Lightning Is the Only Way

"So, what's this all about a tournament?" Gravis asked.

"Well, as you know, the Lightning Peak Sect has had a change in leadership some time ago," Manuel explained. "One million years is very long for us, but for Divine Gods, a million years only feel like 100,000 years, relatively speaking."

"The Lightning Peak Sect probably had to stabilize itself for a long time with the new leadership, and now, they are finally ready to interact with the outside world again."

"I think they are creating this tournament for a couple of reasons."

"First, they want to show their power. They want to show that they still belong to the Peak Sects."

"Second, they want to ease their relationships with the other Peak Sects. After all, the winner gets to choose to join any Peak Sect, not only the Lightning Peak Sect. This means that this is probably a collaboration between all the Peak Sects."

"Lastly, the first Cultivators have reached the Ancestral God Realm after that fateful day. All these Cultivators have become more powerful in weaker Sects, and now, they are finally powerful enough to enter the Peak Sects' eyes. Sure, a level one Ancestral God is still far too weak, but a powerful Ancestral God that managed to reach that Realm with a lot of speed must have incredible talent."

"As far as I know, most of the Peak Sects' recruits come from outside the Sect, and they have been starving for recruits for quite a while now."

Gravis nodded. "Makes sense. Are there also other rewards?"

"Yes," Manuel answered. "The top three get a set of Law Comprehension Life Fruits for any level nine Law that isn't part of the Emotional Laws or the Law of Perceived Reality."

Gravis' and Mortis' eyes brows rose in surprise. "That's quite a strong incentive."

Manuel nodded. "Yes. The Lightning Peak Sect has a powerful plant that knows a lot of level nine Laws. However, to create these Law Comprehension Life Fruits, the plant needs to absorb a ridiculous amount of Energy and Life Energy, making these fruits incredibly expensive."

"By my estimation, one set of these fruits is worth 1,000 God Crystals."

Gravis' eyes opened wide in shock.

1,000 God Crystals!?

Gravis had earned only ten during his job as a torturer!

1,000 God Crystals had as much Energy inside them as one trillion God Stones, but no one would trade one trillion God Stones for 1,000 God Crystals. A more realistic price would be two trillion God Stones.

Two trillion God Stones.

The most Gravis had ever owned was something like 16 billion God Stones.

That wasn't even 1%!

"They're really going all out," Mortis commented from the side.

Gravis looked at Mortis and nodded. "Even I nearly want to participate in the tournament."

Then, Gravis sighed. "Sadly, I can't. I can't unveil my power in front of so many people. At the moment, the Peak Sects don't even know that I exist, which is the very reason why my life is so relaxed at the moment."

"If they find me, they will try their everything to get me into their Sect. However, I don't want to join any Sect at the moment, and if I refuse such an offer, they might decide to covertly kill me off. After all, if I don't belong to them, I belong to the enemy."

"Hiding my power isn't very difficult as long as I don't have to fight. No one will assume that anyone present knows the Law of Perceived Reality, and they certainly won't question their own perception while looking at a random Ancestral God."

"Accompanying my friends is ok, but I can't fight myself," Gravis said. "That sucks."

"I know," Manuel added. "That's why I didn't ask you two to join. However, you would still be a great help. After all, our friends will be up against powerful enemies with a lot of experience and tons of hidden methods. If another powerful Sect sees that some of our friends could become a danger, they might decide to stage an accident and kill one of them."

"You have the Law of Perceived Reality, which allows you to hide our friends behind illusions, and you, Mortis, can move around without anyone noticing you, allowing you to spy on their plans," Manuel explained.

"Makes sense," Mortis said.

"Manuel," Gravis said, looking at Manuel. "I notice that you keep saying our friends. It sounds like you're not planning on participating."

Manuel only smiled bitterly and shook his head. "I know that I have a real shot at getting to first place, but I value hiding my identity and power higher than the rewards. The more people underestimate me, the more control I have over the situation."

Gravis nodded. Manuel always kept his power hidden from everyone for a good reason.

There had been more than one attempt at Manuel's life, but Manuel's power had always saved him since the opponents didn't dare to send too powerful Cultivators. After all, if the Cultivator were too powerful, they would immediately be noticed by everyone, and everyone would become wary of them.

However, if they were only a singular visiting level nine Star God, no one would bat an eye.

On top of that, Ancestral Gods were severely restricted from traveling to and from the outer faction locations.

"So, who's going to join?" Gravis asked.

"Aris and Exar," Manuel answered.

Gravis' eyebrows rose in surprise, and he checked Manuel's faction with his Spirit Sense.

Sure enough, Aris had become an Ancestral God in the last 200,000 years.

That was quite fast.

Gravis had already known that Exar had become an Ancestral God. He had advanced shortly after Stella had reached the Ancestral God Realm.

Gravis had already talked to Exar, and he knew which level eight Law Exar had comprehended.

It was an exceedingly rare Law, the level eight True Law of Time Dilation.

It was one of the rare Battle-Laws related to time.

The True Law of Time Dilation doubled the time dilation powers of the Law of Time. Just based on the fact that Exar's Major Law of Time had been integrated into his Star of the Dead World, its power had already reached the power of a level eight Law.

Yet, with the level eight True Law of Time Dilation, the power of the Law of Time had been pushed to nearly the power of a level nine Law.

Nearly? Why wasn't it fully in the ninth level?

Because reaching the ninth level was impossible for any Law that wasn't already a level nine Law, no matter how much it had been strengthened.

Level nine Laws represented perfection in their category, and something that wasn't a level nine Law wasn't perfect. One could only push a level eight Law infinitely close to a level nine Law, but it would never truly become a level nine Law, even if it was used as a Star.

This was also true for Form Laws. If Gravis wanted to condense a level nine Form Law, he would need to create it out of level nine Laws.

Even if Gravis combined all the level eight Laws in the world, he wouldn't be able to create a Form Law on the ninth level.

There was simply an uncrossable barrier.

Because of that, no Ancestral God could show the true power of a level nine Law, even if they had a level eight Law as their Star.

Exar was pretty close to that power level by now, and he certainly had a lot of power.

The Major Law of the Dead World became less and less rare as the Cultivators became more powerful, which meant that it wasn't uncommon for Ancestral Gods to know the Major Law of the Dead World.

This meant that, only based on Exar's Major Law of the Dead World, he could, at most, jump one level.

Yet, thanks to Exar's unique power over time, his Form Law, and his multitude of techniques, he could fight two levels above himself.

It wasn't as impressive as the peak geniuses of the Peak Sects, but it was definitely absolutely outstanding for anyone not part of a Peak Sect.

Exar had a good shot at reaching the top three.

And Aris?

Aris had a beast body very suited to battle, and his level eight Law was the Law of Lightning Manipulation. Additionally, Aris' Will-Aura had already reached the third level of the Ancestral God Realm, making him quite outstanding in his level.

At the moment, Gravis wasn't sure if Exar or Aris would win in a fight, but he guessed that Exar would have a slight edge.

However, Aris had also always shown an incredible instinct for battle and a terrifying ability to grow in danger.

Honestly, it could go either way.

"What about Stella and Azure?" Gravis asked.

Those two had also become level one Ancestral Gods.