Ch. 911..920

Chapter 911 - 911 – The Ancestor

"It’s been over ten minutes, Sect Master," the young Vice-Sect Master said with a worried look on his face.

"I know that!" the Sect Master snapped. "What do you want me to do about it!? I also don’t know what’s going on!"

The Vice-Sect Master frowned. He had been a Vice-Sect Master for quite a while, and the Sect Master had been his fellow Vice-Sect Master just 50,000 years ago. The Vice-Sect Master also knew the previous two Sect Masters.

And in his opinion, their current Sect Master was the worst out of these three, by far. The other two had always remained calm, but their current Sect Master constantly lost her temper. Not only that, but she was also always acting like she had everything under control when, in reality, she definitely didn’t.

However, what could he do? The Sect Master was appointed by the current Ancestor, and the current Ancestor had family ties with the current Sect Master. So, even if the Vice-Sect Master didn’t believe that the current Sect Master was deserving of her position, the only option he had left was to deal with it.

"Check his Spirit Vial," the Vice-Sect Master said neutrally.

The Sect Master furrowed her brows. "You think he’s dead?" she asked.

"Why else wouldn’t he have returned by now?" the Vice-Sect Master asked. "In this time, he could have nearly gone around the world. Either he died, or he betrayed us."

"Impossible!" the Sect Master shouted. "There is no one in this world that can stop Sten from leaving! He knows the level six Law of Space!"

"So, he has betrayed us?" the Vice-Sect Master asked.

"Also impossible!" the Sect Master shouted. "Sten has everything in the Nine Elements Sect. He has nearly no obligations, and he can visit any Law Comprehension Area he wants for as long as he wants."

"Then it shouldn’t be a problem for you to check his Soul Vial," the Vice-Sect Master said.

The Sect Master frowned. The current attitude of her Vice-Sect Master wasn’t appreciated by her.

However, he had a point.

The Sect Master stretched her Spirit Sense into an area where only she and the Ancestor had access.

This was the chamber where the Soul Vials of the most important members of the Nine Elements Sect were located. Only Vice-Sect Masters and higher would have the honor to leave a small part of their Spirit in this hall.

Soul Vials were flasks that kept a small part of a Cultivator’s Spirit. The lower world had something similar, but back then, leaving a part of one’s Spirit somewhere else would weaken them slightly.

Of course, with the power of Immortal Emperors, leaving a tiny part of their Spirit behind wouldn’t affect them at all. This tiny part of their Spirit wasn’t even 0.00001% of their total. Exchanging this tiny bit to allow the Sect to keep track of their status was worth it. After all, if someone died, they would want the Sect to take revenge for them.

The Sect Master looked at the Soul Vials. One of them was already empty. This one had belonged to the old Vice-Sect Master that she had killed earlier.

The Sect Master looked at Sten’s Soul Vial, and her brows furrowed.

The small part of his Spirit was still there. If he had died, his Spirit would have dissipated.

However, there was something else.

The other Spirits in the other Soul Vials slightly moved around and showed a certain liveliness. They were like gently burning flames.

Yet, Sten’s Spirit was a sphere.

It was still there, but it didn’t move. There were no undulations and no fluctuations. It just lifelessly levitated in the middle of the Soul Vial.

The Sect Master’s face turned white in the great hall.

The Vice-Sect Master noticed her change in expression and sighed.

"His will has been destroyed," the Sect Master whispered with shock, all her rage gone.

The Vice-Sect Master knew what this meant. If a living being was lacking a will, it wouldn’t be a living being anymore. One could liken it to a perfectly intact person that was still alive. Their organs were still working, and their body still generated Life Energy. Yet, their brain and mind just didn’t work anymore. In short, one could liken the dissipation of a will to brain death.

The Vice-Sect Master was intensely shocked deep down, but he suppressed it. It was crucial to quickly find a solution. He couldn’t be distracted now.

The Sect Master clenched her fists in frustration.

What was going on!?

How could Sten die!?

Then, the Sect Master took a deep breath.

"Uncle," she transmitted. "Something happened."

"Is the Nine Elements Sect in danger of being destroyed?" the Ancestor asked neutrally with a voice transmission.

The Sect Master took a deep breath again. "Sten has been killed."

"Is the Nine Elements Sect in danger of being destroyed?" the Ancestor asked again.

The Sect Master’s shoulders shook slightly. "No," she transmitted.

"Then don’t disturb me," the Ancestor said. "I told you when I gave you this position that you have the responsibility to guide the Nine Elements Sect. You are the highest instance of authority and responsibility in the Sect. You can’t always come crying to me if something doesn’t go your way."

The Sect Master’s body shook, but she didn’t dare to disagree.

"I don’t know what happened," the Ancestor said with a slightly annoyed tone, "but as far as I know you, I can tell that this situation has something to do with you. I told you back then that you need to destroy this prideful and scheming self of yours. Cooperation is always better than suppression."

The Sect Master didn’t answer, but the Ancestor knew that he had hit the nail on its head when he saw the Sect Master’s reaction.

"Don’t do anything hasty. Evaluate all your options. Don’t jump the sword as soon as something doesn’t go your way. You are not in the position of Sect Master to satisfy your own vanity but to guide the Nine Elements Sect into a brighter tomorrow. Herius was a better candidate for the position of Sect Master, and you know that. Yet, I have chosen you because you are my niece."

"I have abandoned duty for my family, but I also saw your bright mind and talent. I believed that you would have been able to grow with more responsibility. Take this situation as the last warning. Your methods have provoked something that even managed to kill Sten."

"Tell me, would what you have gained be worth the sacrifice of Sten?"

The Sect Master grimaced.

What would she have gained?

She would have gained closer cooperation with the All-Matter Sect, but that had been in the past. As soon as their Holy Son Candidate had died, their cooperation had been weakened significantly. Additionally, even if this had resulted in more favorable trades with the All-Matter Sect, it would never have been worth the sacrifice of one of their most powerful Cultivators.

The sacrifice was nowhere near enough for such a small profit.

The only positive thing that could have come out of this was that the Sect Master’s grandson would have become the Holy Son of the Nine Elements Sect. That was also the initial reason for the Sect Master to go against Stella.

Yet, would that have helped the Nine Elements Sect?

No.

It would have only helped her and her grandson.

In short, the Sect Master had exchanged an Ascender for a more favorable position for her grandson.

It was not worth it.

The Ancestor noticed the subtle changes in the Sect Master and sighed with regret.

"I will repeat myself. Take this as the last warning. Adapt to your position and deal with the situation. If necessary, bow your head. You are not living for yourself or your family anymore, but for the Nine Elements Sect."

"The previous Ancestor has given me the position of Sect Master back then, and now, I feel like I have disappointed her by handing this position over to you."

"Prove to me that I have not made a mistake."

"Fix yourself!"

The connection was cut.

The last sentence had been shouted in the Sect Master’s Spirit with quite some conviction and anger.

The Sect Master’s body shook. This was the one person that she couldn’t talk back to. Her uncle had helped her throughout her life, and he had always taught her that cooperation was better than suppression.

She was now above everyone else, but she was still below her uncle.

The Sect Master started thinking about how to solve the problem.

Yet, just a couple seconds later, her fists started to shake in anger again.

The frustration of being reprimanded by her uncle mixed with the rage of her plan failing and the fact that Underworld had gone against them.

’You want me to deal with the situation!?’ she shouted to herself in her mind with rage.

’If there is no Underworld, there is no situation!’

"Summon the Holy Guards!"

Chapter 912 - 912 – The War

In the young Vice-Sect Master’s, Herius’, mind, calling the Holy Guards was a normal action. After all, if they wanted to talk and negotiate with Underworld, it was important to demonstrate the Nine Element Sect’s power.

However, he harbored suspicions.

"Do you intend to negotiate with Underworld?" he asked.

The Sect Master’s eyes gleamed.

"Yes," she said.

The Vice-Sect Master nodded. "70% of the Holy Guard are currently on the frontlines. The remaining 30% should be enough as a show of force."

"That’s not enough," the Sect Master said. "Call the others back."

"Excuse me?" Herius asked with shock. "Could you repeat that?"

"Call the others back!" the Sect Master ordered.

"Why?" he asked with furrowed brows, his voice deep.

The Sect Master didn’t appreciate being questioned by some mere Vice-Sect Master.

"We need a bigger force! Sten has already died, and I won’t let another person die! We need to be careful when dealing with Underworld!" she said with a bit of rage in her voice.

The Vice-Sect Master’s eyes narrowed, but the words of the Sect Master appeared fine to him. It was maybe a bit much to call the entire Holy Guard, but such an action was still okay, given the circumstance.

"Fine," Herius said. "I will trust your judgment as the Sect Master. It’s your duty to lead the Sect into a brighter tomorrow, after all. You wouldn’t make such a big decision based on emotion."

The Sect Master’s rage exploded inside her mind, but her face didn’t show anything.

She didn’t answer.

Herius looked at her for some seconds and then took out a token. This token had five insignias on its edges, and in the middle, one could see two crossed swords.

This was an identity and messaging token for the Human Alliance.

Herius contacted the representatives of the other Peak Sects and explained his situation. When the others heard that the Nine Elements Sect was about to pull back over 20 Early Major Circulation Immortal Emperors from the frontlines, they all started disagreeing with fervor.

Herius was very apologetic during his conversation with the other representatives.

It was understandable that the others disagreed this vehemently.

After all, a lot of the Peak Sects sent their weaker disciples to some weaker places at the frontlines.

There were places in the frontlines where only Immortals or Law Comprehension Realm Cultivators fought. The beasts weren’t endless, and they also wanted to train their weaker beasts, just like the humans wanted to train their weaker disciples.

Because of that, some places in the frontlines only saw Cultivators and beasts of lower Realms.

However, these places were looked after by powerful Immortal Emperors.

They were there as insurance that the beasts didn’t break this unspoken agreement.

So, when they heard that the Nine Elements Sect would pull back a ton of these protectors, they understandably became quite angry.

In the end, Herius had to agree that the disciples of the Nine Elements Sect would all gather on two battlefields. The other disciples would leave these battlefields and would take care of the remaining ones. The other Sects would send their remaining powerful Immortal Emperors to take care of these battlefields.

However, the battlefields with the Nine Elements Sect’s disciples would remain without protection, and if the beasts reached the fortifications, the Nine Elements Sect would also need to repay the resources that were lost.

The frontlines shuffled silently, but the beasts weren’t stupid. They had fought against the humans for who knew how many years. Even beasts would learn a lot about strategy and warfare under these circumstances.

So, the beasts noticed this peculiarity and also silently changed some things.

Some Immortal beasts quietly made their way to the Law Comprehension battlefields of the Nine Elements Sect.

Sadly, no human noticed.

After all, the frontlines of the humans had changed, which meant that they were in the light.

Meanwhile, the beasts were in the shadows since just calling some additional Immortal beasts and keeping them hidden was impossible to notice.

The humans had no clue what was about to happen.

After some hours, the Holy Guard gathered in front of the central palace of the Nine Elements Sect.

33 people at the Early Major Circulation Immortal Emperor Realm stood in one spot.

The Sect Master came out of the central palace, and everyone bowed politely.

"Today, we deal with Underworld!" she announced.

When the Holy Guards heard the Sect Master, their reactions were mixed.

Some were excited.

Some were worried.

Some were skeptical.

Some were confused.

However, the Sect Master had made her orders, and they had to follow. Their position wasn’t high enough to question the Sect Master.

In addition, they saw Herius standing slightly behind the Sect Master. This gave the Holy Guards some reassurance.

If Herius agreed, there was probably a good reason to gather all of them.

The Sect Master made a speech and gave a censored version of the events that had happened in the central palace.

When the Holy Guards heard that someone from Underworld had infiltrated the central palace, they became shocked. Yet, their shock only grew when they heard that this same person also killed a Holy Son Candidate of the All-Matter Sect.

That wasn’t even all! Apparently, that person from Underworld also killed a Vice-Sect Master and abducted their Holy Maiden!

Underworld had gone too far this time!

Now, the hearts of the Holy Guard were united.

One should never forget that this Sect Master was an intelligent, scheming, and manipulative individual.

Her words were convincing, and no one except for Herius doubted them.

A map of all the nearby strongholds of Underworld appeared in the Holy Guards’ minds. The Nine Elements Sect had silently collected nearly all the locations of Underworld.

They had all of them.

Except for one.

The insurance stronghold.

After the Sect Master was finished with her speech, most of the Holy Guards scattered.

They would destroy all the strongholds simultaneously.

When Herius heard the orders of the Sect Master near the end, his face whitened.

That was not an order to negotiate.

That was an order to go to war!

However, before Herius could say anything, the overpowering Will-Aura of the Sect Master suppressed him.

He could only stand there dumbly as the Sect Master left with about half of the Holy Guards.

After everyone left, Herius regained control over himself, and his fists clenched in frustration.

’I need to call all the Ascenders! She is going to destroy the entire Nine Elements Sect at this rate! She’s absolutely insane!’

The Sect Master was on her way to search for the insurance stronghold personally, but something happened that she hadn’t anticipated.

Just some seconds after they had left the Nine Elements Sect, ten people appeared in front of the Sect Master.

All of them wore black robes and wore black masks that hid their auras.

"What is the meaning of this?" the leader asked. He purposefully released his aura to show that he was a Mid Major Circulation Immortal Emperor.

If Gravis were here, he would notice that this was the bartender he had traded with previously.

The Sect Master only looked coldly at him. "Underworld has killed a Vice-Sect Master and an Ascender of our Nine Elements Sect. Today, you will pay!"

"Kill everyone!"

The people of Underworld fell back in fear as the Holy Guards charged forward.

They couldn’t fight against such a force!

Meanwhile, the Sect Master personally charged at the leader.

"So, the signal was actually true and not just some attempt to gain revenge for being discovered," the leader whispered to himself.

Underworld wasn’t stupid. They knew that there was a chance that their spy had involuntarily outed himself. After he saw his death, he might have felt aggrieved, which could have led him to send the signal just to obtain revenge.

It was necessary to check the validity of such an important signal.

It turned out the signal was valid, but the reason for this entire war still confused the leader.

The leader had no idea what the Sect Master was talking about. They had never sent anyone to do these things, but that wasn’t important now.

The Nine Elements Sect declared war on them, and they had to deal with that first.

Any words would only fall on deaf ears.

The leader released his Will-Aura, which was just as powerful as the Sect Master’s, even though he was a level lower than her.

Then, they clashed.

The leader could easily fight a level above oneself, but his opponent was a Sect Master.

Which Sect Master couldn’t fight a level above themselves?

"AAAHH!"

Suddenly, a painful shout was heard.

The Sect Master’s teeth gnashed in fury.

Someone had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and they had killed one of her Holy Guards.

Yet, that was only the beginning.

In an instant, ten more people appeared behind the Holy Guards.

Eight more Holy Guards died.

Underworld had received the signal, and they had been prepared.

Usually, an insurance stronghold wasn’t powerful enough to go against such a force, but they had been forewarned.

So, they had gathered 50% of the force of the insurance strongholds in the neighboring territories.

Half of the Holy Guards were in the different strongholds across the Nine Elements Sect’s territory, which severely weakened their force. Because of that, this gathered force from Underworld was powerful enough to deal with the forces of the Nine Elements Sect.

Underworld wouldn’t lose much.

Even more, the other strongholds in the Nine Elements Sect’s territory had been evacuated immediately.

The other Holy Guards would only find empty and abandoned places without any valuables. No Holy Guard would find anything of worth, and they wouldn’t be able to find an enemy.

In essence, they were wasting their time.

The leader was losing the fight against the Sect Master quickly, but he was only there to buy some time. As soon as the other Holy Guards were dealt with by the leaders of the other insurance strongholds, they would gang up on the Sect Master.

The Holy Guards died very quickly, and after just some seconds, only five were left.

And that’s when it happened.

WHOOOOOOOM!

And apocalyptic Will-Aura spread over the entire battlefield, freezing everything.

A man appeared.

He looked middle-aged, and he had blue hair.

This was the Ancestor of the Nine Elements Sect.

The people from Underworld felt their faces whiten. An Ancestor!? Why would an Ancestor become active!?

The Holy Guards felt elated.

Meanwhile, the face of the Sect Master also whitened, just like the faces of the people from Underworld.

’How did Herius manage to contact my uncle!? Only I know how to contact uncle!’

’This wasn’t supposed to happen!’

The war had just started, but it already ended.

In front of the Ancestor, no one present could resist.

Chapter 913 - 913 – Danger

No one had expected the Ancestor of the Nine Elements Sect to appear like this. Usually, the Ancestors only involved themselves when something significant happened to the beasts or if a Peak Sect was about to be eradicated. Of course, these situations happened very, very rarely.

Underworld couldn’t have threatened the survival of the Nine Elements Sect. The Nine Elements Sect still had some Ascenders and their Ancestor. If Underworld decided to attack the headquarters of the Nine Elements Sect, they would only be digging their own grave.

So, why was the Ancestor here?

However, there was something even more surprising.

The bartender from Underworld noticed that the Sect Master of the Nine Elements Sect was not happy at all that her Ancestor had arrived. Normally, she should be ecstatic, but she wasn’t.

’Things are not as simple as I’ve thought,’ the bartender thought.

The Ancestor looked at the frozen battle and sighed heavily.

"Why must humanity fight amongst itself like this?" he said with regret. "In the face of the beast apocalypse, some humans still want to gain greater status and follow greed."

When the bartender heard that, his rage exploded.

"You say that after your Sect has declared war on Underworld unprovoked. I wonder, if this battle went according to the Nine Elements Sect’s plan, would you still have lamented about the state of humanity?" he asked coldly.

The Ancestor slowly shook his head. "I had no idea that my niece would decide to attack Underworld," the Ancestor said. "If I had known, I would have never allowed it."

Then, something shocking happened.

The Ancestor bowed apologetically.

The bartender’s eyebrows shot up in shock.

"This has been a severe error in judgment from my Sect. I hereby apologize, and I will take our losses as a deserved punishment," he said.

Everyone became shocked.

One had to know that basically no one had died from Underworld, but around a third of the Holy Guards had died. Usually, someone would see this and would want to ask for reparations.

Yet, the Ancestor was willing to accept the loss and say that everything was a mistake.

He didn’t even attempt to get an explanation out of Underworld.

The remaining Holy Guards were shocked and horrified. Their friends had just died, and the Ancestor was doing nothing!?

"Everyone," the Ancestor said. "I think there has been a monumental misunderstanding."

At that time, three new people appeared near the frozen battlefield.

One was Herius, while the other two were Ascenders from the Nine Elements Sect.

When the Sect Master saw Herius, her anger exploded.

Sadly, the Ancestor was especially suppressing the Sect Master. Everyone else was able to communicate normally, but not the Sect Master.

The Sect Master had already done enough damage.

Herius and the two Ascenders stopped behind the Ancestor, but they still threw a cold and hateful look at the Sect Master.

The people from Underworld also noticed this.

They hadn’t thought that the entire upper echelon of the Nine Elements Sect would be so against their Sect Master.

"Herius," the Ancestor said.

"Yes, Ancestor," Herius said with respect. Herius had always held deep respect towards the Ancestor.

"When dealing with such critical situations that threaten the unity of mankind, seeking one’s own profits and advantages won’t help," the Ancestor said. "Because of that, it is imperative that you recount the events that have led up to this situation with pure honesty. Even if the Nine Elements Sect will be implicated even more, it is important to resolve this issue as purely as possible."

"Yes, Ancestor," Herius said with respect.

"A couple of years after our current Sect Master took up her position, the Holy Maiden of the Nine Elements Sect started to be restricted more and more..."

The present people were a bit surprised that Herius started telling the story from such a distant spot in the past. Had the seeds of discord been sown that far back?

When Herius came to the part where Stella was fully suppressed and forced into marriage, the Ancestor’s body quietly tensed in anger.

The personal disciple of his deceased teacher was treated like this!?

He had no idea!

How was he supposed to look his dead teacher in the eyes in the afterlife!?

"About ten years ago, the latest tournament took place, and someone peculiar joined the tournament..."

Now, Herius was focusing the story entirely on Gravis.

The bartender immediately recognized Gravis, and his anger exploded.

Gravis had said that whatever he was doing would only marginally involve Underworld!

Yet, his actions had obviously provoked an all-out war!

Gravis had lied!

Sadly, in truth, one could only say that Gravis had also been a victim of bad luck. Initially, he had only intended to flee with Stella with that emblem. It had never been his goal to put the Nine Elements Sect against Underworld.

Unfortunately, things often didn’t go as planned.

As the bartender heard more, he became angrier and angrier.

What a fool the bartender had been!

He had seen that Gravis had a beast body, but he had still foolishly believed that Gravis was part of humanity.

But that was impossible!

After all, who would gain the most out of a conflict between the Nine Elements Sect and Underworld?

The beasts!

Gravis was an agent of the beasts that had been sent here to weaken humanity!

And even worse, he had succeeded!

"Excuse me, but I must interrupt with an imperative piece of information," the bartender said, stopping Herius.

"Yes?" the Ancestor asked.

"I know this person, and there is something you must know about him."

"He has a beast body," the bartender said with seriousness.

Everyone became shocked.

"Impossible!" Herius said. "Our Sect is filled with beast crystals. We would have noticed."

"No," the bartender said. "He has some kind of Law that manipulates his surroundings. From what I have seen, as long as you don’t analyze him with incredible scrutiny, you won’t notice his true body."

The bartender then proceeded to tell them all his interactions with Gravis.

After the bartender had seen the honesty that the Ancestor had put forward, the bartender reciprocated this honesty and even told everyone about the mission of killing the upper echelon of the Holy Judgment Sect.

Then, a discussion broke out.

How could some Immortal King hide his beast body from such powerful Immortal Emperors? That was impossible!

However, the bartender felt a foreboding feeling.

He had to finish this conversation as quickly as possible, and thus, he decided to do something very risky.

"I swear upon Heaven that I have not lied!" the bartender shouted.

Silence.

Everyone looked in shock at the bartender.

Swearing upon Heaven was not simple. If there was even the slightest inaccuracy, the bartender would die. Even if he just lightly misspoke or remembered something not clear enough, he would die.

Swearing upon Heaven was very dangerous because the oath had to be perfect. If the bartender didn’t perfectly recount everything, he would die.

Seconds passed, and the bartender stayed alive.

Then, everyone narrowed their eyes.

This meant that the bartender had spoken the truth.

"Everyone!" the Ancestor said. "We must pause the conversation. We are all humans, and for now, we must put our differences aside for humanity. We must travel to the frontlines and check up on the beasts. After the beasts have been handled, we will resume our conversation."

The Ancestor looked at the soldiers from both sides. "The soldiers can scatter. This time, we can’t put pride before our survival. This time, us older Cultivators must become active."

Then, the Ancestor turned to the three Mid Major Circulation Immortal Emperors from Underworld. "Friends, I would ask you to follow me to the frontlines."

The three of them nodded. "Humanity comes first," the bartender said.

"Well said," the Ancestor answered.

After that, the Ancestor pulled them with him as he rushed towards the frontlines, including the Sect Master.

The entire story had not been told yet, and her punishment could also not be decided yet.

After a couple of minutes, the five of them arrived at the frontlines.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

And they were greeted by several powerful beasts banging on the fortifications.

Two battlefields had been completely annihilated.

No humans had survived.

Everyone’s heart sank.

The Ancestor quickly checked up on the fortification and saw that over 50,000 years of gathered resources had been used up to keep the Formation Array running.

This was not good!

"You three take the left battlefield," the Ancestor said.

The three nodded and shot away.

Meanwhile, the Ancestor’s body was surrounded by the Frost Element as he charged into the battlefield before him.

These beasts must die!

Chapter 914 - 914 – Gravis Must Die!

BOOOOOOOM!

Violent explosions of destruction swept through the entire battlefield, and thousands of beasts died.

However, the battlefield was massive, and taking care of every beast would take a while.

How did the beasts react to these violent explosions?

They continued attacking!

The mission of these beasts was to damage humanity as much as possible, and they had long come to terms that they would not return alive.

They were beasts in the Immortal King Realm, but they also had the weakest Battle-Strength. Their Realm was powerful enough to severely drain the fortifications, but they wouldn’t have a future in this world.

These beasts were willing to sacrifice their life to create a brighter future for their side.

Beasts didn’t have any feelings of familial love, but they had fierce loyalty towards their tribe and organization.

The Ancestor needed nearly a full minute to clear the battlefield, but in the end, nearly a million beasts had died.

However, this was not a victory in the Ancestor’s mind.

He had noticed that the Battle-Strength of these beasts was horrible.

But he still killed so many beasts! That would at least count for something, right?

Sadly, no.

In fact, it was even worse than nothing.

There were always weaker members amongst humans and beasts, and what was the destiny of these weaker members?

To serve as tempering for their enemy.

By killing so many untalented beasts, the Ancestor had consumed a gigantic source of tempering for the humans. The average Battle-Strength of the beasts had increased, which meant that it would be difficult for weaker Cultivators to temper themselves. This meant that the death ratio of humanity would rise since the average enemy was now more powerful than before.

Beasts and humans with weaker Battle-Strength were a liability. They only served to make the opponent stronger.

However, one couldn’t just kill the weak members of their tribe. If they did, their unity would be broken.

It was imperative to give everyone a chance to become more powerful.

Today, the beasts had won.

They had consumed a ton of resources from the human side, but that wasn’t their biggest victory.

Their biggest victory was the fact that the beasts had eradicated two entire battlefields of talented youngsters. Among these talented youngsters, there had at least been 20 future Immortal Emperors.

Sadly, these geniuses would now never have the chance to grow.

All of these youngsters had been from the Nine Elements Sect, which meant that the future power of the Nine Elements Sect would now be compromised.

In the next 300,000 years, the number of Immortal Emperors in the Nine Elements Sect would reduce by quite a bit.

The Ancestor sighed as he realized all of this.

’The agent of the beasts has accomplished his mission.’

The Ancestor met up with the three people from Underworld, who had also cleared the battlefield.

They had also realized the problem.

After that, everyone returned to their previous spot, where Herius and the two Ascenders were still waiting.

The Ancestor reported everything to Herius, and Herius grimaced.

This wasn’t good!

They now had to find a way to pull in even more talented, unaffiliated Cultivators to supplement their ranks.

Yet, that would cost resources, and it was also the Nine Elements Sect’s duty to refill the used up resources of their two battlefields on the frontlines.

They simply didn’t have the resources!

The Sect Master’s decisions had crippled the Nine Elements Sect.

They had lost over ten Early Major Circulation Immortal Emperors.

They had lost an Ascender.

They had lost over 20% of their talented youngsters.

They had lost an insane amount of resources.

All of these things were the result of the Sect Master’s decisions.

Everyone was silent.

"We will encourage more of our agents to help in the frontlines," the bartender suddenly said.

The Ancestor and Herius looked with surprise at him.

"We are all humans," the bartender said, "and even if we often don’t see eye to eye, humanity must be secure. If humanity doesn’t exist, Underworld doesn’t exist. Therefore, we will extend a helping hand."

The Ancestor bowed politely. "I thank you deeply. Right now, the Nine Elements Sect is not in the position to decline such an offer."

The bartender nodded.

At the side, Herius’ eyes shone with awe as he looked at the Ancestor.

The Ancestor had arrived when Underworld and the Nine Elements Sect were in an all-out war.

Yet, in just some mere minutes, the Ancestor not only managed to stop the war without any bad feelings, but he had also secured the help of Underworld.

That was an insane turnaround!

"Herius, please continue the story," the Ancestor said.

"Yes, Ancestor," Herius said with deep respect.

Herius continued with his tale.

When Herius arrived at the time when the Holy Son Candidate of the All-Matter Sect had been killed, everyone was already beyond shocked.

What kind of insane Battle-Strength was this?

He had killed a Holy-Son Candidate in a single strike while being at a two-level disadvantage!?

Was something like that even in the realm of possible!?

When the three people from Underworld heard about how Gravis escaped, they finally understood why the Nine Elements Sect had thought that he came from Underworld.

Yet, the Nine Elements Sect’s actions had still been too drastic. They should have negotiated with Underworld, not directly declare war on them.

That was on the Sect Master.

The fact that the other Vice-Sect Master had been a spy from Underworld was overlooked.

Most humans would act like this was an affront to them while conveniently forgetting that they also had spies in someone else’s territory.

However, to the gathered people, the existence of a spy was not of relevance right now.

"And that’s when I contacted Niran," Herius said, looking at one of the Ascenders, "and he told me that he would contact you, Ancestor."

The Ancestor nodded. "This time, luck has blessed us," he said. "Niran had, perchance, arrived to learn a Law that I was currently comprehending. That was about 350 years ago. If Niran hadn’t been in the same Law Comprehension Area as me, he couldn’t have reached me."

350 years ago?

If Gravis were here, he would notice that this was around the time when he had decided to take part in the tournament.

What a convenient coincidence, right?

Herius finished his tale, and everyone had to release a collective sigh.

The misunderstanding this time had been severe and had run deep.

The Nine Elements Sect had been weakened severely.

Humanity became weaker.

"Does anyone know the name of this beast?" the Ancestor asked.

Silence.

"No one knows his name?" the Ancestor asked with surprise.

They had all interacted with Gravis so much, but no one knew his name?

That was quite surprising!

The Ancestor sighed again.

"I must speak with the Highest Commander," the Ancestor said.

The others thought that this was only natural.

This was not a simple situation.

Who was the Highest Commander?

The Highest Commander was the Cultivator that had been appointed by the Human Alliance as the commander over the entire human frontline.

One could call him the leader of humanity, but that was not entirely correct. He had full control over the frontlines, and with it, control over the most powerful force of humanity, but he wasn’t allowed to involve himself in Sect politics as long as he didn’t have the agreement of the Sects.

"Please wait here," the Ancestor said. "I will return shortly."

After that, the Ancestor left with the suppressed Sect Master in tow.

She had never gotten the chance to utter even a single word.

An hour passed.

Then, the Ancestor returned.

Alone.

Herius, the two Ascenders, and the three people of Underworld looked at the Ancestor.

They wanted to know the result of the conversation with the Highest Commander.

"I have three pieces of news," the Ancestor said.

"First of all, Underworld’s help in the frontlines is accepted and appreciated. The members of Underworld will not be prosecuted for the next 300,000 years at the frontlines."

The bartender’s eyes shone.

Underworld was seen as a half-enemy to humanity, which meant that every member of Underworld would be killed on the frontlines.

When the bartender offered to help with the frontlines, he didn’t mean that they would openly send a force.

No, he meant that they would increase the rewards for missions on the frontlines so that more unaffiliated Cultivators would join.

However, that was no longer a problem.

For the next 300,000 years, Underworld could openly support the frontlines.

That was great news for Underworld!

Everyone wanted to temper themselves on the frontlines since it was by far the best place for tempering.

An insane number of members from Underworld would flock to this opportunity to temper themselves in the frontlines!

"Second, the previous Sect Master of the Nine Elements Sect has been enslaved by a Slave Ring," the Ancestor said with a heavy sigh. Even if his niece had fucked up big time, she was still his niece.

"She will serve the rest of her natural life on the frontlines of humanity."

"It was either that or death."

Everyone present nodded.

That was a fair punishment.

"Third, by contacting the Life Sect, we have finally found out the details of this beast that started all of this," the Ancestor said.

"He is a previous Ascender called Gravis, and he has appeared in a small territory to the north. The Life Sect had believed him to think of himself as a human, but they had been mistaken."

"This beast called Gravis is now marked as a threatening enemy of humanity."

"The frontlines and all the Peak Sects must use their full power to destroy him as soon as he appears anywhere in the world."

"It is the duty of every human in this world to kill Gravis."

"Gravis must die!"

Chapter 915 - 915 – Going East

Stella was still in shock as she watched the gigantic network of roots right in front of her.

This was a plant, right?

Yet, how powerful did a plant have to be to kill an Ascender this easily!?

This plant even had to be more powerful than a normal Ancestor, which was crazy.

She had no idea that the beasts had someone with such an insane power.

She was even more shocked that Gravis actually knew that plant. How could Gravis even build a connection with such a powerful plant?

They had nothing in common, and there was a massive gap in power. According to her understanding, beasts and plants generally didn’t talk with beings much weaker than them.

"This is Narcissus," Gravis said to Stella with a smile as he introduced the root network. "He keeps watch over the underground of the beast territory."

"He keeps watch over everything?" Stella asked.

"The underground, yes. He has quite a sizable body," Gravis said with a nod.

"Wait, so you mean like, everything everything?" she asked.

Gravis nodded.

Stella’s eyes widened.

A plant could become this huge?

No wonder no human ever returned from an underground excursion to the beast territory. They had to pass through this ridiculously powerful being!

"Anyway," Gravis said. "For now, we are out of danger. I think it would be better to talk to Liam for a while. You two probably hadn’t had enough time to chat with each other openly in the Nine Elements Sect. You can also come to some decisions on how to continue on from here."

"Gravis," Stella said with a worried voice.

"That can wait," Gravis said, interrupting her. "Talk to Liam for now. We can talk about everything else when I brought you all far away from here."

Stella still seemed like she wanted to say something, but she also understood that Gravis had a point. So, in the end, she nodded and entered the Life Ring.

Liam was probably dying to know what was currently going on. He was probably still under the assumption that they were fleeing from the Nine Elements Sect.

Gravis put the Life Ring away and traveled towards the east, along the root network.

Whoop!

However, Mortis suddenly appeared beside him.

"You’re quite worried," Mortis commented.

Gravis laughed bitterly and nodded. "How couldn’t I be? The person I want to be with for the rest of my life still hasn’t made her stance clear. I don’t know if we will ever talk to each other again after this."

"Right now, I’m on the cusp of losing someone I love dearly, and I’m more than worried. I don’t want to lose Stella, but I also don’t want to force her to stay with me. It’s her decision."

"How troublesome," Mortis said with a sarcastic voice. "All of this is needlessly complicated. That’s also why I prefer Joyce. According to what I have seen and heard, I only need to be more powerful than Joyce to secure a relationship with her. That’s far easier."

"You are you, and I am I," Gravis said. "We are no longer the same person that shares the same Spirit. I prefer Stella."

"Hm," Mortis uttered, unimpressed. "That’s not the reason why I came out anyway. Since my other body is still imprisoned, I’ll take this time to finish the Soft Pure Law. You don’t need the power of your Avatar in the near future, which gives me more time to comprehend Laws."

"However, I don’t want you to slack off if Stella decides to be with you," Mortis said in a slightly threatening tone. "Currently, I’m the only one working on our Battle-Strength, while you’ve been busy saving your little princess. I don’t want you to spend the next thousands of years just being all lovey-dovey with her."

"I hate carrying dead weight," Mortis said coldly.

"Dead weight, huh?" Gravis said with a smirk. "I wonder, what would happen if I used Samsara on you? Not even I am certain if I can resist its effects, but you will be under the additional effects of the Shadow’s Illusion Law and the Deep Wood’s Destruction Law."

Mortis narrowed his eyes at Gravis.

Gravis only smirked.

"Don’t call me dead weight when my Battle-Strength is currently more powerful than yours."

"Is such a double-edged attack like Samsara something you can truly add to your Battle-Strength?" Mortis asked emotionlessly.

"I don’t know, can I?" Gravis asked with a smirk.

Both of them thought about how a fight would go between them.

The result was...

Complicated.

Far too complicated.

The fight would be so immensely complex with so many thoughts to consider.

Gravis was immune to lightning, which was Mortis’ most powerful weapon, but Mortis could also stop Gravis from using Divine Lightning. Even more, Mortis could attack Gravis’ Spirit with Divine Lightning.

Then, there was the thought of Samsara and their Will-Auras. Both of them could also suppress the other with the several different Laws of Frost, Storm, and Graphite.

Neither Gravis nor Mortis had any clue of how a fight between them would go.

There were too many connections and counters between them.

It was a complete unknown.

"Fine," Mortis said after some seconds. "I won’t call you dead weight for the time being, but I still want you to get back to comprehending Laws in the near future."

"I was planning on doing that anyway," Gravis said. "We currently only know two level five Laws, which is not nearly enough for our Realm. There are probably even Holy Sons and Holy Daughters that know two level five Laws. For the first time in a long while, the powers of our Laws are at the cusp of being weaker than our opponents. We can’t have that."

"Good," Mortis said with a nod.

SHING!

Mortis teleported away without another word.

He wanted to get back to comprehending the Soft Pure Law.

While Gravis was traveling towards the east, the Nine Elements Sect and Underworld were dealing with each other.

Sadly, Gravis had no way of knowing of what was actually happening.

No one was around to ask except for Narcissus, and Narcissus also wouldn’t know.

Gravis also couldn’t just come out and ask around. After all, it could be that powerful Immortal Emperors were constantly keeping watch over the borders, just waiting for Gravis to appear. Even with his Law of Perceived Reality, he couldn’t hide from such scrutinizing eyes.

It would also be a risk for Stella to scout for information. She was probably also being hunted by the whole world right now.

Mortis didn’t care.

That only left Liam, but that could wait.

It wasn’t even certain if Stella and Liam would stay with him. Gravis didn’t care about Liam, but he knew that wherever Stella would go, Liam would follow.

Moving underground was far harder than just teleporting above the ground. After all, Gravis’ Spirit Sense was severely blocked by all the forces in the earth.

Gravis traveled for many days.

Neither Liam nor Stella had tried to contact him during this time. If they wanted, they could leave the Life Ring.

Gravis guessed that the two of them were probably fiercely discussing their future plans.

After around twelve days, Gravis stopped.

His brows furrowed as his Spirit noticed something just two kilometers in front of him.

It was water.

A lot of water.

’Seems like I’ve arrived at the northeastern river that separates the northern continent from the eastern one,’ Gravis thought.

’This place should be far enough from the Nine Elements Sect.’

CRRRR!

Gravis used his Spirit to create an open space in the underground.

Then, he retrieved his Life Ring nervously.

’Well, now’s a good time.’

’I wonder what Stella’s decision is.’

Chapter 916 - 916 – Secrets And Risk

Gravis’ Spirit Sense encompassed the Life Ring, showing to Stella and Liam that he was currently in there.

Stella and Liam were currently just sitting in front of each other, probably talking with voice transmissions.

"We should be safe," Gravis said. "I’m just in front of the northeastern river. Whatever happens outside shouldn’t include this region."

"We’ll come out in a second," Stella said. Then, she looked at Liam with a knowing look and nodded.

Liam nodded back.

After that, both of them left the Life Ring and appeared in the small underground room.

This far down, the temperature and gravity were still far more powerful than on the surface, but Gravis wasn’t so deep down that they couldn’t resist.

It was just a bit uncomfortable for them.

Gravis sat at one side while Liam and Stella sat on the other side, side-by-side.

For some seconds, everyone only looked at each other.

Then, Stella sighed.

Gravis’ heart began racing.

"Gravis," she said slowly. "I need to know everything about you."

Liam nodded on the side.

"I know that you have saved both of us, and we are immensely grateful, but there are too many unknowns about you," Stella said. "For example, you know this powerful plant, which brings up several questions about your affiliation with the beasts."

"You also have a beast body, and we don’t know where you got it from."

"I know that you trust me, but I want you to also trust Liam," Stella said as she gestured to Liam. "Liam is my closest person, and I don’t want to keep secrets from him."

"If you want us to stay in contact, you need to trust my brother too," Stella finished.

Gravis closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Trusting Stella was easy, but trusting Liam?

Difficult.

Liam and Gravis weren’t close, and if he told the humans Gravis’ secrets, it would become very dangerous.

Maybe even people from Arc’s clearing would want to target him.

After all, Gravis knew a lot about the highest world, which was the next world that every Ascender would go to.

They would want to know everything about the highest world, and they would also want to know the secrets of the highest world.

Some people might even believe that Gravis had things from the highest world with him, and that was actually the case.

Even more, they would know that Gravis could make World Weapons, which would put an even bigger target on Gravis’ back.

Maybe a powerful Ascender or Ancestor of the All-Matter Sect would want to kill him.

Maybe some other Sect coveted Gravis’ World Weapon to sell it.

Maybe even the beasts would become interested.

In that case, Gravis could go nowhere in this world.

Telling Liam everything would put Gravis in a lot of danger.

Sure, maybe Liam would keep everything a secret, but what if Stella accidentally died?

What then?

Would Liam still keep Gravis’ secrets?

Maybe he would fault Gravis for Stella’s death, and unveiling all his secrets would be the best way to take revenge.

It was risky.

Gravis waited for some seconds as he deliberated.

He also looked at Stella during this time, but he couldn’t read her thoughts.

Was Gravis willing to take such a risk for a chance to be with Stella?

Was he willing to put his life on the line for her?

’What is there even to think about?’ Gravis thought suddenly.

’Haven’t I already put my life on the line?’

’Haven’t I already probably offended the entire world?’

Gravis took another deep breath.

"Fine," Gravis said. "I will share everything with you two."

Stella’s expression relaxed. She knew that someone like Gravis probably had world-shaking secrets. Otherwise, his Battle-Strength wouldn’t be so powerful.

The fact that Gravis was willing to share these secrets also with Liam showed how important she was to him, and she appreciated it.

Liam only furrowed his brows.

"I will not tell anyone else of your secrets," Liam said. "Even if we two don’t see eye-to-eye, I want my sister to be happy. I might betray your trust, but I won’t betray my sister’s trust."

Stella put a hand on Liam’s shoulder.

She knew that Liam disliked Gravis immensely. However, for her, he was willing to work together with Gravis.

That was also not something easy to do.

Both of them were making sacrifices for Stella, and she felt happy. She also felt a bit guilty, but she knew that there was basically no other way.

It was impossible to like everyone.

Stella and Liam turned to Gravis.

Gravis nodded.

"I was born in the highest world, which is the world above this one..."

The first sentence was already a shock to Stella and Liam.

The highest world?

Gravis was from an even higher world?

Gravis told them about his life in the highest world and about his background.

One shock after the other hit Stella and Liam.

Gravis’ background was as powerful as it got!

However, the more Gravis told his story, the less believable it seemed.

A person that could fight the most powerful Heaven?

As Gravis told his story, Liam and Stella became skeptical.

Was Gravis really telling the truth?

However, they didn’t interrupt him. No matter how unbelievable his story was, they wanted to hear the entire thing.

Even if it was fiction, it was still interesting to hear about it.

Another thing that made them doubt Gravis’ words was when Gravis told them about his Elemental Synchronicity.

Gravis hadn’t shown that ability before.

Did he truly have this ability?

After that came Gravis’ tale of the lower world.

While listening to Gravis’ experiences in the lower world, even Liam felt bad for him.

Not being able to get close to anyone while being surrounded by good people.

It was depressing.

However, this also made Gravis’ story even more unbelievable. After all, wasn’t he intending to come close to Stella?

Then, did he intend to kill Stella by being close to her?

It made no sense.

When Gravis told them about Gorn’s death, they felt even worse for him.

Accidentally killing the only person close to oneself was one of the most horrible things one could go through.

Just the guilt alone might kill someone.

The next surprising part was Wendy’s death at Gravis’ hands.

Gravis had to choose between power and going against his own will and emotions. He didn’t want to kill Wendy, but he had to.

This was an intense conflict that obviously left scars in Gravis’ mindset back then. He might have recovered by now, but Stella and Liam knew exactly how something like that could affect someone.

After all, they had lived for over 100,000 years.

They knew that there was a high chance that Gravis would suppress his emotions. He had felt too many horrible feelings in too short of an amount of time. A teenager couldn’t get through these experienced without being changed severely.

And, sure enough, they noticed that the Gravis in the story became colder and colder. He became cold, bitter, cynical, and emotionless.

However, the biggest surprise came when Gravis told them that his Spirit had been adapted to Destruction Lightning instead of Energy.

How was something like that even possible!?

It made no sense!

They both knew a ton of Laws, and they knew how a Spirit worked.

They also knew that the Elements had temperaments. The only reason why Cultivators could adapt their Spirits to Energy was that Energy was basically devoid of any temperament. It adapted to any situation, always cooperating.

Destruction Lightning would fill Gravis’ mind with a different temperament and will.

Someone couldn’t survive that.

Not even they could do that, and they were Peak Immortal Kings.

They wouldn’t even know how to combine lightning with a Spirit.

It just wasn’t possible.

It was against the very Laws and principles of the world!

That was the first time Stella interrupted Gravis.

"You should know that we can’t believe something like that," she said with furrowed brows.

"I know," Gravis said. By now, he also knew far more about the world than back then, and he also realized that something like this should be absolutely impossible.

"I can prove it," Gravis said.

"How?" Liam asked.

"Summon some Punishment Lightning," Gravis said.

Liam furrowed his brows, but he did so.

A small ball of Punishment Lightning appeared on his hand.

BZZ!

Stella’s and Liam’s eyes widened as the ball flew over to Gravis.

Liam had lost control over his lightning!

"You can summon more if you want," Gravis said.

Liam did just that and used up 50% of his Energy to create Punishment Lightning.

BZZ!

And that bolt also flew over to Gravis.

After that, both bolts entered Gravis.

It was like they had vanished into nothingness.

One should never forget that it was impossible to absorb such a destructive Element as Punishment Lightning. It would immediately explode if it hit a Cultivator’s body, even if that Cultivator had summoned the lightning.

It was no longer in the form of Energy, which made it unabsorbable.

"But that’s impossible!" Liam shouted in absolute shock.

"You can test me however you want," Gravis said. "You can also use a Weapon Technique with lightning. Nothing will change."

Liam shook his head violently while Stella only watched without being able to react.

This was too shocking.

A wheel appeared in front of Liam, the Weapon Technique of the Nine Elements Sect.

Liam touched the violet orb in the wheel, and a powerful bolt of Punishment Lightning appeared.

After that, Liam infused his sword with the bolt and aimed at Gravis’ arm.

Gravis stretched out his arm for him.

Then, Liam struck.

Clank!

Liam obviously didn’t strike with his full power, which meant that his physical power wasn’t enough to get through Gravis’ powerful defense.

However, the most shocking thing was that the lightning didn’t explode.,

It just... vanished.

"Ho-How?" Liam asked in shock.

He couldn’t wrap his head around what he was seeing.

"Now, can I continue?" Gravis asked.

Liam and Stella still needed time to recover.

All of this was reality-bending.

It was like one walked through a field, and a random apple from an apple tree fell towards the sky.

It wasn’t possible.

This had been the most unbelievable part of Gravis’ story, and Gravis had just proven that he hadn’t lied.

This meant that the other parts of his story were most likely also authentic.

Liam and Stella quickly evaluated the earlier parts of the story with more seriousness.

If that was true, then the person in front of them was the son of one of the two most powerful beings in existence.

Ancestors didn’t even count as ants.

Gravis saw that the two of them had recovered and nodded.

"I noticed that Aion was still close to me, and I reached out to him..."

Gravis’ story continued.

Chapter 917 - 917 – Middle World

Gravis continued, and when he told them how he had lost his Elemental Synchronicity, another mystery made sense.

They had never seen this ability on Gravis, which had confused them.

So, it was because he had lost it after adapting to lightning.

Was that worth it?

Both, Stella and Liam, thought that it wasn’t worth it.

Such an ability would make it so much easier to comprehend Laws.

Nothing much of note happened until Gravis talked about the Heaven’s Trial in the lower world.

Gravis’ description of what a Heaven’s Trial was fit perfectly to some of the Nine Elements Sect’s secret areas.

A lot of people died while entering them, but the ones that survived became far more powerful.

So, it was to refine several Cultivators into a smaller batch of more powerful Cultivators.

When they heard about Gravis’ trials, they could really feel how petty this lower Heaven was.

Then, Gravis told them about the promise between him and Joyce.

Liam furrowed his brows while Stella felt nervous.

As far as they knew, Gravis wasn’t someone that broke promises easily.

So, why was he chasing Stella?

"Just wait until I’m done. That promise has resolved itself," Gravis said.

The next surprising thing was the fact that Gravis’ Energy and Spirit had been pushed too far.

Stella and Liam knew what this meant.

Even if Gravis achieved Unity, Nascent Nourishing would be incredibly difficult to reach. On top of that, to become an Immortal, one needed to have everything on the same level.

It should be impossible for Gravis to reach the Immortal Realm like this.

However, Liam noticed something.

Didn’t Gravis have a beast body?

He had completely forgotten about that while listening to him.

Yet, Liam wanted to let Gravis finish his tale.

The next surprising thing was Gravis’ fight with the lower Heaven.

By now, none of them believed that it had been a mistake to throw away his Elemental Synchronicity.

That lower Heaven knew Punishment Lightning!

That’s a level three Law!

How could anyone in the Unity Realm survive against that without a severe Realm advantage?

If Gravis had kept his Elemental Synchronicity, he would have died against the lower Heaven.

Now, Stella and Liam could also put a face to this omnipresent and omnipotent concept of Heaven.

So, it was also just a being like everyone else.

When Gravis told them that his father told him to enter a natural world to get a beast body, everything made sense.

That’s why Gravis said that he was a human, even though he had a beast body!

He truly was a human.

He only entered a beast body to fix the issue with his weak physical strength.

When they heard that Gravis entered the body of an electric eel, they had to chuckle.

It was too ironic.

Then, Gravis told them how he had achieved a lightning body and what abilities he had received.

Gravis demonstrated his ability to create another one of himself, shocking the two of them even more.

How did that even work?

Gravis continued his story, and the next pause appeared when he told them about the requirement to reach the Nascent Nourishing Realm in a natural world.

Silence.

That was horrible!

Did this mean that Gravis was supposed to have sex with a beast and father children?

For a human, such a thought was terrifying.

Eventually, Gravis told them about his children.

It was difficult for Stella to wrap her head around the fact that Gravis had three beasts as children.

It was surreal.

Stella asked several questions about Gravis’ children, and he answered them.

Gravis loved his children dearly, and that hadn’t changed one bit.

Even if they were worlds apart right now, they were still his children, and he loved them dearly.

It was difficult for Stella to accept that, but there had been no other choice.

If he had been forced to have children, loving and supporting them was the least he could do.

For a long time, no big surprises appeared.

The next surprising thing was Gravis’ effect on the Ultimates of the middle world.

He had only been at the Nascent Nourishing Realm, but he had influenced the peak powers of this world.

This sounded familiar to the two of them.

Hadn’t Gravis also influenced the Nine Elements Sect severely while only being an Immortal King?

By now, Stella and Liam also saw how Gravis had reached such a ridiculous Battle-Strength.

Not only had he pushed his Will-Aura to ridiculous levels each time, but he also had an Energy, Spirit, and physical body advantage over basically everyone. There were some treasures to increase these centers of power, but they were expensive.

Stella had received a lot of them, which made all of her centers of power be one level higher than basically everyone else’s.

Just Gravis’ Energy, Spirit, and body already put his Battle-Strength one level higher.

Then came Gravis’ affinity towards lightning and his scales. They also increased his power by another level.

The remaining three level jumps were made up of Laws, Will-Aura, and creativity.

By putting it like this, it sounded far easier than it actually was.

A ton of Gravis’ fights were basically just suicide.

Tempering was one thing, but Gravis had gone into fights that were just ridiculously dangerous.

Then came Gravis’ fight against the middle Heaven.

When they heard about the power of the middle Heaven, they became severely shocked.

Its Battle-Strength was insane!

Even more, it had Divine Lightning, a level six Law!

Knowing a level six Law as an Early Minor Circulation Immortal was beyond ridiculous.

When Gravis told them about his sacrifices, they felt for him.

This had truly been the lowest point in his life.

And that was when he comprehended the Law of Freedom.

Stella knew how difficult it was to comprehend the Law of Freedom. Gravis had guided her towards it, but Gravis had comprehended it all on his own.

Gravis had experienced the peak of suppression and managed to come out of it.

Stella had gone through something horrible to comprehend freedom, but her situation couldn’t be compared to Gravis’.

If put into Gravis’ situation, Stella would have effectively handed over the life of her teacher and her brother.

It was a terrifying thought.

Stella and Liam also finally got to know what one needed to comprehend to reach the peak.

The Law of the Dead World, the Law of Life, the Law of Emotions, the Law of Perceived Reality.

All of these Laws were unknown in the world.

The All-Matter Sect might know the Law of the Dead World, but the other three were completely unknown.

The Nine Elements Sect believed that the Elemental Laws stopped at the Major Mixed Elemental Law.

Then, a new tier of Elemental Laws appeared.

However, who would have thought that the Mixed Elemental Law could be combined with the Law of Primordial Force and the Law of Matter to create an even more powerful Law?

And then there were the other three Laws.

There truly was a long way to go.

When Liam heard that Gravis chose the Law of Freedom over the Law of the Dead World as his Avatar, he found it stupid.

Gravis had passed such a powerful Law.

Yet, Stella agreed.

Liam didn’t know the Law of Freedom, but Stella knew it.

As soon as one achieved freedom, one wouldn’t want to give it away anymore.

Then came Gravis’ return to the highest world and his break.

When Gravis told them about World Weapons, their eyes widened in recognition.

They knew that some powerful Ascenders and Ancestors had peculiar weapons that were worth as much as an entire High-Rank Sect.

So these were World Weapons!

And Gravis could make these?

Liam and Stella immediately became interested.

Chapter 918 - 918 – Finished Tale

Gravis told them how to make World Weapons and that it required the Law of the Dead World.

This surprised the two of them.

They weren’t surprised that it needed the Law but that this meant that the All-Matter Sect knew about the existence of this Law without telling the other Peak Sects.

Something like this should be public knowledge for the entirety of humanity!

They could outfit all the humans with World Weapons!

After all, comprehending the Law wasn’t difficult for them. They were Immortal Kings, and they already knew level five Laws. Learning a level four Law wasn’t that hard.

Even Stella had the necessary Laws to comprehend the Law of the Dead World right now.

She just didn’t comprehend it because she hadn’t known that it even existed!

When Gravis told them about how much money he made, they took sharp breaths through their teeth.

Gravis made nearly 200 million Immortal Stones in only a hundred years as an Early Minor Circulation Immortal?

That was a terrifying speed of money, even for their standards!

A new Peak Immortal King "only" needed one billion Immortal Stones to become an Immortal Emperor.

This meant, if Gravis had worked for 500 years as an Early Minor Circulation Immortal, he could have earned enough to become an Immortal Emperor after reaching the Peak Immortal King Realm.

Even more, if he had worked for 700 years, he would have earned enough to reach the Immortal Emperor Realm from the Early Minor Circulation Immortal Realm.

Just imagine!

Working for only 700 years as an Early Minor Circulation Immortal to earn enough to become an Immortal Emperor.

That was insane!

That was when Gravis told them about the Virtualization Arrays.

The concept of a Virtualization Array was eye-opening to Stella and Liam.

A portable Law Comprehension Area that one could activate in their room, and it was even better than a natural Law Comprehension Area?

That was ridiculously useful!

However, when they heard about the prices, they took another sharp breath.

Expensive!

Truly expensive!

Level three Laws already cost 10 million Immortal Stones for only a hundred years.

Level four Laws would cost 100 million Immortal Stones for only a hundred years.

Level five Laws?

One billion!

Just renting a Virtualization Array for a level five Law for one hundred years could create an Immortal Emperor.

And how long did it take to comprehend a level five Law?

Long!

If these Virtualization Arrays existed in this world, and if Stella were still the Holy Maiden, the Nine Elements Sect still wouldn’t dare to give her access to something like that.

It was simply far too expensive!

The Nine Elements Sect could probably create at least two Major Circulation Immortal Emperors for the money it would have taken to fully teach Stella a level five Law via Virtualization Array.

It was definitely not worth the money!

Gravis continued his story, and when he came to Jake and how he had hit on Yersi, Stella found it cute and giggled.

Stella had never met Yersi, but she already liked her just from what Gravis had said about her.

Yersi’s personality truly sounded cute in Stella’s mind.

However, it was still shocking to know that Gravis basically had an insanely powerful Immortal Emperor as a son-in-law.

The appearance of the Black Magnate was also surprising.

However, it was also depressing.

When one understood everything, nothing was new anymore, and when one could do everything, nothing had value anymore.

Only when one could lose something did it truly have any value.

Stella and Liam had learned a lot from Gravis’ story, but this was something that they might have wished they hadn’t learned.

Knowing that one’s goal would only lead to nothingness was more than depressing.

The very thing everyone strived for ended in the loss of happiness.

Everyone believed that power equaled happiness, but that was only true to some extent.

Supreme power led to nothingness.

This gave Stella and Liam a lot to think about, and Gravis had to pause his narration.

The Black Magnate’s words had hit them hard.

Stella and Liam had chased power without thinking about it. Being powerful meant safety and freedom, which meant happiness.

However, being supremely powerful also seemingly made it impossible to feel happiness.

A week passed.

Stella and Liam were only thinking, but no matter how much they thought, it only appeared worse.

That was until Stella realized that she could simply set a new goal.

She managed to realize this thanks to her Law of Freedom and thanks to what Gravis had said about his mother.

Gravis’ mother was still able to feel happy, right?

So, it wasn’t impossible after all!

They simply had to change their goal.

Sadly, changing one’s life goal wasn’t easy at all.

One could compare it to being in a bad relationship. One loved their partner very much but being with their partner was also horrible.

One knew that one had to leave.

Yet, it was so difficult.

The love was still there.

Telling someone to simply change their life goal after hearing the Black Magnate’s words was like telling the person in the bad relationship to just stop loving the other person.

It wasn’t that simple!

After a week, Liam and Stella knew the theoretical answer, but putting it into practice was difficult.

Something like that couldn’t be achieved in a single week.

Gravis had managed to change his goal pretty quickly back then, thanks to his mindset.

He had chased power for a while, but that had stopped in the middle world.

He had chased happiness all the time, and that hadn’t changed.

Happiness and freedom had always been higher on his priority list than power.

That was why the Black Magnate’s words hadn’t hit him as hard.

After the week was up, Gravis continued his narration.

After a couple more minutes of explaining, Gravis told them that he couldn’t unveil the full contents of the conversation between his father and the highest Heaven.

He told them that he wanted to tell them but couldn’t. Because, if he did, all three of them would die at the highest Heaven’s hand since this secret touched the greatest taboo of the highest Heaven.

Gravis was only able to know because of his father.

Gravis could only tell them that it had something to do with Cultivation at the highest level, but even while vaguely describing it in this way, Gravis felt a feeling of danger.

Any wrong step on the topic of the Brand and Gravis would be killed.

Yet, surprisingly, Stella and Liam also felt an apocalyptic feeling of danger.

They had never felt anything even remotely this intense!

It was like the entire world was about to be destroyed!

It was like the very universe concentrated all of its senses on the three of them and threatening them!

This was a sign from the highest Heaven.

If it wanted its intents to remain secret, nobody would be able to feel this feeling of danger.

The highest Heaven was releasing this feeling of danger on purpose.

"Do not look into this topic!" was what this feeling was telling them.

"Stop!" Stella said with a white face. "Stop talking about it! Please!"

The feeling of foreboding and danger was just too intense.

For Gravis, it was normal to be under the thumb of the highest Heaven, but this was something new to Stella and Liam.

This feeling of pressure was far too much!

"Now you know why I can’t tell you this particular secret," Gravis explained.

"Yes, it’s fine!" Stella said quickly and nervously.

Even if they hadn’t believed Gravis up to this point, this apocalyptic feeling of danger couldn’t be faked.

It was out of this world!

It was unreal!

"This is the most taboo subject in existence, and you must not look into this, even in your thoughts or on your own," Gravis warned.

"Yes, I won’t!" Stella said with panic.

Liam also made it very clear that he wouldn’t even think about it.

They had to forget it!

They had to forget that it even existed!

After this huge shock, Gravis continued with the remainder of his story.

By now, Stella also knew what problem Gravis was referring to back then.

Gravis had said that there was a huge problem that had to be solved before he could contact Stella again.

Now, Stella knew that the problem was the Divine Lightning in Gravis’ mind.

She had no idea how Gravis had solved this problem.

It sounded unsolvable.

When Gravis came to the time when he met Stella for the first time, Stella found it unreal.

She could now see what Gravis had gone through before she met him.

Back then, she had thought Gravis to be insane to fight her.

However, everything was different now.

After hearing Gravis’ story, she understood that his decision was only natural.

It was normal to jump multiple levels for Gravis.

When she met that weak Immortal back then, she had had no idea how deep his power was.

He had gone through literal world-ending apocalypses.

What had she gone through?

A hard time in the Nine Elements Sect.

They couldn’t be prepared.

One was the favored child of a Peak Sect.

One was a literal world-ender.

They weren’t even close to being on the same level.

One was a powerful person.

The other was the apocalypse itself.

Gravis skipped the next parts of his story since Stella and Liam were there themselves.

Stella and Liam also heard about Arc.

Heaven was showing itself this openly in this world?

However, they also held some mixed feelings about this.

Arc sounded friendly and approachable, but Arc was bound to fight Gravis to the death eventually.

Wasn’t this also tragic?

However, a heavy silence came over the room when Gravis touched on a specific topic.

Stella was perfectly compatible with Gravis.

Stella knew the Law of Freedom, and she didn’t like being controlled.

Yet, being perfectly compatible was like they were meant for each other.

This meant that one could rationalize that it wasn’t her decision to love or like Gravis.

It was destiny.

She was supposed to feel close to him, and she had no choice in that matter.

It just didn’t feel real.

However, Gravis continued his story since there wasn’t much left.

Gravis told them about how he met Narcissus, and finally, Gravis came to the part with his first fight five levels above himself.

To Stella and Liam, it felt unreal that someone could jump five levels.

Yet, when they heard how Gravis ended the fight, they became nervous. Even Liam was very invested by now.

Gravis had been confronted with his problem.

When Gravis told them how he had solved the issue, their eyes widened.

Wait, there was a second, different Gravis in this world?

Finally, Stella and Liam also heard about how the promise with Joyce had been resolved and felt that it was resolved adequately.

One could say this was the best resolution possible.

"And that’s when I came to get you," Gravis said to Stella, ending his tale.

It had been a long one.

"So," Gravis said after some seconds. "Now that you know, do you want to go to Arc’s clearing?" Gravis asked.

"I think it would be better to talk there."

Stella and Liam looked at each other in wonder.

It was one thing to hear about such a powerful being like Heaven and hearing about its place of residence, but it was something completely different from actually going there and meeting them!

They now had the chance to meet one of these peak beings from Gravis’ fantastical tale.

Stella looked back and nodded.

SHING! SHING!

Suddenly, two emblems appeared in front of Liam and Stella out of nowhere.

They looked with surprise at them.

They obviously didn’t come from Gravis since they hadn’t felt his Spirit move.

"I knew that you were watching, Arc," Gravis said with a smile. Then, Gravis pointed at the emblems. "Arc just sent them to you. It means he is fine with you coming to him."

"Even if there is no place left in the world where you can go to, you will still be welcome in Arc’s clearing."

Stella and Liam still looked in wonder at the emblems.

"Let’s go," Gravis said as he took out his own emblem. "I also told Mortis to meet you. He was annoyed that I interrupted his Law Comprehension, but he knows that it’s important to me for you to meet him."

"Don’t take it personally if Mortis is a bit direct with his choice of words."

Stella and Liam looked at each other again.

SHING!

Gravis broke the emblem.

After that, Liam and Stella also broke their emblems nervously.

They were about to meet the most powerful being in this world.

Everyone would be nervous.

Chapter 919 - 919 – Meeting Heaven

The three of them arrived in a tranquil clearing.

Stella and Liam immediately noticed the powerful concentration of Energy in the atmosphere. It was far denser than the density of Energy in the human territory. Only the headquarters of the Peak Sects could compare thanks to all their Formation Arrays that gathered Energy.

Stella and Liam also noticed several beasts and humans talking to each other just a couple of kilometers away.

In this clearing, there was no difference between humans and beasts.

Everyone was just getting along as friends.

After fighting beasts for their entire lives, Stella and Liam found this surreal and strange.

The perception of having a mortal enemy didn’t exist in this clearing.

However, their Spirit Senses immediately locked onto a single person.

He was bigger than average, and he had five eyes. His hair was blonde, and the world seemed to revolve around him.

Yet, one thing was different.

Gravis had told them that Arc was very friendly and kind.

So, how come they couldn’t see anything of that on him?

Right now, Arc looked with narrowed eyes at Gravis.

Gravis looked back with a raised eyebrow.

"Mortal, doth thou have any idea about the number of lives that had been ended by the hands of thine actions!?" Arc’s powerful voice reverberated in the small part of the clearing.

Liam and Stella felt the sheer power of the world gathering around Arc, and they felt that the world was angry.

Gravis had to chuckle a bit. "Why do you talk so weird?"

Arc only glared at Gravis as the atmosphere intensified.

Then, he lifted a hand and pointed at Gravis.

"Mortal, thine actions have gone against the holy decree of Heaven, and thou must pay the just price!"

Stella and Liam became confused and fearful.

Heaven was angry!

Gravis chuckled a bit.

"Daddy! Arc’s breaking his promise!" Gravis shouted like an aggrieved child.

The world immediately calmed down as the apocalyptic forces vanished into thin air.

"Dude, chill out!" Arc suddenly shouted in his normal voice as he took a step back. "It was just a prank! No need to involve your father!"

Gravis immediately broke out into loud laughter.

"Oh man, you should have seen your face," he shouted in hysterics.

Arc released a sigh but then also started to laugh loudly.

They were just messing around.

Stella and Liam were still taken aback. They hadn’t truly met Arc yet, which still made them nervous.

After all, this was Heaven!

This was the very God of this world!

Yet, right now, he appeared just like a normal teenager as he laughed with Gravis.

At that time, Stella and Liam also noticed someone else near Arc.

He also had blonde hair, and he was rather tall. However, he only had two eyes in comparison to Arc.

What was surprising was that neither Stella nor Liam could feel his power.

This meant that he was either a mortal or a powerful Immortal Emperor, and based on the aura of immortality around him, he was probably the latter.

That guy also noticed Stella and Liam, and his eyes focused on Stella.

"The Holy Maiden of the Nine Elements Sect," he commented dryly. "Who would have thought that you would ever appear here."

He shot a glance at the laughing Gravis. "Ever since he appeared, more unrelated beings have arrived in teacher’s clearing."

"The world is changing."

"If it is for the better or for worse remains to be seen."

Stella and Liam felt that the words of this man were deeply profound.

"The fuck are you talking about?" Gravis asked as he turned to him.

This was the oldest brother in the clearing.

"Don’t correlate some minor actions with a change in the world," Gravis said. "What, did you want to impress Stella with your words? Is that why you said that bullshit?"

The man looked with neutral eyes at Gravis.

"Okay, then how about the fact that your actions have resulted in the deaths of around 15 Major Circulation Immortal Emperors?" he asked.

Stella and Liam took a deep breath through their teeth.

How many!?

What had happened in the world!?

"Hey, that’s not my fault, alright?" Gravis answered with furrowed brows. "I’m only responsible for the death of one of them, which is the Ascender from the Nine Elements Sect."

The man blinked, unimpressed. "That might be true, but your presence has exacerbated the polluted mind of the Sect Master of the Nine Elements Sect."

Gravis groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Excuse me," Stella said as she approached the man. "What has happened outside?"

The man looked at Stella, and Stella felt like he was able to see through all her secrets.

At that moment, she felt his power.

Sky!

It was like the sky!

His power encompassed everything as he looked down on the world!

Stella became shocked.

That person felt just as powerful as that root network!

Yet, she didn’t know this person!

She had met nearly all of the Ancestors and Ascenders of the other Peak Sects, but she didn’t recognize this man.

However, he also felt distinctly human, which meant that he probably also was human.

"After you left," the man said, "the Sect Master killed a Vice-Sect Master for being a spy of Underworld."

Stella and Liam became shocked yet again.

It couldn’t have been Herius, which meant that it was the older Vice-Sect Master.

He was a spy!?

"After second brother killed that Ascender, the Sect Master of the Nine Elements Sect became enraged and gathered the entire Holy Guard to go to war with Underworld."

Stella gulped deeply.

That was bad!

"However, Underworld had already been warned, and eleven Holy Guards died before the Ancestor of the Nine Elements Sect became involved."

"The war ended, and with the glib tongue of the Ancestor, a cooperation between Underworld and the Nine Elements Sect had been achieved."

The man looked at Stella again. "By the way, that person that made your life so difficult in the Nine Elements Sect, the Sect Master, has been put under the effects of a Slave Ring. She will stay at the frontlines of the war against the beasts for the remainder of her natural life."

Stella looked towards the ground.

She wasn’t sure how she should feel right now.

"She deserved it!" Liam interjected with some anger. "I would have wished for her death, but I guess this is the next best option."

Stella sighed.

Liam was right, but there was also a certain feeling of loss in Stella’s heart. Of course, she didn’t mourn the loss of her cruel "aunt", but maybe the loss of the aunt she had known in the past.

In her heart, Stella still had held some hope that the kind aunt of her memories would return.

Sadly, she never did, and she never would in the future.

"All in all," the man said as he looked at Gravis. "I would say that’s a job well done."

Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "I didn’t hear any sarcasm."

"There wasn’t any," the man said. "The loss of so many talented and powerful Cultivators is bad in the short run, but good in the long run."

"The humans have become too powerful recently, making it harder for the beasts to survive. This short war weakened the humans, which should give the beasts some time to recover."

"It also means that I don’t have to get involved again," the man said.

Stella and Liam furrowed their brows.

This man was talking like he wanted the beasts to win the war.

Yet, wasn’t he human?

Shouldn’t the beasts be his enemies?

"I see your questioning gaze," the man said to Stella and Liam.

"I do not want the beasts to win the war," he said.

"I want the war to continue."

"Why?" Stella asked.

Gravis already knew the answer.

The fiercer the war, the better the Cultivators.

"Because that’s my job," he said.

"Your job?" Stella asked. "Who could give you a jo-"

And then, she looked at Arc.

Arc smiled and slightly waved at her.

"Hello~," he sang.

By now, Arc no longer appeared intimidating.

In fact, he appeared very approachable, kind, and friendly.

"Why?" Stella asked. "Why would you want the war to continue? So many more people and beasts will die."

Stella realized that she had just asked an important and powerful question.

No one alive knew why the beasts and humans even fought.

It had been like this for eons.

Now, she had asked about the origin and reason for this war.

What was the answer?

What would Heaven say?

"Because I want to help people become powerful," Arc said directly.

Silence.

"That’s it?" Stella asked.

She had thought that there would be a deeper reason.

"Well, that’s not everything," Arc said.

"It also brings some excitement into this world."

"And it’s fun to watch."

Chapter 920 - 920 – Exar

Stella thought about Arc’s answer.

Fun to watch?

That obviously wasn’t enough reason to keep this war going, but his first reason was already a pretty good one.

The war truly helped Cultivators to become more powerful.

Yet, Stella had expected more.

This reason felt a bit... simple.

Some seconds of silence passed.

"Gravis," the man said suddenly.

Gravis was a bit surprised that this illustrious senior brother wanted something from him.

"Yes?"

"Everyone in the world thinks that you are a beast, and you have been declared an enemy of humanity," the man said.

Stella felt like a heavy punch had hit her.

This was all because of her.

She knew what it meant to be the enemy of all of humanity.

Gravis could never show himself in the human territories again.

And why?

It was all because of her!

If she had been stronger, Gravis wouldn’t have needed to save her!

"Okay," Gravis said without surprise. "So?"

Stella and Liam were surprised that Gravis was taking this development so well.

However, after thinking about what they have heard from Gravis’ past, this really didn’t seem to be that bad in comparison.

"Didn’t you have some grand plan?" the man asked.

"Yes, but it seems like I can’t go through with it now," Gravis said. "It requires the cooperation of at least one Peak Sect."

"If that’s all, then you can still proceed with your plan," the man said.

Stella, Liam, and Gravis were all confused.

Didn’t this man just say that Gravis was the enemy of humanity? How would any Peak Sect dare to cooperate with him?

"And which Sect would cooperate with me now?" Gravis asked.

"My Sect," the man said.

The three of them looked with surprise at this person.

His Sect?

So, this mysterious person was part of a Peak Sect!

Stella quickly went through all the different Ancestors and Ascenders she had met in the past.

None of them fit this person.

However, there was one Peak Sect that Stella had never gone to.

"The Purist Sect," Stella said.

The man nodded.

"I’m the Ancestor of the Purist Sect," he said.

The Purist Sect.

The Purist Sect was always very isolated and xenophobic. They didn’t allow anyone to enter their territory, and they rarely talked with the other Peak Sects.

The Purist Sect nearly never involved itself with human affairs.

The other four Peak Sects wanted to get the cooperation of the Purist Sect. After all, the other four were working together very closely, while the Purist Sect only did their own thing.

Sadly, no matter what they did, the Purist Sect wouldn’t talk or cooperate with the other Peak Sects as long as it didn’t involve something of massive importance.

It even went so far that the Highest Commander of humanity didn’t control the eastern front.

The only thing that the Purist Sect did was to take care of the eastern front and both of their adjacent rivers.

Even the strategic maps in the important command centers of humanity just had the eastern quarter of the world blackened out.

There was no point in looking at the eastern front.

The Purist Sect was easily dealing with the beasts, and from what humanity was able to extrapolate by several clues regarding the beasts’ movements, the Purist Sect was doing an outstanding job.

From what humanity saw, the eastern front was basically the most stable front out of all of them.

The Purist Sect even had enough leftover forces to completely control their adjacent rivers.

Even the Primordial Force Sect to the west couldn’t deal with both of their rivers.

Yet, the Purist Sect did it easily.

The Purist Sect almost seemed mysterious and otherworldly.

One had to remember that it definitely wasn’t easy to deal with the beasts.

After all, a Peak Sect wasn’t enough.

60% of the human forces fighting at the frontline directly belonged to the Human Alliance. Only the remaining 40% were made up of the various Sects.

Yet, the eastern front was handled entirely by the Purist Sect.

This was also the main reason why the Human Alliance didn’t force their cooperation on the Purist Sect.

They didn’t want to provoke a sleeping giant.

Just let it sleep and do its job.

"Wait," Gravis said. "So, the Purist Sect would be willing to support my plan?"

"Yes," the man said.

"But wouldn’t my location be leaked? Even if the Purist Sect is very isolated, some people are bound to have heard of me and might report it to the other Peak Sects. At that point, they will demand the Purist Sect to hand me over."

"I don’t think that you would be willing to offend four Peak Sects just so that my plan works," Gravis said.

"You’re right," the Ancestor of the Purist Sect said. "I wouldn’t."

Gravis blinked a couple of times.

"Then, why do you offer to help?"

"Because no one will notice you," the man said.

Gravis’ brows furrowed in skepticism. "And how’s that supposed to work? I need to be in contact with humans constantly."

"Yes, but I can choose which humans you come into contact with," the man said.

Gravis’ eyes shone. "So, the Purist Sect is willing to be an intermediary for me?"

"No," the man said.

Gravis blinked a couple of times in surprise.

"Could you maybe talk in full sentences? Do you always need me to ask for clarification before you explain more?" Gravis asked with annoyance.

The man looked evenly at Gravis.

"Underworld will act as an intermediary," he said.

"Wait, what?" Gravis asked. "Can you even speak for Underworld in this matter?"

"Yes, because I’m also the leader of Underworld."

Silence.

Stella and Liam felt like their reality was crumbling.

The disease of humanity, Underworld, was actually being led by the Purist Sect!?

A Peak Sect was Underworld!?

"That’s not possible," Stella interjected. "If Underworld is part of the Purist Sect, this secret would have long since been exposed."

"No," the man said.

"Underworld is mainly a mercenary organization and trading hub. It is spread over the entirety of the world. Only the headquarters are in the Purist Sect."

"The leadership of Underworld is the leadership of the Purist Sect."

"The elders and disciples don’t know about the connection."

Stella and Liam had long gotten used to becoming shocked today.

One of the most hidden secrets of the world, the location of Underworld’s headquarters, had just been exposed in front of them.

Underworld’s headquarters was actually at the very center of the Purist Sect.

No wonder no one had ever been able to release the secret of Underworld’s location!

If someone powerful wanted to hurt Underworld, they would immediately be teleported into the very center of the Purist Sect.

Not only would an entire Peak Sect surround them, but even the entire eastern continent would become their enemy!

This also explained why Underworld had never been eradicated before.

If the humans wanted to eradicate Underworld, they would need to eradicate the Purist Sect!

Could they even survive such a loss?

The beasts would immediately overwhelm humanity after such an insane conflict!

"Why are you telling us this?" Liam asked. "Aren’t you afraid that we might leak this secret?"

"No," the man said.

"What makes you so sure?" Liam asked.

"Because Underworld’s job is to weaken humanity so that they don’t overwhelm the beasts."

Liam and Stella took a deep breath.

"Without Underworld, humanity will eventually overwhelm the beasts, and that will weaken the future potential of this world severely."

"This concerns the very future and purpose of this world, and its creator won’t just look on as his world is being destroyed," the man finished.

Liam looked over at Arc.

Arc winked at him.

Liam’s body shivered.

"So, do you accept?" the man asked Gravis.

Gravis scratched his chin.

"Yes, I think I will," he said.

"Good," the man said with a nod. "Your actions will help the Purist Sect and Underworld to become stronger, which, in turn, will help us to keep the war going."

Gravis nodded. "Yep."

"Do you want to talk about the details right now?" the man asked.

Gravis looked at Stella.

"No, not right now," Gravis said.

"I have time now, and I want to talk to someone else first."

"Fine," the man said. "You can ask teacher to contact me when you’re ready."

SHING!

And the man was gone.

Gravis also hadn’t known about these things, and he looked at Arc.

"So, you have Quasi-Heavenborn," Gravis said.

Arc chuckled a bit. "Kind of."

"How many know of your real identity?" Gravis asked.

"Everyone that’s currently present, Exar, and Narcissus," Arc said.

"I guess Exar was that guy just now?" Gravis asked.

Arc nodded.

"How powerful is Exar?" Gravis asked.

"He’s not bad," Arc answered. "He’s without a doubt the most powerful being in this world besides me, obviously."

Then, Arc sighed.

"Sadly, he must leave in the next 50,000 years. His longevity is running out."

"It’s actually rather sad. If there were Star Gods in this world, Exar would be able to fight them equally, giving him another 200,000 years in this world."

Gravis’ eyes shone.

"I guess that’s a three-level jump, right?" Gravis asked.

Arc nodded. "Yes. Exar has reached the limit of Battle-Strength with a normal, human constitution that is realistically achievable with an Immortal Emperor’s longevity."

Gravis nodded.

After that, Stella and Liam also talked to Arc for a while.

Their nervousness had completely vanished by now as they talked to Arc as friends.

Arc had an amazing ability to put people at ease.

After some hours, Stella went over to Gravis nervously.

Gravis also looked nervously at Stella.

"Can we talk somewhere private?" she asked.

Gravis’ heart began beating rapidly.

"Sure."