Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis stood in the middle of the crater and looked into the sky. By now, the shockwave had reached the dark clouds and parted them for the first time in centuries. Light shone onto the dead and destroyed plane. Byron was now gone, and the Darkness Sect could be counted as destroyed. Destroying a whole Sect made Gravis fall into deep thought.

'My arrival has changed this whole world,' he thought. 'When I reached the Spirit Forming Realm, the change started taking effect. The highest Heaven keeps a close eye over this world now. Probably no new Heavenborn will appear in this world again. After all, wasting resources on Heavenborn is senseless.'

Gravis then turned his gaze to the Darkness Sect. 'Byron's scheme involving me managed to kill the Sect Master of the Wind Sect, making the whole Sect relocate. People with a Will-Aura at the Body Tempering Realm will no longer be hunted down. The proliferation of the Destruction Lightning will make other Sects seek the Self Stage, while everyone in the Lightning Sect will follow.'

Gravis sighed. 'My scuffle with the Earth Sect might also result in something happening in the future. On top of that, the other, more powerful variants of the elements, have a chance to be harvested now. In total, because of me, the Heaven Sect will vanish, while every other Sect will achieve power incomparable to before.'

'Yet, the good comes with the bad. Even though the Heaven Sect is my enemy, they stop countless cultivators and powers from committing wanton slaughter. With the Heaven Sect vanishing and Heaven no longer involving itself, there won't be direct consequences to people abusing their power.' Gravis sighed again. 'This world will become stronger but also crueler.'

Gravis was still in thought. The knowledge that he had basically eradicated a power that had towered with seven others over the world made him think about the consequences of his actions. 'If I could choose my actions again, knowing what long term consequences would come, I would act exactly the same,' Gravis thought.

'A kinder world with restrictions on slaughter might make it easier for the weak to survive and live happily, but is having strength inherently unfair? In my opinion, total freedom brings total fairness. Those people with power have worked hard for their power, after all. Everyone can train their body and make advances in the Body Tempering Realm. The existence of the loose cultivators proves as much.'

Gravis sighed again. 'But people who are too young to train can't do anything about such a situation. After all, they never had the time to make their choice. Injustice and unfairness will always happen. I guess this is just how the world is. The situation and power dynamic in a world change, and if one can't adapt, they won't survive. Life and death aren't inherently fair or unfair. They just are.'

After finishing his thoughts, Gravis shook his head to regain his bearings. He checked the surroundings with his Spirit but found absolutely no loot. Byron had absorbed all the loot that had laid around, but when he died to the Lightning Crescent, the explosion destroyed all his belongings. Because of that, Gravis got absolutely no loot. He didn't even get his stolen saber back.

After realizing that, Gravis chuckled a little. "I wonder if that is due to my lack of Karmic Luck," he said to himself.

moping around?" came the voice transmission from Old Man Lightning. "You've been standing there for like

destroy the Heaven Sect and make every cultivator more powerful might doom millions or even billions of people to an unjust death, but Gravis' heart was clear. As long as he did what

decision back then, knowing full well about the consequences that too much lightning would cause. That he died to Gravis was not much different than someone dying to someone else in

parent, Wendy, or Wendy's father. They were all the same. People that Gravis cared for but died. He would always remember them, but that was all. The dead had

Whoosh!

Gravis took a step to the

"And here I thought I finally

to Old Man Lightning and smirked. "I need to

laughing Gravis like he was an idiot. What was so funny about that sentence? Was that a joke? Also, did that guy just laugh about his own joke that

something. He quickly looked beside Old Man Lightning and saw Lasar. Gravis was about

Tree Stage?" Gravis asked in wonder

and a big chunk of his torso were missing. On top of that, Gravis could see wrinkles and fractured skin all over

dangerous fight in my life," Lasar slowly said. "I was about to die when I decided to use the Energy in my Spirit for an attack. This destroyed a whole cultivation level but allowed me to come out

BZZZ!

much. After all, his storage wasn't even close to full. Yet, the Life Lightning was better than nothing, and Lasar's body became a bit healthier. None of the

Lightning barely returned some of the Life Energy to Lasar. Thanks to

directly healed if the body was already fully saturated with Life Energy. Any excess would directly transform into healing. If one had no Life Energy for a while, the passive, nearly

"Thanks," Lasar said.

will it take to reach the Self Stage again?"