Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis' insides churned as he heard Wendy. This came out of nowhere and threw all his suspicions about why she wanted to meet him into disarray. "What do you mean?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

Wendy released a dry laugh. "You're not a Heavenborn. I have felt the Heavenly Pressure of Heavenborn, and I know that they can't keep their Heavenly Pressure up for more than ten minutes," she explained. "When I saw you keeping your Will-Aura up for several hours, I was already sure that you were not a Heavenborn."

She knew his secret, and he couldn't risk her fleeing and telling others. He walked closer and took out the jade token. She didn't seem to mind and didn't attack Gravis even when she stood inside the Formation Array's activation range. Even though Gravis knew that she could have told others earlier, he didn't want to take any chances.

"Tell me," started Gravis. "If you already knew that I am not a Heavenborn, then why didn't you just publicize it? If you did that, I would already be dead."

Wendy smiled slightly. "I don't want to kill you," she said, and Gravis furrowed his brows. He had thought, based on how she had acted, that she wanted his life. Her not wanting his life came as a surprise to him.

"Then why all this slandering?" Gravis asked her.

Wendy looked a little apologetic. "I wanted to meet you," she explained. "How could I meet you when you were inside the Heaven Sect without awaking suspicion? I also don't know where and when your missions would take place, so I had no choice but to become your target."

Gravis furrowed his brows further. "But you know that becoming my target means that I either have to kill you or flee from the Heaven Sect," he said, "and I don't plan on blowing my cover just yet."

continued smiling, for some reason. "I know that,

me that you intend to die here?"

the spot beside her for Gravis to also sit down. By now, Gravis knew that he would already be dead if she wanted to kill him.

to tell you my story," she said after a while. "Could you grant

nodded. "Sure. I'm also interested in what reason you could have to throw away your

teenager. We basically grew up together, and we were best of friends. My father wanted me to become a strong cultivator, so he had

world when he only had tempered his organs and blood. Gravis looked to the sky

similar. She moved her legs closer to her chest and hugged them in a comfortable position. "When we met, he was just a teenager from a town. He was about one year older than me and had already tempered

looked up into the sky. "I stayed in that town until I was 14. By then, I had also tempered my skin and bones by hunting in the Hunting Guild. We were already very close at that time, and some romantic feelings started blossoming in

One particular day, we went on a hunt together, and after we had slain the beast, we were exhausted and injured. Just when we had decided to rest, some raiders jumped out of the bushes out of nowhere. I don't know if you know, but in comparison to bandits, raiders are the real

nodded. He still remembered the raiders that attacked that one

to flee while he remained behind to keep them at bay. I wanted to help him so badly, but I knew that that would only make his sacrifice meaningless. I fled to the

and we only found some corpses and some blood, but nothing more. I knew how many raiders attacked us, and I saw that only a third of them died to him. I knew that they had taken him captive. Raiders often do business with slave-traders, and someone with tempered skin and bones was worth a

my will to cultivate and live. I remained in the town and waited for him every day. I couldn't accept that he was gone and spent most of my time looking over the

miracle from Heaven! I knew that Heaven wanted him to return! I was so happy, and I wept for days out of happiness. All the light in my life returned at that point, and I was