The manner in which Grey had overwhelmed him, destroyed his cultivation, and stripped him of his former prestige made little sense to Kaein. Even now, whenever he tried to recall the battle, he struggled to understand precisely how everything had gone so horribly wrong.
It was not simply the fact that he had lost.
Cultivators lost battles all the time. Even geniuses occasionally encountered opponents stronger than themselves.
What truly tormented Kaein was the feeling that he had been completely outmatched, as though all the advantages he had once relied upon had become meaningless in the face of Grey's overwhelming strength.
That realization had planted a deep and instinctive fear within him.
Whenever he closed his eyes, fragments of that dreadful encounter would inevitably resurface. The memories followed him into his dreams and lingered in his thoughts long after he awoke.
