Gravis and Mortis left Manuel's faction together with Aris and Exar.
It was time for the tournament.
"What's even the point of this tournament?" Exar asked with a bored voice. "The strongest level one Ancestral Gods won't take part in the battle anyways. In my opinion, the title of strongest level one Ancestral God might as well be worthless."
"Relax," Gravis said with a chuckle. "Don't look at everything through a cynical lens. Just take it as an amateur Cultivator award."
Exar snorted. "Amateur Cultivator award," he repeated with ridicule. "If the Lightning Peak Sect hadn't offered such great rewards, I would feel humiliated with such a title."
"That was only a parison," Gravis said with a groan. "ing out as the strongest in this tournament would still result in your name being known all around the world."
"I think it sounds fun," Aris interjected from the side with a smile. "I haven't sparred in forever. I wonder how it feels like to spar again."
Gravis scratched the back of his head.
He also hadn't sparred in forever, except for that thing with Narcissus, but that didn't count.
Back in the lower world, too much sparring could prove dangerous, but at their current level, they wouldn't lose their edge, even if they sparred for hundreds of thousands of years.
If someone has done something for long enough, they would never lose their edge.
As Gravis thought about sparring, some old memories returned to him, which made Gravis chuckle a bit.
"Aris," Gravis said. "I just remembered all the times the beasts have confused me for you."
"In the middle world, right?" Aris asked, a nostalgic expression appearing on his face. "I was never there for when it happened, but you seemed quite annoyed about it."
Gravis laughed. "Yeah, and remember when I visited you after my Realm Break, and you all looked down on me?"
"Dad, please. That's no longer me," Aris said with a bitter smile.
Gravis only chuckled again. "You offended so many beasts back then. It was actually impressive. Honestly, when you were young, you acted more like your grandfather instead of me."
"Please don't pare me to grandfather," Aris said carefully. "I'm not even in the same universe concerning power as him."
Gravis only laughed some more.
From the side, Mortis only looked at Aris from time to time.
It felt rather weird for Mortis to look at the father-son pair.
After all, in Mortis' memories, he was Aris' father.
However, Mortis wasn't distraught. He had made his decision, and he believed that it was the correct one.
Gravis was a better father for them.
Gravis dug up some more embarrassing moments of Aris' past and told them to Exar, who only looked with boredom towards the front.
Exar wasn't really the enthusiastic kind.
In fact, Gravis hadn't seen Exar smile, laugh, or joke around before.
Exar also didn't have a partner, as far as Gravis knew.
On top of that, Exar was one of the very few of Gravis' friends that hadn't gone through Samsara before.
Now that he thought about it, Gravis actually knew nothing about Exar's past.
However, after realizing this, Gravis didn't ask Exar.
Exar felt like a person that preferred to keep people at a distance.
Exar was basically a proud and taciturn person that only focused on his power. Yet, he was also loyal and helped those that helped him. In addition to the prideful aura emanating from him, Exar appeared like the perfect image of a genius Cultivator.
It was like Exar was exactly how someone would imagine an otherworldly genius to be.
Meanwhile, Aris felt like a kind elder, ironically enough.
In a sense, Aris appeared to be more mature than Gravis when the two of them were together. Gravis always joked around, and Aris only answered with friendly smiles and friendly ments.
If one didn't know Gravis and Aris, one would think that Gravis was the grandson that told his grandpa what he had achieved recently. The grandpa only praised him and nodded with a warm smile.
When Gravis saw that image in his mind, he turned to Aris.
"Why are you acting like a grandpa?" Gravis asked with a frown.
Aris blinked a couple of times in confusion. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"I'm joking around, laughing, having lighthearted fun, and you only put on a warm smile and nod. Additionally, you keep saying please, which feels a bit weird. Why do we need to have politeness between us?" Gravis asked.
Aris looked with a skeptical expression at Gravis while Mortis and Exar looked with evaluating expressions at Aris.
Exar turned away again without saying anything while Mortis nodded.
"You too?" Aris asked Mortis.
Mortis nodded again. "You have the distinct aura and feel of a grandpa on you."
"I honestly don't understand what you mean," Aris said. "Isn't it normal to talk politely with the people you respect? I'm just talking normally with you all. Do you really think a social gathering is the correct place to talk about how I conduct myself?"
Gravis and Mortis blinked a couple of times in surprise.
"This isn't really a social gathering," Gravis mented slowly.
"Two people are a pair. Three people are a small group. Four people are a gathering," Aris explained. "It is mon courtesy to keep private conversations for situations where there are at most three people present."
Gravis and Mortis only looked with surprise at Aris.
Now that the correlation between a grandpa and Aris had been drawn, Gravis and Mortis noticed more and more how Aris acted like a grandpa.
Social gathering?
Private conversation?
Being polite to people you respect?
Aris looked with a confused expression at Gravis and Mortis, who only looked at Aris with a curious expression.
"Please, let's not talk about this right now," Aris said. "We have more important things to do right now, and we can talk about this at home when we have peace and quiet."
"Do you want peace and quiet?" Gravis asked suddenly.
"Of course," Aris answered with surprise. "Who doesn't want that?"
"Oh," Gravis ohed slowly.
"Are you still on about this entire thing?" Aris asked with furrowed brows. "I thought I made myself clear."
Now, even Exar looked at Aris again.
Gravis and Mortis were very interested in Aris' "outburst".
After some seconds, Gravis looked with a solemn expression at Aris and nodded. "I understand," he said.
"Thank you," Aris answered.
Then, Gravis turned to Mortis. "Mortis, I made grandpa angry."
Mortis nodded with furrowed brows. "Please be careful of your words in the future. Grandpa shouldn't go through so much stress at his age."
"Enough of this!" Aris spoke quite loudly. "We can talk about this when we're back at home! We should concentrate on the tournament for now!"
Exar looked at Aris again with an evaluating expression.
Gravis and Mortis only looked at Aris with intrigue.
Then, Gravis slowly leaned towards Mortis and whispered, "now you made grandpa angry."
SHING! SHING!
Then, Gravis and Mortis accelerated and teleported even faster, leaving Aris and Exar behind.
Aris gritted his teeth for a bit, but then his expression slowly transformed into a frown, ending in a sigh.
"You really act like a grandpa," Exar said from the side.
Aris looked with narrowed eyes at Exar. "Are you now also starting with that joke? Honestly, sometimes, when I see dad act like that, it's hard to believe that he's my father."
Exar only looked evenly at Aris.
"I don't joke."
"You really act like a grandpa."
Aris' frown only deepened.
"I'm not old," he quietly said to himself.
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