Inside Sima Xiangtu's cage at that moment.
Under Sima Xiangtu's manipulation, the old Taoist with the cow was once more pinned down.
Fortunately, Dao Sea Fairy Maiden, Wish-God Granny, and the others were still present. Under their treatment, Chu Feng's injuries had improved considerably — at least his ravaged body had returned to normal.
However, since his soul had yet to recover, Chu Feng's complexion remained quite poor.
Meanwhile, to prevent their conversation from being overheard by Sima Xiangtu, they had set up a sound-isolating formation within the cage.
"Master, Senior... it is this disciple's incompetence."
Though his injuries had improved, Chu Feng's face was full of shame.
"Chu Feng, what nonsense are you spouting? You've already done your best."
Wang Yuxian quickly tried to console him.
At the same time, Wish-God Granny, Dao Sea Fairy Maiden, and the others also began to comfort Chu Feng.
They all knew this was in no way his fault.
"What is there for you to be ashamed of? The one who should be ashamed is that Jiang Yuantai."
But to everyone's surprise, the old Taoist with the cow offered a rather different kind of comfort.
"Master, what do you mean by that?"
"Are you saying Jiang Yuantai used some special trick to beat me?"
Chu Feng asked.
"Naturally. Boosting his combat power twice in succession — he must have taken two forbidden pills back to back."
The old Taoist with the cow said.
"But there was no trace of forbidden pills on him at all."
Dao Sea Fairy Maiden said.
In truth, this was the question on everyone's mind.
They had all observed him carefully, yet not a single one had detected the presence of forbidden pills.
"The Alchemy Dao Immortal Sect has always excelled at pill refining. A young master of standing within the sect would naturally be given access to extraordinarily rare forbidden pills."
"The defining trait of such pills is that their backlash is minimal and they go completely undetected."
"Pills with these characteristics are, of course, exceedingly difficult to refine — never mind how precious the ingredients are, the refinement process itself is incredibly tedious."
"Thus, an ordinary member of the Alchemy Dao Immortal Sect could never possess such pills. The sect never sells them externally either, so naturally no one knows of their existence."
The old Taoist with the cow explained.
"Despicable and shameless — preaching about a fair fight while popping forbidden pills. That's beyond contempt."
"Truly despicable."
Wang Yuxian and Princess Xiao Xiao cursed in unison.
Seeing Wang Yuxian and Princess Xiao Xiao like this, the old Taoist with the cow chuckled involuntarily, then glanced at Chu Feng.
"My disciple's way with women is still as impressive as ever."
"I could ride a horse at full gallop and never catch up to that, I'm afraid."
He was actually teasing Wang Yuxian and Princess Xiao Xiao.
Hearing his words, both Wang Yuxian and Princess Xiao Xiao flushed red at the same time, at a loss for what to say.
Even their anger had subsided considerably.
"There is no fairness in this world."
"His so-called fairness was nothing more than a performance for the crowd, so they would acknowledge his strength."
"In truth, from the very beginning, this was never a fair duel. The spear technique he used was so refined — he had clearly spent an enormous amount of time cultivating it. It took tremendous effort."
"Only my disciple Chu Feng could have survived against such a spear technique. Anyone else would have fallen long ago — how could they possibly have lived through it?"
The old Taoist with the cow said.
"That spear technique was indeed extraordinary. It looked ordinary at first glance, but by the later stages, it could be used to lay formations."
"If you think about it carefully, his speed and strength very likely came from the application of that spear technique, rather than being truly his own power."
Dao Sea Fairy Maiden and Wish-God Granny offered their own analysis as well.