Tower of Heaven

"Let us follow you."

It was the same ask as before, but it was asked in a different manner. Now, Jason was considering the future, so he spoke seriously. The jovial tone he usually took was entirely gone.

Atlas didn't immediately reject it.

'Is he considering joining Pangea?'

From the sound of it, he was weighing his options. If he found that Atlas could do as he said, he would undoubtedly bring the entire group to join Pangea.

However, Atlas wasn't desperate to add members to his Society, so this consideration didn't mean much to him.

"It'll be as it has been until now. I have things to do, so I will not slow down for you. If you are able to stand by me or behind me, then I will not stop you, but that is only if you have the ability."

It was a tad bit different. Essentially, as long as they could keep up, they would not be rejected. That was a much better prospect than what they were originally facing.

Atlas stood up.

"I will be leaving now. If you couldn't tell already, I'm going to the manor at the top of this cliff. You can meet me there after you've talked among yourselves."

It was clear that the others had also caught onto what Jason was considering, and they had a variety of thoughts on the matter. Since Atlas wasn't interested, he decided to leave first.

It was an incredibly tall cliff, but scaling it wasn't difficult. It was also much faster than going around to the other side of the mountain and walking up the slope.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Atlas reached the top in under ten minutes and looked down to the bottom. He could no longer see the group of six below the cloud layer.

'The darkness doesn't help anything.'

Atlas could barely even see the manor despite it being directly in front of him. The cloud layer was simply too thick, blanketing the entire space in an unknown foggy darkness.

Ignoring it, Atlas continued forward and moved around the side of the manor to arrive at its front entrance. He was expecting to see other cultivators, but there were none.

The sounds coming from inside the manor were enough indication of where they went.

'It looks like everything began while I was conversing with those brats. Since there are still battles taking place near the entrance, they must have only just gone in.'

Thinking that he wasn't too far behind, Atlas rushed into the front doors without hesitating any longer.

[Intrinsic Foresight]

Immediately, his vision expanded.

The entrance to the manor was a large open area with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling. On the left was a pair of ornate doors that seemed to lead to a study, and on the right was a hallway that led to a different part of the manor.

Directly in front was a set of twin staircases that curved around an entrance to the living area, while on the left and right of the staircases were other corridors leading elsewhere.

Atlas immediately activated [Intrinsic Foresight] because the entire scene in front of him stretched out like a rubber band the moment he entered the manor.

He could see the small pieces of the manor shifting around. The several formations and arrays that allowed this place to function were activated one after another like they were being controlled by a living being, and when the world snapped back into position, Atlas had been moved to an entirely new position.

'That is an interesting way of doing things.'

It wasn't spatial teleportation, but rather spatial displacement. Atlas looked at the room he'd been deposited in curiously.

'So if I am correct, then this entire manor is like a puzzle. Whoever solves the puzzle first gets the prize.'

It was very simple. Everything in this realm was bound to be simple, because the complexities of Heaven and the thoughts of man were not present in its creation. It was made through the natural energy of an artifact, so it could only be as complex as the artifact itself.

On one hand, that meant the artifact that manifested the manor was powerful but had a low sense of spirituality, but on the other hand…

'...the Death Relic is not an ordinary artifact in the slightest.'

Putting that aside, Atlas pulled at the set of doors confining him in the room. Naturally, they did not open.

There were bookshelves lining one wall and a fireplace on the other. One wall was entirely a window, and the last was undecorated as it bordered the hallway.

In terms of furniture, there was only a sofa in the center of the room with a glass coffee table in front of it. This room didn't seem to be useful for anything but lounging.

First, Atlas looked out the window. It was hard not to notice that the scenery was not the cliff outside the manor.

'Is this the realm the artifact was attempting to manifest?'

Because it was caught within the Mystic Realm of the Death Relic, it could not produce the entirety of its own realm. It could only project the remaining city through the windows of the manor.

It was a joyous scenery that didn't match the manor at all.

'This artifact used to be one of light, it seems.'

However, since it was caught in this realm, it had, at some point, been corrupted.

'A shame.'

Atlas shook his head as he looked around the rest of the room. The door didn't work, so that was out of the picture. He approached the bookshelf with [Intrinsic Foresight] activated, but there weren't any special mechanisms installed in it.

That left only the fireplace. It felt somewhat demeaning to crouch down and look inside of it, so Atlas was relieved that he was the only one present. He climbed into the fireplace and opened [Intrinsic Foresight] once more.

Voom!

At the very same time, the floor beneath him was consumed by flames.

Atlas immediately put up a barrier of his own qi.

'Luckily, I am originally a flame cultivator. The flame seed in my dantian means that I will not be harmed by flames weaker than my own.'

Kneeling down, he slammed his palm against the back of the fireplace. Surprisingly enough, the wall broke open and revealed a crawl space that was previously hidden.

'There is my escape route.'

He really was being forced to do things unbefitting of a proud cultivator, but he really didn't have a choice. Being forced to crawl was better than staying in this room for eternity.

Using his arms and legs together to propel himself forward, Atlas moved through the crawl space until he encountered a fork. Without any additional information, he chose the right pathway on instinct and followed it to the room where it ended.

A vent broke off of the wall and flew a few feet before landing on the ground. From behind it, Atlas emerged, brushing dust off of himself.

'Let's see…'

He observed the room carefully before his gaze froze.

Right when he was thinking that it was best if nobody saw his current state, he had to encounter another cultivator.

And, as if the manor artifact wanted to make things as bad as they could possibly be, that person was not unfamiliar.

Atlas sighed to himself, and without another option…

"Well, I guess you have to die."

…he withdrew his chain sickles and charged.