Gravis became interested in the tournament again.
Now, the actually powerful contestants would fight.
During the past couple of months, only weak Ancestral Gods had fought each other, and if one of them managed to raise their Battle-Strength to a level that allows them to jump two levels, they immediately qualified for the actual tournament. At that point, they wouldn't need to fight in the preliminaries anymore.
The preliminaries didn't exist to reduce the contestants to a certain number but to weed out the weaker contestants. The preliminaries had continued until everyone either got disqualified or reached a sufficient power level.
And now, from nearly one million participants, only about 400 were left.
All of them could jump two levels.
This was astounding. After all, the tournament managed to create an additional 300 level one Ancestral Gods that could jump two levels, and even more, these powerful Ancestral Gods would now fight until someone could jump three levels.
Additionally, by now, nearly every single participant asked for the Formation Array to be turned off for them. They had already come so far, and they had to do everything they could.
In a sense, this tournament wasn't even a tournament.
It was a meatgrinder.
From the one million participants, nearly 800,000 had actually died, which was insane.
These were the best Cultivators of the new generation, and 80% of them had died today.
All of that just to create 300 more Ancestral Gods that could jump two levels.
And now, even more of them would die to create some Ancestral Gods that could jump three levels.
By the end of it, a Cultivator that could jump four levels might even be born. They might not have the Laws to jump four levels, but their Will-Aura could be so powerful that they could just directly suppress their opponent.
That red-haired man had been one such Cultivator. His Will-Aura could suppress someone four levels above himself to 50% of their speed. Sadly, 50% of the speed of a level four Ancestral God was still eight times as fast as the speed of a level three Ancestral God.
Yet, if that red-haired man could increase his Will-Aura even more, he might be able to suppress someone four levels above himself to 75% of their speed. At that point, his opponent's speed would only be three levels above him instead of four, giving him a chance at victory.
'This is a gigantic refinery,' Gravis thought. 'I expected that the Peak Sects wanted to find the most talented Cultivator to add to their ranks, but that's only half-true. In reality, they gathered over a million genius Ancestral Gods in one giant refinery.'
'The ambition of the combatants would drive them into the refinery, hoping that they would be the hardest. They are hoping that everyone else would be ground down by them, and not the other way around.'
'One million talented disciples just to create a single person that could jump four levels.'
'Even more, this person wouldn't even need to rely on the Peak Sect's resources to jump four levels. If they now also got access to the resources, they could become the most powerful Cultivator in the Ancestral God Realm that could jump four levels.'
'They are not just trying to get the most powerful level one Ancestral God, but also a future Peak Divine God. Someone with such Battle-Strength must have the talent to become a future Sect Master of a Peak Sect.'
Gravis snorted.
'If some people would realize this underlying reason for the tournament, they would believe the Peak Sects to be cruel. After all, they were essentially pressuring all the scattered coal in the world until they got a single diamond.'
'However, can they even be angry? The Peak Sects give everyone the opportunity to resurrect. They also don't force the Cultivators to take part.'
'The Peak Sects haven't opened their bag to collect all the coal in the surroundings. No, they simply opened their bags, and the coal jumped into the bag of its own volition.'
BANG!
In the arena, a Cultivator that could jump two levels had just died.
They hadn't activated the Formation Array.
The opponent fell onto their knees, keeping their body somewhat upright with their nearly broken sword.
They had survived!
At the same time, the audience cheered in support.
The surviving fighter looked at the audience, and he felt like he was in a dream.
All of these people were seniors much more powerful than him. They were all far older than him, and they could all kill him with but a thought.
Yet, at this very moment, thousands of extremely powerful Ancestral Gods and even some Divine Gods cheered for his victory.
At this moment, he knew that he would no longer be unknown.
Every important Sect knew him now.
He no longer needed to only support his own Sect.
Now, he could join whichever Sect he wanted. Additionally, even if he didn't join these Sects, the Sects would still be polite towards his Sect. After all, no Sect wanted to offend a Sect that had such a talented disciple.
He hadn't even nearly won the tournament, but he knew that his life had already changed.
At the same time, his Will-Aura increased until it reached the fourth level of the Ancestral God Realm.
At this very moment, he was in the more powerful half of Cultivators that could jump two levels.
He knew that it wasn't over yet.
He could go further.
He would risk his life one more time, and he would transform his life.
Gravis saw all this, and he noticed the emotional change in the candidate.
'Transformation, huh?' Gravis thought. 'This is the essence of Cultivation. Whenever you stand before a fight, you might regret your choices, and you might have wished that you've never started cultivating.'
'Yet, when you win, the incredible feeling of transformation and growth envelopes your entire being. You realize that you have stepped into a new level. You have already gone through so many painful fights, but you are still alive. You know that so many people have died in the fight you have just won, but you have become stronger.'
Gravis sighed.
'I know that feeling very well.'
Gravis looked at the tournament, and he saw one brutal fight after the other. Nearly every single fight ended with one genius dying.
The best Cultivators were dying in droves.
How many Sects had lost their most outstanding disciples?
How many futures of how many Sects had been destroyed?
Nearly all the outstanding geniuses had died, and for what?
To create just 300 incredibly powerful geniuses.
And now, those would die.
For what?
To create just something like ten people that could jump three levels.
And then, they would also die to create just one or two people that could jump four levels.
The price to create such a peak genius was insane.
As Gravis thought about this, he thought about his own past.
How much had been sacrificed to increase Gravis' Battle-Strength to such a degree?
The first major boost had come when Gravis' Spirit had been forged with Destruction Lightning.
Something like this had never happened before, and Orthar would make sure that it would never happen again.
Gravis had essentially changed the Laws of the entire Cosmos that day, which could be seen as a form of sacrifice for his power.
The next boost of power had come when Gravis had decided to abandon his old body for a beast's body. Gravis had lost all semblance of humanity with his new body, which was also a heavy sacrifice.
The next boost had come when Gravis had eaten the corpse of the lower Heaven. Without it, Gravis' body couldn't have become lightning.
The next boost had come when Gravis had reached the lowest point of his life to comprehend the level four Laws of Suppression and Freedom. Additionally, the middle Heaven had forcefully trained him for centuries.
With all of that, Gravis had become powerful enough to jump four levels.
All of that, for four levels.
The thing that allowed Gravis to jump five levels was the creation of Mortis, and everything following that gave Gravis the chance to jump six levels.
One thing had been grander than the previous one.
In order to jump four levels, one needed to gather so many geniuses and refine them, but to jump six levels, one needed to change the entire Cosmos.
Gravis' influence had changed the entire Cosmos for eternity, and it was like the entire Cosmos revolved around him.
Sacrificing a million Cultivators was nothing in comparison to changing the entire Cosmos.
All of that…
For only two more levels.
'I guess jumping four levels is the most the Sects can achieve,' Gravis thought. 'There probably aren't even enough level one Ancestral Gods to make someone reach the power to jump five levels. Additionally, at that point, it's impossible to injure one's enemy without at least one level nine Law.'
'Jumping five levels requires the support of Orthar or father.'
As Gravis thought about all these things, the tournament in front of him went on unabated.
That pink-haired woman from the Eternal Fire Sect had also fought.
Sadly, she had died.
Exar and Aris had also fought, and the two of them had won.
Cera and the red-haired man had also won their fights.
Then, another round passed, and they all became even more powerful.
By now, the Will-Auras of the average combatants had gone beyond the fourth level of the Ancestral God Realm. Some of them were on the level of level five Ancestral Gods, and some of them were on the fourth level.
75 people were left, and they were all powerful enough to easily jump two levels.
Some of them could even attempt to jump three levels, but the chances of success were meager.
However, they weren't zero.
The tournament was showing its effect.