"After ten thousand years of bitter cultivation, it turned out to be nothing more than a livestock-raising scam laid out by the Heavenly Dao. We cultivators are ultimately its nourishment. This old man refuses to accept it—I cannot accept it!"
Xuan Gu Shang Ren's long sigh seemed like the sudden eruption of resentment accumulated over countless ages. The rolling sound waves shook the surrounding void until visible ripples spread through it.
His withered body trembled slightly with extreme fury. The baleful yin aura leaking from him surged like a raging sea, instantly corroding the spirit flowers and exotic plants around the pavilion until they withered and died.
This old monster, who had lived for an unknown number of years, was experiencing a violent upheaval in his Dao heart. Had his cultivation not already reached such a profound realm, he would likely have suffered a backlash from his inner demons at once.
Zhang Tie stood with his hands behind his back. Xuan Gu's aura, enough to make the souls of ordinary Mahayana cultivators tremble, dissipated silently like a clay ox entering the sea when it came within several yards of him.
His expression remained calm, though a trace of sympathetic melancholy flickered deep in his eyes.
At their level, they had believed themselves to stand at the peak of all living beings, moving pieces and laying plans, free and unrestrained between heaven and earth. Who would have thought that they themselves were merely ordinary chess pieces on a higher-level board?
"The strong devour the weak. That is simply how it has always been. Plants fight for sunlight, demon beasts fight for their lives, cultivators fight for opportunities—none are exempt. I simply never expected that the Heavenly Dao, which governs the myriad heavens and worlds in the dark, would also follow this