Everything happened at once.
The guard was being healed.
The Core Disciple attacked.
Gravis attacked.
A new Cultivator appeared, shouting about a dead captain.
A vast explosion of lightning appeared around Gravis as he absorbed just enough lightning to not get noticed while also protecting the guard.
Gravis was among humans again, which meant that he had to keep most of his powers secret. If they knew that he was inside a beast's body, they might decide to kill him directly since they would think that he was a beast.
If they knew that he could remotely control lightning and even absorb it, they might also decide to capture him to learn his secrets. These were very experienced Cultivators that had lived for over a thousand years. They knew what was normal and what wasn't.
The explosion of lightning vanished, and space calmed down again.
Gravis stood at his previous position, still filling the injured guard with Life Energy and Soul.
The Core Disciple had retreated to several kilometers away with some injuries. If the Lightning Crescent had hit him directly, he would have died without a doubt. After all, this was a human, not a beast. His physical defense wasn't even close to a beast's.
The Core Disciple had blocked the attack with some kind of weird slash that split Gravis' lightning apart, forcing it to miss his head and the middle of his torso. Yet, he still received several injuries. The sides of his body were burned beyond recognition, and one could see that the Core Disciple had become narrower. It was like the sides of his body had been shaved off. Luckily, all his organs were still intact.
The Core Disciple glared at Gravis with hatred. This mere Minor Circulation Immortal dared to injure him!? That's it! He had been nice up to now, but that was over! Something as disrespectful as this was unforgivable!
Meanwhile, Gravis looked at the new arrival.
Above Gravis and the Core Disciple floated a young man with brown hair and eyes. The man wore grey robes and carried a spear on his back. This was obviously a superior of the previous person Gravis had killed.
Even worse, this person was a Late Major Circulation Immortal. This was a power that Gravis couldn't even attempt to resist. If this guy decided to kill Gravis today, Gravis would have no way to survive. The Realm difference was just far too significant.
The new arrival looked at the Core Disciple with narrowed eyes but then changed his gaze to Gravis. Gravis could immediately feel the hostility of the new arrival.
Then, the new arrival turned to the Core Disciple again. "You are in luck," he said.
The Core Disciple also looked at the new arrival, but he pulled back his aggressive will when he felt the new arrival's power. This was someone truly powerful. In terms of Battle-Strength, this new arrival was probably about as powerful as him, but he was also a level higher than him. He couldn't fight someone like that.
"What does senior mean?" the Core Disciple asked, neither respectful nor disrespectful. The Core Disciple still had his own dignity.
"A soldier and a captain of mine have died here," the new arrival said. "My captain was in the Major Circulation Realm, and the only person powerful enough to kill him would be you."
The Core Disciple gritted his teeth. "I didn't kill him!" he shouted.
Surprisingly, the new arrival nodded. "I know, and that's why you are lucky," the new arrival said as he turned to Gravis again with narrowed eyes. "If I hadn't seen this Ascender's power with my own eyes, no matter how many people would have told me otherwise, I would have never believed them."
"An Early Minor Circulation Immortal killing someone in the Early Major Circulation Realm? Something like this is unheard of. Yet, I felt the power of this Ascender's attack just now, and shockingly enough, that is more than enough to kill someone in the Major Circulation Realm," he said.
"This coincidence has saved your life today, Core Disciple from the Punishment Cleaver Sect," the new arrival said.
Gravis gritted his teeth. 'I just arrived in this world, and my Karmic Luck has already reared its ugly head twice! This guy just arrived at the perfect moment to see my attack? Yeah, sure. If that's not shit luck, I don't know what is,' Gravis thought.
"What has happened here?" the new arrival asked the Core Disciple.
The Core Disciple's emotions calmed down now that he knew that he wasn't under suspicion anymore. "This Ascender arrived in this world and tore the weapon of your soldier out of his hands without provocation."
"Bullshit!" Gravis shouted.
WHOOOOM!
Gravis became unable to move as the new arrival activated his Will-Aura on him. Right now, Gravis was 100% suppressed, and as long as he didn't use his Avatar, he wouldn't be able to free himself.
The new arrival ignored Gravis' words and motioned for the Core Disciple to continue.
"The path of your soldier had been severed," the Core Disciple continued. "Then, this new Ascender intimidated all of our Sect representatives into offering spots in their Sects. One of my representatives made an offer, and the Ascender accepted to join our Sect."
The eyes of the new arrival narrowed more at the Core Disciple.
"We would have given you reparations, obviously, but what happened after that changed everything. Your captain arrived, and the Ascender fought him. After a short fight, the Ascender had your captain on the defense and readied a mighty attack, powerful enough to penetrate your captain's defense and kill him."
"That's when I arrived," the Core Disciple said. "I told him that he is not allowed to kill your captain, but he ignored my orders and killed your captain anyways. Our Sect won't accept such a bloodthirsty monster into our ranks, which was why I accepted the duty to kill him, and that's when you arrived."
"That's a lie- AAHH!"
A guard on the ground spoke up but was turned into dust by a spear image immediately.
The other guards felt fear. They were glad that they hadn't been the ones that had spoken up.
The new arrival didn't comment on the fact that he had just killed someone and simply nodded at the Core Disciple. "That's enough," he said.
Then, he turned to Gravis again, pulled his spear out, and pointed it at Gravis. "You are a bloodthirsty monster without any honor," the new arrival said with righteousness. "Keeping you alive is only something a saint would do."
Some seconds of silence.
"Lucky for you, our Sect considers itself quite saintly," the new arrival said as he put his spear away again. "You will return with me to my Sect, and you will follow the will of the earth for the rest of your life to repay for the crimes you have committed."
"You will spend the rest of your life serving kindness and giving back to the world with the knowledge you have gained with your unethical ways. Thank the kindness of life and earth that you can still see the light of a new morning," the new arrival said.
The Core Disciple didn't react, but inside, he was sneering. This guy saw the worth of Gravis and wanted to get him into his Sect and force him to teach their disciples about the earth element. 'What a disgusting opportunist!' the Core Disciple thought, not seeing the irony in the fact that he was the one thinking these thoughts.
Gravis felt an overwhelming mixture of disgust and rage at the moment. The new guy didn't even let anyone speak and immediately accepted the words of the Core Disciple as fact only to find a reason to pull Gravis forcefully away. On top of that, the new arrival was giving the Core Disciple an easy out of the situation.
Meanwhile, the Core Disciple was just as disgusting and contemptible. He was twisting the facts to a ridiculous degree so that he appeared like a reasonable, saintly person. He gave his best to kill Gravis? He wasn't even attempting to kill him! He only wanted to pull Gravis to his Sect!
Of course, this had only been the case until Gravis actually attacked him. As soon as Gravis had unleashed his Lightning Crescent, the Core Disciple had developed quite a powerful killing intent towards Gravis.
Gravis gritted his teeth.
'How am I supposed to get out of this situation!?'