Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis charged through the earth towards the southeast. Down here, no human would be able to find him, but that wasn't true for the beasts.

However, having to go through a ton of hardened stone took a lot longer than simply flying. Because of that, Gravis' speed was slower than before.

After around three weeks, Gravis was sure that he was close to the beast territory. He was probably close to the edge. This area would be the most dangerous since the forces of beasts and humans met each other here.

Inside the earth, Gravis saw no difference. Everything felt the same, no matter where he was.

A couple of days later, Gravis thought that he should already be inside the beast territory, but he wouldn't come out unless he saw proof. If he came out too early, an Immortal Emperor would probably directly jump on him and kill him.

An additional day later, Gravis finally saw the thing he was waiting for.

Gravis stopped and narrowed his eyes. Just a kilometer in front of him was something that blocked his way.

"Let me through," Gravis transmitted.

What was blocking Gravis' path?

A gigantic root!

Gravis' Spirit Sense couldn't reach very far so deep in the earth, which made it impossible to see how big that root was, but Gravis was sure that it was humongous.

Gravis felt a powerful sense sweeping over him.

"Password?" it asked.

Gravis scoffed. "Really? We have passwords now? I'm a beast, and I want to go to the Great Forest. Why would I need some password?" Gravis transmitted with annoyance.

The powerful sense swept over Gravis some more. "No human, even if they are of mixed descent, can have such a powerful body. You may pass."

CRRRRR!

And like that, the root shrunk until Gravis could see a path forward.

"Th- to think that I would be asked for a password. What is even going on anymore?" Gravis said coldly.

However, deep inside, panic and terror had taken hold of him.

He had nearly said thanks!

In the middle world, saying thanks would have been seen as weird. After all, beasts saw no value in such meaningless words. However, in this world, beasts knew what humans were. If Gravis had said thanks, this powerful plant would have probably realized that Gravis had been living so long among humans that their way of speaking and philosophy had influenced him. Such a being was basically already a human in a beast's eyes.

Fortunately, Gravis had turned it around quickly enough.

The plant didn't answer.

It was its job to protect the borders from any human that wanted to sneak in here. It only said as much as necessary while doing its job. Talking to a mere Early Circulation Immortal King was beneath it.

This blockage was exactly what Gravis had been waiting for.

How were beasts able to block something that humans weren't able to block with their incredible ingenuity?

Size!

Some plants would grow as big as they could and then bury deep into the ground. Like this, they would be gigantic, living walls.

Gravis had felt the plant's senses for a split second, but that was already enough.

In Gravis' perception, the power of this plant was unimaginable.

Its power was so big that Gravis couldn't even take a good guess at its Cultivation Realm. The only thing Gravis could be sure about was that this plant was in the Immortal Emperor Realm. It could be at the beginning or at the peak. Gravis couldn't tell the difference.

Gravis quickly passed through the opening, and the root behind him grew again to block the path.

Gravis passing through this blockade had appeared effortless, but he had gone through four different checks. No human would have been able to get through these.

The first check had been the question about a password.

What was the password?

There was no password.

Humans with their affinity for planning and scheming would immediately believe that there was some kind of password. After all, who would leave such an important frontline unprotected? Of course they would have a password, right?

So, when confronted with a request for a password, how would humans react?

Maybe they said that they haven't been told a password.

Maybe they said that they forgot it.

Maybe they said that they were on a mission.

None of them would directly say that there was no password.

After all, having a password was only logical in such an important location.

This was the first test that Gravis had gone through. Any beast would just scoff at the idea of having passwords. Why would they need something like that? Something like this was just too human.

The second test had been the sense of the plant. If anyone faked a beast body, hiding from such a powerful plant would be very difficult. This plant probably also knew several Laws that allowed it to inspect the bodies of others.

If humans could create crystals that reacted to the Laws inside a beast's blood, then why wouldn't it also be possible for beasts to sense these Laws?

This plant probably checked if the being had these fluctuations inside their body.

The third test had been the power of Gravis' body.

There were mixed offspring with a weak beast body but a Will-Aura and Spirit. The beasts saw these mixed offspring also as humans. Only a beast with a truly powerful body was a beast.

A mixed offspring with a beast body but with a Will-Aura and Spirit would have these Law fluctuations since they could still cultivate like beasts, but their bodies were weak. Because of that, the plant also checked the power of everyone's body.

Gravis was at a depth of 90,000 kilometers as an Early Minor Circulation Immortal King. This meant that his body was mighty, even for a beast.

It was absolutely impossible that a beast with such a powerful body had a Will-Aura and Spirit.

The last test was a test of personality and personal philosophy. No human would think about saying thanks or not. It was just normal and came out subconsciously. They would also act towards beasts like this. After all, if they didn't show some politeness, they might offend powerful beasts and get attacked. One always had to show politeness to their superiors.

However, politeness was very different when it came to beasts. Politeness was less about how one talked and more about how one acted in front of beasts. One could directly say anything without please or thanks in front of a powerful beast, and the powerful beast wouldn't care as long as the other beast showed respect with their aura and posture.

These four tests checked everything.

Human mindset.

Beast body.

Physical power.

Human influence.

In the long history of this world, many Cultivators had tried to infiltrate the beast territory like this. However, none of them had returned to report.

All of them were killed by the guardians of the border.

So, humans had stopped trying. They could only accept that the beasts had some kind of technique to check if someone was a beast or not.

Gravis had been able to pass through the barricade that no human had ever been able to pass.

Why?

Because he had a beast body and because he had been only among beasts for nearly 2,000 years.