"Bombard the area!" Under Li Jin's command, waves of energy spread through the area where Zhang Lie had been. 

Unfortunately, the attacks were to no avail. The veins of Li Jin's forehead throbbed as he glanced all around him, but regardless of how angry he was, it was clear that today's mission was a complete failure.

Not only had Zhang Lie managed to escape despite Li Jin's overwhelming numerical superiority, he had even snatched away the superior-grade lifeform that Li Jin had spent so much effort trying to kill!

The Li clan had suffered grievous losses, but the final reward had all gone to Zhang Lie! If he were to let Zhang Lie escape now, the entire Li clan would become a laughing-stock. Li Jin had no choice but to dedicate even more manpower to the search. 

"Block off the entire valley and perform an exhaustive search of the grounds. Don't let any living creature pass you by!" Li Jin's voice was rather loud, as though he weren't afraid that the black-clad man would overhear his plans.

In truth, under these circumstances, it didn't matter whether or not he could: Li Jin's plan was the simplest, but also most direct and effective, approach. If even an exhaustive search weren't enough to hunt down the other party, Li Jin would have no further recourse.

The Li elites on the hill systematically started scouting the area, whereas those in the valley left carnage in their wake as they pushed further inside the valley in search of Zhang Lie.

What Li Jin didn't know was that, while all his elites were in the Bloodcrystal Valley, several locations outside the Blacksteel settlement and under Li control were under attack.

The blue-squirrel stream was located in a mountainous region by the southeastern side of the Blacksteel settlement, so named for the blue-tailed squirrels that were commonly found around it, and was the closest territory controlled by the Li clan in that direction.

These blue-tailed squirrels were generally regular-grade and possessed relatively weak combat abilities. However, their soulshards would dramatically increase a hunter's agility, and were therefore in high demand. As a result, the Li clan had taken over the area.

Under usual circumstances, there would be heavy security around the region, but at that moment it was barely guarded.

A few figures outside the stream were using a pair of binoculars to determine the strength of the remaining guards.

"Fang Yi, Sun Mengmeng, you were both right! There aren't any elites around here right now!" Yang Ze cackled in glee.

As Sun Mengmeng had predicted, Li Jin's mobilization order would bring together the Li elites and leave the areas they controlled under scant security.

The Li clan controlled quite a few territories around the settlement, so it was still likely that there would be some areas more heavily guarded than others, but both Fang Yi and Sun Mengmeng had chosen to head to this particular spot.

It was clear that they had made the right decision.

"Don't get too excited yet. The area's not under heavy guard, but there are still quite a lot of hunters from the Li clan around. Why don't you consider how we're going to proceed?" Sun Mengmeng replied, her tone casual, as though she had already devised a plan.

"With our strength, do we need a strategy at all? Can't we just head in there and kill them all? The six of us can attack them head-on!" Yang Ze's words had Fang Yi rapping him on the head almost instantly.

"You fool! If we do that, what do you think the Li hunters will report to their clan? Something like 'A mysterious team of hunters raided the territory while our elites were gone! We suspect they're from a hostile clan!'? Don't forget that our goal is to divert attention from our captain! Our goal isn't to raid the territory for resources, but to make the Li clan think that we're the true culprit!"

Yang Ze rubbed his head. "Ah, I know! In that case, one person needs to attract the attention of the scouts, and the other five can sneak into the territory. And then—"

"If you already know the plan, what're you waiting for? Get going!"

"Ah, me?!"

"Of course it's you! Your body's the closest match to the captain's among any of us here, and you're water-attuned as well. Who else would it be?"

As the other five hunters watched on with stifled laughter, Yang Ze, clad in black, appeared in front of the Li hunters guarding the region.

"Who's there?!"

"Is this territory controlled by the Li clan?" Yang Ze asked.

"That's right. Identify yourself!  What are you doing here?"

"The Li clan that Li Hong belongs to?" Yang Ze asked again, without replying to any of the guard's questions.

His attire and speech couldn't help reminding the guard of Li Hong's mysterious killer, whom they had all been told to keep an eye out for. As he released his genetic energy, the guard repeated, "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to take your life."

Before that guard could react, three of his fellow guards, who were gathering around him, had perished. By the time the guard turned back around, the man in black had vanished. He could hear screams coming from within the territory.

With all the elites in the territory gone to assist Li Jin, and with such a mysterious killer on the loose, he had no desire to fight at all.

"Flee! Report back to the clan and tell Young Master Li that the killer's right here in our territory!" Following his command, the dozen or so people in the territory began to run away, but in the end, there were only two survivors, one of whom was the guard who had seen Yang Ze.

Fang Yi and Sun Mengmeng's plan had gone off without a hitch.

Li Jin rapidly heard about the news, but he was stupefied when he did. The mysterious killer who killed Li Hong had just been sighted at the blue-squirrel stream? Was this a joke? He had just faced off against that killer! How could he have gotten to the blue-squirrel stream in that short a time?

Surely he couldn't have gone that far… could he? After all, his hunters were securing the entire area! In that case, what could be going on at the blue-squirrel stream?