When he crushed the Token, a ray of light enveloped him and transported him outside the Cloud Ascension Tower. Regardless of whether the challenge was a success or failure, one had to crush the Token to be transported out, not just walk down the stairs.
Once he entered the attack range of those Iron Men, the door leading down had long been closed. Therefore, at most, one could recover some Elemental Power outside their range. Once combat was triggered, it was useless to hide anywhere.
That was why Elder Chen had set the rule that after the Fourth Layer, time was no longer limited, precisely to give challengers time to recover their Elemental Power. If they ran out of Elemental Power, it would be impossible to challenge any higher, no matter how strong they were.
"Look, the top of the Cloud Ascension Tower is lighting up!"
