"What are you doing here?" asked Byron with narrowed eyes. His whole casual, disdainful demeanor was gone, replaced with anger and seriousness.
The old man laughed slightly. "I've been with you for around three weeks. Couldn't you tell?" the old man said with a smile.
"So, you've been here all this time?" Byron asked. "Then why didn't you stop me from killing the Wind Sect Master?"
The old man smiled slightly. "You know that I don't interfere with politics, little Byron."
Byron's eyes narrowed even further. "I'm over 140 years old," he stated matter-of-factly.
The old man switched his walking cane to a different hand. Apparently, his current hand had gotten tired. "You'll always be little Byron, no matter how old you are." The old man then looked at the sky in remembrance. "I still remember the young boy that accompanied old Darkness. You were still a youngster back then. How long has it been since you and my little lightning bolt played?"
Byron gritted his teeth. "Are you mocking me?"
The old man coughed slightly, but with a smile. "Oh, little Byron, I don't have time to mock you. Life is precious, and mine is fleeting, at best. I'm going to take this kid with me. You go do whatever you want."
Byron was still solemn. He knew exactly how dangerous it was to let Gravis live. Gravis had an unprecedented cultivation speed and battle-strength. From his talks with Gravis, he also knew that Gravis would need less than a year to reach the Seed Stage. This meant that in a year, Gravis had the ability to fight him, though not defeat him. In another couple of years, when Gravis reached the Sapling Stage, Byron wouldn't have a chance anymore. He was sure of that.
"You can't protect yourself from Ancestor Darkness while protecting this kid. Don't make a mistake, old man," Byron said threateningly.
The old man laughed slightly. "Old Darkness isn't here right now."
Byron sneered. "How would you know? We, darkness cultivators, are the best at stealth."
The old man kept his calm as Gravis' body started floating due to his Spirit. "I know old Darkness, and he is too busy with other stuff. He won't waste his time here. You probably don't even have a method to contact him, even though you are the Sect Master. Old Darkness has always been a helpless introvert, always plotting in a dark corner playing with his knives," the old man narrated.
Byron still kept his solemn look, but inside, he was growing afraid. The old man was right. Ancestor Darkness wasn't here right now. Even if Byron could call him, he probably also wouldn't come. Ancestor Darkness never cared about such things. He only cared about becoming more powerful. He would probably even tell Byron that it was his own fault for provoking Old Man Lightning.
Whoosh!
One of Byron's rings glittered slightly, but no one noticed. The ring was inside his coat, which no Spirit could penetrate. As Byron moved to the side, his body vanished as a perfect afterimage remained. This afterimage even exuded the Spirit and aura of him. Not even the old man was able to see through this. After all, this was one of Byron's most powerful items.
It was still night, and Byron perfectly used the night to hide his presence. He didn't even use his Spirit as he kept himself perfectly hidden. As the Sect Master of the Darkness Sect, Byron was the supreme expert in stealth, only second to Ancestor Darkness. Slowly, he neared Gravis. Byron knew that he couldn't hurt old man lightning. The only thing that he could do was kill Gravis.
Clank, Thump!
Byron just shot forward from a one-meter distance when the end of the walking cane went between his legs and made him trip. This had happened so quickly and suddenly that Byron couldn't regain his balance and faceplanted. Meanwhile, Gravis just floated away a little to create some space for the faceplanting Byron.
"Be careful, little Byron," the old man said with concern. "Don't play too rough, or you will hurt yourself."
Byron spat out a mouthful of dirt, and his eyes exploded in rage. With all his power, he burst forward and charged at old man Lightning.
THWACK!
The head of the cane hit Byron's head, throwing him away. After over 20 meters of flying, Byron recovered. No blood was coming out of his forehead, but for some reason, it still hurt like hell. Byron touched his forehead and felt a small protrusion growing. This made Byron even angrier as he readied himself for another charge.
"I said, don't play rough, or…" said Old Man Lightning as his eyes suddenly narrowed. A powerful pressure assaulted Byron, making him unable to move. "Does grandpa have to slap a bitch?" Old Man Lightning said with a darker voice.
Byron took a deep breath. Old Man Lightning had always been kind, even to the enemies of the Lightning Sect. It had been such a long time that Byron had completely forgotten about Old Man Lightning's nickname, which he had when he was young.
'Lightning Tyrant,' Byron remembered.
In his youth, Old Man Lightning was a crazy individual. If one didn't know that he cultivated lightning, one would think that he was a madman from the Fire Sect. As soon as anyone said anything bad about anyone he cared about, Old Man Lightning went insane.
He even attacked the headquarters of other Sects directly. Of course, he didn't have the strength, at the time, to topple them, but he always managed to survive. Old Man Lightning had created an avalanche of headaches for his Sect Master when he was young.
Though, it was not only his Sect Master. Old man Lightning had been a headache for every single Sect when he was young, with no exceptions. That also included the Heaven Sect. He even had a two-digit kill-count against executioners of the Heaven Sect.
Every time he went insane and killed swathes of cultivators, the Heaven Sect would send executioners at him. Yet, Old Man Lightning always won. The Heaven Sect even sent executioners at the same Realm as him, with no success.
At some point, they started sending no more executioners. Sure, their priests could kill him, but then where would they put their face? Like this, they just let him do whatever he wanted as long as he didn't go completely overboard.
Byron sheathed his daggers and calmed down. There was no sense in throwing his life away. Gravis might be a danger to his life in the future, but if Byron continued attacking, he wouldn't even live to that day. On top of that, he had more important things to do. After all, he had achieved his goal of killing the Sect Master of the Wind Sect.
Without the Sect Master, most of the Formation Arrays of the Wind Sect didn't work anymore. Like this, Byron could sneak into the Wind Sect and assassinate the whole upper echelon. After that, the Darkness Sect would swoop in and annihilate the rest. With this, all the wealth and resources of the Wind Sect would belong to the Darkness Sect. With those resources, they could finally kill their enemies.
Byron looked at the severely injured elder of the Wind Sect and Manuel. The elder was barely clinging onto life, and Manuel had also been injured severely by Byron's slap. Byron narrowed his eyes as he planned his future course of action.
"You're in luck," Byron said to Manuel, who looked at Byron with a death stare. "Killing you now would alert the Wind Sect to what's coming. I'll let you stay alive for a couple more hours. Cherish the time," he said as he vanished into the darkness.
Manuel and the elder became panicked. With their Sect Master dead, no one was able to defend the Sect from Byron's attacks. Was their Wind Sect about to be annihilated?
"Esteemed Senior! Please wait!" shouted Manuel as he ran towards Old Man Lightning and kneeled on the floor with both his knees. "Please, save the Wind Sect! It's our home, and I will do anything you want! Please!" Manuel shouted with tears in his eyes.
Manuel had an incredibly powerful will, yet the possible demise of his home still made him cry. Manuel had grown up in the Wind Sect, and it was his home. It occupied the most important place inside his heart. He would do anything to protect it, even if it meant giving his own life.
Pat, pat.
Old man Lightning patted the head of Manuel with a smile. "I'm sorry, but I don't involve myself in politics," he said, destroying all hope in Manuel's mind, "but my little lightning bolt had already seen something like this coming when he heard that Gravis killed people from the Wind Sect. He is already inside the Wind Sect."
Manuel looked at Old Man Lightning with confusion. "Little lightning bolt?" he asked.
Old man Lightning laughed slightly. "The current Sect Master of the Lightning Sect," he said.
A heroic, blood-soaked figure with long silver hair appeared in Manuel's mind. The Lightning Monarch was being called little lightning bolt by this person? Who was this person?
Clank, clank!
The old man hit the floor twice with his cane, and he started floating on some lightning. This was the classic Lightning Movement that everyone used. Lightning also appeared around Gravis' body, but only for a short time. It quickly vanished as Gravis' body flopped to the ground. Old Man Lightning's eyes shone with interest when he saw that. In the end, he simply put the bloodied Gravis over his own back, like a little kid. Then, he shot into the distance.
"Nothing will happen to your Sect," came the voice of Old Man Lightning inside Manuel's mind.
Manuel was first shocked and then overjoyed. He kneeled deeper towards the direction of Old Man Lightning.
"Thank you, Senior!" he shouted with all his power.