Lightning Is the Only Way

The five figures cloaked in black seemed to smirk when Gravis asked them what they wanted. This made Gravis even surer that they didn't come to have a nice and decent talk. Their appearance didn't particularly radiate trustworthiness and kindness.

"500,000 Immortal Stones for each of you," the person at the front said with mirth. "After you pay, we will leave and not trouble you again."

Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "So, you're just bandits?" Gravis asked.

"We call ourselves freelancers, but yes, you would call us bandits," another one said.

Gravis looked at the strung-up torsos at the back. "And if I don't pay, I will probably join them, right?"

"You're a smart boy," the leader said. "Yes, those who don't pay will join us on our altruistic quest. We like to take money from the rich and give it to the poor, which is us, of course."

Gravis blinked once in boredom. "Why go through all of this? Why not just kill the ones that don't pay? You would get all their wealth that way."

"We're not stupid, boy," the leader said with an arrogant tone. "Bad things happen to Cultivators that kill the weaker ones. As long as we don't kill them, everything's fine."

"What if I don't have the money?" Gravis asked.

"You have the money," the leader said with a smirk. "500,000 Immortal Stones isn't much for an Immortal King such as yourself. However, on the chance that you are truly so poor, you will just have to accompany us until we are finished with our altruistic quest. However, that might take a while."

This made a lot of sense now. These five people didn't torture these other Cultivators out of cruelty but to convince them to finally pay. It was impossible to look into someone's Spirit Space without risking a soul battle on the enemy's home turf. Additionally, they would need to have a powerful Cultivator that knew several Laws regarding the Deep Wood Element.

If the Immortal Kings had the money but acted like they didn't, they simply had to live like this for thousands of years or until they decided to pay. If they didn't have the money, they couldn't prove that they didn't have it. After all, the bandits didn't know what was inside the Cultivator's Spirit Space without risking a counterattack inside the Cultivator's Spirit Space.

"If you want, you can also buy the freedom of these poor sods behind me," the leader said as he gestured to the ten hanging torsos. "We don't care who pays, as long as someone pays."

"Stop wasting time," another one interjected. "Maybe he already called for help and is only waiting for someone to arrive."

"Sorry," the leader said with a smirk. "Sometimes, I get lost when I talk to a customer."

Then, the leader looked at Gravis again. "So, what's your choice? You have five seconds to decide. Otherwise, we will take it as a no."

Gravis wasn't worried at all since it wasn't hard to feel their Cultivation. Their cloaks hid their appearance, but they purposefully showed their aura. After all, if the enemy didn't know the bandits' power, they were more likely to attack. The bandits wanted to make some easy money, not fight.

The hanging torsos were either Early Minor Circulation Immortal Kings or Mid Minor Circulation Immortal Kings. Meanwhile, all five of these bandits were Late Minor Circulation Immortal Kings. No wonder that they said that they wouldn't kill their "customers". Their customers were exclusively weaker than them with a numerical disadvantage.

This was obviously not a fight for tempering. This was only a one-sided robbery.

"Let me deal with this," Gravis said to Siral.

Siral bowed respectfully.

poor bandits sure were unlucky. They hadn't met one but two Cultivators that could kill them easily. Gravis was only an Early Minor Circulation Immortal King but had an insane Battle Strength. Meanwhile, Siral was using his Law of Humility to also appear like

the context of the Core Region and fighting someone on his level. Fighting someone one level below him was not an issue as long as the enemy wasn't some

up!" the leader shouted as everyone took out their weapons. "Welcome to

of them split up and surrounded Gravis and Siral in some kind of battle formation. Several different Elements appeared on their weapons as

WHOOOOOM!

Gravis activated his Will-Aura, and all

and Gravis had the

WHOOOOOM!

then, Gravis used his Major Law of

their bodies were surrounded by incredibly hard metal. It was so very hard

had been suppressed

WHOOOOOM!

Law of Storm's Pressure. The surroundings were compressed, making it far more difficult for them to move. They were now

CRRRRR!

joints and muscles became rigid as they started to freeze

slow to break the growing ice. Breaking such a kind of suppression required

they were still alive since they were Immortal

leader transmitted with his Spirit

best as they could. They offered all their belongings to Gravis. They

was a bit interested in

worth more than their wealth. Additionally, he

lifted a fist

BANG! BANG!

destroyed all

Siral. A second Gravis was

Only a little bit was left, but Gravis wouldn't break through now. He still needed to temper himself against Siral's

were ejected into the world, and Gravis gathered everything up with his Spirit

around eight million Immortal Stones in their belongings, quite a big haul. However,

many Immortal Stones would Gravis need to go from an Early Minor Circulation Immortal King to a

Around 20 million.

given Gravis the equivalent of around 18 million Immortal Stones while also

earned around

poison would probably vanish slowly, and even if it didn't, their bodies would heal on their own as long

had no interest in getting acquainted with these

did all