Another Defeat

A flicker of rage, born of being watched and belittled, quietly surged within him.

Wang Zhan had just refined his cultivation, his spirit riding high. How could he tolerate such disdain from others?

"Sword in White, here to test my blade!" the man in white announced. His voice remained calm, yet carried an unstoppable momentum.

Test his blade?

Wang Zhan was stunned at first, then laughed in fury!

Hahaha!

A junior disciple of War Asura dared to come and "test blades" with him right when he had broken through and was at his peak momentum?

Did they really think Wang Zhan was made of clay?

Did they truly believe his Heavenly Cang Sacred Body was a stepping-stone anyone could trample?

"Fine! A fine 'test of blades' it is!"

Wang Zhan, enraged, his pale-green eyes blazing with icy light, let his blood and qi boil even more violently than before.

"Since you’ve come to me willingly, I’ll offer you up as a sacrificial flag—a mere appetizer before the great battle!"

"Let’s hope your sword lives up to your arrogance!"

Before his words faded, a terrifying battle intent, as tangible as solid matter, crashed down upon Fang Hanyu!

…

A day later, across the Eastern Domain, in every bustling ancient city, teeming tavern, and mist-shrouded sect, a shocking piece of news spread like a hurricane!

"Have you heard? Earth-shattering news! The Heavenly Cang Sacred Body of the Wang family, Wang Zhan… has lost again!"

Inside a tavern, a cultivator slammed down his cup, his voice sharp with excitement.

"What?! Impossible!"

The man beside him was horrified. "Wang Zhan? Didn’t he lose to War Asura before and go into seclusion? How could he lose again?"

"It’s absolutely true!"

The first speaker sprayed spittle as he spoke.

"A few days ago, at the ruins of the Demon Heaven Sect! He was publicly defeated by War Asura’s junior disciple, Sword in White! And this happened right after Wang Zhan broke through and greatly advanced his cultivation!"

The entire tavern erupted!

"Heavens! First War Asura, now Sword in White—are they trying to defy the heavens?"

"Sword in White? Is he really that strong?"

"Tell us the details! Wasn’t Wang Zhan supposed to be an invincible Sacred Body? How did he fall twice to these brothers?"

At this point, a gray-robed elder who seemed more informed stroked his beard and said solemnly, "I have a friend who watched from afar. They say that battle was brutally fierce!"

After Wang Zhan broke through, his aura was indeed terrifying and overwhelming, with the Heavenly Cang Sacred Body manifesting astonishing visions. But that Sword in White—he was truly an unsheathed sword unlike any other!"

He paused, scanning the curious eyes around him, and lowered his voice: "The two fought for nearly three hundred rounds!"

Sword light and sacred blood flew together. They caused half of the mountains near the Demon Heaven Sect to collapse again!

In the end, Sword in White, at the peak of the Celestial Realm, used his sword to forcibly breach Wang Zhan’s Sacred Body defense, severely wounding and defeating him!"

"What?! At the Celestial Realm? Another Celestial Realm cultivator, defeating a bolstered Wang Zhan?"

The crowd gasped.

"And that’s not all!"

The gray-robed elder dropped another bombshell.

"The most terrifying thing is that after defeating Wang Zhan, Sword in White immediately drew celestial energy into his body. It happened naturally, and he stepped straight into the King Realm!

They say his breakthrough visions were no less extraordinary than War Asura’s!"

The tavern fell into dead silence. A pin drop could be heard.

Suddenly, a middle-aged cultivator who had been stuck at the peak of the Celestial Realm for years slammed the table hard, his eyes blazing with fervor.

"I get it! I finally get it! So this is the right way to break into the King Realm!

Push your limits in extreme combat, overcome those above you, and prove your own path! That’s how you transform like a butterfly! Is Wang Zhan still there? I want to fight him too!"

The moment he spoke, jeers came from nearby.

"Give it up, Old Man Li! How many years have you been stuck in the Celestial Realm? Don’t you realize?" sneered a sharp-faced, scrawny man.

"What talent does Sword in White have? What talent do you have? If you imitate him, you’ll probably be swatted to dust by Wang Zhan!"

"Exactly!" another echoed.

"Trying to draw a tiger but ending up with a dog! Without the strength, trying to challenge higher realms is just suicide!"

Just then, a voice tinged with arrogance and skepticism came from the second-floor private booth.

The speaker was a richly dressed young man, clearly at the middle stage of the King Realm, a scion of some reclusive clan. He hadn’t witnessed the battle.

"Hmph, in my opinion, there’s something fishy about this whole affair. This Wang Zhan—they hype him up to no end, calling him the Heavenly Cang Sacred Body, peerless among his generation.

And what happens? He first loses to War Asura, a Celestial Realm cultivator, then to Sword in White, another Celestial Realm cultivator.

Getting defeated by those beneath him time and again… this Sacred Body.

Ha. Maybe it’s all hype from the Wang family? Nothing but an empty reputation?"

These words silenced the tavern. Many were thoughtful, nodding slowly.

Yes, once could be an accident. But twice?

Was Wang Zhan really not as strong as they said? Was his Heavenly Cang Sacred Body full of holes?

"Nonsense!"

Suddenly, a gruff voice rang out. A bearded, burly man stood up—he had witnessed Xiao Ruobai’s battle with Wang Zhan from afar. He glared at the young man on the second floor.

"What the hell do you know? I saw it with my own eyes! Wang Zhan’s strength is real!

The pressure from that Heavenly Cang Sacred Body, even from miles away, made it hard to breathe! That rogue son of Qilin, once rampant, was beaten by Wang Zhan.

The reason he lost to War Asura and Sword in White isn’t that Wang Zhan is weak—it’s that those two monsters are too strong! So strong they defy all logic!"

"That’s right!"

Others who had seen that battle echoed.

"Wang Zhan is definitely not weak! It’s just those two—they’re far too transcendent!"

Yet, the seed of doubt had been sown.

Many who hadn’t witnessed it firsthand, who only knew the names, especially prideful young prodigies, couldn’t help but think:

"Maybe Wang Zhan, after successive defeats, has lost his Dao heart, and his strength is greatly diminished?"

"If I could defeat him, wouldn’t I become famous overnight?"

"Even if I lose, trading blows with a former top prodigy—it doesn’t seem like a bad deal."

The tavern’s debates grew fiercer, and an undercurrent began to stir.

Many eyes flickered, their thoughts straying in different directions.

Clearly, Wang Zhan—severely wounded and with his reputation shattered—was about to face a flood of challengers eager to use him as a stepping-stone.

Beneath a shattered peak, Wang Zhan slumped against a charred broken dragon stone, thoroughly defeated.

His dark battle robe was tattered into rags, soaked through with dark golden sacred blood clinging to gashed wounds that exposed bone.

The hole in his chest, made by Sword in White’s final strike, had stopped bleeding, but the wound’s edges remained weirdly burned and twisted, as if scarred by the purest sword intent, impossibly to heal.

His black hair fell loose, matted with dust and dried blood, covering most of his face.

Yet, the eyes visible through his hair strands were a hollow, deathly gray. They held none of the sharpness or confidence from his breakthrough.

Only occasionally, when a breeze lifted the hair from his forehead, revealing the vicious sword scar beneath,

would a flicker of extreme pain and humiliation flash in those dead-gray depths—along with a trace of confusion he himself refused to admit.