Tower of Heaven

In the midst of a ceasefire that all forces seemed to be respecting, a battle took place. It was a battle between a man in a white mask and a squadron from Dusk.

First, he faced the squad together and defeated their formation. He took their members hostage and called out their leader for a single combat battle.

Many people saw this moment and thought he was an idiot for not taking the chance to escape, but that changed when they saw that battle.

Atlas and Darian had really fought with a great deal of strength. It was what was to be expected of a Law Sea Realm cultivator, but at the same time, actually manifesting that kind of strength inside of the Tower was very difficult.

The splendorous battle that ended in Atlas' victory would have been talked about in the Tower regardless of its relation to other conflicts.

It was the very first scene of a great genius proving himself. Atlas was someone the Tower hadn't seen much of since the events of the Blood Moon Phenomenon, so he'd faded off of most people's radars.

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His movements, his skills and techniques, his fundamentals, and most importantly, his Daos.

All of these things were at a level unheard of for an average cultivator at his strength level, so it was only obvious that people would start looking into him.

The fact that Atlas showed off three Daos noticeably was what caused the most chaos. The Dao of Water hadn't been discovered as it was used less, but even the Dao of Wood was noticed through the time Atlas spent healing.

The fact that he had three affinities was already surprising. The fact that he was using them together, one after another, without feeling any sort of strain was even more wondrous.

It wasn't impossible for cultivators to have multiple affinities. It also wasn't impossible for them to master them.

Only, to do so in the Mortal Realms was inconceivable. In most cases, those geniuses needed to reach the Immortal Realms before they could start truly capitalizing on their advantages.

Many people were already investigating Atlas from the information presented through the battle, but even more attention was placed on him through the context.

He had essentially broken the ceasefire that was being entertained. It could be debated if he only fought Darian and left, but he purposefully took the time to destroy the alchemy factory as well.

He made sure that the world knew that he was targeting Dusk, not Darian and his people.

When the Fist of the Mountain King was also brought into the equation…

Well, it was safe to say that Atlas left the world with much to consider. And, by enraging Dusk and incentivizing his allies, Atlas basically started the war over again.

Though, he wasn't present to see it.

While the world raged over him, Atlas disappeared from it entirely. People thought his disappearing trick from back then was good, but they were starting to think it was godly.

Because, in a sense, it was.

Atlas was still at the same place he was when the conflict ended, only, he was within a different plane inside the Xuanying Treasure Pagoda. To others, he made it look like an ordinary teleportation talisman that took him away, but it was anything but.

Others didn't need to know that he had escaped with the help of a Supreme Heavenly Treasure. They could ponder about his identity and existence while the forces at play resumed their conflict.

In the meantime, he only needed to return to training.

'Interestingly enough, I learned something from Darian.'

He gained insight on how to use his qi more efficiently. He was also able to learn a little about how his close combat in this life would play out.

'The three months I spent before my excursion were the preparation. Now, there is only training to be done.'

The next time he left the pagoda, not only did he plan to attack Dusk again, but he would also break through to the Law Sea Realm.

His body had been prepared for it for a long time.

'I even felt the sensation of my dantian swelling during battle. It was as if my body was begging me to break through right there.'

Since the Law Sea Realm had some uniqueness, Atlas knew that it wasn't a good realm to enter while focused on other things, so he held it back.

In the pagoda, he didn't need to worry about it at all, as there wasn't even any qi to support the breakthrough.

As such, he saved it for his next excursion. It wouldn't be too late then.

'More importantly, it has been confirmed through that battle. I must focus on my close combat techniques.'

He was able to fight just fine against Darian by reacting to his attacks and passively looking for opportunities. However, he wasn't content with that when he knew it was entirely possible for him to defeat Darian directly.

If he perfectly mastered the Grand Arsenal he used in his past life, it would be simple.

After all, then Grand Arsenal wasn't just a martial technique or a skill.

As its name suggested, it was a full arsenal. It was a library of combat techniques that had been compiled into one singular manual.

Within the Grand Arsenal were contained nearly infinite possibilities. When Atlas finished its creation in the past, it was graded above even the highest Heaven Grade techniques the world knew.

No, the Grand Arsenal was certified to be equivalent to the work of Immortals, though the world of Immortals was unknown to them at the time.

The essence of the Grand Arsenal was to connect the entire library into one single entity.

'To utilize all of the techniques the Arsenal holds, one only needs to master its fundamentals.'

Atlas didn't need to manually practice every single technique from the Arsenal one by one. As long as he mastered the fundamentals, those techniques would improve on their own.

The complex web of techniques, sub-techniques, sub-skills, and so many other things was almost ironically easy to start learning.

'Though, the difficulty will rise exponentially as I progress through it.'

Atlas deeply immersed himself in his training from that moment forth.

Before he realized it, almost half a year had passed since the events of the 40th Floor.

Those were 6 months that his friends had been suffering in the underworld. He only knew that they were alive because [Treacherous Phoenix] assured him so, but that didn't mean they were well.

'I am almost there.'

They only had to wait for a month and a half. In a month and a half, after he met with Alaric, he would challenge the Hell Guardian and find them.

'Wait for me.'

He spoke to them knowing that they could not hear him.

'Wait for me and stay strong. I will bring you out of the grasp of death, so be prepared to embrace life once more when you return.'

He did not want to see his friends in this life broken by the struggles they had to endure.

But, if only he knew what those struggles were…

It was unknown whether or not he'd still be able to maintain his hope.