Lightning Is the Only Way

"I would have never thought that you would be here," Zern transmitted to Gravis.

"Why not?" Gravis answered with a laugh.

"Well, first of all, you have a beast-"

Suddenly, Zern's eyes widened, and he looked at the corner of the hall. Every corner had a beast crystal.

Zern saw the beast crystals shining red, and panic appeared in his eyes.

Then, he looked around at everyone else with shock and confusion.

Why was no one noticing that the beast crystals were shining red!?

The bright, red light wasn't subtle. It nearly illuminated the entire hall. It was impossible to not notice something like that!

"Surprised?" Gravis asked with a voice transmission.

Zern looked with surprise at Gravis, while the other disciples from the Sects looked confused at Zern. What was up with that guy? Had he become nervous because of the tournament?

"How has no one noticed the beast crystals?" he asked.

"Secret," Gravis transmitted to Zern. "However, it has something to do with a Law I know."

Zern took a deep breath. "That's really impressive, Gravis. If anyone knew that someone with a beast body was able to enter the central palace of the Nine Elements Sect, they would start fearing that all the beasts could infiltrate them. However, no one would even believe such a thing!"

Gravis had to chuckle.

Zern and Gravis continued talking for a while. It was nice to see a familiar face among all these strangers.

Some minutes later, one of the doors opened, and several people entered.

All of them wore the uniform of the Nine Elements Sect. There were three in total, and Gravis couldn't feel the power of any one of them.

This meant that all of them were at least in the Major Circulation Immortal Emperor Realm.

Even more, Gravis knew two of those people.

In the middle of the three people was a woman with blue hair. Gravis had never met her, but he had seen her picture in the hallway.

This was the current Sect Master of the Nine Elements Sect.

The woman smiled politely at the candidates, but her smile seemed frosty. There was no happiness or kindness behind that smile. It was like a being without emotion was trying to be polite.

'The Sect Master should be a Late Major Circulation Immortal Emperor, and the other two should be Vice-Sect Masters, which means that they are probably at the Mid Major Circulation Immortal Emperor Realm. Quite a powerful lineup,' Gravis thought.

The other person Gravis recognized was the Vice-Sect Master that had invited him into the Sect. His smile actually felt genuine.

Gravis bowed politely, just like everyone else.

After the greetings were over, Gravis saw the Sect Master looking intently at him. It was like she was inspecting him with her Spirit Sense.

Gravis felt a bit nervous, but he knew that he wasn't in danger. As long as she didn't suspect that Gravis was a beast, she wouldn't notice.

After a while, she looked away again.

"Welcome, everyone, to the tournament!" the old Vice-Sect Master said. The other one was a young man and remained silent besides the Sect Master.

"The esteemed Sect Master will decide who will fight who. Right now, we have 22 contestants, and we will continue with one versus one matches until only three remain. When three candidates remain, we will let the three candidates fight in an everyone versus everyone match!" the Vice-Sect Master explained.

The participants nodded.

'Stella isn't here,' Gravis thought nervously. 'How am I supposed to know what I should do if she isn't here? I need to lure her out somehow!'

The Vice-Sect Master stepped back and bowed politely to the Sect Master. "Sect Master, if you may," he said.

The Sect Master nodded.

"You and you," the Sect Master said politely as everyone's Spirits were moved to two people.

One of them was a person from a High-Rank Sect, while another was from the unaffiliated Cultivators.

The two participants entered the arena as they waited for the signal to start.

The old Vice-Sect Master also stepped into the arena. Apparently, he would be acting as a referee, and he would also make sure that no participants would die. The occasional death in the preliminary tournament wasn't bad, which was why the elder hadn't cared about that. However, here, it was essential to protect the disciples. After all, this was a gathering of elites.

"Begin!"

The two participants immediately started battling each other, but just after a couple of seconds, everyone was already clear on who the victor would be.

The unaffiliated participant fought bravely, but he just couldn't compete with the powerful Weapon Techniques of his opponent. After all, the opponent came from a powerful Sect with powerful Weapon Techniques.

These Sects had millions of years to perfect their Weapon Techniques, while the unaffiliated Cultivators could only create their own or buy mediocre ones with a ton of money.

Gravis still couldn't even imagine creating something as intricate and complex as the Weapon Technique that Stella had shown him back then.

Creating such a powerful Weapon Technique required time more than anything else, and Gravis just hadn't had enough time.

After 30 seconds, the fight ended. The unaffiliated Cultivator conceded when he realized that he was running out of Energy.

The Cultivator then had to leave the hall. Only the participants and the upper echelon of the Nine Elements Sect were allowed here.

However, when the Cultivator was close to leaving the central palace, another elder came up to him and offered him a spot as an Elite Disciple again.

After the Cultivator saw the gulf between him and the Sects, he realized that he could never reach the top of the world without joining one. Therefore, the disciple that had rejected the invitation previously accepted it this time.

Gravis saw all of this with his Spirit Sense and was quite impressed. 'The Nine Elements Sect shows these prideful Cultivators the difference between a Sect and an unaffiliated Cultivator. Like this, they can pull even these prideful people that value freedom into their Sect.'

"You and you," the Sect Master said.

Another unaffiliated Cultivator and another one from a High-Rank Sect stepped forward.

Sadly, this fight was an even bigger massacre than the previous one.

The fight didn't even take ten seconds.

"You and you."

A third unaffiliated Cultivator was called out.

'I think they want to clean up the trash before they start the actual tournament,' Gravis thought. 'These unaffiliated Cultivators really aren't that powerful.'

This fight was much closer, but in the end, the one from the Sect barely won.

The Sect Master looked at the young Vice-Sect Master beside her for a second, and the Vice-Sect Master nodded.

After that, the Vice-Sect Master personally escorted the Cultivator to the outside.

The other participants didn't dare to follow them with their Spirit Sense, but Gravis had no reservation. No one would notice as long as he didn't include the Vice-Sect Master in his Spirit Sense.

'Just as I've thought,' Gravis thought. 'The Vice-Sect Master is inviting this Cultivator as a Core Disciple. Obviously, the guy accepted.'

Apparently, that Cultivator had caught the eye of the Sect Master. It was rare for an unaffiliated Cultivator to put up such a good fight against a powerful disciple from a High-Rank Sect. If they taught him correctly, this new disciple would be able to run over all the supreme geniuses of the High-Rank Sect.

That was what a Core Disciple was supposed to be. A Peak Sect was a Peak Sect because they had the most powerful and most talented people. A Core Disciple was supposed to be stronger than any genius outside a Peak Sect.

Now, only three unaffiliated Cultivators were left, and these three were different from the other three.

Two of these three had Will-Auras on the level of a Mid Minor Circulation Immortal Emperor. That was amazing, even for Peak Sect standards. The third one was Gravis.

"You and you."

One of the remaining unaffiliated Cultivators was sent against another Cultivator from a High-Rank Sect.

The fight was very close, but thanks to the difference in Will-Aura, the unaffiliated Cultivator won barely.

This was the first time that an unaffiliated Cultivator won their fight!

'He's worse,' Gravis thought. 'He won his fight, but if his Will-Aura hadn't suppressed his opponent's, this would have been a massacre. The previous disciple was better.'

The disciple from the High-Rank Sect left dejectedly under the ridiculing gazes of the other disciples.

Losing against an unaffiliated Cultivator? Trash!

"You and you."

The last unaffiliated Cultivator was called forth, and he was also up against a disciple from a High-Rank Sect.

However, this fight was nothing like the previous ones.

This was a one-sided beatdown.

However, it was the unaffiliated Cultivator that violently beat up the disciple of the High-Rank Sect.

'This guy can definitely fight two levels above himself,' Gravis thought. 'Even without an edge in Will-Aura, he would still have a small shot. Except for Stella, this is the person with the most powerful Battle-Strength I have seen fighting in this world up to now.'

Even the Sect Master was looking at this unaffiliated Cultivator with slightly shining eyes.

"You and you."

Everyone looked at Gravis.

However, all the participants' eyes widened in shock.

Only the unaffiliated Cultivators and the upper echelon of the Nine Elements Sect remained calm.

A Late Major Circulation Immortal King?

None of the Sect Disciples had even deigned to take a look at their unaffiliated opponents.

Yet, when it was Gravis' turn to fight, they finally noticed his Cultivation.

Was this a joke?

Why was such a weak Cultivator here!?