Ya Xiongtu's eyes bulged. He had hardly expected defeat, let alone one so quick. If he hadn't taken his foe lightly, this scenario certainly wouldn't have happened. With just a moment's hesitation, however, Ya Xiongtu began to smile.

"How long it has been since I had such an interesting opponent as you! Come, fight me again!" Ya Xiongtu began to laugh like a crazed fighter, uncaring if Zhang Lie would actually stab him through the neck. 

"You, Zhang Lie, are an interesting fellow indeed!" His bronzed skin turned dark, and he suddenly grew two more meters into a five-meter tall hulk. His blood scimitars seemed like the perfect size for his new body.

The gathered Yeluo fighters all howled in delight. "Ya Xiongtu's summoning his blackgold warform! He's really getting serious now— that lad's going to be beaten into meat paste!"

The Yeluo possessed a technique that could awaken the latent potential of their genes, but it was so hard to master that only five of the Yeluo fighters had managed to do so.

One of the Yeluo fighters teased Hong Xi, "If you don't want your man to turn into meat paste, there's still time to kneel on the ground and beg for mercy."

Hong Xi snorted, folded her arms, and turned aside. In her eyes, her master was peerless. "Don't get too cocky just yet. I believe that my master will beat this warrior of yours!"

"You'd better last a little while longer—it wouldn't be interesting if you were to lose too quickly! [Thousand-Ton Strike]!"

Ya Xiongtu struck with his scimitars so forcefully that the ground cracked under his advance. Blood shadows burst forth from the scimitars, slicing apart all that was within sight. A bloody mist without end filled the skies.

"It looks intimidating, but nothing more! [The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!" Zhang Lie activated his blood ant and forest wolfman soulshards simultaneously. As he thrust forward with Venombane, a blood dragon uncoiled from his blade.

His sword clashed against Ya Xiongtu's scimitars, his dragon against Ya Xiongtu's blood shadows. The aftermath of their exchange left scars in the ground so deep that it began to quake, and the village's stone fence broke apart.

Quite a few of the Yeluo fighters, especially those closest to the impact, found slashes of blood erupting from their bodies. They had no choice but to hunker down and run farther from the scene in disgrace. They could understand why Ya Xiongtu was so strong, but what about Zhang Lie? How had a human grown so powerful that he could rival Ya Xiongtu himself?

The remainder of the match was one of endurance, one that Ya Xiongtu lost. His repeated blows, strong though they might be, sapped a great deal of genetic energy and stamina from him. A few such blows were fine; he believed that he would easily be able to take Zhang Lie down, but Zhang Lie had been far stronger than he had expected.

Even among the Yeluo fighters, no one but the clan head himself would be able to push Ya Xiongtu to such an extent. Once his stamina began to falter, his attacks would get duller and slower, and he might even collapse from overexertion himself.

He gritted his teeth, regretting that he had shouted for Zhang Lie to try to withstand his blows as long as he could when he was the one who would give out first instead. He clashed once more with Zhang Lie. As he retreated, his bones splintered, and blood gushed out of his cuts.

Ya Xiongtu, who had reached the limits of his strength, collapsed onto the ground.

Zhang Lie chuckled. "Is this truly the strongest Yeluo fighter around?"

He charged up for a final blow with his sword. The Yeluo fighters all gulped—they knew that none of them would be able to defend against this blow, not even Ya Xiongtu.

[First Form: Parting the River]!

The gleam of Zhang Lie's blade was visible throughout the Yeluo Valley. He made to cut the mountains, the skies, the flooding rivers. Even the beetles lowered their heads in dread, fearing the descent of the blade.

"Wait!"

Zhang Lie ignored Ya Xiongtu's plea and chopped off one of his arms with a clean snick. Zhang Lie could easily have killed him, but Ya Xiongtu was as good as dead, regardless. He clutched his bleeding stump in agony, writhing as though he were a fish out of water.

The other Yeluo fighters gulped, knowing that Ya Xiongtu was done for. The Yeluo style was to fight with two bladed weapons, so losing an arm meant losing half his combat power—or worse. Furthermore, Ya Xiongtu's veins had burst from his exertion, and he wouldn't be able to recover fully from his injuries.

Zhang Lie's gleaming Venombane caused the Yeluo fighters to gulp in fear. He was far too strong and far too frightening an enemy! Even their top fighter had lasted only two rounds with him. How could the remaining fighters look down on him any longer? They could hardly believe how strong this human was—could their ancestors have been wrong? Or was this human an exception of his race?

Zhang Lie sighed. It was impossible to reason with these barbarians; he should have fought them from the very beginning. He slammed a foot down on Ya Xiongtu, who was secretly trying to crawl away. "Summon your clan head, or I'll slaughter all of you until he appears!"

"Haha, there really aren't any coolheaded youth anymore!" Almost as Zhang Lie finished speaking, a hunchbacked old man walked forward with a crutch from the depths of the village. He stroked his beard. "Young man, you're quite strong, but don't think too highly of yourself. There's a reason the Yeluo clan has survived for millennia in the realm of sura, after all."

"Elder!"

"Elder, you're finally here!"

"Elder, you heard him! That lad wanted to slaughter us all!"