A World Worth Protecting

“Such matters have to be reported to the college immediately. We’re not allowed to take action unilaterally. We have to do whatever the college commands!” Zhuo Yifan sucked in a deep breath. As a disciple of the Combat Pavilion who had carried out dozens of missions, he was more experienced in handling such unexpected happenings. As he spoke, he was already turning on his voice transmission ring and sending a message to the college.

Wang Baole’s expression was grave, and Zhao Yameng looked equally serious. However, the instant Zhuo Yifan started his transmission, a thunderous sound rang out suddenly from the distant sky.

Boom, the sound transformed into aural waves that swept outward in all directions, stirring invisible waves that shook the cruiser. For a moment, Wang Baole’s and the others’ breathing stilled. A bolt of lightning dashed across the sky, lighting up the sky, and split the heavens into two. At the same instant, it seemed to disrupt the transmission signal. In the same breath, Zhuo Yifan’s voice transmission ring exploded into pieces!

The voice transmission ring broke into pieces. It was as if the lightning bolt had not only disrupted the signal, but the force of its aural waves had traveled through the voice transmission ring as well. The voice transmission ring, unable to withstand the shockwaves, shattered instantly.

The sight sent their heads buzzing with white noise!

Everything happened too quickly. From Zhuo Yifan’s voice transmission to the roaring thunder, then the sudden lightning, followed by the shattering of Zhuo Yifan’s voice transmission ring—it all took place within the snap of the fingers!

The expression on Zhao Yameng’s face shifted, and Zhuo Yifan was stunned beyond belief. Wang Baole’s breath quickened, the look on his face severe. Waves of emotions rolled and boiled within him. However, he was the quickest to react. He immediately steered the cruiser and raced at full speed towards the distance where the loud thunderous explosion occurred.

Zhao Yameng and Zhuo Yifan weren’t ordinary people. Despite their shock, they quickly sent their Spirit Qi into the cruiser. The cruiser’s speed surged, and it bolted forward like the long arc of a rainbow.

Zhao Yameng turned her voice transmission ring on and tried to contact the college again, but her face soon turned pale. The voice transmission ring had malfunctioned!

As the cruiser charged forward, clouds began rolling and boiling over in the sky. It darkened all of a sudden, and a vast spread of thunder clouds appeared in the heavens. It spread rapidly outwards, the speed of which surpassed that of the cruiser, and it caught up in an instant and blanketed the cruiser!

From afar, the sight looked terrifying and awesome. The cruiser flew in mid-air, and above it, dark clouds rolled and rapidly took over the blue sky—even spreading past the cruiser and blanketing everything under the heavens!

The shadow it cast was so large it blanketed not only the whole of the Coulomb Basin but the vast surrounding lands as well. A dark mist started rising from the ground, and the clouds in the sky and the mist on land moved swiftly to meet in the middle!

It was like a seal closing off the land, transforming it into no man’s land!

The no man’s land was like hell, concealing the heavens and the Sword Sun, and bolts of lightning dashed from the skies and exploded thunderously!

Wang Baole and the rest had no time for fear, or to wonder the cause of such a horrifying event. They fused their entire cultivation into the cruiser and pushed its speed to the maximum, breaking the sound barrier and racing forward amid the clashing thunder and lightning on their heels!

Before them, the clouds descending from the sky and the mist rising from the land met rapidly. The space separating the two shrunk until only a narrow opening remained. That was the only way out!

“We need to go faster!” Wang Baole shouted, the veins in his forehead pulsing. Zhao Yameng’s face was deathly pale, and Zhuo Yifan’s forehead was beaded with perspiration. The three of them had released their full cultivation. The cruiser itself was of an extraordinary make, and with the full power of the three unleashed into it, it moved faster and faster.

From afar, one could see the dark clouds surrounding Wang Baole’s cruiser, and before them, a singular narrow opening that was shrinking quickly.

From the opening, one could see the white clouds and blue skies beyond!

At that instant, when it seemed as if the clouds and mist were about to seal the opening shut completely, the cruiser finally neared with full speed. It approached the rapidly closing opening and was about to dash out.

It was then… something suddenly happened again!

Sounds of chattering exploded from the ground, and the Coulomb Basin surged dozens of meters into the air. It was as if there was a giant snake roaring as it traveling swiftly underground in a straight line, then struck suddenly from below!

The three were shaken to the core by the speed of the attack. As the cruiser was about to dash out through the opening and escape the jaws of death… a deafening sound, louder than the roaring thunderbolts, rose from the earth.

As the sound rang out, the earth collapsed, and a gigantic creature appeared. It was not a giant snake, but a huge, awesome hand formed from a tree.

The tree-hand was like a towering, heaven-piercing tree. There were hundreds of cocoons protruding from it, and as the giant hand reached out, huge quantities of mud and earth splattered. Countless stones large and small as well as grass and trees were torn from the earth and sent flying through the air, crashing down.

The giant hand moved without pausing and, with an earth-shattering force, reached for the cruiser in the air where Wang Baole and the others were in—grabbing them in a single swipe!

It was too fast. Despite the cruiser traveling at maximum speed, it was unable to escape. It didn’t even have time to react. Wang Baole and his friends quaked in fear and shock as the giant tree-hand captured their cruiser!

The cruiser shook fiercely, and blood started dripping from their mouths. They were struck dumb.

“Evacuate!” Wang Baole thundered before leaping out of the cruiser without hesitation. Zhuo Yifan and Zhao Yameng dashed out almost at the same time as Wang Baole. They were all men and women of decisiveness, and they chose to immediately evacuate the cruiser at the critical moment. Zhuo Yifan and Zhao Yameng summoned their own cruisers in mid-air, while Wang Baole quickly pulled out the standard cruiser the college had given him after he had risen to Armament Soldier.

They threw in all they had. There was no time to communicate with one another, but everyone immediately dashed towards the opening before them.

However, in the span of the minor disruption, the narrow opening before them had closed before their eyes. The clouds and mist rolled over in waves, merged as one, and sealed the land shut!

There was an eeriness to the dimension. The dark mist seemed to cast out threads that looked like tentacles. They were frightening to look at. One could imagine the dangers that would befall him if he should approach them!

As the expressions on the three’s faces shifted, the giant tree-hand that had risen from the earth and caught the droplet-shaped cruiser suddenly let loose a chattering sound. The hundreds of cocoons protruding from its skin suddenly split open.

Exposed within… were human bodies!

There were not many cultivators amongst them. Most were of the Ancient Martial realm and dressed in different attires. There was a large group of them who wore the same uniforms and were obviously from a prominent establishment. As for the rest, they were all dressed differently. Amongst them was one who had on the student robes of the Lower Academy Island!

Another two… were the Combat Pavilion disciples who had traveled together with Wang Baole and the others!

They had their eyes shut, and their chests rose and fell; they were clearly not corpses. The aura exuding from them seemed normal, and one couldn’t find anything wrong with them. It was as if they had fallen into a deep sleep!

Wang Baole was once again shaken by the scene before him. The expression on his face was grave beyond measure as he stared at the cultivators with disbelief.

“They’re…” Zhuo Yifan was taken aback as well. Zhao Yameng’s breathing quickened, and her eyes revealed her shock. They realized immediately without having to think for too long…

The voice and video transmission with the two Combat Pavilion students had been fake. It had been created from some spell they weren’t aware of. Even the transmission the two Combat Pavilion disciples had received on the cruiser from the student reporting the latter’s secure status had been fake!

After knowing that, and after studying the contents of the voice transmissions, it wasn’t hard to conclude that the mastermind behind that didn’t intend to blow things up—perhaps he hadn’t originally intended to strike at them.

However, Zhuo Yifan’s voice transmission to the college would expose what he had been trying to keep under wraps. That was why he had decided to reveal himself and attack them… to silence them!

As the three of them stood stunned, the people within the cocoons who had their eyes shut suddenly opened their eyes. Their gazes were calm, and there was no sign of their mind being stolen from them. They were silent, but murderous intent shone in their eyes. They dashed out and charged straight at Wang Baole and his friends!

As they charged, the people who were originally at the Ancient Martial realm suddenly unleashed energy waves of True Breath realm from their bodies!

What was even more shocking was that they could actually fly here. There seemed to be a power that was in their sole possession, that gave them enhanced cultivation and, at the same time, allowed them to float in mid-air!

“An assimilation?” Zhao Yameng’s face was pale, and there was uncertainty in her voice.