"Che, Li Sanqing's got it lucky this time around!" several hunters groused, wondering just where Zhang Lie was.

"If Zhang Lie doesn't show up, according to the rules, he'll be disqualified from the Void Cup," Elder Bai murmured, as if reminding Su Feng of something.

Su Feng felt an impending headache; Zhang Lie had informed him that he would be attending—had he really forgotten? This was an opportunity that most first-realm hunters could only dream of, so was he really going to forfeit it?

"One minute remains before the start of the first match. All competitors who don't make it in time will be disqualified!" Elder Bai announced, and a timer appeared on the screen to his back. Most of the competitors had already ascended to their respective stage fragments, and the match was already underway on those fragments that already had both designated competitors on them.

"Hurry, hurry!" Lin Sanqing murmured, glancing at the timer, praying that it would count down even more quickly.

In that case, he would be able to win his match without doing anything.

"There are only thirty seconds left. I don't suppose that lad will show up at this point," Su Feng sighed. It was true that Zhang Lie had no need to prove his strength at the Void Cup, but the rewards for the top participants were certainly lavish enough to be worthwhile. Didn't he care about them? What a headache-inducing fellow!

"Has Zhang Lie not arrived?" Elder Bai asked. The competitors below breathed a sigh of relief: it looked as though he really wasn't coming.

"I'm here, I'm here!" Just then, as the timer displayed fifteen seconds remaining, seven figures rushed into the plaza, the seven members of Team Zenith. The competitors, who had just sighed in relief, sucked in a breath again. Why did Zhang Lie have to arrive at the very last moment?!

Lin Sanqing, who heard the commotion even from the stage fragment above the crowd, barely avoided fainting. He thought himself unlucky to be matched with Zhang Lie, then lucky again to almost win the first match without any effort, and now...

"Hurry up! What are you thinking, being late to such an important occasion!" Su Feng snapped, then glanced pityingly at Li Sanqing.

Zhang Lie darted toward the beam of light, which teleported him to his stage fragment. By then, Li Sanqing's knees were trembling, and he had lost all motivation to fight. His opponent was the Dragonwolf Zhang Lie, the hunter who had defeated thousands of hunters from the Li and Long clans in one fell swoop, who had manipulated the five major clans of the Blacksteel settlement!

As Zhang Lie walked toward the stage, he began to stretch. As he warmed up, he released a suffocating aura, one so dense that Li Sanqing was finding it difficult to breathe. "It's been a while since I last exercised," he murmured to himself, but Li Sanqing seemed to interpret his casual words completely differently.

From his perspective, it seemed likely that Zhang Lie might play around with him, like a cat with a mouse, and the more he thought about it, the more gruesome the images in his mind seemed to get.

"Hello, I'm Zhang Lie," Zhang Lie greeted his competitor warmly. After all, this was meant to be a friendly match, and he had no conflict with Li Sanqing. Furthermore, Li Sanqing was about as strong as a kid to him, so he didn't think he would have to take this match very seriously.

When they saw him smile, however, the competitors avidly watching his match from down below all had a strange expression on their face. There was one memorable occasion on which they could remember him smiling in this fashion: right before the opening of the Zenith Dojo, a prelude to the bloodshed that had followed almost immediately after.

"I surrender!" Li Sanqing howled out, his heart palpitating.

The hunters below gaped in shock.

"Damn it, he's giving up just like that? It's only the first match!"

"Well, of course he would—his opponent's the Dragonwolf Zhang Lie! It's a logical decision, isn't it? If I were matched up against him, I'd surrender without even getting on stage!"

"He's rather unlucky, isn't he?"

The crowd didn't seem surprised by the outcome of this match.

"Li Sanqing, are you certain? If you lose this match, you'll have to enter the losers' bracket!" Elder Bai wasn't surprised at his decision, either. After all, it was a strategic choice for hunters to concede if they didn't think they could defeat their opponent; it would allow them to conserve their energy and keep their true strength hidden.

"Yes, Elder Bai!" Li Sanqing replied. Who would be willing to fight against a hunter like Zhang Lie?

None of the Wang, Qin, or Long clans had managed to take down Zhang Lie, so how could Li Sanqing dream of doing what they couldn't? Zhang Lie was a calm, decisive hunter who had so many tricks up his sleeves that Li Sanqing was shuddering just thinking about them.

"You surrender?" Zhang Lie was somewhat flabbergasted: the Void Cup was a precious opportunity for every hunter in the first realm, and he certainly wasn't going to do anything to his competitor, so...

"Farewell!" Li Sanqing hurriedly fled off the stage.

The winner on the first stage fragment was none other than Zhang Lie!

Li Sanqing's timely surrender caused Zhang Lie's name to appear in green on the screen behind Elder Bai. Because everyone else was still in the middle of their matches, despite the fact that Zhang Lie was the last competitor to start his match, he was the first to finish, and he again became the center of attention.

"Captain, you're amazing! Your opponent was so scared of you that he surrendered before even facing you!" Sun Xiaowu shouted as Zhang Lie walked back to the other members of Team Zenith, his eyes gleaming.

The others all nodded.

"Don't worry about me. All of you should be studying your competitors!" Zhang Lie advised them.

Sun Mengmeng and the others glanced at their rosters and began pulling up information on the opponents they were about to face.

On the other hand, because Zhang Lie had been in the first batch of hunters and had won his first match, he wouldn't have to worry about another match until the afternoon.

"The second batch, on stage fragment #451, Sun Mengmeng VS Yang Piaopiao!" Sun Mengmeng took a deep breath as she stepped toward the green beam of light.

"Good luck, Sis!"

"Good luck, Mengmeng!"

Team Zenith cheered for her as she departed.

"Captain, do you think Sun Mengmeng will be able to make it?" Everyone turned to Zhang Lie.

Sun Mengmeng was a skilled hunter, and she had both experienced a foundational breakthrough and consumed Potion #1. In theory, her stats would be even stronger than Chu Feng or Yun Bing's.

Furthermore, with Zhang Lie's help in selecting appropriate soulshards and techniques, defeating her opponent, Yang Piaopiao, should have been a piece of cake for her. However, Yang Piaopiao was from the Sound's Maestro Dojo, which was known for its unusual aural attacks that tended to catch opponents unawares.

Although Sun Mengmeng had some combat experience, she had hardly trained against anyone well-versed in such attacks.

"Sound waves take some time to travel, so if Sun Mengmeng were to launch an attack immediately, she can surely defeat her opponent, but if she were to hesitate and allow her opponent to saturate the field in sound, winning would be far more challenging," Zhang Lie analyzed. Either way, however, he was confident in Sun Mengmeng's abilities.

Sun Mengmeng stepped on stage almost at the same moment her opponent did, a brunette with long, wavy hair and a guzheng in her lap.

As a member of Team Zenith, Sun Mengmeng naturally drew attention to herself.

"Sun Mengmeng, may I ask if you're a member of Team Zenith?" Yang Piaopiao greeted her politely, as though she were a fan meeting an idol.

"Yes!" Sun Mengmeng smiled, even as she began to circulate her genetic energy.

"Miss Sun, would you give me a chance to show off my talents? I wouldn't want to lose too badly in front of you! What if I composed a song for you?" Yang Piaopiao stretched lazily, revealing her flawless body, as she sought to capture Sun Mengmeng's attention.

"I'm sorry, but this is a battle arena, not a performance stage. Take this!" Sun Mengmeng, almost wholly unaffected by her gestures, loosed an arrow almost as she spoke, an arrow materializing in her right palm and her firebird bow in her left.

A phoenix's screech shook the stage fragment as it shot toward Yang Piaopiao.

"Ah!!" Yang Piaopiao clearly didn't expect that her opponent would attack so suddenly and decisively. She let out an enraged shout as genetic energy exploded out of her and she began to counterattack. The crisp, clear notes of a guzheng sounded from her instrument, each note causing her concentration to break for a moment. "[Beasts' Lament]!"

"Look! They've begun fighting!" Sun Xiaowu shouted from below. Everyone in Team Zenith focused on the stage fragment on which Sun Mengmeng was located.

The phoenix's screech and the howling of a menagerie of beasts shook the arena as fire- and wind-attuned genetic energy clashed with each other. Yang Piaopiao stumbled back, the song she was playing on her guzheng having been forcibly terminated. In terms of quality and quantity of genetic energy, Yang Piaopiao was naturally no match for Sun Mengmeng.

Sun Mengmeng clenched her teeth and bore with the pain in her head long enough to shoot three arrows toward Yang Piaopiao. Her gaze cold, Yang Piaopiao vanished from sight like a specter, but before she could do so completely, Sun Mengmeng dashed forward like a lioness.

As two waves of genetic energy dissipated into the air, Sun Mengmeng, holding onto Yang Piaopiao's neck with one hand, appeared in front of everyone's sight.

"The winner of stage fragment #451—Sun Mengmeng!"