A World Worth Protecting

Since he had started his journey of cultivation, Wang Baole had survived numerous encounters with death. He had crossed paths with the giant tree, escaped with his life during the lunar incident, survived a short stay inside the dark artifact on Mars, and, of course, there was his time on the ancient sword. Those incidents might have seemed like smooth sailing, but in reality, a single misstep would have left him dead. He would be bones and ashes now.

The massacre had begun from the time of the first cruiser’s attack. At present, he could no longer remember how many cultivators, who were dying to meet their end, he had cut down.

Other cultivators doing the same might gradually grow cold, emotionally speaking. Wang Baole wasn’t like others. Deep in his bones was a vicious, harsh streak that made him merciless towards himself. Such mercilessness allowed him to show no mercy towards the enemy as well. However, whether intentionally or unintentionally, his chubby appearance and the habits he had cultivated since he was a child had given him the appearance of someone who was cheerful and happy-go-lucky.

This was the wolf’s skin that Wang Baole had learned to wear since he was a child!

This facade had been thinned considerably under the Demonic Eye Art’s influence. Having flung aside his happy-go-lucky and earnest appearance, Wang Baole’s true character was now fully exposed.

A massacre was unleashed instantly. With cultivation at the late-stage Nascent Soul realm, the resilience of the Flame Snatch Thearch Armor, the augmented power from the Stellar Nascent Soul, and the added strange power of the Demonic Eye Art, the result was a demonic, god-like entity that was… Wang Baole!

Thunderous booms transformed into waves of spirit energy that rippled across the battlefield. The cultivators who were trapped by the demonic eye’s gaze suffered a moment of immobility and paid for that with their lives!

The countless crimson meridians that emerged from Wang Baole’s Thearch Armor danced like red snakes in the air, skewering the living around him as he charged forward. His speed ensured that a brief bump from him would result in the other party being smashed into a pulp and mowed down instantly.

The Flame Snatch continued its mad absorption. Under its frenzied draining, the Thearch Armor grew more fearsome by the moment. White strands of bone increased in startling numbers and thickened into bones that protruded from the armor and turned into spikes. As the massacre continued, excitement, delight, and a lust for more seemed to emerge from the consciousness resting within the Demonic Eye Art.

It devoured one soul after another greedily, transforming each devoured soul into another black eye hovering at Wang Baole’s back. Even when the immobilizing effect of the demonic eye passed and the surrounding cultivators regained control of themselves, there was still no escape. What awaited them was an inevitable death!

Truly… Wang Baole had now become the source of all terror, shock, and despair, amongst other equally horrid emotions. Such devastating feelings spread across the battlefield like wildfire, casting a looming shadow over everyone. They lost all ability to organize themselves into some semblance of an effective force and mount a joint attack. This was, in fact, one of the reasons Wang Baole had chosen to initiate an attack!

He needed the shock and the deaths. He knew how the Dao Palace cultivators he faced thought and acted. He knew that any hesitation on his part would flame their lust for battle. What awaited him then would be the joint attack of a ten-thousand strong force. He might have the ability to kill a Soul Conduit realm cultivator with ease, but he knew his own limits. On his own, he wouldn’t be a match for such a combined, organized attack!

Ants might be small, but with enough of them, they could terrorize the king of all beasts!

Instilling fear and shock was of utmost importance at this moment. The black eyes conjured by the Demonic Eye Art might be able to exert an influence over the masses every time they opened and shut, but there was still a limit to that influence. As the backlash on him increased, the effect on the enemy decreased.

That gave the Dao Palace cultivators around him temporary respite. As the Never-Ending Clan cultivators continued to bark out orders and incite the Dao Palace cultivators with battle credits, the masses began to organize themselves amidst their battle frenzy and lust.

Before some semblance of an organized force could emerge, Wang Baole greeted them with a silently chanted… scripture!

The power of the scripture took the Demonic Eye Art’s place, descending from above and striking terror into the Dao Palace cultivators’ hearts. Another round of massacre unfolded!

Wang Baole had spiraled into a kind of madness. Being locked in by the troops from Mercury had sent chills deep into his bones. The sense of danger that he was in now made him feel cold. He felt as if his life was not his own.

Luckily, as he continued to cut down his enemies, and as the demonic eyes hovering at his back grew in numbers, this chilly sense of death lightened, fading slightly with every additional demonic eye.

Not enough, it’s still not enough! Wang Baole’s eyes were red. He seemed to have forgotten where he was. The strong, looming sense of danger forced him to seek warmth instinctively, one that would drive the cold away indefinitely. In his mind, everyone standing before him were targets!

Kill!

Wang Baole took a step forward, appearing next to a Never-Ending Clan cultivator. The latter, shocked, tried to withdraw and shift away. Wang Baole didn’t even spare him a glance. He rushed into the Never-Ending Clan cultivator. With a loud slam, the Never-Ending Clan cultivator was flung into the distance. Like an ordinary human colliding with an airplane, his bones were crushed instantly and his spirit destroyed!

Kill!

Wang Baole didn’t stop. He leaped and gritted his teeth as the force of hundreds of Dharmic treasures pummeled into him from all directions. The Thearch Armor trembled, then the Divine Armament on his right arm unleashed a blinding light as it slashed forward. A huge, glowing sphere of lightning appeared then exploded, transforming into a net that cast itself across ten thousand feet and burned everything trapped under it!

The deaths reaped from such methods were many, but the energy it consumed was equally significant. Even with the Flame Snatch rapidly absorbing new energy, it was hardly sustainable in the long run. There were simply too many Dao Palace cultivators!

The difficulty was intensified by the Never-Ending Clan members in the Dao Palace cultivators’ midst. Their pointed attacks aimed at overpowering him, as well as Daoist You Ran’s orders, ensured that the Dao Palace cultivators continued to hold their ground firmly on the battlefield. They were waiting for Wang Baole to show a moment of weakness!

They were like a coiled spring pressed into itself under growing pressure. As soon as Wang Baole showed a moment of weakness, they would unleash the pent-up energy within them. Of course, coils had their limits as well. If the stress became too great, there wouldn’t be a window of opportunity for them to unleash their power. In fact, they might even be crushed instantly!

Fifteen minutes passed in the roar of violence. The coil finally… shattered!

The battlefield was in utter chaos. The cultivators could no longer take it. There were signs of them caving. No one knew who the first one to retreat with horror on his face was, but others followed. The battlefield resembled a retreating tide as cultivators withdrew and the army showed signs of internal collapse.

“I don’t want the battle credits anymore. This guy’s not human!”

“I still have the Great Dao ahead of me and many other things I want to accomplish. I’m not going to be the pebble destined to be crushed under some other person’s boot!”

The breakdown of the army was a blow to the troops that followed after, and chaos descended on the battlefield. The sight sent shivers down Feng Qiuran’s spine. She stared at Wang Baole, then at the Dao Palace cultivators who surrounded them. Her heart brimmed with indescribable emotions. In the end, she could only sigh.

As the cultivators scattered, Wang Baole emerged from the center of the battlefield, which was a sea of corpses and rivers of blood. The crimson Thearch Armor remained a terrifying sight to behold. More terrifying was what lay behind him. Adrift in space were tens of thousands of black eyes!

They were all closed, shifting and spasming while distorting the surrounding fabric of space. They hovered behind Wang Baole as he stood atop and was surrounded by countless corpses. It was as if a demon god had descended upon them all!

That’s barely enough. It’s still not enough! Wang Baole was heaving, mentally exhausted and physically weakened, hardly able to stand on his own two feet. The continuous energy flowing from his Thearch Armor and the will of the Demonic Eye Art, however, forced him to straddle the space between utter exhaustion and heightened excitement. His eyes reddened, and he shifted his feet, ready to kill again.

It was then that, suddenly, a strange sound emitted from Mercury and resonated in space. The great Never-Ending Clan battleship on Mercury, and the black lightning bolts that had gathered, suddenly unleashed their power!

The countless black lightning bolts were no longer beams of light ten thousand feet wide. They expanded to a hundred thousand feet in width. What had been beams of light gathered and materialized into a gigantic black hand formed from lightning!

The gigantic hand swept across the cosmos, bringing along with it power that surpassed that of a Soul Conduit realm cultivator. It was a terrifying power that seemed to rival that of a Spirit Immortal realm cultivator. It appeared on the battlefield suddenly and surged towards Wang Baole in a sudden grab!

The gigantic hand might seem insignificant when compared to the vastness of space. However, it was as vast as the heavens when placed on the battlefield. It appeared ready to gather Wang Baole and the surrounding stars, crush them in its fist, and bury them alive!