Luo Feng was quite surprised; he hadn’t noticed it despite being so close.

In terms of cultivation realm and secret investigation techniques, Luo Feng considered himself quite accomplished.

“I bought a concealment treasure in the Dark Sacred Realm that allowed me to escape the detection of the Transcendence-level Mindworm!”

Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang solemnly stated, “Luo Feng, the situation is dire. That Transcendence-level Mindworm and a group of leaders are continuously attacking the Elders. Quickly refine this ‘City-Building Seal’!” A large black seal appeared in Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang’s hand.

Luo Feng’s heart jolted. Killing lower-tier Origin-realm beings could accumulate battle merits.

Sufficient battle merits could be exchanged for world-level Origin-realm life materials and the corpses of higher-tier Origin-realm beings!

“Secret treasures,” “rare wonders,” and more!

Even ultimate treasures comparable to the Star Tower or the Eye of Life and Death could be exchanged. Luo Feng knew that building a stable city required a City-Building Seal, which cost a full 2 million battle merits.

Furthermore, the city builder needed to attract enough Elders to help construct the city.

Even at the most common acquisition price of 10,000 Origin Crystals per battle merit, 2 million battle merits would cost 20 billion Origin Crystals!

Moreover, it was extremely difficult to acquire such a vast amount of battle merits.

Luo Feng felt this City-Building Seal was too hot to handle. A city builder would not simply give the City-Building Seal to another cultivator!

“Don’t hesitate! While you hesitate, more Elders are being killed!” Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang urged Luo Feng. “If Rain Mist City falls and is massacred, everything will be for naught.” Hearing this, Luo Feng immediately reached out and took the black seal.

“Refine it quickly!” Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang pressed.

Luo Feng held the black seal and began refining it.

Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang, watching nearby, felt a great weight lift from his shoulders.

Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang watched Luo Feng refine the City-Building Seal and said,

“Luo Feng, I have cultivated throughout my life, even reaching the pinnacle in the Dark Sacred Realm. Over countless ages, I’ve accumulated immense battle merits and numerous treasures. But after my soul became polluted… I had only one goal: for my spirit and will to break free from this cage!”

Only by freeing one’s spirit and will from the cage can one ignore this pollution!

“I bought this City-Building Seal hoping to change my cultivation life and that it might help my spirit and will.”

“Since Rain Mist City was established, my spiritual pollution has worsened, and I even struggle to sustain the formation arrays!”

Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang looked at Luo Feng. “But I have feelings for Rain Mist City. Only today have I found a successor! I believe you are far more suited than I am to protect this Rain Mist City,” Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang said.

“I will continue to control the formation arrays until this battle for Rain Mist City is completely over! After that, I will fully let go, and all my energy will be dedicated to fighting the pollution!”

“As long as one lives on the path of cultivation, there is hope!”

Luo Feng said, “You have successfully refined it.”

Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang noticed and showed delight.

Luo Feng nodded slightly. “After refining the City-Building Seal, I feel I can mobilize an incredibly vast energy from the entire Rain Mist City to augment myself!”

“The City Lord, Hall Masters, and Elders can all mobilize the city’s energy, but the proportion they can use differs!” Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang explained. “Over ninety percent of my mental energy is spent fighting the pollution. Even maintaining the formation arrays is strenuous, so mobilizing the city’s energy is naturally even harder.”

As Luo Feng refined the City-Building Seal, he naturally learned many hidden secrets.

“Familiarize yourself with the City-Building Seal and quickly set up your own formation array!” Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang urged.

“I’m already setting it up!”

Luo Feng was currently in a state enhanced by the Hundred Calamity Marrow. Even a slight diversion of thought would leave him in excellent condition. After refining the City-Building Seal, a single thought allowed him to perfectly merge with the entire Rain Mist City. Rain Mist City was a treasure akin to a fortress. Within this treasure, numerous complex mystic patterns were embedded, inherently carrying various powerful formation diagrams. However, these diagrams were incredibly intricate, making them extremely difficult to comprehend and utilize.

The Starfall Formation Diagram, for instance, was one of the very few formation diagrams that the Elders of Rain Mist City could control.

“Oom!”

Rain Mist City naturally absorbed boundless energy from heaven and earth. The city’s energy was vast and mighty,

supplying countless cultivators within the city.

As City Lord, Luo Feng could mobilize one-tenth of the city’s energy

for his own use, though this demanded a high cultivation realm and placed a heavy burden on his mental energy for the formations.

A Hall Master, at most, could only mobilize one two-thousandth of the city’s energy.

And an Elder could mobilize at most one ten-thousandth of the city’s energy.

No wonder each Elder’s hall in Rain Mist City managed a specific defensive system, allowing hundreds of defensive systems to perfectly coordinate. Luo Feng discovered this while setting up his formation array.

The core formation diagram of Rain Mist City had a thousand blank layers, and each layer did not interfere with the others.

City Lords, Hall Masters, and Elders each chose one “blank layer” where they could freely arrange formation arrays without requiring any materials. As long as the formation was inscribed, Rain Mist City could perfectly unleash its power.

Because they arranged them themselves, each Elder could perfectly and easily activate their formation arrays. Luo Feng was also setting his up rapidly.

His attainments in the Path of Life and Death, Life, and Destruction were incredibly profound, with the Path of Life and Death being on the verge of reaching the late Divine Emperor stage. With such deep accumulation, the formation arrays Luo Feng arranged were naturally immensely powerful and vast.

Throughout Rain Mist City, Hall Masters and Elders had arranged hundreds of formation arrays, but Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang’s array was undoubtedly the strongest.

“The formation array is even stronger now!”

After Luo Feng refined the City-Building Seal, as the City Lord, he could naturally see every layer of the formation arrays.

Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang, after all, was an enlightened one who had grasped two and a half Origin-tier paths.

The formation arrays he arranged far surpassed those of Hall Master Weiyang and Hall Master Gai.

However, Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang could no longer unleash the full power of his formation arrays.

To control such a massive formation array, Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang would need to expend at least ten to twenty percent of his mental energy.

Yet, at this moment, Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang could only display a fraction of his own formation array’s power, offering no advantage over Hall Master Weiyang or Hall Master Gai. In fact, among the Divine Emperors in the city, Hall Master Weiyang was even ranked first.

“My pollution has reached its limit. Even those leader-tier, mind-type lower-tier Origin-realm beings probably sense the terrifying pollution I bear with just a glance from afar!” Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang sighed.

Every moment now, he felt like a drowning person, seemingly on the verge of succumbing. He was struggling to hold on, and Hall Master Weiyang was already prepared to take over the City Builder’s authority.

His weakness also made the newly emerged Transcendence-level Mindworm target Rain Mist City, perceiving it as the easiest city to breach.

“The hundreds of millions of cultivators in Rain Mist City,

I have chosen Luo Feng as your City Lord. He is rapidly rising and is far more suitable than I am!” Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang vaguely saw the golden-scaled female being, a higher-tier Origin-realm life form who had broken through in front of him. Her pollution was deeply permeating every part of his mind.

“The gap between us and higher-tier Origin-realm beings is too vast!” Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang silently sighed.

Divine Emperors and higher-tier Origin-realm beings existed on two different planes of existence.

No matter how numerous Divine Emperors were—hundreds of millions, tens of billions, trillions… in front of a higher-tier Origin-realm being, they could all be instantly crushed with a single stomp!

Of course, in the Dark Sacred Realm, some imprisoned higher-tier Origin-realm beings could not exert their power or transmit any pollution. They were left for cultivators to observe, study, and even dissect.

However, if not imprisoned or restrained, a higher-tier Origin-realm being capable of normal exertion was every Divine Emperor’s nightmare! “Hmm?”

Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang’s expression suddenly changed. He had given the City-Building Seal to Luo Feng, which lowered his own authority. However, he had kept a trump card: a clone still held “Hall Master” authority. He would only completely depart after this war concluded.

Relying on his Hall Master authority and the formation arrays he controlled, Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang still understood all movements both inside and outside the city.

“Another legion of lower-tier Origin-realm beings has arrived!” Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang could see it. A vast, surging legion arrived outside the South City Gate.

With a rumbling sound, the newly arrived legion launched various coordinated attacks, significantly increasing the pressure on Rain Mist City.

“Yuan Yan, you’re here!”

Among the tightly encircling legions of lower-tier Origin-realm beings around Rain Mist City, there were also three terrifying presences at their core.

These terrifying presences were all remotely focused on the newly arrived entity.

“Knowing the operation started early, I rushed here with my demons, and we finally made it!”

A towering black serpentine figure, like a mountain range, emerged. This figure exuded endless heat, with flames rising and flickering across its body. However, the other kings would likely not arrive so quickly.

“This attack was launched hastily, but Shadow is leading the Mindworm clan and Soul-Devouring clan in an all-out assault on the Elders within the city. Rain Mist City’s resistance is slowly weakening. If this continues, I believe the city will soon fall!” “It’s been a long time since we breached a city!” The serpentine mountain-like figure gazed at Rain Mist City with fervent eyes.

The four kings outside the city and numerous lower-tier Origin-realm beings all radiated chilling killing intent. They yearned for the moment the city fell, when they could freely slaughter cultivators to gain evolution and freedom!

“Another legion, another king!” Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang frowned. “The pressure is immense, and Elders within the city are being killed one by one. So far, 35 Elders have been lost!”

“The number of Elders is constantly decreasing, and the attacks from outside the city are growing stronger!” Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang looked at Luo Feng beside him.

“Even with Luo Feng joining, it won’t last much longer!”

This new legion required the resistance of formation arrays from dozens of Elders, completely neutralizing the assistance Luo Feng could provide.

Although the Elders within the city and other Elder-level powerhouses had formed teams to intercept the infiltrators, this only slowed down the deterioration of the situation.

“I estimate it won’t last even half a day!”

Grand Hall Master Yuan Xiang was very anxious.

He had exhausted all options, but by his judgment, Rain Mist City was destined to fall.

At this moment, while setting up the array, Luo Feng also sensed the increasingly dire situation both inside and outside the city, making him anxious.

“It’s done!”

Finally, Luo Feng completely inscribed an intricate Grand Formation of Life and Death into the core formation layer of Rain Mist City.