Soto Great Soul Arena!

Night fell, but Suotuo City seemed to have just woken up.

It was even livelier than it was during the day.

The shops lining the streets were brightly lit.

Vendors who only did business at night had also set up their stalls.

Flender's little shop had already closed for the night.

Ye Qiu stood beneath the dim eaves outside the shop, guessing that... Flender might have gone to gamble at the Great Soul Arena.

After all, a place like a Soul Fighting Arena was really no different from a beast-fighting arena.

Anyone could bet on victory or defeat, life or death...

When Flender took the Shrek Seven Devils to train at the Great Soul Arena, he often placed bets with other people's bookmakers.

He profited from it.

Ye Qiu shook his head and looked up at the dark-colored buildings in the distance, nearly a hundred meters tall, then slowly set off.

Without a doubt, that imposing structure was Suotuo City's Great Soul Arena!

Only cities of main-city rank could have one.

In the Soul Master World, there was even an unwritten saying... the strength of a city or even a nation could be judged entirely by the size of its Great Soul Arena, which could even determine a nation's rise or fall.

Soul Masters produced nothing,

but they were an indispensable backbone in war.

Their value could naturally be displayed to the fullest in wartime.

But in times of peace,

the Great Soul Arena was an important place for Soul Masters to demonstrate their value.

Soul Fighting Arenas could be found throughout the continent.

Soul Masters who made a name for themselves in a Great Soul Arena would become the brightest stars in the entire nation, or even the Soul Master World.

Individual Soul Masters could reap enormous benefits and gain tremendous fame.

For the various factions,

it was also a place where their younger generations could display their strength.

To a certain extent,

the Great Soul Arena could also fire up Soul Masters' fighting spirit, keeping them from sinking into complacency during peacetime.

Rumor had it that the Great Soul Arena had been jointly founded by the seven most prestigious Soul Master clans on the continent and belonged to neither of the two empires nor Spirit Hall.

It was a neutral third-party faction!

It was also wealthy enough to rival a nation!

Ye Qiu wasn't quite sure which clans made up the seven great Soul Master clans, but he figured they were probably the Upper Three Sects and Lower Four Sects.

But the ties between them surely weren't very close,

or Spirit Hall couldn't have sat by and done nothing.

More likely, it was an organization created in the name of the Seven Great Sects by forces related to them through marriage, or even by a coalition of more clans.

Maybe... it even had to pay tribute to Spirit Hall and the Seven Great Sects!

After all, in the Soul Master World, without strength, one could only be left at the mercy of others. Otherwise, how could such a juicy piece of meat escape everyone's notice?

Perhaps it was precisely the tangled web of interests within the Great Soul Arena organization that made it a relatively fair place, where no one dared play at favoritism and fraud...

And because of that,

with a tacit understanding among the various factions, not even a Titled Douluo would cause trouble here, allowing it to exist in peace to this day.

Only when he drew closer

did Ye Qiu realize just how magnificent the Soto Great Soul Arena was.

He felt a little regretful that he hadn't given his first time to the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena. Otherwise, he surely would have been even more awestruck.

The Soto Great Soul Arena was oval in shape and stood a full 120 meters tall.

Inside were one main Soul Fighting Arena and twenty-four subsidiary arenas, which could accommodate 60,000 spectators watching at the same time.

Those included 100 VIP boxes.

The area in front of the Great Soul Arena was especially bustling, with quite a few mercenaries looking for work.

Wearing a mask, Ye Qiu silently walked inside.

As soon as he entered, he saw a massive stone stele densely engraved with names. They were dark red, like dried blood.

Ye Qiu guessed that they were probably all people who had died in the Soul Fighting Arena.

Without looking any longer,

Ye Qiu headed straight for the registration area.

Registering for Soul Fighting was simple: one only had to fill in one's name, age, Martial Soul, and other information. Of course, first-time registration also required a fee of ten gold coins.

A Soul Power test was also required

to determine one's true level.

Fortunately, the test didn't require him to summon his Martial Soul.

Otherwise, Ye Qiu's three Thousand-Year Soul Rings would have caused an uproar right at the registration desk.

Soon,

Ye Qiu finished registering and received an Iron Soul Badge.

Badges like this were symbols of rank in the Great Soul Arena

and were recognized in every main city on the continent.

The higher the badge's rank, the greater the benefits.

The Iron Soul Badge was the lowest rank. Above it were bronze, silver, gold, purple gold, sapphire, ruby, and diamond... eight ranks in all, distinguished by the quality of the minerals.

After a brief explanation from a staff member,

Ye Qiu basically understood the rules for advancing through the Great Soul Arena's badge ranks.

To advance from Iron Soul Fighter to Bronze Soul Fighter,

one needed 100 points.

Each victory earned one point.

A defeat would likewise cost one point.

If a winning streak exceeded five matches,

then, starting with the sixth consecutive victory, each subsequent win in the streak would earn ten points!

Once the streak exceeded ten wins...

each further consecutive victory would add 100 points!

If a Bronze Soul Fighter's points fell below 100, they would be demoted to Iron Soul Fighter.

To advance from Bronze Soul Fighter to Silver Soul Fighter,

one needed 1,000 points.

In fights between Bronze Soul Fighters, each victory earned ten points.

A loss also cost ten points.

That was ten times as much as for Iron Soul Fighters. Apart from that, the scoring rules were exactly the same.

A Bronze Soul Fighter's eleventh consecutive victory

would earn 1,000 points!

Here, Soul Fighting was divided into three categories.

The first was a contest, essentially a sparring match in which killing or using excessively ruthless methods was forbidden.

The second was a fight to the death, which decided not only victory and defeat, but also life and death!

The last was a wagered fight, with the Great Soul Arena serving as referee. Both sides sent out the same number of Soul Masters to compete, and the final winner received everything covered by the wager.

There were also three match formats.

One-on-one, two-on-two, and group battles.

The number of participants on each side in a group battle was determined by agreement between the two sides.

But under the Great Soul Arena's rules, it was generally limited to seven to ten people.

Without a doubt,

Ye Qiu had signed up for a one-on-one fight to the death!

When he registered for it, the staff showed no extra reaction at all to a young man like him...

They maintained a strictly businesslike attitude throughout.

Clearly, they had grown accustomed to fights between Soul Masters.

Ye Qiu was glad of it.

Taking his Iron Soul Badge, he silently headed to the waiting room to await his turn.

There was a large screen here showing live matches from all the Soul Fighting Arenas. Ye Qiu's gaze, however, remained fixed on the main arena...

In the Great Soul Arena,

only those with a winning streak of more than five matches, or an exceptionally high Soul Master level, could compete in the main arena.

There was one other exception: a fight to the death!

In other words,

Ye Qiu's first Soul Fighting match would take place in the main arena, under the gaze of the masses!

At that moment,

a fight to the death was also underway in the main arena!

As Ye Qiu watched the two people on the stage, his heartbeat involuntarily quickened. Even he couldn't tell... whether he was nervous or excited. In any case, it definitely wasn't fear.

Because under the Soul Fighting Arena's rules,

almost all combatants were grouped according to their number of Soul Rings.

Ye Qiu didn't believe any Soul Elder could defeat him as he was now. Even a Soul Elder at level thirty-nine, or level forty and about to obtain a fourth Soul Ring, was beneath his notice.

On the screen, the battle in the main arena was already nearing its end.

Amid the cheers of the crowd,

the loser's skull was brutally crushed beneath the victor's foot.

There was no pity, only excited shouts.

After announcing the result, the referee didn't even clear the blood from the stage before announcing the start of the next match...

"Next up in our main Soul Fighting Arena is another battle to the death! Huh... one of the fighters is actually a newcomer. How surprising and exciting..."

Amid a chorus of boos for the newcomer, the host in a tailcoat continued:

"Coming up next are two Soul Elders. On one side is Tie Ma, a level thirty-eight Soul Elder with the Iron Hoof Horse Beast Martial Soul and two consecutive victories. Facing him is our Great Soul Arena's newcomer, One Leaf Knows Autumn, a level thirty-four Soul Elder with the Blue Silver Grass Tool Martial Soul!"