Sensing the scorching gazes from his fellow hunters, Ali forced himself to raise his head, then to murmur weakly, "Enough. Hong Yu's correct. She and I discussed whether or not to approach Zhang Lie together. During the two days in which I've been incapacitated, all I could do was think—and in the end, I have to admit that this situation was caused almost entirely by Phoenix himself. Under these circumstances, don't bother thinking of revenge. Instead, we should try to repair our relationship with the humans."

Hong Yu's words had shocked and angered the other winged competitors;...