In the center of the square, The Newman Family's guest elder Samuel Woods, along with those fourteen- or fifteen-year-old The Newman Family boys and girls, would glance over from time to time during their cultivation, all with looks of keen interest on their faces.

“Matthew Newman, was it you just now saying I wouldn’t dare to come?”

At that moment, a child’s voice, full of energy, came from the long, narrow stone path to the east. The figure of William Newman, clearly much taller than other children his age, slowly appeared.

“He’s here!”

“He knows full well that Charles Newman just stepped into the sixth level of Qi Refinement, and he still dares to come. He’s got guts!”

“Interesting!”

The slightly older The Newman Family boys and girls all looked excited when they heard that familiar voice.

A few who had been cultivating stood up slowly, and those practicing their martial forms with the stride of a dragon and the gait of a tiger suddenly stopped. All eyes turned to focus on William Newman.

In their eyes, William Newman was an oddity.

For nine years, ever since the lottery assembly ended, William Newman had yet to display any special cultivation attribute. The beast bone he had obtained had never resonated with his spiritual power.

Because of this, when Charles Newman, Matthew Newman, and the others had determined their own spiritual attributes and started cultivating specific spiritual arts—relying on the spiritual tools they’d received from the lottery assembly and making rapid progress—William Newman... was still practicing the most basic Qi Refinement technique.

William Newman’s cultivation progress was so slow that everyone secretly mocked him, and even the family head David Newman and Grace Newman were at a loss.

Yet, surprisingly, William Newman’s body only grew stronger. This meant that when he fought with children his age, he never fell behind due to his low cultivation level.

On the contrary, over the past nine years, every battle between William Newman and his peers had ended in their crushing defeat.

To this day, William Newman remained undefeated.

The reason they paid such close attention to William Newman’s battles was to see when the advantage of his powerful body would finally disappear.

Just yesterday, Charles Newman had stepped into the sixth level of Qi Refinement, his body now brimming with the power of lightning. Privately, they all believed that William Newman’s undefeated record would end in today’s match.

So, they were all secretly looking forward to this fight.

“Matthew Newman, you were mocking me earlier, weren’t you? How about the two of us spar first?” William Newman stepped forward, giving Matthew Newman a sidelong glance, and was the first to provoke.

Having reached the fifth level of Qi Refinement, Matthew Newman was clearly a bit intimidated under his gaze.

Matthew Newman instinctively took a half-step back, blustering, “William Newman, your opponent today is Charlie. If you can still stand after fighting Charlie, I’ll play with you.”

“Shameless,” muttered Alice Newman, her hair tied in a high ponytail.

“Fine by me.” William Newman didn’t care at all, replying with disdain, “I really don’t need to go all out to fight you.”

“You!” Matthew Newman’s face was full of anger.

“All of you, move aside!” Charles Newman shouted, signaling the other kids to back away. As he spoke, his right fist was already crackling with threads of blue lightning.

The The Newman Family children beside Charles Newman all retreated, giving the area to him and William Newman.

In the center of the square, Samuel Woods and the older The Newman Family youths, seeing that a fight was about to break out, grinned and gathered around, chatting as they did.

Atop a tall stone hall, David Newman stood at the window, hands on the stone wall, looking down over the square from above.

For nine years, David Newman had used his authority as head of the The Newman Family to try every means to find out about the man who had harmed Emily Newman.

Unfortunately, to this day, he had not heard a single word about that man.

That man seemed to have appeared out of thin air, and then vanished just as suddenly.

The only trace he left behind was William Newman, who was about to fight Charles Newman in the square.

As for David Newman himself, his body was growing weaker by the day. Once tall and imposing, he was now skin and bones. Even someone with no eye for such things could tell at a glance that he likely didn’t have much time left.

From the high platform, watching William Newman fight his peers and seeing him win again and again had become one of his few remaining pleasures.

But he also understood that with insufficient cultivation, William Newman, who relied only on his strong body, would one day be defeated.

He also knew that once William Newman started losing, it would mean the advantage of his strong physique would be gone for good.

After that, the gap between William Newman and his peers would only widen as their cultivation levels soared.

“Will it be today...” David Newman muttered to himself.

“Zzzt zzzt!”

A strange sound came from the lightning-wreathed fist of Charles Newman in the square. With a loud shout, Charles Newman suddenly charged at William Newman.

“Hm, he’s a bit fiercer than before.” William Newman opened his mouth, and as he smiled at the oncoming Charles Newman, he showed no intention of dodging.

William Newman suddenly raised his hand and took a forceful step forward. His fist, clearly larger than Charles Newman’s, smashed hard into Charles Newman’s right fist.

“Bang!”

The two fists collided with a dull thud, and Charles Newman’s momentum was instantly halted.

William Newman took two steps back, baring his teeth and shaking his fist. Threads of lightning scattered from his fist as he swung his arm.