While Gravis was concentrating on creating Weapon Techniques, Mortis left Arc's clearing and went towards the beast territory. Mortis wanted to comprehend the Soft Pure Law as quickly as possible so that Gravis and he could concentrate on the Hard Complex Law. Like this, Gravis' weapon wouldn't be in danger anymore, and Mortis also wouldn't need to use up as many weapons.
Mortis entered the ground and went down as far as possible. He managed to dive deeper than 90,000 kilometers since he was now a Major Circulation Immortal King.
Mortis was using the Law of Graphite's Gravity and the Law of Inferno's Heat to protect himself from the heat and gravity down there. Mortis preferred using lightning, but that didn't mean he couldn't also use all the other Laws Gravis and he knew.
After a couple of days, Mortis arrived in front of the root network and stopped before it.
Right now, Mortis was in his beast form. Gravis was the blueprint of Mortis' entire existence, which meant that Mortis also had a beast body.
However, Mortis preferred the color white over black. Because of that, his beast form was white.
On top of that, there was an additional change.
Mortis only had two arms, while Gravis had six.
Why?
Because Mortis didn't need more. He relied entirely on his lightning, and with only two arms, Mortis could push his entire body weight behind his weapon. In terms of physical power, Mortis would be able to unleash more power with a single attack than Gravis. Well, at least as long Gravis didn't create a saber that could be grabbed with all six of his hands, but that would be stupid.
A powerful sense scanned Mortis.
Then, the root network opened before Mortis.
However, Mortis didn't enter.
Instead, he smirked.
"Narcissus," Mortis said directly.
The sense shook as it looked at Mortis very closely.
"I don't know you," Narcissus said.
Right now, Narcissus felt a bit surprised and annoyed. How did this mere Immortal King learn of its name, and even more, how did this mere Immortal King dare to utter its name?
Usually, Narcissus would have simply eliminated this disrespectful beast, but somehow, Narcissus felt like he would be committing a mistake. For some reason, this small Immortal King felt enigmatic to Narcissus. It was like Narcissus couldn't see through it.
"So, you haven't noticed?" Mortis asked with a smirk.
If Narcissus had a human face, he would be furrowing his brows right now. What was this Immortal King talking about? What couldn't it notice?
Suddenly, Narcissus became shocked.
How was this possible!?
Narcissus had inspected this beast with its level six Law of the Soul, and it had seen no issues.
However, just now, the fluctuations of a Spirit and a Will-Aura appeared.
This was not a beast.
This was a human!
Of course, Narcissus wasn't stupid, and it knew that this beast had purposefully revealed his Spirit.
But why?
Narcissus didn't know this beast, no, human.
"Surprised?" Mortis asked with a smirk. "That's the power of a Law I recently comprehended, but you don't need to worry. There are only two other people in this world that know this Law, and you are not enemies with either of them."
"Who?" Narcissus asked.
"Your teacher and Gravis, the black demon that passed through here a couple of years ago," Mortis said.
Narcissus' mind calmed down.
This human knew of teacher.
This truly meant that they were not enemies.
Additionally, this human was right. Narcissus still remembered that human in the form of a beast that had foolishly passed through its domain. If it hadn't seen that human several times in Arc's clearing, it would have directly killed him.
Narcissus' body was gigantic, and since it had once been raised in Arc's clearing, its body even stretched into Arc's clearing. It was one of the very few living beings that knew where Arc's clearing was actually located in the world. Everyone only traveled there with an emblem. Very few actually knew where it was located.
Narcissus had seen how Gravis had taught several classes of young beasts, and it had also listened in on some conversations Gravis had had with some other beings in the clearing.
Gravis hadn't known Narcissus, but Narcissus had known him.
It was understandable that Narcissus' teacher knew this enigmatic, unknown Law. After all, not even Narcissus was able to see through its teacher's origin. Narcissus was already millions of years old, and it was probably the second oldest being that existed after its big brother.
However, the teacher had always been there.
He had never changed, and he had never left the clearing.
He had only continued to gather new members and simply taught them some things.
This had happened when Narcissus was born, and it hadn't changed even until now. It was like no time had passed for its teacher.
This meant that its teacher was probably immeasurably ancient.
So, it was understandable that its teacher knew this Law.
However, that human, Gravis, also knew that Law?
It had noticed that Gravis had an insanely powerful Battle-Strength, but it was still in the Realm of an Immortal King.
Being able to fight many levels above oneself was one thing but being able to comprehend a Law that an existence millions of years old didn't even know existed was an entirely different thing.
However, most shocking of all was that this unknown human in front of it also knew this Law.
Narcissus had no idea who that was.
Yet, he knew teacher, and he knew Gravis. He even knew his name.
Who was that?
"Who are you?" Narcissus directly asked. Its interest had been piqued in a big way.
Mortis chuckled a bit, but his chuckle was empty. There was no mirth behind it. "I could be said to also be part of your teacher's clearing, but I have only recently joined. My name is Mortis, and in a sense, you can see me as Gravis' partner for that grand plan of his."
Narcissus was still unsure of Mortis' origins, but it didn't feel any falsehood from him.
"Do you know of Gravis' plan?" Mortis asked.
"I have listened in on several conversations. So, yes, I know," Narcissus answered.
"Perfect," Mortis said with a smirk. "That will save us some time."
"You want my cooperation?" Narcissus asked.
"We do," Mortis said. "After all, you are the ruler over the border. Without your permission, we can't start with it."
"Teacher has already agreed," Narcissus said. "My opinion on this matter is irrelevant. If he says that it's okay, it's okay. However, I will not protect you."
"Sure, but that's only for the greater implementation, not for the specifics," Mortis said, ignoring the comment about not receiving protection.
"What specifics?"
"Law Fruits," Mortis said.
Narcissus remained silent for a while.
"Dangerous," Narcissus said after a while.
"What's the problem?" Mortis asked. "You will get something equally as great. On top of that, the foundation of your camp is solid. What's so dangerous about that?"
"You misunderstood," Narcissus said. "Dangerous for you, not for us."
Mortis scoffed. "What, you think I haven't realized the danger?" Mortis asked. "Of course I'm not so stupid that I would go with those to the All-Matter Sect. We are two people now, so we are not bound to one location."
"The Life Sect," Narcissus commented.
"Exactly," Mortis said.
Narcissus remained silent for a while.
"I'm fine with it, but there must be fitting compensation," Narcissus said.
"Of course," Mortis said.
"Was that what you wanted to ask me?" Narcissus asked.
"Yes," Mortis answered. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some Laws to comprehend. If you have any questions, you probably won't have any issues in contacting my partner or me."
Mortis passed through the opening in the root network and entered the beast territory.
Meanwhile, Narcissus continued looking at Mortis with intrigue.
This human felt very special.
The entire time Narcissus talked to him, it felt like it couldn't oppose Mortis. It was like Mortis was in full control over everything, even though Narcissus could have killed Mortis with a casual movement of its roots.
Additionally, Mortis had been able to hide his Spirit from Narcissus, a being that knew the level six Law of the Soul.
Not even Immortal Emperors could do that.
How had Mortis been able to hide his Spirit?
The Law of Perceived Reality.
Perceived Reality around Mortis changed when he willed it. As soon as anyone didn't question their own judgment, they wouldn't know what they were seeing.
Of course, there were some limitations.
If Narcissus hadn't been so certain of its own abilities to see through beings, this wouldn't have worked. It simply had cast a cursory glance at Mortis. After not seeing anything out of the ordinary, it had ignored him again.
That was until Mortis asked it if it hadn't noticed.
At that point, Narcissus had taken a closer look, and then Narcissus had seen the truth.
It wasn't Mortis that had purposefully shown himself.
It was Narcissus' uncertainty over its own senses that made it realize the truth.
Its perceived reality had been that it was able to see through everything, and Mortis had accommodated it. Yet, as soon as its perceived reality came into even the slightest bit of question, it saw physical reality, which had not changed.
"I just talked with Narcissus, and it agreed to our plan," Mortis transmitted to Gravis. They could talk with each other from any distance.
"Oh, cool," Gravis transmitted with surprise. It sure was helpful to have another one of himself who could take off some work from Gravis.
Then, Mortis told Gravis about the effects of the Law of Perceived Reality, and Gravis took a deep breath.
"That was risky," Gravis transmitted. "It didn't know you, and if it thought that a human tried to pass it in disguise, you wouldn't even have been able to explain yourself. You would just have died."
"Since when have you become such a pussy?" Mortis asked with disdain. "This is Cultivation. We are constantly in life-threatening danger."
"Great, but the problem here is that your death will also majorly affect my life!" Gravis answered.
"Sucks to be you, I guess," Mortis answered with a smirk.
Gravis only groaned.
