceedings from afar. A few hovercars had just landed in the parking lot outside the dojo, and a delegation of hunters in green had just stepped outside.

Zhang Lie's lips curled up at the appearance of the Qin clan.