Sensing the scorching gazes from his fellow hunters, Ali forced himself to raise his head, then to murmur weakly, "Enough. Hong Yu's correct. She and I discussed whether or not to approach Zhang Lie together. During the two days in which I've been incapacitated, all I could do was think—and in the end, I have to admit that this situation was caused almost entirely by Phoenix himself. Under these circumstances, don't bother thinking of revenge. Instead, we should try to repair our relationship with the humans."

Hong Yu's words had shocked and angered the other winged competitors; Ali's words just struck them dumb. The winged were one of the four prime races of the Milky Way. Phoenix, the prince of the winged, had just been killed, but the next two most important representatives of the clan had uniformly decided to settle matters peaceably. How could this be? How did humans command such authority?

In truth, even Hong Yu was shocked by the transformation in Ali's behavior. Because of Phoenix, Hong Yu had had no chance to see Ali, and what he said about them deciding to meet with Zhang Lie was all a bald lie.

In that case, there were only two possibilities: either her clan had rallied around her and formed an alliance with the black-winged last night, then contacted Ali to have her support Hong Yu, or Ali had really come to such a conclusion after reviewing matters in his head over and over again.

Hong Yu leaned toward, and would much rather have preferred, the former. Following Ali's words, the winged competitors froze. Beneath their haze of anger, even they realized that the winged were soon to undergo a transfer of power. If the rainbow- and black-winged clans had made up their mind to suppress this matter, they would have to take down the white-winged clan; the current ruler of the winged, Phoenix's father, certainly wouldn't allow his son's death to go unavenged.

"Was this all a ploy by the rainbow- and black-winged to seize the throne? The white-winged emperor won't forgive you, nor the white-winged clan at large." One of the winged competitors stepped forward,  and his words were quickly met with approval from those loyal to the white-winged clan.

"That's right. The young prince's death has to be avenged! If the rainbow- and black-winged won't, then we'll do it by ourselves! Come, let's leave!"

Only then did the white-winged realize how outnumbered, how unsupported, they were. Of the hundred or so winged present, only some twenty-odd people left with the white-winged, a result that the leader of the white-winged separatist branch clearly hadn't anticipated. Gritting his teeth, he motioned for the motley group of hunters to leave.

Hong Yu and Ali glanced at each other, gave the remaining winged a few orders, and then dismissed everyone. Once they were alone, Hong Yu walked toward Ali. "What's going on, Ali? Did you receive orders from your clan?"

Ali smiled bitterly. "That's part of it, but I also did think matters through during my incapacitation. It's true that the humans were quite prideful at the beginning, but not overly so. In the end, it was Phoenix who brought this on himself."

Hong Yu sighed. "There's nothing we can do now. We need to stabilize and consolidate power in our clans, then try to avoid any major conflict here. If we don't stop those crazy fellows, the entire winged race might be severely sanctioned!"

Hong Yu and Ali, at least, were in agreement about that point. 

Back by the arena, the crowds weren't paying attention to the remaining fights, but rather to what the winged would do given Phoenix's sudden death. 

When Zhang Lie returned to the humans' waiting room, he was instantly bombarded with Yan Long and Su Feng's concerned questions, to which he replied with a smile. "Don't worry, Commanders, nothing's wrong. If I'm not mistaken, the winged don't have the time to stage an attack against me."

"Zhang Lie, are you crazy? You melted Phoenix, and you don't think the winged are going to attack?!" Yan Long shouted.

"Everything will be fine, Commander Yan. I'm well aware of what I've done, and I'm certain we won't face any repercussions. Even if the winged did dare attack, they wouldn't be able to hurt us. The three other prime races have all declared their support, as has Martial Sage Hong Tianqi."

Nevertheless, Yan Long didn't want someone like Zhang Lie to come to any harm. "As a safety precaution—"

"Please, Commander Yan, believe in me! I can handle everything—and our allies are already here, I believe." With a smile, he pointed to the door to the humans' waiting room.

"Mr. Zhang Lie, are you here? Pu Kui of the nightdemons seeks an audience!"

"Yes, please come in." Zhang Lie motioned for Yang Ze to open the door.

Pu Kui had stopped by, alone, with a bottle of wine in her hands. "I was astounded by the match, so I immediately came to pay my greetings with a bottle of good wine."

She placed it at the center of the table in the waiting room, then took a seat. "Please, everyone, have a drink. Mr. Zhang Lie, won't you introduce me to all these people?"

Zhang Lie smiled. "I'm sure you already know all the competitors. Behind me are Commanders Yan Long and Su Feng, commanders-in-chief of the Chinese capital and the city of Ning respectively."

As the two parties exchanged customary greetings, Pu Kui laid out a few glasses on the table and began pouring wine within. "This is a hometown brew, and I hope it's to your tastes."

Except for Chu Feng, who was still injured, everyone else took and downed a glass of wine

"Good wine," Zhang Lie murmured. Yan Long and Su Feng, self-styled connoisseurs, licked their lips as they glanced greedily at the bottle of wine.

Pu Kui filled their glasses again; before they could toast, however, more shouts came from outside.

"Is Mr. Zhang Lie around? Lianna from the aquatic pays her greetings!"