Demon Sovereign glowered intently at Tang Wulin before turning to the other powerful beings of the human army. "At this point in the battle, the outcome on the main battlefield is no longer important. If you can kill, you'll essentially have won the battle, but conversely, if we manage to kill all of you, then those aircrafts alone will pose no threat to us. As such, let's not waste any more time and decide this battle with three matches. You humans love your matches and trials and things like that, right? So let's decide this with three seven-on-seven matches.

"Everyone on the losing side for each match will perish, and once a match is decided, there's no going back. After the three matches, the side that loses overall won't have many powerful beings left; do you dare to accept this bet? If you win, you'll be able to preserve more of your forces, and your soldiers won't have to act as cannon fodder any further; if we win, then things will be made a lot easier for us."

Under her proposed conditions, even if the overall winning side were to lose one of the matches, seven powerful beings from their camp would perish, so strategy was very important.

This was an extremely extravagant bet, one where the stakes were the lives of the most powerful beings from both armies. If the most effective strategy were chosen, then victory could be secured while losses were limited, and vice versa.

Relatively speaking, this bet was more impactful for the human camp. After all, if the abyssal creatures were to die, they could just be resurrected, but that obviously wasn't the case for humans.

If the battle were to continue, then even if they could force back the enemy, countless human lives would have to be sacrificed in the process. However, if the outcome of the battle were to be decided through three matches and the humans emerged as the overall victors, then the losses suffered would be far less severe, and more people would survive.

With that in mind, it begged the question of why Demon Sovereign had proposed such a bet. Where did her confidence come from?

Furthermore, this seemed to be a bet that favored the human army, so what was she getting out of it?

All of this was piling additional pressure on the powerful beings of the human army. Should they agree or refuse?

Hundreds of thousands of human troops were awaiting their decision, and what Demon Sovereign had just said put them in a very difficult position.

If they were to refuse the bet, then they were essentially saying that they didn't care about the lives of their troops, and that would significantly impact morale. However, if they were to agree, then they would undoubtedly be falling into Demon Sovereign's trap one way or another.

Tang Wulin and Gu Yuena were quite hesitant, as was everyone else.

"Looks like you humans aren't entirely united. How about this? We'll give you an hour to discuss. During the hour, we won't attack any further," Demon Sovereign said with a derisive smile, then swept a hand through the air to release a burst of purplish-golden light that swept up her and her allies before descending toward the abyssal passageway.

All of the powerful beings of the human camp were feeling very indecisive, and it was Tang Wulin who had to break the silence. "Everyone, please come with me."

He flew toward the mountain where the secondary tree of life was situated as he spoke, and everyone followed along.

At a time like this, the human army really needed a central figure whom everyone could rally behind.

Meanwhile, a ceasefire had ensued between the two armies as they awaited the final decision.

Everyone from Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect were already accustomed to the rich life energy being released by the secondary tree of life, so it came as no surprise to them, but for all of the powerful beings of the other organizations, it was the first time that they were experiencing this.

They were almost instantly struck by the feeling that they had been reborn anew, and all of their physical and mental exhaustion from the prior battle was quickly fading away.

Even Gu Yuena couldn't help but be surprised upon sensing the aura of the secondary tree of life.

Qiangu Dieting and Qiangu Dongfeng were also among the Spirit Pagoda camp, and they couldn't help but turn their eyes toward the secondary tree of life with greed on their faces. Qiangu Dongfeng could clearly sense that if he could receive more life energy from this tree, then perhaps he would even be able to regrow his lost arm. 

After all, he was a Limit Douluo, and this rich life energy was sufficient to replenish what he had lost to Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon Spear.

As expected of Shrek Academy!

Tang Wulin was naturally able to sense everyone's differing reactions to the secondary tree of life, but he paid no heed to all of that and turned to Yu Guanzhi.

"What do you say, Commander?"

After all, Yu Guanzhi was technically still the commander-in-chief of the human army.

A wry smile appeared on Yu Guanzhi's face. "This is a very important and difficult decision. If we ask for directions from the federal government, I can almost guarantee you that they'd advise us to continue in an all-out assault in order to keep the probability of mishaps arising to a minimum."

From the federation's perspective, even if hundreds of thousands of troops had to be sacrificed, it would be worth it as long as they could completely force back the enemy as those sacrifices would be made for the greater good. If this battle were to be lost, then the entire Douluo Continent would fall, and that would be the most catastrophic outcome possible.

Tang Wulin nodded in response. He had also considered that this would be the case.

Yu Guanzhi continued, "Demon Sovereign intentionally made her voice heard by everyone just now was a tactic to exert more pressure onto us. Choosing to accept her bet would result in far fewer casualties than continuing this battle, and if we don't accept her bet, the morale of our troops will take a heavy hit."

Thinking about it now, Yu Guanzhi realized that even the one-hour time limit Demon Sovereign have given them had to have been carefully considered. An hour wasn't a short time, but it wasn't a long time, either. It was enough for them to report the situation to the federation, but just Yu Guanzhi had said, with the limited time they had, the government officials would undoubtedly decide to continue the battle.

Victory had to be ensured no matter what, even if it meant sacrificing the lives of all of the troops on this battlefield.

However, an hour definitely wasn't enough time for them to rally their troops and make them fully willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

With that in mind, should they accept this bet?

Yu Guanzhi took a deep breath as a decisive look appeared in his eyes.

He turned toward all of the powerful beings of the human camp, and said, "For this battle, I'm representing not just the federation, but also the military, and all of the soldiers on this battlefield are like brothers to me. If I don't consider the federation's perspective and only think for these brothers of mine, then I would accept this bet without a second thought. If we win, countless brothers will be able to survive this battle, and that's very important to me. Hence, Sect Master Tang, Chairwoman Gu, I need you to tell me whether you're confident you'll be able to defeat Demon Sovereign."

It was clear that Demon Sovereign was the key to this battle. Regardless of which option they chose, it was inevitable that they had to get through her, and only then would they be able to secure the final victory. Otherwise, everything else simply didn't matter.