A World Worth Protecting

Wang Baole might have ironclad control over himself. However, the sight of the corpse and its identity token still sent Wang Baole shaking. His breathing quickened. He had no time to think, as a sudden intense sense of danger erupted near him.

Wang Baole retreated almost as soon as he sensed danger, but he had been caught by surprise by the appearance of the identity token and had been one step too slow. That delayed his retreat. This complicated his original plan to leave the area with minimal injury.

The black light approached instantly, thundering, and collided with the tri-colored flying sword. The sword buzzed as if hit by a sudden immense force. As it shook, the single strand of black light split into ten strands suddenly. They criss-crossed and headed towards Wang Baole from different directions. They seemed intent on slicing him into multiple pieces.

With danger looming over him, Wang Baole roared and pressed his hands together in a series of hand seals. The tri-colored flying sword and the ribbon erupted into brilliant light. His Dharmic Armaments unleashed their power simultaneously. The Dark Core inside Wang Baole’s body unleashed a vast Dark Fire that surged outwards, and he unleashed the full power of his Lightning Immortal Transformation as well. Blood Qi rose to the skies as his physical body supported the release of all that power. Finally, he managed to dash out of the hexed area before the ten strands of black light converged and sliced him into pieces!

Despite his escape, the backlash from fighting against the black light still erupted inside his body after he had left. Blood spilled from Wang Baole’s lips. His internal organs really did hurt this time.

The pain would have made someone else lose consciousness immediately. However, Wang Baole was a vicious character, and he was especially vicious towards himself. He bore the pain and didn’t stop after he dashed out. He sped up and raced, as fast as he was capable of, towards the distance, a rainbow that thundered in the sky.

He knew that even though he had ensured that there was no one else in the area, it wasn’t safe for him to remain in the dangerous sword body now. The best option he had was to do whatever he could to race out of the sword body as quickly as possible and return to the region of the sword handle!

He unleashed his full speed and didn’t stop. The defensive barrier separating the sword body and the sword handle was only ten miles ahead, and no mist obstructed his vision or his way. Wang Baole was like a long arc that shot through the air speedily. He approached the defensive barrier, then, in the next instant… dashed out!

As soon as he emerged on the other side, Wang Baole spat out another mouthful of blood. He could sense the considerably cooler temperatures. It was a soothing sensation. It felt as if he had stepped out of summer and straight into autumn.

Of course, that was on a comparative scale. The temperature on the sword handle was still high. Compared to the sword body though, it seemed almost as cool as autumn.

Wang Baole’s mood improved slightly with the relatively cooler temperature. He didn’t slow down and raced off. During the entire journey, he kept a watch on his surroundings. After ensuring that no one was coming after him or trying to ambush him, he finally released a breath of relief. His injuries were relatively serious, so he found a deserted island, built a simple cave abode, then entered and sat down immediately, cross-legged. After pulling out and swallowing a few pills, he began his meditation.

Seven days passed. When Wang Baole opened his eyes again, a flicker of light flashed through them. Most of his injuries were almost fully healed. He was on his way to a full recovery.

The hex is too powerful… I was lucky that it had loopholes. Without the loopholes… if I wanted to go in and grab anything, I’d have to sacrifice all of my Dharmic treasures. I’d make a loss. Wang Baole thought back to the hex on the mountain peak and shivered. Then, he grew excited over his gains. He pulled them out hastily for inspection.

He left immediately after obtaining the storage bags. Then, when he arrived on this island, he had begun his healing instantly. He hadn’t had the opportunity to look at what he had managed to retrieve. He pulled them out one by one and counted them. His eyes began to shine brightly.

I’ve got thirty-nine storage bags! He thought excitedly. He felt as if he had struck the lottery. His gaze swept across the storage bags with anticipation, and he picked one up and extended his spiritual senses. His eyes flashed. He flipped his hand over, and a gray identity token the size of his palm appeared in his hand.

It was cool to the touch and seemed to be made of a material that was cooling in nature. Waves of suppressive force oozed from it. It was clear that this was no ordinary item. A name was written on the front, and there were two characters written on the back as well.

Wang Baole was no stranger to the written language used in the Vast Expanse Dao Palace. In fact, the written language was commonly and prevalently used in the Federation. No one revealed that this had come from the Vast Expanse Dao Palace, however.

Many cultivation techniques in the Federation had originated from fragments of the ancient sword, after all. Besides, they had Mo Gaozi. That was why Wang Baole didn’t have any problems reading the writing. It was a foreign language that every cultivator had to learn and master.

“Sun Yan, outer sect!” Wang Baole held the identity token in his hand and read the characters on both sides of the token.

Gray, red, purple, black. The colors correspond to identity tokens belonging to outer sect disciples, inner sect disciples, core disciples, and elders, respectively. However, no similar color regulations govern the colors of the Grand Supreme Elder’s identity token… Wang Baole recalled the mission brief explaining the different tiers of identity tokens. He was certain that the identity token he held in his hand now was one that belonged to an outer sect disciple and that was worth one hundred battle credits.

Wang Baole set the identity token aside and continued rummaging through the storage bag. There weren’t many items inside, and most of them were damaged. There weren’t many pills either. It was clear that Sun Yan wasn’t a particularly rich outer sect disciple.

Wang Baole didn’t give up, and he opened the second storage bag with great anticipation. There was another outer sect disciple’s identity token inside, as well as a sealed pill bottle. Wang Baole was unclear of the name of the pill, but from the looks of the bottle, the pill must be quite valuable. He opened the bottle and took a look. He gasped.

This pill… I simply had a sniff, and now the Spirit Qi in my body is stirring. This is a treasure! Wang Baole kept the bottle excitedly before he continued with the next storage bag.

Gasps of surprise and glee continued to emerge as Wang Baole opened and checked the storage bags. His eyes widened when he got to the thirty-first storage bag, agitation clear on his face.

The items and the identity token contained within this storage bag were different from what he had found in the others. The identity token was red in color!

An inner sect disciple’s identity token!

Wang Baole cleared his mind and carefully inspected the inner sect disciple’s storage bag. He found thousands of white-colored stones inside. He was unsure what they were meant for. In addition, he also found five copper coins!

Each one of the copper coins were the size of half his palm. One side showed the totem of a vicious-looking demon, the other had a string of characters on it…

“Mountain spirits, thunder gods. Slay these ghouls, bring these spirits to their knees. Destroy these demons and exorcise all evil. Protect the eternal and divine!”

Wang Baole stared dazedly at the copper coins. He had no idea what they were, but he could sense the aura of a Dharmic treasure exuding from them. He placed them aside. He would try and find out more about them when he returned to the Vast Expanse Dao Palace.

There were some other random items in the storage bag, and finally, a white jade slip. This caught Wang Baole’s attention. He extended his spiritual senses and inspected the jade slip, and his breathing stilled. He picked up the copper coins next to him, then stared at the jade slip again. After a long moment, he muttered.

“A Runic Soldier?”

The jade slip documented the way to refine and control a type of runic soldier. It was a special type of Dharmic treasure that was quite powerful. The five copper coins were categorized as a kind of runic soldier.

After a brief study, Wang Baole realized the vast expanse of knowledge hidden within the jade slip. This wasn’t something he could grasp within a short period of time, so he put away the jade slip carefully. He moved on to the other storage bags. After completing his inspection of all the storage bags, he stared at his returns. His heart began to race.

If he only counted the identity tokens he had found, the thirty-eight outer sect disciples’ identity tokens and one inner sect disciple’s identity token would earn him a large sum of battle credits. He had also found plenty of pills as well as partially damaged Dharmic treasures. Without appraisal, their worth was yet undetermined. However, Wang Baole believed they would bring him a significant amount of battle credits as well.

Wang Baole’s trip to the sword body had earned him great gains. It would definitely incite jealousy if others found out.

There’s still the pill that looks like a Universe Pill…

Not to mention… the purple identity token! At that thought, Wang Baole’s eyes shone with an intense light. There was no way he was about to forget the cause of his injuries. It was all because he had been shocked by the sight of the purple identity token!

Purple represented a core disciple, and a core disciple’s identity token was worth twenty thousand battle credits!

Wang Baole wasn’t going to forget the many well-preserved pavilions on the mountain peak either. There was also… the figure sitting cross-legged in the cave abode atop the mountain peak!

If my guess is correct, the mountain… must be the cave abode of some core disciple from the real Vast Expanse Dao Palace!

A cave abode belonging to a core disciple that had never been found and excavated by anyone previously. Wang Baole only had to think briefly about how much it was worth before his eyes turned red with desire.