Chapter 313: The Five Heroic Men (1/2)

Gravis quickly exited the third trial and made his way to the usual hall. After around an hour of walking, Gravis reached the hall and saw his group. Everyone was still alive, making Gravis smirk. Everyone's Will-Aura had increased, and Claude had also condensed his Unity Will.

The darkness disciple also had a fully concentrated Will-Aura now. Joyce was well on her way to reaching a level two Unity Will, but that would still require some tempering. Manuel had also started to slowly concentrate his Unity Will, but he was still a long way off from a level two Unity Will.

When the group saw Gravis, their eyes opened in shock. Gravis had already reached the Tree Stage? Wasn't that a little too fast? His will also felt much more powerful, but by now, the strength disparity was just too large. They couldn't judge Gravis' Will-Aura anymore. It just felt incredibly powerful.

”Congratulations!” Joyce shouted with a smile as she clapped into her hands, excitedly. ”Now, no one below the Unity Realm can fight with you anymore!”

Gravis nodded with a smile. ”Thanks. I should be able to reach the Self Stage in another ten months. Then…” Gravis trailed off as his smile transformed into a smirk.

Gravis didn't need to finish his sentence to make the group understand. They knew exactly what his goal was. After two more trials, Gravis would reach the Self Stage and then the Unity Realm. At that point, he would fight against Heaven, something that had seemed unimaginable to them a couple of years ago.

”I want to see it when it's time,” Manuel said with a smirk as he stepped closer.

Instead of smirking back, Gravis' face transformed into a frown. ”Manuel. There's something I need to tell you,” he said.

The group noticed Gravis' change in tone and grew serious. Yet, how did Manuel react when he heard that?

Manuel only sighed.

”I think I know what you want to tell me,” he said with helplessness. ”Since humiliation didn't work, Heaven probably wanted to make you regret and rage. My disciple brothers are dead, aren't they?” he asked.

Gravis nodded solemnly.

When Manuel saw Gravis nod, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. ”Tell me how it went down,” he said with a calm tone as he sat down in the middle of the hall.

The others looked at Gravis and Manuel with a mixture of disbelief, frustration, anger, and pity. Heaven was really taking it too far. Gravis walked closer and sat down opposite Manuel. The remaining three people also walked closer. Claude was just about to sit beside Gravis when...

Bang!

Joyce shoved Claude to the side, surprising him. Then, she sat down beside Gravis. When Claude saw that, he laughed a little and sighed again. Helplessly, he sat down beside Manuel. Gravis was more preoccupied with Manuel, so he didn't pay this display any attention.

”It all started when I entered the third trial…” Gravis started as he told the group about everything that happened.

In the beginning, the mood was still somber, but after a while, it turned to laughter. While the thought of their deaths was still harrowing, their antics and the heroic end to their lives made the situation much easier to accept. The group from the Wind Sect had been able to insult Heaven however much they wanted.

”So that's why we felt the earth shake for such a long time,” the darkness disciple chimed in.

Gravis raised an eyebrow. ”You also felt that even though you probably were multiple kilometers away?” he asked.

The whole group nodded. ”Yeah, we were surprised why the earth started shaking out of nowhere,” Claude said and then laughed. ”I would have never guessed that the earth shook because the Wind Sect's group was insulting Heaven. It must have been really angry if we felt that from so far away.”

Gravis smiled slightly. ”It sure was angry,” Gravis said. Then, he continued telling the tale of the five heroic men from the Wind Sect. Their inevitable deaths elicited some laughter. The five men had been heroic and defiant to the bitter end.

Manuel had already started smiling for a while with closed eyes. He had closed his eyes to better imagine that scene. He knew all five of these men, so he could very well imagine how everything happened.

”So, in the end, even though they were about to die, they had the opportunity to insult this world's ruler and captor,” Manuel said slowly. Then, he laughed. ”This is a better death than nearly all cultivators will ever experience. While everyone had been caged, these five had managed to break out of the cage and spit on our captor. This is an unprecedented honor for my Wind Sect.”

”They went out how they lived, free,” Gravis said, and Manuel nodded to that.