Lightning Is the Only Way

"Gravis, who's the opponent?" Mortis asked again after Gravis hadn't answered in quite some time.

Gravis' shocked expression slowly transformed into a complex expression, but eventually, Gravis only smiled warmly with a bitter tone.

Aris' eyes also opened in shock as he saw his opponent.

Surprisingly, Aris' opponent's eyes also opened in surprise.

In front of Aris stood a beautiful woman with short black hair. She wore simple clothing, quite a contrast to the robes nearly every other Cultivator was wearing.

She carried a black saber in her right hand, and her blue eyes looked onto Aris in shock.

It was Cera.

Aris and Gravis hadn't seen Cera in nearly 1.5 million years.

Back then, Cera had battled with all of Gravis' friends, and she had come in dead-last. Due to her shame and anger, she left Opposer City without informing anyone else.

She was a beast, and her mentality was the mentality of a beast. Her power was very important to her. It didn't only dictate her life but also her philosophy, wellbeing, confidence, and pride.

Being the weakest one out of a group was one of the most shameful things in her mind.

Because of that, she had left to become more powerful.

But now, she was here.

She was a level one Ancestral God, which already put her in the upper 10% of all Cultivators born after that fateful day. On top of that, the Elder had evaluated her Battle-Strength as being able to jump two levels, which put her amongst the absolute elite, the best of the best.

She had become powerful.

Gravis transmitted the image he was seeing to Mortis, and Mortis also fell into silence.

Their lost daughter was still alive, and they could see her right in front of their eyes.

The two of them only looked at each other for a while.

Aris' expression slowly transformed into a warm smile.

When Cera saw that smile, her brows furrowed, and she looked to the side.

"You two can start," the Sect Master announced. "We don't need a starting signal. You can attack whenever you want."

The Sect Master thought that Aris and Cera were waiting for a start signal.

Aris looked at the Sect Master with a polite smile. "Thank you, senior, but we haven't started fighting yet because we are related by blood. This is the first time we've met in a long time. We're simply a bit surprised."

The Sect Master's eyes widened in surprise, and the other Ancestral Gods looked with confusion at the Sect Master.

The Sect Master was the only being whose Spirit Sense could enter the arena. He was also the one that protected the sides of the arena. Because of that, he was the only one that heard Aris' words.

The Sect Master scratched his cheek a bit in thought.

Then, he got a great idea.

"Something has come to light," the Sect Master announced to the audience, and the audience looked at him. "It seems like these two are family, and they haven't met each other in quite a while."

The audience understood now why the two of them hadn't started fighting yet.

"Wouldn't it be a shame to have such a fight at the beginning of the tournament?" the Sect Master said with a smirk. "Wouldn't it be far more interesting to let them fight each other in the finals?"

The Sect Master grinned as he extended his arms. "Long lost family finally meets again, but an army of powerful Cultivators stand between their meeting! Will they become more powerful and overcome all the other contestants, or will they fail?"

Aris' and Cera's eyes widened in surprise. They also heard the Sect Master.

"We can fight," Cera said with furrowed brows, her voice filled with conviction. "We have fought before, and he has always won, but not this time. This time, I'm the more powerful one, and I want to prove it to him! I want to fight him right now!"

What Cera didn't know was that her speech was now also heard by the audience.

The audience became interested in the exchange.

There was a rivalry going on!

The Sect Master only grinned even more. "Tensions are high, and the intensity of their conflict can be felt by everyone! I hope everyone is excited about the eventual conclusion!"

WHOOM!

Suddenly, Aris and Cera felt a force of teleportation envelop them. However, the force didn't immediately teleport them away.

"You have five seconds!" the Sect Master announced.

He wanted to make it as dramatic as possible.

Aris only smiled bitterly and looked at Cera with care.

"I'm happy everything's alright with you," he transmitted. Talking took too long right now.

Cera only looked away from Aris, not wanting to meet his eyes.

"How is he?" she asked.

Aris only smiled.

"Powerful," Aris answered.

Aris also wanted to say that Gravis was here, but he knew that Gravis' Law of Perceived Reality would be broken if someone seriously powerful closely inspected him.

Cera only sighed, but she was teleported away before she could speak more with Aris.

Aris was also teleported away at the same time.

Gravis was a bit annoyed that the two of them were separated again, but he also realized that the Sect Master's actions could result in Aris and Cera becoming more powerful.

There was a way to temper oneself in this tournament by turning off the Resurrection Formation Array.

Competition was fierce, and if the two of them wanted their rematch on the grand stage, they had to overcome everyone else.

There were really powerful people in the competition, and it wasn't a certainty that the two of them would reach the finals.

At the moment, the two of them could probably reach the finals, but that was only considering the current power of everyone.

During this tournament, several people were bound to go through several tempering opportunities, making them more powerful.

The currently strongest might not even reach the top 10 in the end.

‘Quite a good tournament model,' Gravis thought. ‘I thought that the winner would already be set in stone since everyone can feel the Battle-Strength of the combatants, making the tournament boring, but right now, everything's up in the air.'

"Let's see if these two can meet each other again in the finals!" the Sect Master shouted, "but for now, let's take a look at their fiercest competitors!"

The audience's attention was immediately grabbed.

"Exar just left," Mortis transmitted to Gravis.

Now, Gravis also became interested.

"For this fight, the Resurrection Formation Array will not be turned off, no matter what the competitors say! The losing competitor also won't be disqualified from the tournament! This fight is only an exhibition match between the two people that the Lightning Peak Sect currently sees as the two strongest competitors!"

"Let's meet them!"

The Sect Master gestured to the right, and Exar appeared.

"The currently strongest opponent the little girl has to get over to meet her family again!" the Sect Master declared.

The audience nodded in appreciation.

Exar truly felt very powerful.

Exar didn't look at the audience and only looked at the front with a cold gaze.

Many of the onlooking Ancestral Gods were impressed by the prideful and stalwart expression of Exar. If only they had such an outstanding disciple in their Sect.

"However!" the Sect Master shouted with a grin, "this competitor also has a goal. He just doesn't know it yet!"

The audience looked with intrigue at the Sect Master again.

Exar had heard the Sect Master, but he didn't look over.

"There is one more competitor, but at the current moment, this competitor is unrivaled. If there were no way to increase your power during the competition, this competitor would undoubtedly claim first place!" the Sect Master announced.

Exar's eyes narrowed.

He had expected that there would be people that could rival him in this tournament, but he hadn't expected that someone would take part that could outclass him to this degree.

"Meet the current favorite of the tournament!" the Sect Master announced as he gestured to his left.

SHING!

A new person appeared.

It was a young man with red hair, red eyebrows, a wild red headband, and a long crimson spear. He looked disheveled and unkempt, but there was an aura of violence and dominance around him.

He was the perfect example of a violent, free man that didn't care about affiliations or organizations.

He was only interested in power.

When Gravis saw the man, his eyebrows furrowed.

This guy could nearly fight three levels above himself.

On top of that, he had a Will-Aura equivalent to a level six Ancestral God, which was insanely strong for a level one Ancestral God.

The Sect Master hadn't lied.

This person was, without a doubt, the strongest competitor at this very moment.