Tower of Heaven

It took some haggling and bribery, but Atlas was able to get his hands on a one-time pass that would return him to the Heaven\'s Eye building.

He was hoping he could find something that allowed him to enter and leave as he pleased, but it made sense that he would need to do something bigger to get those kinds of privileges.

For now, it was enough. When one month passed, he could return to Heaven\'s Eye regardless of where he was. He could move much more freely with this pass.

The plan now was to move to the 26th Floor immediately and continue the journey upward to the 30th Floor where he could finally get rid of Dusk\'s tail.

However, something stopped him.

"Khhh…!"

He suddenly stopped in his tracks and held his head in pain. A throbbing feeling prevented him from moving or doing anything other than focusing on it.

\'What…is this?!\'

After experiencing it for some seconds, he realized that it was not something like pain. No, this was the strongest reaction his soul had ever had to the callings of [Intuition].

It was not telling him that there was something he could benefit from left on the 25th Floor.

It was telling him that if he left without finding the source of the [Intuition], it would be better if he just died.

He fell to his knees as the feeling overwhelmed him. It spread from his mind and his eyes where [Intuition] stemmed from and revolved around his entire body. A subtle haze of blue light covered him, pushing him in a certain direction.

\'This is…that treasure?\'

What could it be for both of them to be reacting, and why didn\'t they react earlier?

Atlas struggled to stand up and placed his hand on his chest.

\'Calm down. I will find it.\'

It was practically pleading from his side. He wouldn\'t be able to do anything at all if the treasure and even his body itself refused to let him move.

The throbbing gradually died down, but it never went away completely. It turned into a sort of tracker, becoming stronger and stronger as Atlas came closer to the source.

And that source…

\'The Secret Realm of Moonlit Flesh?\'

He was back at the cave he entered at the beginning of his time in this trial. Only, it was now two weeks later.

\'What changed?\' He wondered as he entered. From the entrance where he was meant to choose a corridor, he released his spiritual sense and activated [Intrinsic Foresight].

At a glance, he could tell.

\'There are people inside.\'

The realm itself was filled with an aura of death and destruction. It was left as a quiet place with no life and no purpose, mere vestiges of the battle that once took place.

When Atlas took the Caridian Flesh Tree, the core of the realm was removed. It no longer had the ability to sustain its environment.

The qi was subtly flowing out of the cave entrance and rejoining the world. The rewards had all wilted away and become nothing.

\'So why are there people inside?\'

Their intrusion must have been what triggered his previously inactive [Intuition].

\'I can sense several auras in the Sage Realms, but there are also even stronger signatures coming from inside.\'

Atlas could only tell they existed due to the residual life aura left in their paths. If he could not sense their cultivation directly…

\'...they are too far above my realm.\'

He immediately withdrew his spiritual sense. People at that level would detect it instantly if it came close to them.

It would not bode well for him to land on the radar of a World Core Realm expert at this stage.

\'Hmm…\'

Still, Atlas entered the trial space once more. He couldn\'t leave such a strong reaction unexplored.

Following the throbbing in his mind, Atlas snuck through the familiar corridors.

\'It seems I must go to the second space.\' He thought to himself. He stuck to the walls of the corridor to submerge himself in the shadows and took paths that avoided encountering the other party as much as possible, but he couldn\'t always help it.

Suddenly, he was forced to jump and grab onto the rocks that made up the ceiling while activating his mask\'s [Invisibility].

"Has anyone found a trace yet?"

The two people spoke freely because they thought they were only around allies.

"No. The hiding place is too thorough. If the information was more concise, we\'d have it already, but \'that person\' is known to be uncooperative."

"The Master said we must find it quickly. Now that the Secret Realm of Moonlit Flesh is gone, the concealment of its aura has lessened considerably. Other experts might sense it and send their people to covet it."

"It\'s just a shame that those experts can\'t come themselves. How much easier would it be if we could also sense these things?"

"What can they do? Realm Suppression Tokens that can make an Immortal seem Mortal are more expensive than even Star Tears. They can send World Core Realm seniors, but even they can only assume the position based on the instructions from those Immortals."

As they passed by, they unexpectedly gave Atlas some relatively valuable information.

The answer to why his [Intuition] only activated now was mentioned casually, as was the fact that the treasure in question was something countless people sought.

Most importantly, Atlas was the only person in this cave system who could sense the treasure\'s location.

\'I must move quickly.\'

He memorized the emblems on their chests and waited for the two men to move far enough away. Once they were gone, he made a rapid and silent dash for the second trial space.

The jungle there still existed, but it was far more depressing in its current form. The grass was already beginning to wilt, and the trees would follow soon.

\'When the ecosystem completely dies, that place will be revealed.\'

But, by then, the treasure hidden there would be long gone.

He was in the sixth corridor that the Heaven\'s Gate group traversed before. It was a little funny how coincidences lined up.

Atlas wasn\'t entirely familiar with the structure of this particular area, but he didn\'t need to be. Rather, the throbbing feeling got stronger and stronger, making his head ache more and more as he approached a mossy wall in the side of a hill.

He placed his hand against it curiously.

\'A formation. A very cleverly hidden one.\'

It was far beyond Atlas\' expertise so he was unable to understand its exact purpose, however…

\'I can find the way through.\'

Clearly it was very old. There were gaps in the formation caused by the wear of time.

\'If I do this…\'

Atlas circulated his qi in a certain way and stepped forward.

\'...then I should be able to walk through it without disrupting its existence.\'

Behind the moss wall was another small cave area.

But the first thing Atlas saw was not anything like a treasure.

No.

What he saw was a person.

Chained helplessly to the wall with chains made of Darkstar Iron.