Gravis and Siral flew towards the north and passed through the entire Sect Alliance's territory. They saw a couple of Cultivators here and there, but they didn't interact. Gravis and Siral were using their Laws of Shadow's Subtlety to keep themselves hidden. There was no reason to draw any attention.
After that, they began their journey to the Core Regions.
After about an hour, they had left behind the entire Sect Alliance's territory. However, there was no change in scenery or border or anything like that. Nothing really changed.
Siral informed Gravis that a lot of similar territories were in this part of the world. There were many Sect Alliances, Sect territories, Clan territories, and so on.
In the grand scheme of things, the Sect Alliance's territory wasn't really in the outer parts of the world. After all, only Immortals and higher lived in these territories. There were six Cultivation Realms below the Immortal Realm, and they also had their territories.
One could say that the Sect Alliance's territory was in the outer Core Region of the world. It was not completely inside the Core Region, but it also wasn't that far away from it.
Gravis asked Siral how big the Sect Alliance's territory was, and Siral said that it was minuscule. On a map of the world, it would barely count as a tiny dot.
Gravis had been prepared for the fact that this higher world would be far bigger than the middle world, but it still shocked him. The Sect Alliance's territory was probably already as big as Gravis' previous middle world, but it only counted as a small dot here?
The difference in size was insane.
Siral also said that there were so many similar territories that they couldn't be counted. There were probably hundreds of thousands of these gigantic territories, and they didn't even count as part of the Core Regions.
Gravis did some math in his head and came to a shocking conclusion.
Just these fringe territories already had so many powerful Sects, and all of them had at least several Immortal Kings.
This meant that these fringe territories already had millions of Immortal Kings!
They didn't even count as part of the Core Region!
'Could there be a billion Immortal Kings in this world? That's insane!' Gravis thought. 'There had only been like ten million Kings in my previous middle world! Doesn't this mean that the average power of this world is at least a hundred times stronger than the average power of my previous middle world in relation?'
'Additionally, all of this doesn't even take the beast territories into account! This is only half of the world!'
This truly was the most powerful higher world. There were just so many powerful beings!
Gravis asked if Siral had a good world map, but sadly, Siral didn't have one. He only had a vague sense of where they were in the world. Siral transmitted a picture to Gravis to show what he knew.
Gravis looked at the picture and furrowed his brows.
They were barely inside the Nine Elements Sect's territory. In the picture, the Sect Alliance's territory was a tiny dot at the northwest corner of the map, while the Nine Elements Sect was in the center. However, Gravis didn't see any of the other Peak Sects.
Gravis asked Siral if he knew where the other Peak Sects were, but surprisingly, Siral didn't even know what Peak Sects were. He only knew that the Nine Elements Sect was impossibly powerful. This was the most powerful power he knew.
Apparently, Siral had also never been in the Core Regions. He had only learned some things from other people.
However, one thing didn't make sense. Siral said that he only knew one powerful Sect, but Gravis was absolutely certain that he knew another one.
The Life Sect.
Liran had been able to summon the people of the Life Sect to save his son. This meant that the Sect Alliance, at least, had to know that the Life Sect existed. So, Gravis asked Siral about that. After all, Siral had also been a Sect Master for a long time.
Siral seemed surprised when Gravis compared these healers to the Nine Elements Sect. In his mind, the two of them couldn't be compared. Siral had believed that these healers that offered their services were some branch from a higher-ranked Sect. However, they couldn't possibly be as powerful as the Nine Elements Sect, right?
Gravis asked more about the Life Sect, and Siral told him that they had their headquarters in the center of the Sect Alliance's territory. However, he also said that it was an unspoken rule to never be disrespectful to these healers. These healers had been in their territory for eons, and by now, nobody knew where they had come from. It was like they had always been there.
Additionally, there were rumors and legends about these healers. Apparently, there had once been a Sect Master that didn't pay the healers.
According to legend, their Sect had stopped existing shortly after.
These healers had always been mysterious to Siral. Nobody thought of them in their day-to-day activities. This group of healers simply existed in the Sect Alliance's territory and never vied for any resources. They were just there and offered their services.
While talking to Siral about the Life Sect, Gravis got an idea.
The two of them lacked a map of the world, and they were trying to procure one.
Shouldn't the Life Sect have one?
Having a map was important. They knew that they were inside the Nine Elements Sect's territories, but they didn't exactly know where the Nine Elements Sect was located. Gravis only knew that they came from the north and that the north led to the outside of the world. This meant that the Nine Elements Sect had to be somewhere in the north of the world.
However, Gravis didn't know if they were exactly to the north in the Core Regions or if they were in the northeast or northwest.
Additionally, Gravis wanted to know where the All-Matter Sect was. After all, Gravis still needed to realize his grand plan.
Gravis and Siral hadn't talked for long, and they hadn't left the Sect Alliance's territory for long. It was still worth it to return to the Sect Alliance's territory to procure a map.
Wait, but couldn't they just go to the Nine Elements Sect?
Difficult!
Usually, with Gravis' power and prestige, going to the Nine Elements Sect wouldn't be an issue. They would probably accept him with open arms as long as he proved his power.
However, there was a hidden but unimaginably threatening danger.
What had the Sect Masters done when Liran revealed Gravis' secret?
They had summoned a kind of stone that immediately reacted to Gravis' body. After that, everyone realized that Gravis had the body of a beast.
These Sect Masters probably had several of these stones and always carried them around with them.
So, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that the Peak Sects had a ton of them, especially since they were close to the actual core of the world, which was the beasts' territory.
There was a very real possibility that some pillars on the entrances to every city or Sect had these stones just sitting there. As soon as Gravis came close to one of these cities or Sects, these stones might react.
After that, it didn't matter what Gravis said.
To them, Gravis was a beast, and he would immediately be hunted down.
Sure, they wouldn't send any powerful people directly, and Gravis could kill them.
However, killing them meant that a Peak Sect would be hunting him.
Even if he didn't kill them, he would probably continually have to escape from more and more Immortal Kings.
This was also the reason why Gravis told Siral earlier that he had to do some errands for Gravis. After all, Siral was a human, and he could simply act as Gravis' proxy in cities.
However, getting a map was not simple, and Siral's power might not be enough to sway any powerful person. Gravis wanted to avoid unnecessary assassinations from Siral since that would only invite more trouble.
Yes, Gravis wanted tempering, but offending some super-powerful power was more akin to suicide than tempering.
So, Gravis hoped that the branch of the Life Sect had a map. Additionally, this branch was so far away from the beasts' territories that they probably didn't even consider the possibility that a beast could come here.
Lastly, Gravis currently had a Will-Aura on the level of a Late Major Circulation Immortal King. This meant that any Peak Immortal King would be able to see Gravis' actual body.
So, any city with a Peak Immortal King or an Immortal Emperor would be absolute-death territory for Gravis.
The branch of the Life Sect in the Sect Alliance's territory probably had a hidden Major Circulation Immortal King, but Gravis doubted that they had a Peak Immortal King. That would be overkill.
This was simply a much better course of action.
In the end, Gravis decided to turn around and go back to the Sect Alliance's territory for the map.
Gravis already had had dealings with the Nine Elements Sect. He had met their previous Ancestor and two Core Disciples.
Gravis would have many dealings with the All-Matter Sect later when he realized his plan.
And now, Gravis would also come into contact with the Life Sect.
Additionally, Gravis had also talked to someone from the Purist Sect in Arc's clearing. However, this could barely be counted as having contact.
Gravis had not even truly entered the Core Region, but it seemed like he already had several connections to these Peak Sects.
'Well, it's time to actually come into contact with my second Peak Sect.'
'I wonder what the general personality, philosophy, and ideology of the Life Sect are?'