Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis traveled to the north of the Nine Elements Sect. The tournament would be held in a gigantic arena, 50,000 kilometers wide at the north of the Nine Elements Sect. This arena was reserved explicitly for fights amongst Major Circulation Immortal Kings and Peak Immortal Kings.

Sadly, even though the Nine Elements Sect had shown a lot of splendor with their incredibly expensive chains, the arena was nothing more than a big crater without any life. Not even the Nine Elements Sect could waste so many resources to fill such an arena with powerful materials.

Sure enough, the tournament was popular. Gravis already saw over 10,000 Peak Immortal Kings before the arena. How long would a tournament even take if so many people fought?

Gravis noticed a Mid Minor Circulation Immortal Emperor standing to the side of the crowd, wearing the typical robes of the Nine Elements Sect. The robe had the colors of all the Elements, and for some reason, all the different colors didn't clash with each other.

Gravis arrived in front of the Immortal Emperor under the scrutinizing gazes of the other Immortal Kings. Nearly all of them scoffed in disdain when they felt that Gravis was only a Late Major Circulation Immortal King. What chances could someone so weak have?

The Immortal Emperor looked at Gravis, but he was so bored and annoyed that he didn't even inspect Gravis. He simply pointed to the others.

Gravis took it as a sign that he should go with the others and complied. After walking over to the others, a wide, empty area formed around Gravis. Apparently, none of the Immortal Kings wanted to associate with this Late Major Circulation Immortal King.

This reminded Gravis of the time he joined the entrance exam for the Elemental Guilds in the lower world. Back then, such an empty area had also formed around him.

However, the reasons couldn't be any different.

Usually, these Immortal Kings weren't so arrogant that they wouldn't even acknowledge a Late Major Circulation Immortal King, but this situation was different from usual.

Why was Gravis here?

To gain fame, obviously.

He had to know that he was weaker than anyone else but still decided to come here. He probably wanted to boast to his friends that he had taken part in the tournament for the Holy Maiden's hand.

What a poser!

Gravis inspected the different Immortal Kings with his hidden Spirit Sense and noticed something peculiar.

'There's no one from the High-Rank Sects or Peak Sects,' Gravis thought. 'This means that this is probably some kind of preliminary tournament for Cultivators that are not associated with any powerful Sect. There will probably be a second one with the best from this tournament and the high-ranking Sects.'

It took a couple of days until everything started. During that time, Gravis heard tons of people talking bad about him behind his back. However, Gravis didn't care. He could kill all these Immortal Kings with a thought. The opinions of ants were irrelevant.

"Alright, everyone pay attention," the Immortal Emperor said.

All the Immortal Kings stopped what they were doing and looked at the Immortal Emperor.

"Having so many people fight takes way too long," the Immortal Emperor said with annoyance. "Because of that, I will immediately disqualify everyone that will have zero chance in the actual tournament."

The Immortal Kings listened closely but were confused. How could the Immortal Emperor judge their Battle-Strength?

"Anyone that doesn't have a Will-Aura on the level of an Immortal Emperor, get out," the Immortal Emperor said.

Silence.

A Will-Aura on the level of an Immortal Emperor? That wasn't easy, but it wasn't impossible.

"Sir, this criter- AH!"

One Immortal King spoke up, but some sort of force threw him into the horizon. Obviously, the Immortal Emperor was not patient.

"You can either leave with some dignity or leave like that person," the Immortal Emperor said.

"But sir- AH!"

The same thing repeated itself.

"You have five seconds," the Immortal Emperor said.

The ones that didn't fulfill the requirement shook and left in droves.

From the nearly 15,000 Peak Immortal Kings, only around 6,000 remained.

"AH!"

Around 150 people were thrown into the horizon.

Apparently, some people thought that they could stay hidden in the crowd.

The Immortal Emperor looked at the gathered people and frowned. "Still too many," he said.

The Immortal Kings shook. What would it be this time?

"Anyone that doesn't know a level five Law, get out!"

Nobody moved.

The Immortal Emperor's frown deepened. "I will repeat myself. Anyone that doesn't have a level five Law, get out! If you partake in the tournament, and I don't see you using one, I will kill you for wasting my time."

"But sir-"

SHING!

This time, the person wasn't thrown into the distance but killed directly.

"Don't waste my time," the Immortal Emperor said coldly.

Immediately, a ton of Immortal Kings left. Many Peak Immortal Kings already knew level five Laws, but it wasn't common.

From the 6,000 Immortal Kings, around 5,000 left. Now, there were only 1,000 left.

In other higher worlds, finding Immortal Kings that knew level five Laws was incredibly rare. These would normally be the most powerful geniuses in the world!

However, in this world, a thousand Immortal Kings that weren't even associated with any powerful Sect had already comprehended level five Laws, and these people were only a small part of the world.

This was truly the most powerful higher world in the Cosmos. Even some people without any influential background were as powerful as the peak geniuses in other higher worlds.

The Immortal Emperor seemed to be fine with that number and finally started to inspect the different candidates. He had to check if someone had snuck past him.

His Spirit Sense went over every Immortal King, but it halted when it came to Gravis.

The other Immortal Kings sneered. Finally, this fame-seeking idiot would get what he deserved. With the Immortal Emperor's temperament, Gravis wouldn't be able to leave alive.

When the Immortal Emperor saw Gravis, he nearly attacked him.

A Late Major Circulation Immortal Emperor? What is this nonsense!

However, when the Immortal Emperor inspected Gravis' Will-Aura, he became shocked.

Gravis' Will-Aura was just as powerful as his! This meant that Gravis had the Will-Aura of a Late Minor Circulation Immortal Emperor.

That was beyond impressive!

Because of that, the Immortal Emperor decided to let Gravis stay.

The reason why the Will-Aura of every participant had to be on the level of an Immortal Emperor's was because of the level suppression. There were two levels between Peak Immortal King and Early Minor Circulation Immortal Emperor. This meant that anyone with the Will-Aura of a Peak Immortal King would be suppressed by over 60%. There was no way one could win in a fight like that.

There were also two levels between Late Major Circulation Immortal King and Peak Immortal King. However, since Gravis' Will-Aura was two levels higher than his opponents', the level suppression would be perfectly nullified. Effectively, Gravis' Will-Aura was just as powerful as everyone else. This gave him a fighting chance in the tournament.

The only issue was that Gravis' physical strength and Energy would be much lower, but the Immortal Emperor knew that someone with such a powerful Will-Aura had to have an outstanding Battle-Strength.

"Alright, everything looks fine," the Immortal Emperor said.

The Immortal Kings felt shocked.

"What about that guy?" one Immortal King asked as he pointed at Gravis.

"What about him?" the Immortal Emperor asked with annoyance.

"He's only a Late Major Circulation Immortal King!" the Immortal King said.

Gravis didn't care. It was like the guy didn't even exist to him.

"So?" the Immortal Emperor asked.

"But- AH!"

And the poor guy was thrown into the horizon.

"Anyone else interested in wasting my time?" the Immortal Emperor asked.

Everyone else remained silent. However, deep inside, all of them felt like this was unfair! Why was this weak Late Major Circulation Immortal King allowed to participate!? Was his daddy in the Nine Elements Sect!?

"You and you," the Immortal Emperor said as he pointed at Gravis and at a red-haired man. "Go fight!"

The Immortal King that had been pointed out sneered at Gravis. It seemed like he was the one that got the rewarding task of showing this fame-seeker what true power was.

Gravis flew over to the arena, and the Immortal King followed.

"Start," the Immortal Emperor said before they even settled down. It seemed like he was rather impatient.

"Do you regre-"

WHOOOOOOM!

Silence.

The eyes of the Immortal Kings widened in shock while the Immortal Emperor's eyes shone.

Gravis would hide his Battle-Strength, but only to a certain extent. Because of that, he still unleashed a level four Law.

However, with Gravis' Will-Aura, this level four Law showed a tremendous effect.

It was the level four Law of Major Suppression. The Law of Major Suppression had been upgraded to the power of a level five Law thanks to the Law of Perceived Reality, but Gravis kept it at level four. Sadly, since Mortis wasn't here, Gravis couldn't use the power of his Avatar, but that didn't matter.

The level four Law of Major Suppression still had an amazing effect.

In fact, the Immortal King was suppressed by over 60%!

Yet, the speed and power of the Immortal King were still leagues above a normal Late Major Circulation Immortal King's. After all, his body and Energy were 16 times as powerful.

Of course, if Gravis also activated the Law of Apathy, the Law of Control, the Law of Death, and the Law of the Dead World, this poor guy wouldn't even be able to lift a finger, but Gravis didn't want to overdo it.

He had to appear amazing but normal.

The Immortal King took a deep breath. "It seems like-"

SHING!

Gravis used the Law of Lightning's Speed and Lightning's Power to shoot forward with a lot of speed. At the same time, he retrieved the saber that he carried on his back. Usually, Gravis kept his weapons in his Spirit Space, but this time, he carried a saber and a shield on his back. After all, he had to appear normal, and Weapon Cultivators always carried their weapons on their bodies.

The guy had let down his guard, and Gravis stopped just a meter in front of him, his saber on the Immortal King's neck.

Gravis' speed was impressive. The Immortal Emperor realized that this guy might actually be able to fight two levels above himself.

That was a rare and valuable genius!

How was he not part of a Sect yet!?

The Immortal King looked with shock at Gravis.

"You lost," Gravis said his first words since arriving here.

"Kid!" the Immortal Emperor shouted from outside the arena.

"Do you want to join my Nine Elements Sect?"