These were secondary; the most important detail Evan Yang noticed was the points system. Ethereal Sanctuary had explicit points rules.
If you accumulated enough points, you could get a Pass Token and freely leave Ethereal Sanctuary—that was the first rule. The second was that enough points would let you transfer upward.
This so-called 'upward' meant the next level—leaving this Ethereal Sanctuary inside the Earth-Immortal Newcomer Star System and going to the outside Ethereal Sanctuary. As for what that outer Sanctuary was like, Evan had no idea; he only knew this place was truly brutal.
Because points could only be earned through challenges: defeating someone weaker than yourself gave 1 point, beating someone of the same rank gave 10, and overcoming someone stronger awarded 100.
Besides that, there was another rule: every hundred years, all points were reset. In other words, after a century, your previous points would be wiped clean.
So what settled here was the strong bullying the weak to earn points—it was their only way. And these challenges couldn't be refused. The only exception was that you couldn't challenge the same person more than ten times total, or more than twice in one day.
"If you want to leave Ethereal Sanctuary, you have to earn points. But this points system is clearly built for the strong to bully the weak. Who would be stupid enough to challenge someone stronger unless they're really powerful?" Evan muttered to himself.
Still, Evan wasn't afraid. He just wasn't interested in bullying the weak, but he could target those who bullied him—earning points and teaching them a lesson at the same time.
At the same time, Evan realized this points system was exactly what made the strong stronger and the weak weaker inside Ethereal Sanctuary.
"Go check out the Points Leaderboard." Evan noticed there was a leaderboard, with the top hundred names listed—and all of them were Earth-Immortals, the strongest already at ninth-tier.
Victor smiled and said, "No, I think that's great. In that case, I'll send out two of my own. As you said, if my men lose, I'll apologize. But if your men lose, you should apologize to me." "No problem," Neil replied with a smile.
Evan felt these two were truly ruthless—just for their own pride, they made others fight as their proxies. The proxies suffered immense pressure: since they were chosen by their bosses, losing would mean miserable consequences. The contest was about face, and losing would disgrace their boss.
This undoubtedly caused physical and mental harm to the fighters, but they didn't resist—because resisting would bring even worse misery.
Is this Ethereal Sanctuary? Evan realized no one would intervene in these matters, since as long as no one died, everything was within the rules.
The crowd seemed used to it, showing no surprise. Only Evan, seeing this for the first time, felt affected.
"Baldie, you go first," Neil said with a smile.
The bald man had no choice but to step forward. Victor was equally unwilling to back down.
Victor had one of his men step out, whose cultivation matched the bald man's: fourth-tier Earth-Immortal.
Neil secretly messaged the bald man, "You must defeat him, or I'll cripple your cultivation!"
The bald man was shocked and trembled inside. This threat made him desperate—he would fight with everything he had, making this method more effective than any other.
"Neil, what level are your two men?" the middle-aged man asked with a smile.
"Let them speak for themselves." Neil smiled at the bald boss and the yin-yang-voiced man.
"I'm a fourth-tier Earth-Immortal," the bald man said awkwardly.
"I'm fifth-tier Earth-Immortal," the yin-yang-voiced man replied.
"One fourth, one fifth. What are you planning to compete in?" Victor smiled.
"Simple. Since you and I can't challenge each other anymore, but our grudge isn't settled, we'll let them fight for us. You send two of your own at the same tier. If I win both matches, you admit defeat. Deal?" Neil grinned.
"Neil, you really want them to fight?" Victor smiled.
"That's right. Unless you have a better idea?" Neil replied with a smile.
Listening to their exchange, everyone realized the two clearly had a feud. Since they couldn't challenge each other, nor wanted a private fight, they used others as proxies. That way, someone else fought for their pride—and even if they lost, it wasn't their own defeat, just their henchmen's. The ones who got hurt were always the muscle.
Evan understood now, muttering to himself, "Didn't expect they'd play it this way. These people are pretty devious."
Neil and Victor quickly reached an agreement, and the two men began their duel. However, the fighting area had restrictions—if they destroyed the place, it would be bad. So they moved to a hall on the tenth floor called the Duel Arena, which was reinforced so even Immortal Lords couldn't destroy it easily.
So even if Earth-Immortals went all out, they couldn't wreck the place. Evan wanted to see it for himself, so he went to the tenth floor, mingling with the crowd and watching the scene inside.
The two men fought as if their lives depended on it, aiming to kill each other. Neil and Victor watched with satisfied smiles, while the crowd was resigned—this was just two bosses fighting for pride, using their men as meat shields.
"Looks like Ethereal Sanctuary has more than just points—no wonder everyone says it's terrifying, and nobody cares." The more Evan interacted with the residents here, the more he saw them bullying the weak, using them as tools for pride. Injuries and deaths didn't matter; only the rule against killing applied to the fighters, not the bosses.
These rules made Ethereal Sanctuary even more dangerous—anyone could be picked as a henchman by a strong boss. Refusing wasn't an option, and going along was risky. Most people had no choice; they'd rather fight and maybe survive than have their cultivation crippled before the match.
As Evan pondered the complex relationships in Ethereal Sanctuary, the duel ended: the bald man won, and he laughed loudly, 'I won!'
Neil was delighted. "Nice!" he said. The defeated opponent wasn't so lucky—injured, he stood up only to be kicked by Victor, slamming into the reinforced wall.
He passed out. Victor didn't care—instead, he cursed, "Trash."
The crowd was numb, showing only helpless expressions.
Evan saw this for the first time and his expression changed slightly. If the victim had been his friend, he would have intervened—but since they were strangers, he kept watching.
"Victor, how about it?" Neil said with a smile.
"Don't get cocky—there's another match. If I win, it's a draw; nobody wins," Victor said.
Neil smiled, "Then I'll see how you win the next one."
"Go," Victor said to a fifth-tier Earth-Immortal, while Neil sent out the yin-yang-voiced man.
Both fighters dared not be careless—they'd seen what happened to the loser. Winning meant safety; losing was unacceptable, so they gave it everything they had.
The yin-yang-voiced man unleashed a torrent of water, surrounding his opponent instantly.
Neil was delighted. "Victor, looks like I'm going to win."
"Neil, don't get smug—the real show is yet to come," Victor said with a cold smile after seeing the water.
Neil sensed something was off—it wasn't over yet, but Victor seemed so confident. The situation below left Neil both shocked and angry.