A World Worth Protecting

It was evening, but the intense heat had not dissipated much. The humid environment of the Pond Cloud Rainforest caused everyone within to perspire profusely through their shirts.

Only on the previous battle ground did the aura of death surrounding Wang Baole and the elder made the place eerily chilly and different from the elsewhere in the rainforest.

At the beginning, Wang Baole had been just an innocent student in the eyes of the men in black. Like a baby tiger that was teething, he did not pose much of a threat. However, after he had killed close to thirty men in succession, after he had repeatedly toed the line between life and death, and after he had immersed himself in the stench of blood…

In the eyes of the elder, Wang Baole had changed. Although Wang Baole was still fat, in the eyes of the elder, the level of precaution needed against Wang Baole was the highest. elder’s level of alertness had reached the top. Even though he was more skilled than Wang Baole, he had to remain extremely attentive.

In his whole life, he had never met anyone like Wang Baole, who was ruthless not only to his enemies but even more ruthless to himself.

He was troubled. In reality, if not for the appearance of the mosquito, which purposely targeted him, Wang Baole would have died at his hands long ago. However, he forgot that it was not just him who was unlucky; if Wang Baole had not met with the seven red-boned white infant snakes and escaped the encirclement, the outcome would not have differed much from now.

Now, the elder took a deep breath and clenched both his fists. The violent winds around him strengthened, and the power of the Dharmic artifact was fully activated by him. Blood Qi emanated from every part of his body as his nerves tensed like a bow, preparing to strike at any moment.

His stare was like an arrow targeting his eyes. Wang Baole’s breath was deep and rapid. His injuries had accumulated and taken a toll on his body. The pills were only useful in providing temporary relief since there was not enough time for him to rest. Sheer will and the desire to survive were all that was supporting him.

He was well aware that if he were to relax for just a moment, he would immediately faint.

“Let’s get this over and done with!” Wang Baole’s eyes suddenly shone with determination. His body leaped backward, and he swiftly landed on a huge tree which began to shake violently. Taking advantage of the momentum, Wang Baole sped up and turned to run toward the elder, raising his right hand to release eight flying swords.

The small purple sword was hidden within!

The elder had sharp vision. As soon as Wang Baole took a step back, he had already leaped into the air like an eagle. He grabbed the glove on his right hand, and a blue light was given off, transforming the glove into a shield that blocked him from all the flying swords.

If one were to look from afar, the duo looked exactly like two shooting stars colliding with each other!

“Explode!” Wang Baole growled with a low tone. Almost instantly, the seven flying swords surrounding the purple sword exploded outward, changing into innumerable shards and colliding directly onto the elder’s shield. The shards momentarily distorted the shield’s protective veil, which allowed the purple sword to pass straight through to the elder’s protection in the blink of an eye.

The elder grunted coldly. Although he had looked down on that little purple sword, he knew that it was of the same caliber as the glove shield that he possessed. He also understood that without real capability and talent, there was no way that one could manipulate the Dharmic artifacts with such finesse.

Alas, it was not difficult for him to avoid the purple sword. With a swift motion, he raised his right leg, harnessing immense energy in the process that morphed into intense heat and shot straight toward Wang Baole. As if that was not enough, as he kicked his leg, a black pin emerged from the tip of his shoes!

Everything seemed to happen with a snap of a finger. Wang Baole was prepared to risk it all. Not only did he not try to dodge or avoid it, instead, he took the moment to grab onto the elder’s leg just as he was kicked right at the hip. Despite his bones cracking under the impact and blood spurting profusely out of his mouth as the black pin punctured his flesh, he did not flinch as a devouring seed radiated from within him.

“Die!”

The devouring seed emerging from Wang Baole created a suction vortex, causing the elder to be taken aback. The elder’s body was pulled uncontrollably and ground to a halt. He watched as the purple sword shot directly toward his chest. Anxiety rose in his heart. He was an experienced fighter, and in this crucial moment, green veins popped out from his forehead as he leaped into the air with a growl. Raising the glove shield on his right hand, he swiftly caught the purple sword, his gaze reflecting a savage look.

“Stop!”

The glove was indescribably ferocious, as a blinding blue light shone out from it immediately. Although he used all his energy to grab hold of the purple sword, preparing to use it to reflexively stab Wang Baole, the equally powerful purple sword seemed to only have an outer shell that contained a fragile interior. It shattered into a million shards when the elder clenched his fist, spewing shards at rapid speeds in all directions!

Even the elder was shocked by what had just happened. He yelled, his expression changing, as he forcefully flung Wang Baole away. Although he gained some respite from that, he still could not avoid the shards from the purple sword that flew toward him, cutting right into his face.

Numbness began to spread, and the elder drew a gasp.

“You poisoned it!”

The elder’s body swiftly stepped back, giving it his all to stop his circulation. As he reached for the antidote, Wang Baole sniggered and rushed out.

This was the trump card that Wang Baole had prepared to deal with the elder after his previous fight with him.

The poison was derived from the poison gland of a red-boned white infant snake’s carcass. The purple sword was originally extremely sturdy, but in order to make it unpredictable for the elder, Wang Baole had referenced the Dharmic Armament knowledge that he had learned to make temporary internal changes to the purple sword in order to hide the poison. He had intentionally made it unstable so that all that had just happened could take place successfully! He had even sacrificed the augmenting capabilities of the sword to avoid the elder’s suspicion. After all, with that many shards, there was a high likelihood of it hurting the elder.

Although his waist was bleeding profusely, he did not care much at this critical life-and-death moment. The devouring seed erupted once again, and after closing in on the elder, depriving him of the opportunity to consume an antidote, Wang Baole punched at him.

“Didn’t you poison me as well!?” Wang Baole panted, having long recognized that he had lost all feeling around the wound on his waist. His vision faded, and he realized that the poison had been smeared onto the pin from the elder’s shoes.

A bead of sweat rolled down the elder’s forehead. He wanted to struggle, but Wang Baole seemed to have gone insane as the devouring seed approached in waves, sucking the elder in. The capture was extremely precise, and Wang Baole seemed to have waged everything he had with a determination to kill the elder at all costs. The elder had no residual energy to handle the attack and could not retrieve the antidote.

“Let’s see whose poison erupts first!” Wang Baole exclaimed as he clenched his teeth, capturing the elder and binding them tightly together.

“You lunatic!” The elder was exasperated as he felt his wound beginning to rot. His entire body was in extreme pain, and it was obvious that the poison was rapidly spreading within his body. He was flustered, and he made a move to strike Wang Baole as he shouted those words.

Crimson red blood spurted out of Wang Baole’s mouth, but his gaze was filled with a determination that seemed to indicate that he had nothing to lose. He sniggered as he slammed his head into the elder’s forehead.

“So, you want to kill me, your Grandpa Wang?”

The elder convulsed. At this critical juncture, he seemed to have gone crazy as well, clenching his right hand and attacking once again. However, restrainment was Wang Baole’s specialty. As he forcefully bore with the dizziness that he was experiencing and the punch from the elder, he grabbed the elder’s wrist and yanked it and, going with the momentum, delivered a blow at the elder’s crotch.

“Trying to compete with me, your Grandpa Wang? You old b*stard, I am younger and recover faster than you, so you’ll definitely succumb to the poison first!” Wang Baole exclaimed as blood continually flowed from his mouth, his words also a form of psychological warfare. The elder let out a shrill howl as he saw red and unleashed a second wave of attacks. Very quickly, the both of them slammed onto the floor and began brawling each other on the ground. It no longer looked like a battle between the two experts of Pulse Enrichment stage but a savage fight among ruffians.

However, this fight did not last long. Very quickly, under a painful and weak roar, the elder severed his left hand that was held by Wang Baole and broke free from his grasp as he fell backward.

Right now, Wang Baole was also exhausted. He wanted to stop the elder but could only lie there, his body trembling and his face turning deathly black as his energy depleted. The elder’s upper body was rotting, but he managed to swallow the antidote that he had retrieved while still in shock. Unfortunately, it was still too late. With a violent shake of his body, the antidote fell onto the floor. His body dissolved, his flesh disappearing and revealing a set of red bones.

“Wang…?” On his deathbed, he stared into Wang Baole’s eyes, laughing pitifully as his flesh dissolved.

With the horrendous death of the elder, Wang Baole began hyperventilating. He bit his tongue and struggled to crawl as he began speaking gibberish.

“I don’t want to die. I have not become the President of the Federation, and I have not tried so many delicious snacks. I…”

Wang Baole’s consciousness dulled as he made one last attempt to crawl to where the elder’s antidote was. However, he had no strength to pick it up, his head hitting straight into it. Wang Baole lay directly on it, his last memory being him opening his mouth wide to swallow the mud surrounding the antidote…