Tiger Strength Immortal stood where he was.
Utterly motionless.
Like a stone statue.
His gaze rested on the spot where Goat Strength Immortal had dissipated.
Those motes of light had vanished completely.
Not even a trace remained.
He closed his eyes.
His fists clenched with an audible crack.
His knuckles turned white.
His veins bulged.
He wanted to attack.
To charge forward.
To smash the Taotie Cauldron with a single palm strike.
To tear Little White Dragon to pieces.
To grind everyone in the Preaching Squad to dust.
But he could not.
Because of the rules.
Death, and the dissolution of one's Dao.
Those were the rules of this wager of lives.
Rules they themselves had laid down.
Enter the cauldron together.
The loser would die, his Dao dissolving with him.
Any objections?
None.
He had raised no objections.
Neither had Goat Strength Immortal.
They themselves had agreed.
They themselves had jumped in.
They themselves had lost.
A loss was a loss.
Death was death.
There was nothing to say.
Nothing to make a scene over.
Nothing to go back on.
Tiger Strength Immortal drew a deep breath.
He forced down all his rage, grief, and resentment.
Pressed them into the deepest recesses of his heart.
Deer Strength Immortal stood beside Tiger Strength Immortal.
His face was ashen.
He suffered even more than Tiger Strength Immortal.
He gritted his teeth.
His clenched teeth creaked.
Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
Not from being struck.
But from his own biting.
He needed pain.
Needed pain to keep himself from crumbling inside.
Needed pain to remind himself of what mattered more right now.
Deer Strength Immortal drew a deep breath.
He could not bear to watch any longer.
It was not Little White Dragon's victory he could not bear to