For the next ten years, Gravis prepared himself even more. There was something else that he needed.
After doing what he had planned, Gravis waited for the ten years to be over.
'Now, everything is hinging on this tournament,' Gravis thought. 'The tournament will be held inside the central palace of the Nine Elements Sect, and I need to be ready for everything. Let's hope that the Nine Elements Sect doesn't go back on their word.'
Gravis waited near the arena where the preliminary tournament had been held. Ten years passed by in a flash, and some of the people had already gathered.
The Immortal Emperor arrived punctually, but what surprised Gravis was the fact that there was no one else accompanying him.
Gravis looked around and noticed that only six contestants had gathered. Gravis guessed that the other contestants were no longer interested in the tournament. After all, they had only joined the tournament to prove themselves to the Nine Elements Sect. Now that they were Elite Disciples already, they didn't need to participate in the tournament anymore. Their goal had been accomplished.
"Everyone's here," the Immortal Emperor said. "Follow me," he ordered.
The participants bowed in politeness and followed the elder. All of them flew to the Nine Elements Sect and directly entered it. They didn't even go through the entrance but simply flew over the high walls. Usually, something like this would be met with lethal retaliation, but nobody stopped them since an elder was with them.
Gravis had already seen the inside of the Nine Elements Sect, but the others hadn't. The other participants looked with amazement at the wonderland beneath their feet. It was like they had entered paradise.
Some of them even regretted that they had declined the invitation from the Nine Elements Sect. How powerful would they become if they could cultivate here?
"Look, all these people are flying!" a disciple of the Nine Elements Sect said as he pointed at the group.
"So?" another disciple to the side said. "Immortal Kings are allowed to fly in the Sect. Instead of envying others, you should work harder on yourself," she said.
"But I'm only in the Nascent Nourishing Realm," the disciple said helplessly.
"Then, hurry up!" the other disciple said.
"I'm trying!"
After flying over the Nine Elements Sect, the elder and the contestants landed at the entrance of the central palace. Another elder was guarding the entrance, and she nodded at the elder that escorted the contestants.
The elder nodded back and gestured for the contestants to follow him. From now on, they would no longer fly. Flying in the outside of the Sect and flying in the central palace were entirely different concepts. Not even elders were allowed to fly in the central palace.
They slowly walked along the humongous corridors, which were filled with valuable treasures. The walls were filled with portraits, and every portrait showed a previous Sect Master.
There were thousands.
Immortal Emperors could live for 250,000 years, but even if every Sect Master had only been a Sect Master for 100,000 years, these thousands of pictures would already show how ancient the Nine Elements Sect was.
The Nine Elements Sect had a history that had probably stretched for hundreds of millions of years.
This was already beyond impressive.
Why?
Because becoming a Peak Sect was easier than staying a Peak Sect for such a long time.
One single fuck-up in these long years could have destroyed the Nine Elements Sect. Yet, the Sect had always been a Peak Sect.
Near the end of the corridor, Gravis looked at a specific portrait.
He knew the person in the portrait.
It showed a red-haired woman with a proud demeanor.
This was Stella's teacher, the previous Ancestor of the Nine Elements Sect. Sadly, she had died when she had interfered with Stella's tribulation.
Behind the portrait were two more, but they were the last ones in the corridor.
A middle-aged man with blue hair was in the next picture, and a young woman with blue hair was in the last one.
'These had all been Sect Masters before,' Gravis thought. 'Before Stella's teacher became the Ancestor of the Nine Elements Sect, she has been the Sect Master. This means that the next portrait is of the Sect Master of the time when Stella's teacher had still been alive.'
'After Stella's teacher died, the current Sect Master probably broke through the Peak Immortal Emperor Realm and became the current Ancestor. The last picture of the blue-haired lady should be the current Sect Master.'
Gravis looked back at the corridor again.
'Over 80% of the past Sect Masters have either blue or red hair. The remaining ones have hair-colors that correspond to other Elements, but they are definitely in the minority.'
'Stella mainly used the Inferno Element in her fight against me, and she has red hair. Her teacher also had red hair. Yet, the newest Sect Master and Ancestor have blue hair. Does this mean that there is some kind of faction rivalry in the Nine Elements Sect? Is this the reason why Stella is in so much trouble right now?'
'The blue-haired people are probably most comfortable with the Frost Element, and the Frost Element is the opposite of the Inferno Element. If all of this is faction-based and not individual-based, it would explain why Stella is having difficulties right now.'
'However, I'm not certain who's currently involved in this idiotic decision regarding Stella. The Ancestor is only responsible for protecting the Sect from life-threatening danger and Cultivation. The Sect Master should be responsible for dealing with all the political affairs and decision-making.'
'Lastly, the old Sect Master probably chooses the new one. Therefore, it's possible that the current Ancestor has nothing to do with Stella's situation since he had been chosen by Stella's teacher. However, the current Sect Master is definitely involved.'
Gravis now had a better idea about who was involved with Stella's current situation. If the Nine Elements Sect decided to be stubborn idiots, he would now know who his enemies would be. However, that was a big if.
Gravis had proven to be very capable, and when he won the tournament, there was a genuine possibility that Gravis could ask for Stella's hand. As long as the Nine Elements Sect remained honest, there wouldn't be an issue.
However, Gravis also knew that it wasn't even certain that Stella wanted to see him. It could be that she wouldn't want to get involved with him due to their situation back then. Yes, Gravis had only done that to help Stella, but was that enough to offset the horrible actions he had done to achieve his result?
Gravis wasn't nervous about the Nine Elements Sect, but he was nervous about Stella.
Yet, if Stella didn't want to have anything to do with Gravis, Gravis would lose in the tournament on purpose. However, he would need to meet Stella before that, or he wouldn't know if she was still interested in him or not.
CRRRR!
Gravis had not paid any attention while thinking, but the group had arrived in front of some gigantic gates. The gates were opening slowly, and after some seconds, Gravis saw the hall behind it.
The hall was gigantic!
According to logic, this hall shouldn't fit inside the palace since it was many times bigger. However, Gravis wasn't surprised. This was simply the effect of a Formation Array that used the level six Law of Space.
The Nine Elements Sect might not currently have someone that knew the Law, but they probably had had someone in the past. As long as they took care of the Formation Array, they could use it indefinitely.
Yet, Gravis was still shocked by one thing.
The entire hall was built with Major Circulation Immortal Emperor Materials!
That was absolutely insane!
The chains below the Sect couldn't even compare to this hall!
'It seems like some Sect Master in the past wanted to immortalize themselves in this Sect by building this huge hall.'
"Please wait here," the elder said.
A many kilometers wide arena was in the middle of the hall, and the contestants were supposed to wait at its edge.
"These will be your opponents in the tournament," the elder said as he gestured to the other side of the arena.
On the other side of the arena, they could see 16 young men.
Wait, only 16?
The participants had expected more people.
Gravis inspected the people and noticed several things.
First of all, they were all Peak Immortal Kings.
Second of all, six of them had Will-Auras on the level of a Mid Minor Circulation Immortal Emperor.
Third of all, the same six people wore the uniforms of three Peak Sects, the All-Matter Sect, the Primordial Force Sect, and the Life Sect.
The Purist Sect was absent.
The other ten people were from several high-profile Sects, but there was never more than one person per Sect. The Peak Sects were the only ones with two slots each.
Lastly, there was no one from the Nine Elements Sect.
Either the people of the Nine Elements Sect would arrive later, or they wouldn't partake in the tournament. Gravis guessed the latter.
Gravis was already quite certain that the Nine Elements Sect wanted to use Stella to gain some advantages from some other Peak Sect. Because of that, Gravis guessed that the Nine Elements Sect wouldn't take part in the tournament. After all, if one of their own won, what were they supposed to do, marry Stella to someone of their own Sect? That wouldn't be useful to the Sect.
The people from the Sects didn't pay any attention to Gravis' group.
Well, everyone except for one.
One young man with grey armor glanced at Gravis with surprise and shock.
"Fancy meeting you here, Gravis," he transmitted to Gravis.
"Hey, Zern! You're also here?" Gravis answered, equally surprised.
This was someone that Gravis had met in Arc's clearing.
He was part of the All-Matter Sect, and he was also one of the main reasons why Gravis had targeted the All-Matter Sect with his grand plan.
Zern was supposed to be his inside man, who would make sure that everything went smoothly.