Chapter 342: The Top Fighter

The two fighters beside Zhan Qing each tossed him their blades. With two blades in hand, Zhan Qing leapt up into the skies and began to whirl like a corkscrew, forming a terrifying storm of blades in midair, tearing apart the air and distorting the underlying space.

Zhang Lie lifted only two fingers in response.

"What's this stinkbug doing? Is he so scared that he can't think straight? How can he hope to combat Zhan Qing with just two fingers?!"

"Who does he think he is? Even our top fighter, Ya Xiongtu, wouldn't dare to counter Zhan Qing's blade with just two fingers."

"He's sick of living, isn't he?"

"Better that he die—once he does, that woman will be ours! I've never tasted a human woman before—I wonder how it'll be?"

The crisp impact of metal on metal rang through the b battlefield, shocking everyone gathered. Zhan Qing's polearm, which he whirled with abandon, really had been trapped by two of Zhang Lie's fingers.

"How is that possible?! He's just a spindly human warrior!"

"This isn't an illusion, surely?"

Zhang Lie ignored the Yeluo fighters' surprise, as though he had done nothing out of the ordinary. "If you desist now, I'll pretend that our altercation never occurred. As I said, I'm just here for potions from the Yeluo clan, and I don't want to cause any trouble."

His fingers locked Zhan Qing's polearm in place as easily as a stalk of wheat, forcing Zhan Qing to look him in the eye. Zhan Qing's forehead beaded with sweat. Even with all his strength, all his energy, he was unable to move the polearm one bit.

He had really made a fool of himself in front of the Yeluo fighters, boasting that the humans were weaklings, trash, nothing more than stinkbugs—and now he was proving that he was weaker than even a stinkbug! If he were to desist now, he would lose all his hard-won reputation.

No, he couldn't relent—but if he didn't, the man in front of him might well kill him! Zhan Qing hesitated.

Zhang Lie frowned and warned him once again, "Desist now!"

"I won't!" Zhan Qing released the first polearm and swung his second toward Zhang Lie's unprotected neck.

Zhang Lie narrowed his eyes. He sidestepped the attack, then punched at Zhan Qing's abdomen. A rampaging dragon of blood pierced his armor, sending him flying up into the air. The next moment, Zhang Lie dashed forward, stomping on Zhan Qing's body in midair and sending him crashing into the ground.

A plume of dust shook the field. Zhan Qing, bossy, brash, and domineering, lay stunned in a hole in the ground that Zhang Lie had created with a brute-force impact. He turned around. "Are you fighters ready to have a cordial discussion now?"

The Yeluo fighters unconsciously took a step back as they glanced at Zhang Lie with fear in their eyes. Was this how strong the humans were?

"He's... much stronger than I expected!"

"Are all humans as strong as he is? We can't fight against such foes!"

Zhan Qing had, somehow, still not given up on his assault. From where he lay behind Zhang Lie's back, he infused all his genetic energy to the one polearm he still had, then tossed it at Zhang Lie.

Without even looking backwards, Zhang Lie grabbed the flying polearm and tossed it back. It traced a silver arc. The sound of the air whooshing against the polearm's blade caused Zhan Qing's eyes to widen—it was much faster than he had expected, and his bruised and battered body would be unable to avoid the blow.

He looked death in the eye, but death never came. The next second, the polearm's blade struck a scimitar that appeared out of nowhere, absorbing its momentum and sending it clattering to the ground.

"A human? What human dares make a fuss in the territory of the Yeluo?!" As the dust cleared, the figure of a three-meter tall Yeluo fighter appeared out of nowhere. The Yeluo fighters, who were rearing back after being shocked by Zhang Lie's strength, immediately grew excited again.

"It's Ya Xiongtu, the strongest warrior of the clan!"

"Haha, this human fighter's going to die!"

"Ya Xiongtu, this human struck down Zhan Qing! Make him pay the ultimate price!"

"We were fighting off an invasion of poisonous beetles. This human took advantage of our weakness in the aftermath to hurt and defeat Zhan Qing!"

Hong Xi strode forward in anger. "Ridiculous nonsense! You were the ones who struck first. My master was polite thrice over, but thrice you rejected his goodwill! Cowardly, dishonorable fools!"

Ya Xiongtu shook his head. "No matter the circumstances, it is true that you struck a Yeluo fighter in his own land. No more need be said."

"I'm only here to purchase potions from the Yeluo clan," Zhang Lie gritted out.

In another time and place, he would already have slaughtered everyone present, but he had no choice but to rein in his temper in order to get the potions he wanted without any fuss. He knew little of these potions from his past life, and he ?didn't want to sour the relationship between him and the Yeluo clan needlessly.

Unfortunately, these fighters were idiots.

Ya Xiongtu folded his arms and declared, "I don't care what you're here for. For injuring a Yeluo fighter on Yeluo land, you'll both pay a price!"

"What price?" Zhang Lie asked patiently.

"You'll both serve as slaves in the Yeluo clan for thirty years!"

Zhang Lie couldn't rein in his temper any longer. "Are you all fools? Perhaps all your brain cells have gone into building muscle instead!"

"This is not a matter of discussion. Either you submit now, or I'll beat you until you submit!" Ya Xiongtu walked to Zhan Qing's side and picked up his scimitar.

"The top fighter of the Yeluo clan, are you?" Zhang Lie scanned him up and down. Zhang Lie pointed at Zhan Qing. "If you don't want to become like him, stand aside!"

The Yeluo fighters all began to laugh. "Haha, this fellow's brain must be rotting! Does he think he can take on our best fighter?"

"You've got spunk, I'll give you that! Let's see if you have the skills to back that mouth up, too!" Ya Xiongtu laughed, then charged toward Zhang Lie with the scimitar in his hands, his aura a hundred times as intimidating as Zhan Qing's.

His killing intent had reached an incredible density, so much so that it almost seemed as though they were in a battlefield filled with corpses and blood.

He directed his killing intent straight toward Zhang Lie, but such a petty trick did nothing. Zhang Lie punched forward with his fists, shattering the half-formed image before counter-attacking with [Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade].

Ya Xiongtu's scimitar struck Zhang Lie's fist, wreathed in black. Rather than pierce through Zhang Lie's skin as he expected, however, it was his own scimitar that disintegrated inch by inch upon coming into contact with Zhang Lie's fist.

Ya Xiongtu retreated. "Interesting, interesting! Try this!"

Two blood scimitars materialized in his palms, and his aura increased by an order of magnitude. Each scimitar was three meters long, sharp and frightening.

"Name yourself, human fighter! My blood scimitars do not strike an unnamed foe. Dying to my scimitars will be an honor for you!"

Zhang Lie frowned and reported his name. Then, waving his scimitars in a complicated pattern, Ya Xiongtu struck at Zhang Lie with a flurry of blades, but Zhang Lie somehow managed to avoid each blow as though he were an agile butterfly.

No one would be able to maintain such a ferocious attack for long, not even Ya Xiongtu. Once he used up his stamina, Zhang Lie struck back.

"[The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!" Venombane broke through the flurry of slices Ya Xiongtu sent his way. No one saw how Zhang Lie had launched his counterattack; by the time Ya Xiongtu himself noticed, Zhang Lie's blade was already right by his neck.