To the Lord System, which could manipulate time at will, every lord was like a wave in the river of time.
Once frozen, they would no longer flow or change.
Time itself was merely a term humans used to describe the changes in things. It had no overly concrete concept; in essence, it was an objectively existing physical phenomenon defined by humans.
It was also a unit of measurement in humanity's broad conceptual understanding.
The Lord System placed great importance on this Defense Challenge. This method of freezing and waiting differed from the Time Stop used in previous announcements.
At that time, the so-called Time Stop had affected only the Endless Continent.
The lords' minds had not been frozen. They retained autonomous thought as they waited for the Time Stop to end.
But now, those lords whose challenges had ended were experiencing true time freezing. They had to wait an additional ten-plus hours, including the time difference Zong Shen had reopened and the extra time exchanged for the Mysterious Merchant.
Only after Zong Shen's challenge had completely ended would everyone uniformly enter the return phase, after which the Lord System would settle the challenge.
Accordingly, the final settlement rewards would not be determined until one day after everyone returned to the Endless Continent.
As the "monthly exam" for the first batch of lords, this Defense Challenge was also nearing its end. After repeated eliminations and selection, the remaining first-batch lords would welcome a precious period of stable development while awaiting the arrival of the second batch of lords.
As for the lords who had perished, they would fall silent in some unknown and unfathomable realm in another form.
A brand-new situation and new rules awaited the lords.
After several minutes of selection, Zong Shen stretched deeply and solidly. He