Chapter 181: Initiating Preparations  

"I hereby declare the tournament over!" Yan Long glanced at the top ten hunters of China with a strange expression on his face. His eyes twitched as he realized that all the members of Team Zenith had made it. Even more surprisingly, the results from Mars were already out. There, it was once again a member of Team Zenith, Yang Ze, who had emerged as the champion of the tournament.

This level of achievement shocked all of China, and even the world federation.

Following the rankings was naturally the prize ceremony.

"Just like with the citywide tournament, the top ten victors will gain access to the world federation's treasury—this time, however, it'll be the national treasury of China!" Yan Long's words shocked the gathered crowd.

China's national treasury was one of the best treasuries in the entire nation, and its stock of treasures was in the upper echelons of treasuries even across the entire world federation. It was almost a certainty that there would be extremely rare herbs, superlative techniques, and even rare superior-grade soulshards to be found there.

.

Even Zhang Lie was amazed upon hearing the prize.

Ignoring the crowd's murmurs, Yan Long continued, "The champion will be able to choose five items of his choice; the second-place hunter, three; the third-place hunter, two; the fourth- through tenth-place hunters, one!"

Shockingly, the prizes handed out during the nationwide tournament were exactly the same as during the citywide tournament, causing Fang Yi and Sun Mengmeng, respectively the second- and third-place winners, to smile in glee. Whatever rewards they received now were sure to boost their entire team's strength by another level.

"A fine prize indeed," Zhang Lie commented. "This competition was well worth my time!"

"The country's willing to spare no expense to nurture great hunters, after all," Yan Long replied. "After the ending ceremony, someone will lead you to the treasury. Before that, you should all begin preparations for the worldwide tournament." Yan Long gave Team Zenith a mysterious smile.

The worldwide tournament would be next, followed by the galaxywide tournament encompassing all first-realm hunters in the dimensional world. There would be quite some time until the last few stages of the tournament, so Zhang Lie would have the opportunity to get a few pressing tasks out of the way.

After the results of the tournament were announced, a large number of hunters, Zhang Lie and the rest of his team included, left the capital.

Chu Feng and Yun Bing, having realized how much stronger Zhang Lie had grown compared to them, began an intensive training regimen right after returning home. After all, as two of the top ten hunters in the nation, they qualified for the worldwide stage as well. The competitors they would face next would be far stronger and far more prepared, and they couldn't afford to remain stagnant where they were.

After returning to Team Zenith, Sun Xiaowu and the others went to bed to rest and recuperate after the grueling fights against each other, while Zhang Lie returned to handling matters related to the dojo. He had received Xu Xiu and Ding Qiang's message about the return of Jun Jiuxiao and Ye Xianchen, who were both asleep by the time he headed to their rooms.

"How are the other disciples doing?" Zhang Lie asked.

During the competition, he had left the dojo in Zhang Hong's capable hands, and the disciples' instruction to Xu Xiu and Ding Qiang. Lin Xiu was tasked with helping where he could, but since he ultimately belonged to the military, Zhang Lie didn't request much of him.

"Most of the children are very hardworking, though there's always the one or two that laze off frequently," Xu Xiu replied.

"And what's the success rate for the foundational breakthrough looking like these days?"

"We're doing far better than expected. In the second batch, about 85% of the disciples succeeded on their first attempt!"

Zhang Lie inclined his head. This percentage was a fair bit beyond his expectations.

"Focus your resources on those who have broken through, but keep training the ones that haven't," Zhang Lie instructed.

The difficulty of the breakthrough depended considerably on one's personality and resolve, and it wasn't a measure of talent or lack thereof. For instance, inducing a breakthrough in seasoned veterans was far harder than for children.

"Understood!" Xu Xiu and Ding Qiang replied.

Zhang Lie glanced at Jun Jiuxiao and Ye Xianchen's sleeping forms again before leaving the room. Instead of heading to rest, however, he walked toward the teleportation array, returning to the dimensional world.

The Blacksteel settlement was still somewhat deserted; although the nationwide tournament had ended in China, there were quite a few hunters who wanted to wait for the end of the entire event before returning.

"Isn't that Zhang Lie?"

"Ah, what's he doing back here?"

A rare few hunters who had chosen to return to the dimensional world noticed him, but Zhang Lie ignored them and entered the Blacksteel Inn.

The reason he had returned was on account of Potion #3. There would still be some time before the galaxywide stage of the Void Cup, and he intended to raise his superior gene capacity and evolve his framework and techniques before that time.

The most important ingredient for Potion #3 was cosmos leaf, a rare herb only found in the most dangerous parts of the second realm. Despite his current strength, this herb would still be quite difficult for him to acquire, and he had expected to have to ascend to the second realm before preparing the potion.

However, now that he was about to gain access to the national treasury, he was sure that there would be quite a number of rare herbs stored within, including the cosmos leaf that he desperately needed. In that case, it might be possible for him to concoct Potion #3 while remaining in the first realm, which would make hunting down the moonlight wyrm far simpler. Ignoring the cosmos leaf, however, there were still quite a few ingredients that he would have to source, one of which lay deep in the Desert of Silence. What he needed from the Desert of Silence was known as wasteland essence, a rare liquid that was jealously guarded by the desert salamanders that lived deep within the Desert of Silence.

After some preparation, Zhang Lie left the Blacksteel settlement.

"Look, is Zhang Lie heading toward the Desert of Silence?"

"Quick, let's go! Let's follow him and see what he's up to."

"Follow him? What, are you tired of living?Don't you remember how many hunters died during his showdown with the Long clan?"

After the events of the Runic Forest, Zhang Lie was far more frightening an encounter in the wild than an errant superior-grade lifeform. There were only a rare few hunters who dared to tail him from a significant distance away, who watched on as he headed into the Desert of Silence, seemingly straight toward its center.

"Ah, he's really heading deep into the desert? Forget it, I'm not following him in!"

"As expected of Zhang Lie! Who else would brave such danger alone?"

"I can't believe he's already so strong!"

Following his past life's memories, Zhang Lie headed to a patch of sand where the wind didn't blow very strongly. The sand beneath his feet wasn't very well-packed, and it almost felt as though it would collapse at any moment.

As he walked forward, the sand suddenly shifted, and little bumps protruded from the sand before him. Zhang Lie stopped and frowned. Violent winds, which reigned freely at the center of the desert, blew by.

"Come out. I can sense your presence, superior-grade desert salamander!" Zhang Lie called out, licking his parched lips.

With a thunderous shout, a humongous lifeform darted out of the sands, its body sturdy and wide, its scales a golden-yellow, its pupils as fearsome as a crocodile's, looking straight toward Zhang Lie. There were two gills by its head, which fluttered as it breathed. Its sharp claws seemed to carry the scent of blood, gleaming in the sunlight. magic

Zhang Lie narrowed his eyes. These desert salamanders were high up in the hierarchy of lifeforms that lived here, and there were rarely hunters brave or foolish enough to intrude into its territory. As it burrowed out of the sands, it flicked its tail lazily at Zhang Lie, sending bullets of sand in his direction.

Zhang Lie activated his white-grub soulshard, forming an armor that protected him from the attack, and simultaneously his galewolf soulshard as well.

The combination of the galewolf soulshard and [Mirrored Refraction] enhanced Zhang Lie's speed to a frightening extreme, and even the superior-grade salamander found it hard-pressed to follow Zhang Lie's movements.

No matter how strong the salamander was, it was still just a superior-grade lifeform. It was strengthened in the desert environment, but its weak points were equally obvious. Zhang Lie dashed forward with Venombane in hand, his body vanishing from sight.

The salamander cried out in unease, spawning a few whirlwinds of sand around him. However, the moment it cast its attack, an arc of violet light flashed by as quickly as a bolt of lightning.

"[The Boundless Blade: Quell]!"

A needle of sword energy threaded through the whirlwinds and deep into one of the desert salamander's eyeballs. As it roared in pain, its body spasmed, and it crashed onto the sand. By then, its carcass was already devoid of life.

The will of the world made an announcement in Zhang Lie's mind, but Zhang Lie had no intention of devouring the salamander's flesh, given that his superior gene fragments were already at capacity. As it died, Zhang Lie was able to progress toward his true objective: hunting down the wasteland essence.

This essence was essentially liquid water that superior-grade salamanders transformed, transported and stored in their lair via a specialized organ, and Zhang Lie's goal was to find that lair and claim the salamander's essence for his own.