Liran was happy that Gravis survived. He had just felt so much guilt because he couldn't protect his disciple, but that was unnecessary. Liran should have trusted in his disciple's power. Gravis could take care of himself, and Liran didn't need to protect him.
As soon as Liran's guilt vanished, he became a bit annoyed with Gravis.
Didn't Gravis know that by reappearing now, he was damaging the Unrestrained Sect?
Liran would need to have a talk with Gravis when he returned. Gravis couldn't just act this carelessly and endanger the Sect. Right now, Gravis acted like a bad disciple, and Liran would fix that mentality soon!
Gravis noticed the subtle changes in Liran's expression and saw through his thoughts. 'He's dodging all responsibilities. As soon as someone else manages to bail him out of his mistakes, it stops being his mistake.'
'I wonder, did Liran assume leadership of the Unrestrained Sect because then he wouldn't need to be responsible for his disciples' actions? After all, if they could all do what they wanted. The consequences would lay on their shoulders, not his.'
Gravis shook his head in disappointment and teleported away.
Liran saw Gravis' actions and sighed in relief. Apparently, Gravis was ashamed of his actions and saw the error of his ways. This meant that Gravis already knew that he had committed a mistake.
This was how the mind of someone mentally weak worked. If something was undeniably their fault and went wrong, they would beat themselves up over it, but if it went right, they hadn't committed a mistake. The fear of committing a mistake was so overwhelming that they often wouldn't even realize their mistakes.
The Sect Masters talked to each other and went to the Icy Rapier Sect together. On the surface, they mourned for this tragic outcome, but deep inside, they were elated. So many resources and new, talented disciples were waiting for them! Today was a good day!
Meanwhile, Gravis traveled back to the Unrestrained Sect. His Will-Aura had reached the peak for his Realm again after his fight with Samantha, which meant that he didn't need to temper himself anymore for a while.
'I was mistaken,' Gravis thought. 'I thought that the Unrestrained Sect, since it knew Suppression, would be the closest Sect to freedom.'
'Oh, how wrong I have been. A Sect Master from a completely different Sect comprehended the Law of Freedom, and I only needed to speak some words to him. Meanwhile, I have tried to push Liran into the direction of freedom more than once, but he never even came close to comprehending it.'
'The Sect's disciples have their head so deeply stuck in suppression that they can't see freedom. Oftentimes, when reaching the extreme of one side, one would be able to comprehend the other side. However, sometimes, comprehending the extreme of one side would make one even blinder to the other side.'
'The Unrestrained Sect is not a home,' Gravis thought with narrowed eyes. 'They know suppression, but instead of having something in common with my mindset, they are the complete opposite. They probably even believe that suppression of others means freedom for them.'
Gravis sighed with disappointment. 'I don't see myself as a part of the Sect anymore, and Liran's unwillingness to protect me already counts as a betrayal in my mind. I am in my full right to leave this Sect.'
'However, the Unrestrained Sect still has the Punishment Cleaver Sect as an enemy. The resource points and convincing other Sects to attack the Unrestrained Sect's resources fell flat. I still have eleven opportunities to attack other resource points, and they know that. So, I will remain for potential future tempering.'
'I don't plan to take any more resource points, but the other Sects don't know that. This will halt the attacks of the other Sects, leaving only the Punishment Cleaver Sect remaining. Arthur will realize that this doesn't work and will convert his attacks from soft to hard.'
'It will probably take some time, but Arthur will probably find some independent Cultivators and pay them to destroy the Unrestrained Sect. In the meantime, Arthur will probably pay other Sect Masters to hold some kind of assembly or something to lure Liran away from his Sect.'
'Then, the "bandits" will attack the Unrestrained Sect, killing everyone in it. As soon as the Unrestrained Sect is annihilated, Liran won't have any backing anymore. At that point, Arthur can probably convince the other Sect Masters to throw him out of the Sect Alliance.'
'And at that point, Liran's life will end. Arthur doesn't even have to pay others. He simply needs to get a second Sect Master and promise all of Liran's wealth to them. Arthur wants Liran's life, not his wealth.'
It was so obvious to Gravis what would happen in the future.
It was so simple. First, get the most dangerous enemy away and kill everything without getting involved. Then, use the greed and hypocrisy of other humans to one's advantage.
Was it truly so obvious?
Not at all.
These plans counted as schemes, and a lot of humans wouldn't be able to see through them. When one told someone else about what would happen, the other person would think that it was obvious.
Yet, when the other person was in that situation, they wouldn't see it coming.
Gravis was able to see these things due to his extensive knowledge about different mindsets, honesty, and suppression. When one realized what suppressed others, one could take advantage of that.
Gravis had just done so. The rules of the Sect Alliance were a kind of suppression on the members. Everyone skirted around them, but as soon as they were confronted by them, they had to yield.
The hypocrisy of the Sect Alliance had attacked Gravis, but he used the greed of the Sect Alliance to protect himself. Gravis used the degenerate mindset of the Sect Alliance to counter another degenerate mindset.
The Sect Masters had been Ryan's allies. What could Gravis possibly have done against such a force?
Why had they been allies?
Greed.
So, Gravis simply gave them something even more valuable than Ryan had given them.
Gravis had given them an entire Sect by making Ryan comprehend the Law of Freedom.
Previously, righteousness and greed had been opponents. They had been paid by Ryan to skirt the rules, which made them nervous. There had been an inner conflict between them, even if it had only been weak.
But when Ryan had openly provoked the Sect Alliance, a larger amount of resources came into the picture, and with it, a justified cause. Their perceived righteousness and greed aligned, motivating them to immediately kill Ryan.
Gravis had played the Sect Masters to an insane degree, and worst of all, they didn't even realize that they had done precisely what Gravis wanted.
Such an ability to manipulate others was terrifying, and if unveiled to them, would make them fearful of Gravis.
Gravis didn't enjoy manipulating others, but only when they were not his enemies. The others had shown that they were his enemies by only watching when Ryan threatened Gravis' life. Due to that, Gravis had no guilty conscience.
When one didn't say that one would protect Gravis, Gravis wouldn't care if they didn't protect him. After all, they were never his allies, to begin with.
However, when someone said they would protect Gravis and then wouldn't do it, Gravis would see it as a betrayal.
The rules had said that no one was allowed to intervene in the fight, but someone had. Because of that, all the present people of the Sect Alliance had betrayed Gravis and became his enemies.
His lightning agreed. They were his enemies, and Gravis had gone against them.
However, his lightning would have wished to kill all of the present Sect Masters, including Liran.
Gravis wouldn't kill them since he saw no reason to. Such suppressed, hypocritical, and greedy people were not people in his eyes. They had the mindsets of tools, and Gravis didn't even get angry at them.
After all, they couldn't do better. That was how lowly Gravis saw them. Even basic human conduct was beyond their ability.
Sure, if they went against him again, this would change, but until then, Gravis didn't really care.
The only person he was furious at was Liran, and that was also only because Liran's weakness had endangered Gravis' life. So, in a way, Gravis wasn't really angry at Liran but angry at himself. How could he have been so stupid as to think that Liran was a normal human being!? Gravis should have seen this coming a mile away!
After some hours, Gravis appeared near the edge of the Unrestrained Sect and waited.
He didn't enter the Sect since he waited for someone.
Several hours passed in which Gravis only thought about the disgusting conduct and mindsets he had seen among nearly all the humans in this world.
Did humans really become more disgusting as they became more powerful?
SHING!
Someone appeared near Gravis. "I'm here," a sad voice said.
Gravis turned to Stella and remembered her teacher, who should be dead by now.
'Well, I guess there are some good people,' he thought.
