Ch. 1171..1180

Chapter 1171 - 1171 – Help

At this moment, it was like they had never been apart.

Gravis and Stella kissed for a long time.

However, when their lips parted, Stella still felt a bit uncertain about everything.

Yes, Gravis' words made logical sense, but feelings didn't always follow logic.

In a certain sense, Stella still felt useless to Gravis.

Gravis had known Stella for a long time, and he could take a good guess at what she was thinking right now.

"Stella," Gravis said quietly, looking into her eyes. "You're trying to take control over reality."

A skeptical look appeared on Stella's face.

"My power doesn't secure your survival," Gravis said. "Whenever you temper yourself, I have to go far away to make it impossible for me to interfere."

"Do you think I have any kind of control in that situation?"

Stella only looked into Gravis' eyes.

"I don't," Gravis continued as he embraced Stella. "Every time I see you fighting, I'm scared that this will be the last time I will ever see you. Every single time, I'm sickened with worry, and I want to do nothing more than to just help you."

"However, in a certain sense, this is a selfish feeling. I don't want to lose you, and that's why I'm feeling this way. If I followed this feeling, you wouldn't be able to grow. Additionally, I know that you would only be unhappy if you stopped cultivating."

"You're like me in that sense," Gravis said with a smile. "We both want happiness, but we also can't stop cultivating. It's simply who we are."

"Yet, to accomplish that, I have to give up any form of control I have over your life. I can give you a walking stick and some support, but you have to walk the path with your own two feet. I can't help you with that."

"I can only trust in you."

Stella looked into Gravis' eyes for a while and then looked away again.

'Is all of this only because I want to have control over Gravis' life?' Stella thought.

'That sounds bad, but is controlling someone necessarily bad? Not really. Dealing with something Gravis couldn't handle would be me taking control of the situation.'

Stella looked back at Gravis, and her heart warmed as she saw his eyes.

'Yet, even if I had the power to deal with his problems, it would only hurt him if I interfered.'

'Cultivation is a path that has to be walked alone.'

'I'm the only person that has control over my Cultivation, and Gravis is the only person that has control over his Cultivation.'

Gravis and Stella only looked into each other's eyes for a while.

Then, Stella's face relaxed.

'I guess everything makes much more sense now.'

Suddenly, Stella's eyes shot open in shock.

Gravis only smiled happily.

Silence.

"There is no right answer," Stella said.

Gravis nodded.

"Every choice has advantages and disadvantages. Under certain circumstances, a seemingly wrong choice can be the correct choice," Stella continued with surprised eyes.

"It's all perspective, and control is also only perspective."

Gravis nodded again with a bright smile.

"You could almost call it perceived reality, can't you?" Gravis asked with a smirk.

"Do you believe me now?" Gravis asked. "I can help you, but you also need to be powerful enough to receive that help from me."

Gravis chuckled a bit. "You've seen Manuel back then, right? Orpheus and I tried so hard to make him understand the Law of Freedom, but he just couldn't comprehend it."

"Yet, with only some words, you managed to comprehend the Law of Control, and with the Law of Control, you now also understand the Law of Perceived Reality."

Stella still couldn't come to terms with reality.

She had comprehended the Law of Perceived Reality?

However, Stella's mind quickly went back to Gravis.

'Gravis was the reason why I comprehended the Law of Freedom, and now he has taught me the Law of Control.'

'These are the hardest two Laws to comprehend for the Law of Perceived Reality, and he's the reason why I comprehended both of them.'

Yet, Stella only smiled.

'However, he's also right. He can only nudge me in the right direction, but I have to comprehend everything else on my own.'

'Gravis might have granted me the Laws of Control and Freedom, but that only worked because I already had the ability to comprehend them.'

Finally, Stella started to feel less worthless.

Gravis and Stella embraced again, and they wouldn't part from each other for anytime soon.

In the coming years, Gravis and Stella only stayed with each other, and after that, they traveled around Opposer City to relax.

Stella had been too stressed out from everything, and Gravis had realized that he needed to spend more time with her.

The two of them also visited Gravis' mother and father, and Stella talked a long time with Gravis' mother about reasons for cultivating and the complexities of life and relationships.

It was hard to eliminate deeply seated doubts in someone's mind in just a single day, and after talking with Gravis' mother, a lot of Stella's doubts vanished.

In essence, the Economistress was in a very similar situation to Stella.

She couldn't help the Opposer with anything.

Yet, in comparison to Stella, the Economistress had lived for far longer, and she had managed to make peace with her current situation.

"Without me, this cranky old donkey would get tired of his life, and he would be stuck in this situation for eternity," the Economistress said with a smirk.

"On top of that, without me, Gravis and our other children wouldn't even exist, and without them, he would still be as cranky and angry as on the first day we met."

Stella had to giggle at the way the Economistress phrased these two sentences.

"Also," the Economistress added with a smirk. "I'm actually helping him with his power too!"

This took Stella by surprise.

Wasn't the Opposer supposed to be on an unimaginable level of power?

How could the Economistress help him with his power?

"Come on. I'll show you," the Economistress said.

SHING!

A teleportation later, Stella found herself in an unknown cave with absolutely unreasonable proportions.

The cave was over a million kilometers high, and Stella couldn't even see the end of the cave with her Spirit Sense.

Yet, when Stella looked down, her jaw dropped.

Stella saw a blue ocean stretching into infinity.

However, the ocean wasn't made of water but of God Stones!

Stella couldn't even estimate how many God Stones were down here.

She hadn't even thought that so many God Stones existed in the entire world!

"This is my God Stone ocean," the Economistress proclaimed proudly.

Stella only looked in shock at the ocean.

"Do you feel the Energy?" the Economistress asked with a smirk.

These words pulled Stella out of her shock, and she carefully felt the Energy.

Then, her eyes widened.

'So much Energy!'

Stella wasn't referring to the Energy inside the God Stone ocean but to the movement of the Energy in the atmosphere.

Energy worked similarly to gravity, and Stella knew very well how gravity worked.

If an object with a massive amount of compressed Energy existed in a place with less Energy density, the massive object would pull the Energy in its surroundings towards itself.

The Opposer was such an object. There was so much Energy inside his being that just his existence noticeably affected the movement of Energy in the entire highest world.

However, this ocean of God Stones was also such an object.

"My ocean is beneath our home," the Economistress continued with a smirk, "and it has so much Energy that it also pulls in Energy from all over the world."

"The grumpy old man pulls in a lot of Energy, but the Energy my God Stone ocean pulls in can't be ignored."

"It took me over 45 billion years, but I managed to gather enough God Stones to increase my honey's cultivation speed by 10%. It doesn't sound like much, but it's still 10%."

"Right now, 20% of all the God Stones in the highest world are in my God Stone ocean, which means that the grumpy old man essentially sits on nearly 20% of the world's Energy."

"Sadly, he also eats a lot, and I can barely earn enough to afford food for him."

"He's consuming a million God Stones per hour just by sitting down."

"I swear, one day, he'll eat me out of house and home."

Chapter 1172 - 1172 Family After the Economistress had shown Stella her God Stone ocean, Stella realized that she had given up too early.

She had tried to help Gravis by comprehending Formation Arrays, and she was definitely making some headway in that direction, but she was sure that there was even more she could do.

Even if it wasn't much, she could still help Gravis with more things.

And she already had a plan.

However, the plan would take a long time to come to fruition.

But for now, Gravis and Stella only stayed together for a long while. Of course, Gravis didn't forget his other friends.

In the beginning, it was a bit awkward to talk with his friends, but eventually, the old feeling of friendship returned. They hadn't seen each other in a long while, but they had also known each other for a long time.

However, a lot of things had still changed in the last 150,000 years.

For example, Yersi and Jake had a couple of children now.

When Gravis heard that, he was shocked and asked why they hadn't informed him.

Yersi answered that she didn't want to distract Gravis.

Additionally, the lives of the children could pass very quickly.

One of Yersi's kids had decided against Cultivating, and she had died in her eighties with a loving family.

That had happened several thousand years ago, and by now, so many generations had passed that there basically wasn't any connection between them anymore.

Yersi had stopped cultivating to stay by their daughter in her life.

Sadly, to beings that were hundreds of thousands of years old, a hundred years passed in the blink of an eye.

They had also stayed in contact with their grandkids and their great-grandkids, but eventually, the visits had become more and more infrequent, and eventually, they hadn't visited in 200 years.

Any kind of familial connection had already been severed.

The only thing connecting them was a tiny part of their blood.

Gravis could only sigh when he heard all of that.

Sure enough, having children was difficult when one was also cultivating.

If the child decided to live a mortal life, their entire life would pass in the blink of an eye.

If they decided to cultivate, their life would pass even faster. After all, the chances of becoming truly powerful were minuscule.

In both cases, the child would only live for a tiny, bright moment.

It was like a spark that brightened up the surroundings, but as soon as the spark vanished, only darkness remained.

Luckily, their other daughter was already in the Law Comprehension Realm, and she visited her parents every century or so.

The two of them told Gravis where he could find his granddaughter, and Gravis quickly went over.

He watched her from afar as she was trying to comprehend a level three Law.

Gravis immediately felt a certain feeling of connection between him and his granddaughter. He wanted to go over there and meet her, but he decided against it.

'I'll return to my Cultivation soon. Meeting her would be nice, but I don't want to remain in her mind. A hundred thousand years is too much time for a Law Comprehension Realm Cultivator.'

'I'll meet her if she manages to become an Immortal Emperor.'

It wasn't easy for Gravis to make this decision, but he had already decided.

Gravis involuntarily remembered the time he had met Orpheus.

Back then, Gravis had asked why he hadn't seen any of his other siblings, and Orpheus had said that Gravis' life was too fleeting.

Back then, Gravis had understood their reasons, but he also didn't like it.

Later, Orpheus had told Gravis the truth, which was that the familial feeling had basically already died out due to the size of the family.

'Am I doing the same thing?' Gravis asked himself.

Silence.

'No, I'm not,' Gravis thought after a while. 'I'm not doing this because I don't love her or because I don't care about her. This isn't about me, but about her.'

'She can't miss something she has never had, and it's better if we only meet when she can deal with my long absences.'

Gravis watched his granddaughter for a while, but he eventually teleported away.

When Gravis returned, Yersi and Jake asked if that was truly the right decision. After all, Gravis also wanted to meet her.

Gravis answered that it was the best decision he could make.

Eventually, Yersi and Jake accepted it.

When Gravis left, he also thought about his own family.

'If I remember correctly, I've also had a younger sister called Artemis once,' Gravis thought. 'Sadly, she has decided to accept father's gift and became a Peak Immortal Emperor.'

'Her longevity has long since run out.'

Gravis' brows furrowed.

'Now that I think about it, father and mom didn't have any other children after that, and several hundred thousand years have already passed.'

'This means that all my brothers and sisters that decided not to cultivate have already died.'

Gravis remembered that one time he had met one of his sisters.

Back then, Gravis had only been in the Unity Realm, and he had immediately disliked her as soon as he saw her.

When they talked, the two also very quickly parted on bad terms.

'It feels weird,' Gravis thought. 'Back then, she had been impossibly more powerful than me, but now, she has already died.'

'Well, at least I guess she was happy.'

'I wonder how many of my brothers and sisters are actually still alive.'

Gravis couldn't come to a concrete answer.

'Why am I even thinking about all of this? I can just ask father.'

So, Gravis traveled to Opposer City again and sat down in front of his father.

The Opposer summoned some coffee, and Gravis enjoyed the cup in silence.

"I wanted to ask you something," Gravis said.

"Yes?" the Opposer asked.

"How many siblings do I have?" Gravis asked.

"Right now, four," the Opposer answered directly.

"Only four?" Gravis asked in shock.

The Opposer nodded. "Due to the extraordinary nature of our situation, your mother and I have decided to take a pause. Normally, we like to have some children every couple thousand years or so."

"However, with your appearance, the very nature of my relationship with the old bastard might change. I don't know if everything will go well, if you will die early, or if I have to have a decisive battle with him. No matter the case, it's too risky right now."

Gravis nodded. The reason was understandable.

"Who are the others? I only know Orpheus," Gravis asked.

"Do you want to meet them?" the Opposer asked.

Gravis hesitated for a bit.

"I'm not sure, honestly. There isn't anything between us except our connection to you and mom."

"But you still want to know some things about them," the Opposer added.

Gravis nodded.

The Opposer emptied his cup.

"Orpheus is your second strongest sibling right now. He was once placed third, but after he decided to continue cultivating, his power has gone through a rebirth," the Opposer said.

This surprised Gravis.

He had a sibling even more powerful than Orpheus?

"You have a sister that's at the ninth level of the Star God Realm. My short fight with the old bastard hit her hard since she had just been somewhere in the middle of the Star God Realm when it happened."

"The entire world basically knew that she was my daughter, and the world hated her for it."

Gravis grimaced.

This really was a bad place to be in.

"She never forgave me for what I have done. She said that I only cared about you but not about anyone else," the Opposer said.

"She will soon undergo her second tribulation, and things don't look good for her. There is a small chance that she can comprehend a level eight Law during that tribulation, but if she fails, she will die."

"I'm relatively sure that you will only have three siblings soon."

Gravis sighed.

"And the other two?" he asked.

"You have another brother who's a level four Ancestral God right now. He's an Elder in the Darkest Stygian Sect."

"Oh, I know that Sect," Gravis said. "It's about as powerful as the Eternal Fire Sect, right? I think I visited their territory once when I went to get Meadow."

The Opposer nodded. "He comes here from time to time, but mainly to visit your mother. There isn't a strong connection between him and me."

Gravis could understand why.

The Opposer had always been very distant towards his children, which had only changed when Gravis had appeared.

"What about their Karmic Luck?" Gravis asked.

"Zero, as always," the Opposer answered. "Only the people that have an actual connection with you have their Karmic Luck raised. The three siblings you have never met don't have a real connection with you."

"However, as you always say, advantages can have disadvantages, and disadvantages can have advantages. Their path had been far more difficult, but they have above-average Battle-Strength because of it."

Gravis remembered the couple of run-ins he had with his Karmic Luck in the highest world.

It definitely wasn't easy to survive something like that, but all three of them had managed to survive these catastrophes.

"What about the last one?" Gravis asked.

"You have one more sister, and she's the most powerful out of all of you. She comes to visit us every couple hundred thousand years or so, and we have a relatively good relationship."

"You two actually already met, but you didn't recognize each other."

Chapter 1173 - 1173 Zeros Essence

Gravis looked with surprise at his father. "I saw my strongest sister once?"

The Opposer nodded. "Back at the Heaven Clash. She was among them."

Gravis went through all the people he had seen, but everything had happened way too fast for him. Gravis hadn't been able to keep up with all the figures, but he remembered the few of them that had remained at the end.

Gravis didn't find anyone that gave him a similar feeling to his father.

However, Gravis remembered that it was also possible that his sister might be more similar to their mother.

After looking at the people in his memory again from a different angle, one person stood out.

It was a woman with long blue hair. In a sense, her beauty had radiated a similar purity as his mother. It was like she had been a person that stood above the mere struggles of the world. She wasn't looking down on the world, but she had simply watched all of it with disinterested eyes.

It was like the things that had happened around her hadn't been connected to her.

In a sense, her demeanor was similar to the Opposer's demeanor, while her body and appearance were similar to the Economistress'.

"Was it that one blue-haired woman?" Gravis asked. He hadn't heard the discussions between the Divine Gods, and he didn't know their identities.

The Opposer nodded. "Her title is Zero's Essence. She is currently your oldest sibling, and she's a Peak Divine God."

"She's only missing the True Law of Control."

Gravis took a deep breath.

He had anticipated that this sister of his was powerful, but this was way more powerful than he had anticipated.

Zero's Essence was only missing the True Law of Control. This meant that she was only one level nine Law away from becoming a Heaven's Magnate.

She was literally at the absolute peak of the Divine God Realm. There were uncountable Divine Gods beneath her, very few Divine Gods on her level, and no Divine Gods above her level.

A fight between her and an equally powerful opponent could very likely end in the birth of a new Heaven's Magnate.

How hard was it to become a Heaven's Magnate?

Well, normally, Cultivators needed to comprehend a Law of a new level to reach the next Realm.

Nascent Nourishing Realm Cultivators needed a level two Law to become a Law Comprehension Realm Cultivator.

Law Comprehension Realm Cultivators needed a level three Law to become an Immortal Realm Cultivator.

It continued like this until one attempted to become a Star God.

To become an Immortal Emperor, one only needed a level five Law.

However, to become a Star God, one needed a level seven Law.

That was a jump of an entire level!

Because of that, reaching the Star God Realm was unreasonably more difficult than any other breakthrough before that.

Then, it continued again normally.

Level eight Law for the Ancestral God Realm.

Level nine Law of the Divine God Realm.

And then, another jump.

To become a Heaven's Magnate, one needed to comprehend the Law of the True World, which was a level eleven Law!

Just to comprehend the True Law of the Dead World, one needed to comprehend the nine level nine Laws of the Elements, the three Laws of Primordial Force, and the level nine True Law of Matter.

This meant one needed to comprehend 13 level nine Laws just to get one level ten Law.

And they needed a level eleven Law!

After that, they had to get through all the Life Laws.

Then, they had to comprehend all the Emotional Laws.

And lastly, they had to get the Laws of Perceived Reality.

Even amongst Peak Divine Gods, there was a gigantic gap of Battle-Strength. Some Divine Gods could reach the peak of their Realm while only knowing a single level nine Law.

Yet, there also were Peak Divine Gods that knew over 20 level nine Laws and up to three level ten Laws.

And Zero's Essence was one of the most powerful Divine Gods.

She knew three level ten Laws and all the level nine Laws in existence, except for one.

Zero's Essence's Battle-Strength might actually be stronger in relation to her Realm than Gravis' Battle-Strength in relation to his Realm.

"She's powerful," Gravis answered after thinking about Zero's Essence's Battle-Strength.

The Opposer nodded. "There's a high chance that she will become a Heaven's Magnate in her next tribulation in about four million years."

"Four million years," Gravis repeated absentmindedly. "I've only been away from my friends for a little over 150,000 years, and I already feel like an eternity has passed for them. Yet, you're talking about four million years like it's nothing."

"To your friends, it might appear like 150,000 years is a long time, but to you, it doesn't feel that long, right?" the Opposer asked.

Gravis nodded.

"The perception of the passage of time is relative. To you, seemingly no time has passed, while for your friends, an eternity has passed."

"Yet, if there is no other perspective, the passage of time only has one subjective perception, and when there's only one perception, the perception might as well be objective," the Opposer said.

If one wasn't knowledgeable in several Laws or didn't know the Opposer very well, one might not have understood what the Opposer had just said.

However, Gravis understood.

"You're saying that she has no friends, family, or companions?" Gravis asked.

The Opposer nodded. "She and I have a good relationship due to our similar mindsets. At least, our mindsets had been very similar about a million years ago."

"Your sister is chasing power, not happiness," the Opposer explained. "Her priorities are partially due to me but also partially because of the old bastard. His zero Karmic Luck policy for our family makes it inherently difficult to form friendly relationships. Trading with others is fine since we aren't that much in contact with them, but a friendship is risky."

"Friends often spend time together, and when our lack of Karmic Luck strikes, we attract mortal dangers. These dangers are often not tempering, but situations where we can't survive by battling."

"Many of our friends die from that."

"Your sister has realized that long ago, and just like you in the lower world, she has decided to avoid any kind of companionship, excluding your mother and me."

"However, in comparison to you, she has lived like this for her entire life, which has spanned millions of years. She has long since adapted to that lifestyle, and it has become normal to her."

Gravis sighed.

"Will she become like the old Black Magnate?" Gravis asked.

"Most likely, but it will take a long while," the Opposer answered. "In comparison to Blac- the Black Magnate, she isn't fine with only reaching the Heaven's Magnate Realm. She won't be satisfied until she is the strongest Heaven's Magnate there is."

"If she manages to reach that level, she will probably get struck by reality and realize that her goal no longer exists and that it has led her to an abyss."

"However, that's a big if. Remember that every single Heaven's Magnate had once been in your sister's position. They had all once been so overwhelmingly powerful in their Realm. Becoming the strongest out of that group is nearly impossible."

Gravis scratched his chin.

"If you strive for an empty goal, but you never reach it, you will never realize that your goal has been empty," Gravis mused.

"If one person strives for a goal that ends in fulfillment and one strives for a goal that ends in an abyss of despair, and if they both never reach their goals, there's essentially no difference between them."

"Both are chasing a dream, and their life experiences will be filled with similar emotions."

"So, in a sense, the problem isn't an actual problem. It's only the possibility that a problem might come into existence in the future, right?"

The Opposer nodded. "If she can become the strongest Heaven's Magnate, I might have to talk to her. Right now, no amount of talking would change her perception since her goal had been firmly engrained in her personality and existence."

"If we want to help her, we have to wait for a very significant event, which has to happen a long time after she has already reached her goal."

"Just like with me back then," the Opposer added.

Meanwhile, Gravis was smirking happily.

Gravis had realized that his father had truly changed, and even more…

The Opposer had said "we".

Gravis felt like his father had included Gravis in the "we".

The Opposer had never done that before.

Chapter 1174 - 1174 One Million

Gravis talked some more with his father, but in the end, he decided not to meet any of his siblings.

Gravis wasn't very thrilled at meeting his Star God sister or Ancestral God brother since he felt like they didn't have much in common with him.

However, Gravis felt a certain connection with his sister, Zero's Essence. She was going through something that Gravis knew very well, but her life had also gone very differently.

Yet, all of this was irrelevant. His sister might be interested in exchanging some words with Gravis, but Gravis knew that she wouldn't really form any relationship with him due to how she had lived her life.

It was even possible that she was incapable of having any companions at this point.

In a way, she was similar to Joyce, but she was dealing with that aspect of her personality very differently.

Joyce had dealt with these things by burying everything under a mountain of anger and hatred, while Zero's Essence had simply accepted her reality.

In a way, Zero's Essence also reminded Gravis of the old Azure.

Before Azure had become a Star God, she had been incapable of feeling love or strong feelings of happiness, and she had accepted that part of herself.

Even if she didn't feel any strong feelings of friendship towards her friends, she had still been a great friend.

Sometimes, people had very similar disadvantages or issues, but different people would become very different.

If the same traumatic experience happened to different children, they would all still become different adults.

One of them would probably be able to see how this experience had shaped their personality, and they could accept that these things had happened to them.

One of them would probably get over the experience in adulthood and maybe even forgive the person responsible for their traumatic experience, resulting in a form of inner peace.

However, one of them would also probably never recover, and that incident would haunt them for the rest of their life. They might become unstable with rage, might commit suicide, might become depressed, might become isolated.

Overcoming trauma was like tempering. One would go through intense and unimaginable pain, and if they failed to get over it, their life would be ruined.

However, if they could overcome it, they would learn a lot about these things, and they would even grow as a person. If another horrifying event happened after that, the person would be better equipped to deal with it since they had gone through a similar experience before.

It was all a matter of perspective and how one handled their issue.

Zero's Essence, Azure, and Joyce had similar problems.

Yet, all three of them dealt with them in very different ways.

One had accepted that she would never have friends in her life.

One had become curious and had tried to learn as much about this concept as possible while acknowledging that she would never feel these things.

One had never been able to deal with this issue, which resulted in her personality transforming into something unlikable.

Ironically enough, the only person that had voluntarily put themselves into this situation had also been the one that had failed to recover from it.

Gravis wanted to meet his sister, but he also knew that it wasn't time yet. Zero's Essence would keep living for a very long time, and she wouldn't be interested in forming a relationship with Gravis.

That was fine for Gravis.

After talking with his father a bit more, Gravis visited his mother again and spent some time with her.

Some time later, Gravis left his home again and went back to Manuel's faction to spend more time with his friends and Stella.

10,000 years later, Mortis finished comprehending the True Law of Ancestral Wood's Cutting.

Then, Mortis and Gravis spent another 10,000 years with everyone.

During that time, Gravis had also seen several Star Gods of Manuel's faction fighting with the enemy, and he was quite impressed with their power.

Sure enough, no Star God in the Eternal Fire Sect was weak.

Sadly, Gravis had to get back to comprehending more Laws. He had initially wanted to spend even more time with Stella, but she had basically thrown him out, telling him that she also had to comprehend Laws. She couldn't spend all this time with Gravis.

Gravis didn't mind, especially since Stella and Azure would also both focus on comprehending level seven Laws.

They hadn't been able to focus on their Laws until now since their presence had been pivotal to the survival of Manuel's faction, but now, Manuel's faction was no longer in danger of collapsing anymore.

One reason was the power and number of all the Star Gods in Manuel's faction, but that wasn't the main reason.

The main reason was Meadow and Narcissus.

Over the course of being in the Eternal Fire Sect, Meadow and Narcissus had received a frightening amount of Star God corpses.

Both of them knew several level seven Laws by now.

They wouldn't go to the frontlines, but those two would become an impenetrable barrier for any enemy.

Another reason was also the equipment Gravis had created for everyone, but Gravis still felt a bit embarrassed by that event.

The important thing was that Stella and Azure could finally focus on their Laws.

Gravis went back to Opposer City and rented another Virtualization Array, and he directly rented it for over 150,000 years.

This was the Virtualization Array for the True Law of Adamant's Cutting.

Gravis knew that his affinity for metal wasn't very great. It always took Gravis at least 1.5 times as long to comprehend the Metal Laws compared to the other Elemental Laws.

Well, the Earth Laws were even worse, but Gravis would simply get another Law Comprehension Life Fruit for the True Law of Stone's Explosiveness.

Meanwhile, Mortis was focusing on the True Law of Ancestral Wood's Destruction, which was basically the Law of Explosiveness for Ancestral Wood.

Time passed again, but this time, Gravis was interrupted before he could comprehend the Law.

Only 30,000 years after starting his comprehension, Gravis was interrupted by five people arriving in his room unannounced.

Gravis hadn't been ready for their arrival, and before he could do anything, it had already happened.

BANG!

Several weak explosions occurred in the room, and Gravis felt the Laws in the room change.

The transforming Laws changed the color of the room from a dim grey and black to a bright yellow, green, and blue.

At the same time, different streams of Elements flowed over Gravis as they calmly lay down on his body.

Gravis only looked at everything with confusion and shock.

Gravis quickly realized what was happening when the Laws calmed down.

Gravis' room had been transformed into a party room. There was a beautiful spectacle of Laws dancing around Gravis, radiating joy.

On top of that, the streams of Laws that lay on Gravis' body were just fancy streamers.

In front of Gravis stood five people.

At the left was Orpheus, his face showing a bright and happy smile.

Beside Orpheus was the Black Magnate, his face showing an amused smirk.

At the right was Mortis, his face showing a light but awkward smile.

Beside Mortis was the Economistress, her face showing an excited, proud, and happy smile.

And in the middle was the Opposer, his face showing his trademarked, deadpan expression.

All five of them had streamers in their hands.

Gravis almost couldn't hold himself back when he saw his father holding bright streamers in his hands.

"Happy one-millionth birthday, Gravis!"

Chapter 1175 - 1175 Talk With Orpheus

Gravis had totally forgotten about his birthday. After all, birthdays kind of lost their meaning.

However, one million years was still a long time, and Gravis needed some time to process that.

Gravis was a million years old now.

After a moment of shock, Gravis recovered and thanked everyone for coming.

Then, all of them had a small get-together, which reminded Gravis of the time he had left for the middle world. Back then, they had also held a small party for Gravis.

Gravis still remembered the present his father had given him. It had been a black scale, and Gravis had had no idea from whom this scale came.

Now, Gravis knew.

It had been a scale from the Black Magnate.

Stella wasn't here right now since she was busy comprehending more Laws. Additionally, Gravis also hadn't been there for Stella's millionth birthday.

It wasn't really an important event, and everyone knew that, which was why the party had only been very small and short. It basically only acted as a small get-together and reunion.

Gravis didn't speak much with Mortis, the Black Magnate, his father, or his mother since he was in regular contact with them.

However, Orpheus was someone Gravis hadn't met in a while, and he asked him how he was doing. After all, Gravis hadn't seen Orpheus in Manuel's faction.

"Oh, I'm just comprehending Laws," Orpheus said with a smile. "The Ancestor of the Eternal Fire Sect offered me the position of Sect Master, but I declined. I don't want to be bound by a lot of responsibility."

This took Gravis by surprise. "Wait, what? The Ancestor asked you to be the Sect Master of the Eternal Fire Sect?" Gravis asked.

Orpheus nodded with a smile. "Yes, apparently, there had been some kind of competition I didn't know about. However, that explanation cleared a lot of my doubts."

Gravis lifted an eyebrow.

Orpheus only grinned. "Well, not soon after I entered the Eternal Fire Sect, several people started to act against me. Some of them were slandering me. Others were trying to put the blame on me for something I didn't do. Some people tried to convince me that there were hidden spies in the Eternal Fire Sect, and so on. There have been a lot of incidences."

"Someone wanted to go against you?" Gravis asked with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

When Orpheus saw Gravis' eyes, he only laughed. "I like that you're trying to help me, but you're still a bit too young," he said with a chuckle.

Gravis only continued looking into Orpheus' eyes with a serious expression.

Obviously, he wasn't taking this situation as a joke.

"You don't have to worry, Gravis," Orpheus said. "Power is everything, or did you forget that? All these political schemes are unimportant, and I let them do and say whatever they want."

"The entire leadership of the Eternal Fire Sect hates me now, but who cares? I'm still a member of their Sect, and if they try to throw me out of the Sect, they will only have lost one of their most powerful Ancestral Gods."

"By the way, that's eventually something that happened," Orpheus said with a grin.

"You were thrown out of the Eternal Fire Sect?" Gravis asked in shock.

"No," Orpheus answered with a smirk, "but they tried to."

"What happened?" Gravis asked.

"As soon as the vote was nearly complete, the Ancestor appeared, and he berated everyone quite heavily. He said that infighting was great for creating outstanding new Elders, but as soon as one reached the top of the Sect, everyone had to work together."

"They would have banished me, which would have resulted in the Eternal Fire Sect becoming much weaker. They can deal with losing thousands or millions of Star Gods, but they couldn't deal with losing someone with the power to become a Sect Master."

"Eventually, he said that I acted correctly while everyone else acted only for their personal gain. Well, acting for one's personal gain isn't that bad if it involves a significant increase of power, but this was all about status and position. If they had a way to become far more powerful by banishing me, the Ancestor wouldn't stop them. He would even support them."

"However, they didn't. The power of the entire Eternal Fire Sect would drop significantly, which meant that this was a stupid action."

"That's when the Ancestor said that he would grant me the position of Sect Master, and that's also when I declined," Orpheus said with a smirk.

Gravis looked with a strange expression at Orpheus.

If Orpheus had accepted the position of Sect Master, he would have gained an incredible amount of resources to further his own power.

However, he would have also gained quite some responsibility.

Yet, this was a trade everyone was willing to take.

Except Orpheus.

'Would I have declined?' Gravis thought.

Silence.

'No, I would have accepted. However, I would have put a proxy in my place. In short, I would get the resources with none of the work.'

'I would have probably used Manuel as my proxy.'

"Then, who's the current Sect Master?" Gravis asked.

"Officially or unofficially?" Orpheus asked with a smile.

"Both," Gravis answered.

"Officially, it's the current Sect Master. Unofficially," Orpheus said before making a short pause, "Also the Sect Master."

Gravis' face transformed from curiosity into a deadpan expression.

Orpheus had to laugh when he saw Gravis' face. "Well, in a way, the current Sect Master is basically only a replacement Sect Master. In a sense, she will only occupy the position of Sect Master until the actual Sect Master is powerful enough to lead the Eternal Fire Sect."

"Oh?" Gravis uttered with some interest. He already had a suspicion.

"Is it Manuel?" Gravis asked.

Orpheus only grinned. "Yep."

Gravis' eyes narrowed into a distrusting gaze. "Did you actually decline the position of Sect Master?" Gravis asked slowly.

Orpheus only laughed with a smile. "Yeah."

"Really?" Gravis asked again.

"Hmmm, maybe I tried to become the Sect Master and use Manuel as a proxy, but in the end, I declined," Orpheus said with a smile.

"Mhm," Gravis muttered.

'As if Orpheus would decline the resources such a position comes with,' Gravis thought. 'So, he had the same idea as me.'

"And I guess they declined, right?" Gravis asked.

Orpheus laughed a bit. "Well, the Ancestor said that this was basically his position, and the Sect can't have two Ancestors. Additionally, if I wanted to become the Ancestor, I would have to be as strong as him. He needs someone that actually takes responsibility."

"However, he also said that if I trust Manuel so much, he can keep Manuel in mind as a contender. As soon as Manuel becomes powerful enough to rival the Sect Master, and as soon as I become powerful enough to rival him, we can both take over the positions of Sect Master and Ancestor, respectively," Orpheus said.

Gravis' eyes widened in surprise. "He said that?" he asked.

Orpheus nodded. "Strange, isn't it? Usually, Sects don't want to undergo a major shift in leaders, but the Eternal Fire Sect doesn't think like that. If someone was able to completely take over their Sect, it only means that the leadership was too weak. If the new leadership managed to claim the Eternal Fire Sect from the old leadership, the new leadership could only be more powerful than the old one."

"As long as we keep the name, everything goes."

"Huh, interesting," Gravis said.

Chapter 1176 - 1176 The End Of The Way

Gravis talked some more with everyone, but eventually, it was time for him to continue with his Laws.

He hadn't even gotten halfway to understanding the True Law of Adamantite's Cutting.

Gravis quickly went back and lost himself in time again.

60,000 years later, Mortis informed Gravis that he was done with the True Law of Ancestral Wood's Destruction. Mortis also told Gravis that he would take a short break of 10,000 years and then focus on the True Law of Adamantite's Explosiveness.

Gravis didn't mind, and he continued to focus on the Law of Adamantite's Cutting.

Sadly, comprehending this Law took way too long.

Gravis only finished the Law 80,000 years after Mortis had contacted him. Gravis had even needed to extend the Virtualization Array.

'That took me 170,000 years,' Gravis thought after taking a deep breath. 'Sure enough, my comprehension ability regarding the Metal Element is horrible.'

Mortis was only halfway done with the True Law of Adamantite's Explosiveness, and he would probably need another 70,000 years or so to finish.

'Let's get some Law Comprehension Life Fruits,' Gravis thought.

Gravis quickly bought some Law Comprehension Life Fruits for the True Law of Stone's Explosiveness. He couldn't possibly spend 300,000 years or so on comprehending a single level seven Law.

It only took Gravis a couple hundred years to comprehend the True Law of Stone's Explosiveness with the Law Comprehension Life Fruits.

'Now, I only need to wait for the True Law of Adamantite's Explosiveness. Then, I can condense my new Form Law.'

Gravis sighed.

'How long have I been in seclusion for my Form Law? 600,000 years or so? Honestly, without Mortis, it would take me an entire tribulation to comprehend all the Laws. Mortis is a huge help.'

'Mortis will still need about 70,000 years, but I don't have to wait and do nothing for that long. There are other things I can do.'

'But first of all, I need to contact Stella,' Gravis thought with a bit of happiness and nervousness.

'I hope this isn't going to be as awkward as the last time.'

Gravis contacted Stella for the first time in 140,000 years, and Gravis became quite surprised when he actually thought about that.

Stella hadn't contacted him for 140,000 years? That was quite a long time.

However, he also hadn't initiated contact for that long.

When Gravis contacted Stella, he realized why it had taken her so long to contact him.

She was still busy comprehending her own level seven Law, and Gravis had just interrupted her comprehension.

Gravis apologized a couple of times, but Stella told him that it was fine.

She had also missed him.

The two of them talked for a while, and Gravis nodded with a smile when he heard that she would need to spend even more time in comprehension.

Stella hadn't changed one bit. Just like Gravis, Stella's time seemingly stood still while comprehending Laws.

After getting Stella's OK, Gravis went back to the Smart Cultivator and asked for a couple of Virtualization Arrays.

However, when Gravis said how long he wanted to rent them, the manager became shocked.

Gravis only wanted to rent them for 10,000 years each!

That was basically nothing!

After a while, Gravis went back to his home and activated the first Virtualization Array.

BZZZZ!

Divine Lightning appeared in the room, and it started to adhere to all the surfaces. A powerful force pulled on everything in the room, but nothing moved. The Opposer had created this room, and some mere Divine Lightning couldn't even attempt to move something in here.

This was the True Law of Divine Lightning's Magnetism and also the highest Law regarding magnetism.

Highest Law? But what about Heavenly Lightning?

Well, level nine Laws were very different from all lower-ranked Laws.

Level nine Laws already demonstrated perfection.

It was impossible to make Heavenly Lightning faster.

It was impossible to make Heavenly Lightning more powerful.

Heavenly Lightning was the perfect form of lightning, and one couldn't improve on perfection.

Because of that, there were no Battle Laws for level nine Laws.

Only Laws that were directly needed to condense the Law of the True World could be level nine Laws. Everything else was below them.

This also meant that someone who has managed to comprehend the Law of the True World automatically knows all existing level nine Laws.

Well, a Form Law could also be pushed to the power of a level nine Law, but Form Laws were special and weren't naturally formed.

So, why was Gravis comprehending the True Law of Divine Lightning's Magnetism?

Simply so he didn't have to do it later.

It wouldn't increase Gravis' power since he already knew the Law of Heavenly Lightning, but he wanted to comprehend it regardless.

Gravis finished the level seven True Law of Divine Lightning's Magnetism in only 10,000 years.

Then, Gravis comprehended the True Law of Divine Lightning's Stasis, which also took him 10,000 years.

After that, Gravis comprehended the True Law of Divine Lightning's Efficiency, which also took him 10,000 years.

Then, Gravis comprehended the True Law of Divine Lightning's Speed, which also took him 10,000 years.

Lastly, Gravis comprehended the True Law of Divine Lightning's Power, which also took him 10,000 years.

When Gravis finished the last Law, he closed his eyes and combined all the insights he had gained over the years.

BOOOOM!

And then, Gravis comprehended the level eight True Law of Lightning's Manipulation.

Usually, Gravis would have needed to temper himself to comprehend a level eight Law since he didn't have much experience with them, but due to his incredible affinity for lightning, comprehending the Law came naturally.

It hadn't even been difficult.

Sadly, the level eight True Law of Lightning Manipulation didn't change Gravis' Battle-Strength. Heavenly Lightning was already perfect, and it was superior in every way.

However, Gravis was still quite happy.

Gravis opened his eyes with a wide smile.

'I know everything about pure lightning that there is to know,' he thought with happiness.

'The only missing things regarding lightning are the level eight Mixed Elements, but they can't really count as pure lightning.'

'I now know all the Laws of pure lightning. I've really come far, haven't I?'

Gravis remembered the time he had entered the lower world. Back then, Gravis had searched for a way to learn more about lightning. Eventually, he had seen the flyer for the yearly entrance exams of the Proxy-Elemental Guilds, and Gravis had finally found a way to learn more about lightning.

Then, he had been the first person in that world to comprehend pure Destruction Lightning.

Yet, Destruction Lightning had only been a tiny part of all the Lightning Laws. There had still been the Punishment Lightning, Divine Lightning, Heavenly Lightning, and all the Lightning Battle Laws Gravis didn't know about.

The path of lightning had been incredibly expansive, more expansive than Gravis could have ever imagined.

But now, Gravis knew all of it.

'There's only Orthar's personal lightning left, but I don't even know if it is lightning. His lightning hasn't been created in his Cosmos, and it obviously only exists in his own being. All my knowledge of lightning comes from this Cosmos, which could mean that his personal lightning might be very different.'

'My way of lightning comes to an end here.'

'Now, I need to focus on everything else.'

Chapter 1177 - 1177 600,000 Years Of Comprehension

After thinking about his life for a bit longer, Gravis decided to contact Stella again.

Stella quickly told Gravis that she was still comprehending, and Gravis simply nodded.

Gravis didn't know what kind of Law Stella was focusing on, but she obviously didn't have as much experience in comprehending Laws as Gravis. So, logically, it would also take her longer.

Gravis visited his friends and spent some time reacquainting himself with them. A lot of time had passed again, but rekindling friendship was easier than rekindling love due to the different intensities of the emotions.

By now, basically everyone was already a level nine Star God. Weaker Star Gods became very rare.

When Gravis focused on all these people in Manuel's faction, he felt a bit nervous.

'Every single person in this faction is so powerful that they would serve as incredible tempering for me,' Gravis thought.

'If only one of them decides to attack me, I would have an immensely difficult fight ahead of me.'

'Yet, if two attack, I would definitely die.'

The world had outgrown Gravis.

Gravis was still a level four Star God, and everyone in the faction was a level nine Star God.

Gravis felt a mortal threat from every single member, and it made Gravis feel humbled.

'All of my friends are more powerful than me. A lot of them even have Will-Auras on the level of Ancestral Gods.'

Gravis had become an oddity. He was a level four Star God, and level four Star Gods didn't exist in Manuel's faction.

However, Gravis didn't forget why he was so weak right now.

Gravis had accumulated Laws for a long time.

After Mortis comprehended the True Law of Adamantite's Explosiveness, the two of them will have comprehended a grand total of 17 level seven Laws.

Even more, Gravis had even comprehended a level eight Law.

Right now, Manuel's faction didn't have a single member that knew a level eight Law.

All of them only knew several level seven Laws at most.

Meanwhile, Gravis knew two level eight Laws and one level nine Law.

Even more, Gravis would soon comprehend another level eight Law when he combined all his Battle-Laws into a new Form Law.

Of course, Gravis had become the butt of all the jokes in his friend group.

This was the first time Gravis wasn't the most powerful one out of his friend group.

However, Gravis didn't only receive jokes made at his expense.

No, he also received a lot of shocked and terrified looks.

Why?

Because his friends were finally powerful enough to actually feel Gravis' Battle-Strength.

Gravis' Battle-Strength had always been so powerful that none of his friends felt it, but now, all of them had become powerful enough to finally feel it.

When Gravis had gone to greet Manuel, Manuel had only looked at Gravis with shock for several seconds.

Then, he had taken a deep breath through his teeth.

"How are you so powerful?" Manuel had asked.

Watching someone fight and fighting them oneself was a gigantic difference. In the past, Manuel had only been able to see what Gravis could do, but he hadn't been able to truly feel his Battle-Strength.

Now, he could feel it, and it felt absolutely unreal.

When Dorian had seen Gravis, he had only gritted his teeth in frustration.

Ferris only let out a long "wooooow".

Azure wasn't very shocked since she had met Mortis only recently, and he had an equally powerful Battle-Strength.

However, that didn't help Gravis with all the jokes. Everyone else was constantly talking about how they should take care of their weaker members, and then, everyone always looked at Gravis with a pitying expression.

Even Yersi had come to Gravis and told him that she would take care of everyone who bullied her father.

Of course, all of these jokes were only that, jokes. All of them knew that Gravis would soon explode with power.

Additionally, they all knew that Gravis was only a level four Star God because he didn't want to advance levels right now.

If Gravis wanted, he could become an Ancestral God in less than a day.

He even had all the money he would need.

Yet, Gravis was still struck with nostalgia when he saw how powerful everyone had become.

Gravis still remembered when he had met everyone again and how he had feared that not everyone could become a Star God.

Sadly, his fears had proven to be true.

'Liam, Styr, Sary, Skye, Yi Lu, Siral, Joyce, Broad Walker,' Gravis thought.

Eight friends, eight deaths.

Gravis still remembered all their faces, their personalities, and their voices.

Liam, the charismatic and reliable brother of Stella.

Styr, the wise and kind old ruler.

Sary, the charismatic and funny beauty.

Skye, the freedom-loving and upbeat hurricane hawk.

Yi Lu, the unreliable but well-intentioned disciple.

Siral, the quiet but motivated Assassin.

Joyce, the unstable and angry mask suppressing kindness.

Broad Walker, the simple but loyal follower.

All of them had died.

However, when Gravis looked at his living friends, a small smile grazed his lips.

Manuel, the reliable and mysterious Sect Master.

Dorian, the eccentric but inwardly kind old man.

Ferris, the simple and kind wolf.

Azure, the curious but taciturn empress.

Stella, Gravis' eternal love.

Aris, Gravis' mature firstborn.

Meadow, the uncouth but reliable flower.

Narcissus, the prideful tree.

Exar, the taciturn and intelligent strategist.

Yersi, Gravis' loving daughter.

Jake, Gravis' proud son-in-law.

Eight friends were dead, but eleven were still alive.

Even more, they had all gone over the most difficult hurdle before the Divine God Realm.

Becoming Ancestral Gods wouldn't be difficult for them.

For now, Gravis didn't need to fear for his friends anymore.

Gravis spent the next 10,000 years with his friends, and then Mortis returned.

Mortis had finally comprehended the True Law of Adamantite's Explosiveness.

Gravis wanted to concentrate on his Form Law, but Stella informed him that she would soon return. So, Gravis decided to delay comprehending his Law.

When Stella came back, she smiled happily at Gravis and jumped into his arms.

Gravis smiled back and kissed her deeply.

For some reason, Stella was more happy than usual, which made Gravis equally as happy.

"What's the occasion? Why are you so happy?" Gravis asked.

Stella only smirked. "Can't I be happy just to see you?"

Gravis raised an eyebrow. "You can, but I know you too well. You have something else."

Stella only smiled seductively as she moved a finger across Gravis' chest.

"Why don't you find out?"

Gravis quickly excused himself and went to a private place with Stella.

And then, the two united for the first time in over 200,000 years.

It was like they had never been apart, and both of them enjoyed themselves fully.

However, during the act, Gravis' mind seemingly widened as a new dimension of knowledge opened up before him.

"You asked why I was so happy," Stella said with a shy and red face.

"I'm so happy because I finally found a way to help you."

Gravis registered Stella's words, and his heart seemingly melted.

So this was why Stella had taken so long to comprehend her Law.

Stella's Law Comprehension experience was also astoundingly quick, and she shouldn't have needed so long for a level seven Law.

No, Stella had needed so long because she had found a way to help Gravis.

Chapter 1178 - 1178 Repayment

When Gravis realized what Stella had done, his heart warmed.

"You didn't have to do this," Gravis said. "You wasted so much time just for me?"

Stella only smiled brightly with an expression devoid of regret.

"It's what I want to do," she said lovingly. "You've done so much for me, and I want to help you too."

Gravis only hugged Stella with love.

Gravis postponed the condensation of his Form Law due to Stella.

Mortis spent 10,000 years with Azure and eventually started creating his own Form Law.

Gravis was still busy with Stella.

When Mortis felt that Gravis was still screwing around, he felt a bit annoyed, but that changed as more time passed.

BOOOOM!

Mortis' eyebrows rose in surprise as he suddenly comprehended the five level four Laws of Plant Composition and the superior level five Law of Plant Composition.

However, that wasn't the end. Shortly after that, Mortis comprehended the five level four Laws of Plant Growth and the superior level five Law of Plant Growth.

Even if they were only level four and level five Laws, there were still twelve of them, which was nothing to sneer at.

Comprehending all these Laws would have still taken them a couple thousand years.

Yet, another 10,000 years later, Mortis comprehended the level five Law of Soul Regeneration, which was quickly followed by the level five Law of Soul Dispersal.

Another 10,000 years later, Mortis comprehended the two level six Laws of Life Growth and Life Composition.

And then, the final Law came.

BOOOOM!

The level seven True Law of Physical Speed!

This Law was the main reason why Stella had taken so long.

Stella had completely ignored her own power and had focused on Laws Gravis needed.

Stella knew that Gravis didn't know that much about the Life Laws, and she had helped him in that regard.

Stella had nearly completed all the Major Laws of Life.

Sadly, she hadn't been able to comprehend the Law of Soul Infusion. There was simply something missing.

Stella had spent nearly 250,000 years comprehending these Laws.

A lot of them were not very useful to Gravis' Battle-Strength, but the level seven Law of Physical Speed was very useful.

This Law wouldn't directly allow Gravis to become faster due to his Law of Heavenly Lightning. After all, Heavenly Lightning's speed was far superior to the speed of a level seven Law.

However, the Law would help Gravis in saving Energy. Since Gravis' speed was now closer to the speed of Heavenly Lightning, he wouldn't need as much Energy to push himself further.

In essence, Stella had helped Gravis in reducing his Energy usage.

It wasn't a gigantic help, but it was help.

Stella had managed to help Gravis.

Of course, Stella benefited just as much as Gravis and Mortis from this exchange.

Stella had received all of the Laws Gravis knew, except for the level eight Law of Lightning's Manipulation since it was too high for Gravis' Law of Empathy.

But wait, how was Stella able to give Gravis the level seven Law of Physical Speed? Wasn't her Law of Empathy even lower than Gravis'?

Well, not anymore.

While Gravis and Stella had exchanged their love, Stella had realized something crucial.

She had essentially nearly wasted 250,000 years for something she didn't need.

She had spent 25% of her longevity to selflessly help her husband.

When Stella had felt how happy Gravis was, all her hidden regrets vanished.

She had truly done the right thing, and seeing Gravis so happy was all she needed.

That was when Stella had comprehended the True Law of Empathy, a level nine Law.

Stella had never felt so much love before, and she was truly happy.

She gave herself fully to Gravis, and Gravis felt like a new world had opened before him.

BOOOOM!

Gravis also comprehended the True Law of Empathy!

The True Law of Empathy was incredibly powerful, allowing it to even transmit itself to others.

However, that also made sense. After all, the peak of empathy was sacrifice, and the True Law of Empathy had no problems with giving itself to others.

Stella had comprehended her first level nine Law, which also allowed Gravis to comprehend his second level nine Law.

The Law of Empathy was nearly useless in battle, but it was a necessary building block for the Law of the True World.

Additionally, comprehending the True Law of Empathy wasn't easy. It was hard to comprehend it without the person being willing to sacrifice something important to them.

Mortis had also comprehended all of these Laws, and he thanked Stella deeply in his mind.

She had truly helped them.

Yet, all good times must come to an end at some point.

After 30,000 years of love, Gravis and Stella parted ways again.

However, they would never feel apart again. They had a connection with each other that only two people with the True Law of Empathy could have.

One could say it was the deepest love that could possibly be felt by any living being.

After parting with Stella, Gravis focused on creating his Form Law.

Mortis had already done a lot of preparation for the Form Law, and he told Gravis about all the useful parts.

Gravis still looked through all the other Battle Laws, but he agreed with Mortis when he didn't find anything else of use.

Mortis had highlighted everything that he considered good or better and ignored everything he considered above average or worse, which still left a vast number of insights.

Mortis was already focusing on creating his Form Law, and he would soon be done. Sadly, Mortis' Form Law would be Mortis' Form Law, not Gravis'. Mortis and Gravis had very different fighting styles, and they preferred different attacks.

10,000 years later, Mortis condensed his level eight Form Law.

Mortis' Form Law was focused on slow but devastating attacks. He would supplement these slow attacks with various other skills that immobilized his enemy.

As long as he managed to hit with his Form Law, the enemy would be decimated.

Gravis needed another 20,000 years to condense his level eight Form Law.

Just like with his previous Form Law, Gravis preferred quick ranged attacks.

Gravis had plenty of Laws that allowed him to evade, retreat, or block his enemies' attacks. Even more, Gravis could manipulate his enemies' perception with his Law of Perceived Reality. Lastly, Gravis planned his Form Law around fighting with Mortis. Gravis and Mortis were the same being, and they would fight together most of the time.

After all, their lives were connected.

Mortis took the offensive. He would go first and clash with the opponent, while Gravis would help Mortis from a distance without wasting any Energy. Then, when Mortis got tired, Gravis could go in and explosively unleash all of his power. The enemy should have also been weakened by then.

Then, everything was done.

Gravis and Mortis had finished their Material Laws, Battle Laws, and Form Laws.

They were both still level four Star Gods, but their Law Comprehension was even superior to almost all Ancestral Gods.

They knew two level nine Laws, three level eight Laws, and 32 level seven Laws.

Gravis was now 1,250,000 years old, and he would even reach his tribulation in 95,000 years.

1,000,000 years had seemed so long when Gravis had become a Star God, but nearly all years had passed.

Gravis didn't feel like he had lived for a million years, but it was the truth.

Then, Gravis took a deep breath and looked at Mortis.

"It's time," Gravis said.

Mortis nodded. "It's time."

Mortis took out an emblem and handed it to Gravis.

On the emblem was a gigantic eye hidden behind clouds.

It was the entry token for a Heaven's Trial.

It was time.

Chapter 1179 - 1179 Gate Gravis left Manuel's faction after saying goodbye to everyone.

To alleviate their fears, Gravis told everyone that he would probably be gone for quite a while. Back then, the Heaven's Trial had taken Gravis over four years, which had been an incredibly long time for him.

Maybe this Heaven's Trial would also take an incredibly long time.

He also told them that, as long as his father didn't inform them, it meant that he was still alive.

Like that, they didn't have to worry about the unknown.

Gravis also said sorry that he couldn't be there for Stella's tribulation. Stella would undergo her tribulation in about 45,000 years, and Gravis assumed that the Heaven's Trial would take longer.

In fact, it wasn't only Stella undergoing her tribulation. Most others had become Star Gods just shortly after Stella, shortly meaning 100,000 or 200,000 years later.

Gravis referred to hundreds of thousands of years as shortly.

Eventually, Gravis left. Obviously, Mortis followed him, but he kept himself intangible. After all, he had only bought one token, which was for Gravis, and he wouldn't buy a second token if he could just enter for free.

Orthar owned the Heaven's Trials, not the Eternal Fire Sect.

After teleporting for a couple of hours, Gravis arrived near an empty mountain range.

WHOOOM!

An incredibly powerful Will-Aura suppressed Gravis as a blue-haired teenager appeared in front of Gravis.

It was hard for Gravis to feel his Realm, but Gravis guessed that he was probably a level four or level five Ancestral God.

"You are not from the Eternal Fire Sect," the teenager said.

"And yet, I have an entry token," Gravis answered with a voice transmission. "If you could retrieve your Will-Aura, I could show you."

The teenager narrowed his eyes, but he complied.

The pressure on Gravis weakened, and Gravis summoned the entry token, which quickly got taken away by the teenager.

The teenager looked at the entry token with concentration and then at Gravis.

CRK!

The teenager destroyed the entry token and nodded. "You can go in."

Gravis nodded politely and passed the teenager, who just teleported away again.

Gravis went to the foot of one mountain and landed.

Before Gravis was a small cave. It wasn't any bigger than a mortal iron mine, and it felt rather rustic.

After entering the cave, Gravis calmly walked for a while, and as he walked forward, the cave widened further and further.

Eventually, the cave was over five kilometers wide and high, and a humongous, golden gate appeared in front of Gravis.

The gate shone brightly with gold, and it gave off a kind of holy aura. Everyone that saw this gate would realize that this gate had something to do with Heaven.

Gravis only smiled bitterly. "The Eternal Fire Sect put the mountain around the gate to hide this gate. They probably don't want others to know that they own this Heaven's Trial. After all, a Heaven's Trial gives tempering without needing to fight other Sects. That's quite valuable."

After a bit of looking at the gate, Gravis walked forward and put his hand on it.

'Oh? It's quite heavy,' Gravis thought.

Gravis used more power, but the gate still wouldn't budge.

"How heavy is this thing!?" Gravis shouted with frustration.

CRR!

Gravis transformed into his beast form and put all his six arms onto it.

It still wouldn't budge.

BANG!

Gravis activated his True Law of Physical Speed to increase his power and also used his Heavenly Lightning.

CRRR!

The gate was vibrating, but Gravis was already using all of his power.

"A little help, please!" Gravis shouted through gritted teeth.

"Gravis, just open one gate. You don't need to open both at once," Mortis answered Gravis.

Gravis gritted his teeth in exertion. "But I want to open both gates," he shouted back.

"Fine, go ahead," Mortis answered, not helping.

Gravis pushed harder, and after minutes of exertion, he finally managed to very slowly move the gates.

As soon as a tiny crack in the gates appeared, a bright light illuminated the cave. It was like paradise was just waiting beyond these gates.

Gravis was momentarily blinded by the light, but he only grinned with motivation as he pushed further.

The gates opened more and more, and the cave brightened even further.

In a dark cave, a lone Black Demon was pushing a gigantic gate, which seemingly hid paradise behind it.

Gravis did one last push, and he managed to open the gates just wide enough for him to walk through without having to move sideways.

The light behind the gate bathed Gravis, and Gravis closed his eyes in happiness, his entire body being enveloped by the light.

Then, Gravis walked forward with outstretched arms as if he wanted to embrace the light.

"Are you done yet?" Mortis asked from in front of Gravis.

Gravis only grinned.

The light had been Mortis.

He had passed through the gate in his intangible state and had rematerialized behind it to wait for Gravis.

When Gravis saw the light come through the gates, he got an amazing idea about a joke, and he went through with it.

Gravis only laughed as he saw Mortis' annoyed expression.

After a bit, Gravis walked forward, putting his hand on Mortis' shoulder in a friendly manner.

Whoop!

Gravis' hand basically fell through Mortis.

"Hey, you don't have to be so cold. You're a Star, you know? You're supposed to be hot," Gravis said.

Mortis only looked at Gravis with an even look.

There was no reaction visible on his face.

Mortis also didn't answer.

"Fine, let's look at the Heaven's Trial," Gravis said with a slight chuckle.

Then, Gravis walked forward along the dark corridor. Just like with the Heaven's Trial in the lower world, this Heaven's Trial was also constructed out of a kind of stone one would normally find in a mausoleum.

It was like any person that walked here would walk to their grave.

However, Gravis only walked for a couple of steps before he stopped.

Then, he looked forward with narrowed eyes as if he were evaluating something.

Mortis saw Gravis' expression, but he didn't comment.

"Mortis," Gravis said slowly.

Mortis didn't answer.

Gravis looked at Mortis behind him with furrowed brows.

"Mortis, we have a problem," Gravis said.

Mortis only looked at Gravis with a raised eyebrow, signaling skepticism.

"Mortis," Gravis said slowly.

"I can't see."

"I need a light."

Then, Gravis broke out into laughter as Mortis only looked at Gravis with a deadpan expression.

"Why are you like this?" Mortis asked.

Gravis only laughed harder.

After Gravis had laughed for a while, Mortis looked at Gravis again with a solemn expression.

"Do you remember everyone we have met in the lower world?" Mortis asked calmly.

The question took Gravis by surprise, but he nodded.

"Do you remember Gorn?" Mortis asked.

Gravis looked up for a second to gather his thoughts, but it clicked eventually. "Oh, right! Gorn! I remember," he said. "What about him?"

"What would he think if the Star God he gave his life for acted like such a child?" Mortis asked.

Silence.

Then, Gravis burst out laughing again.

"Holy shit, that one's good," Gravis said.

Mortis passed Gravis as he walked forward.

Why did he go forward?

Because he wanted to hide his suppressed smile.

A person in the Energy Gathering Realm couldn't possibly fathom how Star Gods worked. Therefore, their opinion was irrelevant.

That was the joke.

Many people might believe the joke to be horrible, but Gravis loved it.

Chapter 1180 - 1180 Conviction Gravis and Mortis leisurely walked along the hallway for a while, but eventually, Mortis got impatient and started teleporting.

Gravis groaned and followed Mortis.

However, surprisingly, they only needed a single teleportation to reach the end of the hallway.

It wasn't as far as they had imagined it to be.

By now, the hallway had become narrow again, and the two of them fell into nostalgia.

The narrow hallway and the gate in front of them reminded them of the Heaven's Trial in the lower world.

"Do you think Orthar only has one level for us, or are there multiple again?" Gravis asked.

"Probably as many as he thinks is optimal to make us more powerful. He wants us to become powerful, and we are in his domain now," Mortis answered.

"So, the Cosmos isn't his domain?" Gravis asked.

"You know what I meant," Mortis answered.

"Sure," Gravis answered.

Then, he took a deep breath and readied himself.

"Well, here we go," Gravis said as he pushed open the gate.

The gate wasn't nearly as heavy as the front gate, and it wasn't hard for Gravis to push it open.

When the gate fully opened, Gravis looked at the room behind it.

It was rather small.

It just looked like a small burial chamber, about ten meters wide. There were no lamps or torches in the room, but the room was well lit, thanks to Mortis.

"So, I guess we don't have to fight in this one, which means that there are more levels, right?" Gravis asked.

"Correct," Orthar said from the middle of the room.

Surprisingly, Orthar had been in the middle of the room this entire time, and Gravis had spotted him.

"So, how many are there?" Gravis asked as he and Mortis entered the room.

BANG!

The gate behind Gravis closed violently.

"Do you have to be so dramatic?" Gravis asked.

"It does that automatically," Orthar answered with a polite smile.

Every time Gravis saw Orthar smile, he felt confused. The Orthar he had known had never smiled, but then, Gravis remembered that Orthar had changed.

This Orthar was no longer the friend he had met in the middle world but the highest Heaven.

They were certainly similar, but this version of Orthar had had billions of years to gain experience.

"You've become accustomed to the uneven passage of perceived time, Gravis," Orthar answered. "You don't have to be surprised every time you see me doing something as simple as showing a smile."

"As I've said previously, I'm not a different person to the Orthar you knew. If you were to differentiate us, you could say that I am simply the version of him after having been alive for a very long time. Your version of Orthar would have eventually become me since he is me."

"So, don't act like you don't know me. In fact, I'm still the same Orthar, except for the fact that I've grown a lot since we parted ways. Just think of it like you have been comprehending Laws for the last couple of billion years," Orthar explained with a calm voice.

"Sorry, it's just weird, and I'm not used to you being like this," Gravis said.

"People change, and that's normal," Orthar answered. "I designed them that way. Without growth, you can't have power. You can become more powerful by staying the same, but that means that your adaptability will be severely lacking. You will only be powerful in one situation and helpless in a hundred others."

"Anyway, you asked about the number of levels," Orthar said as he looked at Gravis and Mortis.

Gravis nodded.

Mortis didn't really talk much since Gravis was basically always asking the very things Mortis wanted to ask.

"The same as the time before last time," Orthar answered.

"Time before last time?" Gravis asked with confusion.

"We also went through one when we comprehended the Major Law of Humility," Mortis commented from the side.

"Oh, right! I nearly forgot about that!" Gravis answered as he remembered the time he had been in the body of some ruler in the Unity Realm.

"So, five, right?" Gravis asked.

"How many levels had there been?" asked Orthar.

"Five?" Gravis asked, unsure about the question.

"Then why are you asking for confirmation? I already gave you your answer," Orthar said evenly.

Gravis released an annoyed sigh and looked to the side. "Man, you and Mortis could be best buddies."

"And what about you?" Orthar asked.

"What?" Gravis asked, taken aback by the question.

"You and Mortis are the only beings that I could theoretically call friends. Everyone else either doesn't know anything about me, is one of my descendants, or is your father."

Gravis scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"I don't see the problem," Mortis said from the side. "We've been friends, and we still are friends, and it will stay like this as long as you don't start doing something behind our backs."

Gravis nodded in agreement.

Then, Orthar smiled again. "Then, we are friends," he said. "Quite a weird feeling, actually."

"Anyway, we should get back to the topic," Orthar said as his smile vanished.

Gravis and Mortis listened to Orthar closely.

"Gravis," Orthar said as he looked at Gravis. "You have your goals."

Gravis nodded.

"You have your priorities, and you know what you want. Knowing your goal and having the conviction to reach your goal is one of the most integral parts of becoming powerful."

"As you know, at one time, your brother had lost that conviction, which resulted in him stagnating for over a million years. Someone as talented as your brother had stagnated for so long, just because he was lacking conviction," Orthar said.

Gravis frowned. "I don't think that's correct," Gravis answered. "His goal was happiness, and the fact that he managed to bring himself to stop cultivating is a testament to his conviction."

"Then how did his conviction change?" Orthar asked.

"What do you mean?" Gravis asked.

"You said your brother stopped cultivating because his conviction was strong enough to stop him from doing so. Yet, when you popped up, he continued cultivating."

"If his conviction was so powerful, why did he suddenly change his goals?" Orthar asked.

"Goals can change," Gravis answered.

"The thing you describe as changing goals is something I wouldn't describe as such."

Gravis lifted an eyebrow.

"Your main goal is happiness," Orthar said. "You want to spend time with your partner, your family, and have some children. That's the main reason why you want to become powerful. You want to secure the longevity of your happiness."

Gravis nodded.

"What if you stop Cultivating to be happy right now? As long as you retreat from the world of Cultivation and give away all your valuables, no one will hunt you. You can live out your life of happiness without anyone interfering," Orthar said. "Why don't you do so?"

"Because that would be too short," Gravis said. "As you've said, I want to secure the longevity of my happiness with freedom and power."

"Exactly," Orthar said. "That's what I meant with having conviction for a goal. You are willing to go through the momentous task of becoming the most powerful for your goal."

"Now, think back to your brother. Wasn't his goal also happiness? If so, how did it change?"

"It didn't exactly change," Gravis answered. "I'm pretty sure Orpheus also chases happiness, but he realized he needed strength."

"So, has his goal changed or not?"

"Not," Gravis answered.

"And that's where your definition differs from mine," Orthar explained. "His previous goal has been happiness, but now, his goal is happiness and power. These two things are intrinsically connected. You can have one or the other, but if you want to keep one of them for a long time, you need the other as well."

"You can become the most powerful, but if you are not happy, nothing will keep you alive after a certain amount of time passes. You can become happy, but if you are not powerful, you will die too soon for your liking."

"Your brother chased happiness, but his conviction wasn't strong enough to also chase power. That's what I meant when I said that his conviction wasn't powerful enough."

Gravis raised an eyebrow. "So, only when someone chases power is their conviction strong enough in your opinion?"

"No," Orthar answered. "Someone that only chases power is also destined to not live for a long time. I don't want to invest so much into a new Heaven's Magnate just to have them kill themselves after surviving two temperings."

"A strong conviction includes power and at least one other goal," Orthar explained.

Then, he looked into Gravis' eyes.

"You have that."

Then, Orthar looked at Mortis.

"And you don't."