After all, the arena required frequent maintenance, which was funded by the House of Fury.
Moreover, the rules and order of the matches were also managed by the House of Fury. If anyone violated the agreements, the House of Fury would help recover the Fusion Stones.
There was also an interesting rule at the arena. If you're an outsider without any Fusion Stones but still want to participate and win some, you could apply for a loan from the House of Fury.
The collateral? Your freedom.
By pledging your future freedom, you could exchange for Fusion Stones from the House of Fury. If you failed to repay in time, you'd have to serve as a slave for them.
When the group arrived at the center of the city, they found the place bustling with activity. Fighters and spectators were arriving in a steady stream.
Vendors pushed carts and shouted around the area, it was a lively and prosperous scene.
In the heart of the city stood the arena, shaped like a blooming lotus flower, with five separate platforms.
Surrounding it was a coliseum-like structure with wide spectator stands that could easily hold at least ten thousand people.
The arena took up the majority of the central plaza, and many shops had been built around it, relying on it for business.
When Xu Zimo and the others arrived, several thousand spectators were already seated, making it a very lively scene.
In front of the arena was a checkpoint. Entering the spectator area was easy, it only required one Fusion Stone.
As the group arrived, they were stopped by disciples of the House of Fury guarding the entrance.
“One Fusion Stone per person. Don’t you know the rules?” one of the disciples said.
“We don’t have any,” Mu Zhoubai replied.
“No Fusion Stones?” The disciple casually pointed to a few places nearby. “You must be new. There’s a pawnshop over there where you can trade valuable items for Fusion Stones. There’s also a loan station run by our House of Fury. Feel free to choose.”
The group exchanged glances. Liu Rufeng asked, “Do any of you have anything valuable?”
“Let’s each offer something,” Huangfu Xianyue said first.
“I’ve got a meridian technique manual from a World Paragon. It has nothing to do with the sect, I came across it by chance.”
“I have a Netherwood Herb left over from my cultivation,” another said.
Everyone took out something. Xu Zimo casually pulled out a meridian technique manual he’d once read at the Nine Heavens Imperial Sect.
After taking their items to the pawnshop and getting them appraised, they were able to exchange them for 1,200 Fusion Stones.
Fusion Stones were daily essentials here, valuable, but relatively cheap.
“Let’s go win big at the arena. Screw the House of Fury,” Mu Zhoubai said.
The group entered the arena and finally felt the sheer size of the place.
Directly ahead were two passageways, the right led to the spectator stands, the left to the fighter’s tunnel.
“You girls should head to the stands. This rough stuff is better left to us men,” Fang Xiang said.
“What, you looking down on us? I’ll have you know, even if all of you fought me together, you wouldn’t win,” Huangfu Xianyue said.
She was the Saintess of the World Sovereign Empyrean Sect, a position that required both top-tier strength and talent.
Mu Zhoubai laughed from the side, “We’re just going in first to test the waters. If it gets rough, you can take over.”
“Now that sounds reasonable,” Huangfu Xianyue smiled. “But let’s all go in together. It’s safer that way.”
Everyone nodded and entered the contestant tunnel.
It seemed to be built underground. The lighting was dim on both sides.
Not far in, they reached a large door. In front of it sat a table where someone was registering participants.
As they approached, the person looked up and asked, “Which tier match? Hundred, thousand, ten-thousand, or higher?”
“Let’s do the hundred-tier,” they replied after a moment of thought.
After all, they only had limited Fusion Stones. Without meeting the requirements, they couldn’t enter.
“Take these tokens to register,” the man said, handing out a few iron tokens.
Xu Zimo took one and examined it. It was a simple iron token with the character “hundred” engraved on it.
Once they passed through the gate, their view widened dramatically.
They had entered a massive underground city.
The uneven walls were lined with flaming skulls, serving as torches.
People moved around busily, it was packed with contestants.
Xu Zimo took a quick count, there were several hundred people.
All of them gave off intense killing intent. Their eyes were cold and indifferent to life, clearly the type who lived by the sword.
All sorts of people moved through the space.
Up ahead, a queue had formed, that was the waiting area for fighters about to go on stage.
“Be careful,” Huangfu Xianyue reminded. “Let’s split up in line. We don’t want to end up fighting each other.”
“That shouldn’t happen,” Liu Rufeng said, glancing at the rules carved on a nearby wall.
She explained, “After each match, contestants in the waiting area can choose whether or not to challenge the winner. If too many step up to challenge, one is selected by random draw.”
Everyone nodded. Mu Zhoubai said, “Then we just won’t queue up if someone else is challenging next.”
“So who’s going first?” Huangfu Xianyue asked.
“I’ll go,” Mu Zhoubai said after thinking for a moment. “Let me test the difficulty of this arena.”
In the underground hall, a large projection mirror on the left wall displayed the battles from above so everyone could watch.
After Mu Zhoubai waited in the queue for a few minutes, the arena’s system worked quickly.
Soon, an opponent had been matched with him.
Mu Zhoubai walked up a stairway through the now-open gate, step by step, to the outdoor arena.
“Hundred-tier arena match: Mu Zhoubai versus Kuangfeng, begin!”
The referee waved a flag and shouted loudly.
The arena’s rules were simple, either one side surrendered, or one side died.
As Mu Zhoubai stepped onto the stage, his opponent appeared: a black-robed man with one eye.
His left eye was covered with a black eyepatch, and he looked extremely fierce.
“Kid, still wet behind the ears and you dare come here?” the one-eyed man sneered.
“Noisy,” Mu Zhoubai snorted coldly. The curved blade on his back unsheathed and he charged at the man.
“Whirling Wind Blade Technique!” Mu Zhoubai shouted, leaping into the air.
His two curved blades moved as if extensions of his arms, fluid and natural.
“Senior Brother Mu has used twin blades since childhood. His strength ranks in the top five among the true disciples,” Huangfu Xianyue said from the sidelines.