Chapter 416: Emotional and Memory Impact

"The essence of 34 destructive forces lies before me." Luo Feng observed carefully. His main purpose in coming to the Abyss of Destruction was to accumulate insights into the Way of Destruction.

Before, he had personally experienced the world emissaries' siege, using it to ponder the mysteries of destructive power. But his own deductions might not be perfect, unlike now, where all mysteries were laid bare before him.

Although his accumulated insights into the Way of Destruction had reached the threshold for creating the Primordial Chaos Blade Way, the deeper his accumulation, the smoother the path to forging that blade way would be.

"These 34 light clusters, each contains all the mysteries of a type of destructive force!" Luo Feng was somewhat surprised. "And they encompass the Way of Destruction from the first to the nineteenth levels of the Abyss of Destruction. Could it be... could the entire Abyss of Destruction have exactly 34 levels?" Luo Feng couldn't help but speculate.

However, he didn't dwell on it, his mind more focused on these mysteries.

Luo Feng sat cross-legged, patiently observing and comprehending. Thirty epochs passed in the blink of an eye, and Luo Feng had grasped all these destructive mysteries in his mind.

"These patterns..." Luo Feng noticed how the 34 radiant lights converged, forming intricate patterns that covered the entire Mountain of Destruction.

These patterns seemed to integrate the mysteries of the 34 destructive forces, perfectly intertwining as if they were one. At this moment, Luo Feng was reminded of the life cores of primordial chaotic beings, which are formed with one primary mystery supported by multiple secondary mysteries, creating a complete entity.

"This looks more like a 'life core' path in the direction of destruction," Luo Feng dimly perceived. A life core centered on 'destruction' yet compatible with multiple mysteries, guided by the Mountain of Destruction, could theoretically allow one to uncover all 34 destructive forces and integrate them perfectly into a single entity.

Of course, this was the most ideal scenario.

This path was only suitable for Ancestors, not for cultivator Lords like them.

Luo Feng understood this. Ancestors were born with life cores, naturally conceived within the infinite primordial chaos, which allowed them to contain multiple mysteries.

Possessing a single mystery was very common, but cultivator Lords had to comprehend them on their own. It was already incredibly difficult to comprehend a path at the primordial chaos level.

"That's right!" Luo Feng mused thoughtfully.

Mysterious places could indeed birth some highest-level powers, but no matter how special, a mysterious place could not give birth to a path at the primordial chaos level.

For instance, the Wall of Fire Purgatory, a mysterious place, had been found to contain twelve types of the highest-level fire energy.

The Blood Crane Territory also contained three types of power: blood power, immortal power, and shadow power.

Without a doubt, all mysterious places could at most nurture the highest-level powers, but a "Path" was a collection of rules that one had to comprehend and forge on their own.

The boundless primordial chaos inherently had no primordial chaos-level paths; they only came into existence when later beings forged them.

Various powers, however, existed innately. From this perspective, Ancestors were more aligned with mysterious places, as both were born with "life cores."

"Some are even born as 'Ancestors'," Luo Feng mused.

"We cultivators, however, are not so aligned. We don't have life cores; we must forge our paths from nothing!

But once a path is forged, we immediately become beings of the highest level, undying and indestructible! If one masters two primordial chaos-level paths, they instantly ascend to the peak of the boundless primordial chaos!" Luo Feng still felt that cultivator Lords were more powerful.

Cultivators were the ones who climbed from the lowest rung, step by step, to the very top. The lowest-level cultivators were incredibly minuscule before lesser primordial chaotic beings, with countless casualties from a single breath.

Yet, the highest-level cultivators could overpower all Ancestors, even if Star-Glow and Sandboat had comparable combat strength.

However, Sandboat's greatest strength was destruction, while Star-Glow excelled in many more areas. Combining the ability to observe the past, present, and future with multi-layered control over space and time, Star-Glow was far superior to Sandboat.

"The fact that this Mountain of Destruction could draw me in means that I, a cultivator Lord, am also suited to be its master!" Luo Feng chuckled, rising to bypass the statues and take a good look around the entire Mountain of Destruction.

As long as he maintained a sufficient distance from the seven statues, he wouldn't provoke a fight.

"This Mountain of Destruction has quite a few weapons it has birthed!" Luo Feng bypassed the statues and gradually approached the Mountain of Destruction. The weapons impaled on the mountain became increasingly noticeable, and the scenery on the mountain grew clearer, revealing glimpses of twisted, massive trees.

Finally, Luo Feng arrived before the body of the Mountain of Destruction. At his current level, Luo Feng could not discern any practical use for the mountain's stone material. Its surface bore destructive patterns, and the aura from these patterns condensed into black mist. As an undying and indestructible being, Luo Feng naturally dared to attempt anything.

"Buzz!"

Luo Feng extended a hand and touched the mountain rock of the Mountain of Destruction.

"Buzz!!"

The moment his hand touched it, a cold killing intent instantly spread throughout Luo Feng's body, surging into his mind and consciousness. However, Luo Feng's spiritual will had been cultivated to an extremely powerful degree; even the combined soul attacks of Ancestor Nirvana and thousands of others had failed to shake him.

At this moment, this cold killing intent put immense pressure on Luo Feng's spiritual will, but he completely endured it. In this instant, Luo Feng felt an overwhelming amount of killing intent and hatred. Numerous scenes of slaughter emerged in his mind—innumerable instances of 'slaughter and destruction' that had occurred throughout the history of the boundless primordial chaos, each imbued with incredibly intense emotions.

Love, hatred, sorrow, joy—even primordial chaotic beings themselves harbored infinitely intense emotions.

Of course, most of these intense emotions originated from the beings within their respective 'source worlds.'

Every source world could proliferate countless lives, and most of these lives were short-lived. They experienced too many calamities, with innumerable beings among them enduring successive catastrophes unleashed by 'primordial chaotic beings.'

"Everything I had was destroyed by these primordial chaotic beings! Kill, kill, kill!" A cultivator wildly charged towards a world-level primordial chaotic being. A mere wisp of aura unleashed by a world-level primordial chaotic being was a catastrophe that countless lives in that source world could not resist.

Even the most powerful among them were merely entertainment for the world-level primordial chaotic being.

"You are quite brave to wave your hand at me." Then, that wisp of aura transformed into a distorted figure and devoured the cultivator.

"Why? Why can't we resist? Why can we only wait for death?" Even at the moment of death, that cultivator was filled with unwillingness. There were also loved ones and friends who embraced each other, facing the impending calamity together, imbued with immensely strong love and profound reluctance to part.

They truly couldn't bear to part, but what else could they do?

At this moment, an overwhelming, cold killing intent and countless scenes flooded Luo Feng's memory. Thirty percent of the killing intent came from primordial chaotic beings, while seventy percent belonged to countless cultivators from source worlds. These cultivators harbored an immense amount of hatred; they hated the vast disparity that left them powerless to resist, they hated their own weakness, and they hated the injustice of the Grand Dao.

"I am also a cultivator!"

"I am strong enough now; a world-level primordial chaotic being would only be courting death before me, and most Ancestors would have to flee in disarray!"

"But what can I do?" Luo Feng's spiritual will could withstand the impact of the Mountain of Destruction's killing intent.

However, these scenes, steeped in the most intense killing intent and hatred, somewhat agitated Luo Feng. Although he had previously witnessed the tragic state of many source worlds in non-cultivator territories, merely observing was fundamentally different from personally experiencing them.

At this moment, personally feeling those immensely intense emotions was like living through those scenes, which greatly stimulated a Lord.

Killing intent was barely concealed in Luo Feng's eyes.

"The Primordial Chaotic Being Faction, the Ice Peak Faction, and numerous weaker forces—as long as they are 'world-level primordial chaotic beings' or weaker 'Ancestors' among the primordial chaotic beings, the essence of source worlds is the best food for their life cores to grow!"

"If the eight Lords were to protect all source worlds, they would encounter far greater resistance than they do now!" Luo Feng understood this point.

"At that time, not only would we be unable to protect other source worlds, but even our current 3,600 world clusters might be implicated. Just as Elder Brother Yuan said, our cultivator faction is not yet strong enough." As Luo Feng touched the body of the Mountain of Destruction, the killing intent and memory scenes gradually dissipated, no longer assaulting his mind.

However, once experienced, a cultivator Lord would never forget.

Luo Feng naturally kept the boundless killing intent, hatred, and countless scenes he personally experienced from touching the Mountain of Destruction firmly in his heart.

"This Mountain of Destruction?"

As the impact subsided, Luo Feng touched the mountain again and perceived new information: precious 'Destruction Fruits' would condense on this Mountain of Destruction. These fruits could cause an Ancestor's life core to grow in a specific direction!

"For every statue defeated, one fruit can be obtained. The more statues defeated, the more Destruction Fruits one receives. Besides being consumed to promote the growth of a life core, Destruction Fruits can also be exchanged for treasures nurtured by the Mountain of Destruction."

According to the sensed information, he was eligible to take one Destruction Fruit, or he could choose not to take the fruit and instead exchange it for a treasure.

The treasures that could be exchanged for one fruit were even more precious than the Sky-Rending Blade, being exquisite items among the vast array of weapons and treasures nurtured within destruction, including battle armor.

"One fruit allows selection of one item from 3,000 treasures. This battle armor is very similar to Kavshu's!" Luo Feng discovered that piece of battle armor among the sensed treasure information.

"Kavshu must be one of the three who came to the Mountain of Destruction. This means... he didn't consume the fruit but chose to exchange it for this battle armor."

Luo Feng pondered thoughtfully.

He didn't have a life core, so even if he took a Destruction Fruit, he would have to sell it to other powerful beings.

From a strength perspective, Luo Feng still planned to exchange it for a suitable treasure.

"No rush. The more statues defeated, the more Destruction Fruits, and thus, better treasures can be exchanged." Luo Feng could sense that the Abyss of Destruction was guiding him, attempting to cultivate a truly powerful being in the direction of destruction.

Whether it was the patterns displayed by the Mountain of Destruction or the Destruction Fruits, both were guiding the growth of life cores in the direction of destruction.

"Based on these clues, the others who came to the Mountain of Destruction besides me must be Kavshu and Sandboat!" Luo Feng speculated. He believed Sandboat was the most likely, as she wielded only two highest-level powers but her destructive capability far surpassed that of the Boundless Serpent Ancestor, Ice Peak Ancestor, and others.

Currently occupying the 27th level of the Abyss of Destruction, Luo Feng had reason to suspect that Sandboat had been here, and possibly consumed a Destruction Fruit. Otherwise, how could her two powers combine so perfectly?

This Mountain of Destruction was indeed a great opportunity. However, it offered greater benefits to Ancestors. For Luo Feng, firstly, he could comprehend the mysteries of destruction; secondly, he could accumulate Destruction Fruits to exchange for sufficiently powerful weapons and treasures; and thirdly, these seven statues were also excellent opponents. If he fully defeated them, he could even hope to control this highest-level mysterious place.

"The first statue already possessed strength ranking among the top twenty in the boundless primordial chaos! Let's see the strength of this second statue!" Luo Feng laughed wildly. Finding no other immediate gains from the Mountain of Destruction, he proactively walked towards the seven distant statues. As he drew closer to them, the statues remained motionless.

However, the second statue, the 'Nine-Headed Great Serpent,' slowly began to awaken.

As the Nine-Headed Great Serpent awoke, its size rapidly increased. In what felt like a blink, its massive body even spanned the entire land where the Mountain of Destruction stood. Its winding serpentine form circled the ground more than once, and its nine heads stared fixedly at Luo Feng.

Its mere intangible might already surpassed that of the Boundless Serpent Ancestor.

Luo Feng frowned slightly. The second statue was already this strong. Could it be that Kavshu had only defeated the first statue?

At this moment, Luo Feng realized that the seven-tiered trial was far more difficult than he had initially anticipated.