Gravis' world broke down.

'It's over!' he thought. 'Stella feels genuine fear towards me. My past actions are still fresh in her mind. She hates me!'

The fear in Stella's eyes hurt Gravis deep inside. The one person he loved feared him. 

Suddenly, Gravis saw Stella's eyes darting to the corner of the hall, and her eyes widened in shock. Then, she looked around the room at the others. By now, her expression had changed to an aloof one.

However, in the end, her eyes returned to Gravis.

The fear was gone.

Instead, only confusion was left.

Gravis was also confused by Stella's actions, but then he realized.

'So, she knows,' Gravis thought. 'She has always known. I should have realized.'

However, Gravis' nervousness vanished as relief washed over him.

'She knows that I have a beast body. That was why she was afraid. She wasn't afraid of me but for me.'

'Of course her teacher would have informed her. I never told her of my beast body, but her teacher would have definitely noticed. She probably informed Stella of my beast body.'

Gravis almost couldn't stop himself from smiling.

Another big worry of his had been that Stella would deny him as soon as she heard that he had a beast body. After all, humans were not normally attracted to beasts.

Yet, since Stella had known from the very beginning, it meant that everything between them had been genuine.

The Sect Master was the only one that noticed Stella's imperceptible actions. Stella had camouflaged her actions very well, but the Sect Master knew her very closely.

After all, the Sect Master had acted as Stella's aunt for thousands of years.

Even if no one noticed, she would notice.

However, the only thing that she had noticed was the look that she had thrown Gravis. She hadn't noticed that Stella had also looked at the beast crystals. After all, why would she look at the beast crystals? There was no point.

'She fears this Cultivator?' the Sect Master thought. 'She's the Nine Elements Sect's Holy Maiden, even if that won't persist. Her Battle-Strength is amazing. However, she still showed fear in front of this unaffiliated Cultivator. Why?'

Then, the Sect Master remembered something, and everything clicked for her.

'Stella has once told me about someone she loves. She has also told me that this person has once battled her to a draw while being four levels below her. Originally, I didn't believe her, but her reaction was too genuine just now.'

The Sect Master stealthily looked at Gravis.

'Is this him? Is this the person with that ridiculous Battle-Strength?'

'Now, everything makes sense. He isn't here to join the Nine Elements Sect but to win the Holy Maiden's hand.'

The Sect Master covertly frowned, but no one noticed.

'However, if his Battle-Strength is real, he might actually win this tournament.'

Yet, the Sect Master's expression quickly changed to a hidden smirk.

Gravis looked away from Stella to not elicit any suspicion. However, he had already contacted Stella. The moment of truth had arrived.

"Stella, don't answer! The Sect Master can feel when you send a voice transmission to me, but she can't feel mine thanks to a new Law I know," Gravis transmitted. His nervousness was apparent in his voice transmission.

Stella didn't react.

"Stella, my problem is resolved. From now on, I will forever be myself. I told you that I will come and find you when the problem is solved, and that time is now!" Gravis transmitted with conviction.

"For every day in the past over 40,000 years, I have missed you. I wanted to see your smile every day. I wanted to hear your voice every day. I want to be together with you, always!"

"Stella, I love you."

Stella didn't react.

"However, my past actions have been horrible, and I can understand if you don't want to be with me. I know that there is a high chance that you don't want to see me again."

"Yet, even if you don't want to be with me, I will repay you for what I have done in the past."

"I have a surefire way to get out of here with you and Liam. I know that Liam also needs to escape, or you will never be truly free. Even if the Sect Master does her best to stop us, she won't succeed. I'm sure of it!"

"So, Stella, I want to hear your answer. If you want to escape this place with Liam, do something with the hair on your left side. If you want to stay, do something with the hair on your right side," Gravis said.

Stella walked over to the Sect Master and stopped beside her. Then, she coldly looked at all the participants. 

After some seconds of silence, she snorted in disdain.

Then, she threw her hair back with her hand in a gesture of disdain. Obviously, all these gathered Cultivators were not up to her standards. She was the Holy Maiden!

It was the hair on her left side!

"Alright!" Gravis transmitted with more conviction than he wanted. He couldn't control his excitement. However, it still wasn't clear if Stella only wanted to escape or if she genuinely accepted Gravis.

"I will transfer something to your Spirit," Gravis transmitted.

Then, Gravis' Spirit Sense came into contact with Stella. 

Allowing others to access one's Spirit meant handing them a blade while one was unarmed.

If the Spirit was opened to someone else, the other person could destroy them.

That was why no one traded while their Spirits were connected. No one would play with their life like this.

However, Stella didn't resist. 

In a moment, two things appeared in Stella's Spirit.

"These are two emblems from Underworld," Gravis transmitted. "When you crush them, they will teleport you close to the frontlines. The Formation Array in this place isn't able to stop them. Call Liam over and give one to him. I will try the official route, but if everything else fails, we will crush the emblems at the same time."

"Even if the Sect Master follows us, I have a surefire way to escape with the three of us!"

Stella remained silent, but Gravis knew that she had heard him.

"Why are you here?" the Sect Master asked with a kind voice.

"I have felt something familiar previously. I came to watch," she said curtly with an emotionless voice. She was showing openly that she didn't like the Sect Master.

"Then watch. One of these young men will be your husband in the future," the Sect Master said kindly.

However, these kind words were not meant to reassure Stella but to put her under pressure. The Sect Master was showing her power.

Stella didn't react. She didn't want to talk with her ex-aunt. Every feeling of kinship that she had felt in the past had died.

However, the knowing look in the Sect Master's eyes scared her.

Had she noticed?

Everyone waited in silence as the remaining thirty minutes of the pause passed.

"You and you," the Sect Master said.

The less powerful one of the remaining unaffiliated Cultivators entered the arena.

Then, one of the three remaining disciples from the High-Rank Sects also entered.

The tournament was about to continue!

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