Gravis' mind stopped as he heard the old man's words.
How did he know!?
A ton of questions appeared in Gravis' mind, and he became nervous. This was not something simple! One of the Peak Sects knew that he had a beast body. If they decided to send a Peak Immortal King, everything would be over.
Yet, the question was, why didn't they? If they had known that he was a beast, why hadn't they arrived to kill him yet?
Gravis was sure that his secret couldn't have been found out just now. After all, there was no way that a Peak Immortal King was in such an unimportant and remote location.
This could only mean that the old man had noticed it back then. Additionally, the old man could have unveiled Gravis' status right then and there. At that time, Gravis would have been helpless against any Immortal King, and there had been a lot of them.
On top of that, a whole 40,000 years had passed since then. There had been more than enough time to transmit the news to the Life Sect and request for a quick extermination.
What was going on?
There were only two explanations Gravis could come up with, and he would find the answer to which one was correct with a question.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Gravis asked evenly.
The old man only smiled kindly as he stroked his beard. "It means that you have a beast body," he said.
"And how would you know that?" Gravis asked coldly.
The old man laughed as he found the question quite amusing. "How do I know that?" he asked with a laugh. "I saw it with my own eyes back then. When I saw you using your Soul Laws to keep that boy alive, I was quite surprised by your Laws. So, I took a closer look, and who would have thought, you have the body of a Black Demon."
This answer was everything that Gravis needed to determine why nothing had happened to him yet.
With Gravis' two questions, he had tried to check if the old man was bluffing. It was possible that he was only taking a guess, and if Gravis directly asked how he knew, Gravis might have unveiled his own secret.
This had been one possibility. If the Life Sect didn't know that he had a beast body, they couldn't have sent anyone to kill him. As far as Gravis knew, it could be a common tactic in this world to simply act like they knew that random people had beast bodies just to catch the honest and direct beasts by surprise.
Gravis wouldn't want to fall into such a trap.
This left one possibility remaining of why the Life Sect had not exterminated him yet.
They didn't want to.
The question was, why?
Gravis was pretty certain that they didn't want to kill him not only because of the fact that he was still alive but also because of how the old man had phrased his words.
"You said I have a beast body," Gravis said evenly. "However, you didn't say that I was a beast. How come?"
This basically already counted as a confession but playing dumb wouldn't work right now. It might even make the conversation more aggressive between them.
The old man's eyes shone slightly. "So, you've noticed, huh?" he asked with a smirk. "Yes, I believe that you are not a beast but a human inside a beast's body."
The old man was right on the money, but Gravis wouldn't assume that the old man knew about Research Assistants and so on. "Could you elaborate on what you mean exactly?" Gravis asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" the old man said with confidence.
"You're the offspring of a beast and a human," he said.
Gravis' eyes shone slightly. The old man had been spot on previously, but now, he had gone in a wrong direction.
"If that were so, then why are you so sure that I'm a human and not a beast? After all, I have a beast body, right?" Gravis asked.
"Because of your Spirit and Will-Aura," the old man said with a smile as he stroked his beard. "You have been born with a beast body, but with a Spirit and Will-Aura. We humans are humans because of our Spirit, not because of our body."
"Is that all?" Gravis asked evenly.
"There's also the form of your body," the old man said with a smirk. "Your form is humanoid, and you have several arms with hands. Additionally, you had appeared quite familiar with your saber. This means that your human form might have been new since you had just become an Immortal, but you were already familiar with fighting with a weapon."
"Fighting with weapons and having hands are very human-like qualities. Additionally, you have searched for a Sect to join. This means that you want to be among humans instead of going solo. This is also very human-like."
Gravis furrowed his brows, but after a couple of seconds, he nodded. "Alright, fine. I'm a human with a beast body," Gravis admitted.
The old man only smirked confidently as he stroked his beard. His smirk didn't feel like some kind of evil smirk or something to Gravis. It was more like an old grandpa that felt happy that he won in a game against his grandson. There was still kindness in his smirk.
"I'm pretty certain that our original topic and this one probably have connected answers, right?" Gravis asked.
"What was our original topic again?" the old man asked innocently with a smile.
"You said that I can't join any other Peak Sect," Gravis said.
The old man nodded. "Yes, these two things are connected, but unveiling everything at once is boring. Why don't you take a guess?" the old man requested.
Gravis furrowed his brows. He wasn't the biggest fan of these nonsense talking games. Gravis liked to directly say what he had on his mind instead of using fancy words to play some kind of intellectual power game.
However, Gravis was pretty confident that he already had the answer.
"I guess holding the southern territory all on your own is pretty difficult, right?" Gravis asked with an insinuating tone.
The old man's eyes gleamed a bit in surprise. 'Clever boy. He immediately found the right answer,' the old man thought.
"Correct," the old man said with a smile. "If we don't regularly attack the Great Forest, a beast wave will arrive. Due to our location, we have a lot of beasts to deal with, and the Purist Sect doesn't like to involve themselves. They act like they want us to prosper due to our pills, but they are just waiting for us to get overrun. After all, many talented alchemists would then flee our Sect and enter the Purist Sect."
Gravis nodded. "I presume because of all the pressure, you can't be wasteful with your limited resources, including disciples, right?" Gravis asked with a knowing tone.
The old man nodded with a smile as he stroked his beard. "That's right," the old man said. "We are already stretched thin as it is. Destroying our own potential disciples would make it only harder."
"So, in short," Gravis said as he leaned forward on the table with his right forearm. "Children of humans and beasts are not being hunted in the southern territory, but the Life Sect is the only Sect with this philosophy. Because of that, I can't join any other Peak Sect, and that's also the reason why I am still alive right now, right?"
The old man nodded with a bright smile. "That's right," the old man said. "We still hate the beasts, but as long as a mixed child shows the personality of a human, we are willing to accept them."
"And how would you know if they have a human personality?" Gravis asked.
The old man laughed again. "I'm sure you have seen how newborn beasts act," the old man said. "We only need to check if the baby wants to consume other babies around it to gain power. After all, the first thing that human newborns do is cry for their mother."
"And how can your Sect guarantee that you are present at every birth of a new mixed child?" Gravis asked with skepticism.
"We can't," the old man said with a smile. "But those who keep a mixed pregnancy a secret will be exterminated."
"That's plenty of incentive to inform us beforehand."