Xing You coughed. "There might be a misunderstanding. We still have other business on our agenda—let's leave."

Xing You was afraid.

Against Zhang Lie, Xing You thought that the Stargods would be able to emerge victorious thanks to their numerical advantage.

With Zhang Lie and Li Feng together, however, even if the Stargods could win, it would be a Pyrrhic victory at best.

Xing You clearly hadn't expected these stellar hunters to all be teammates, but he was no idiot. There was no need to fight to the death. The Stargods had already obtained three pupae, an acceptable gain. Xing You was willing to drop the matter there.

However, Zhang Lie had no intention of permitting Xing You and the Stargods to leave.

"When did I allow you to leave?"

Li Feng's face turned dark. "Do you think you'll be able to get away like that after bullying a brother of mine?"

Xing You turned back and frowned. "Do you stellar hunters treat us Stargods as prey?"

Zhang Lie snorted. "We're not whatever these 'stellar hunters' are. We simply won't let you get away with bullying one of us."

Xing You sighed. They wouldn't be able to get away without a fight, then.

Some of the Stargods were raring to fight themselves.

"We were willing to let all of you off, but you're all rather cocksure, aren't you?"

"Come on, let's fight them head-on! There are only three of them. We'd win easily!"

"Xing You was willing to back down, but you're all refusing to compromise. Do you really think us Stargods that weak?"

The other Stargods were incensed by Zhang Lie's actions.

Zhang Lie thundered, "And what about you? Do you think we humans are that easy to bully? None of you will get away with injuring Fang Yi!"

"Ha! Well, let's see what makes you so confident, then!"

Xing You seized the initiative.Thousands of beasts seemed to roar in unison. The spectators' souls quavered as a tremendous pressure, almost impossible to resist, descended.

With a wave of Xing You's fist, heaven and earth filled with light. The figures of beasts covered the arena with an irrepressible aura.

"[Fist of Ten Thousand Beasts]!"

Ten thousand beasts howled and roared, among them standard creatures like tigers, bears, and leopards, and those steeped in mythology like dragons and qilins.

The land was filled with rampant beasts, roaring with divine auras as they pounced forward.

The spectators watched the scene unfold in shock.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Lie stood still where he was, seemingly not fearing the beasts' assault at all. Without turning his head, he said, "Take care of Fang Yi. Feed him the bug monarch."

"[The Boundless Blade: Yawning Wave]!"

Zhang Lie swung his pointer downward. The conjured beasts vanished in wisps of smoke as a horde of pale blue sharks composed of genetic energy shot forth.

Meanwhile, Xing You charged forward like a demon god, easily tearing a mountain apart and tossing the two halves out toward the trio of cultivators. The shark hordes dissipated from the attack as pale-blue genetic energy splashed through the air.

The spectators gasped. What incredible might—Xing You had torn apart a mountain with his bare hands!

Xing You darted forth in a beam of light, avoiding the boulders and splashes of genetic energy all over the battlefield.

Zhang Lie met the charge with a punch.

Heaven shook; the void trembled. The clash between the two cultivators' fists gave off tremendous light.

"First blood!"

"Look, they've already drawn blood!"

Blood was sent flying into the air, bright red and dazzling with light.

The two fists clashed again as the sky seemed to rumble.

The two cultivators passed each other by as they drew back their fists. They had landed on the peaks of different mountains.

Zhang Lie's fist was red with blood. He lowered his head and looked at it.

The Stargods laughed pridefully. "Is this the limit of their strength? All have to bow down against us, the Stargods!"

"Victory will be decided within moments. As expected, only we Stargods are invincible.""Xing You, kill that fellow quickly!"

Xing You stood firm and unyielding atop the mountain peak, his thick purple hair floating in the wind. His eyes were like divine lanterns, giving off incredible light. He looked invincible.

What none of the Stargods could see was that several of Xing You's fingers had been broken. Blood dripped down from them, glowing red, almost as though it was burning. The blood released a tremendous aura, and each drop of blood was even more resplendent than a ruby.

All that blood had come from Xing You.

Xing You wasn't like Xing Yu; he hadn't mastered the Hands of the Blood God, a particularly difficult technique. However, it wouldn't do to show his weakness in front of his kin. He couldn't believe that he had already been injured in just that first confrontation against Zhang Lie.

Xing You was shocked. He had known that Zhang Lie would be strong, but not this strong—stronger than even Xing Yu himself.

Yang Ze fed Fang Yi the silver bug monarch following Zhang Lie's orders.

After Fang Yi consumed the bug monarch, his body shone with silver light. His wounds healed at a rate visible to the naked eye, as did his mental strength. He shouted, "Captain, don't finish him off that quickly! Leave him to me!"

Zhang Lie laughed. "That'll depend on how fast you recover, then."

Fang Yi didn't dare hesitate. He sat cross-legged in meditation as he harnessed the silver bug monarch's energy to restore his lost genetic energy.

"What are you looking at? I'm your enemy!"

Xing You formed seals with both his hands, causing the void to shake. One formed a tiger; the other, a dragon. They roared loudly as they manifested.

As expected of cultivators from the same race, Xing You shared many of the same techniques as Xing Yu.

The dragon and tiger charged forward in the blink of an eye, straight toward Zhang Lie.

The resplendent light that Zhang Lie's fists gave off distorted the heavens. Incredible strength poured out.

Blinding light was emitted from the confrontation between the two cultivators, almost like lightning.

Anyone else caught by the attack would be obliterated into a mist of blood.

Xing You raised a huge chunk of mountain and tossed it toward Zhang Lie."[Ninecarp Transformation]!"

A black serpent materialized behind Zhang Lie, by now so large and so developed that it resembled the world-swallowing serpent Jormungandr. It let out a threatening hiss as its scales clicked together.

Pitch-black genetic energy revolved around Zhang Lie like dark clouds, then exploded forth in his vicinity. The mountain sizzled as it came into contact with that genetic energy.

It was like ice that had been thrown into a blazing fire—and melted instantly.

Xing You deflected the dark clouds of genetic energy coming his way as his body lit up with radiant light. His leg kicked at Zhang Lie with stupendous force.