Lightning Is the Only Way

Gravis wasn't quite sure what Sear meant with Cultivation Discussion. "What's this Cultivation Discussion that you're referring to?" he asked with a lifted eyebrow.

Sear laughed slightly. "It's actually pretty simple," Sear said while gesturing towards the others. "Have you wondered why we are talking like this even though our guilds should be at war?"

Gravis nodded. "That would've been my next question. Logically, you should be at each others' throats."

Sear looked at the others who were all busy doing their own things. "We are actually all old friends."

Gravis furrowed his brows. "How would you find friends with your guilds constantly warring with each other?"

Sear smiled slyly. "You see, we were already friends before we joined our respective Guilds."

Now Gravis looked at them with surprise. "Before you joined your guilds? Wouldn't that mean that you have all known each other before you even left the Body Tempering Realm?" he asked incredulously.

Having friends was nothing surprising, but five people that had met as Body Tempering cultivators and all managed to reach the Spirit Forming Realm seemed a little unreal. What were the chances of that happening?

When Sear saw the surprised expression of Gravis, he started laughing. "I know, right? We were just as surprised as time progressed and our power increased. Who would've expected five people from the Outer Continent, from the same city, to all manage to reach the Spirit Forming Realm? I sure didn't!"

Gravis could only nod in confirmation. This was basically a miracle.

Sear laughed slightly and scratched the back of his neck. "We didn't want to let our guilds destroy our friendship, so we all met and created this Cultivation Discussion. Every couple of months, we leave our guilds and meet up. When we meet, we just casually talk and tell each other what had happened recently."

Gravis looked to the ground in thought. "Aren't your Guild Masters suspicious about you all vanishing at the same time?" he asked.

Sear smiled. "They know what we're doing," he said with confidence.

Gravis lifted his head and looked into Sear's eyes. "They do? And they're fine with it?" he asked.

Sear nodded. "Sure. As long as we don't discuss anything sensitive about our guilds, everything goes," Sear then turned towards his friends with a smile. "Right now, we are not Vice-Guild Masters but just some friends." Then, Sear turned back to Gravis. "So, you in?"

Gravis rubbed the back of his neck in awkwardness. "Wouldn't that destroy the whole point of your get-togethers? I don't come from the same city as you guys, and I am kind of an outsider here."

Sear turned away and looked at the green Core-Continent with a smile. They were currently on a green meadow with lots of different animals running around. "Well," Sear started saying, "that would be true, but as our strength progressed, our goals also started shifting."

"What do you mean?" asked Gravis.

Sear then turned back to Gravis. "Say, what do you think is the point of cultivation, Gravis?" he asked.

Gravis was surprised by the question. Others might think of it as a question as profound as the question about why they were alive, but to Gravis, the answer seemed too obvious. "To gain power," he said.

The answer didn't face Sear. "And why do you want power?" he asked.

"For freedom. I don't want to be under anyone's rule or suppression. I want to grasp my own destiny," Gravis said with conviction.

Sear laughed slyly. "It seems like you know what you want, but why do you require this freedom in the first place? What is making you not free right now?" he asked.

Gravis had an answer to this question as well. "Other people," he said, not wanting to say Heaven since this would open a whole new can of worms. "Humans are greedy, and people kill for resources and wealth. The saying 'a beggar carrying gold is a crime' exists for a reason. If you have something that others desire and not the ability to protect it, you will lose this thing and also probably die," Gravis explained.

Sear winked and lifted his right index finger. "Exactly!" he said. "To protect yourself, you need power, and for power, you cultivate, but what if the other people never attack you, no matter how powerful you are?"

Gravis' eyebrows flew up in surprise. It wasn't that he had never thought about that, but that this answer seemed too naïve in his eyes. "This is impossible," he said with a deep voice.

Sear just continued smiling. "Says who?" he asked.

"Humanity's inherent greed for power, and logic," Gravis immediately answered.

"I can't disagree with you there," said Sear. "We can't change the inherent greed in people, but with enough power, we can suppress it."

Now, Gravis knew what Sear meant. "So," he started saying, "by making this Cultivation Discussion, you try to get more like-minded people. With more people sharing the same goal, you want to create an organization that enforces peace. Is that right?" he said.

Sear was a little surprised that Gravis connected all the dots with so little information. "Yeah, that's exactly what we want," he said. "We are still weak now, but we will become more powerful with more people. I saw that you are a person outside of any guild, so I guessed that you should understand our goal. That's why I invited you."

Gravis wasn't impressed. "While I agree with your goal, I don't see it being achievable," he said directly. "Even if you manage to get everyone under one banner and become more powerful than the Elemental Sects, you still have the Heaven Sect to contend with, and they have the backing of Heaven itself."

Sear didn't seem surprised by the answer. "What if Heaven is backing us?" he asked.

Now, Gravis was surprised again. "Heaven is backing you? How would that even be possible?"

Sear only smiled. "Have you ever thought about why Heaven allows people to cultivate and to ascend?"

Gravis, obviously, knew the answer. He knew the answer better than anyone in this lower world. Yet, he shook his head. He wanted to know more about what they thought.

Sear smiled like he knew something that Gravis didn't. "Think about it. If Heaven didn't want people to ascend, why wouldn't it just strike anyone down that reached the peak of Spirit Forming? This would be such a simple solution. Considering all this means that Heaven wants powerful cultivators. I'm not sure why, but I don't see any other reason. The current state of the world, which favors the strong, also confirms this."

Gravis simply nodded.

Sear stopped smiling for the first time. "Yet, what of the countless talented people that died due to uncontrollable circumstances?" he said. "Due to luck, stronger people coveting their treasures, and betrayal, those talented people die young. They would have had the talent to reach the Unity Realm, yet their journey had been cut short."

Sear looked into Gravis' eyes with motivation. "If we manage to unify the world, we can protect those talents and give them a safe environment to grow. Of course, people will still die. Life and death tempering is an inevitability on someone's path to power, but we can, at least, give everyone fair fights. No betrayals, no stronger people coveting the things of weaker people. I think, like this, we can increase the number of ascenders. I think Heaven would like that," he said.

Gravis thought about this for a while. What Sear had said was true. This would truly increase the number of ascenders. Yet, what about those ascenders after they had reached the middle-world? Sear didn't know about the structure of the different worlds. He probably didn't even imagine that there were even higher worlds than the middle-worlds.

If someone had only fought fair fights, they wouldn't be used to unfair fights or retreating from a crisis. The chances of them dying in the middle-world would be multiplied. The number of ascenders would increase, yes, but way fewer people from this world would ever reach a higher-world.

This whole thing was a short-term solution. It was basically exchanging one tempered person for five greenhouse flowers. The world was like this because only a hardy and challenging environment would produce true geniuses.

Geniuses might be born, Gravis was a good example of that, but true geniuses had to be created. If someone was very good at cultivating and had a powerful will, their chances of reaching more power were higher, but that would stop at some point. Only by surviving countless unfair crises would someone become a true genius. A true genius knew how to react perfectly to every changing circumstance.

An excellent example of that was Gravis again. If everything had been fair for him in this lower world, Heaven wouldn't have meddled with his business. He wouldn't have been so experienced in fleeing or noticing hidden schemes. Gravis was sure that if someone had the same powers as him, he would still be able to scrub the floor with them. They hadn't gone through as much hardship as him, which made them less experienced.

"Sorry, I'm not interested," said Gravis after several seconds of silence.

Gravis' words stunned Sear. "You're not?" he asked incredulously.

Gravis shook his head. "Sorry, but that is not my belief," he answered. Explaining all this took too much time and revealed too much of his knowledge. Exposing the ways of Heaven was never a good idea. Speculation was one thing, but if Gravis told them the whole truth, Heaven might kill them to protect its secrets.

The only reason why Gravis had exposed so many things to Aion, back when Gravis had just achieved his breakthrough, was that Aion was already at a dead end as a Heavenborn. On top of that, his loyalties lay with Heaven. He wouldn't tell others about the things that Gravis had told him. These people, though, were different.

Sear seemed a little conflicted, but then only sighed. "Alright, if it is against your beliefs, I won't mind. Could you, at least, please promise us that you won't go against us in the future?" he asked.

Gravis nodded. "As long as you don't attack me, I don't care what you do."

Sear smiled again, but his smile was not as heartfelt as before. "Well, do you want to stay for dinner, at least?"

Gravis shrugged. "Sure, why not?"