Gravis teleported once more and arrived at the usual clearing. However, he wasn't alone this time.
Gravis looked at Stella and also noticed her brother, Liam, beside her.
When Stella saw Gravis, she smiled happily. She had missed him.
Gravis smiled back at her. He had also missed her.
However, Gravis' gaze turned to Liam, and it was no longer friendly.
Liam harrumphed and looked away. By now, Liam had become an Early Minor Circulation Immortal King. However, his Will-Aura was on the level of a Late Minor Circulation Immortal King's, quite impressive. It wasn't nearly as powerful as Gravis' Will-Aura, but having a Will-Aura two levels above oneself was really impressive, especially since they had only been apart for about 25 years.
Back then, Liam's Will-Aura had only been on the level of a Peak Immortal's. His Will-Aura had increased by three cultivation levels since then, which meant that he had probably gone through his fair share of battles.
Stella's Realm and Will-Aura were still mostly the same, but not completely. Her Will-Aura had taken a minuscule step forward, but this didn't count for anything.
She had probably tried to increase her Will-Aura but realized that it just wasn't that easy anymore. Her teacher's interference had hit her hard.
"Hey, Gravis," Stella said with a happy smile as she came closer. "As you can see, I'm back."
Gravis looked at her, but his expression turned to a bitter smile. Then, he released a sigh and narrowed his eyes.
Stella was surprised by Gravis' reaction. Why was he suddenly so serious?
However, when she saw Gravis glaring at her brother, she realized why. "Oh, it's fine!" Stella said. "Don't worry, he is not going to attack you."
Liam rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, sis has convinced me," he said nonchalantly. "You can do whatever you want. I'm only here to keep an eye on her."
Stella smiled at her brother. This meant a lot to her.
After all, her brother was the closest and most important person in her life, and there was a great possibility that Gravis might also become one of the most important people in her life in the future. She didn't want any animosity between them.
Gravis continued looking expressionlessly for several seconds, not saying anything.
As time passed, Stella felt uncomfortable.
Why was Gravis acting this way?
As far as she knew, this didn't fit Gravis at all. They had talked a lot, and in her mind, Gravis was definitely not a person who held needless grudges.
Liam's eyes also narrowed as he looked at Gravis. "What are you looking at?" he asked with some annoyance. Being constantly stared at was not comfortable.
Gravis turned away from Liam after some seconds and looked at Stella with narrowed eyes.
For some reason, Stella felt nervous when Gravis looked at her like that. What was going on? Gravis was utterly different from usual.
"I have told you in the past that I can't tell you how to solve your issue," Gravis said to Stella in an even tone. "Knowing what it is will make it harder to comprehend it. However, this is only one part of the story."
Stella felt uneasy as she heard Gravis while Liam summoned some of his Energy. Stella might not know it, but Liam knew where this was going.
Because of that, Liam slowly took out his weapon, which was a thin rapier.
Stella saw Liam taking out his weapon, and her face whitened.
What was going on!?
"The other reason," Gravis said slowly as he turned to Liam. "Is that it requires you to be at the lowest point in your life. Only when you have lost everything can you realize it."
A dark feeling of foreboding suddenly appeared in the atmosphere, and Stella's face transformed into horror.
Liam gritted his teeth as he teleported away.
"I'm doing this for your own good," Gravis said.
SHING!
Gravis also teleported away.
Silence.
'W-What?' was all that Stella could think after some seconds.
BOOOOM!
Lightning exploded in the distance. The explosion wasn't very loud, but Stella knew how far away it had happened.
"No!" she screamed as she teleported away too.
SHING!
She arrived at the location of the explosion after three teleportations…
And her world broke down.
There stood Gravis, and before him was a gigantic crater.
And in the middle of the crater were some scattered and burned body parts with tons of wealth strewn all around them.
Stella's mind couldn't process what had happened, and her feelings became a confusing mess of emotions.
"You need to be at the lowest point of your life," Gravis' dark and emotionless voice appeared inside Stella's mind. "I'm doing this for you, not for me."
"You can keep his wealth."
"However, this is only the first step," Gravis said. "You need to learn suppression because suppression is key."
Stella's mind only barely registered Gravis' words as she looked at the crater in horror and shock.
SHING!
Stella teleported to the middle of the crater and looked at the body parts. One part, in particular, drew her attention.
It was half a head, with one eye remaining.
This was her brother's eye, Liam's eye.
Stella grabbed it and looked at it. The fluctuations of Liam's aura were still barely there.
Gravis couldn't fake that!
Stella also saw the signet of the Nine Elements Sect among the objects surrounding Liam's corpse. It still held the fluctuations of the Nine Elements Sect.
There was no denying it.
Her brother was dead.
Gravis had killed him!
"Why?" she said quietly, her voice barely audible.
"You must learn suppression," Gravis' dark and cruel voice appeared in her mind. "Realize that I took no joy in the act. I had no enmity with your brother, and I'm quite fond of you."
"However, this is exactly the reason why I've done this. It pains me to do these things to you, but in order to help you, I must be cruel to you."
"YOU KILLED LIAM!" Stella suddenly shouted as all her rage exploded. She quickly retrieved her saber in anger.
"If you attack me now, you will never become more powerful," Gravis said slowly and icily.
Stella's body shook.
Her mind and her emotions were in direct conflict. Right now, she hated Gravis so much that she wanted to kill him and then herself.
However, her mind tried to take control of her being.
What if Gravis was telling the truth?
She had already lost her brother!
The sacrifice had already been made!
Dying now would make the death of her brother worthless.
However, more than anything, Stella felt like she no longer knew the person in front of her.
Who was this? Was this still the nice boy she had talked with for years?
Stella hesitated.
"Put your weapon away," Gravis said slowly as he walked closer. "From now on, you are no longer in control over your life. You will learn what true suppression is."
Stella's body shook with emotions she couldn't discern.
Gravis' eyes narrowed.
SLAP!
Stella was slapped to the side, her body skidding on the ground for many meters. Her mind was filled with shock and horror. This had been a serious attack, and her cheekbones nearly broke from the slap.
Stella just lay there in horror, unmoving.
Step!
A foot appeared in Stella's vision as Gravis stopped in front of her.
Then, he grabbed her throat and lifted her up.
"You must learn suppression, and for that, I must take everything from you."
Stella barely registered Gravis' words.
SLAP!
Another slap came from Gravis' other hand to wake her up. Stella's eyes saw white as the slap rattled her mind.
Then, Gravis pulled her to him and looked directly into her eyes.
"From now on, you are no longer yourself."
"You are mine."
CRK!
Stella's saber hit Gravis' torso, but it was meaningless. Gravis was no longer below Stella in Cultivation. In fact, he was an entire level above her. The defense of his body was simply far too powerful.
"Useless," Gravis said calmly. "You don't even have the guts to resist. Your emotions are screaming at you to kill me, but your mind is unsure. You didn't even unleash a Law with your attack because you are so uncertain."
Stella gritted her teeth as uncertainty wrecked her mind.
Why hadn't she unleashed a powerful attack!?
Was power that important to her that she didn't even dare to attack Gravis seriously!?
For the first time, Stella felt disgusted with herself.
Gravis needed to die! He had killed her brother!
However, he was her only way to power! If she killed him, she would never be able to become powerful in the future! Then, her brother would have died for nothing!
Killing Gravis wouldn't bring her brother back.
The only right choice was to do whatever Gravis told her to do.
Like this, she would still have a future.
Like this, she would still have a life.
Like this, she would still have a path to supreme power.
However, as soon as she thought these things, her rage and disgust exploded even more.
Her brother had just died, but she was only thinking about herself!? How disgusting was she!?
In her frenzied mind, she only saw one last option.
CRACK!
Gravis broke Stella's arm before her saber could stab into herself. Gravis kept holding the saber to Stella's broken arm so that she wouldn't lose connection to her Avatar.
In Stella's frenzied mind, the only way left had been suicide.
She couldn't live with herself after realizing that she was so self-centered that she didn't even dare attack the murderer of her brother!
"I've already said that you are no longer your own person. Your own life is not yours anymore," Gravis said coldly.
Stella's mind became even more frenzied as before as even suicide had stopped being an option.
There were only two things left.
Attack Gravis or stop resisting.
There was nothing else.
Maybe, inside her mind, she still denied the truth. Something in her mind was still telling her that this wasn't real. Gravis wouldn't do something like this!
However, there was simply no other way.
PACK!
Suddenly, a rough hand grabbed Stella's robes, and she felt a cold shudder run down her spine.
"You are now mine, and I will take what's mine," Gravis said coldly.
Then, Gravis pulled on the robes until half of them were torn off. Half of Stella's upper body was naked now.
Stella felt Gravis' hand come closer to her chest, and her emotions reached a crescendo.
This was not Gravis!
This was a monster!
And this monster had killed her brother!
The last voice inside Stella's mind that denied reality vanished. She realized the truth now, and her mind was clear.
So what if her path to power was severed!?
Gravis had to die!
Her mind told her that she would be throwing everything away.
Her mind told her that she had no chance against Gravis.
However, all of this didn't matter.
This was what she wanted to do, and she would do it!
Fuck the consequences!
BOOOOM!
Stella used her other hand to take hold of her saber and summoned all of her power. This time, she was serious!
PACK!
However, Gravis simply threw her away into the distance.
Stella landed easily and charged forward at Gravis but stopped as a ring was thrown at her.
Gravis released a deep sigh of relief and closed his eyes, his own emotions going crazy.
"Look into the ring," he said.
For a second, Stella felt like the old Gravis had returned, and her Spirit entered the Life Ring.
Her eyes widened in shock again.
"Liam!?"
This was Gravis' Life Ring.
While Stella became shocked again, Gravis sat down and tried to get his own emotions in order again.
He had never done anything so repulsive in his life before. This entire act went against his very being, which put freedom above nearly everything else.
However, as long as Stella didn't truly suffer, she would have never comprehended the Law of Freedom. Only when there was an intense conflict inside oneself between doing the smart thing and doing the thing one wanted would one realize what it meant to be free.
It had been a necessity.
Luckily, her brother had played along.