Chapter 334: The Hardships of Cultivation

The four Transcendent Limit Existences exchanged glances.

If they wanted to survive, they could only let the legions under their command share part of the burden!

“Four legions—if they focus solely on escaping and do not harm the cultivators, then Luo Feng, working together with the Heaven-and-Earth Formation, will likely defeat us one by one and wipe out all four of us.” The four Transcendent Limit Existences understood this very clearly.

Four against one, yet they were already at a disadvantage—and that was before the formation had been fully established.

With the formation’s support, even if all four of them focused entirely on survival, they would not be able to hold out for long.

“Once the four great legions begin slaughtering cultivators, their destructive power will far exceed ours. It will force Luo Feng to go save those cultivators.” They clearly understood the mindset of their legions.

……

Within the four legions, the God Emperor Perfection-level members were all leaders of various branches. This time, seeing hope of breaching the city, they had followed the various ‘Kings’.

“The moment we entered the city, I already wanted to slaughter! But the King forced us to first destroy the Core Region, and now we’ve ended up defeated!”

“We’ve held back for so long—kill, let’s kill to our heart’s content! Perhaps if we slaughter enough cultivators, we can regain our freedom!”

“We’ll slaughter while retreating, but our retreat speed will likely drop by thirty to forty percent! The casualties may be extremely severe!”

“The King ordering us to slaughter is clearly to make us draw the attention of those cultivators!”

“We’ve always struggled to survive in the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm. Now that freedom is within reach, why not fight for it?”

“In this lifetime, we may never again have the chance to breach a cultivator city! If we don’t slaughter now, we’ll regret it!”

These God Emperor Perfection-level beings communicated through their wills at incredible speed.

Within a single breath, all the God Emperor Perfection-level leaders across the four legions unified their decision.

They all chose… to slaughter while escaping!

Although it would affect their escape speed, it also brought a chance at ‘freedom’! Even if they could not regain freedom, their bloodlines might still advance further!

In truth, from the moment they first entered the city, these legions had already wanted to slaughter. But at that time, under the King’s orders, not a moment could be wasted—they had to destroy the Core Region as quickly as possible, even aiming to completely eliminate Luo Feng’s clones.

Only later did the situation continuously change, leading to the current outcome.

At this moment, after long-suppressed frustration, the four great legions—under slight guidance from the four Transcendent Limit Existences—all chose the same path!

“Retreat!”

“Withdraw!”

All four legions fled toward the nearest route out of the city.

However, as the vast army retreated, they suddenly dropped in flight altitude. At the same time, they split their focus to unleash collective attacks. Lightning, various flames, black winds, curse attacks, and deadly poisons descended—these forces broke through the obstruction of the black-cyan mist and forcibly swept across numerous nearby Cave Dwellings below!

Luo Feng’s Heaven-and-Earth Formation suppressed and eroded across a wide area. But when these armies concentrated their power at a single point, they could naturally shatter the black-cyan mist.

“Ah—”

“No!”

The cultivators within those Cave Dwellings had already been anxiously watching the battle in the sky. When they saw a massive Low-Rank Primordial Lifeform Legion directly above them, they were filled with tension.

But when the power truly swept down, what remained in their hearts was only despair.

The black-cyan mist struggled to block it, but could only withstand part of the force. The remaining terrifying power still swept over them.

“On the path of cultivation, there are countless tribulations. Cultivators fight and slaughter one another, face bottlenecks in comprehending the Origin Path, and encounter constant danger when hunting Low-Rank Primordial Lifeforms… And now, a calamity has descended from the heavens—a great army has breached the city…”

A middle-aged man sat there, looking up as the overwhelming power descended.

He was a cultivator who had risen from billions of worlds, possessing no clone—this was his True Body.

“But this path of cultivation… is too captivating.”

A smile appeared on his face.

From the lowest level of a weak world, he had encountered cultivation and became obsessed with it. He trained his body, refined his mind, practiced swordsmanship… continuously evolving, learning more, even living longer than an entire cycle of his home world.

He had traveled to other worlds, entered higher realms, constantly absorbing more knowledge and strengthening himself.

“On this path, I, Cang Yu, have no regrets!”

Under the terrifying power, the middle-aged man was instantly reduced to dust. Even at the moment he turned to ash, he faced it with a smile.

Boom——

Across the many Cave Dwellings struck by the power, all cultivators perished.

At this moment, throughout Rainlan City, the four legions retreated simultaneously. While fleeing, they also split off part of their power to begin slaughtering! Their various abilities ensured that these cultivators had no chance of escape.

Every cultivator who could reach the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm had a life story that could be called legendary!

Yet now, before this calamity, they were all annihilated one by one.

Such was the path of cultivation! 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Beyond conflicts and slaughter among fellow cultivators, beyond bottlenecks in one’s own cultivation, there could also be overwhelming external catastrophes!

For example, an entire Source World being devoured; a Sacred Realm completely destroyed; even entire world clusters dedicated to nurturing God Emperors being wiped out… Before such calamities, individuals were powerless.

……

“The four Low-Rank Primordial Lifeform Legions have begun slaughtering.” The Elders’ expressions changed as they watched.

As City Lord, Luo Feng clearly sensed everything happening throughout the city.

At the moment the city was breached, Luo Feng had already anticipated this scene.

If the Rainlan City Defensive System had intercepted all Low-Rank Primordial Lifeform Legions outside, the losses within the city would have been negligible.

But the city had been breached!

The Low-Rank Primordial Lifeform army had entered the city. Once slaughter began, cultivators would naturally die in large numbers.

Previously, the Low-Rank Primordial Lifeforms had aimed for victory, rushing to reach the Core Region as quickly as possible. But now, everything had changed!

“Elders, go all out and suppress the four legions,” Luo Feng ordered from afar.

“Yes!”

Nearly two hundred Elders each deployed their formations, coordinating with Luo Feng’s Heaven-and-Earth Formation to suppress the four legions together! This forced the legions to divert more power toward self-defense, leaving less available for slaughter.

“Whoosh!”

Luo Feng’s strongest clone no longer paid attention to the four Transcendent Limit Existences and instead rushed toward the nearest legion.

“This Luo Feng is no longer dealing with us.”

“His other clones have arrived.”

The four Transcendent Limit Existences immediately saw that Luo Feng’s other clones, stationed at the Core Region, were moving through the gaps of heaven and earth—ten clones in total—charging toward them.

Although Luo Feng’s ordinary clones were weaker than Transcendent Limit Existences, with the formation’s support, ten clones were enough to restrain the four of them.

“Retreat.”

“Quickly retreat.”

The four Transcendent Limit Existences did not hesitate and immediately joined forces to flee.

Luo Feng did not press too aggressively. If these four chose mutual destruction and also began slaughtering wildly, the casualties among cultivators would be even more severe.

……

This legion had over 600 God Emperor Perfection-level members, more than 8,000 Late-Stage God Emperor members, and additional weaker Low-Rank Primordial Lifeforms. While resisting Luo Feng’s Heaven-and-Earth Formation and the Elders’ formations, they also split their power to slaughter.

“Whoosh——”

Suddenly!

From within the black-cyan mist, without any warning, a super-gigantic furry claw appeared. Its terrifying power instantly pierced through the legion’s layered defenses!

“Not good!” The legion members were both shocked and enraged.

After piercing the Protective Layer, the super-gigantic claw swept through large numbers of Late-Stage God Emperors and some God Emperor Perfection members, instantly causing heavy casualties.

“Repel it!”

“It’s Luo Feng’s claw-type Secret Treasure—drive it back!”

While moving, the legion suppressed and repelled the super-gigantic claw.

“Maintain protection over the entire legion.”

More layers of defense were immediately established, tightly safeguarding the entire legion.

They quickly assessed the damage from that strike.

“19 leader-level members have died, and 126 core clan members have been killed.” The entire legion became unsettled. Their layered defenses had originally been meant to resist formations.

But now, that super-gigantic claw specifically targeted a single point for assassination!

It must be known that the explosive power of Luo Feng’s strongest clone surpassed even the four Transcendent Limit Existences. In an instant, the power he unleashed was comparable to the combined strike of over a hundred God Emperor Perfection experts!

“Luo Feng is too powerful. It’s impossible for our entire legion to withstand his attacks everywhere—this simply cannot be done.”

“And he has formation support!”

Under the combined assault of the Heaven-and-Earth Formation and nearly two hundred Elder formations, they were already under immense pressure. Moreover, Luo Feng concealed his presence and used the formations to obscure himself, making it impossible for the legion to determine his position.

“Whoosh——”

Another claw strike tore in from the middle of the legion, killing over a hundred more members!

The legion was mainly composed of leader-level and core members. After all, most had rushed over from other regions of the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm, and mid- and lower-rank clan members had not been extensively mobilized.

“Whoosh.” “Whoosh.” “Whoosh.”

The super-gigantic claw struck unpredictably from different positions within the black-cyan mist.

“We can’t locate him!”

“He’s everywhere!”

The entire legion fell into panic.

In reality, Luo Feng’s strongest clone had transformed into an endless Blood Sea, merging with the Heaven-and-Earth Formation and covering more than half of the legion’s area. Due to its vast range, even through causal sensing, it felt as though Luo Feng was everywhere nearby!

“Run, run, run!”

“Quickly escape!”

Under repeated attacks from the super-gigantic claw, the legion could no longer spare any effort to slaughter cultivators and immediately began a frantic escape.

They fled at full speed, layering endless power for protection.

But how could their escape speed compare to Luo Feng’s pursuit?

Luo Feng struck several more times.

“In total, over 200 God Emperor Perfection members and 1,500 Late-Stage God Emperors have been killed.” Luo Feng stopped. If he continued, with the help of formations, he could completely annihilate this legion—leaving none alive.

However—

While he dealt with this legion, the other three legions were still slaughtering cultivators!

“Whoosh.”

Luo Feng’s strongest clone moved through the gaps of heaven and earth, heading toward another legion.

“Luo Feng has stopped attacking us.” This heavily weakened legion noticed the disappearance of the super-gigantic claw. But after losing one-third of their strength, they felt only fear.

Even while resisting the Heaven-and-Earth Formation and Elder formations, members were dying constantly.

“We can’t draw Luo Feng’s attention again. If he comes once more, we’re finished.”

“Quickly.” After suffering more than a dozen claw strikes, the legion no longer harbored any illusions and fled at full speed.

……

“Hahaha, we escaped, we escaped!”

The four Transcendent Limit Existences rushed out of Rainlan City, escaping the range of Luo Feng’s Heaven-and-Earth Formation and the Elders’ formations.

Outside the city, there had originally been some troops preventing cultivators from escaping. But with the defeat, those Low-Rank Primordial Lifeform forces had already collapsed and fled.

“Fortunately, the four legions are slaughtering. Luo Feng can only go deal with them.” Even after leaving Rainlan City, the four Transcendent Limit Existences did not slow down. They continued fleeing at full speed, and once far enough, they split up to escape separately.

Concealing their auras and scattering.

They moved farther and farther away from Rainlan City, intending to completely leave this region and escape to other areas of the Nine Rivers Sacred Realm.

“Escape?”

On the city wall stood four Luo Fengs, each with a Simulated Eye of Life and Death on his forehead.

“You think you can escape?”

Luo Feng’s four clones kept a sufficient distance from the four Transcendent Limit Existences, tracking them using the Simulated Eye of Life and Death, trailing them from afar!

These four Transcendent Limit Existences—once the legions within the city were dealt with, Luo Feng would naturally settle accounts with them one by one!