Science Fiction

One of the buildings in the Pill Tower complex was exclusively Luo Feng’s.

As Luo Feng entered the quiet chamber, his body naturally split, creating a most powerful avatar to guard outside. This “most powerful avatar” carried two secret treasures: the Heart of Immortality and the World in Hand.

Having cultivated for a long time, Luo Feng’s energy reserves had grown increasingly deep, with ample reserves in both his cave mansion and the Pill Tower. “No interference is permitted while consuming the treasure.”

Inside the quiet chamber, Luo Feng sat cross-legged. With a flick of his hand, he instantly produced the Hundred Tribulations Marrow!

“Hundred Tribulations Marrow,” he thought. “I’ve never consumed such a wondrous item before!” Luo Feng was well aware of the treasure’s miraculous properties. According to intelligence, once consumed, the Hundred Tribulations Marrow would make one’s soul feel as if it were undergoing repeated trials of life and death, causing extreme pain. This agony stemmed from the soul’s thought processes and comprehension abilities being forcibly elevated to an incredibly high level, making the soul itself feel the burden of the pain!

“Bring it on!” Luo Feng declared. “I hope my Path of Life and Death can reach the late-stage God-Emperor level as quickly as possible—the faster, the better!” He opened the crystal casket and gently inhaled. The purple-gold liquid preserved within the crystal jade immediately flew into his mouth!

The cool sensation upon entry, coupled with the Hundred Tribulations Marrow’s utterly exquisite taste, made Luo Feng’s soul tremble with an intense desire to absorb it!

After entering his body, the Hundred Tribulations Marrow was swiftly absorbed by his soul. Immediately afterward, Luo Feng began to feel pain!

*Buzz!* His thought processes surged. In that moment, the information he could process each instant reached three thousand times his usual capacity! His comprehension also reached an extremely high level. However, this immense burden made his soul feel as if it were undergoing successive trials, hence the name “Hundred Tribulations.”

“According to my original plan, slowly comprehending and naturally breaking through with sufficient accumulation would be the best choice!” Luo Feng mused. “But that would mean watching hundreds of millions of cultivators die!” Luo Feng couldn’t do that! To coldly stand by and watch hundreds of millions of cultivators die, just for the sake of achieving the “optimal effect” in his cultivation? If he were a devil, he could calmly watch everything, perhaps even smiling as other cultivators perished! But Luo Feng, throughout his cultivation journey, would rather have imperfections in his practice than go against his conscience!

“Although I’ve consumed the treasure and hope to break through as soon as possible, once the war breaks out, given the speed at which cultivators fight against lower-level Hunyuan beings, the war will likely end within a single day!” He wondered, “Can I break through in one day?” Luo Feng had no certainty whatsoever! Even the most powerful auxiliary treasure couldn’t guarantee a breakthrough in just one day! “I’ll do my utmost; the rest I leave to fate!”

Luo Feng closed his eyes and began to fully comprehend the “Path of Life and Death”! His avatar, far away on Origin Continent, also used his Eye of Life and Death at this moment, observing the Hunyuan bloodline and thinking with all its might how to perfect it to the late-stage God-Emperor level!

While Luo Feng was in urgent seclusion, the Palace Masters and Elders of Yu Lan City fully controlled the array formations. Hundreds of formations worked in concert, resisting the attacks from outside the city!

“This time, our investigation of the city’s infiltrators forced the lower-level Hunyuan beings to launch their attack prematurely,” Palace Master Yuan Xiang transmitted to the Elders. “Their army outside the city isn’t very large, far from the limits Yu Lan City can withstand!” The controlling Elders were also well aware that an external full-frontal assault to break into Yu Lan City would require an immense amount of power. “Our greatest threat is this group of infiltrators!”

Palace Master Yuan Xiang transmitted, “Palace Master Gai Tao, lead the 92 Elders of the Myriad Star Formation in a joint effort to hunt down these infiltrators. The rest of us Elders will focus on blocking the external attacks!”

“Understood!” Palace Master Gai Tao immediately responded.

“We will cooperate with Palace Master Gai Tao!” At that moment, Palace Master Gai Tao and the 92 Elders disregarded the outside world. As they coordinated, brilliant stars emerged within the array formation above Yu Lan City. Each star possessed terrifying power, and their converged positions were directly above the King and his group of leaders!

The Transcendent-level Mind-Corrupting Worm and its group of leaders, after leaving Palace Master Wei Yang’s cave mansion, were now truly heading towards Palace Master Gai Tao’s cave mansion! This was because Palace Master Yuan Xiang’s soul had been corrupted, making him a very low threat! Once Palace Master Wei Yang and Palace Master Gai Tao were successively eliminated, the war would be largely won!

Palace Master Gai Tao’s eyes were icy. “Kill.” Although his array mastery was slightly inferior to Palace Master Wei Yang’s, as a grand master artificer, his skill in formations was still exceedingly brilliant. Under his command, the 92 Elders cooperated perfectly. Brilliant stars descended from high above, like meteors!

*Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.*

Each star, with exquisite precision, arced through the air and accurately locked onto the group of leader-level infiltrators! These stars avoided the “King,” primarily targeting the individual leaders!

“Hmm?” The King, and the 23 leaders gathered behind him, noticed the terrifying stars, which arrived in the blink of an eye.

“Block them!” The King even actively intervened, using its palms to continuously block six stars. The body it currently possessed was that of Palace Master Wei Yang, which was resilient and powerful enough to withstand six stars head-on. It was only wounded by the explosions, and the injuries were rapidly disappearing!

“Stop them!” the other leaders cried. “There are too many!” The other 23 leaders, though they tried their best to resist, found their defenses quickly crumbling under the barrage of hundreds of dense stars. They could only rely on their bodies to endure the impacts!

This Myriad Star Formation inherently had the effect of harming spiritual beings! As the dense multitude of stars crashed down, the King and all the leaders sustained injuries. One leader’s true body was even directly shattered and annihilated, dying on the spot!

“A leader has died!” This startled the other leaders!

“The external threat is too low, allowing Yu Lan City’s Elders to organize a grand formation against us!” The King also understood this. Out of over three hundred Elders in total, Palace Master Gai Tao was the only intact Palace Master left! This Myriad Star Formation, by deploying one Palace Master and 92 Elders, reduced Yu Lan City’s external defensive capabilities by at least half. Even with this reduced defense, it could still withstand the external onslaught. If everything had gone according to plan, with the external army reaching its peak strength and launching a frantic siege, the Elders would only be able to use individual formations to ambush the infiltrators, making the infiltrators’ movements far too easy!

“All infiltrators in the city, commence action!” The King’s distant command resonated in the minds of every concealed lower-level Hunyuan being within the city. “According to the plan… individually ambush the Elders!”

“Yes.” “Yes.” Responses came from all over the city!

Immediately, the Mind-Corrupting Worm clan and the Ghost-Devouring Serpent clan, roughly half of their core members across all thirty-five branches of the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm, were fully mobilized! There were 35 descendants at the late-stage God-Emperor level. Including their true bodies and avatars, these core members possessed thousands of cultivators. Additionally, there were hundreds of avatars of the leaders! As for the mid-to-lower-level members, unaware of the operational plan, their true bodies had not entered the city; only their avatars had. These mid-to-lower-level members were naturally even more fearless of death!

Kill! Infiltrator teams erupted across the city. At a glance, there were tens of thousands of cultivators, making the Elders in charge of Yu Lan City’s defense system grave-faced!

“Our team’s mission is to kill Elder Qiu Ge!” Ten leader avatars, one late-stage God-Emperor true body, and hundreds of avatars formed a team, rushing directly towards Elder Qiu Ge’s cave mansion, which was the closest to them! They had been lurking there precisely because of its proximity to Elder Qiu Ge! “Our team’s mission is to kill Elder Tian He!” Another infiltrator team, also comprising ten leaders and their avatars!

The leadership of these infiltrator teams fell into two categories! One type was led by ten leaders and their avatars, aiming to kill a specific Elder! The other type was intentionally misleading to the outside world, consisting of teams of mid-to-lower-level clan members! From superficial observation alone, the Elders found it difficult to distinguish which teams were strong and which were weak! After all, these members were all possessing cultivators’ bodies!

“Palace Master Gai Tao, immediately use the Myriad Star Formation to simultaneously strike every infiltrator team!” Palace Master Yuan Xiang immediately ordered!

“Yes!” Palace Master Gai Tao and all the Elders responded!

*Rumble!*

High above Yu Lan City, tens of thousands of dense stars immediately condensed. As their numbers increased, the power of each star sharply decreased!

“Kill!” Palace Master Gai Tao and the 92 Elders radiated chilling killing intent!

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!* Like a meteor shower, tens of thousands of stars separately assaulted each team. The teams composed of mid-to-lower-level clans meant to mislead the outside world suffered heavy casualties under the star attacks. A single wave of assault wiped out more than half of them, while the elite teams led by multiple leader avatars were able to withstand these star attacks!

Palace Master Gai Tao expressionlessly maneuvered the Myriad Star Formation, launching a second wave of attacks! Under the second wave of attacks, the mid-to-lower-level clan teams were completely decimated. Only 39 elite teams remained intact! “Everyone, the rest is up to you!”

Palace Master Gai Tao suddenly transmitted to the Elders, “I, Gai Tao, have been refining artifacts in Yu Lan City until now, but today I must depart!”

“What?!” “Gai Tao!” The many Elders, currently fully engaged in combat, were all somewhat shocked! “How can you do this?!”

“Brother Gai Tao, you are also a powerhouse from the Origin World. This is merely an avatar. At worst, it’s a bloody battle to the death. As a Palace Master, how can you flee at such a critical moment?” Another Elder pleaded, “Gai Tao!” The Elders grew frantic!

Palace Master Gai Tao was too important. In an external battle, one Palace Master was worth twenty to thirty Elders! But at this critical juncture, Palace Master Gai Tao’s role was even greater. With his withdrawal, Yu Lan City’s defensive and combat capabilities would drastically decline!

“You’ve seen clearly, haven’t you?” Gai Tao transmitted. “The Transcendent-level infiltrator, leading over 20 true bodies of leaders, is heading straight for my cave mansion and will be here soon. I, Gai Tao, have been dedicated to artifact refinement in Yu Lan City, seeking no resources, no benefits! Since I haven’t taken these advantages, I naturally don’t need to fight to the death for Yu Lan City!” He continued, “I am refining artifacts here; a vast number of weapons and secret treasures must not be damaged! My years in Yu Lan City, I owe Yu Lan City nothing!”

*Whoosh!* When the King, leading over 20 leaders, was only ten-odd breaths away from Gai Tao’s cave mansion, Palace Master Gai Tao, carrying the large quantity of weapons and secret treasures he had painstakingly refined, boarded a boat-like vessel and instantly shot into the sky! As a Palace Master, the high-altitude array formations did not intercept him. His vessel instantly burst out of Yu Lan City! The moment it left the city, the vessel vanished instantly, reappearing hundreds of millions of kilometers away. Clearly, Palace Master Gai Tao had used an escape treasure at any cost. Within the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm, spatial teleportation was almost impossible, but as a grand master artificer, he had long ago purchased escape treasures in the Dark Sacred Realm!

“Hm?” Among the lower-level Hunyuan life army outside the city, a blue and white figure distantly observed the direction of Palace Master Gai Tao’s escape!

“Shadow, do I need to pursue Palace Master Gai Tao?” the blue and white figure transmitted.

“No need to mind him. With him gone, things will be much easier for us!” The King, in the guise of Palace Master Wei Yang, looked up and smiled. Gai Tao also had several avatars; pursuing him for escape or resistance would be very difficult for the infiltrators!

“However, Palace Master Gai Tao’s cave mansion was also a vital artifact-refining hub. Palace Master Gai Tao had led a group of Elders in long-term artifact refinement here, and many weapons and secret treasures were located within!” The King mused, “Given Gai Tao’s character, he might not care about his avatars, but he definitely wouldn’t abandon his weapons and secret treasures! It’s just as I expected. Very smooth. With a little pressure, he actively fled!” The King smiled slightly: “Next, it’s time to find Palace Master Yuan Xiang!”

At this moment, Palace Master Yuan Xiang and the over three hundred Elders of Yu Lan City felt a chill in their hearts! And rightly so! Palace Master Gai Tao’s desertion during battle had too great an impact! Of the three Palace Masters, one was dead, one had fled, leaving only Palace Master Yuan Xiang!

“Has it come to this?” Palace Master Yuan Xiang was well aware of his own condition. His mental energy was currently primarily focused on resisting the corruption, barely allowing him to manipulate the arrays! But to fight against a Transcendent-level lower-level Hunyuan being was simply impossible!

End of chapter.