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.

head. "Hm, maybe in that sense, you're right. But mortals don't know how the world

but that doesn't change the result. More mortals lead fulfilling lives than cultivators. That's the truth. You can't change that

argue, but he realized that he had no counter-arguments. It was true that he couldn't change that fact. If he couldn't find

at Manuel with an interested look. "Tell me more," he

he quickly recovered. Manuel's smirk 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 killed, would cry for days when our close ones die, or make a wrong decision in a fight.

about this and nodded.

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 a goal,

thought about himself. 'Is that true? Well, I felt happy for the old man's breakthrough, but not that happy. When Joyce condensed her Unity Will, I also wasn't particularly happy

scratched his chin in thought. 'Progressing in my cultivation or winning a fight makes me happy. Though, the only time in the Core-Continent where I was happy that didn't directly relate to my cultivation was when I joined

was also happy when I accompanied and talked to Skye. I also enjoyed Aion's company, even though I knew that he would become an enemy in

wouldn't be wrong to call me an emotional mess at the time. I felt anger, frustration, and hatred, but even small things made me feel excited. I was excited when I met Joyce. I was excited when talking

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.

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

feel like I am part of that? Officially, yes, but the only people in the Sect that I have a

if they died? I would like to believe that

a year ago. It happened in the days after 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 actually felt incredibly terrible. Not only for my master's death but

put a hand on his shoulder. "Now is not the time. Save it for

a deep breath and took hold of his emotions again. In basically no time, he was back to his usual self. He turned to

on the shoulder. "Don't mention it!" Then, Manuel smirked. "So, if I