Lightning Is the Only Way

"Yes, it's the Law of Humility," Samantha said with a smile. "I'm surprised you guessed it."

"There are not many Laws that can hide one's power in front of me," Gravis said. "The only one I know is the Law of Humility."

"Quite a big boast," Samantha said with a slight chuckle. "Why haven't you used such a subtle boast before you showed your Form Law? That would have been much better."

Gravis became a bit red in the face as he remembered his ridiculous boasts. "I'm not good at boasting."

"I noticed," Samantha said with a smirk.

"How come you know the Law of Humility?" Gravis asked, trying to change the topic. "Does the Purist Sect have control over the Law Comprehension Area for the Law of Humility?"

Samantha hummed a bit. "Half-true. We do have control over an area that can teach someone the Law of Humility, but it's not really a Law Comprehension Area."

Gravis was confused for a second, but he quickly got a suspicion.

"Heaven's Trial?" he asked.

Samantha looked with confusion at Gravis. "What's that?" she asked.

Gravis was a bit surprised that Samantha didn't know. Wasn't she now Arc's second-in-command together with Narcissus? Shouldn't she know Arc's background?

"Do you know your teacher's background?" Gravis asked.

Samantha became nervous when Gravis asked that question. 

No, in fact, she didn't know about Arc's background. 

She only knew that Arc was someone that couldn't be judged with normal means. Arc was ancient. He had been there before even Narcissus had been born, and that had been over a million years ago. 

Her teacher had always been someone incredibly powerful and mysterious in her mind, someone she couldn't understand.

"No, I don't," she said.

Gravis nodded. "If he didn't tell you, it's not my place to tell you," Gravis said. "However, I suspect that the place where you can comprehend the Law of Humility is something that Arc has set up. By chance, is it possible that only a few Cultivators manage to survive while going in there? Also, is it an area that you can't control or investigate with normal means?"

Samantha was surprised when she heard that. 

Gravis had been completely on point!

For a second, Samantha became a bit conflicted. She had anticipated that she would be the one that would blow Gravis' mind with knowledge, but instead, it had been Gravis.

Did this Immortal King know secrets about the world that not even she, the Ancestor of the Purist Sect, knew about?

"Yes, to both questions," Samantha answered slowly.

Gravis nodded again. "Makes sense," he answered. "Say, can I take a look at that area sometime soon? I'm still missing that Law."

"Of course," Samantha answered with a smile. "You are now an Ascender of the Purist Sect. All Law Comprehension Areas are free for you."

"Speaking of," Gravis said, remembering something. "What kind of duties do I have now?"

"Basically nothing," Samantha answered. "You only have two duties, but they basically don't count since it's exceedingly rare that you need to perform either of them."

"One is to protect the eastern continent if it ever happens that the beasts are about to break through our defenses."

"The other one is to fulfill some important tasks that only you can do. For example, if the Purist Sect will ever need a level six Form Law in order to achieve something of paramount importance, I would call on you."

"Of course, a level six Form Law isn't something that has miscellaneous uses. It is only there for Battle-Strength. Therefore, you can expect that you will never need to perform the second task," Samantha explained.

"Sounds easy enough," Gravis answered. "So, I can basically do whatever I want?"

"Correct," Samantha answered.

"Sounds good," Gravis answered with a smile.

Then, Gravis and Samantha talked for a couple of hours, just telling each other about what they had experienced since the last time they met. 

After a nice conversation, Gravis left Samantha's hut, looking at an emblem in his hand.

The emblem was silver and had a solitary sword on its front. 

This emblem represented Gravis' status in the Purist Sect. The sword was the symbol for the Purist Sect, and the color showed Gravis' authority. The silver color meant that Gravis was only below the Sect Master. All Ascenders, and even the Ancestor, had that authority. After all, one shouldn't forget that, although the Ancestor was more powerful than the Sect Master, it was the Sect Master's duty to lead the Sect. Therefore, even the Ancestor was below the Sect Master, although only officially.

Even more surprising was the fact that Vice-Sect Masters actually had a bronze token. One would think that Vice-Sect Masters would be the ones with the second-highest position in a Sect, but that wasn't actually true. Vice-Sect Masters were still under the Ascenders and Ancestors.

After looking around the Sect for a bit, Gravis teleported to Stella and Liam. 

"Hey!" Gravis said with a wave of his hand.

"Oh? You're back!" Stella said with an excited grin. "So, how was the Ancestor? Were they a man or a woman?"

Gravis was a bit surprised. "You haven't met the Ancestor yourself?" he asked.

"No, we didn't," Stella said, and Liam nodded. "The Ancestor is very mysterious. In fact, the Ancestor hadn't even been the Sect Master previously."

"She hadn't?" Gravis asked in surprise.

Stella's eyes shone. "So, it's a woman!" she shouted with an excited expression as she grabbed Gravis' hands in excitement, shaking them up and down. "Tell me, how was she?"

"More on that later," Gravis said. "You said that she hadn't been the Sect Master previously? Then, how did she become the Ancestor?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Stella answered. Then, she looked at Liam. "Liam, you've been here longer than me. Do you know something?"

"I've heard some things," Liam answered. "Apparently, when the previous Ancestor left, the spot of the new Ancestor remained vacant for several ten thousand years. The Sect wasn't told the reason for that decision."

"Then, one day, the Sect announced that they had a new Ancestor. Yet, surprisingly, the Sect Master and Vice-Sect Masters hadn't changed. Some interested individuals with some connections to some Ascenders asked around, and, apparently, even the Ascenders hadn't changed."

"Of course, a lot of disciples doubted that they actually had an Ancestor. After all, an Ancestor needed to be a Peak Immortal Emperor. If no Late Major Circulation Immortal Emperors or Mid Major Circulation Immortal Emperors had vanished, where did that mysterious Ancestor come from?"

"However, the Ascenders had met the Ancestor, and they assured everyone that the Ancestor was truly a Peak Immortal Emperor."

"And that's everything I know about the Ancestor," Liam finished.

This was the first time that Liam had talked so much in front of Gravis, and Gravis felt like this was a big step forward. Maybe they didn't need to have such an awkward atmosphere between the two of them anymore?

However, Gravis quickly started thinking about the things he had just heard.

There had to be a reason for all of this, and since Gravis wasn't stupid, he quickly made the connections.

"I think I get it," Gravis transmitted, moving the conversation to voice transmission. "This entire situation had been so strangely handled back then not because of the Purist Sect, but because of Underworld. After all, the Ancestor of the Purist Sect is also the Keeper of Underworld."

Stella and Liam nodded. They knew that already.

"As you already know, Underworld's mission is to keep the war between humans and beasts going. Yet, only the Keeper knows about the true mission. Everyone else in Underworld believes that Underworld is simply an underground organization."

"Most of its members see the wealth of the Sects and want to grab a piece of that without the added responsibilities. So, in a sense, you could call Underworld an organization filled with selfish thieves."

Liam and Stella nodded. 

"Yet, when only the Keeper knows about the mission, how would a new Keeper receive this information? Even more, would the new Keeper follow that directive? After all, the new Keeper would have been someone that had believed that Underworld was still part of humanity. Yet, they had to go against humanity now?"

Liam narrowed his eyes while Stella's eyes shone in realization.

"It has to be someone from Arc's clearing!" Stella transmitted to both of them with a shout.

Gravis smiled and nodded. "Correct. I think the position of Ancestor had been kept empty until the time Samantha became strong enough to assume that position."

"Samantha?" Liam and Stella both asked.

Then, they remembered the woman that had led Gravis to the Ancestor.

"Yes, Samantha is the Ancestor," Gravis answered. "She knows the Law of Humility."

Liam's and Stella's worlds seemingly broke apart.

Samantha?

They had spent quite some time with her!

They had even gone out drinking several times!

They even saw her as a good friend!

She was the Ancestor!?