Everything he had so carefully planned had now become a complete joke.
Not only had Duan Gang and the others survived, Heaven Sect had actually lost the fourth round.
He had truly lost the lady and the army.
Especially Duan Gang's strength—it had far exceeded expectations.
A powerful expert like that, one who already harbored second thoughts toward Heaven Sect, would become an unimaginable hidden danger if he remained in Heaven Sect.
However...
Though anger burned in his heart, he knew now was not the time to let it erupt.
The urgent priority was to stabilize the situation first, then make further plans.
So he took a deep breath to steady his emotions, then helped Chu Yunhe up and said in a deep voice, "Yunhe, get up!"
"Victory and defeat are common in war. There's no need to blame yourself too much!"
"After all, no one could have expected Red Firmament Sect to have plotted so deeply, actually using the female cultivator Li Muyun's identity to cover for Red Firmament Sect's true number-one expert."
"Nor could anyone have foreseen that Red Firmament Sect would actually have two Li Muyuns!"
"So this defeat was not due to any fault in battle!"
Though he said that, the exhaustion and disappointment in his voice were impossible to hide.
Chu Yunhe's eyes were slightly red.
"Elder..."
Elder Pei waved a hand.
"Go treat your injuries first!"
With that, he turned to the other disciples.
"All of you, pull yourselves together!"
"Although we lost the fourth round and are temporarily behind in the rankings, the competition isn't over yet!"
"We still have the fifth round!"
"As long as we win the fifth round, our results won't be too bad!"
Heard this, the disciples answered weakly, "Yes!"
Just then, the grand voice rang out once