A World Worth Protecting

As Wang Baole basked in self-satisfaction, as Chen Mu and gang simmered in resentment, and as Li Wan’er fumed and threatened… the Five Generation Sky Clan, the Galactic Dusk Sect, as well as the Plume Manifestation Connate Sect received transmissions from their disciples. They found out what was happening in the new city and were instantly infuriated.

This was especially the case for the Five Generation Sky Clan, as an entire batch of their resources had been confiscated. They felt the pain of this extremely. In their anger, they reached out to the Federation President directly.

The Federation President seemed to view this matter seriously. He set up a special investigation team and even appointed the Martian Colony Governor as the team leader. They were to look into this matter specifically and conduct investigations.

It seemed like they were taking it seriously, but the Five Generation Sky Clan, the Galactic Dusk Sect, and the Plume Manifestation Connate Sect simply became more infuriated. They weren’t the young, naive brat-like Chen Mu. The three political forces didn’t lack intelligent people who were familiar with the rules of the Federation’s game; they had plenty of people who were equally conniving and experienced in the game of Federation politics. They knew that this superficially forceful stance that the Federation was displaying was often simply a front for them to shirk and dodge further responsibilities in the future!

It was indeed what they had guessed. As the leader of the investigation team, the Martian Colony Governor set an investigation period of two weeks and promised to give everyone an answer within the two weeks.

Chen Mu and his gang fell into deeper misery. They had suffered a lockdown for some time. Outsiders hadn’t been allowed entry, people inside weren’t allowed to leave, and all resources had been confiscated. The Galactic Dusk Sect and Plume Manifestation Connate Sect, having witnessed the situation, had their transport cruisers turn back mid-journey.

A large majority of their cultivators were almost at their wits’ end. If the situation were to persist for another two weeks, they would really be driven to the end of their ropes.

After all… most of them were at the Ancient Martial realm, the True Breath realm, and the Foundation Establishment realm. They weren’t like the Core Formation realm cultivators, who could survive without food or water. Wheat and rice were still necessities of life for them. Water was another necessity as well.

Mars had its own filtration and generation system for drinking water, but it required a lot of energy to keep on running. After the zones had been sealed in, they started to face problems of not having enough energy. This meant that they had to ration their drinking water.

The cultivators inside the three autonomous zones at the moment were all affiliated with the three political forces. Since the three zones hadn’t yet been fully constructed, residents unaffiliated with these political forces hadn’t migrated to the zones. As a result, Wang Baole was utterly unsympathetic as he messed around with Chen Mu and his gang.

The three autonomous zones could soon bear it no longer, and they started to vocalize their sufferings. Chen Mu and the other two mayors were panicking and frantic as well. Li Wan’er was unable to do anything though. As a result, the political forces they were affiliated with requested the Head Senator to step in and resolve this matter.

Even the Federation President and the Martian Colony Governor had to treat the Head Senator with due respect. When he stepped in, the Governor finally gave him an explanation for this matter.

“Wang Baole is fully responsible for the security of the new city. Even I’m not allowed to interfere!” Alongside her message was a set of documents that were delivered to the senator at the same time.

The documents had been the set that Wang Baole had submitted. They dealt with the situation of the wall’s erosion as well as his promised three-year timeline, which was the basis for his Military Warrant. The Head Senator fell silent after reading the documents. A moment later, his eyes started shining with a strange light. It was clear that this play of Wang Baole’s had made the Head Senator reassess Wang Baole seriously for the first time.

“Chen Mu is no match for him!” The senator released the information, the message from the Governor, and his own assessment regarding the entire fiasco to the Five Generation Sky Clan, the Galactic Dusk Sect, and the Plume Manifestation Connate Sect. Then, he withdrew from the dispute entirely.

He knew that with the information holding true and the Military Warrant in effect, as long as the wall continued to be worn down at the current pace, and unless Wang Baole shot himself in the foot, his position was secure.

After receiving the Head Senator’s reply, the Galactic Dusk Sect and Plume Manifestation Connate Sect immediately fell silent. The Galactic Dusk Sect was the swiftest in its reaction. It immediately contacted Wen Huai and told him to distance himself from Chen Mu. At the same time, he was to ally himself with Wang Baole. The sect knew their existing tensions with Wang Baole. In place of the Sect Lord, who was temporarily exiled in seclusion as punishment, the few elders temporarily taking charge of the sect did some research and decided to increase the quantity of resources they were providing Divine Armament New City.

At the same time, they also acknowledged and supported Wang Baole’s decision to consolidate all resources for reallocation under the temporary military rule.

Wen Huai’s autonomous zone didn’t require as many resources, so the reason for the excess in resources needed no further explanation. Such a move showed the Galactic Dusk Sect’s decisiveness and boldness. When Wen Huai received the message from his sect, he bit the bullet and sent a voice transmission to Wang Baole, explaining what his sect was going to do. Wang Baole was momentarily stunned.

The Galactic Dusk Sect is indeed something. Wang Baole narrowed his eyes. He was inwardly pleased with how the Galactic Dusk Sect was handling this matter. However, he felt that he could still try and get something more out of this. He coughed and sent Wen Huai a voice transmission.

“Wen Huai, the work in the new zone is overwhelming. You’re still young and growing, and I’m worried you can’t cope on your own.” Wang Baole hinted.

Wen Huai fell silent. He wasn’t a fool. He knew what Wang Baole was trying to say. In the past, he might have resisted violently, but now, seeing how his own sect yielded, he felt no shame in doing the same. He smiled wryly and said.

“I thank the City Lord for your understanding. Your humble subordinate indeed is overwhelmed with work. I’d like to request the City Lord to send an assistant over…”

Wang Baole was comforted by how well Wen Huai was playing along. He exchanged a few more words with Wen Huai, casually mentioning Liu Daobin. Wen Huai immediately caught on and took the initiative and proposed to get Liu Daobin over to serve in the capacity of the vice mayor. He would take care of all the administrative work for the transfer.

After ending the transmission, Wang Baole stood up and went to the window to gaze outside. He patted his tummy. He was extremely happy. He could clearly sense that he had slowly grown accustomed to his authority as a City Lord. He wielded his power with ease. He sent a voice transmission to Liu Daobin and instructed him briefly. Liu Daobin was beside himself with excitement and joy, his voice trembling.

“Don’t worry, City Lord. I, Liu Daobin, will watch the new zone closely. If anything bad happens, I will cut my own head off and bring it to you. I won’t disappoint the hopes the City Lord has placed in me!”

Wang Baole was extremely satisfied with Liu Daobin’s attitude. He spent some time instructing him further on the matter before ending the transmission. Liu Daobin was moved to tears and near sobbing at the end.

Wen Huai was indeed efficient as well. He took only a day to settle all the administrative matters. Liu Daobin was promoted without a hitch, rising to become Wen Huai’s vice mayor. It would be difficult to promote his Noble ranking within a short period of time, but there was no problem with him assuming his office.

Satisfied, Wang Baole instructed Lin Tianhao to end the lockdown for Wen Huai’s autonomous zone. The doors were opened, and Wen Huai was freed. Large quantities of resources began to flow in.

Wen Huai finally released a breath of relief. He made up his mind then. In the future, anyone who wanted to make trouble would have to do it alone. Unless it concerned matters of life and death, he, Wen Huai, wasn’t going to stand against Wang Baole.

Wen Huai’s betrayal angered Chen Mu tremendously, but he was powerless to do anything. Fang Jing, who had witnessed everything, also received instructions from her sect. Despite her unwillingness, she still yielded and chose to do what Wen Huai had done.

Wang Baole successfully resolved his tensions with two out of three autonomous zones. Only Chen Mu remained fighting. However, as time passed, the impact of the blockade intensified. Chen Mu’s autonomous zone was nearing complete depletion of food and other resources. Without any new resources flowing in, construction had ceased. The towering wall gave them immense psychological stress. It felt as if they were trapped in prison. Every one of Chen Mu’s Five Generation Sky Clan cultivators was repressed and depressed.

The Five Generation Sky Clan had no choice but to compromise in the end. Despite Chen Mu’s extreme unwillingness, he had no choice but to submit… and submit a request to the Martian administration. As for the contents of his request—it was to accept Divine Armament New City’s direct supervision from now on!

The battle that had gone on for two weeks finally ended with Chen Mu and the others’ admission of defeat and submission to Wang Baole. All cultivators in the new city had been following this matter closely during these two weeks. After witnessing how it had ended, everyone realized clearly that Wang Baole’s authority had remained unshaken. He was immovable.

After all, the Five Generation Sky Clan, the Galactic Dusk Sect, and the Plume Manifestation Connate Sect all had to compromise on this matter. That itself revealed all manners of problems.

Other political forces in the Federation had also been following this matter closely and with interest. It had been through this that all political forces in the Federation began to view Wang Baole with increased interest and greater seriousness.

Most importantly… since the beginning of this incident, Wang Baole had not made use of his connection with the four Dao Colleges. He had solved the entire matter on his own!

During the same period, in a region of the Federation unmarked on every map, was a place in the mountains where clear waters flowed. This place was a highly secretive location in the Federation. A cultivator wouldn’t be able to locate this place based on their spiritual senses.

Within the region was a pavilion. At present, the skies were colored orange by the sunset. The setting sun cast its last rays of light onto the top floor of the pavilion. Within sat a man in his middle ages. He was dressed in simple, old-fashioned, long-sleeved robes, and reading a letter he was holding in his hands by the light of the setting sun.

The man’s features were ordinary. However, if there had been anyone else in the room, they would have thought they were seeing things. It was as if this ordinary looking man was one with the entire heaven and earth. Looking at him was like seeing the laws of heaven and earth before oneself!

In this Spirit Inception Era, most people were already using jade slips. Few read letters like this man. He was reading the letter. A moment later, he set the letter down. Then, he raised his head and gazed into the distant sky, smiling faintly.

“Recommending him as a seedling candidate? So be it. Let’s monitor and assess the situation for a while.” Having said that, the man placed the letter on the last shelf of the bookshelf beside him.

There were three shelves on the bookshelf. There were three red letters on the top level, seven to eight blue letters on the second level, and on the last level were letters identical to the one he had in his hand—all seventeen of them!