Ch. 731..740

Chapter 731 - 731 – Punishment Cleaver Sect

"Senior, join my Burying Earth Sect!" a guy shouted suddenly, and as soon as he opened his mouth, the floodgate was opened.

"No, join my Dark Descent Sect!"

"Join my Burning Light Sect!"

All of the guards immediately started stepping forward and assaulting Gravis with offers. Usually, they would take turns in getting the Ascenders. That was also why only the grey guard appeared in the beginning. If an Ascender didn’t fit their Sect, the next Sect would be allowed to make an offer.

"Shut up! It’s the turn of my Flowing Water Sect!" a blue guard shouted.

Yet, no one cared. Even if they had to break the agreement, they had to get Gravis! Someone that knew so many Laws would increase the power of every disciple immensely! Gravis could teach them a lot about their auxiliary element and all the other kinds of Laws.

Gravis’ status had transformed immensely. Weak Elemental Cultivators were called servants, but powerful Elemental Cultivators were called Elemental Teachers! A Weapon Sect that used an auxiliary element would need these Elemental Cultivators to comprehend more Laws so that they could teach the disciples these new Laws.

Elemental Teachers were very valuable to every element-related Weapon Sect, and it was basically unheard of that an Ascender was already one. Usually, the Sects would have to create their own Elemental Teachers out of Servants.

Gravis only smiled. ’Power is everything. That’s true in every world. The weak become suppressed while the powerful ones gain freedom,’ Gravis mused in his mind.

"Calm down," Gravis said with a smile. "I really appreciate all your offers, but I’m looking for a specific one."

The guards calmed down immediately, waiting for Gravis’ words. Would they be the lucky ones?

"I specialized in lightning and sabers," Gravis said. "Is there a fitting Sect?"

Immediately, all the guards started grimacing.

Except one.

"Yes, here!" a guard in white and blue armor stepped forward. He had a saber on his back, and Gravis could feel some lightning inside the guard.

One had to remember that humans kept their elements separate from their Energy. The elements lived in the entire body of the beast, but they only lived in a small part inside humans. Additionally, their element was fragile in its base form but would be able to unleash an incredible power when they infused it with Energy.

"Oh?" Gravis asked. "You specialize in lightning and sabers?" he asked.

The guard nodded thrice in quick succession. "Yes, we do!"

Gravis scratched his chin in thought. "That’s unusual," Gravis said. "As far as I know, spears and normal swords are more common among people with the lightning element. It’s quite surprising that there is an entire Sect dedicated to lightning and sabers."

Instead of becoming offended, the guard looked embarrassed. "Yes, we hear that everywhere," he said quietly.

The other guards looked with disgust at this guard.

Gravis noticed their actions and realized several things. ’This is not the look of envy or jealousy, well, at least that’s not all of it. They also look at this guy with genuine disgust. Additionally, sabers and lightning normally don’t really go hand in hand, which would make it very hard to find new disciples.’

’People that reach the Immortal Realm have already refined their Battle Style as much as possible, which means that they won’t easily change. This means most of the Ascenders have already chosen a more fitting weapon for lightning. This means that nearly no Ascender would choose this Sect.’

’With fewer recruits, the entire Sect won’t be able to fill up the elites of the Sect since not everyone can reach sufficient power. So, this Sect probably has a very weak overall power in comparison to all the others.’

’Yet, this Sect is still able to get a spot for a guard here,’ Gravis thought as he looked at the hall. ’The fact that over a hundred guards of different Sects are here means that this is probably an Ascender Hub or something. This means that the Ascenders come into this world in fixed locations and not at random.’

’So, if such a weak Sect can get a spot here with a weak upper echelon, it probably means that they have someone holding down the fort. They probably have a mighty Sect Leader or Ancestor or something similar. Otherwise, this Sect wouldn’t have the opportunity to vie for something as important as Ascenders.’

’Well, as long as there is someone powerful enough to actually teach me something, I don’t mind.’

Gravis had thought of these things in just a few seconds and nodded at the guard. "Sounds perfect!" he said with a smile.

The guard perked up when he heard Gravis’ agreement. For a second there, he had feared that Gravis would notice the conduct of the other guards and realize that their Sect was relatively weak. Luckily, Gravis had noticed none of this!

The other guards looked away. If they weren’t fearful of Gravis, they would have sneered at him. How had this Ascender become so powerful without the ability to discern context clues?

All of them thought that Gravis didn’t notice their activities, when in reality, he had noticed more than they would have thought possible. Yet, as long as there was one powerful person in a Sect, they would be able to teach Gravis.

Now, Gravis only had to find out how powerful this person was and how far along on the path of weapons they were. However, for starters, it would be enough to learn from anyone. Gravis was probably the only Immortal in the world that didn’t even know the basics of Weapon Cultivation.

"What’s the name of your Sect?" Gravis asked.

The guard puffed out his chest in pride. "Punishment Cleaver Sect!" he announced with pride.

Gravis rubbed his chin. "How did your Sect get that name?" Gravis asked.

"Our Ancestor created the Punishment Cleaver, an incredible attack that allows him to remain undefeated in his level! Our Sect has been named after this attack since it serves as our basis and core teaching!" the guard said with reverence.

"Punishment Cleaver, huh?" Gravis mused.

"Yes," the guard said with a nod. "The attack you demonstrated earlier looks very similar to our Sect’s technique but weaker."

"Weaker?" Gravis asked in shock.

The guard became nervous as he realized that he might have phrased that statement incorrectly. "I don’t mean weaker, but less refined. Your attack is missing two essential things. One of them is Saber Intent while the other is proper Law Focus."

"Oh?" Gravis uttered with interest. "What’s that?"

The surrounding guards were shocked when Gravis asked this. These two things served as the absolute basis for Weapon Cultivation. Even though Gravis wasn’t a Weapon Cultivator, he should know these concepts! These concepts were about as basic as moving one’s Energy through one’s element to create an elemental attack.

It was like this Ascender had never seen a Weapon Cultivator before.

Yet, how was this possible!?

All worlds below them followed the path of weapons, and even though there might be worlds where the path of weapons doesn’t rule supreme, there should still be enough Weapon Cultivators walking around.

This Ascender was incredibly strange. How was it possible to become so powerful while having absolutely no knowledge about weapons? Whom had this Ascender fought to become so powerful? Had he never fought a Weapon Cultivator? Had he been living among beasts for all his life?

"Well, Saber Intent is-"

WHOOOOOOOM!

The entire hall started shaking as an intense pressure appeared suddenly.

"Who dares to kill my soldier!?" a mighty voice appeared.

Everyone looked outside with shock at the new arrival. It was a middle-aged man with a grey beard, a grey spear, and grey armor.

Meanwhile, Gravis narrowed his eyes. ’Finally, this is getting interesting now! I want to have a proper fight!’ he thought.

This was someone in the Early Major Circulation Immortal Realm, three Cultivation levels but four power levels above Gravis. On top of that, this person was a Weapon Cultivator.

"Oh no," the guy from the Punishment Cleaver Sect said. "A Core Captain from the Dead Earth Sect!"

"What’s your name?" Gravis asked the person from the Punishment Cleaver Sect.

The person was shocked that Gravis seemed so calm. "Roger," he answered out of reflex.

"Okay, Roger, would you please inform your higher-ups about this situation?" he asked as he stepped forward.

Roger immediately realized what Gravis wanted and nodded. "I just informed them that they should arrive as quickly as possible. You need to survive until then."

Gravis only smiled. "That’s not what I meant. What I meant was that they should be ready to negotiate with the Dead Earth Sect."

"After all, the death of someone in the Major Circulation Realm is probably not a minor thing."

Chapter 732 - 732 – Testing

Roger almost couldn’t process what Gravis just said. What was he talking about? Why would a Major Circulation Immortal die here? But then, it hit him. Wait, did Gravis just say that he would kill a Major Circulation Immortal!? That was impossible!

Gravis teleported out of the hall before anyone could react and reappeared in the sky, and for the first time, Gravis saw the higher world in its full glory.

The light caressed the land, and Gravis saw a lot of buildings all around them. Yet, he was sure that they were not inside a city. There were simply a ton of wooden huts with fields of rice everywhere. The hall that Gravis had just left was the only relatively imposing building for thousands of kilometers around.

Gravis could also see several mountains, but in comparison to regular mountains, they seemed to be shorter but steeper. Rivers crossed the land, and Gravis could also see a lot of cows, chickens, and other kinds of livestock living around the area.

Where there were buildings, there were humans, and Gravis could see that one family generally owned one wooden hut and several surrounding fields.

Obviously, Gravis was in the middle of a community of farmers. After a closer inspection, Gravis also saw that most households had at least one Energy Gathering Cultivator in their midst while the remainder was in the Body Tempering Realm.

’Are these the mortals of this world? Usually, only the mortals without any cultivation experience run farms, but here basically everyone but the little kids have at least some accomplishment in the Body Tempering Realm,’ Gravis thought.

’Also, I get why people eat rice but so much? Can’t you also get some wheat and make some bread or something? Why is everything just rice?’ Gravis thought.

"Are you the servant that dared to kill my soldier?" the person in front of Gravis asked with narrowed eyes.

Gravis’ attention moved back to the person. "Yes, but not on purpose," Gravis said.

The man huffed. "How can you kill someone a level above you mistakenly?" he asked with a tone that showed that he obviously didn’t believe anything Gravis said.

"He pointed his spear at me, and I felt it was only fair to reciprocate. So, I took his spear and also pointed it at him," Gravis said.

"Insolence!" the man shouted with righteous anger. "You stole the path of a Weapon Cultivator!? This is even worse than directly killing him!"

Gravis rolled his eyes. "I know that now, but I didn’t know it at the time."

SHING!

"Speaking to you is a waste of my honor and time, servant," the man said as he took out his spear. "You have taken a life of my Sect, so you will pay with your own life!"

The man pointed his spear at Gravis, who simply looked back evenly.

Yet, surprisingly, the man pulled his spear back slightly as his eyebrows furrowed. "Or you can repay your debt by working for our Sect," he said with a less offensive tone.

Gravis lifted an eyebrow. ’That’s unusual. His Sect is probably allied with one of the others, and a guard from an allied Sect informed him about my abilities. That’s the only thing I could think of that would warrant such a change in attitude.’

"Not interested," Gravis said. "If someone threatens me, I will strike back. I have power, and I will use this power to gain my freedom."

SHING!

Gravis summoned one of his sabers and also pointed it at the grey man in provocation. "Like I am doing right now," he said with a smirk.

The man narrowed his eyes in rage.

SHING!

The man teleported with incredible speed as he appeared directly behind Gravis. Gravis had felt the teleportation coming, but it had still been hard for him to react with enough speed, but he managed to turn around and blocked the attack with his saber.

BOOOOM!

The surroundings shook as the weapons clashed. The surrounding buildings down on the ground were obliterated by the shockwaves as mortal families were reduced to ashes. When the powerful ones fought, the weak always suffered.

The guards in front of the hall almost couldn’t believe what they were seeing! Just a couple of kilometers above them, the grey man and Gravis stood there with their weapons interlocked! None of the two moved as they were in a deadlock.

How was this possible!? Gravis was four power levels below his opponent, but he wasn’t pushed back at all! One had to jump levels by using the Laws with more finesse than their opponent. Using brute force to resist someone that much more powerful was impossible!

The man also felt like he was dreaming. How was it possible that someone on that level could directly block his attack without any Laws? Sure, he also hadn’t used any Laws in his attacks, but he was an entire Circulation above this Ascender! According to logic, this Ascender was supposed to shoot into the distance with several broken bones, at least!

’This truly is a different world,’ Gravis thought with a smirk.

How had Gravis managed to directly block such a powerful attack without any issues? He hadn’t been able to do that in the middle world.

The reason for that was the body.

Gravis had a beast body, and he had always fought other beasts. Their bodies were overwhelmingly powerful, and fighting multiple levels above himself always required him to counter these overpowering bodies.

Yet, this was not a beast. This guy was a human, and humans were not known for their physical powers.

Gravis’ body was just as powerful as the body of this man, even though an entire Circulation was between them.

"If I wanted to," Gravis said, taking the man out of his stupor and making him retreat, "you would be dead right now."

Gravis could have ended the fight right then and there, but he didn’t want to. First, he wanted to see how Weapon Cultivators fought. It was important to test these things in a safe environment so that Gravis wouldn’t get surprised when an actually dangerous opponent used something unforeseen.

"How about you take this a little more seriously before you die to your own arrogance?" Gravis said with provocation.

The rage of Gravis’ opponent immediately exploded. "Insolence!" he shouted again like it was his catchphrase.

SHING!

The man appeared behind Gravis again, but this time, Gravis was prepared. Gravis noticed that several Laws started to become active on his opponent’s weapon and calculated their power.

BOOOOOM!

An even more powerful shockwave appeared as Gravis and the man were deadlocked again.

"H-How!?" The man sputtered. He had just infused his weapon with the Law of Earth’s Power, making it several times heavier and stronger. How had this Ascender blocked this attack too!?

Gravis only smirked. He had also infused his weapon with Laws but different ones. Gravis had already felt that his weapon didn’t have it easy when blocking the first strike, which meant that this guy probably also owned a weapon created with the High-Tier Hard Pure Law. If Gravis didn’t block this attack correctly, his weapon might actually receive damage.

So, Gravis used the Law of Core to strengthen his weapon. The earth element allowed weapons to become heavier and increase their attacking capability by increasing the force behind the attack. Meanwhile, Core, or the metal element in general, increased the sharpness and durability of the weapon by a lot and the weight only a little bit. With that Law, Gravis’ weapon was no longer in danger of being damaged.

Yet, that still left the increased physical power of his opponent unaccounted for. So, Gravis also infused his weapon with Graphite, the level three Law version of earth. His opponent had only used a level two Law, but he was still an entire Circulation above Gravis. This meant that Gravis’ level three Law and the opponent’s level two Law had about the same power.

"How disappointing," Gravis said. "Your teleportation is awfully fast, but that only shows that you condensed an Avatar with the Law of Space. No wonder you are simply some captain of some guards instead of a Core Disciple or whatever your Sect names them."

The man wanted to talk with Gravis again since Gravis had shown incredible power. Such a person would do wonders for his Sect. Yet, when Gravis said these things, he felt his weakness attacked and decided to just kill Gravis.

SHING!

The guy teleported away again.

"Insolence!"

And then, the Laws around him started to be thrown into disorder. He was readying an actual, serious attack.

Gravis furrowed his brows. ’Now, let’s see what Weapon Cultivators can do.’

Chapter 733 - 733 – Burial Ground

The air around Gravis’ opponent shook as he gathered a ridiculous amount of Energy. Gravis looked at the process very closely to learn more about Weapon Techniques.

First, the Laws were gathered around the person. Then, they got absorbed by him. Gravis couldn’t feel what was happening inside his opponent’s body during that time. After that, a powerful force entered the man’s spear as he readied himself for a strike.

The space around Gravis cracked as the enemy used Space Confinement to block teleportation and to restrict Gravis’ movement. Like this, an average opponent would have no choice but to parry or block the attack. Evading would be out of the question unless the enemy also had an Avatar of Space.

Gravis could use his Law of Freedom to escape, but he wanted to actually feel the power of his opponent.

The enemy also activated his Will-Aura to suppress Gravis’ movement.

The man pulled his spear back as he loaded his entire being into the attack.

"Burial Ground!" the man shouted with power as he struck forward with his entire being.

BOOOOM!

The air behind the guy seemingly exploded as he shot forward with incredible speed. Gravis hadn’t expected that his opponent would be able to unleash such speed, but it was still in Gravis’ ability to handle.

The man closed in on Gravis, and his strike finished just as he arrived in front of Gravis. Then, with his full power, he unloaded his strike into Gravis.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Kilometers of ground were destroyed below them as the air shook.

Gravis’ shield, which he had just summoned, broke into pieces as Gravis got shot into the distance, leaving a massive trail of blood and body pieces behind.

BANG!

An explosion occurred on the horizon as Gravis smashed through several mountains, the debris raining onto the surrounding fields and houses.

Then, silence.

The guards grimaced as they saw Gravis’ blood and metal fragments falling to the ground. No Early Minor Circulation Immortal could survive such an attack.

This was what made Weapon Cultivators so powerful, unsurpassed offense. Their techniques held absolute destructive power, and when someone got hit by such an attack, they would die. Blocking a Weapon Cultivator’s attack was suicide.

The man released a breath. He had almost feared that Gravis could block this attack too, but that obviously wasn’t the case. The man had unleashed 20% of his entire reserves into this attack, which was a lot.

One had to remember that humans had access to Spirit and also had many times the amount of Energy of beasts. When a human unleashed 20% of their Energy, a beast would need to use 100% to replicate that amount of Energy.

One also had to remember that this meant that the man could unleash this same attack four more times. Beasts were dangerous because of their bodies, but humans were dangerous because of their explosive offense.

SHING!

The atmosphere seemingly froze as Gravis teleported back to his earlier location. The guards were shocked into silence. The man was shocked into silence. Everyone was shocked into silence.

He was still alive!? This was impossible!

Yet, calling Gravis alive could be described as debatable. Several of his limbs were missing, and half of his upper body was smashed into unrecognizable pieces. The only remaining relatively undamaged part was his head, but even his head had some blood flowing down from a wound.

Gravis was barely hanging on to life.

’Holy shit!’ Gravis thought in shock and terror. ’That was far more powerful than I had expected! I literally used absolutely everything I had in my defense. I used everything I had on my shield, all my Life Laws on my body, and even put on my armor, which is now scattered across the sky.’

’Yet, my shield and my armor got obliterated like they didn’t even exist. Even the defense of my scales was penetrated like it was normal skin. If I hadn’t used all my Life Laws to barely heal the important parts, I would be dead right now! On top of that, I needed to use my Law of Freedom and my Will-Aura to free myself from his restriction to even block appropriately!’

’Fuck, If I had actually fought that one guy in the highest world and would have taken his attack, I would have died 100%! That one guy was definitely more powerful than this one.’

For the first time since arriving in this world, Gravis felt nervous and even a little terrified. It felt like he had just had an intimate brush with death. One wrong move and he would have died.

’Note to self, never receive an attack from a Weapon Cultivator that is an actual danger to me,’ Gravis thought.

"You are incomprehensibly powerful," Gravis’ opponent said calmly as he relaxed his stance. "I can’t even grasp the fact that you even managed to withstand my Burial Ground without dying immediately. Yet, you just had to fight someone far above your league. In your next life, I hope you will follow the true path of weapons."

The guy obviously thought that he had already won. After all, Gravis’ body was decimated. Stopping death would be impossible not to speak of actually putting up a fight.

Meanwhile, Gravis got reminded of something. "Speaking of," Gravis spoke with a weak and rough voice. "Why did you shout the name of your attack?"

The man was taken aback. This Ascender was about to die, and that was his question? On top of that, what kind of question even was that? Everyone shouted out the name of their attack! They did that to motivate themselves to unleash even more power and to intimidate their opponent. Additionally, it looked pretty cool.

The man shook his head slowly. "I don’t understand you," he said with a serene and kind voice. "Peacefully go into the next life."

The man put his spear on his back and bowed lightly to Gravis with a praying gesture. It was like he was praying for Gravis to find a good next life. With this gesture, he was showing his respect to his opponent.

Gravis blinked a couple of times in confusion. What? Why did the guy shout out his attack? Why was he talking about a next life like it was a fact that reincarnation existed? Why was he praying for Gravis? The fuck was going on?

’Fuck that!’ Gravis thought.

CRRRR!

Gravis’ damaged body started moving and shaking as it looked like something inside his body was violently crawling around.

SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH!

Perfectly healed parts of his body shot out of Gravis’ torso in an instant. In just a second, Gravis had regenerated back to his peak. After all, one had to remember that Gravis knew the level three Law of Energy Healing, the same Law that Sary had learned back before she ascended. Gravis could use his Energy as a replacement for Life Energy and heal himself.

Sadly, healing himself to his peak condition took around 20% of his Energy, which he had to regain by his passive Energy absorption.

The minds of the onlookers stopped working as they couldn’t process what just happened. Gravis had already shown that he knew a ridiculous amount of Laws, but he also had similarly incredible achievements in the Life Laws?

How was any of this real!?

How could anyone like this even exist!?

"So, why did you shout out your attack?" Gravis asked as he stretched his new fingers. He still hadn’t gotten an answer from the guy, and he wanted to know why. Why would anyone shout out their attack? That not only gave the opponent a chance to react but would also tell them what attack would be coming. Shouting out one’s attack was like telling an opponent what one would do now. It’s just stupid!

The man hadn’t used his Spirit to keep track of Gravis since he was sure that Gravis was basically dead. Yet, when he heard Gravis’ now healthy voice, he looked up at Gravis.

And he continued looking at Gravis, not turning away.

It was like what he saw just didn’t register.

Gravis looked into his opponent’s eyes.

"Tell me," Gravis said. "I really want to know what kind of backward justifications and logic you have to use to rationalize such a stupid act."

Slowly, the man’s face transformed from serene kindness and peace to shock and fear.

"H-How a-are you still al-alive!?" he sputtered loudly as he pointed at Gravis with a shaking finger. "What is going on!?"

BANG!

Gravis exploded forward with his full speed, and his speed was so fast that it was impossible for his opponent to react in such a distressed mindset.

BANG!

Then, Gravis landed a clean fist on the opponent’s cheek, breaking parts of his skull as he got flung into the distance.

"Stop sidetracking the conversation!" Gravis shouted.

"I want to know why you are shouting out the name of your attack!"

Chapter 734 - 734 – Interference

Gravis’ opponent stopped several kilometers away in shock. He still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that Gravis was still alive. How could someone an entire Circulation under him block his most powerful strike!? Sure, he didn’t use all his Energy, but he used 20%!

"This is not real!" the man shouted with rage and denial. "You must have used a trick! No one on your level can resist my attack!"

BANG!

Gravis exploded forward again, but this time, his opponent was ready. Gravis punched again, but the opponent blocked the punch with his spear. Yet, a second punch was closing in from Gravis’ other arm. Luckily, the man also managed to block this attack. Such basic attacks couldn’t hit him.

BANG!

Suddenly, the man felt an impact in his abdomen as he was thrown into the distance again. What happened!? Gravis’ legs hadn’t moved! This wasn’t a kick!

Gravis had summoned an additional arm from his beast form to punch his opponent. He had six arms, and it would be a waste to not use them.

"I said, stop sidetracking!" Gravis shouted with annoyance. "I want to know why you shouted out the name of your attack!"

The onlookers went through one shock after the other. Gravis even knew enough Life Laws to summon additional limbs!? He had an Immortal body! Summoning additional limbs needed knowledge in level four Laws of Life! Did this mean that this Ascender knew a level four Law? How!?

Sadly for them, they didn’t know that Gravis’ body was a beast body with six arms. There were no Laws in place when Gravis punched.

Gravis’ opponent felt the pain of Gravis’ punch, and his expression turned into one of rage. "More tricks-"

BANG!

Gravis shot forward again and unleashed a barrage of punches. The guy tried to block them, but Gravis had the edge in a fistfight due to his superior quantity of arms.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Gravis’ opponent received several punches across his body, and he quickly realized that he couldn’t win against Gravis in a fistfight. What a disgrace!

CLANK!

Gravis hit something solid and felt his hand break.

His opponent had summoned a tower shield. Obviously, he had conceded the fact that he couldn’t win in a fistfight and resorted to using a shield.

"You think that will stop me?" Gravis asked. "I will get an answer out of you, no matter what!"

Gravis closed in again and used his superior speed to move around his opponent. Additionally, Gravis was using four arms and even equipped them with different weapons. The fistfight was over, and Gravis unleashed a fierce barrage of weapon attacks from all angles.

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

Yet, all attacks got blocked. Gravis’ superior quantity of arms and superior speed wasn’t enough to break through his opponent’s defense. Sure, Gravis managed to unleash attacks at areas where there was no shield, but some sort of barrier appeared in the shield’s place.

"My Sect has powerful attacks, but we also pride ourselves in our defense!" Gravis’ opponent shouted. "You might be able to resist my attack with a trick, but you won’t be able to break through my defense!"

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

Gravis didn’t stop attacking, but it was no use. Even with his superior attacking speed and speed in general, he just didn’t have enough power to break through his enemy’s defense.

BZZZZZZ!

Gravis created a Lightning Crescent and glared at his opponent.

Yet, his opponent, even after feeling the power of the Lightning Crescent, wasn’t impressed. "Foolish!" he shouted. "You, a mere servant, believe that such a makeshift weapon technique can break through my defense? I have to say that your attack feels very powerful, but my defense is there to block Weapon Techniques of other Weapon Cultivators on my level."

"At best, your attack is only as powerful as others on my level, but how much Energy do you have to use? You will long run out of Energy before I can even feel the drain! Realize that it is meaningless to resist! Simply come with me to my Sect and work off your debt!" he shouted.

Gravis snorted. "You can’t kill me, so now you say that I am only supposed to work? Don’t act like you didn’t give it your best shot to kill me earlier!" Gravis shouted with a smirk.

The man remained silent.

’I fucking hate earth Cultivators,’ Gravis thought with narrowed eyes. ’Always with their fucking defense! It’s a pain in the ass to fight them! Additionally, I don’t think that he’s lying. A Lightning Crescent probably won’t injure him too much.’

Gravis unloaded his saber, retrieving his stored Energy and Spirit.

The guy smirked. "Finally, you come to terms with your situation. Just give up and come with me to my Sect," he said.

Gravis only smirked. "You believe yourself to be Immortal in front of me, eh?" he asked.

The guy snorted. "You can’t break through my defense."

Gravis chuckled a bit. "Well, then I have just the right attack for a turtle like you."

BZZZZZZZZZ!

A gigantic spear appeared beside Gravis, and with it, an impossible amount of intricately woven lightning. All the runes were connected to Gravis’ body to make it impossible for his opponent to destroy the connection with his Will-Aura.

Gravis unleashed everything he had into the spear and runes as they shone brightly. Then, he pulled back and readied himself for a throw.

The guards at the ground nearly felt their eyes leaving their sockets. What was this technique? They had never seen anything like it. What were these runes? Why was the power inside the spear distributed so unevenly and strangely?

Even after looking at Mortality for a while, they couldn’t make sense of it. This didn’t seem like any Weapon Technique they had ever seen. Was this even a weapon technique?

Yet, one thing was certain.

It was powerful.

Very powerful!

Really powerful!

BANG! BZZZZZ!

The air around Gravis sizzled with a ton of Laws as the lightning runes started spinning crazily. The air around him shook as tremors went through the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, Gravis’ opponent felt terror. This attack was far too powerful! Could he resist that? Probably? Maybe? Maybe not? Unlikely?

No?

"To quote you, go in peace into your next life... or something. I didn’t really listen that closely," Gravis said.

"And as for you shouting the name of your attack, you can take that secret to the grave with you."

SHING!

The atmosphere around Gravis halted as everything seemingly clicked into place. His next move would unleash his technique.

"Junior brother, wait!" a shout suddenly came.

Everyone turned to the direction that voice came from and they saw someone.

Someone new had arrived, and this person was not weak at all.

In fact, he was in the Mid Major Circulation Immortal Realm!

Chapter 735 - 735 – Core Disciple

Everyone looked at the new arrival. It was a young man with whitish-blue robes and a saber on his back. Gravis also felt some Punishment Lightning inside of the person, which confirmed his identity.

This was probably one of the Core Disciples of the Punishment Cleaver Sect, the Sect that Gravis would join.

"Junior brother?" Gravis asked. "I’m not your brother yet, so please refrain from addressing me like that."

The expression of the new arrival remained kind, but Gravis could feel some slight changes in him. It was difficult for Gravis to properly evaluate the inner thoughts of someone so many levels above him, but he was sure that this person wasn’t as kind as he showed himself to be.

"Junior brother," the man said. "You have already agreed to join our Sect, and with this, you have become my junior brother. As far as I am concerned, you are one of us already, and we need to help each other."

Gravis didn’t like that this guy called him junior brother but decided to let him finish his explanation.

"But you can’t keep on doing this, junior brother," the man said with a smile. "We of the Punishment Cleaver Sect are kind and respect others, but you are bullying someone weaker than you right now. This is not the way of our Sect, and I know that you are better than this."

"Look at this poor guy," he said as he gestured to Gravis’ opponent. "He can only retreat into his shell and hide from you. Do you not feel guilty when you see someone weaker than you cowering before you in fear? This poor guy only made a mistake, and you have punished him enough."

"Let bygones be bygones. People make mistakes, and we shouldn’t kill them for every minor mistake they made. Let him retreat and lick his wounds. I’m sure that he will become a better person because of this. Yet, if you kill him, he has no chance to rectify his mistakes in the future. Give him a chance to repay you."

"Kindness begets kindness. Never forget this, junior brother," the man said with a kind tone.

"Eh, yes, yes!" Gravis’ opponent shouted. "I acknowledge my mistakes, and I won’t repeat them again. I’m sorry for attacking you, but my intent has never been to kill you. I only wanted to gain some justice for my dead soldier."

Gravis looked evenly at his opponent and then turned to the new arrival.

"Come on, junior brother," the new arrival said with a smile. "We are all one big family, and we need to stand together against the armies of beasts. Families bicker from time to time. If every family started killing each other because of a mistake, there would be no families left."

Gravis looked evenly at the new arrival.

Then, he sighed.

"I was mistaken," Gravis said with regret.

"That’s good, junior brother!" the new arrival said. "Only when we realize our mistakes can we grow from them."

Gravis looked unamused at the Core Disciple from the Punishment Cleaver Sect.

BANG!

Gravis moved his hand forward, and the spear shot with incredible speed at his opponent.

Before anyone could react, Mortality hit Gravis’ opponent’s shield.

BANG!

A violent explosion appeared as the shield barrier was destroyed. Yet, Mortality didn’t stop and hit the shield.

Mortality dug through the shield until it was stuck inside it, half of it behind the shield and half of it in front.

Everyone looked with shock at the spear. Gravis’ opponent couldn’t even process what had happened. Right now, he was looking at a spear tip just centimeters in front of his eyes.

Had he survived?

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

And then, the spear tip exploded. The surroundings of Gravis’ opponent turned into lightning as he was completely consumed. Yet, just a second after the explosion, everything vanished, and a violent storm appeared as the vacuum was filled with Energy and air again.

Gravis never looked away from the new arrival, the right side of his face lighting up in blueish light due to the explosion, and his eyes narrowed.

"I was mistaken when I attributed your mindset to your element," Gravis said coldly. "I preferred a lightning-based Sect because of the mindset that lightning brought with it, but I was mistaken. As far as I can see, you act more like Light Cultivators."

When Gravis had returned from the lower world, he had learned that mindsets being influenced by the elements was actually not normal. The clerk from back then said that the elements were a weapon, and a weapon should not change the user.

In the middle world, Gravis was among beasts, and beasts had very close connections to the elements. Because of that, their mindset was also fitting to their element.

Yet, now that Gravis was among humans again, he finally saw with his own eyes that this was not the case. The elements had no effect on anyone’s mindset in this world.

When Gravis heard the Core Disciple speak, he had to hold himself back to not puke at this disgusting hypocrisy.

Bullying the weaker ones?

That guy was an entire Circulation above Gravis!

Not trying to kill Gravis?

That guy unleashed his most powerful attack against someone an entire Circulation below him in power!

Learning from mistakes?

What, so everyone can just try to stage an assassination on Gravis, and he had to let them go!?

Repayment with kindness?

That worked for some beings, but not for these kinds of people. This guy would probably just go to his superior and tell lies about Gravis to protect his flimsy reputation.

Yet, in Gravis’ mind, he hated this Core Disciple even more than his previous opponent. At least the last one was honest with his intentions. It was a normal fight, something that happened all the time.

But this guy was talking grandly about kindness and twisted the facts to unbelievable degrees. Suddenly, Gravis was the aggressor, and Gravis was in the wrong by defending himself against someone trying to kill him.

"I’m not your junior brother, and I won’t join your Sect," Gravis said. "It’s obviously not the Sect for me."

Gravis glanced at the ground to Roger. Roger was different from this Core Disciple, and Gravis could feel that difference clearly. If everyone in the Punishment Cleaver Sect were like Roger, Gravis would be more than happy to join.

Yet, Roger was only a guard while this guy was a Core Disciple. Roger was a mask and representation, but this Core Disciple showed the true face of the Sect.

And that face showed "individual sacrifice for the greater good".

The Core Disciple’s body shook in rage as he glared at Gravis. This guy looked just about ready to explode.

Gravis only looked back with narrowed eyes.

This guy was powerful, and he definitely wasn’t one of the weaker Mid Major Circulation Immortals. There was a 90% chance that Gravis would die in such a fight, but that wouldn’t be the first time.

But on the other hand, one had to choose one’s fights carefully. Going into a fight with a 50% chance of victory was excellent tempering but going into a fight with a 10% chance of victory was far too risky. Gravis would only want to enter such a fight when he had no other choice.

After some seconds, the Core Disciple seemingly calmed down and sighed.

"Junior brother, you are obviously talking out of a very emotiona-"

"Don’t! Call! Me! Junior! Brother!" Gravis seethed slowly and powerfully, his rage and disgust very evident in his voice. He wouldn’t want to enter this fight, but he also wouldn’t lick this guy’s boots.

The Core Disciple felt Gravis’ rage and disgust and became angry himself. How dare this Early Minor Circulation Immortal feel disgusted towards him!? Everyone had to be respectful in front of him! No one talked like this in front of him!

Why had the Core Disciple wanted to stop Gravis earlier?

Because of money.

If Gravis killed an Early Major Circulation Immortal, the Burial Ground Sect would want reparations from the Punishment Cleaver Sect. Such an Immortal was worth a ton of money, and for the good of the Sect, he couldn’t possibly accept such a cost.

Yet, he also really really needed this new Ascender. This Ascender was definitely worth more than some Early Major Circulation Immortal!

Sadly, the Core Disciple was too greedy and wanted both. He didn’t want to pay for Gravis’ deeds, but he also wanted Gravis. That was why he still called Gravis his junior brother. One of the two options had already flown out of the window, and he couldn’t lose the other one too.

"Very well," the Core Disciple said as he crossed his arms. "I will take you back to the Sect so that you can calm down. You will thank me in the future."

WHOOOM!

Immediately, the Core Disciple felt a powerful hit in his Spirit.

Gravis had activated his Will-Aura, the Minor Law of Death, the Law of Major Suppression, and the Law of Control.

"No," Gravis said slowly.

Meanwhile, the guards on the ground felt like the world had stopped. They weren’t the target of the Will-Aura, but they could feel its fluctuations from a distance.

What was this Will-Aura!?

How was it possible that a Will-Aura could be so incredibly powerful!?

The Core Disciple was also shocked, but he quickly narrowed his eyes and activated his own Will-Aura.

WHOOOM!

Gravis’ Will-Aura was pushed back, and Gravis felt suppressed. The level difference was just far too great!

Right now, Gravis was suppressed by 20%, even though he had used everything he had on his Will-Aura!

’Doesn’t matter,’ Gravis thought. ’My Avatar of Freedom ignores even Will-Auras.’

Gravis glared into the Core Disciple’s eyes.

"I will not join your Sect!"

Chapter 736 - 736 – Intense Atmosphere

Gravis and the Core Disciple glared at each other as the atmosphere seemed to electrify.

The only reason why Gravis even considered fighting this person was that he had the lightning element. Destroying this person’s lightning element wouldn’t kill him, but it would weaken his offense significantly.

Yet, this person still had a Will-Aura just as powerful as his Realm, and he obviously knew how to fight very well. The explosive power of his Energy, even without lightning, would still be hazardous to Gravis.

If this guy didn’t have the lightning element, Gravis wouldn’t even consider fighting them.

"I will take you back to the Sect," the Core Disciple said with narrowed eyes.

"Try it," Gravis said back. "If you try to force me into something, one of us will die. I guarantee it. There are two things I hate above everything else, suppression and hypocrisy. I will not join any Sect that harbors people with these traits."

WHOOM!

The Core Disciple’s Will-Aura intensified. "Is that an accusation!?" he shouted in righteous anger.

"What do you think?" Gravis answered. "You are trying to suppress me by pulling me away and talk on and on about kindness. Have you spared every guy that attacked you? If not, then you’re talking out of your ass."

The Core Disciple had never felt so disrespected before. He was a chosen of the Sect! Even when he had been a mere Nascent Nourishing Cultivator, everyone else treated him with respect! Yet, this guy was disrespecting him like never before!

Sadly, not everyone was able to see their own hypocrisy. Gravis had also been the victim of that before.

"You have no choice," the Core Disciple said with anger. "You are weak, and I will take you back to the Sect!"

SHING!

Gravis retrieved his saber, which was sparking crazily with lightning. Gravis couldn’t possibly absorb a person’s "corpse" right in front of others. Consuming others to become more powerful was an ability of beasts, not humans. Additionally, Gravis was not willing to consume the corpse of another human.

Sure, in the lower world, Gravis had absorbed the Energy in other people’s dantians, but that was different from straight-up eating an entire human. Gravis was a human, and he wouldn’t eat another human.

Yet, Gravis was willing to use the lightning as a weapon. The dead opponent had transformed into lightning, and Gravis had changed him into a loaded Lightning Crescent, which had far more power than normal.

Sadly, even though the Energy part of the Lightning Crescent was increased severely, the Will-Aura and Spirit part were normal. This would be a powerful attack, but the Core Disciple might be able to evade the attack or survive it.

"Then come and try it," Gravis said as he pointed his loaded saber at the Core Disciple. "As soon as you attack me, one of us will die, no matter what happens!"

The guards on the ground felt the shaking atmosphere. Any second now, an intense fight could break out. The entire Ascension Hall might even be destroyed!

"Will you join my Sect?" an urgent voice transmission arrived in Gravis’ mind suddenly. Gravis didn’t turn to the speaker so that the Core Disciple didn’t know that Gravis had been contacted.

The voice transmission came from one of the guards on the ground, and just the fact that he had been willing to risk his life by contacting Gravis told Gravis a lot about his Sect. If Gravis had looked at the speaker out of instinct, the Core Disciple might have killed the guard because of some bullshit reason like disrespecting his elders or something.

"Do you teach sabers?" Gravis asked back with a voice transmission without looking away from the Core Disciple.

"Yes!" the guard answered urgently. "Will you join our Sect!?" he asked with urgency again.

"What if I kill this disciple too?" Gravis asked back.

"If you can do that, we would want you even more! Please, you need to answer quickly!" the guy said.

Gravis inspected the guard with his Spirit Sense and saw that he wore white robes. He didn’t have any lightning element inside him, which meant that this Sect was either comprised of people with a different element or entirely without one. Just by his outfit and weapon, Gravis couldn’t guess what element this Sect followed.

"If the rest of your Sect is like you, I will gladly join, but you have seen the difference between the guard from the Punishment Cleaver Sect and the Core Disciple. If you are only putting up a show, the same situation will happen again, but this time between me and your Sect," Gravis answered. "I hate suppression, and I hate hypocrisy."

"Great!" the guard answered quickly as his face lighted up. "Don’t worry!"

Gravis narrowed his eyes even further as he looked at the Core Disciple...

Who had just turned to the guard.

SHING!

The Core Disciple slashed towards the guard on the ground. The change in expression of the guard had tipped the Core Disciple off about what was happening. He couldn’t allow this guard to contact his superiors! The payment for this action was a problem for the future.

The guard’s face fell in horror as he saw his life flash before his eyes. A wave of Saber Intent shot at him from a distance, and he was not nearly fast enough to evade.

The air around the slash and the Core Disciple vibrated as Gravis intensified his Law of Control. He had already noticed that he couldn’t destroy the will upon these kinds of physical attacks. Somehow, these attacks were connected to the attacker.

BANG!

Suddenly, the head of the guard was pulled away with incredible force, decapitating him.

BOOOOOM!

The slash exploded on the guard’s body, completely decimating it. The guards in the surroundings also got injured, but they survived since they had not been the targets.

The one guard felt life slipping away as only his head remained. This was it. He was dead. He already felt his Spirit rapidly leaving him.

SHING!

The head appeared beside Gravis. He had pulled the head off of the guard since saving his entire body was impossible. When someone reached the Law Comprehension Realm, their Energy and Spirit fused in their heads, which meant that it housed everything but Life Force.

The air around Gravis and the head vibrated with a ton of Laws as Gravis transformed Energy into Soul, infusing it into the head to keep the guard from losing his Spirit.

Splash!

The air around the head was transformed into a green ball of water.

This was the mixed element Loaded Water, a level one Law that combined the level one Law of Lightning with water. Yet, the level one Composition Law of Lightning not only had Destruction Lightning but also Life Lightning.

Then, light appeared as Gravis used the level one Composition Law of Light to intensify the Life Energy.

"Use your Spirit to regrow your body!" Gravis transmitted with as much power as he could. He had to get this person out of his stupor.

Gravis’ voice shook the remaining Spirit of the guard. "But... Spirit..." he barely transmitted.

"Use it!" Gravis transmitted forcefully. "I am infusing you with pure Soul! Hurry!"

The guard did as told, and he felt like his Spirit was vanishing even faster. Yet, just as fast as his Spirit was vanishing, it somehow regenerated. Slowly, his neck started regrowing.

"Condense your organs first! We don’t have time!" Gravis transmitted with urgency.

"I... no.... Law," he transmitted weakly.

Gravis gritted his teeth. This was a problem! Regenerating the guy like this would use up a ton of Gravis’ Energy. On top of that, condensing so much pure Soul Energy was also draining him.

Everyone looked in shock at what was happening. This person should be dead, but he was somehow still clinging to life!

The Core Disciple narrowed his eyes.

SHING!

And shot another Saber Beam at the head.

BANG!

Gravis stood in front of it and blocked it with another shield of his. His shield cracked a little due to the difference in equipment quality, but Gravis was able to hold. Such a casual attack was something that Gravis could block.

The Core Disciple gritted his teeth in rage.

BANG!

And then he shot forward with unreal speed.

This time, he was attacking Gravis directly.

Gravis took his saber and unleashed his Lightning Crescent!

"Who killed my Captain!?" A third voice shouted.

Chapter 737 - 737 – New Arrival

Everything happened at once.

The guard was being healed.

The Core Disciple attacked.

Gravis attacked.

A new Cultivator appeared, shouting about a dead captain.

A vast explosion of lightning appeared around Gravis as he absorbed just enough lightning to not get noticed while also protecting the guard.

Gravis was among humans again, which meant that he had to keep most of his powers secret. If they knew that he was inside a beast’s body, they might decide to kill him directly since they would think that he was a beast.

If they knew that he could remotely control lightning and even absorb it, they might also decide to capture him to learn his secrets. These were very experienced Cultivators that had lived for over a thousand years. They knew what was normal and what wasn’t.

The explosion of lightning vanished, and space calmed down again.

Gravis stood at his previous position, still filling the injured guard with Life Energy and Soul.

The Core Disciple had retreated to several kilometers away with some injuries. If the Lightning Crescent had hit him directly, he would have died without a doubt. After all, this was a human, not a beast. His physical defense wasn’t even close to a beast’s.

The Core Disciple had blocked the attack with some kind of weird slash that split Gravis’ lightning apart, forcing it to miss his head and the middle of his torso. Yet, he still received several injuries. The sides of his body were burned beyond recognition, and one could see that the Core Disciple had become narrower. It was like the sides of his body had been shaved off. Luckily, all his organs were still intact.

The Core Disciple glared at Gravis with hatred. This mere Minor Circulation Immortal dared to injure him!? That’s it! He had been nice up to now, but that was over! Something as disrespectful as this was unforgivable!

Meanwhile, Gravis looked at the new arrival.

Above Gravis and the Core Disciple floated a young man with brown hair and eyes. The man wore grey robes and carried a spear on his back. This was obviously a superior of the previous person Gravis had killed.

Even worse, this person was a Late Major Circulation Immortal. This was a power that Gravis couldn’t even attempt to resist. If this guy decided to kill Gravis today, Gravis would have no way to survive. The Realm difference was just far too significant.

The new arrival looked at the Core Disciple with narrowed eyes but then changed his gaze to Gravis. Gravis could immediately feel the hostility of the new arrival.

Then, the new arrival turned to the Core Disciple again. "You are in luck," he said.

The Core Disciple also looked at the new arrival, but he pulled back his aggressive will when he felt the new arrival’s power. This was someone truly powerful. In terms of Battle-Strength, this new arrival was probably about as powerful as him, but he was also a level higher than him. He couldn’t fight someone like that.

"What does senior mean?" the Core Disciple asked, neither respectful nor disrespectful. The Core Disciple still had his own dignity.

"A soldier and a captain of mine have died here," the new arrival said. "My captain was in the Major Circulation Realm, and the only person powerful enough to kill him would be you."

The Core Disciple gritted his teeth. "I didn’t kill him!" he shouted.

Surprisingly, the new arrival nodded. "I know, and that’s why you are lucky," the new arrival said as he turned to Gravis again with narrowed eyes. "If I hadn’t seen this Ascender’s power with my own eyes, no matter how many people would have told me otherwise, I would have never believed them."

"An Early Minor Circulation Immortal killing someone in the Early Major Circulation Realm? Something like this is unheard of. Yet, I felt the power of this Ascender’s attack just now, and shockingly enough, that is more than enough to kill someone in the Major Circulation Realm," he said.

"This coincidence has saved your life today, Core Disciple from the Punishment Cleaver Sect," the new arrival said.

Gravis gritted his teeth. ’I just arrived in this world, and my Karmic Luck has already reared its ugly head twice! This guy just arrived at the perfect moment to see my attack? Yeah, sure. If that’s not shit luck, I don’t know what is,’ Gravis thought.

"What has happened here?" the new arrival asked the Core Disciple.

The Core Disciple’s emotions calmed down now that he knew that he wasn’t under suspicion anymore. "This Ascender arrived in this world and tore the weapon of your soldier out of his hands without provocation."

"Bullshit!" Gravis shouted.

WHOOOOM!

Gravis became unable to move as the new arrival activated his Will-Aura on him. Right now, Gravis was 100% suppressed, and as long as he didn’t use his Avatar, he wouldn’t be able to free himself.

The new arrival ignored Gravis’ words and motioned for the Core Disciple to continue.

"The path of your soldier had been severed," the Core Disciple continued. "Then, this new Ascender intimidated all of our Sect representatives into offering spots in their Sects. One of my representatives made an offer, and the Ascender accepted to join our Sect."

The eyes of the new arrival narrowed more at the Core Disciple.

"We would have given you reparations, obviously, but what happened after that changed everything. Your captain arrived, and the Ascender fought him. After a short fight, the Ascender had your captain on the defense and readied a mighty attack, powerful enough to penetrate your captain’s defense and kill him."

"That’s when I arrived," the Core Disciple said. "I told him that he is not allowed to kill your captain, but he ignored my orders and killed your captain anyways. Our Sect won’t accept such a bloodthirsty monster into our ranks, which was why I accepted the duty to kill him, and that’s when you arrived."

"That’s a lie- AAHH!"

A guard on the ground spoke up but was turned into dust by a spear image immediately.

The other guards felt fear. They were glad that they hadn’t been the ones that had spoken up.

The new arrival didn’t comment on the fact that he had just killed someone and simply nodded at the Core Disciple. "That’s enough," he said.

Then, he turned to Gravis again, pulled his spear out, and pointed it at Gravis. "You are a bloodthirsty monster without any honor," the new arrival said with righteousness. "Keeping you alive is only something a saint would do."

Some seconds of silence.

"Lucky for you, our Sect considers itself quite saintly," the new arrival said as he put his spear away again. "You will return with me to my Sect, and you will follow the will of the earth for the rest of your life to repay for the crimes you have committed."

"You will spend the rest of your life serving kindness and giving back to the world with the knowledge you have gained with your unethical ways. Thank the kindness of life and earth that you can still see the light of a new morning," the new arrival said.

The Core Disciple didn’t react, but inside, he was sneering. This guy saw the worth of Gravis and wanted to get him into his Sect and force him to teach their disciples about the earth element. ’What a disgusting opportunist!’ the Core Disciple thought, not seeing the irony in the fact that he was the one thinking these thoughts.

Gravis felt an overwhelming mixture of disgust and rage at the moment. The new guy didn’t even let anyone speak and immediately accepted the words of the Core Disciple as fact only to find a reason to pull Gravis forcefully away. On top of that, the new arrival was giving the Core Disciple an easy out of the situation.

Meanwhile, the Core Disciple was just as disgusting and contemptible. He was twisting the facts to a ridiculous degree so that he appeared like a reasonable, saintly person. He gave his best to kill Gravis? He wasn’t even attempting to kill him! He only wanted to pull Gravis to his Sect!

Of course, this had only been the case until Gravis actually attacked him. As soon as Gravis had unleashed his Lightning Crescent, the Core Disciple had developed quite a powerful killing intent towards Gravis.

Gravis gritted his teeth.

’How am I supposed to get out of this situation!?’

Chapter 738 - 738 – Choice

Gravis was currently facing a severe crisis, and he could only think of two ways that would help him get out of this situation.

Yet, both choices would have devastating consequences and would be even riskier than fighting the Core Disciple one on one.

The first way would be to use his Avatar to free himself of the suppression of the new arrival’s Will-Aura. Then, he would need to quickly kill all the guards on the ground and absorb their Energy to reach the next level.

Gravis would only need around six or seven of the guards to reach the next level, but then everyone would see his ability to kill and absorb humans. Gravis couldn’t allow this, which would require him to kill all witnesses.

Additionally, the Energy of beings below his Realm was useless to his growth, no matter how many he killed. This meant that these guards could, at most, bring him to the Mid Minor Circulation Realm, no matter how numerous they were.

The next step would be to kill the Core Disciple while being under the barrage of the new arrival’s attacks to absorb the Core Disciples Energy to reach the Late Minor Circulation Realm.

Then, Gravis would need to kill the new arrival.

The chances of survival would be slim, and on top of that, Gravis would be on a strict timer. The superiors of the dead guards would arrive very quickly, and if they arrived before Gravis managed to kill the new arrival and flee, Gravis would then need to kill them too, which would gather even more superiors. In no time at all, Gravis would be overwhelmed.

Additionally, even if he managed to pull this off, Gravis would have offended over a hundred Sects. Gravis couldn’t guarantee that no one knew the Law of Time. At least one of them would know the Law, which would allow them to inspect the immediate past, revealing everything that happened.

Then, all the Sects would know what had happened, and they would also know who had massacred all their soldiers. After that, the Sects would send searching parties and would find Gravis due to his aura.

Gravis was fast, but his Spirit Sense didn’t reach as far as the ones in the Major Circulation Realm. This meant that Gravis wouldn’t be able to see or notice the searching parties before they noticed him, effectively forcing him to blindly flee into a random direction. With Gravis’ luck, he would almost certainly run into a conglomerate of searching parties.

This choice would only allow Gravis to survive if he were supremely lucky, and that wasn’t the case for him.

So, this choice would certainly end with Gravis’ death.

The second way would be to transform his body into Divine Lightning, allowing him to use his own body’s lightning as an attack. A level six Law would be powerful enough to annihilate the new arrival.

Yet, that would also make Gravis’ lightning more powerful than his Law of Freedom. At that point, Gravis would be at the complete mercy of his lightning, and his lightning hated him right now. If it didn’t kill Gravis directly, it would at least suppress him for all eternity, making him a prisoner inside his own body.

This was even worse than death, and Gravis would need to depend on his lightning’s benevolence to not take revenge on him. Sadly, Divine Lightning was probably the least benevolent thing in existence.

Everything came crashing down.

Gravis had just arrived in the world, but he was already in a scenario that would almost certainly end in his death.

Everything depended on luck, and Gravis had no luck.

Gravis’ gritted his teeth as his mind was going wild. He had to make a choice!

"Free... me... Will... Aura," Gravis suddenly heard from the severely injured guard behind him via voice transmission.

Gravis gritted his teeth. "Do you think I can even do that!?" Gravis asked with stress and rage.

"You... must," the guard sent weakly. "Trust... me..." he transmitted barely.

Gravis’ insides were going crazy. This guard would probably contact his superior, but what would that even do in this situation!? Would the guard be able to call upon someone at the Late Major Circulation Realm? Doubtful! Even worse, how long would it take for such a person to arrive?

On top of that, would his Sect even be able to pay the reparations for Gravis’ killings? Additionally, with the guard’s fragile health right now, contacting someone would almost certainly kill him. Then, even if the superior would arrive, he would only see that his guard had died.

Sure, the superior would become angry at the Core Disciple and kill him, but Gravis was still indirectly responsible for the guard’s death. Would he even care about Gravis?

Even worse, this would take the control over the situation away from Gravis and hand it over to someone Gravis didn’t even know! Gravis would also need to waste basically all his Energy to stop the guard from dying after he contacted his superior, effectively making Gravis unable to even kill the weaker guards from a distance.

Sure, his Will-Aura was powerful, but killing someone an entire level above oneself with just one’s Will-Aura didn’t happen instantly.

"I will now take the sinner away," the new arrival said to the Core Disciple.

The Core Disciple nodded with a kind smile. "Thank you for your actions," he said.

Then, Gravis felt a teleportation being initiated around him. As long as he was suppressed, he wouldn’t be able to resist. This meant that he needed to unleash his Avatar right now, or it was over!

Gravis gritted his teeth. ’Fuck it! My path is already muddled! Might as well rely on someone else if all other paths lead to death!’

WHOOOM!

A blueish ball of gentle wind appeared behind Gravis, and immediately, Gravis and the guard felt absolutely no suppression anymore. They were completely free!

The new arrival and the Core Disciple looked with shock at the Avatar.

What was this?

What kind of Avatar was this?

They had never seen anything like it!

Cling!

Something appeared beside Gravis and started falling as Gravis felt the Spirit of the guard being nearly annihilated. Retrieving something out of one’s Spirit Space in this condition would almost certainly kill them.

Gravis immediately grabbed the thing and saw that it was some sort of bronze talisman. He had never seen anything like it.

"Break!" the guard transmitted with an urgent voice before his Spirit started vanishing.

SSSSSHHHHH!

Gravis intensified his healing Laws to keep the guard from dying. In merely an instant, Gravis had used up all his Energy to give the guard a last boost, which would allow him to survive a couple of seconds, but then, his life would end.

Gravis immediately cracked the talisman into pieces.

’My Energy has run out, and I can’t even kill the guards at the ground instantly. As soon as I activate my Will-Aura, the new arrival will immediately stop me and pull me away with force.’

Gravis was in touching distance of death, but somehow, he felt relieved. The burden of choice and responsibility had vanished from his shoulders.

Now, there was no way back.

Gravis had made his choice, and everything that happened from now on was no longer under his control.

Now, whatever happened, happened, and there was nothing Gravis could do about it.

Gravis had no control over his life anymore.

Chapter 739 - 739 – Horrible Luck

Everything happened instantaneously. Gravis freeing himself from the suppression, the summoning of the emblem, the breaking of the emblem, Gravis pushing all his Energy into the guard, all of this happened in the blink of an eye.

The Core Disciple and the new arrival couldn’t react to the sudden and shocking actions of Gravis. None of them had even entertained the thought that Gravis had a chance of breaking out of such a powerful Will-Aura.

The breaking of the emblem would make it much harder for them to act as they wished, but it wouldn’t be too bad. Someone at the Mid Minor Circulation Realm wouldn’t be able to summon someone really powerful. Additionally, the person would take a while to come. Until they arrived, the Core Disciple and the new arrival would be long gone.

Yet, they had to hurry now. The new arrival took out his spear and aimed it at Gravis. He simply had to impale Gravis with his spear. At that point, Gravis wouldn’t be able to unleash anything anymore, and he would be forced to follow the new arrival to his Sect.

WHOOOOM!

The new arrival strengthened himself with his Will-Aura and gathered power. Then, he shot at Gravis.

Gravis simply stood there. He had no Energy left, and without Energy, he couldn’t use his lightning to boost his speed. Evading or blocking this attack was impossible. Gravis had put everything onto one card, and now, he only had to wait.

BANG!

Suddenly the air seemed to explode as a storm wreaked havoc in the air. The Core Disciple and the new arrival both got flung away and had to protect themselves while even the guards on the ground were thrown into the distance.

Yet, Gravis and the guard weren’t affected by the storm.

Gravis’ Avatar didn’t protect him from such attacks, which meant that this storm specifically didn’t target them.

On top of that, this wasn’t even an attack.

The entire storm had been created by someone new arriving with an unreal amount of speed. Their arrival had been so fast that the mere air surrounding them created a storm of destruction.

This was no longer the power of an Immortal.

Everyone looked over in shock at a place beside the nearly dead guard.

A young man with long green hair and a two-meter long, green bow stood beside the guard. This person looked at the guard with concern, tragedy, and shock on his face.

Gravis could barely believe what had happened.

This person had arrived in just a single second, and his power was incredible. Gravis could only barely feel the power.

This was a Mid Minor Circulation Immortal King!

In the blink of an eye, the Immortal King’s face went through an avalanche of emotions as he quickly processed everything he saw.

His eyes narrowed, and he looked at Gravis with rage-filled eyes.

PACK!

He summoned some kind of pill and threw it at Gravis, who caught it.

"Soul!" he shouted with authority.

Gravis immediately swallowed the pill without even looking at it. He had put his entire trust into the guard’s Sect, and he would go all the way. Half-assing it could only be detrimental. He would go all the way.

The pill immediately dissolved, and Gravis felt that his Energy was regenerating many times faster than before. With this pill, Gravis’ Energy would be completely refilled in just five minutes!

Yet, Gravis couldn’t refill his Energy as he immediately used all his regenerating Energy to infuse the dying guard with pure Soul.

The Immortal King put his nervously shivering finger on the guard’s head.

The guard immediately lost consciousness as his mind fell into a state of coma. In this state, the guard’s Spirit wouldn’t waste anything on thinking, making it easier for Gravis to infuse the guard with Soul.

The Immortal King summoned an emblem and cracked it immediately.

SHING!

In less than a second, another Immortal King appeared together with two Immortals by his side. This new Immortal King was an old man who carried a staff on his back and wore emerald green robes that reminded someone of nature.

He looked at what was happening and glanced at Gravis for a heartbeat.

"Retreat," he ordered.

Gravis followed the orders and flew away.

As soon as Gravis retreated, a bright light shone onto the head of the dying guard. The Spirit of the guard was growing in power with astonishing speed.

Gravis could see that this newest arrival was very experienced in the Soul Laws.

SPLASH!

One of the Immortals surrounded the dying guard with green water while the other one shone healing light on him.

The healing Immortal King regenerated the Spirit of the guard.

The first Immortal provided the Life Energy.

The second Immortal manipulated the Life Energy to heal the guard.

This obviously was a very coordinated and practiced team of healers. Everyone had their job, and they acted with ease and confidence.

Meanwhile, the guards on the ground recovered and looked with shock at what was happening. There had been so many twists and turns today that they no longer even attempted to guess what would happen from now.

The Core Disciple felt incredibly nervous but not fearful. He was responsible for the state of the guard, but the Core Disciple had a powerful background. At most, he would need to repay all of this. Sure, this would take forever to repay, but he wouldn’t die.

The Core Disciple didn’t even attempt to flee since the Immortal King had locked down all the surroundings as soon as he had appeared.

Meanwhile, the Late Major Circulation Immortal from the Burial Ground Sect only remained at his spot. He wasn’t involved in any of these disputes. This entire thing had nothing to do with him.

In a matter of seconds, the dying guard’s body recovered fully. His Spirit also easily recovered to its most powerful state. The healing squad was incredibly good at what they were doing.

The three people from the healing squad retreated as soon as the guard returned to his peak condition.

The Immortal King that the guard had called bowed in gratitude to the Immortal King from the healing squad. "Thank you for saving the life of my son," he said.

And with that, the entire atmosphere changed again.

It was one thing to kill a mere guard from a Sect, but it was something entirely different from killing the son of an Immortal King.

No wonder this mere guard was able to summon someone this powerful!

A wave of fear engulfed the Core Disciple from the Punishment Cleaver Sect.

This was bad!

Luckily, he had the background to protect himself from the wrath of this Immortal King. Otherwise, only death would await him.

"That’s our job. You know the cost," the Immortal King from the healing squad said. "However," he added. "We are willing to make this one free as long as you allow us to invite this one into our Sect," he said as he pointed at Gravis.

Gravis had already expected something like this. This Immortal King had incredible insights into the Laws of Soul, and he had recognized Gravis’ Laws. Very few people understood any kind of Soul Law, and they were incredibly valuable.

The father of the guard wasn’t certain, but Gravis intervened.

"I’m sorry, senior," Gravis said with respect, "but this person," he said as he pointed at the guard, "has almost paid with his life by inviting me to his Sect. I won’t disappoint such an incredible show of trust."

Gravis had used his Law of Honesty since both Immortal Kings were powerful enough to recognize the Law of Honesty. Someone at the level of the guy from the Burial Ground Sect wouldn’t be able to know if this was the Law of Honesty, Deceit, or Lies. Yet, Immortal Kings were powerful enough to discern the Law.

The father of the guard narrowed his eyes, and his emotions were going crazy. He wasn’t certain how he should feel towards Gravis right now. His son had almost paid with his life just to invite Gravis? So, if Gravis weren’t here, his son wouldn’t have nearly died?

This put some blame on Gravis’ shoulders.

Yet, Gravis had obviously given his absolute best to heal his son, even wasting all his Energy. Gravis might be responsible for the guard’s near-death experience, but he also kept him alive during it.

Was it good luck that this guard was the son of an Immortal King?

No.

If Gravis hadn’t fully committed everything he had to keep the guard alive, this Immortal King would definitely kill Gravis because of his involvement.

If Gravis had let the guard die under the Core Disciple’s assault, this Immortal King would have arrived a second later, rage-filled and grieving. Then, Gravis and the Core Disciple would have both immediately died.

This also showed that the other two choices Gravis had had would have ended with his death far earlier than he had expected. Both choices would have required Gravis to let the guard die, which would have summoned the angry father.

Without noticing, Gravis’ horrible luck had created a scenario where he would have certainly died if he hadn’t decided to save the guard.

In less than half an hour, Gravis’ Karmic Luck had almost killed him thrice.

Firstly, with the Core Disciple.

Secondly, with the new arrival from the Burial Ground Sect.

Thirdly, with the potential death of the guard.

The father of the guard looked at the Immortal King from the healer squad. "I’m sorry, but I trust my son. My son is not stupid, and he would have known the risk. In his mind, he probably believes that this Ascender is worth more than his own life."

The Immortal King from the healer squad looked at the father and sighed. "Alright," he said.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

A ton of Immortal Stones flew from the father of the guard to the Immortal King. Gravis’ Spirit wasn’t fast enough to count the Immortal Stones, but he was sure there were over ten thousand.

With the exchange finished, the Immortal King looked at Gravis. "If you find yourself without a home, come to our Life Giving Sect. We will always accept someone with your knowledge in Soul."

Gravis bowed slightly in politeness to show that he understood, but he didn’t confirm out of respect for the father of the guard. The guard had nearly given his life to recruit Gravis, and this was an incredible show of dedication, honesty, selflessness, and trust.

Gravis wouldn’t forget something like this. As long as this Sect didn’t turn out to be filled by shitheads, he wouldn’t leave them.

The Immortal King nodded and teleported away with his two assistants.

Then, the father of the guard turned to Gravis with rage-filled eyes.

"Who!?" he asked through clenched teeth.

Gravis pointed at the Core Disciple.

"Him."

Chapter 740 - 740 – Unrestrained

The father looked with rage at the Core Disciple.

Yet, he didn’t immediately strike the Core Disciple, even though Gravis had used the Law of Honesty again, which made his claim nearly undoubtable.

’His background is not simple,’ Gravis thought with narrowed eyes. ’Otherwise, the Immortal King would have immediately annihilated the Core Disciple. Sure enough, this situation is not so simple.’

"I am-" the Core Disciple tried to say, but the Will-Aura from the Immortal King stopped him from speaking.

"I know who you are," the Immortal King said with rage. "You will not speak another word."

The Core Disciple immediately shut up, but he felt relieved. As long as the Immortal King knew who he was, he wouldn’t die unless the Immortal King wanted his entire Sect to be annihilated.

The Immortal King turned to his son and put his finger on his son’s head again.

"Ah!" the guard suddenly shouted as he was shocked awake. The guard wasn’t able to process his current situation as his Spirit tried to make sense of everything.

Then, the guard touched his body at several places with his hands in disbelief. "I’m alive?" he asked in shock.

"I’m alive!" he said with a sigh after that.

After that, he noticed his father and smiled brightly. "Dad!" he shouted as he jumped into his father’s arms.

His father had a loving smile on his face as he stroked his son’s head in comfort. "You’re safe now. Daddy’s here," he said.

"What happened?" the son asked in shock as he jumped out of his father’s embrace again. "Where’s the Ascen- Oh!" he shouted as he noticed Gravis.

"Thank you so much for saving me!" he shouted at Gravis as he bowed. "Without you, I would be dead!"

Gravis went closer and pulled the guard’s head up. "I’m the one that should thank you," Gravis said. "You went forward in the most dangerous moment to offer me an olive branch. You have saved me more than I have saved you."

"But I-"

"Enough!" the Immortal King said with authority, interrupting his son. "Tell me, what happened?" he asked.

The guard’s emotional mindset immediately transformed into the mindset of a soldier as he straightened his body. Apparently, his father’s strict voice had a massive effect on him.

"Yes!" the guard shouted with conviction. "It all started with the arrival of the Ascender..."

Then, the guard explained everything that had happened with as much clarity and detail as possible. He explained everything that had happened exactly how he saw it, but the details after he had lost his head were foggy at best. He didn’t even recognize the new person from the Burial Ground Sect.

After listening to his son’s words, the father immediately understood why his son wanted to invite Gravis.

It wasn’t Gravis’ power that moved the son to make such a risky decision, but Gravis’ mindset.

Gravis’ actions towards the captain of the Burial Ground Sect and his words towards the Core Disciple after that showed his mindset.

Gravis was a perfect fit for their Sect.

It was like he had been born to be part of their Sect!

"I don’t remember anything else after that," the guard said with uncertainty. "I only remember the feeling I felt towards the Ascender as he tried to keep me alive. For some reason, I felt like he was exactly like the founder of our Sect."

The father narrowed his eyes. This was a monumental claim.

The father looked at Gravis closely, and for the first time, he also looked at Gravis’ Avatar, who still floated behind him.

The Immortal King furrowed his brows at the Avatar. His Spirit Sense went over the Avatar to get a feeling for it, and what he felt shocked him more than anything that happened this day.

Inspecting someone else’s Avatar this closely would be more than rude normally, but Gravis didn’t mind it. His destiny was already interwoven with these two people.

Unrestrained. Spontaneous. Absent of Pressure. Uncaring.

Freedom.

These were the things that the Immortal King felt from Gravis’ Avatar.

This was just like the legends!

After that, the Immortal King inspected Gravis’ body, and what he felt was even more shocking.

Anomaly.

This was the only thing that could describe the feeling the Immortal King got from inspecting Gravis. Gravis’ Energy was weak beyond compare. It was almost like he didn’t even have any Energy. Yet, his lightning felt beyond powerful. It was like Gravis’ entire body was filled with nothing but lightning!

Even more shocking was Gravis’ body itself. The Spirit Sense and Will-Aura of the Immortal King were far above Gravis, and with such a close inspection, the Immortal King could see Gravis’ true form.

This was the body of a beast!

Yet, he could also feel an incredibly powerful Will-Aura from Gravis.

This was impossible!

The element-filled body of a beast was something that only a beast could have, but a Spirit and a Will-Aura was only something that a human could have.

How was it possible that someone had both!?

"Black Demon Variant," the Immortal King said involuntarily to himself.

The son immediately grew nervous and looked around. "Where!?" he asked.

"Nothing, nothing," the Immortal King said. "I was merely talking to myself."

Gravis looked evenly at the Immortal King. "So, now you know me," Gravis commented. "What will you do?"

The Immortal King took out his bow and closed his eyes.

"Isn’t it obvious?" he asked calmly.

"I don’t know you, so it isn’t obvious to me," Gravis answered.

"Then look closely at who I am," the Immortal King said as a grey arrow appeared on his bow.

Gravis felt the grey arrow, and he recognized the Law on it immediately. He knew that Law, and precisely because of that reason, Gravis was the one that became shocked for once.

This Law was supposed to be rare!

The only other person that knew this Law that Gravis had met before had been the middle Heaven. No one else he had met since then knew it.

This was the Major Law of Suppression!

A ton of different questions in Gravis’ mind immediately got answered.

Why was the guard so certain that his Sect wasn’t like the ones that Gravis despised?

Why was the guard so dead set on getting Gravis?

How did the guard know that Gravis could free him from suppression?

Understanding suppression meant feeling suppression, and when someone felt suppressed for such a long time, they would hate the feeling of suppression. So, there was only one thing that such a person would chase.

Freedom!

Gravis sighed and smiled warmly in relief. "I don’t know who you are," Gravis said, "but I can understand who you are."

"Then listen closely," the Immortal King said as he pulled the string on his bow. "I am Liran," he said as he stepped away from Gravis, his bow fully pulled, "and I am the Sect Master of the Unrestrained Sect."

Then, he pointed it at the Core Disciple from the Punishment Cleaver Sect.

The Core Disciple felt like his life was crashing down.

He said he knew who he was! Why was he pointing his bow at him!?

"You are now part of my Sect..." the Immortal King said.

TWANG! BANG!

He let the arrow fly, and the arrow turned the Core Disciple into nothingness.

BANG!

The world exploded as lightning seemingly filled everything.

An old man with a mighty saber had appeared just one second after the death of the Core Disciple, and he felt incredibly powerful.

He was a Mid Minor Circulation Immortal King, just like Liran. Yet, his Battle Power felt far more powerful to Gravis than Liran’s. This was not an opponent that Liran could defeat.

Additionally, Gravis saw that this old man looked nearly identical to the Core Disciple, just older.

This was obviously the Core Disciple’s father or grandfather.

"However short that may be," Liran finished.