A World Worth Protecting

Wang Baole’s eyes were wide, and blood flowed from his mouth non-stop, but his presence remained overpowering. In fact, it grew stronger as he kept talking.

“This isn’t fun at all. When I was in the Mi Luo Forest, I rode on Star Fang Beasts and had everything I wanted. I wouldn’t be here if not for my senior brother ordering me to train here!” Wang Baole sat up and pulled out two Star Fang Beast cores as he spoke. He started sucking at one to heal himself while using the other to rub his wounds.

He had left his storage bracelet with his avatar, but it was mainly used to store his Dharmic Armaments. Other precious materials had been split across his various storage bags. Wang Baole had learned his lesson, one could never have too many storage bags.

He sucked at the beast core after pulling it out and stared angrily at Daoist You Ran.

“You a**. I must have knocked myself on the head too hard. There are so many planets I could have ended up on and had fun on. Why did I choose the Vast Expanse Dao Palace!”

Wang Baole glared at You Ran while sucking hard on the Star Fang Beast core in his hand. His words echoed in the cavern. Daoist You Ran, who had been charging at Wang Baole, suddenly stopped in his tracks after hearing what Wang Baole had just said. His eyes widened. It was as if he had just seen a ghost!

He reported to the second Divine King and clearly knew of the first Divine King of the Never-Ending Clan. He knew how terrifying and powerful the man was. His heart had skipped a beat when he had first heard “first Divine King” come out of Wang Baole’s mouth.

After recovering from the initial shock, his first reaction was that of disbelief. He didn’t rank high in the Never-Ending Clan’s hierarchy. He only knew of the first Divine King and not the latter’s true name. Wang Baole might have been able to put together a somewhat convincing lie, but someone from the Federation shouldn’t have been able to evoke the name of Mi Luo Forest. Wang Baole had said it so easily.

He had pulled out his Star Fang Beast cores just as easily. That had shocked Daoist You Ran as well. He immediately recognized those as beast cores belonging to beasts at the Spirit Immortal realm.

Such cores were priceless. Mi Luo Forest was renowned for being protective of its kind, but Wang Baole had been able to pull out two such cores, one to suck on and the other to rub against his injuries. The flagrant display of wealth sent Daoist You Ran reeling back. However, he still wasn’t fully convinced.

Then, Wang Baole’s eyes suddenly flashed sharply. He started to speak in the tongue of the Never-Ending Clan. It was the pure language of the Dark Sect. As soon as he spoke, waves of shock rose inside Daoist You Ran and threatened to drag him under!

“Let me tell you. My senior brother has sealed a blessing on me, and he’ll lock on to this place if I die. With his powers, he’ll be back to go back in time and find out what happened. Even if you have some means of evading the blessing, you’ll still be dead. You stupid a**, try it if you don’t believe it. See if my senior brother doesn’t rush here!” Wang Baole almost shouted out his last few words.

Daoist You Ran was immediately overwhelmed with panic. There were people in the Vast Expanse Dao Palace who spoke the Never-Ending Clan’s language, but they wouldn’t have been able to speak it so fluently. There should have been some accent. Wang Baole had no accent at all. He spoke it as if it were his native language. Alarm flashed across Daoist You Ran’s face, and he couldn’t help but question Wang Baole.

“You have anything to prove it?”

Daoist You Ran seemed slightly cowed, causing Wang Baole to release a sigh of relief secretly. He kept a fierce look on his face as he struggled to his feet and shouted.

“Proof? My senior brother didn’t give me anything like that. He only told me to announce the name he went by in the Never-Ending Clan. No one in this part of the universe was going to harm me if I did that! You Ran, I demand an answer for what you’ve done today. I don’t care about what you’re planning with the Dao Palace, but the Federation is where I’m undergoing my training. You’re just a pathetic foot soldier of the second Divine King in the Never-Ending Clan. How dare you interfere with my training!”

Wang Baole knew the Vast Expanse Dao Palace had been destroyed by the second Divine King. He naturally guessed correctly that the Never-Ending Clan members coming after the Dao Palace on the ancient sword reported to the second Divine King.

“I want an apology from you, right now! Then, compensation. I won’t tell my senior brother about this. You can scram with your Death Dao Battleship!”

Wang Baole huffed, puffing himself up, his tone of voice extremely hostile. He knew that he could do things another way. He could’ve tried getting Daoist You Ran on his side by using his senior brother’s name. He could’ve also tempted him with promises of sweet deals. He could’ve even eased the way towards a more cordial negotiation. But he had abandoned such ideas after some thought. They were all beneath him.

His senior brother, Chen Qing, was the first Divine King. From what Little Missy had shared about his senior brother and what he had seen in the Mi Luo Forest and learned in his Dark Dream, his senior brother was a decisive man who had no qualms about killing others and was arrogant to the point of being unreasonable. Such a man naturally always had his way. As his junior brother, he couldn’t be seen as someone soft, as that would draw suspicions.

His judgment had been right. Daoist You Ran found Wang Baole’s arrogance infuriating, but he didn’t question such an attitude. He might have found it even more suspicious if Wang Baole hadn’t acted in such a manner. His haughtiness angered Daoist You Ran, but it also planted doubts in Daoist You Ran’s mind.

Wang Baole had deviously mentioned terms that others wouldn’t have known as he spoke. His mentioning of the Death Dao Battleship and the second Divine King had seemed casual and almost conversational. It was precisely these details that had given Daoist You Ran a shock.

He wasn’t willing to just let it all go though. His plan had been to sacrifice the entire Federation, then meld with the Death Dao Battleship and become one with the latter. He had planned to use that to regain his Planet realm cultivation. He would have been able to advance in his cultivation in his new and different form.

Things would have been easier if the first Divine King had made his presence known. He would have yielded to the Divine King unquestionably and fallen to his shaking knees. Whom he faced instead was a mere Core Formation realm cultivator. He might call himself the junior brother of the first Divine King, and might even make quite a bit of sense, but Daoist You Ran just couldn’t believe him. He didn’t want to.

He was clearly struggling internally. Then, a sharp glint flashed across his eyes. No one knew what he was thinking, but he suddenly stirred and appeared above Wang Baole. He raised one hand, unleashed his Soul Conduit realm cultivation, and gathered a terrifying, destructive force in his hand, sending it charging towards Wang Baole.

He seemed intent on killing and silencing Wang Baole!

He lifted his hand and was about to slam it down when Wang Baole’s eyes suddenly flashed with a vicious light. He had been prepared for that. He started muttering the sutra in his heart, the first few words flying off the top of his head as he shouted.

“Save me, Senior Brother!”

Wang Baole yelled as he secretly mouthed the sutra in his heart. At that moment, the heavens rumbled, the Death Dao Battleship shook, the Vast Expanse Dao Palace trembled, and the ancient sword quaked. A power rose from the depths of distant space, crossed the expanse of the universe, descended upon the Solar System, upon the sun, and landed on the ancient sword. It appeared… inside the cavern on the battleship!

Boom!

It was a power terrifying beyond measure. Wang Baole thought he heard an indistinct snort. He trembled, wondering fearfully if the mysterious presence had truly awakened…

This was no place for him to consider that too deeply though. Based on his experience, this aura appeared and vanished within an instant. It was the best instrument to strike fear in his enemies’ hearts, one perfect for his current predicament.

He had guessed correctly. Daoist You Ran almost lost his wits, the mysterious force that had been unleashed by Wang Baole’s sutra sending him reeling back. The backlash forced a mouthful of blood to his lips, and shock colored his eyes. He didn’t retreat though. Instead, there was a madness in his eyes as he charged towards Wang Baole, attacking!

“Wang Baole, if you truly are the first Divine King’s junior brother, you would have a trump card up your sleeve. The aura you have unleashed is terrifying, but… I’m not convinced by it. Come, as long as you can survive this attack of mine, I will turn around and leave!”

“If you can’t… then you’re just lying!” Daoist You Ran had clearly gone mad. He was almost convinced. The sutra’s power had him quaking in his boots, and there was a voice in his head screaming for him to run away immediately before he got himself killed!

But he had to attack. He had been planning this for too long and wasn’t going to just give it all up. That was why… he was going to try his luck. If the fates willed it so, he would die without regret!

“You’re like a dog with a bone!” Wang Baole simmered in frustration. He thought his performance had been flawless. He had even whipped out his sutra. He hadn’t expected Daoist You Ran to be out of his mind.

There wasn’t enough time for him to think of another plan. As the threat of death approached, and as his entire body shook in fear, a flash of madness crossed Wang Baole’s eyes!

Let’s wing it!