Lightning Is the Only Way

The Eternal Fire Sect kept denouncing Gravis in public, and Gravis only looked at them with a curious expression.

He found it quite funny that they were publicly insulting him while being in such a place.

If they were anywhere else, Gravis could understand it. After all, in their perception, Gravis wasn't very powerful since they couldn't perceive his Battle-Strength.

But here?

Why would they talk down to someone in such a place?

What if the person they were insulting lost control over themselves?

What then?

However, Gravis also noticed that not everyone was insulting him. There were also some people that kept themselves out of this clash. These people only looked on with interest, but they didn't reveal any of their thoughts with their expressions and gestures.

‘They see that they don't have to involve themselves. They can simply stay on the sidelines while other people take risks for them.'

‘Quite smart.'

"Why are you still here? Apologize or leave! We don't allow disrespectful people in our Sect!" one person shouted.

"Yeah, we aren't narrow-minded people, and we can accept apologies. Apologize or leave!"

More and more people echoed these sentences, but Gravis looked at the ones that were not shouting.

Some of these onlookers only frowned. Some of them looked at Gravis with evaluating expressions. Some of them even straight-up entered their home without saying anything. Others were only looking away as if all of this had nothing to do with them.

"I'm willing to pay 100 million God Stones if you can overlook what this person has done."

Gravis had just received a voice transmission from one of the onlookers.

Gravis looked over, and he saw a young man with white hair and intense eyes. He had been the one that had just made an offer to Gravis.

‘Interesting,' Gravis thought. ‘He's smart. He realized that I can't be a simple person, and he immediately offered me money to overlook his servant's actions.'

‘He is probably one of the leading members of one of the factions. From what I can see, he probably ordered his person to join in on the tirade to appear compliant with public opinion, but he knows the risk of it. In essence, he offered me money so that his faction wouldn't receive any damage while some other factions would lose some members.'

"I can offer you a set of any level seven Law Comprehension Life Fruit if you ignore this member," another onlooker transmitted to Gravis.

Then, a third onlooker contacted Gravis.

Gravis only smirked as he scratched his chin. ‘Three onlookers, three offers. Seems like they all had the same thought.'

Gravis used his Law of Freedom to spy on some other people in their building.

It was rather easy for Gravis to find the true leaders of the factions. These kinds of people had a certain aura of authority and prestige around them. It wouldn't be easy for a normal Cultivator to spot these subtle signs, but they were evident in Gravis' eyes.

The people in the buildings only looked with furrowed brows into empty space.

Planning and troubled expressions could be seen on their faces.

It was like they had just received a setback, and they had to adapt their plans.

‘Interesting,' Gravis thought with a slight smirk.

Gravis hadn't been around such profound schemers and politicians before, which made this entire experience novel.

"He's ignoring us! Look at how grand and majestic he is! He doesn't even deign to look at us!" a person shouted after realizing that Gravis hadn't reacted to their insults.

When Gravis heard that, he looked back at the people on the ground with a smirk.

"You know, you are quite rude for someone in bonk distance," Gravis said.

Silence.

The people in the Eternal Fire Sect tried to comprehend what Gravis meant.

Bonk distance?

What's a bonk?

Gravis slowly extended his right hand.

And then, he flicked.

"Bonk."

In an instant, all the complainers were thrown to the side by a sudden force.

They all fell into the fire at the side, which incinerated them in an instant.

There was no explosion.

There was no clash.

There was just silent movement and the short and quiet sound of something vanishing in fire.

35 people had been turned to dust.

32 of them had been the people that had insulted Gravis, while the remaining three had been the ones that had offered Gravis something.

In Gravis' mind, he classified these people into three categories.

One, the peons that had been sent by their leaders and the people that got involved on their own.

Two, the three people that had offered Gravis compensation.

Three, the people that had not gotten involved at all.

Gravis had killed the attackers for one reason.

He wanted to.

They were insulting him anyway, which meant that he wouldn't receive any damage to his Karmic Luck if he killed them. Gravis wasn't some holy saint that simply let people badmouth him without retaliating.

What about the three people that had offered Gravis compensation for their underlings?

In a sense, Gravis found them to be even more stupid than the ones that had actually insulted him.

Why?

Because by offering Gravis compensation, they had involuntarily told him that they were responsible for some of the people attacking him.

If they had simply shut up, Gravis wouldn't have been able to tell who had sent these people.

Also, if they actually wanted to save their underlings, they could have simply apologized or told their people to apologize. Gravis wasn't afraid of killing people, but he could also accept apologies. Admitting one's mistakes was a commendable trait, and Gravis could respect that.

Yet, instead of apologizing, they only offered Gravis resources to spare their members.

Even more, the others hadn't stopped insulting him.

This meant that these three people had essentially told someone to beat Gravis up and then thrown money at Gravis to overlook the incident.

Gravis wasn't some common whore or servant, but these three people had essentially treated him as such.

They had been so used to solving everything with money that it hadn't even occurred to them that someone might not be interested in money.

However, to a certain degree, Gravis could understand how these people had become like that. After all, they were all surrounded by people that had gone through hundreds of thousands of years of training to become the most intelligent strategists. These people all only looked at gains and losses.

Yet, the real world was filled with different kinds of people.

Gravis hadn't thought about his actions, and he simply looked at the onlookers with interest. Killing these people hadn't been difficult at all. He only had to shove them to the side with his Spirit. Everyone could shove someone for a little bit as long as they took them by surprise.

It wasn't very hard for an Ancestral God to push someone else a couple of meters to the side.

As Gravis evaluated the remaining members, silence descended on the Eternal Fire Sect.

Absolute, shocked silence.

Had… had he just killed 35 members of the Eternal Fire Sect in public!?

Was he insane!?

Could he do that!?

How could he do that!?

It was like the place they had called home had crumbled around them.

Things that had made sense no longer made any sense.

This wasn't how this was supposed to be!

WHOOOOM!

Then, an apocalyptic pressure suppressed everyone in the Sect.

The Sect Master had made her appearance.