Lightning Is the Only Way

"I don't want him to die," Stella said.

Liam and Gravis both looked at her.

"Are you sure?" Liam asked. "Even though he has never directly acted against us, he was still complicit in our suppression."

"I know," Stella said. "However, it was all thanks to him that I have been able to hold out for so long. He was the one that advocated for the fights to be fair."

"Without his protests, Nira might have forced me to consume some kind of poison that weakens my Battle-Strength to get this entire issue over and done with as fast as possible. So, while he has not gone explicitly against everything, he has still helped me by allowing me to fight with my full power," Stella said.

Liam furrowed his brows as he looked at the Nine Elements Sect.

Yes, Herius had helped them, but he had also not gone against all of this.

"No right choice, huh?" Gravis commented.

Stella nodded.

"He only had two choices. Either he protected you and risked his own life, or he went against you and his conscience," Gravis said. "In the end, he didn't want to betray his conscience, but he also didn't want to die. So, he chose a third path. He didn't go against the Sect Master, but he wanted for everything to happen aboveboard, at least. Is that about right?"

"Yes," Stella answered.

When Gravis thought about Herius' situation, he had to sigh.

Wasn't this too similar to his own situation?

Gravis wanted to claim his own freedom and ignore the highest Heaven's will.

Yet, if he did that, he would never achieve his goal.

So, in the end, Gravis was forced to reluctantly follow the highest Heaven's will, even if he didn't want to.

'How can I judge someone when I'm doing the same thing?' Gravis thought.

"It's your decision anyway," Liam said. "If you don't want him to die, it's fine."

Stella smiled. "Thanks, Liam."

Liam only nodded.

"Let's go down," Gravis said as he slowly flew towards the Nine Elements Sect.

"Just like that?" Liam asked with surprise.

"I'm using the Law of Emotions and the Law of Perceived Reality to keep us hidden and isolated. No living being nor Formation Array has the ability to feel our presence," Gravis explained.

Stella and Liam looked at each other for a bit and also landed in the Nine Elements Sect.

The three of them landed close to the central palace. This meant that they were already in an area where only members of the Nine Elements Sect in the Immortal Realm or stronger could stay. 

Yet, no one paid any attention to them.

This wasn't any different than when a powerful Cultivator visited a mortal village.

It was like the three of them didn't even exist.

Stella and Liam looked at their surroundings with complex expressions.

Memories associated with mixed emotions flooded their minds.

They had felt so powerful and great back when they had first been allowed to enter this area.

Yet, a lot of the memories were also filled with blood and slaughter.

Being a disciple in a Peak Sect was very dangerous and pressuring.

Stella took the lead as the other two followed her. First, she led them into the central palace, a place only Immortal Emperors or people with special status could visit without an invitation.

As soon as they entered the central palace, the memories became mostly negative.

Stella had only been allowed to stay in the palace when she had become the Holy Maiden in the Immortal King Realm. A Holy Maiden in the Immortal Realm wasn't allowed in here.

One had to remember that there were multiple Holy Sons and Holy Daughters in Peak Sects. In general, there were three. The lowest one was in the Law Comprehension Realm. The middle one was in the Immortal Realm, and the highest one was in the Immortal King Realm.

The Immortal Emperor Realm didn't have Holy Sons or Holy Daughters. 

Stella led them through the hallway, but she stopped for a couple of seconds in the middle of it.

A picture of her dead teacher was hung on the wall.

Stella and Liam both looked at the picture for a bit with forlorn expressions.

It had been so long since their teacher had died.

She had been the one that had supported them through the ordeals in the Nine Elements Sect.

Funnily enough, when the two of them became her disciples, they hadn't even known about her status. She had deliberately kept her status a secret and hid her power in front of them.

She had only said that she was two Realms higher than them, and whenever Stella and Liam reached a new Realm, their teacher also just so happened to make a breakthrough. 

It took the two of them an embarrassingly long time to realize that something wasn't right.

They had only realized that their teacher had a secret identity when they had entered the palace for the first time to claim a prize after a competition. 

When they had looked at the images of the past Sect Masters, they had seen their teacher's picture.

It was this exact picture the two of them were currently looking at.

However, now, there were many more pictures besides their teacher's picture.

The first one was of Nira's grandfather.

Yet, surprisingly, Nira's picture wasn't beside her grandfather's picture.

In fact, her picture was nowhere.

Apparently, her conduct had been too shameful, and she had been expunged from history.

Herius' picture was directly beside the picture of Nira's grandfather. 

The last picture was of a green-haired, middle-aged man.

This surprised Stella and Liam a bit.

"Someone not from the Frost or Inferno Faction?" Liam asked.

"I'm also surprised," Stella answered. "It's rare to see a Sect Master that isn't of either of the two big Factions. That probably means that he is very capable."

Stella looked with a complex expression at the picture. "Sadly, I've never seen that person before."

Liam sighed. "Too much time has passed. 150,000 years is already enough for a mortal to become an Immortal Emperor though a weak one. It's very possible that this person was an average Immortal King back then."

Gravis didn't comment, but deep inside, 150,000 years didn't feel as long anymore.

He had gone through over a million years of conscious time when he had hit Nira with Samsara.

The three of them left the area and entered the main hall.

Right now, the Sect Master and two Vice-Sect Masters were discussing some things about the war.

Gravis, Stella, and Liam listened in on the conversation for a bit, and after some minutes, they had to conclude that the current leadership of the Nine Elements Sect was quite competent.

The Sect Master put a lot of emphasis on the good of the Sect and the disciples. According to him, if many disciples became dissatisfied, it showed that the Nine Elements Sect was doing something wrong.

After all, the disciples were part of one of the most powerful Sects in the world. They shouldn't be dissatisfied but exhilarated and proud.

Cultivators were not unreasonable, and they wouldn't forget how powerful their Sect was. So, when these rational people became dissatisfied, it meant that the Nine Elements Sect was doing things wrong. After all, weaker Sects had happy disciples. If weaker Sects could do that, the Nine Elements Sect should be able to do that even easier.

And, sure enough, the life of the disciples had become much better after the current Sect Master took over.

Herius had been an amazing Sect Master, but he looked at the Nine Elements Sect as one entity. In comparison, the current Sect Master was looking at the Nine Elements Sect like a group of individual Cultivators.

Herius had weathered the storm that Nira's actions had caused. It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that the Nine Elements Sect that Herius had been handed was one of the weakest and most fragile versions.

However, Herius had managed to get through the storm, and the Nine Elements Sect was finally recovering.

When Herius saw that the storm was over, he gave his position to his successor. 

Herius knew that his abilities were in protecting the Nine Elements Sect and in increasing its power.

However, his abilities were not in increasing the happiness of the disciples.

Because of that, Herius gave his position to someone that was more qualified.

"Gravis, I need to talk to him," Stella said. "Our Ancestor's grave is in a secret location, and only the Sect Master and Vice-Sect Masters know where the Ancestors and Sect Masters are buried."

Gravis nodded.

"Sure."

And suddenly, three new people appeared in front of the eyes of the Sect Master and Vice-Sect Masters.