It took nearly a day until Gravis finally reached the amount of lightning that he wanted. The Freya's Birch had already stopped growing around 18 hours ago. At that time, it had become a high-grade Spirit Plant, and since ascending was impossible for beasts and plants, it was simply impossible for it to grow any more. It would have this exact size until the day it would die.
Yet, it towered above everything. It had reached ten kilometers in height, but that didn't mean much. After all, many Spirit Plants reached that height. The really impressive aspect was its sheer width. Its trunk had a diameter of around two kilometers, making the tree appear like a wall.
Yet, its trunk was nothing in comparison to its crown. Its crown stretched to a distance of nearly thirty kilometers. Everything below it was shrouded in pure darkness, but that was nothing new to the Lightning Sect. After all, the Lightning Sect had been built under a constant congregation of storm clouds.
Speaking of the storm clouds, since the tree could be considered as a part of lightning, the storm clouds ignored it. The clouds still congregated above the Sect, though the difference was that there was also a thick ceiling of leaves at the clouds' normal height.
But since the tree was part of lightning, the clouds floated through the leaves and branches like they didn't exist. From the ground, everyone could only see storm clouds intermingling with the tree's crown. Sometimes, lightning would shoot through and along the leaves and branches, illuminating the tree. When the disciples looked at it, they felt a profound feeling.
Before the tree, they were tiny ants. Sure, a lot of elders could fight the tree without dying, but just its imposing size with the ability to stretch through the storm clouds made it appear almost divine. The Freya's Birch from the Freya Clan was only a small child in comparison to this one.
This was probably the only high-grade Spirit Plant in the entire world. Plants couldn't move, so, as soon as someone saw a powerful Spirit Plant, they could retreat and return with a strong enough party to kill it. After all, such powerful plants surely were worth a lot and were also useful for tempering.
Gravis smiled as he watched the happy tree. Even though it had become truly powerful in this lower world, its emotions were still the same. It still looked at Gravis as a father. The only difference was that it didn't show any hunger anymore. It had finished growing, and now, its goal was to stay alive and send seeds out into the world.
"Please watch over the Lightning Sect," Gravis said. "They have helped you grow, and they will feed you. Yet, in return, you should also help them. They won't betray you."
The tree sent back a feeling of affirmation. Many trees used symbiosis with other organisms, so it was not a new concept for the tree. The Lightning Sect had fed it, so it should also do something in return.
From this day forth, the most powerful and long-lasting protector and core of the Lightning Sect had been created.
Though, that was not completely true.
Gravis looked at the nearly destroyed Lightning Sect. Due to its wild growth, the tree had destroyed over two kilometers of land. Buildings were destroyed, and the rubble was pushed outward. The Lightning Sect was in complete ruin.
Yet, this could be considered a rebirth. The old had been destroyed to create a nearly unshakable foundation for the future. The Lightning Sect would be reconstructed bigger and more powerful than ever before. The Lightning Sect was about to become an unshakable domain.
When Gravis saw that, he sighed. "It's not an eventuality anymore," Gravis said to himself. "The Lightning Sect has truly become dominant. Even if the other six Sects attack at the same time, with the tree's power and the endless amount of Life Lightning, the Sect can withstand such an assault."
Gravis looked at the tree. 'It probably has an absurd amount of Life Energy. Killing it would take forever, even with multiple Tree Stage cultivators. On top of that, it can regenerate itself with its own lightning. The only Sect that is still stronger is the Heaven Sect, but as soon as Heaven is dead, they will all lose their Will-Aura. At that point, even Sapling Stage cultivators could stop them from acting simply by using their Will-Aura.'
Gravis also looked at his own body. His lightning went a little bit out of his dantian, but not enough to leave his whole body. With his even stronger Spirit, he had compressed it again to an even smaller size. Gravis guessed that even without reaching the Unity Realm, his Spirit and lightning were probably only a tiny bit weaker than someone at the Unity Realm, and that was only considering Unity Realm cultivators that went through the Self Stage.
The biggest difference, though, was the body. Gravis' body was way weaker than his lightning and Spirit. He thought that this appeared as kind of a waste, but he had to live with it. He had tried taking more pills, but it was absolutely impossible to increase the power of his body. It was literally stuck at its weak stage. Gravis didn't even find anything that could help him in the High Priest's belongings. If the High Priest didn't have such a thing, it probably didn't exist in this world.
On top of that, the feeling of resonance between his centers of power had changed. After he had just reached the Self Stage, Gravis had felt the resonance. At that time, his body and Spirit had resonated the strongest while the lightning only had had a weak feeling of resonance.
But now, his Spirit and lightning had a perfect feeling of resonance, while his body appeared very distant. It felt like his body almost wasn't connected. Yet, the feeling was there, even if it were only faint. This meant that Gravis could still reach the Unity Realm whenever he wanted.
As Gravis thought about this, he sighed again. 'I have no way of fixing this. I feel like my breakthrough will be imperfect, but there is no alternative.'
Gravis quickly shook his head to regain his bearings. 'It doesn't matter!' Gravis thought with motivation. 'I will reach the Unity Realm, and I can find a solution to this problem later. I don't like to rely on others, but father probably knows what I should do. As soon as I return, I can ask him.'
Whoop!
Gravis jumped down from the tree. As he fell, he began thinking about something else. 'Why is it possible for people at the Unity Realm to fly while I can't?' Gravis thought as he scratched his chin in free fall. 'Even people that reached the Unity Realm via the Tree Stage can fly.'
'I'm certain that I am way more powerful than such a Unity Realm cultivator. Yet, I still can't fly. I wonder, what do they actually use to fly? Can I actually fly, but just don't know it?'
Whooom!
Gravis used his Spirit to slow his fall. This was the only way that he could explain how Unity Realm cultivators could fly. His descent slowed down and eventually stopped. Yet, his descent started again shortly after.
'I can stop myself in the air, but this short moment has used up over 50% of my Spirit,' Gravis thought in exhaustion. 'My body is just too heavy.'
Suddenly, Gravis' eyes widened in realization. 'Too heavy? Of course!' he thought and started laughing. 'When I'm at the Unity Realm, I can just move my physical power into my Spirit. At that point, my body would become weak, and therefore, lighter. Instead of having to lift a body that weighs many tons, I only have to lift a body that weighs around a hundred kilograms with a powerful Spirit.'
Gravis' eyes shone. 'Like this, I could shoot my body around like a pebble.' Gravis snickered a bit. 'So that's how Uni-"
BOOOOOOM!
Gravis hit the earth like a meteor and created a huge crater. He had been in free fall all this time, and his incredibly heavy body hit the ground at terminal velocity. It was like a meteorite had hit the earth.
After a couple of seconds, the dust vanished, and Gravis was visible again. He was stuck in the ground inside the crater, and only his head and right hand were visible.
His right hand was still scratching his chin in thought.
