Lightning Is the Only Way

"No, you can't just cultivate all of the Elements. That's not how it works."

A middle-aged man with black hair was currently standing in front of several youngsters in a lecture hall. The students listened intently to their teacher as he taught them the basics of Cultivation.

"Why not?" a youngster near the back asked with a frown.

"Because, no matter what you do, the Elements will clash in one way or another," the teacher said.

The teacher walked over to the blackboard, and three pictures appeared on the blackboard like magic. All three pictures showed a stickman and a white sphere.

The first picture showed how the white sphere was inside the stickman.

The second picture showed how the white sphere was bound by a chain, which was being held by the stickman.

The third picture only showed the stickman, but there were lines that indicated that he was shining.

"As you all already know," the teacher said. "There are three ways to cultivate with an Element. However, every single method has an issue when more than one Element appears."

The teacher pointed to the first picture.

"The first method is to absorb the Element into your body, creating an Elemental Seed. As you all know, this method is the easiest to cultivate, but you can't use it forever. At one point, you have to switch to one of the other two. Yet, the later you do it, the harder it becomes."

Suddenly, a black sphere appeared beside the white sphere in the first picture.

"Now, can anyone tell me what will happen if we introduce a second Element?" the teacher asked.

One of the very few girls in the class stood up. "They will clash inside your body. You will most likely die, but if you somehow manage to survive, the two Elements will either have canceled each other out, or one will have prevailed, leaving you with that one."

The teacher nodded with appreciation. "Correct."

"Now, the second method," the teacher said as he pointed at the second picture, the one with the chained white sphere. "The second method is to completely subdue the Element. Cultivating this method is harder, but you won't be influenced by the temperaments of the Elements."

Then, the black sphere appeared again.

"What if we introduce a second Element?" the teacher asked.

The same girl answered again. "The same thing will happen. Just because you have the Element under control doesn't mean that they won't clash with each other."

The teacher nodded.

Then, he pointed at the third picture. "The third method is to assimilate the Element. This is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to connect with an Element. Your affinity towards it will also increase by several ranks. Sadly, advantages come with disadvantages, and disadvantages come with advantages."

"This method will slowly change your mindset until you are not yourself anymore. You will slowly adopt the temperament of the Element until your own temperament nearly perfectly reflects it."

The students didn't think much of these words since they had heard them before.

However, if any member of the Nine Elements Sect or its subsidiary Sects had heard these words, they would explode with righteous anger.

This was forbidden!

a forbidden way

becoming one with the Elements was possible, and yes, it would increase one's affinity with the

become incredibly dangerous depending on which Element

was fine. The person cultivating it would only

Water Element was also fine. The person would become

The person would think of themselves as better and always right, but they could still

person would only desire freedom and

too. The person would simply become more taciturn and inflexible. However, they would

okay. The person might seek battle more than others, but they would still retain their

were the last three remaining

with deadly force

be horrible. The Cultivator would become a battle-crazed maniac. They would require constant bloodshed, destruction, and battle. Humans needed some downtime too. They couldn't fight endlessly all the time. How could such a person

would manipulate other humans for their personal gain, which would

as forbidden

Sects, he would immediately be executed along with everyone

asked with a

answered again.

The teacher nodded. "Correct."

the student who asked

student looked at the teacher with furrowed brows and threw the girl that had answered all of these

a fourth

The students groaned.

the

I don't know everything. However, I'm pretty confident that you won't find the method in

gritted his

was

so sure?" the

the teacher answered with a smile. "I'm pretty strong, you know. Also, as you see, I'm rather old. I only came to this academy as a guest-teacher because I was bored. I'm simply

bit of the world," the teacher said with a nostalgic voice. "The entirety of my knowledge can only produce these three

dismissed what

you finally shut the fuck up!?" a big guy in the second row shouted towards the student that had been arguing with the teacher. "Get off your high horse! Our last elemental teacher only

to argue back,

the strongest of the class and also the

Barry would tear him to

an unwilling heart, the student

shot the student a glance and

for my choice of

waved off Big Barry's apology.

sat back down, and Mr.

hour later,

excited smile as he bought some

was very remote since she enjoyed standing in the cool shadows of the

Gravis happily bought two bowls of noodles

reached the

minutes, Mr. Gravis went past the last building and walked