A World Worth Protecting

It’s looking for him! Wang Baole whirled around. Huang Shan’s features were twisted into a grotesque expression. It was as if he had been caught completely by surprise by what was going on—as if he had believed in his ability to pull the wool over their eyes and had full confidence in his own concealment.

However, as the eyeball swiveled and honed in unblinkingly on Huang Shan, he retreated sullenly. An explosion of spiritual energy burst forth from him as he fell back. A cultivation… that reached the Core Formation realm surged from within him and rose to the heavens!

As aura erupted, its intensity sent many disciples from the four Dao Colleges around him spitting blood from their mouths and staggering back. A few of the Moon Gu, unable to withstand the force, were instantly ripped into shreds.

The giant tree! Numbness spread across Wang Baole’s scalp. The instant its Core Formation aura erupted from its body he immediately identified the familiar source. He was shocked to the core.

Isn’t it dead? Emotions spread across Wang Baole’s face. The reason he and Zhao Yameng hadn’t suspected Huang Shan was the giant tree was because they had trusted in the Ethereal Dao College’s report and truly thought the giant tree killed.

Who could have known that it still lived!

That’s not right… the feeling is similar, but not exactly the same… As Wang Baole panted, he soon realized something was not quite the same. Zhao Yameng and Zhuo Yifan were equally alarmed. However, Zhao Yameng, similar to Wang Baole, felt a flicker of doubt.

The current situation prevented them from communicating, and there was no time for it either. Just as Huang Shan’s Core Formation realm cultivation erupted and he retreated hastily, the hundreds of Blood Eyes in the sky, except for the one currently staring at Huang Shan, shifted into a blur and vanished in an instant. They appeared in the next instant… layered on the singular eyeball left!

In the span of a breath, in the sky above the disciples from the four Dao Colleges, the hundreds of eyeballs layered together and formed… a singular, giant Blood Eye!

The eyeball stared unblinkingly at the rapidly retreating Huang Shan who was desperately looking for an escape, its gaze devoid of mercy and filled with a vicious intensity. All of a sudden, a bolt of scarlet lightning slashed across the sky!

Thunder rumbled in the heavens, and the red lightning bolt raced towards Huang Shan. It appeared with a burst of power that awed and terrified everyone. They could sense the immense power behind the lightning bolt—it was powerful enough to decimate them on the spot and destroy their flesh and spirit!

From afar, it looked as if the giant red lightning bolt was tearing the sky in half. It roared and approached the retreating Huang Shan, and a myriad of emotions shifted on his face. He knew he couldn’t escape the strike. Rage burned in his eyes, and his hands came together to form seals as he attempted to fight back. He growled.

“Don’t push your luck!”

As soon as he spoke, the red lightning bolt came racing and landed directly on him. A deafening thunder resounded through the air. The force of the lightning bolt tore Huang Shan’s body apart. From the shredded remains of Huang Shan’s body, countless tree branches emerged.

The branches struggled while they gathered together swiftly in the sky, forming a three-hundred-meter tall giant tree that reached the heavens. It stood, towering, facing off against the giant crimson eyeball!

The giant tree had an enormous crown and thick, old branches. It felt extremely old. Wang Baole, Zhao Yameng, and Zhuo Yifan saw the scene before them and stood rooted to the spot, stunned as if they had been struck by lightning.

The remaining people weren’t as acquainted with the giant tree. However, the sight of the enormous tree unfolding from someone in their company caused their faces to go pale in shock.

“Using the Mothership Array Formation to suck the lifeforce out of the masses should be the limits of your capabilities. Let me see how many more Crimson Fairy Lightning Bolts you’re capable of summoning!” High above in the skies, the giant tree roared. It was no longer retreating. Instead, its form seemed to be blurring rapidly out of existence, as if it was using some other means of leaving!

As soon as its words rang out, cruelty and ruthlessness flashed across the giant crimson eyeball in the sky. In the next instant, another bolt of scarlet lightning came crashing from the skies!

It was yet another heaven-and-earth-shattering strike that threatened to rip the heavens apart. It sped towards the giant tree. In its true form, the giant tree couldn’t avoid the attack, and the lightning bolt hit its blurring form directly.

The blurring tree form shuddered violently. Terrifying cracks splintered across the bark of the enormous tree, numerous branches burst into dust, and countless leaves disintegrated in an instant!

The incoming lightning bolt instantly shattered an invisible air bubble that had encased the giant tree and could allow it to slip away into the oblivion. The grievously injured giant tree was forcibly expelled from its blurry state!

That wasn’t the end. As the cracks grew, the giant tree broke apart and collapsed. A tender green shoot sprouted out from the remains and sped off swiftly into the distance.

As everyone looked on, stunned, the red eyeball flashed once again. Cracks could be seen deep inside its pupil. It seemed as if it was no longer able to keep itself together. With a deafening sound, louder than everything that they had heard earlier, the red eyeball collapsed, forming… a third crimson lightning bolt.

It raced towards the fleeing young shoot!

“No!” A face emerged on the green tree shoot. It was filled with despair and intense hate and frustration. It howled and desperately attempted to fight back and to escape. Leaves sprouted and flowers blossomed in abundance in an attempt to defend itself against the lightning. But it was all for nothing…

In the blink of an eye, amidst its raging howls, the crimson lightning bolt struck the tree shoot. A thundering roar resounded in the air. The crowd watched as the tree shoot disintegrated, inch by inch, collapsing and turning into dust…

The foreboding aura that had weighed down on them gradually dispersed with the destruction of the giant tree. The skies remained blanketed by the wood-like inscriptions that sealed the Mystic Luna Realm. However, those within the realm felt the considerable weakening of the oppressive force from the skies.

The earlier scene of the lightning bolts striking and exterminating the giant tree stirred everyone into unease and alarm. Wang Baole, Zhao Yameng, and Zhuo Yifan, especially, could see the shock in the others’ eyes as they looked at one another.

They couldn’t help but recall the events of the Coulomb Basin.

Is this tree the one from the Coulomb Basin? If not, how many trees are there… are they all on the moon? If so, why have they come? The seal obviously has something to do with it! Wang Baole mused. His spirits were overcast with gloomy thoughts. At the same time, like the rest, he too placed hope on rescue from the Federation.

What had happened was too huge, so they believed the Federation would have already noticed.

As the gloomy mood overtook the crowd, the cowering Moon Gu once more raised their heads and readied to strike. Everyone immediately refocused their thoughts and hurriedly sped away.

As the Moon Gu slowly awakened, the crowd from the four Dao Colleges raced off and was about to break free from the land of the Moon Gu. It was then that the unpredictable Mystic Luna Realm struck, silently and unexpectedly, again.

The Moon Gu began to abandon their pursuit and burrow deep underground, as if in escape.

They had no time to feel surprised. The sounds of sobbing and whimpering came drifting in from afar. A thick mist had appeared out of a sudden in the distance. It spread far into the horizon without an end in sight, appearing tens of miles long and rolling forward swiftly. Wang Baole and the surrounding people stood in its rapid approach.

From afar, the mist looked thick and impermeable. It was like an ocean of mist that devoured everything in its path.

“The Mystic Trace Fog!” Someone in the crowd gasped in terror.

The fog was a unique weather feature found in the Mystic Luna Realm. Where and when it appeared were unpredictable. As soon as it appeared, any living thing that was in its path, save the moon itself, would be randomly transported across the various parts of the Mystic Luna Realm.

Wang Baole grimaced as he stared at the rapidly approaching mist and the less than one hundred yards separating them from it. Everyone around him fell silent. They knew there was no escape, and they looked at one another.

“Everybody… take care!”

“We have to hold on. The Federation will send help soon!”

“I hope… we’ll live to see each other again…”

The farewells seemed especially low-spirited at that moment. Wang Baole took in a deep breath. He turned and bade the rest farewell, hugged Zhuo Yifan and Chen Yutong, and nodded at Zhao Yameng. The mist came rolling towards them, blanketing the nearly thousand cultivators from the four Dao Colleges, lingering where they stood…