Ch. 171..180

Gravis ran to the north with his full speed. He knew the power of someone at the Spirit Forming Realm very well. If a Spirit Forming Realm expert only had their Energy and their physical strength to fight, then Gravis might have a chance of killing the opponent, but those things were not the main advantage that someone in the Spirit Forming Realm had over people below them.

The most significant advantage was the Spirit in itself. As an Energy Gathering Realm cultivator, Gravis could only use his element in a one-dimensional way. He could use his lightning to move faster and to attack the enemy. Compared to that, someone at the Spirit Forming Realm could create figures, patterns, objects, and other things with their element.

Back then, that one disciple of the Lightning Guild had created lightning nets in front of Gravis and had controlled those remotely. The only reason why Gravis managed to survive against that person was that they were multiple kilometers apart.

That distance had given Gravis enough time to react appropriately. If such an expert fought with Gravis in close quarters, Gravis would probably die. He could only survive if he had incredible luck, and well… Gravis didn't trust his luck.

On top of that, it wouldn't be enough if Gravis only won. Winning and killing were two entirely different things. Winning a fight meant that one was stronger than the opponent. This didn't exclude the possibility of retreat. The opponent could still flee and come back later.

If the enemy were a Spirit Forming Realm expert and they retreated, Gravis would be in for a bad time. If Gravis won in a fight but didn't kill the person, they could just follow him from some kilometers distance and attack him with their element remotely.

The enemy could shoot and control their attacks from a distance and rest when they wanted, while Gravis had to defend passively. Gravis wouldn't be able to rest, while the Spirit Forming Realm expert had time to rest.

Gravis also wouldn't be able to attack the person from that distance. Gravis didn't have a formed Spirit, which meant that he couldn't feel his opponent if they tried to hide. No Spirit Forming expert would be stupid enough to allow the Energy in the air to give them away.

In that situation, the expert would just attack him from time to time, and even if Gravis played everything perfectly and never made a mistake, he would still be exhausted to death. Gravis might have a humongous Energy storage thanks to the Pre-Forming Technique, but his physical stamina and concentration couldn't be kept up forever. He would never be able to rest, while the enemy could rest whenever they wanted.

For all these reasons, Gravis needed to kill the expert. If he didn't kill the enemy, he would die.

'The Earth Guild is pretty close to the Core-Continent, and if I hurry up, I should be able to get to the Wind Wall in about an hour. I only have a shot at killing the expert with the support of the Wind Wall,' Gravis thought.

The Wind Wall was the dividing line between the Middle-Continent and the Core-Continent. The Core- Continent was circular and was surrounded by a deep gorge going all around it. The Energy with higher density from the Core-Continent met the Energy with lower density from the Middle-Continent over this gorge. The density of the Energy would be equalized when they met.

Usually, something like that wouldn't be noticeable. There hadn't been an issue with the transition from the Outer-Continent to the Middle-Continent, after all. The thing that made everything different this time was the gigantic gorge.

The Energy with higher density would drop down into the gorge and expand crazily. This expansion shoved the air and Energy above it away from the gorge, creating an Energy-free spot for a very short time. In that short time-frame, more Energy from the Core-Continent would slip by and fall into the gorge, which then expanded again.

This whole process generated a violent and destructive wind over the gorge with the strength to annihilate people at the Energy Gathering Realm. Only people in the Spirit Forming Realm could safely traverse the Wind Wall. That was also why weaker people were always accompanied by people in the Spirit Forming Realm when they crossed the two continents' borders.

This violent wind had no will, which made it controllable by Gravis' Elemental Synchronicity. Only with the help of such a natural, violent wind would Gravis be able to kill someone at the Spirit Forming Realm. A controlled element was many times stronger than an uncontrolled one.

'With my powerful body and Destruction Lightning, I should have the same speed as a new Spirit Forming Realm cultivator that didn't reach the tenth level of Energy Gathering. I don't believe that I am saying this, but I am actually lucky that so few people have reached the tenth level of Energy Gathering in this lower world.'

Gravis' eyes narrowed with battle-intent. 'Now, it all depends on the element of my enemy. If my enemy has the earth, fire, water, darkness, or light element, I should be able to reach the Wind Wall without any issues. If they have the lightning element, I might need to resist some attacks, though my body is powerful enough to resist some attacks. Yet, if the enemy has the wind element, I might have a problem.'

Gravis had been running for five minutes without an issue. Of course, he never managed to leave the area of the enemy's Spirit. It was evident that the person was following him.

"I wonder," Gravis heard a voice inside his head suddenly. This could only be the transmitted thoughts of his enemy. The only thing that Gravis could glean from this voice was that his enemy was male. "Where are you running to?" asked the voice with interest.

Gravis couldn't transmit his own thoughts, so he couldn't answer. He also didn't want to shout loudly since tunning took up all of his concentration right now.

"Initially," the voice continued, "I thought you would be running to the Heaven Sect for safety. Though, I can also understand why you didn't run there. It's pretty far away after all."

Gravis gleaned another nugget of information from that. The person still believed that he was a Heavenborn, which meant that the person had such an intense enmity with Gravis that he didn't mind dying if it meant killing Gravis. For the life of him, Gravis wasn't able to think of any person in the Spirit Forming Realm that wanted him to die so badly. The only exception would be Aion, but if it were Aion chasing him, Gravis would already be dead.

Heavenborn and normal people were like Heaven and Earth. In comparison to ordinary people, Heavenborn were born with a strengthened dantian, which meant that every Spirit Forming Heavenborn had reached the tenth level of Energy Gathering before breaking through. They also had their Heavenly Pressure, on top of that.

Those two things created a massive divide between Heavenborn and normal cultivators. Gravis guessed that Aion could probably kill people a level higher than himself. Gravis wouldn't even be able to fight him.

"Yet, "the voice continued, "I still don't know why you chose this particular direction. Are you actually trying to flee to the Core-Continent? You do know about the Wind Wall, right? And even if you manage to reach the Core-Continent through the Wind Wall, what would that even accomplish?"

If Gravis had the ability to answer with his thoughts, he would. He could gain some time by discussing different things. Every minute without an attack was a minute closer to the Wind Wall.

"You know," this time, Gravis heard a physical voice from his right, and he turned his head over. There, he saw an older man with green robes, flying close to the ground while looking at him. They were only a few meters apart. "You can just answer me," the person said from the side.

Gravis got goosebumps when he realized that the expert had already caught up with him. On top of that, the expert wore green robes and was flying across the ground. This could only mean one thing.

'Wind Guild!'

 

Chapter 172

'Great, someone from the Wind Guild. Reaching the Wind Wall has just become way more difficult. I wonder if Heaven planned so far ahead that it knew I would flee to the Wind Wall. If I guess correctly, this should be Wendy's father. This whole thing had been months ago. Was Heaven able to plan this far ahead? Honestly, I'm not sure,' Gravis thought to himself.

"If I guess correctly," Gravis said, "you should be Wendy's father, correct? I think your Guild Master has said your name before. Saron, was it?"

When Gravis had said "Wendy", a cold gleam appeared in Saron's eyes, but that was replaced by his surprise. He hadn't expected that Gravis knew his name. He chuckled lightly. "Yes, my name is Saron. I am surprised you know it," he said casually.

"I am actually more surprised by you appearing," said Gravis. "I was sure that Wendy's goodbye-letter would have stopped you from going after me. That was her goal, after all. She didn't want us to become enemies."

Saron got a little confused after Gravis said that and narrowed his eyes. "There was no goodbye letter," he said.

Now, it was Gravis' turn to be surprised. No goodbye-letter? But he had seen how Wendy nailed it to a tree. Why wouldn't he know about this goodbye-letter? Suddenly, Gravis' eyes widened, and then they narrowed in fury. "Was this your doing again, Heaven?!" Gravis shouted aggressively at the sky.

The sky didn't react. Instead, it was Saron who reacted, by looking with shock at Gravis. Did Gravis just aggressively shout at Heaven? Was he suicidal? As they continued running, Saron looked at the sky, but nothing seemed to happen. This surprised him even more. What was going on? Why was Gravis still alive?

"What are you talking about?" Saron asked. His goal was killing Gravis, and he had Gravis on the palm of his hand. Gravis couldn't escape anymore, so he wasn't in a hurry to kill him.

Gravis gnashed his teeth furiously. "This fucking Heaven always tries all this shit to kill me. Wendy had nailed a goodbye-letter to a nearby tree where she explained everything about her life and her decisions. Have you not seen her body? Does her body look like we fought?" Gravis asked.

Saron narrowed his eyes further, but he also remembered that Wendy's body was fully intact when they found it. There were also no traces of a fight. The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed. "So, what is this all about? You said my daughter had a reason for all of her actions?"

Gravis harrumphed, still annoyed at Heaven's bullshit. "Yes. Why do you think she specifically targeted me? If she just had an enmity with the Heaven Sect in general, she could have just killed some people. Instead, she specifically only insulted me. There was a reason why she wanted to meet me, and she told me all the things she kept inside. She never wanted to kill me. She wanted to die to me!"

Saron's eyes violently shone. "Lies!" he shouted, and the wind blew Gravis' hair away, but nothing more. "I would know about this! I am her father!"

"It was because you were her father that she didn't tell you. She didn't want to hurt you with everything that happened to her. You probably know about her husband from the Outer-Continent, yes?"

Saron was surprised when Gravis said that. How did Gravis know about Wendy's husband from the Outer-Continent? Did they actually talk? Saron suppressed his rage and just nodded.

"Alright, let me tell you about everything that happened to her and the thoughts that plagued her in her life," Gravis said.

Gravis narrated all of Wendy's experiences at that point. He told those things with as much detail as possible to get more time while running. He couldn't trust that this would deter Saron. He had to makenoveldrama

this story as long as possible.

It took over 40 minutes until Gravis finished the story. By now, Saron looked crestfallen at the rapidly moving ground below him. This whole thing hurt him immensely. He had thought that Wendy had recovered from her loss. There were also a lot of things he hadn't known about.

He didn't know that the Heaven Sect had killed Wendy's husband. He also didn't know that Wendy wanted to take revenge on Heaven. When she went out to temper herself, he thought that she had realized that strength was the most important thing. He hadn't realized that this was all so that she could take revenge on Heaven.

Deep inside, Saron felt incredible guilt. He felt like he had failed as a father. In his mind, it had been his duty to protect his daughter from harm. How bad would a father have to screw-up so that his daughter wanted to kill herself?

That Wendy didn't feel a single thing when he hugged her had hit him especially hard. Was her life so miserable that nothing could've helped her? Yes, her love had died, but that happened to a lot of people. It was the biggest hit emotionally if one's life-partner died, but most people managed to recover. On top of that, Wendy also had condensed her Will-Aura. She should have been able to recover.

They flew for another five minutes in silence until Saron regained some of his bearings. "So, Wendy saw her opportunity to take revenge on Heaven in you? That's why she entrusted everything to you?"

Gravis nodded. "Yes, she had noticed how I insulted Heaven, yet still lived. You've also seen me insult it some time ago. Do you think that if I were any other person, I would still be alive right now?"

For Saron, it would have been hard to believe such an outlandish claim. Yet, he had seen how Gravis had insulted Heaven for himself. Another thing was also that Gravis knew too much about Wendy. By now, Saron believed Gravis that there should have been a goodbye-letter. Everything made sense. The

only open question was why Gravis was able to insult Heaven without dying. Gravis hadn't told him about that.

Saron took a deep, emotional sigh. "Would you mind telling me how you can insult Heaven like this? Can you help others to do the same?" he asked. He tried to control the emotions in his voice, but his eyes gave him away. Deep in his heart, he started hating Heaven, just like Wendy. It was not fair what happened to Wendy. Her husband had managed to survive against all odds, yet Heaven had executed him.

If something like this happened to someone else, one wouldn't care much about Heaven's unfairness. This was just how things worked. Yet, if it happened to oneself, the whole matter would change. Heaven hadn't treated Wendy fairly, and Saron wouldn't forgive Heaven for this injustice!

Gravis was about to answer Saron but stopped when he looked at him. Heaven had noticed what was going on, and all of Saron's karmic luck had vanished just now. Heaven had realized that Saron was its enemy. If this enmity with Heaven had been created by Saron himself, or by talking with anyone else, Heaven might not have noticed. Unfortunately, all of Heaven's attention was on Gravis' situation right now, and therefore, also on Saron.

Gravis could only sigh when he noticed this. "Heaven has noticed your hatred and just stole all your karmic luck," Gravis said emotionlessly.

Saron's eyes widened in disbelief. It stole all his karmic luck? How was this possible? How would that even work?

Gravis didn't wait for Saron to answer and continued. "I can see the karmic luck of others because I am the only human without it. Without karmic luck, you will meet one calamity after another, but that is not a sure death sentence. If you manage to survive all these calamities, you might become stronger than

you have ever imagined since your life will always be in danger. All these calamities, though dangerous and frustrating, increased my strength to its current level."

Saron looked solemn, but after a while, he only bitterly laughed. "What a joke. I have served Heaven for over 200 years and have cultivated many talented disciples, yet it threw me away just like this. You know, if anyone else said this, I wouldn't believe them, but you have proven that you are special."

Saron laughed bitterly again. "Calamities and tempering? I am already over 200 years old. I have long given up on the path to power. Who knew that my life would end like this?"

Gravis actually felt a little guilty inside. Yes, Saron had wanted to kill him, but he was also the father of the person who had helped him the most, except for Gorn. This whole thing was destined to be a tragedy. If Gravis didn't tell Saron, then Saron would kill Gravis.

If Gravis told Saron, then Saron would die. They didn't have to fight since the beginning. If Saron had known Wendy's thoughts, this whole situation wouldn't have happened. Heaven had moved two pawns to each other and forced them to fight. There had never been a right way out of this situation.

"You know," Gravis said, "if I didn't tell you all of this, you would still have your karmic luck, and you would be able to live your life in peace."

Saron looked at Gravis with pity and sighed. "It's alright. If you didn't tell me what happened, I would have never understood the reason behind Wendy's death. Also, if you didn't tell me, you would already be dead by now. You don't need to regret telling me. I loved my daughter dearly, and I am happy dying with this newfound knowledge. My remaining life would have been bitter anyway. I guess I am just collateral damage between your war with Heaven."

Gravis still felt a little bad about dooming Saron. This whole thing hadn't been necessary. This whole situation reaffirmed Gravis' need for power. Heaven could only play them like this because it was

stronger than everyone else. If Gravis were as powerful as Heaven, such a tragedy wouldn't happen.

Gravis stopped running. He was incredibly close to the Wind Wall, and he would only need to run for a minute more to reach it. Yet, the fight had ended before it even began. There was no need to enter the Wind Wall.

Suddenly, Gravis got an idea.

"Are you up for a trade?"

 

Chapter 173

Saron looked with surprise at Gravis. Trading? Why this all of a sudden? "You want to trade? Why?"

Gravis didn't react in any major way. "I am very close to reaching the tenth level of Magic Gathering. I only need like 300 more Magic Stones," Gravis explained. "I was on my way to the Earth Guild to sell them some weapons I got from the Darkness Guild."

Saron's eyes shone in recognition. "The Darkness Guild? Did you make the Darkness Guild the same offer as the Fire Guild?" he asked.

Now, it was Gravis' turn to be slightly surprised. "You know about that?"

Saron only laughed slightly. "Everyone knows about it. At least, every guild on the western side of the southern Middle-Continent. Something like this doesn't happen every day, after all."

Gravis shrugged. "Sure. As for your question, yes, I also fought with the Darkness Guild. I wouldn't have gotten enough resources to get my body to the tenth level, otherwise."

Saron rubbed his chin in thought. "The tenth level of the Body in the Magic Gathering Realm is rarely seen. Without a sufficiently powerful element or Magic level, you would have issues. Though, I have noticed that your lightning is different from normal lightning," Saron mused. "For you, it actually makes sense to break into the tenth level of the body before breaking into the Spirit Forming Realm."

Gravis had noticed the specific wording of what Saron had just said. "Judging by what you said, upgrading the body to this level is also possible in the Spirit Forming Realm?"

Saron raised one eyebrow. "Of course. Why wouldn't it be?" he said like it was something obvious. "Though it is way harder. The bigger the difference between the Energy and the body, the harder it is for the body to catch up. It has something to do with balance, but I am not clear on the exact reason."

For a second there, Gravis had started regretting tempering his body. If he had just concentrated on his Energy, he would have already reached the Spirit Forming Realm. Yet, after Saron thoroughly explained everything, Gravis was glad that he had upgraded his body first. He already had so many troubles getting this amount of resources. If he needed even more in the Spirit Forming Realm to upgrade his body, how long would that take?

"So, anyway," Gravis continued, "are you interested in buying some weapons for Magic Stones?" Gravis asked again.

Saron laughed lightly. "You said you needed 300 Magic Stones, right?"

Gravis nodded.

WHOOSH PACK!

A sack appeared out of nowhere and was thrown to Gravis, who quickly caught it. "I'll just give you that," said Saron nonchalantly. "Before I chased after you, I officially left the Wind Guild. I have no need for Magic Stones anymore. Just take it as repayment for telling me about my daughter."

Gravis looked at the sack full of Energy Stones and sighed. 'It's really strange that Wendy and her father both gave me a lot of wealth before they died. Wendy was already set on dying, and Saron won't be able to escape his doom.' Gravis looked up into the sky. 'I am partially at fault for killing both of them, yet they still help me and give me their wealth. What are the chances of that happening?'

Gravis pocketed the sack and bowed slightly to Saron. "Thank you. I won't act politely and will just accept them." Gravis laughed bitterly. "First, Wendy supported me before she died, and now you too. Is this coincidence or destiny?"

Saron smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not sure. I think it's because you are the only real danger to Heaven. Wendy, and now also me, hate Heaven for what it has done to us, and you are our

only hope for revenge. I think you could say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Gravis laughed a little. "I think you're right," Gravis said with more motivation than before. "Where there are enemies, there are friends. A world can't be only black. With so many people around, I am bound to meet some that share the same goals as me. I guess this is just how the world is."

Saron and Gravis remained silent for some seconds. "Alright, I think I should leave now. I want to say goodbye to some friends of mine. Goodbye, Gravis, and I wish you luck!"

Saron laughed lightly and flew away. Gravis wasn't sure if he meant the luck thing seriously or as a joke. "Goodbye, Saron," Gravis shouted after him.

After Saron had left, Gravis also turned around and left. It was time for him to reach the tenth level of Energy Gathering, and then the Spirit Forming Realm. Gravis sprinted towards the Wind Wall. He would make his breakthrough there.

After around a minute, Gravis finally arrived before the Wind Wall. True to its name, it looked like a literal wall made out of wind. From Gravis angle, the Wind Wall looked like it split the world apart. He couldn't see the end of it on either side and also couldn't see the top.

The Wind Wall itself didn't look as he had expected. He had expected it to look like a wall made of green, streaking winds. Instead, the Wind Wall looked like a blue sheet with some darker streaks appearing on its surface from time to time. The Wind Wall was incredibly smooth, almost like it was made out of glass.

Gravis walked up to it and tried touching it with his hand. When his finger touched the Wind Wall, his whole arm was thrown aside like it had been hit by something moving at incredible speeds. Gravis looked with surprise at his hand. Luckily, it wasn't injured.

Gravis put in his hand again, this time, using his physical strength to keep his arm steady.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Gravis was able to keep his arm steady, but it created a divide in the Wind Wall. The divided wind shot out of the wall and into the distance, making a noise similar to highly pressured water escaping into the atmosphere. Gravis kept his arm steady as he felt the power of the wind hitting his arm.

After some seconds, Gravis pulled his arm out again and looked at it. No injuries. 'Just as I expected,' Gravis thought. 'If the Wind Wall had the ability to damage a body at the tenth level, then crossing it wouldn't be so simple. At least, people at the initial stage of Spirit Forming would have major issues in crossing it, if that were the case.

Gravis activated his Elemental Synchronicity and stepped into the Wind Wall. To him, it felt like he was underwater. It felt like nothing was actually moving while his body just floated in the wind. With a nudge, Gravis flew upwards inside the Wind Wall. He rose for multiple kilometers until he couldn't rise anymore. He had reached the upper limit of the Wind Wall.

Gravis appeared above the Wind Wall and stood above it. The top of the Wind Wall looked like a fountain, wind and Energy falling down from both sides of the wall. Gravis also noticed that there was nearly no Energy up here, except for the one falling towards the two continents. The Energy density up here was even lower than in the Outer-Continent.

Gravis looked up into the sky and noticed that he couldn't see a single cloud above him. By now, it was night, so Gravis could actually see the pure, moonlit sky in all its glory. For a minute, he only looked into the night sky, lost in his thoughts. After that, he looked down and saw a carpet of clouds below him, stretching into the horizon and blanketing the earth.

'Clouds are just steam, so I should be able to walk on top of those. I bet they are comfortable,' Gravis thought to himself, but quickly shook his head. 'No time! I have to reach the tenth level of Energy Gathering. This should be a good spot. If anything happens, I can just vanish right into the Wind Wall.'

Like this, Gravis sat down on top of the Wind Wall, on a height of about seven kilometers.

Above him were the stars, and below him were the clouds. A shower of wind and Energy sparkled as it fell through the clouds and then vanished into the atmosphere.

 

Chapter 174

Gravis remained on top of the Wind Wall for around two hours until he finally broke through into the tenth level of Energy Gathering. "Finally, the tenth level of Energy Gathering," Gravis said to himself with a relieved sigh. "Now, I only need to break into the Spirit Forming Realm."

Gravis checked his mind to look at how much Energy it still had. By running for multiple hours with his absolute top speed, he had used up a lot of Energy in his mind. When he had started traveling to the Earth Guild, his mind had been filled to 99% capacity. But now, it was down to around 75%. 'This should take me around five hours. In just five hours, I will reach the Spirit Forming Realm. Then, not even Aion can fight me.'

Gravis looked at his completely filled dantian. The pressure that the Energy exerted on its walls was tremendous. If he didn't have a strengthened dantian, his dantian would have probably already exploded. 'No wonder people, without a strengthened dantian, can't reach the tenth level of Energy Gathering. Without that strengthened dantian, I would have been crippled.'

Yet, Gravis was a little wrong on that. To reach the tenth level of Energy Gathering, one didn't necessarily require a strengthened dantian. It was just the most common method. The dantian always grew stronger as the user's power increased, yet it would lose its support starting at the tenth level.

The ninth level of Energy Gathering exerted just enough pressure that the dantian could hold the Energy on its own, yet it became problematic when the pressure doubled again. The dantian itself wouldn't be enough to support the Energy inside the body anymore. So, in order to keep the dantian stable at the tenth level, without having a strengthened one, it needed support from outside. What was this support from outside?

It was the body. If the surrounding muscles had the ability to exert pressure onto the dantian equal to its internal pressure, it wouldn't break. In that case, one wouldn't need a strengthened dantian to reach the tenth level.

Of course, there were two disadvantages to that. First of all, the body had to reach the tenth level of Energy Gathering to exert this powerful pressure. On top of that, one would have to keep their abdominal muscles clenched for as long as they remained at this level. Some hours wouldn't be a problem for such a powerful body, but after some days, the muscles would be too tired to work, and they would relax. At that point, the dantian would explode.

Yet, if someone already had a Will-Aura at the ninth level of Energy Gathering, they could temper their bodies to the tenth level and then immediately start their breakthrough into the Spirit Forming Realm. If they were lucky, they would be able to reach the Spirit Forming Realm while going through the tenth level of Energy Gathering like that. As soon as they reached the Spirit Forming Realm, their Spirit could easily support the dantian's walls. Not many people in this lower world knew about this method.

Of course, Gravis didn't need to do this. The walls of his dantian were powerful enough to withstand this pressure. Gravis didn't know about this particular method, but he also didn't need to know. He already had his strengthened dantian, so why would he need to know about some useless technique?

Gravis dove into the Wind Wall and swam downwards. The low Energy density up in the air hadn't been an issue in Gravis' earlier breakthrough since he had used Energy Stones. But now he had to use his normal Energy storage to move Energy into his mind. He would need to regenerate the Energy from his surroundings, and the higher the Energy's density, the faster his Energy regeneration.

PLOP!

Gravis jumped out of the Wind Wall at ground-height and took his first step into the Core-Continent. Here, the Energy was the densest. Gravis felt the surrounding Energy and was surprised. He knew that the Core-Continent had denser Energy, but he hadn't expected it to be over ten times denser than the Middle-Continent.

If someone had a powerful enough will, they could reach the tenth level of Energy Gathering from the first in about one year by just relying on the natural Energy. Gravis rubbed his chin in thought. "Interesting. With this high Energy density, resources wouldn't be an issue. Plants with the ability to temper the body are probably also abundant around here. Literally, no one below the Spirit Forming Realm would need to strive for resources in here."

Gravis continued pondering. "This would make the whole cultivation journey completely different. Outside, people need to strive for resources to increase their realm, while their will is also tempered in this process. Outside, there are rarely such things as bottlenecks. Yet, in here, everyone has enough resources. The competition in here is probably not a fight about resources but a fight about pure tempering. I wonder if that makes the competition in the Core-Continent more relaxed or fiercer."

Yet, Gravis was happy that he hadn't gone to the Core-Continent earlier. If he had never needed to strive for resources, he wouldn't have such a powerful will. 'I guess this is the same reason why my father sent me to a lower world. If I could have relied on the world to gift me all these resources, I probably wouldn't be able to kill people a level higher than me.'

Gravis sat down and concentrated on his Energy. Initially, he had thought that he needed multiple hours to reach the Spirit Forming Realm, but now, it would only take a single hour. He had already counted the Core-Continent's higher density into his equation, but it was even higher than he had expected.

As time flew by, Gravis got antsier and more careful. He had committed the mistake of losing his vigilance once, and he wouldn't do so again. He was sure that Heaven would attack him in the next couple of minutes.

It was time for him to break into the Spirit Forming Realm!

 

Chapter 175

Gravis continued racing towards the Spirit Forming Realm. Only ten more minutes remained until he would reach it. If he managed to get there, he could defeat Aion and any other Heavenborn at the Spirit Forming Realm's initial stage.

As time flew by, Gravis grew more excited, but also more anxious. Heaven had managed to outsmart him so many times. Gravis had learned that Heaven was clever the hard way. He refused to believe that all of Heaven's plans fell flat just because Gravis had changed his route and managed to convince Saron not to attack him. The Heaven he knew wouldn't have only this small weapon for such a big moment.

The minutes ticked by, and just when only five minutes remained…

WHOOOSH!

Gravis' face whitened in anxiety and fear. He knew that Spirit. He had felt that Spirit every day for multiple months.

It was Aion.

Aion was currently coming from the Middle-Continent and running straight for Gravis. Gravis quickly checked his Energy storage and the Energy in his mind. He did some quick calculations and concluded that, if he used all his remaining Energy and pushed it into his mind, he would only reach about 98% of the saturation required to reach the Spirit Forming Realm. 98%! So close!

Gravis gnashed his teeth and jumped into the Wind Wall. He knew exactly how powerful Aion was. Gravis could barely win against Saron inside the Wind Wall. In comparison, Aion had reached the tenth level of Energy Gathering before reaching the Spirit Forming Realm and also had his Heavenly Pressure, which was many times stronger than a normal Will-Aura. Gravis couldn't win this fight. He could only try to survive.

"Gravis, Gravis, Gravis," said Aion's voice in Gravis' head. "You have really played us all for a fool. I even gave you a weapon and also helped you temper your body, yet you were never a part of us."

Gravis used his full power to move inside the Wind Wall. He flew along it in a bit to outspeed Aion.

CRK!

A one-meter long icicle appeared in front of Gravis out of nowhere. Gravis had to use all of his power to react on time. He quickly unsheathed his saber and struck the icicle.

BANG!

Surprisingly, the icicle wasn't destroyed, and instead, it just got knocked into the distance. The wind picked it up, and the icicle violently flew around in the Wind Wall.

"You know, I always was a little skeptical about your 'special' treatment by Heaven," Aion's voice continued. "I thought that Heaven wanted to temper you, for some reason, but who knew that you actually came from a higher world?"

CRK BANG!

Another icicle appeared in front of Gravis, and he smashed this one away too. Yet, in the time when the second icicle flew away, the first one made a U-turn and shot at Gravis again. In the nick of time, Gravis managed to deflect it again.

Gravis had no time to think about how Aion found out about him being from a higher world. These icicles were dangerous and were very close to killing him.

CRK BANG!

A third one appeared, and Gravis managed it again to deflect this one. The first and second icicles then came flying back at the same time.

WHOOSH!

Gravis activated his Will-Aura, and the will inside the icicles was disrupted. They barely missed Gravis, which gave him some time to relax.

"Wow, you actually managed to condense a Unity Will in the Magic Gathering Stage. No one has ever achieved that before. You truly are a talent worthy of coming from a higher world," Aion continued speaking in Gravis' mind.

Gravis was moving with insane speeds inside the Wind Wall, but for some reason, he never left Aion's Spirit. This could only mean that Aion was chasing with just as much speed. Gravis hadn't expected Aion to be this fast.

"Well," Aion's voice continued, "a Unity Will might make this a little harder, but it still won't be a problem."

CRK CRK CRK CRK CRK!

Five icicles appeared 500 meters away from Gravis. Gravis' Will-Aura only had a radius of 300 meters, so he couldn't disrupt the will of those icicles. After they appeared, they all turned to Gravis and shot at him. On top of that, the other three icicles from before also shot at Gravis from different directions. Gravis didn't have a formed Spirit, so he couldn't keep watch over all of his surroundings.

BANG BANG BANG BZ BZ!

Gravis deflected three of the icicles with his weapon, but he didn't have the time to block the other two, so he had to use his lightning. Surprisingly, where his body had failed, his Energy succeeded. The

icicles hit by his lightning exploded.

PUCHI!

One of the earlier icicles penetrated Gravis' lower left arm. There had been too many. Luckily, Gravis still had his Will-Aura activated, making it impossible for Aion to manipulate this icicle. Gravis immediately exploded the icicle in his arm with his lightning. He couldn't take any chances.

Yet, even though Gravis managed to destroy some icicles, he had already lost. He had wanted to gain some time to condense his Spirit, but by using his Energy to attack, he was actually using it up, which increased the distance to the Spirit Forming Realm. The only thing he could do was run away from Aion. He had to bank on his Elemental Synchronicity! Aion couldn't be as fast as Gravis inside this Wind Wall.

CRK CRK CRK CRK!

Four more icicles appeared and shot at Gravis, joining the earlier ones. Whenever Gravis deflected one icicle, it would fly until it left the area of his Will-Aura. As soon as it left that area, Aion would retake control of it and shoot it at Gravis again. Aion was basically aiming at Gravis from all directions from a distance of over 300 meters, and Gravis thought that Aion was very good at aiming!

"You know what's actually funny?" Aion continued speaking in Gravis' mind. "I don't even have to aim at you. Due to you being an enemy of Heaven, your karmic luck is at rock bottom, while mine is at the top. The wind just randomly moves so that the icicles hit you."

More and more icicles appeared around Gravis, and he had to use his lightning even more than before.

PUCHI PUCHI!

Two icicles pierced his abdomen, barely missing his dantian. Gravis immediately made those explode too, but…

PUCHI PUCHI PUCHI!

Three more icicles stabbed through multiple parts of his body due to Gravis losing his concentration. Gravis' eyes narrowed, and he stopped taking care of those icicles inside his body. He couldn't lose his focus.

"Do you know what I am especially surprised about?" Aion asked in Gravis' mind. "Why are you actually able to synchronize with the elements? If you couldn't do that, you wouldn't be able to fly with this much control in this Wind Wall."

Gravis was a little surprised that Aion said the word "synchronized" since that was part of the name of his Elemental Synchronicity. Was it accidental?

As the time passed, Gravis realized that Aion was only playing with him. Aion hadn't even used his Heavenly Pressure. Hell, he didn't even use those rings that he always carried with him. Just with his Spirit and his element, Aion was able to play Gravis to death.

Gravis lost more and more Energy, and it didn't take long until he also had to use the Energy inside his mind. The more time passed, the further Gravis moved away from the Spirit Forming Realm.

"You know," Aion's voice continued, "when you started synchronizing with the Wind Wall, I was quite surprised about that. Does everyone have that in the higher worlds? Because…"

Aion's voice made a pause as he appeared in front of Gravis. No element was surrounding him as he simply and casually swam through the air, just like Gravis.

"Only Heavenborn have Elemental Synchronicity."

 

Chapter 176

Gravis had never been so shocked since he had arrived in this lower world. Aion was using Elemental Synchronicity? How? Why?

Aion saw Gravis' face and realized something. "Oh, you didn't know about that, huh?"

Gravis only continued looking at Aion in shock.

"Apparently, you didn't. Yes, Heavenborn can awaken Elemental Synchronicity, though, in general, they only manage that when they reach the Spirit Forming Realm. In comparison to Heavenly Pressure, not every Heavenborn manages to awaken their Elemental Synchronicity. Now you are just as surprised as me when I found out you could do that, even though you are not a Heavenborn."

Gravis' mind was finally able to create rational thoughts again. This explained why Aion was able to follow him inside the Wind Wall. In front of Heavenborn, Gravis didn't have an advantage with his will, and now, also no advantage with his Elemental Synchronicity. If Gravis were still a child, he might think that this was unfair. Sadly, he knew that the world wasn't fair.

WHOOSH!

An incredible pressure appeared around Gravis, which was just as strong as his Will-Aura. Aion had finally activated his Heavenly Pressure, and it canceled out Gravis' Will-Aura. After this happened, Gravis felt the icicles, stuck in his body, vibrating slightly. With Gravis' Will-Aura canceled out, Aion could control those icicles again. If he willed it, they would explode and kill Gravis.

Gravis slowed down until he stopped moving, clenching his hands in frustration. He had been so close! Yet, Gravis realized that he never had a chance. Could he have used the time when he had looked at the sky to reach the Spirit Forming Realm? Gravis doubted it. Aion had probably already arrived several minutes ago. Heaven just wanted Gravis to suffer as much as possible.

Gravis put his saber away and sighed with a bitter smile. "I give up."

Aion raised an eyebrow. "You give up? You don't even want to fight anymore?"

Gravis just shook his head lightly. "What can I do? Your Heavenly Pressure cancels out my Will-Aura. You are a whole major Realm higher than me, and you also have Elemental Synchronicity. Even if I were to try to get you by surprise, you would still be able to react quickly enough. I am helpless. I have lost."

Aion smiled slightly. "You know. I actually really liked you. When you were in the Heaven Sect, things weren't as boring. I don't want to work, yeah, but it was still amusing. Of course, I can't spare you because of that. Heaven is my father and creator. I won't betray it."

Gravis smiled bitterly and shook his head. "I know that. I also enjoyed the time with you. I even planned to spare your life if I won. Of course, I know that you can't do the same to me."

Aion sighed. "Sometimes, we are just destined to be on different sides."

Gravis nodded with a smile. "That's true. Could you at least do me the favor and let me die in the Core- Continent? I want to look at the place that I never got to visit."

Aion shrugged. "Sure, no big deal."

Clink!

The icicles in Gravis turned to water and disappeared in the wind while the Heavenly Pressure also vanished. Gravis wasn't surprised about that. Aion could just activate his Heavenly Pressure again. Like that, Gravis' Will-Aura would be canceled out, and Aion would just need to use his icicles or rings to kill him. There was no way for Gravis to flee from this one.

They both slowly left the Wind Wall and arrived in the Core-Continent. Gravis felt the Energy one last time and took a deep breath. "So, this is where everything ends, huh?"

Aion nodded solemnly. "I didn't want it to come to this, but there was no other option."

Gravis knew that, even if they were outside of the Wind Wall, he still wouldn't be able to escape Aion. Usually, someone with the water element wasn't that fast, but Aion had reached the tenth level of Energy Gathering. Together with his Spirit, he would be at least as fast as Gravis. Then, he would only need to use his weapons on him.

Gravis also didn't move any Energy into his mind. Aion would notice the sudden decrease of Energy and would immediately strike. Stalling for time, therefore, also wouldn't work. Waiting for rescue? No one in this lower world had the power or the guts to go against the Heaven Sect.

Gravis looked at the nature in the Core-Continent for several minutes, until he took a deep breath. "Alright. I think it's time." Then, Gravis turned to Aion. "I don't want you to do the finishing blow. This was never a war between the two of us."

Aion raised one eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Gravis laughed lightly. "You have been sent here by Heaven. From the beginning, this was a war between Heaven and me. If I die, I want to die to Heaven."

Aion looked into the sky solemnly. "If that is your wish, I don't see an issue with it. Heaven is benevolent enough to grant you that last wish."

Gravis smiled lightly at Aion. "Goodbye, Aion, my friend."

Aion also smiled slightly. "Goodbye, Gravis, my friend."

Gravis took some steps forward and then looked into the sky. "Heaven, you have won! You have tried many things and failed, but your newest plan was too much for me. You have cast an inescapable net, and there is nothing I can do anymore. I hope you're happy."

Surprisingly enough, some black clouds gathered. Yet, in comparison to the clouds that had appeared in the Basin of Nature, they didn't violently congregate in rage. Heaven was only showing that it was here and listening. Even though Gravis had been its enemy, Gravis had fought valiantly. Heaven wanted to grant him at least this much respect.

"Heaven, I want to die just as I lived," Gravis continued, "Please strike me down with your lightning. I am sure that my father won't mind since I have allowed it." Gravis looked down to the floor with a bitter smile. "I am just a failure."

In the air, lightning appeared and concentrated in the center. The lightning bolt was powerful enough to annihilate anyone in the Spirit Forming Realm. The end was about to arrive. Gravis had already given his consent.

After the lightning had concentrated, it shot down at Gravis.

Gravis couldn't stop Heaven from striking him anymore.

And Gravis didn't want to stop it.

Gravis retrieved a jade token out of his sleeve and crushed it with a mad smile.

'Got you!'

 

Chapter 177

Gravis crushed the jade token, and a black barrier appeared around him. The barrier expanded until it had the size of 10 meters, pushing Aion away in the process, who could just watch all this with shock. The lightning from Heaven hit the barrier…

But nothing happened! It looked like the lightning got absorbed by the barrier, which shocked Aion immensely. This had been a full-power strike from Heaven! How could any barrier hold against that?

Inside, Gravis could finally reveal his true emotions. He grinned in madness, as he finally no longer had to pretend. This had all been a plan. He had planned for this to happen ever since he left the Darkness Guild. Selling weapons to get resources to reach the tenth level of Energy Gathering? Fleeing to the Wind Wall? Getting "surprised" by Aion? He had planned all of this. He WANTED a Heavenborn to "stop his breakthrough".

Gravis needed Heaven to lose its vigilance toward him. How else would he have been able to bait out a full-power lightning strike from it? If he just said, "Go strike me," Heaven would have been incredibly skeptical. It would only release such an attack if it already thought that it had won. Of course, there had been some risks to his plan.

The first risk had been that his eventual enemy didn't immediately kill him when they got the chance. The only way to make all of this credible was if Gravis truly didn't have a way to survive, so he couldn't use an enemy with the same strength as him. The enemy had to be powerful enough to overpower him completely.

What if no enemy appeared? That was also a risk, but Gravis trusted in Heaven. He trusted in Heaven's wit and cleverness. It had nearly gotten him so many times, so Gravis knew that Heaven had to have some kind of plan to stop him. Gravis would just have to give about 90% of his best to not get caught.

If Gravis truly wanted to break into the Spirit Forming Realm immediately, would he have wasted all this time on the Wind Wall? Of course not! If Gravis truly wanted to break into the Spirit Forming Realm like this, he would have immediately jumped into the Wind Wall.

Then, he would have used it to move along its borders while he simultaneously cultivated. Using his Elemental Synchronicity didn't require much concentration. It was no issue to use it and also cultivate at the same time. Like this, Aion would never have caught up. Wasting multiple hours to cultivate on the same spot? Only an idiot would do that when they were chased by an enemy!

Gravis knew that he just had to give Heaven a minuscule opportunity, and it would jump at it with all its power. If it were too obvious that Gravis wanted this to happen, Heaven wouldn't act. At that point, the Heavenborn would simply kill him without Heaven interfering. If that happened, Gravis would have been forced to use the formation that Wendy gave him to get some time to reach the Spirit Forming Realm in the usual way.

Gravis' life had never been in danger during all of this. If his plan had failed, he would use the token to reach the Spirit Forming Realm normally. Luckily, his plan had succeeded, and he managed to fool Heaven into complacency.

A rough framework of this similar plan had been created when Gravis had read the Pre-Forming Technique. When people broke into the Spirit Forming Realm, they often didn't know how the forming of the Spirit actually worked. They only knew that infusing Energy into the Spirit would form it. Gravis was no exception to that.

Yet, the Pre-Forming Technique had explained how the Spirit was formed, which gave Gravis a lot of ideas. Starting at that point, Gravis had never intended to reach the Spirit Forming Realm with the normal way. His goal wasn't to get stronger one step at a time. His goal was the highest Heaven, and only if he went through some risks could he get an incredible reward. No one with a rational mind would try what he was about to do.

The open question in all this is: What did the jade token do?

When Gravis had received the jade token from Wendy, she had also given him a letter, which explained how the Formation Array worked. If one only infused Energy into the paper, it would say that it would block one attack on the Unity Realm or below. Yet, when Gravis had infused his lightning into the paper, the message changed.

It read as follows:

"Dear Successor,

this is my greatest creation! I've had enmity with Heaven for a long time, yet I have failed in taking revenge. I leave this Formation Array to you so that it can assist you in going against Heaven. If you, as my successor, do not wish to go against Heaven, then it was just my destiny to never get my revenge.

The Formation Array creates a bubble around the cultivator for ten minutes. During those ten minutes, it will be able to absorb any elemental attack of the Unity Realm or below and convert it to Primal Energy.

Primal Energy is the moldable base-component, which creates everything in the world. Magic, Destruction Energy, Life Energy, and many other things all stem from this. I have only managed to find out about Primal Energy after I have reached the Unity Realm.

Primal Energy is against Heaven's rules and does not exist in this world. By reaching the Unity Realm, I have achieved similar strength to Heaven and could, therefore, also break and bend some rules. I will probably lose access to this Primal Energy as soon as I ascend since my strength won't be enough to break the higher worlds' rules.

After you use the token, the Primal Energy of the blocked attack will fill the barrier's insides. As long as you have experience in the different forms of Energy or Magic, you will be able to mold the Primal Energy with your will. Theoretically, you can mold all this Primal Energy into Destruction Energy, Life Energy, or Magic. You just have to have a feel for those kinds of Energies.

I hope this token will help you on your way.

Sincerely,

Aurelius the Lightning King"

When Gravis had read that note, his initial framework of a plan was changed significantly. This token gave him everything that he needed to succeed!

It was time to begin!

 

Chapter 178

Gravis activated his Will-Aura and felt the space around him. The lightning from Heaven was nowhere to be seen. Instead, something similar to fog filled this barrier. Gravis felt the Primal Energy in the air, and it seemed to mold to whatever he wanted. It was similar to how the elements followed what he wanted by him activating his Elemental Synchronicity.

"It's time!" Gravis shouted with mad glee.

Gravis absorbed a lot of the Primal Energy into his body and willed it to transform into Destruction Energy.

BOOM BZZZZZZZ!

A part of Gravis' chest was destroyed as a second Lightning Seed, made out of pure Destruction Energy, was created. Gravis ignored the pain as he activated his Elemental Synchronicity. The Lightning Seed quickly moved through his body without damaging it. The second Lightning Seed was moving right towards his mind!

"The Pre-Forming Technique said that if the mind were completely filled with Energy, it would come into life-threatening danger. At that point, the mind either had to be destroyed, or it had to adapt! The main reason why people needed a Will-Aura to reach the Spirit Forming Realm had never been the pain, but this adaptation process. If someone formed their Spirit without a Will-Aura, they wouldn't be able to force their mind to adapt to the Energy."

Gravis' smirk intensified. "So, if the mind can be forced to acclimate to Energy, can't it also be forced to acclimate to Lightning?" he shouted to himself with madness.

As he shouted that, the Lightning Seed broke into his mind, transforming all the Energy inside of it into Destruction Lightning. Without his Elemental Synchronicity, he wouldn't have been able to move his

Lightning Seed into his mind safely. Without it, the Lightning Seed would have burned a hole into the walls of his mind, destroying it.

What did Gravis feel during all this?

Indescribable, infinite pain.

Gravis immediately fell to the floor, violently grabbing his hair in both of his hands. Nothing he had ever felt came even close to this intense pain. The relatively calm Energy was already creating so much pain that people needed a Will-Aura to survive that. Pure Destruction Lightning was infinitely more violent than this calm Energy.

Gravis felt his Will-Aura shake as he fought with all his power against this pain. The pain was absolutely unreal, but he had to force his mind to adapt! If it didn't adapt, Gravis would die right now! Anyone with just a normal Will-Aura would have already died from the pain.

Gravis had severely underestimated the pain he felt. When he came up with this plan, he knew that his Will-Aura was already leagues above anyone else. Some people might have tried something similar in the past, but he was sure that they hadn't had such a powerful Will-Aura as Gravis.

But, Gravis was still struggling with his life even with his newly upgraded Will-Aura, which Aion had called a Unity Will. Gravis guessed that a Unity Will was probably the power a Will-Aura required to break into the Unity Realm. That had affirmed him even more in his decision. His will was already powerful enough to reach the Unity Realm, so how could a non-standard breakthrough into the Spirit Forming Realm be a danger to him?

Yet, Gravis was close to losing his consciousness. He had already ripped out half of his hair, leaving bloody wounds with ripped-off skin behind. His fingernails cut into the flesh of his face as he screamed so loudly that it reverberated for hundreds of kilometers. The Formation Array was not blocking sound.

Aion, who was watching and listening to all of this, felt a deep nervousness and fear inside of him. What could make someone with a Unity Will scream this hysterically and violently? There shouldn't be anything in this world that was a danger to such a powerful will! The Unity Will was the highest will that someone could achieve in this world! Nothing could shake it!

This continued for over half a minute, but for Gravis, it felt like years. The more pain someone felt, the longer a short moment would feel. The time would only pass faster if they lost their consciousness during all of this. As long as someone remained conscious, it would feel like forever.

Gravis' will shook more and more as it slowly lost its circular form. Its borders transformed and warped into different forms, wreaking havoc on the surrounding hundreds of meters due to its instability. The impact of Gravis' will was even stronger than before due to all the instability in it, and Aion jumped back, leaving its range.

'ENDURE! ENDURE! ENDURE! ENDURE! ENDURE! ENDURE!' was all that Gravis shouted to himself in his mind. He had known from the very beginning that there was a big chance of death doing this, but his goal was not to become stronger, but to reach the peak! Everyone else had used the same way to break into the Spirit Forming Realm, and everyone else couldn't reach the peak.

If no one else reached the peak with these methods, then the methods were most likely wrong! Gravis had to create an entirely new way, a better way! Even if the chances of death had been 99%, he still would have done it! His goal was never survival, but the peak! He hated Heaven for everything it had done! Being powerless in front of Heaven had created all this deep hatred inside of him.

When he had reached this lower world, this lower Heaven had also trampled upon him time and time again! It had tried to kill him with the environment. It had tried to weaken his will. It had tried to send him only good people so he wouldn't find any enemies, and worst of all, it disallowed him from gaining companionship from others by threatening him with their karmic luck!

Heaven had been constantly trampling upon Gravis, and his hate had only intensified over this past year. The only thing that Gravis could do was fight and remember all this hatred. Yet, the hatred had accumulated with no possibility of release.

When Gravis had just reached this lower world, his life had been more important than destroying Heaven, but that had slowly changed over time until it had reached this enormous amount. Heaven had abused Gravis so much that he didn't care about his own life anymore! He only wanted Heaven to die!

WHOOM!

After nearly a minute of hysterical screeching from Gravis, his Will-Aura started getting absorbed back into his body. It looked like his whole Will-Aura was being absorbed by his mind. Gravis, who saw this, managed to feel some shock through all the pain. He was not controlling his Will-Aura. He was not condensing it.

His Will-Aura was being absorbed by the lightning in his mind!

Over the next ten seconds, his Will-Aura was completely absorbed and vanished into nothingness. Gravis couldn't activate or deactivate it. It had just vanished. Slowly, Gravis' thoughts also started vanishing one by one.

That happened until his whole mind and Spirit vanished into the lightning. Yet, the body rose again. Gravis' body opened its eyes, and nothing but lightning could be seen in the eyeholes. Then, lightning started coming out of Gravis' mouth, nose, ears, and all over his body.

This was not Gravis anymore.

This thing had replaced Gravis after absorbing him and now inhabited his body. The thing opened its lightning-covered hand and raised it to the sky. Out of nowhere, storm clouds appeared, and before they could do anything, all the lightning inside of them was absorbed into the thing's hand, absorbing it.

Meanwhile, in a different place, someone was watching all of this happening. The time difference of the lower world and this highest world made no difference to this person. They were strong enough to ignore this. They wouldn't even have a problem to keep up with a time-dilation of millions of times.

This person was the Opposer, Gravis' father.

The Opposer had watched all of Gravis' struggles with a calm heart. Through all this time, he had remained proud of his son. Gravis had made him prouder than any of his other children! None of his other children had Heaven directly attack them as this one did. Their only drawback in the lower worlds had been their lack of Karmic luck.

Yet, due to Gravis' apparent enmity with Heaven, Heaven had treated him like an enemy from the very beginning. Of course, Gravis also had bad luck that he got this particular world. Not all Heavens of the different worlds interfered with their cultivators like this!

The heart of the Opposer had always been calm through all this. He trusted in Gravis. The Opposer didn't even bat an eye when Gravis had been thrown into a cesspool. Difficulties were part of a cultivator's journey.

Yet, when the Opposer looked at what Gravis was doing right now, he couldn't remain calm anymore.

In fact, his emotions hadn't been this riled up ever since he had his first battle with Heaven.

Why was he so riled up?

Because this thing that had replaced Gravis was an embodiment of the pure concept of lightning. It had full control over all lightning, no matter the source.

This thing would absorb all the lightning in the world, becoming stronger in the process, and then absorb all the lightning in the higher world.

This thing would reach the power of the highest Heaven,

In a matter of seconds!

 

Chapter 179

The Opposer knew exactly how Heaven and the world worked. He even knew better how the Heavens worked than the Heavens themselves, except for the highest one. The Opposer also knew how this whole situation would go down.

This lower Heaven had no clue what was currently happening in its world. The Heaven of this lower world only had strength and knowledge similar to people in the Unity Realm. The concept of a physical embodiment of the concept of lightning couldn't be understood by it.

The most probable way this would go would be that this lower Heaven was destroyed before it could even alert its parent-Heaven. At that point, this thing would ascend into the parent-middle world and then absorb that one before this Heaven could do anything. The same thing would happen until this thing reached the highest world.

What if the lowest Heaven alerted the middle Heaven immediately? In that case, the middle Heaven would first take a look at the lower Heaven's world but would find nothing because this thing was growing in power so fast that it had already reached the middle Heaven's world. This would repeat again for the higher Heaven until this thing would reach the highest world.

The Opposer realized that the highest Heaven wouldn't realize what was happening until it was already too late. If the Opposer hadn't kept a constant watch over Gravis, he also wouldn't have noticed it quickly enough.

This thing would reach the highest world and absorb all the lightning in the world. One had to know that lightning constituted a whole 50% of the total power of the highest Heaven. The highest Heaven would lose half of its strength without even having the chance to react. At that point, this thing would be half as strong as the highest Heaven in its prime, while the highest Heaven would have fallen to the same level.

The Opposer was just as strong as the highest Heaven, and this thing couldn't absorb anything from him. The Opposer would remain, and his strength would be as powerful as the strength of the highest Heaven and this thing combined. Yet, this thing didn't have allies. The highest Heaven would be its closest enemy, and it would attack immediately. At that point, the Opposer only had to wait and then kill both at the same time.

Like this, his enemy, which he had fought for over 50 billion years, would die. If the Opposer did absolutely nothing, he would be able to finally kill this last enemy of his.

That was why his emotions were riled up right now.

He had been waiting for over 50 billion years, which was many, many times longer than the second oldest person in this world had been alive for. Everything would resolve itself, and his goal would finally have been achieved.

The only thing that he had to do was sacrifice his son.

Everything shot through his mind so quickly that it could only be described in nanoseconds. His Spirit, will, and everything about him was so powerful that it was no issue for him to think this quickly. In a matter of seconds, all his problems would vanish.

Yet, he didn't want to do this!

He didn't want to sacrifice his son for this!

The Opposer was ready to do anything for power, and he had committed many things that people would call atrocities for his goal. Still, he had never even thought about sacrificing one of his children. Was he prepared to sacrifice Gravis to finally kill Heaven?

The Opposer gritted his teeth violently, and the surroundings shook involuntarily. The Opposer was shouting at himself to just do it! He had thousands of children, and he could easily make a thousand more! He could have as many children as he wanted, but he couldn't find a second opportunity to finally kill this bastard Heaven! Hell, he didn't even need to do anything. He just had to wait for a couple of seconds, and everything would happen naturally!

The Opposer clenched his teeth and fists so hard that blood was flowing out of his mouth and hands. He hadn't lost any blood since his first real fight with Heaven, over 50 billion years ago.

The Opposer sighed.

'I guess I am not strong enough,' he thought to himself. In the time it took a spark to fly off, the Opposer had made his decision.

"Old Bastard, look at what's happening in this lower world," the Opposer transmitted his thoughts to the highest Heaven in a split second.

The highest Heaven immediately checked without hesitation. If the Opposer was contacting it from his own volition, then this had to be something big. The sense of the highest Heaven immediately reached the lower world. After it saw what was happening, the skies of the highest world exploded, yet they immediately mended themselves again. It knew exactly what this meant.

"Stop!" shouted the Opposer into the highest Heaven's mind as he used his power to stop the highest Heaven from acting. He knew exactly what the highest Heaven would do. After it saw this thing, it would immediately annihilate this lower world before this thing became strong enough to become a threat. Just for safety's sake, it would probably also annihilate the parent-middle world and higher world.

Heaven's emotions had been wholly riled up for the first time in over 50 billion years, ever since it had first fought the Opposer. The whole thing about Stella in Gravis' youth, and the Opposer killing every

Star God, didn't even come close to this situation! This thing wasn't only a danger. This thing was a sure-death sentence for it!

The highest Heaven transmitted infinite amounts of rage and hatred to the Opposer. All of this happening in an indescribably small amount of time.

"If I wanted you to die to this thing, I wouldn't have warned you!" the Opposer spoke to Heaven.

Heaven calmed down a little bit after that, so it asked him what he wanted.

"This thing has swallowed my son and now inhabits his body. You want to save your life, and I want my son back!" he transmitted to the highest Heaven. "You are powerful enough to influence this thing since it's still incredibly weak."

Heaven asked again what he wanted.

"I don't want my son to be swallowed by lightning. Yet, he has also chosen his path. To him, there is nothing else but lightning! So, while I restrain this thing, you make that thing spit out my son. Then, you will fuse them without any issue. My son will gain an unprecedented affinity with lightning, but he won't be a physical embodiment of the concept of lightning," the Opposer said evenly.

"You know full well that he wouldn't be able to summon and absorb lightning to gain power like this! Even if he could, as a sentient being, he would still require a strong-enough will."

The highest Heaven was not a big fan of this. Yes, Gravis wouldn't be this thing anymore, but it had never seen anything even remotely similar to this. Even the highest Heaven didn't know what Gravis would become.

"If you don't comply, I will move this thing right to my place. The only reason why we are even talking right now is that I want my son back! If I can't get him back, I might as well take the second-best option,

which is your death!" the Opposer threatened.

If the highest Heaven had teeth, it would grit them. For the first time ever, in its own world, someone had something that could realistically threaten its life! This was a completely new feeling for it. Yet, the highest Heaven quickly accepted the offer.

Everything was better than dying right now.

"Don't try anything funny! If I notice anything that is not going according to plan, your death will be less than an hour from now!" The Opposer said with a voice that didn't allow for any argument.

The highest Heaven begrudgingly confirmed that it wouldn't try anything funny.

"Alright, then let's start!" the Opposer shouted.

After this, the Opposer vanished from the highest world.

All of this happened before a person could even blink, and only the very peak experts of the highest world even noticed that something had happened, though they didn't know what.

 

Chapter 180

'Where am I? What is this?'

Some random thoughts appeared in Gravis' mind. He was not lucid, and he couldn't comprehend what was happening. Everything was confusing and blurred. He didn't know who he was. He didn't know what he was. There were only some scattered thoughts of some sentient being.

A small figure of Gravis appeared in a sea of lightning, unsure of its existence. The figure looked around, confused by all the inputs that it received. What was this violently moving, blue stuff all around it? Inside the small figure's mind, the word lightning appeared.

"Is this, lightning? What is lightning?" the figure asked as more things appeared inside the figure's mind. Lightning was calm, yet aggressive. It moved around its domain, yet if something touched its domain, it would strike the thing down even if it meant that the lightning would vanish.

Lightning didn't care about its existence. It was there to destroy, and nothing more.

"No, this is wrong," said the figure as more concepts appeared in its mind. "Lightning can also create life. What is life?" asked the figure again, as more concepts flooded its mind. Concepts about life and cultivation appeared.

"This is Destruction Lightning," the figure concluded. "This lightning only exists to destroy and not to create. There are more kinds of lightning. There is also natural lightning and Life Lightning."

"Why can I only see Destruction Lightning?" the figure asked itself as it looked around. "I don't want to destroy. If it only destroys, then why does it exist?"

The figure was unsure about where it was or why it was. There was only the power of destruction surrounding it, making it feel uncomfortable. Every new life was innocent and only yearned for happiness. Why would anyone want to destroy anything? Happiness was the most important.

More and more concepts appeared in the figure's mind as time flew by. "I am… Gravis. I am the son of the Opposer. Why am I here? What is this lightning world? Where is father? Where is mother? Where is Stella?"

Gravis regained more and more memories as time flew by. "Father and mother are at home. Stella… is dead."

When Gravis said that, he felt like the world was crashing down. Hadn't they played just yesterday? Why was he here?

Slowly, the following years also appeared in Gravis' mind. He remembered Forneus, his preparation school, the practical tests, and also his brother Orpheus. Slowly, Gravis' expression grew solemn. "I can only use lightning if I want to fight Heaven. I notice that I am quickly regaining memories. It seems like I have done something risky with all this lightning, but I am not sure what."

As Gravis remembered different things, he went through all of his experiences again. It was like he was living his life for the second time. He felt the pain of being lonely in this lower world. He felt the guilt and regret about killing Gorn. He remembered the happiness of meeting Skye.

"As I quickly regain my memory, I notice how I have quickly changed. When I arrived in this lower world, I wanted strength. When I had killed Gorn, I wanted happiness. When I stayed in the Heaven Sect, I wanted strength again. At least, that was what I had thought. In actuality, when I had killed Wendy, my priorities changed from strength to destruction. My strength was unimportant. I only wanted to destroy Heaven!"

Gravis' eyes shone coldly as he thought that. His memories had fully returned by now, and he finally knew where he was. "So, this is my Spirit Space, huh?" he asked himself with interest. His personality had grown steady again as no more memories appeared.

Gravis smiled madly. "It seems like my plan has succeeded. With my mind acclimated to lightning, I should be completely immune to it. Like this, the highest Heaven can't damage me with its lightning. Like this, I have already countered its most potent weapon."

"Well, let's leave this place," said the figure of Gravis as it vanished.

WHOOM!

As Gravis opened his physical eyes, his Will-Aura activated and enveloped the surroundings. He was in the Core-Continent, and he had reached the Spirit Forming Realm. Gravis felt his Spirit expand.

One kilometer.

Two kilometers.

Five kilometers.

Ten kilometers.

Someone at the initial stage of the Spirit Forming Realm would have a Spirit that encompassed the surrounding ten kilometers, yet his Spirit didn't stop.

20 kilometers.

30 kilometers.

40 kilometers.

50 kilometers.

As his Spirit reached a radius of 50 kilometers, it stopped expanding. Gravis only smirked. 'Sure enough, this suicidal approach has its benefits.'

Yet, Gravis felt like he could push his Spirit even more. Gravis concentrated his will on his Spirit, and it expanded again.

60 kilometers.

70 kilometers.

75 kilometers.

At 75 kilometers, it stopped again, and Gravis felt a heavy drain on his Spirit. He could push his Spirit with his will, but it was draining his Spirit quickly. Gravis stopped forcing his Spirit with his will, and it shrunk to 50 kilometers again.

Now, Gravis paid attention to the things inside his Spirit's range. He saw beasts, plants, the Wind Wall, the Energy-empty air high above him, and he also saw Aion. Aion was currently looking in his direction with a fearful and shocked expression. Yet, Gravis felt that Aion wasn't looking directly at him, but at a place directly beside him. Gravis concentrated his Spirit on that place, but he saw nothing, which confused him.

Gravis turned his head to look to the spot, and his mouth involuntarily opened in surprise.

"Father?" Gravis asked in disbelief.

Right beside him stood his father, the Opposer. His father currently had his hand on Gravis' shoulder, which he hadn't noticed up until now. "Am I dreaming, father? Why are you here?" Gravis asked.

The Opposer looked at Gravis, and Gravis couldn't believe it, but he felt like his father's eyes were radiating warmth and comfort.

"Son, you have achieved something that no one else has done before," the Opposer did a pause there, but then continued, "but I am not happy about this."

Gravis was shocked. "What do you mean?"

The Opposer looked deep into Gravis' eyes. "You were ready to sacrifice your life to destroy Heaven, but that is not what I want from you. I don't want you to sacrifice your life or your future prospects for me," the Opposer said softly.

Gravis' emotions were riled up. What was his father saying? Wasn't his father's goal to kill Heaven? Why would he say that? For a second, Gravis didn't quite get the gist of it.

The Opposer increased the weight of his hand on Gravis' shoulder. "Didn't you say the same thing to your bird?" he asked.

Gravis' eyes widened as he remembered that. Yes, he had said the same thing to Skye. He didn't want it to sacrifice its future prospects for him. Now, his father had said the same thing to him. After a while, Gravis could only smile sheepishly.

"I really screwed up, huh?" he said.

Now, everything was clear to him. Would his father want Gravis to sacrifice himself for his goal? No, he didn't. Just like Gravis never wanted Skye to sacrifice itself for him, the Opposer didn't want his son to do the same thing. As Gravis realized this, his priorities changed again.

Gravis had realized that through all this bitterness that he went through, he had lost his original goal. Initially, he didn't want to destroy Heaven. He wanted to be free. He wanted to be unrestrained. He wanted to be powerful enough so that no one could suppress him again. Gravis had associated his bitter hatred with the hunger for power, which was wrong. He didn't want to purely destroy. He wanted to be free.

"I'm sorry, father," said Gravis as he turned to him.

The Opposer nodded. "It's good as long as you realize. Reach the Unity Realm quickly so we can have a proper Father-to-son talk. I'll see you soon, Gravis."

After the Opposer had said that, he vanished into thin air.

The highest Heaven watched all this but didn't care much. It only watched to see what Gravis would do. This whole incident had shaken it, and it wouldn't ignore Gravis again. Starting from this day, the highest Heaven would watch everything that Gravis would do in the future.

Meanwhile, Gravis looked up into the sky with a smile.

"See you soon, father."