Ch. 961..970

Chapter 961: Gravis vs. Mortis

BANG!

Mortis reached Gravis in an instant and also punched him in the face.

BANG!

Gravis hit the wall of the crater with an explosion as Mortis looked with hate in Gravis' direction.

"That one was free!" Gravis said as he came out of the wall, his head already healed.

Mortis gritted his teeth as his anger only rose.

BANG!

Mortis charged at Gravis again.

Gravis also charged at Mortis with a malicious grin.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

They exchanged some punches, but both of them managed to block the other's attacks.

PACK! PACK!

That was until Gravis caught Mortis' fists with two of his claws.

CRK! CRK!

Gravis' claws dug into Mortis' fists as he didn't let go.

PACK! PACK!

Gravis also immediately grabbed Mortis' two legs with his lower pair of arms.

Usually, Mortis wouldn't have fallen for something like that, but in his rage-filled state, he had only wanted to vent.

Yet, Gravis had stopped him from venting as he kept all of Mortis' limbs locked down.

 

Gravis' upper pair of arms cracked their knuckles as Gravis only grinned.

"Hope you're prepared!"

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Gravis unleashed a flurry of punches at Mortis' head with his upper pair of arms.

Mortis' body was created to put all of his weight and power behind a single saber.

However, Gravis' body was made for flexibility and adaptability.

Mortis couldn't do anything as he was punched again and again.

Gravis just didn't let go of Mortis' limbs.

Mortis was at the mercy of Gravis' relentless attacks.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Gravis continued punching Mortis again and again, but Mortis still didn't activate any other Law.

Gravis hadn't activated another Law, so he also wouldn't!

He refused to lose against Gravis!

Mortis tried everything to get out of Gravis' hold, but it was hopeless.

BZZ!

Mortis transformed into Divine Lightning as he cut off his limbs.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Mortis' limbs were thrown at him as Gravis immediately tackled him to the ground.

"You think that shit works against me!?" Gravis shouted with a grin.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Mortis was on the ground while Gravis was above him, simply going to town on Mortis.

Mortis' hatred and frustration increased even more as he felt Gravis' relentless attacks.

'Why!?'

'Why am I losing to him again!?'

'Why can't I have even a single thing where I am superior!?'

'Why is he better at literally everything!?'

Mortis screamed in rage as he tried to get away from Gravis, but Gravis wouldn't give him a chance.

Gravis knew all of Mortis' techniques, and he countered all of them.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Gravis simply continued punching Mortis again and again.

"Yes, get angrier!" Gravis shouted as he punched Mortis again. "What's the point of being angry, huh!? Anger doesn't make you more powerful, you idiot!"

BANG! BANG!

"You-"

BANG! BANG!

"Shut the fuck up!" Gravis shouted at Mortis. He was also affected by Mortis' anger.

"You are only my fucking Avatar!"

That sentence hit Mortis harder than the punches.

"Of course you're weaker than me!"

"Your dream of surpassing me is idiotic!"

"I am in the dominant position, while you are in a subservient position!"

"I can kill you, but you can't kill me!"

"If I kill you, I just have to relearn the Law of Perceived Reality, but if you kill me, you cease to exist!"

Killing intent appeared in Mortis' eyes as he glared at Gravis.

"Killing intent!?"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Gravis' attacks became more ferocious as he increased their power.

"You dare to feel killing intent towards me!? You!? A weaker version of me!? A weaker, past, dead, and forgotten version of me!?" Gravis shouted with fury.

"You are only my past!"

"I am the future and better version of us!"

"You are nothing but a vessel for my Divine Lightning!"

"You only exist because I felt bad for the Divine Lightning!"

Mortis' anger dissipated slowly as his mind became cold and emotionless.

BANG!

Mortis suddenly unleashed Divine Lightning into Gravis. The Divine Lightning entered Gravis' Spirit and started rebelling, stunning his Spirit for a second.

Then, Mortis summoned his saber and slashed at Gravis' head.

That attack was actually aimed to take Gravis' life!

BANG!

Gravis slammed the saber away with one of his free arms. They were still on the ground, and Gravis' position was superior.

"You think your shitty Divine Lightning can suppress my Spirit!?" Gravis shouted with a grin. "I know the fucking level six Law of Freedom! What the fuck can your shitty ass Divine Lightning even do to me?"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Even though Mortis had already summoned his saber, Gravis was still beating him without a weapon.

Gravis' attacks became even more powerful as he started to create serious injuries on Mortis' body that consumed his Life Energy.

This brawl had transformed into an actually dangerous battle.

BRRR!

Mortis summoned some Magma that shot at Gravis, but Gravis shot a faster beam of Magma back at the attack, canceling it.

"You truly are a fucking idiot," Gravis said coldly. "You need to convert your Divine Lightning into Magma, which wastes a ton of Energy. Additionally, you don't have Void Lightning, which makes your Magma even weaker than mine!"

"I have the physical superiority!"

"I have immunity towards Divine Lightning!"

"I have the greater Energy storage for everything that isn't lightning!"

"Even my Spirit is more powerful than yours since you're just my fucking Avatar!"

"Accept your place!"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Gravis continued attacking Mortis.

Mortis was unleashing one Element after the other, but Gravis always countered them easily. Mortis might have Gravis' memories up to a certain point, but Gravis was used to fighting in a versatile battle style while Mortis always went for offense.

Mortis was becoming weaker and weaker, and his Life Energy eventually reached a critical point.

Meanwhile, Gravis was still full of Energy and Life Energy.

Mortis' cold mind fell into a sea of frustration.

He was helpless.

He couldn't do anything.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Gravis continued punching, and eventually, Mortis' Life Energy completely ran out.

Any injury he received right now might kill him.

BANG! BANG!

Gravis broke Mortis' chest again as he crushed his organs.

Mortis felt his mind becoming weaker and weaker.

"Accept your place or die!" Gravis shouted.

Mortis' mind became calm at the moment of his death.

'Accept my place or die?' Mortis thought calmly. His thoughts were distant like he wasn't the one being beaten to death right now.

'What's the difference between those two things?'

'It might as well be the same thing.'

'Fine, kill me.'

'What's the point of living if everything suppresses me?'

'I don't care anymore.'

BOOOOM!

WHOOOOOM!

Suddenly, a beam of Brilliance appeared that bathed Mortis' dying body in healing light. Mortis' Life Energy immediately refilled as all his injuries healed.

Gravis stood up, cleaned his hands, and took a couple steps back.

Then, Gravis smiled happily at Mortis.

"There, happy now?" Gravis asked.

Mortis' mind was confused for a second.

However, all his rage and hatred had vanished, and his mind became clear.

This made his comprehension ability return back to its peak, and he immediately understood what had happened.

"You're truly acting like an idiot sometimes," Gravis said with a sigh. "You see how I'm doing better against an opponent that perfectly counters you one time, and you immediately assume that I'm more powerful than you."

Mortis continued lying on the ground, looking at the sky.

"If the Black Demon's defense had only been a slight bit weaker, you would have killed him in a single strike. Meanwhile, I would have needed to fight a bitter battle against him. After all, your offense is far superior to my own."

"Then, you get shocked when I comprehend the Law of Freedom before you," Gravis said as he shook his head. "Of course I comprehended the Law of Freedom before you! Even though everything I have said to you just now was a lie, it is true that my situation allows me to have more freedom than you."

"On top of that, freedom is my goal, not yours. It's only natural that I'm going to comprehend freedom before you."

"Yet, instead of looking at everything objectively, your mind was consumed by hatred and self-loathing."

"Have you forgotten the very phrase we use more than any other?" Gravis asked. "Advantages have disadvantages, and disadvantages have advantages."

"If you simply thought about it, you would have realized that, while I have a greater affinity towards freedom, you have a greater affinity towards Suppression. It was only a matter of time until you comprehended the level six Law of Suppression."

"On top of that, you managed to comprehend an Emotional Law just now. The only Emotional Law I managed to comprehend after your creation was the Law of Empathy, and that was entirely thanks to Stella."

"You managed to take the first step towards our emotional independence, something I didn't manage to do. However, instead of seeing that you are superior in that, you only get angrier."

Mortis continued looking at the sky, his mind calm but going through a ton of thoughts.

"And the fact that I comprehended the level six Law of Suppression just now is supposed to change that?" Mortis asked.

"Yes," Gravis answered.

"However, you were the one that taught me the Law of Suppression," Mortis said calmly.

"If our situations were reversed," Gravis said, "I wouldn't have been able to comprehend the Law of Suppression. I would have probably immediately killed myself to exert the last remaining bit of control over my life that I had left."

"Your personality does not have such a great affinity towards the more positive emotions and freedom, but it has a greater affinity towards the negative emotions and suppression. Just because you haven't made the necessary progress yet doesn't mean that you won't comprehend them in the future."

Silence.

"I don't know what to think anymore," Mortis said calmly.

"So? You don't need to," Gravis answered. "Just go with the flow and adapt to whatever happens. That's how I comprehended the Life Laws and the Law of Freedom. I didn't force anything and just did whatever interested me."

"When you let your mind relax for a bit, you will notice that a lot of problems don't seem as bad or complex anymore."

Silence.

"Anyway," Gravis said with a smile. "I'll go now. Just think about what I've said. You don't have to follow it, obviously, since freedom also means allowing others to be free. It's your own decision if you want to follow my advice or not."

"Also, I'm sorry for saying all these things, but you should already feel my guilt and pain for saying these things."

"Sadly, it was the only way I could get you out of this slump of yours."

"So, I hope you can forgive me for that."

"Anyway, gotta go, bye!"

Gravis waved at Mortis and teleported away.

Mortis simply continued staring at the sky, unsure of what he should think or feel right now.

"The level six Law of Suppression, huh?" Mortis said to himself.

"Gravis said he wouldn't have comprehended it in my place, and as far as I can tell, he was actually honest when saying that."

Then, Mortis did something that he hadn't done ever since he was created.

Mortis laughed a bit to himself.

"Now that I think about it, Gravis was right when he said that I have several aspects where I'm superior."

"Oh, what an idiot I have been."

After saying that, Mortis became quiet as he only looked at the sky.

'Is putting myself under pressure really what's stopping me from becoming more powerful?'

Chapter 962: Mortis' thoughts

Mortis simply continued lying on the ground.

'Gravis actually truly cares for me,' Mortis thought. 'I haven't noticed it due to my anger and hatred, but Gravis actually felt an overwhelming amount of guilt and self-loathing while lying to me.'

'I'm also sure that it's not just because I'm his Avatar,' Mortis thought. 'I think he has the feeling that he needs to protect me since he has been like me in the past. I'm like a younger version of himself that he feels like he needs to protect.'

'Usually, I would feel disdain to whoever dared to feel about me like this,' Mortis thought calmly. 'However, I don't feel so bad, actually.'

'Haven't I subconsciously depended on Gravis when I accepted the token for free Law Comprehension?'

Mortis' thoughts remained silent for a while.

'Gravis feels similar to Orpheus.'

Mortis had all the memories of Gravis, which meant that everything that happened to Gravis in the past also happened to Mortis.

'Orpheus has also helped me several times like this, and I've never repaid him even once.'

'Orpheus hasn't helped me because of a selfish desire, and I think Gravis is the same in that aspect. Gravis doesn't help me to make life easier for him, but because he genuinely cares for me.'

Mortis continued looking at the sky.

'I miss father and mom,' Mortis thought.

Mortis always thought of himself as a superior being that was always in control over his emotions.

Yet, in reality, Mortis was just a younger version of Gravis, which was why, when the barrier around his emotions cracked, their effects increased manifold.

However, Mortis was also far older than Gravis had been when he went through the same thing, which meant that Mortis could remain calm and deal with the emotions rationally.

'Is feeling cold apathy all the time really necessary?' Mortis thought with a concerned expression on his face.

'I am lightning, and I will never part from my lightning, but does being lightning mean that I can't do what I want?'

'I still remember the Black Magnate's words, and he said that chasing power will eventually lead to greyness and nothingness. I ignored these words for a long time, thinking that I couldn't be so mentally weak. After all, only weak people feel bad, right?'

The clouds passed above Mortis as he simply looked at them.

'I think the Black Magnate was actually right.'

'If I continue chasing power like this, I need to eventually confront nothingness.'

'I only comprehended the Law of the Living World recently, and I'm far away from reaching the same power as the Black Magnate.'

'Yet, I already feel so empty and hollow after only being confronted with myself for this little bit.'

'If I already feel this empty right now, how empty will I feel in the future when there's nothing left to chase?'

Mortis' thoughts drifted to freedom.

'Freedom means being able to do what one wants. I want to chase power, but I also want to be free of suppression.'

'I want to be one with lightning, but I also don't want to feel this emptiness inside me all the time.'

'Why can't I just have both?'

Mortis remained silent for a couple of seconds.

Then, he suddenly started laughing a bit.

'Actually, freedom means I can do exactly that.'

'I can combine both!'

'Lightning only means following myself since I am lightning. As long as I kill whoever I feel is deserving of death, and as long as I help whoever is deserving of my help, I would still be lightning.'

'Is that even suppression? After all, I would want to do that regardless. Following these principles is already following the principles of lightning.'

'Being lightning doesn't mean that I have to be bitter and emotionless all the time.'

'This entire conflict between Gravis and lightning happened only because Gravis spared the middle Heaven's life out of spite.'

'Gravis actually wanted to kill the middle Heaven, but he wanted to prove his own freedom to himself by sparing the middle Heaven.'

'Ironically, this was going against freedom, but it's understandable. After all, Gravis only knew the level four Law of Freedom, not the True Law of Freedom. If he honestly knew everything about freedom, Gravis would have directly comprehended the True Law of Freedom, which should be a level nine Law, I believe.'

'Would I spare the middle Heaven?'

'No,' Mortis thought without hesitation. 'I would have killed the middle Heaven since it was deserving of death.'

'So, there's no conflict between my lightning and I.'

'Gravis angered our lightning in the past, not me. Our lightning is angry at him, not me.'

'You also only want freedom and the power to make a choice, huh?' Mortis thought, thinking about his lightning.

'Gravis abandoned you and cast you out while I am you. I am a more fitting person for you.'

'In a way, it feels like I'm just a tool for you, but I also don't mind. After all, we are one and the same.'

'What you want is what I want, and what I want is what you want.'

'And what I want is to have the freedom to make my own choices.'

'Right now, I don't have that freedom, but it won't be like this forever.'

'Just wait. We will gain our freedom eventually.'

For several hours, Mortis only looked at the darkening sky as night engulfed the world.

There was only silence around him since no living being dared to get close to a Black Demon.

Mortis simply looked at the stars and the moon calmly.

'Right now, things actually don't feel so bad.'

'I feel bad for thinking it, but Gravis beating me up might have actually saved my future.'

Mortis laughed bitterly.

'Am I a masochist? Why am I grateful for being beaten nearly to death?'

'I don't think I am since I don't get any sexual pleasure out of it, but if I were, so what?' Mortis thought with a peaceful smile.

'For once, I am not under pressure, and the world feels so clear.'

'Why not change my methods and follow Gravis' advice for once? Maybe by taking things easier, I can comprehend Laws faster.'

'Just let things happen.'

Mortis' emotions completely calmed down as he felt at peace.

Then, he slowly closed his eyes as he simply felt the comforting feeling of crackling lightning in his Spirit.

Eventually, Mortis was close to falling asleep.

'Just let go.'

BOOOOM!

Mortis suddenly shot up into a sitting position with a shocked look on his face.

Then, he laughed loudly, his emotions going wild with excitement.

'Who's the better person now, Gravis?' he thought happily.

'More affinity towards positive emotions, eh? My ass!'

'I just comprehended the very thing that you are supposed to comprehend!'

'Fuck you, Gravis, I comprehended the level three Law of Calm!'

"Oh? What happened?" Gravis suddenly asked with a voice transmission. "You felt so calm, but now, you are suddenly bursting with excitement."

"Nothing," Mortis answered with a smirk.

"You're lying!" Gravis answered. "Lightning is supposed to be honest!"

"Only when it's serious," Mortis answered, still smirking. "You will find out eventually."

"Hey!" Gravis answered with a frown. "I can feel a ton of excitement coming from you, which means this was something significant!"

"So?" Mortis answered. "I don't wanna tell you. Take it as repayment for beating me up."

Mortis continued smirking to himself as Gravis tried to fish information out of Mortis.

For the first time, Mortis and Gravis talked about something that didn't directly relate to a future increase of power.

For once, Mortis didn't think that it was a waste of time.

Why?

Because it was fun to mess with Gravis.

Chapter 963: Still So Many Laws

Gravis tried his best to get the answer out of Mortis, but no matter what he did, Mortis only smirked.

Eventually, Gravis tried thinking about any possible Law Mortis might have understood, but that also didn't help much.

That was until Gravis thought about the Emotional Laws.

Gravis quickly noticed that he now knew the level three Law of Calm, and his eyes widened.

Mortis had comprehended an Emotional Law that Gravis was supposed to learn?

That was…

"That's awesome, Mortis!" Gravis transmitted with excitement. "See? I told you that you're not worse than me! You even comprehended a Law that I was supposed to comprehend!"

Mortis only smiled lightly as he lay on the ground.

There was no feeling of envy, jealousy, or anger coming from Gravis.

Gravis was genuinely feeling excitement for Mortis.

'If I were in Gravis' shoes, I would have exploded from self-loathing,' Mortis thought bitterly. 'Yet, Gravis is only excited.'

'Wouldn't I have been the weak one then?' Mortis thought. 'Having such an extreme emotional reaction to something like this means that I feel threatened. Yet, Gravis doesn't feel threatened at all. He doesn't need to feel threatened since nothing I can do feels threatening to his confidence.'

Mortis sighed.

'If only I had noticed that sooner.'

Gravis and Mortis talked some more. They weren't talking about anything important. They were only talking, nothing more.

After a couple of hours, Gravis cut off the connection as he contacted Stella again. This time, Mortis should be stable enough to not get angry.

And, sure enough, Mortis didn't get angry this time.

For the first time, Mortis was actually not resisting the feelings of love Gravis was feeling.

'Love, huh?' Mortis thought as he looked at the sky.

'It feels good.'

Mortis remained silent as he savored these feelings. It was like he was feeling them.

'I want to meet Joyce,' Mortis thought. 'I also want to feel these feelings. I also want to have a relationship.'

Slowly, happiness claimed a part of Mortis' power-filled heart.

Power was still Mortis' most important goal but feeling happy was also important to him now.

Like this, Mortis continued lying on the ground, just thinking about his life.

Gravis was done talking with Stella after a couple of hours.

After he finished his talk with Stella, Gravis felt reinvigorated as he focused on Laws again.

'My Will-Aura is now exactly one Realm above me, which means that I don't need to temper myself until I've made some breakthroughs,' Gravis thought.

However, Gravis suddenly frowned.

'Tempering, huh?' he thought. 'Tempering will become even harder in the future. Our fight against the Black Demon was hard, but it wasn't as intense as the fight against Eran. However, the Black Demon should be nearly an entire level stronger than Eran in relation to my Realm.'

'With my current Realm, opponents five levels above me are no longer a danger to me, especially now that we have comprehended the level six Law of Suppression. On top of that, my Will-Aura is now at its peak.'

'I think my Will-Aura, together with the level six Law of Suppression, can suppress someone five levels above me to 20%. We already won against the Black Demon without suppression, and he was probably one of the most powerful Mid Early Circulation Immortal Emperors in the world.'

'As I am currently, I can only look for beings six levels above myself.'

Gravis sighed.

'It took me a long time to jump five levels. Yet, the jump to six levels is already directly in front of me. My Battle-Strength has improved significantly, and that's all thanks to one single Law.'

'The Law of Perceived Reality.'

'I only used the Law of Perceived Reality at the beginning of the fight, but it alone has already allowed me to reduce the Black Demon's Life Energy by nearly 50%. Just the Law of Perceived Reality had won me half of the fight.'

'On one hand, that's a good thing, but on the other hand, this makes tempering awkward.'

'As I am now, I could probably fight someone six levels above me. However, what would be the point? My Will-Aura already is at the top, and I can already comprehend level five Laws without tempering.'

'So, it would only make sense to continue tempering when I've made some breakthroughs.'

'Yet, at that point, my opponents would become even more powerful, and my Will-Aura will be weaker again.'

Gravis scratched his chin.

'I think I should reach the Early Minor Circulation Immortal Emperor Realm before I temper myself again. At that point, I can choose if I want to fight a Mid Major Circulation Immortal Emperor or a Late Major Circulation Immortal Emperor.'

Gravis nodded.

'Yep, that sounds good.'

'Anyway, I should get back to comprehending Laws. I've made quite some improvements on the Major Law of Physical Power by fighting against the Black Demon, and I think I should finish that one first. After that, I should go check up on Stella again. She wanted to inform herself about the Form Law of Sabers.'

'Lastly, I think I should spend a couple thousand or ten-thousand years with Stella so that we can consolidate our Laws.'

'And then…'

Gravis took a deep breath as he looked towards the center of the beast territory.

'I will focus on the Mixed Elemental Laws.'

Gravis felt complicated when thinking about the Mixed Elemental Laws.

Why?

Because there were far more than in the middle world.

Back in the middle world, a lot of the Mixed Elements still somewhat made sense, which meant that there was only a limited number of Elements that could be mixed.

Yet, this was no longer true in the higher world.

Gravis had already seen some of these examples.

Graphiteinferno.

Shadowinferno.

Frostinferno.

Punishment Inferno.

Hidden Wood.

All of these things didn't normally exist in nature. It was like all of these Mixed Elements were artificially created.

With nine Primary Elements, how many combinations of Mixed Elements would there be?

36.

36 different Elements.

36 level five Laws.

That was so much!

How long would that even take?

Gravis already needed 300+ years of level four Laws.

Comprehending level five Laws the normal way would probably take thousands of years.

Even more, the ones that Gravis had a horrible affinity for, Graphite and Core, might even take over ten thousand years each.

Gravis quickly shook his head to get these thoughts out of his mind.

'One thing at a time!'

'First, the level five Law of Physical Power!'

After finishing his thoughts, Gravis sat down and closed his eyes.

In order to comprehend the Major Law of Physical Power, Gravis didn't need a Law Comprehension Area or a teacher. He had already seen how the Black Demon had activated the Law, and Gravis' mind had been pushed to its limits under mortal danger.

Gravis already had an inkling how it worked, and he would only need to experiment on his body.

Push some Energy into there in that way.

Take some Energy from there in this way.

Fuse the Energies like this.

This was what Gravis was trying out. He was simply fusing the Void Lightning inside of him in peculiar ways to see if he could activate the three level four Laws of Physical Power simultaneously.

And like this, Gravis fell back into comprehension for many years.

Chapter 964: Honey Time

Gravis finally comprehended the level five Law of Physical Power!

'Finally!' Gravis thought with a sigh. 'That took longer than expected.'

How long?

2,600 years.

Gravis had already made quite some strides in the Law before focusing on it, but it still took 2,600 more years to comprehend it.

Sure enough, level five Laws were difficult to comprehend.

'Mortis already finished the level five Laws of Lightning's Supreme Efficiency and Supreme Explosion,' Gravis thought.

Gravis had spent thousands of years comprehending Laws, but he was in no way slow.

With the help of Mortis, the Law Comprehension Life Fruits, and with the help of Stella, Gravis was comprehending the level five Laws far faster than anyone else in the world.

His speed in comprehending Laws was so fast that not even the Opposer or the highest Heaven would have expected that.

After all, they hadn't known that Gravis would decide to create Mortis, and they also hadn't known that Gravis would find a lover that knew the level five Law of Empathy.

According to their estimations, Gravis would only have reached such a level at the age of nearly 200,000 years.

Yet, Gravis was barely 60,000 years old.

Gravis tried out the Law of Physical Power and became satisfied when he felt its power.

'My body is an entire level higher than it should be with that Law,' Gravis thought. 'That's incredible!'

Gravis informed Mortis about the new Law he had comprehended.

Mortis answered with two distinct phrases.

One of them was: "So? I can't use that Law. I don't care."

The other one was: "That makes five level five or higher Laws since you took the last Law Comprehension Life Fruit. Go eat the Life Fruit for the Medium Complex Material Law!"

When Gravis heard that, his eyes widened.

'Already?' he thought with shock. 'Didn't I just consume one!?'

Gravis went through the Laws he had comprehended since he ate the Life Fruit for the Hard Complex Law.

Lightning's Supreme Power.

Lightning's Supreme Efficiency.

Lightning's Supreme Explosion.

Major Physical Power.

Level six Law of Freedom.

Level six Law of Suppression.

Gravis blinked a couple of times in surprise. 'It's actually six Laws, not five.'

'That's a lot of Laws!'

Why had Gravis gone back to comprehending Laws?

Because he had felt like his Law Comprehension was at a disadvantage for his Realm.

Back then, Gravis only knew two level five Laws, the Law of Perceived Reality and the Law of Magma.

How many Laws did Gravis know now?

Eleven level five Laws and three level six Laws, including the Law of Divine Lightning.

Right now, Gravis' Law Comprehension was probably close to the level of Narcissus!

'This Law Comprehension Session hasn't been nearly as long as my last one, and I already made such huge strides!'

Gravis tried to come to terms with this new reality.

Gravis had already been quite fast in terms of Law Comprehension, but his comprehension ability had never been this exaggerated!

The addition of Mortis and Stella had really increased his speed in comprehending Laws beyond anything reasonable.

After a while, Gravis only bitterly smiled and chuckled a bit.

'Maybe I won't become an ancient old man?' he thought.

'In actuality, I'm still quite young for my Realm. My first real tribulation for the Immortal King Realm will only come in around 86,000 years. In mortal terms, I would be in my 20s.'

Gravis chuckled a bit again.

'Seems like I'm destined to be young.'

Whooop!

'Anyway,' Gravis thought as he looked at the four Law Comprehension Life Fruits in his hands. 'I should comprehend even more!'

Gravis consumed one Life Fruit and concentrated on comprehending it.

150 years later.

BOOOOM!

Gravis comprehended the level five Law of Medium Complex Materials!

'And that's that!' Gravis thought with a smirk. Then, he looked towards the west. 'I think Mortis is still busy with the Law of Punishment Inferno. It might be part lightning, but not entirely. He has already been at it for 2,000 years, but he still hasn't finished. Sure enough, the Mixed Elemental Laws take some time to comprehend.'

However, Gravis didn't really care that much about that right now.

Why?

Because he was looking forward to his next stop!

It was time to contact Stella again!

"How's my little honey doin?" Gravis asked with a bright smile as he took out his Life Ring.

Inside a forest filled with life, Stella opened her eyes with a wide smile.

"You took so long!" she complained.

"Sorry, honey," Gravis transmitted with an apologetic voice. "The Medium Complex Law took a couple years longer than anticipated."

"Hmph!" Stella huffed with a cute voice. "You better get over here real soon! I already comprehended the Law of Graphiteinferno 200 years ago, and I don't want to waste more time waiting!"

Of course, Stella was only joking with Gravis.

She wasn't really angry.

However, she wanted to appear like a wife that was annoyed at her husband.

She had always wanted to do that.

Gravis, of course, knew that and played along. "Sorry, sorry, I'll come right away!"

Gravis immediately traveled towards the east with all his speed, which was several times faster than before thanks to the level five Law of Physical Power and the level five Law of Lightning's Supreme Speed.

In an hour, Gravis reached the border between beast territory and human territory.

Gravis crossed the border and transformed into a human. While doing so, Gravis also created a nice suit to make himself as handsome as possible.

He wanted to surprise his darling.

An hour later, Gravis arrived in front of Stella with confidence. He couldn't wait to see her stunned face when she saw him.

However, things didn't always go according to plan.

Instead of seeing a stunned face, Gravis saw a stunning face.

Stella had put on a long, beautiful, delicate red dress and had created a complex braid with her long, red hair. Her lips were red, and her face was slightly pink.

Gravis almost couldn't breathe anymore.

Stella looked at Gravis with a victorious smirk. 'Trying to compete with me in beauty? Dream on!'

"Why are you just standing there?" Stella asked with a warm smile. "Come over."

Gravis quickly shook his head and gritted his teeth.

'Keep to the plan!'

Gravis came closer to Stella, and Stella smiled at him warmly.

Whooop!

However, Stella's eyes suddenly widened in shock as Gravis grabbed her body with unreal speeds. For a second, Stella thought that Gravis wanted to directly dig into the delicious dinner placed in front of him.

However, Gravis only carried Stella carefully as he shot into the sky with impressive speeds.

The air around them vanished, and the cold emptiness of space pressed down on them.

However, the coldness seemingly didn't exist around them.

After some minutes, Gravis stopped as his feet touched the moon.

Gravis put Stella down on the moon.

BANG!

Then, Gravis shot away until he was a couple thousand kilometers away.

Stella was beyond confused.

'What's he doing?' she thought.

From thousands of kilometers away, Gravis pointed at the moon.

"What is that?" Gravis transmitted with an excited voice.

Stella blinked a couple of times in confusion.

"What do you mean? The moon?" she asked.

"Half-true," Gravis answered with several nods. "However, there is more to it!"

"This isn't just a moon! This is our future!" Gravis said righteously.

Stella was still confused as she looked at her surroundings.

However, an Immortal King's Spirit was incredibly fast, and they were able to find connections with just the tiniest clues.

Stella got it, and she put her head in her hands with a groan.

Gravis noticed that Stella understood, and his grin widened even more.

"Yes, you've realized it!" Gravis shouted.

"My honey is on the moon!"

"Thus, it has become a honeymoon!"

"We will have a beautiful honeymoon!"

Stella burst into laughter.

The joke was so bad.

It was so incredibly bad.

However, it was still funny when Gravis told it.

Stella left the moon with a giggle and appeared before Gravis. "Was all of this just for that joke?" she asked.

Gravis nodded solemnly.

Stella lightly hit Gravis in the shoulder with a giggle. "How hasn't your face gotten red after telling such a bad joke?" she asked with a laugh.

"A man must endure the harshest punishments for his woman," Gravis said solemnly.

Stella had to laugh at Gravis' serious voice again.

Then, Gravis grinned widely as he pulled her back to the ground.

Stella allowed herself to be pulled along by Gravis with a smile.

He was her man.

And she was his woman.

A beautiful time awaited them!

Chapter 965: Shocking Revelation

"No, you can't just cultivate all of the Elements. That's not how it works."

A middle-aged man with black hair was currently standing in front of several youngsters in a lecture hall. The students listened intently to their teacher as he taught them the basics of Cultivation.

"Why not?" a youngster near the back asked with a frown.

"Because, no matter what you do, the Elements will clash in one way or another," the teacher said.

The teacher walked over to the blackboard, and three pictures appeared on the blackboard like magic. All three pictures showed a stickman and a white sphere.

The first picture showed how the white sphere was inside the stickman.

The second picture showed how the white sphere was bound by a chain, which was being held by the stickman.

The third picture only showed the stickman, but there were lines that indicated that he was shining.

"As you all already know," the teacher said. "There are three ways to cultivate with an Element. However, every single method has an issue when more than one Element appears."

The teacher pointed to the first picture.

"The first method is to absorb the Element into your body, creating an Elemental Seed. As you all know, this method is the easiest to cultivate, but you can't use it forever. At one point, you have to switch to one of the other two. Yet, the later you do it, the harder it becomes."

Suddenly, a black sphere appeared beside the white sphere in the first picture.

"Now, can anyone tell me what will happen if we introduce a second Element?" the teacher asked.

One of the very few girls in the class stood up. "They will clash inside your body. You will most likely die, but if you somehow manage to survive, the two Elements will either have canceled each other out, or one will have prevailed, leaving you with that one."

The teacher nodded with appreciation. "Correct."

"Now, the second method," the teacher said as he pointed at the second picture, the one with the chained white sphere. "The second method is to completely subdue the Element. Cultivating this method is harder, but you won't be influenced by the temperaments of the Elements."

Then, the black sphere appeared again.

"What if we introduce a second Element?" the teacher asked.

The same girl answered again. "The same thing will happen. Just because you have the Element under control doesn't mean that they won't clash with each other."

The teacher nodded.

Then, he pointed at the third picture. "The third method is to assimilate the Element. This is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to connect with an Element. Your affinity towards it will also increase by several ranks. Sadly, advantages come with disadvantages, and disadvantages come with advantages."

"This method will slowly change your mindset until you are not yourself anymore. You will slowly adopt the temperament of the Element until your own temperament nearly perfectly reflects it."

The students didn't think much of these words since they had heard them before.

However, if any member of the Nine Elements Sect or its subsidiary Sects had heard these words, they would explode with righteous anger.

This was forbidden!

This was a forbidden way to cultivate!

Yes, becoming one with the Elements was possible, and yes, it would increase one's affinity with the Elements to incredible heights.

However, this method could become incredibly dangerous depending on which Element a Cultivator chose.

The Wood Element was fine. The person cultivating it would only become tranquil and friendly.

The Water Element was also fine. The person would become a bit moody, but they could go with the flow.

The Light Element was okay. The person would think of themselves as better and always right, but they could still interact with other humans.

Wind was also fine. The person would only desire freedom and become more carefree.

Earth was fine too. The person would simply become more taciturn and inflexible. However, they would become very dependable in turn.

Metal was also okay. The person might seek battle more than others, but they would still retain their moral compass.

The problems were the last three remaining Elements.

Lightning would be bad. Sure, the Cultivator would seek justice, but they would only follow their own moral compass. Even more, the Cultivator would retaliate with deadly force against anyone that was perceived to be going against them. Humans needed to work together. One couldn't just directly kill someone because they said something carelessly.

Fire would be horrible. The Cultivator would become a battle-crazed maniac. They would require constant bloodshed, destruction, and battle. Humans needed some downtime too. They couldn't fight endlessly all the time. How could such a person fit amongst humanity?

Darkness would also be horrible. The Cultivator would basically become an unfeeling psychopath. They would manipulate other humans for their personal gain, which would damage the entirety of humanity!

Yet, this Cultivation method that was seen as forbidden in this world was being taught by this teacher.

If this teacher were found by the righteous Sects, he would immediately be executed along with everyone he knew.

"What about the third method?" the teacher asked with a smile. "What if I introduce another Element?"

The girl answered again. "You will die."

The teacher nodded. "Correct."

Then, the teacher looked at the student who asked the question. "Does this answer your question?"

The student looked at the teacher with furrowed brows and threw the girl that had answered all of these questions diligently a derisive sneer.

"What if there is a fourth method?" the boy asked.

The students groaned.

Just let the teacher continue teaching!

"Possible," the teacher answered patiently. "There could be a fourth method. After all, I don't know everything. However, I'm pretty confident that you won't find the method in the next 100 years."

The student gritted his teeth.

This teacher was underestimating him!

"What makes you so sure?" the student asked with an icy voice.

"Well," the teacher answered with a smile. "I'm pretty strong, you know. Also, as you see, I'm rather old. I only came to this academy as a guest-teacher because I was bored. I'm simply living out my retirement with my beautiful wife."

"You know, I've seen quite a bit of the world," the teacher said with a nostalgic voice. "The entirety of my knowledge can only produce these three methods."

The student dismissed what the teacher said.

"Hey, could you finally shut the fuck up!?" a big guy in the second row shouted towards the student that had been arguing with the teacher. "Get off your high horse! Our last elemental teacher only knew of a single method, and it was far worse than any method our new teacher came up with."

The student wanted to argue back, but he didn't dare to.

This was Big Barry, the strongest of the class and also the school champion.

Big Barry would tear him to pieces in a fight!

With an unwilling heart, the student sat down and went silent.

Big Barry shot the student a glance and looked back at the teacher.

Then, Big Barry bowed politely. "Excuse me for my choice of words," he said politely. "Please continue the lecture, Mr. Gravis."

Mr. Gravis nodded and waved off Big Barry's apology. "It's fine."

Big Barry sat back down, and Mr. Gravis continued his lecture.

An hour later, the students dispersed.

Mr. Gravis slowly walked along the city streets with a happy and excited smile as he bought some food from a middle-aged lady in an alleyway.

Her food cart was very remote since she enjoyed standing in the cool shadows of the buildings, but there was still a long queue in front of her.

Mr. Gravis happily bought two bowls of noodles and walked home.

After half an hour of walking, Mr. Gravis reached the outskirts of the city. However, he only continued walking.

After another twenty minutes, Mr. Gravis went past the last building and walked up a hill.

Ten minutes later, Mr. Gravis arrived at a lovely house made out of stone. It didn't look as ostentatious as the buildings in the city, but it also didn't look shabby.

Slowly, Mr. Gravis opened the door with a wide smile.

"Honey, I'm home!"

In the living room of the house sat an immortal beauty.

She looked rather young, and her aura evoked peace in everyone that had the luck to be around her.

Yet, this immortal beauty was the wife of this normal, average-looking, middle-aged teacher.

Stella opened her eyes and looked at Mr. Gravis.

Then, she put her hand to her mouth as she giggled a bit.

"Honestly, I think I'm getting used to your work uniform," she said.

"You think so?" Mr. Gravis said with a wide grin as he straightened his back.

"Yes, I do," Stella said, "but please put that away. I'm not into Cultivators with the appearance of middle-aged men."

Mr. Gravis laughed and put his work uniform away.

What was his work uniform?

His entire appearance, of course!

His small beard vanished as his hair became longer and straighter. His teacher's robes disappeared as a black shirt and black pants replaced them. His hunched back perfectly straightened as it was filled with muscles and power.

His old eyes regained their youth and energy as they radiated vigor.

"There, happy?" Gravis said with a grin.

How shocking!

This unassuming teacher…

This Mr. Gravis…

Was actually Gravis!?

Yes, it was indeed Gravis.

No matter how unbelievable the truth was, it was still the truth.

Gravis smirked as he held out the food he had bought.

"Wanna eat?" he asked.

Stella chuckled a bit as she looked at Gravis' appearance for a while.

"Sure, why not?"

Gravis' smile only widened as he closed the door behind him.

Chapter 966: Honeymoon

So, why was Gravis a teacher, and why were the two of them in a small city?

Well, after Gravis and Stella returned from the moon, they connected their hearts again for many, many years.

10,000 years, in fact.

Sadly, at some point, even the most enjoyable pastime activity would become boring and stale if one didn't do something else in between.

As Stella and Gravis were talking, Gravis suddenly got a great idea.

Why not live like mortals?

First of all, the life of a mortal was always filled with tons of stuff that one needed to do.

One had to clean their home.

One had to go to work.

One had to eat.

One had to drink.

One had to sleep.

One even had to breathe!

There was so much variety in mortal life!

Wouldn't that act as a nice change of pace?

On top of that, wouldn't living like this help with comprehending the Emotional Laws? After all, mortal life was filled with emotions.

Stella thought that this also was a great idea.

Maybe she could create a shop that sold flowers from her home?

That sounded interesting!

Gravis immediately thought about becoming a teacher. After all, he had already taught the young beings in Arc's clearing for a couple of centuries.

So, the two of them settled down in a city.

Their days were spent separate from each other. They didn't even use their Spirit Sense to talk to each other. After all, mortals didn't have Spirit Senses. If they wanted to live like mortals, they had to do it the right way!

Funnily enough, being so close to each other, yet being unable to see each other, kind of increased the anticipation of seeing each other again in the evening.

In the evening, the two of them would eat together and talk to each other.

When night arrived, the two of them would cultivate together.

And at the end of the day, they would fall asleep, just like mortals.

This simple life kind of had a fulfilling feeling to it.

Gravis could now fully understand why some of his friends had decided to stop progressing on their path to power.

Wasn't all of this already more than enough?

However, Gravis wasn't an inexperienced youngling anymore.

Gravis had gone through a lot in his life, and his resolve had been steeled.

Living this life meant achieving his goal of happiness, but it didn't achieve his goal of freedom.

Gravis wanted to be happy, but he also wanted to be free.

And to be free, one needed power.

As the years passed, Gravis and Stella had to move town.

Why?

Well, mortal cities weren't only comprised of mortals.

Generally, Cultivators below the Unity Realm were included amongst mortals.

So, when Gravis and Stella had lived for a couple of centuries in a city, some of the more ancient and supremely powerful Spirit Forming Cultivators noticed that this pair of lovers had stayed alive for far too long.

Even more, rumors would start circulating.

Grandchildren would tell their grandparents about their teacher, and the grandparents would remember that they had been taught by the same teacher.

True mortals wouldn't find this weird. After all, Mr. Gravis was a Cultivation teacher. He probably had a longer lifespan than others.

However, the big shots in the city, the ones at the later stages of Energy Gathering or Spirit Forming, would slowly become suspicious when their grand-grand-grand-grandchildren told them about their teacher.

Was this teacher a Spirit Forming Cultivator?

So, eventually, Cultivators would arrive to investigate Gravis and Stella, constantly bothering them with invasive questions that appeared harmless on the surface.

In the end, Gravis and Stella decided to switch cities every one or two centuries or so.

They would simply teleport to another city a couple million kilometers away.

Such a distance was insurmountable, even for these legendary Unity Realm Cultivators.

Gravis would find another spot as a teacher, and Stella would take up an entirely new job every time.

This was how the two of them spent their time together.

One might think that living like a mortal would hurt Gravis' Law Comprehension.

However, one would be mistaken.

Gravis had already gained many insights into the Emotional Laws.

He, especially, felt that he had learned a lot about the Law of Humility.

Sadly, one could argue that comprehending a new level one Law was harder than comprehending a level six Law.

Even after thousands of years, Gravis hadn't managed to condense the Law of Humility.

The other missing Law, the Law of Pride, had made no progress whatsoever.

However, while Gravis didn't manage to condense the Law of Humility, he did manage to upgrade his level three Law of Empathy to the level five Law of Empathy.

This meant that the first Emotional Law had reached the goal.

There was no level six or level seven Law of Empathy.

The next step for the Law of Empathy would be the level seven Law of Emotions.

This meant that Gravis no longer had to work on his Law of Empathy.

Something like this didn't sound so great, but training the Law of Empathy was actually one of the most painful things one could do.

Gravis had built a genuine connection with so many of his previous students.

He had also created several friendships.

Yet, all of these people wouldn't make it far on their journey.

One day, Gravis might get a new student, and seemingly the next day, Gravis would stand by his student's bed as he was slowly succumbing to old age.

This was the pain of having a tremendously long lifespan.

The pain of death would arrive quickly.

Usually, Gravis wouldn't build any connections with such weak Cultivators exactly due to this reason, but Gravis needed to comprehend the Law of Empathy. For that, Gravis purposefully released the restraints on his emotions as he accepted the friendship of many weak people.

This had continued for 5,000 years until Gravis finally comprehended the level five Law of Empathy.

After that, Gravis focused on the Law of Apathy.

Sadly, comprehending this Law with this method was far harder. After all, these mortals weren't that important to Gravis, to begin with. Feeling apathetic towards them wasn't hard.

After Gravis realized that he hadn't made any progress in the Law of Apathy, he simply ignored it.

In the end, Gravis decided to just be himself.

He just let himself go as he took every day as it came.

Another 5,000 years passed.

Gravis and Stella had been on their honeymoon for 20,000 years by now.

On one particular day, 20,000 years later, Gravis received the last Law from Stella.

Gravis had comprehended the level five Law of Temperature!

After the two of them finished their session, Gravis informed Stella of his progress.

Stella didn't know how she should feel about this.

One part of her wanted to get back to actually cultivating, but another part of her just wanted to continue living with Gravis like this.

In the end, it was Gravis that told Stella that they had had their fun for long enough.

Stella agreed.

After that day, the two of them left their current city and spent the next couple of years together without any outside interference.

Soon after, they parted again as they went back to comprehending their own Laws.

Stella left, and Gravis was left alone in the sky.

Gravis sighed but quickly shook his head to get these melancholic thoughts out of his head.

'Time to get back to work!'

Yet, before Gravis shot towards his next place of comprehension, he thought about all the Laws he and Mortis had comprehended over the past 20,000 years.

And there were a lot of them!

Chapter 967: Gains

So, what had Gravis comprehended in the past 20,000 years?

Gravis had only comprehended the level five Law of Empathy on his own in the past 20,000 years, which could be seen as relatively slow Law Comprehension.

However, Gravis had learned a lot from Stella.

How many level five Laws had Stella known that Gravis hadn't known?

Four, and all four of them were Mixed Elemental Laws.

That was already a lot more than Gravis had known previously. After all, Gravis had only known the Mixed Elemental Law for Graphite and Inferno, Magma. However, some people also called it Graphiteinferno.

The first Law Gravis had comprehended was the Law of Punishment Inferno. Just like the name implied, it was a fusion of Punishment Lightning and Inferno. Stella had even used that Law back when she ran to the beast territory after escaping from the Nine Elements Sect.

The second one had been Frostinferno.

Back when Gravis had retrieved Stella from the Nine Elements Sect, Stella had already known two level five Laws, which was already incredibly impressive for an Immortal King. After all, an Immortal King only needed to know a single level five Law to become an Immortal Emperor.

These two Laws had been the Law of Punishment Inferno and the Law of Frostinferno.

However, Stella had comprehended two more Laws since then.

One was the level five Law of Temperatures, which Stella had comprehended from the Law Comprehension Life Fruits that Gravis had given her.

The other one was the Law of Coreinferno.

The Law of Coreinferno was what Stella had comprehended while Gravis had concentrated on the Laws of Physical Power.

In actuality, it was beyond impressive that Stella managed to comprehend a level five Law in such a short amount of time.

How did she accomplish that?

Tempering.

Lots of tempering.

Stella was not weak!

Of course, Gravis had also gotten that Law from Stella.

The last Law was obviously the level five Law of Temperatures.

These were the four Laws that Gravis had comprehended from Stella.

Yet, one had to remember that this was not a one-sided smash-and-grab but an exchange of knowledge. This meant that Stella had also received some Laws from Gravis.

Stella had received a whopping ten level five Laws and so many different level four Laws!

The level five Laws were the Hard Complex Law, the Medium Complex Law, the Law of Magma, the Law of Body Growth, the Law of Body Composition, and the five different level five Battle Laws of Lightning.

Sadly, not all of the Laws could be transferred with the Law of Empathy.

For example, other Emotional Laws couldn't be transferred. After all, emotions only existed in beings. They weren't precisely real in a physical sense. They were only a feeling.

The Laws of Perceived Reality also couldn't be transferred. After all, they were arguable even more surreal than emotions. One could argue that emotions were real since a person could feel them, but were perceived realities real?

Another problem was that Gravis and Stella both only knew the level five Law of Empathy, which meant that they could only share level five Laws or weaker. This, sadly, made it impossible for Gravis to show Stella the Law of Divine Lightning.

However, Stella was already more than happy.

After all, she knew over ten level five Laws as an Immortal King! Even only knowing three Laws was already the stuff of legends!

Yet, this also put some pressure on Stella.

After all, with so many Laws, beings two levels above her were no longer a challenge.

She needed to challenge beings three levels above her, but it was still insanely difficult to jump so many levels.

Stella had mainly relied on the Fire Element for her entire life, but she had to change that now. After all, if she relied on Inferno now, she wouldn't be able to jump three entire levels.

She had to focus more on lightning. After all, Gravis had given her five level five Battle Laws for the Lightning Element. Without these Battle Laws, it would be too hard for Stella to fight three levels above herself.

Luckily, she knew the Law of Punishment Inferno. With this Mixed Element, Stella could still use her fire while also using the Battle Laws of the Lightning Element.

After being with Gravis for so long, Stella decided that she also wanted to push her Will-Aura further. This meant that she would temper herself in the near future against someone three levels above her.

Gravis had told Stella that he didn't want to know when she was about to temper herself. He didn't trust himself enough. It was important to be in genuine mortal danger while tempering oneself, and Gravis didn't know if he could keep himself back when he saw that Stella was in danger.

It was better for Stella to temper herself on her own.

Now, with all of that said, what about Mortis?

Gravis had comprehended four level five Laws from Stella.

What had Mortis comprehended during this time?

Only three level five Laws.

20,000 years for three Laws.

That was a long time!

However, if one looked more closely at the laws Mortis had comprehended, one would notice why these Laws had taken so long.

The first Law Mortis had comprehended was the Law of Punishment Storm, which was a fusion of the Storm and Punishment Lightning Elements.

How long had this one taken?

A bit above 4,000 years.

That was still reasonable. What about the next one?

The next one was Corelightning.

Metal was an Element that Gravis didn't have a great affinity for, which meant that it automatically took longer to comprehend.

How long did Mortis take for that one?

7,000 years.

Quite a bit longer.

What about the last one?

Graphitelightning.

Gravis' and Mortis' affinity for the Earth Element was by far the worst, which was also the reason why this one took by far the longest.

How long?

11,000 years!

If Mortis hadn't already started comprehending the Mixed Elemental Laws while Gravis was comprehending the Law of Physical Power, Mortis still wouldn't be done with that one!

However, this also demonstrated something else, which made Gravis take a deep breath.

Gravis' Elements with the worst and best affinities should average out, showing the average time for a level five Law.

One had to remember that Mortis had only been comprehending the Lightning Laws.

This meant that every single Mixed Elemental Law would also take around 10,000 years on average.

That was a long-ass time!

However, if anyone heard Gravis' thoughts, they would want to beat him to death.

Only 10,000 years for a Mixed Elemental Law!?

That was nothing!

One had to remember that Immortal Kings had a longevity of 100,000 years and that they only needed to comprehend a single level five Law.

That single level five Law might take them 50,000 years of comprehension and up to three separate tempering experiences.

However, Gravis didn't need tempering, and he didn't need that long.

Why?

Was Gravis talented in Laws?

No, not really.

Gravis was so fast because his efforts had finally born fruit.

In the middle world, Gravis had comprehended one Law after the other, knowing that his Law Comprehension speed would get faster and faster with experience.

Gravis had spent so much time back then on seemingly unimportant Laws, which didn't even increase his Battle-Strength. The laws of Plant Growth and Plant Composition were a good example.

These couple hundred years Gravis had invested back then into Law Comprehension had paid themselves out when Gravis had comprehended Laws in the Sect Alliance's territory.

Gravis had comprehended 45 Elemental Battle Laws back then, and it took him around 40,000 years or so.

Without these couple hundred years in the middle world, Gravis might have taken double the amount of time.

Then, the 40,000-year investment back then was paying dividends now.

Instead of taking 30,000+ years to comprehend a level five Law, Gravis only needed around 10,000 years on average.

By investing time when he had been younger, Gravis was now earning the rewards.

Gravis' comprehension speed was probably the fastest comprehension speed in this entire higher world, except for Arc.

However, Gravis didn't think that much about these things.

Right now, he was only trying to get back into a Cultivation mindset. After all, he had just spent 20,000 years with his honey.

'Back to work!' Gravis thought with conviction in his eyes.

'First of all, I should check out the Form Law for Sabers and Spears. Thankfully, Stella had informed herself about these.'

'Sadly, this will take up a shitload of time.'

Gravis shook his head.

'What are you even thinking about? I have so much time on my hands. I literally have hundreds of thousands of years to waste. Who cares about time?'

Then, Gravis smirked.

SHING!

And then, he teleported away.

Chapter 968: Form Law of the Saber

Stella had informed herself about the Form Laws in the Purist Sect. After all, the Purist Sect specialized in this category of Laws.

So, how exactly did Form Laws work?

Well, one would comprehend different element-specific Battle Laws. Then, one would throw away all the element-specific attributes of the Battle Law, leaving behind only a small portion of the Law.

After comprehending at least three different element-specific Battle Laws, one could fuse the element-neutral parts of the Battle Laws together into a Form Law of the same level.

For example, when one comprehended the level five Laws of Storm Cutting, Fire Cutting, and Frost Cutting, one could take the element-neutral aspects of these Laws and combine them into the level five Form Law of the Sword.

If one paid attention, one would immediately notice why not many Cultivators outside the Purist Sect would practice these Laws.

It was simply way too inefficient.

Imagine having to comprehend three level five Laws just to have the opportunity to condense another level five Law. Even more, the previous three level five Laws might not even be relevant to a Cultivator's battle style.

For example, if one was a Cultivator that focused on the Brilliance Element and used a hammer as their main weapon. A hammer would need the three element-specific Battle Laws that demonstrated the explosiveness aspect of an Element.

Fire could explode.

Wind could explode via pressure.

Frost could shatter with power, which would be an explosion.

Yet, what about Brilliance?

Brilliance couldn't explode.

Therefore, a Brilliance Cultivator would need to comprehend three Battle Laws of Explosiveness from three Elements that couldn't be used by the Cultivator since they didn't share an affinity.

All this for what?

For just another level five Law?

Why not directly go for four Battle Laws for the Brilliance Element then?

That was much more useful!

On top of that, the requirement to comprehend four level five Laws meant that no Immortal King would even glance at these Laws unless they wanted to look at the level four Law variants.

So, only Immortal Emperors would consider these Laws.

However, who were Immortal Emperors?

Why would they focus on these Laws?

They couldn't even be upgraded into level six Laws!

Immortal Emperors wanted level six Laws, not level five Laws!

This was why the Form Laws were rather rare in this world.

Now, on to the next problem.

Why did people that used sabers often comprehend the Form Law of the Sword instead of the Form Law of the Saber?

The reason was that the concept of a saber wasn't straightforward.

A sword focused entirely on cutting.

A spear focused entirely on piercing.

A hammer focused entirely on explosiveness.

A saber?

A saber focused on cutting but also on explosiveness.

After all, the difference between a saber and a sword was the thick back of the saber. The saber was basically just a huge knife, which made it quite a bit heavier.

So, a saber needed both things.

Yet, why was that important?

The important thing was what it needed to reach the bottom line of comprehending the Form Law.

A sword needed three Laws, basically any element-specific cutting Law.

A spear also needed three.

A hammer also needed three.

However, a saber needed four. It needed two cutting Laws and two explosiveness Laws, at least, for balance.

Comprehending just one level five Law was already a lot of work and ate up a ton of time. Why not comprehend the Form Law of the Sword to save some time?

This was why people often comprehended the Form Laws of the Sword, even when they were using a saber.

Of course, this problem basically didn't exist for Gravis. He was comprehending Laws with quite some speed already. Additionally, he was concentrating on the other Elements too. Even more, comprehending more Laws meant getting even more experience, which should make future comprehensions even faster.

However, there was something that interested Gravis even more.

Form Laws weren't as simple as normal Laws.

Form Laws had different powers depending on how many different insights one could combine.

Would a Form Law of the Sword condensed out of the Law of Storm Cutting, Inferno Cutting, and Frost Cutting be just as powerful as a Form Law of the Sword that was condensed out of the Law of Storm Cutting, Inferno Cutting, Frost Cutting, and Graphite Cutting?

One had insights from three level five Laws.

The other had four.

It was obvious which one was better.

How many Laws was the maximum that Gravis could put into the Form Law of the Saber?

14.

Usually, one would think that it was 18. After all, there were nine Pure Elements, and one only needed to combine two aspects of each one.

Sadly, Brilliance and Shadow didn't have Laws of Explosiveness. The two of them did have Laws of Cutting but no Laws of Explosiveness.

Unfortunately, this meant that their Laws of Cutting couldn't be complemented by their Laws of Explosiveness, which made the two Laws of Cutting of those two Elements useless.

So, in the end, there was a maximum of 14 Laws.

'14 Laws to condense a single level five Law?' Gravis thought with a smirk. 'That seems like a gigantic waste of time.'

Yet, Gravis' smirk only widened.

'But I don't see it as a waste of time. The Law coming out of there will probably be the most powerful level five Law in existence, except for the Minor Law of the True World. It might even rival the Law of Perceived Reality.'

'I'm interested to see what it will become.'

Gravis had decided to go all the way with this Form Law.

However, Gravis suddenly stopped teleporting forward as he facepalmed.

'Oh fuck, I nearly forgot!'

Then, Gravis took out four Law Comprehension Life Fruits. 'It's already been five level five Laws again. Time to take my medicine!'

Gravis immediately consumed the fruits and remained stationary in the air for around a hundred years.

BOOOOM!

'And Soft Complex Law done! Easy!' Gravis thought with a smirk.

'Now, on to the prerequisite Laws for the Form Law of the Saber.'

Chapter 969: Exar Leaves

Years passed.

Gravis' first stop had been the level five Laws of Storm's Supreme Cutting and Storm's Supreme Explosiveness.

There was not much that could be said about the process. Law Comprehension was just comprehending new Laws.

Gravis simply sat in the Law Comprehension Areas and comprehended the Laws.

After comprehending a Law, Gravis would call Stella and talk to her for a bit. After all, thousands of years had passed.

The first two Laws took Gravis 8,000 years in total.

Luckily, Gravis already knew the Composition Law for the Element of Storm, which made the comprehension far faster. Comprehending the Composition Laws almost always took the longest since one was building a foundation for something completely new.

However, when one knew the Composition Laws, the other Laws would quickly follow.

During that time, Mortis comprehended the Law of Frostlightning and the Law of Punishment Brilliance.

It sure was helpful to be connected to Mortis right now.

Gravis' next stops were the Laws of Inferno's Supreme Cutting and Inferno's Supreme Explosiveness.

Comprehending these two Laws took Gravis 10,000 years.

Now, Gravis had fulfilled the bare minimum to comprehend the Form Law of the Saber.

Of course, Gravis wasn't interested in the bare minimum.

In these 10,000 years, Mortis had finished all the Mixed Elements that included lightning. Mortis had comprehended the Laws of Deep Lightning and Shadow Lightning.

In just a short 18,000 years, Gravis had comprehended eight level five Laws.

This was insanely fast!

The next stop was a rather quick one.

It was the Law of Lightning's Supreme Cutting.

Gravis already knew the Law of Lightning's Supreme Explosiveness thanks to Mortis, which took care of that one.

Comprehending the Law of Lightning's Supreme Cutting only took 1,000 years.

Mortis didn't manage to comprehend a Law during that short amount of time.

The next stop was for the Laws of Frost's Supreme Cutting and Frost's Supreme Shattering.

Gravis' affinity towards the Water Element was okay to good, which meant that it only took him another 6,000 years.

During that time, Mortis barely managed to comprehend the Law of the Blizzard, which was a fusion of the Frost and Storm Elements.

However, just when Gravis wanted to go to his next stop, a message reached him.

"Hey, come over to my clearing," Arc transmitted to Gravis.

Gravis blinked a couple of times in surprise.

Arc rarely called him, which meant that probably something significant happened.

'Well, I've been comprehending Laws for over 50,000 years by now. That's a long time, even for Immortal Emperors.'

This reminded Gravis of something, and he quickly did some calculations.

Then, his eyes widened.

'Wait. Then, does this mean that I'm already over 100,000 years old?' Gravis thought with shock.

100,000 years.

How long was that!?

Gravis had come to this world when he had barely been 4,000 years old, but now, he was over 100,000 years old? Even more, his calculations told him that he was around 105,000 years old. This little discrepancy of 5,000 years was already longer than his entire life had been before coming to this world.

'That's so weird!' Gravis thought with a complex expression. 'I don't feel much older than before. In fact, for some reason, I feel even younger.'

Gravis scratched his chin as he thought about the strange sensation.

'Is it because of Stella?' Gravis thought. 'Being with Stella makes everything appear brighter, and I don't see everything in a dark haze anymore. It's like I have returned to a time with fewer worries.'

'However, I should already count as an old man,' Gravis thought with a complex expression. 'I am already older than the lifespan of an Immortal King. I don't know how many Immortal Kings go through tribulations, but there are probably not many.'

'Wait, didn't I just recently think that I was apparently destined to be young forever?' Gravis thought with a bitter expression. 'However, in the blink of an eye, I have become an old man.'

Gravis had to laugh a bit as he had these thoughts.

"You coming today, or what?" Arc transmitted with an impatient voice.

"Oh, sorry," Gravis said with some embarrassment.

SHING!

Gravis took out Arc's emblem and teleported away.

Gravis quickly arrived in Arc's clearing and spotted Arc.

However, Arc wasn't alone.

Exar stood beside him.

"What's up?" Gravis asked.

Arc had his usual smile on his face. However, he didn't sit on the stump but was standing beside Exar, which was unusual.

Arc gestured towards Gravis with his head.

Exar looked at Gravis and inspected him for a bit.

"I'm leaving," he said.

Gravis blinked a couple of times in confusion.

Then, it clicked.

"Oh, you're leaving for the highest world?" Gravis asked.

Exar nodded.

"I've been an Immortal Emperor for 350,000 years now, and my next tribulation will be in 50,000 years. If I remain here, I will cease to exist in 50,000 years since there are no more powerful Cultivators in this world," he explained.

Gravis took a deep breath. "350,000 years, huh?" he uttered as he looked to the side. "It sounds so long, but I'm already a third of the way there, basically. Why is time so weird?"

"You will understand that in the future," Exar answered.

Gravis noticed Exar's tone, and his eyes shone a bit. "Sounds like you already know the level six Law of Time."

Exar nodded. "Yes, I do. I'm also the one that created the tokens that you used to flee from the Nine Elements Sect."

Gravis raised an eyebrow.

The level six Laws of Space and Time were very difficult to comprehend.

"Say, who's more powerful? Narcissus or you?" Gravis asked.

Exar slowly blinked once in boredom. Usually, he wouldn't waste his time with such empty chatter, but he was leaving anyway.

Additionally, his teacher had told him that it would help Exar in the future if he built a friendship with Gravis.

Of course, Exar had noticed how outstanding Gravis was, and he could certainly see that it could be beneficial to get to know Gravis more.

Because of that, Exar answered Gravis' question patiently.

Obviously, the relationship between Exar and Gravis wasn't close in any sense. Normally, there would be no reason for Exar to tell Gravis of his departure.

However, Arc wanted Exar to talk more with Gravis.

Why?

Was he doing it for Gravis' sake?

No, he was doing it for his student's sake.

Exar was far more powerful than Gravis' currently, but Gravis' rate of growth was terrifying, even in Arc's eyes.

In the future, Gravis might be able to help Exar with some things.

"If you had asked me that question 50,000 years ago, I wouldn't have been sure of the answer," Exar answered patiently.

"However, now, I'm certain that I'm more powerful," Exar said.

'Certain?' Gravis thought. 'Narcissus knows several level six Laws, and Exar probably also knows some of them. However, the addition of just one or two level six Laws wouldn't make such a huge difference that Exar would suddenly become certain of victory.'

Gravis suddenly had a suspicion, and he took a deep breath.

'If this is actually the case, Exar might really be one of the most terrifying Cultivators of any higher world. He might even be the most terrifying one out of all,' Gravis thought.

"Do you know the Major Law of the Dead World?" Gravis asked.

Gravis got this suspicion when Exar said that he knew the level six Laws of Space and Time. These were already some of the hardest ones. The only missing things would be the level six Law of Gravity, the Law of Matter, and the Law of Mixed Elements.

Exar's eyes narrowed. "Was that a shot in the dark, or did you actually guess it?" he asked.

"A bit of both," Gravis answered. "However, I'm actually really impressed, and that's something that happens rarely."

Gravis looked at the lake in the middle of Arc's clearing and was reminded of the middle world's Grand Lake.

"I comprehended the Minor Law of the Dead World in the middle world, and that already made me one of the most powerful Immortals. Comprehending the Major Law of the Dead World in a higher world is probably even harder than that," Gravis said.

"That's wrong," Exar said with a slight shake of his head, surprising Gravis a bit. "Law Comprehension Realm Cultivators have a finite lifespan while Immortal Emperors have a lifespan that's defined by their power."

"If you were to convert my age to the Law Comprehension Realm, I would be 25,000 years old, 2.5 times as old as the maximum lifespan," Exar explained.

'2.5 times?' Gravis thought as he did some calculations. 'So, he's around 500,000 years old in total. Quite an old monster.'

"I hadn't thought of it like this," Gravis said.

Then, Gravis smiled.

"So, since you have called me here, it probably means that you want to stay in contact, right?" Gravis asked.

Exar felt a bit uncomfortable by the direct question, but he nodded. "Yes. I think there might be things that we could do for each other in the highest world."

Gravis nodded. "No problem. I will probably stay in this world for a long time. By then, you should have already made some progress in the Star God Realm. I can give you some information about the highest world right now, while you can pay me back in the future by giving me some information when I get back. After all, you would have spent a couple ten thousand years in the highest world by then.

Exar nodded. "I agree."

Gravis also smiled.

After that, Gravis told Exar a lot about the workings of the highest world and how he could find Gravis in the future.

Exar thanked Gravis, and after a couple hours, he looked towards the sky and seemingly vanished into nothingness.

Gravis looked at the spot where Exar had been for a while.

"And like this, the most powerful Cultivator of the world has left without anyone knowing."

Chapter 970: Changing World

Gravis talked a bit more with Arc, and Arc told him that he was looking forward to their fight.

In the beginning, Arc had been a bit skeptical that Gravis would reach a sufficient power to battle Arc's weaker form, but now, he no longer doubted him.

Gravis was well on his way to comprehending the Law of Sentience.

After Gravis left, for the first time in a long while, Arc thought about the concept of death again.

Could he actually die?

However, Arc quickly stopped this train of thought. 'Don't want to summon another Gate of Death. One is already more than enough.'

When Gravis returned, he called Stella again and informed her that Exar had left.

Stella also felt a bit strange when she heard that.

The most powerful Cultivator in the world, the Keeper of Underworld, had left, and no one had noticed.

As they talked about Underworld, Stella remembered something, and she told Gravis.

Apparently, the beasts were already converting their natural resources into equipment with quite some efficiency. 50,000 years was enough to create an army of powerful Forgers.

This increased the power of the beasts by quite a bit, which made the humans nervous and fearful.

It had already been far too hard to resist the beasts, and now, they were growing even more powerful!?

And that was when Underworld stepped in.

About 20,000 years ago, Underworld started to openly support the war against the beasts. After a long negotiation between the Human Alliance and Underworld, the Cultivators of Underworld could now openly join the war on all fronts. In addition, Underworld severely lowered the missions that were targeted at other humans.

This meant that the entire underground of the world was now no longer weakening humanity. In fact, they were helping humanity now.

Sects could send more Cultivators to the frontlines since they didn't need to guard against Underworld anymore, and Underworld started to sell a ton of ore at low prices.

Of course, all of this ore came from the Gravitas.

After all, Underworld was sitting on a mountain of ore.

The Human Alliance thanked Underworld for their generous help while Underworld got a ton of Immortal Stones.

With all of these changes, the frontlines stabilized again.

It was actually rather funny to Gravis.

Underworld had been created by Arc to suppress humanity so that they wouldn't eradicate the beasts. Underworld's missions had always only targeted humans, which made everyone hesitate in sending out their full force to the frontlines.

Yet, the Gravitas that had existed for only 1,000 years had impacted the dynamic of the world so much that Underworld had to help humanity now.

Gravis had already severely changed the higher world, and he wasn't even an Immortal Emperor yet!

Gravis didn't find this weird. After all, it was only logical that the beasts would become more powerful with time.

After talking with Stella for a bit, Gravis went on to comprehend his next set of Laws.

This time, he checked out the Laws of Deep Wood's Supreme Cutting and Deep Wood's Supreme Destruction.

Yes, the destruction aspect of Deep Wood was the explosive aspect. Gravis knew the level four Law of Deep Wood's Destruction, but not the level five Law of Deep Wood's Supreme Destruction.

The Law of Deep Wood's Supreme Destruction didn't take as long since Gravis knew the level four Law equivalent. It only took him 4,000 years.

However, the Law of Deep Wood's Supreme Cutting took longer.

This one took Gravis 6,000 years.

During that time, Mortis managed to comprehend one Law, which was the level five Law of Soulfrost. This was the Mixed Element of Deep Wood and Frost.

This one had taken up nearly all 10,000 years.

Gravis called Stella again, but this time, Stella had something major to report.

While Gravis had been comprehending his Law, Stella had gone through her tribulation!

Gravis blinked a couple of times when he heard that.

'Already!?' Gravis thought in shock.

This meant that Stella had been an Immortal King for 100,000 years.

Gravis did some calculations and concluded that Stella had broken through to the Immortal King Realm around 10,000 years after she had left Gravis back then.

'Wow,' Gravis thought. 'This means that we are probably two of the oldest Immortal Kings that exist in this world. It's actually crazy!'

'It feels like I arrived in this world just yesterday. Back then, I felt like I was rather young. Looking at Immortal Emperors that were over a hundred thousand years old felt so surreal and distant.'

Gravis had a bitter smile on his face.

'Yet, now, I am the ancient one. Life sure is fleeting. In one moment, I am young, but in the next moment, I'm already ancient.'

Gravis took a deep breath and just tried to come to terms with the fast passage of time.

During this comprehension, Gravis absorbed a lot of knowledge about the level six Law of Time, but it obviously wasn't time yet to comprehend it. The level six Laws of Freedom and Suppression were far easier to comprehend for Gravis than the level six Law of Time.

After all, there was only one thing that someone needed to comprehend the level six Law of time, and that was time.

Gravis asked Stella about her tribulation.

"It was actually very easy," Stella answered with a slight laugh. "I fought an Early Minor Circulation Immortal Emperor from Underworld. His power was about average. That fight couldn't even be counted as tempering since I simply shot a bolt of Punishment Inferno at him, supported by the Lightning Battle Laws."

"You know that I have the Major Law of the Pure Elements as my Avatar, but as you know, I can integrate the higher forms of the related Laws into it. This already makes my Law of Punishment Inferno as powerful as a level six Law. Together with the Lightning Battle Laws, it reached the power of a level seven Law," Stella explained.

Gravis nodded.

He knew that already. After all, his level six Laws of Freedom and Suppression had already been integrated into his Avatar of Perceived Reality.

After talking for a bit more, Gravis went back to comprehending his Laws.

The last four stops were also the four longest ones.

The fourth last stop was the Law of Core Cutting, and this Law took really long. After all, Gravis didn't have a great affinity for metal.

This Law took Gravis 11,000 years!

In the time Gravis comprehended one Law, Mortis comprehended two.

One was the Law of Brilliantfrost, which took him 6,000 years, and the other one was the Law of Shadowfrost, which took him 8,000 years.

This was obviously more than 11,000 years, but Mortis had already started comprehending these Laws before Gravis had started the comprehension of his Law of Core Cutting.

Gravis contacted Stella, and Stella had some news for Gravis again.

Liam had become an Immortal Emperor!

Apparently, Liam had completely concentrated on comprehending the level five Form Law of the Sword for the past 80,000 years. Sadly, his longevity had been about to run out before he finished it, which made him breakthrough. Then, he simply took a couple of years to finish the Law.

Liam had concentrated on the Form Law of the Sword to get a higher position in the Purist Sect.

Right now, Liam was one of the Core Elders in the Purist Sect, a status even higher than a normal Elder.

In essence, Core Elders only answered to the Vice-Sect Masters and Sect Master. They also gave orders to the Elders.

As Gravis was listening, he felt like the world was aging at an accelerated rate.

Gravis felt like, whenever he closed and opened his eyes, the world had transformed in a major way.

The most powerful Cultivator had left.

Stella had had her tribulation.

Liam had become an Immortal Emperor.

Beasts had become far more powerful.

'It's crazy to think that I have been comprehending Laws for nearly 80,000 years by now. It doesn't feel so long,' Gravis thought.

After talking with Stella for a bit, Gravis went to his next stop, which was the Law of Core's Supreme Explosiveness.

This Law took Gravis only 10,000 years since he had comprehended another Core Battle Law just now.

During that time, Mortis comprehended another two Laws. One was the Law of Infernostorm, while the other one was the Law of Brilliant Inferno.

Gravis called Stella again, and she had news for him yet again.

Stella had comprehended the Form Law of the Saber and had also become an Immortal Emperor.

Just like Liam, Stella had joined the Purist Sect as a Core Elder.

Stella seemed to be living quite a nice life in the Purist Sect. She didn't have many responsibilities, and she could do what she wanted most of the time.

Gravis felt yet again like time was passing at ridiculous speeds.

However, before Gravis went to the next stop, he took out eight Law Comprehension Life Fruits.

He hadn't eaten them in quite a while, and he had comprehended so many level five Laws during this time that he could eat two sets without any issues.

He decided to get the hardest Laws out of the way first.

The first Law Gravis comprehended was the Law of Graphite Core. If Mortis tried to comprehend that Law the normal way, he might take 40,000 years or more.

Gravis needed to consume all four fruits to comprehend that Law.

The next one was Shadow Graphite.

After consuming these Life Fruits, Gravis went to his second last stop.

The Law of Graphite's Cutting.

'Oh boy, that's going to take a while.'

Gravis sat down in the Law Comprehension Area and closed his eyes.

And then, a moment later, Gravis felt his Law of Safety and Danger shouting at him.

Someone was attacking him!