A World Worth Protecting

“Wang Baole, we’ve activated the Anti-Spirit Bombs on Venus. They are ready for deployment anytime. Find a way to get Daoist You Ran to unleash his Death Dao Battleship’s power. That should hold his full attention and prevent him from focusing on overpowering the planet’s self-destruction!” As Wang Baole stared at Daoist You Ran, Li Xingwen’s frantic voice traveled into his ear via the Solar System Array Formation.

Wang Baole narrowed his eyes, and his right hand lifted skyward, pointing at Daoist You Ran. The Night Immortal King’s eyes went ablaze with a crimson glow. He roared and charged forward, heading straight for Daoist You Ran. The chains shackling him jerked tight, the moon barely holding him back.

An array of lights flared on the moon, and its Dharmic Artifacts became fully activated. They didn’t start attacking in all directions like they had earlier but shifted and targeted a single spot instead. A hundred thousand red lights locked onto a single target, then blasted at Daoist You Ran.

A flicker of light flashed across Daoist You Ran’s eyes as his hands came together in a flurry of hand seals. Two beams of light, black and white, surged from his palms, rushed forward, and merged into a gray light before him, blocking the stream of red as well as the Night Immortal King’s fist.

Booms thundered across the cosmos. Wang Baole summoned an avatar, sent it out, and blew it up!

The expression on Daoist You Ran’s face shifted immediately. He flew back amidst the deafening explosion. He was a single man fighting a hard battle against the combined forces of the lunar stronghold, the Night Immortal King, as well as Wang Baole’s self-exploding avatars.

He seemed reluctant to bring the Death Dao Battleship into the fight. As he retreated, his six arms came together to form a series of hand seals. An enormous flower with pale-white petals and a black center materialized next to him. It grew to full bloom, then scattered its petals into the cosmos. The snow-white petals enveloped the Night Immortal King.

The Night Immortal King roared, his arms thrashing violently in the air. His armor separated from his body into multiple separate pieces that spread all around him. Wang Baole leaped and sent his Divine Armament downward in a decisive slash. The moon shuddered. The cultivators on the satellite gave everything they had in them. Even the stellar source housed inside the lunar stronghold churned fiercely. The red stream then transformed into a gigantic red hand that charged past the petals and made a grab for Daoist You Ran.

Waves of energy rippled through the cosmos again. The Night Immortal King shook, and blood seeped from Wang Baole’s lips. Their combined forces destroyed the petals. They then pulled their efforts together and made another charge at Daoist You Ran.

A flash of grim determination flickered in Daoist You Ran’s eyes as danger loomed over his head. He raised his right arm and pointed at the Death Dao Battleship. His hoarse, raspy voice echoed across the cosmos as he spoke!

“Seal!”

All three disks on the Never-Ending Clan Death Dao Battleship unleashed a blue light as soon as the command was issued. A sea of light appeared, cold and chilly, rushing outwards and freezing everything in its wake!

The blue sea of light flooded the battlefield within the blink of an eye. At the sight, a faint ghostly light flickered in Wang Baole’s eyes. He seemed thoughtful and anxious at the same time. Without hesitation, he retreated, unleashing his full speed in order to escape. It was too late. The moon, the Night Immortal King, and Wang Baole were flooded by the sea of light instantly, then rapidly encased in ice!

The sight sent both Dao Palace and Federation cultivators reeling back in shock. It wasn’t the first time they had seen the power of the Death Dao Battleship. Mercury’s self-destruction had failed to achieve its purpose precisely because the Death Dao Battleship had unleashed a similar attack when the Anti-Spirit Bombs had gone off. It had frozen the entire planet and overpowered the Anti-Spirit Bombs, causing the mission to blow up Mercury to be a complete failure!

This same attack had made a second appearance, but its target hadn’t been a planet this time. Instead, it had been the invincible looking lunar stronghold and the Night Immortal King… as well as Wang Baole!

Zhao Yameng’s face turned pale instantly as she swayed on her feet. Kong Dao shook as battle lust and violence erupted from his person with increased intensity. As for Wang Baole’s other friends, they were all filled with shock and worry.

Li Xingwen and Duan Muque clenched their jaws. They had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Li Xingwen activated the Solar System Array Formation to teleport the Federation cultivators away while Duan Muque immediately triggered Venus’ self-destruct mechanism!

They weren’t being reckless or bold. They worried that this was a trap planted by the enemy. However… if they missed this opportunity, the fate of Venus might end up like Mercury’s. That was why… they had decided to bet on it, despite the fact that it might be a trap!

Unfortunately… they lost the bet!

Just as Venus’ self-destruct mechanism was triggered and the Anti-Spirit Bombs buried deep inside the planet were about to blow up, Daoist You Ran laughed. He raised his right hand, then clenched it into a tight fist!

The blue light blasting from the Never-Ending Clan Death Dao Battleship turned black instantly. A sea of black, vaster than the sea of blue, was unleashed in the cosmos. It surged past the Dao Palace and Federation cultivators, the lines of defense, and appeared right above Venus. Then, it transformed into an enormous seal that blanketed Venus from above and fell heavily onto the planet!

Venus shuddered violently. The Anti-Spirit Bombs buried deep in the planet were overpowered by the seal’s force, their explosions stopped midway!

Duan Muque shook. A crazed look colored his eyes as he and Li Xingwen formed hand seals and activated Venus’ final trump card!

Deep underground on Venus, there was a prison that had been built at the beginning of the Spirit Inception Era. It held every criminal who had committed serious offenses since the start of the Spirit Inception Era, the old lady from the Galactic Dusk Sect being one of them. There were also beasts from Earth imprisoned there!

Most of them were at the Core Formation realm and hadn’t posed a great danger. However, Duan Muque had given a secret order that led to Zhao Yameng’s father, Zhao Pinfang, personally modifying an Anti-Spirit Bomb that was eventually planted inside these prisoners’ bodies. These were Anti-Spirit Bombs with stellar source as their core. Each was as powerful as a blow from a Nascent Soul realm cultivator. An array formation had also been set up around these prisoners, with every hundred prisoners coming together to form a mini array formation. These mini array formations came together to form an enormous array formation!

This array formation… was directly linked to the planet’s stellar source. The self-destruction of the prisoners would, therefore, trigger the collapse of the stellar source and the destruction of Venus!

This was the double-layered strategy that the Federation had prepared!

As the array formation was activated, every mindless criminal in the Venusian prison began to shake violently. Beams of light erupted from their bodies, forming waves of destructive energy that affected the planet’s stellar source. The entire planet began to shudder, seemingly on the verge of blowing up again!

“So that’s your trump card!” Daoist You Ran laughed lightly. His right hand formed a series of hand seals, then pointed. The black seal hovering above Venus released countless black flames immediately. The flames burned fiercely, swept around, and surrounded Venus like a gush of strong wind. The planet was enveloped entirely in flames. The black flames became the second seal that caused the Federation’s final trump card to fail. As the flames burned, they began to refine the planet!

Venus’ third line of defense collapsed instantly, with its second line of defense melting away rapidly!

Fury rushed up Duan Muque’s body and emerged as blood was spat out from his mouth. His eyes were red. Bitterness flooded his heart. Li Xingwen was in the same condition. He was swaying slightly on his feet, his face pale. Meanwhile, the other Federation cultivators fell into a deathly silence!

“If I hadn’t required your assistance to blow up Venus so that its stellar source could fully expose itself and be accessible for my collection, I would’ve refined all of you earlier,” Daoist You Ran said as he smiled. His aim wasn’t simply to destroy Venus, it was to make use of the Federation to stir the planet’s stellar source into an active state. This wouldn’t only perfect his refinement, it would also provide a great source of energy to repair the Death Dao Battleship he had fused himself with on a larger scale.

He had made it seem as if he had been forced to bring the Death Dao Battleship into the fight with Wang Baole, the lunar stronghold, and the Night Immortal King, but that had been a trap. His aim had been to lure the Federation into blowing up Venus.

“Wang Baole, I want you to watch the planet that you’ve tried so hard to protect be slowly eaten away and turn into nutrients for my battleship.” Daoist You Ran raised his face skyward and laughed out loud. His eyes fell on Wang Baole, who remained encased in ice on the Night Immortal King’s shoulder.

Wang Baole was trapped and frozen to a spot, but he was still alive. No one knew what he was thinking. However, Daoist You Ran could see the anxiety in Wang Baole’s eyes clearly.

“Now, let the feast begin!” Daoist You Ran’s spirits soared at the sight of Wang Baole’s anxiety. He laughed. With another wave of his hand, the sea of fire that surrounded Venus burned through the planet’s second line of defense. The defensive array formation shattered. The Dao Palace cultivators were all struck dumb by the power that was on display. However, in the end, greed prevailed. After realizing that the black flames posed no danger to them, they rushed excitedly through the fire and began fighting.

The self-destruct mechanisms had failed, and the planet’s lines of defenses were falling, it seemed that defeat was inevitable. Duan Muque laughed bitterly. He was about to send the orders to abandon Venus and instruct the troops to escape to Mars via the Solar System Array Formation—they would reorganize the remaining troops on Mars.

It was then that Wang Baole, encased in ice and frozen to the Night Immortal King’s shoulder, stared deeply into Daoist You Ran’s eyes. A black flame suddenly erupted from his body. It seemed similar to the one that Daoist You Ran was using to refine Venus, yet was completely different in essence. The flame passed through the ice, melting it at an astonishing rate. Wang Baole’s voice boomed across the cosmos.

“Does that mean you have no cards up your sleeve now as well?”