Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis looked at the head with furrowed brows. He hadn't noticed this person at all, but Stella had been able to feel him. 

"How did you notice him?" he asked.

Stella noticed that Gravis wasn't angry at all, which meant that he truly wasn't connected to this uninvited guest. "He used the Law of Shadow to hide. I know that you already know this Law, but he probably also had the Law of Shadow as his Avatar. This meant that his Law of Shadow exhibited the power of a level four Law."

Gravis nodded. "Additionally, the level difference between us is too much," Gravis said. "If I were an early Major Circulation Immortal, I might have noticed him."

Stella nodded.

"Do you recognize his aura?" Gravis asked. 

Someone had become so interested in Gravis that they had commissioned a Peak Immortal to keep watch over him. This meant that at least one Sect Master was already very interested in Gravis' secrets. 

"I don't need to recognize the aura to know who that is," Stella said. "This style of espionage is trademarked by one of the organizations."

"Organizations?" Gravis asked. "So, it's not a Sect?"

"Not entirely," Stella said as she crossed her arms. "They are similar to Sects but not identical. Usually, Sects take territories for themselves and work under one banner. This organization is different in the sense that they are all over the world without any real headquarter."

Gravis scratched his chin. Based on what Stella said, Gravis could already imagine the organization. "Let me guess. You said that they weren't really Sects and that they are basically all over the world without a headquarter. Do they teach their own members?"

Stella's eyes shone a bit in surprise, and she shook her head.

Gravis looked closely at the head. "If they don't teach their disciples, it probably means that they recruit them from outside. However, nearly any Immortal is a Cultivator that all the Sects want. This means that membership for this organization is either nonexclusive or that no one wants to go against them."

"Is it a kind of mercenary organization?" Gravis asked.

Stella was surprised that Gravis managed to combine the clues this quickly. "Yes," she answered. "The organization is called Underworld, and they have a monopoly over anything unsavory."

"For example?" Gravis asked.

"Assassinations, espionage, intelligence gathering, manipulation, forbidden techniques, burglary, debt collection, and any other kind of task that the world sees as unsavory," Stella said.

Gravis' brows furrowed. "Something like that can truly only exist in human society," he said.

"What do you mean?" Stella asked.

"Such an organization would never exist among beasts," Gravis said.

"How are you so sure?" Stella asked with interest. She wanted to know where Gravis was coming from.

"Hypocrisy," Gravis said. "You only order an assassination on someone when you don't want others to know that you were the one that wanted the target killed. If beasts want to kill someone, they just kill them. They don't need to pay someone else to do it. The other actions you named are similar. Only if some kind of hypocrisy is involved would someone employ another power for such things."

"Well, maybe not everything. Intelligence gathering and trade might not need hypocrisy, but the remainder does."

Stella thought about Gravis' words. On some level, Gravis was right, but it didn't sit right with Stella that he was talking about humans like that. He was a human too, wasn't he? Additionally, she was also a human. By talking about humans like this, Gravis was indirectly also talking about Stella like this.

"You really dislike hypocrisy, right?" Stella asked.

Gravis nodded. "One of the things I hate the most. I know that not every human is like this. Probably not even half of the humans are this hypocritical. People that employ these kinds of tactics are mostly people that are insecure about their own power and confidence."

"By not being associated with these actions, they create an image of elevated righteousness. However, that is only a mask and a lie. Why try to appear better than you actually are? Just do what you want and let people think what they want."

Stella had a complex expression on her face. "It's not that easy," she said. "In the past, I have also been like this."

Gravis nodded. "Understandable," he said. "We went through different experiences and had different role models. I had the luck to have someone as a role model that didn't care about the opinions of the entire world. He simply did whatever he wanted, and even if these actions were horrible, he didn't care what others thought about him."

Gravis thought about the time his father had killed all the Star Gods in the highest world when he said these words. The Opposer didn't care that the entire world had seen him as an evil overlord when doing it. Their opinions changed nothing. That was probably also one of the reasons why Gravis had disliked hypocrisy even when he had been a kid. 

"Was this your father?" Stella asked. "He must have been powerful," she said, believing that Gravis' father, who must have come from a lower world, was already dead. 

"He is," Gravis said.

'Is?' Stella thought. "He's still alive?" she asked. "Is he in this world?"

"No," Gravis said, "but he is still alive."

Stella grimaced a bit. "How are you so sure?"

"Because I still exist," Gravis said, confusing Stella even more. What kind of reasoning was that?

"What are you talking about?" Stella asked.

"Sorry, can't elaborate," Gravis said as he sighed., 

Stella frowned but also sighed. "Alright," she said. "Call me if you need anything," she said, quickly ending the conversation.

Gravis nodded, and Stella teleported away.

Gravis looked at the head again and scratched his chin. 'Someone's already that interested in me, huh?' he thought. 'The future attack against the Unrestrained Sect will probably also include me now. There's even a high chance that I will be one of the primary targets.'

'Arthur isn't interested in me. He simply wants the Unrestrained Sect to be destroyed alongside Liran. Meanwhile, someone else is probably interested in me specifically, and they might be more than one party.'

'However, they can't act openly. There are surely ways to inform the entire Sect Alliance of an attack, and if the Sect Alliance gets informed, these parties would be openly pulled to justice, which probably means paying a lot of money.'

'Liran might be mentally weak, but he isn't stupid. He will probably also see this attack coming and will inform me when he inevitably gets summoned away. The attack must be prepared first, which will take some time. The enemies won't create an army out of their own forces but will probably employ this Underworld organization to stage a bandit attack. That probably will also cost a lot of money and time.'

'I should have some years remaining to comprehend my Focus before I need to resist this attack. The enemy knows my power now, which means that they will send a Peak Immortal, at least. Maybe even an Immortal King will attack me.'

'First, let's see if I will manage to condense a Focus and how powerful it is. Depending on its power, I will decide what Cultivation level I will be at when they attack,' Gravis thought as he looked at the mountain of Immortal Stones in his Spirit Space. 

'If my Focus is very powerful, I can risk a jump of five levels against an Immortal King, which would put me at the Mid Major Circulation Immortal Realm. If it is underwhelming, I will push myself to the Late Major Circulation Immortal Realm.'

Gravis teleported away and stopped beside a lake.

'Let me first push myself to the Mid Major Circulation Immortal Realm. After that, let's try understanding my own Focus.'

Then, Gravis consumed a ton of Immortal Stones as he created a copy inside his Life Ring.