Han Li had always known that Mistress Liu Hua possessed a very lofty status, but he still wasn't expecting to see Mistress Liu Hua in such a prominent position during such an important occasion.

"Welcome to Profound City, everyone. In this arena, we will witness the rise of the next champion of the Five City Martial Gathering!" E Kuai declared in a thunderous voice, and a wave of raucous cheers instantly rang out in response.

It was as if the entire arena had exploded, and E Kuai allowed the cheers to go on for a while before raising his hands to make a quieting gesture.

After that, he delivered a brief address, then sat down onto the chair behind him, and the other five men with him sat down as well.

Right at this moment, the horned host stepped forward and declared, "For this edition of the Five City Martial Gathering, one-on-one battles will take place between the sixty-four elite gladiators selected from the five cities. There will be six rounds of competition, at the end of which the king of the arena will be crowned.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

“All those who make it into the top eight will receive a B tier scaled beast core, while those who reach the final four will each receive an A tier beast core."

This announcement only further added to the excitement among the spectators, and all of the combatants on the platforms were also very excited to hear this. After all, A and B tier scaled beast cores were all extremely precious cultivation resources.

"Additionally, those who make it into the top three will each receive a piece of Heavenly Qilin Crystal, and extremely rare, premium material for pill and tool refinement purposes," the horned man continued, eliciting a surprised reaction from the spectators.

It had been many years since a Heavenly Qilin Crystal had last appeared in Profound City.

Han Li's expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he was thinking to himself that securing a spot in the top three shouldn't be too difficult.

"You're really going all out, aren't you, City Lord E Kuai? Such a reward would've been something that only the champion would be worthy of in past editions. Does it not pain you to offer such extravagant rewards?" Sun Tu asked with an amused smile.

"All of us are citizens of Profound City, so regardless of who claims the rewards, it won't make any difference," E Kuai replied with a smile of his own.

Right at this moment, the horned man continued, "The second place finisher will receive a suit of Scaled Bone Profound Star Armor personally crafted by Mistress Liu Hua. This suit of armor was refined by Mistress Liu Hua in recent years, and 1,236 star bones of different sizes were used to create it, accompanied by various precious materials that are no less precious than Heavenly Qilin Crystal, so it's no exaggeration to call it a priceless treasure."

The spectators immediately erupted into a frenzy upon hearing this, and even the likes of Feng Wuchen had reflexively stood up a little straighter.

Han Li cast his gaze toward Mistress Liu Hua, finally realizing how the latter had been aware that Heavenly Qilin Crystal was one of the prizes for the martial gathering.

In the wake of this announcement, everyone present was speculating about what the first place prize could be.

However, no one could come up with an answer as there was barely anything that could be found in the Scalptia Spatial Domain that could be considered more precious.

Right as everyone was speculating among themselves, the horned man declared, "The first place finisher will receive a Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud."

In contrast with the previous two items, the horned man had only announced the name of this item without any accompanying explanation, and the spectator stands remained completely silent as no one had any idea what this was.

However, on the elevated platform, the expressions of all four subsidiary city lords had changed drastically.

"Is that true, City Lord E Kuai?" Chen Yang couldn't help but ask, and the other city lords turned to E Kuai as well.

"That's right," City Lord E Kuai confirmed with a nod. "The reward for the first place finisher will be a Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud."

"I've heard that this cloud harbors unfathomable bloodline power that can instantly open profound acupoints in one's body upon ingestion, even without the need of a bodily refinement cultivation art, and it leaves no trace behind in its wake," Chen Yang mused with a stunned expression.

"It's not that brilliant. It can open profound acupoints, but not endlessly with no limits. The human body can only tolerate so much Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud, and excessive absorption will result in self-detonation," E Kuai explained with a smile.

"Even so, this is still an extraordinary thing..."

E Kuai made no effort to keep this voice down, and all of the representatives of the five cities possessed exceptional hearing, so they were able to hear what he had said, and looks of astonishment and yearning had appeared on their faces.

In contrast, Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he wasn't all that interested in this Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud.

After all, he was able to open profound acupoints far faster than others, so in contrast with the Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud, the Heavenly Qilin Crystal was actually more alluring to him.

At the same time, some of the more knowledgeable individuals in the spectator stands had revealed the effects of Sulfurous Flame Blood Cloud, and all of the spectators gradually erupted into a frenzy once again as this information began to spread.

After waiting for some time for the commotion to die down, the horned man continued, "The first round of the Five City Martial Gathering will consist of thirty-two battles, with four batches of eight concurrent battles taking place at a time. All thirty-two battles will take place today, and those who advance will fight in the next round seven days later. No, without further ado, I present the pairings for the first round."

As soon as his voice trailed off, a gray stone wall that was several hundred feet tall slowly rose up from the ground to the left of the elevated platform, and there were four columns laid out on it, with eight matchups displayed in each column.

Han Li took a glance at the stone wall to discover that his and Gu Qianxun's names were absent from the first column, but Tu Gang and Sun Binghe's names were displayed.

Sun Binghe was facing a gladiator from Profound End City who neither Gu Qianxun nor Chen Yang had mentioned before, so he most likely wasn't a particularly formidable opponent. Unfortunately for Tu Gang, his first round opponent was Duan Tong of Excess Passage City.

Shortly thereafter, Han Li found his own name in the second column, and he was set to fight a gladiator by the name of Xu Shun from White Rock City.

Right at this moment, Gu Qianxun's voice suddenly rang out in his mind.

"Looks like both of our battles are part of the second batch, Brother Li. Having said that, the platforms that we're on are quite far away from each other, so we most likely won't be able to spectate each other's battles."

Sure enough, Gu Qianxun's name was also in the second column, and she was battling a gladiator by the name of Wang Zhi from Profound End City.

"Have you heard of this Xu Shun before?" Han Li asked through voice transmission.

"I recall seeing him once in a past edition of the Five City Martial Gathering, but I don't think he did very well. Having said that, all of the people here have been selected to represent their cities, so none of them should be taken lightly," Gu Qianxun replied.

Han Li nodded in response, then inspected all of the thirty-two matchups for the first round, following which he remarked, "What a coincidence! No cultivators from the same city have been pitted against each other, and none of the hot favorites have been matched up against one another, either."

"That's intentional, and it's always been like this in past editions of the martial gathering. The rule of no cultivators from the same city fighting against each other only applies in the first round. After that, different numbers of cultivators will progress from each city, so it may not be possible to continue enforcing that rule.

“For example, if all twelve of one city's representatives manage to progress to the second round, then there's a good chance that some of them will have to fight one of their own. In order to ensure that none of the hot favorites are prematurely eliminated, matchups between them will generally only start taking place in the quarterfinals," Gu Qianxun explained.

Right at this moment, the horned man's voice rang out once again.

"All gladiators in the first column, please go to your assigned platforms. Everyone else, return to the lobby to wait, and spectators can begin placing their bets now. The battles will commence in fifteen minutes."

Han Li and the others began to depart, while the spectators hurriedly rose to their feet to go and place their bets at the nearest betting stations.

The Asura Arena was so enormous that even if one had a seat that was very high up, it was completely impossible to spectate all eight matches at the same time. Hence, after placing their bets, the spectators generally sat down in the nearest seat to await the commencement of the first round.

The lobby was a ring-shaped passageway beneath the spectator stands that ran along virtually the entire circumference of the Asura Arena, and there were windows in the lobby, so as long as one was willing to make the trek, they would be able to see every platform outside.

Aside from the sixteen combatants in the first column, all of the other gladiators had returned to the lobby.

All of the Green Goat City cultivators who had ties with Tu Gang and Sun Binghe had gathered around the windows that would allow them to see the platforms where those two were fighting.

"What terrible luck for Fellow Daoist Tu Gang to encounter Duan Tong in the first round. Looks like he won't be making it out of the first round..." one of the Green Goat City cultivators sighed.

"This was always bound to happen to one of us. Besides, even if we encounter opponents a little weaker than Duan Tong, it's not like any of us stand much of a chance anyway, so we're not in any better position ourselves," someone else sighed.

"Quit being so pessimistic! We still have Fellow Daoist Yi, don't we? Speaking of which, where is he?"

Only then did everyone discover that Yi Liya seemed to have suddenly disappeared.

In an empty area of the lobby, Yi Liya was walking alongside a tall and imposing middle-aged man, and the two were having a quiet conversation.

"Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Yi. You've made some significant strides in your cultivation base since our last meeting. I must say, I'm feeling very envious," the middle-aged man said with a smile.

"You're far too kind, Brother Xu. Let's not waste any time, I've come to you because I have something to ask of you," Yi Liya said.

"Go ahead," the middle-aged man prompted.

"Your opponent today is Li Feiyu, and he's from our Green Goat City. I want you to..."

Yi Liya's voice trailed off here as he made a throat-slitting motion with his hand.

As it turned out, this middle-aged man was none other than Xu Shun of White Rock City, Han Li's first round opponent.