Chapter 618: A Callous Male

Zhang Hanxiang prodded her brother with her hand. "Quick, praise Mengmeng!"

Zhang Lie blinked at her. "Haven't I already done so after our fight?"

Zhang Hanxiang stomped on her brother's foot. "Go on, do it! I can assure you, Mengmeng wants to hear your praise!"

Zhang Lie scratched his head. "Your explosive strength is more than sufficient for hunting down disaster-grade lifeforms, and you're already stronger than I was when I first started hunting them."

Her brother Sun Xiaowu might have the greater disposition for combat, but Sun Mengmeng's rapid-fire attacks and explosive strength were shocking.

Sun Mengmeng smiled, causing Zhang Hanxiang to sigh in relief. "Mengmeng will be happy now, I'm sure of it!"

However, Zhang Lie suddenly changed his tune. "That said, you need to keep working hard. Did you manage to intuit anything from our battle just now?"

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Zhang Hanxiang palmed her face.

Her brother continued seriously, "Giving in to your emotions isn't a good idea. It can give you a temporary boost in strength, but as a hunter, you need to learn how to remain calm and collected at any time. Of course, there are ways to assimilate your emotions properly into your techniques, but you need to keep in mind that it's a double-edged sword."

Zhang Lie turned to face everyone. "I'm not speaking just to Sun Mengmeng, but to all of you. Strong emotion can unlock our potential, but the techniques derived in this fashion can be very unstable, and your opponents can easily take advantage of your emotional state."

Everyone nodded.

"This is why we have to master our emotions, rather than to let them control us. Take advantage of the strength they provide, but never lose control."

Everyone nodded again. They had been on countless battlefields before; they knew what to do, and this was a relatively simple matter.

Zhang Lie asked, "Mengmeng, can you stand?"

Sun Mengmeng glanced at Zhang Lie with anticipation as she shook her head.

"Hanxiang, why don't you help Sun Mengmeng up?"

Zhang Hanxiang suddenly folded her arms over her stomach. "Brother, I suddenly feel like I have a stomachache!"

"How about Hong Xi, then?"

Zhang Hanxiang kicked Hong Xi's shin, who startled and yelped, "Ouch, my leg! It hurts!"

Zhang Lie glared at her, causing Hong Xi to suck in a breath and stand up straight. "My leg stopped hurting."

"Very good. Help Mengmeng up," Zhang Lie commanded.

Hong Xi bowed and did as he said.

Zhang Hanxiang sighed. "Brother, you'll be alone for the rest of your life like this!"

Zhang Lie glared back at her. "There's no need for you to worry about me—worry about yourself first. It's your turn."

"Ah, my stomach is acting up again! Have someone else go first." Zhang Hanxiang scurried away.

Zhang Lie turned to Zhou Ying. "Are you ready, Zhou Ying?" Hong Xi had to take care of Sun Mengmeng, after all.

Zhou Ying stepped forward, pulled out her dagger, and got into a battle-ready stance.

"Very good. If Hanxiang were half as sensible as you are, there'd be nothing for me to worry about."

"Captain, here I come!" An outburst of green light shielded Zhou Ying. Her hair grew long enough to reach her legs, turning into a green the color of sparkling jade. She looked so beautiful that the members of Team Zenith were immediately enraptured.

The vitality radiating from her was visible to the naked eye. She seemed to have become one with the land.

Recently, Zhou Ying had been working on her [Avatar of the Fae], and she had developed the exceptional ability to undergo the transformation even without combining forms with the shaman of the wood spirits. Now, she was able to activate this transformation at will.

"[Avatar of the Fae: Earthbound Prison]!" Zhou Ying released all her stored energy at once, causing the ground to quake as thousands of jade-green wood dragons rushed out of the earth. Giant vines broke through the granite that covered the ground.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Soar]!" Zhang Lie punched forward, shattering the earth. Waves of energy minced up the vines, but they simply regrew.

"This is quite an annoying attack. [Fists of the Silent Sea: Quake]!" Zhang Lie punched toward the ground, sending a huge chunk of granite flying up into the sky.

"Don't forget who your opponent is, Captain!" Zhou Ying had somehow appeared before him, her dagger gleaming green as she swiped forward.

As though he had predicted her move, Zhang Lie reached out with two fingers and pinched the blade of her dagger. "How could I have forgotten?"

Without the shaman of the wood spirit around, Zhou Ying had to make use of her own strength.

Assimilating with the shaman's body would endow her with significant strength, strength enough to affect the entire battlefield, but that strength ultimately didn't belong to her, and Zhang Lie had to spend all her energy and concentration to control and harness it according to her desires. As a result, she had to be stationary on the battlefield, but that wasn't her preferred style.

She was very good at planning and ambushing her opponents, rather than devastating them with brute force. Instead of attacking directly with an unfamiliar body and unfamiliar strength, she would rather make use of the burgeoning life-attuned energy she possessed.

Assimilating with the shaman of the wood spirits strengthened her abilities but was in conflict with her own combat style. Since then, she had been working hard on combining the advantages of both combat styles, and she had recently made a breakthrough.

The vines around her rapidly grew longer and thicker, and they began sprouting leaves. The leaves morphed into huge trees which rustled in the air.

Zhou Ying's body was extremely acrobatic. She twisted her waist and kicked out at Zhang Lie like a snake. As Zhang Lie caught her ankle, beams of green light shot toward Zhang Lie from all angles.

He frowned as he tossed her aside, only to have the leaves of the giant trees catch her and bring her protectively inside the forest she had just created.

Dozens of green beams shot toward Zhang Lie, but such an attack had no chance of hitting him. Contorting his body, he narrowly avoided a few of the green beams, then darted away.

Just as he stepped beyond the shrubbery, countless leaves flew toward him, each one as sharp as a knife. Amidst the storm of leaves, Zhang Lie waved his left arm, genetic energy rippling from it like a shield, protecting him from the barrage.

As the ripples struck the leaves, they rebounded into the air, but precisely at that moment, a green needle shot toward Zhang Lie, camouflaged by the leaves that obstructed his vision.