Lightning Is the Only Way

Chapter 299

"You're really bad at talking to girls," Manuel said from the side, eliciting a side-eye from Gravis. "Hey, | don't mean it like that,"Manuel said with a smirk. "| know that you only try to help her by showing her the cold, hard, uncensored truth of the world, butsometimes, the direct way isn't the most effective one."

Gravis' furrowed his brows. "Why not? If | don't tell it as it is, it won't be as effective or descriptive."

Manuel sighed in helplessness. "That's true, but only for people that have a strong grip on their emotions. Not everyone is able tokeep their emotions completely in check and think rationally even when they are riled up."

Gravis’ brows stayed furrowed. "But cultivators with a Will-Aura can control their emotions."Manuel scratched his head. "Normally, | would agree, but Joyce is a special case."Now, Gravis lifted an eyebrow. "How would you know that? You have just met her," Gravis said.

Manuel had a helpless expression on his face. "Well, it's kind of obvious," he said helplessly. "| haven't met her, but I've heard ofher. | know that she is from the Freya Clan and know that she cultivates Life Lightning. If you want to get through to her, youshould talk to her like she's a mortal and not a cultivator."

"That would be considered talking down. Why should | talk to cultivators like they are inexperienced mortals? That would just beneedlessly disrespectful," Gravis asked evenly.

Joyce's group just looked at the back and forth with helpless smiles. They decided to keep themselves out of the conversation.

"That's where you're wrong," Manuel said with a serious expression. "You say mortals are inexperienced, yet most mortalsmanage to live a life without regrets. Isn't living a life without regrets what we all seek? Isn't that the whole point of cultivation?We want to be free and seek our own destiny," Manuel said.

Gravis scratched his head. "Hm, maybe in that sense, you're right. But mortals don't know how the world works for us cultivators.Of course, they won't have as many regrets.”

Manuel smirked. "True, but that doesn't change the result. More mortals lead fulfilling lives than cultivators. That's the truth. Youcan't change that fact."

Gravis wanted to argue, but he realized that he had no counter-arguments. It was true that he couldn't change that fact. If hecouldn't find a counter-argument, it probably meant that he was wrong. Gravis scratched his chin in interest. ‘Interesting. MaybeManuel is speaking the truth."

Then, Gravis looked at Manuel with an interested look. "Tell me more," he said.

Manuel was a little surprised by Gravis' quick change of mind, but he quickly recovered. Manuel's smirk changed into a genuinesmile. "| think the problem why many cultivators are so stressed out, cruel, and serious all the time is because we are required tosuppress our emotions. After all, if we didn’t, we would feel pity for every enemy we killed, would cry for days when our closeones die, or make a wrong decision in a fight. We can't allow ourselves to be emotional because emotions could cost us our life.”

Gravis thought about this and nodded. ‘Makes sense."

"So," Manuel continued while lifting his right index finger. "We feel less anger, less sadness, and also less pity. Yet, we can't justchoose which emotions we want to suppress. It doesn't work like that. Because of this, we also feel less happiness, lessexcitement, less love, less friendship, and less closeness in general. So, all in all, our outlook on life becomes result-focused andgrey. The world lacks color. We channel all of our positive emotions into a goal, and if we can't reach it, we feel immense regret."

Gravis thought about these words and also thought about himself. ‘Is that true? Well, | felt happy for the old man's breakthrough,but not that happy. When Joyce condensed her Unity Will, | also wasn't particularly happy or excited. When | saw many disciplesof the Lightning Sect condense their Destruction Lightning, | also didn't particularly care.’

Gravis scratched his chin in thought. ‘Progressing in my cultivation or winning a fight makes me happy. Though, the only time inthe Core-Continent where | was happy that didn't directly relate to my cultivation was when | joined the Lightning Sect."

Gravis continued thinking, and as time passed, his brows furrowed. ‘That was literally the only time in the Core-Continent. Whatabout the Middle-Continent? | was happy when | met Skye. | was also happy when | accompanied and talked to Skye. | alsoenjoyed Aion's company, even though | knew that he would become an enemy in the future. When | took a break, | also felthappier than normal.’

By now, Gravis was frowning. ‘In the Middle-Continent, | had more times where | felt happy than in the Core-Continent. Whatabout the Outer-Continent? It wouldn't be wrong to call me an emotional mess at the time. | felt anger, frustration, and hatred, buteven small things made me feel excited. | was excited when | met Joyce. | was excited when talking with the bandits. | wouldn'tcare about such things today.’

Gravis sighed as the others watched him with interest. Gravis' face grew progressively sadder by the second. ‘The further |progressed, the less emotional ups and downs | felt. When | saw the corpse of Skye's parent, | thought that | didn't even feelanything. Though, is that really true? Did | honestly feel absolutely nothing?”

Gravis searched deep inside himself and looked at his feelings. Yet, at some point, he felt like he touched something dangerous.It was like a wall or a dam that was blocking something. This wall looked black to him, and he didn't want to look at it. For the firsttime in a long while, Gravis was afraid of something. He didn't want to touch this wall. He felt like, if he touched it, he would fallinto hell.

Gravis took a shaky breath. 'Do | really live without regrets? Am | really not bothered by being alone? Yes, | have the LightningSect, but do | really feel like | am part of that? Officially, yes, but the only people in the Sect that | have a connection with are theold man and Lasar. What if one of those two die?’

Gravis remained silent as he was deep in thought. ‘Would | feel bad if they died? | would like to believe that | wouldn't but is thattruly the case?’

"Gravis!" Manuel shouted, taking Gravis out of his thoughts. "I know what you're going through right now. | went throughsomething similar about a year ago. It happened in the days after my master died. | was surprised at how little | felt when mylifelong master and mentor died, and | fell into deep thought for a long time. After a while of thinking, | realized that | actually feltincredibly terrible. Not only for my master's death but about many many other things too."

Manuel walked over to Gravis and put a hand on his shoulder. "Now is not the time. Save it for when you have time and when noenemies are around,” Manuel said with compassion.

Gravis took a deep breath and took hold of his emotions again. In basically no time, he was back to his usual self. He turned toManuel and nodded. "Thank you, truly," he said with sincerity.

Manuel clapped Gravis on the shoulder. "Don't mention it!" Then, Manuel smirked. "So, if | directly told you the cold, hard,uncensored truth, would you have immediately believed me?"

Gravis sighed. "No," he admitted.

Manuel's smirk intensified. "See?Sometimes, to make peopleunderstand, you need ta g idethemto the truth slowly! ee in ittotherh' slowly in terms and feelingsthey understand. Try that when youtalk to Joyce. After all, you need totake her feelings into account whenyou want to have a chance with her."The content is on NovelDrama.Org!Read the latest chapter there!

Gravis frowned at Manuel. "It's not like that."

"Yes, sure, sure,’ Manuel saiddismissively as he walked back to hisspot. "Joyce nome 4

sleevecShe Gob n't have thesame strength, but also not the sameweakness as you. Everything has itsadvantages and disadvantages. Everheard of that phrase?" The content ison NovelDrama.Org! Read the latestchapter there!

Gravis laughed bitterly. "Yes, | use it quite a lot."

"Good! Try to remember that.Judging by your will, you might havegone through a lot more than manyof us combined, butit’énotoly "|quantity Hat Youmnts, Different peoplego through different experiences,which teaches them different things.A different outlook might not be aweaker one." Manuel said with asmirk and then continued absorbinghis Energy Stones. The content is onNovelDrama.Org! Read the latestchapter there!

Gravis sighed again as he remembered these words. Yet, he didn't answer. There was no need to.

With the conversation over, Gravis focused on his goal and upcoming fight again. This Heaven's Trial could be considered adirect showdown between him and Heaven. If he wanted to win and survive, he had to be in his top condition.

Like this, several minutes passed.

And then, Joyce returned.novelbin