Lightning Is the Only Way

"You can release him, Senior. We have everything under control," one of the guards said to Gravis with a polite bow.

Gravis nodded.

The thief stopped attacking as the monsters disappeared from his vision.

For a second, he was confused, but when he saw the ten guards standing above him, he gritted his teeth in frustration and hate.

"I'll forget this transgression as long as you let me go! I'll warn you, my master is-"

SHING! BANG!

The armor of the guards started to shine with Formation Arrays, and one of the guards shot forward with incredible speed and kicked the thief in the face.

Gravis' eyebrows lifted with surprise.

That was really fast!

However, when Gravis saw the armor, he realized that the armor had the ability to combine the powers of several people into one person. In essence, this one guard now had the Energy and physical power of ten Immortal Emperors. That was how he had become so fast.

"We don't care," the guard said with a stern voice. "Comply or die!"

The thief's face had been kicked in, making his face unrecognizable, but it quickly healed in a second.

"My master-"

BANG!

Another kick. "We don't care. Comply or die!"

"My-"

BANG!

"Comply or die!"

The guards obviously didn't care about the master of the thief.

This time, the thief said nothing. He only glared at the guards with hatred.

"Why do you think that no Peak Sect has ever tried to take control of the city?" the guard asked with disdain. "We don't care who your master is. He could be the Sect Master from a Peak Sect, and we wouldn't care."

"Comply or die!"

Did the guards truly not care about the master of the thief?

No.

Why?

Because this city had a powerful ruler. No matter who came, they could only talk with the ruler of the city, not use force.

Well, technically, the ruler of the city wasn't the official ruler, but she was the unofficial ruler.

Who was it?

The Economistress.

The Economistress had the power to rival weaker Divine Gods, which didn't make her the equal of the Sect Masters of Peak Sects, but she didn't have to be so powerful.

If someone arrived that could kill the Economistress, her husband would get involved.

Therefore, it really didn't matter who the master of the thief was.

"I will destroy the fruits!" the thief threatened.

BANG!

Another kick to the face. "Comply or die! Don't test my patience!"

Rage exploded in the thief's heart, but he could only grit his broken teeth for now.

They would all regret this!

The thief summoned the fruits and glared at Gravis with hatred.

"You'll regret this," he said with a venomous tone to Gravis.

Gravis checked the fruit and noticed that all of them were present and undamaged. Then, he nodded at the guards with confirmation that everything was fine.

"Take him to the mines," the leading guard ordered.

The other guards surrounded the thief and activated a Formation Array that sucked all the Energy out of the thief and the area surrounding him. At the same time, the Formation Array also deactivated all the Laws below the seventh level in the area, making it impossible for the thief to do anything.

If the thief knew a level seven Law, the warning device would have also warned them about the thief. Because of that, they knew that the thief didn't know a level seven Law.

This world was very different from any other world.

This world had a foundation of 50 billion years, and all the organizations had developed terrifying means of stopping powerful Cultivators. These guards were specialized in taking out everyone below the Star God Realm, no matter how powerful they were.

If someone at the Star God Realm appeared, their superiors would make a move.

If someone more powerful than their superiors arrived, their leaders would make a move.

If someone more powerful than their leaders arrived, the Economistress would make a move.

If someone more powerful than the Economistress arrived, her husband would make a move.

If someone more powerful than the Economistress' husband arrived, everyone would die.

The leading guard went over to Gravis and bowed politely again.

SHING!

50,000 God Stones appeared in front of Gravis. "This is half of what the thief is worth. Please accept it as a reward."

Gravis nodded and pocketed the God Stones. "Thank you for your help. Everything's fine."

The guard nodded and left after politely bidding his farewell.

Why did the guards give such a huge reward to the victim of the theft? After all, the victim got all their stolen goods back, and the thief would be punished.

The reason was encouragement.

The guards and Opposer City earned a ton of money by taking in criminals. The criminals would be sent to the mines to mine God Stones. This meant that every criminal made the city richer.

By encouraging the members of the city with this fat bounty, they created bait. Several Cultivators living in the city walked around with insanely expensive items just to bait thieves. As soon as the thieves stole from these people, the guards would arrive and reward the "victim".

Several Cultivators had become insanely rich by doing that.

Of course, earning money this way depended on luck.

Another question was, how did the criminals mine God Stones? After all, at some point, the mine should be emptied out.

Well, the criminals weren't strictly miners. They would be placed at the core of the God Stone mine, and they would be forced to gather Energy and infuse it into the God Stone mine, making it grow.

A Peak Immortal Emperor would be released when they managed to grow 100,000 God Stones, which would generally take them 100,000 years.

This meant that every Peak Immortal Emperor would be imprisoned for 100,000 years, unable to comprehend any Laws.

What if their longevity ran out?

Someone from The Heaven Company would arrive and inform the guards in the mines about an upcoming tribulation, and the miner would be let go to undergo tribulation. If the miner died during tribulation, the city would take enough from the miner's belongings until their debt was repaid. The remainder would be left for the person that killed them.

Because of that, if someone was chosen to fight a miner in a tribulation, they generally considered that bad luck.

After all, an Ancestral God from Opposer City would overlook the fight, and they would assure that everything went according to policy.

If the fighter disagreed, Opposer city would get another miner.

They just had to eat it up.

Sucks to be you!

As the guard left, Gravis only smiled.

"That was a good catch," Jake commented. "The thief will probably be bailed out by his master, allowing the city to earn a ton of money from him without needing to guard him."

Then, Jake looked at Gravis with concern. "However, he probably believes that you deliberately baited him. After all, he probably thinks that you are a Star God, not a Peak Immortal Emperor. If you were a Star God, he would have felt your power, which would have stopped him from stealing from you. He probably thinks that you deliberately hid your strength to bait him into stealing, essentially making him feel like he's the victim."

"His master might come after you, and we don't know who his master is," Jake said with worry.

Gravis only smirked, unworried. "So? This just makes it more interesting. I can probably earn even more money by killing whoever they send. Do you think his master is an Ancestral God?"

"Probably," Jake said, "but I doubt that they will come themselves. They will probably send out a Star God to gather information about you. After they realize that you are a Peak Immortal Emperor, they will probably directly take action against you."

Gravis' smirk widened. "Then, everything's fine. As long as no Ancestral God arrives, everything's fine. Do you think an Ancestral God will arrive after the Star Gods are dead?"

Jake was surprised by Gravis' confidence. It sounded like Gravis believed himself to be the most powerful Star God in the world. "No, an Ancestral God won't arrive. Heaven cares about everyone in the Star God Realm and higher for a reason. A completely one-sided slaughter is not allowed as long as someone doesn't have a very good reason."

"However, you have to be careful. If the Star Gods take the initiative to hurt you, you can fight back without any issues, but if you take the initiative, this will be a sufficient reason for the Ancestral God to kill you. This means you can't take the initiative this time."

Gravis scratched his chin with a frown.

"Sounds boring," he said. "I think I want a bit more excitement."

Jake looked at Gravis' smirk with unease.