The Shock That Rocked Liang'an City

The clash between Prit and Ren seemed to last a long time, but in reality, only a brief moment had passed.

The spectators hadn't even recovered from the shock of Prit actually used a weapon! Was that one of his ultimate moves? when his Godhead had already fallen onto the arena.

Silence!

The stands, packed with a million spectators, were utterly silent. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone stared at the scene in disbelief, unable to believe that Prit, who had been on the verge of winning thirty matches in a row, had been killed in an instant.

"Waaaah!"

A few seconds later, the once-silent Battlefield erupted into even louder cheers. Countless people shouted Ren's name.

As for Prit, who had just died, everyone had already forgotten him. That was the rule of the Battle Arena: no matter how impressive your previous performance had been, or how much attention you'd drawn, the moment you lost, the spectators would abandon you. They only cheered and shouted for the new strongman.

The deafening cheers didn't affect Ren in the slightest. He casually waved his hand, gathering Divine Power and putting away the Godhead and Spatial Ring. It was a habit he'd developed over many years. Though he no longer cared about such a small fortune, he'd never made a point of changing his ways.

Then Ren's eyes shifted slightly as he gazed calmly at the passage opposite him, waiting for his next opponent to appear.

Ten minutes later, a green-haired young man with a third eye in the middle of his forehead entered the Battlefield. He lost in one move.

Twenty minutes later, one move...

Thirty minutes later, one move...

By the time all ten battles were over, no one had lasted more than a single move against Ren.

Ren hadn't used his Wind Divine Clone, which had reached the peak of Asura. Instead, he'd continued to fight with his Water Divine Clone, a Seven-Star Demon who had reached the threshold of becoming a Commander. After all, he didn't know whether the Liang'an Prefecture Lord was a cautious man.

When challenging the Prefect, if the Prefect failed to show up within ten thousand years for any reason, he would be declared the loser, and the Prefect's position would automatically change hands. So, after watching a challenger's fights, some Prefects who didn't feel confident would find an excuse to leave and wait for the challenge period to expire. That way, they could avoid risking a fight while still saving a little face.

Given the Prefect of Liang'an's status, it wouldn't be difficult for him to find out Ren's basic background. If he discovered that Ren had defeated the previous City Lord in Iceblood City with his Seven-Star Demon Water Divine Clone, then used his Seven-Star Demon Wind Divine Clone in the Battle Arena, he might well start to wonder about Ren's true strength and suspect that he was hiding something.

Ren's plan was to present himself as a battle-crazed cultivator who loved challenging the strong. It was entirely reasonable for an Iceblood Fiend who had become a Seven-Star Demon after ten million years of cultivation to make a new breakthrough two million years later and decide to challenge the Prefect. Hell had never lacked battle-crazed warriors who thought of nothing but challenging the strong.

Lieremons of Zijing Continent, Luomiu of Star Fog Sea, and even Olivier in his early days were all like that. They cared little for wealth, content with just enough to get by. Their minds were fixed on battle, and they couldn't resist challenging any strong opponent they came across.

Prefects were generally not worried about losing to battle-crazed warriors. To some extent, such warriors were apt to overestimate themselves, daring to challenge a Prefect not long after becoming a Seven-Star Demon.

Take Lieremons, for example. After defeating Aliquin, he immediately set out to become a Seven-Star Demon and then challenge an Asura. But the sudden appearance of the little cat, Pusluo, left him completely helpless.

In Hell, veteran Seven-Star Demons all knew how terrifying Asuras were. Back in Diyi City, when Wurnisen used the Fire of Repentance, a Death Law technique, Luoyisius asked him why he didn't challenge an Asura. Wurnisen and Stuart, the Lord of Diyi City, had both scoffed at the idea, because they knew they weren't Asura's match.

By contrast, some newly risen young Seven-Star Demons, especially battle-crazed ones, didn't understand the caliber of those Asuras who had survived countless years of challenges. They would overestimate themselves and issue challenges as Seven-Star Demons.

Prefects naturally had nothing to fear from challengers like these. In fact, they preferred them. All a Prefect had to do was defeat one, then suggest that he could take him to the Planar Battlefield someday to broaden his horizons. The man would immediately agree, his eyes lighting up, and offer to serve under the Prefect.

Before long, five days had passed. By the rules, each person could fight no more than ten battles per day, after which they were free to go rest. Ren couldn't be bothered to leave, though. He stayed backstage for several days, fighting ten matches in a row every day.

In just a few days, Ren's battles had shaken all of Liang'an City. Nearly every resident had heard of him, and every seat in the Battlefield was full. Everyone wanted to witness the prowess of a super-strong expert.

On the sixth day, a flash of icy blue light streaked across the Battle Arena, and Ren killed another opponent in a single move.

"It's about time for some Seven-Star Demon powerhouses to show up."

Ren slowly landed on the arena and looked toward the City Lord's Mansion. He pondered quietly, feeling a faint stir of anticipation.

Generally, once someone had won fifty consecutive matches in the Battle Arena, the Prefect would start paying a little attention. He would choose a powerful Seven-Star Demon from the Chief God Army or the Prefecture Army to fight the challenger. This had practically become standard practice.

The Prefect did this, in part, to prevent lucky people from slipping through. After all, if someone was especially lucky and happened to face unusually weak opponents in the Battle Arena, they might get an easy Hundred-Battle Victory.

According to the Battle Arena's rules, anyone who achieved a Hundred-Battle Victory could receive a reward of ten billion Inkstones. It might not be much money to a Prefect, but he still wouldn't want to give it to weaklings who'd won by luck.

On the other hand, the Prefect would also judge the challenger's strength and temperament based on his performance, then decide whether to try to recruit him. Anyone capable of achieving a Hundred-Battle Victory was generally at least close to being a Seven-Star Demon. Such a man could be of some help to an Asura as a subordinate.

In particular, Asuras who wanted to obtain Sovereign's Might would try to gather as many powerful subordinates as possible, hoping to earn enough Soldier Badges on the Planar Battlefield.

There were only four ways to obtain Sovereign's Might on the Divine Planes. The first was to become a Sovereign Envoy and receive it from a Sovereign. The second was to befriend a Sovereign's child or someone from a Sovereign's family and receive it as a gift. The third was to have someone with exceptional soul mastery extract it from Inkstones, as Aiken of Zijing Continent could do.

As for most Prefects, they couldn't become Sovereign Envoys, had no way to make connections with Sovereigns' children, and weren't qualified to ask Aiken to refine Sovereign's Might for them. That left them with only one option: go to the Planar Battlefield, obtain Soldier Badges, and trade them to a Sovereign.

On the Planar Battlefield, Commander Badges couldn't be exchanged for Sovereign's Might. It took a hundred Soldier Badges to trade for a single drop. Though soldiers were far weaker than Commanders, they banded together, and even a Commander would find a force of a hundred or a thousand soldiers troublesome to face.

So Commanders who wanted Sovereign's Might would try to gather powerful subordinates to hunt enemy soldiers and collect their Badges. Likewise, Six-Star and Seven-Star Demons who wanted Sovereign's Might would find a way to join a Commander's forces. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement.