Patriarch Shouzhe's Greatest Secret

As challenge after challenge rang out, people immediately began sending messages to ask the challenged parties for their responses.

Under normal circumstances, if the gap in ranking between challenger and challenged was too great, or if the challenged party felt the other lacked sufficient strength or reputation, they had the right to refuse.

It was a reasonable rule. Otherwise, those ranked highly would spend every day dealing with an endless stream of challengers. Not only would it be unbearably tiresome, but every Tom, Dick, and Harry could come scratch at them or stage a scam—how was anyone supposed to live like that?

However, these challengers had unusual backgrounds. They were all outstanding young talents from the Immortal Dynasty, the Demon Dynasty, or other nations. Their strength and reputations were considerable, unlike the challengers of old, so there was a fairly high chance the challenged parties would accept.

And such excitement was not something one encountered easily. How could anyone bear to miss it?

For a time, those who had merely been passing by the arena no longer wished to leave. They even began calling friends and acquaintances over to join them in watching the spectacle.

Before long, news that young talents from multiple nations had come to issue challenges spread through Xinping Town like a rocket. People kept pouring toward the arena, making the area increasingly lively.

Meanwhile.

Several teahouses near the arena, with especially excellent views and angles, had already been rented out in advance.

One of those teahouses had been booked at great expense by a group of merchants who had traveled from the Demon Dynasty.

Outside the teahouse, a squad of demonically charged caravan guards stood about casually. They appeared relaxed, but in truth, they guarded the main entrance, side entrance, and every possible exit, keeping idlers