Gravis was lost.
He had no idea how to solve his crisis.
How was he supposed to get that much money!?
Even if Gravis managed to become an Ancestral God, he would need to fight so many times!
However, Gravis would need a billion God Stones to even become an Ancestral God, and he didn't have that!
Even more, Gravis' Battle-Strength would take a nearly unrecoverable hit.
At that point, even jumping three levels would become insanely difficult.
Gravis' insane Battle-Strength would fall back down to the Battle-Strength geniuses would have.
"What do I do?" Gravis repeated again.
When Stella saw Gravis like this, she almost began crying.
She had never seen Gravis in so much despair.
Gravis had always had a plan.
He always had a goal and knew how to recover if he had problems.
Yet, he was completely helpless right now.
The Sin Monsters would come soon, and Gravis would be hunted and probably slowly ground to dust if the repayment efforts didn't satisfy the Sin Monsters.
However, how was he even supposed to make any headway in repaying his debt!?
"Gravis," Arc said through Gravis' communication ring. "First of all, get away from all your friends. We don't know when the Sin Monsters will arrive. If the Sin Monsters kill your friends, overcoming this tribulation would be pointless!"
Gravis' insides shook with intensity.
Gravis looked at the Myriad Sect.
Everyone inside the Sect was looking with despair at Gravis.
Then, Gravis looked at Stella.
Stella's face transformed into horror.
"No!" Stella shouted. "I will come with you! It doesn't matter if I die! I won't abandon you!"
Gravis' body shook.
Then, tears appeared in Gravis' eyes.
"I'm sorry. I will come back! I promise!"
Stella's expression became even more horrified.
WHOOOM!
Gravis activated his Will-Aura and knocked Stella out.
Then, he hugged the unconscious Stella one last time and threw her into the Myriad Sect.
He couldn't allow her to sacrifice herself for that.
"Gravis!" Manuel shouted. "We will do our best to help you! You're not alone! Even if we can't see you, we will do our best to help you!"
"Yes, we will help you, dad!" Aris shouted in pain.
"Don't give up! We're there for you!" Skye shouted.
The entire Myriad Sect echoed these words.
Everyone was willing to help Gravis.
All of them said that they would do their best to help Gravis.
When Gravis heard all these shouts, he realized that he wasn't alone anymore.
All his friends and companions were there for him.
For a second, Gravis felt happy, even with all this pressure weighing on his shoulders.
He had so many people that were willing to do everything for him.
However, Gravis knew that they couldn't help him.
The debt was just too big.
The Myriad Sect would need to create several Ancestral Gods and then let them fight multiple times. After that, they would need to pool all their earnings together and send them to Gravis.
The most powerful of Gravis' friends had just recently become Star Gods. They had just comprehended their first level seven Law.
In order to become an Ancestral God, they needed to comprehend a level eight Law.
When that happened, Gravis would already have long since died.
Gravis didn't believe that the Sin Monsters would allow him to live for a full million years.
"Thank you," Gravis said.
"See you later," Gravis said with a weak voice.
He didn't mean it.
SHING!
And Gravis teleported away.
He couldn't remain here anymore.
After Gravis left, an oppressive silence came over the Myriad Sect.
Gravis had done so much for them, and they all needed to help him.
Every person in the Myriad Sect was willing to give their best for Gravis.
Gravis was the spiritual pillar of the Myriad Sect!
He was the person that created the Myriad Sect!
How many beings in the upper echelon of the Myriad Sect were alive thanks to him?
Yet, they had never been able to repay him. Gravis had always been a distant target.
Their power had never been able to compare to his.
But now, they could finally help him!
Manuel and the other powerful people of the Myriad Sect narrowed their eyes with battle intent.
They would go through hell for him!
Meanwhile, Gravis was charging in a random direction.
He had to leave the area of the Eternal Fire Sect.
If the Eternal Fire Sect saw a Sin Monster running through their territory, they would kill Gravis to get rid of it.
Gravis activated his Law of Perceived Reality to hide.
It was imperative that no one saw him!
Yet, even the Law of Perceived Reality had its flaws.
It would work on most Ancestral Gods, but what about Divine Gods?
There was a limit to the power of a level seven Law, even if it was part of his Avatar.
Gravis couldn't go to the Teleportation Formation Arrays, which forced him to travel everywhere by himself.
Gravis knew the surroundings, but the surroundings were nothing when compared to the entirety of the highest world.
Gravis would probably need to travel for over a hundred thousand years to get to the edge of the core regions of the highest world.
The size of the highest world was just unreasonable.
"Gravis," Arc said through the communication ring. "You can't pay back the debt in Energy. You need to pay it back in Karmic Luck!"
"And how am I supposed to do that!?" Gravis answered with an angry voice. His emotions were currently going wild, and it was hard for him to remain polite. "Even if I take in a million Peak Immortal Emperors as disciples, how many of them would become Star Gods? How long would it take them!? How am I even supposed to take in disciples if the Sin Monsters will kill everyone close to me!?"
"Gravis, there is always a solution!" Arc answered. "You know exactly that my Creator always gives Cultivators a chance. Not giving you a chance would be far too wasteful. He isn't like that, and you know that."
Gravis gritted his teeth. "Sorry, but I just don't know what I can do."
"Have you forgotten about me?"
Gravis turned around in surprise.
Mortis had appeared behind Gravis.
For a second, Gravis wanted to admonish Mortis for following him. The Sin Monsters would kill everyone around him.
However, Gravis remembered that Mortis was technically his Star.
In the eyes of the world, Mortis was not his own being.
"I can see your Sin Aura," Mortis said. "It took me a while to practice, but I can see it now."
The knowledge of how to see his own Sin Aura entered Gravis' mind, and Gravis looked at himself.
Blood red.
It was like a blood-red domain was around Gravis.
There was a certain coldness around Gravis.
It was like the cold of death was around Gravis.
As soon as Gravis felt his own Sin Aura, he involuntarily got reminded of an event.
Back when Gravis had only been a kid, back when the other Stella had died, Gravis had felt something like that.
When Gravis' father had become angry at Heaven, Gravis had felt something similar.
Back then, it had felt like the cold embrace of death enveloped everything.
Gravis quickly realized that his father obviously also had a Sin Aura, which was logical. After all, his father had killed more Cultivators than anyone else.
Yet, the Sin Monsters didn't dare to touch him.
However, the Opposer's strength was still too far out of reach for Gravis.
"We need to analyze everything and find a way out of this," Mortis said calmly. "You and I are in the same boat. If you die, I die. Your problems are my problems."
"Gravis," Mortis said as he looked at Gravis. "Even though we are emotionally disconnected right now, it's not hard to feel your emotions right now. I know you."
"Your emotions are currently making you blind to the problem laying before you. You need to calm down and become detached."
"Right now, emotions won't help you. Get a clear head and look at everything logically," Mortis said.
Gravis' expression showed some conflict, but he quickly realized that there was no reason to feel conflicted right now.
Due to his past experiences, Gravis felt like becoming completely apathetic would be like running away from his problems.
However, there was a time to be emotional and a time to be emotionless.
Right now, Gravis had to be emotionless.
Gravis took all his Emotional Laws and pushed them towards their apathetic end.
Everything around Gravis became grey as his care for everything that wasn't his own survival vanished.
However, Gravis surprisingly didn't feel nervous.
This wasn't like back when he had been in front of the middle Heaven.
Back then, Gravis knew that he was only delaying the problem.
Back then, Gravis also didn't have very good control over his emotions.
Yet, everything had changed.
Gravis knew the Law of Sentience now, and the Law of Emotions was part of that.
Gravis could freely control the gradient of his emotions, and he knew that he could easily push the gradient back to the empathetic side if he so desired.
Abandoning his emotions would not result in any damage right now.
"Thank you, Mortis," Gravis said with a cold expression.
"No problem," Mortis answered. "We all have our strengths and weaknesses, but weaknesses can become strengths in certain situations. You are more in tune with your emotions, but that can't help you right now."
"We need to find a solution."
Gravis and Mortis continued flying and teleporting to the distance while trying to come up with a solution to their issue.
They flew for several days, and they had come up with some plans.
Sadly, the plans were unreliable and inefficient.
They had to get more information first.
They needed to know what the Sin Monsters would do and how much time they had.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, the two of them quickly got more information very quickly.
A being that looked like a beast, but didn't feel like a beast, had arrived.
It was a Sin Monster.
