"Are you certain?" Zhang Lie scowled.

"Haha, you might be a strong hunter, but I'm sure I can delay you at the cost of my life. I told you—you won't get away with killing my grandson so easily!"

The elder gulped down a green vial of liquid.

Zhang Lie's eyes gleamed. That's the potion I came here for! 

As the elder consumed the liquid, his wounds began to recover, and his body grew again until he was ten meters tall. That had to be it—the potion that was a boon to the Yeluo and deadly poison to the sura! "I might not be able to survive long after taking this potion, but I can at least take you down with me!"

"In that case, you might as well perish now! [The Boundless Blade: the River Lethe]!" Zhang Lie had to finish this fight quickly to save Hong Xi. He summoned a river of the underworld, drowning the elder in its midst.

[Ninecarp Transformation: Fourth Form]! Dematerializing and rematerializing the four tablets around the elder, he formed an array that would trap him within.

[Fists of the Silent Sea: Hundred Dragons Soaring]! Zhang Lie punched forward with his left arm, sending a torrent of dragons flooding toward the elder.

Mired in the underworld river, the elder punched forward again and again, destroying a black dragon with every punch. Perhaps he might have been able to take on the onslaught of dragons if he were hale and hearty, but with just one arm, he found himself on the losing end.

Zhang Lie wasn't an easy opponent, even if the elder had just drunk a miraculous restorative. As the black dragons gradually got through his defenses, the elder found himself bruised and battered once more, his bones cracking, entrails leaking out of his body.

He stumbled a few steps back and spat out a mouthful of blood. "Ha, haha, I hadn't expected I would have such a wonderful fight before my death!"

"Scram! [Fists of the Silent Sea: Hundred Dragons Soaring]!"

Zhang Lie launched another onslaught of black dragons at the harried elder, which he barely defended against. The elder looked as though he would drop dead at any moment.

"I'm here for just one reason. Hand me the recipe for that potion you just drank, and I'll leave immediately!"

"Ha!" the elder shouted with his dying breath. "Do you think I'll give it to you after you've killed my grandson? Ridiculous fool!"

Zhang Lie's eyes narrowed. "If you give me what I want now, the only dead grandson will be yours. Otherwise, your whole tribe will be full of dead grandsons."

"Oho, is that so? You've wasted quite a lot of time on little old me. What about that girl you brought with you? Unless you commit suicide now in reparation for your crimes, those fighters surely won't let her go! I think I've stalled you for long enough that my fighters have her by now, don't you?"

"Open your eyes and look around, then!"

"There's no need to pretend to be calm. I heard that girl call out for you with my own ears!" The elder smirked. He turned and glanced around, but when he saw the scene behind him, he gaped in surprise.

With a longsword in her right hand and a fan in her left, Hong Xi stood encircled by dozens of Yeluo fighters. The domain of [Eclipse] flared all around her. She cut and slashed the Yeluo fighters who reached out for her, dancing in the midst of the encirclement, guarding against them all by herself. Only then did the Yeluo fighters realize that their so-called prey was more like a predator in her own right.

Could they have been mistaken? Were all humans as strong as she and Zhang Lie?

No, the Yeluo fighters were simply too arrogant and thought too highly of themselves. Even though Zhang Lie had trained her for an entire month, she was still nowhere near the upper echelons of strength among the humans.

The only conclusion was that the Yeluo fighters themselves were too weak. If they couldn't even kill a pinnacle-grade lifeform working together, they would have no chance against Hong Xi.

It was the elder's time to gulp. If this battle were to drag out, it would be his tribesmen who would perish—the man in front of him could very well possess the power to wipe out the entirety of the Yeluo clan.

Even so, by this point, the elder had no choice but to continue his charade. He snorted. "Even if they haven't managed to detain her just yet, I'm sure she'll run out of stamina eventually!"

Zhang Lie's voice whispered in his ear before he even realized that Zhang Lie had moved. "Believe me—they won't be able to last that long. [Ninesoul Dragonblade—First Form: Parting the River]!"

The elder's scenery split in twain. He tried to block the onslaught with his one remaining arm, which disintegrated immediately upon attempting to block the blow. The aftermath of the attack left the elder curled up in pain, blocking the sword energy with nothing more than his naked body.

Fortunately, after consuming the special potion of his clan, his defensive ability had increased greatly. Although he was bloodied all over, and a layer of skin had been scraped off his body, he wasn't dead.

"I should have bought my tribesmen enough time..." 

He glanced up weakly, and then his eyes bulged once again. Half the Yeluo tribesmen were lying on the ground, and the other half too terrified to step forward. Hong Xi stood in the middle of the encirclement, glaring arrogantly at the fighters.

The elder spat out a mouthful of blood, so incensed that he almost succumbed to his wounds out of anger. He had sacrificed his own life to give them some valuable time, but they had squandered it all! "Trash, you useless trash! Can't you even take care of a lone woman?!"

When he and the clan head had roamed the second realm, they had surely killed at least a few hundred humans—but now, two humans alone were enough to overcome a whole tribe's worth of fighters. If not for the fact that the clan head was in secluded cultivation, this would hardly have happened. When had the Yeluo clan been so threatened in their very own valley?!

"Well? If you don't want your clan to be slaughtered to the last, hand over the recipe."

The elder roared, "Kill us if you dare! We won't hand over the recipe!"

Perhaps he might have considered it if Zhang Lie hadn't killed his grandson, but Ya Xiongtu's death had voided that option.

However, the Yeluo fighters themselves seemed to be disobeying their elder.

"Elder, surely we can discuss this?"

"Yes, Elder, please reconsider!   How can a recipe be more valuable  than an entire generation of fighters? After all, we're still in our prime—don't you want us to be able to keep the clan alive?"