A World Worth Protecting

Wang Baole’s breathing quickened instantly when Little Missy said that. He didn’t think too much. This wasn’t the place or the time for him to do any detailed assessment. He made up his mind almost instantaneously.

Let’s wing it! Decisiveness brightened Wang Baole’s eyes. Without hesitation, he slammed his right palm on his chest. There was a tremor inside him. He raised his right hand, pulling out a blinding, shining scabbard from his body.

The scabbard began to shake as soon as it appeared. It had held its ground firmly against Dugu Lin’s Four Beast Punch, but now, as soon as it had appeared, it began to show signs of cracking and breaking up into pieces under the surrounding force exuded by the strands of light. There was crackling in the air, and a slight crack appeared on the scabbard!

Wang Baole had no idea what Little Missy did, but at that very critical moment, the disguise cloaking Wang Baole, formed from Vast Expanse Laws, exploded with a boom. The shock waves surged outwards and collided with the strands of light. An image of Little Missy appeared, her hands forming a series of hand seals deftly. The blinding strands of light surrounding them stilled suddenly.

It was as if everything had come to a standstill. Wang Baole released a sigh of relief. He could see that Little Missy was struggling to keep the light at bay though. He steadied his breathing, brought his hands together to form a series of hand seals, and, without any delay, began the refinement of his scabbard!

Wang Baole had already mapped out how to go about upgrading the scabbard from a sixth-grade artifact to a seventh-grade artifact. He had run through the process many times in his head. Through the continuous gathering of materials, his current inventory of materials was also sufficient for the refinement!

What he lacked was confidence in his success. On the one hand, he was worried that failure might result in the destruction of his scabbard. On the other, the materials required for the refinement were rare and precious. If he failed, he would need to gather them anew. It wasn’t an impossible feat, but the effort required was simply too tremendous.

That was why he had been stuck improving his skills at refinement. His original intentions were to proceed with refining the scabbard after he was fully certain of his success. However, the opportunity presented to him at this moment was simply too rare to resist. There was also something important that Little Missy had said earlier, at the end…

My scabbard will be able to absorb a sliver of power from this land, creating a foundation for it to evolve and transform into a supreme artifact! Intense anticipation shone in Wang Baole’s eyes. With a wave of his hand, great quantities of materials flew out. He formed a series of hand seals swiftly. Within a matter of moments, the materials began to melt as Wang Baole extracted their essences.

There was still the matter of finding a cauldron for the actual refinement. Wang Baole might know fire-based divine power, which might have sufficed for ordinary Dharmic Armaments, but for this particular case… Wang Baole’s eyes flashed. He spoke suddenly.

“Little Missy, are you able to release one strand of light?”

Little Missy turned towards Wang Baole violently and stared. She was about to say something before she spotted the determined and resolute look in Wang Baole’s eyes. She didn’t try to dissuade him, only formed a series of hand seals and wielded the power of the Vast Expanse Laws to free a single strand of light. It charged towards Wang Baole, albeit at a much slower pace with the Vast Expanse Laws slowing it down.

Its slowness presented Wang Baole an opportunity. Just as the strand of light approached, Wang Baole flung his materials in the right sequence at it, making use of the light to cut the materials up into his desired shapes and sizes!

It was like dancing on the tip of a blade. Wang Baole concentrated his full attention on the task, afraid to allow himself even a moment of distraction. He no longer paid attention to danger or even realized where he was!

He saw only the refinement of his scabbard. It was the only thing that existed in his world. He didn’t permit himself to fail. Even though Little Missy had said that he would definitely succeed, he continued to remain cautious and on high alert. His obsession had reached the heights of madness!

The sounds of rumbling rang in the air. Vast quantities of materials continued to be sliced up and melted down before Little Missy drew back the strand of light. Wang Baole continued to form hand seals and fused the materials with his scabbard. Everything went smoothly, without a hitch. Half an hour later, Wang Baole had readied all the materials and placed them on the scabbard. He lifted his head suddenly, and there was an intense light in his eyes.

Wang Baole knew that the true refinement was just about to begin!

He took a deep breath, grabbed enough Armament Sand from out of his storage bracelet, then, without any hesitation, fused the sand with the scabbard. With another series of hand seals and a wave of his hand, a fire-based spell erupted from his person. Flames enveloped the entire scabbard, and the scabbard’s aura began to intensify exponentially!

It advanced from that of a sixth-grade artifact, creeping upward towards the seventh grade. The aura grew more and more terrifying. However… it was still one step from advancing from a sixth-grade artifact to a seventh-grade one.

Wang Baole didn’t know what he was missing. He began to grow anxious. It was clear that based on his calculations, he should have successfully refined the scabbard into a seventh-grade artifact at this point. What remained should be the infusion of a god with the scabbard so that it could become a true seventh-grade artifact.

Where did I go wrong… A frantic Wang Baole watched as his scabbard reached the peak of its refinement and could no longer be refined. However, without any breakthrough in its grade, it began to show signs of breaking apart!

Based on his understanding of Dharmic Armaments, if he didn’t resolve this matter immediately, the scabbard would continue to break apart. It would begin to devour itself as if it were setting itself on fire. Once all the materials had been consumed, the artifact itself would disintegrate completely.

The cracks… is it because it’s not sufficiently malleable? At that critical moment, as Wang Baole remained shaken, Little Missy suddenly formed a series of hand seals. The stone tablet began to rise in the air, then dash towards the scabbard. It appeared above the scabbard and sank downwards!

The scabbard immediately shook. The surrounding force seemed to have suppressed earlier signs of cracking, preventing the artifact from breaking apart!

“Repair it quickly. I didn’t expect this to happen. This scabbard of yours… it’s no longer the same as the one described in the recipe I remembered… I can only help with the repairs and prevent it from breaking apart…” Little Missy said with great difficulty. Wang Baole quickly formed a series of hand seals and pulled out huge quantities of materials. As he began repairs, he started to think about the problem of malleability. He could hear the apologetic tone in Little Missy’s voice, but he wasn’t ready to accept failure just yet.

In fact, if the refinement truly failed this time, Wang Baole had a feeling that it would no longer be possible for him to upgrade his scabbard to a seventh-grade artifact.

If that’s truly the case, then I have to try, even if it means failure. It lacks in malleability? I’ve almost used up all the materials I have with me. But… there’s something right here that fits the bill! Wang Baole’s eyes had turned slightly red as he stared at the strand of light that Little Missy had pulled back earlier!

“Little Missy, release the strand of light!” Wang Baole shouted. Shock flashed across Little Missy’s face. She knew what Wang Baole was trying to do.

“Is it worth all that effort?” Little Missy couldn’t help but ask.

“We’re already at this stage. If we don’t succeed, we might as well kill all hope now!” Wang Baole clenched his jaw, and a fierce light flickered in his eyes. Little Missy gave him a long, unfathomable look. She stopped trying to dissuade him and immediately formed a series of hand seals. The strand of light that she had drawn back was instantly released, and it sped towards Wang Baole.

As soon as the strand of light approached, Wang Baole decided to give it all that he had. He yelled and formed a series of hand seals. He steered his scabbard forward, racing towards the strand of light, not to collide with it, but… to devour and meld with it!

He planned to fuse the hexed strand of light with his scabbard!

The strand of light fused instantly with the scabbard. However, it had the power to slice through all things, and the scabbard appeared unable to withstand its power. It was akin to an ordinary man swallowing a sharp blade. The blade was going to skewer him at any moment. However, the power of the stone tablet was an immense force that enveloped the scabbard tightly. Thunderous booms erupted in the air, and the strand of light couldn’t pass through the scabbard!

Madness colored Wang Baole’s eyes as he witnessed that, and he shouted.

“Another one!”

Little Missy was stunned at the sight before her as well. She formed a series of hand seals deftly, and a second strand of light flew into the air and was similarly devoured by the scabbard. It was followed by a third strand, then a fourth, and a fifth…

Within the span of thirty breaths, Wang Baole had fused more than a hundred strands of light with his scabbard. The scabbard was riddled with holes at this point. If not for the stone tablet holding it together, it would have shattered into countless pieces and turned into dust a long while ago.

However, currently… it still retained its form. This meant a chance for Wang Baole. His hands continued to form hand seals, to refine the artifact and to repair it. When he used up all his materials, he pulled out a Stellar Source and flung it into the scabbard.

At that moment, he was no longer thinking about the recipe for refinement. The only thought on his mind was to repair the scabbard!

It was impossible to tell how much time had passed. Little Missy’s mind had grown fuzzy. All the strands of light in the area had been devoured by the scabbard, and Wang Baole had used up almost all his Stellar Source. The scabbard had been undergoing continuous repair without showing signs of reaching its peak. It was then that suddenly, within it erupted… an overpowering aura!