The gathered hunters all turned to Zhang Lie, because what he said next would determine the outcome of this confrontation. From Li Hong's subordinates' standpoint, they were certainly hoping that Zhang Lie would accept Li Hong's offer, because their teammate's death had been so sudden and unexpected.

If Zhang Lie were to attack any of them, they would likely perish in the same manner. Who knew whom Zhang Lie would target next? They only had one life, after all, and if they could avoid dying just by losing some face, well, that didn't seem like too bad an offer.

Li Hong only picked on those teams that were weaker than his, anyway. They could just retaliate against this team of hunters when they had an even larger force with them.

Of course, just because they thought this way didn't mean that Zhang Lie and the others would agree. They had all been hunters for quite some time now, and Fang Yi and Sun Mengmeng in particular knew full well that if they were to let matters lie now, they would surely suffer intense retaliation from Li Hong and the Li clan in the future.

Zhang Lie would likely be fine because he was strong, but what about the rest of them?

Given the tense atmosphere, however, neither of them dared to step forward and ask Zhang Lie to continue the fight. They didn't realize how strong Zhang Lie's poison was, or how weak Li Hong had become.

"Captain!" the two of them shouted out, hopeful that he wouldn't succumb to the pressure and would instead deal with this problem once and for all. 

Zhang Lie glanced back at Fang Yi and Sun Mengmeng, both clearly wanting to say more but barely restraining themselves, and gave them a knowing glance.

"Heh, you want a ceasefire? Don't you think you should act more politely, then? Or are you unaware of the fact that your remaining life can be measured in seconds?"

Li Hong was clearly unable to accept Zhang Lie's response. "What? What do you mean, measured in seconds? I'm a hunter from the Li clan, and if you dare—"

"If I were scared of your clan, I wouldn't have poisoned you, don't you think? If you're smart, you'd hand over all your soulshards now, and I might spare you on account of Li Jin."

Li Hong was quite used to getting whatever he wanted whenever he revealed his identity, but he hadn't expected that the other party would break him off and even bring up his brother. The other hunter's tone of speech made it seem as though even Li Hong's brother would have to defer to him.

"You know my brother? Who exactly are you?!" Li Hong could hardly have imagined that the result of a thin scratch on his arm could be so serious. Based on the hunter's words, his life would rapidly drain away if he didn't do anything about it.

"Aren't you talkative? Either hand over your soulshards or rot away into nothingness, the choice is yours." Zhang Lie was tired of talking to him.

The poison in his arm seemed to be turning more and more corrosive: despite concentrating all his genetic energy to block it, not only was his genetic energy draining faster, the poison was also starting to spread. Given the situation, Li Hong knew that he wasn't going to get away unscathed.

A long period of terrorizing the weaker hunters in the region had left him unprepared to deal with a real threat. How naive he was to think that he could call for a ceasefire when his life was already in the other hunter's hands!

Li Hong glanced at his subordinates, not wanting to lose face in front of them. "Are you certain you want to make enemies of the Li clan? If I were to lose an arm, are you certain you'd be able to handle the Li clan's wrath?"

Li Hong chose to struggle to the very end, and his subordinates, upon hearing his words, quickly began to charge up genetic energy. Of course, as they did so, Fang Yi and Sun Mengmeng did the same on the other side.

"Kill them all!" Zhang Lie commanded, darting forward to strike the first blow.

Li Hong saw a violet arc flash by his eyes, and an unexpectedly familiar arm flying into the air.

"Ah—Ahhh!" That was his right arm! Li Hong screamed as blood poured out of his stump, stumbling to the ground in a fit of weakness. He had lost all ability to fight.

If Li Hong had decisively cut off his arm the moment he was inflicted with the poison, he might have been able to defend himself for a while longer, but by this point, the poison had already begun to spread through his bloodstream. It wouldn't corrode his body just yet, but his body would soon be paralyzed. The blood from his stump was a ghastly purple, indicating that the poison had spread even further.

Zhang Lie ignored him entirely.

He activated [Rippling Walk]. With his left palm, he stacked the effects of [Three-Wave Crescendo] and [Fists of the Silent Sea]; with his right hand, he charged up [The Boundless Blade]. He struck the remainder of Li Hong's team with the unassailable might of the ocean.

Four hunters fell in the blink of an eye.

The other hunters on Zhang Lie's side also began to fight. Fang Yi was a water-attuned hunter, and his eyes were gleaming as he saw Zhang Lie in action. Clearly, he hadn't expected that water-attuned techniques could be so devastating.

As he struck at his own opponent, Fang Yi swore to himself that he'd latch onto Zhang Lie. With his team's current resources, meeting Zhang Lie was undoubtedly a rare opportunity. He would be a fool not to take advantage.

To his left, Sun Mengmeng's [Flamewing Shot] swallowed up a hunter opposite her.

Their leaders' performance boosted the other hunters' morale, and Sun Xiaowu and the others each found a target for themselves.

In what seemed like an instant, Li Hong's team of ten hunters was reduced to three, and Li Hong himself slumped feebly to the ground.

"Spare me! I surrender!"

"That's right, we'll hand over all our soulshards!"

Before he could say anything, his last two subordinates were lying prostrate on the ground, begging for mercy. They removed all the soulshards they had in their soulspace and offered it to Zhang Lie with cupped hands.

Zhang Lie motioned for his group of hunters to cease attacking.

The soulshards that Li Hong's subordinates were offering up were relatively ordinary, and Zhang Lie had no interest in any of them. But even though he didn't want any, the rest of his group certainly did. Dozens of soulshards, all theirs in one fell swoop!

Li Hong knew now that he had no choice but to surrender. He had completely and utterly lost! "Alright, I admit defeat! I'll hand over my soulshards!"

Dozens of glowing, colorful soulshards were heaped into a pile in front of the gathered hunters' eyes, blinding Fang Yi and Sun Mengmeng with their brilliance. Given their relative poverty, they hadn't ever dreamt that one hunter could possess so many soulshards.