Lightning Is the Only Way

The representatives were stunned by the interaction, but they quickly realized something.

Those two knew each other.

This wasn't common, but it happened from time to time. After all, many powerful members of other Sects were made up of Ascenders that had been in the highest world for a while. Old and new Ascenders could have known each other.

Even more, the new Ascender was a plant, which gave the previous Ascender way more time to become more powerful due to a plant's inherent longevity.

The representatives quickly threw a look at each other.

They didn't want the new Ascender to join any other Sect, but they wanted her to join a completely unknown Sect even less.

The representatives in the hall, at least, had several treaties on how to manage this whole affair. In comparison, this new guy was completely unrelated to them.

"You are not allowed to be here," one of the representatives to Gravis. "Unaffiliated Sects are not allowed to vie for new Ascenders."

"Vie for new Ascenders?" Gravis asked with a snort. "I just insulted your new Ascender, and you call that vying for her?"

The Star Gods narrowed their eyes.

"But fine," Gravis said. "I'll leave."

Then, Gravis left the hall again.

The Star Gods weren't very happy with that. Those two had obviously known each other, and Gravis' appearance alone had already thrown a wrench into their plans.

The representatives quickly talked to each other to find a solution. They exchanged many words, but since all of them had been said via voice transmission, not even a second had passed before they reached a consensus.

One of the representatives walked to Meadow. "How would you like to join us?" he asked.

Meadow only looked at him neutrally.

However, while the representative was talking, he activated some peculiar Laws.

These representatives had powerful skills when it came to manipulation and persuasion. This guy, in particular, knew several level six Laws related to the Spirit and mind.

He was the best in this field out of everyone present, and he had promised the other Sects a lot of money for this Ascender.

The others had accepted since this was better than seeing this new Ascender go to none of their Sects. At least, with this, they would get something out of this situation.

Meadow's mind became foggy, and she immediately found this guy to her liking.

"Sure," she answered absentmindedly.

The other representatives grinned when they saw her agree.

"Wonderful! Then would you-"

The guy suddenly stopped talking.

Why?

Because Meadow had vanished!

There were no fluctuations of the Space Laws or Darkness Laws.

She had simply stopped existing.

The representatives were shocked and quickly searched for her in the surrounding million kilometers, but they couldn't find her.

"What's going on!?" one of them asked in shock. "She's only a Peak Immortal Emperor! She can't hide in front of us!"

"I don't know!" Another guy shouted back with annoyance.

"It must have been that other guy!" a third representative shouted with narrowed eyes.

"Yes, it must be! That guy was a Star God just like us. He probably used some kind of powerful Law to take her away! I remembered his robes and his emblem! I'll immediately contact my superiors and tell them what happened. We won't stand for some unknown person to interfere in our business!"

The other representatives also nodded. They had several treaties, and they wouldn't accept some unknown Sect to claim someone that belonged to them!

So, how had Meadow vanished?

Obviously, it was the Law of Perceived Reality.

Meadow had simply left together with Gravis while Gravis made it appear like she was still in the hall. Gravis gave Meadow some money and sent her away via the Teleportation Formation Array. Then, Gravis left himself, which was why his illusion had suddenly dissipated. After all, Gravis was too far away now.

The representative from the Sect, which Meadow was supposed to belong to, quickly contacted a Vice-Sect Master.

Initially, the Vice-Sect Master only frowned.

Yes, other Sects weren't supposed to steal their Ascenders, but this matter wasn't so important that he had to be informed. He was an Ancestral God, and he had more important things to worry about.

Yet, when he heard that the new Ascender was a plant, his eyes narrowed.

This was too important!

One plant could create several other Star Gods with their fruits!

The Vice-Sect Master informed the Sect Master, and the Sect Master sent the Vice-Sect Master to gather information on the Sect that took Meadow away.

The Vice-Sect Master visited the Information Pavilion and asked about the identity of the Sect behind Gravis. They remembered his getup and emblem, which meant that they could easily find out which Sect they belonged to.

They were also quite certain that Gravis' Sect couldn't be very powerful. After all, they hadn't heard of that Sect before, which meant that they were probably not very relevant.

The Information Pavilion kept the identities of Gravis and his friends secret, but the Myriad Sect didn't fall under that restriction.

The Myriad Sect was a public organization, and the Information Pavilion had no issues with unveiling information about Sects.

Of course, information about Sects was also way more expensive than information about individuals.

Sects generally weren't very interested in information about individuals, but they were very interested in information about other Sects. There was also far more information that one could have about a Sect than about only one individual.

Information about individuals was more of private relevance.

Information about Sects was more of organizational and professional relevance.

A singular person wouldn't be willing to fork over a ridiculous amount of money for information, but a Sect had way more money to spare.

So, after paying a couple million God Stones, the Vice-Sect Master got his information.

Myriad Sect.

When the Vice-Sect Master saw the power of the Myriad Sect, he only frowned.

About 20 Star Gods.

That was above-average for a Sect with an Ancestral God as their leader.

However, his own Sect had around double the number of Star Gods, and they also had several Ancestral Gods.

But then, the first issue raised its ugly head.

Ancestor: level five Ancestral God.

That was a huge issue!

That Ancestor alone could decimate all their Ancestral Gods!

Then came the second issue.

Subsidiary Sect of the Eternal Fire Sect.

The Vice-Sect Master didn't know the Myriad Sect, but he knew the Eternal Fire Sect.

The Eternal Fire Sect was no joke, and it was even a bit more powerful than their own superior Sect. Their own superior Sect was at the same level as the Eternal Fire Sect, and they could even attempt to fight the Eternal Fire Sect, but there were two issues.

First of all, the war would have a higher chance of them losing rather than winning.

Second, the Eternal Fire Sect was on the other side of the Core Regions.

One would think that with the presence of Teleportation Formation Arrays, distance wouldn't be a huge factor in Sect warfare, but that was a wrong assumption.

Every Sect had scouts and informants in any close cities.

So, if any Sect transported their forces via Teleportation Formation Array, those scouts would relay the information to the Sect and warn them.

Something like this couldn't be hidden.

Even if one put the entire army into a Life Ring, the fluctuations of the Teleportation Formation Array would be far more powerful than if it were only one person teleporting over.

This meant that if they wanted to catch the Myriad Sect or the Eternal Fire Sect by surprise, they would need to fly on their own.

Ancestral Gods would still take over a hundred years to travel over such a vast distance.

At that point, all the intelligence they had gathered of the enemy Sect would have long since become irrelevant, making attacks riskier than usual.

These two things made war with the Eternal Fire Sect very difficult.

The Vice-Sect Master informed his Sect Master, who also quickly frowned.

Eventually, the Sect Master reported what had transpired to an Elder of his superior Sect.

The Elder looked at the information and decided to inform his own Vice-Sect Master.

Eventually, it was decided that their Sect would demand an explanation from the Eternal Fire Sect.

The Eternal Fire Sect had stretched their hands into their territory, and they wouldn't stand for that!

Eventually, the explanation from the Eternal Fire Sect arrived.

It essentially boiled down to this phrase:

"Not our problem that your representatives are that weak. If Ascenders are so important to you, get an Ancestral God to overlook the Ascension Hall. Don't annoy us with such irrelevant stuff!"

It was essentially a giant middle finger.