Li Jiancheng scrambled up from the dust beneath the arena, his face flushed the color of pork liver. Fury, humiliation, and sheer disbelief filled his eyes.
Clang!
On the arena, Huang'er flicked Li Jiancheng's Asura spear off her whip and tossed it right in front of him, stirring up a small puff of dust.
Li Jiancheng stared at the weapon he had once been so proud of, now flung before him with such contempt—as though a wealthy man had disdainfully tossed a few coins at a beggar at his feet.
In that moment, Li Jiancheng nearly wished for death.
Shame and rage surged through his chest.
"The twelfth round—Miss Huang'er of the Peacock Sacred Mountain wins!" The Nian Great Emperor was stunned for a moment before he remembered he was the one presiding over the proceedings.
Hearing the result, the Asura Great Emperor felt as though a hammer had struck his chest. His expression turned uglier by the second.
He glanced at the crumpled figure of Li Jiancheng on the ground, looking so utterly wretched, and a feeling of bitter disappointment—of resenting iron for not becoming steel—welled up inside him.
Behind the Asura Great Emperor, the Canghai Great Emperor and the Zhankong Great Emperor wore expressions of complete shock, faces practically screaming impossibility.
Clearly, the sudden and dramatic reversal of the battle was something they simply could not accept.
How had Li Jiancheng lost? He had lost for absolutely no discernible reason?
And that girl—she had relied on nothing but a long whip. It didn't look particularly extraordinary, just a series of wrapping and threading techniques. Could those really be that hard to defend against?
At that moment, they almost couldn't help suspecting whether Li Jiancheng had thrown the fight on purpose.
"Brother, something isn't right here," the Canghai Great Emperor muttered, stepping forward after recovering his wits.
Rage boiled within the Asura Great Emperor's heart. He wanted nothing more than to slap Li Jiancheng flying with one palm. But at this critical juncture, he kept telling himself—he had to stay calm. He absolutely had to stay calm.
Now, of all times, was the true test of the Asura Great Emperor's composure. If he lost his temper here and berated Li Jiancheng, it would devastate the morale of the Asura Arena and affect everything that came after.
He raised a hand to cut off the Canghai Great Emperor, then issued his order: "Go help Jiancheng down. Victory and defeat are common occurrences in battle. He has always had his head in the clouds—this setback, this lesson learned, may not necessarily be a bad thing for him."
These were pretty words.
Though his heart was suffocating with frustration, the Asura Great Emperor still forced out these lines against his true feelings, even though inside he was seething to the point of madness.
Li Jiancheng hadn't actually suffered any serious injuries. He didn't really need anyone to help him off. But losing so disgracefully made it hard to save face, and he felt too ashamed to even look at the Asura Great Emperor.
"Your disciple is incompetent. Please punish me, Master." For once, Li Jiancheng was subdued.
The Asura Great Emperor sighed with the disappointment of iron that refused to become steel. "Jiancheng, Jiancheng—you didn't lose this round because your skill is inferior. You lost because you underestimated your opponent."
The donkey may die but its bracing frame doesn't collapse—the Asura Great Emperor was clearly trying to keep up appearances and save some face for the Asura Arena. In truth, he knew perfectly well that in that fight, Li Jiancheng had absolutely underestimated Huang'er at the start. But after taking the girl's first move, Li Jiancheng had certainly stopped holding back. One only needed to look at the thrust of his spear to know that he had fought with everything he had from that point on.
The problem was, what neither the Asura Great Emperor nor Li Jiancheng had anticipated was that his spear thrust—nearly flawless in its execution—had been dismantled by that girl with eerie, almost inexplicable ease.
"Master, I... I lost so unfairly!" Li Jiancheng's bitterness overflowed. Even now, he still couldn't understand how he had lost.
Why had his Asura Divine Spear been so easily entangled by the opponent? That girl's whip seemed to defy the laws of space itself—it had inexplicably latched onto his spear, even burrowed up from underground to wrap around his body.
Everything about it was so baffling.
"Brother, I also feel that Jiancheng's loss this round was somewhat unexpected," the Zhankong Great Emperor spoke up. His angle of analysis ran deeper than most. "That woman's cultivation has been underestimated by us. It may well be that her cultivation surpasses Jiancheng's by a step. But to say she could defeat him so easily, and leave him in such a sorry state—there must be other factors at play."
"Exactly, Master! That whip just appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around me with no warning. And that thing—when it coiled around me, it felt like electricity. There was absolutely no way to defend against it!" Li Jiancheng's anger flared anew.
He felt he hadn't been beaten by Huang'er at all. He had been beaten by that inexplicable whip.
At that moment, King Huidan, who had remained silent until now, suddenly raised an eyebrow. "That long whip is no ordinary item. Jiancheng, your loss in this round was not actually unjust."
Li Jiancheng's displeasure was immediate. "Not unjust? If we'd fought blade to blade, spear to spear, I wouldn't fear her in the slightest!"
He still had absolute confidence in his own strength.
"Blade to blade, spear to spear—you still wouldn't match her," King Huidan said with blunt directness. "Do you have any idea what the background of that whip is? Do you even know where you went wrong?"
"King Huidan, what exactly are you trying to say? Whose side are you even on here?" Li Jiancheng protested indignantly.