Chapter 781: Free Flow (1/2)

Gravis looked at Stella and noticed that she had a melancholic expression on her face.

Her teacher had already died, obviously.

Losing someone dear was always difficult. Gravis knew this very well. However, they were all Immortals by now, and no one would sink into an inescapable whirlpool of despair. The death of a loved one was normal for every Immortal.

”For what it's worth,” Gravis said. ”The short moment I have talked with your teacher gave me the impression that she was a good person, far better than most humans.”

Stella took a deep breath. Her emotions still hadn't calmed down, and they wanted to lash out at anything that came close to her. A mortal human might lose their control and shout at Gravis that he had no idea what he was talking about, but she had enough control over herself to realize Gravis' sentiment.

”Yes, she was,” Stella said slowly with a distant look. ”She was like a mother to my brother and me.”

Gravis nodded. ”You know, before you appeared, I was already losing faith in humanity. Seeing you reminded me of your teacher, which reminded me of the fact that not all powerful humans are hypocritical assholes.”

Stella wanted to distract herself for now, which is why she looked at Gravis with furrowed brows. ”That's a harsh judgment,” she said.

”It is, but does that mean that it isn't true?” Gravis asked.

Stella remained silent for some seconds.

”Tell me what happened,” Stella said.

Gravis nodded and told her about his last fight with Samantha, the Unrestrained Sect, and how the other Sect Masters acted.

After Gravis was finished recounting his tale, Stella snorted in disgust. ”Yeah, I agree that their conduct is false and disgusting, but just because you see this conduct running rampant here doesn't mean that other places are the same.”

Gravis waited for Stella to explain.

”The Sects here count as High-Tier Sects, but only barely,” Stella explained. ”They have their Immortal Kings, which gives them a grand illusion of being very powerful when they can't even enter the core territories of the world.”

”They believe they are powerful enough to be part of the world's leadership but feel unjustly treated by not being allowed to enter the core territories. This gives them a need to prove themselves to anything and anyone.”

Gravis nodded. ”Makes sense. They seek short-term power with everything they have to prove to others and themselves that they are powerful. However, all this hypocrisy makes it difficult for disciples to like the leadership. When a talented disciple leaves the area, they will be less likely to help their previous home due to their bad feelings towards it.”

Stella was a bit surprised by Gravis' words. ”Are you sure you're only four millennia old?” she asked. ”You talk like an ancient, experienced expert.”

Instead of answering Stella's question, Gravis gave her a question of his own. ”Have you been born into this world, or do you come from a lower world? I'm very certain that you have been born into this world.”

Stella furrowed her brows. ”That isn't hard to guess,” she said. ”I have obviously been trained for a long time with methods that don't exist in lower worlds.”

”I was talking about your mindset and your surprise at my knowledge of human conduct,” Gravis said.

”Explain,” Stella said, a bit indignant.

”I started my journey in a lower world, which means that I went from weak to the most powerful in two different worlds already. On this journey, you get to see all facets of human and beast conduct. Any Ascender can see the Sect Masters for what they are, which silently builds disgust in the Ascenders towards the Sect Masters.”

”Additionally, I'm very certain that nearly no Sect Master from this Sect Alliance is an Ascender. There might be one or two odd ones, but everyone else must have been born in this world.”

Stella furrowed her brows as she thought about Gravis' words. ”What makes you think so?” she asked.

”Because being a Sect Master in this Sect Alliance is a dead-end,” Gravis said. ”People who have never been in this position might not realize that they are in a dead-end, but the Ascenders have been in that position before. After all, every Ascender has once been the most powerful person in their world.”

”If the Ascenders were susceptible to taking up such a position, they wouldn't be Ascenders. They would have already taken up such a position in the middle or lower worlds. Therefore, most Ascenders know these kinds of positions and know to avoid them.”

Stella combed her hair with her fingers as she fell into thought. Gravis' words actually made a lot of sense. Why hadn't she thought of that before?