Chapter 55: The Boundless Blade: First Form

"Retreat! Retreat at once!"

"Young Master Li, if we retreat, all our work will be for naught!" As Li Jin commanded a retreat, one of his subordinates quickly reminded him of the consequences for doing so.

"I said, retreat! Don't make me say it a third time!" Li Jin was so furious that no one dared to speak up after that.

By then, Li Jin was certain that Zhang Lie had returned to the settlement after stealing his kill using some mysterious technique. Then, he had started decimating the territories controlled by the Li clan. In that case, it would be meaningless for him to stand guard here.

Without the superior-grade blood ant, and without Li Hong's mysterious killer, there was no reason for all of them to stay at the Bloodcrystal Valley. On the other hand, they would have to regain control of their lost territories before Zhang Lie irrevocably damaged them.

What had occurred in the valley had to be written off as a sunk cost, and he had to plan for the future instead.

Zhang Lie, hiding by the side of one of the numerous caves in the Bloodcrystal Valley, was rather surprised by the Li clan's sudden retreat. After all, he had anticipated that the furious Li Jin would expend all his manpower trawling through the caves for any sign of his existence.

How could he retreat just like that? It bothered Zhang Lie that things weren't going to plan.

However, he immediately came to his senses. Was he going to let Li Jin retreat just like that? Of course not!

Zhang Lie immediately followed after the hunters of the Li clan.

By the mouth of the valley, a dozen or so hunters who were trying to retreat inadvertently left a gap in their defenses, and they were rapidly swarmed by a tide of ants. By the time the ants passed through where they were, there was nothing left of them, not even a scrap of clothing or remnant of flesh.

"Retreat! Retreat at once!" Li Jin shouted, and his elites rapidly rushed out of the valley.

Just as Li Jin's team on the hilltop met up with the Li hunters in the valley, the black-cloaked Zhang Lie emerged at the front of the gathered group.

Li Jin was completely stupefied.

The black-cloaked hunter's aura, stature, and height were all the same as those of the hunter he had fought, and Li Jin was absolutely certain that this fellow was precisely the hunter who had stolen the superior-grade blood ant from him.

Hadn't he left?

What was going on? Was the Chu clan in cahoots with this hunter against the Li clan? No, that couldn't be, at least not based on Chu Feng's reaction to the whole affair.

In that case, could this mysterious hunter have been working with a few accomplices?

It didn't matter: the truth would be revealed as soon as he caught him.

Li Jin stopped short, forcing the rest of the Li hunters behind him to do the same. In ordinary circumstances, such a halt wouldn't be a big deal, but there was a veritable sea of ants chasing after them.

"Young Master Li, hurry up! You can't fall behind!" The hunters by his side immediately began to run forward again, as did Li Jin, but his sudden halt had doomed the Li hunters unlucky enough to be at the end of the group.

The ant tide claimed a dozen more elites.

They were running over a flat expanse of land now, and the terrain was far more disadvantageous compared to the narrow, constricted valley.

"Rush forward at full speed, but try to catch that guy if you see an opportunity!" Li Jin commanded the guards beside him, then rushed out of the crowd of hunters.

Evidently, he was still very interested in subduing Zhang Lie, figuring out just who he was, reacquiring his spoils of battle, and then killing him.

As for Zhang Lie, his intention was evident: to attract Li Jin's attention, prevent the Li hunters from escaping the ant tide, and whittle down their numbers as much as he could. And if there were an opportunity, he would try his best to kill Li Jin. After all, Li Jin's soulshards were far too tempting to resist.

The moment he appeared in front of the Li hunters, Zhang Lie had begun amassing genetic energy. Now, he evoked the overwhelming majesty of the ocean, threatening to drown them in either his attack or in the sea of ants behind them.

Li Jin was caught completely off-guard by the strength that the mysterious hunter showed. Zhang Lie's sneak attack from before had left Li Jin with a rather negative impression of his capabilities. He certainly didn't expect that his mysterious opponent would display a strength rivaling that of the top twenty hunters on the gene leaderboard.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"[The Boundless Blade: Yawning Wave]!" As Zhang Lie thrust downward with Venombane, the frothing water-attuned genetic energy transformed into a gigantic carp, which seemed as though it would swallow the Li hunters whole.

"[Golden Dawn]!" Li Jin stood his ground against the gigantic carp, striking at it with his golden polearm. A ferocious gold-furred tiger coalesced from the energy gathered around the polearm and pounced toward the carp.

The clash of genetic energy created an explosion of gold and blue.

Zhang Lie, his genetic energy almost all consumed after that one strike, darted into a dense patch of forest without even glancing at the outcome of his attack. After all, his strike wasn't meant to kill Li Jin, but instead to block him and his fellow hunters from escaping.

That Li Jin had to defend himself against the attack was enough: he and his entire group had to halt lest they were caught up in the explosion. This wouldn't normally be a problem, but, after all, their circumstances were hardly normal. Behind them was a tide of red ants, nipping at their heels.

Each time Li Jin and his group halted, they would suffer grievous losses. Zhang Lie's one blade had caused the red tide to surround half his group.

It was then that Li Jin realized Zhang Lie's true intentions: to kill him, to kill the Li elites that he had spent so much effort developing, to kill them all within this bloody sea of ants!

He gritted his teeth, feeling as though he had never hated someone so completely before.

"You'd better not let me catch you, or you'll wish that you had died in this valley today!" Li Jin muttered to himself, then turned to one of his trusted aides. "Li Quan, escape with the rest of the hunters. I'll take care of that hunter myself!"

Li Jin darted into the dense forest before Li Quan could respond.

As soon as he did so, a large explosion erupted from behind him. Beneath a billowing mushroom cloud of dust, the remaining hunters, led by Li Quan, were completely trapped amidst the sea of ants.

Zhang Lie had anticipated what Li Jin would do, and he had buried a few landmines underneath the patch of land that the Li hunters would have to pass through.

Chaos descended on the group. The explosion itself wasn't particularly damaging, given the hunters' protective auras of genetic energy, but it slowed them down significantly, giving the tide of ants a chance to swallow them whole.

"Quick! We have to break through at all costs!" Li Quan yelled, genetic energy exploding from his body as he tried to forge a path out of the sea of ants.

However, not all the Li hunters present were as strong as he was.