Ch. 801..810

Chapter 801 - 801 – Liran Returns

While Surem broke down over the death of everything he loved, Gravis simply looked to the sky and took in the feeling of having grown more powerful yet again.

When he arrived in this world, all these Sects had been far too powerful for him. Just the arrival of Arthur’s son, someone in the Mid Major Circulation Immortal Realm, had nearly resulted in Gravis’ death. However, such a weak Cultivator couldn’t even have held one of the weaker resource points.

And now, not even the entire Sect Alliance was a danger to Gravis anymore.

Several hours passed until...

SHING!

Someone appeared above the former Unrestrained Sect.

"Weren’t you supposed to be away for several days?" Gravis asked without turning to the person.

However, Liran didn’t answer him. Instead, he only looked with shock and horror at the ground below him.

This was his Sect?

This was the Unrestrained Sect?

But it couldn’t be! He must have teleported to an incorrect position! This couldn’t possibly be the Unrestrained Sect!

Gravis noticed Liran’s expression and snorted to himself. ’Idiot. You probably thought that just because everything else has worked out up to now that it would continue to do so. Couldn’t accept that you could lose everything you had, eh?’

Liran’s reaction didn’t surprise Gravis at all. The Sect had probably gone through several crises, and it had always managed to come out ahead.

Hey, it had all worked out up to now, right?

I’m sure it would work out this time as well, eh?

Sadly, it only needed a single bad flip of a coin to destroy everything.

Liran had been running away from his problems, and this had been the result. When the Sect needed him most, he left, leaving the problems for the Sect to deal with. This might have worked previously, but without the most powerful person of the Sect present, saving the Sect from such a force had been an impossibility.

Could Gravis have saved the Sect?

No, at least not without sacrificing his tempering.

Gravis could have absorbed his remaining wealth and could have become an Immortal King. At that point, probably not a single person of the Sect would have died since Gravis would have stopped every attack.

But why should he do that?

Gravis had repaid Surem by saving his life, and he had repaid Liran by giving them an incredibly valuable resource point. Additionally, Gravis had tried several times to teach Liran the Law of Freedom.

All his debts had been repaid.

However, that didn’t mean that new debts hadn’t been created. Sadly, these new debts weren’t debts that Gravis had to repay but debts that the Unrestrained Sect had to repay.

Gravis had trusted Liran, and Liran had forsaken him.

One could say that Liran’s actions after Gravis’ fight with Samantha were one of the biggest reasons why everything had turned out as it did. If Liran had involved himself back then, Gravis would have, at least, shared his thoughts with Liran. Then, Liran could have decided not to go to the Sect Alliance meeting or pay an external party to protect the Sect. Just a temporary relocation or fortification would have also done wonders.

Sadly, Liran’s pathetic conduct made all of this impossible.

Half a minute of silence passed as Liran only looked at the destroyed ground. It was like he couldn’t comprehend that this had been the Unrestrained Sect.

"How many survived?" Liran asked with a quiet voice.

"All survivors stand in front of you," Gravis answered.

Surem’s expression had changed from heartache to seething rage. His father’s arrival had transformed all of Surem’s pain into hatred.

Surem didn’t have the power to protect the Sect, but his father did! Surem had heard from Gravis that the attackers had been six Early Minor Circulation Immortal Kings. Fighting all six of them alone might not have been possible for Liran, but he wouldn’t have been alone!

The Vice Sect Masters could have dealt with two of them, leaving the other four to Liran. This would have been an even fight! Even if Liran didn’t win, he could have easily bought enough time for the Unrestrained Sect to retreat. The majority of the disciples would have survived! Additionally, Liran could have fled after buying some time!

And all of this was not even including Gravis! Gravis could have taken another Immortal King, leaving Liran with only three to fight. Liran would have definitely emerged victoriously! Their Sect might not have taken even a single casualty like this!

Surem had had enough time to formulate all these thoughts in the last couple of hours. He had replayed every eventuality in his mind and had tried to find a way to save the Sect. What could he have done better?

Sadly, the only conclusion Surem came to was that he couldn’t have changed anything. He had already tried to convince everyone, but they hadn’t listened to him. There was nothing he could have done!

However, his father could have done so many things to prevent this tragedy!

This was why Surem absolutely hated his father right now. Liran’s weakness as the Sect Master had resulted in the death of every friend and loved one Surem had had.

Nothing remained!

When Liran heard that Surem and Gravis were the only survivors, he received another shock.

Everyone was dead?

How could everyone die?

Why couldn’t his Sect have been stronger!?

Had his Sect truly been this weak that some random bandit group could annihilate them?

He had worked himself to the bone for this Sect!

He had given them everything he had!

He gave them resources and taught them so many lessons!

And now, all of them died!?

Liran released a shaky breath. So many years, for nothing.

Slowly, Liran turned to Surem and flew closer.

Surem was just barely able to keep his rage in check. He wanted to lash out so bad. He wanted to shout at his father that all of this had been his fault.

However, losing control over his emotions now wouldn’t be the best course of action. They had to plan a new course, and being emotional now wouldn’t help. As soon as everything was resolved, Surem could unload everything he held inside.

"Surem," Liran said with a shaky voice.

His father’s emotional voice showed Surem that his father wasn’t beyond saving. His father was regretting his actions.

"I’m so sorry," Liran said as he looked down at the lowered head of his son.

"I should have chosen stronger Vice Sect Masters."

Chapter 802 - 802 – Revenge

BANG!

The edge of a longsword broke off its hilt and dropped to the ground.

Gravis shook his head.

Liran looked with incomparable shock at his son.

Surem currently had half a sword in his hand, its broken edge pointing at Liran.

The saber’s blade had broken off when Surem slashed at his father’s shoulder with all his power. Surem’s eyes were bloodshot, and Gravis was unsure if he had ever seen anyone that had gotten this angry.

The air around Surem turned red as his aura seethed and vibrated.

Surem was so angry that he had comprehended the Law of Rage just now.

Liran’s words had made Surem explode. Even in this situation, his father had put all the blame on his Vice Sect Masters!? What could they have done!? The enemy had been comprised of six fucking Immortal Kings! What could they have possibly done!?

"Today," Surem growled through gritted teeth, "I swear upon the Heavens. I will never forgive you! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!"

Surem stabbed forward again, but his sword broke again. There was an entire Realm between the two of them. No matter what Surem did, he couldn’t injure his father.

"You are no longer my father! Your weakness has robbed me of everything I love!" Surem shouted, his voice filled with absolute hatred and wrath.

"When I become strong enough, you will pay!" Surem shouted as he threw the broken sword to the side.

SHING!

Then, he teleported away.

"If you leave now, you will die," Gravis transmitted to Surem calmly. Gravis’ Spirit Sense had a far greater range than Surem’s, which meant that Surem couldn’t leave with just a single teleport.

"Shut up!" Surem shot back. "You have been here, and you have killed the attackers. However, I know that you could also have prevented this! I’m certain that you could have saved many disciples if you so wanted to! You are also not without fault! You were part of the Unrestrained Sect!"

Surem wasn’t nearly as angry with Gravis as with his father, but he still blamed Gravis a little bit. Something inside of him told him that Gravis could have done more. However, Gravis hadn’t given his best to protect the Sect. Instead, he had used this opportunity to temper himself!

It didn’t matter if Gravis was in the right or not. In Surem’s mind, Gravis was part of the Unrestrained Sect, and any disciple had to give their all to protect their Sect. Gravis had definitely not given his all, which meant that he was also at fault.

Gravis sighed. Gravis knew that Surem only said these words out of anger. As soon as he calmed down, he would no longer fault Gravis. After all, Gravis had killed all the attackers. This was already more than anyone else had done for the Sect.

’Sadly, Surem will never have the chance to calm down,’ Gravis thought.

Why?

Because Surem would probably be dead before the hour was over.

The mission of Underworld had not been a complete success, but Underworld basically destroyed the entire Sect. This meant that the requester of the mission would become active very soon.

This requester most likely was Arthur, and Arthur knew when the attack had happened.

This meant that Arthur was already preparing himself for the last strike.

Arthur was most likely waiting in the vicinity.

Gravis knew that Surem made a decision that would result in his death out of rage. If Gravis wanted, he could hold Surem back and stop him from leaving.

However, this was not something that Gravis liked to do.

Allowing others to be free also meant allowing them to commit mistakes. Gravis had told Surem that he would die, but Surem brushed it off and left anyway.

If that was his choice, so be it.

Maybe Surem already knew that he was going to die.

Maybe, in Surem’s infinite anger, he felt that it was worthwhile to exchange his life so that his father might receive the worst pain, the pain of seeing one’s child die.

When one became unreasonably angry, one often saw such irrational decisions to be the best course of action. The payoff of getting revenge might even outweigh one’s own life.

Surem was effectively committing suicide and writing a note that said that all of this was Liran’s fault.

Meanwhile, Liran still hadn’t moved. Liran just couldn’t comprehend what had happened. Had his son just attacked him? Why? What was going on? Why was Surem so angry with Liran?

Liran had done his best for the Sect! He had done everything in his power to protect it!

Did Surem think that Liran could have just said no to the summons?

No, he couldn’t have!

It wasn’t that simple!

If Liran didn’t go, the Sect would have had to placate the Sect Alliance with a ton of resources! If they didn’t, the Sect would have been voted out of the Sect Alliance! What then? Then, the Sect would have lost everything!

They couldn’t just leave this place!

Sending a Vice Sect Master instead of the Sect Master would have also been seen as rude. This would have made working together with the other Sects far harder in the future!

It was necessary to show their respect for long-term benefit!

Liran couldn’t have done anything!

...that was how Liran’s mind worked.

Over two minutes passed in which Liran still couldn’t wrap his head around anything that had happened.

So many things had happened today.

Where could he even begin?

What to do now?

Liran tried to think of a plan but just couldn’t formulate one.

However, he knew that there was one thing that he had to do.

"Where are the enemies?" Liran asked without looking at Gravis.

Gravis sneered in disgust.

Even in this situation, Liran was ignoring reality.

The enemy? That was what he was thinking about?

Liran probably thought that Surem was only emotional and would calm down. Surem was probably just distraught because of his Sect’s demise. As soon as he calmed down, he would surely see that Liran couldn’t have done anything, right?

Liran only had to wait.

Surem would calm down, come back, and apologize.

Liran had been hurt by Surem’s actions, but he was a good father. He could understand his son’s frustrations and would forgive him for his transgressions. After all, he was only a kid and couldn’t know any better.

So, with the issue regarding his son taken care of, Liran thought about the next problem, which was the enemy.

"They’re all dead," Gravis said.

And like that, Liran became shocked again.

"Dead? What? How?" he asked.

"I killed them," Gravis said.

"You... You killed them?" Liran asked in shock.

Gravis nodded.

Several seconds of silence passed.

"Then how did my entire Sect get destroyed!?" Liran shouted in absolute rage.

"You killed the attackers!? Then why didn’t you do so earlier!? Why is my Sect destroyed!? Couldn’t you have killed the enemy earlier!?" Liran shouted one word after the other in anger and hatred.

It was all Gravis’ fault!

Gravis snorted. "I can take only one enemy at a time. So, obviously, while I take care of one of them, the others will continue to attack."

"You.... YOU!" Liran shouted. None of Gravis’ words had any effect on him.

Liran had found a scapegoat, and his entire being embraced it.

Liran was not at fault!

Liran had not committed any mistakes!

It was all Gravis’ fault!

"Am I interrupting?" a dark voice came from the side, filled with mirth.

Gravis sighed with closed eyes as Liran turned to the new arrival with hatred.

"Arthur! What do you want!?" Liran shouted.

Arthur chuckled a bit. "What an unfriendly welcome," he said. "I just killed one of the people that attacked your Sect, and that’s how you repay me?"

Liran became shocked again, but his rage returned. "What are you talking about!? All the attackers are dead!"

"All attackers are dead!?" Arthur asked in genuine shock.

Arthur had thought that Underworld had succeeded and retreated. After all, the entire Sect was nothing but craters now. However, all of them died? Was that why they hadn’t contacted him?

’Does that mean I don’t have to pay them?’ Arthur thought with excitement, feeling even better now than before.

His revenge was so close to being complete!

The entire Unrestrained Sect was dead!

Liran would soon also die since they would simply vote him out of the Sect Alliance.

This was great!

Arthur’s face transformed from genuine shock into mock confusion. "Oh, okay," he said with a mocking tone masked as confusion. "But then, who was it that I just killed?"

"Could you help me identify the corpse?" Arthur asked with concern, although he couldn’t hold back his filthy smirk near the end.

"Here, look!" Arthur said as he took out a head, holding it unceremoniously in front of him by its hair.

Liran’s world broke down.

Gravis sighed.

"Tell me, who is that?" Arthur asked, shaking the head a little from side to side.

It was Surem’s head.

Chapter 803 - 803 – Retribution

Liran’s world broke down.

His Sect was destroyed, and now his son was dead too?

Why?

Why had all of this happened?

Why was the world against him?

What had he done to deserve this?

"Ahahaha!"

Arthur laughed loudly as he saw Liran’s shocked expression.

Pack!

Arthur threw the head over, and Liran caught it out of reflex. In shock, Liran looked down at the head, and the last expression of Surem was still very visible on his face.

Rage, hatred, anger, tragedy, sadness.

There were still wet spots on Surem’s face from the tears he had cried. His expression showed pure pain, denial, and anger. It was the expression of someone so angry with the world that they had given up, trying to find solace in death.

Gravis took a deep breath as he saw the head. He wanted to say that this had nothing to do with him, but his emotions disagreed.

Gravis wanted to say that he didn’t care, but deep down, he did care. In his mind, Surem’s death was a tragedy. Surem was far better than his father, and he had had a great mindset.

However, sometimes, when one lost control over their emotions, all the good things of a person couldn’t make up for the emotional mistakes one committed.

Gravis didn’t really see Surem as a friend, but he also wasn’t a stranger.

Gravis had wanted to stop him, but he also didn’t want to force his protection on him.

If they had been closer, Gravis might have forced Surem to stay, but they hadn’t been that close.

So, in the end, Gravis had let Surem die since that was his decision, no matter if it was right or wrong. Surem wasn’t a little kid. He had been an Immortal that had lived for over a thousand years. If someone like that decided to do these things, then it was their decision.

Liran hugged Surem’s head and also started crying.

"Anyway," Arthur said from a distance. "I have already informed the Sect Alliance. They should be here shortly."

"We are already here," came a voice as over a hundred people appeared in the sky.

Liran didn’t pay any attention to the other Sect Masters. All his attention was on the head of his son.

Gravis was a bit surprised that every single Sect Master had appeared. Wasn’t there supposed to be some council? Why was every Sect Master here?

However, Gravis quickly found an explanation. ’The meeting,’ he thought. ’Liran was supposed to be away for several days but came back after only a couple of hours. The meeting probably hasn’t ended yet, which meant that every Sect Master was gathered regardless. How very convenient.’

The Sect Masters looked around in shock.

This was the Unrestrained Sect?

They had heard that the Unrestrained Sect had been destroyed, but they hadn’t expected that it had been this thoroughly destroyed. They had expected ruins and corpses, but nothing but dust remained. Not even a single sign of a Sect could be seen. There were no ruins, no corpses, no flames, no destroyed weapons.

There was only dust.

"Who would do something this vile?" a woman among the Sect Masters said. "Which monster could have so much hatred for an entire Sect that they would leave absolutely nothing remaining?"

Surprisingly, Gravis thought that her words and feelings were genuine. After all, not every Sect Master had been involved in this plot. Probably not even half have been involved. Gravis guessed that, at most, 20 would have been involved, and even that would be a stretch.

A significant portion of the Sect Alliance was probably made of people who genuinely wanted to create a home for themselves. However, the small portion of filth had tainted the entire pool.

As long as the minority of selfish Cultivators remained unpunished, the entire Sect Alliance would be useless.

This was the same concept as with the beasts. The more good and trusting people one had in the group, the more power the minority of selfish manipulators had.

"Welcome, brothers and sisters of the Sect Alliance," Arthur said. "As you see, the Unrestrained Sect has been utterly annihilated, and only two people remain, the Sect Master and this disciple," Arthur said as he gestured towards Gravis.

"We can mourn for our lost comrades later, but now, we have to make a decision. Is such a Sect worthy of staying in the Sect Alliance?" Arthur said as he paused for dramatic effect.

"Do you have no shame?" one Sect Master shouted in anger. "One of our allies has been killed, and you only think about banishing the survivors!?"

"Brother, calm down," Arthur said, his voice seemingly filled with righteousness. "I grief for our lost comrades as much as you, but we have to look to the future. As the highest power, it is our obligation to be an example for everyone."

"If we let a lone Immortal King without a Sect remain in our ranks, we will have to grant the same status to any other visitor. What of Cultivators in the Core Regions? One Immortal King could come on their own and claim that they are a Sect. Can we let something like this happen?"

No one said a thing.

"No, we can’t. As soon as they point out that we allow a lone Immortal King to represent a Sect, we will be in the wrong for refusing them. We would be playing favorites, and as soon as we play favorites, our Sect Alliance will become tainted."

"We can grief for our lost comrades later, but now, we have to protect the Sect Alliance and everyone in it. Therefore, I will initiate a vote now. I hereby call a vote for removing the Unrestrained Sect of the Sect Alliance."

"Are you mad!?" another Sect Master shouted. "Your feud with Liran has been public knowledge for a while now, and now you-"

"Stop!" Another Sect Master shouted, interrupting the earlier one. "As much as it pains me to admit it, Arthur is right. For now, we need to protect the Sect Alliance from this threat! We can talk about everything else later."

"I agree," a third one said. "We can talk about this tragedy later. For now, we need to safeguard our home."

The first one gnashed his teeth in anger. What was up with them!? Did no one see what was happening right now!? This was all too convenient!

He looked around and met the gazes of others.

Some of them looked to the side, not meeting his gaze.

Some looked at him with complex expressions.

Some looked with discomfort and guilt at Liran.

Some looked with compassion and encouragement to him.

The last ones were the sleaziest. They were showing their compassion to show that they understood him to get him to agree to the vote.

The ones with the complex expression were the ones that knew what was going on. However, they were too afraid of standing out. If they went against the hidden manipulators, their Sect might become the next Unrestrained Sect.

The remaining ones knew that something was going on, but they wouldn’t involve themselves. They would simply go with the majority.

DING! DING! DING!

A light circle appeared in the air, and colors appeared that represented the votes.

94 to 26.

The majority was for the dismissal of the Unrestrained Sect.

"Then, it has been decided," Arthur said with a smirk.

"Now, if you don’t mind, I have some personal business to attend to," Arthur said as he took out his saber and pointed it at Liran.

Nearly all Sect Masters looked at Arthur with disgust. They knew that he had been involved, but they didn’t have proof.

Additionally, Arthur was one of the most powerful Sect Masters in the Sect Alliance. Nearly everyone hated and despised him, but they feared Arthur’s reprisal if they ever decided to go against him.

However, did Arthur have to do it this directly and publicly? Couldn’t he have just waited!?

"Let me join you," another Sect Master said with a severe voice as he appeared beside Arthur.

"Liran, I have condemned the undisciplined and reckless attitude of your Sect for a long time. The Unrestrained Sect has besmirched the entire Sect Alliance for long enough, but you still need to pay for your crimes."

"So, don’t blame me, but your own inadequacy," he said as he took out a shield and club.

"Same thing with me," a third one said as he took out two daggers. "For everything you have done to my Sect, you will pay today, Liran!"

Now, three Sect Masters stood opposite Liran.

However, Liran didn’t react.

He was only hugging the head of his son in grief.

Chapter 804 - 804 – Secret Revealed

Gravis looked at all of this with an even expression. ’The Sect Alliance is truly beyond saving. The minority of disgusting, selfish people have the entire Sect Alliance in control. Even if I wanted to waste my time by slowly investigating the entire Sect Alliance, I still wouldn’t be able to root out all of them.’

’The fact that Arthur was able to influence the entire Sect Alliance with such a flimsy reason showed as much. What protecting the Sect Alliance? What playing favorites? All of this is nonsense that has no bearing on the greater picture. This entire reasoning only relies on status and on feeling superior to others.’

Liran slowly lifted his head and looked at the three Sect Masters in front of him.

He didn’t care anymore.

He had lost everything.

So what if he died today?

Liran didn’t resist.

"One life is not enough to pay for your crimes," one of the three said. "You will pay for your crimes in your next life too. However, I’m not a monster. I still wish you peace on your journey."

Then, that Sect Master flew closer and unleashed a wave of darkness with his two daggers.

The wave closed in on Liran, and Liran only looked at it.

CLANK!

"How dare you resist your just punishment!?" the other Sect Master shouted.

Liran had taken out his bow and had blocked the attack.

Liran’s expression had changed.

He no longer had a weak and self-loathing expression on his face.

What expression did he wear now?

Rage? Hatred?

No.

It was fear.

Liran was deathly afraid.

"I... I can’t die!" he said more to himself than to others.

Liran had wanted to give up his life, but as soon as the enemy had attacked, his survival instincts kicked in.

He didn’t want to die!

He wanted to live!

He was afraid of dying!

Arthur only sneered and also shot forward with his saber. "There’s no saving a sinner like him. Just get it over with."

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Several attacks clashed, and Liran was barely able to hold on. However, this wouldn’t continue for long.

"Gravis, help me!" Liran transmitted to Gravis.

"You didn’t help me, so why should I help you?" Gravis transmitted back.

"What are you talking about!? I took you in when everyone tried to kill you!" Liran answered. "It is your duty to protect your Sect!"

"I did protect my Sect," Gravis answered. "However, you didn’t."

"As your Sect Master, I order you to help me!" he transmitted back in rage.

Gravis didn’t answer.

Liran defended against some more attacks.

"Fine!" he transmitted with hatred. "Then, if I’m going down, you are going down with me!"

"Gravis is a Variant Black Demon in disguise!" Liran suddenly shouted to everyone.

The attacks stopped for a second.

"Variant Black Demon?" One of the watching Sect Masters asked in shock as he looked at Gravis.

"Yes!" Liran shouted. "When I just met him, his Will-Aura hadn’t been this strong! Thus, I was able to see through his disguise!"

The Sect Masters talked to each other with voice transmissions. Was this true?

Did a beast infiltrate their ranks?

What did this mean?

Gravis’ expression didn’t change. He had expected that something like this would happen.

"It’s true," Arthur said with a smirk. "I’ve also seen it back then."

Gravis snorted. ’Bullshit! You didn’t even look at me,’ he thought. However, Gravis knew that words wouldn’t help him.

Even if Gravis perfectly managed to explain everything, it didn’t matter. The truth only mattered if someone was willing to find it. If someone wasn’t interested in the truth, they wouldn’t care about it.

Even if Gravis didn’t have a beast body, he would still be condemned as a beast and killed. It literally made no difference.

"Let’s first finish this," Arthur said.

The other two nodded.

Like this, the fight resumed, and 30 seconds later...

Liran was dead...

His last words had been the name of his son.

It was over.

The entire Unrestrained Sect had been killed.

Arthur had completed his revenge.

Liran had killed his son, so Arthur had taken everything from Liran.

’Who would have expected that it would end like this?’ Gravis thought.

’When I joined the Unrestrained Sect, I had believed that we would fight against the Lightning Cleaver Sect in a soft war. I thought we would slowly suppress them and kill Arthur. I also thought that I would be able to teach freedom to the Unrestrained Sect.’

’Originally, when I joined the Unrestrained Sect, I was thinking about making them become more powerful, maybe help Liran along the way. As the most powerful member of the Sect Alliance, I would have had protection and an endless amount of resources and Law Comprehension Areas.’

’Then, I could have spent thousands of years on my Laws while the Unrestrained Sect would slowly become bigger and bigger. After that, we could have gone to the Core Regions. Get new people, new disciples, more resources, and so on.’

’I would have had a temporary home, friends that have a similar mindset to mine, an organization with enemies that would serve as tempering, and a place to go back to if I ever felt alone.’

Gravis looked at some hair that fluttered to the ground.

This was the last thing that remained of Liran.

Everything else had been consumed by Arthur’s lightning.

Gravis sighed once again. ’So often do we have plans for the future just to be thrown for a loop by reality. Instead of making my temporary home more powerful, I doomed it.’

’Do I regret my actions?’

’No.’

’Even if I hadn’t been there, Liran would have run the Sect into the ground. The Sect was already doomed to die. The only difference is the number of casualties and time.’

"Now then," Arthur said with a satisfied smirk as he turned to Gravis. "Would you mind explaining yourself, beast?"

"Why?" Gravis asked flatly.

Some Sect Masters were surprised by Gravis’ conduct. He was, by far, the weakest person here, but he didn’t show any nervousness or fear. Anyone in his situation would have talked on and on about being wrongfully accused.

Did that mean that this was no ploy from Arthur?

Was Gravis actually a beast?

SHING!

Suddenly, some kind of jewel appeared beside Gravis, but he didn’t mind.

WHOOOM!

The jewel started shining red, and a collective gasp of shock went throughout the gathered Sect Masters.

"Beast!"

"He’s a beast!"

"A beast!?"

One Sect Master after the other cried out in shock. They had believed that this was another one of Arthur’s ploys, but it had actually proven to be true.

The jewel they had just summoned was a Formation Array that reacted to beast-specific Laws in the blood. Beasts kept their Energy and elements inside their bodies, not their Spirits. This was one of the main reasons why beasts had such powerful bodies.

Therefore, when the jewel shone, there was no doubt anymore.

Gravis was a beast!

Arthur was also surprised.

Wait, Gravis actually was a beast?

Liran hadn’t lied?

Some seconds in silence passed as the Sect Masters tried to wrap their heads around this new revelation.

"So, what now?" Gravis asked.

The Sect Masters’ expression recovered, and a stern look appeared on their faces. Gravis could see genuine hatred in their eyes.

’They really don’t like beasts, huh?’ Gravis thought.

"Vote!" one of them shouted as he summoned a light circle.

DINGDINGDINGDING!

120 green, 0 red.

’Not a single one voted no,’ Gravis thought as he looked at the gathered Sect Masters.

"Kill it!"

"Kill the beast!"

"Kill the traitor!"

"Kill the spy!"

Arthur smirked and pointed his saber at Gravis.

"Gladly!"

Chapter 805 - 805 – And That's That

"So, that’s your decision," Gravis said evenly.

A select few Sect Masters somehow felt slightly nervous when they heard Gravis, but that number was only in the single digits. The vast majority either showed anger or disregard.

Gravis was a beast!

The words of a beast could not be trusted, ever!

They were monsters!

No one answered Gravis, and Arthur only smirked. With Gravis’ death, the entire Unrestrained Sect would be wiped out. Also, without Gravis, Arthur’s son would still be alive.

"Hehe," Arthur chuckled silently to himself.

Then, Arthur charged forward with his full speed, directly at Gravis.

Arthur loaded his saber with the Punishment Cleaver and struck down.

Gravis only looked him in the eyes without amusement.

"Die!"

WHOOOOM!

An incredibly powerful pressure pressed down onto every living being in a hundred-kilometer radius. However, the only living beings were the Sect Master since the previous battle had extinguished every other life.

Clank!

Silence.

Shocked silence.

Gravis’ aura had suddenly exploded as he combined his other bodies in an instant, reaching the level of a Peak Immortal.

As for that relatively silent sound that pierced the silence?

That was Gravis catching Arthur’s saber with his hand.

Gravis had absorbed all the lightning on Arthur’s saber, making this attack nothing more than a physical one. On top of that, Arthur hadn’t attacked with his entire physical strength. Even more, Arthur only had an average body, while Gravis had a beast body.

Three levels were between them, but Gravis’ body was still more powerful.

However, Gravis decided to stop hiding. They knew his secret anyway, so who cares?

Because of that, Gravis had caught the saber with his beast hand, its black scales seemingly absorbing all light.

No one could react as Gravis caught the attack of one of the most powerful Sect Masters without any issues.

Where was the lightning?

Where was the explosion?

Arthur looked with shock into Gravis’ bored eyes, and for the first time, he felt fear.

His Law of Danger was shouting at him that he would die!

"It’s my turn," Gravis said as he retrieved his saber, which crackled with violent lightning.

Arthur’s eyes widened as he pulled his saber back, but he couldn’t retrieve it! Gravis’ hold was too powerful!

Gravis slowly lifted his saber, and Arthur began to panic.

The strength of a Weapon Cultivator was their weapon.

However, the weakness of a Weapon Cultivator was also their weapon.

If a Weapon Cultivator lost contact with their weapon, they would lose contact with their Avatar, which resided in their weapon. At that point, they would lose their Weapon Law and would forget all associated Laws of their Avatar.

Because of that, Arthur couldn’t retreat!

If he let go of his saber, he would die!

But if he kept hold of his saber, he would also die!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Several lightning bolts came out of Arthur as he attacked Gravis with them. Of course, nothing came of it.

So, Gravis lowered his saber.

BOOOOOOM!

And Arthur exploded as the Lightning Crescent hit him, leaving behind a ball of Punishment Lightning and a lot of wealth from his Spirit Space.

The explosion vanished, and Gravis slowly flew out of it.

The Sect Masters couldn’t believe what was happening.

Gravis was a Peak Immortal?

Gravis was this powerful!?

"Attack!" one Sect Master shouted with power. "He can’t withstand all of our attacks at once!"

Gravis only sneered. Sure, he couldn’t withstand all their attacks...

But he didn’t need to.

What were the differences between fighting in a human body and a beast body?

A human body allowed someone to be fast, nimble, and flexible. It was perfect for one on one battles.

What about beast bodies?

Well...

CRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Gravis unveiled his beast body in all its glory, and for once, he didn’t restrict its size.

How big was Gravis’ body?

A beast’s body became bigger and bigger if one didn’t staunch its growth. However, as soon as one reached the Law Comprehension Realm, one could fight in any size they saw fit.

So, why restrict the growth of the body?

In an instant, the Sect Masters saw nothing but a wall of black.

The entire horizon was blocked by a singular wall of black, made out of many individual scales.

What was this wall?

That was the long claw on Gravis’ big toe.

Right now, Gravis was even taller than Meadow had been back then.

The Sect Masters knew that beasts could get big and that Gravis was a beast, but it still filled them with dread when the normal-sized man suddenly transformed into a towering giant.

BZZZZ!

The ball of lightning, which had previously been Arthur, vanished.

CRRRRRRRR!

And reappeared on Gravis’ hand as it crackled violently.

Gravis also added his own lightning, creating a make-shift Lightning Crescent that resided on his open palm. Gravis didn’t need a weapon to create a Lightning Crescent, but a weapon would give the attack more power.

However, Gravis didn’t need more power right now.

This was more than enough.

Gravis looked down at the Sect Masters as his Will-Aura suppressed them and locked down space.

Teleportation was impossible.

Then, Gravis stretched out his right hand, which couldn’t even be seen anymore with the naked eye due to the distance.

And then...

He swashed the Sect Masters away like they were flies.

Most of the Sect Masters couldn’t react to the sheer speed of Gravis’ attack. They had been suppressed by his Will-Aura, and Gravis’ body was faster than them anyway. On top of that, lightning was also rather fast.

Only around twenty Sect Masters managed to react as they barely retrieved their weapons to attack.

However, Weapon Techniques required a little bit to be set up. One couldn’t just ready them when one hadn’t been prepared to unleash them.

Therefore, the attacks were subpar at best.

BANG!

Gravis’ open palm hit the first Sect Master, and the lightning consumed him.

CRRRRR!

The corpse of the Sect Master added to the lightning’s power, making it stronger instead of weaker as it continued to travel.

BANG!

A second one, and the lightning grew even stronger.

BOOM!

The first attacks of the Sect Masters finally hit but barely managed to use up some of the lightning.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Five more Sect Masters were destroyed as the lightning on Gravis’ hand became more and more powerful. The explosions also increased in size as Gravis hit more and more Sect Masters.

BANG! BAAANG!

BOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Near the end, the attacks that hit the previous Sect Masters had become so big and powerful that they took out several surrounding Sect Masters, and it only became crazier.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

One last explosion appeared as the combined power of over a hundred Mid Minor Circulation Immortal Kings exploded in one big explosion, its radius thousands of kilometers wide.

The horizons were destroyed as an unfathomably deep crater appeared below Gravis.

Slowly, the explosion vanished, leaving nothing behind but the black wall.

BANG!

Gravis’ claw touched the unfathomably deep crater, its tip barely fitting into it as his weight cracking the edges of the crater.

Silence.

Whoop!

The black wall vanished as Gravis returned to his human body.

"And that’s that," Gravis commented casually as he created new clothes.

BZZZZZZZZZZZ!

A gigantic and violent ball of lightning floated just beside Gravis, its size akin to a star.

Gravis gazed at it and scratched his chin.

"Now, what to do with you?"

Chapter 806 - 806 – Dealing With The Lightning Star

Gravis looked at the gigantic star of lightning. Using a Lightning Crescent always wasted a lot of lightning, which was why Gravis couldn’t absorb all of it back after attacking.

However, there were still around 40 Mid Minor Circulation Immortal Kings in that sphere.

That would easily be enough to become a Late Minor Circulation Immortal King for Gravis.

However, Gravis wouldn’t absorb the Energy. This would be stupid beyond belief.

Why?

First of all, his Will-Aura would only be slightly stronger than his Realm then, severely weakening his most powerful weapon.

Second of all, if someone found a Late Minor Circulation Immortal King in this area, they might see him as a threat.

But wait a minute, there weren’t any powerful people left! Who could possibly threaten him here?

Well, one shouldn’t forget that this area, which had been distributed over 120 Sects with several Immortal Kings each, had a ton of wealth. If one gathered everything, one could easily create several Major Circulation Immortal Kings. Sure, the Sects might have had the power to take this as their territory, but were they truly the masters of the territory?

Any Sect with a Major Circulation Immortal King could have come here and claimed everything for themselves, and it would be worthwhile too. There were enough resources to create several such Immortal Kings.

So, the question was, why did no super-powerful Immortal King come here and claim it?

Well, the answer was that it had already been claimed, not by the Sect Alliance, but by other powerful Sects. Gravis guessed that the Sect Alliance probably sent the majority of their resources to some more powerful Sect in the Core Region of this world.

So, what would happen if the Sect didn’t gain its tributes?

They would send a powerful Immortal King to check up on things, and that Immortal King would see that all the Sect Masters had been killed.

On top of that, they would see that some Late Minor Circulation Immortal King was in this territory, just cultivating.

Connecting the dots wouldn’t be hard.

However, a Peak Immortal?

Pfffft! As if a Peak Immortal could kill over a hundred Mid Minor Circulation Immortal Kings.

All these reasons made Gravis decide against absorbing the Energy.

However, keeping it would also be annoying. Having several bodies was okay, but having hundreds of them? That would stress Gravis’ concentration too much, making it harder to comprehend Laws in peace.

So, what to do with the lightning?

Luckily, Gravis knew exactly what to do.

’Right now, no one knows that all the Sect Masters are dead, and no one will ever know who it was. The only way to find out would be to reverse time,’ Gravis thought. Gravis had seen the reversal of time several times before.

Back when Gravis had still run the Gravitas, the inspectors always reversed time to see what had happened.

However, who were these inspectors?

They were incredibly powerful Immortal Emperors and even some scattered Star Gods.

What did they all have in common that made them inspectors?

They had all comprehended the level six Law of Time.

The level three Law of time was not enough to reverse time to this degree, especially after the area had been the victim of such wanton destruction.

Did someone in this world know the level six Law of Time?

It was possible. After all, this was the most powerful higher world.

However, who would such a person be?

That person would probably be one of the most powerful Immortal Emperors in the world, a person that didn’t look up to anyone but down at everyone.

Would such a person come to this remote location to check up on who killed some Sect Masters from some servant Sects that paid some tribute on the Immortal King level?

Of course not!

’The only dangerous moment would be if they send someone at the Peak Immortal King Realm since they might see through my disguise, but that would be such a huge overkill that not even my horrible luck could make it happen. They will probably send an Early Major Circulation Immortal King to check up on things, and that also only if the remaining Vice Sect Masters don’t know that they should pay their lords.’

’The Vice Sect Masters probably know what to do, and the payments will continue, even without their Sect Masters.’

So, in short, Gravis had nothing to fear.

Additionally, Gravis wouldn’t even really touch the resources. Gaining resources and keeping them was a huge difference.

A poor farmer in a mortal village might find a gold bar. Great, they got some resources! However, would they be able to keep it?

No.

Some other guy would probably steal it or kill the farmer for their wealth.

Would Gravis grandly claim this territory and lord over it?

Pffft! He wasn’t THAT suicidal.

No one would care if he went to some Law Comprehension Areas to understand some Laws, but if Gravis decided to claim some hard currency, the lords might not be happy.

Gravis knew how to keep a low profile, and he would make full use of it.

So, what did Gravis decide to do with the lightning star?

Simple, he would use it.

SHING!

Gravis retrieved the lightning star into his Life Ring. It was slowly getting weaker, but he still had some time to make use of it. After retrieving it, Gravis teleported a couple of times until he arrived at his destination.

Gravis looked down at a Formation Array with a smirk.

’The biggest Immortal Stone Mine of the Unrestrained Sect,’ Gravis thought, ’and sure enough, it’s protected by a Formation Array.’

This was a resource point that would be protected by an Immortal King, making it incredibly valuable. However, Immortal Kings couldn’t just remain at their Resource Points constantly. They had other jobs and tasks to fulfill.

Because of that, these Resource Points were protected by the most powerful Formation Arrays that the Sect Alliance had access to. The Formation Array would keep everyone out, and only the keeper of the fitting key would be able to enter, which would be given to the Sect Master of the Sect that controlled the resource point.

Gravis didn’t have the key, but he also didn’t need it.

FHOMP!

Gravis simply passed through the Formation Array thanks to his Avatar of Freedom.

BLING! BLING!

Gravis saw a mountain of Immortal Stones in front of him.

This was a natural Immortal Stone Vein!

How were Immortal Stones created?

Funnily enough, Immortal Stones "procreated" similar to plants. They passively absorbed Energy and grew bigger and bigger. However, it would be more precise to call the Immortal Stone Vein an it instead of a they.

After all, it was just a single Immortal Stone. The normal Immortal Stones one knew had been cut down to uniform sizes.

Harvesting an Immortal Stone Vein was also rather simple. As long as one didn’t injure the base of the Immortal Stone Vein, which was conveniently basically everything below the ground, it would recover as it absorbed more Energy. Everything above the surface could be harvested without any issues.

SHING!

Gravis cut off the entire mountain, leaving a flat ground of Immortal Stones behind.

Then, Gravis looked at his lightning star and converted it to Energy.

Sadly, the conversion from lighting to Energy ate up around half its power, reducing it to an equivalent of about 20 Mid Minor Circulation Immortal Kings.

After converting the lightning star, Gravis pushed the Energy into the ground.

CRRRRRRRRRR!

And a new mountain sprung out of the ground with incredible speed.

SHING!

Gravis cut it off again, and it grew back again.

This whole process repeated several times until all the Energy was used up.

BLING! BLING!

Below Gravis, another mountain had appeared, but he wouldn’t harvest this one. After all, if he took too much, someone might become suspicious.

However, Gravis already had more than enough.

SHING! SHING! SHING!

Gravis cut the mountains inside his Spirit Space into uniform pieces and counted them quickly. Such a task was done in but a moment thanks to Gravis’ powerful Spirit.

’60 million Immortal Stones,’ Gravis thought with a smirk. ’Enough to make me a Late Minor Circulation Immortal King, easily.’

With this move, Gravis had tripled his money, and he had already been rich, to begin with.

"Thanks," Gravis said to the Immortal Stone Vein with a smirk.

SHING!

And Gravis vanished.

After some teleportations, Gravis appeared inside a forest.

This was the place where Gravis had had his long talk with Stella. It had been outside the Unrestrained Sect, but outside was a relative term when it came to Immortals. It was outside, as in, outside the range of any Immortal King of the Unrestrained Sect, which meant it was over a million kilometers away. The destruction of the battle had not reached this place.

CRRR!

Gravis buried a small jade token into the ground with a smile.

’When Stella returns, she knows where to find me with this. Others wouldn’t care, even if they found it and even if they were interested, they would just come to me and ask what’s up.’

Gravis teleported away again until he arrived at a random location in the middle of nowhere.

Then, Gravis released a sigh as he lay down on the ground.

’It’s over, huh?’ he thought.

Everything was dealt with.

No more enemies.

No more tempering.

No more Sects.

No more schemers.

No pressure.

No danger.

’Who would have thought that all of this would have ended this way? I am now the hidden overlord of this location. The other Sects know of my strength but don’t know that I have killed the Sect Masters. As soon as I go into any Law Comprehension Area, no one will dare to stop me.’

Gravis sighed.

’And like this, my journey of tempering ends again, and a long time of comprehending Laws begins.’

’How long will it be this time? Ten thousand years? Twenty thousand years?’

Gravis looked around and saw several things that he hadn’t comprehended yet.

He saw High-Tier Complex Materials all around him, and that was only one of the Laws he didn’t know.

For the first time in a long while, Gravis felt like a sea of unknown Laws had opened up before him again.

He didn’t even know where to begin!

There was so much to learn!

Chapter 807 - 807 – WhiChapter Laws To Comprehend

Gravis didn’t lay there for a long time and quickly stood up again. ’Man, I’m too excited to relax. I should plan the future Laws I want to learn.’

’There are three categories that I need to pay attention to. First of all, the necessary Laws for me to beat Arc in the future. These Laws are of the utmost importance, and they include the Situational and Emotional Laws.’

’Sadly, I can’t just comprehend Situational Laws, and Emotional Laws are also a no-go due to the issue with my lightning. As long as I don’t deal with this issue, I won’t be able to progress much on this path.’

’The second category would be the Laws for the Main Cultivation Path. Those are the High-Tier Laws of the Dead World and the Laws of Life. I can comprehend those without much issue as long as I spend enough time. Life might be a bit harder, and I might need the help of a powerful plant.’

’The last category are Laws that increase my Battle-Strength. Not all Laws increase my Battle-Strength, which is why I need to also look at those. Especially the High-Tier Laws of Lightning Speed, Lightning Power, Lightning Explosion, and so on.’

’The Low-Tier variants of these Laws had been level one Laws, and they only had a minor effect on my level three Law of Punishment Lightning. However, now they would be level four Laws while my Punishment Lightning is still a level three Law. The strength they would give me is incredible.’

’So, where to begin?’ Gravis thought as he looked through the map of the resource points that Liran had given him in the past. ’I have a lot of time now, which means that I can concentrate on the Laws that don’t increase my Battle-Strength by much.’

’Additionally, I should concentrate on Laws that I can’t comprehend on my own first. Learning the High-Tier Life Composition Laws of the Body is something I can learn on my own by experimenting on myself. This might have been difficult back then, but I know enough about to basics to extrapolate a lot of clues about other bodies by looking at my own.’

’Plant Laws are a no-go. There is no Law Comprehension Area for the Composition Laws of Plants. Soul Laws only start at level five, which is still too high for me right now. Additionally, I would probably also need a Law Comprehension Area. Same thing for Temperature Laws.’

’This means that the Life Laws fall through. So, what about the Matter Laws?’ Gravis thought but shook his head with a smile. ’Unnecessary. Understanding these Laws has taken a ton of time and different places for me in the middle world, but everything has changed.’

’Right now, I can comprehend the Medium Pure and Soft Pure Laws anywhere I want. After all, I have control over all the high-tier elements right now. Just by mixing and matching the elements, I can create basically all Pure Materials that exist in the higher world, at least up to a certain threshold of power.’

’High-Tier Mixed Elements? I can also create those, actually. I don’t need a Law Comprehension Area for them.’

’So, what would be next?’ Gravis thought.

However, his mind stopped as he tried to think of a good Law to comprehend next.

’Wait,’ Gravis thought as his eyes widened. ’Those were basically all the categories already.’

Gravis just looked with surprise at a random spot in space.

’So, I don’t need any Law Comprehension Area for all of these?’ Gravis thought as if he couldn’t believe the truth. ’The High-Tier Law of the Elements is actually so good that it helps me to comprehend a ton of other Laws just by using it.’

’Literally the only things left are the Secondary Laws that increase my Battle-Strength, stuff like Lightning Speed, Darkness Poisoning, Law of the Spire, Law of the Claw, and so on. After all, I need to see those to comprehend them.’

Gravis scratched the back of his head in confusion. ’This is so weird! There has always been this dynamic that I need to spend a lot of time on Composition Laws that don’t increase my power by much. The Secondary Laws have always been things that I could comprehend whenever I wanted.’

’However, all of this has changed now. Thanks to the High-Tier Law of the Elements, I can basically learn the entire High-Tier Law of the Dead World on my own. I only need a strong Cultivation Realm to create the most powerful materials and a shitload of time. That’s all.’

’Honestly, it would feel like a waste of time to concentrate on these Laws for now, especially since they wouldn’t increase my Battle-Strength by much at all. The Mixed Elements, Medium Pure Materials, and Soft Pure Materials are at least twelve Laws in total that wouldn’t increase my Battle-Strength at all.’

’Normally, I would have no issue with spending time on these things, even if they don’t make me much more powerful. However, the fact that I can comprehend them whenever and wherever I want somehow makes it feel like a waste. I mean, I have the resources of 120 Sects right now, right? Not taking advantage of these Law Comprehension Areas would feel like a huge waste.’

Gravis checked the map again and deleted all the Law Comprehension Areas for Laws Gravis could comprehend on his own.

How many Law Comprehension Areas were left?

60%!

60% of the Law Comprehension Areas were still left, and Gravis became quite surprised. ’Wait, I can comprehend so many Laws on my own, but there are still so many Law Comprehension Areas left?’

This surprised Gravis quite a bit. He had expected the number to fall to something like 10%. However, there were far more Laws apparently.

’Law of the Claw, Law of the Spire, Law of the Whip, Law of Fire Explosiveness, Law of Fire Energy, Law of Water Cutting, Law of Water Pressure, Law of Lightning Explosiveness, Law of Earth Defense...’ Gravis read in his mind.

’That explains it,’ he thought as he scratched his chin. ’All the nine elements have Element-Specific Laws, but there are also overarching Laws. That would be a terrifying number.’

Gravis looked at the map with an evaluating expression. ’Should I?’ he asked himself. ’I’ve never truly looked at these kinds of Laws before since I always preferred Composition and the basics. In actuality, except for my Lightning Laws, I only know a single one of these Laws, which would be the Law of Darkness Poisoning.’

’Now that I think about it, that number is actually a bit pathetic. Also, hasn’t this one level one Law basically saved my life in my fight against Stella? I can already use all the different high-tier elements, and their powers are now also equal to level four Laws.’

Suddenly, Gravis’ eyes shone. ’So, if I learn the Law of Fire Explosiveness, Fire Speed, Fire Energy, and so on, wouldn’t my Inferno reach...’

Gravis grinned.

’Sure enough, my Law of the Inferno would be able to reach the power of a level five Law, and that’s without it being my Avatar.’

’And there are nine elements in total!’

’So, I can boost all my elements to the power of a level five Law each?’

’Alright! It’s decided! I will boost all my elements to the power of level five Laws!’

’Seems like jumping five levels is back on the menu, boys!’

Chapter 808 - 808 – The Exciting Start

Gravis became excited as he saw an imaginary, vast sea of Laws he had never comprehended before. He hadn’t gone into these kinds of Battle Laws in the past since he had been far too busy with the Composition Laws, but now, everything was different.

There were so many Laws!

’Although, understanding them will take a lot of time,’ Gravis thought. ’I don’t know the low-tier variants of these Laws, which requires me to understand a level four Law in a single go. I actually haven’t done that before. All the other level four Laws I know had a base to build upon or had low-tier variants that I already know.’

Gravis scratched his chin. ’I will probably need at least 500 years for each one, and there are how many? 45? And these are only the element-specific ones. That one guy that attacked the Unrestrained Sect had an overarching Law, the Law of the Spear. If I also want to take a look at those, the Law count would easily break the 50s.’

’500 years per Law for 45 Laws would come to 22,500 years,’ Gravis thought as he took a deep breath.

’That’s a lot of time!’

However, Gravis started scratching his chin as he frowned. ’Although, I was already prepared to cultivate similarly to father. I might as well take advantage of the resetting longevity cap.’

This was something that Gravis had learned in his long break back home after coming back from the middle world.

A time of longevity was assigned to every Realm, but the longevity didn’t work as one would think.

Why would anyone spend a ton of time as an Immortal with a longevity of 50,000 years when they could simply become Immortal Kings, have a better comprehension ability, and then comprehend Laws? Wouldn’t they save time like that?

That would be true if longevity were cumulative.

However, longevity reset after one reached a new Realm.

What did this mean?

This meant that a being was practically reborn when they reached a new Realm. For example, someone that went from mortal to the Immortal Realm in a single day would have 50,000 years of soft longevity remaining.

However, someone that spent 9,999 years to reach the Immortal Realm would also have 50,000 years of soft longevity remaining. It was like one was born into a new body with a new cap of longevity. Everything that had happened before one reached the Realm became irrelevant.

So, in reality, if both of these example Cultivators cultivated to their longevity cap, the first one would have reached it after 50,000 years, while the other one would have reached it after 59,999 years. This was already a two-digit percent difference.

However, things became even crazier as soon as the soft longevity cap got introduced.

Assuming one person immediately became an Immortal King, they would have a soft longevity cap of 100,000 years. However, someone that went through two tribulations and broke through just before their next tribulation would also have a soft longevity cap of 100,000.

Yet, the second person would have already have lived for nearly 150,000 years. This meant that the first person would meet their first Immortal King tribulation at the age of 100,000, while the second one would meet their first tribulation at the age of nearly 250,000.

This was an insane difference!

250,000 years was already 50,000 more than the soft longevity cap of an Immortal Emperor, someone an entire Realm above them!

This was why cultivating in a lower Realm didn’t take away time from the future.

’Every tribulation increases the power of the enemy by one level, starting at one level above oneself in the first. However, this means Cultivation levels, not power levels. So, right now, if I were to reach my soft longevity cap, I would need to battle an Immortal King since I am a Peak Immortal, even though the Immortal King would be two battle levels higher than myself.’

’So, my first tribulation would be an Early Minor Circulation Immortal King. My second one would be a Mid Minor Circulation Immortal King, and my third one a Late Minor Circulation Immortal King. Sadly, my fourth one would be an early Major Circulation Immortal King, someone that’s six battle levels higher than me. I would skip the fifth battle level due to my awkward Realm.’

’This means that, in total, I have 200,000 years to comprehend Laws before I have to reach the next Realm. Pfft! It’s actually funny to imagine that when I become a brand-new Immortal King, I would already be older than 99% of all other Immortal Kings.’

’22,500 years is an insanely long time for me. After all, I have only lived for a bit more than 4,000. However, in comparison to 200,000 years, this is barely anything.’

’Alright! It’s decided!’ Gravis thought with a nod. ’I will comprehend all level four Laws that I can find! The Plant Laws, Emotional Laws, and Situational Laws are basically an impossibility, but everything else goes. This includes all the Battle Laws.’

’That’s a ton of Laws, but hey, I got the time now.’

Gravis felt excited as he realized how many new things he could learn now. He wanted to start immediately and get on it!

So, with newfound excitement and motivation, Gravis sat down on the ground.

’I can’t start right now,’ Gravis thought with a bit of frustration. ’I should give the Sects a couple of days to learn of the news of their Sect Masters’ demise. When I’m the only one that knows, and I go there immediately, I will draw suspicion upon myself. I need to give the news time to spread to every Sect. As soon as it becomes public knowledge, I can go ahead.’

’This sucks! I want to start right now!’ Gravis thought with a frown.

However, sometimes, it was necessary to wait. Sure, Gravis could go there right now, but it was too risky. Waiting a couple of days to secure his survival was more than a worthy trade.

So, Gravis went to sleep for the first time in a long while.

There was nothing better to do in such a short timeframe.

The exciting journey of Gravis learning powerful Battle Laws started with him sleeping for a whole week.

Chapter 809 - 809 – My Property

Gravis waited for a week in isolation. Waiting for this long was surprisingly hard since he was so close to being able to comprehend Laws for years on end.

’Alright, everyone should have realized by now that the Sect Masters have all vanished. I think I can start now,’ Gravis thought with a smile. ’Finally, I can get started!’

Gravis also knew with which Law he would start.

The Lightning Laws.

Since he had no knowledge about any Battle Laws except for the Lightning Laws, Gravis decided to start with those to get more familiar with them. These Laws shouldn’t take nearly as long as the others but would be able to give Gravis some experience in understanding the Battle Laws of other elements.

SHING!

Gravis teleported away as he went to the west with as much speed as he could. Right now, his Spirit Sense had a far greater reach, allowing him to teleport further with a single teleportation. Additionally, as his Realm increased, the speed of his teleportation also increased.

The journey that would have taken him two hours to complete as a Minor Circulation Immortal only took him around five minutes. The speed difference was huge!

SHING!

Gravis appeared in front of a mountain range filled with Punishment Lightning. However, the lightning moved in many different ways. It didn’t only go from top to bottom but also moved from side to side and from bottom to top. It was like the lightning was moving around crazily without any rhyme or reason.

This was a Law Comprehension Area for the High-Tier Law of Lightning’s Magnetism. The crazy magnetism being exhibited here made the lightning move in irregular ways.

"Who are you!?" someone shouted at Gravis from inside the Law Comprehension Area. Just like the Immortal Stone Vein, this area was encompassed by an incredibly powerful Formation Array, which blocked access to anyone that wasn’t allowed to enter.

Gravis looked inside the Formation Array and saw a Mid Major Circulation Immortal. Obviously, this person wasn’t the guard of this place. After all, any Law Comprehension Area that demonstrated a level four Law would be under the protection of an Immortal King. This person was probably just here to comprehend Laws.

"I’m going to comprehend this Law here for the foreseeable future. Don’t mind me. You can just continue like I’m not here," Gravis said dismissively.

The man immediately became severely confused.

What?

First of all, Gravis didn’t belong to their Sect.

Second of all, it was not up to him to decide if he can comprehend Laws here or not.

Third of all, how would he even comprehend Laws if the core of the Law Comprehension Area was hidden inside the Formation Array?

Fourth of all, did that guy just invite himself in? Was he even part of the Sect Alliance? Also, even if he were, he couldn’t just enter like that!

After some seconds, the guy shook his head. "Have you fallen on your head?" he asked with a mixture of disdain and concern.

Gravis only smirked. He was in too good of a mood to get offended right now. So, instead, he just snickered a bit. "Just watch."

"Just watch wha-"

FWHOMP!

"Holy shit!"

Gravis just passed through the Formation Array like it didn’t exist, severely changing the man’s feelings regarding the current situation. He had felt safe behind the Formation Array. After all, even an Immortal King would take a lot of time to break it. What could a Peak Immortal do?

However, this Peak Immortal now stood directly in front of him.

This meant that this Peak Immortal could kill him if he so chose to.

From disdain and concern, the person’s feelings changed to shock and terror.

He summoned a jade token and broke it immediately. After that, he pointed at Gravis with a shaky finger. "You- you can’t just do that!"

"I just did," Gravis said with a smirk.

The man’s mind started going wild with confusion. "No, you ca- I mean, you can, but- Argh, I mean how- I mean, what?" he sputtered in confusion. After that, he shook his head violently to regain his bearings. "You are going against the Sect Alliance!" he finally managed to say.

Gravis had to chuckle a bit when he saw the confusion on the guy’s face. "Depends. Right now, I’m only visiting your Law Comprehension Area, but that might change depending on what your new Sect Master does."

"What? New Sect Master? What are you talking about?" the guy asked in confusion again.

’So, he doesn’t know that the old Sect Masters are dead?’ Gravis thought as he scratched his chin. ’I wonder, do the Sects still not know what happened, or has this guy just been in isolation for a while?’

SHING!

"Who dares to attack my Punishment Cleaver Sect!?" a new voice shouted with rage.

Gravis and the man both looked at the new arrival, who was an older man with long black hair, a saber on his back.

"Elder Urgnah!" the man shouted with happiness. However, he quickly became shocked. "Wait, you have become a Mid Minor Circulation Immortal King!?" he shouted in shock. "What happened?"

Elder Urgnah looked at the disciple with an even expression. "Our Sect Master has died, and I became the new Sect Master. We pooled our resources to push me to the next Realm."

The disciple became shocked again.

What had happened!?

"Now, on to you," Sect Master Urgnah said as he turned to Gravis, who only looked at him with a raised brow. "Am I correct in assuming that you are Gravis?" he asked.

Gravis nodded. "Yep," he said.

Sect Master Urgnah took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. "I know of your Battle-Strength. You might even be a danger to me. So, what do you want?" he asked.

The shocking surprises for the disciple just didn’t stop. He had been here for the last 150 years, just comprehending Laws. Who was Gravis? Why was Elder Urgnah, someone that always talked to others with authority and domination, so nice to a Peak Immortal?

What had happened!?

"I want to comprehend some Laws," Gravis said with a smirk. "I’m going to be staying here for the foreseeable future. Don’t worry. Your disciples can still comprehend Laws as much as they want. As long as I don’t get interrupted, I don’t mind."

Sect Master Urgnah almost couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Gravis was talking like this area belonged to him. He was even ever so graciously allowing them to stay in here. Wasn’t this Law Comprehension Area supposed to be theirs!?

"It doesn’t work that way," Sect Master Urgnah said with narrowed eyes. "This place doesn’t belong to you, and you can’t just enter here."

"Well, I just did," Gravis answered. "Right now, I’m only a visitor, but that might change if I feel like I’m not treated well enough."

"What are you talking about!?" the Sect Master shouted. "You can’t just come onto someone else’s property and invite yourself in as a visitor. That’s not how it works!"

Gravis only smirked. "Okay, then let’s make it simpler," he said. Then, he pointed at Sect Master Urgnah. "This is now my property! What are you doing here!? Get off my lawn!"

Sect Master Urgnah sure as hell hadn’t anticipated that. Had Gravis just declared this area to be his?

How? Why? Was that even possible!?

"No, this is obviously our property!" he shouted back.

"No, it’s mine!"

"No, it’s ours! You can’t just come in here and claim this for yourself!"

"Isn’t that the same thing you did?" Gravis asked with a smirk. "This is a natural area of the world. You just came here and claimed it for the Sect Alliance. Well, now I’m claiming it for myself."

Gravis waved dismissively. "However, I’m a nice host. You can do whatever you want with the property. You can see it like me giving you full authority over MY property. You can still send disciples here to comprehend. I don’t mind."

Sect Master Urgnah became more frustrated as he heard more of Gravis’ words. It didn’t work like that! "No, this territory is mine, and it also belongs to the Sect Alliance!"

Gravis chuckled a bit. "You still don’t get it, do you?" he asked. "Then, let’s make it simpler, alright?"

WHOOOOOM!

Gravis activated his Will-Aura, suppressing Sect Master Urgnah by around 50%. Sect Master Urgnah’s Will-Aura broke, and he couldn’t react for a full second.

SHING!

Gravis arrived directly in front of him in nearly an instant and looked deeply into the Sect Master’s eyes with a smirk. "I say it belongs to me, and it won’t change, no matter what you say."

"You’re open to disagree, but that won’t make me move. So..." Gravis said with a smirk.

"Whatchu gonna do about it?"

Sect Master Urgnah’s calm had vanished. He knew that Gravis had been able to fight multiple levels above himself, but they were no longer Immortals. Sect Master Urgnah was a Mid Minor Circulation Immortal King! Fighting several levels above oneself as an Immortal King was something entirely different from doing it as an Immortal!

However, Gravis had demonstrated that he was more than powerful enough. Sect Master Urgnah’s Law of Danger was shouting at him, telling him that he would die if he made a mistake.

A Peak Immortal that could easily kill a Mid Minor Circulation Immortal King? This sounded like a joke, but Sect Master Urgnah couldn’t argue against reality.

For some seconds, Sect Master Urgnah remained silent, just clenching his teeth. This was a humiliation!

"I just want to comprehend Laws here," Gravis said evenly. "You can still do whatever you want with it, as long as you’re not disturbing me. Because, if I get annoyed enough, I might just start cultivating with my Will-Aura passively released into the surroundings. I wonder how many others can cultivate in here if that happens?"

Sect Master Urgnah’s face became red with rage and helplessness.

What was he supposed to do?

Chapter 810 - 810 – Responsibility

"I admit, my Sect might not be able to resist you," Sect Master Urgnah said, "but the Sect Alliance belongs to the Heaven Breaker Sect, and that’s a power you can’t fight!"

"Heaven Breaker Sect, huh?" Gravis asked with a smirk. "Is that the hidden overlord of the Sect Alliance? The one that you pay so many resources to?"

The Sect Master became surprised that Gravis knew that they were paying the Heaven Breaker Sect. Only the Sect Masters and Vice Sect Masters knew this! How did he know!? However, that didn’t matter right now.

"So, you know," the Sect Master said with narrowed eyes. "Then you also know that you can’t just do whatever you want here."

Instead of backing down, Gravis chuckled a bit. "I think you got something wrong."

"What?" the Sect Master asked with indignance.

"The Heaven Breaker Sect is only interested in resources. They don’t really care about Law Comprehension Areas since they should have plenty of those themselves. Additionally, Law Comprehension Areas can’t just be transported and handed over."

"So, let’s assume that you go to the Heaven Breaker Sect and tell them that someone is encroaching on your authority. The first thing they would ask is how powerful I am. So, you say that I am a Peak Immortal, and immediately, they would feel like you’re useless. How can you not deal with a Peak Immortal?"

Sect Master Urgnah gnashed his teeth.

"Next thing," Gravis said. "You tell them all about me, and then they believe you. The next thing they would ask is what I have stolen. After all, they are interested in their own tribute more than anything. What will you say? You can’t lie, so you will say that I stole nothing."

Gravis chuckled a bit again. "And you know how that will end, right?"

Sect Master Urgnah didn’t like what he was hearing.

"They will say that they don’t care," Gravis said with a smirk. "They would say that you should stop annoying them with this unimportant stuff and to contact them again when I start stealing so much stuff that it affects their tribute."

"However, obviously, I’m not going to do that," Gravis said. "I’m only here to comprehend Laws, nothing more. I’m not even disallowing your Sect from sending disciples here. For the next 20,000 years or so, I will be traveling from Law Comprehension Area to Law Comprehension Area, just comprehending Laws."

"I’m not interested in your ores. I’m not interested in your Immortal Stones. I’m not interested in anything physical. I only want to comprehend Laws, nothing more."

"So, get over your stupid pride and just accept the situation. Alternatively, you can also call the Sect Alliance and fight me. I wonder how that will go, and I also wonder who the first dead Sect Master would be?"

Sect Master Urgnah clenched his fists in fury and helplessness, but there was nothing he could do. Gravis had them in their hands! Gravis was right when he said that the Heaven Breaker Sect wouldn’t care about this. So, the only remaining path would be to gather the Sect Alliance, but Sect Master Urgnah would need to be in the vanguard since it was his territory. There was no way for the Sect Master to survive in that situation.

The disciple looked with nervousness at his Sect Master. Could they do something about this?

After some seconds, the Sect Master sighed. "Fine, you win," he said, "but you said that this territory is now yours. What of the time when you are done comprehending the Laws in this territory?"

"I will leave, obviously," Gravis said. "After that, I have no more use for this Law Comprehension Area and will hand it back to you. A Law Comprehension Area for a Law I already know is of no use to me anymore, so I don’t care what happens to it afterward."

The Sect Master nodded. "What if someone from another Sect comes and challenges the defender of this territory?"

"It’s my territory, so I will obviously defend it myself," Gravis said.

The Sect Master nodded and already started planning.

"However," Gravis interrupted, "don’t even try to use me to lure in someone from another Sect. If it happens, it happens, and that’s fine, but if you manipulate the surroundings to increase the chance that it happens, I will count that as being disturbed. Who knows, maybe I will just concede the fight and hand the territory over. After all, the new owner would be just as helpless about me staying here as you."

The Sect Master became annoyed that Gravis immediately shut this possibility down. So, there was truly nothing they could gain from it?

"Fine," the Sect Master said. "You don’t need the key to the Law Comprehension Area, I presume?"

"No, I don’t," Gravis said. "I can come and go as I want without the key."

The Sect Master had no idea how Gravis had been able to grasp such an ability, but there was nothing he could do about it right now. The Sect Master was annoyed that some Peak Immortal that wasn’t even part of the Sect Alliance was able to do whatever he wanted in a territory governed by so many Immortal Kings.

As Sect Master Urgnah thought more about it, he felt that the situation was truly surreal. The entire Sect Alliance could obviously kill this singular Peak Immortal. After all, fighting one Cultivator was entirely different from fighting over a hundred. According to Sect Master Urgnahm, even if Gravis could kill several Sect Masters, he would run out of Energy very quickly, leaving him helpless to the remainder.

The Sect Master felt like he was holding a dagger to Gravis’ throat and could kill him if he so chose to, but for some reason, Gravis was the one in control. The Sect Master had Gravis’ life in his hands, but he couldn’t kill him.

This seemingly defied reality. The one with more power was supposed to be able to suppress the one with less power. Obviously, the Sect Alliance had more power. However, they just couldn’t use it against Gravis.

How was a weaker being able to control a stronger force?

The Sect Master became more interested in Gravis as he thought about these things.

"I have a question," he asked.

"Sure," Gravis said with a shrug as he moved away.

"How do you do it?" the Sect Master asked. "How are you able to stay in control against a force so much more powerful than yourself? Also, how are you so incredibly powerful as a Peak Immortal? If you don’t mind, I would like to know."

The Sect Master’s tone was no longer angry or frustrated. He sounded more like he had given up and just wanted some advice.

"Absence of responsibility," Gravis answered immediately.

"What do you mean?" the Sect Master asked.

"I don’t have to run a Sect, leaving me with infinite time to comprehend Laws."

"I don’t have any close ones that you can use to threaten me with."

"I don’t have a home, which you can attack."

"So, to answer your second question first: I just spend a ton of time to comprehend Laws until I know far more Laws than anyone else. The absence of responsibility allows me to dedicate my entire life to the pursuit of power."

"As for your first question: That’s the same answer. You are weighed down by responsibility, making you more vulnerable. I can threaten you and your Sect, and even if you can ignore this threat, I can use the same thing against others, and they might not be able to ignore it."

"Your Sect will obviously not be the only one that receives a visit from me, but all the other Sects will be just as helpless as you."

"The Sect Alliance you have formed to protect yourself has become your weakness. Every member of a close-knit Sect is willing to sacrifice their lives to protect their home, but a Sect Alliance is loose. No Sect is willing to sacrifice itself for the gains of another Sect."

"Your protection and responsibility are what make you so vulnerable," Gravis explained. He was borrowing the Law Comprehension Area without any repayment, so he decided to answer the question honestly.

The Sect Master remained silent as he thought about Gravis’ words for a while.

"Responsibility, huh?" he asked himself more than Gravis.

After some more seconds, he turned to Gravis again and bowed politely. "Thank you for your wise words. You may stay here as long as you want."

Gravis smiled and nodded. "No thanks required. See it as a trade."

The Sect Master looked at the disciple, who had been watching. Then, he looked at Gravis again. "He can stay, right?" he asked.

Gravis nodded. "Sure. As long as he doesn’t annoy me, I don’t care who stays here. You can send hundreds of disciples here for all I care."

"Alright," the Sect Master said. "Then, I wish you luck in your comprehension."

With that said, the Sect Master left.

The disciple felt like his Sect had been humiliated, but he had heard the entire conversation. His feelings told him that they were supposed to be the more powerful ones and that Gravis shouldn’t have the ability to just waltz in here and do what he wants.

However, feelings and reality often disagreed. The disciple was frustrated and felt humiliated, but he also knew that there was nothing they could do. If he were in his Sect Master’s shoes, he would be just as helpless.

He simply had to accept this humiliation and move on.

Meanwhile, Gravis ignored the disciple and looked at the lightning with a smile as he scratched his chin.

’And so, my Law Comprehension begins!’