Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis looked at Stella and noticed that she had a melancholic expression on her face.

Her teacher had already died, obviously.

Losing someone dear was always difficult. Gravis knew this very well. However, they were all Immortals by now, and no one would sink into an inescapable whirlpool of despair. The death of a loved one was normal for every Immortal.

"For what it's worth," Gravis said. "The short moment I have talked with your teacher gave me the impression that she was a good person, far better than most humans."

Stella took a deep breath. Her emotions still hadn't calmed down, and they wanted to lash out at anything that came close to her. A mortal human might lose their control and shout at Gravis that he had no idea what he was talking about, but she had enough control over herself to realize Gravis' sentiment.

"Yes, she was," Stella said slowly with a distant look. "She was like a mother to my brother and me."

Gravis nodded. "You know, before you appeared, I was already losing faith in humanity. Seeing you reminded me of your teacher, which reminded me of the fact that not all powerful humans are hypocritical assholes."

Stella wanted to distract herself for now, which is why she looked at Gravis with furrowed brows. "That's a harsh judgment," she said.

"It is, but does that mean that it isn't true?" Gravis asked.

Stella remained silent for some seconds.

"Tell me what happened," Stella said.

Gravis nodded and told her about his last fight with Samantha, the Unrestrained Sect, and how the other Sect Masters acted.

After Gravis was finished recounting his tale, Stella snorted in disgust. "Yeah, I agree that their conduct is false and disgusting, but just because you see this conduct running rampant here doesn't mean that other places are the same."

Gravis waited for Stella to explain.

Sects here count as High-Tier Sects, but only barely," Stella explained. "They have their Immortal Kings, which gives them a grand illusion of being very powerful when they can't even enter the core territories

by not being allowed to enter the core territories. This gives them a need to prove

are powerful. However, all this hypocrisy makes it difficult for disciples to like the leadership. When a talented disciple leaves the

by Gravis' words. "Are you sure you're only four millennia old?"

been born into this world, or do you come from a lower world? I'm very certain that you

obviously been trained for a long time with methods

your mindset and your surprise at my knowledge of human conduct,"

said,

the most powerful in two different worlds already. On this journey, you get to see all facets of human and beast conduct. Any Ascender can see the Sect Masters

Ascender. There might be one or two odd ones, but everyone else must have been born

she thought about Gravis' words. "What makes you think so?"

position might not realize that they are in a dead-end, but the Ascenders have been in that position before. After all, every Ascender has

Ascenders were susceptible to taking up such a position, they wouldn't be Ascenders. They would have already taken up such a position in the middle or lower worlds. Therefore, most

thought. Gravis' words actually made a lot

quickly found an answer to that

different positions of power. She had joined the Nine Elements Sect, and her talent had been quickly noticed by the upper echelon. While being a

of a Core Disciple definitely wasn't easy. The Peak Sects knew that they couldn't create a powerful expert with safety, which

were protected against hidden schemes and assassinations, they wouldn't have any experience in these matters. Pumping resources without end into a Core Disciple just for them to die to a preventable assassination attempt was a waste of money

some superficial rules were in place to spur the creativity of the subtle and plotting kind of Cultivators. Then, it was all on the backs of the Core Disciples to deal with these schemes.

because she had only been in the Core Disciple position. She hadn't been a Sect Master. She hadn't been an elder. She hadn't been an unaffiliated Cultivator. She

Stella managed to realize these things was beyond impressive. Being able to analyze oneself this objectively and finding

a mindset could one

essential reasons why Stella had climbed to

needed to know Stella's mindset better so that he could help her in understanding the Law of Freedom, which was

are you thinking

in general," she answered

thinking about?" Gravis asked. "Knowing you better makes it