Lightning Is the Only Way

"Senior brother," Surem said. "I'll show you around the Sect."

Gravis nodded. "Thanks," he said.

Gravis had already inspected his surroundings with his Spirit, and what he saw surprised him quite a bit. Right now, Gravis was floating high up in the sky, but below him, he could see a ton of buildings.

Yet, surprisingly enough, most of the buildings were wooden huts with mortals tending to rice. This didn't look like a Sect at all. However, Gravis was sure that this was the Sect since he saw several huge buildings scattered among the wooden huts. These buildings had different art styles and were made out of different materials. Additionally, Gravis felt several Cultivators living in these buildings.

What surprised Gravis was the strength of these Cultivators. The vast majority were Immortals with about half the amount of Law Comprehension Cultivators and just very few Nascent Nourishing Cultivators. In these buildings, Gravis couldn't see anyone below the Nascent Nourishing Realm.

Everything radiated an aura of freedom. The different art styles that didn't follow a common rule, the different distances between the buildings, the fact that so many mortals were here, all of this created an atmosphere of freedom. Seemingly everyone could do whatever they wanted.

Yet, all of this changed if one looked into the distance. Around 50,000 kilometers away from this land of freedom, darkness and pressure existed.

50,000 kilometers away, Gravis saw a mountain range hidden in perpetual darkness. This was part of the Sect, but the aura from this area was the polar opposite of this land of freedom.

All the buildings looked uniform and were made out of the same materials. Everything was grey and hidden in darkness as seemingly no happiness and freedom entered this place. At that place, Gravis could see even more Cultivators than in the other parts of the Sect. Additionally, the Realm distribution was the opposite.

There were no Immortals, some Law Comprehension Cultivators, a lot of Nascent Nourishing Cultivators, and an incredible amount of Unity Realm Cultivators. All of them wore the same clothing, had the same haircut, did the same thing, and learned the same Laws.

Gravis already had a suspicion, but he wanted to wait for Surem's explanation.

"Below us, you can see the Unrestrained Lands," Surem explained. "This is the area where the Unrestrained Ones live. They can do whatever they want, but of course, everyone else is also free to do what they want. So, if one of them annoys another one, the other one can strike back. We don't discourage killing among the Sect. Everyone is free to do what they want."

Gravis nodded. "I presume that the Unrestrained Ones you are referring to are Cultivators that managed to comprehend the Minor Law of Suppression, correct?"

came to that conclusion so quickly but nodded. "Yes. When you know the Minor Law of Suppression, you will formally join the Unrestrained Ones. Then, you are a

other area in the

Obviously, he had been reminded of some horrible memories. "These are the Restrained Lands," he said with a sigh. "I was once

and know freedom, one must first learn suppression. Freedom is the absence of suppression, and only when you know something very intimately can you evade it

Lands work exactly?"

among Cultivators," Surem explained. "Many Cultivators want to join us. Living inside a Sect without any duties and being allowed to do what you want? Who

first, you need to earn your place in the Sect by comprehending Suppression. So, before someone joins the Sect, we will inform them about what will happen. If they are willing to join, they will sign their

that's their choice. If they don't want to join, that's fine. The remaining 10% believe

with a sigh. "I have never met a single person in this Sect that doesn't regret their decision. The pains of the Restrained Lands are things that no common person can imagine. After just several days, basically everyone already tries

are under true suppression. They are held prisoner and will be forced to do everything we tell them to. We force them

Cultivators say what we want them to. The only thing we don't touch is their mind since they still need to be their own person inside their mind to comprehend suppression. If we even

the Minor Law of Suppression or die. There is no in-between," Surem said. "95% of Cultivators never learn the Minor Law of Suppression, and they will live the

looked at the Restrained Lands with

been part of the Restrained

Gravis almost couldn't imagine. Sure, Gravis had fought the middle Heaven for around 700 years, which could be

There was death around every corner, and Gravis basically only had to survive the entire time. Meanwhile, the Restrained Lands would be grey. There was not much life and death pressure. There was not much action.

to Gravis, he would prefer fighting the middle Heaven any day over being part of the Restrained Lands. However, one would have to remember that not everyone thought like that. Most people would probably prefer the Restrained Lands. After all,

their choice," Gravis said. "They knew what would happen, and they decided to take the chance. Was it a mistake to make this decision? In their minds, certainly. Yet, this is also part of freedom. Freedom means you can

something I learned thoroughly," Gravis said

had been a mistake, but Gravis had committed it. Then, Gravis had decided to use his Law of Freedom as his Avatar. Was this a mistake? Gravis wasn't sure yet.

know something, but you don't, is it okay to destroy their lives because of

looked over at Surem. "Freedom is not

frowned. "What?"

you are also free to make as many mistakes as you want. When you make a mistake while