Tower of Heaven

The next several minutes were an embarrassing scene, enough to enrage several of the phoenixes sitting in the crowd.

To them, it looked like Atlas was treating Feng Jiahui like trash and toying with her instead of honorably ending the fight, however, as the Elder did not move to stop them, nobody could contest the continuation of the battle.

It really was humiliating.

Feng Jiahui heard the words he said to her before. His attitude, as if he was so far above her that he could teach her while fighting, enraged her more than anything else.

She couldn’t stand it. She couldn’t handle being below him, so she ignored those words on purpose.

At first.

She charged and attacked again. Atlas sidestepped her and slammed her head into the ground. It was an easy sweep that didn’t leave room for her to counter.

She moved back and attacked him with long-ranged attacks, but he immediately countered her and brought her down.

He commented again, telling her that she had the right idea but the wrong execution, and again, she ignored him.

She combined offense and defense. Rather than blindly attacking at every opportunity, she started to dodge and defend in order to create opportunities.

She forced Atlas to stay away from her because she knew that he was more skilled than she was at close combat. Through their fight, she learned that he wasn’t nearly as good at fighting at range, so she kept him there as best she could.

Still, she was losing, so she didn’t realize her improvement. She had been fighting while solely thinking about defeating Atlas, so for the first time, she was able to put away all prejudice and extraneous thought.

Finally, she saw the world for what it was. At least, she saw a glimpse of it.

She saw the lessons that Atlas was trying to teach her, and though she’d never admit it, she internalized them and grew.

Gradually, the amount of time between her defeats lengthened. She still could not win, but she could actually fight a proper battle before she lost.

Bang!

Nevertheless, in the end, she still lost. Her body slammed against the walls of the coliseum and crumpled to the ground. She stood up, but her face was weary and she could no longer summon qi.

She glared at Atlas without a word, holding her bloody arm. She gnashed her teeth as if she had given up on saying something and turned around.

Without declaring defeat or acknowledging Atlas’ help, Feng Jiahui left the arena.

It was easy enough to say that Atlas had won that battle. He had won it eight times, so there was really no room for doubt.

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"The first round has ended!"

The Elder called out from her position above the stands.

"Anyone who wishes to be the next challenger may rise now!"

Her eyes scanned the crowd. Everyone was a bit hesitant after seeing what he’d just done, but that was only hesitation.

Those who stood on Feng Jiahui’s side would never criticize her, but at least seventeen of those in the crowd were not members of that faction.

They could acknowledge why Feng Jiahui lost. It wasn’t a matter of weakness, but one of unpreparedness. She started about a hundred meters behind the starting line. By the end of the battle, she was able to stand about ten meters behind the rest of them. Ɍα₦ồВЁṧ

They were ahead of where she stood even in the end, so, of course, they did not show fear.

Atlas had more than enough hands to choose from. Other than a few who were glaring at him with hostility, only Feng Yaohua didn’t raise her hand.

Atlas decided to fight against a woman named Feng Yurin second. He took a few moments to gather himself before she arrived on the stage, and once she did, the Elder called for the start of their match.

Unlike Feng Jiahui, she was prepared for this moment and often took guard jobs in order to train her combat ability.

She was more of a true representation of what the Feng Clan was capable of.

Her great flames had both power and depth. They gave Atlas real trouble and forced him to switch off of using fire alone.

He used the Dao of Water. Against phoenixes, he could train his water in the least suitable environment and force it to grow.

The water he used came from the Azure King’s Sacred Manual that Veradon taught him. It was filled with techniques of the Azure Dragons themselves, so it was more than apt for the occasion.

Feng Yurin put up a good fight that invigorated her sisters. She lost in the end, but only because Atlas took advantage of a gap and defeated her in one rapid movement.

If she just had a little bit of a faster reaction, she would not have fallen like so.

When Feng Yurin left the stage, he once again had the chance to choose among the remaining thirty-one geniuses.

And once again, Feng Yaohua did not raise her hand. Interestingly enough, Feng Ziran, the only other familiar person in the crowd, also kept her hand down.

It seemed she’d caught onto whatever Feng Yaohua was trying to do.

With the two of them unavailable, Atlas chose someone he didn’t know. His third opponent was Feng Kexin. Unlike the previous two, her fighting forms were less graceful and more abrasive.

She fought according to a different doctrine of phoenixes. Atlas could sense it in her every movement and even the way her qi responded to her calls. If one side was about grace and vitality, seeing battle as a necessity for survival and growth, the other side saw battle as the main goal and threw aside everything else.

The power of a phoenix was the only thing she wanted to showcase, and in a way, she did exactly that.

She showcased that blindly believing in power alone was not the correct answer, because she lost to Atlas much faster than Feng Yurin.

Three battles went by, giving Atlas the choice to rest if he wanted to. He could take a full day to recuperate to his peak fighting shape again.

However, he chose to save that day.

’My qi is low, but my exhaustion is just as low. I only need to replenish my energy, which will not take an entire day.’

He only needed some hours.

The Elder accepted his words and allowed him to replenish his qi in the center of the arena. Half an hour passed before he was finished, and when he looked up again…

His eyes met with Feng Yaohua.

Before the Elder had a chance to say anything, she’d raised her hand.

’I see

Atlas smiled helplessly.

’She did not raise her hand because she knew that my qi was not in its best state. In order to fight me in my best condition, she waited for this moment.’

In that case, he wasn’t going to disappoint her.

"Feng Yaohua, I challenge you."

It was a meaningful sentence, since he didn’t know the names of most of these people. He only called them by their features before now.

Feng Yaohua responded to his provocation with a smile, jumping down to the stage.

"Finally. I’ve been waiting for this ever since the 20th Floor."

She cracked her neck and stretched her limbs. Qi naturally flowed around her, a phenomenon that occurred when one had a very high affinity with the energy.

After two fights that felt more like a sideshow, Atlas felt like a real challenge had finally appeared before him.

And he couldn’t be more prepared to face it.

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