Rejected Too Well!

"You didn't win!"

Yan's voice seemed to be forced out from the depths of his throat, laden with barely restrained fury.

He lowered his head and stared fixedly at the thin, scabbed mark on his right fist. The wound was shallow; under the Flame Lord's powerful regenerative ability, it had now become nothing more than a pale pink line.

But he knew it had been pierced through.

"I haven't lost either!" He suddenly raised his head, defiance blazing in his dark red eyes as he glared at Chen Li. "I was just careless! If we do it again, I definitely won't let you get away with it!"

His breathing came fast, his chest heaving violently.

How could he accept losing to a brat five years younger than himself, with six levels less Soul Power and one fewer soul ring?

"Yan." Xie Yue took two steps forward, placing himself between Yan and Chen Li.

His voice was calm, even carrying a trace of chill, yet it was like a basin of ice water mercilessly poured over Yan's anger. "You were careless. So you lost."

Yan's breath caught.

"I..." He wanted to argue, only to discover that he could not find a single reason that held up.

Indeed, he had not gone all out from the start. He had underestimated his opponent. He had looked down on Chen Li... but...

"If we do it again, I definitely won't lose!" His voice had lost its former confidence, sounding more like stubborn bravado.

Xie Yue glanced at him. The look was not heavy, yet it felt like a mountain.

"That isn't important. Being unable to face your own defeat is the greatest reason for your loss today." His tone was flat, as though stating a fact. "If you had treated Chen Li as an opponent of equal standing from the beginning, the result might have been different. But you made another choice."

He did not continue, but the meaning was already clear enough.

You lost not because you lacked strength, but because you never considered your opponent worth taking seriously.

That kind of loss was uglier than being defeated fair and square.

Yan clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. He said nothing more and looked at no one, merely gritting his back teeth so hard that the muscles in his face twitched faintly.

"Hmph!"

In the end, he forced out a soft snort and turned his head away. He neither admitted it nor argued further.

Xie Yue did not look at him again.

He turned to Chen Li. A rare, faint trace of approval appeared on his stern face as he extended his hand.

"Welcome. You have officially joined our team."

His voice remained calm, but every word was clear and firm.

"The future of Spirit Hall will have a place for us. I hope you'll be here too."

Chen Li looked at the long, pale hand before him.

He knew what it meant.

Before this, although he had been placed among the Core Disciples and was nominally on the same team as them, that had merely been Spirit Hall's administrative arrangement.

Xie Yue, Hu Liena, and Yan were companions who had truly fought and survived side by side. Their recognition was never given lightly.

And now, Xie Yue had taken the initiative to extend his hand.

Chen Li did not hesitate. He clasped it.

"I will."

His answer was brief, but his gaze was just as clear.

Their hands met, then separated at once.

Xie Yue gave a slight nod and said nothing further. But the way he looked at Chen Li had already changed.

Hu Liena watched the scene from the side, a faint smile flickering in her eyes.

She stepped forward lightly, her voice carrying a touch of lazy interest.

"Chen Li, I'm nearly at level thirty too." She paused, her seductive fox-like eyes watching him with a smile that was not quite a smile. "Perfect timing. We can go out and train together, and get soul rings together as well. What do you think? We can look out for each other."

Her tone made it sound like the most natural thing in the world, as though it had merely been a casual suggestion.

Chen Li looked at her.

Of course, he knew it was not a spur-of-the-moment suggestion.

Training together sounded like an ordinary proposal between companions, but among Spirit Hall's Core Disciples, it often implied a deeper level of connection.

Fighting side by side, entrusting one's back to another, facing life and death together—those were bonds stronger than any words.

As Spirit Hall's Holy Maiden and Bibi Dong's only direct disciple, Hu Liena had no need to use such a method to win anyone over.

Unless she believed they were worth it.

"You're coming too?" Chen Li did not answer immediately. Instead, he asked a question.

"What?" Hu Liena tilted her head slightly, the smile at the corner of her lips unchanged. "You don't welcome me?"

Her tone was relaxed, even teasing. Yet those eyes quietly watched every subtle shift in Chen Li's expression.

Yan, standing nearby, was utterly miserable.

He had just been wallowing in the frustration of losing to Chen Li, but now it was as though someone had dumped a bucket of hot oil over his head. Agitation, unease, and even a trace of panic surged up all at once. His gaze was nailed to Hu Liena's face—the face he had pursued for two years, which had never shown him such an expression.

And now, she was looking at Chen Li with that gaze.

"I don't plan to go with anyone else."

Chen Li's voice was calm and direct, without the slightest hesitation.

Hu Liena's smile stalled slightly.

"Since it's training, I want to try it alone." Chen Li did not avoid her gaze, his tone candid. "Facing soul beasts alone, making decisions alone, bearing the consequences alone—growth in that state is different from training with others."

He did not say she was unwelcome, nor did he say he did not need her. He merely stated a fact.

He had to go alone.

Not because he looked down on Hu Liena, nor because of some inexplicable pride.

It was because he carried secrets that no one could discover: the Munch-Munch Fruit, the mountain of soul rings piled up in his system space, and the purple first soul ring he had personally forged, which was still slowly evolving.

He needed to kill large numbers of soul beasts.

He needed to keep trying, failing, refining, and trying again.

No one could share those processes with him, nor could anyone be present.

So he had to go alone.

"I see..." Hu Liena fell silent for a moment.

The lazy smile on her face faded somewhat, replaced by a calmness that was difficult to read.

Her gaze rested on Chen Li's face for several breaths, as though confirming something, or perhaps simply watching him.

"...You actually refused."

Her tone revealed neither pleasure nor anger. It was flat, as though she were merely stating a fact.

Yet deep within those seductive fox-like eyes flashed an incredibly faint emotion that even she herself had not fully understood. It was not anger, nor embarrassment, but a surprised reassessment.

It was the first time she had taken the initiative to extend an olive branch to someone her age, only to be refused.

The feeling... was very new.

Meanwhile, Yan's emotions were riding an extraordinarily complicated roller coaster.

First came panic, then shock, then disbelief. Finally, when the fact that Chen Li had refused Hu Liena truly sank in, an uncontrollable wave of wild joy surged through him.

He refused! Good!

He rejected her too well!