"Greetings, Mortis," Siral said with a bow.
"Uhm," the forgotten person to Siral's left said.
"Your name is Yi Lu, right?" Gravis asked with a smile.
"Yes, I'm Yi Lu!" Yi Lu said as he regained his confidence. "You are Gravis, right?"
Gravis nodded with a smile.
Yi Lu just looked at Gravis like he couldn't believe it.
This was that amazing person!
This was the person that Yi Lu always felt inferior to!
Yi Lu had gone through all of his Realms in a short period of time, but whenever he reached a new Realm, the memories of Gravis' previous Realm would be unlocked.
When Yi Lu reached the Energy Gathering Realm, he had seen what Gravis had done in the Body Tempering Stage.
Yi Lu already had had a Will-Aura when his full body was tempered. He had even managed to fight an Energy Gathering Realm Cultivator to a draw.
However, Gravis already had a Will-Aura before he even truly began to cultivate!
Even more, judging by Gravis' power, he had the ability to kill an Energy Gathering Realm Cultivator!
Fighting to a draw, winning, and killing was a huge difference, each one more difficult than the last.
When Yi Lu had seen that he couldn't keep up, he had tried to become even more outstanding! Gravis was more powerful than him, but he couldn't give up!
So, he put everything he had into Cultivation and even managed to kill someone two levels above him in the Energy Gathering Realm. This was powerful! This was enough, right?
Then, when Yi Lu reached the Spirit Forming Realm, he had seen Gravis' fight against an extremely powerful elder with the fire element.
This elder had been three levels above Gravis, and he had had an equally powerful body.
Instead of feeling that he had come closer to Gravis' power, he felt like the power difference became even bigger.
So, Yi Lu became crazier and crazier and even managed to kill someone two levels above him in the Spirit Forming Realm, which was far more difficult than killing someone two levels above oneself in the Energy Gathering Realm.
Then, when Yi Lu had reached the Unity Realm, he had seen Gravis' fight with some kind of Priest.
How could he compete with that!?
Luckily for Yi Lu, all the delicate memories of Gravis' journey in the lower world were hidden. Yi Lu didn't know about Gravis' enmity with the lower Heaven or the fact that Gravis' Spirit had been attuned to Destruction Lightning.
After unlocking that set of memories, Yi Lu felt that all the foreign memories in his Spirit had been exhausted.
There had been no more memories to unlock.
What did this mean?
Did this mean that Gravis had reached the Unity Realm before he died?
Did it mean that Gravis was dead and that he had gifted Yi Lu with his last memories as a form of successor?
Then, Yi Lu learned of the Sect Congregation, the ruler over this area.
The Sect Congregation had just won a war against another powerful Sect. Nothing appeared unnatural regarding that, but Yi Lu had learned that this wasn't the first war.
The Sect Congregation was planning on taking out one Sect after the other until only they remained. Like this, they would have a monopoly over everything, and the mortals would suffer under their rule.
This had to be the calamity his teacher had warned him about!
Was this his teacher's last wish? Did his dead teacher desire peace for the mortals?
If so, Yi Lu had to do his best for his deceased teacher! He had to prevent this calamity and kill the Sect Masters of the Sect Congregation!
After nearly a hundred years, Yi Lu had finally reached the legendary Nascent Nourishing Realm, the most powerful Realm in existence!
Finally, he managed to fulfill his late teacher's last wish.
The calamity was averted!
And then, his world broke down.
A Cultivator with an unfathomably profound Cultivation Realm had appeared before him.
There were people this powerful!?
He had appeared lighthearted when he had spoken to the woman, but he felt nervous and scared deep inside.
And that was when his dead teacher arrived!
He killed that Cultivator with but a thought!
However, then, that dead Cultivator summoned an even more powerful Cultivator!
Just his Will-Aura had destroyed hundreds of kilometers!
How was something like this even possible!?
Yi Lu went through far too much shock today, and he looked at Gravis with a complicated expression.
Gravis could guess what Yi Lu was thinking and had to laugh a bit. "I think there are some misunderstandings between us."
So, Gravis proceeded to tell Yi Lu why he had been protected against powerful Cultivators and what the calamity actually was.
"So, the calamity was simply a fight between you and your opponent? You waited over a hundred years just to fight someone?" Yi Lu asked.
"A century is nothing," Gravis said.
'A century is nothing?' Yi Lu thought with admiration. His teacher was so old and powerful that eons passed in the blink of an eye for him?
"Anyway," Gravis said. "Siral, Mortis, and I should leave. Nice meeting you, Yi Lu."
Yi Lu's eyes widened. "Wait!"
"Yes?" Gravis asked.
"You are just going to leave like that?" Yi Lu asked with some apprehension.
"Yeah, why not?" Gravis asked.
"But, your memories and your gift have shaped my entire life," Yi Lu said. "Aren't we connected by Karma or something? Am I not supposed to repay you?"
"Nah," Gravis said.
Yi Lu was taken aback when he heard how casually Gravis denied his sincere approach. "But then why did you help me? You had no reason to."
"Your conviction to protect what's important to me convinced me to give you a helping hand," Gravis said. Then, he smirked. "Also, it was funny."
"Funny?" Yi Lu asked.
"Yeah," Gravis said with a suppressed laugh. "I gave you the impossible task to keep up with my power by giving you my memories. It's funny to imagine you constantly trying to push yourself further, trying to keep up with me."
Yi Lu felt like his world was shattering.
The enigmatic and tragic teacher that had died was nothing like Yi Lu had imagined.
Where was the elderly warmth?
Where was the praise?
Where was the problem or calamity that Yi Lu would be tasked with to stop?
Instead, he met someone that acted like a young adult that just wanted to mess around.
Then, Yi Lu's rage exploded.
"I could have died!" he shouted. "I tried to keep up with you so badly that I went into suicidal situations just to temper myself, and now you're telling me you were just messing with me!?"
"Yeah," Gravis said with a smirk. "So what if you died? That's just Cultivation. I gave you the knowledge that allows you to cultivate and gave you a frame of reference. Whatever you do is up to you. You could have simply stopped cultivating. You could have taken it slower."
"But you didn't," Gravis said. "Also, don't act like you are not happy that you went through some good tempering. After all, your Will-Aura is three levels above your own Realm. Don't push the blame of your own decisions on me."
Yi Lu's body was shaking in a mixture of emotions. He had no idea how he should feel right now.
"Anyway," Gravis said as he scratched his head. "Since you are so emotionally invested in me, let me give you some advice."
This made Yi Lu perk up.
"Don't increase your Realm for the next hundred years."
Yi Lu's face turned white.
"A full century!?" he shouted.
Gravis nodded. "From now on, nearly all your power will come from your Laws. If you don't know a lot of Laws, your Battle-Strength will fall behind. I was in the same situation as you in the past. I became a Nascent Nourishing Realm Cultivator when I was like 60 or so, not sure entirely."
"That was when someone powerful and smart told me to pause my Cultivation for a century and focus on Laws, and it has helped me immensely. You don't need to follow my advice, though. It's your decision in the end," Gravis said.
Gravis got reminded of Azure and Styr when he said these words. Azure had forced Gravis to stop cultivating for a hundred years after he had killed the Inquisitor, and it had helped him immensely.
He was now doing the same thing for Yi Lu.
Yi Lu still couldn't wrap his head around not progressing for an entire century.
"So, bye!" Gravis said with a wave.
"Wait!" Yi Lu shouted suddenly.
"Again?" Gravis asked with a frown. "What now?"
"How can I find you in the future?" Yi Lu asked.
Gravis scratched his chin in deliberation.
"When you're an Immortal King, you can search for me," Gravis said after some seconds. "By then, the entire world should know my name, and finding me should be easy for you."
"Immortal King?" Yi Lu asked with shock. "I've never heard of this Realm. How powerful is it?"
"Not telling," Gravis said with a smirk.
SHING!
And then, Gravis was gone.
"Wait!" Yi Lu shouted, but it was too late.
Yi Lu quickly looked for Gravis' friends, but they had vanished with him.
After some seconds, Yi Lu looked with a lost expression towards the ground.
'I thought I would get my second set of memories,' he thought.
'Am I not supposed to get a second set of memories that allows me to become even more powerful?'
Sadly, Yi Lu wouldn't get a second set of memories.
In a novel, the main character might receive a blessing from their master when they finally met.
In a novel, the main character might have to resolve a problem that their master couln't deal with.
Sadly, this wasn't a novel.