"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!" Startled by the force of the attack, Yang Ze had no choice but to respond in kind.

As he circulated [Ripples of Shattered Glass], dozens of gigantic glass sharks emerged in the ocean surrounding him, swimming toward the aquatic creatures that Lianhua had summoned.

The clashes between the summoned aquatic creatures wrecked the entire arena. They seemed to be on even footing, but moments later, Yang Ze discovered that something was amiss. The opponent's creatures seemed to have grown larger after the clash, as though they had consumed some fraction of his techniques' genetic energy.

Moments later, the glass sharks began to disperse, no longer able to be sustained by the genetic energy Yang Ze had invested. On the other hand, some of Lianhua's lifeforms had almost doubled in size.

"What a frightening racial affinity—to be able to consume other people's water-attuned genetic energy! In that case..."

Yang Ze activated his superior-grade transformation-type tigershark soulshard, turning him into a magnificent shark patterned with black and orange stripes, sharp bristles protruding from all over his body.

Such was the aura that he gave off that even Lianhua, hiding within the center of her horde of beasts, was shocked. In panic, the aquatic lifeforms dispersed, and the gigantic tigershark easily made its way to Lianhua's body. Its sharp, black horn was pointed directly at Lianhua's throat; if it were to move any closer...

Lianhua knew that she was defeated. The tigershark was simply too fast! After her opponent transformed into a tigershark, the speed and strength that he had displayed went far beyond her expectations.

"I've lost," she called out in annoyance.

Yang Ze canceled his transformation immediately, then bowed. "I apologize for probing you."

Probing an opponent was very useful for obtaining information, but it could also be viewed as an insult, so after observing the aquatic race's racial affinity and easily obtaining victory afterwards, Yang Ze apologized for what he had done. 

Although their match was over, Lianhua had yet to surrender officially, so neither competitor had been teleported out of the arena. Instead, they began to chat where they stood.

"It matters not," Lianhua replied stiffly. "As an opponent, your actions were reasonable, and you are indeed quite strong. But I'm quite curious—how would you rate your strength among the rest of Team Zenith?"

"Among the rest of Team Zenith? Middling, at best." 

Lianhua's eyes widened fractionally in shock. After exchanging a few more words, Lianhua officially surrendered, and both parties were teleported back to their waiting rooms.

The other hunters' matches were still going strong. Sun Xiaowu had won his match against a rather weak competitor, but the remaining members of Team Zenith, Li Feng and Zhou Ying, were still fighting hard against their respective opponents.

Li Feng's opponent was the windthieves' Feng Kun, who, just like the winged, favored speed above all. After losing out in a head-on confrontation, he began to adopt delaying tactics in hopes of whittling his opponent down with many small exchanges.

Li Feng was happy with this development, because just like Yang Ze, he wanted to learn more about the windthieves' racial affinity.

"[Windthieves' Howl]!" Feng Kun, dashing through the arena, was starting to panic. As he used his longsword like a baton, the wind whirled toward Li Feng, and he shot forward so quickly it looked as though he had teleported.

Because of how fast and how long he had been moving, he had already consumed over half his genetic energy, and if he couldn't find an opportunity to strike, this would be the end of the match.

His loss would represent the defeat of the entire wingthief race, because except for him, the only windthief competitor remaining in the galactic stage was rather weak, so he had to bear the bulk of his race's hope.

As a result, he had to find an opportunity, use his so-far hidden racial affinity, and end this match.

When Li Feng deliberately left an opening for him, Feng Kun struck. Feng Kun's body stilled, then flickered as he shot toward Li Feng's chest and abdomen. So fast did he move that, if Li Feng weren't feinting, he would surely have been hit by Feng Kun's attack.

"[Dance of the Incandescent Wyrm]!" Li Feng reacted near-instantaneously. As Feng Kun shot forward, dozens of brightly colored wyrms sprung out of the ground and walled off Feng Kun's attack, but just then, something strange happened.

Feng Kun's eyes glimmered as his body dematerialized, as though he had suddenly shifted to a parallel dimension. He passed through the wyrms without interacting with them in any manner, then landed right in front of Li Feng.

His sword struck at Li Feng's chest, but he opened his eyes wide as he noticed the resistance to his attack: his strongest blow had landed on a sparkling suit of silver-scaled dragonarmor, one whose aura sent warning bells ringing in Feng Kun's head. The dazzling light caused him to rear back and shut his eyes for a moment, marking his defeat. Li Feng, at full strength, was far stronger than Feng Kun could withstand.

"So this dimensional shift is the racial affinity of the windthieves? It's far too strong!" Li Feng cried out.

Feng Kun chuckled bitterly. "No stronger than your limit fragments. The humans aren't a particularly strong race, so I'm astonished that hunters like you exist. To have such refined genetic energy and strength even as a first-realm hunter… my loss isn't a disgrace."

Feng Kun surrendered and left the stage without saying anything more, causing Li Feng to be teleported back to the waiting room and leaving Zhou Ying the only member of Team Zenith still fighting.

By then, however, Zhou Ying's match was also ending. She, who had seen the magma demons' racial affinity, was now fighting at full strength. Her summoned vines were rather meaningless against the magma demons' magma, but her superior regeneration, exquisite use of [Storm of Leaves], and genetic energy advantage, allowed her to win the battle.

As she returned to Earth's waiting room, everyone from Team Zenith cheered her.

Nevertheless, the tension in the room seemed to grow once everyone had gathered, with no one feeling the excitement of making it into the top fifty.

"First, I have to congratulate you for advancing," Zhang Lie said, though everyone noticed that something seemed to be off with his tone.

"Captain, has something happened? Everyone seems so tense..." Zhou Ying suddenly asked.

"Yes—watch this." Zhang Lie pulled up a recording of Chu Feng's fight with Phoenix.

As soon as the match started, Phoenix rushed up to Chu Feng and punched him in the mouth, preventing him from surrendering. He severed half his tongue, then, as Zhang Lie had observed, began to torture and humiliate him, disintegrating Chu Feng's arms as he mocked the human race.

The members of Team Zenith watched this display with rage and horror for their teammate. "Captain, what should we do? Kill him during the tournament?"

"That goes without saying. What he did to Chu Feng will be repaid tenfold, I swear it!"