A World Worth Protecting

We have to get out of here, fast! Alarm rose within Wang Baole. The intense danger made his breathing quicken, and he had no time for the others. He sped off into the distance in a blur.

Everyone around him was the same. They scattered and attempted to dash out of the area surrounded by Moon Gu, dispersing from their previous clustered formation swiftly.

Even though they could have allied themselves while staying close to one another, the Moon Gu would spurt out a black corrosive liquid across a wide area. If they stuck to close to one another, someone would inevitably get hit and might die. It was better to scatter and rely on their dexterity and agility and attempt to avoid all attacks to the best of their ability.

They could also have united their forces and mounted an attack on the swarm of Moon Gu. However… the feasibility of the strategy relied on no other bizarre or strange occurrences taking them by surprise during the attack, as well as the number of Moon Gu remaining the same.

In reality, something had already occurred in the Mystic Luna Realm. In the distance, deep underground, many more Moon Gu were headed their way swiftly, from all directions.

The rolling and quaking of the earth all around them was a terrifying sight to bear. Even a Foundation Establishment realm cultivator would have chosen to flee instead of fighting to their death.

The rumbling sounds of the sound barrier being broken resounded in the air multiple times. Everyone hastily pulled out their Numinous Treasures, cast their spells, and fled for their lives.

Wang Baole hurriedly did the same. His physical body was of the Foundation Establishment realm. He could have exterminated the whole lot of them if there had been fewer Moon Gu, but there were just too many of them. He was left with no choice but to escape as quickly as he could. He was like an arrow shooting off a bow. With a deafening explosion, he charged out of the surrounded area.

Fortunately, while the Moon Gu were many, they appeared to be at the third and fourth levels of the True Breath realm. As long as one didn’t get trapped or cornered, it wasn’t difficult for the cultivators from the four Dao Colleges, determined to make their escape, to get away from the monsters.

Unless one was truly unfortunate, the black corrosive liquid was generally an attack that could be easily dodged. The few hundred cultivators soon made their way out of the ambush. Twenty or so of them perished in their attempts to escape, but the rest had fled. They were all panting heavily as they watched Moon Gu continue to crawl out from underground, roaring ferociously. They had escaped and survived the first ambush though, which gave them hope and made their feet swifter.

Wang Baole was the same. He turned his head around as he ran, and saw Zhuo Yifan, Zhao Yameng, Chen Yutong and many other familiar people who escaped the Moon Gu closing in. He let loose a sigh of relief secretly and was about to continue running.

It was then, when hope was burning in Wang Baole’s and every one of the four Dao Colleges’ disciples’ hearts, that calamity struck again!

A low growling rumble, louder than thunder, suddenly exploded in the sky above the crimson wood seal!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Three deafening explosions shook the earth and nearly shattered the heavens. The ground splintered and exploded. The series of explosions created aura waves that rippled and spread across the entire Mystic Luna Realm. Every single person within the Mystic Luna Realm, regardless of where they were, was at that instant deafened and dazed. Nearly half of them had blood seeping from their lips.

The Moon Gu seemed alarmed and cowed as well. The monsters trembled and seemed to be on the verge of bending their bodies in half in a deep cowering bow.

The young master of the Trilunaris Corporation had been reclining comfortably on his sedan. He was also startled. As his breath quickened, his guards stood around him protectively, on high alert.

Over at the Galactic Dusk Sect and Plume Manifestation Connate Sect, many showed varying degrees of fear and shock. The same happened for the Five Generation Sky Clan as well as the seventeen-member Senate. In an instant, the sudden thunder had alarmed everyone scattered across the entire Mystic Luna Realm.

As the thunder rumbled, numerous large inscriptions appeared above the array formation in the skies. There were more than a hundred of them, each one enormous and looming over various parts of the realm, covering the entire sky of the Mystic Luna Realm.

Lifting one’s head skyward, regardless of where they were, they would see the terrifying inscription looming over him!

The heavens above the disciples from the four Dao Colleges were as such. The gigantic inscriptions had appeared suddenly, and they started sparkling.

As they sparkled, Wang Baole felt a tremendous weight pressing down on his head. The feeling was indescribable. It was the descent of the hundreds of inscriptions onto the earth, blanketing the vast Mystic Luna Realm!

The nearly ten thousand cultivators from the various political forces in the Federation spread across the Mystic Luna Realm stopped breathing at the same moment. Gasps of shock rang out from all around the mystic realm.

Everyone was trembling. Trying to withstand the force of the inscriptions weighing down on them was like facing a celestial foe, an enemy of all humankind. Every single one of them was shaking from the depths of their souls with a gut-deep terror!

Their cultivation was also being suppressed at the same time. Wang Baole shuddered and panted. He saw how everyone around him was similarly affected, and the immense danger he felt grew stronger.

What is going on with this place? As Wang Baole let out a frustrated shout inwardly and tried to free himself from the oppressive force and flee, the hundreds of inscriptions in the sky started glimmering at a more rapid rate. A sudden violent suction appeared in the sky!

The ferocity of the suction transformed the entire heavens into a black hole. It pulled at the nearly ten thousand cultivators across the various parts of the land. What was most bizarre about it was how no one could resist against or fight its pull.

Wang Baole watched with his very own eyes as college cultivators all around him shuddered. Wisps of white smoke were drawn out of their bodies and raced towards the inscriptions in the sky.

As he stared at the white smoky wisps, Wang Baole instinctively realized… that was a person’s lifeforce!

It’s absorbing lifeforce? Wang Baole was shaken. As the suction force persisted, he could sense his body start to tremble and the vitality that usually remained unseen being forcibly pulled out from him and departing his body!

As his vitality was drawn out, he felt his body weaken. He even sensed signs of shriveling and aging in his meridians and the rest of his physical body!

Absorbing my lifeforce? Give it back! Wang Baole sucked in a cold breath of air. The look on his face turned vicious in the moment of crisis. The devouring seed inside him activated suddenly. He dispensed with any attempts at concealment. As the devouring seed started churning, the vitality that had been drained from his body was sucked back in again.

While the devouring seed inside Wang Baole’s body fought back fiercely, the lifeforce of everyone—not just the four Dao Colleges but all the cultivators in the Mystic Luna Realm—raced towards the heavens.

There were a few others like Wang Baole who had a few tricks of their own up their sleeves, but they were few. Zhao Yameng, the young master of the Trilunaris Corporation, as well as the prodigies from the two main sects and the Five Generation Sky Clan had their own means to temporarily halt the draining of their vitality.

The majority of the cultivators, though, did not possess such abilities. They were quickly stripped of a tenth of their vitality, which fused fully with the hundreds of inscriptions in the sky.

After draining a tenth of the nearly ten thousand people’s vitality, the suction force vanished. The hundreds of sky inscriptions shone a glaring blood-red light and glimmered in the sky, showing signs of transformation.

The draining of lifeforce and fusion with the sky inscriptions had taken place within the span of a dozen breaths.

Amidst the growing horror and shock of everyone in the Mystic Luna Realm, the inscriptions in the sky started to shift forms, one by one transforming into… giant Blood Eyes!

Hundreds of Blood Eyes appeared and started scanning the lands, surveying all life within its domain. They seemed to be searching for something. The Blood Eyes hovering above the region where the four Dao Colleges’ cultivators stood did the same. Their stares fell upon the crowd and swept past each person.

Everyone shuddered when the Blood Eye’s gaze fell on them. Wang Baole held his breath as the Blood Eye’s gaze fell on him. It seemed uninterested though, its stare sweeping past Wang Baole and turning to the next person quickly.

It’s looking for something! Wang Baole let out a slight breath of relief. As soon as the thought surfaced in his mind, the giant eyeball in the sky suddenly widened into a stare. Its gaze withdrew from the crowd and honed in on… a young man amidst the cultivators of the four Dao Colleges!

The young man… was the one whom Zhao Yameng had felt familiar yet unfamiliar, and whom Wang Baole had felt the same… Huang Shan from the Traps Pavilion!