Ch. 771..780

Chapter 771 - 771 – Power Revealed

The teacher gave Gravis the location of his next opponent, and Gravis thanked her again. After that, he talked with Stella for a little bit and gave her a spot where they would meet again. It was just a bit outside the Unrestrained Sect.

Gravis would probably be busy for an entire day or so since he had to conquer multiple resource points.

When everything was done, Gravis left the three of them alone. He wasn’t close to any of them, so he didn’t really care about the teacher’s death.

After teleporting once, Gravis arrived at a new Formation Array. This was probably the Formation Array that the teacher set up. Gravis simply flew through it, and, sure enough, the Formation Array didn’t stop him.

"Halt!"

’Of course,’ Gravis thought as he heard the voice of a middle-aged man.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

Three Immortal Kings appeared before Gravis.

"Report! What has happened in there?" one of them ordered.

Obviously, all three of them were Sect Masters from neutral Sects. They had probably overseen the fight and became concerned when their Formation Array broke down.

"An Immortal Emperor intervened in the fight, and the fight ended undecided. Neither of us won," Gravis said.

"An Immortal Emperor?" one of them said with shock and reverence. "Do you speak the truth? These are bold claims."

"Yes, I am," Gravis said, activating his Law of Honesty.

The three of them looked at Gravis with furrowed brows. Apparently, they were not sure if they should believe him or not.

Gravis was a bit surprised by their reaction until he realized something. His Will-Aura had become more powerful and was now equal to the power of a Mid Minor Circulation Immortal King. This meant that Sect Masters were no longer able to see if he was using the Law of Honesty, Deceit, or Lies.

"Who else would be able to stop you from entering?" Gravis said calmly.

Gravis’ words made sense, and the three of them looked at each other in uncertainty. "Who is this Immortal Emperor?" they asked.

"The teacher of my previous opponent," Gravis said. "Go ask the Seething Inferno Sect. Apparently, she is a guest there. They should know who that person is."

The three Sect Masters looked at each other and nodded. "We will verify if that’s true."

"Cool, so can I go now?" Gravis asked. "If I lied, I wouldn’t be able to escape from you anyway. Might as well continue."

The central one of the three furrowed his brows at Gravis. "Are you saying that you will attack another resource point?" he asked.

"Yes," Gravis answered.

The three of them looked intensely at Gravis but nodded after a while. "That’s a formidable mindset you have there, young man," the right one said. "Please be careful about which opponent you choose. You are very talented, and we don’t want to see someone like you dying because you overestimated your abilities."

"I already know my opponent," Gravis said. "So, can I go now?"

"You may pass," the left one said as they stepped to the side.

Gravis nodded and teleported away.

"I’ll verify his claims," the right one said as he teleported away.

The other two just waited.

Half an hour later, the third Sect Master returned again with a complex expression. The other two looked at him with raised brows. "Did he speak the truth?" one of them asked.

"Yes, he did," the third one said with a shaky voice, but before he actually reported his findings, he wanted to confirm something. "He said that his fight ended undecided, right?"

"Are you already getting old?" one of them asked. "Yes, he said so."

The third Sect Master released a shaky breath, surprising the other two. What was up with him?

"The person that he had fought was the personal disciple of the ancestor of the Nine Elements Sect," he said directly.

Ssshh!

Silence.

The atmosphere seemingly froze as the two of them felt that time stopped.

The Nine Elements Sect?

The Ancestor?

The personal disciple?

This... this...

In their minds, a mighty castle on top of an unclimbable mountain appeared. Below the mountain were rivers of blood that flowed around the mountain.

One of the most powerful Sects in the entire world, the Nine Elements Sect.

And above this castle floated a beautiful woman, radiating supreme power.

The ancestor.

In their minds, they could see Gravis’ earlier opponent, Stella, standing right behind this godly existence, overlooking the entire Sect as the entire world bowed before them.

And this seemingly weak and unimportant Late Minor Circulation Immortal managed to fight to a draw with such a person?

For several seconds, no one spoke a word.

"Hey, guys! You have to see this!" a laughing voice appeared as another Sect Master teleported in front of them. "Quick, you have to return, or you’re going to miss it!"

One of the three shook his head and turned to the new arrival. "What? We’re talking about something important here!"

"Trust me, your talk can wait," he said with a laugh. "You know that one guy that just fought with that one girl over there?" he said as he pointed to the Formation Array beside them. "He just challenged his next opponent and man, did he choose a good one."

"He chose his next opponent?" One of them asked with some nervousness.

"Yeah, you’ll never guess who," the fourth Sect Master said with a laugh. Then, he looked at one of them in particular. This one wore a whitish-blue robe. "Seems like your Sect’s about to kill this so-called Supreme Ascender."

The Sect Master in blue became nervous. "Whom did he choose?" he asked with a frantic voice.

The fourth Sect Master became a bit confused about the frantic tone of the other Sect Master. However, his jolly demeanor returned quickly. "He chose your personal disciple, Samantha!"

"Sa-Samantha?" he asked in shock and terror.

The other two Sect Masters looked at him and then at each other with narrowed eyes.

SHI-

The Sect Master wanted to teleport, but the other two broke the space to stop him from going.

Then, they took out their weapons and looked at the Sect Master with narrowed eyes. "You are not allowed to intervene in the fight!" they ordered.

"Let me go!" he shouted with hysterical fury as he pulled out his own weapon.

"I won’t let him kill my daughter!"

Chapter 772 - 772 – Samantha

Gravis floated above an icy landscape. Rivers made of Frost flowed around this area, and tornados of ice ravaged the surroundings. Gravis floated in the center of all of this, on a heightened platform of ice and frost.

This was the resource point, the Icy Wasteland.

There were no expensive resources here.

No ore to be found.

No beasts to be found.

No plants.

There was nothing.

However, this area showcased over six different Laws of Water, including the higher element, Frost. This was an incredibly valuable resource point, about as valuable as it could get in regards to Major Circulation resource points.

Peak resource points that counted as Law Comprehension Areas showcased more than one level three Law, while the Immortal King resource points showcased level four Laws. This one showcased only one level three Law, but several level two Laws too.

This area was probably in the top three of all Major Circulation resource points across the entire alliance.

However, Gravis didn’t look at this resource point but at a person sitting on a mountain in front of him.

An icy beauty.

Her hair was white. Her skin was white. Her clothes were white. She perfectly represented the iciness and coldness of such a desolate and isolated wasteland of icy death.

Her eyes looked at Gravis like he was unworthy. He was beneath her. He was simply some common farmer boy while she was the holy maiden of the goddess of ice and snow.

Her distant and rejecting aura eliminated every feeling of warmth that closed in on her.

Meanwhile, Gravis stood there with crossed arms.

’Yep, I can kill that,’ he thought.

Gravis despised this holier-than-thou feeling that some Cultivators radiated. If she were one of the most powerful beings in the world, it wouldn’t really be an issue. After all, nearly no one would be able to contend against her.

However, here? In the unimportant alliance of the Sects? As an Immortal?

In the grand scheme of things, she was just a bit above average.

Yet, she showed herself as the absolute paragon of power. Her attitude was clearly far more arrogant than it should be for her power.

As soon as Gravis had arrived, she hadn’t even deigned to look at him. It was like he didn’t exist.

That was until Gravis said his first words.

What did he say?

"I bet you don’t know the Law of Pride."

As soon as Gravis had seen her, he immediately felt apathy towards her. He had always hated these beings that acted all-powerful when they were obviously not. Blinded by their weak surroundings, they had lost track of the wider world, forgetting that there were far more powerful people out there.

In their little hole, away from everyone else, they were the most powerful, and they sure as hell would tell everyone about that.

As soon as Gravis spoke these words, a powerful icy storm raged around Gravis as she looked coldly at him.

Gravis had very accurately hit a nerve with his words. Samantha had always immersed herself in the feeling of pride, feeling like she had a destiny with the Law of Pride. She was the most powerful. Everyone on her level was beneath her.

She was above everyone, and she knew that. Her pride was untouchable by anyone.

However, she had never comprehended the Law of Pride, no matter how hard she tried.

Gravis waited for a bit as the storm raged around him.

"You done?" he asked.

Silence.

"Alright," he said, "then let’s get down to business. I’m here to challenge this resource point as a representative of the Unrestrained Sect."

WHOOOOM!

The Formation Array activated immediately. This meant that Samantha had accepted the challenge.

Samantha slowly took out her thin and long, white rapier. She only coldly looked at Gravis.

SHING!

She swung her rapier and created a white wave of Frost that shot at Gravis, an attack easily powerful enough to annihilate this worthless ant that couldn’t tell the difference between a mountain and an anthill.

SHING!

Gravis vanished as he teleported away, dodging the attack. Samantha hadn’t locked down space yet, since she thought that such a weak opponent wouldn’t be worthy of more than a single, casual slash from her.

SHING!

Another casual swing of her rapier came down on the spot beside her, where Gravis would appear shortly. As soon as Gravis appeared, his body was bisected vertically as his body froze over and exploded into particles of ice.

SHING!

However, just an instant later, a second Gravis appeared on the other side of her. The first teleportation had only been a very weak clone created with the Lightning Fork. No one watching would be able to notice that this had been a real body and not just an illusion.

Samantha stood just one meter in front of Gravis, her right side turned to him.

If Gravis unleashed a Lightning Crescent right now, Samantha would be dead.

How many enemies had Gravis slain because they had underestimated him?

When one didn’t unleash their full power, their full power might as well not exist. Samantha was obviously very powerful, but her arrogance had allowed Gravis to kill her.

However, Gravis didn’t come here to kill her. At least, that was not the main goal.

No, he was interested in tempering, and this definitely wasn’t tempering.

Samantha’s head quickly shot to Gravis’ new location as her rapier followed.

SLAP!

However, Gravis was faster and was in a better position. Before Samantha could do anything, Gravis gave her a powerful, back-handed slap to the face.

BANG!

Samantha shot away, and her body was buried into the ground as an explosion of ice appeared on her landing spot.

Gravis rubbed the back of his hand as he grinned at Samantha’s new location.

"Man, your face is so thick that my hand hurts," he said.

BOOOOOOOOM!

Another explosion of ice appeared as the element of Frost raged around Samantha in a storm.

Cold, deadly, furious, hateful eyes glared at Gravis from the storm.

"You taking me seriously now?" Gravis asked with a smirk. "Can we actually start for real then?"

"DIE!" a cold and furious shout came from the storm as all the cold elements entered Samantha’s rapier.

Gravis only smirked.

Chapter 773 - 773 – Frustration

The cold tornado of Frost surrounding Samantha raged in the surroundings as her cold eyes shone inside the storm.

She was enraged!

How dare this mere ant strike her face!?

’Finally, she’s getting serious,’ Gravis thought.

Gravis’ new Law of Danger told him that the enemy was extremely dangerous and that one mistake could end his life. Had Gravis gambled with his life when he decided not to kill Samantha when he had the chance?

Of course!

If Gravis didn’t gamble with his life, he wouldn’t be able to receive tempering. When one’s goal was to kill an enemy, doing something like this would be stupid beyond reason. However, when it came to tempering, it was necessary to be that stupid.

Many Cultivators only tempered themselves against enemies that wanted to kill them. They traveled the world, comprehended Laws, and searched for resources, simply waiting for greedy or malicious people to appear.

However, this put the choice of opponent into the enemy’s hands. Cultivators often chose an opponent that they felt would pose a bit of danger, but not too much. Therefore, the enemies of the passive Cultivators were always incredibly formidable since those enemies judged the passive Cultivator to not pose a significant danger.

In Gravis’ mind, the people who didn’t search for powerful opponents were actually the ones playing with their lives. They put themselves out there, being forced to accept nearly every opponent that came their way. Not having control over which opponent one fought was relying on luck.

This was also one of the essential reasons why it was necessary to have a powerful Battle-Strength. Someone one level above someone else might decide to kill the other person for their wealth. However, these were not the main opponents one encountered. After all, it was possible that the Cultivator could fight a level above them. Cultivators one level more powerful than oneself were the rarest enemies that initiated the fight.

More common were Cultivators at the same level since they wanted to temper themselves too, and just as common were Cultivators one level above oneself that could also jump a level since they wouldn’t even see the other Cultivator as a danger.

So, in short, Cultivators mainly initiated combat against opponents that were either definitely weaker than them or just as powerful as them. Opponents that were one level more powerful rarely initiated combat. After all, the opponent was neither weak nor powerful. It was not easy to kill them, but it also wouldn’t count as tempering. It was neither one nor the other.

In Gravis’ case, if he were to be the passive one, one piece of cannon fodder after the other would come. No Late Major Circulation Immortal would initiate a fight since Gravis appeared so much weaker than them. Such a weak Cultivator wouldn’t even have any kind of significant wealth. It wasn’t worth the risk to offend any kind of power because of this little wealth.

Gravis’ Battle-Strength meant that he was allowed to choose his dangerous opponents every time.

This was why his Battle-Strength was so important.

And this was also why Gravis had such a huge variety of enemies to choose from.

’Let’s get this show on the road,’ Gravis thought with a smirk. However, after he thought that, his smirk transformed into narrowed eyes. It was time to take this situation seriously now.

"DIE!" Samantha shouted as the storm was absorbed into her rapier.

SSSSSHHHH!

She struck once, and a white slash shot at Gravis with incredible speed. At the same time, Gravis felt the space crack, making it impossible for him to teleport.

BANG!

Gravis’ feet exploded with lightning as he shot to the side, barely evading the attack.

As Samantha saw this, her rage only intensified.

What a humiliation!

A mere Minor Circulation Immortal had evaded her attack not once, not twice, but thrice!

Gravis shot at Samantha, but before he could make any significant headway, the situation changed again.

CRRRRR!

The ice surrounding Samantha changed color. From a cold whitish blue, it transformed into pure red. The ice and snow began to crackle violently like it was rubbing against itself and grinding itself down.

Samantha’s surroundings shook like there was a volcano that was about to erupt.

The color of Samantha’s white rapier also changed to red.

Then, she slashed again.

"RAH!" she shouted aggressively.

BANG!

A red wave of ice and snow shot at Gravis, but this one was even faster and more powerful than the last one.

Gravis’ eyes widened since he had not expected that Samantha could increase her attacking power even more. She had already slashed with all her power previously. How could the same attack be even faster?

BANG!

Lightning exploded beneath Gravis’ feet again, but the speed wasn’t enough to evade. Gravis also activated the Law of Time to accelerate his personal time, giving him enough speed to evade this attack.

SSSSHHHH!

The slash passed Gravis, and it violently shook. The attack was destroying itself as icy dust was left behind by the slash. After some hundred kilometers or so, the slash ground itself into nothingness and vanished.

’What a violent attack,’ Gravis thought. ’This attack was seemingly created by pure power without any finesse. Usually, a higher amount of control was necessary to boost the power of an attack, but her control had decreased instead. Yet, the attack is still more powerful than before.’

’Honestly, I hadn’t seen that before,’ Gravis thought. ’The lacking finesse and control make it basically impossible for the attack to be a technique. It’s more like an attack that was performed with around 150% of her power. However, that makes no sense.’

’If she knew some kind of Body Law that increased her power, her control wouldn’t suffer.’

’Red color, less control over an attack, having no affinity for the Law of Pride but feeling constantly prideful. All of these things paint a clear picture. Everything is unworthy in her eyes, but she can’t comprehend pride. This creates frustration, and as far as I see, she is probably not a person that swallows frustration. She probably releases her frustration upon others as soon as they cross her path.’

’Her frustration transforms into rage. Now, everything makes sense. Due to her predicament and experiences, she has no affinity with the Law of Pride, but she has plenty of affinity for the Law of Rage.’

’Interesting. So, the Law of Rage allows one to exchange control for pure power. It’s like the polar opposite of the Law of Control.’

All of these thoughts shot through Gravis’ mind in the blink of an eye. Samantha had shown one of her more powerful Laws, and now Gravis was prepared for that Law.

"RAAAAH!" Samantha shouted with absolute fury. This ant had evaded again!

BANG!

She unleashed another attack.

WHOOOOOM!

She had never been so humiliated! She even needed to use her Will-Aura against such an unworthy being!

Gravis looked at Samantha as the attack shot towards him.

’She’s stupid,’ Gravis thought. ’She only slowly increases the power of her attacks instead of unleashing all her power at once. Where’s her level four Law? Where are her level three Laws? If I weren’t here for tempering, I would use my Avatar to break free of her Will-Aura, come close to her, stun her with my own Will-Aura, and kill her.’

’It’s actually idiotic that I have to play this game of slowly allowing her to increase her own attack if I want to have an actual fight. Her mindset regarding battle makes her even weaker than an average Cultivator at her level. Has she never been under a chaotic threat to her life? Has she always only battled chosen opponents that had just the right power?’

’Yes, you have a great talent for frustration and rage,’ Gravis thought. ’You are so talented that you even frustrate me!’

WHOOOOOM!

Gravis activated his own Will-Aura, as well as his Law of Apathy, Law of Major Suppression, and Law of Minor Death. All of these Laws hit Samantha’s Will-Aura, breaking it for a second. For a second, her mind stopped working. She had simply unleashed her Will-Aura but hadn’t braced herself against a significant impact from the opponent’s Will-Aura.

As a comparison, if Samantha were a mortal adult, she acted like she was expecting a punch from a small child instead of an actual punch from another adult. If she did her best, she could have defended against an adult’s punch, but she didn’t even properly defend herself.

That was why Gravis’ Will-Aura destroyed her Will-Aura for a second. She had been taken off-guard.

This was the second time in which Gravis could have already killed her.

BANG!

Gravis evaded the attack the same way he evaded the last attack.

Gravis narrowed his eyes further as he gnashed his teeth. ’It’s ridiculous that I actually have to help you to increase your own power. You are an enemy! You are my opponent! You are supposed to be a danger to me!’

’Instead, I have to support you and fix your fucking mindset so that you can actually become an opponent.’

’What a disappointment,’ Gravis thought with frustration. ’How come that the most powerful Late Major Circulation Immortal is actually the weakest Late Major Circulation Immortal?’

Meanwhile, the onlookers, a great distance away, frowned at this spectacle. Most of the Immortal Kings had climbed to their current position with their own power.

Was it humiliating when being slapped by an opponent?

Inherently, no. After all, the opponent should be powerful.

However, Samantha’s power should be so much greater than that.

The really humiliating part was HOW Gravis managed to slap Samantha.

He had teleported to her and simply slapped her with supremely average speed. There was nothing fast about this. He just arrived and slapped.

Being hit by such an obvious, slow, and telegraphed attack was the truly humiliating part.

The Immortal Kings had rarely seen Samantha fight. She had only fought once in the resource point conflict, and that was when she took over this resource point. She had unleashed her level four Law and immediately decimated her opponent.

Due to that dominating performance, the following five resource points she claimed had immediately conceded.

Ever since then, no Late Major Circulation Immortal had dared to challenge her.

They had expected a similarly dominating performance, but instead, they were subjected to such an abysmal, pitiful, and humiliating performance.

Her opponent could have killed her at least once already, and he hadn’t even demonstrated anything impressive except for his Will-Aura. He had teleported once and simply evaded some attacks. He hadn’t even unleashed an actual attack!

To an outsider, it seemed like Gravis was playing with his opponent. It was like an expert was humiliating some helpless girl.

Some, but not many, Immortal Kings even felt pity for Samantha.

Even though Gravis was an entire Circulation below Samantha, they still felt like this fight was unfair for Samantha, the previously publicly acknowledged strongest Major Circulation Immortal of the Sect Alliance.

"I’m glad Ryan isn’t here to see his daughter like this," one of them said.

Chapter 774 - 774 – Level Four Law

Gravis felt incredibly frustrated with his opponent.

As soon as Samantha saw Gravis evading another attack, her rage exploded even more as she nearly lost all rationality.

CRRRRRRRRR!

Yet, before she could attack, Gravis’ surroundings suddenly changed. The air around Gravis vibrated as Punishment Lightning crossed the air. Gravis had summoned a humongous Lightning Bomb.

Then, Gravis unleashed his entire Will-Aura, all the suppressive Situational Laws, and unleashed the Law of Heat. After that, he summoned the oppressive force of his Law of the Dead World. His Law of Control was activated in such a way that Samantha felt like control over the situation was slipping out of her grasp. Lastly, Gravis made his saber vibrate with the Major Hard Pure Law.

Samantha stopped the attack she had just wanted to unleash as she felt like the situation had changed. Her rage subsided as she felt like she was thrown into an ice bucket.

Gravis glared deeply into her eyes.

"If you still refuse to show me your real power, I will kill you right now!" Gravis shouted with a voice transmission as he also activated his Law of Honesty.

A feeling of danger washed over Samantha. For the first time, she felt like she could lose her life. For the first time, it felt like an actually dangerous opponent stood before her.

"Don’t fuck with me," Gravis transmitted with the utmost severity.

Then, Gravis retrieved all his powers again as he readied himself for battle.

Samantha took a deep breath as her rage subsided.

She couldn’t take this opponent lightly anymore.

However, instead of realizing her idiotic conduct, she thought of Gravis as an idiot. Gravis had demonstrated his power instead of using it.

What an idiot.

Many times, arrogance made one blind to introspection. Unhealthy arrogance made it impossible for one to see the error in their own ways. Instead of learning something new and improving her mindset, Samantha only felt like her opponent was an idiot.

However, Gravis’ display of power had woken Samantha up. Finally, she realized that she couldn’t take this fight lightly anymore.

’It’s ridiculous that I had to intimidate her into taking this seriously,’ Gravis thought with narrowed eyes. ’This is truly pathetic.’

Instead of slashing, Samantha moved her rapier in a beautiful manner. It was like she was painting something with a graceful brush.

Her movements were finished in less than a second, and as soon as she was done, a cold light shone out of her rapier. The surrounding air froze over as her rapier moved through a frozen wall of air.

SHING!

Then, Samantha shot forward with an astonishing amount of speed as her figure blurred.

Gravis felt his Law of Danger scream at him as he suppressed Samantha’s movement as much as possible. Surprisingly, Samantha’s Will-Aura was even more powerful than Stella’s, which was probably also the reason why Stella didn’t question her teacher’s orders when she had been ordered to temper herself. After all, she truly needed to increase her Will-Aura.

So, in the end, Gravis only managed to slow Samantha’s movement by about 5%, something that was barely noticeable.

’Law of Supreme Speed!’ Gravis thought in a flash. This was a level three Body Law, a Law that Meadow also knew.

Samantha seemingly teleported in front of Gravis as she unleashed a graceful slash. Her speed was superior to Gravis’ speed, which meant that Gravis needed to block this attack.

BANG!

The saber and the rapier hit each other. The rapier had been stopped for an instant, but Gravis’ saber froze over immediately.

And broke apart!

Samantha’s slash continued as Gravis moved his hand in front of the slash.

SHING!

Gravis’ arm was bisected at the elbow as he barely managed to evade to the side with the rest of his body. At the same time, Gravis also cut off his own arm at the shoulder by quietly transforming his shoulder into lightning and recreating this body without any connection to his severed arm.

In an instant, Gravis’ arm froze and exploded into icicles. If he hadn’t cut off his arm immediately, this would have been his body.

After Gravis had fixed Samantha’s mindset, she had become a truly terrifying opponent. With one attack, she destroyed one of Gravis’ three sabers and cut off an arm.

She wasn’t like Stella, who had wanted to intimidate Gravis into conceding.

Samantha wanted to kill Gravis.

Gravis felt the power of the attack and immediately realized what Law this was.

’The Major Law of Cold!’ he thought. ’This is her level four Law and also her Avatar. With just her Avatar alone, this Law of hers can exhibit the power of a level five Law. On top of that, she used some kind of Weapon Technique to combine her other powers with this one.’

’Instead of unleashing one attack, she increased the passive power of her rapier. Every normal slash of hers exhibits the power of a level five Law while only needing to keep the Major Law of Cold running. It has sustainability, flexibility, and incredible attacking power.’

’Her attacks have become unblockable, unparriable, and her Law of Supreme Speed makes them nearly unavoidable.’

’A truly dangerous opponent.’

’Perfect!’ Gravis thought as he felt the feeling of standing on the brink of death.

Gravis’ arm quickly regrew, but it wouldn’t finish growing until Samantha unleashed her next attack. So, Gravis summoned another saber in his free hand and slashed forward.

Samantha used her rapier in only one hand, and as soon as Gravis started his attack, Samantha’s free hand pointed at Gravis’ arm.

SSSSHHH!

A concentrated beam of coldness shot at Gravis’ arm, freezing it over in nearly an instant as it slowed down.

Gravis broke off his other arm with the same technique as before, and it started falling.

BANG!

Another arm came out of Gravis’ body with incredible speed as it punched the frozen arm into pieces, which shot directly into Samantha’s face.

Samantha’s eyes were damaged by the icicles, her vision now being severely impaired.

BZZZZZZ!

At the same time, lightning exploded in the surroundings, throwing space and Samantha’s Spirit Sense into chaos. This would make it impossible for her to see the attack coming. Gravis’ arm grabbed the falling saber and stabbed forward.

CRRRRRR!

Samantha’s surroundings froze over as she unleashed her Major Law of Cold all around her. She couldn’t judge where Gravis was coming from, which forced her to unleash it into her surroundings.

CRR!

Gravis’ body started to freeze over, but since the Law hadn’t been concentrated, it didn’t have the same power as before. However, Gravis’ body still froze over with rapid speed, but it wasn’t instantaneous anymore.

Gravis cut off this arm, too, as it shot forward due to the slash’s power. Then, Gravis shot back with his full speed. He couldn’t stay here until the attack finished, or he wouldn’t survive.

The arm froze over but still flew at Samantha.

 

The saber shot through the frozen air, and Samantha felt the saber approaching. Her eyes and Spirit Sense didn’t work right now, but her Major Law of Cold could keep track of approaching attacks to some degree, which was an additional reason why she had activated it.

SHING!

Samantha stepped back as her rapier shot at the saber with incredible speed.

The saber froze and cracked apart.

BOOOOOOOOOM!

And the loaded Lightning Crescent in the saber exploded.

The surroundings were destroyed, but the explosion of lightning was quickly frozen over by the superior Major Law of Cold, creating a humongous ball of frozen lightning.

Gravis knew that this attack hadn’t killed Samantha, but he couldn’t directly attack again. Samantha would feel him coming as soon as he entered the frozen sphere of lightning. He didn’t know how injured Samantha was inside the ice since his connection to his lightning had been broken as soon as it froze over, but he was sure that her injuries weren’t light.

Sssss!

A quiet sound of cutting could be heard.

SSSSHHH!

Then, the entire sphere exploded as it turned to snowflakes, which circulated around Samantha.

Gravis could see blood flowing out from all over Samantha’s body. Her limbs were severely burned, even showing bone. She had barely protected her head and parts of her torso with her limbs.

Samantha glared at Gravis with her damaged eyes, which were only slowly healing.

BOOOOOOOOM!

Then, everything turned red as Samantha unleashed her Major Law of Cold into her surroundings, supported by the Law of Rage. The air, elements, and Laws froze over around her as the violent rage of the cold ice froze and destroyed everything.

BANG!

Then, Samantha shot forward as everything in a kilometer radius turned red, froze over, and was ground into nothingness.

A gigantic red sphere of icy death shot at Gravis with Samantha at its center.

Chapter 775 - 775 – Close Combat

Samantha charged at Gravis with all her speed as the world around her crumbled into icy dust.

Gravis narrowed his eyes and pointed one hand at her.

WHOOOOM!

Gravis used the Major Law of Control to disrupt Samantha’s control over her attacks. The Law of Rage exchanged control for more attacking power, but both power and control were important to sustain an attack. Gravis’ Major Law of Control wasn’t powerful enough to reduce the control over an attack to such a degree that it would become harmless, but when the opponent already had a shaky control at best...

SSSHHH!

The surroundings were only frozen a little bit as the Major Law of Cold couldn’t unleash its full power anymore. The entire aura broke down before it even unleashed its true power.

Samantha noticed this and gritted her teeth in rage. There were only two ways to counter this.

First, to stop using the Law of Rage.

Second, to brute force her way through the Law of Control by using several times the amount of Energy.

Samantha was so frustrated with her situation that she couldn’t possibly back down now. This ant had already humiliated her! She wouldn’t accept any more humiliation by taking a step back. She was the most powerful!

CRRRRRR!

Samantha infused her Major Law of Cold with more Energy as it regained its earlier destructive power.

Samantha quickly arrived near Gravis’ location as her Major Law of Cold hit Gravis.

BRRRRR!

Gravis activated his Law of Heat to counter the cold, but his body still started freezing. However, when Gravis also strengthened his body with his own Law of Cold, he managed to resist the cold barely. Parts of his body still froze over and died, but the destruction was slow enough that Gravis could counteract the destruction with his Law of Energy Healing.

Samantha had the Law of Major Cold as her Avatar, giving it the power of a level five Law. Usually, Gravis would find it very difficult to resist such an insane power. Sadly, Samantha kept up her stubborn and arrogant personality and decided to use the Law of Rage.

Usually, due to the level difference, Gravis’ Law of Control would only counter the Law of Rage, but since the Law of Rage specifically played into the strengths of the Law of Control, it resulted in the attack becoming even weaker. In fact, the attack was even weaker now than it would have been if Samantha simply didn’t use her Law of Rage.

Samantha wasn’t unleashing the attack with her weapon, and she also didn’t concentrate it, making its strength fall even further. By the end of it, the Law only exhibited the power of a level four Law.

With Gravis’ Law of Heat and Cold, he managed to reduce the power to the level of a level three Law. Gravis’ scales took care of the majority of the damage, only making them slowly die instead of killing Gravis.

How much Energy did that cost Gravis?

Quite a bit, but not as much.

The Law of Heat and Cold didn’t require any Energy usage due to the Law of Temperatures. The Law of Control worked based on the Will-Aura, and the Will-Aura didn’t require any Energy. Gravis only needed to use Energy to heal his body.

How much Energy did all of this cost Samantha?

An insane amount!

She basically attacked like a meteor that was burning itself in a blaze of glory. Additionally, the Law of Temperatures only marginally helped with the Energy requirement for the Major Law of Cold. After all, the Major Law of Cold was of a higher tier than the Law of Temperatures. In order to use the Major Law of Cold without any Energy requirement, one would need to know the Major Law of Temperatures, a level five Law.

Samantha reached Gravis, and her cold rapier stabbed forward.

BZZZZ!

Gravis’ body was briefly surrounded by lightning, and when his body reappeared, he had barely moved to the side. Sadly, he didn’t manage to fully evade the attack as a piece of flesh had been cut out of his left side.

Gravis’ saber disappeared as he retrieved it into his Spirit Space.

CRR! CRR!

Two additional arms came out of Gravis, making him have four of them at the same time.

BZZZZZZ!

Four concentrated balls of lightning appeared in Gravis’ hands as he moved them around in a mystical manner. He did this to confuse the onlookers. Gravis was partially using his Lightning Transformation and his beast body, and if he didn’t make it seem like some mystical technique, the onlookers might suspect something.

Samantha’s rapier immediately slashed towards Gravis’ body after he evaded. Gravis leaned back like he wanted to jump over the rapier.

BZZZZ!

Lightning appeared at Gravis’ feet as it was infused with the Law of Magnetism. Samantha’s rapier moved down a little bit.

BANG!

One of Gravis’ hands touched the rapier’s side that faced upwards with the lightning in his hand, repelling the rapier. His entire arm froze in an instant.

SWISH!

The rapier only cut off Gravis’ leg as he disconnected this leg too. Then, Gravis moved another hand towards Samantha’s body.

SSSSSHHHH!

Samantha’s free hand shot a concentrated beam of cold at that arm, immediately freezing it. However, the frozen arm suddenly turned into Energy as Gravis used the Composition Law of Frost to transform his frozen arm into Energy.

BZZZZ!

Then, he transformed the Energy into lightning as it shot at Samantha from the front. Meanwhile, another two of Gravis’ arms shot at Samantha.

SSSSH!

Another one was frozen by Samantha, and this one was also transformed into Energy and then lightning.

BANG!

One of Gravis’ arms hit Samantha’s outstretched arm as it was also frozen.

Gravis smirked.

BZZZZZ!

This one also transformed into lightning and shot at Samantha.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The first lightning bolt hit, nearly destroying her outstretched arm. The second one hit the side of her torso, taking a chunk out of her body. The last one hit Samantha’s other hand as she tried to stab Gravis with her rapier again, nearly destroying the hand and halting the attack.

BZZ! BZZ!

Gravis disconnected his remaining leg and his hidden fifth arm, summoned them into his Spirit Space, and resummoned them in front of him. Gravis’ sixth arm came out of his body as it grabbed the end of the cut-off arm.

BRRRRR!

That arm started burning with white fire, and Gravis used that arm as an extension to grab his severed leg. As soon as the arm touched the leg, the white fire disappeared from the arm and reappeared at the front of the leg. Gravis had built a physical connection with separated parts of his body.

The leg was too close. Samantha couldn’t evade!

BANG!

The leg kicked her in the face with white fire, and the fire suddenly got absorbed into Samantha’s head.

Element of wood and the Law of Soul Dispersal!

WHOOOM!

Gravis unleashed his Will-Aura in a powerful punch that hit Samantha’s Will-Aura. The Minor Law of Death quickly consumed her Will-Aura as Samantha lost consciousness for a brief instant due to the element of wood and the Law of Soul Dispersal.

BANG!

Gravis let go of his make-shift extension, summoned one of his spears since it had a greater range than a saber, and stabbed forward.

"STOOOOOP!"

Chapter 776 - 776 – Restrained Sect

A powerful shout went throughout the world, shaking the Formation Array and the surroundings.

Gravis narrowed his eyes as he changed the trajectory of his spear. Instead of directly aiming for Samantha’s head, he angled it down at her neck.

PUCHI!

The spear punched through Samantha’s throat, but it didn’t decapitate her. As long as a physical connection to the body still existed, an Immortal wouldn’t die.

BZZZZZ!

The spear sparkled with Punishment Lightning as it stuck in Samantha’s neck. However, the lightning didn’t attack Samantha’s body as it only singed the wound surrounding it.

SHING!

Someone appeared inside the Formation Array as he looked with shock, rage, fear, and nervousness at Gravis and Samantha.

BANG! BANG!

From the outside, one could hear attacks hitting the Formation Array.

As soon as Gravis saw the new arrival, he came to several conclusions.

This was a Mid Minor Circulation Immortal King, which meant that he was a Sect Master.

He looked very similar to Samantha.

His emotions showed great concern and a deep connection with Samantha.

’So, her father is a Sect Master,’ Gravis thought. ’No wonder she managed to get through her life with such a subpar mindset.’

Gravis also noticed even more things.

People were attacking the Formation Array, which meant that this person took control of the Formation Array to keep the others out. This meant that this person was not just an average Sect Master. He was probably one of the more powerful ones.

However, the most important thing that Gravis noticed didn’t involve the new arrival but the outside people attacking the Formation Array.

’What a disgusting joke,’ Gravis thought with disdain. ’This Formation Array obviously isn’t powerful enough to resist the assault of multiple Immortal Kings. They would never waste that much money.’

’This means that they are only putting on a show for righteousness, acting like they want to stop him, even though they don’t.’

’Sure enough, I’m amongst humans again.’

As Gravis looked at the new arrival, Samantha recovered her consciousness. She wanted to move out of panic, but a bolt of lightning shot through her body, originating from the spear.

"Don’t move, or you will die," Gravis transmitted to her coldly.

Samantha’s eyes widened in shock and terror.

Had she lost?

Ryan, Samantha’s father, noticed how his daughter had moved, shook for a second, and stopped moving. His heart was on the brink of breaking.

"Bastard!" Ryan shouted. "Release my daughter at once!"

"Why?" Gravis asked.

"Or I will make you live a life worse than death!" Ryan shouted in rage.

BRRRR!

His surroundings shook with incredible power as they turned red.

’Like father, like daughter, eh?’

BZZZ!

Samantha’s body seized again with lightning, shocking Ryan’s heart.

"Stop trying to intimidate me," Gravis said coldly and calmly. "As soon as I see you trying anything, I will kill your daughter."

Ryan’s body shook as he didn’t know what he should do.

"Gravis!" a voice transmission suddenly came to Gravis. It was Liran. "Sect Masters are forbidden from breaking the Formation Arrays, which is why I can’t destroy it. If you can exit the Formation Array, we will be able to protect you."

Gravis sneered.

’How truly pathetic,’ he thought with disgust.

’So, this is your answer, Liran? I followed the Sect’s philosophy and did what I wanted, but when confronted with a breach of etiquette, you feel like you can’t save me.’

’I know that you don’t have any kind of ulterior motive, Liran, and that’s why I’m pitying and despising you. Your own mind is so restrained by resources, etiquette, politics, and public conduct that you feel like you can’t even do something.’

’You preach about freedom, but you actually have no idea what you are talking about. You grandly think of yourself and your Sect as free, but you are just as suppressed as anyone else in your mind.’

’The Unrestrained Sect shouldn’t be called the Unrestrained Sect, but the Restrained Sect.’

Wasn’t one of the reasons why Gravis decided to fight Samantha that he wanted to see how the Unrestrained Sect would act if a disciple actually exhibited the values the Sect preached?

Well, Gravis got his answer.

Liran had the power to immediately decimate the Formation Array and stand in front of Gravis, someone he considered an ally. Liran had been the one that asked Gravis to claim resource points. Yet, Liran wasn’t able to step forward and protect his disciple, even though he had the power.

’If you were the Sect Master of any other Sect, I wouldn’t have a problem with you, Liran,’ Gravis thought. ’Humans take things like politics very seriously, and they often look out for the greater collective. It’s just human nature to want to protect one’s organization.’

Gravis’ eyes narrowed in rage and disgust.

’However, you present yourself as a paragon of freedom, and even worse is the fact that you actually believe your own bullshit.’

In an instant, Gravis’ feelings for the Unrestrained Sect had changed drastically. At the very beginning, the Unrestrained Sect looked too good to be true. It had seemed perfect!

Then, some cracks showed themselves when Liran showed that he wasn’t willing to do what he wanted to do.

And now, Liran showed that he would be willing to sacrifice one of his own disciples that he sent out on a mission just to not break etiquette.

Was Liran a shrewd and selfish Sect Master?

No, he was worse!

Liran truly believed what he was saying, not realizing how very different he was from the ideals of the Sect.

Liran wasn’t shrewd.

He was weak!

A shrewd and selfish Sect Master might be a horrible person, but they would still want to increase the power of their Sect, even if it were only for their own ego. The individual disciples in the Sect might suffer under such leadership, but at least the Sect Master was powerful enough to contend with other Sects.

Meanwhile, a mentally weak Sect Master could do nothing.

A strong and kind Sect Master would gain the support of his Sect and bring them to power.

A strong and selfish Sect Master wouldn’t gain much support from their Sect, but the Sect would still be considered powerful against outside forces.

A weak and selfish Sect Master wouldn’t gain the support of their Sect, and they would quickly be overthrown. The Sect would weaken, but it had a chance of survival and recovery.

A weak and kind Sect Master had the Sect’s support, and they wouldn’t be overthrown. This will result in the Sect becoming weaker and weaker with time, being stagnated into nonexistence.

A weak and kind Sect Master was the worst Sect Master imaginable because their weakness would pull everyone down with them. It was a very subtle, deadly poison.

Liran was a weak and kind Sect Master, and the consequences of his weakness could be seen.

When Gravis had first seen Liran, he had admired him since Liran had been willing to throw his life away to fight Arthur because of his son. Gravis had thought that this was because Liran was confident in his power or that he desired and knew freedom.

However, now, everything appeared different. Gravis had interpreted too much into Liran’s actions back then.

Liran had only lost control over his emotions, not being able to resist them in a moment of crisis.

The actions were the same, but the intent and reasoning behind the action were vastly different.

As Gravis went through all these revelations, Ryan looked at Gravis with fear and panic as Samantha also looked with terror at her father.

Meanwhile, Gravis was still thinking about the Unrestrained Sect.

’I think the Punishment Cleaver Sect would have been better than the Unrestrained Sect,’ Gravis thought. ’At least their Sect Master is powerful, even if he is a dick.’

’This entire Sect is worthless.’

Chapter 777 - 777 – Diplomacy

Ryan glared at Gravis with nervousness, rage, and fear.

"You ask why?" he asked through gritted teeth. "Because I will make you live a life worse than death if you don’t release my daughter!"

Gravis remained calm as he kept Samantha hanging with his spear. "Didn’t the rules say that both combatants had to agree to drop the fight before the fight would end?"

Ryan tried to stay calm, but it was incredibly difficult to stay calm in this situation. He might lose his daughter!

"Yes," Ryan said, "her life and your life are in your hands. Don’t make a foolish choice because of your pride and indignation. Be rational right now and realize that killing my daughter will also result in your death."

"This Formation Array is under my control," Ryan said. "The other Sect Masters can’t enter if I don’t allow them to. If you kill my daughter, you won’t be able to escape."

Gravis looked at the Formation Array, which was still being attacked on occasion by some Sect Masters that wanted to put on a show of wanting to help Gravis.

"You know," Gravis said calmly. "I’m a stickler for fairness and justice. As you have seen, I’m a lightning Cultivator, and that’s how lightning generally acts."

"My lightning wouldn’t be happy if I just let such an opponent live," Gravis said.

Ryan gritted his teeth. "Can’t you look at yourself!?" he shouted. "You are currently holding a helpless girl with your spear and are threatening her father with her life. Only a black-hearted devil would do something this evil!"

"Helpless girl!?" Gravis shouted in shock as he broke out into laughter. "You mean the woman that looked down upon me from the very beginning. The woman that didn’t even deign to look at me or talk to me? The woman that used the Major Law of Cold and Law of Rage to attack me?"

"And even more importantly, the woman that accepted our challenge without hesitation, knowing that she could very well die?" Gravis asked.

Ryan remained silent as his mind went wild. "That might be," he conceded after some seconds, "but you have already won. The resource point is already yours, and you have demonstrated your superiority. Killing her now has no meaning. You won’t get anything else, and you won’t even get tempering out of this."

"Killing her now would only be a black-hearted act of cruelty," Ryan said.

Gravis sneered. "What, so normal tempering is now an act of cruelty? Do you even believe your own shit?"

Ryan clenched his fists in absolute fury. "I don’t expect someone like you to understand my sentiments," he said through gritted teeth. "Your actions have already shown your personality. So, this once, let me give you some valuable advice from your elders. Don’t step onto this path of slaughter. Learn to forgive. Your life will be much brighter as a result."

"Uh-huh," Gravis uttered, not being impressed in the slightest.

"Also," Ryan said slowly, "you might be rewarded if you are a kind person."

"And there we go," Gravis commented. "There’s the bribe. You know, all these flowery and holy-sounding words would have had more impact if you didn’t put a bribe right after them."

Ryan nearly exploded. Why was this person so difficult!? Couldn’t he just accept the bribe and leave!?

"Anyway," Gravis said. "The main reason why I talked to you was to see how you would attempt to rationalize your blatant breaking of the rules."

"You know, honestly," Gravis said, "If you just said that you wanted to save your daughter because you loved her and that you didn’t give a shit about any rules, I would actually have admired you a little bit. Throwing away the respect others have for you to save a loved one is something admirable."

"But you didn’t even manage to do that," Gravis said. "I have the life of your daughter in my grasp, and instead of pleading, begging, or directly threatening me, you only gave me soft-spoken threats, a bribe, and some sermon about being a nice person."

"Right now, I even doubt if you even care about your daughter. Any good father would try everything to save his child, even if the chances were minuscule," Gravis said evenly.

Ryan became even angrier, if that was even possible, while the onlookers from outside became annoyed by Gravis. How shameless was Gravis? He was already threatening the father with his daughter’s life, but instead of simply accepting the reality, he seemed to enjoy seeing the father squirm.

In reality, Gravis wasn’t really that annoyed or disgusted by Ryan. Gravis was also a father, and he could sympathize with Ryan’s situation. However, Gravis became more and more annoyed with all this hypocrisy of the humans he had met.

All present humans except for Gravis and Samantha had the ability to break the Formation Array and involve themselves. Ryan had blatantly broken the rules of the Sect Alliance, but everyone else was only looking on while preaching to everyone that the rules were absolute.

Gravis saw this as a betrayal.

The Sect Alliance said that no one was allowed to interfere, and Gravis had believed them to some extent. Yet, when an actually powerful person broke the rules, everyone was only silently whispering a "no, don’t do that", which they obviously didn’t even mean.

"What do you want?" Ryan asked angrily. "You obviously won’t throw your life away, so what do you want?"

If this barbarian wasn’t able to act and talk properly, Ryan had to talk to him in a way that this barbarian understood. This barbarian was not showing any sophistication or diplomacy. Ryan felt like he was talking to some unreasonable beast.

"You’re asking me what I want?" Gravis asked.

Ryan nodded with narrowed eyes.

"I want to kill my opponent," Gravis said.

BANG!

And Samantha’s head exploded.

Let Samantha go? What, so that she could seek out to rectify her humiliation and kill Gravis in the future?

Additionally, Gravis wasn’t so stupid to believe that Ryan would be all buddy-buddy as soon as Gravis released Samantha. Ryan was the arrogant, unreasonable kind. Gravis would probably get some assassination squads sent after him.

So, in short: Fuck both of them. They were both his enemies, and there was no reason to keep up a superficial show of peace.

Ryan wanted to kill him?

Sure, let’s go right now!

Chapter 778 - 778 – Teaching

Shock.

The onlookers were shocked.

Ryan was shocked.

Everyone had believed that Gravis was only putting on an empty show to get some more advantages from Ryan. After all, if Gravis could paint a picture of being entirely in the right, Ryan would have to pay so much more to save his daughter. This was how leaders often dealt with these situations. The more righteous their cause appeared, the more the enemy would have to give them.

Instead, Gravis had just killed Samantha.

Was he tired of living!?

SHING!

Ryan was so shocked and distracted that he didn’t stop Gravis from teleporting. In an instant, Gravis had already arrived at the Formation Array and touched it.

’This has been created with a level four Law, which means I only need my normal Law of Freedom. I don’t even need to use the power of my Avatar,’ Gravis thought with a smirk.

FWOOOMP!

With that, Gravis simply stepped through the Formation Array like it didn’t even exist.

The eyes of the onlookers nearly fell out of their heads as they saw Gravis leaving. This was possible? How was this possible!?

Even more, the onlookers’ minds started to race with the new dynamic that now existed. Nothing stood between them and Gravis now, which meant that they couldn’t find a reason to not intervene anymore. They could bend the rules, but they couldn’t directly break them.

The rules stated that every battle in the Formation Arrays was final, but when someone offered others enough resources, they could look away for a bit.

This was also what had happened when Ryan had heard about Gravis’ new opponent. The two other Sect Masters beside him stopped him.

Why?

So that Ryan was required to bribe them. If he didn’t pay them enough resources, they would have stopped him. The same was true for the ten other Sect Masters looking on. Ryan promised them some resources so that they might look away this time.

However, everything changed now. Gravis was outside the Formation Array, and Liran immediately appeared beside Gravis. Now, a Sect Master was protecting Gravis, and if Ryan wanted to kill Gravis, he would need to fight Liran first.

"Well done, Gravis," Liran transmitted to Gravis with an excited smile. "I knew you could do it! Don’t worry about anything else. I’m here now, and no one will touch you this day!"

Gravis was unimpressed by Liran’s words. Instead of directly protecting his disciple, the same one he had sent on this mission, he relied on the power of this soldier to escape from someone much more powerful than them. It was like Liran’s actions were dictated by the actions of weaker beings.

However, as a Sect Master, he should be the one that dictated all the actions. He was the most powerful one.

Gravis stood behind Liran, but he already despised Liran. Liran was a kind person, but his indecisiveness and mental weakness were unfit for his position. If he were only a normal Cultivator or a disciple of the Sect, Gravis wouldn’t care about him, but since Liran was officially Gravis’ superior, Gravis despised Liran’s weakness.

Liran’s weakness was endangering Gravis and the remainder of the Sect.

A pig-like teammate was more fearsome than a godlike enemy.

Gravis hadn’t been afraid of Ryan for even a second. The entire situation was in his control.

"RAAAAAAH!" Ryan shouted in absolute rage as he shot out of the Formation Array, directly at Gravis, who only looked at him unamused.

The other Sect Masters looked at each other covertly, narrowed their eyes, and nodded.

SHING! SHING! SHING! SHING!

Nearly all ten Sect Masters arrived between Ryan and Gravis. The façade had broken down, forcing them to either directly break the rules or keep them up, and they couldn’t possibly break the rules this openly.

However, it wouldn’t stay like this. After all of this was over, the Sect Masters would sit together with Ryan and create a plan that would result in Gravis’ death without anyone knowing that all of this originated from Ryan. The Sect Masters had been paid by Ryan, and they would feel bad if they didn’t help Ryan now.

But now was not the time! They still had to keep up the façade of the rules being unbreakable! Ryan had to wait now!

Ryan stopped as he realized that over ten Sect Masters stood between him and his target. Ryan was powerful, but he couldn’t fight so many Sect Masters at once. He might be able to fight two at once, but not ten!

Right now, the Sect Masters showed that they were Gravis’ allies and that they would protect Gravis with their lives, but in reality, they were Ryan’s allies.

Gravis knew all of this and scoffed silently. ’All this hypocrisy is so disgusting.’

"Move! He killed my daughter!" Ryan shouted aggressively.

"You have broken the rules, Sect Master of the Frost Rapier Sect!" Liran shouted as he stepped forward. "Right now, you have not committed an unforgivable mistake since my disciple is still alive, so, step back! If you release another attack, you will be going openly against the Sect Alliance!"

Liran might be weak mentally, but he still knew how humans acted and what to say in the right situation. His words pitted the entire Sect Alliance against Ryan, and his words and cause were righteous in the eyes of every rational onlooker.

"Liran is right!" Another Sect Master shouted. "We can understand your emotional turmoil, but the rules must be upheld! Pay a fine for intervening in a fight, and the matter will be resolved. However, if you continue attacking, the wrath of the entire Sect Alliance will rain down upon you and your Sect!"

Several other Sect Masters echoed this sentiment, and by the end of it, all of them stood in front of Gravis with their weapons drawn.

’Even though I despise such conduct, I have to admit that they are pretty good actors,’ Gravis thought. ’Without all the context clues from the earlier situation, I might’ve even believed them.’

Gravis sighed as he looked to the side. ’Are all Immortal human Sects like this?’ Gravis thought. ’Durian and Lazar hadn’t been like this. Those two have never relied on my power to save the Sect’s face. Lazar had been incredibly powerful and dealt with everything himself, which was also a major reason why the Lightning Sect had been so powerful in the lower world.’

Gravis looked at Liran. ’But Liran, as the Sect Master, relies on the power of his disciples while he is the most powerful. It’s not the disciple’s job to protect the Sect Master’s face. The Sect Master is supposed to protect the disciple from unjust actions. Otherwise, if my superiors don’t even protect me from something more powerful than me, what would even be the point of joining a Sect?’

Ryan saw the opposition in his way and gritted his teeth and fists. He wanted to kill Gravis so badly, but he couldn’t! If he attacked now, all of his hidden allies would turn on him. The Sect Alliance might be morally flexible in secret but only in secret.

However, Ryan wanted to kill Gravis so very bad! The murderer of his daughter stood right in front of him!

Several seconds passed as the Sect Masters threw one righteous sermon after the other at Ryan, dissuading him from attacking.

After a while, Ryan seemed to calm down a bit.

Gravis noticed this, and his mind quickly started planning. ’All of these Sect Masters have been bought by him. Several assassination squads will probably come for me soon, while every other Sect Master will just happen to look away. They will probably even be able to keep Liran busy or something.’

Gravis scratched his chin in thought. ’Is there a way for me to deal with Ryan right now?’

After some seconds, Gravis got an idea, but he had no idea if this would work. However, even if it didn’t work, it wouldn’t backfire on him.

Might as well try.

"You know," Gravis transmitted to Ryan. "I killed my opponent while someone nearly an entire Realm above me threatened me. Yet, here you are, not even being courageous enough to do the same thing against people on your Realm."

"I did what I wanted," Gravis transmitted. "So, why can’t you do what you want?"

"This is the difference between you and me."

Gravis had to make it sound like a provocation to make his plan work.

Would a mere provocation be able to convince someone as experienced as Ryan to jump into danger?

No.

Ryan looked with hate-filled eyes at Gravis. He didn’t want to admit it, but the contrast that Gravis had just established made Ryan feel pathetic and enraged. Gravis was right. Gravis had killed his daughter right in front of him, someone an entire Realm higher than him.

Yet, here he was, not daring to attack some Cultivators on his level.

However, he couldn’t just attack. His life would end, and his Sect would be torn apart. He had too many responsibilities. If he broke these responsibilities, he would lose everything he held dear.

And then, his daughter’s face went through his mind. Lose everything dear to him? Hadn’t he already lost everything dear to him?

"I do what I want, but you can’t do what you want," Gravis transmitted after a second.

Ryan clenched his fists. The person that took away his most important person stood in front of him, but he didn’t dare to attack him because of some Sect Masters and some rules?

How pathetic was he!?

’Today, I will be unreasonable. Forget responsibility! If I can’t even protect my daughter’s honor, I might as well not live!’

BOOOOM!

A provocation might not convince someone as experienced as Ryan to seek death...

But the Law of Freedom could!

Meanwhile, Gravis smirked.

Chapter 779 - 779 – Vultures

None of the present Sect Masters realized what had just happened, but Gravis felt it. The slight change in the atmosphere as the feeling of freedom reverberated throughout the surroundings.

This was the Law of Freedom.

This situation had been perfect for comprehending the Law of Freedom. The murderer of Ryan’s daughter stood right in front of him, and only some Cultivators on his level stood between him and his revenge.

Ryan had been weighted down by a ton of responsibilities as a Sect Master, which suppressed his actions to a strong degree. Ryan had been at a crossroads in his cultivation and his mindset.

If the middle Heaven had killed Gravis’ three children right in front of him, Gravis would probably also have decided to throw his life away because he wanted to kill Heaven so badly. He would have known that he would die, but he would have done so regardless.

If Gravis had been in Ryan’s situation, he would have also comprehended the Law of Freedom.

However, Ryan couldn’t have.

Ryan was so close, but he just couldn’t take the last step. Sadly, close was not done. No matter what would have happened, Ryan would have never comprehended the Law of Freedom.

If it weren’t for Gravis, that is.

When Orthar had returned to Gravis in the middle world after the clash of the Ultimates, he had told Gravis about his powers. Orthar had said that the last step was the most difficult and that Gravis had the ability to help someone with that last step.

Ferris had comprehended so many things over his long life, but without Gravis opening Ferris’ mind, Ferris would have died a level one Emperor.

Styr had nearly learned the Law of Punishment Lightning, but without Gravis’ demonstration of lightning and how it worked, Styr might also have never comprehended the Law.

Sary had been close to understanding the Law of Energy Healing, but without Gravis motivating her to risk her life, she would have died soon.

As soon as someone stood at the last step of comprehension, Gravis could help them take that last step with his insight. This was Gravis’ power, and he made full use of it this time.

None of the Sect Masters realized what had happened or what would happen now. Gravis looked at Liran, furrowed his brows in distrust, and took out a ring.

Then, Gravis threw that ring into the distance.

Ryan took a deep breath as he made his decision. Finally, he knew freedom. He finally knew how Gravis could have been so courageous and why all of Ryan’s words had failed to dissuade Gravis from killing his daughter.

It was because Gravis wanted to kill his daughter.

That was all.

Ryan opened his eyes as he glared at Gravis.

And now, Ryan wanted to kill Gravis!

SHING!

A rapier appeared as Ryan quickly infused it with the Major Law of Cold and slashed at Gravis.

The Sect Masters were shocked.

Liran was shocked.

Everyone was shocked.

SHING! BANG!

The slash of the rapier hit Gravis with absolutely unreal speed. Gravis hadn’t even seen the attack before it killed him. The speed difference was simply insurmountable.

Gravis turned into ice and exploded into tiny pieces.

Gravis was dead.

Liran looked with shock at the ice pieces that had been Gravis. His disciple had been killed right in front of his eyes?

"RAAAAAAH!" Liran exploded with rage. He hadn’t been able to protect his disciple even though he had been right there! Why hadn’t he been careful!? How useless was he!?

Liran was mentally weak, but he was a good person. The fact that one of his disciples had been killed right in front of him enraged him to no end. Liran even felt a terrifying amount of guilt, and this mistake might haunt him forever.

"I declare the Sect Master of the Icy Rapier Sect the enemy of the Sect Alliance!" Liran shouted as he took out his bow and started shooting at Ryan.

The Sect Alliance always elected 21 overseeing elders for the Sect Alliance, who would make the big decisions for all the Sects in the alliance.

Twelve of these Elders were present.

The Sect Masters looked at each other, and their eyes turned from shock to greed.

Someone had openly gone against the Sect Alliance.

"Initiate Vote," one of them shouted.

A prominent display of light appeared in front of that Sect Master with 21 holes in it.

DING! DING! DING! DING!

In two seconds, twelve of the holes turned green, showing that the majority had voted positively. Surprisingly, this even included Ryan.

After seeing the source of suppression and finally being free of it, one often became irrationally angry with that source. The Sect Alliance had often hindered Ryan from doing what he wanted, and he had enough!

The Sect Alliance was his enemy now!

"Vote concluded," a Sect Master said with a smirk. "The Sect Alliance will uphold righteousness on this day!"

SHING! SHING! SHING!

Then, all the Sect Masters readied their weapons and shot at Ryan.

Ryan needed to die!

Were they doing this out of righteousness?

Pfft, as if.

The wealth of a Mid Minor Circulation Immortal King, new recruits from a destroyed Sect, and the wealth of a destroyed Sect were what motivated them. The Icy Rapier Sect would be torn apart, and its remains would be shared among the warring parties.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Several explosions appeared in the sky as an apocalyptic fight broke out.

This was not tempering.

This was an execution!

Could Ryan win against twelve other Sect Masters on his level?

If he managed to comprehend several new Laws, maybe.

However, comprehension took time, and Ryan didn’t have any time right now. All the Sect Masters jumped on him like vultures that saw a fresh carcass.

BANG!

One of the Sect Masters exploded as an attack from Ryan caught him unprepared. The poor Sect Master was sure that Ryan wouldn’t go through with this attack since he would be hit by several others as a result.

Sadly for him, Ryan knew that he would die today, and he wanted to kill the ones that he disliked the most. This one Sect Master had gone against Ryan at several intervals, frustrating him to no end.

After the Sect Master died, Ryan smiled peacefully. ’I’ve avenged you, Samantha. I’m sorry that I couldn’t protect you.’

BOOOOOOM!

Then, all the gathered attacks of the other Sect Masters hit Ryan, turning him into dust.

Ryan was dead.

He died a free man, one of the very few that managed to comprehend the Law of Freedom.

The Sect Masters grinned viciously. So many new resources were waiting for them! Even more...

The Sect Masters glanced at the icy corpse of the other dead Sect Master.

Surprisingly, a second Sect had appeared that would be "redistributed" amongst the current Sects. The poor Sect of the dead Sect Master couldn’t possibly defend themselves against the outside world, could it? No, the Sect Alliance had to fulfill its sacred duty and honor the dead Sect Master’s Sect.

What was the best way to honor the Sect? To protect the disciples, of course! The Sect’s disciples would find home and solace in other Sects as they took all their belongings with them. The other Sects would graciously accept the refugees of that Sect.

Silence returned again.

"One of our brothers has died," one of the Sect Masters said with a tragic tone. "I will honor his death by taking care of his disciples. He has always been a close friend of mine, so I implore you that you will let me take care of this burden. It’s the least I can do."

"I understand you, brother," another Sect Master said. "He has also been one of my closest friends. I will share this burden with you."

The first Sect Master sighed. "Thank you, brother," he said.

Then, the two of them left, leaving the others behind.

"Ryan has gone against my Sect and killed my disciple," Liran said with rage. "I will take the majority of his Sect."

"No, he didn’t," a new voice suddenly appeared as everyone looked to the ground.

The eyes of the Sect Masters opened with shock as they saw Gravis.

He was still alive!?

"I’m still alive," Gravis said.

How had Gravis survived?

His Life Ring!

Gravis weakened his body and created a new body with the majority of his power and put it into his Life Ring. Gravis knew that he couldn’t possibly react to an attack from someone so much more powerful. So, he pre-emptively threw his Life Ring with his other body away.

Why?

Because Gravis didn’t have any confidence left in Liran. Gravis was not about to trust Liran with his life. Any competent Sect Master would have been incredibly cautious if it involved a life of their disciple.

Was Liran a competent Sect Master?

That question didn’t need an answer. Gravis’ "corpse" was the best answer.

"Your disciple is still alive, friend," one of the Sect Masters shouted happily with a smile. "The Icy Rapier Sect has not done any damage to your Sect. I’m sure you’re happy about the survival of your disciple. Come, let’s take care of the Icy Rapier Sect as equals. We are all in this together. We are an alliance. We are a family."

"Yes, let’s have a celebration when we return, Liran. Let’s celebrate your disciple’s survival!" another one shouted with a laugh.

Seeing that Gravis had survived, the other Sect Masters echoed this sentiment. Liran wouldn’t gain a bigger share than the other Sect Masters now. After all, Gravis was still alive, was he not?

Liran looked with a complex expression at Gravis.

Gravis could have stayed hidden, but he didn’t.

Why?

Fuck Liran, that’s why!

Chapter 780 - 780 – Reflection

Liran was happy that Gravis survived. He had just felt so much guilt because he couldn’t protect his disciple, but that was unnecessary. Liran should have trusted in his disciple’s power. Gravis could take care of himself, and Liran didn’t need to protect him.

As soon as Liran’s guilt vanished, he became a bit annoyed with Gravis.

Didn’t Gravis know that by reappearing now, he was damaging the Unrestrained Sect?

Liran would need to have a talk with Gravis when he returned. Gravis couldn’t just act this carelessly and endanger the Sect. Right now, Gravis acted like a bad disciple, and Liran would fix that mentality soon!

Gravis noticed the subtle changes in Liran’s expression and saw through his thoughts. ’He’s dodging all responsibilities. As soon as someone else manages to bail him out of his mistakes, it stops being his mistake.’

’I wonder, did Liran assume leadership of the Unrestrained Sect because then he wouldn’t need to be responsible for his disciples’ actions? After all, if they could all do what they wanted. The consequences would lay on their shoulders, not his.’

Gravis shook his head in disappointment and teleported away.

Liran saw Gravis’ actions and sighed in relief. Apparently, Gravis was ashamed of his actions and saw the error of his ways. This meant that Gravis already knew that he had committed a mistake.

This was how the mind of someone mentally weak worked. If something was undeniably their fault and went wrong, they would beat themselves up over it, but if it went right, they hadn’t committed a mistake. The fear of committing a mistake was so overwhelming that they often wouldn’t even realize their mistakes.

The Sect Masters talked to each other and went to the Icy Rapier Sect together. On the surface, they mourned for this tragic outcome, but deep inside, they were elated. So many resources and new, talented disciples were waiting for them! Today was a good day!

Meanwhile, Gravis traveled back to the Unrestrained Sect. His Will-Aura had reached the peak for his Realm again after his fight with Samantha, which meant that he didn’t need to temper himself anymore for a while.

’I was mistaken,’ Gravis thought. ’I thought that the Unrestrained Sect, since it knew Suppression, would be the closest Sect to freedom.’

’Oh, how wrong I have been. A Sect Master from a completely different Sect comprehended the Law of Freedom, and I only needed to speak some words to him. Meanwhile, I have tried to push Liran into the direction of freedom more than once, but he never even came close to comprehending it.’

’The Sect’s disciples have their head so deeply stuck in suppression that they can’t see freedom. Oftentimes, when reaching the extreme of one side, one would be able to comprehend the other side. However, sometimes, comprehending the extreme of one side would make one even blinder to the other side.’

’The Unrestrained Sect is not a home,’ Gravis thought with narrowed eyes. ’They know suppression, but instead of having something in common with my mindset, they are the complete opposite. They probably even believe that suppression of others means freedom for them.’

Gravis sighed with disappointment. ’I don’t see myself as a part of the Sect anymore, and Liran’s unwillingness to protect me already counts as a betrayal in my mind. I am in my full right to leave this Sect.’

’However, the Unrestrained Sect still has the Punishment Cleaver Sect as an enemy. The resource points and convincing other Sects to attack the Unrestrained Sect’s resources fell flat. I still have eleven opportunities to attack other resource points, and they know that. So, I will remain for potential future tempering.’

’I don’t plan to take any more resource points, but the other Sects don’t know that. This will halt the attacks of the other Sects, leaving only the Punishment Cleaver Sect remaining. Arthur will realize that this doesn’t work and will convert his attacks from soft to hard.’

’It will probably take some time, but Arthur will probably find some independent Cultivators and pay them to destroy the Unrestrained Sect. In the meantime, Arthur will probably pay other Sect Masters to hold some kind of assembly or something to lure Liran away from his Sect.’

’Then, the "bandits" will attack the Unrestrained Sect, killing everyone in it. As soon as the Unrestrained Sect is annihilated, Liran won’t have any backing anymore. At that point, Arthur can probably convince the other Sect Masters to throw him out of the Sect Alliance.’

’And at that point, Liran’s life will end. Arthur doesn’t even have to pay others. He simply needs to get a second Sect Master and promise all of Liran’s wealth to them. Arthur wants Liran’s life, not his wealth.’

It was so obvious to Gravis what would happen in the future.

It was so simple. First, get the most dangerous enemy away and kill everything without getting involved. Then, use the greed and hypocrisy of other humans to one’s advantage.

Was it truly so obvious?

Not at all.

These plans counted as schemes, and a lot of humans wouldn’t be able to see through them. When one told someone else about what would happen, the other person would think that it was obvious.

Yet, when the other person was in that situation, they wouldn’t see it coming.

Gravis was able to see these things due to his extensive knowledge about different mindsets, honesty, and suppression. When one realized what suppressed others, one could take advantage of that.

Gravis had just done so. The rules of the Sect Alliance were a kind of suppression on the members. Everyone skirted around them, but as soon as they were confronted by them, they had to yield.

The hypocrisy of the Sect Alliance had attacked Gravis, but he used the greed of the Sect Alliance to protect himself. Gravis used the degenerate mindset of the Sect Alliance to counter another degenerate mindset.

The Sect Masters had been Ryan’s allies. What could Gravis possibly have done against such a force?

Why had they been allies?

Greed.

So, Gravis simply gave them something even more valuable than Ryan had given them.

Gravis had given them an entire Sect by making Ryan comprehend the Law of Freedom.

Previously, righteousness and greed had been opponents. They had been paid by Ryan to skirt the rules, which made them nervous. There had been an inner conflict between them, even if it had only been weak.

But when Ryan had openly provoked the Sect Alliance, a larger amount of resources came into the picture, and with it, a justified cause. Their perceived righteousness and greed aligned, motivating them to immediately kill Ryan.

Gravis had played the Sect Masters to an insane degree, and worst of all, they didn’t even realize that they had done precisely what Gravis wanted.

Such an ability to manipulate others was terrifying, and if unveiled to them, would make them fearful of Gravis.

Gravis didn’t enjoy manipulating others, but only when they were not his enemies. The others had shown that they were his enemies by only watching when Ryan threatened Gravis’ life. Due to that, Gravis had no guilty conscience.

When one didn’t say that one would protect Gravis, Gravis wouldn’t care if they didn’t protect him. After all, they were never his allies, to begin with.

However, when someone said they would protect Gravis and then wouldn’t do it, Gravis would see it as a betrayal.

The rules had said that no one was allowed to intervene in the fight, but someone had. Because of that, all the present people of the Sect Alliance had betrayed Gravis and became his enemies.

His lightning agreed. They were his enemies, and Gravis had gone against them.

However, his lightning would have wished to kill all of the present Sect Masters, including Liran.

Gravis wouldn’t kill them since he saw no reason to. Such suppressed, hypocritical, and greedy people were not people in his eyes. They had the mindsets of tools, and Gravis didn’t even get angry at them.

After all, they couldn’t do better. That was how lowly Gravis saw them. Even basic human conduct was beyond their ability.

Sure, if they went against him again, this would change, but until then, Gravis didn’t really care.

The only person he was furious at was Liran, and that was also only because Liran’s weakness had endangered Gravis’ life. So, in a way, Gravis wasn’t really angry at Liran but angry at himself. How could he have been so stupid as to think that Liran was a normal human being!? Gravis should have seen this coming a mile away!

After some hours, Gravis appeared near the edge of the Unrestrained Sect and waited.

He didn’t enter the Sect since he waited for someone.

Several hours passed in which Gravis only thought about the disgusting conduct and mindsets he had seen among nearly all the humans in this world.

Did humans really become more disgusting as they became more powerful?

SHING!

Someone appeared near Gravis. "I’m here," a sad voice said.

Gravis turned to Stella and remembered her teacher, who should be dead by now.

’Well, I guess there are some good people,’ he thought.