You just couldn't defeat him.
The gap didn't shrink because of your anger, Pei Ye.
No one consoled him, and he certainly didn't show it...but the moment he was crushed inside [West Court Heart] was perhaps the most painful defeat of his youth, shattering the pride he clung to at the bottom of his heart.
But still, he didn't collapse.
He rushed to Sword Belly Mountain to rescue the woman, brought her to this cave...not knowing how many times he had rallied his fighting spirit, he entered her mindset with the utmost earnestness, faced the legendary Gushè Tianxin.
....Another cold defeat.
And even more thorough, even more hopeless, this was not "the sin of war," for even if given ten thousand more chances, he would never truly catch the woman's sword.
You wanted to save the "first meeting's" clear-eyed girl, yet it was merely your own beautiful fantasy.
He wasn't really afraid of his own failure.