Lightning Is the Only Way

After a while, the Guild Master grinned smugly and laid back in his throne. The two Vice-Guild Masters were surprised by his actions since this was not a typical reaction to a decision that would doom their entire guild. What was the Guild Master planning?

"So you guys actually haven't noticed," said the guild master with a smile. "That makes me relieved. If not even you guys managed to notice it, then probably everyone else in the hall also didn't," he continued saying smugly. "Well, except for me, of course."

The two Vice-Guild Masters looked at each other, confused. They were not sure what the Guild Master meant, and even when they continued thinking more about Gravis, they couldn't find the answer. After some seconds, the first Vice-Guild Master looked up. "What did you notice that we didn't?" he asked.

The Guild Master kept a smug smile. "Let me give you a hint," he said. "Imagine you were in his position and a whole hall of people stronger than you aggressively shouted at you to leave. Could you remain as firm as Gravis?" he asked them.

The Vice-Guild Masters thought about this seriously. "I think my will is strong enough to remain stalwart even with such strong opposition. Though it would be tough," the first Vice-Guild Master said, and the second nodded in agreement.

"Yet, a kid no older than 16 managed to persevere without even flinching. What do you think about his will?" asked the Guild Master smugly.

The two Vice-Guild Masters furrowed their brows. "His will is incredibly powerful for his age and strength. Now that you say it, that actually seems terrifyingly powerful," the second Vice-Guild Master sighed in nervousness. "Even though we knew about his unprecedented lightning, we have still underestimated him. We need to get rid of him," he said as the first Vice-Guild Master nodded in agreement.

The Guild Master only continued smiling. "Seems like you still don't get it. Let me give you another hint," he said as a glass of water levitated over to him. "You guys probably don't know since you are rarely involved in the matters of the Heaven Sect, but for me, it's different. As you know, the Heaven Sect always wants the Guild Master to attend to every mundane thing they host. So, I have a lot more experience with Heavenborn than you two."

The two Vice-Guild Masters grew annoyed. The Guild Master obviously loved being in a position where he knew something important while others didn't. They wanted to tell him that he should finally get to the point, but they had to hold themselves back since he was the Guild Master.

The Guild Master took a swig of his drink and released a refreshed breath. "Heavenborn have the weakest will," he continued, and the Vice-Guild Masters' eyes widened. "They use the Heavenly Pressure, granted to them by Heaven, to cultivate, so they don't care about their wills. Every Heavenborn I met started getting stressed by the most mundane things, and they live their lives in avarice. They care a lot about women, money, status, and all that mundane stuff."

The Guild Master lifted one finger to make it more dramatic. "So, how come Gravis has such an incredibly powerful will, even though every other Heavenborn has such a weak will?" he asked them, leaning back on his throne with a smile while waiting for their answers.

The Vice-Guild Masters thought about this issue for some time. They had not met many Heavenborn in their lives. It was always the Guild Master who went to all the events hosted by them. The Lightning Guild was inferior to the Heaven Sect, so they always had to show their greatest respect.

"Is Heaven training the boy differently?" asked the first Vice-Guild Master. "Is Heaven grooming him to become the next High Priest? Is that why Heaven trains the boy's will?"

The second Vice-Guild Master also thought for a bit, but he didn't find a better answer. The Guild Master saw their confused expressions and laughed. Seeing other people fail at figuring out something that he did made him feel smart.

"You still don't get it, do you?" he said through his smug and wide grin. "Let me give you one more hint. When I heard the report about the yearly entrance exams for the Proxy-Elemental Guilds, I read that they had used a newly discovered Heavenborn to test the participants' will. They did that to save some money. Of course, that Heavenborn was Gravis. Maybe now you'll get it."

Instead of understanding, the Vice-Guild Masters looked totally lost now. What did the entrance exam have to do with killing Gravis or not? They could only bitterly smile at the Guild Master.

The Guild Master, instead of growing smugger, felt a little frustrated now. Could they not combine those simple clues into one thing? "Tell me, how would you use a Heavenborn to test the will of the participants?" asked the Guild Master as he looked at the first Vice-Guild Master.

"Well, I would first use my disciples to test the power of his Heavenly Pressure. After that, I would let every person go into his Heavenly Pressure. After everyone is done, I could judge them by comparing them with our disciples," the first Vice-Guild Master explained. The second Vice-Guild Master nodded in agreement.

The Guild Master took another mouthful of his water. "Now imagine you have to test 5,000 participants, and the Heavenly Pressure only stretches to a radius of 30 meters. What do you think? How long would that take?" the Guild Master asked.

The Vice-Guild Master did some calculations. "That would take about 10 hours," he said after a while. "The area is relatively small, and there are too many participants."

The Guild Master looked at him, but he got even more annoyed when he realized that they still didn't get it. "Now, tell me. What was the weakness of Heavenly Pressure again?" he asked them.

The second Vice-Guild Master immediately answered. "Heavenborn have a stronger pressure than a Will-Aura, but it… doesn't… last…" and with that, his eyes widened in shock, and his face whitened. The first Vice-Guild Master also finally understood and mimicked the other's reaction.

The Guild Master laughed loudly. "Now you finally get it, right?" he said smugly. "Gravis never was a Heavenborn. He just had a Will-Aura in the Body Tempering Realm. Imagine this: Some nobody in some backwater city managed to have a Will-Aura in the Body Tempering Realm. Of course, people would confuse him with a Heavenborn."

The Guild Master stood up and walked around the hall. "They confused him with a Heavenborn and wanting to keep his secret, Gravis just went along with it. Along the way, his Guild Master probably noticed. Have you not thought that it was strange to invest everything you own into someone who will never ascend? Would you do that? Probably not."

The Guild Master walked to a window and looked outside into the sky with a smirk while the Vice-Guild Masters tried to process all the implications. "What would happen if the Heaven Sect found out that Gravis had a Will-Aura in the Body Tempering Realm? They would immediately try to kill him with all their power," he said.

"Having to keep up the façade, Gorn and Gravis decide to tell everyone that he was a Heavenborn. Someone from the Heaven Sect arrives, and they successfully scam him. Now, everyone believes he is a Heavenborn, because how could the Heaven Sect make such a mistake?" his grin grew even smugger.

"But," started the first Vice-Guild Master. "The Heaven Sect would never allow someone like him to join them. Heaven would strike him down!"

The Guild Master put his hand on his chin in thought. "Normally, yes, but for some reason, Heaven does not want to kill Gravis, or maybe," he grinned at Heaven, "it can't kill him. For some reason, it can't directly interfere, so it uses a scheme to send him to his enemies to uncover his frightening potential. His enemies would kill him with all their power, and Heaven would finally be rid of this eyesore." The Guild Master turned around to the other two. "Doesn't that sound familiar?"

The Vice-Guild Masters already realized what he meant. This was what had happened just now. A shiver ran down their spine. They had nearly jumped head-first into a senseless death!

"But," continued the Guild Master, as he turned back to the window. "Heaven didn't expect Gravis to involuntarily tell us all his secrets. He wanted to keep them hidden, but the door had already publicized his lightning. He looked like an unprecedented threat to the Lightning Sect."

"This secret would have sent the Lightning Guild and Gravis into destruction. Yet, by involuntarily telling us his second secret, it saved him and our Lightning Guild. Isn't that ironic that a mistake brought him and us close to death, but another mistake saved everyone?"

The Vice-Guild Masters completely understood the situation by now. Could they trust the words of a young Heavenborn when they said that they would repay them in the future? No, the Heavenborn would fall into complacency since they couldn't ascend, and their personality would change. Any promise was worthless coming from them.

Yet, what about a promising cultivator with a supremely powerful Will-Aura? With a strong will came conviction, and with conviction came steadiness. Cultivators with such a firm will would not betray their own convictions. They would do what they said, and they would not fall into complacency. After all, there was still a higher world out there.

Gravis would keep his promise, and there was virtually no chance that Gravis would become their enemy in the future if he said so. The sacrifice of their Lightning Guild would have been absolutely senseless. It would have been a lose-lose situation.

"So," said the first Vice-Guild Master after a long pause. "What do we do now?" he asked.

The Guild Master turned to him. "Nothing. Everything remains the same. Gravis is officially still a Heavenborn, and he is part of the Heaven Sect. We won't commit to any rash actions. Just continue like today never happened."

"But," he shouted. "Heaven won't take this lying down. At some point in the future, Heaven will manage to either publicize Gravis' Will-Aura or will force him to leave the Heaven Sect. He won't be able to remain in the Heaven Sect for long."

"When that time arrives, we will continue acting as if we have not heard about any of those two secrets. We will set out a bounty for him to uphold justice, but we won't sacrifice our whole guild. As long as we don't throw our lives away, we will get something either way."

The two Vice-Guild Masters looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

"Then let's do it like this."

And with this, Heaven's scheme had been broken due to a mistake from Gravis, and his life had been saved. Gravis would never know that he had been incredibly close to death. Heaven's schemes were profound and hidden. Yet, it still failed in the end.

Heaven was not happy at all right now.