Two Early-Stage Nine-Step Supreme Realm cultivators had already fallen in the Righteous Path Arena.
Sending more cultivators of that realm into the arena would only be sending them to their deaths. It would accomplish nothing.
"They came here prepared to die."
The Void Sect Master's gaze was fathomless. "What we need is to exhaust the Evil Dao's strongest fighters at the lowest possible cost. Even if our people die fighting, their deaths must count for something. How many could you kill if you entered now? If you exhausted yourself too soon or exposed your trump cards, we would have no way left to win."
"Then when can I enter?"
Lu Ren's voice was grim.
"You are the strongest among us!"
The Void Sect Master looked straight at him and said, enunciating every word, "You will enter last. If you die, we lose this Righteous Path Arena battle. If you survive, we win it!"
"Enter last?"
Lu Ren's brows drew tight. "You expect me to sit here and watch them march to their deaths, one after another?"
"Gu Hanxiao!"
The Void Sect Master frowned slightly, a flicker of doubt in his eyes. "As the Chaos Clan's Seventeenth Ancestor, you should know the greater cause comes first. Today, you seem... rather more impulsive than usual."
The Gu Hanxiao before him showed an almost reckless urgency and grief in his words and bearing. He seemed different from the steady, inscrutable Chaos Clan ancestor the Void Sect Master remembered, the man who planned before he acted.
Lu Ren drew a deep breath and forced down his surging emotions. His gaze stayed fixed on Long Yaotian in the arena. His voice was quiet, but his resolve was iron.
"Void Sect Master, I decided to enter this arena today for more than just winning this battle."