Ch. 781..790

Chapter 781 - 781 – Free Flow

Gravis looked at Stella and noticed that she had a melancholic expression on her face.

Her teacher had already died, obviously.

Losing someone dear was always difficult. Gravis knew this very well. However, they were all Immortals by now, and no one would sink into an inescapable whirlpool of despair. The death of a loved one was normal for every Immortal.

"For what it’s worth," Gravis said. "The short moment I have talked with your teacher gave me the impression that she was a good person, far better than most humans."

Stella took a deep breath. Her emotions still hadn’t calmed down, and they wanted to lash out at anything that came close to her. A mortal human might lose their control and shout at Gravis that he had no idea what he was talking about, but she had enough control over herself to realize Gravis’ sentiment.

"Yes, she was," Stella said slowly with a distant look. "She was like a mother to my brother and me."

Gravis nodded. "You know, before you appeared, I was already losing faith in humanity. Seeing you reminded me of your teacher, which reminded me of the fact that not all powerful humans are hypocritical assholes."

Stella wanted to distract herself for now, which is why she looked at Gravis with furrowed brows. "That’s a harsh judgment," she said.

"It is, but does that mean that it isn’t true?" Gravis asked.

Stella remained silent for some seconds.

"Tell me what happened," Stella said.

Gravis nodded and told her about his last fight with Samantha, the Unrestrained Sect, and how the other Sect Masters acted.

After Gravis was finished recounting his tale, Stella snorted in disgust. "Yeah, I agree that their conduct is false and disgusting, but just because you see this conduct running rampant here doesn’t mean that other places are the same."

Gravis waited for Stella to explain.

"The Sects here count as High-Tier Sects, but only barely," Stella explained. "They have their Immortal Kings, which gives them a grand illusion of being very powerful when they can’t even enter the core territories of the world."

"They believe they are powerful enough to be part of the world’s leadership but feel unjustly treated by not being allowed to enter the core territories. This gives them a need to prove themselves to anything and anyone."

Gravis nodded. "Makes sense. They seek short-term power with everything they have to prove to others and themselves that they are powerful. However, all this hypocrisy makes it difficult for disciples to like the leadership. When a talented disciple leaves the area, they will be less likely to help their previous home due to their bad feelings towards it."

Stella was a bit surprised by Gravis’ words. "Are you sure you’re only four millennia old?" she asked. "You talk like an ancient, experienced expert."

Instead of answering Stella’s question, Gravis gave her a question of his own. "Have you been born into this world, or do you come from a lower world? I’m very certain that you have been born into this world."

Stella furrowed her brows. "That isn’t hard to guess," she said. "I have obviously been trained for a long time with methods that don’t exist in lower worlds."

"I was talking about your mindset and your surprise at my knowledge of human conduct," Gravis said.

"Explain," Stella said, a bit indignant.

"I started my journey in a lower world, which means that I went from weak to the most powerful in two different worlds already. On this journey, you get to see all facets of human and beast conduct. Any Ascender can see the Sect Masters for what they are, which silently builds disgust in the Ascenders towards the Sect Masters."

"Additionally, I’m very certain that nearly no Sect Master from this Sect Alliance is an Ascender. There might be one or two odd ones, but everyone else must have been born in this world."

Stella furrowed her brows as she thought about Gravis’ words. "What makes you think so?" she asked.

"Because being a Sect Master in this Sect Alliance is a dead-end," Gravis said. "People who have never been in this position might not realize that they are in a dead-end, but the Ascenders have been in that position before. After all, every Ascender has once been the most powerful person in their world."

"If the Ascenders were susceptible to taking up such a position, they wouldn’t be Ascenders. They would have already taken up such a position in the middle or lower worlds. Therefore, most Ascenders know these kinds of positions and know to avoid them."

Stella combed her hair with her fingers as she fell into thought. Gravis’ words actually made a lot of sense. Why hadn’t she thought of that before?

Stella quickly found an answer to that question.

Because she didn’t have enough knowledge in different positions of power. She had joined the Nine Elements Sect, and her talent had been quickly noticed by the upper echelon. While being a Core Disciple, she had to fight against a lot of soft and hard schemes, but she hadn’t been in a different position before.

The life of a Core Disciple definitely wasn’t easy. The Peak Sects knew that they couldn’t create a powerful expert with safety, which is why the competition amongst Core Disciples was fierce and fatal.

If the Core Disciples were protected against hidden schemes and assassinations, they wouldn’t have any experience in these matters. Pumping resources without end into a Core Disciple just for them to die to a preventable assassination attempt was a waste of money and time.

Because of that, only some superficial rules were in place to spur the creativity of the subtle and plotting kind of Cultivators. Then, it was all on the backs of the Core Disciples to deal with these schemes. If they died, they died.

However, the answer to the question of why Stella hadn’t been able to see these things that Gravis had seen was because she had only been in the Core Disciple position. She hadn’t been a Sect Master. She hadn’t been an elder. She hadn’t been an unaffiliated Cultivator. She hadn’t been inside a less than savory Sect.

The fact that Stella managed to realize these things was beyond impressive. Being able to analyze oneself this objectively and finding reasons and origins of why one lacked in a certain department was very difficult.

Only with such a mindset could one grow indefinitely.

This was probably also one of the essential reasons why Stella had climbed to her current position.

Gravis looked at Stella’s expression and wondered what she was thinking about. Gravis needed to know Stella’s mindset better so that he could help her in understanding the Law of Freedom, which was imperative to restoring her Will-Aura’s growth.

"What are you thinking about?" Gravis asked.

"Just about people in general," she answered absentmindedly.

"Could you elaborate on what you are thinking about?" Gravis asked. "Knowing you better makes it easier for me to help you with your Will-Aura issue. That’s what you’re here for, right?"

Stella looked at Gravis with a complex expression. She didn’t know why, but she somehow didn’t like it that Gravis said that she was only here because of her Will-Aura, even though that was the truth.

Nevertheless, Stella narrated her thoughts to Gravis for the next half hour.

Gravis simply stood there, listening to her thought process, and to be quite frank, he was rather impressed.

Her thoughts weren’t the same as his, but they were similar.

After a while, Gravis wanted to add his input to her thoughts. Stella seemingly accepted that input without injecting any wrong meanings when Gravis accidentally generalized a statement. She knew what he meant and didn’t get hung up on technicalities.

As the hours passed, they talked about one topic after the other. The conversation flowed in a free form, seemingly having no specific goal as they simply exchanged their opinions.

Before they knew it, the sun had set and risen again. They had been talking for over half a day.

When one of the sun’s rays hit Gravis’ eyes, he noticed that over half a day had passed.

"Alright, stop," Gravis said, holding up his hand.

Stella frowned. "Why?"

"We’ve been at it for quite a long time," Gravis said. "Don’t get me wrong. I really enjoy our conversation, but there’s something I have to do."

"What?" Stella asked directly without any kind of distant politeness.

Whoop!

Gravis took out an Emblem and looked at it with narrowed eyes.

"I need to talk to someone."

Chapter 782 - 782 – Connection

Gravis told Stella that he would be back shortly and broke the Emblem.

BANG!

When Gravis broke the Emblem, his surroundings seemingly exploded as space was thrown into absolute carnage. The displacement of the teleportation left behind a small, smoking crater.

Gravis hadn’t noticed these changes since he had always already been gone when he broke the Emblem, but Stella noticed them.

And her eyes nearly fell out of her sockets.

Stella knew a lot about teleportation, and she had also used such Emblems several times. However, none of the Emblems she had ever seen had demonstrated such an insane power. To create such destruction with a mere teleportation was basically unheard of.

Could her dead teacher create something like this?

Maybe?

However, it would definitely be beyond expensive, even for her. Yet, Gravis had broken the Emblem just to talk to someone? Whom was he talking to? Who were they?

Was Gravis truly just an Ascender? How could he come into contact with someone with such great power that they could hand out such teleportation Emblems in just a couple of days?

Gravis was already the most bizarre and abnormal human Stella had ever met, but he just continued to become more and more mysterious. After talking with him for a while, Stella had assumed that she knew Gravis better.

And then he pulled that stunt!

Meanwhile, Gravis appeared at Arc’s clearing. Instead of arriving at the same position he had arrived last time, Gravis directly appeared close to Arc.

Gravis immediately noticed Arc. Arc sat on a tree stump as he drew some confusing lines into the ground with a smile.

Arc turned to Gravis with a smile, who watched Arc with narrowed eyes.

"Funnily enough," Arc said with a slight laugh. "This has nothing to do with me."

Gravis’ brows furrowed further. "How can it not have something to do with you?" he asked. "You are responsible for assigning tribulations, are you not?"

"Yes, I am," Arc said, "but I’m not as involved as you think I am."

Gravis crossed his arms. "So, you’re telling me that you didn’t assign me as Stella’s tribulation?" he asked, skeptical.

Arc lifted his right index finger. "That’s something else," he said. "Yes, I have assigned you as her tribulation, but that doesn’t mean that I manipulated you or her into fighting."

"Isn’t that what Heavens do?" Gravis asked, unamused. "You put being at the right locations at the right time so that a conflict will appear naturally."

"Correct," Arc said with a smile and a nod, "but that’s not what I did."

"If you didn’t do that, how can I be Stella’s tribulation?" Gravis asked. This whole thing seemed shady to him.

"I think you got something wrong, Gravis," Arc said as he drew another line in the dirt. "You believe that we first assign a tribulation and then manipulate the circumstance, but that is inaccurate."

"About 50% of tribulations go like this, yes, but the other 50% are different," Arc said, "and you just so happen to be part of the other 50%."

"And what are these other 50%?" Gravis asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That’s when a fitting opponent appears near the one having the tribulation," Arc explained. "If we held ourselves to a strict timetable, someone might be in a dangerous fight and get their tribulation at the same time. That wouldn’t be fair, obviously."

"So, we leave the Cultivators and beasts a window of about 200 years before their time is up. If someone that fits the tribulation criteria comes into conflict with the tribulation taker, we can simply count that as the tribulation. We don’t have to manipulate everything, Gravis."

Gravis thought about this for a bit. Arc’s words actually made sense. If the Heavens held themselves to a strict set of rules, in this case, they would have to work several times harder and would need to get involved more.

The highest Heaven wasn’t a big fan of Heavens involving themselves in the normal world. The other rules already proved that. Heavens were not supposed to appear in front of beings, contact them, help them, or destroy them without a very good reason. The highest Heaven’s rules were very hands-off.

Needing to send different opponents to different places all the time would require the Heavens to change the flow of the world. Sure, if it was necessary, they would do so, but if it wasn’t necessary, everyone would have it easier.

"So, you’re saying that I just so happened to choose the most powerful opponent possible that just so happened to have an incoming tribulation?" Gravis asked.

Arc laughed a bit. "Sounds unbelievable when you phrase it like that, doesn’t it?" Arc asked.

Gravis nodded.

"How about I rephrase it for you?"

Gravis only raised an eyebrow.

"You basically knew nothing of your potential targets when you chose the resource point you want to attack," Arc said with a smile. "And when you choose something while having nearly no information on said choice, did you make an informed, deliberate choice?"

Then, Arc smirked. "Or did you choose at random and bet on luck?"

Gravis’ face transformed into a grimace. He didn’t like what he heard one bit.

"Think about it," Arc said as he raised on hand. "On one side, we have a Late Minor Circulation Immortal with the worst possible luck imaginable. However, this person is searching for an opponent an entire Circulation above them."

Arc raised his other hand. "On the other side, we have someone with above-average Karmic Luck, who is also an entire Circulation above the first one, and even worse, they have a tribulation coming up."

"The bad luck of the first individual draws them to a very powerful enemy."

"The good luck of the second individual draws weaker opponents to them."

"Two magnets that attract each other."

"Doesn’t this sound like a match made in heaven?" Arc asked with a smirk.

Gravis groaned when he heard Arc’s pun, and Arc laughed loudly when he saw Gravis’ reaction.

Luck was something very illusory. Gravis knew about his bad luck but evading something like luck was very difficult. Gravis thought that he had enough information to make an informed decision, but he had failed to notice that his information had been flawed.

His information came from Liran, and the information had been public knowledge. Usually, something like that was rather reliable, but it wasn’t perfect. One inaccuracy in thousands of resource points was not bad at all. This meant that thousands of other resource points still had accurate information on their power.

What were the chances of hitting that single inaccuracy among thousands of good choices?

Nearly nothing.

Anyone that hit this single inaccuracy would only blame one thing.

Bad luck.

"Fuck!" Gravis shouted as he kicked a ton of earth to the side out of anger. "I keep trying to circumvent my lack of Karmic Luck, but I just continually step into it!"

Arc only chuckled a bit. "Don’t beat yourself up over it," he said. "Not even us Heavens know how actual luck works. We know what effect our bestowal of Karmic Luck has on luck, but we also don’t know why and how luck exists. Is it a Law? No, it isn’t."

Arc lifted his right index finger with a smirk. "So, if it isn’t a Law, but we can still see its effects, that only leaves two possibilities. Either luck doesn’t exist, and it’s something we create in our own minds, or it is something that exists that not even my creator knows how it works."

Arc chuckled a bit again. "And when not even my creator knows how it works, how can you even attempt to understand it with your current power?"

"And if it doesn’t exist, how can you attempt to understand something that doesn’t exist?"

Gravis was still frustrated but sighed. "I know," Gravis admitted, "but it’s just so frustrating and annoying!"

"That’s a luxury, you know, Gravis," Arc said.

"Huh?" Gravis uttered, not sure what Arc meant.

"If anyone else were in your situation, they wouldn’t find this annoying or frustrating, but terrifying," Arc explained. "They would constantly fear for their life and shut themselves off from the world, thinking that everything could kill them if they left their home. A lack of Karmic Luck would be absolutely horrifying to everyone else."

Arc chuckled a bit. "Yet, here you are, just being minorly annoyed by it."

Gravis grunted. "Alright, fine! You win, Arc," Gravis said with a groan.

Arc only smiled. "Also, bad luck can sometimes turn into tremendously good luck."

Gravis nodded. "I know."

"Like in this case," Arc said with a smirk.

Gravis looked with a questioning look at Arc.

"Honestly, your luck could be called transcendental right now," Arc said.

"What do you mean?" Gravis asked with furrowed brows, his frustration forgotten.

"You and Stella are connected," Arc said with a smirk. "In actuality, you have been connected before you even arrived in this world."

"In fact, you have been connected for nearly 4,000 years, your time, of course."

Gravis’ eyes widened.

Chapter 783 - 783 – Truth About The Past

Gravis’ mind started racing as it went through a ton of eventualities.

They were connected? How would that even be possible?

The first person that appeared in Gravis’ mind was his childhood friend Stella since they had the same name. This would also coincide with the time Arc had mentioned.

However, even if Gravis gave this Stella the maximum amount of time possible, it wouldn’t fit. Assuming that Stella was an Ascender, which she wasn’t, it would only add 10,000 years to her potential life. Together with the time Gravis had stayed in the highest world, barely 30,000 years could have passed for this Stella.

Yet, Stella was 100,000 years old. That still left 70,000 years unaccounted for. So, when his childhood friend Stella had been created, this Stella had to have been at least 70,000 years old.

Even if this Stella had been under accelerated time, it wouldn’t work. Stella’s teacher hadn’t known a level six Law, which meant that she couldn’t have known the Major Law of Time. So, even if Stella constantly had her time accelerated by two times, it would still leave nearly 50,000 years unaccounted for.

By all intents and purposes, it was impossible for this Stella to be connected to his childhood friend.

So, what did Arc mean?

"Arc, what do you mean?" Gravis asked with furrowed brows. "How could there be a connection between us?"

"I’m referring to your childhood friend, who was also named Stella," Arc said with a smile.

"I thought so, but the times simply don’t fit together," Gravis said. "Even if I am very generous with the time, only 30,000 years would have passed for this Stella when my childhood friend had been created. She couldn’t have been created after my childhood friend’s creation."

"Additionally, the highest Heaven had no idea how powerful I would become in the future. I doubt that it would have immediately created this Stella after that," Gravis explained.

Arc only continued smiling as he drew another line in the dirt. "You’re right. It’s impossible for this Stella to have been created after your childhood friend."

"However, these two people are still connected," Arc said.

Gravis was going through all possible ways to fit the two together, but it just didn’t fit.

Arc saw that Gravis still didn’t get it. "If the times don’t match up, it means that this Stella has existed before your childhood friend. So, how do they fit together?" Arc asked, giving Gravis a hint.

Gravis fell into thought again, but he still couldn’t create a connection between them. Stella had been in this world for her entire life and had never left. This meant that they couldn’t have met. They also couldn’t be related since his childhood friend had never left the highest world. Additionally, she had only been a young girl.

Arc chuckled a bit. "It’s actually funny and ironic that you can’t find the solution. After all, you went through something very similar in your past."

’Very similar?’ Gravis thought as he thought back to his entire life. Two people that were connected while having different ages and coming from different worlds.

Arc waited for Gravis to think, but even after some minutes, Gravis didn’t find the answer. So, Arc decided to give Gravis another hint. "How many times have you switched bodies, Gravis?" he asked.

Gravis was a bit surprised by the seemingly irrelevant action. "One- No!"

And then, Gravis found the answer.

How many times had Gravis switched bodies?

If one didn’t think about this question a lot, one would say one time, which was when he had entered the middle world.

When Gravis had adapted his Spirit to lightning, he didn’t really switch bodies. His body had only been changed by it.

Yet, when one thought very carefully about the question, one would find that Gravis had switched bodies twice.

Once was when he entered the middle world.

And once was in the Heaven’s Trial!

The highest Heaven had created a perfect copy of Gravis, and they had fused with each other. Their Spirits and lightning had fused while the new Spirit simply chose one of the two bodies. His father had told Gravis that he was inside the body of his copy. Therefore, Gravis had switched bodies twice, not once.

A copy!

The copied Gravis had a different age from the real Gravis since he had just been created!

The copied Gravis was created in the lower world while the original one came from the highest world!

It fit together!

Gravis took a shaky breath. "My childhood friend was a copy of Stella," Gravis said.

"Correct," Arc said with a smile.

"Why?" Gravis asked.

"Because your mindsets fit perfectly together, Gravis," Arc said.

"I know," Gravis said with furrowed brows. "After all, that was the goal of the highest Heaven back then. However, my question is why there was an original, to begin with."

Arc lightly shook his head. "How many people exist in all the worlds, Gravis?"

"No idea," Gravis immediately answered. "The number is so astronomically big that it could as well be seen as infinite."

Arc nodded. "And among a nearly infinite number of people, there are bound to be at least two that fit perfectly together, right?"

Gravis furrowed his brows again. "I guess so," he said.

"Why create something completely new out of nothing when you already have every possible mindset and personality to choose from?" Arc asked. "My creator simply searched for a fitting and talented person. If the person wasn’t talented enough, they wouldn’t be able to absorb my creator’s Energy quickly enough."

"A Shooting Star, as your father calls it, is someone whose Life Energy starts burning out incredibly fast. If they can’t absorb Energy with ridiculous speeds, their consumption of longevity can’t keep up with the added longevity by reaching a new Realm."

"If that person weren’t talented enough, they would burn out before even reaching four years of age. Then, what would be the point of introducing them to you? You wouldn’t even remember them."

"So, my creator searched for every person that perfectly fits you and took the most talented one out of the bunch," Arc said and then smirked. "And where do you find the most talented Cultivators? In the most powerful higher world, of course. The highest world may have stronger peak geniuses, but the average talent of my world is far higher than the average talent of the highest world."

Gravis absorbed all of Arc’s words like a sponge. However, his mind was somewhere else.

’So, my childhood friend had always been a copy of someone else,’ Gravis thought. ’However, that doesn’t invalidate her existence. After all, she was still a human with feelings and a Spirit. Calling her a copy would be demeaning her existence. It would be better to call her an identical twin since she was as much a human as the original.’

Gravis sighed. "What are the chances of meeting this person amongst so many worlds and so many people?" Gravis asked himself more than Arc.

"That’s why I said your luck was transcendental," Arc said with a smile. "That luck would be so good that no one would believe it. Honestly, even I doubt that it was only luck. It’s just too coincidental."

Gravis’ eyes narrowed. "The highest Heaven?" he asked Arc.

Arc nodded. "Possible," he said. "I might be the strongest amongst all Heavens except for my creator, but I’m not the only one that knows the Law of the True World. Why I’m the most powerful also doesn’t have anything to do with my fighting style or anything."

"So, when we inevitably fight, I wouldn’t be any more powerful than any other Heaven that knows the Law of the True World since our Laws and Realms would be equalized."

"Yet, you still ended up in my world. Additionally, I’m by far the most unruly of my creator’s creations. If he wanted to kill you, he could have sent you to any other world. There are enough Heavens that fanatically worship my creator like the one you had met in your middle world. Your chances of dying would be far higher in such a world than this one."

"So, I think that my creator sent you here specifically to meet Stella. If it is out of an altruistic motive or because of a scheme, I don’t know. I only know that this is probably the reason why you came to this world."

’The highest Heaven,’ Gravis thought. ’I have buried my enmity with the highest Heaven, but I still don’t like it. It has helped me innumerable times, but it also keeps involving itself in my shit. It really is never simple when it involves the highest Heaven.’

However, Arc said something else that interested Gravis.

"How did you actually become the strongest Heaven?" Gravis asked.

Arc smiled. "Guessing," he said as he drew another line in the dirt.

"Guessing?" Gravis asked.

Arc nodded. "I’m stuck in this world and have been for over 45 billion years. That’s a lot of time, you know," Arc said with a chuckle. "So, when I’m bored, I’m simply guessing."

"Guessing what?" Gravis asked.

"The Laws of the highest world," Arc said.

Gravis was taken aback when he heard that. "But you can’t see the Laws of the highest world."

"Pfft," Arc sputtered with a slight laugh. "That’s why it’s called guessing."

Gravis almost couldn’t comprehend what Arc was saying. One Law had so many different interactions and functions that it was basically infinite. Without seeing the Law, it was impossible to comprehend it.

Arc was guessing the Laws of the highest world? He was just randomly going through functions and connections?

"Did you have any success?" Gravis asked.

"I’ve learned some Laws," Arc said with a smile.

Some... not one.

This was why Arc was the most powerful higher Heaven.

He wasn’t the most powerful because of his battle style, but because he knew Laws that weren’t part of the higher worlds.

Gravis found that thought frightening.

Chapter 784 - 784 – Indecipherable Mess

Gravis talked with Arc for another hour, but Gravis was keen to get back. Right now, Gravis had some time until Arthur’s next attack, and that was a perfect opportunity to finally create his own Focus. Additionally, Stella was waiting for him.

Gravis took out the Emblem. Whenever Gravis crushed the Emblem, a new one would simply appear right in front of him. So, even though Gravis always crushed it, it basically wasn’t destroyed.

Gravis teleported away as he crushed the Emblem, leaving Arc to do whatever he was doing. The lines Arc had been drawing all the time probably had something to do with his guessing of the highest world’s Laws.

SHING!

Gravis appeared back in the clearing and saw Stella sitting on the ground with closed eyes.

"You’re back," Stella said as she opened her eyes. Her tone seemed superficially neutral, but Gravis heard a bit of excitement hidden in her voice.

Gravis sighed when he heard Stella.

Even though he had only talked with Arc, Gravis’ entire perception of Stella had changed.

The two of them were supposed to be perfect matches for each other. When Gravis had talked to her the previous day, he had felt great. Stella’s personality and thoughts were similar enough to Gravis’ that they created a feeling of mutual understanding but different enough for the conversation to not get boring.

It was like two identical people that had gone through vastly different experiences.

Stella raised an eyebrow as Gravis only looked at her with a blank stare.

Gravis saw the raised eyebrow, and he somehow liked that expression on Stella.

Gravis looked away as he touched the side of his head with his hand and began thinking again. ’This is so bizarre,’ Gravis thought. ’We have only met, and we’ve only had one real talk. The conversation was delightful, but all the good feelings have been clouded by a layer of complexity now.’

’I don’t want to admit that my personality is so easily categorized that someone else can find a perfect match for me. However, I can’t deny that we seem to perfectly fit together.’

’What am I supposed to think now? Should I just continue talking like I don’t know anything and allow whatever happens to happen? However, the highest Heaven has placed her right in front of me. I don’t want to just do whatever the highest Heaven wants me to do. It feels like manipulation, and I hate being manipulated.’

’It’s like I’ve just talked to another person for the first time and then got told that this person would be my fiancée in the future. Strictly going against the highest Heaven because this is what it wants is something I do on the regular.’

’However, I don’t want to just cut off Stella from my life. We have just met, and we couldn’t even be considered friends, but my short time with her has been very enjoyable.’

’If we fit this perfectly together, love is bound to happen between us. I haven’t noticed it previously, but after listening to Arc, I realize now that I actually wouldn’t be against spending the rest of my life with her.’

’It’s weird, whenever we simply talked, I haven’t realized my attraction to her, but after knowing the truth, the attraction seems obvious in my mind. She doesn’t know of our connection, making it nearly impossible for her to notice her own subtle signs of attraction. Normally, I’m not a person that injects perceived feelings of attraction towards me into someone I like, but if we are perfectly compatible, there is no doubt that they are there.’

Gravis’ emotions were mixing together into a confusing mess of different colors. His mind and being had no idea what they should make of the current situation.

Gravis desired freedom, and the highest Heaven had involved itself. Logically, he should lash out at the highest Heaven since it continued to involve itself in his shit.

However, he wanted to spend more time with Stella. Wasn’t freedom doing whatever one wanted to do?

Gravis wanted to be angry at the highest Heaven for interfering again but meeting one’s "soul-mate" only had positive things. Should he be angry?

Meeting the one destined person in one’s life would be an event of happiness and excitement, but when one desired freedom and was basically forced to meet this person, would it still be a happy event?

Gravis’ emotions had never been this messed up before. They weren’t messed up in the sense that he became emotional but in the literal sense. They were a confusing, undefinable mess.

’Logically, I should pursue a relationship with her, but it also feels like I would be manipulating her. I know that we perfectly fit together, but she doesn’t. It feels like I’m at an advantage in a trade. However, this isn’t a trade. Aren’t partners supposed to give themselves to each other? This would feel more like me taking it than receiving it since the conclusion is basically already foregone.’

BZZZ!

Deep inside Gravis, his lightning was rebelling again.

’And then there’s something else,’ Gravis thought with a sigh.

’Joyce.’

’I have promised Joyce that I would wait for her until we met again. If she were already dead, it wouldn’t be an issue. Hell, it would even be enough if she forgot me or didn’t care.’

’However, father said that Joyce is still hellbent on fulfilling our promise and meeting again. In her mind, I am the perfect Cultivator, uninfluenced by emotions and only striving for power. After all, that’s how she had met me back then.’

’Yet, I’ve changed so much since then. I would be unrecognizable to her. It wouldn’t be that far of a stretch to say that Joyce and I have switched places. She has become a cold, direct, and unfeeling Cultivator that only strives for power while I’m the one that takes emotions into account.’

’Everything’s a mess. Joyce loves a person that doesn’t exist, but that person is still me. Stella and I would be a perfect fit, but everything regarding this situation is just messed up and feels impure.’

’I have given a promise to a person that loves a different me and doesn’t know me. I know that it definitely won’t work out between us, but I would still be breaking my promise that I have given with all my heart back then.’

’I mean, I wouldn’t receive any kind of meaningful consequence by breaking that promise, but that doesn’t mean that I want to. I would feel like a lying piece of shit if I broke that promise.’

’So then, what about Stella? She has to, at least, wait until we reach the highest world. However, that will take hundreds of thousands of years, and I’m only 4,000 years old. The closest comparison would be a 16-year-old that heard that they would only find their partner when they became 80 years old, but even that wouldn’t make justice to the sheer difference of time.’

’I can’t even tell Stella since that would open too many questions and would require me to explain sensitive details about my past. I wouldn’t have a problem with her knowing, but she trusts her brother and maybe even other people. Since she trusts them, she might let something slip. However, I don’t trust the people she trusts, at least not with my life.’

’Also, she probably wouldn’t even believe me. Sure, the Law of Honesty would help, but using it also feels a bit like intruding on someone else’s mind. I have no problem using it against enemies or neutral people, but I wouldn’t want to use it against someone I have a friendly relationship with.’

’On top of that, there is still this issue with my lightning. Depending on how this issue gets resolved, my personality might change drastically again. At that point, we wouldn’t be compatible anymore, and it would be akin to me dying for her.’

’Everything’s uncertain.’

’Everything’s a complex and indecipherable mess.’

Stella looked at Gravis with a confused expression. Gravis had been standing there for several seconds as he only looked to the side with a complex expression. To her, it felt like Gravis had heard something that shattered his entire worldview. Gravis had the expression of someone that didn’t know what they should believe anymore.

However, that didn’t conform to Stella’s image of Gravis in her mind. Gravis had seemed like a person that logically categorized all the concepts he came into contact with. So, what was going on?

Gravis sighed and looked to the moon.

’I have no fucking idea what I should do.’

’Everything’s a mess.’

Chapter 785 - 785 – Plan For Stella

"Gravis, why are you looking like this?" Stella asked. Gravis’ troubled expression made her a bit worried. She thought she had a pretty accurate read on Gravis’ personality, but this didn’t seem to fit him.

Gravis sighed. "Difficult," he said. "There are things that have been revealed to me in the conversation I just had. It’s simply difficult for me to find a way to proceed."

Stella combed her hair with her fingers as she looked down. "Well, when I see myself in such a situation, I just go one step at a time."

Gravis scratched his chin in thought. He had also thought about proceeding like this, but he wasn’t sure if this was the best course of action.

After some seconds, Gravis sighed. ’Fuck it! There are too many things to keep track of. Too many different situations are intermingled. Maybe I should really go through it one step at a time.’

’So, first of all, I can’t make any decisions as long as I don’t know how my issue with my lightning will be resolved. Tackling any of the other issues before that makes no sense.’

Gravis nodded. ’I shouldn’t tell Stella about our dynamic and simply continue on like nothing has happened. If she takes the initiative to get closer to me, I can still stop her when it happens and give further explanation. Right now, until the issue with my lightning has been resolved, I will simply talk to her like nothing has changed.’

"Thanks," Gravis said as he turned to Stella. "I wasn’t sure how I should proceed, but your input helped me in making my choice."

Stella still had no idea what Gravis’ issue even was, which made her feel a bit uncertain. However, if Gravis wanted to tell her, he would do so. Right now, Gravis obviously didn’t want to share his worries.

"Okay," Stella acknowledged.

"Now!" Gravis shouted to banish the awkwardness in the atmosphere. "Let’s forget about my issues and get working on your issues."

If someone didn’t know Gravis very well, they would take that as an insult. My issues? You say I have issues!?

Luckily, Stella was very similar to Gravis and knew what he meant. Gravis was obviously referring to her Will-Aura problem.

Stella nodded. "Yes, please, and thank you, Gravis," she said with conviction.

Gravis nodded too. "Okay, there are two things you need to make interferences in fights become irrelevant to your Will-Aura," Gravis said. "Both of them are very hard to grasp, which is why it is so very rare for someone to be immune to something like this. After all, not even your teacher knew the answer."

Stella got reminded of her teacher but nodded.

"This means that it’s challenging to grasp both of these things. Understanding only one thing is already incredibly difficult, but understanding both of them is nearly impossible," Gravis said.

"Yet, you need both of them, and both of them rely on you," Gravis said with severity. "I can only marginally help you with them. Everything else completely relies on you."

Stella nodded, her red hair moving with her head.

Gravis found her nod cute, but he quickly distracted himself. After knowing that they were perfectly compatible, Gravis couldn’t ignore Stella’s subtle movements anymore. Now, he was under their full assault.

"One thing is an essential change of mindset while the other is the comprehension of a very rare and elusive Law," Gravis explained. "By the way, the Law I am referring to is the Law that your teacher said she heard about but has never seen before."

A Law even her teacher had never seen?

Stella released a sigh. Such a Law had to be incomparably hard to understand.

"Let me first tell you about the Law," Gravis said. "You won’t be able to watch, see, or perceive the Law yourself, which is why you can’t search for it. Even knowing its name might make it harder since you might try to seek out the circumstance and philosophy of this Law, which would make it even harder to understand it."

For the first time, Stella was confused. The things Gravis had just said went against the basic philosophy of cultivation. A Law that can’t be observed? That exists? Also, knowing about the Law would make it even harder to understand it? How was that even possible? One had to observe and look at the Law to understand it. How was it possible that not looking at the Law would make it easier to understand it?

Everything Gravis had just said made no sense. If her teacher had not confirmed Gravis’ abilities and if Stella didn’t know Gravis very well due to their conversation, Stella would not even entertain that such claims were factual. It simply went against everything she knew.

However, Stella also became a bit excited. Comprehending Laws was like doing calculations. The more Laws Stella learned, the more sterile and grey they became, but the description Gravis had just given sounded mystical.

When Stella had been young and weak, she still remembered the mysteries of the Laws. Comprehending these unfathomable and seemingly illogical things felt magical and mystical to her.

Now, a part of this mystical feeling came back.

This was something completely new!

Stella’s eyes now radiated a subtle sparkle of interest and wonder. She didn’t even know what this Law was, but she wanted to know it!

Gravis had to avoid looking into Stella’s eyes since they distracted him from his teachings. ’Fuck! Why did you tell me about our connection, Arc!? You’re making this far harder than it should be!’

Meanwhile, Arc was laughing at Gravis’ discomfort.

"I can’t tell you what Law it is, but I can show you the category and explain to you why it is so hard to comprehend," Gravis said.

Stella nodded with motivation.

"Do you know about the Laws of Perceived Reality or Situational Laws?" Gravis asked.

Stella scrunched her nose as she thought about these words. "I think I’ve heard about Situational Laws before, but only a little bit. I think I also didn’t hear it from anyone that I deemed as important, or I would have a clearer recollection of their words."

Gravis nodded.

"There are four primary and several secondary categories of Laws," Gravis explained.

"Primary and secondary?" Stella asked with furrowed brows. How could some categories be primary and others secondary? Laws were Laws, and they all had about the same strength as long as they were at the same level.

"I can’t tell you why some categories are primary, and some are secondary," Gravis directly said. If he explained these things, he would need to explain to her why these four categories were necessary for becoming a powerful God. That would open questions about how Gravis could know about Gods while being in a higher world.

"So, let’s just go through the four primary categories of Laws," Gravis said.

Gravis’ unwillingness to elaborate on several topics wasn’t to Stella’s liking. Did he truly know these things, or did he just put up an empty show of mystery?

"I’ll be going from easy to perceive to hard to perceive," Gravis said.

Easy to hard? Stella knew that Gravis was referring to categories, but the difficulty of understanding a Law didn’t depend on the category but on its tier. Gravis simply continued to make statements that didn’t seem to fit basic understanding of cultivation.

"Wait a second," Stella said as she interrupted Gravis.

"Yes?"

Stella released a sigh. "You are saying a lot of things that don’t seem to fit the basics of cultivation. You should know that I can believe some of them without evidence due to my teacher’s words, but it’s becoming harder and harder for me to believe you."

"So," Stella said with some discomfort. She didn’t want to question Gravis, but she also couldn’t just accept such claims. "Could you please elaborate on how you know these things?"

Gravis blinked a couple of times.

"Please, understand where I’m coming from," Stella said with more nervousness. "The basics of cultivation come from generations upon generations of Immortal Emperors, and we are just normal Immortals. You are basically saying that you know cultivation better than Immortal Emperors. This is very hard for me to believe."

Gravis blinked a couple of times more.

"I do know cultivation better than them," he said.

Stella took a deep breath through her teeth. That was a humongous and arrogant claim! However, she wanted to give Gravis a chance to explain himself instead of just dismissing his words as arrogance.

"And what makes you think so?" Stella asked.

"How powerful is the Battle-Strength of Immortal Emperors?" Gravis asked. "How powerful was their Battle-Strength when they have been Immortals?"

Stella furrowed her brows. "About as strong as mine," she said.

"And how powerful is my Battle-Strength?" Gravis asked.

Stella was a bit confused when Gravis said that. They had the same Battle-Strength. After all, their fight had been a draw.

’Wait!’ Stella suddenly realized as her eyes opened wide.

She completely forgot that Gravis was a Late Minor Circulation Immortal!

As soon as Gravis had unveiled his true power, she had seen Gravis as an equal. She had seen Gravis as a rival and as a peak genius of the world, someone who could fight her on the same level.

But Gravis was an entire Circulation below her!

Stella took a deep breath as she remembered that the person that had nearly killed her was an entire Circulation below her.

She had already said that the Immortal Emperors had been about as powerful as her when they had been Immortals.

However, there were worlds between them and Gravis.

Gravis was an absolutely abnormal freak that didn’t conform to basic cultivation!

Gravis saw that Stella realized what he was getting at.

"That’s my proof."

Chapter 786 - 786 – Demonstration

This proof was too powerful to go up against. Gravis’ entire existence didn’t conform to the basics of cultivation. From this moment on, Stella no longer doubted Gravis’ words. Gravis had shown powers that went far beyond what Cultivators saw as possible, which meant that he probably also knew a lot of things that others didn’t know.

And that was true.

Gravis had gained incredible knowledge due to the dynamic between him and Heaven. He went through so many abnormal paths in his cultivation that he had a horizon that could be called unequaled in a higher world, except for Arc.

"Now, with that out of the way," Gravis said, "let’s continue."

Stella nodded.

"The first primary category is the Matter Laws," Gravis said. "That includes all forms of dead matter you can see and the elements."

Whoop!

Gravis created a cube of metal with his metal element. "The reason why they are the easiest to understand is that we can feel them with all of our senses and that they don’t move or interact without something external affecting them."

"We can see them," Gravis said as he gestured to the metal cube. "We can feel them," he said as he put his hand on the cube.

Clink! Clink!

"We can hear them," Gravis said as he lightly knocked on the cube, "and we can smell and taste them."

"The elements are the same. We can perceive fire, water, wind, lightning, and so on with all of our senses and can simply look at them."

Stella nodded, even though she already knew that. She simply didn’t know the overarching category.

"The next category is the Life Laws," Gravis said. "We can still perceive them with all of our senses, but they don’t stand still. They move, constantly interact with each other, and change. This makes them basically a more complex form of matter. Especially since the Law of Life also includes Spirits."

Stella nodded. She knew some level two Soul Laws. Therefore, she knew that understanding souls was more difficult than simply understanding metal or earth.

"The next category of Laws is the Emotional Laws," Gravis said. "You know the Law of Empathy, which is part of that category. You probably have also heard of the Laws of Pride and Rage."

Stella nodded again. The Emotional Laws were definitely not easy to understand. Understanding all the elements wasn’t nearly as hard as understanding all the Emotional Laws.

That’s when realization struck.

’He’s right!’ Stella thought. ’From an individual standpoint, understanding an Emotional Law might not be harder than understanding matter as long as I come into contact with the emotion, but trying to understand all of them would be many times harder! Additionally, it’s difficult to understand emotions since I can’t just manipulate myself into feeling them.’

This realization affirmed Stella’s decision to believe Gravis. She had known all of these things, but she hadn’t made the connection.

"The last set of primary Laws are the Situational Laws," Gravis said. "You know one of them. The Law of Danger."

Stella’s brows furrowed. Nearly everyone knew the Law of Danger since Cultivators had a very intimate relationship with danger. Understanding this Law wasn’t hard. However, Gravis said that this category was the hardest to perceive.

"The Law of Danger is very common," Gravis said, "but the other Laws are far rarer."

"The reason why Situational Laws are called Situational Laws is that you can only understand them when being in a certain situation for an extended period of time, understanding the hows and whys of the situation."

"You can’t see, hear, taste, smell, or feel the Situational Laws with your body. You can only feel them with your Spirit and mind. However, they are still real, even if you can’t perceive them like any other kind of Law."

Stella fell into thought as she combed her hair with her fingers. All of this sounded very logical, but she only had the Law of Danger as an example.

"Let me give you some examples and show you how the Situational Laws affect reality," Gravis said.

Stella looked with surprise at Gravis. "You know them?" she asked.

Gravis smirked. "The Situational Laws are probably the most important reason for my Battle Strength. You could even say I specialize in them."

"They are so powerful?" Stella asked in shock. "Also, why haven’t you used these Laws against me in our fight?"

"I did," Gravis said, confusing Stella.

He had? But Gravis hadn’t unleashed any kind of powerful attack or powerful defense. As far as she knew, Gravis had only used the Life Laws, gravity, time, and the elements. She had not seen any other kind of Law at play.

"Let me demonstrate," Gravis said.

Stella waited, but nothing happened.

After some seconds, Stella became confused again. What was he talking about? Gravis was doing nothing.

"How do you feel?" Gravis asked.

Stella was a bit surprised by the seemingly irrelevant question. "Normal," she answered.

Gravis nodded. "Look behind you."

Stella used her Spirit to look behind her in confusion.

BZZZZZZ!

A powerful spear of lightning was just a meter behind her, pointing directly at her.

BANG!

Out of reflex, Stella shot up and destroyed the spear with a fireball.

When did that spear arrive!?

"You might be confused right now, so let me explain," Gravis said as he looked at the agitated girl. "Think about it. Would you normally overlook such an attack? You are not currently fighting, but I know that such an attack wouldn’t catch you by surprise, even when you are relaxed. Am I right?"

Stella’s mind was going wild.

Gravis was right!

Even when Stella was relaxed, she would have never overlooked such an attack! That was also why she had been so surprised. She was always careful, no matter where she was or how she felt. A Core Disciple didn’t have the luxury of letting down their guard. Otherwise, an assassin might find an excellent opportunity to attack them.

"How- How did you do this?" Stella asked with shock. Gravis couldn’t have used the darkness element to hide the attack. Stella knew the Shadow Element, which was the higher form. She would have felt it! He also couldn’t have used space since she knew a lot about space. Even more, Gravis had used lightning, one of the least subtle elements.

So, how did Gravis hide his attack!?

"You probably think I hid my attack, right?" Gravis asked with a smirk.

Stella nodded. "Does this mean that you didn’t?"

Gravis nodded. "I didn’t hide it. I used the antithesis of the Law of Danger on you. When you are in a state of combat, this Law wouldn’t be able to hide an attack, but when you are in a relaxed state, the Law is enough to reduce your perception of danger to nearly zero."

"The reason why you didn’t notice the attack is because you didn’t perceive it as dangerous and ignored it just like our surroundings. We don’t constantly keep watch over every single tree and pebble on the ground. So, since the lightning spear didn’t exhibit any form of danger, you didn’t deem it more important than a pebble in your relaxed state of mind."

Stella was shocked beyond belief. This was a Law? But this Law didn’t work on reality! It was like Gravis’ Law directly influenced Stella’s perception.

But how was that possible!? One couldn’t intrude on the Spirit of another one unless they were far more powerful!

Suddenly, Stella glanced at a stone beside her.

"See that?" Gravis asked. "That’s the High-Tier Law of Danger, something I managed to understand in the middle of our fight. The normal Law of Danger only works on yourself, but the better version can be used on someone else. That stone is just a stone, nothing more, but you perceived a kind of threat from it."

For some reason, Stella started to breathe heavily. It was like the world was changing around her. Things that were safe were no longer safe, and things that were dangerous seemed no longer dangerous.

It felt like she couldn’t trust her senses anymore.

Stella’s nervousness brought her into a battle-state.

"This is another Law," Gravis said. "Think about it logically. Would something unimportant like this influence your mindset so much? You are nervous and in a battle-state, even though you have only seen a stone and a weak attack. Don’t you think you’re overreacting?"

Stella’s eyes widened again. Yes, why was she so nervous? Her power was no longer sealed, and Gravis wouldn’t be a danger to her right now. Additionally, she didn’t believe that Gravis wanted to hurt her.

So, why was she so agitated right now!?

"These were the effects of three Situational Laws," Gravis explained. "I won’t explain to you what they do or what they are called. If you know a lot of Situational Laws, you can extrapolate the names of the other Situational Laws. I didn’t demonstrate the Law you need to understand, but it is in the same category."

"Understanding two Situational Laws is already quite rare, but understanding three is already extremely rare. I haven’t met any human in this world that knows three. Not even your teacher knew three, I’m sure of it.’

"Do you understand now why these Laws are one of my most powerful weapons?" Gravis asked.

Gravis had used the Major Law of Control to make Stella feel like she was losing control over the situation. This was the reason why she became so nervous. By now, he had already deactivated it again, and Stella’s mind returned to normal.

"It’s frightening," Stella said slowly. "And yes, I understand now," she said as she turned to Gravis. "At the beginning of our fight, I felt like I was safe. I felt like I was in control and that you couldn’t possibly win against me. Even when I unleashed the Burning Sky Slash, I felt like you couldn’t possibly be a danger to me."

"And then, everything changed. From a watcher’s perspective, I appeared arrogant and careless. However, I am definitely not arrogant and careless. If I were, I would long be dead. Then, when you came close, I felt like I couldn’t win. I made several stupid attacks."

Stella looked to the side with melancholy. "An outsider would think that I was a weak rookie, someone that didn’t climb to their position with their own power. Why? Because I made several rookie mistakes."

"So that’s your power, huh?" Stella asked with a complex expression as she looked at Gravis. "You change the finely tuned senses of your opponent regarding battle and distort them into such a state that they give you an advantage. When you are closing in, you make your opponent believe that they are superior, which will result in them unleashing weaker attacks."

Stella took a deep breath as she remembered Gravis’ burning skull right in front of her. "And when you are going in for the kill, you make them believe like they have already lost and that there’s nothing they can do, even though they might still have a chance."

Gravis nodded with a smile.

"Yup. I basically weave and distort perceived reality to change physical reality."

"That’s how I fight."

Chapter 787 - 787 – Surprising Mindset

"Anyway," Gravis said. "This concludes the demonstration of Situational Laws. As the name implies, you need to have knowledge regarding specific situations and understand them. Danger doesn’t exist in physical reality but in your perception. That’s also why they are so hard to understand."

Stella was still shocked about Gravis’ fighting style. Now that she thought about it, she should have won their fight easily. Gravis should have never been able to close in on her, and she should have been able to defend herself better.

It was like physical reality told her that Gravis had had no chance against her, but since both of them believed that Gravis was close to killing her, their combined perception changed physical reality.

It was like Gravis was destroying the combat experience of his opponent with his Laws.

Stella nodded after a while. "So, what about that other thing?" she asked.

"The other thing that you need is a change in mindset," Gravis said. "I’m talking about the illusion of a pure path to power."

Stella’s brows furrowed. "Could you elaborate?"

"Not allowing anyone else to interfere has a lot to do with the illusion of wanting to reach supreme power with one’s own strength alone," Gravis said. "We want to say that we have gained the power we currently have all on our own. We want to say that it was solely our own hard work that allowed us to become so powerful."

"But that’s not true," Stella interrupted Gravis.

Gravis lifted an eyebrow. That didn’t sound like a question but a statement. Stella sounded like she had had similar thoughts in the past.

Gravis gestured for her to continue.

Stella combed her hair with furrowed brows. "I’ve had these thoughts before," she said slowly. "I am obviously very talented. Otherwise, my teacher wouldn’t have chosen Liam and me. "

"However, teacher and a lot of elders showed me the correct way. It’s true that I had to build my strength myself, but they have shown me the direction. If I didn’t know the direction, I would have long died."

"Additionally, inside the Sect, I’ve never had to fight someone that was straight-up impossible to beat. There had always been a chance of victory, even if my opponent was far more powerful than I. Of course, when I went outside, that didn’t hold true anymore. I had to flee for my life more than once. I’ve also had to find shelter and hide before."

Gravis didn’t interrupt as he let her continue explaining.

Stella looked to the sky with a forlorn expression. "How can I call this power my own when all my close ones have shown me the way forward? Without their help, I would have already long been dead."

"However," Stella said as she looked at the ground again. "Whenever I voiced my doubts, people told me that I was talking nonsense. They told me that without my own hard work and talent, I would have long since died. They said that no one else would have been able to survive in the situations I have been in."

"Even teacher said that my words were nonsense and that I shouldn’t demean my own accomplishments," Stella said and looked at Gravis. "But I’m not! Yes, I am very talented, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t received a lot of aid in my past."

"How can I call my path pure when I have been granted access to several Law Comprehension Areas, resources, safety, and techniques? Plenty of people don’t have access to these things. Wouldn’t they think that my path wasn’t pure?"

Gravis looked with surprise at Stella.

Understanding this concept had been incredibly difficult for Gravis. First, the middle Heaven had to beat Gravis down into absolute submission to the point that he even felt like a little kid. However, not even that was enough! After that, the Black Magnate had told Gravis about the truth that power was absolute. It didn’t matter where this power came from. Power was power.

Yet, Stella had been able to find that out on her own?

For the first time in a long while, Gravis felt like someone else was superior to him in something. Usually, Gravis was always the best in his cultivation Realm. He always had the most powerful Battle-Strength, knew the most Laws, had the most expansive horizon, had the greatest strategies, but not this time.

Stella had managed to realize something that Gravis hadn’t been able to see on his own. Gravis had needed others to show him the way regarding this mindset, but Stella had found the solution on her own.

This required a tremendous ability of introspection and humility. Denying the pureness of one’s path was like saying that everything one stood and worked for had been given by others. Throwing away one’s life’s work like this was beyond difficult.

Also, since one of the important aspects to realizing this truth was humility, did Stella know the Law of Humility, the antithesis to the Law of Pride? If that were the case, she would know two Emotional Laws, which would be incredible.

As Gravis came into contact with these revelations, he felt some of the magic of the world return.

Did Gravis always think that he was the best?

No.

Orthar was a good example. Gravis saw Orthar as someone that had been on the same level as him. Orthar was incredibly smart, calculating, and Gravis could talk as much as he wanted with him about nearly everything. It was like Orthar and Gravis had been on the same wavelength.

This was also the biggest reason why Gravis saw Orthar as his closest friend. Gravis could talk however he wanted with Orthar and share his thoughts with him. Orthar would nearly always give good advice and logical input that helped Gravis.

Such an attraction was very powerful. After all, personality-wise, Orthar and Gravis were like fire and water. Orthar suppressed and manipulated everyone for his own personal gain, while Gravis only used suppression and manipulation on his enemies.

Orthar’s personality was like an evil overlord that wanted power and resources above anything else, no matter the cost, while Gravis did whatever he wanted. As long as no one bothered Gravis, he wouldn’t bother them.

Yet, despite all this, Orthar and Gravis were good friends.

However, the dynamic between Gravis and Stella was different.

While Gravis thought that Orthar was equal to him in basically everything, with Stella, Gravis felt inferior in one department.

However, Gravis was also superior in other departments.

So, instead of two equals meeting, it was like two extreme opposites meeting. They were both good in basically everything, but they had different attributes in which they were excellent.

Gravis knew about Laws and Cultivation.

Stella had a superior ability to reflect on herself.

They both knew a ton about Matter and Life Laws.

Gravis knew more about the Laws of Perceived Reality, but Stella knew more about the Emotional Laws.

For the first time, Gravis found wonder in someone else’s personality. When someone was superior in something, their way of thinking was different. This meant that part of Stella’s mind was superior to Gravis’ mind, and Gravis found that intriguing.

Someone that knew something better than himself.

Someone that was able to make connections that he wasn’t able to make.

For some reason, Gravis found Stella’s mind and words intriguing. He had believed that he had to teach Stella all about the illusion of pureness, but Stella had already known that.

Gravis had thought that he would have to talk a lot with Stella and convince her that her beliefs were incorrect. He thought that he needed to beat the illusion out of her like the middle Heaven had beaten the illusion out of Gravis.

However, none of that was necessary.

Stella already had the perfect mindset.

"Gravis," Stella said with some nervousness. "Could you stop looking at me like this?" she asked, becoming a bit embarrassed.

Gravis quickly shook his head and looked to the side. "Sorry, I was just so surprised by your words. I became lost in my thoughts."

Stella released a sigh for some reason. "Oh, ok," she said.

Gravis remained silent for a bit as he continued cursing Arc. Why had Arc told him about Stella!? Now that Gravis knew all about their connection, talking to her became difficult. Gravis hated awkwardness!

Usually, Gravis directly confronted his problems. He felt attraction for someone? Sure, he would just straight up tell them. If it worked, it worked. If it didn’t, it didn’t. That was that.

However, Gravis couldn’t solve this issue right now. His attraction for Stella was real, but he couldn’t act on these feelings until the issue with his lightning was solved.

Gravis sighed. ’I hate this!’

Stella looked with concern at Gravis while Gravis glared to the side.

As several seconds passed in silence, awkwardness reigned.

Chapter 788 - 788 – Stella's Demonstration

Nearly half a minute of silence passed as Gravis was stuck cursing Arc while Stella was uncertain on how to proceed.

"So, my mindset is okay?" she asked carefully.

Gravis’ head jerked to her as her voice interrupted his frustrating thoughts. "Oh, sure! It’s more than okay!" he said quickly. "This mindset is one of the integral parts of making you immune to external interference. To be honest, it has taken a lot for me to understand it myself."

Gravis sighed. "Meanwhile, you understood all of this on your own."

Stella remained silent for some seconds. "Can you tell me about it?" she asked.

Gravis looked with a complex expression at Stella, and Stella quickly gestured that she didn’t want to intrude with her hands. "You don’t have to if you don’t want to," she said. Then, her fingers intersected, and she twiddled her thumbs as she looked to the side. "But I want to know more about you."

Gravis’ heart beat faster as his breathing quickened. ’How is she so cute!?’

Gravis quickly shook his head to regain his bearings. "I can tell you some about it, but I have to keep a lot of details secret," he said as he looked at her. "Don’t take it the wrong way, but some of my secrets may elicit greed in others."

"I’m not saying that I don’t trust you," Gravis said, "but I am saying that I don’t trust the people you trust. I can’t bet my life on something like this."

Stella completely understood where Gravis was coming from and nodded. "That’s okay."

Gravis nodded too.

Then, he told her an abridged version of his meeting with the middle Heaven. Gravis simply replaced the middle Heaven with someone much more powerful than him that was interested in maliciously playing with Gravis. That was kinda true.

After relaying the middle Heaven’s words in an abridged form, Gravis told Stella about his encounter with someone incredibly powerful. Of course, this being was the Black Magnate.

"So, in short," Gravis said. "It has required two different, extremely powerful beings to literally punch that truth into me. Without either of them, I wouldn’t be able to have this mindset."

Stella combed her hair as she fell into thought. "These two people sound powerful. Can you tell me their names? They should now also be in this world. By the sound of it, they should have already made a name for themselves."

Gravis had a complex expression on his face again. That was why he didn’t want to tell Stella much about his past. The reason was questions like these. These were not beings that would reside in a higher world, but since Stella believed that Gravis came from a middle world, it was only logical to assume that these two were now in the higher world.

"Sorry, I can’t tell you," Gravis said as he looked to the side. He was not a fan of keeping all of these things secret. He much rather preferred directly telling someone.

However, this world was full of humans, and the humans have already shown their hypocrisy and greed. If Gravis had been as open with his secrets in this world as he had been in the last world, several Immortal Kings would have already kidnapped him.

Gravis was already treading on thin ice with his incredible Battle-Strength. Anything further might motivate someone to become active.

On top of that, Gravis didn’t forget the lesson he had learned in the lower world. Back then, Gravis had told Wendy all his secrets without knowing that someone from the Darkness Sect had secretly listened in.

What if Immortal Kings or Immortal Emperors were watching him?

What if they had some kind of method to intercept voice transmissions?

"Oh! That’s okay! Sorry for asking," Stella said quickly.

"It’s okay," Gravis said. "Anyway, that’s everything you need to know. I will try to create a situation that might give you insights into the Law you need. You won’t notice when these situations appear, which is the tricky part."

"In short, you can’t prepare yourself," Gravis said with a sigh. "I can lead you into the situation, but I can’t make you understand. Everything depends on you."

Stella nodded. However, she was still in wonder about this mystical Law.

Gravis had demonstrated Laws that she hadn’t even known to exist. These Laws also worked in such mystical ways. Manipulating the perception of the opponent? Something like that was possible?

On top of that, understanding these Laws worked utterly different from understanding other Laws. She had to comprehend a situation and change her perception to understand these Laws? It almost sounded too magical to be true.

"So, what now?" Stella asked.

Gravis shrugged. "Nothing much," he said. "I can’t just create these situations. We can only continue cultivating and wait for a good opportunity to present itself."

"So, just continue as usual," Gravis said.

Stella nodded. "Okay," she said. "So, do you want to talk about something else?"

Gravis smiled a helpless smile. "Honestly, I would love to talk more with you, but I need to get on cultivating. I want to create my Saber Intent."

Stella’s eyes widened. "You don’t have a Saber Intent!?" she shouted in shock.

Gravis smiled bitterly and nodded. "I haven’t really come into contact with Weapon Cultivation until I arrived in this world. Until recently, I didn’t even know what Weapon Cultivation was and how it worked."

"Wait, so you managed to fight with me without even having your Focus?" Stella asked in shock.

Gravis noticed that Stella used the word Focus. This probably meant that the more powerful Sects in the world also used this word. "Yes, I don’t have a Focus yet."

Stella stared in wonder at Gravis, making him feel uncomfortable. "Then, how powerful will you be when you create your Focus?"

Gravis shrugged. "Dunno. Probably more powerful than now. My Battle-Strength is already lower than before due to my two breakthroughs."

"It has been lowered!?" Stella nearly shouted.

Gravis nodded. "When I arrived in this world, the chances of me killing someone five levels above me was about 10%. Right now, it’s 0%. I hope with a Focus and the Major Law of the Elements, I can boost it to 50%."

Stella still almost couldn’t believe what Gravis was saying. That was insane!

Fighting three levels above oneself was already the stuff of legends!

However, Gravis could fight four levels above himself!

And he wanted to go even further beyond!?

However, something else piqued her interest. "Do you actually know how hard it is to understand the Major Law of the Elements? You need to learn so many other-"

"I know them," Gravis said as he interrupted her.

Stella was taken aback again. "All of them?"

"All nine, yes," Gravis said. "Our fight has given me a lot of insights into this Law. In actuality, I was banking on understanding exactly this Law when I attacked you. I wanted you to force me into mortal danger so that I would comprehend a Law that would increase my defense against the elements by so much that you would die, and I would survive. That Law would have been the Major Law of the Elements."

Gravis frowned. "Sadly, I didn’t manage to learn it."

"So that’s why," Stella said quietly to herself. That was why Gravis had been so willing to enter a situation of assured mutual destruction. He specifically created a situation where he would definitely die unless he became more powerful.

Stella found that mindset a bit too extreme.

However, Stella also couldn’t deny the fact that Gravis’ Battle-Strength was insane. She might think that this mindset was too extreme, but maybe that’s exactly the reason why her Battle-Strength wasn’t as extreme as Gravis’?

In her mind, it was like Gravis was continually going all-in on a coin-toss, one time after the other. This was incredibly risky, and he would lose everything at some point.

However, Gravis was still alive.

Stella sighed and looked to the side. ’I wish I had his luck.’

"I’m going to comprehend my Focus now," Gravis said. "You can do whatever you want, but try to remain somewhere I can contact you. A fitting situation for you might turn up."

Stella nodded. "Okay. I will be reflecting on what you have told me. Call me if you need anything. After all, I’m still in your debt since you are helping me."

"No problem," Gravis said.

Stella turned around to leave but stopped after a step. Then, her head lowered as she scratched her chin.

"Gravis, wait a second," she said.

"Yes?" Gravis asked as he turned to her again.

"You demonstrated something incredible to me. So, in return, I want to demonstrate something incredible to you."

"Hm?" Gravis asked.

Stella turned to Gravis again with a smile.

"Look closely," she said.

Then, one of her fingers went to her chest.

WHOOOOOM!

As she pulled her finger away again, some kind of light-wheel appeared. An about 30-centimeter-wide wheel made of light floated in front of Stella. The wheel had nine shiny jewels embedded near its edges in a circle. All of the jewels had different colors.

Gravis felt the aura of the wheel and noticed all of the level three Law elements were present. These nine jewels represented the nine base level three Law elements. Gravis knew all of these Laws already, but he wasn’t able to unleash them since he was missing the Law.

Stella obviously already knew the Major Law of the Elements, which was why she could unleash them.

"The Burning Sky Slash is a technique from the Seething Inferno Sect," Stella said. "However, as you already know, I come from a different Sect. My Sect is called the Nine Elements Sect, and we only accept disciples that know the Minor Law of the Elements. We are not many, but all of us are very powerful."

"This is our core Weapon Technique, the Nine Elements Wheel," Stella said. "I thought you might be interested in seeing it."

Gravis nodded and looked at it closely.

"Let me show you," she said.

Clink! Clink! Clink!

Stella moved her right middle finger to the red jewel, then to the purple jewel, and lastly to the light-green jewel. These three jewels vibrated, and something appeared on Stella’s middle finger.

It was a concentrated ball of Punishment Lightning and Inferno. The Storm Element was used as support and added speed and power to the other two elements.

Judging by the reverberations of Energy Gravis was feeling, he was sure that Stella had just used around 50% of her entire Energy storage. That was a bit much for a demonstration.

Suddenly, Stella’s smile transformed into a severe expression. Her eyes became narrowed as her Will-Aura activated.

Gravis was taken aback by Stella’s sudden shift, but his Law of Safety and Danger didn’t get triggered.

Then, Stella turned around and pointed at a location.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Insane destruction wreaked havoc as a mushroom cloud of fire and lightning seemingly consumed the world. Over a hundred kilometers of land were destroyed as the forest around them stopped existing.

Stella had just unleashed the combined power of three elements that had had their powers elevated to the power of level five Laws. In addition, she had used them with a Weapon Technique. This meant that this attack had power even stronger than an average level five Law. Lastly, she had also used around 50% of her Energy.

The destruction Stella had shown was absolutely insane. If this were the middle world, the entire world would have been destroyed by such an attack.

Gravis’ eyes widened in shock.

Plonk.

Half a head fell to the ground in the distance.

Gravis felt the remaining aura of the dead Cultivator and concluded with shock that they had been a Peak Immortal, someone two levels above Stella.

"Someone has been listening in on us for quite a while now," Stella said. "I wasn’t sure if you knew them or not since it could be that you simply wanted to protect yourself against me by having someone more powerful stay near us."

"However, I’m pretty sure now that he wasn’t someone that you knew. After all, his Spirit shook quite a bit when he heard that you didn’t have a Focus. Someone you knew would have known that about you."

Meanwhile, Gravis looked at the remains of the head.

’Stella is far too powerful,’ he thought with a sigh.

Chapter 789 - 789 – Underworld

Gravis looked at the head with furrowed brows. He hadn’t noticed this person at all, but Stella had been able to feel him.

"How did you notice him?" he asked.

Stella noticed that Gravis wasn’t angry at all, which meant that he truly wasn’t connected to this uninvited guest. "He used the Law of Shadow to hide. I know that you already know this Law, but he probably also had the Law of Shadow as his Avatar. This meant that his Law of Shadow exhibited the power of a level four Law."

Gravis nodded. "Additionally, the level difference between us is too much," Gravis said. "If I were an early Major Circulation Immortal, I might have noticed him."

Stella nodded.

"Do you recognize his aura?" Gravis asked.

Someone had become so interested in Gravis that they had commissioned a Peak Immortal to keep watch over him. This meant that at least one Sect Master was already very interested in Gravis’ secrets.

"I don’t need to recognize the aura to know who that is," Stella said. "This style of espionage is trademarked by one of the organizations."

"Organizations?" Gravis asked. "So, it’s not a Sect?"

"Not entirely," Stella said as she crossed her arms. "They are similar to Sects but not identical. Usually, Sects take territories for themselves and work under one banner. This organization is different in the sense that they are all over the world without any real headquarter."

Gravis scratched his chin. Based on what Stella said, Gravis could already imagine the organization. "Let me guess. You said that they weren’t really Sects and that they are basically all over the world without a headquarter. Do they teach their own members?"

Stella’s eyes shone a bit in surprise, and she shook her head.

Gravis looked closely at the head. "If they don’t teach their disciples, it probably means that they recruit them from outside. However, nearly any Immortal is a Cultivator that all the Sects want. This means that membership for this organization is either nonexclusive or that no one wants to go against them."

"Is it a kind of mercenary organization?" Gravis asked.

Stella was surprised that Gravis managed to combine the clues this quickly. "Yes," she answered. "The organization is called Underworld, and they have a monopoly over anything unsavory."

"For example?" Gravis asked.

"Assassinations, espionage, intelligence gathering, manipulation, forbidden techniques, burglary, debt collection, and any other kind of task that the world sees as unsavory," Stella said.

Gravis’ brows furrowed. "Something like that can truly only exist in human society," he said.

"What do you mean?" Stella asked.

"Such an organization would never exist among beasts," Gravis said.

"How are you so sure?" Stella asked with interest. She wanted to know where Gravis was coming from.

"Hypocrisy," Gravis said. "You only order an assassination on someone when you don’t want others to know that you were the one that wanted the target killed. If beasts want to kill someone, they just kill them. They don’t need to pay someone else to do it. The other actions you named are similar. Only if some kind of hypocrisy is involved would someone employ another power for such things."

"Well, maybe not everything. Intelligence gathering and trade might not need hypocrisy, but the remainder does."

Stella thought about Gravis’ words. On some level, Gravis was right, but it didn’t sit right with Stella that he was talking about humans like that. He was a human too, wasn’t he? Additionally, she was also a human. By talking about humans like this, Gravis was indirectly also talking about Stella like this.

"You really dislike hypocrisy, right?" Stella asked.

Gravis nodded. "One of the things I hate the most. I know that not every human is like this. Probably not even half of the humans are this hypocritical. People that employ these kinds of tactics are mostly people that are insecure about their own power and confidence."

"By not being associated with these actions, they create an image of elevated righteousness. However, that is only a mask and a lie. Why try to appear better than you actually are? Just do what you want and let people think what they want."

Stella had a complex expression on her face. "It’s not that easy," she said. "In the past, I have also been like this."

Gravis nodded. "Understandable," he said. "We went through different experiences and had different role models. I had the luck to have someone as a role model that didn’t care about the opinions of the entire world. He simply did whatever he wanted, and even if these actions were horrible, he didn’t care what others thought about him."

Gravis thought about the time his father had killed all the Star Gods in the highest world when he said these words. The Opposer didn’t care that the entire world had seen him as an evil overlord when doing it. Their opinions changed nothing. That was probably also one of the reasons why Gravis had disliked hypocrisy even when he had been a kid.

"Was this your father?" Stella asked. "He must have been powerful," she said, believing that Gravis’ father, who must have come from a lower world, was already dead.

"He is," Gravis said.

’Is?’ Stella thought. "He’s still alive?" she asked. "Is he in this world?"

"No," Gravis said, "but he is still alive."

Stella grimaced a bit. "How are you so sure?"

"Because I still exist," Gravis said, confusing Stella even more. What kind of reasoning was that?

"What are you talking about?" Stella asked.

"Sorry, can’t elaborate," Gravis said as he sighed.,

Stella frowned but also sighed. "Alright," she said. "Call me if you need anything," she said, quickly ending the conversation.

Gravis nodded, and Stella teleported away.

Gravis looked at the head again and scratched his chin. ’Someone’s already that interested in me, huh?’ he thought. ’The future attack against the Unrestrained Sect will probably also include me now. There’s even a high chance that I will be one of the primary targets.’

’Arthur isn’t interested in me. He simply wants the Unrestrained Sect to be destroyed alongside Liran. Meanwhile, someone else is probably interested in me specifically, and they might be more than one party.’

’However, they can’t act openly. There are surely ways to inform the entire Sect Alliance of an attack, and if the Sect Alliance gets informed, these parties would be openly pulled to justice, which probably means paying a lot of money.’

’Liran might be mentally weak, but he isn’t stupid. He will probably also see this attack coming and will inform me when he inevitably gets summoned away. The attack must be prepared first, which will take some time. The enemies won’t create an army out of their own forces but will probably employ this Underworld organization to stage a bandit attack. That probably will also cost a lot of money and time.’

’I should have some years remaining to comprehend my Focus before I need to resist this attack. The enemy knows my power now, which means that they will send a Peak Immortal, at least. Maybe even an Immortal King will attack me.’

’First, let’s see if I will manage to condense a Focus and how powerful it is. Depending on its power, I will decide what Cultivation level I will be at when they attack,’ Gravis thought as he looked at the mountain of Immortal Stones in his Spirit Space.

’If my Focus is very powerful, I can risk a jump of five levels against an Immortal King, which would put me at the Mid Major Circulation Immortal Realm. If it is underwhelming, I will push myself to the Late Major Circulation Immortal Realm.’

Gravis teleported away and stopped beside a lake.

’Let me first push myself to the Mid Major Circulation Immortal Realm. After that, let’s try understanding my own Focus.’

Then, Gravis consumed a ton of Immortal Stones as he created a copy inside his Life Ring.

Chapter 790 - 790 – Attuned To Lightning

Gravis created a copy inside his Life Ring and quickly shoved Immortal Stones into it until it reached the Mid Major Circulation Immortal Realm. With this, his Will-Aura was no longer at the peak, and he could go temper himself again. However, now wasn’t the time.

His Will-Aura was one thing, but his Laws were a different thing. His Will-Aura wasn’t the only thing that allowed him to jump so many levels. Ever since coming to this world, Gravis had only learned the Major Law of Danger and the Law of Safety.

However, he was now four cultivation levels higher than before. His comprehension of Laws was weaker now than in comparison to when he had been an Early Minor Circulation Immortal.

Gravis sat down and closed his eyes while his other body inside the Life Ring took out his World Weapon. These World Weapons were supposed to help someone in comprehending a Focus.

The Gravis in the Life Ring also sat down cross-legged as he put his World Weapon on his legs. Then, Gravis started thinking.

’I need to find a way to pull my ethereal Laws to a material plane. Doing it the other way around would weaken my attacking power severely since the attack would no longer get the power of my body.’

’How do I do it?’ Gravis thought as his mind was racing.

Gravis thought for over two days on this issue and found some solutions, but he wasn’t sure if they would work and how effective they were.

’Let’s try one,’ Gravis thought.

In his mind, Gravis started imagining all his Laws of Perceived Reality to combine with the Law of Punishment Lightning. Gravis was lightning, which meant that bringing lightning and the Laws of Perceived Reality onto the same plane would be the most effective way.

Gravis used his entire will and mind to fuse the two planes together. In the beginning, nothing happened, but after some hours, Gravis felt a reaction.

’I can feel my ethereal Laws coming into contact with lightning,’ Gravis thought. ’This means that this isn’t a dead-end, at least. My lightning is rejecting the Laws, but that means that they are on the same plane, at least. If they weren’t, they simply wouldn’t interact.’

Several weeks passed as Gravis tried different things.

However, after one month, progress completely halted.

’I can feel that my ethereal Laws have condensed into a physical form. However, as soon as they touch my lightning, they get rejected. As soon as I try to add them to my lightning, my lightning just pushes them away again and even attacks them. Whenever I try this, I lose some Energy and Spirit. It’s like they are fighting against each other whenever they see each other.’

’Fusing them is also a no-go since my lightning pushes them away again. My Laws of Perceived Reality don’t attack my lightning and try to fuse with it, but my lightning doesn’t want to. It’s like my Laws carefully approach my lightning, asking it for help, but then just get kicked away with aggression.’

’It’s like they are water and oil. They just don’t have a common basis for combining.’

’However, they should have a common basis. After all, both Laws belong to me, and both Laws can interact with the physical world now. I should be the common basis between them. My lightning interacts with me without any issue, and my Laws interact with me without any issue.’

’But as soon as I try to combine them inside of me, my lightning just kicks them away. It’s like it’s saying that the Laws should get away from it and me.’

Gravis opened his eyes and looked at his World Weapon.

’My World Weapon also doesn’t help. Using my World Weapon as another me doesn’t work either. I thought that it would be possible to infuse my ethereal Laws into my World Weapon and then use my lightning-infused self to interact.’

’Putting my ethereal Laws into my World Weapon works, but as soon as my true self and my World Weapon touch each other, it’s like they are no longer the same. It’s like two strangers meeting.’

’I mean, it’s not like I gained nothing,’ Gravis thought with a bitter smile. ’The first step is already complete. After all, my ethereal Laws can now be manifested in physical reality.’

Gravis stood up and concentrated on his saber.

WHOOOOM!

His saber became dark grey and warped the surroundings. This image was very similar to when Liran had created an arrow made out of the Law of Suppression.

In just a couple of weeks, Gravis had been able to do what Liran had been able to do. He was able to infuse his weapon with his Laws of Perceived Reality.

Would such an attack be powerful?

Very!

Could it be used in battle?

No.

Why not?

’As soon as I pull my Laws of Perceived Reality to physical reality, they are no longer in perceived reality. They can only be at one spot at a time. They can only be in perceived reality or in physical reality.’

’A physical attack with my Laws of Perceived Reality would be even more powerful than a Lightning Crescent, but as soon as I ready the attack, my Will-Aura loses all support from these Laws. My Law of Suppression no longer increases the power of my Will-Aura, and my Law of Control can’t manipulate my opponent anymore.’

’As soon as I condense my attack, my enemy’s Will-Aura will suppress me. Sure, with my Major Law of Freedom, I won’t actually be suppressed, but that’s not the issue. The enemy’s mind will return to normal, and they will be able to take full control over the situation. Their minds would no longer be clouded by my Laws of Perceived Reality. In such a case, evading my attack wouldn’t be hard.’

’So, in short, hitting my enemy with this attack is even harder than hitting my enemy with Mortality.’

’However, Mortality is still slightly stronger in destructive effect.’

’In short, as long as I can unleash Mortality, I would have no reason to unleash this new attack since it is just objectively worse.’

’That’s why I need to fuse it with my lightning. As soon as my ethereal Laws are inside my lightning, I can increase their speed manifold with my different speed-related Lightning Laws. A short moment without suppression wouldn’t be an issue as long as the attack was fast enough.’

’But no matter what I do, my lightning just won’t interact with my Laws of Perceived Reality. It just doesn’t want to.’

This was how Gravis’ mind went about solving issues. He was looking at everything and trying to find connections between them.

Two entire years passed.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A huge explosion of lightning and grey, warping space appeared inside the Life Ring.

Gravis had managed to combine his lightning with his Laws of Perceived Reality.

However, Gravis clenched his fists and teeth in frustration.

’So that’s it, huh?’ he thought in frustration.

How had Gravis accomplished this?

Gravis had always done one conversion, which was to convert his Laws of Perceived Reality to physical reality. However, they just wouldn’t mix with his lightning.

So, one day, Gravis thought about how others were able to accomplish this, and he quickly found his answer.

Energy.

Energy was the basis of all Cultivation, and Energy could interact with absolutely everything. This meant that Energy could be used as a common denominator for both Laws.

By being converted to the physical reality, the Laws of Perceived Reality could already be made into Energy.

Then, Gravis transformed his lightning into Energy.

After that, he added both of them together and recreated a fusion of lightning and his Laws of Perceived Reality.

Gravis was now certain how other Cultivators did the conversion. They simply summoned their ethereal Laws and combined their Spirits with them. After that, they would create their attack.

However, Gravis couldn’t do that.

Why?

Because his Spirit was not attuned to Energy.

His Spirit was attuned to lightning.

Others could simply absorb their Laws into themselves, but since Gravis was lightning and not Energy, he automatically rejected his own Laws.

Because of that, Gravis had to do three conversions instead of only one.

Every time one converted something into something else, power would be lost. One conversion wouldn’t be bad since the added power of the Laws, and the added power of the body would be far more than the loss of Energy, resulting in an extremely powerful attack.

However, Gravis had to do three conversions instead of one.

And even worse, Gravis had to manipulate Energy.

In Gravis’ entire cultivation life after reaching the Spirit Forming Realm, he had only needed to manipulate lightning. Gravis had an absolutely unequaled control over lightning, even in the highest world.

Why? Because everyone else was attuned to Energy, not lightning.

However, Gravis had basically no experience when it came to manipulating Energy. Yet, the fact that he had no experience wasn’t the entire reason. The bigger reason why Gravis was so horrible at manipulating Energy was the same one while others were horrible at manipulating lightning.

Why? Because Gravis was attuned to lightning, not Energy.

Gravis began to laugh bitterly.

"I’ve finished my Focus," he said to himself. "I can pull my ethereal Laws to the physical plane."

"Hey, I’m more powerful now, right?"

Gravis sat down and put his head in his hands in frustration.

’What bullshit. Even if I train for tens of thousands of years to manipulate Energy, I won’t even reach the standard of a Unity Realm Cultivator due to my adaptation to lightning.’

’Lightning just can’t interact with the ethereal Laws. It’s just straight-up impossible. It needs Energy to bind it together. Both things are Laws, and the highest Heaven had simply created them like this. They were simply not made to be fused together.’

’Fuse them together regardless? As if. This would require me to change the actual Laws in reality. I’m not even sure if father can do that. Probably not. After all, this is the highest Heaven’s Cosmos.’

’So, to combine my lightning directly with my ethereal Laws, I need power on par with father.’

Gravis had just tested his new attack.

How powerful had it been?

It had been weaker than his Lightning Crescent by quite a bit, and it was very clunky.

It was weaker, used more Energy, had less speed, less accuracy, and temporarily took away his Will-Aura’s support.

This attack was absolutely useless.

’Weapon Cultivation just doesn’t work for me,’ Gravis thought. ’Every Weapon Cultivator ever had a mind attuned to Energy, which makes the combination between the Laws very easy.’

’Even if I somehow found a way to fuse them together, the Laws themselves would still be incompatible. That’s simply physical reality, and as long as my Laws of Perceived Reality are converted to act upon physical reality, they won’t even change perceived reality anymore.’

’Bringing them to physical reality is the very thing that takes away their power to change physical reality.’

’Using one Law at a time also doesn’t work due to loss in power by the conversions.’

Gravis lay down and looked at the fake sky in his Life Ring.

"As long as I’m attuned to lightning, I can’t use Weapon Cultivation Techniques."

Gravis sighed.

"That sucks."