"Oh, isn't this junior brother Zhang, who defeated a Spirit Essence Realm Eighth Level opponent while weaker than him at the Ten Branch Competition, greatly raising the divine might of our Seventeenth Branch?"
"Come, come! When I looked for you a few days ago, your servant said you weren't in. I thought you weren't coming. You were the only one missing!"
Inside the Lake Pavilion, several of the Seventeenth Branch's top-ranked top students had already gathered.
When Zhang Qingyuan appeared, Zhao Yuanyang, the organizer, was merely startled for a moment before stepping forward to receive him without losing any courtesy.
"Senior Brother Zhao is joking. I only won one match before being blasted off the stage by my opponent in one move. To suffer such a crushing defeat in full view of everyone—I'm nearly too ashamed to show my face in the branch."
A bitter smile appeared on Zhang Qingyuan's face as he mocked himself.
"Ha! Junior brother Zhang, you defeated a Spirit Essence Realm Eighth Level opponent with Spirit Essence Realm Seventh Level cultivation, successfully challenging over-level. Then, although you were defeated in one move by Fu Hongtian at the Spirit Essence Realm Ninth Level, you broke through after being broken, directly shattering the bottleneck of the Spirit Essence Realm Seventh Level and entering the Spirit Essence Realm Eighth Level."
"This unmatched combat power and your spirit of growing braver with every setback have already spread somewhat through the other branches. You have greatly proclaimed the fame of our Seventeenth Branch."
"If this still counts as losing face for our Seventeenth Branch, then wouldn't people like me, who weren't even qualified to take part in the Ten Branch Competition, or our fellow sect members who were directly eliminated in the first round, have to be ashamed enough to kill