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."

they are about to die, but they

thought about 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

Lightning nodded. "Okay. The disciples reach you and build a barricade. You wait in front of the barricade, but no attacks arrive. You wait for 30 seconds, but no one attacks you. What do you do now?" Old Man

eyes of the other 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.

have 30 more seconds to attack me. If they decide against that, I'll leave. Killing some youngsters because they said that they would kill me, but not going

be considered the cruelest of the elders. He followed the destructive side of the

you would attack, but none of the disciples take the

have the guts to fight, then there is no reason in me killing them," Stor said. "This is no tempering,

elders nodded. They fully agreed with this decision. They also wouldn't

think we actually have a problem here," he said

elders looked like he realized something. "Wait a second!" he shouted. "Didn't you say that multiple of the disciples died? Did Gravis attack them?" he

widely. This seemed barbaric in their

explained to them exactly what Gravis had done. 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 when they heard how Gravis killed one of the disciples just because

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 why anyone survived was that those people decided to betray their beliefs. If they hadn't, they would all

the Warped Ones," one

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,

Due to them adhering to their fairness and honesty, they had no issues in cultivating lightning.

Warped One, they would banish them from the Sect. The Warped Ones were very rare, so there never appeared another power created by those. There just weren't enough to

just killed them directly. Gravis' definition of a bottom line is just less flexible in comparison to ours. We still consider life and forgiveness if someone went against us. Of course, we often consider it but not follow through. This brings me to my next point. Do you remember how the Freya Clan acts in

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 Sects

nodded. "Exactly. Doesn't that seem to be