Tower of Heaven

There wasn't a need for more conversation. They had both gotten used to the process.

After simple greetings, they were already attacking each other.

Unlike their first fight, Cain was now freely using techniques. It made him an opponent who stood on an entirely new level.

[Midnight's Fury]

Atlas found that he liked to start the fight with this technique. It pervaded the opponent's body with death qi and slowly eroded them throughout the battle, slowly weakening them until they could no longer fight back. Your next chapter is on M-V-L

There wasn't a proper counter to this technique in his arsenal yet. Atlas' only option was to endlessly use [Regeneration] if he didn't want to deal with the aftereffects.

He didn't want to use such an inefficient method. In his opinion, it was better to take the consequences and give Cain something of similar effect.

[Guriyatra's Life Seed]

A subtle green energy exited Atlas' body and entered Cain's. It wouldn't have as pronounced of an effect as [Midnight's Fury], since Atlas wasn't yet proficient in the Dao of Wood, but it was enough.

Their true battle began after that.

Atlas retired his old pair of Darkstar Chain Sickles after the battle on the 26th Floor. Starting from the 27th Floor, he had been openly using the Iridescent Steel Chain Sickles.

They were withdrawn and immediately put into action.

[Roaring Dragon, Fading Serpent]

The two blades twisted around each other. The right blade's movements became eccentric and impossibly hid the left blade entirely.

Bang!

The first chain sickle smashed against Cain's arm blade and was thrown to the side. It did not sustain any damage, but it was unable to do anything either.

The second blade charged from the shadows and did its job as a hidden attacker, but that was also blocked. Cain had already become familiar enough with this move to predict where the second sickle would come from.

Atlas was also aware of that. [Roaring Dragon, Fading Serpent] was only used to keep Cain in place for the next technique.

[Labyrinth]

One of the many things he learned during his year of seclusion, Atlas whipped his chain sickles and controlled the chains very specifically, providing them with a great amount of qi to mimic the extension ability of his old pair.

The chains suddenly became a massive snake. They flowed around Cain from seemingly every direction, infinitely moving and creating an inescapable rhythm.

"You always show me new things."

Cain grinned as his calves flexed.

[Great Mountain Stomp]

Booooom!

The ground around him exploded as his foot slammed into it. The crumbling rock and dirt flew into the air and disrupted the movements of the chain sickles, and in the same movement, Cain shot himself high into the air, escaping imprisonment.

[Great Mountain Impact]

His body turned into a projectile and plummeted to the ground like a great meteor.

BOOM!

Atlas gritted his teeth and dodged, but the area of impact was too large for him to do so reasonably. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and used them to bear the brunt of the shockwave. Orienting his body, he pushed off of a nearby tree and stabilized himself.

'This will end quickly.'

Cain was fighting properly from the beginning and not reserving even a bit of his qi. Every attack he used had the means to destroy Atlas' body, which meant that if he was hit once, he would lose.

On the other hand, Atlas didn't know what kind of modifications Cain had done to his body this time, but he knew most of these techniques as well.

'More importantly, his body always has a key weakness.'

It was the back of his neck. No matter what he did to his bone armor and his physical body, the back of his neck was always a weak point that he protected with absolute precision.

Atlas charged in at the very moment when the shockwave disappeared.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Arm blades met against sickles as they entered a close combat battle.

Atlas moved like a snake, but the basis of his technique was still his brazen fighting method as the Heavenly Emperor. Despite making hidden movements often, Atlas was always pushing forward and trying to force an opportunity for himself to take the advantage.

Cain was the exact same. When they came together, they fought as if they held no regard for their own lives.

Every second was filled with moments when blades scratched past their necks, just barely avoiding their vital arteries.

In every moment, they peered off the edge of life and continued to push the boundary.

[Exploding Runes]

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

They usually were enough to create distance, but Cain was different.

[Deathly Mist]

A blackness covered the explosions and absorbed them, lessening their effect to nothing.

Cain pushed through it, his blades covered in the same blackness.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Their clash began again, one filled with both qi and physical skills.

The environment was torn to pieces. The surrounding trees were all gone, and the beautiful and lush forest greenery around them was gone as well. They had created a clearing of rock, as even the dirt had been kicked up and redistributed.

They fought as if nobody was watching, but, in fact, they had quite the audience. Their battle directly blocked the Celestial Ladder, after all. Despite also being cultivators, those who wanted to leave the 29th Floor didn't have the confidence to interrupt the fight between the two mysterious men.

"Is this really a fight between mortal cultivators?"

That was the kind of question that existed in the minds of the ten or so people who waited for the confrontation to end.

They couldn't believe that people on this level were on the same floor as them.

Nobody noticed as seconds turned to minutes. All stray thoughts exited their minds as their focus was completely engulfed by the battle. Five minutes turned into ten, but as the two cultivators gradually did damage to each other, they somehow managed to maintain an unbreakable stalemate.

'In one move, I will end this.'

Atlas was covered in small cuts and flesh wounds again. He was surprised that his entire body wasn't covered in scars. He had [Regeneration] to thank for his clear skin.

However, Cain was the same. His flesh was once again mostly ripped away. The bone armor beneath was exposed, and as long as Atlas could get behind him, he could kill him without a struggle.

'I have to make the move.'

He pushed into the ground and changed his movement pattern entirely.

[Cloud Steps]

Suddenly, he became imperceptible. Rather than Atlas himself, what Cain struck was only a shadow he left behind.

Like an illusive entity that did not exist in the real plane, Atlas gracefully stepped behind Cain before he could understand what was happening.

Or so he thought.

As he raised his blade to land the attack that ended it all, he lost his balance.

Bang!

A skeletal claw rose from the ground and grabbed his ankle before he could move. Its grip kept him from striking Cain for a split second. He kicked hard and freed himself, but it was already too late.

As if he was waiting for this moment, Cain slammed his leg into the ground. The dirt kicked up, and in a frenzy of madness, he disappeared.

His body turned into a shadow, and Atlas was put in a situation where he was unable to move in the slightest.

'I cannot sense him.'

He was moving too fast to be perceived by spiritual sense, and as his body moved fast enough to blend into the environment itself, Atlas realized that it was already too risky to try to leave the encirclement.

'I have to catch him.'

If he caught Cain this time, he would be able to end this battle once and for all.

In that, he was confident.