A World Worth Protecting

It would not have mattered if Wang Baole himself did not notice the tumbling scene. However, as he charged forward, he passed by a metal wall lining the path that could reflect his image. Zooming ahead, his gaze swept the area, and he stopped in his tracks instantly after noticing his reflection.

I’m still as slim and slender as before, huh?

It was apparent that his idea of ‘slimness’ differed from others’. Looking at his reflection on the metal wall now, he was full of jubilant emotions as he turned his body around, looking at it from all directions in satisfaction

This water pail is large, making me look fatter than I am. Regardless of that, I’m still so suave.

The number of students from the four major Dao Colleges seemed to have reduced drastically in number, and toward the end, he was alone.

At this depth, there were numerous odd objects on the ground and in the surrounding rooms. Some of them were broken fly-whisks, some were broken armor, and some were also dull metal pieces…

Besides those objects, Wang Baole also saw damaged bells and copious numbers of pill bottle fragments.

Why is everything broken?

Wang Baole was mildly exasperated. Along the way, everything that he saw was in pieces. Other than the pail he was hugging, nothing else was considered complete, and objects like plants, pills, and Dharma treasures seemed to be a mere dream..

Even if they are broken, I’ll take them!

Unwilling to give them up, Wang Baole felt that there could be something precious among the objects that he had yet to recognize. Therefore, he picked up a few of them and threw them into the pail before continuing forward.

A while later, when Wang Baole wanted to dash past a dimly lit fork in the road on the right of the passage, an eerie chill suddenly escaped from within the forked path. Thereafter, a black figure seemed to flash past at a fast speed.

“Who is it?” Wang Baole noticed the figure from the corner of his eyes and got a fright. He quickly took several steps back to take a closer look, but the side path was extremely quiet, and nothing seemed to have changed about it. It was as if the black figure from previously was just a figment of Wang Baole’s imagination from not taking a clear look.

In his suspicion, Wang Baole was about to retrieve a puppet to take a closer look, but right at that moment, in the dark side path, a light suddenly glowed from within, and the sound of heavy breathing and commotion spread quickly.

Wang Baole grew alert, focusing his attention as he looked on. Immediately, he realized that the glow came from the magnetic field that was surrounding a person. That person was dressed in Ethereal Dao College’s student robe, hugging a silver colored calabash.

“Zhuo Yifan!” Wang Baole shouted the moment he realized who was approaching him. At the same time, he noticed that the True Breath suppressive force that emanated from Zhuo Yifan, which was resisting the magnetic field, was not one from a seven-inch Spirit Root but an eight-inch one.

“Wang Baole!” The person flying past due to the resistance by the magnetic force enveloping him was indeed Zhuo Yifan. His face showed signs of regret and indignation, and he kept turning to look behind him. However, once he heard Wang Baole’s voice, he immediately turned back. After seeing Wang Baole clearly, he was momentarily surprised and began shouting at him as if having thought of something.

“Wang Baole, go over there right now! Zhao Yameng found an altar inside, and it’s filled with many treasures, even corpses!

“Quick! Many are snatching the treasures there!”

Zhuo Yifan could only manage to leave those words before the magnetic force dragged him past Wang Baole toward the exit before disappearing in sight.

Wang Baole’s eyes widened, revealing a brilliant glow, and his breathing hastened.

Corpses…

This word exhilarated Wang Baole the most. He knew that Zhuo Yifan was definitely not referring to people from Earth, which meant that the corpses were of the cultivation civilization, individuals who had followed the ancient greenish-bronze sword to the planet!

Compared to cultivation techniques, pills, and other lifeless objects, the corpses of people from cultivation civilization held greater meaning. To the current Federation, the significance was indescribable, and one could imagine that whoever was able to bring a corpse out for the four major Dao Colleges would have done an incredible deed that could not be described by words.

As Wang Baole’s mind buzzed with activity, he burst forward, rushing into the side path like a combat vehicle at top speed.

After Wang Baole left, the walls of the side path suddenly warped, and a black skull emerged from it. It looked as if a long time had passed in its rotting process, and only an empty skull remained. It looked toward the direction that Wang Baole was heading in before opening its mouth, revealing rows of sharp teeth, which were a mix of black and yellow, as well as a sticky thread connecting its upper and lower jaw.

Its gruesomeness would have sent chills down the spine of any observer.

It then turned before wriggling back into the wall. Vaguely, life seemed to be injected into the wall, with movements of flesh and blood spreading quickly from within.

No one could notice those changes. However, even though Wang Baole was moving at a high speed, he continually felt that chill that he had felt and the black figure that had flashed past were not figments of his imagination.

Therefore, he did not dare lower his guard despite charging forward.

So many people have come here before, and none of them mentioned anything about this place being dangerous, but that does not mean that I can be less alert!

With heightened alert, Wang Baole continued dashing through the fork road. A while later, he heard a loud boom and sounds of people quarreling from an area ahead.

“Zhao Yameng, Chen Mingyu, why are both of you still fighting? Zhuo Yifan has already been ejected, and the both of you are the only ones left from Ethereal Dao College!”

“Zhao Yameng, since you’re the one who discovered this place, you can take the calabash along with you. However, I will not let you take the corpse away!”

“Hmm? Someone’s coming!”

The instant Wang Baole heard those words, a crack appeared on the furthest wall that Wang Baole could see. It was about twenty feet wide, and a blue glow shone from within.

One could vaguely see that there were a few figures moving about and hear them battling each other. Then, one person rapidly neared the crack, as if wanting to block it.

Wang Baole’s eyes flashed, and rather than slowing down, he sped up. With a loud roar, he approached the crack directly, breaking the silence in the air.

He was too fast. As he neared, he took a clear look and saw that inside the crack was a burly, large-sized man dressed in White Deer Branch College’s robe. He was carrying a big shield almost the height of his body, directly blocking the crack. After sensing that Wang Baole was behind him, his pupils constricted, and he roared loudly.

“Scram!”

“You wish!” Wang Baole angrily replied even louder than the burly man. The moment he roared, he formed a fist with his raised right hand. Instantly, Spirit Qi from his surroundings was sucked in, and his glove exploded as he executed a punch!

The Spirit energy within his body also moved and integrated into the glove, causing the glove’s black glow to shimmer even brighter. His speed increased, and its power was also pushed to the extreme. He was like a shooting star, landing heavily on the burly man’s shield with a loud bang.

That was the force of the waves formed by the manipulation of the internal and external Spirit Qi, which far exceeded even that of the nine-inch Spirit Root. The moment it emerged, it was so loud that the earth shook. The large shield in front of the burly man was unable to withstand the force and immediately broke into pieces. Thereafter, the burly man from White Deer Branch College began to spew fresh, red blood from his mouth, screaming in pain as his body curled up, before scrambling hundreds of feet away.

The instant that the man retreated, Wang Baole’s figure emerged from within the crack, stepping into the area that was giving off the blue glow.

After taking a clear look around, Wang Baole’s mind buzzed, his pupils immediately constricted, and he held his breath.

The first thing that he noticed was that the area was oval-shaped, and a black mysterious fog covered a large area of the space, surrounding it in all directions.

Thankfully, the area was bright enough for him to see large canals in the ground. The canals crossed each other, appearing like an array formation!

Within the array formation stood an assembly of statues. Even though most of them were broken, their positions were still visible. They were all kneeling down, their facial expressions extremely devout as if they were praying. As for the direction they were kneeling toward…

A large pentagonal altar made of emerald jade stood in that direction. It had stairs leading up to it and was so large that it occupied more than half of the array formation. Of the entire oval-shaped area, it took up over thirty percent of the area.

Looking closely, there were nine flights of stairs leading up to the altar. There were formation inscriptions carved on every flight of stairs, and at the highest point of the altar, a long spear was floating in midair!

This long spear shimmered, and the spiral markings on it glowed. It seemed to be the only one of its kind in the world, emanating an impressive aura that would surprise one. It was an invaluable treasure!