"The Black Tortoise belongs to earth, its strength drawn from the land, and its defensive power ranks first among the Four Symbols. When the four of you join forces, its defense only grows stronger," the old man said slowly, revealing the fundamental reason for Miao Si and the others' defeat.
Too weak.
If they couldn't overcome one-on-one, then four against one was even more unlikely to succeed.
This was also a rule that appeared in the Spiritual Technique trials to prevent people from exploiting loopholes.
Should they wish to join forces to take down a Spiritual Technique, the Spiritual Intelligence born from the technique would grow exponentially in strength, then crush any challenger.
The four Sect Masters came to Ning Fan with heads hung low, like defeated roosters.
"Sorry, my lord, we have lost."
"We've disgraced our lord."
"We truly were inadequate..."
Ning Fan glanced at them calmly, not exposing their recent thoughts, simply waving them behind him to fight.