Hearing
"Oh? What ties?" Xiu Ming looked somewhat surprised.
"I have a brother in the Formless Divine Sect. He has been well taken care of there," Nie Li said.
"I wonder who Young Sect Master Nie's brother is?" Xiu Ming paused, caught off guard.
"
"Duan Jian?" Xiu Ming drew in a sharp breath. He had never imagined that Nie Li's brother would turn out to be that freak, Duan Jian.
It was no wonder Xiu Ming was so shocked. Inside the Formless Divine Sect, Duan Jian was nothing short of a legend.
Duan Jian had not been with the sect for very long. He kept to himself, was a man of few words, and barely ever said more than what was absolutely necessary. He devoted himself entirely to cultivation from the start. At first, everyone felt somewhat wary of the fellow who had wings growing from his back, but over time they grew to look down on him a little, occasionally teasing him for sport. Duan Jian, however, paid them no mind whatsoever.
Perhaps his tolerance led people to think he was an easy target. One day, several dozen young-generation disciples boldly surrounded him and launched an attack.
Everyone assumed Duan Jian was about to get destroyed. The outcome, however, left jaws on the floor.
Every single one of those young-generation disciples was beaten to the ground. The lightly injured had at least three broken ribs, and several others had their cultivation nearly crippled.
Because it was a case of fellow disciples fighting one another, Duan Jian was punished—given the harshest penalty the Formless Divine Sect had to offer. It was an excruciating ordeal. Historically, anyone who endured it would start crying for their parents from day one, and after three days they would need at least three months of bed rest. But for three straight days, Duan Jian did not let out a single whimper.
After the punishment was over, Duan Jian went right back to eating and cultivating as usual, keeping entirely to himself.
All the young-generation disciples were dumbfounded.
Was this even human? It was practically...
What happened next left everyone speechless.
After losing, those young-generation disciples were naturally furious. Many of them had powerful connections, so they called in numerous experts from within the sect. They gathered several dozen of them and swarmed Duan Jian all at once.
But the ending didn't change. Every last one of those several dozen experts was thrashed by Duan Jian, and not a single one walked away unscathed.
The entire Formless Divine Sect was stunned.
Those several dozen people were all long-established experts of the Formless Divine Sect. Many were direct descendants of elders, yet several dozen of them ganged up on Duan Jian alone and still got beaten senseless. No one had ever anticipated that outcome.
Logically, Duan Jian should have had to endure another three days of punishment. But...
Last time, he hadn't suffered a single wound!
Just as the overseers of the Formless Divine Sect were debating how to discipline Duan Jian, the Grand Elder stepped forward, protected Duan Jian, and took him on as a personal disciple.
After that, Duan Jian didn't fight again for a long time. The next time he did was during the Formless Divine Sect's genius battle.
In that fight, geniuses emerged one after another. Practically every genius in the entire Formless Divine Sect stepped forward.