MIGHT AS WELL BE OP

Chapter 1265: Ability

Tory stared at Anthony for a moment before asking,

"Did you really achieve Law Embodiment and the Star Monarch Rank in a single day?" he asked. He had to know.

Anthony sipped his tea as he spoke, his tone flat and indifferent. "I did."

Tory let out a quiet sigh of defeat, his eyes shifting toward the window as he gazed outside. Although he had only just met Anthony and shouldn’t trust Anthony’s words completely or take them entirely at face value, what neither the Sect Master nor the Core Elders knew was that Tory Hale had comprehended the Unique Law of Illusion to the Law Embodiment Stage.

(Law Embodiment means 100% comprehension; go back to Chapter 1254, titled Law Categories, if you’ve forgotten.)

Although the Punisher, the First Core Elder, had said that Tory was on his way to comprehending a Unique Law and a Universal Law to ten percent, he simply didn’t know that he was being kept in the dark.

It wasn’t that Tory Hale was going rogue or anything of the sort, but simply that in a reality and Galaxy like this, no one ever revealed their entire hand. Even the Core Elders and the Sect Master weren’t delusional enough to believe they knew everything about the Above disciples.

One could only imagine what else Tory was hiding up his sleeve.

So, through the Law of Illusion, Tory knew that Anthony was speaking the truth.

But what the world didn’t know was that Tory possessed a secret. A secret ability that, once every two years, automatically elevated any Law he had comprehended to ten percent all the way to the Law Embodiment Stage.

It was the ability that had made Tory the man he was today. Since he was thirty-five years old, and cultivators generally began cultivating at the age of fifteen, Tory Hale possessed ten Laws that had all reached the Law Embodiment Stage.

On top of that, he possessed a Physique that boosted his cultivation speed to an unbelievable degree, which was why he stood at the Perfection Firmament Rank at only thirty-five years of age.

(Do know that while thirty-five might sound old to you, whether on the Blue Planet, in the Acarnis Galaxy, the Hellinder Realm, or the Ecliptica Galaxy, thirty-five years old is still considered a baby among cultivators.)

All Tory had to do was make sure he comprehended a Law to at least ten percent. That was what he spent a considerable portion of his time doing while also training his various combat techniques and refining his battle prowess.

Tory had always imagined that, so long as he didn’t die prematurely, he possessed the potential to comprehend every single Law known to existence. After all, cultivators lived for millions of years. If he remained alive for that long and continued progressing at this pace, didn’t that mean he would eventually possess hundreds of thousands of Laws, all at the Law Embodiment Stage?

All he had to do was stay alive and reach ten percent comprehension in any Law he chose.

Tory had been ambitious. He had chosen to comprehend the Universal Law of Fate, but even until now, he hadn’t managed to reach one percent comprehension, demonstrating just how terrifyingly difficult Universal Laws truly were. They simply existed on an entirely different level.

Sometimes, he couldn’t help but marvel at how the Fifth Elder had even managed to comprehend the Universal Law of Chaos.

While his eyes remained fixed upon the sky beyond the window, Tory considered the possibility that Anthony perhaps possessed an upgraded version of his own ability. After all, if he, Tory, could possess an ability that granted Law Embodiment once every two years, then surely something even more absurd could exist.

For example...

One Law reaching Embodiment every single day.

The thought alone sounded ridiculous. He shook his head, deciding not to dwell on it any longer.

"And it seems you are also holding back your cultivation from breaking through because of the limitations imposed by the Sleeping Hollow," Tory stated, turning to Anthony with a smile.

"I could say the same about you," Anthony replied with a smile of his own. "Although I’m guessing that the moment you leave here, you’re probably going to break through into the Foundation Star Monarch Rank." His sky-blue eyes met Tory’s purple ones.

Tory smiled as Anthony had hit the nail squarely on the head. The moment he had seen Anthony’s cultivation rank, he had already made plans to break through later that evening.

"It seems I’ve been seen through," Tory stated with an exasperated smile.

Anthony said nothing else, but he couldn’t remember the last time someone had seen through him in such a manner. No one ever had.

’It seems the Upper Galaxy isn’t filled with nothing but arrogant Young Masters and the like,’ Anthony mused inwardly with a faint smile.

Tory’s curiosity burned fiercely within his chest. He wanted to know. No... he needed to know what allowed Anthony to possess such monstrous talent. The sect didn’t go around publicly announcing the Physiques, Bloodlines, abilities, or hidden trump cards of its Above disciples, that would be incredibly foolish. Nevertheless, people usually uncovered such information through their own investigations and observations over time.

"If you tell me one secret of yours, I’ll tell you one secret of mine... we could even sign a Law Contract that forbids either of us from revealing anything," Tory proposed, his curiosity having reached an unbearable level.

Anthony remained silent for a brief moment before replying, "Even if the Law Contract works, someone could still read your mind. Someone could still kill you, use the Laws of Death to summon your soul, and obtain the information they wanted." His tone remained calm and matter-of-fact.

Tory’s lips twitched slightly as he hadn’t expected Anthony to come up with such a rebuttal. The mind-reading argument was perfectly valid. After all, Law Contracts didn’t protect anyone’s thoughts or soul. Their sole purpose was to bestow punishment upon those who violated the conditions written within the contract.

As for the soul argument, that was equally plausible. After all, what punishment could possibly be inflicted upon someone who was already dead?

One couldn’t simply write that Party A’s soul would burn for a thousand years as punishment if they violated an agreement. The Law of Contract wasn’t some tireless laborer that would spend a millennium personally carrying out someone’s punishment.

Since Tory was already burning with curiosity, Anthony decided to pour a little more oil onto the flames.

"The reason I don’t want to trade secrets..." Anthony stated with a faint smile, "...is because I already know yours."

Hearing Anthony’s words, Tory froze. He stared at Anthony with a deep frown as his Law of Illusion informed him that Anthony wasn’t lying.

"How?" he asked.

The friendliness completely vanished from his voice as the temperature throughout the room abruptly plummeted.

Anthony remained silent for a moment before replying, "You can fight me and find out... that’s if you want to." His tone was completely nonchalant, as though he had merely suggested taking a walk.

Tory remained silent for a few moments before clicking his tongue, the icy atmosphere within the room instantly returning to normal. He wasn’t the type to fight unless there was something worthwhile to gain from it.

Seeing that Tory had calmed down, Anthony finally spoke once more. "Just as you have your own unique ability, Tory, I have mine. That is all I have to say."

The moment Anthony mentioned the word "ability," Tory immediately knew that Anthony truly knew.

Tory stared into Anthony’s eyes for a long moment. He had guarded this secret for two entire decades without revealing it to a single soul. Then, almost immediately, another possibility surfaced within his mind.

Anthony had read his thoughts.

After all, earlier, Anthony himself had been the one to mention that someone could bypass the restrictions of a Law Contract simply by reading another person’s mind.