Lightning Is the Only Way

The elders stopped breathing as they looked with shock at Old Man Lightning. What did he just say? Did he just say that the Lightning Sect could break apart? What was he on about?

"Don't you think you are overreacting?" one of the elders asked Old Man Lightning.

Old Man Lightning crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "If we don't plan accordingly, this is a possible outcome. I am not overreacting," he said.

"What do we have to plan for then?" asked another elder with urgency. "What is the problem?"

"Let me give you a hypothetical," Old Man Lightning said and then looked at one of the elders specifically. "Stor! Let me give this hypothetical to you specifically. I think you are the best person for that."

Stor was the only elder who wasn't in panic right now. He actually looked into Old Man Lightning's eyes with determination. "Go ahead," he said evenly.

"Imagine yourself in Gravis' shoes. I am reducing the strength of the Earth Sect's disciples so that you actually feel the strength, or in this case, weakness of your enemies in front of you, just like Gravis. Gravis is about as strong as an average Sect Master, so, in your case, two people at the Seed Stage and ten people at the initial stage of Spirit Forming are coming at you. I have not told you all how the fight went because I want to see how you would react," Old Man Lightning explained.

Stor nodded and let Old Man Lightning continue.

"Those disciples were 20 kilometers away and shouted at you that they would kill you. Then, they charge at you, but with their speed, they would need nearly five minutes to reach you. What would you do?" Old Man Lightning asked.

"I would question them about why they wanted to kill me," Stor said.

Old Man Lightning nodded. "In your past, the Earth Guild in the Middle-Continent annoyed you slightly when you visited them, so you annoyed them back. No one got injured, nothing major was damaged, no one died. Yet, the Earth Sect has seen this as an insult and wants you dead. Those disciples heard the call and followed through with this."

Stor rubbed his stubble in thought. "I would tell them that they are running to their deaths. Their strength and mine are too far apart. This couldn't even be considered a fight."

disciples answer that they know that. They know exactly that they are about to

this for a while, while the other elders watched with interest. "I would wait until they arrive. After all, saying that someone wants to kill you and actually doing it is a huge difference. I can afford this luxury because they are so weak. If they were stronger, I would probably either directly flee or take

disciples reach you and build a barricade. You wait in front of the barricade, but no attacks arrive. You wait for 30 seconds, but

elders shone. They hadn't expected this development. They were pretty sure that this is precisely how it had gone for Gravis. The details were very precise. Many of them

I'll leave. Killing some youngsters because they said that they would kill me, but not

the cruelest of the elders. He followed the destructive

taunt you so that you would attack, but none of the disciples take the initiative

don't have the guts to fight, then there is no reason in me killing them," Stor said. "This is no tempering, and

fully agreed with this decision. They also wouldn't

we actually have a problem here," he said with a shake

he realized something. "Wait a second!"

widely. This seemed barbaric in their minds! This

Some of the elders showed uncomfortable expressions at that. Forcing the earth disciples to choose between death and their cultivation seemed unnecessarily cruel in their eyes. They were especially appalled

of this," Old Man Lightning said, "I didn't even see an inkling of regret or guilt in Gravis' eyes. He was fully following his own moral compass and committed no wrong in his action. After all, they have stepped on his bottom line. The only reason

Ones," one of the elders

In their minds, fairness was power. That mindset came nearly exclusively from their traumatic past. Most of the Warped Ones had been abused by more powerful people in the past, making them believe that whatever a stronger person did, was inherently fair and

in turn, abused the weak. Due to them adhering to their fairness and honesty,

One, they would banish them from the Sect. The Warped Ones were very rare, so there never appeared another power created by

just less flexible in comparison to ours. We still consider life and forgiveness if someone went against us. Of course,

Freya Clan are basically pushovers," Stor said with crossed arms. "A Sect comes to them, giving them a proposal. The Freya Clan follows through, yet they don't get paid. Yes, they get angry, but they never attempt any revenge. They just stop working together with that Sect. A couple of decades later, they attempt to forge bonds with those same

nodded. "Exactly. Doesn't that seem to be the exact opposite of how Gravis