Chapter 267: Belief or Life? (1/2)

The earth disciples started closing in while Gravis waited calmly. Yet, after another minute, Gravis grew impatient. ”This is taking too long. I'm coming to you,” he said.

BOOM!

Gravis pushed himself forward with his physical body, assisted by some of his lightning. He wasn't fully loading his feet but only using it to go a little faster. After all, he had to be prepared for the ”fight”.

Even while only using a slight bit of his lightning, he was already double as fast as the earth disciples. As they saw him closing in, they grew more nervous and fearful. This wasn't how this was supposed to go! They wanted to keep their beliefs and their lives! If this continued, they would just die. Yet, they had already committed to it and couldn't just back out now.

After a couple of seconds, both sides finally met each other. When 100 meters was between them, they stopped.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

Their huge shields hit the ground with mighty sounds. They built a fortification with their shields with impressive speed. After that, they waited for Gravis to approach.

”What's up?” Gravis asked. ”Why did you stop? Don't you want to kill me?” he asked.

”Go ahead! Attack us!” the older person shouted. ”If you attack us, you will see what will happen!”

Gravis saw this and got reminded of his fight against the Guild Master and Vice-Guild Master of the Earth Guild. This was exactly the same.

”But isn't it you guys who want to kill me?” Gravis asked. ”Isn't waiting like this without attacking already a betrayal of your beliefs?” Gravis asked with amusement in his voice.

The people gritted their teeth. On the surface, they didn't want to admit that, but their emotions begged to differ. They felt rage and frustration at Gravis' words. Not because he was provoking them, but because, in their eyes, he was forcing them to kill themselves. Why couldn't that stubborn guy just leave? In their minds, Gravis was simply too cruel.

BANG, BANG, BANG!

The shields cluttered as the fortification decided to move forward. They did this one step at a time, and they were moving even slower. Yet, this time, Gravis didn't mind that. They could move as slow as they wanted. Even mortals were able to cross a distance of 100 meters without taking too much time.

Gravis waited for a couple of seconds as they steadily got closer. After around 15 seconds, they reached a distance of five meters. Even with their slow speed, attacking from such a close range wouldn't be an issue to them. Yet, they just stopped again, not attacking at all.

Gravis snickered a bit and took some steps forward. The shields wavered a little as Gravis walked closer. After taking a couple of steps, Gravis stopped. Right now, only half-a-meter was between him and the shields. He was well within the range of their attacks. Still, no attack appeared.

”What are you doing?” the voice of Old Man Lightning suddenly appeared inside Gravis' mind. Old Man Lightning had come into the area of Gravis' Spirit, so Gravis could finally talk with him without having to shout everything.

”I want to see if their beliefs or their lives are more important to them,” Gravis transmitted with amusement.

”You know,” Old Man Lightning answered. ”That is kind of cruel. After all, their beliefs are their cultivation. As soon as they break them, their Spirit will break, and their element will leave. They would fall back into the Body Tempering Realm.”

”I know,” Gravis answered directly with no change in emotion. ”The Earth Guild in the Middle-Continent told me as much.”

”Then why are you still doing this?” Old Man Lightning asked. ”Don't get me wrong, I'm not mad or anything. I also don't disagree with that. After all, they have said that they would kill you. I am just interested in the reason.”

”Well,” Gravis answered. ”To us, life is obviously more important than our so-called beliefs. Yes, lying or deceit would be bad for our cultivation, but as long as we stay alive, we can always recover. So, while they probably value their beliefs as much as their lives, I don't. Right now, they have only said that they are going to kill me. Yet, saying that and actually attempting it is a huge difference, in my opinion. If they only say it, they will lose their cultivation, but if they go through with it, they'll lose their lives.”

”Hmm,” Old Man Lightning hummed a little. ”That actually makes sense. Then, sure, go ahead. I'm also interested in how this will go down.”

Old Man Lightning and Gravis had been talking calmly for a couple of seconds while the earth cultivators remained still. ”I'm still waiting!” Gravis said.

”Attack and see what happens!” one of the Seed Stage cultivators said. In fact, that was precisely the disciple that stood directly in front of Gravis.

Gravis laughed a little. ”Alright! Don't mind if I do,” he said, and the shield wall shivered a little again.

Gravis slowly lifted his right leg. ”I am going to kick your shield now. No worries, you won't die. I'll do it very slowly, okay? You can counterattack whenever you want!”