Cloud Wild Sword Sect.
"Master, you wanted to see me?" Han Tuo asked, looking at the cool, composed figure seated at the tea table.
Xiao Nishang took a sip of tea.
"There's news I need to tell you. Brace yourself."
Han Tuo remained calm.
"Master, my Dao Heart is as hard as iron. No news could shake it in the slightest."
"Please, tell me."
Xiao Nishang sighed.
"Someone among the Six Elites of Sanyuan Prefecture broke through to Gang Force not long ago."
Han Tuo frowned, then smiled.
"I thought it was something serious. It's only natural that someone broke through."
"After all, something went wrong when I was refining my True Qi into True Gang. It wouldn't be hard for someone else to catch up."
"But I am curious who it was."
"Han Yi? Or Shen Yanran?"
Xiao Nishang shook her head.
"Neither."
Han Tuo's pupils contracted.
"Could it be... Hou Jingzhao?"
He could accept it if Han Yi or Shen Yanran had been the first to break through to Gang Force.
He considered them inferior to himself, but neither was mediocre.
But Hou Jingzhao... that raving good-for-nothing.
If Hou Jingzhao had surpassed him, his Dao Heart really would take a blow.
"Not him either." Xiao Nishang took another sip of tea.
Han Tuo's heart jolted. An unthinkable possibility occurred to him.
Even his voice trembled.
"Of the Six Elites of Sanyuan Prefecture, that leaves only Li Chuan."
"But just over two months ago, he clearly hadn't even reached Core Formation Perfection!"
He looked at Xiao Nishang, desperate to hear her deny it.
But reality was often far crueler than anything imagined.
Xiao Nishang nodded slightly.
"It was him."
Boom! A thunderbolt seemed to split Han Tuo's mind.
Li Chuan?
How could it be Li Chuan?!
In that instant,