Despite the attacks coming at Team Zenith, Zhang Lie stood still without moving. Long Sheng and Li Sheng both began to smile: withouthis genetic energy suppressed, it seemed as though Zhang Lie wasn't fast enough to react to their attacks.

However, their hopes were quickly dashed. Right before the attacks were about to hit, Zhang Lie smiled. The Long clan's secret concoction didn't seem to have any effect on Zhang Lie. The moment he smiled, his body seemed to recover to normal, and he quickly launched a counterattack.

With an explosion of genetic energy, his black serpent materialized at his back. Their eyes turned to Long Sheng and Li Sheng, and Venombane gleamed in Zhang Lie's hand.

As Zhang Lie used [The Boundless Blade: Yawning Wave], sword energy rushed toward the two hunters as waves lapped by his feet. It clashed against [Golden Destruction] and [Hundred Dragon Art] as the winds rose and the ground quaked.

Once the dust had settled, it was evident that Zhang Lie's [The Boundless Blade] had won out. He had overcome both Long Sheng and Li Sheng's joint attacks; they felt blood rise up their throats as the force of the explosion knocked them flying.

Long Sheng, who was further ahead of Li Sheng, spat out a mouthful of blood, clearly having sustained heavy injuries from the attack. The two of them were intending to kill Zhang Lie before he could do anything, but they had severely underestimated his abilities and their own strength.

"No, that's impossible! How could you—"

Long Sheng struggled to stand up as blood seeped out of his mouth once more. He clearly hadn't expected that Zhang Lie would be able to overcome the effects of the Long clan's special concoction.

"Surprised, are you? The effects of this Long poison aren't bad, but it's not as if an antidote doesn't exist," Zhang Lie mocked, as if expecting Long Sheng to try something like this.

Both Long Sheng and Li Sheng gaped at him, particularly Long Sheng. The reason the Long clan had dared to ambush Zhang Lie was because of this concoction, which could temporarily suppress the genetic energy of all living beings within a given region. They had expected that Zhang Lie would easily die after losing access to his genetic energy, but it had become clear that he wasn't restricted by the concoction at all.

In other words, their trump card was meaningless against Zhang Lie, and they were the ones in danger instead.

Long Sheng knew very well that, in a contest of strength, even ten of him wouldn't be able to overcome a single Zhang Lie. He circulated his genetic energy, and a dragon's howl seemed to be heard from afar. Long Sheng had only one objective left: to escape with any means possible.

"Look, Long Sheng's going to make a move!"

"It looks like we're about to get a good show!"

The onlookers nudged each other as they watched the fight intently.

Following Long Sheng's command, his elites began to rush toward Zhang Lie. Zhang Lie frowned in disdain, looking at the charging hunters as though he were staring at a bunch of clowns.

Li Sheng, who had just recovered from the blow, commanded his subordinates to do the same. However, even as their hunters charged forward, the two young masters began to retreat.

"Li Sheng, hurry! It's the Li clan's turn to launch an attack!" Long Sheng cried out, licking his parched lips as he took a few steps back.

"I do have a killing blow,  but I'll need some time to prepare for it!" With a few leaps, he flew toward the back of the troops, a jade-white bone spear in his hand.

Everyone from the Long clan stilled, not expecting that the Li clan would be willing to spend such a valuable resource on Zhang Lie.

"A soulstealing spear!" Long Sheng exclaimed in shock.

Despite all the hunters charging at him, Zhang Lie was more worried for his teammates than himself. After all, no matter how much he disdained them, they were still elites from the Li and Long clans, and in such large numbers as well.

However, just as he turned to look back at the rest of his teammates, Sun Mengmeng and the others called out,

"Don't worry about us, Captain! Leave the small fry to us!"

"Right, Captain, go get their leaders first!"

Zhang Lie turned and rushed forward without any hesitation. "Hold on tight, I'll be right back!"

"Ha, does Zhang Lie think that he can handle all those hunters on his own?"

"Is he that arrogant? There must be a thousand or so elites charging toward him!"

Several more of the onlookers stepped forward, tempted by the possibility of obtaining some spoils from his defeat.

The battlefield had turned into a complete mess, with quite a few famous hunters scattered about the ranks of those charging toward Zhang Lie.

Standing in the middle of the battlefield as the enemy hunters closed ranks around him, Zhang Lie stopped and smirked. "[The Boundless Blade: the River Lethe]!"  A river of the Underworld poured forth from Zhang Lie's sword, destroying everything it touched. 

"Not good—block him for me, hurry! Quick, quick!" Li Sheng's subordinates set up an array all around him, each activating their strongest defense. Long Sheng, who was planning on running away, chose to temporarily help Li Sheng due to the bone lance in his hands. Thus, as the underworld river swept toward Li Sheng, Long Sheng mitigated the blow with his own guards.

A huge explosion dyed the battlefield in a rainbow of colors. The color that shone the brightest was the black of Zhang Lie's underworld river, which broke through all the obstacles in its way as it crashed into Long Sheng and Li Sheng's defensive formation.

Unfortunately, after spending much of its momentum to batter down everything else in its way, it was ultimately unable to break through the formation.

At the same time, Li Sheng's bone lance began to glow with white light. Underneath the light, a strange dark mist seemed to rise from all the corpses on the battlefield, as though it had turned their souls visible.

During the last century, mankind had confirmed the existence of souls, and there were even specialized techniques and treasures for utilizing spiritual power. Li Sheng's soulstealing spear was a weapon specialized for attacking souls. It required the vertebrae of a certain spiritual-type superior-grade lifeform, along with countless rare metals and alloys. Of course, such a weapon would be costly beyond all measure, and it was so pricey that no ordinary clan would be able to afford it.

Even the Li clan had spent much of its resources in order to have one be constructed so quickly. It seemed as though the deaths of Li Hong, Li Jin, and Li Xin had caused the Li clan to be willing to do everything in its power to get rid of Zhang Lie.

Zhang Lie sucked in a deep breath and began circulating his genetic energy. The soulstealing spear would be difficult to deal with, but it would have to amass enough souls first to have any impact. He would have to end this match quickly, or he would be the one to suffer defeat.

He took a deep breath and turned seriously to Long Sheng and Li Sheng. Perhaps now would be a good time to show off what he had accomplished with [Eclipse].

Activating his forest wolfman soulshard, Zhang Lie transformed into a green wolfman with a howl. At the same time, as he furiously circulated his genetic energy, his black serpent materialized behind him.

The light all around the entrance to the forest seemed to turn dark. A starry sky shrouded all the combatants on the battlefield. A radiant moon quickly appeared in the hunters' midst.

"Is this [Eclipse]?!" Long Sheng cried out. He dashed away in a hurry, activating whatever reserves of genetic energy he had left for a last boost of speed, but it wasn't enough. As the moon glowed, huge spiritual pressure descended on the gathered hunters, and they all felt as though a mountain had crushed their bodies.

They could feel the genetic energy being drained from their bodies, which were growing heavier by the second.

"No, no!" Li Sheng cried out, sensing how quickly the energy was leaving his body. More importantly, the rate at which his soulstealing spear was charging up was greatly reduced.

"We have to beat him quickly, or he'll exhaust us all with his domain!" one of Li Sheng's subordinates cried out. Indeed, the rate at which their energy drained would only grow the longer they remained in his domain.

Li Sheng stopped talking and began concentrating on the soulstealing spear, inducing it to charge faster with all that remained of his genetic energy.

However, Zhang Lie gave him no chance to do so. He activated his superior-grade blood ant soulshard, dyeing the genetic energy surrounding him red. The shining moon in the middle of [Eclipse] likewise took on a red cast, and the tremendous pressure that the hunters were already feeling increased threefold.

Everyone but Zhang Lie and the members of Team Zenith was forced to their knees.

At the same time, as Zhang Lie waved Venombane, three red dragons, manifestations of his genetic energy, wrapped themselves around the blade. "[The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!"

The ground trembled as a veritable torrent of genetic energy shook the battlefield. Even before the howling dragons drew close, Li Sheng, Long Sheng, and the others could feel their genetic energy draining at a faster and faster rate. They had no choice but to muster up what reserves they could to launch their attacks at Zhang Lie.

"Die!" Long Sheng shouted.

As he did so, he activated [Draconic Tempest] to its utmost. In an outburst of genetic energy, he himself transformed into a silver dragon. His eyes turned cold. The silver dragon roared as its scales gleamed with resplendent light, then launched an attack at Zhang Lie.

Li Sheng did the same as Long Sheng.

Clutching the spear with both hands, he forced himself to stand up, blood seeping out of his orifices as he did so. He knew very well that, if the soulstealing spear in his hands couldn't end Zhang Lie, then he would die.

He drew his arm back, and, with his final reserves of strength, threw the spear toward Zhang Lie. However, the spear had yet to charge up to its fullest extent, and its power was greatly reduced as a result.

The spectators within the trees had their mouths so wide open that quite a few flies had flown inside. After all, Zhang Lie's strength and aura were far too daunting. Everyone looked toward him as though they were looking at a monster.

The elites of the two clans, suffering from the spiritual pressure, forced an attack out of their bodies.

"[Desolate Silence]!"

"[Heavenly Tribulation]!"

the hunters cried out. They only had one objective in mind: to break out of Zhang Lie's domain and flee for their lives.

After seeing Zhang Lie fight at full strength, they didn't think they would be able to kill him at all—no, none of them had any chance! If Zhang Lie wasn't the top hunter in the dimensional world, he certainly wasn't very far from it.

Despite the attacks that they all launched in succession, a rampaging blood dragon lashed out at them all, not only deflecting much of their attacks but even sending all of them flying into the distance. They were knocked out of [Eclipse] and into the trees surrounding the battlefield. After hitting the trees, they fell to the ground and lay there slumped like dead dogs, without any ability to move at all.

Among the hunters who were knocked out in this fashion were Long Sheng, Li Sheng, and many of their strongest subordinates.

Soon, the spectators could only hear the sound of wind rushing through their ears.

As the domain of [Eclipse] vanished, Zhang Lie stood alone on the battlefield, the soulstealing spear in his hands.

"Well? Not even your ambush could do anything against me. This isn't a bad spear—I suppose I'll have to thank you for the gift!"

Li Sheng, who had just barely recovered from the blow, sprayed out a mouthful of blood. His face was deathly pale, as though he would die at any instant. He glanced at the hale and hearty Zhang Lie with fear in his eyes. The soulstealing spear had been his last resort, something that the Li clan had constructed at great expense. It was one of the only means of launching an attack beyond the limit of what even the first realm of the dimensional world itself was equipped to handle.

However, Zhang Lie had somehow managed to dispel the blow easily. 

This wasn't an outcome that Li Sheng could easily accept, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. Countless strong hunters had fought together in an attempt to crush Zhang Lie, but they had all dropped like flies. The hunters had been decimated; there were at most a hundred or so left alive, and most were grievously wounded.

After this showing, none of them could doubt Zhang Lie's strength any longer—what they had witnessed was far too shocking! Were there still any opponents that Zhang Lie couldn't defeat in the first realm? 

As the dust settled, Zhang Lie slowly emerged from the clearing. The hunters of Team Zenith followed behind him, staring at their captain as though he were a martial god.

"Damn it!" As Zhang Lie approached, Long Sheng tried to get up, but the moment he raised his head, he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Beside him, Li Sheng's face was ashen, as though he had accepted his death. His last thoughts were for the Li clan: how would they survive against such a horrifying enemy? Just what would Zhang Lie's retribution be like?

"Zhang Lie!" As Zhang Lie stepped in front of Long Sheng, two cries came from the distance: Chu Feng and Yun Bing had arrived belatedly with their respective delegations.

When they saw the scene in front of them, their eyes bulged.

Long Sheng and Li Sheng were splayed on the ground, their elites' dead bodies gathered around them. It was clear that the Long and Li clans had both suffered a terrible defeat.

Chu Feng and Yun Bing knew that Zhang Lie was strong, but they didn't realize the extent of his strength. 

After all, ignoring the Li clan for the moment, the Long clan was surely as strong as their clans were. Furthermore, they had even prepared to ambush Zhang Lie; this was an unfair battle from the beginning! But despite their advantages, the two clans had lost miserably.

If the Yun and Chu clans had opposed Zhang Lie, then what happened to Long Sheng and Li Sheng would have happened to them.

That very moment, they were both extremely relieved that they had developed a relationship with Zhang Lie, but at the same time, they were a little frightened by what would have happened if their clans had chosen to work against him instead...