"He still isn't dead!"
Xu Yang clenched his fist and punched, driving it straight through the Gatekeeper's body and leaving cracks spreading everywhere.
The Gatekeeper froze. The next instant, it burst apart with a bang, becoming a torrent that gathered at the center and re-formed into its original shape.
At the same time, the passage to the second floor appeared beside Xu Yang.
"I need to hold back. I can't clear the floors too quickly."
He had already decided to clear the Seventh Layer, enter the eighth, and concede. That would secure him a place on the Heavenly Strategy Wind and Cloud Rankings, just a little below Sun Tao.
His position couldn't be too low. A rank like ninety-eighth or ninety-ninth would leave him easily knocked off the list.
Huo Xiaochेन and the forces behind them had left him alone because Huo Xiaochेन was certain he could crush him at any time and was in no hurry to kill him. Once Xu Yang displayed potential surpassing Huo Xiaochेन's, even if Huo Xiaochेन wasn't anxious, the Xiao Family would be.
The Xiao Family had paid a fortune for dragon blood for Huo Xiaochेन. They would never allow Xu Yang to threaten him.
"He's taking this long on the first floor, and you still dare say he can reach the Seventh Layer, Brother Jiang?"
Lu Ren turned to Jiang Fan. Qiu He and Wan He were almost on the third floor, yet Xu Yang was still on the first.
"Don't rush to conclusions about whether he can reach the Seventh Layer." Jiang Fan shook his head.
On a first visit to the Battle Tower, curiosity and experimentation would inevitably take time. Besides, different strategies meant different speeds of ascent.
"He's on the second floor!" Du Ziming suddenly said.
Lu Ren turned to