Tower of Heaven

"Is there nothing else for me to do here?"

Atlas knew what he planned to do, and the phoenix spirit understood his intent easily.

[There is not. Perhaps if you were of the Phoenix Race, or even a woman, then I could have rewarded you with something. As you are neither of those things, the only benefit you can receive through this trial is comprehension of the Dao of Fire.] Find more chapters on empire

Atlas nodded his head.

"If that is so, then there is no reason to overstay."

It was a good place to comprehend the Dao, but it also wasn't suited for him; just as the rewards weren't suited for him. In the end, this trial was always meant to be undergone by phoenixes only, so his arrival here was unexpected, to say the least.

[When you leave this trial, your progress will not be known to others. It will be estimated that you stopped somewhere between the halfway point and the end, but unless a clear reading is given from the trial itself, no news of your exact results will reach the outside world.]

"Are you saying that you will lie to help me hide my potential?"

[To say I am helping you is incorrect. Though I am not truly related to the Phoenix Race, I can also be considered concerned with its affairs. It is beneficial to me as well if you do not overshadow the young phoenixes too greatly.]

"That is to say that I will still overshadow them to some extent."

[That is unavoidable. The Trial of Fire was not designed to be taken by ordinary people. Even walking half of its length is more than enough to delineate a peak genius who will easily reach the Immortal Realms.]

Then, even if Atlas' results were faked, the most he could downplay himself was to the average level of the Phoenix Race.

And, as the spirit said, the average level of the Phoenix Race wasn't anything like the average level of all cultivators. Their standards were much, much higher.

'My potential… according to this spirit's words…'

He didn't want to think about it. He was afraid that such an arrogant thought would hinder the potential he got a glimpse of.

After all, this trial only measured his affinity for the Dao of Fire.

The Heavenly Unification Law paved his way to a body that could house far more than just the Dao of Fire. If his potential was completely summarized after an entity at the level of the Tower System was given the absolute truth of his existence…

'Just what level would it reach?'

The thought filled him with more than enough anticipation to make him forget about the fact that he gained nothing from the trial itself.

He said a few more words to the phoenix spirit, but, as it said, it had only manifested itself to satisfy its curiosity. Once it had accomplished that goal, it didn't have any more reason to continue conversing with him.

Atlas was the same for the most part. He couldn't say he wasn't interested in the deeper secrets this trial held, but he knew that it was impossible for him to gain access to them, at least for now.

'Perhaps I can return in the future when I am more accomplished and learn more from this trial, but that is a matter for the very distant future.'

The current him could do nothing of the sort. After bidding farewell to the spirit, who disappeared after only a small nod of acknowledgement, he turned around and returned the way he came.

Atlas took roughly forty-five minutes to reach the end of the trial. He rushed back in order to make himself less suspicious, but it still took him fifteen more before he was at the entrance again.

One hour he spent inside the trial.

Therefore, even if his exit was accompanied by a message that showed any present that he had reached the 60% mark, it didn't mean the same thing.

The area outside the Trial of Fire was no longer empty either.

"A man…?"

"So they weren't lying?"

"Look, he got 60%"

"It's not just that. They were saying he was there for an hour…"

"An entire hour?! And he has no injuries?!"

A crowd had gathered. All of them were beautiful women with varying shades of red hair. If one looked at them from a distance, they really did just look like a sea of the color red.

Atlas gazed at them in surprise for a moment before shifting his eyes to the Elder, who was standing nearby. Next to her was a woman who looked like her identical twin and two young ladies that he had seen once before.

"You look like you have questions," the Elder said.

"Naturally, I have questions," Atlas replied in kind.

"Well, we can ignore the ones about them. When you do something noteworthy, it is only natural for people to gather."

For a human, a male at that, to reach the 60% mark meant that he was a talented genius who could match anyone from their Divine Beast Clans. More importantly, he spent an entire hour to achieve that percentage.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

If one walked at a leisurely pace, it took twenty-five minutes to reach the 50% mark. If he only made it to the 60% mark and took four times as long, then he would have been suffering in the flames and attempting to push past his limits for an unreasonable period.

The assumption made before his exit was that he was burning to cinders. He would come out of the trial with his clothes burned off and his body covered in gruesome wounds.

That did not happen. He left the trial with not a single blemish on his skin. To the young geniuses of the Feng Clan, it was nothing short of absurd.

"You caused a scene, so you have to deal with the scene, isn't it?"

The Elder commented as if to mock him.

"Putting that aside, now that you have completed the trial, you may enter our Phoenix Palace. I figured neither of us wanted to spend more time with each other, so I called these two over to guide you."

She completely ignored the other woman in their group, but she didn't seem to mind. She smiled at Atlas and made a silly expression, which made his stomach drop considering that she had the same face as the Elder.

Nevertheless, he looked at the two other women and nodded his head in greeting.

"It is a pleasure to meet you again. It has been quite some years since that time."

Frankly, Atlas stopped keeping track when he started using the Xuanying Treasure Pagoda, but it felt like it had been both a short and a long time since he first entered the Tower and encountered these two people in Vanatos.

Their response to his greeting was much more casual. They approached him without boundaries with bright smiles on their faces.

"Atlas, right? I didn't have the chance to thank you properly back then. My name is Feng Yaohua, and this is my Junior Sister, Feng Qingru."

The other woman bowed respectfully and allowed Feng Yaohua to speak for her.

"There is no need for thanks. I was only acting as anyone would have."

Atlas responded humbly, but Feng Yaohua seemed unwilling to accept his words.

"Nevermind the pleasantries. Regardless of what anyone else says, you are our savior, so I will treat you as such."

She grabbed his arm and started dragging him away from the Trial of Fire.

"Just as Auntie said, we will be guiding you through the clan. You won't refuse a tour, right?"

Atlas shook his head wryly.

"I will not."

Amidst the gazes of many other young phoenixes, he was led far away from the trial ground.

Finally, he was getting his first real introduction to the Feng Clan.