**Science Fiction**

Inside an ordinary cave dwelling in the outer district of Yulan City.

“No, one of my larval worms has been discovered.” A cultivator inside the dwelling sensed it, feeling slightly perplexed. “How could this larval worm clone of mine be exposed?”

The Mind-Corrupting Worm clan is adept at disguise, infiltrating the souls of cultivators without detection by Yulan City’s many defense systems. Normally, the exposure of one clone wouldn’t affect others. “It seems I need to be more careful!” the cultivator thought, remaining in his dwelling.

Just moments later—

A streak of blood-red light instantly pierced through the formation of the ordinary cave dwelling in the outer district, sweeping past the cultivator.

The cultivator’s eyes widened in disbelief. The blood-red light coalesced into Luo Feng’s figure, who held a larval Mind-Corrupting Worm in his hand.

“These Mind-Corrupting Worms are cunning; they usually send larval worms into the city, while the queen worm might be hiding outside!”

Luo Feng frowned. Among the entities capable of infiltrating the city, the Mind-Corrupting Worm clan and the Soul-Devouring Serpent clan were indeed the most feared by cultivators.

As for the Void Wanderers, their appearances in the entire Nine Rivers Holy Realm were so rare that their threat was negligible. Boom!

Luo Feng’s clones, using the Eye of Bionic Annihilation, followed the threads of karma, hunting down the Mind-Corrupting Worm clones.

“This is bad.”

The cultivator could track his many clones.

As one clone after another was captured, the other clones panicked! A single Mind-Corrupting Worm could only produce nineteen larval worms in total, and each lost larval worm was a significant loss!

“Get out of the city quickly!”

At a gathering of cultivators, two individuals exchanged glances and unhesitatingly stood up to leave.

“Brother Xike, why are you two leaving so soon?” other cultivators at the gathering asked. “Urgent business!” the two cultivators replied casually, ready to depart.

Suddenly—

A streak of blood-red light instantly shot through the formation gate, flashing past and striking the two departing cultivators, who then collapsed helplessly. The blood-red light coalesced nearby into Luo Feng’s figure.

The other cultivators at the gathering saw the larval Mind-Corrupting Worm and recognized Luo Feng. “Brother Xike and his companion were actually controlled by Mind-Corrupting Worms?”

“The Mind-Corrupting Worms must have been targeting us, preparing to control us.”

A wave of fear swept through the group of cultivators.

“Thank you, Senior Luo Feng!”

The cultivators present, mostly at the God-Emperor initial enlightenment level, had intelligence on Luo Feng and knew him to be a powerful being who had overwhelmingly defeated Elder Tianhe and disregarded the worm nest. “Senior Luo Feng, I am Nan Fengyu!” a woman quickly spoke up. “Thank you, Senior Luo Feng, for saving our lives!”

Luo Feng glanced at the woman. She was one of the official sales members of the Pill Pavilion, whom he had naturally met several times.

Luo Feng nodded slightly.

Nan Fengyu was quite emotional.

Whoosh! Luo Feng instantly transformed into a streak of blood-red light and vanished.

“Mind-Corrupting Worms are incredibly difficult to track once they infiltrate Yulan City! Senior Luo Feng was actually able to pursue and eliminate them!”

The cultivators present were astonished. Being weaker, they couldn’t even detect traces of the Mind-Corrupting Worms face-to-face.

Against Mind-Corrupting Worms, they could only rely on their inherent secret art, “Corrupting Mind.” This was one reason cultivators placed such great importance on mental fortitude and willpower.

The stronger one’s mental fortitude, the greater their hope of resisting “Corrupting Mind.”

Inside an ordinary cave dwelling in the outer district.

A thin cultivator sat cross-legged. “What’s going on?”

The thin cultivator mentally contacted his companions.

“Our Mind-Corrupting Worm clan has twenty-five branches in the Nine Rivers Holy Realm, all gathered in Yulan City for this mission, which cannot fail. Why are ordinary members of the Mind-Corrupting Worm clan launching attacks now? Which branch did the attacking members come from?”

“They’re from my branch!” A voice responded, “According to the King’s orders, everything below the leader level must be kept secret! When I brought my kin to Yulan City this time, I only restrained my core clan members. As for the middle and lower-tier members, I merely told them to be more discreet, without giving too many specific instructions!”

“Jiuyu! The closer we get to the critical moment, the more we must all lie low and refrain from acting!”

“Occasional attacks by middle and low-tier members are normal for any cultivator city. If there’s a period… where the entire city truly experiences no covert attacks, that would be strange.”

Leader Jiuyu responded, “Alright, alright!”

The thin cultivator transmitted mentally, “Everyone must remember, if ordinary members are exposed, let them die honestly. Do not attempt to rescue companions, lest more be exposed!”

“Understood!”

“We know!”

“The King’s business is paramount!” each leader responded. Lower-tier Chaos Beings typically lived within the Nine Rivers Holy Realm. To hunt cultivators, they had formed thirty-five large branches based on the locations of the thirty-five cities in the Nine Rivers Holy Realm.

There was already a branch of Mind-Corrupting Worms in the vicinity of Yulan City.

Different branches were far apart and rarely contacted each other.

However, this time, at the King’s summons, all thirty-five branches of the Mind-Corrupting Worm clan in the Nine Rivers Holy Realm had answered. Each branch had sent at least half of its core strength, quietly gathering in Yulan City. The thin cultivator looked at an elderly cultivator approaching nearby.

“I received news that members of your Mind-Corrupting Worm clan have taken action,” the elderly cultivator asked, puzzled.

“It was unauthorized action by lower-tier members!” the thin cultivator transmitted mentally.

“The closer we get to the final moment, the less room there is for carelessness! This time, our entire Soul-Devouring Serpent clan from the Nine Rivers Holy Realm has committed over half its strength! And the Kings are also prepared, at all costs, to unite from inside and out, solely to completely obliterate Yulan City!”

The elderly cultivator transmitted mentally, “With such a huge investment, absolutely no mishaps can be allowed!”

“This was just a low-level attack, a minor incident, not worth mentioning! Occasional covert attacks are the norm in Yulan City.”

The thin cultivator used this same reasoning.

“If there haven’t been any attacks for a long time, the three Palace Lords of Yulan City would actually become suspicious!” “Alright, then! By the way, when exactly is the King arriving?”

The elderly cultivator pressed.

“Just be ready to act at any time!” the thin cultivator replied.

The elderly cultivator stopped asking.

…A red-robed cultivator stood there, watching a streak of blood-red light attack the cave dwelling from high in the sky, then flash and depart.

Despite their close proximity, Luo Feng did not detect anything amiss with the red-robed cultivator.

“According to intelligence, this cultivator is Luo Feng?” the red-robed cultivator observed. “His strength appears to be among the top twenty in Yulan City, but the only truly significant individual in the entire city is Palace Lord Weiyang!” The red-robed cultivator gazed distantly towards the city’s core.

“Palace Lord Yuanxiang’s injuries are worsening, so he probably won’t dare to act again! Lord Gaitao is wholly devoted to artifact refinement and is inherently extremely selfish!”

“Facing a large-scale siege, he would likely choose to flee at the first opportunity.”

The red-robed cultivator thought, “Although Palace Lord Weiyang is also selfish and ruthless, he has invested too much effort into Yulan City and now considers it his territory; he won’t give it up easily!”

“My first target is this Palace Lord Weiyang!”

“Eliminate him first.”

“Once Palace Lord Weiyang is dead, everything else will be much easier!” The red-robed cultivator strolled leisurely, utterly inconspicuous among the countless cultivators in Yulan City.

Luo Feng stood high in the sky, his various clones merging back into his body.

“I killed fifteen Mind-Corrupting Worm clones in total!”

Luo Feng mused, “All fifteen of these Mind-Corrupting Worm clones were larval clones. They must belong to two different Mind-Corrupting Worms!” “Killing these clones should have severely depleted the vitality of those two Mind-Corrupting Worms.”

Luo Feng found creatures with numerous clones similarly troublesome.

Just like powerful beings from the source world, they were incredibly difficult to kill completely.

Now, Luo Feng was facing a similar issue. Buzz!

Suddenly, waves of energy descended, enveloping the areas Luo Feng had previously attacked. Patrol teams from Yulan City also arrived, quickly beginning to apprehend large numbers of cultivators.

“According to Yulan City regulations: when a lower-tier Chaos Being stages a covert attack, a thorough screening must be conducted of the thousand cave dwellings surrounding their hidden residence, to prevent possession by other lower-tier Chaos Beings!” “Furthermore, according to Yulan City regulations: during the period of a lower-tier Chaos Being’s infiltration, all cultivators who knew them must also be thoroughly screened.”

“All cultivators must cooperate with the inspection; defiance will be met with immediate execution!”

The cultivators in various areas were somewhat bewildered, but upon hearing the patrol teams’ declaration, they all obediently complied. “If you knew the lower-tier Chaos Being during its infiltration, please cooperate with the screening!”

Patrol teams began apprehending cultivators from place to place. These cultivators were bewildered but dared not resist.

Apprehensions were happening everywhere.

Luo Feng watched all of this from afar.

“This is terrible!” They were told to cooperate with the inspection, but if they didn’t hand over a large sum of Chaos Crystals, they likely wouldn’t be released anytime soon!

“Who told them to get involved with infiltrating lower-tier Chaos Beings? Once you’re involved, you’ll be fleeced!”

Many cultivators quietly discussed.

This was also a common occurrence in Yulan City. Every time an infiltrator’s attack was discovered, such a screening would be conducted.

The members who were screened… even if they weren’t controlled, would be exploited layer by layer.

Suddenly, a patrol team approached Luo Feng. The team captain respectfully said, “Thank you, God-Emperor Luo Feng, for discovering fifteen Mind-Corrupting Worm clones and saving even more cultivators!” Luo Feng observed everything.

“Senior Luo Feng!” a female cultivator who had been apprehended in the distance cried out upon seeing Luo Feng. It was Nan Fengyu!

“God-Emperor Luo Feng, you know her!” the patrol team captain said.

Luo Feng nodded. “She’s a member of my Pill Pavilion. I can assure you, she hasn’t been possessed!” “If God-Emperor Luo Feng vouches for her, then there’s no problem!”

“Release her!”

The patrol team captain gave the order, and Nan Fengyu was released.

“Thank you, Senior Luo Feng!” Nan Fengyu repeatedly expressed her gratitude. Luo Feng nodded, but his mood was not good.

He had clearly been hunting the lower-tier Chaos Beings, the Mind-Corrupting Worms, yet now tens of thousands of cultivators were implicated, all facing screening and exploitation. It was incredibly difficult for ordinary cultivators to earn Chaos Crystals.

“Palace Lord Yuanxiang!”

Luo Feng immediately sent a message to Palace Lord Yuanxiang. “Hahaha, Luo Feng, how did you discover the Mind-Corrupting Worm clan, and even manage to find fifteen clones?” Palace Lord Yuanxiang responded, clearly delighted.

End of chapter.