Gravis almost thought he hadn't heard Manuel's words correctly.
Cut off all contact with Gravis?
Why!?
"Manuel," Gravis said slowly.
"I have to!" Manuel shouted with gritted teeth. "I can't sacrifice the Myriad Sect for a meaningless show of loyalty. The entire Myriad Sect wouldn't be able to help you, and we would only die. I'm doing this, so you have someone to return to when all of this is over!"
Stella looked with horror at the Myriad Sect and with fear at Gravis.
Leave Gravis?
Never!
"What is a Sin Aura? How did I condense one?" Gravis asked with clenched fists.
The Elder from the Eternal Fire Sect looked at Gravis coldly.
"Have you recently killed a great number of weaker Cultivators?"
Gravis' mind immediately went to the Shining Purity Sect.
Gravis' face became white as he realized that he had done exactly that.
How had things suddenly changed in this way? He was used to doing stuff like this, and it didn't feel any different from what he had done in the past.
How had that suddenly become a problem?
The Elder noticed Gravis' expression, and he knew that Gravis had done just that.
The Elder took out an emblem and looked at it for a while. After a short time, his brows furrowed.
"The Shining Purity Sect," he said.
"It doesn't exist anymore."
When the Myriad Sect heard that, they all fell silent.
Hearing these words only increased their frustration and helplessness.
Gravis had destroyed one of their enemies, which meant that Gravis had done these things for them.
Gravis took a deep breath as he looked at the Elder from the Eternal Fire Sect. "What am I supposed to do now?"
The Elder coldly looked at Gravis.
"Do you know what a Sin Aura is?" he asked.
Gravis shook his head.
"A Sin Aura is when you go far below zero Karmic Luck. Senseless slaughter decreases your Karmic Luck, and if you do enough of it, you will condense a Sin Aura. When that happens, you will be hunted by the Sin Monsters," the Elder explained.
For some reason, the word Sin Monsters felt weird to Gravis.
The word monster was rarely used, and when it was used, it was when someone referred to someone that acted incredibly cold-hearted. The mortal definition of the word monster didn't really exist in the world of Cultivation.
Mortals often used the word monster to refer to a very powerful beast. Of course, for Cultivators, a beast was just a beast. There was no reason to refer to them as monsters.
"What is a Sin Monster?" Gravis asked.
"Sin Monsters are beings of unknown origins," the Elder from the Eternal Fire Sect said. "We believe that they have been created by Heaven to punish the Cultivators that commit senseless slaughter. They are different from Beasts and humans, and not much is known about them."
"And I will be hunted by them?" Gravis asked.
"Yes," the Elder answered. "We don't know much about them, but we think they will start hunting you soon."
"And I have to kill them?" Gravis asked.
"You can't kill them," the Elder said. "They are far beyond your power, and you will be helpless in front of them."
"Even Divine Gods fear them."
Gravis felt like the world around him had transformed into an ominous black.
Gravis looked to the floor. "So, I will die soon?" he asked.
"We don't know," the Elder said. "We have heard of Cultivators that managed to get rid of their Sin Aura a couple thousand years later. Not much is known about Sin Auras."
Gravis only remained silent as he looked into the distance.
Stella looked with pain at Gravis.
"Why can't I come into contact with my friends and family?" Gravis asked calmly. Now was not the time to despair.
"The Sin Monsters will kill every living being around you, and whatever they kill will reduce your Karmic Luck even further," the Elder said.
"What bullshit is this!?" Gravis shouted. "They kill someone, and it's my fault!?"
"These are the rules of Heaven," the Elder said. "There's nothing you can do about them."
Gravis gritted his teeth.
This felt so very similar to his time in the lower world.
Gravis was forbidden from interacting or getting close to anyone, or they would die.
What irony. The very thing he had been freed from when he had been weak was now haunting him again when he had reached incredible power.
Gravis wanted to feel like he had been unjustly targeted, but it just wasn't true.
Gravis wanted to feel like it wasn't his fault, but he knew that it was his fault, this time. Back in the lower world, Gravis had been targeted for no reason. Heaven had just directly gone after him.
However, now, Gravis was being targeted because he had killed so many Cultivators. In essence, this was not a superior making his life hard but a form of punishment for what he had done.
Gravis hadn't even thought about what he had done while doing it. He was used to killing large swathes of living beings just by existing, and he hadn't questioned his own actions while doing so.
It was just normal.
After he had destroyed the Shining Purity Sect, he had even snickered.
This was how used he was to the destruction of lives.
Who would have thought that everything Gravis had thought as normal turned out to throw him into an abyss of uncertainty for the future?
"How do I get rid of the Sin Aura?" Gravis asked.
"We don't know," the Elder said.
"You don't know?" Gravis asked.
"No, not much is known of Sin Auras. We only know that most Cultivators that condense them vanish, while some of them manage to survive."
Gravis gritted his teeth more.
The Elder didn't know what Gravis had to do.
"One more thing," the Elder suddenly said.
Gravis looked at the Elder.
"When a Cultivator kills someone with a Sin Aura, the Cultivator will not be punished. The reason for the killing is irrelevant," the Elder said.
Silence.
"You're saying that Ancestral Gods and Divine Gods can just kill me?" Gravis asked in shock.
"Yes," the Elder said. "If I were to kill you right now, I would receive all your wealth without having to pay anything."
"Right now, you are only alive because you are a friend of one of our subservient Sects."
"However, keep in mind that not everyone is like me. As a Star God, you probably have several million God Stones, many weapons, and many resources in your Spirit Space."
"If you could earn a couple million God Stones with a mere snip of your fingers, would you do it?" the Elder asked.
Silence.
Would Gravis do it?
It probably depended on his financial situation.
If he had enough money on him, he would ignore a Cultivator with a Sin Aura.
However, if Gravis needed God Stones, he would have no problems in killing someone to get money.
'If an Ancestral God or Divine God senses me…'
Gravis wouldn't even know how he had died.
With but a snip of their finger, any more powerful Cultivator could end Gravis' life.
Nothing was stopping them.
"Say your goodbyes.. Every additional second you're here only puts the Myriad Sect under more danger," the Elder said.