Chapter 326: Refinement

Luo Feng was quite shocked: “At such a close distance, I actually didn’t notice anything at all?”

In terms of realm and investigative secret techniques, Luo Feng believed that he was already quite accomplished.

“I had purchased a secret treasure in the Dark Sacred Realm that conceals and hides my presence in advance. Only then could I evade the perception of the Transcendent Limit-Level Bewitching Heart Worm.” Hall Master Yuanxiang said solemnly. “Luo Feng, the situation is extremely severe now. That Transcendent Limit-Level Bewitching Heart Worm, together with a group of Leaders, is continuously assassinating the Elders! Quickly refine this ‘City Founder Seal.’”

A black seal appeared in Hall Master Yuanxiang’s hand.

Luo Feng’s heart trembled.

Killing Low-Rank Primordial Lifeforms could accumulate War Merits. With sufficient War Merits, one could exchange for items such as World-level Primordial Lifeform Materials, complete High-Rank Primordial Lifeform corpses, secret treasures, and heavenly treasures.

Even treasures comparable to the Star Tower or the Eye of Life and Death could be exchanged.

Among them, “city founding”, according to Luo Feng’s knowledge, required a full two million merits to exchange, allowing one to construct a stable city.

At the same time, the City Founder would also need to recruit enough Elders to jointly construct the city.

“Even according to the most common purchase price, one unit of War Merit equals ten thousand Primordial Crystals. Two million War Merits would require twenty billion Primordial Crystals. And moreover… it’s extremely difficult to acquire such a vast amount of War Merits.” Luo Feng felt that this City Founder Seal was far too scorching to hold.

Ordinarily, a City Founder would never hand the City Founder Seal to another cultivator.

“Don’t hesitate! While you hesitate, another Elder has already been killed.” Hall Master Yuanxiang urged. “Once the city falls and Rainlan City is slaughtered, everything will be lost.”

Hearing this, Luo Feng immediately reached out and accepted the black seal.

“Refine it quickly,” Hall Master Yuanxiang urged again.

Holding the black seal, Luo Feng immediately began refining it.

Seeing this, Hall Master Yuanxiang felt much more relaxed, as if a heavy burden had finally been lifted.

“Luo Feng.” Watching him refine the City Founder Seal, Hall Master Yuanxiang continued, “Throughout my path of cultivation, I even stood among the peak ranks within the Dark Sacred Realm. Over endless years, I accumulated vast amounts of War Merits and numerous treasures. But after my soul became contaminated… I had only one goal left—to let my mental will escape the prison cage!” 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

“Only by letting the mental will escape the prison cage can one ignore such contamination.”

“I founded this city because I wanted a different kind of cultivation life, hoping it might help my mental will.”

“Since Rainlan City was established, my mental contamination has only grown worse. Even maintaining the formations has become extremely difficult for me.” Hall Master Yuanxiang looked at Luo Feng. “But I have feelings for Rainlan City.”

“Only today have I finally found a successor. I believe you are far more suitable than I am to protect Rainlan City.” Hall Master Yuanxiang said. “I will continue controlling the formations until the Battle of Rainlan City completely ends. After that, I will fully step down. From then on, all my effort will be devoted to resisting the contamination.”

“Hall Master. On the path of cultivation, as long as one lives, there is hope,” Luo Feng said.

“You succeeded in refining it?” Hall Master Yuanxiang sensed it and revealed a joyful expression.

Luo Feng nodded slightly. “After refining the City Founder Seal, I can feel that I’m able to mobilize an enormous amount of energy from the entire Rainlan City to augment myself.”

“The City Lord, Hall Masters, and Elders can all mobilize the city’s energy. The only difference lies in the proportion they can command.” Hall Master Yuanxiang explained. “More than ninety-nine percent of my mental energy is currently spent resisting contamination. Even maintaining the formations is exhausting, so mobilizing the city’s energy is naturally even harder.”

After refining the City Founder Seal, Luo Feng naturally learned many secrets.

“Familiarize yourself with the City Founder Seal, and quickly deploy the formations that belong to you,” Hall Master Yuanxiang urged.

“I’ve already started,” Luo Feng said.

At this moment, he was under the effects of the Hundred Tribulations Heart Marrow. Even if he split off only a trace of his consciousness, his condition remained excellent.

…

After refining the City Founder Seal, a single thought of Luo Feng perfectly merged with the entire Rainlan City.

Rainlan City was essentially a fortress-like secret treasure! Within this treasure were countless intricate secret patterns, and it inherently contained many powerful formation diagrams. However, these formation diagrams were extremely complex, making them extraordinarily difficult to comprehend and control.

For example, the Star Swarm Grand Formation was one of the very few formation diagrams that the Elders of Rainlan City could operate.

“Humm.”

Rainlan City naturally absorbed endless Power of Heaven and Earth. Its energy was vast and boundless, and it also supplied the countless cultivators within the city.

As City Lord, Luo Feng could mobilize one-tenth of the city’s energy for his own use. However, this required extremely high realm comprehension and placed a tremendous burden on mental power.

If one was a Hall Master, the maximum they could mobilize was one-thousandth of the city’s energy.

If one was an Elder, the maximum was one-ten-thousandth.

“No wonder every Elder in Rainlan City manages a separate defensive system, and hundreds of defensive systems can cooperate perfectly.” Luo Feng discovered this while deploying his formation.

At the core formation layer of Rainlan City, there were one thousand blank layers.

Each blank layer did not interfere with the others.

The City Lord, Hall Masters, and Elders each selected one blank layer and freely deployed their own formations. No materials were required—once the formation was imprinted, Rainlan City itself would perfectly unleash the formation’s power.

“Because they personally deploy them, each Elder can operate their formation perfectly and with ease.” Luo Feng also rapidly deployed his own formation.

His accumulation in the Life-and-Death Path, Life, and Destruction was already unimaginably deep. His Life-and-Death Path was already extremely close to the Late-Stage God Emperor level. With such profound accumulation, the formation Luo Feng deployed was naturally vast and powerful.

“Throughout Rainlan City, the Hall Masters and Elders have deployed hundreds of formations. Among them, Hall Master Yuanxiang’s formation is unquestionably the strongest—stronger than even my formation right now.” After refining the City Founder Seal, Luo Feng, as City Lord, could observe every formation layer.

Hall Master Yuanxiang was ultimately a Seeker who had mastered two Half-Primordial Paths, and the formation he deployed far surpassed those of Hall Master Weiyang and Hall Master Gaitao.

However…

Hall Master Yuanxiang could no longer unleash the full power of his formation.

Such a vast formation required at least ten to twenty percent of his mental strength just to operate.

But the current Hall Master Yuanxiang could only unleash a small portion of its power! Compared with Hall Master Weiyang and Hall Master Gaitao, he no longer held any clear advantage. In fact, within the city’s God Emperor rankings, Hall Master Weiyang now ranked first.

“My contamination has already reached the limit. Those Leader-level mental-type Low-Rank Primordial Lifeforms would probably sense the terrifying contamination within me from just a single glance.” Hall Master Yuanxiang sighed.

At every moment now, he felt like a drowning man who might sink at any time. He was struggling desperately to endure.

His weakness had made Hall Master Weiyang prepare to seize the Authority of the City Founder.

His weakness had also caused the newly born Transcendent Limit-Level Bewitching Heart Worm to set its sights on Rainlan City, judging it to be the easiest city to conquer.

“The hundreds of millions of cultivators of Rainlan City…”

“I chose Luo Feng to be your City Lord. He is rising rapidly—far more suitable than I am.”

In a daze, Hall Master Yuanxiang saw once again the figure of that golden-scaled woman.

That High-Rank Primordial Lifeform had broken through before his very eyes, and her contamination had deeply infiltrated every part of his mind.

“The gap between us and High-Rank Primordial Lifeforms… is simply too great.” Hall Master Yuanxiang sighed inwardly.

Between God Emperors and High-Rank Primordial Lifeforms, there existed two entirely different levels of life.

No matter how many God Emperors there were—one hundred million, one hundred billion, or even one trillion—they would all be crushed to death with a single step by a High-Rank Primordial Lifeform.

Of course, within the Dark Sacred Realm, there were also some imprisoned High-Rank Primordial Lifeforms. These beings could not exert their power nor transmit contamination, allowing cultivators to observe, study, and even dissect them.

But if a High-Rank Primordial Lifeform was not imprisoned and could unleash its full power, then it was the nightmare of every God Emperor.

“Hmm?”

Hall Master Yuanxiang’s expression suddenly changed.

Now that he had given the City Founder Seal to Luo Feng, his authority had dropped. However, he had already left a backup measure—he still retained the authority of a Hall Master. He intended to leave completely only after the war ended.

With the authority of a Hall Master and the formations he personally controlled, Hall Master Yuanxiang could still perceive all movements inside and outside the city.

“Another Low-Rank Primordial Lifeform legion has arrived?” Hall Master Yuanxiang saw it clearly.

A vast and mighty legion had arrived outside the South City Gate.

Rumble!!!

The newly arrived legion launched various combined attacks, instantly increasing the pressure on Rainlan City.

…

“Yuan Yan! You’ve arrived!” Among the tightly surrounding Low-Rank Primordial Lifeform legions around Rainlan City, three terrifying auras were watching the newly arrived presence.

“I heard the operation was activated early. I rushed here with all my subordinates and finally arrived.” A black, winding figure resembling a mountain range spoke. Endless heat radiated from its body, and flames rose across its surface. “But the other Kings may not arrive so quickly.”

“This operation started rather hastily. However, Ying is already leading the Bewitching Heart Worm Clan and the Soul-Devouring Snake Clan to assassinate the Elders within the city. Rainlan City’s resistance is gradually weakening. At this rate, we should break the city soon.”

“It’s been a long time since we’ve breached a city.” The mountain-like figure stared at Rainlan City with burning eyes.

Outside the city, the four Kings and the massive army of Low-Rank Primordial Lifeforms were filled with killing intent. All of them longed for the moment the city would fall.

At that time, they would slaughter cultivators to their hearts’ content—evolving and gaining freedom.

…

“There’s another legion… and another King.” Hall Master Yuanxiang frowned. “The pressure is far too great. Meanwhile, the Elders inside the city are being killed one by one. So far, thirty-five Elders have already fallen.”

“The number of Elders keeps decreasing, while the attacks outside grow stronger.” Hall Master Yuanxiang looked at Luo Feng beside him. “Even with Luo Feng joining us, we won’t last much longer.”

This newly arrived legion alone required dozens of Elders’ formations to resist, completely offsetting the assistance Luo Feng brought.

“Although inside the city the Elders and other Elder-level powerhouses have formed teams to hunt the infiltrators everywhere, it only slows the worsening situation.”

“Most likely… we won’t last half a day.”

Hall Master Yuanxiang felt extremely anxious.

He had already done everything he could. But according to his judgment, Rainlan City would inevitably fall.

At this moment, while deploying his formation, Luo Feng also sensed the worsening situation inside and outside the city. Feeling the escalating crisis, he too grew anxious.

“It’s done.”

Finally, Luo Feng completely imprinted a vast Life-and-Death Grand Formation into the core formation layer of Rainlan City.