Tower of Heaven

Atlas didn't leave the outside world after only attacking a single factory. He spent several days and traveled across several floors, taking down a total of five production factories of Dusk.

Two of them were for alchemy, a single one was for smithing, and the final two were meant to research qi and formations.

Atlas didn't originally plan to only target those from secondary professions, but it just so happened that most of the locations he could attack by himself were those kinds of places.

He did the work personally in order to properly contribute to the growth of the Society Legend and ingrain himself into it. As such, he wanted to create as much of a buzz as possible.

Unfortunately, the Tower didn't receive his latest attacks with the same kind of grandeur they did the first. There were no great fights or displays of power, after all. Atlas moved like a machine, doing the bare minimum to accomplish his goals before disappearing.

Nevertheless, Atlas wasn't worried. Almost as if it was done intentionally, his actions were covered by those of others.

'Bernan's doing.'

He could tell quite easily. He was the only one aware of Atlas' attempts to enter the underworld and his connection to Pangea. If anyone could lead the situation in his favor, it was that man.

'I will have to be grateful to him. It is a shame that I cannot personally view the progression of the Society Legend, but the conflict has only become more pronounced with every passing week.'

To call it a war was still wrong. All sides were focusing on smaller confrontations and skirmishes instead of attacking each other outright.

'Will a war break out while I am gone?'

He had to wonder about it, but for now, it didn't apply to him.

Once he finished attacking his target locations, Atlas found himself a secluded location in Alfros once more. The heat in the air meant that the realm was relatively less populated than others, so it was a great place to find privacy.

Once he'd entered such an environment, he immediately sat down and entered a meditative state.

'I almost don't have to do anything at all.'

Even now, his dantian was threatening to burst at the seams. His body had been begging him to break through. Now that he was facilitating the process, it happened so smoothly that he even wondered if his cultivation really improved.

However, the swirling qi around him suggested otherwise.

The breakthrough to the Law Sea Realm was a bit different.

In essence, it was the very first step that turned the inner world of a cultivator into a true inner world.

At the Sky Sage Realm, one had formed a two-dimensional image of something that a child could paint and call a world, but that was the extent of it.

At the end of the day, it was nothing more than art made out of qi. It didn't have any real depth.

The Law Sea Realm was the first change to that situation.

In the Law Sea Realm, one was not adding qi into what already existed in the dantian, at least, not as one's main priority.

Rather, the so-called "sky" they had created needed to melt. It needed to melt into pure liquid qi that crashed down into the earth and crushed it into pieces.

The earth that swam in the liquid qi would root itself as continents, and the sky would gain the atmospheric ambiance that it currently lacked.

At the end of all of that change lay the Realm Heart Realm, the entry point for Emperors.

The Realm Heart Realm was a truly distinguishing point. If one had to choose the most important stage in the Mortal Realms, it was undoubtedly when one formed one's Realm Heart.

However, the Law Sea Realm could be seen as equally important, because it was what set the foundation for that Realm Heart's creation.

The very first step of the Law Sea Realm was to liquefy only a single drop of qi.

It was meant to be an incredibly difficult to do. To liquify qi meant to compress it so firmly that it entered a liquid state. It took not only control and precision, but strength and fortitude as well.

The new dense qi was much stronger and more potent than its misty sibling, so even containing it within the dantian was difficult for newly ascended Law Sea Realm experts.

Many cultivators remained trapped in the Law Sea Realm for their entire lifetimes. Your next chapter awaits on empire

It was impossible to break through again until their entire skies had been melted and liquified, and when even a single drop caused immense trouble, it was a task beyond the capabilities of many.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

However, it had to be remembered that Atlas already had an advantage.

The Tower of Heaven itself blessed his body and loosened his qi.

Atlas concentrated on his dantian and gently touched the loose drops of the sky that wanted to rain down. That single touch was all he needed to do.

The very first drop of qi fell to the land and turned the rocky ground lush with green. He had already done the unthinkable for many.

But, it did not stop. One by one, as he touched them, four more drops of liquid qi fell to the ground one after another. The ground continued to be fed with life. Faint cracks could be seen on its surface, but it was not yet close to shattering.

Still, there was grass all over the earth now. There were bushes and flowers, sprouts that would eventually become trees, and more.

'Five drops.'

Knowing that he didn't need to pay much attention to the actual process of the breakthrough, Atlas took the time to enjoy the warm feeling enveloping his whole body.

His dantian expanded on its own with little to no interference. The dense feeling of the qi didn't bog him down. Rather, it made him feel more complete.

'Yes. This is qi.'

This was the qi he remembered, the strong and domineering force that destroyed everything in its path yet flowed so smoothly and gracefully that one could mistake it for the vestiges of a dance of a divine entity.

With this qi in his hands, he now had access to so much more potential.

Only five drops fell, but that was more than Atlas could have ever asked for. There were thousands of drops that remained to be created, but that was a journey for the future.

With it, he had firmly planted his foot inside of the Law Sea Realm.

And, with that, came additional benefits.

Atlas was expecting the pain, he just didn't know where it would come from. He didn't expect that he'd be clutching his heart, feeling his blood stop pumping through his body.

His skin turned red and his veins bulged out of his throat as he seemingly choked on something. His neck snapped back and his mouth opened wide as he gasped for air, but nothing came.

If one could see the inside of his chest, the scene would be shocking enough to kill.

Because Atlas' heart, at this very moment, was being crushed into tiny, unrecognizable pieces.