Are you playing on the normal or fast mode?
It shouldnt be that hard on normal... about the time it get for you to lose, it is a design choice.
For example, you can use the time monsters are beating up your base to get stronger and kill them faster(specially if you are in a clutch), until later stages it takes a while for your base to get destroyed so you have time to do a clutch saving, monks can help with that as well.
About the brutality, the cultivation world is brutal, if you lag behind its just a matter of time until it breaks you.
But if you can manage to do the right thing you can overcome and become a god(thats not even exagerating lmao)