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.

gives them a grand illusion of being very powerful when they can't even enter the core territories of

are powerful enough to be part of the world's leadership but feel unjustly treated by not being allowed to enter the core territories. This gives them a need to prove themselves to anything

sense. They seek short-term power with everything they have to prove to others and themselves that they are powerful. However, all this hypocrisy makes it difficult for disciples to

Gravis' words. "Are you sure you're only four millennia old?" she asked. "You talk like an ancient, experienced

of his own. "Have you been born into this world, or do you come

she said. "I have obviously been

about your mindset and your surprise at

said,

from weak to 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 for what they are,

There might be one or two odd ones, but everyone else must

brows as she thought about Gravis' words.

in this 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 once been the most powerful

they wouldn't be Ascenders. They would have already taken up such a position in the middle

fell into thought. Gravis' words actually made a lot of sense. Why

quickly found an answer

Nine Elements Sect, and her talent had been quickly noticed by the upper echelon. While being

Peak Sects knew that they couldn't create a powerful expert with safety, which is why the

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

subtle and plotting kind of Cultivators. Then, it was all on the backs of the Core Disciples to

able to see these things that Gravis had seen was because she had only been in the Core Disciple position. She hadn't

these things was beyond impressive. Being able to analyze oneself this objectively and finding reasons and origins of why one lacked in a certain department was

mindset could

reasons

about. Gravis needed to know Stella's mindset better so that he could

thinking about?"

about people in general," she answered

asked. "Knowing you better makes it easier for me to help you with