Chapter 15: Stealthy Return  

It was clear that Zhang Lie was motivated by his greed, and Qin Xiaotian would certainly prefer bankruptcy to death. Angering him at this critical juncture would be a terribly unwise decision. In that case, he had no choice but to give in.

A dozen soulshards, including the superior-grade transformation-type soulshard he'd been eyeing earlier, ended up in Zhang Lie's hands.

The dimensional world was a curious entity, with its own rules and will. A human, upon entering the dimensional world, would unlock a soulspace granted by the will of the world. This soulspace was where hunters could store their soulshards.

Hunters' strength came from four sources: their framework, their soulshards, their gene fragments, and their genetic energy. Their gene fragments represented their strength and constitution; their framework, the nature and maximum capacity of their genetic energy; their techniques, different ways of unleashing that energy.

Soulshards complemented and augmented a hunter's suite of techniques. To some extent, the quality of a hunter's soulshards dictated their maximum strength, and having an assortment of valuable soulshards was a hunter's greatest treasure. All hunters' soulspaces were protected by the will of the world, and no one else could steal a soulshard from another hunter's soulspace.

Qin Xiaotian's soulshards would clearly be the cream of the crop. Most of his remaining soulshards were also of the exceedingly rare transformation type, and Zhang Lie had just received a veritable fortune.

"You truly are rich, Young Master Qin. I'll accept your gift with gratitude." Zhang Lie affected a smarmy smile as he swiped Qin Xiaotian's soulshards. In his head, Qin Xiaotian thought to himself,?Shameless bastard!

Of course, he didn't dare say so out loud. "Zhang Lie, friend, now that I've given you these soulshards, won't you hand us the antidote?"

Zhang Lie roared with laughter. "Eh, didn't you say you would stop at nothing to kill me? I'm not sure I want a friend like you, Qin Xiaotian."

"Wang Xiaohua, you're up next. Qin Xiaotian bought his life with all his soulshards—what about you?" Zhang Lie pointed the spear toward Wang Xiaohua.

When she saw the glinting spearhead, she immediately panicked. "Zhang Lie, I'm begging you, don't kill me! I'll give you everything I have!"

It was only now that Wang Xiaohua understood that the young man she had forsaken was no weakling at all—he was only biding his time. She very much regretted provoking him repeatedly just for a bit of face.

Surprisingly, Zhang Lie was quite genial to her. "In that case, hand over your soulshards. As for your points, we can discuss that once we're back in the settlement."

"Al-Alright! Here!" Wang Xiaohua immediately offered her palm to him, and Zhang Lie took all of her soulshards with a careless swipe of his hand.

Of course, compared to Qin Xiaotian, Wang Xiaohua's soulshards were far more inferior. Except for one or two mutated-grade soulshards, the others were all relatively mundane. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t take them all, however. There were at least a hundred settlements dotted all over the dimensional world, and soulshards were always in hot demand.

The rest was easy. Fang Qiong, Zhou Ming, and the last remaining member of Qin Xiaotian's team all handed over their soulshards in turn, having watched their captain and Wang Xiaohua do so. Combined, Zhang Lie had obtained over forty soulshards from Qin Xiaotian's party. Since the remaining three members of Qin Xiaotian's team were hunters that Qin Xiaotian had intended on supporting in earnest, their soulshards were far superior to those that Wang Xiaohua had. magic

After collecting everyone's soulshards, Zhang Lie patted his hands and smiled.

"Zhang Lie, now that you've accepted all our soulshards, won't you give us the antidote?" Qin Xiaotian asked carefully. His body had now been completely paralyzed, and even speaking was starting to get difficult. It felt far too uncomfortable to have his life be in someone else's hands, and he wanted to end this nightmarish scenario as quickly as he could.

Right after he spoke, however, the other hunters heard a clean snick and saw a fountain of blood. Wang Xiaohua, Fang Qiong, and the others looked on in horror as Qin Xiaotian's head toppled from his body.

"Ah—Ahhh!"

"Captain!" You damned—"

"Zhang Lie, you're not trust—"

Wang Xiaohua screamed again, and Fang Qiong and the others began to curse Zhang Lie, but Zhang Lie's blade had reached them before any of them could finish.

"When did I say I would spare any of you?" Zhang Lie asked, almost rhetorically. The only hunter still alive was Wang Xiaohua. Of course, the reason Zhang Lie had kept her alive wasn't because he pitied her, but because he would need her to take the blame.

After dealing with Qin Xiaotian and the others, Zhang Lie strode forward toward Qin Xiaohua's prone body.

"Don't kill me! Zhang Lie, I'm begging you, don't kill me! I'll do anything you ask me to!"

A sudden stink filled the air: in her extreme fear, Wang Xiaohua had involuntarily defecated. The scene in front of her eyes was simply too frightening! The hunter by her side had been Qin Xiaotian, scion of the branch of the Qin clan in Jiangdu, and Zhang Lie had killed him without even blinking an eye, as though he were simply squashing a bug!

And all the other hunters beside her—their clans weren't as rich or influential, but still notable and powerful in their own right. How could Zhang Lie have killed all of them?! And if he was daring enough to kill them, wouldn't he also kill her?

Faced with the overwhelming prospect of death, Wang Xiaohua broke down.

"I'm so-sorry! Please, it's all my fault, I shouldn't have left you, I shouldn't have looked down on you, I shouldn't have made trouble for you at your house! It's all my fault! Zhang Lie, I'm begging you... Please don't kill me!"

"Ah, what's this? What happened to Young Miss Wang, who commanded me to beg at the settlement gates for her favor? What, have you learned your mistake?

"Honestly, I don't care whether or not you've left me. I don't even care that you've been trying to glean information on my father, in hopes of securing his inheritance. I really can't be bothered to care about such matters, but this doesn't mean that I'm scared of you, or of the Wang clan. You shouldn't have repeatedly antagonized me or my sister, and you certainly shouldn't have brought Qin Xiaotian into this affair, damning you and the entire Wang clan!

"But don't worry, since I didn't kill you before, I'm not going to kill you now. Not only that, I'll even bring you back to the settlement, hale and hearty!" Zhang Lie's tone was chillingly bright.

Even as naive as Wang Xiaohua was, she knew that Zhang Lie surely didn't have good intentions in doing so, but could she refuse? Of course not! She had to hold onto any chance of survival. "Really? You really won't kill me?"

Instead of replying, Zhang Lie pulled out a curiously large purple flower, then scattered its pollen over her prone body. As a refreshing scent wafted up her nose, Wang Xiaohua felt her paralysis fade.

This soulbloom flower was a rare subsidiary ingredient that Zhang Lie had picked up while gathering ingredients for Potion #1. It was the pollen from this flower that had caused the venombane scorpions to ignore Zhang Lie's presence and served as an antidote against the mist formed from their poisonous blood.

After storing his spoils, Zhang Lie instructed Wang Xiaohua not to run away after she recovered from her paralysis. Then, he headed back into the glade to harvest the rare herbs that grew within. He wasn't at all worried that Wang Xiaohua would escape, because he knew that she had neither the daring nor the capability.

And given that he was planning to return Wang Xiaohua to the settlement, this venombane glade would soon be a well-known location. As a result, he would have to harvest and hunt what he could now.

The exoskeleton of these venombane scorpions were particularly useful, and could be used to brew a variety of medicines, potions, and poisons. Mutated-grade venombane-scorpion soulshards was even more useful, so the glade would soon be packed to the brim with hunters.

Zhang Lie spent the next three days in the venombane glade.

Zhang Lie: a mortal lifeform

Framework: Foundation, Lv. MAX, Ninecarp Transformation, First Form: Carp

Techniques: Rippling Walk (novice), Three-Wave Crescendo (novice)

Genes: Basic, 130; Mutated, 80; Superior, 10

Soulshards: White Grub (superior), Galewolf (mutated), Blood Ant (mutated), Potbellied Toad (mutated), Venombane Scorpion (mutated)

The reason he had taken so long was both in order to harvest herbs and to hunt for a mutated-grade venombane-scorpion soulshard. It was extremely difficult to find such venombane scorpions while they were stealthed, and if not for Zhang Lie's understanding of their habits and weaknesses, it would have taken even longer.

As expected, Wang Xiaohua didn't even try to run away. All she did was bury her teammates' corpses.

Back in the Blacksteel settlement, outside the gates, a number of gamblers were glancing all around the landscape, searching for a certain hunter.

"It's been three whole days! Surely Qin Xiaotian and his team would be back by now?"

"It's only been three days—given Qin Xiaotian's skill, it wouldn't be unusual for his team to be out hunting for an entire month!"

"That's right! After all, that Zhang Lie surely was nothing more than an interlude for someone like Qin Xiaotian."

"Even calling him an interlude is way too much! You couldn't have bet on him, could you?"

"Of course not! What are the odds now, something like 120:1 against him?"

What the crowd didn't realize was that, amidst their discussions, two stealthed hunters were passing by them and heading into the settlement.

Of course, these two hunters were Zhang Lie and Wang Xiaohua.