Volume Eight: Shadows Looming
Rain Ripple City.
A light rain fell, enveloping the world. Luo Feng, alone and contemplative, left his cave abode.
"The more I understand, the more I realize how difficult it is to 'break free from the Cage '." Luo Feng thought to himself that his current goal was not to pursue a breakthrough in the Dao of Life-Death Path, but to comprehend the mysteries of those Primal Chaos Bloodline and how they were 'perfectly integrated and naturally formed'.
When things are perfectly integrated and naturally formed, one can completely break free from Cage and reach a new realm.
"I studied the 323 kinds of Primal Chaos Bloodline of the God Emperor Early-Stage five times before I temporarily put them down." Each new comprehension brought some gains. It's just that the gains became less and less as I progressed.
Luo Feng has been purchasing these Primal Chaos Bloodline for approximately 1500 years.
The majority of these 1500 epochs were spent comprehending the Primal Chaos Bloodline of the God Emperor Early-Stage.
He only recently began to comprehend the bloodline of the God Emperor Mid-Stage, and has only just comprehended the 34th type.
"Each type of God Emperor Mid-Stage Primal Chaos Bloodline brings me far greater gains. After comprehending thirty-four types in a row, I felt a stinging pain in my soul." For the past 1500 epochs, Luo Feng has been cultivating by consuming various auxiliary treasures, which has placed a great burden on his soul.
Only now are they beginning to rest.
"I can feel it..."
"Every piece of Primal Chaos Bloodline brings me one step closer to 'breaking free from the Cage.' I must thoroughly study these Primal Chaos Bloodline. I cannot rush it!"
Luo Feng cherishes these resources.
At this moment, Luo Feng had a feeling that as long as he spent some time and effort to carefully sort out and integrate the knowledge, it wouldn't be long before his Life-Death Path reached the 'God Emperor Late-Stage'. However, Luo Feng was not in a hurry.
The deeper one's accumulation, the more thorough one's understanding of the 'Life-Death Path', and the more stable one's path becomes.
There's no rush.
Once someone reaches the God Emperor Late-Stage of Life-Death Path, they are a level above the Three Hall Masters. Even in the Dark Holy World, they would be an incomparably dazzling powerhouse.
But now, I am already within reach of that level!
Luo Feng sometimes wondered if he really was a top genius.
Other Xing Zhe are stuck at a certain bottleneck and can never break through it.
By taking one step at a time, one can naturally break through to a higher level.
"Compared to other Xing Zhe, perhaps I can more directly grasp the essence of the Dao," Luo Feng thought. Luo Feng could directly see through and understand the core essence of many paths, while other Xing Zhe were merely circling around the periphery of the 'Great Dao'.
"I think many Xing Zhe are mediocre. Perhaps in the eyes of Senior Yuan and the others, someone like me is also mediocre," Luo Feng said with a smile.
A light rain was falling.
Luo Feng rarely takes a break from his spiritual practice, and has the leisure to appreciate the city.
"Hahaha, hahaha..." A mournful laugh came from afar.
Luo Feng turned his head to look.
Rain Ripple City covers a vast area. Beside a lake, an old man was drinking and laughing sadly. Luo Feng could clearly sense the sadness in his laughter.
"A God King Ultimate Realm?" Luo Feng saw through the old man's strength at a glance. Immediately, he concealed his own aura, barely reaching the level of a God Emperor.
Luo Feng walked over.
"Brother, why are you so sad?" Luo Feng took out a flask of wine and tossed it over.
The old man didn't mind, took the wine, took a sip, his eyes lit up, and he nodded. "The wine is good! I was just feeling a bit frustrated earlier, but I feel better now that I've laughed it off, hahaha..."
"Feeling frustrated?" Luo Feng looked at him.
"As a God King Ultimate Realm, I've been in Rain Ripple City for so long, doing odd jobs and paying for accommodation, cave abode rentals, and so on. It's taken hundreds of thousands of years, but I've finally saved up some money," the old man said. "I wanted to buy some pills to help me break through, and I did manage to buy them, but on the way back, I discovered that they were lost."
"The pills are lost?" Luo Feng realized.
God King Ultimate Realm wouldn't lose a treasure on their own. There's only one possibility—it was stolen.
I was also robbed when I first arrived in Rain Ripple City.
"We God King Ultimate Realm are too weak. We don't even realize when things are stolen from us," the old man sighed. "I didn't care when things were stolen from me in the past, but this time, it was a supplementary pill that I had painstakingly saved up to buy, and it's all gone in an instant."
"Too difficult, too difficult."
"Earning Primal Chaos Crystal is too difficult, life is too difficult, and cultivation is too difficult." The old man had mixed feelings.
But after taking a couple more sips of wine, the old man smiled again, "Although it's difficult, at least there's still hope for cultivation in Rain Ripple City."
"Yes, at least there is hope." Luo Feng nodded. Aren't all the Xing Zhe come to Rain Ripple City hoping to go further on the path of cultivation?
"Thank you for the fine wine, brother." The old man smiled and left.
The journey of spiritual practice must continue.
Luo Feng looked at the other person and said, "This is normal life at the bottom of Rain Ripple City."
When Di Fu and Emperor Lord Ming first arrived in Rain Ripple City, it was just like that; even finding the most ordinary job was difficult!
In Rain Ripple City, Xing Zhe at the bottom level make up the vast majority, numbering in the hundreds of millions! These hundreds of millions of Xing Zhe lack the strength to hunt Lowly Primal Chaos Lifeform, so they try to serve the powerful in order to earn a little bit of resources. They are still subject to theft and still have to pay for housing and cave abode dwelling rentals.
"Hmm?" The old man paused for a moment after leaving, then looked at the wine pot in his hand.
Inside the wine pot, however, there was an invisible force sealing it, concealing a piece of Primal Chaos Crystal.
This one piece of Primal Chaos Crystal is worth ten thousand Primal Chaos Crystal.
"Ten thousand Primal Chaos Crystal?" The old man turned around quickly. Luo Feng was no longer visible by the lake in the distance. He realized that the man from before was no ordinary being.
"Thank you, senior." The old man silently expressed his gratitude, not daring to make a big fuss, and immediately hurried quietly towards his cave abode. He dared not carry so many Primal Chaos Crystal with him.
Luo Feng walked through Rain Ripple City. Everywhere he looked, he saw Xing Zhe at the bottom level, most of Xing Zhe did not have stable jobs.
For many factions, a long-term, stable job is a huge burden. Even if it only provides 20 Primal Chaos Crystal per era, what about 10,000 eras? Or 1 million eras? Over time, the cost becomes terrifying.
Therefore, most factions have relatively few members with long-term, stable employment; most are short-term workers. They recruit more when things are busy, and don't need to recruit when things are quieter.
"Even so, those at the Xing Zhe level are the most vulnerable to theft." Luo Feng encountered several thieves on his journey, "Because they are poor, weak, and cannot afford the secret treasure 'Illusory World Maze'."
"Call."
A flying boat flew by in the distance.
Luo Feng could sense five Xing Zhe inside. Judging from their auras, they should all be at the ' God Emperor Early-Stage 'Enlightenment Seeker level! He guessed they had just returned from a hunt.
"In Rain Ripple City, even those Enlightenment Seeker have escaped the bottom ranks and become stronger, reaching the God Emperor Early-Stage... generally have to risk their lives to hunt."
"God Emperor Mid-Stage Enlightenment Seeker attained enlightenment are still mostly hunters. Only a few can occupy important positions in major powers."
Luo Feng thought to himself.
Take Emperor Qing, for example. As a God Emperor Mid-Stage Enlightenment Seeker, he only managed to get a good position in the Pill Pavilion because of Luo Feng's connections. Otherwise, with so many powerful individuals in the city, why would the Pavilion Master Chang Qing want him?
In the entire Rain Ripple City, very few people can be considered to have a comfortable life. More than 99% of them live a very difficult life.
"Even though it was so difficult, everyone still came."
"It's all for the sake of spiritual practice."
Luo Feng arrived at the 'Insect Nest' cave abode, one of the three major raiding forces.
Even from a great distance, the towering, enormous spherical creature could still be seen, its surface still bearing the faces of madmen, and its numerous holes allowed Xing Zhe to enter and exit.
"The Master of Insect Nest," Luo Feng said calmly.
Although he didn't rush to break through to the late stage of the Life-Death Path.
Even though he was in the middle stage of the Life-Death Path, and his life and destruction were both at the God Emperor Late-Stage, coupled with his long years of research on the Primal Chaos Bloodline, Luo Feng had accumulated too much knowledge and comprehended many Secret Method.
Luo Feng didn't pay much attention to the Three Hall Masters, so naturally he didn't care much about a Master of Insect Nest.
"The Infinite Primal Chaos Space contains a large number of Source World, and even more billions of Worlds." Luo Feng thought, "The Xing Zhe in different Worlds are different. Even without the Master of Insect Nest, the Master of Strange Workshop, the Myriad Shadow Pavilion Master ... there will still be many Xing Zhe steal and plunder."
They will stop at nothing to obtain resources.
This is true of every single one of the thirty-five cities in the Nine Rivers Holy World.
Even after Luo Feng became the city lord and forcibly disbanded the three factions, including the Insect Nest, theft and looting still persisted.
"Luo Feng has come to the outside of my cave abode and is staring at me?"
This enormous Insect Nest is the physical body of the Master of Insect Nest.
Luo Feng stared at the Insect Nest from outside the cave abode entrance, and the Master of Insect Nest naturally sensed it.
"I haven't acquired a suitable Mind Treasure yet," the Master of Insect Nest thought. "I can only be patient for now. Once I get my hands on the Mind Treasure, I'll make sure Luo Feng knows the price for provoking me!"
Suddenly, a telepathic message rang out within the Insect Nest—
"Master of Insect Nest, I'm right outside your cave abode watching your enormous body. Do you think you can't see me?" Luo Feng's voice came.
"Luo Feng— " The Master of Insect Nest was shocked and furious. He stared at Luo Feng and transmitted his voice, "You've gone too far."
"You went to the Pill Pavilion, which meant you attacked me directly. I came to your Insect Nest cave abode and said a few words. Is that going too far?" Luo Feng transmitted his voice with a laugh.
The Master of Insect Nest remained silent.
"You're much more timid than the rumors say." Seeing that the other party remained silent and didn't retaliate, Luo Feng didn't say anything more and immediately turned and left.
The Master of Insect Nest tolerated it.
"He dares to provoke us, he must have something to rely on." The Master of Insect Nest had a vague feeling, a feeling she had developed over her long life.
Luo Feng was strolling around Rain Ripple City.
Inside a very ordinary cave abode in the Rain Ripple City.
Two weak Xing Zhe met.
"Get ready, the King will be entering Rain Ripple City soon," a gaunt Xing Zhe transmitted telepathically.
"Is the King finally coming?" another elderly Xing Zhe exclaimed excitedly. "I'll mobilize my subordinates right away and have everyone get ready."
"Only the leaders know about the king's arrival," the gaunt Xing Zhe instructed. "Those below the leaders... must keep it a secret!"
"Don't worry, my men all think it's a routine infiltration and assassination. Infiltrating Rain Ripple City for assassinations is common practice," the old Xing Zhe replied. "Only I know the real plan."
The gaunt Xing Zhe nodded and transmitted his thoughts. "Be prepared and wait patiently! Once the King enters Rain Ripple City, he can communicate with our leaders telepathically."
The aged Xing Zhe looked forward to it with great anticipation. "We've waited too long. This time, we'll tear Rain Ripple City apart and devour Rain Ripple City hundreds of millions of Xing Zhe. Once we've devoured enough Xing Zhe, we'll have a chance to regain our freedom."
In the outside world, killing a Xing Zhe is very difficult.
Once Rain Ripple City is breached, hundreds of millions of Xing Zhe will be nothing more than food before us!
"Be patient, that day is coming soon." The gaunt Xing Zhe smiled slightly.