Ch. 651..660

Chapter 651 - 651 – Avatar

Gravis had never been so shocked and shaken up in his life. He had challenged Heaven to a fight, and Heaven had just demonstrated to Gravis that he wouldn’t even be able to react to an attack. If Heaven had targeted Gravis with this attack, he would have immediately died.

What had he done?

Yet, after some rationality returned to him, he realized something.

"This was not a level five Law," Gravis said with narrowed eyes. "There are no level five Laws for a middle world. The only level five or level six Law you should know is the next level of lightning."

Heaven continued to look at Gravis evenly. "You are half-right," Heaven said. "This was not a level five Law, but the attack had the power of a level five Law. Yet, you were incorrect in saying that there are no level five Laws for a middle world. There is one, but not even I know it."

Gravis remained silent but was shocked. There actually was a level five Law for the middle world?

"There is one level five Law that can be comprehended in a middle world, but due to the nature of middle worlds, no one inside a middle world can comprehend it, including me."

"The reason for that is the Will-Aura," Heaven said. "If you want to comprehend a level five Law, you need a Will-Aura at the level of an Immortal Emperor, which is impossible to reach while not being a peak Immortal. Right now, your Will-Aura is at the peak of the Immortal Realm, but it has not yet reached the power of an Immortal King."

Gravis realized that Heaven’s words made sense. Since everyone ascended at the Immortal Realm, it would be impossible for them to learn this Law while being inside a middle world. "What is this Law?" Gravis asked.

Everyone else would have been scared beyond belief by these circumstances, but Gravis managed to retain his rationality. If Heaven truly wanted to kill him, he would already be dead. The fact that Heaven let him live meant that Heaven, or more likely the highest Heaven, wanted him to survive.

Yet, Gravis had no idea what he should think of the current circumstance. In the beginning, the lower Heaven had honestly tried its best to kill him, but now, when the highest Heaven actually had an opportunity to kill him without any backlash from his father, it decided not to kill him.

What was its plan? Did it genuinely wish for him to become another Opposer? Why would it want that?

"It’s the Minor Law of the True World," Heaven answered. "It’s the composition of every dead and living being inside a middle world. Yet, that is impossible for you to comprehend in this world. My ancestor and your father would agree."

"How were you able to create an attack with the power of a level five Law without having used one?" Gravis asked. This was the best opportunity to learn more about Battle-Strength. He wanted to become powerful. His father wanted him to become powerful. The highest Heaven wanted him to become powerful. Then, fine, he’ll play along.

Whoooom!

Something appeared behind Heaven, and Gravis had no idea what that thing was.

It was some kind of white and shining small sphere. It only had a diameter of half a meter and hovered there, doing nothing. Behind the light, Gravis could see its appearance. When he saw its appearance, he was shocked.

This was a small world!

He could see tiny mountains, tiny oceans, tiny volcanoes, and everything else one would think a world would have. The only thing missing was life. This tiny world was just as lifeless as this world.

"This is an Avatar, Gravis," Heaven said. "This is what makes an Immortal an Immortal. Without this Avatar, an Immortal is not an Immortal. It is the basis for your entire future cultivation, and if it is inadequate, it will be nearly impossible to make it adequate again."

Heaven turned to the Grand Lake again as it continued explaining. "When you fuse one of your Laws with your being, your Avatar will be created. This Law will then be your primary Law for your entire future."

"What can it do?" Gravis asked.

"The Avatar increases the power of your Primary Law by one level. This means that if you were to create your Avatar with the Law of Punishment Lightning, your Punishment Lightning would be able to exhibit the power of a level four Law. Do you now understand the power of an Avatar?" Heaven asked.

Gravis immediately realized how powerful that was. If any Ascender from this world created their Avatar, Meadow would have no chance against them. The power of a level four Law was far too overwhelming for anyone in a middle world to resist.

Due to Gravis’ Will-Aura, he would still be able to win against an Immortal with an Avatar, but as soon as someone wasn’t entirely suppressed, Gravis wouldn’t be able to dodge or block such an attack.

This also explained why this world didn’t allow anyone to ascend without having comprehended a level three Law. If someone hadn’t comprehended their own level three Law, they would need to use the Law of Space to create their Avatar since this would be their only level three Law.

Yes, the Law of Space was powerful, but it wouldn’t be as useful as another level three Law. One could already teleport and compress space. The only advantage of upgrading it to level four would be that one would be able to compress and widen space further. Yet, the Law of Space had no attacking power while its defensive capabilities were weak.

Additionally, what would be the point of upgrading their space capabilities if everyone could already teleport? On top of that, how hard would it be to upgrade the Law of Space? There had to be a way to upgrade one’s Avatar. Gravis refused to believe that the overlords in the highest world ran around with a level three or level four Law as their Primary Law.

This meant that the Avatar could probably be upgraded by including the Primary Law into a more powerful Law. For space, there were only two paths available. One path would be to increase its purity by comprehending the High-Tier Law of Space in the higher world. The other path would be to fuse it with other Laws.

Yet, how difficult was it to fuse space with anything? It had no affinity with any matter, life, or the elements. Gravis guessed that it could probably only be fused with the Laws of Gravity and Time, and comprehending these Laws was very difficult, especially time.

But if one used an element-specific Law as their Avatar, they would have a wide variety of options. For example, fire could be upgraded into a more powerful fire, fuse with the other elements, transform into the Law of Supreme Heat, or create a mixed element. Additionally, upgrading a Fire Law to the fourth level would boost the Battle-Strength of the user to ridiculous degrees.

All these thoughts shot through Gravis’ head in an instant. As soon as he had reached the Law Comprehension Realm, the speed of his thoughts had increased exponentially. With him being an Immortal now, his thoughts became even faster.

"I presume if I had already condensed my Avatar, I wouldn’t be alive right now, right?" Gravis asked.

"Correct," Heaven answered. "My Ancestor wants you to become truly powerful, and if you committed the same mistake again, you would have no affinity with true power."

Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "Same mistake again? What do you mean?" Gravis asked.

Heaven turned to Gravis again. "You have already failed two tests created by my ancestor," Heaven said. "The fact that I’m talking to you right now is proof of that."

Gravis quickly realized what he meant. "I guess that this test had been to become powerful enough to defeat you?" Gravis asked.

"Correct," Heaven said. "You have failed this test, which had been the second one, and now I have been tasked with fixing your inadequacy."

Gravis gritted his teeth when he heard Heaven’s words. "What was the first test?" Gravis asked.

"Your first test had been to realize your true power and the power of your opponent. Haven’t you realized that I had to know all the Laws in this world in order to teach them? Haven’t you realized that I must have comprehended at least one level four Law to manage this entire world? Haven’t you realized that I would be able to exhibit the full power of the Immortal Realm?" Heaven said.

"All of these things should be warning enough. Every onlooker would have been able to see that there is no way for you to win against me without having comprehended at least one level four Law."

Heaven looked deeply into Gravis’ eyes. "Confidence and arrogance are only a step away from each other. When you believe in your power while fighting a slightly stronger opponent, your confidence might give you the boost to win. Yet, if your opponent far outclasses you, and you still believe that you will emerge victoriously, you are not confident but arrogant. Haven’t you taught these things to your child?"

Gravis felt incredible rage and frustration when he heard Heaven, but he wasn’t angry at Heaven.

Gravis was enraged and frustrated at himself. If he had been an onlooker, he would have thought anyone that decided to fight Heaven to be an arrogant idiot. No sane person would choose to fight such an overwhelmingly powerful opponent.

’I’m an arrogant idiot!’ Gravis thought with gritted teeth.

’This is exactly what I have taught Aris!’

’I’m a liar!’

’I’m a hypocrite!’

Chapter 652 - 652 – The Opposer's Past

Gravis felt incredible rage and frustration.

He should have known better! When all the facts had been laid out before him, he almost couldn’t believe that he had committed to such a devastating and idiotic decision.

"I have received the memories that my Ancestor has of your father, Gravis," Heaven said, making Gravis perk up.

"When I have seen your father’s rise to power, I have been truly humbled. His rise to power was even more difficult than yours has been up to this point, and he had managed to manage the dangers beautifully."

"He knew when to battle and when to retreat."

"He knew when to be diplomatic and when to be forceful."

"He knew whom he could fight and whom he couldn’t fight."

"His path to power has been pure, untainted by any outsider’s interference. In a world where every single human had Elemental Synchronicity, he has managed to stand on top of everyone but my ancestor."

"Yes, you heard correctly," Heaven said. "When your father had cultivated, every single human had had Elemental Synchronicity. Only after his rise has my ancestor decided to stop giving humans this ability since it was one of the keys to reaching your father’s level."

"Your father wouldn’t have decided to fight me if he weren’t sure of his power."

"Yet, that is actually irrelevant," Heaven said as it looked deeply into Gravis’ eyes, "because, when your father had been at your level, he had been powerful enough to actually fight me. If I were to fight your father when he had been at your level, I would have felt nervous and fearful."

"But when I look at you, Gravis, I see an arrogant child. You grandly spoke of your potential and power when I didn’t allow you to become a Nascent Nourishing Cultivator without having children."

"I would be lying if I would say that I felt nothing back then. After all, your words were true. You actually have the potential to fight me when you became an Immortal, but your mindset has ruined your potential. Your arrogance has been the downfall of your so-called pure path to power, Gravis."

Gravis felt horrible when he heard these words.

Gravis had believed himself to be outstanding! No beast Gravis had ever seen had come even close to his Battle-Strength! He had increased his Battle-Strength to an impossible degree! He had believed himself to be as powerful or a bit more powerful than his father had been back then. After all, his father had said that no one had been able to kill a Heaven yet without ascending. Wasn’t this proof of Gravis’ power?

"Your father never looked at others," Heaven continued speaking. "He always only looked at himself. What was the point of being more powerful than others if he could still see inadequacies inside him? What do you think? How old was your father when he became an Immortal?"

Gravis remained silent for a while.

"I don’t know," he said. Gravis had been mistaken so many times in the past minutes that he had no confidence in his guesses anymore.

"When your father became an Immortal, he was 9.950 years old, 50 years away from running out of longevity," Heaven answered, shaking Gravis’ insides.

9.950 years? Gravis had expected his father to have been even younger than Gravis now. After all, wasn’t his father the most outstanding Cultivator that had ever existed?

"Your potential is just as good as your father’s, Gravis," Heaven said. "Yet, your starting points were vastly different."

"Your father had to temper his body for 20 years since he hadn’t had a powerful family that tempered his organs and blood for him. In comparison, your organs and blood had been tempered as soon as you had been born."

"Your father had been born into a mortal’s household and learned fighting all by himself. In comparison, you have received systematic training in the highest world on how to become powerful and how to fight."

"Your father had to fight against many opponents much more powerful than him until he finally condensed his Will-Aura in the Energy Gathering Realm. In comparison, you have been handed appropriate opponents until you had your Will-Aura in the Body Tempering Realm."

"Your father had attuned his Spirit to Energy, just like everybody else. In comparison, your life has been saved by your father and my ancestor, which allowed you to become the only being in existence with a Spirit not attuned to Energy. This grants you an incredible advantage over everyone else."

"Your father never needed to be saved, while you had been saved from death in the lower world twice. Once by your father and my ancestor, and once by a powerful lightning Cultivator when you were about to die to a darkness cultivator."

"Your father had to comprehend all his Laws by himself while you have been handed a level three Law just by killing someone in the Unity Realm."

"Your father had remained completely alone as soon as he reached the Spirit Forming Realm, which forced him to rely entirely on himself. In comparison, you have been protected by the former Empress of the Icy Pride Empire."

"Your father had to fight for every opportunity to learn more Laws while you have been granted free and safe access to powerful Law Comprehension Areas by the former Empress of the Icy Pride Empire."

With every sentence that Heaven spoke, Gravis felt weaker and weaker. Had he truly lived a privileged life? Had his path to power been so much easier?

Without noticing, Gravis’ human form began to regress in age.

First, he became a young adult, and in the end, he looked like a teenager.

Gravis no longer felt like a man.

Now, he felt like an arrogant teenager that didn’t know the true world.

"Your father has an incredible amount of qualities that make him far superior to you, Gravis," Heaven said.

"But, you have one quality that is superior, and this quality is the reason why you are still alive right now."

Gravis almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had something like that?

Yet, Gravis only bitterly smiled. "Don’t mock me," he said. He had heard of his father’s life from Heaven, and Gravis couldn’t think of anything that gave him an edge over his father.

"Look at your body, Gravis," Heaven said as it pointed at Gravis.

Gravis looked down and noticed that his human form had regressed in age. ’Yes, that’s true. I’m not a true man. I’m only a boy,’ Gravis thought with self-deprecation.

"Your outstanding quality is your ability to quickly change your mindset," Heaven said.

Gravis looked at Heaven. "What?" he asked.

"Your father has been stuck in his way and wouldn’t consider the opinions of anyone weaker than him, which had been everyone. If his mindset hadn’t already basically been perfect, he would never have been able to reach the place he is in today."

"You are moldable. Even after living for over a millennium, your mindset still has the ability to rapidly change. With this ability, your mindset can be molded into a shape that is just as powerful as your father’s."

"Yet, your strength is inadequate, and you have decided to fight an opponent far above your class. In order to fix that, you must pay."

Gravis felt a deep feeling of approaching doom. He knew that Heaven would say something that he had to accept if he wanted to survive and become powerful. He had no other choice.

"What is it?" Gravis asked quietly, his silent voice echoing throughout the empty world.

"First of all, you must accept that you need help, Gravis," Heaven said. "Your path has never been pure. Every privilege that you have received in the past makes this impossible, and even with all these privileges, you have still failed to achieve supreme power on your own."

"Your pure path to power has never existed, and even if it had existed, it would have ended today. You can’t reach supreme power on your own like your father did. You must accept that you can’t reach it on your own. You must accept that you need help."

Gravis felt his insides churn as his entire being refused these words. Yet, Gravis knew this feeling very well. This was the feeling of having one’s pride hurt when someone else showed one of his inadequacies.

Hadn’t Gravis told Aris that this feeling was the enemy?

Gravis took a deep breath.

"My pure path to power has come to an end," Gravis said. "I have tried, but I have failed. This means that I must now travel a muddled path that allows outside help when there is no other option remaining."

Gravis felt like something broke inside of him.

He always had the dream of achieving true power on his own. He had even killed Commander Rime because of that back then when he had interfered in Gravis’ fight. Yet, that decision had only been born out of an illusion of grandeur. His path hadn’t been pure from the start.

Gravis’ dream had been shattered, and reality had set in.

He wasn’t powerful enough to achieve his dream.

His mindset wasn’t powerful enough to achieve his dream.

He was just like everyone else that looked at the incredible geniuses who managed to do something they could never do.

Gravis had met such a genius today, his father. His father had achieved something that had been thought impossible for Gravis. He had managed to be powerful enough to kill a middle Heaven at Gravis’ Realm.

When Gravis had seen the power of Heaven’s attack, he had believed it impossible to defeat it.

Yet, his father would have achieved just that.

Gravis was not peerless.

Gravis was normal.

"The second price," Heaven continued.

Gravis’ being shook in devastation.

Chapter 653 - 653 – Loss

Gravis couldn’t imagine something worse than having his dream being shattered. What else could he pay?

"The second and last price is your enmity with my ancestor," Heaven said.

Gravis didn’t react.

"The enmity has been established when my ancestor used you as a pawn to hurt your father. This is the source of your enmity with my ancestor," Heaven said.

"Resurrecting your dead childhood friend won’t be able to rectify this enmity. Yet, my ancestor has done his best to rectify it as much as possible."

Heaven continued looking at Gravis, who only looked at the ground.

"My ancestor has repaid this enmity manifold."

"My ancestor granted your friends from the lower world unending Karmic Luck, which has saved their lives many times. With their mindsets, talent, and lacking cultivation techniques, all your friends would have long died if it weren’t for my ancestor."

"Even if some of your friends have died, the help that my ancestor has given them has allowed them to live far longer and become far more powerful than they should have. My ancestor has taken one friend from yours but has given you many."

"My ancestor has even allowed you to kill his child by disallowing any other of my siblings from interfering with your fight. The sins of the child are not the sins of the father, but the father still repaid the sins of the child."

"Two of your children would have already died if my ancestor hadn’t given them Karmic Luck at the critical moment. My ancestor has saved your children."

"And now, my ancestor has saved your life and your path to power. Killing you is my greatest wish right now, even if I have to die in the process. I hate you, Gravis. I hate you so very much for what you have done to my child, this world," Heaven said emotionlessly.

"Yet, my ancestor won’t allow me to kill you. I have enough power to reduce you into nothingness with one simple attack, but I’m not allowed to kill you. My ancestor has saved your life once again this time, Gravis."

"And now, my ancestor will rectify your lacking mindset and power by using me."

"In exchange for one childhood friend, you have been saved twice, and your friends and family have been saved many times. My ancestor has given you far more good than bad."

"In truth, you owe more to my ancestor than my ancestor owes you. Yet, my ancestor, in his grace, only wishes to let bygones be bygones. Accept my ancestor’s actions as repayment for what he has done to you in the past."

Gravis’ insides churned again when he heard Heaven’s words.

Did the highest Heaven truly only wish to rectify its mistakes?

Gravis wanted to deny everything, but his lightning brought him back to rationality. Not repaying these actions would be more than unfair.

Gravis didn’t want to accept it, but Heaven had more than repaid Gravis’ debt. It had helped him so many times. It felt wrong to accept this, but it was the truth.

"What is the highest Heaven’s goal for me?" Gravis asked.

"Freedom," Heaven answered. "You wish to be free, and that wish shall be granted to you. Of course, only on the basis that you manage to reach supreme power. You will be allowed to do everything you want."

"Your family, including your brothers and sisters, will receive their Karmic Luck back. You will be allowed to do anything, as long as you do not excessively target the weaker beings if you reach your father’s power. Other than that, you and your family are allowed to live in this Cosmos with the same standing as everyone else."

"And my ancestor will never pit you against your father, no matter what happens. This is my ancestor’s promise. You will achieve true freedom if you manage to become powerful."

"My ancestor protected you, your friends, your family, and will even help you to achieve your dream of freedom. My ancestor will also never order you to do anything. You are not under him. You do not need to follow his orders or requests. Everything is up to you."

Gravis had wished with all his being that the highest Heaven would show any kind of ulterior motive. As long as these good actions had been used as a means to achieve something malicious towards Gravis, he could have justified to himself that he wouldn’t forgive the highest Heaven.

Yet, that had only been an empty dream.

Even if the highest Heaven had shown malicious intent, it would change nothing. If Gravis weren’t willing to pay this price, the Heaven standing in front of him would kill him.

There was nothing Gravis could do.

The highest Heaven had played everything perfectly.

If Gravis refused, he would not only lose control over his lightning and his own being, but he would also die.

If Gravis accepted, he had to bury his hatred with the highest Heaven and forgive it.

In both cases, it would win.

As soon as Gravis had issued his challenge to Heaven, he had already lost.

Yet, was it truly a loss if Gravis would receive the help he needed to become truly powerful and realize his dream?

"True good is more powerful than a scheme as long as you have the power, Gravis," Heaven said.

"Helping someone with true selflessness is more powerful than any scheme as long as you have the power to protect yourself against someone that seeks to use you."

Gravis was distraught, but he wasn’t so distraught that he believed everything Heaven said. "Is this selflessness, though?" Gravis asked with furrowed brows.

"If this weren’t selflessness, I would have already killed you, Gravis," Heaven said. "There is no true gain in helping you achieve true power. The only gain would be more Energy, but that is only something that happens automatically by helping you. Energy is not so important that my ancestor would accept the risk you would pose when you reach the power of your father."

"Can you give me any reason why my ancestor would give you these benefits that are not selflessness, Gravis?" Heaven asked.

Gravis couldn’t find any. All options he found weren’t worth the potential risk that he would pose.

Several minutes passed, but they felt like years to Gravis.

"I forgive the highest Heaven," Gravis said.

As soon as he said that, he felt like he had betrayed his father.

This was his father’s most hated enemy, but Gravis had forgiven the only enemy his father had left. Shouldn’t he help his father with killing the highest Heaven? Hadn’t Gravis’ entire reason to choose lightning been to fight the highest Heaven?

Heaven extended their hand to show an open palm.

"Give me your Life Ring, Gravis," Heaven said.

Gravis’ insides shook when he heard that. His children and Orthar were in there! If he gave Heaven the Life Ring, it would have total control over their lives.

"I am more powerful than you, Gravis," Heaven said. "If my ancestor wanted to kill your children, I wouldn’t even need to ask for the Life Ring. I can just kill you and your children directly."

"Give me your Life Ring," Heaven repeated. "Trust in my ancestor’s goodness. Your Life Ring will be brought to your father."

"Why do you want my Life Ring?" Gravis asked.

"Because you will spend a very long time with me," Heaven said. "Your power and mindset need to become powerful enough to rival mine and your father’s power back then. This can’t be achieved in mere days. Inside your Life Ring, your children and your friend cannot comprehend any Laws except for the Life Laws. Are you willing to confine your family for thousands of years?"

"Look around you," Heaven said. "This world is dead. There is no one your children can meet, no one to fight but each other. This dead world is a prison of isolation to them. Do you wish for your children to remain in this prison?"

Gravis had never felt so helpless in his life.

There was absolutely nothing he could do but comply.

Gravis’ hands shook as he summoned the Life Ring. He felt like the thing he was about to do would betray his entire life.

Yet, what was he supposed to do? There was nothing he could do!

Gravis extended his shaking hand and put the Life Ring into Heaven’s hand.

With this action, Gravis felt like all freedom had left him.

He was relying on someone else’s good nature right now, something he had always hated.

Heaven put the ring between two of their fingers. "This was a necessary step for your muddled path to power. Freedom comes with reliance and responsibility. Your handing over of your family shows that you have taken the first step in accepting your muddled path."

In an instant, the Life Ring vanished.

"Your Life Ring has been transported to your father. My ancestor doesn’t lie, Gravis," Heaven said.

Yet, Gravis still felt helpless.

Meanwhile, in the highest world, a Life Ring appeared before the Opposer.

Yet, the Opposer didn’t have his usual, emotionless look on his face right now.

He looked pained.

This Life Ring was Gravis’ show of forgiveness and trust, and it was the highest Heaven’s show of power.

The highest Heaven helped Gravis with everything, but the Opposer was still its most hated enemy.

Right now, this Life Ring demonstrated to the Opposer that Gravis was so thoroughly under the highest Heaven’s control that he even handed over the lives of his own family.

The highest Heaven had taken the Opposer’s son for itself. The highest Heaven showed that the most outstanding child of the Opposer was under its control.

Yet, the Opposer’s pained expression changed into one of determination.

"You have won, for now, Old Bastard."

"But you know exactly that this result is not set in stone. We both know that there is still a chance," the Opposer said.

The highest Heaven only sneered in disdain.

Chapter 654 - 654 – Apathy

Silence.

Deafening silence.

Gravis had gone through intense emotional turmoil, and he felt like he had reached the absolute bottom. He felt like he had lost control over his entire life, and the worst thing was that he accepted it.

If Heaven weren’t powerful enough to kill him right now, would he have still done this? Would he have handed over his children?

Gravis wasn’t sure.

He wasn’t sure about anything anymore.

Gravis’ human form began to regress more in age until he only looked to be about twelve years old. He felt like a child under the control of adults. When adults talked, children were supposed to be quiet and follow what the adults said.

"Don’t overdo it," Heaven said. "Look at yourself. You feel like a child now? Stop feeling sorry for yourself. This situation all stems from your decision to fight me. Don’t escape into your childhood to dodge responsibility."

Gravis gritted his teeth.

’How pathetic am I?’ he thought with frustration.

In a matter of seconds, Gravis returned to the body of a young adult.

’So what!?’ Gravis thought with gritted teeth. ’I’m not dead! My family isn’t dead! Heaven is right! Everything stems from my arrogance! I have made this choice, and I need to bear the consequences!’

’I have already reached rock-bottom! It can only go up from here!’ Gravis thought.

’Yes, I have taken a huge setback, but only when I give up will I truly lose! I might have failed in having a pure path to power. I might have failed in reaching supreme power without the highest Heaven’s help, but I still have my dream of freedom! Isn’t freedom my most important goal!?’

’Yet, is this true freedom?’ Gravis thought as uncertainty returned to his being. ’Is it truly my choice to forgive Heaven?’

Gravis violently shook his head.

’This is a problem for the future!’ he thought with narrowed eyes. ’Just because I can’t see a way out now doesn’t mean that I won’t see a way out in the future. I must trust in my future self! I believe my past self to be an arrogant idiot, and my future self will think of me as an idiot! Yet, to make my future self a reality, I must pull through now!’

Sadly, no matter how much Gravis tried to motivate himself, he still felt uncertainty and helplessness deep inside.

’I can’t hang onto these feelings of uncertainty right now,’ Gravis thought with gritted teeth.

Then, for the first time since he had talked to his mother, Gravis suppressed his emotions again. He knew that this was risky and that it may endanger his eventual future, but if he couldn’t access his full power right now, he would never reach this future! For now, he had to return to his old, cold, emotionless self.

Everything came naturally. Unlocking emotions was hard, but if one managed to suppress them once, it came naturally to suppress them again.

Gravis’ eyes became cold and emotionless as he glanced at the world.

He didn’t care about this dead world.

He didn’t care about Heaven.

He didn’t care about his friends.

He even didn’t care about his children.

Yet, Gravis knew that all the pain would return in the future.

This was only a temporary state of mind, but the longer he remained inside it, the harder it was to get out of it again.

But Gravis accepted that. Right now, this was a price he needed to pay.

BOOOOM!

Gravis managed to understand a new Law, but instead of being happy, he only despised it.

He had just comprehended the level two Law of Apathy.

Suppressing one’s emotions was running away from them, and Gravis knew that. But so what!? If he had to run away to survive, so be it!

"You have just comprehended your first Law that not even I know," Heaven said.

Gravis looked evenly at Heaven. "How come?" he asked coldly.

"Because I don’t run from my emotions and my love for this world," Heaven said.

Gravis didn’t want to admit it, but that comment stung.

"Even when you slowly killed my child, I didn’t run away," Heaven said. "Would you also become apathetic if I were to slowly kill your child?"

"What’s the point of this meaningless show of superiority?" Gravis asked emotionlessly. "I have already accepted that you are more powerful than me right now. You don’t need to act all high and mighty, or is this your way of hurting me because your ancestor suppresses you? Is this meaningless, pathetic comment an attempt to hurt me?"

For the first time, Gravis saw some emotion inside Heaven’s eyes.

For just a brief moment, Gravis saw boundless rage and hatred.

BANG!

All seven eyes of Heaven exploded into a shower of blood.

Gravis only coldly looked on.

"For a moment, I have betrayed my undying faith in my ancestor," Heaven said evenly. "Let the permanent loss of sight be my punishment."

Gravis sneered. What was up with this fanatic zeal of worship?

"Apathy is the running away from emotions, which is a weakness," Gravis commented, "but a weakness can have its strengths in certain circumstances. Yes, I’m running from my emotions right now, but thanks to that, I have managed to grasp a power that you don’t have."

WHOOOOM!

Gravis activated his Will-Aura. "Do you feel it?" Gravis asked with a smirk. "Apathy is a domain of death and stagnation. All life and meaning die inside of it. Together with my Law of Minor Death, my Law of Suppression, and my Composition Laws, my Will-Aura has gained another effect."

"You can argue about what is weak and what is strong all you want, Heaven," Gravis said. "You say that running away from your emotions is weak, but if running away allows you to become more powerful, then isn’t it a weakness that your pride disallows you from running away?"

"This is an empty show of control," Heaven said evenly. "You are not in control right now, Gravis."

"Yes, but you aren’t either," Gravis said with a smirk. "We are both under the control of the highest Heaven right now. We are both doing what it wants. So, aren’t we the same right now?"

"You and I are not the same," Heaven said. "In comparison to- "

"Stop spouting useless shit, Heaven," Gravis interrupted Heaven. "Let’s start with the relevant topic."

"So, how am I supposed to become powerful?"

Chapter 655 - 655 – Longevity

Heaven looked at Gravis evenly. Gravis had managed to enrage Heaven once, and it won’t let it happen again, no matter what Gravis said or did.

"You must follow the cultivation path of your father," Heaven said.

"You mean being away from everyone else and avoiding any kind of contact?" Gravis said with a huff. "I thought my path was supposed to be muddled and not pure."

"This is not what I was talking about," Heaven said. "Your path to power must be muddled, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t follow your father’s steps. I was referring to something else."

Gravis only looked at Heaven with skepticism.

"Your father has become an Immortal at the age of 9.950," Heaven said. "Do you believe that he has only become an Immortal that late because he couldn’t have become an Immortal sooner?"

"No," Gravis answered. "You have already said that father has had enough power to rival you back then."

"Correct," Heaven said. "He has taken the cultivation path of an Ancient Cultivator."

"And that is supposed to mean what exactly?" Gravis asked evenly.

"This is the same path that Meadow has chosen," Heaven said. "Your father only advanced to the next Realm when there was either no more time or nothing more to learn. If you had followed this path yourself, we wouldn’t be talking right now."

"You have cultivated for a bit more than 1.300 years. Achieving your level of Law Comprehension in that short amount of time is impressive, but only when viewed from an average point of view. If you had spent another 8.000 years comprehending Laws, do you think you would still be as helpless in front of me as you are now?"

"No," Gravis said. "If I had spent such a long time comprehending Laws, I would have already comprehended several level four Laws. Of course, that is only counting if I actually have a tempering opportunity. I can comprehend level three Laws without tempering, but I can’t comprehend level four Laws without tempering."

"Correct," Heaven said. "With your talent and with so much time, you would have been able to become powerful enough to rival me. Yet, your impatience and your lacking mindset would have destroyed you. If I had been weaker, you would have consumed me, learned the level six Law of Divine Lightning, and would have used that Law for your Avatar. That is what you had planned, right?"

’So the next level of lightning is the Law of Divine Lightning, which is a level six Law,’ Gravis thought.

"Yes, I would have. Would that have been an issue?" Gravis asked evenly.

"Yes, it would have," Heaven answered. "Your power would be incredible, but your Primary Law serves mainly as your cultivation base and not your Battle-Strength. Choosing the Law of Divine Lightning as your Avatar would have made you incredibly powerful in the higher world, but in the highest world, you would run into issues at the later stages."

For once, Gravis listened without any backtalk. This was important information for his cultivation.

"The last stages of cultivation require very specific Laws to reach," Heaven continued speaking. "Of course, the Law of Divine Lightning can be incorporated into these Laws, but you would have needed to comprehend all other relevant Laws without any base."

"Elaborate," Gravis said.

Heaven gestured to the world. "I am talking about this middle world. You have comprehended the Minor Laws of Time, Space, and Gravity. These can be upgraded into the Major Laws of Time, Space, and Gravity."

"Yet, tell me, Gravis. If a cultivator hasn’t managed to learn these Laws in the middle world, how will they be able to understand these Laws in the higher world, where only the Major Laws can be gazed upon?" Heaven asked.

Gravis narrowed his eyes. This was truly an issue.

"The Cultivator would need to directly comprehend the Major Laws, which should logically also be level six Laws," Gravis answered.

"Correct," Heaven said. "You know how difficult it is to understand a level three Law all at once without any weaker Laws as a base. I’m sure you can imagine how hard that would be for a level six Law. It is still possible, but nearly no one manages it. The concepts of level six Laws are so complex and intricate that you can’t even make sense of them."

"Comprehending such a powerful Law all at once doesn’t rely on talent or effort, but on opportunity, enlightenment, and luck, and I’m not referring to Karmic Luck here. Your longevity is not something to run away from but to take as your goal. You must come as close to your longevity as possible before reaching the next level," Heaven said.

"Then why not just give everyone infinite longevity?" Gravis asked with a sneer.

"You do have an infinite theoretical longevity as an Immortal, Gravis," Heaven answered. "That’s why an Immortal is called an Immortal."

"Theoretical?" Gravis asked with a raised brow.

"Your father has told you that my ancestor requires Energy," Heaven said. "If we just allowed everyone to live forever, cultivators and beasts will start to stop cultivating since there is no more danger remaining. This does not conform to our goals."

"Because of this, everyone weaker than an Immortal gets a hard border for longevity, which can only be slightly extended by comprehending Life Laws. Yet, when you become an Immortal, your hard border on longevity becomes a soft border."

"And how is that supposed to work?" Gravis asked.

"Tribulation," Heaven said.

Gravis huffed. "What? Are you guys going to strike people with lightning or something?"

"No," Heaven said. "This is not a Heaven Tribulation, but a Man Tribulation. When your longevity runs out, we will create a situation in which someone of your Realm wants to kill you."

"So, you’re controlling people?" Gravis asked.

"Incorrect," Heaven said. "We simply set events in motion that lead people and beasts with fitting mindsets and goals to the correct place. If an Immortal Leader of a medicine producing company reaches their longevity, a powerful different Immortal will have their loved one injured. This injury can only be healed with a precious herb, but this person has no money. Like this, conflict will happen."

"This is only one example of many," Heaven said.

"And when I manage to survive this Man Tribulation?" Gravis asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You will be safe from the next Man Tribulation for 50.000 years. Of course, this is only for Immortals. The higher Realms get more time."

"Yet," Heaven said. "The next Man Tribulation will be more powerful by an entire level, and this process will repeat itself until you either advance into the next Realm or die."

"So, people with a more powerful Battle-Strength can live longer," Gravis commented.

"Correct," Heaven said. "The more powerful your Battle-Strength, the more apparent your talent for reaching supreme power. If you manage to survive a Man Tribulation, you have demonstrated that you are not just someone that wastes their time in peace, but someone that is continually honing themselves. Therefore, granting you more time is not a waste, but an investment."

"And that is your ancestor’s goal for me?" Gravis asked. "To basically become the oldest human inside my Realm?"

"This is not only the goal of my ancestor," Heaven said. "Do not forget that your father also wants you to become powerful. You, yourself, also want to become powerful. This is a goal shared by everyone. If you ever return to the highest world, you can ask your father for confirmation. This is the best path."

"If?" Gravis asked with a raised brow.

"Yes, if," Heaven answered. "You have the potential, but that doesn’t mean that you will be able to realize it. Do you believe that I will just let you sit on the ground and comprehend Laws for thousands of years? No."

"Until you become powerful enough to actually fight me, you will be under constant danger from me. I will attack you with increasing power until you either die or comprehend enough Laws to survive."

Gravis narrowed his eyes. "So you will force me to comprehend Laws by tempering. Fine with me. For now, our goals align."

Heaven ignored the ’for now’ comment. "I will also reforge your mindset. As long as you keep looking at other beings, you will never reach supreme power. You are no longer on the same playing field as the other beings. Comparing yourself to others with your privileged position will only show your vanity."

WHOOOM!

Gravis summoned his equipment as he readied himself.

"Stop talking and begin already!" he said.

Chapter 656 - 656 – Variable

Gravis had obviously already forged his new equipment. However, creating this equipment hadn’t been so easy. This was a middle world, and a middle world normally didn’t have any materials fitting for Immortal equipment.

Because of that, Gravis had gathered a ton of the most powerful materials in the world and mixed them together until he had been able to create some equipment fitting for his level. Sadly, his equipment still barely reached the power of the Initial Immortal Realm.

With Gravis now having six arms, his weapons had also changed. He actually carried four shields, two on his upper pair of arms and two on his lower pair of arms. His middle pair of arms held sabers.

Gravis had many different weapons stored in his Spirit Space, but he required a ton of defense to survive against Heaven. Even though everyone shared the same goal in making Gravis powerful, Heaven wouldn’t pull its punches.

WHOOOM!

The elements appeared around Gravis as he readied himself for battle.

Heaven shot Gravis an even look.

WHOOOM!

And then, Heaven summoned its elements.

Just like Gravis, Heaven had summoned eight different balls of elements. Yet, these were not the same elements as Gravis had summoned. No, these were the level three Law equivalents to Gravis’ elements.

This picture demonstrated the difference in power between Gravis and Heaven. Gravis was only able to summon the level one Law elements, while Heaven summoned the level three Law equivalents.

Gravis knew that it wasn’t possible to summon all of these elements at once if Heaven hadn’t comprehended an applicable Law that combined all of these Laws. Heaven had a lightning affinity, which was also one of the reasons why most of its power came from lightning.

If Gravis had comprehended the level three Fire Law, he wouldn’t be able to use it. His Law of the Elements only allowed him to control and summon the elements that were inside the Law. If he wanted to summon the level three equivalents, he would need to comprehend all of them and then understand the fused level four Law.

Yet, how difficult was that? In order to comprehend this Law, Gravis would need to understand the level three equivalents of all the elements. These were eight level three Laws that had to be understood in one go. Learning several level one Laws was different from learning several level three Laws in one go.

If Gravis had to hazard a guess on how long he would need to comprehend these Laws, he would think it would take him several thousand years. These were complicated Laws with affinities he didn’t have. Understanding these Laws would be a momentous undertaking.

This was the difference between Heaven and him. Heaven was incomprehensibly old and had had a seemingly infinite amount of time to comprehend these Laws. Meanwhile, Gravis had only been alive for 1.300 years. This was the power of age and effort.

"Comprehend any Law you want," Heaven said. "As long as it allows you to survive longer against me, you may comprehend whatever you want."

"And what am I supposed to do while you attack me with an unending barrage?" Gravis asked with a sneer. "Am I supposed to just stand here and take it?"

"You can try to kill me, Gravis," Heaven said. "Yet, do not forget that I know everything about you, and I also know all the Laws you have comprehended. You can’t surprise me with anything, and I won’t allow you to kill me."

"If, by a random chance, you manage to kill me, you can do so, but that is an impossibility. Even if you had the power to kill me right now, there would be no reason to kill me. This is the best opportunity for you to become powerful. Would you waste such an incredibly valuable tempering opportunity just to get some emotional satisfaction?" Heaven asked.

Gravis remained silent as he readied his weapons.

BANG!

Gravis shot forward at Heaven with his full speed. This had to be a real fight. If this weren’t a real fight, Gravis wouldn’t be able to become more powerful. Only when one used all their power to win would it count as true tempering.

CRRRRR!

A wall of earth appeared between them as Heaven didn’t move. Gravis’ two sabers hit the wall of earth, but they were just barely powerful enough to break through it. This was the level three Law of Earth. Even if Gravis managed to destroy this wall, all his attacking power had already been used up.

WHOOOOM!

Heaven activated its Will-Aura, and Gravis felt the sheer power of it. Due to the level suppression, Gravis was slowed down by 20%. It had been forever since Gravis had fought someone with a Will-Aura more powerful than his own.

Gravis activated his own Will-Aura and put the Law of Suppression and the Law of Minor Death on top of it. With these two Laws, Gravis managed to push his Will-Aura to a level where it was Heaven that became suppressed.

WHOOOOM!

Yet, Heaven simply also activated its own Law of Suppression and Law of Minor Death. With this, Gravis became the suppressed one again.

WHOOOOM!

Yet, there was something that Gravis had over Heaven. His Law of Apathy! As soon as he activated it, Heaven’s Will-Aura was pushed back again until it only suppressed Gravis by 5%. This solitary level two Law allowed Gravis to nearly close the gap of an entire level. Sadly, it was only nearly.

Heaven shot a ball of fire at Gravis, and this ball of fire was no joke. Not only was it the level three Law equivalent to fire, but it was also supported with the level three Law of Supreme Heat. The two Laws played off of each other, increasing both their powers until they nearly reached the power of a level four Law.

Gravis couldn’t use his Composition Laws to weaken this attack. After all, he understood fire, but he didn’t understand Inferno. The fact that he understood the level one Law equivalent to Inferno didn’t matter one bit. These two things were not related, and the level one Composition Law had absolutely no effect on the Law of Inferno.

This meant that Gravis was facing an elemental attack that he couldn’t weaken with his Composition Laws. Heaven was starting out strong.

SSSSHHH!

Gravis weakened the temperature with his level two Law of Cold, but it only had a minor effect.

CRRRR!

Suddenly, Gravis summoned several powerful balls of mud that he threw at the fireball. Earth and water countered fire, and mud was the fusion of earth and water. Even though the Law of Mud was only a level one Law, it still exhibited the power of a level two Law in this case.

Yet, the fireball still came closer, and Gravis had to align his shields into a ramp. The blistering heat started melting his shields and body.

BANG!

Gravis parried the fireball as it shot into the dark horizon behind him. His shields were nearly molten, but Gravis quickly stabilized them again. He was not only using his shield. He was also the forger of his shields, and he could simply return them to their original form as long as they weren’t completely shattered.

BOOOOOM!

Far behind Gravis, the fireball exploded, taking out a massive chunk of the world. Yet, something interesting happened.

SSSSHHHH!

The world started to regenerate. Not only that, but the previously destroyed portion of the world also reappeared.

Then, a flood of Energy filled the world.

"My ancestor grants us Energy," Heaven said. "Only with Energy can you train. Be thankful to my ancestor."

Gravis only stayed silent with narrowed eyes.

Heaven summoned another fireball and combined it with earth to create magma. "My attacks will only increase in intensity."

BANG!

And Gravis shot at Heaven again. He didn’t like to be on the receiving end of a one-sided beatdown. Even if there was a tiny chance of victory, Gravis would do this best to grasp it.

Thus, they started to fight intensely as the world around them got destroyed and rebuilt.

Meanwhile, in the highest world, the highest Heaven watched all of this with satisfaction.

As long as it treated Gravis with genuine kindness, its plan would work. Genuine kindness was the weakness of someone with Gravis’ mindset. Gravis wasn’t someone that would kill someone that had only shown kindness to him.

Yet, for some reason, the highest Heaven didn’t feel confident.

For some reason, there was something in the back of its mind that told it that there might be something that it had overlooked.

Yet, how was this possible? The highest Heaven knew everything. It knew everything about Gravis, and there was no way that Gravis would throw such an opportunity away. After all, this tempering was only good for him.

But the highest Heaven just couldn’t swallow this feeling. It felt like some of its pets were about to escape. Yet, it was physically impossible for its pets to escape. It just wasn’t possible.

However, the feeling just didn’t vanish.

The highest Heaven simply had this feeling that there was a variable it had missed. But it couldn’t have missed something. Gravis had even handed over his family! Gravis was following the highest Heaven’s plan! Not even the Opposer was able to escape from its grand plan!

Due to its uncertainty, the highest Heaven inspected Gravis once more. It already knew everything about him, but maybe there was something it had missed.

Suddenly, the highest Heaven’s eyes widened in shock.

When did that happen!?

"You stay out of this," the Opposer said to the highest Heaven with a smirk.

Now, the highest Heaven felt a bit nervous.

It only hoped that its child would notice this peculiarity on its own.

Otherwise, its entire plan for Gravis might be thrown out of the window!

Chapter 657 - 657 – Soul And Spirit

Heaven continued attacking Gravis continually, forcing him to resist its ever-increasingly powerful attacks.

In the beginning, it had been relatively easy for Gravis to survive, but as more time passed, it became harder and harder.

After 100 years, Gravis was close to death, and he would have already died if he hadn’t been able to understand several Laws.

Blocking and parrying the elemental attacks was still a possibility with his regeneration of Life Energy, but one of the elements became a massive issue for him.

The level three Law of the Wood Element.

Whenever he blocked this element, Gravis felt an incredible pain shoot throughout his Spirit. This Law attacked his Spirit directly, and Gravis had never been attacked by something like this before.

Whenever this pain appeared, Gravis felt his Spirit being torn apart. This resulted in him losing focus and making it harder for him to control his body, Energy, and lightning. The follow-up attacks from Heaven with a different element were the most dangerous situations for him.

That was when he managed to comprehend the level two Law of Soul Regeneration, a similar Law to what Ferris had managed to comprehend back then.

This Law allowed Gravis to quickly regenerate his Spirit by sacrificing part of his lightning. Thanks to this Law, the follow-up attacks of Heaven became stoppable.

Yet, instead of relenting with the soul-based attacks, Heaven increased their intensity.

Heaven saw that Gravis had managed to comprehend a Law of the Soul, and this was a prime opportunity to push him further into that direction. The Life Laws were integral to reaching supreme power! This was all for the future! All for its ancestor!

Heaven started to use its level four Law of the Elements to increase the power of the level three Law Wood Element to level four!

Yes, this was something that the level four Law of the Elements could do. It not only allowed the user to use all the Laws inside the Law but also allowed them to increase its power by an entire level. Instead of being attacked by a level three Law, Gravis was now being attacked by a level four Law.

This level four Law of the Elements was also the reason why Heaven had been able to unleash the power of a level five Law. The level four Law of the Elements increased the power of the level three Law elements to level four, and its Avatar increased the level again, resulting in the power of a level five Law.

Heaven was able to boost the power of a level three Law to a level five Law.

By watching how Heaven attacked, Gravis also learned a lot about the Avatar, and he also understood what Heaven wanted him to accomplish.

Heaven wanted Gravis to condense the same Avatar that Heaven had.

Gravis was pretty sure by now what Law this was.

This was the Law of the Dead World!

According to logic, Gravis could infer the components of this Law, and he also realized how powerful such an Avatar was. The Law of the Dead World was comprised of the level three Law of Matter, the level three Law of the Elements, the level three Law of Gravity, the level three Law of Time, and the level three Law of Space.

As its name suggested, this was the Composition Law of a dead world.

Matter was present.

The elements were present.

The primordial forces were present.

Everything that Gravis could see around him was present in this Law. The only missing thing was life.

Yet, Heaven had already told Gravis that the Law of the True World, which should be the Law of the Dead World together with the Laws of Life, was a level five Law. As long as Gravis was an Immortal, it would be impossible for him to learn it.

Gravis was also sure that the Law of the True World was an integral component to reaching supreme power.

Yet, that left one question.

How was the Law of the Dead World able to boost the power of a level three elemental Law?

The level three Laws of the elements counted as components of a higher world, not a middle world. The Minor Law of the Dead World, which should be a level four Law, shouldn’t have the higher-tiered elements inside it. So, how was it able to boost their power?

Gravis could only come to one conclusion.

The Avatar didn’t need to be upgraded all at once but could be upgraded step by step.

Since the level three Law of the Elements was already a part of the Avatar, it wasn’t too far-fetched to assume that Heaven could upgrade that part with the level four Law of the Elements. This meant that Heaven’s Avatar was comprised of several level three Laws and one level four Law.

Did this mean that an Avatar’s power didn’t always fall into the typical categorization of power for Laws? Logically, a level four Law shouldn’t have another level four Law inside it.

Yet, Gravis couldn’t argue with the facts that were shown before him. Somehow, this level four Law was inside Heaven’s Avatar.

In the next hundred years, Gravis managed to learn several other soul-related Laws.

One was the level two Law of Soul Infusion, the same one Ferris had comprehended. This allowed Gravis to order his attacks to move instead of directly controlling them. The advantage of this Law was that it wasn’t dispersible by a Spirit. The disadvantage was that Gravis could only give an order.

Gravis also managed to comprehend the Law of Soul Dispersal, which allowed him to use his Will-Aura as a medium to suppress the opponent’s Spirit. It didn’t destroy the Spirit, but it weakened it immensely, making it more difficult for the opponent to react.

Thanks to these Laws, Gravis also finally learned the difference between a Soul and a Spirit. This had always confused him a little bit. Wasn’t a Spirit already a Soul?

Surprisingly, that was true. The Spirit was the Soul.

The difference between a Soul and a Spirit was based on the being that had it. A Soul was a weaker form of a Spirit, which didn’t allow the user to remotely control anything not directly connected or related to them.

This meant that beasts and plants had Souls, while humans had Spirits. A Spirit was simply a better version of a Soul.

After another hundred years, Gravis managed to comprehend the level three Law of the Soul.

Yet, one question was apparent.

Why had Gravis needed 300 years to understand three level two Laws and one level three Law? Shouldn’t he be faster in comprehending?

The reason for that was Gravis’ current power.

It was too high.

As an Immortal, Gravis was no longer a being of the middle world. His Spirit had already stepped into the boundaries of a higher world. If he had been in the Immortal Realm for a lot longer, he would have already forgotten how it felt to have a lower-tiered Spirit.

The fact that he was still relatively new in this Realm meant that he could still remember how it felt to have a weaker Spirit. If he hadn’t been able to comprehend this Law now, he would have had to wait until he became powerful enough to travel to middle worlds on his own.

Sure, his father could have sent him there, but even though Gravis had accepted his muddled path, he didn’t want to rely too much on others. There was a difference between accepting critical help and seeking every help one could get.

This meant that Gravis could have only attempted to comprehend the Laws of the Soul when he had already become a God in the highest world. This would have been a major weakness of his.

After Heaven saw that Gravis managed to learn the level three Law of the Soul, it changed its approach.

Now, it attacked him with ever-increasing physical and elemental power. It even dispersed the level three Law of Wood. There was no longer any reason to use it... for now.

Heaven would push so many Laws into Gravis until he would also be able to unleash the power of a level five Law. This meant that it also wanted him to comprehend all the level three Laws of the Elements.

But first, it wanted to push Gravis towards another Law.

Chapter 658 - 658 – After Suppression

400 years later, Gravis had managed to comprehend all the relevant Laws of Life.

Heaven’s attacks became increasingly faster, making him unable to avoid them. He could only resort to blocking, and his Life Energy was running out faster than he was regenerating it.

Because of this pressure, Gravis managed to learn the level three Law of Energy Healing and the Composition Law for all Life.

Thanks to these two Laws, Gravis managed to stay alive.

After Gravis comprehended these two Laws, Heaven changed its approach again. Now, it was attacking him with one element with increasing power. It wanted to force him into comprehending the level three Laws of the Elements now.

Yet, Gravis didn’t just stand there and take the attacks. He had already tried nearly everything to kill Heaven. He had unleashed an uncountable number of Lightning Crescents and Mortalities. Yet, Heaven was always able to block them.

Except for Mortality.

As long as Heaven didn’t use the power of a level five Law to block Mortality, it wouldn’t be able to block the attack. Because of that, it always evaded Mortality. After all, in its mind, unleashing the power of a level five Law was still too early.

Gravis noticed Heaven’s plan of shoehorning him into learning all the level three Laws of the elements.

Yet, Gravis never forgot his repressed emotions. If he had to stay here for thousands of years, he might not be able to deal with the outbreak of his emotions again.

This meant that he may be forced to forever stay his current, emotionless, cold self.

Was this what Gravis wanted?

Gravis still remembered the words of his mother that told him about his father’s problems. His father was the most powerful being besides Heaven, but his life was only monotone and grey. Was this the life that Gravis wanted?

Would forever running away from his emotions be true freedom?

Sure, being emotionless might actually help him even more in reaching true power than if he constantly thought about other people.

Heaven knew this, which was why it wanted to forge Gravis into a second Opposer. As long as it granted him freedom, due to Gravis’ mindset, it would never need to fear any kind of attack from him.

Gravis was different from his father.

His father might decide to kill the highest Heaven regardless, but Gravis wasn’t like this. The highest Heaven had repaid its debt, and Gravis had truly forgiven it. As long as it didn’t go against him or his family again, he wouldn’t target the highest Heaven anymore, no matter how powerful he got.

But then, what was the point of reaching supreme power?

If he reached supreme power but only felt greyness and apathy towards everything, wouldn’t that be even worse than dying now? Such a life was not living but surviving. If one’s goal didn’t give one happiness, what was the point of even striving for that goal?

Because of that, Gravis made a choice.

Gravis blocked another attack from Heaven and got injured again. Gravis couldn’t remember the last time when he wasn’t injured. For the last 700 years, he had always been in perpetual combat against Heaven.

Gravis shot another Lightning Crescent at Heaven, something he had done uncountable times.

BOOOOM!

Heaven destroyed the Lightning Crescent from a distance, but suddenly, the spear of Mortality came out of the explosion of Gravis’ Lightning Crescent.

Heaven saw this but wasn’t surprised. Gravis hadn’t used this combination before, but it had already expected that he would unleash this attack sooner than later. It simply moved its body out of the way.

And that’s when everything changed.

WHOOOOOOM!

Suddenly, Gravis’ Will-Aura exploded with more power than ever before, even suppressing Heaven.

For the first time, Heaven’s Spirit shook.

How had Gravis’ Will-Aura become this powerful!?

WHOOOOOM!

Heaven felt suppressed and unleashed its full Will-Aura with all related Laws. Yet, even with that, Heaven’s Will-Aura was only able to barely cancel Gravis’ Will-Aura out.

How was this possible!? It was an entire level higher than Gravis, and it also had a Will-Aura at the absolute limit for its Realm. Additionally, it knew all Laws that Gravis knew!

What was going on!?

Heaven used several level four Laws to block Mortality.

WHOOOSH!

Yet, the spear dodged the relatively slow-moving Laws. Gravis had infused his attack with a Soul!

WHOOOM!

Heaven summoned its Avatar and created a powerful shield with the strength of a level five Law.

BOOOOOM!

Mortality exploded on the shield but wasn’t able to penetrate it. The attack had been stopped.

SHING!

Suddenly, Gravis arrived directly in front of Heaven’s Avatar, but Heaven still had everything under control.

Yes, Gravis’ sudden increase of his Will-Aura had been surprising, but power was still the supreme truth.

WHOOOOM!

Heaven used its Avatar to create a Space Confinement on the fourth level. It might not be able to suppress Gravis with its Will-Aura, but it had other ways. Gravis wasn’t powerful enough to break out of the Space Confinement without a level four Law of his own. Additionally, Gravis had no Avatar yet.

Gravis was stuck as Heaven turned to him. He was just mere meters away from Heaven’s Avatar.

"Quite surprising," Heaven said. "You have comprehended a Law that I haven’t noticed."

Up in the highest world, the highest Heaven released a sigh of relief. This was what it had noticed back then. Its child had managed to deal with the variable.

The Opposer looked at the middle world with narrowed eyes.

"Tell me, what is this Law?" Heaven asked calmly.

It wasn’t afraid of Gravis right now. Gravis would need to condense his Avatar first, and that would take some time. The comprehension of a Law might go over unnoticed by it, but the condensing of an Avatar was impossible to hide.

"You know," Gravis transmitted since he couldn’t speak right now. "I have truly forgiven the highest Heaven. That was not a lie."

"But when I handed over my Life Ring, I noticed the truth, and with truth comes power."

"Your ancestor wants to give me freedom, but even giving me freedom is a form of suppression. When I have handed over my Life Ring, I realized this truth. Even when I am being granted freedom, the fact that I have been given this freedom instead of taking it for myself shows that I am still under your ancestor’s control."

"That is when I have realized that you are still suppressing me. You want to control my actions by targeting my weakness, which is my personality. As long as you are good to me, nothing will happen to your ancestor, even if I become stronger than it in the future."

"This is suppression via debt."

WHOOOOOM!

Gravis’ Will-Aura became even more powerful as it suppressed Heaven’s Will-Aura.

"And I comprehended a more powerful form of my level two Law of Suppression. I think I’ll call it the Law of Major Suppression, and who could have guessed, it’s a level four Law. My very first level four Law is the Law of Suppression. Just like back then, this situation is just as ironic."

Yet, Heaven was still calm.

"So what?" Heaven said. "Even if you learned the level four Law of Major Suppression, you can’t suppress space. I know of this Law, and this Law can’t help you in escaping Space Confinement."

Heaven slowly flew away with its Avatar.

"You’re right," Gravis transmitted. "But do you know what you can learn when you finally break the Suppression?"

Heaven’s Spirit shook.

BANG!

Gravis suddenly exploded forward with his full speed, as if there was absolutely nothing suppressing him. Heaven’s Will-Aura didn’t matter. The Space Confinement didn’t matter. It was like it didn’t exist.

Heaven couldn’t react to this sudden acceleration.

"With the destruction of suppression comes freedom!"

BANG!

And Gravis swallowed the Avatar of Heaven!

Chapter 659 - 659 – Doing What You Want

Heaven was shocked.

The highest Heaven was shocked.

The Opposer grinned.

This went beyond all of their expectations, except for the Opposer. The Opposer trusted in his son, and he also trusted that his son would find a way out of this mess.

His son desired freedom, and the highest Heaven had suppressed him in a very gentle manner. Anyone else would have believed that they would be truly free if the highest Heaven didn’t act against them. Only the beings that desired true freedom would notice this soft form of suppression.

"What have you done!?" Heaven shouted in shock and rage. How had all of this happened!?

Gravis swallowed the Avatar with a grin. "I just swallowed your Avatar. What does it look like I’m doing?" Gravis asked.

"You are not ready yet!" Heaven shouted. For the first time, Heaven seemed to be truly emotionally riled up, and Gravis enjoyed every moment of it. "You are supposed to learn the Laws of the Elements first! Do you not realize that everything you are doing is only damaging your own path forward!? Why would you do something so stupid!?"

"Because I want to," Gravis said.

Silence.

Heaven waited for more, but Gravis had already listed his entire reason. A shocked expression appeared on Heaven’s face, and Gravis had to laugh loudly when he saw that.

"You push me into a path that leads to supreme power," Gravis said. "Sure, I want to reach supreme power, but I don’t want to reach it via a path that you want to force upon me."

"What is this idiocy!?" Heaven shouted. "The ancestor knows best on how to reach supreme power! Why are you not accepting the ancestor’s help!?"

"Hey, I’m not arguing that," Gravis said with a chuckle. "Your ancestor truly knows best, and I would have maybe followed his path."

"If he hadn’t been such a dick about it," Gravis said with a smirk. "I mean, come on, wanting me to hand over my family? That’s just being an asshole."

"Also, do you not realize the truth about the current situation?" Gravis asked. "You had all the power to push me into the path you want, but you and your ancestor have underestimated me. You thought you had me in your hands and became careless. If you had directly teleported away with your Avatar, I wouldn’t have managed to swallow it."

"Your feeling of control has blinded you to the danger. You thought you knew everything about me, and that is even more dangerous than knowing nothing about me."

"Stop acting like a child!" Heaven shouted back. "You are willing to throw away your potential and future just so you can spite my ancestor!?"

Gravis laughed loudly. "I was a teenager when I started my journey," Gravis said. "Then, I became an adult. After that, I got some children of my own and became a middle-aged man. Yet, who would have thought that I would feel like a teenager again? I’m not sure if this is simply a midlife crisis or if I am truly a teenager, but hey..."

"If I am truly a teenager, I am at a very problematic age right now," Gravis said with a smirk. "I’m at a very rebellious age, and I like to defy my parents’ orders on a whim."

Gravis chuckled some more. "So, in short: Fuck you, mom, I don’t want to do what you want."

Gravis laughed loudly as Heaven only had a shocked look on its face. Why was Gravis acting this way!? This was so completely unlike him!

"You know," Gravis said after a while. "A shitty lizard once said that some people just follow their emotions, even though it most definitely will hurt them. Guess what. This is exactly what I’m doing right now."

"I am your pet ant that you have kept in a cage. You wanted to transfer me to a different cage, but instead of going in, I crawled onto your hand. You might have the power to kill me with but a slap, but who cares? If I die, I died doing what I want, not what you want!"

Heaven’s body shook, but after a while, it surprisingly calmed down.

Heaven took a deep breath.

"You may not have followed the ancestor’s path to its entirety, but you have still comprehended the most important things."

"Digest my swallowed Avatar, Gravis. It should give you the last push you need to understand the Minor Law of the Dead World. Then, condense your Avatar," Heaven said with an even voice.

"Oh, I will do just that, but not because you tell me to," Gravis said like a rebellious and stubborn child. He wasn’t truly a rebellious teenager, but he sure as hell enjoyed acting like one.

Gravis would have never thought that his personality would ever become like this. In the past, he would have looked down upon such a person. He would have thought that throwing away his own gains for a short moment of satisfaction was stupid.

And that was also the reason why he hadn’t comprehended the Law of Freedom in the past.

Gravis had chased freedom while only making logical decisions. Making logical and thought-through decisions made him a stronger Cultivator, but it didn’t make him a free Cultivator.

When one had to ignore their very being, their very emotions, one couldn’t be truly free. After all, was their being not shackled by their own logical thoughts?

There was a time to be logical.

There was a time to be emotional.

There was a time to be empathetic.

There was a time to be apathetic.

So what if Gravis decided to make a wrong turn on cultivation? It was not like this decision would completely cut him off from supreme power.

By now, Gravis was pretty sure what was necessary to reach supreme power. Heaven had forced him to learn the Law of the Dead World, which meant that this was the safest path to supreme power.

Gravis guessed that one probably needed to create a true world. The closer one’s own world was to reality, the more powerful.

This meant that all of the Laws of this world had to be comprehended in the end.

And wasn’t the Law of Freedom also one of these Laws?

Sure, the emotional and situational Laws might come last, but they would come at some point.

So what if everyone at some point was able to boost their Laws by one level? Then Gravis just had to comprehend more Laws than his opponents.

The Avatar inside Gravis’ stomach vanished, and Gravis looked at it. An entire world was being digested by him, and when he saw an entire world being destroyed, he truly understood its Composition.

BOOOOM!

Gravis finally understood the Law of the Dead World, and he also realized its power. Everything could be combined with nearly everything else, giving one endless possibilities.

"Hey, Heaven," Gravis said with a smirk. "What happens if your Avatar gets destroyed? I really wanna know."

Even though Gravis’ words were filled with schadenfreude, Heaven only remained emotionless.

"When an Avatar gets destroyed, the Cultivator loses all the Laws related to the Avatar," Heaven said.

"Ooohh," Gravis cooed. "So you completely forgot all the Elemental Laws? You even forgot space, time, and gravity?"

"Yes," Heaven answered. "I do not remember how the elements work. I do not even properly remember how they look."

"Man, that sucks," Gravis said with a smirk.

"Condense your Avatar, Gravis," Heaven said emotionlessly. "After that, you may kill and consume me. My service is over. My sacrifice will allow you to become more powerful, and that is the wish of my ancestor."

Gravis only smirked, but he still decided to condense his Avatar.

Chapter 660 - 660 – Backwards

Gravis concentrated on creating his Avatar, but he was torn between two paths right now.

On one hand, Gravis had comprehended the Minor Law of the Dead World, and this Law would boost his power to incredible levels. He could unleash the Laws of Space, Time, Gravity, Matter, and his Lightning with the power of level four Laws. The power that such an Avatar had was ridiculous.

Yet, this was Heaven’s chosen best path. Heaven wanted him to follow this path like a formula.

Gravis had already seen how everything would evolve naturally and why this Law would be the best one to start with. First came the dead world, then came life, making it the living world. After that, one could combine the emotions and situational Laws like Control, Suppression, and Freedom to create the Law of the True World. This would create a perfect world and would probably be the end.

But Gravis really didn’t want to follow the path that Heaven chose. Heaven had forced him onto this path, and he had just defied Heaven. If he went back to doing this, what would have been the point of defying Heaven?

Taking the Law of the Dead World as an Avatar was the logical and most powerful choice.

Yet, Gravis really wanted to make his Avatar the Law of Freedom.

Gravis desired freedom above everything else, including supreme power. If Gravis had the ability to gain true freedom without having supreme power, he would choose freedom. The only problem was that one was required to have supreme power to be truly free. When one wasn’t the strongest, one would always be suppressed by the more powerful beings.

Obviously, the Law of Freedom, even if it was a level four Law, wasn’t nearly as powerful as the Law of the Dead World. The Law of Freedom allowed Gravis to ignore every kind of suppression. This included cages, Space Confinements, Will-Auras, and probably also Formation Arrays and something similar.

This was truly powerful, but was it as powerful as the Law of the Dead World? Certainly not!

Additionally, to create the True World, these situational Laws came in last. Sure, in the very end, Gravis would be able to create the True World regardless of what he chose, but the path to that point is difficult.

If Gravis decided to create his Avatar with the Law of Freedom, he wouldn’t be able to access the true power of the different World Laws until he already was one of the most powerful beings in the highest world.

Gravis’ head told him that he should take the Law of the Dead World.

Gravis’ heart told him that he should take the Law of Freedom.

Gravis’ mind had been able to accept defying Heaven. After all, being apart from any other living being for thousands of years was incredibly damaging to his personality.

If he had remained in this situation, he might have forgotten who he truly was. He might even have forgotten how to laugh or feel excited. In the end, he would have become like his father, cold, unfeeling, and surrounded by greyness. The desire for more power would have been the only thing driving him forward.

Was this what Gravis wanted? No!

Yet, the matter of the Avatar was different. Not choosing the Law of the Dead World might give him a hefty disadvantage against other Cultivators in the highest world. Sure, he would still be powerful in the higher world, but not in the highest world.

’I really want to condense an Avatar with the Law of Freedom, but no matter how I think about it, it would just be too stupid,’ Gravis thought.

’I mean, I could still combine the Law of Freedom with the Law of Suppression later on, and sure, I could probably also include emotions at some point...’

Suddenly, Gravis’ eyes shone.

’How have I not seen this before!?’

Gravis made his decision and condensed his Avatar. It took him several minutes, but when he was done, Gravis’ Avatar appeared behind him.

"What have you done!?" Heaven shouted in anger. "Are you that dead-set on defying my ancestor that you choose this garbage Law over the Law of the Dead World!?"

Behind Gravis floated his Avatar. It was light blue and looked like it had wind inside it. The form of his Avatar changed like wind blew upon grass.

"Are you unable to see my path, Heaven?" Gravis asked with a smirk.

"You can’t combine this Law with the world until the very end!" Heaven shouted. "Your power will be crippled until the very end, but with that disadvantage, you won’t even be able to get to the end!"

Gravis laughed again. "So, you truly can’t see my path! How interesting," Gravis said.

"Your ancestor knows best!" Gravis shouted with a smile. "Your ancestor has shown me the way! You have shown me the way!" Gravis shouted as he bowed mockingly.

"I will follow the path of your ancestor," Gravis said.

Heaven felt Gravis’ mockery in its very being. "No, you can’t-"

"Backwards!" Gravis interrupted Heaven.

Heaven was taken aback. "What?" it asked involuntarily.

"I will tread the path backwards!" Gravis repeated.

"I will start with freedom. Then, I will take all the situational Laws to create the Law of Situations. After that, I will take the Life Laws to create the Law of True Life, and lastly, I will combine the Law of True Life with the Law of the Dead World, creating the Law of the True World!" Gravis shouted.

"Stop being stupid and stubborn!" Heaven shouted in rage. "The Situational Laws are the hardest to understand! You can’t watch them like matter, the elements, or life! Understanding these Laws relies on pure chance! You are making this far harder on yourself than it needs to be!"

"Fuck you, I do what I want," Gravis shouted as he laughed loudly. "This is my choice, and it’s my decision to make it! If my choice is to die right now, there’s nothing you can do to stop me! If I want to make my path even harder, you also can’t stop me!"

"I’m not your fucking pet!" Gravis shouted as he pointed at Heaven aggressively. "Stop trying to push me onto something! I do what I fucking want, and if you continue trying to shoehorn me into your so-called best path, I might just decide to fucking cripple my own path to annoy you!"

Heaven saw that it couldn’t force Gravis onto the path it wanted. If it still had its old power, it might have been able to force him under threat of his life. Sadly, its Avatar had been destroyed, and Heaven had no level four Law remaining. It could only unleash some basic, element-neutral level three Laws.

It was far weaker than Gravis right now.

"Fine," Heaven said. "You have made your choice. There is nothing I can do to change it."

"Come!" Heaven shouted. "Finish it and return home."

The only thing remaining was consuming Heaven and understanding the level six Law of Divine Lightning.

Heaven inspected Gravis with its Spirit, and it clenched its fist when it saw Gravis’ expression.

Gravis only grinned widely.

"Sorry," Gravis said slowly, his mirth coating his words, "but I don’t wanna."

Heaven’s body shook in a cocktail of emotions.

Even now, Gravis was defying it!? Was he truly that petty!? He wouldn’t even kill and consume Heaven right now!?

Gravis had once made a vow to his lightning that he would kill Heaven. Yet, what was this vow in front of the Law of Freedom? Freedom didn’t allow suppression, and that included Gravis’ own self.

Gravis was free.

He didn’t have to follow what some guy in the past swore, even if it was himself. His lightning just had to deal with it.

Heaven’s body continued shaking.

"Fine!" Heaven shouted.

BANG!

Heaven pointed at Gravis and unleashed a terrifyingly fast lightning bolt. It was so fast that Gravis couldn’t possibly evade. His body halted as his mind was overwhelmed with knowledge.

"But you WILL understand the Law of Divine Lightning if you want to or not!" Heaven shouted with anger.

Days passed, but Gravis only felt like seconds passed.

"What?" Gravis said as his mind returned to him. Then, he realized what Heaven had done.

Gravis released a sigh. "Alright, might as well," he commented.

Gravis inspected the new knowledge he had gained, but it somehow felt... incomplete.

"Huh?" Gravis uttered. Then, he opened his palm and tried to use Divine Lightning, but it just didn’t work.

"You can’t," Heaven said. "This is a level six Law, and even with your special Spirit, you can’t fully combine it yet. I can only use this Law because my Ancestor made an exception for us Heavens."

"Normally, you would need to have a Will-Aura on the level of a Star God, but in your case, the Immortal Emperor Realm should suffice," Heaven explained.

Instead of looking at Heaven, Gravis frowned at his hand. He tried every conceivable way to comprehend this Law, but it just didn’t work.

Then, his Avatar began to shine.

And Gravis smirked.

"Fuck you, I do what I want!"

BANG!

A spark of Divine Lightning appeared on Gravis’ hand, shocking Heaven beyond belief.

Then, Gravis laughed loudly again.

"Your stupid rules can’t suppress me!" Gravis shouted between laughs.

Yet, Gravis felt light-headed, and the lightning disappeared.

"Okay, maybe I follow them a little bit," Gravis said weakly.

He had defied the rules and comprehended the Law of Divine Lightning, but he couldn’t use it. His entire being felt utterly exhausted. Gravis was lightning, but this Divine Lightning was just too overbearing.

If Gravis decided to become Divine Lightning, the power of Divine Lightning would win. Then, Gravis would literally become Divine Lightning. His will and being would vanish, and he would lose his individuality. He would become a mindless body filled with the will of Divine Lightning.

This would be the same situation as back when he had become the Avatar of Lightning in the lower world. Gravis would truly die.

’But hey, that’s a small victory!’ Gravis thought with a smirk.

Then, he waved at Heaven with a wink. "Anyway, goodbye. I’ll be going now," he said with a laugh.

Gravis looked at the sky with a smile.

After that, he flew upwards and vanished.

The Opposer had called his son home.

Heaven looked at the ground, its dead child.

It moved its hand through the sand as it touched it.

"I have failed you, ancestor," Heaven said, its voice filled with sadness and grief. "My child is dead, and I have no reason to continue living."

"Ancestor, please destroy me along with my child."

The highest Heaven looked at its child, but it wasn’t angry. This had been one of its most loyal, hardworking, and best children. Not even the highest Heaven had been able to foresee this development.

Its child had performed as well as possible. If not even the highest Heaven had been able to foresee this development, it would be foolish to expect others to foresee it.

Slowly, the entire world turned into white dust.

Heaven stood up and looked at its dead child.

Then, it sighed one last time.

"I truly hate you, Gravis," it said.

And then, it too, transformed into white dust.

The white dust vanished as it was transformed into Energy to feed a different middle world.

Like this, an entire middle world had been destroyed.

And Gravis’ journey in the middle world had ended.