Ye Mo shook hands with Zhang Lie, finalizing their plans to work together. After Ye Mo warned Zhang Lie about what the nightdemons might do, she stepped out of his room, and Zhang Lie was alone with his thoughts once more.

He wasn't too worried about the impending stage of the Void Cup, but he wasn't entirely negligent either. After all, given his experience from his past life, he thought he would still win against the other competitors despite their racial advantage.

That said, Zhang Lie still spent the next few days fortifying his strength and improving his techniques, researching [Ninesoul Dragonblade] and the domineering [One Punch]. The invasion of the disaster-grade lifeform would occur shortly after the Void Cup, and Zhang Lie didn't think he would be able to withstand a direct blow from it as he was now.

The members of Team Zenith, along with Yun Bing and Chu Feng, were each cultivating in their chambers, intending on representing their country and planet well.

The day the galactic stage began, the capital of Ural was filled with all manner of lifeforms from all over the galaxy. The competition grounds were filled to the brim. The arena itself was located in a microcosm, one constructed by countless authorities of the Milky Way expressly for the Void Cup. Small was relative: the microcosm was about as large as one of China's smaller provinces, and it had surely taken a great deal of resources to create.

The first day of the competition would consist of an elimination round. 

The Milky Way spanned a wide expanse of space, but there were only hundreds of thousands of planets which could sustain intelligent life. However, that alone wouldn't be enough to guarantee those lifeforms eligibility for the Void Cup. Participation in such a competition would require mastery over gene editing and manipulation, so of those hundreds of thousands of life-sustaining planets, only 78,894 of them actually ended up participating in the tournament.

This was nothing compared to the expanse of the Milky Way, but it was a staggering number of competitors to face. With ten competitors per planet, there would be 788,940 competitors in all, fighting for the same thousand championship spots, fostering an unbelievable sense of competition.

These competitors would be split up into four large arenas based on their planet of origin, and the thousand participants with the most points after a series of battles would advance to the next round. 

The stands were packed full of people waiting for the competitors to enter the arena.

"I heard that this year's Void Cup will be very interesting. Have you heard of that little planet called Earth? Its competitors are apparently quite strong this time around," a member of the audience whispered.

"What, Earth? Don't they claim themselves to be dark horses every year? But in truth, it's nothing more than a provincial planet, without anything interesting!"

"What? Haven't you seen Team Zenith's fights? Don't you know who the Dragonwolf Zhang Lie is? He managed to kill a three-star black-tipped scarab as a first-realm hunter!"

Quite a large number of audience members ended up joining this discussion, most of whom didn't look favorably on Zhang Lie.

After all, those who were strong enough to participate in the galactic stage of the Void Cup were the strongest hunters from their planet, and Zhang Lie and Team Zenith didn't seem all that great in comparison. Of course, they still had a small minority of fans who were very interested in their performance.

"Yan Long, do you hear the crowds talking about Earth?" Su Feng murmured in excitement.

Yan Long had, indeed, noticed. He was excited just thinking about the Void Throne and what it would mean for Earth if they were able to claim it. It would mark Earth as a notable existence even among the hundreds of thousands of planets bearing life in the Milky Way!

"I'm really hoping that nothing happens to Zhang Lie. This year's our best chance at the throne, I know it!" Yan Long murmured.

By that time, the opening ceremony of the Void Cup had begun, and the competitors from various planets were making their way up onto the stage. The announcers highlighted the most famous—or infamous—competitors who walked across the stage, all of whom were the foremost representatives of their planet.

Zhang Lie and the others were waiting for their opportunity to step onto the stage. Because the reward from this stage would affect his sister's future, Zhang Lie couldn't treat it lightly.

"Everyone, the first stage will be a team-based free-for-all. We'll need to be more serious than usual; once the competition starts, listen to my command..." Zhang Lie whispered, glancing at the hunters before him.

"Don't worry, Captain! I don't think there's anyone out there who can beat all of us in a fight!" Sun Xiaowu called out arrogantly. Indeed, every member of Team Zenith possessed ten peak gene fragments, and they had all broken through with respect to their basic and mutated gene fragments as well. What did they have to fear?

"Right, with Master around, I'm sure we'll be at the top of the rankings!" Yang Ze added fervently, and even Li Feng nodded.

"None of you understand what the captain means, do you?! He's saying to keep a low profile so you don't end up being targeted by the masses when we're actually in the thick of things—at the very least, don't show off your techniques or your best soulshards!" Fang Yi rolled his eyes at the three cocksure hunters.

Of the tens of thousands of teams, only a hundred in each quadrant would advance. If Team Zenith showed off too much strength too early in the fight, the masses would surely rally against them.