A World Worth Protecting

The punch smashed into the cosmos and created an instant vortex that seemed capable of tearing everything coming its way apart. It spiraled towards the approaching black light and crashed into it. The black light released its full power, unleashed its full force, and exploded!

The resultant backlash and destruction rushed outward like angry waves, pulling the Night Immortal King under. The giant shuddered and staggered backward under the force of the backlash. He didn’t slam into the moon but instead stumbled in another direction.

Amidst the series of thunderous booms, the chains on the Night Immortal King whined under the force of the black light. They creaked and swayed dangerously. The moon quaked and was jerked hundreds of feet into the distance.

The strength of the attack was so immense that it struck terror into the hearts of every cultivator present. Both Dao Palace and Federation cultivators alike stared at the sight, their hearts racing and their minds reeling.

Wang Baole’s heart sank. If it were him, he would have found the attack immensely challenging to hold back. The price in exchange for that would have been serious injury and blood spilling from his lips. He immediately turned towards the Night Immortal King to inspect the latter’s condition.

The result led to an odd expression on Wang Baole’s face. The Night Immortal King had been driven back, to the point where he had stumbled off course. But the next moment, he had lifted his head fiercely again, with hardly a scratch on his body!

That eased the worry in Wang Baole’s mind. He narrowed his eyes and stared into the distance, towards where the black light had come from. An enormous, familiar-looking battleship formed from three circular disks was rapidly shifting from its initial translucent form into something completely visible!

Atop the vast battleship stood a person. He appeared tiny next to the huge battleship. Regardless, this person was clearly the core of the battleship!

It was a sight that Wang Baole found familiar…

A strong build, with three heads and six arms, that exuded terrifying Spirit Qi. The aura he exuded was overwhelming and seemed as if it could overpower anything and everything. It surged from his person, as if attempting to assert authority and control over every living thing in the area!

He didn’t look like Daoist You Ran. Instead, he looked like the Never-Ending Clan battle robes that had been soaked in spirit liquid on the battleship and that Wang Baole had destroyed!

Regardless, when Wang Baole set his eyes on the transformed battle robes, he immediately recognized that as… Daoist You Ran!

“So they’ve fused…” Wang Baole narrowed his eyes. There was no fear or intent to retreat in his eyes. What there was instead was a steadily rising, fierce battle lust. Red meridians materialized around his body as the Thearch Armor clanked loudly and assembled over his form. Growing and extending over his right arm was the Divine Armament and its star-bright, gleaming blade. The dark demonic eye hovering behind Wang Baole chose this moment to grow larger in size, its eye opening in a narrow slit as it stared unblinkingly at Daoist You Ran!

As its gaze locked onto Daoist You Ran, a gray light also surfaced in Daoist You Ran’s eyes. Hidden deep within those eyes was an irregularly shaped shard the size of a human fingernail. Its form straddled the boundaries of illusion and reality, giving off black and white glows that merged into a gray, murky light in Daoist You Ran’s eyes!

As his eyes flickered with gray light, Daoist You Ran ignored the gaze of Wang Baole’s demonic eye. He stepped off his battleship and onto the starlit sky, transforming into a blur. His speed was so swift that the vast distances in space seemed like mere inches!

His murderous aura arrived before he did!

His palms pressed together in a series of hand seals, and moon and sun-like shapes materialized around him. They spread out, shone like the stars, and transformed instantly into a miniature cosmological map!

Within the map were nine suns and hundreds of moons, and countless stars lit the map. It wasn’t the map of the Solar System, but of a piece of sky that didn’t exist in reality. An awesome power erupted as soon as the map appeared. It was a power that seemed capable of crushing everything. Daoist You Ran’s low voice boomed as the surge of energy rushed at Wang Baole, thundering!

“Hold him down!” The cosmos shuddered and rippled, and the stars in the sky seemed to have dimmed. The map that Daoist You Ran had summoned appeared to be the only source of blinding light in space as it rushed towards Wang Baole. It was as if Daoist You Ran was wielding a piece of the cosmos in his hands and using that to overpower Wang Baole!

That seemed like sheer exaggeration. In fact, the actual power of the spell might not be as incredible as what had been described. Regardless, the impression it gave and the feelings it inspired were indeed awe-inducing!

An intense danger that sharpened into a murderous intent the likes of which Wang Baole had never experienced before exploded in his head with the force of a hundred thousand thunderbolts. All alarm bells in his head went off wildly. His heart almost stopped beating under the overpowering force of the approaching attack. A bout of dizziness struck Wang Baole, and his soul began to tremble. He couldn’t avoid the attack. He had no time to wonder why his demonic eye had lost its power. Eyes red, he could only pour everything he had into activating the dark demonic eye behind him!

Freeze Daoist You Ran in his tracks and disrupt his star map—that was the only way to retaliate against this attack and avoid being killed!

“I’ve killed you once, I can do it again!” A crazed look shone in Wang Baole’s eyes. His Stellar Nascent Soul opened its eyes as well and activated its full cultivation to support Wang Baole’s demonic eye. The eye shot wide open in the next moment. Blood-like strands appeared in its iris and spread throughout the white of the eye. A sudden force that contained an immense seal within it erupted and enveloped Daoist You Ran!

The shard hidden in Daoist You Ran’s eyes glimmered, but before it could act, Wang Baole shouted the scripture in his head. An awesome power descended from above them. It came from the deepest regions of space and erupted all around them!

A thunderous roar erupted in every cultivator’s head as the power of the scripture arrived. Meanwhile, the dark demonic eye unleashed its full power. The expression on Daoist You Ran’s face finally shifted and revealed alarm, and he and his fearsome star map stumbled to a momentary halt.

Nested deep inside his eyes, the irregularly shaped shard dimmed considerably, its glow seemingly sealed and enveloped by an external force. It cloaked the shard and momentarily imprisoned its light within!

Wang Baole seized the opportunity without hesitation, leaving his avatar behind and dashing out. His armored form raised its right hand, and the light flaring from his Divine Armament was like the sun, its light blinding. The Divine Armament pointed towards Daoist You Ran and slashed!

Waves of spirit energy surged through the cosmos. The force of the slash was like a long arc of rainbow that shot through the abyss and appeared instantly before Daoist You Ran. It evaded the star map and attacked Daoist You Ran directly.

It was then that the shard inside Daoist You Ran’s eyes managed to struggle free. Wang Baole’s demonic eye trembled as he spat out a mouthful of blood. The shard unleashed its full power once again.

Alarm flooded Wang Baole’s senses, and an intense violence surged alongside it. He didn’t retreat, he held his ground and continued the forward slash!

Daoist You Ran had just managed to regain his mobility. He didn’t attempt to dodge Wang Baole’s attack either. Murder filled his being as he pressed his hands together in a series of hand seals, wielding his star map to intercept the attack. The star map and Wang Baole’s Divine Armament collided in the next instant.

“Shatter!” Wang Baole roared. His Divine Armament fell heavily, crushing the star map and shattering the latter into pieces!

A loud thunder resonated in the cosmos as waves of spirit energy rushed outward like the waves of a tsunami. The backlash hit at cultivators from both sides of the war. Many cultivators spat blood from their mouths as they staggered away hurriedly.

Blood seeped from Wang Baole’s mouth. An unbelievable force had rushed at him the moment the star map had shattered. His Thearch Armor’s protection didn’t save him from being injured. His armor creaked under the backlash, and cracks appeared all over it. Wang Baole was driven back, an intense flare of danger erupting in Wang Baole’s head as he watched Daoist You Ran’s arm reach out from behind the shattered star map.

The arm seemed to be imbued with a strange power. The shard that had rested in Daoist You Ran’s eye materialized inside the palm of that arm as the arm continued stretching towards Wang Baole, intent on capturing him!

There was no doubt that should he be captured, his fate would be the destruction of his body and soul. He would be powerless to defy the inevitable. Fortunately, Wang Baole was an experienced fighter. Just as the hand of death was about to close in around him, he switched places with his avatar.

Wang Baole’s true form vanished. In his place appeared his avatar, which blew itself up as soon as the fist tightened around it. The explosion thundered in the cosmos, and the force of the explosion hit the hand squarely.

Daoist You Ran grunted. Then, he transformed into a long arc of rainbow and charged through the shattered star map towards where Wang Baole’s true form was—on the Night Immortal King.

He was a blur that rushed towards Wang Baole. It was clear that he intended to end this battle quickly. He wasn’t going to give Wang Baole the chance to recuperate and react. However, he had underestimated Wang Baole’s quick response. As soon as Wang Baole had switched places with his avatar, he had shattered another ten lotus seeds decisively. Under his control, the Night Immortal King roared and charged, lifting his right hand and sending a punch forward!

It was as if Wang Baole and Daoist You Ran had acted at the same time. They rushed at each other and soon clashed. The Night Immortal King stumbled back amidst their thunderous collision. Daoist You Ran staggered backwards as well, driven back a thousand feet before he finally managed to plant his feet down and stop. He lifted his dark, furious face and glared at the Night Immortal King’s shoulder, where Wang Baole was.

There was blood seeping from Wang Baole’s lips. He, too, lifted his head and returned Daoist You Ran’s stare. Their fight had only lasted a few moments, and Wang Baole was clearly at a disadvantage, but he had managed to hold his own through various tricks and means.