Tower of Heaven

'Hmm…'

Atlas took his attention off of the man for a moment.

They were in a crowd of several hundred cultivators at the very least. All of them stood in front of a portal that was slowly forming. It was currently already the size of a person, but it needed to be quite a bit bigger before it could actually be used.

'Mystic Realms, Hidden Realms, Secret Realms, and the rest have different names because though they are all separated spaces filled with rewards and risks, they have different origins and purposes.'

Mystic Realms specifically were spaces formed by the strength and energy of an artifact. In this case, it was the very Death Relic that Atlas had come to find.

'Mystic Realms can be large or small depending on the strength of the artifact, but judging from the aura of the portal, this one will be quite large.'

Not only that, but the Death Relic likely wasn't the only thing in this Mystic Realm.

'The qi signature of this realm is not purely coming from one source as it usually would for a Mystic Realm.'

If he had to guess, then the Death Relic was formed in a place where death was once extremely prominent. When it formed into a Mystic Realm Core, the assorted treasures and artifacts that were left in this place as death consumed their owners became part of the realm itself, offering themselves as subsidiary treasures.

Atlas had some subtle expectations for this realm. As he ruminated over them, he was suddenly interrupted by a voice from his side.

"You're a lot smaller up close."

The swirling portal that led to the Mystic Realm was almost completely generated, and a certain red-haired man had found his way next to Atlas.

His words were an obvious provocation, but Atlas didn't respond.

He quietly looked at the isolation barrier that had covered them at some point.

"You're brave. How do you know I won't kill you now that we've met?"

The red-haired man looked at him like his words were nonsensical.

"Why would you do that? We aren't enemies, are we?"

"Are we?"

Atlas threw the question back at him.

"All I know is that you saw me doing something you shouldn't have seen me do. In my opinion, killing you is the best possible choice."

"Hahaha, you're a bold one. No wonder you're confidently attacking Dusk without anything backing you."

The red-haired man took his attention off of Atlas and put it back on the portal that was finally finished forming.

"If there's one thing I can say for certain, it is that we are not enemies."

Atlas stepped forward, following the crowd as they rushed into the realm.

"But we can talk about that later."

He felt that person take a step behind him. In the next moment, he was already at the portal.

He turned around with a grin, making a hand gesture at Atlas before entering.

Watching his antics, Atlas only rolled his eyes.

'There's a guy who is uselessly trying to act mysterious.'

He felt more comfortable now that they'd spoken. If anything, as the man said, he could feel that they were not enemies.

'He is likely from a group with a similar purpose. He has an annoying personality, but it is true that we'll have to meet again later.'

If he was also attacking Dusk, it would be good for them to have an understanding of what each other was planning.

After all, the last thing they wanted was to get in each other's way.

Atlas shook his head. Without thinking about it anymore, he rushed into the portal with the rest of the crowd. The world twisted into a mixture of blue and black before fading away. Atlas' body was carried by the force of a qi that he did not yet understand until it arrived in a new plane.

The ground was a black sludge that his knees were already deep in. Before he even surveyed the environment properly, he coated his body in qi and found his way to the nearest solid ground.

'That guy isn't here.'

In fact, he could only feel three or four presences nearby.

'It's a realm so big that we've been spread this thin?'

He knew that it would be expansive due to the aura of the realm, but this was beyond his expectations.

Looking around, Atlas thought that he'd never seen such a dark world.

The sky was grey and covered in black clouds. There was a forest in the distance where all of the trees were black. Around Atlas was a sludge-filled swamp that was equally black, and both within the swamp and on the land around it, there were black creatures waiting to pounce on their prey.

If there was anything that could be called a notable location nearby, there was one obvious answer.

There was a cliff in the distance that hung over a large black stretch of water. On the edge of that cliff was a manor so large that it could be seen by Atlas several tens of kilometers away through the wispy clouds that existed at the same elevation.

'I should go there.'

Currently, he had no idea where the Death Relic was. What he did know was that any artifact in this Mystic Realm would have a sufficient "domain" around it that was created with its power. That manor was clearly the domain of an artifact, but it definitely wasn't the Death Relic.

'That isn't nearly grand enough to belong to the Death Relic.'

Regardless, the manor was the best clue he had. Cultivators would gather there, information would gather there, and even if it wasn't the Death Relic, an artifact that could create such a large and ornate domain had to be a good one.

That being said, getting there would also be quite a journey. It was far enough away that Atlas' spiritual sense couldn't survey all of the land in between them. He could only take the best path he saw through the areas nearby and plot the rest later.

At that moment, a flash erupted to his side. A pitch-black beast covered in scales opened its massive jaw in a bid to swallow Atlas whole.

Before his mind even processed it, his body moved instinctually. His hand swept out and his qi responded, creating a blade. It did not manage to cut the creature, but it was thrown away before it could land an attack.

By that point, Atlas was consciously aware of its attack. He charged at it, pried its mouth open on his own, and stuffed its throat with burning flames.

The smell of burning flesh filled the air, and after a moment, the creature exploded into meat chunks.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

It was always a small fry, so Atlas never had to pay much attention to kill it.

Nevertheless, even the smallest of bugs had purpose. When the scaled creature died, a black essence left its body and shot towards Atlas.

He didn't avoid it. He accepted it willingly and felt its coldness as it entered him. Shivering slightly, his gaze flashed with a hint of darkness.

'I see…'

As was to be expected of a realm of death, death was an important thing.

When death occurred in this realm, it would produce an essence that could be absorbed by those nearby.

'And this essence…'

To put it simply, it was a poison.

The more of it one consumed, the closer to "death" one's body would become.

If one passed a certain point, one would be consumed by the energy and left as another black monster that inhabited this realm.