Lightning Is the Only Way

"You're really bad at talking to girls," Manuel said from the side, eliciting a side-eye from Gravis. "Hey, I don't mean it like that," Manuel said with a smirk. "I know that you only try to help her by showing her the cold, hard, uncensored truth of the world, but sometimes, the direct way isn't the most effective one."

Gravis' furrowed his brows. "Why not? If I don't tell it as it is, it won't be as effective or descriptive."

Manuel sighed in helplessness. "That's true, but only for people that have a strong grip on their emotions. Not everyone is able to keep their emotions completely in check and think rationally even when they are riled up."

Gravis' brows stayed furrowed. "But cultivators with a Will-Aura can control their emotions."

Manuel scratched his head. "Normally, I would agree, but Joyce is a special case."

Now, Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "How would you know that? You have just met her," Gravis said.

Manuel had a helpless expression on his face. "Well, it's kind of obvious," he said helplessly. "I haven't met her, but I've heard of her. I know that she is from the Freya Clan and know that she cultivates Life Lightning. If you want to get through to her, you should talk to her like she's a mortal and not a cultivator."

"That would be considered talking down. Why should I talk to cultivators like they are inexperienced mortals? That would just be needlessly disrespectful," Gravis asked evenly.

Joyce's group just looked at the back and forth with helpless smiles. They decided to keep themselves out of the conversation.

"That's where you're wrong," Manuel said with a serious expression. "You say mortals are inexperienced, yet most mortals manage to live a life without regrets. Isn't living a life without regrets what we all seek? Isn't that the whole point of cultivation? We want to be free and seek our own destiny," Manuel said.

in that sense, you're right. But mortals don't know how the world works for us cultivators.

result. More mortals lead

he couldn't change that fact. If he couldn't find a counter-argument,

at Manuel with an interested look. "Tell me

changed into a genuine smile. "I think the problem why many cultivators are so stressed out, cruel, and serious all the time is because we are required to suppress our emotions. After all, if we didn't, we would feel pity for every enemy we

this and nodded. 'Makes

right index finger. "We feel less anger, less sadness, and also less pity. Yet, we can't just choose which emotions we want to suppress. It doesn't work like that. Because of this, we also feel less happiness, less excitement, less love, less friendship, and less closeness in general. So, all in all, our outlook on life becomes result-focused and grey. The world lacks color. We channel all of our positive emotions into

himself. 'Is that true? Well, I felt happy for the old man's breakthrough, but not that happy. When Joyce condensed her

time in the Core-Continent where I was happy that didn't directly relate to my

also happy when I accompanied and talked to Skye. I also enjoyed Aion's company, even though I knew that he

an emotional mess at the time. I felt anger, frustration, and hatred, but

him with interest. Gravis' face grew progressively sadder by the second. 'The further I progressed, the less emotional ups and downs I felt. When I saw the corpse of Skye's parent, I thought that I didn't even feel anything. Though, is that really true? Did I honestly feel absolutely

he felt like he touched something dangerous. It was like a wall or a dam that was blocking something. This wall looked black to him, and he didn't want to look at it. For the first time in a long while, Gravis was afraid of something. He didn't want to

Yes, I have the Lightning Sect, but do I really feel like I am part of that? Officially, yes, but the only people in the Sect that I have a connection with

deep in thought. 'Would I feel bad if they died? I would like to believe that I wouldn't but is that truly

my master died. I was surprised at how little I felt when my lifelong master and mentor died, and I fell into deep thought for a long time. After a while of thinking, I realized that I

"Now is not the time. Save it for when you have time and when no

emotions again. In basically no time, he was back to his usual self. He turned to Manuel and nodded. "Thank you, truly,"

the shoulder. "Don't mention it!" Then, Manuel smirked. "So, if I directly told you the cold, hard, uncensored truth, would