The orb hummed. "Congratulations on finishing the first trial."

Zhou Ying passed through the gate that had appeared and entered a featureless space of pure white.

There was nothing in the space except for an orb of light.

Beams of light shot out from the orb, resolving into figures. Zhou Ying glanced at them—they were the members of Team Zenith!

Fang Yi looked all around him. "Is this the central hub that our captain told us about? The resting zone?"

The orb of light began to speak. "Welcome, elite warriors, to the trial-taker's chamber. Six trials will be set for you within. Every three trials you finish, a reward will be provided. Before you finish the trials, you will not be able to leave. Would you like to proceed with the trial or rest?"

Sun Mengmeng asked, "Are you going to continue?"

Fang Yi waved a hand. "I intend to rest for the moment. I exhausted myself during the earlier fight, and I think it would be best to go into later ones with replenished reserves."

Sun Mengmeng said, "I think it's better if we all rest. After all, there's no time limit, and it would be safer for us to face what lies ahead in peak condition."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Six doors opened up in the featureless space, clearly intended to be rooms in which each hunter could freshen up.

Meanwhile, as Zhang Lie passed through the doors to find the ground covered in shattered disaster-grade crystals, below which were layer upon layer of bones. Zhang Lie couldn't help but gape. "Just how many disaster-grade lifeforms had to be killed to accomplish something like this...?"

When he saw the lifeform behind the door, he was stupefied.

Nine black lion's heads stitched to a metal-like frame, with a long red dragon's tail to its back. A black turtle's shell covered its lower back, and a pair of golden wings emerged from it. The tiger's four limbs were dragon's claws, and a thorny vine grew out of the turtle's shell, with vibrant purple flowers in full bloom. It was a chimera.

Zhang Lie cried out, "What is this?!"The disaster-grade lifeform before itself was clearly formed out of all the disaster-grade lifeforms that he and the members of Team Zenith had encountered.

Bu Wentian's voice rang out, "I told you, it was difficult to cultivate six-headed lifeforms, so I was trying to come up with an alternative. This is a half-formed creation."

Zhang Lie called back, "Just how did you manage to graft all these lifeforms' specialties onto one another?!"

"Don't you think you should focus on what lies before you instead?"

When the chimera heard Bu Wentian's voice, it became exceptionally enraged. Its eighteen eyes turnbed blood-red, clearly having been experimented on to the point of torture.

As black energy swamped the space, the nine-headed lion pounced forward with incredible strength. As it did so, the land cracked apart. Its black claws were charged with killing intent.

Pale blue genetic energy rippled about Zhang Lie's arms. He flicked his wrists, causing a frightening aura to descend on the world. The sky began to darken, and a fish the size of a whale materialized in the air.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Soar]!"

A howling gale swept over the arena. As more and more genetic energy gathered around Zhang Lie's arms, it looked as though he were at the heart of a whirlpool.

A huge wave soared into the air. As Zhang Lie punched forward, the fish slammed its huge tail on the ground and sent a torrent of water surging.

Ripples of energy spread out from Zhang Lie, warping the space around him. The towering waves looked like enraged black dragons, flooding the area.

The chimera had no intention of avoiding this blow. It flashed with white light. Gusts of wind surrounded it as it sent countless crystal shards and bones into the air.

As the waves burst apart, the air filled with echoes of Zhang Lie's signature genetic energy, shattering space and swallowing up all life in its vicinity.

The ground quaked. The bones and crystal shards littered over it were cleared away in a patch a hundred miles wide.

The lion's nine heads howled as one, sending nine waves of umbral energy into the sky and causing the ground to crack.The nine heads roared again. The sound waves took on physical form, and golden ripples covered the air.

The umbral waves caused the surrounding low-lying mountains to crack and fall, and some boulders even burst apart into powder.

Zhang Lie extended his pointer finger like a sword, and water-attuned genetic energy coiled around it like a snake.

"[The Boundless Blade: Yawning Wave]!" Zhang Lie swung downwards with a heavy blow, and a shark swam forth.

The chimera roared, spraying out a burst of silver light. Killing intent filled the air.

Its nine heads launched a breath attack, forming a silver river through the air, beautiful and deadly. The raging shark was submerged within.

"[Ninecarp Transformation]!"

A black serpent materialized behind Zhang Lie, by now so large and so developed that it resembled the world-swallowing serpent Jormungandr. It let out a threatening hiss as its scales clicked together.

Pitch-black genetic energy revolved around Zhang Lie like dark clouds, then exploded forth in his vicinity, swallowing up the silver river's light.

The chimera flapped its wings and soared into the sky. The vibrant flowers to its back scattered purple pollen through the air. Zhang Lie was certain that it was highly toxic.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!"

Zhang Lie punched forward, and the black serpent behind him shot forth.

The disaster-grade chimera's golden wings flapped with great force in sweeping waves of energy. The frightening force obliterated the black serpent as the chimera swooped downward.

The void trembled. It dashed forward at lightning speed, heading straight for Zhang Lie with unabashed killing intent.

As Zhang Lie activated his monarch-grade limitless universe soulshard, he glowed with stellar radiance, like a burning star. Starlight flowed through his body in phantasmagorical colors.

Zhang Lie's body transformed into a glaze of the dark cosmos, as though the Milky Way itself flowed through his body. His aura grew tremendously. He defended with one open palm.

The chimera's attack landed with a huge explosion, splitting the ground, shaking the heavens, and causing the world to break apart. It was a frightening blow that struck with the force of an earthquake.

More astoundingly, Zhang Lie had managed to defend against the blow with nothing more than a palm.