Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis left Manuel's faction after saying goodbye to everyone.

To alleviate their fears, Gravis told everyone that he would probably be gone for quite a while. Back then, the Heaven's Trial had taken Gravis over four years, which had been an incredibly long time for him.

Maybe this Heaven's Trial would also take an incredibly long time.

He also told them that, as long as his father didn't inform them, it meant that he was still alive.

Like that, they didn't have to worry about the unknown.

Gravis also said sorry that he couldn't be there for Stella's tribulation. Stella would undergo her tribulation in about 45,000 years, and Gravis assumed that the Heaven's Trial would take longer.

In fact, it wasn't only Stella undergoing her tribulation. Most others had become Star Gods just shortly after Stella, shortly meaning 100,000 or 200,000 years later.

Gravis referred to hundreds of thousands of years as shortly.

Eventually, Gravis left. Obviously, Mortis followed him, but he kept himself intangible. After all, he had only bought one token, which was for Gravis, and he wouldn't buy a second token if he could just enter for free.

Orthar owned the Heaven's Trials, not the Eternal Fire Sect.

After teleporting for a couple of hours, Gravis arrived near an empty mountain range.

WHOOOM!

An incredibly powerful Will-Aura suppressed Gravis as a blue-haired teenager appeared in front of Gravis.

It was hard for Gravis to feel his Realm, but Gravis guessed that he was probably a level four or level five Ancestral God.

"You are not from the Eternal Fire Sect," the teenager said.

"And yet, I have an entry token," Gravis answered with a voice transmission. "If you could retrieve your Will-Aura, I could show you."

The teenager narrowed his eyes, but he complied.

The pressure on Gravis weakened, and Gravis summoned the entry token, which quickly got taken away by the teenager.

The teenager looked at the entry token with concentration and then at Gravis.

CRK!

The teenager destroyed the entry token and nodded. "You can go in."

Gravis nodded politely and passed the teenager, who just teleported away again.

Gravis went to the foot of one mountain and landed.

Before Gravis was a small cave. It wasn't any bigger than a mortal iron mine, and it felt rather rustic.

After entering the cave, Gravis calmly walked for a while, and as he walked forward, the cave widened further and further.

Eventually, the cave was over five kilometers wide and high, and a humongous, golden gate appeared in front of Gravis.

The gate shone brightly with gold, and it gave off a kind of holy aura. Everyone that saw this gate would realize that this gate had something to do with Heaven.

Gravis only smiled bitterly. "The Eternal Fire Sect put the mountain around the gate to hide this gate. They probably don't want others to know that they own this Heaven's Trial. After all, a Heaven's Trial gives tempering without needing to fight other Sects. That's quite valuable."

After a bit of looking at the gate, Gravis walked forward and put his hand on it.

'Oh? It's quite heavy,' Gravis thought.

Gravis used more power, but the gate still wouldn't budge.

"How heavy is this thing!?" Gravis shouted with frustration.

CRR!

Gravis transformed into his beast form and put all his six arms onto it.

It still wouldn't budge.

BANG!

Gravis activated his True Law of Physical Speed to increase his power and also used his Heavenly Lightning.

CRRR!

The gate was vibrating, but Gravis was already using all of his power.

"A little help, please!" Gravis shouted through gritted teeth.

"Gravis, just open one gate. You don't need to open both at once," Mortis answered Gravis.

Gravis gritted his teeth in exertion. "But I want to open both gates," he shouted back.

"Fine, go ahead," Mortis answered, not helping.

Gravis pushed harder, and after minutes of exertion, he finally managed to very slowly move the gates.

As soon as a tiny crack in the gates appeared, a bright light illuminated the cave. It was like paradise was just waiting beyond these gates.

Gravis was momentarily blinded by the light, but he only grinned with motivation as he pushed further.

The gates opened more and more, and the cave brightened even further.

In a dark cave, a lone Black Demon was pushing a gigantic gate, which seemingly hid paradise behind it.

Gravis did one last push, and he managed to open the gates just wide enough for him to walk through without having to move sideways.

The light behind the gate bathed Gravis, and Gravis closed his eyes in happiness, his entire body being enveloped by the light.

Then, Gravis walked forward with outstretched arms as if he wanted to embrace the light.

"Are you done yet?" Mortis asked from in front of Gravis.

Gravis only grinned.

The light had been Mortis.

He had passed through the gate in his intangible state and had rematerialized behind it to wait for Gravis.

When Gravis saw the light come through the gates, he got an amazing idea about a joke, and he went through with it.

Gravis only laughed as he saw Mortis' annoyed expression.

After a bit, Gravis walked forward, putting his hand on Mortis' shoulder in a friendly manner.

Whoop!

Gravis' hand basically fell through Mortis.

"Hey, you don't have to be so cold. You're a Star, you know? You're supposed to be hot," Gravis said.

Mortis only looked at Gravis with an even look.

There was no reaction visible on his face.

Mortis also didn't answer.

"Fine, let's look at the Heaven's Trial," Gravis said with a slight chuckle.

Then, Gravis walked forward along the dark corridor. Just like with the Heaven's Trial in the lower world, this Heaven's Trial was also constructed out of a kind of stone one would normally find in a mausoleum.

It was like any person that walked here would walk to their grave.

However, Gravis only walked for a couple of steps before he stopped.

Then, he looked forward with narrowed eyes as if he were evaluating something.

Mortis saw Gravis' expression, but he didn't comment.

"Mortis," Gravis said slowly.

Mortis didn't answer.

Gravis looked at Mortis behind him with furrowed brows.

"Mortis, we have a problem," Gravis said.

Mortis only looked at Gravis with a raised eyebrow, signaling skepticism.

"Mortis," Gravis said slowly.

"I can't see."

"I need a light."

Then, Gravis broke out into laughter as Mortis only looked at Gravis with a deadpan expression.

"Why are you like this?" Mortis asked.

Gravis only laughed harder.

After Gravis had laughed for a while, Mortis looked at Gravis again with a solemn expression.

"Do you remember everyone we have met in the lower world?" Mortis asked calmly.

The question took Gravis by surprise, but he nodded.

"Do you remember Gorn?" Mortis asked.

Gravis looked up for a second to gather his thoughts, but it clicked eventually. "Oh, right! Gorn! I remember," he said. "What about him?"

"What would he think if the Star God he gave his life for acted like such a child?" Mortis asked.

Silence.

Then, Gravis burst out laughing again.

"Holy shit, that one's good," Gravis said.

Mortis passed Gravis as he walked forward.

Why did he go forward?

Because he wanted to hide his suppressed smile.

A person in the Energy Gathering Realm couldn't possibly fathom how Star Gods worked. Therefore, their opinion was irrelevant.

That was the joke.

Many people might believe the joke to be horrible, but Gravis loved it.