Liran knew exactly what would happen. Yet, he had decided to kill the Core Disciple anyway. Liran knew that this was the most beloved son of the Sect Master of the Punishment Cleaver Sect.
Just as Gravis had expected, the Punishment Cleaver Sect had a relatively weak upper echelon. Their number of peak Immortals and Early Minor Circulation Immortal Kings was far smaller than any other Sect. Yet, their Sect Master was the reason why the Sect managed to hold its ground.
The resources in this area were only bountiful enough to barely let someone reach the Mid Minor Circulation Immortal King Realm. Anything above that would be difficult to achieve or would put a gigantic hole into a Sect's funds.
Due to that, the Sects had agreed that the most powerful person in the Sect would only be of the Mid Minor Circulation Immortal King Realm. Otherwise, if one of them decided to jump out of line and boost themselves to another level, every other Sect would have to follow, which wasn't something that the Sects wanted to do.
That was how the agreement had come into effect. If any Sect decided to break this agreement, the other Sects would force that person to leave the Sect. If they didn't, the wrath of the Sects would descend upon this one Sect.
The Sects were allies, but in truth, they were only waiting for one of them to jump out of line so that they could find a reason to plunder the Sect. On the surface, they acted like they were brothers, but in truth, nearly all of them were snakes ready to strike at any moment of weakness.
Yet, because of this agreement, the Punishment Cleaver Sect managed to stay in their ranks, even with their weak upper echelon.
Their Sect Master could fight a level above himself, something that was rare. He alone could deal with the forces of nearly any other Sect.
This was the Sect Master of the Punishment Cleaver Sect, and he was powerful. Liran knew exactly that killing his son would summon the wrath of this powerful person upon the Unrestrained Sect, but this was just how the Unrestrained Sect was.
The Unrestrained Sect loved freedom, and everyone could do whatever they wanted. If someone wanted to kill someone, they would be allowed to kill them. Repressing one's emotions was not following the path of being unrestrained.
Liran knew that he would die today, and with him, the entire Unrestrained Sect might die too. Yet, he didn't mind. He loved each and every member of his Sect, but he had to stay true to the Sect's philosophy. Every other member would have acted the same.
Gravis' eyes shone.
Whoop!
Then, Gravis vanished into thin air.
With the Sect Master of the Punishment Cleaver Sect appearing, no one paid any attention to Gravis. Not even the guard beside Gravis had noticed that Gravis vanished. There was only one person that noticed Gravis had vanished, and that was Liran.
Yet, Gravis had informed Liran about a plan of his.
A daring plan.
The Unrestrained Sect had shown their mindset and ideology, and Gravis wouldn't allow these kindred spirits of his to vanish from this world. Gravis had already gone all-in in his decision, and he wouldn't back out now.
Sure, if Gravis wanted, he could probably flee together with the guard since the Sect Master of the Punishment Cleaver Sect wouldn't care about either of them. This had also been the plan of Liran, who had already informed Gravis of his plan.
He would give his life to buy time. During that time, Gravis and his son would gather the Unrestrained Sect and follow the protocol for when their Sect was about to die.
Yet, Gravis had a different plan.
He had just formally joined the Unrestrained Sect, and he wouldn't flee when his people were being threatened, even if he had only met two of them. However, only meeting two of them was already enough. The lowest guard and the highest Sect Master followed the same philosophy. This was a Sect perfectly to Gravis' liking, and he wouldn't let something this perfect be taken away from him.
The Sect Master of the Punishment Cleaver Sect looked at Liran from high above with justified rage and condemnation. "I always knew that you savages from the Unrestrained Sect would turn on our alliance sooner or later," he said. "Yet, I would not have believed that you would kill my one and only son."
"If he had died to someone at his level, I would not search for reparations, but you, as a Sect Master, have killed a Core Disciple. This is unacceptable, cowardly, weak, and foolish," he said with fierce eyes.
Liran only sneered. "Tch, as if you would have let anyone kill your son," he snarked. "Stop lying to my face."
BANG!
A powerful lightning bolt hit the ground below the Sect Master as he coldly glared at Liran. "I don't care that you killed my son, but I can't allow the disrespect you have given me by not consulting me before doing it to go unpunished. He was useless anyway, but before you kick a dog, you should first look at its owner."
"You're calling your own son a dog?" Liran asked in shock. "I knew that you were a lying piece of shit, Arthur, but I didn't think you were that low. No wonder your son has grown up to be rotten."
BANG!
Another lightning bolt.
"Do not question my ability as a father!" Arthur shouted. "I have taught him perfectly, but he was simply unteachable. He was born to be arrogant but weak."
The son of Liran looked with an uncomfortable look at the spot where the Core Disciple had died. Was this the reason why the Core Disciple had acted this way? No wonder the Core Disciple never accepted any disrespect from anyone without flipping out. His father's constant criticism, insults, and cold demeanor probably left a permanent scar in his mind.
The Core Disciple probably wanted to gain respect and worship from others since, deep down, he didn't have any of that for himself. He had never been able to live up to his father's expectations, making him feel useless all his life.
Everyone had their own story, and in their own story, they were never the villain.
Did this absolve the Core Disciple from his actions and conduct?
No.
He had been dealt a shitty hand, but it had still been his decision on how to play it. He could have left the Sect. He could have cut off all contact with his father. He could have chased power without looking at others.
Instead, he had decided to repress others. To him, repressing others and feeling superior just felt far too good.
Even Immortals with powerful Will-Auras could fall victim to the sweet enticement of feeling the effect that their own powers had on others. In actuality, Immortals were even more likely to act arrogantly. They had come so far. They saw an ocean of weaker beings below them and only a few stronger beings above them.
They have joined a powerful Sect and were respected everywhere they went. Their power made them superior, and the ocean of tiny Sects that only had Unity Realm experts could only look up to these Gods.
Why spend so much time in isolation to comprehend another Law? They were already Immortal and could look down upon nearly everyone. They would already live for 50,000 years, and in order to live even longer, they would need to break through a total of seven times! Five times was already so long, but seven times? This was far too much work.
Additionally, breaking through the three bottlenecks of the Circulations was far too much work. Understanding two level three Laws to become an Early Major Circulation Immortal? Understanding three level three Laws to become a Peak Immortal? Understanding a level four Law to become an Immortal King?
That was far too much work and would take forever. What's the point of living for so long when one spent all his time just sitting alone in their cave, racking their brains on things they didn't care about?
It was far easier to simply remain an Immortal. Although, reaching the Major Circulation Realm also wouldn't be bad. After all, then, even Immortals would have to look up to them.
Becoming a Peak Immortal? Do you have any idea how hard it is to understand ANOTHER level three Law!? Everyone already understood space, and finishing their first own level three Law was also alright, but finding an additional one? They already comprehended the level three Law they had the best affinity for. The next one would be several times harder. For what? For only a single breakthrough?
Becoming an Immortal King? Pfff, fuck that. Trying to understand a level four Law is just far too much work.
On top of that, to understand any of these Laws, they would even need to temper themselves. What's the point of living so long when you die trying to live even longer? They had fought enough in their life. They didn't need to fight more.
This was the reason why there was a huge number of Cultivators that stopped cultivating in the Immortal Realm. The three bottlenecks plus seven breakthroughs were just far too much work and risk. It wasn't worth the effort.
And all this effort for what? To live an additional 50,000 years for a total of 100,000? They would already have wasted nearly 50,000 years. This meant that their longevity didn't even really increase after becoming an Immortal King. They would still only have 50,000 years left.
The Core Disciple and many others had thought like that, which was also why they put respect, worship, arrogance, and superiority on such a high pedestal. They had worked so incredibly hard to reach this place, and the others damned-well show their respect to this grand achievement!
If they didn't, it would only show that they were idiotic savages that knew nothing of how normal humans acted.