Ultragene Warlord

Zhang Lie and the others also found a bar in which to rest. The bar was playing soothing ambient music, which they found surprisingly relaxing. At present, Zhang Lie, Sun Mengmeng, and Fang Yi had all advanced to the next round, with Sun Xiaowu, Li Feng, Zhou Ying, and Yang Ze still awaiting their first fight.

Zhang Lie wasn't very worried about Sun Xiaowu, Li Feng, and Zhou Ying, who had all moved to Ning and were in the same citywide stage as him. He believed that they would all easily make it to the nationwide stage. The hunter he was most concerned about was Yang Ze, who was on Mars. He wasn't a particularly valued member of his clan, and Zhang Lie was worried that he would be bullied and tricked out of his rightful victory because of it.

Fortunately, Yang Ze called them almost right after they had sat down to inform them that nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and that he would be participating in the tournament as usual in the afternoon.

After hanging up, Zhang Lie turned to the three hunters who had yet to fight. "Well? Have you all found some information about your opponents?"

"My opponent's some unknown figure who hasn't even maxed out his superior gene fragments. I'm sure I'll win easily!" Sun Xiaowu announced.

On the other hand, Li Feng and Zhou Ying both seemed rather anxious.

"My opponent's Wang Xuan, the young master of the Wang clan from Ning. I'm afraid I have a tough match ahead of me," Li Feng murmured diffidently.

After all, before he met Zhang Lie, he was nothing more than a regular hunter. Under no circumstances would he ever end up competing against a young master of a major clan.

"Li Feng, what're you afraid of? Let me tell you this: in brute strength alone, you surely outclass your opponent. So, listen up—don't back down now. Make sure that you win your match cleanly and quickly. This is an order! Do you understand?"

"Yes, Captain!" Li Feng was essentially suffering from a mild case of stage fright, and Zhang Lie's command would give him something to focus his attention before and during the match.

As long as he could exhibit his normal strength, Li Feng would surely win the fight against Wang Xuan. After all, Li Feng's framework was mythic-grade, and he dominated over his opponent in terms of raw gene fragments as well.

Zhang Lie then turned to Zhou Ying, who hung her head. Her opponent, Situ Hong, was likewise a strong fellow, a favored disciple from the Scorched Flame Dojo, one of the top three dojos in Ning. Most importantly, her opponent's framework was fire-attuned, and the elemental disadvantage was quite concerning to her.

With Sun Mengmeng and Fang Yi already having won their matches, and Yang Ze and Sun Xiaowu confident in winning theirs, she felt more and more pressure to succeed, lest she drag the rest of the team down. As a result, she was even more reticent than usual.

"Zhou Ying, you aren't worse than any of the hunters present here. Don't forget how much you've been training lately! Do your best. Regardless of whether you win or lose, we'll all support you. I've watched you fight, and I'm confident that you'll be able to surmount this obstacle and obtain a rightful victory."

For Zhou Ying, it was far more important that Zhang Lie relieve her stress than to add to it.

Zhou Ying's eyes brightened. Her captain was right—she knew just how much she had struggled, how much additional work she had put in, to keep up with everyone else. That work amounted to something, didn't it?

Everyone else was taking great strides forward—she could do the same!

"I'm confident that we'll all make it to the top ten of the citywide stage, at the very least. There's no doubt about it!"

Zhang Lie's proclamation stoked everyone's fighting spirit.

At 2 PM, the plaza was once again filled with the competitors for the Void Cup.

"Clan Head Wang, if I remember correctly, your trump card's fighting in the eighth batch, isn't he?" the Heaven's Flame dojo leader asked, from where they were seated in the VIP stands.

However, Wang Han's face turned dark. Every clan head would train worthy successors in the next generation, including the Wang clan. The Void Cup was an important affair for securing clan prestige, one that Wang Han wasn't going to give up on, but the circumstances didn't seem to be in his favor.

"What's the matter, Clan Head Wang? Aren't you interested in having a scion of yours win the citywide stage of the tournament?" the Heaven's Flame dojo leader continued prodding at him.

The winner? Was this meant to be a veiled insult? With a bastard like Zhang Lie around, how could Wang Xuan hope to become the victor of the citywide stage? At most, he would get second place.

Veins throbbed on Wang Han's forehead. Just as he was about to respond with an insult of his own, Su Feng slowly walked over, and the rather barbed conversation between Wang Han and the Heaven's Flame dojo leader naturally drew to a close.

"The eighth batch of competitors shall ascend to the stage!" Elder Bai shouted from above the plaza. An illuminated holographic screen once again appeared behind him, and the thousand stage fragments hovered in the air.

"On stage fragment #35, Li Feng VS Wang Xuan!"

Wang Han jolted when he saw Wang Xuan's opponent.

Li Feng?! Li Feng wasn't a hunter from Ning, and neither Wang Xuan nor Wang Han knew anything about him. Li Feng had only moved to Ning recently after deciding to become one of Zhang Lie's followers, as had Sun Mengmeng, Zhou Ying, Sun Xiaowu, and Fang Yi.

"Wang Xuan? Who's he?"

"You don't know Wang Xuan? He's at the top of the gene leaderboard in the Blackgold settlement!"

"He's the young head of the Wang clan—almost no one has ever seen him fight, and he's a mysterious figure even to hunters from his settlement!"

"In that case, why is he ranked #1?"

"Well, because that's what the will of the dimensional world evaluated him as, of course!"

"In that case, he's pretty much guaranteed to win?"

"Guaranteed to win? No, no, of course not! Don't you know just who he's facing? Li Feng, from Team Zenith!"

You know, the Dragonwolf Zhang Lie's own team!"

"What?! In that case, we'd better watch that fight!"

A young man in blood-red armor strode out from the ranks of the Wang delegation, his features so perfect he could have passed for a doll.

"Stage fragment #35," Wang Xuan murmured to himself, then headed to the corresponding beam of green light.

Li Feng swallowed. The nerves that he had been suppressing threatened to rise up; after all, Wang Xuan was, just like Chu Feng and Yun Bing, a young clan head of a major clan. Nevertheless, Li Feng took a deep breath, fixed his gaze ahead of him, and stepped boldly into the beam of light.

Two figures appeared on stage fragment #35.

Li Feng took another deep breath, still feeling somewhat unsettled deep inside him.

"What a pity. I wanted to fight against Zhang Lie!" Wang Xuan began, glancing at Li Feng disdainfully, as though he were no more than an ant.

"You? Just who do you think you are?" Li Feng slowly clenched his fist, a look of fury darting across his face.

"I suppose I'll just have to settle the Wang clan's blood feud with you first!" Wang Xuan snarled. He stepped forward without the usual pleasantries. Genetic energy exploded from him as he leapt forward, a punch heading straight for Li Feng's face.

"Despicable!" Li Feng shouted. Light flashing by his feet, he too made his move. Allegedly, once mastered, his footwork technique [Daybreak] could allow him to move at a speed close to that of light itself. He darted away in a flash of white light, causing Wang Xuan's sneak attack to miss.

"Ah, he's improved quite a fair bit since the last time we sparred!" Even Zhang Lie was surprised by the extent of Li Feng's mobility. He was so quick that Wang Xuan simply couldn't react in time to his actions.

"Of course! He's been training day in and out for this competition!" Sun Xiaowu pumped his fist into the air.

Wang Xuan grimaced, unable to bear the humiliation of being unable to catch his opponent. He realized that it would be useless to try to chase after Li Feng, so he stopped moving and touched his palms to the floor of the stage instead. "[The Earth Beckons: Terrestrial Wave]!"

With a dull thump, a mud-yellow glow radiated from the stage, and ripple after ripple of genetic energy spread across it.

Li Feng, who was racing away, suddenly felt a force tug on his feet, causing him to stumble. He turned around to see Wang Xuan narrowing his eyes at him: he was clearly the culprit behind this unnatural attack.

"Is running all you can do?" An arrogant expression back on his face now that he had managed to subdue Li Feng with a single blow, Wang Xuan materialized a two-handed giant axe. "[The Earth Beckons: Tremorquake]!"

The ground began to shudder, and Wang Xuan bellowed and stomped forward after having transformed into a red bull.

"Ah, what's Li Feng going to do now! He's trapped, and Wang Xuan's heading straight for him!"

The hunters watching the match all gasped. Sun Xiaowu frowned, worried for Li Feng.

As the bull charged toward him, Li Feng suddenly felt a measure of unease. Can I really defend myself against a blow like this?

Given the momentum with which the bull was charging toward him, Li Feng would surely be heavily injured or worse if he allowed the blow to connect. As he felt the full force of the bull's aura, Li Feng shuddered.

"Die!" Wang Han's beady eyes gazed coldly at Li Feng. This combination attack was his signature attack: he would first freeze his opponents with [Terrestial Wave], then charge at them with his transformation-type soulshard. Wang Han was eagerly anticipating the visceral joy of goring Li Feng with his sharp horns.

"You can do it!" Suddenly, Zhang Lie's affirmation broke through the terror that rooted Li Feng and sapped his fighting spirit.

"No! I can't lose! I won't lose! I'm a member of Team Zenith!" An explosion of genetic energy erupted from Li Feng. His body gleamed with resplendent, silvery armor, followed by a thick layer of dragon scales. His fists began to glow with spots of white light. "[Arclight Dragon's Imprint]!"

The moment right before impact, Li Feng pushed forward with two shining palms.