Gravis had long since made his calculations. If Gravis were to absorb all the Immortal Stones he had left, he would be able to become a Late Minor Circulation Immortal King. That was a jump of an entire Realm!
Wait, an entire Realm?
Wouldn't that be more than an entire Realm?
No, it would be exactly one Realm.
There had been one detail that one might have overlooked.
When Arthur had attacked Liran with his strike, the lightning had vanished. Where did that lightning go?
To Gravis, obviously.
Yet, Gravis had to keep this a secret. Gravis trusted Liran, but he didn't fully trust him. Because of that, Gravis kept his growth a secret.
Right now, in Gravis' Life Ring, there was a second Gravis with the power of a Late Minor Circulation Immortal. Without noticing, Gravis had already broken through twice. With one more breakthrough, Gravis would be an Early Major Circulation Immortal and would, therefore, be powerful enough to fight Siegfried.
Sadly, Gravis' breakthrough came with a disadvantage. Gravis' Battle-Strength that was nearly able to jump five levels, was now firmly placed in being able to jump four levels. Five levels were no longer possible. This was the inevitable disadvantage of growing one's Realm.
Siegfried was taken aback by Gravis' threat, but instead of feeling offended, he felt respect.
This weak Immortal was doing what he wanted, no matter what anyone said. Earlier, Siegfried would have believed Gravis to be arrogant, but not anymore. With his new understanding of freedom, he was able to see Gravis' actions for what they truly were.
Free. Without any outside interference.
Nearly every being would say that Gravis' threat was foolish and arrogant. After all, did he truly think that he was powerful enough to kill a Peak Immortal?
Yet, this assessment took into account that Gravis believed to be more powerful. Instead, Siegfried was sure that Gravis knew exactly how much more powerful Siegfried was. However, even when Gravis knew exactly that he couldn't win, he still did whatever he wanted.
He was unaffected by consequences, and no one could stop him from doing what he wanted.
Siegfried bowed politely to Gravis, shocking the others. "Thank you for your teachings," he said with respect.
The other people in the hall were shocked. What happened to the willful Siegfried? Why was he suddenly so respectful?
"I didn't teach you anything," Gravis said. "I'm just doing what I want. If you profit from it, good for you."
Siegfried nodded and let Gravis pass.
Gravis stepped forward but stopped. Then, he turned around to Liran. "One last thing," Gravis said. "I might not be able to teach you freedom, but I can tell you how I obtained it."
Everyone listened intently at what Gravis was about to say.
"I was in the deepest depths of despair," Gravis said. "I had no control over my life and the lives of my loved ones. My greatest enemy had full control over everything I was and owned."
"At that moment, I gave up the most important thing in my life, control. Control over my life and control over the life of my loved ones. All control left me, and I had no other choice but to follow whatever my greatest enemy wanted from me."
"And only then have I been able to realize freedom," Gravis said.
SHING!
And with that said, Gravis was gone as he teleported away.
Silence reigned in the hall.
"I don't understand," one of the Vice Sect Masters said. "The circumstances Gravis has described sound like the polar opposite of freedom. They sound like Suppression. How can one comprehend freedom in Suppression? The disciples always only comprehend Suppression by Suppression."
Liran slowly shook his head. "I don't know," he said. "I only know that whenever I see him, I feel like I can't touch him. It's like whatever I do won't impede his freedom. I feel like, even if I did my absolute best to constrict his freedom, he would still be free. It's bizarre."
"I could restrain him, lock his Will-Aura, Energy, and Spirit. I could force him to be unable to cultivate and to be unable to move for thousands of years," Liran said. "Yet, I feel like he would still be free. I can see the Suppression I could create. I could see the restraints on his freedom until he has no control over himself anymore. However, these restraints just don't seem to be real."
"The restraints exist. I can see them. I can feel them. Yet, in front of him, they seem illusory, like they don't exist."
"I can't explain," Liran said.
Everyone else became silent again as they fell into thought.
To them, Gravis was a walking paradox. Gravis was something that they couldn't judge by normal means, no matter how hard they tried.
Meanwhile, Gravis appeared at Surem's home.
Finally, he could learn more about Weapon Cultivation!
Gravis looked down, but as soon as he did, he became shocked.
Wait, what?
Where was Surem's home?
Where was he?
Gravis was sure that he had teleported to Surem's home, so why…
Was he suddenly in the clearing of a forest!?
Gravis stretched his Spirit Sense to the maximum, but he only saw forest no matter where he looked.
Gravis couldn't even find the Unrestrained Sect!
This was impossible! Gravis could only teleport as far as his Spirit Sense reached, which meant that he had to still be in the range of the Unrestrained Sect.
But he wasn't!
WHOOOM!
Suddenly, time around Gravis stopped. The animals stopped moving. The wind disappeared.
Nothing was moving.
Yet, Gravis could still move however he wanted, like he hadn't been influenced by the Time Stop.
Time Stop?
This was not something that the level three Law of Time could do. This was something that only the level six Law of Time could do.
A level six Law?
One could only comprehend a level Six Law when one had the Will-Aura of a Peak Immortal Emperor!
Was someone of that power around?
"Greetings, Gravis," a voice spoke from Gravis' right.
Gravis turned to his right and saw a young blonde man with two short swords.
As soon as Gravis saw the man, he knew that this was the person responsible for Gravis' current situation.
Gravis wasn't able to feel the power of this man, which meant that he was, at least, a higher Immortal King, probably even an Immortal Emperor.
"What do you want?" Gravis asked. Gravis didn't stay on politeness since his life was in the hands of this person anyway. This person had abducted Gravis against his will. Politeness wouldn't help him now.
SHING!
A white emblem appeared before the blonde man, and it floated over to Gravis. Gravis looked at it and saw that it had a big, powerful eye inscribed on it.
"This is an invitation from my teacher," the man said with a smile. "This emblem acts as a two-way teleportation. With one crack, it will transport you to my teacher, and with another crack, it will bring you back."
Gravis looked at the emblem. "Why would someone of your teacher's caliber be interested in a mere Immortal?" Gravis asked.
"Teacher isn't part of any kind of Sect," the man said with a smile. "Teacher is a kind of hermit, you could say. He likes to be alone, but he also likes to guide lost children."
"I, for example, have been brought out of slavery by teacher," the young man said.
"What? Is your teacher some kind of selfless saint?" Gravis asked with sarcasm.
"Actually, that's pretty close," the man said, surprising Gravis. "Teacher doesn't have any interest in all the conflict of the world. He also only accepts untalented people with tragic backgrounds. Exiles from Clans, rejects from Sects, wild Cultivators without any background, teacher accepts all of those. Teacher creates a home and school for these people."
Gravis raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't really sound like me."
"It doesn't," the man said, surprising Gravis again. "The more powerful the background or Battle-Strength a Cultivator has, the less likely they are to ever meet teacher. You are part of a Sect, and your Battle-Strength is far too powerful. You are about as far away from the normal recruitment criteria as it gets, Gravis."
"Yet, teacher has still invited you."
"However," the young man said, "I also know that your invitation is different from all the others."
"How so?" Gravis asked.
"Because I'm supposed to give you a message as well," he said.
"Oh, what message?" Gravis asked.
"The message is that you will not join our school," the young man said. "This invitation is only for a talk, nothing more. After the talk, you can return to your Unrestrained Sect again."
"Of course, it is up to you to decide if you want to meet teacher or not. However, if you decide to meet him, it would be better to go before you truly start to focus on Weapon Cultivation."
"Why?" Gravis asked.
"Because you might receive incomplete or incorrect knowledge about Weapon Cultivation," the man said. "For some reason, teacher is very interested in your power. I presume that he has seen your incomparable Battle-Strength and doesn't want you to become mediocre because of a bad teacher."
Gravis thought about this for a bit. Then, he pocketed the emblem.
"Duly noted," Gravis said. "Now, can you return me to the Unrestrained Sect?"
The young man nodded.
SHING!
And with that, Gravis was gone from the clearing and reappeared in front of Surem's house.
Meanwhile, the young man furrowed his brows as he looked at the ground.
"I really don't get what teacher wants from him," the young man muttered. "He feels far too different from all the other recruits I have met. He doesn't radiate this feeling of loneliness and gloom. Instead, he seems rather comfortable in his life. Additionally, he is far too powerful for a recruit."
"I have no idea why teacher is so interested in him."
The young man sighed again and teleported away.
Meanwhile, Gravis looked at the emblem with uncertainty.
"I wonder what that's all about."
