Arena Tournament!
Everyone's hearts tightened as they gathered their wits and turned their eyes toward the center of the Heaven's Pride Battlefield.
At the center of the Heaven's Pride Battlefield, an enormous orb of light appeared out of thin air, then slowly unfolded beneath everyone's watchful gaze.
It was an arena—an arena so vast it beggared belief.
It floated in the void, forged entirely from an ancient gray stone. Countless formation patterns were inscribed across its surface, each one emanating an age-old aura so ancient it made hearts tremble.
This arena had existed for who knew how many Epochs. It had witnessed countless earth-shattering duels and borne the hot blood and glory of innumerable heaven's prides!
The Fifth Divine General's voice rang out above the arena as he announced the rules for the third round. "The third-round arena tournament will use a ranking system."
"The final rankings from the second round shall serve as the basis!"
"Upon the arena, Life and Death are of no concern."
"However, should one side verbally admit defeat, the other side may no longer strike. Violators will be expelled from the Heaven's Pride Tournament and regarded as having provoked both the Celestial Court and the Human Realm!"
The entire venue fell silent as soon as those rules were announced.
Life and Death were of no concern!
Those four words were the true cruelty of the arena tournament!
Though there was an additional rule allowing one to concede and preserve one's life, at this level of combat, victory and defeat were often decided in a single instant!
Many times, before you could even speak the words of surrender, you would already be dead and your soul scattered.
The Fifth Divine General continued reading the rules, his voice echoing through the void. "The top hundred heaven's prides