An immense force rolled outward with a shrill cry, shaking loose a shower of gravel from the stone chamber. It pierced the cliff face and rang across the sky, startling a flock of birds with only Qi Refining Stage strength as they flew past. They wobbled in midair, nearly losing control of their flight, then flapped their wings and fled in blind panic. One particularly unlucky bird slammed into the cliff and fell.
This was the pressure of a higher realm, and the instinctive fear the weak felt toward the strong. When Lei Dong had first joined the sect, his master, Myriad Ghost Ancestor, had merely glanced at him, yet Lei Dong had been so terrified that his face turned deathly pale. He had trembled and broken into a cold sweat. Though decades had passed, he still remembered that scene with perfect clarity. It was probably one reason he had kept striving to grow stronger. In this dangerous world, where the powerful could do as they pleased, whether the weak survived depended entirely on the strong's mood. It was a truly miserable state of affairs.
That shrill cry had also let Lei Dong vent all the insecurity and pent-up frustration he had carried for years. His spirits soared. Thinking it over, people really could triumph over fate. With his aptitude, reaching Foundation Establishment Realm should have been a cause for gratitude to the gods. Yet, thanks to one opportunity after another and his own relentless struggle, in less than fifty years he had gone from a green young man to a Golden Core Stage powerhouse. He still hadn't surpassed an astonishing talent like Tantai Bingyun, but what he had achieved was nevertheless a rare feat, one few could match. Who knew how many ambitious young talents in this world had