A World Worth Protecting

Wang Baole sighed a breath of relief when Night Immortal King Chen Mofeng attacked. He had spent all his lotus seeds in order to awaken the Night Immortal King’s true soul. That was why… Chen Mofeng’s hesitation had Wang Baole worried and anxious…

Wang Baole narrowed his eyes. He had his own assessment of Chen Mofeng’s true level of cultivation. Wang Baole sensed that the power contained within Chen Mofeng’s illusory finger had surpassed that of a Soul Conduit realm cultivator. In fact, it might even have surpassed that of a Spirit Immortal realm cultivator. He still wasn’t as powerful as Wang Baole’s senior brother, but the power Wang Baole had felt was similar to the power he had felt during his ascension to the Stellar Nascent Soul realm. It had almost reached the level of a Planet realm cultivator!

Perhaps this was indeed… the power displayed by a Planet realm cultivator!

It wasn’t a true measure of Chen Mofeng’s real strength though. He was still in a daze and only had a wisp of his original true soul. His physical body and his cultivation were both in a weakened state. Regardless, he still managed to unleash a power that rivaled that of a Planet realm cultivator. One could imagine how powerful Chen Mofeng had truly been at the peak of his strength!

Such a powerful cultivator should have become one of the leaders of the renewed Dao Palace. He should have had a bright future ahead of him. Fate had played its games and ensured that such a choice hadn’t been made available to him.

These thoughts flashed across Wang Baole’s mind as he stared at Daoist You Ran. The latter’s face was colored with alarm, and he was retreating rapidly, trying to evade the gigantic finger. Wang Baole’s eyes were filled with murderous intent.

“I’ve killed you once, I can kill you again. Let’s find out if you’ll be able to resurrect yourself a second time!” Wang Baole’s murderous gaze was tinged with doubt. His suspicions concerned… Daoist You Ran’s resurrection.

He had a feeling that… there was a huge secret hidden behind the resurrection!

Daoist You Ran had no idea that he had died previously. In the face of an attack that came from someone who rivaled a Planet realm cultivator, he could only tremble while his scalp prickled with fear.

The looming sense of death and danger was driving him insane. As he retreated, his hands came together to form a series of hand seals. The Never-Ending Clan Death Dao Battleship unleashed a dazzling light that transformed into an enormous seal. The seal appeared before Daoist You Ran, a shield against the Night Immortal King’s attack.

He felt that wasn’t enough. Daoist You Ran couldn’t care less for Venus at this moment, so he pulled the seal over Venus away. The black flames and mark hovering over Venus vanished and reappeared before him, transforming into a weighty seal that spanned ten thousand feet!

The seal felt ancient and appeared to be at ease in the cosmos while repelling the cosmos at the same time. It was an indescribable, contradictory feeling that gave one the impression that… it was being sealed!

It repelled the cosmos and hence was sealed. The seal allowed it to coexist harmoniously in space!

This was what made the Death Dao Battleship special. Daoist You Ran, who was in grave danger at the moment, had abandoned all his plans and was risking everything. He gathered the full power of the battleship to fight back against the force of Night Immortal King Chen Mofeng’s single finger!

The cosmos thundered, the seal glittered, and it froze Chen Mofeng’s approaching finger in its tracks. As it held the finger back, Daoist You Ran picked up speed and retreated hastily with the intent to leave the battlefield!

He might have been fast, and the defense he had mounted might have been powerful, but… it still fell short!

Chen Mofeng’s finger, which had been formed from all living creatures on the moon, collided loudly with the black seal that Daoist You Ran had unleashed from the Never-Ending Clan Death Dao Battleship.

Thunderous booms erupted in the cosmos and surged outward, stirring violent waves of spirit energy that swept across the battlefield. The Night Immortal King’s finger, formed from a multitude of lights, smashed into the black seal like a meteor. The collision destroyed almost half of the finger and shattered the black seal into multiple pieces. The remaining part of the finger shot past the shattered black seal and landed on Daoist You Ran’s body.

It didn’t matter how fast he retreated, there was no escape. Daoist You Ran watched as the finger and the threat of death rushed at him, madness coloring his eyes. He shouted, “Heavenly Dao!”

The irregularly shaped shard in his eye flared up with an intense light. It materialized and grew in size before Daoist You Ran, then charged towards Chen Mofeng’s approaching finger and crashed into the latter.

Explosions boomed in the cosmos yet again. The shard didn’t shatter under the incredible force of Chen Mofeng’s finger. Regardless, Daoist You Ran’s cultivation was clearly not powerful enough to support the resilient shard. The shard might not have been damaged in the collision, but it was easily nudged away by Chen Mofeng’s finger and then shoved into Daoist You Ran. The attack still landed on Daoist You Ran.

Daoist You Ran spat out a mouthful of blood, wailing as his six arms came together to form a flurry of hand seals. It seemed to be a mystic technique that allowed him to transfer his injuries. They were distributed to his limbs. The result of that was… four broken limbs out of six and two destroyed heads out of three. Cracks appeared all over his body, and blood continued to spill from his wounds.

Daoist You Ran had managed to escape death despite a direct blow from the Night Immortal King due to his mystic technique. His eyes exposed his weakened, terrified state. He retreated frantically and tried to widen the distance between him and the finger. He could tell that Chen Mofeng’s current state was only temporary and wasn’t sustainable for a long period of time. He just needed to survive for a while longer before he was out of critical danger.

That was what happened. After the attack, the unfathomable look in the Night Immortal King’s eyes faded away and was swiftly replaced by a red glow. The power of Wang Baole’s lotus seeds was waning. He had only a few seconds before the Night Immortal King’s true soul fell into slumber again. When that happened, the finger that had been formed from lunar beasts would disappear as well.

Wang Baole was prepared for that. As Daoist You Ran tried to delay their next engagement and distance himself from the Night Immortal King’s finger, Wang Baole dashed out. Boosted by the Thearch Armor and with the Divine Armament shining on his arm, he unleashed his full speed and rushed at Dao You Ran like a shooting star.

Alarm flashed across Daoist You Ran’s face. Widening the distance between him and the finger took all that he had. Wang Baole’s charge came at the most critical moment, so there was no way he could avoid Wang Baole’s attack!

“I won’t admit defeat!” Madness filled Daoist You Ran’s eyes. His true form was still inside the Death Dao Battleship, but his soul was fused with the battle robes. If the latter was wounded, he too would suffer the same injury. The resultant backlash might even destroy his true form!

At that precise moment, on Venus, Duan Muque’s eyes were also equally colored by madness. When he had given the order to blow up Mercury, he had misjudged and lost their advantage. Then, when it had come to Venus, he had made a mistake again. Tragedy had almost repeated itself. Now, he had two options before him. The first was to continue waiting. Perhaps the battle would end without the need to blow up the planet. The second option was to seize the opportunity and blow up the planet. They would sacrifice Venus so that the overall war strategy would unfold as planned!

“Even if Daoist You Ran still has a trump card up his sleeve, he would choose to save himself. He has no energy to cause interference for Venus. That’s why we should… self-destruct!” A red-eyed Duan Muque roared, his mind made up.

The entire planet shook suddenly as the Anti-Spirit Bombs buried underground were freed of the seal and reactivated. The explosions began. Thunderous booms erupted in the air, the planet quaked. Li Xingwen commandeered the Solar System Array Formation and unleashed the latter’s full power for a wide-scale teleportation. In an instant, every Federation cultivator on Venus began to blur and vanish.

They disappeared in batches as the waves of destructive energy within Venus intensified. The Dao Palace cultivators reeled back in shock and alarm. No one bothered to stop the planetary self-destruction. Instead, everyone began to scramble in fear and run—as far as they could.

Daoist You Ran had no energy to bother with Venus either. Even if he did care, there was no way he could do anything about it when he himself was facing grave danger!

Venus was approaching eventual destruction, while Daoist You Ran was frantically trying to escape. Just as Wang Baole was about to reach Daoist You Ran, a sigh suddenly sounded from the Never-Ending Clan Death Dao Battleship behind Daoist You Ran. It belonged to a woman and was tinged with a certain sense of remembrance and a myriad of emotions. The sigh resonated across the battlefield. A similarly illusory, translucent finger appeared before Daoist You Ran. It tipped towards Chen Mofeng’s finger and touched it!

There was no loud explosion, no terrifying shock waves. Chen Mofeng’s finger disintegrated soundlessly upon collision, separating into numerous white lights that faded away in the cosmos.

Wang Baole’s pupils contracted at the sight. He immediately retreated, shock rising within him. The power of his lotus seeds had faded away completely, but Chen Mofeng, who should have fallen back to sleep, suddenly murmured in a low, hoarse voice. This was the first time he had spoken since he had been awakened for battle.

“Zi Yue…”