The news that Daoyuan, eighth on the Cloud Ranking, had been defeated spread overnight through Mozi Mountain, home to the Taihua Sect, as though it had sprouted wings.
Everyone on the seventy-two peaks was dumbstruck. An Attendant of Longcheng Peak... an Attendant of the Sect Hall, practicing Dao-Martial Dual Cultivation, with both paths at the Fourth Realm!
A madman, a fool! A lunatic who would throw away his life for fame... without one cultivation realm suppressing the other by a full tier, how would this mud-legged youth ever break through in the future? The clash between Gang Qi and spiritual energy would become an impassable chasm, a dead end in the Upper Third Realm! Even within the Middle Third Realm, that clash of yin and yang energies, ceaselessly tormenting the body and Divine Soul, could drive the most steadfast person mad and make them take their own life...
Some said this was why the Sect Hall had not accepted him into the inner sect. Others said, with an air of mystery, that this young Attendant had some other backing...
The matter of the Sword-Nurturing Platform also spread, making everyone keep an even more respectful distance from this young Attendant who mingled among Longcheng Peak's disciples...
Could he be the next Sword Slave?
Elder Mo stood on the stone platform with an ugly expression. Below him were more than a dozen peak masters of the Taihua Sect!
"Some words, some matters... once you speak them aloud, you have taken a stand where you should not!"
The peak masters exchanged glances. An old man who appeared to hold relatively high standing cupped his hands and said, "Please forgive us, Elder Mo. These matters... were merely the disciples below us being momentarily curious. After all, an opportunity to comprehend the Dao at the