Lightning Is the Only Way

The eleven Cultivators left the Eternal Fire Sect and traveled to the nearest city.

The Vice-Sect Master was at the front, the members following him.

Gravis was at the back. Since he kept his Battle-Strength hidden, he decided to also keep a low profile by being behind the members. This would make it appear like he wasn't powerful enough to travel with the members.

Mortis simply traveled alongside them in his intangible state.

After about an hour, they all reached the closest city and used the Teleportation Formation Array to get to the Lightning Peak Sect's main city. The fee for teleporting there was the highest one Gravis had ever seen, being at 100 God Stones!

100 God Stones was nothing to the current Gravis, but 100 God Stones represented 100 million Immortal Stones.

That was half of what Gravis had earned in the Gravitas when he had been in the Immortal Realm.

Gravis had had to work for nearly a millennium to get that kind of money as an Immortal, and he had been very good at making money.

Yet, that was only enough to teleport to that city.

This price meant that people below the Immortal King or maybe even the Immortal Emperor Realm wouldn't be able to come here without a powerful backer that paid for them.

Gravis guessed that this was probably the way the Teleportation Formation Arrays stayed profitable.

The price was a method to keep unworthy Cultivators of inferior power out of the city.

The teleportation finished quickly, and the eleven of them looked at the city around them with awe.

The buildings were greyish-black and immensely tall. All of them had several stone decorations on them, making them appear powerful and majestic.

On top of that, snow continually fell in the streets.

Gravis looked at the snow and his brows raised in surprise.

‘I think that's Zero Blaze,' Gravis thought.

Zero Blaze was the Mixed Element of Zero and Blaze, and it was a level eight Law.

One might believe that it made no sense to combine fire and water, but the True Laws worked in weird ways.

Zero Blaze could either exhibit properties of both its components or none of them.

If Zero Blaze exhibited both properties, a violent storm of hot and cold Energy would ravage the surroundings, creating an unimaginable explosion.

Yet, if it didn't, it simply was warm snow.

"Are you sure this city belongs to the Lightning Peak Sect?" Gravis asked the Vice-Sect Master.

"This is Northsky City. A Peak Sect has more than one Law Comprehension Area for a level nine Law. The Lightning Peak Sect doesn't only have Law Comprehension Area for the Law of Heavenly Lightning, but also for the Law of Heavenly Fire and the Law of Heavenly Zero. Northsky City is located in the middle between those two Law Comprehension Areas."

"The Formation Arrays on the city transform the properties of Zero Blaze into its natural opposite, making it harmless."

"However, as soon as you leave the city, you will be bombarded by seemingly harmless snow, which will immediately explode with the force of a Peak Ancestral God as soon as it touches something it doesn't like," the Vice-Sect Master explained.

"Interesting," Gravis said. "So, no Ancestral God can leave the city?"

"Correct," the Vice-Sect Master answered. "The power of the Law Comprehension Areas for level nine Laws are impossible to overcome for Ancestral Gods."

Gravis scratched his chin in thought. "Then, what about the Eternal Fire Sect? How come you guys can just sit on top of such a Law Comprehension Area?"

"That's classified information. We have our ways," the Vice-Sect Master answered neutrally.

"Fine," Gravis said. "So, anyway, how do we get to the Lightning Peak Sect?"

"Follow me," the Vice-Sect Master said.

The group followed after him, and after a single teleportation, they all arrived at the northern gate.

Several guards stood at the gate, and they were inspecting a group of Ancestral Gods in front of them.

Gravis noticed that there were two level three Ancestral Gods and three level one Ancestral Gods in that group. ‘They're probably also contenders.'

The group of Ancestral Gods looked over at Gravis' group, and their faces transformed into grimaces as soon as they saw them.

The two level three Ancestral Gods were two Vice-Sect Masters of their Sect, while the three level one Ancestral Gods were contestants. Not every Sect was as powerful as the Eternal Fire Sect.

As they looked at Gravis' group, they realized that they had taken the tournament lightly.

All of the contestants of Gravis' group felt at least as powerful as their members, and three of them felt even more powerful.

The Vice-Sect Masters didn't like what they were feeling right now.

Two of the people in the Eternal Fire Sect's group could even rival them, the Vice-Sect Masters, while one of them felt close to being at their power.

Even more, the power of the person leading them felt unapproachable to them.

They couldn't even feel at what Realm the Vice-Sect Master of the Eternal Fire Sect was.

The two Vice-Sect Masters acted like they didn't see the group from the Eternal Fire Sect and left after the guards were finished with their registration.

"Bluegrave Sect, Sub-Sect of the Darkest Stygian Sect," the Vice-Sect Master explained to Gravis. "They are not greeting us due to our bad relationship with the Darkest Stygian Sect."

"You know their name?" Gravis asked in surprise.

"I'm a Vice-Sect Master. It's my job to know," the Vice-Sect Master answered.

"Next!" one of the guards suddenly shouted.

The group of the Eternal Fire Sect walked over and stopped in front of the guards.

In their perception, these guards were like Gods from a different plane.

They were so unimaginably powerful!

Not even their Sect Master felt this powerful!

Most of the members had never seen anyone as powerful as these guards!

And yet, they were only guards!

Gravis was barely able to feel the power of the guards, but also only because their Realm was at the same level as Gravis' Will-Aura.

Yes, these were level nine Ancestral Gods.

These two mere guards were as powerful as the Ancestor of the Eternal Fire Sect.

Peak Sects sure were powerful.

"You're from the Eternal Fire Sect?" one of the guards asked, looking at the Vice-Sect Master.

"Vice-Sect Master of the Eternal Fire Sect," the Vice-Sect Master said politely. Then, he gestured at the members behind him. "Eight contestants, one observer."

One of the guards looked with furrowed brows at the group. "Only eight? The Skywater Sect brought 18. Aren't you guys supposed to be at a similar level of power?"

Obviously, the guards didn't give the Eternal Fire Sect any face, but that was to be expected. After all, these two guards could flatten the entire Eternal Fire Sect.

"Originally, we were supposed to be 15, but about half of them left after they saw our two most powerful contestants," the Vice-Sect Master explained politely.

The two guards looked at the group and quickly focused on Aris and Exar. They also threw a small glance at the pink-haired woman, but the other two were more interesting to them.

Then, one of the guards nodded. "Quite impressive. These two might not even need to fight in the preliminaries. Of course, that decision is up to the inspector."

After that, the other guard summoned ten emblems and gave them to the group. Eight of them had swords on them, while the other two had one eye each on them.

"These emblems will teleport you to the Lightning Peak Sect," the guard said to the group before looking at the people behind them. "Next!"

The members of the group took their emblems and crushed them.

After Gravis crushed his emblem, he arrived in a luxurious room with the Vice-Sect Master. The contestants were nowhere to be seen.

Gravis guessed that they were probably in a separate area with the other contestants, so he didn't worry.

"Do you know when the tournament will start?" Gravis asked.

"We came rather early. There should still be about ten years before it starts," the Vice-Sect Master answered.

Gravis released a sigh. "That's good."

"You seem relieved," the Vice-Sect Master commented.

"Well, Mortis didn't get an emblem, so he has to come here on his own. He said he will take around eight months to get here, and I feared that the tournament would start before he arrives."

The brows of the Vice-Sect Master furrowed. "Can he?"

Gravis nodded. "The Zero Blaze isn't an issue to him."

"What about the defenses of the Lightning Peak Sect?" the Vice-Sect Master asked.

"They shouldn't be a problem," Gravis said with quite some confidence.