"Hmph."
Zuoqiu Yanliang remained unconcerned. With a light snort, a Heavenly Thunder Mark materialized on his forehead.
His cultivation rose from third-grade Martial Ancestor to fourth-grade Martial Ancestor.
Simultaneously, his hand seals shifted, and the auras of the three Crouching Dragon Swords began syncing with his own, also climbing from third-grade Martial Ancestor to fourth-grade Martial Ancestor.
However, as the three Crouching Dragon Swords' power surged, both Li Muzhi and Song Qian showed pained expressions.
Li Muzhi in particular—his face had turned an ashen blue, and blood began streaming from his nose and ears.
Clearly, the power emanating from the Crouching Dragon Swords had exceeded what he could endure.
But even though he was already suffering injuries, he held on through sheer willpower.
After all, the situation at hand was a matter of life and death.
"Stop attacking."
"If you provoke it further, none of us will survive."
Seeing that Zuoqiu Yanliang still refused to back down, Chu Feng warned him once more.
"Shut your mouth. Who do you think you are?"
"A shameless fool who snuck in here for personal gain, and you dare tell me, Zuoqiu Yanliang, what to do?"
"Once I finish dealing with this Prison King, I'll deal with you next."
Not only did Zuoqiu Yanliang ignore Chu Feng's warning, he hurled insults at him. And as his words fell, his hand seals shifted again—he drove the three Crouching Dragon Swords to slash toward the Tiger Flood Dragon once more.
This strike carried several times more power than the previous one.
The moment it landed, ripples of devastation spread in every direction.
The powerful shockwaves swept up even the disciples present. In an instant, figures were sent flying. The auxiliary formation that the Duanmu brothers and the True Disciples had set up not only collapsed entirely, but several disciples suffered severe injuries.
And it wasn't just the True Disciples who were hurt. Li Muzhi, unable to bear the Crouching Dragon Swords' power any longer, spat blood from all seven orifices and collapsed to the ground.
The Crouching Dragon Sword he had been controlling immediately shrank back to its original size and plummeted downward.
Of the three Crouching Dragon Swords, only two remained.
But before long, the other two Crouching Dragon Swords also reverted to their original state.
Looking more carefully, the crowd's hearts sank even further.
Not only was Li Muzhi gravely injured—Song Qian and Zuoqiu Yanliang were in similar states.
Zuoqiu Yanliang in particular sat slumped atop the Fierce Beast he had been commanding, the Thunder Mark on his forehead already vanished.
He looked far weaker than Li Muzhi.
As the main controller of the Crouching Dragon Sword Formation, he had paid an enormous price.
"What do we do now?"
The disciples panicked. That last strike had been their absolute strongest attack.
But the Tiger Flood Dragon remained completely unharmed.
Moreover, with a violent twist of its body, yet another head sprouted forth.
At this moment, the Tiger Flood Dragon not only possessed four heads—its aura had also reached... Martial Ancestor!!!
"We're finished. We're dead. We're all dead."
Seeing the Tiger Flood Dragon's cultivation rise once more, every disciple's face turned pale as death.
Since Zuoqiu Youyu had not participated in this Fierce Beast Prison Realm hunt, among all the disciples who had entered the realm, the strongest was Zuoqiu Yanliang.
But the disciples all knew that activating the Thunder Mark to push his cultivation to fourth-grade Martial Ancestor was already Zuoqiu Yanliang's absolute limit.
Now this Tiger Flood Dragon had reached the Martial Ancestor realm.
And within the Martial Ancestor realm, a single grade of difference was like the gap between heaven and earth.
They were utterly powerless to fight back. They could only lie there like fish on a cutting board.
But what was strange was that although the Tiger Flood Dragon radiated fierce killing intent and roared continuously, looking as terrifying as a demonic monster...
it still hadn't launched an attack against them.
Once again, everyone turned to look at Chu Feng.
If before it had only been speculation, then now... Chu Feng's words had been confirmed.
It was very likely that everything was as Chu Feng had said.
This Tiger Flood Dragon was using the storm's power to evolve. It didn't want to unleash its full strength yet, which was why it hadn't attacked them.
But if it continued evolving, no one knew what level it would reach.
"Awooo!"
Suddenly, the Fierce Beast beneath Li Muzhi let out a strange, furious roar.
Li Muzhi forced himself upright and dismounted from the beast.
Then the beast shot off into the distance.
Boom!
Before it had flown far, a muffled explosion rang out—the Fierce Beast had self-destructed and perished.