A World Worth Protecting

An icy glint flickered in Zi Yue’s eyes. At that exact moment, Daoist You Ran was leading a hundred thousand emotionless puppets and the Dao Palace cultivators who had survived the Venusian blast towards Mars. The surviving Dao Palace cultivators were filled with terror and were reluctant to continue the war. Regardless, they hadn’t been given a choice. As they charged for Mars, thousands of teleportation array formations on the planet began to shimmer. They had been set up earlier to coordinate with the Solar System Array Formation’s mass teleportation.

Batches of cultivators that had been based on Venus appeared amidst the shimmering light. They were all exhausted and injured to varying degrees.

They were immediately surrounded by Martian cultivators, who had been waiting for their arrival. The Martian cultivators rushed forward to help, leading them away from the teleportation array formations. Thousands of medically trained physicians began attending to the cultivators’ injuries.

However, there were simply too many incoming Venusian cultivators, making it difficult for the physicians to attend to all of them immediately. The Martian Colony Governor had foreseen that happening and had arranged another tens of thousands of cultivators to assist the physicians and make the appropriate arrangements.

“Internal injury, three out of five organs injured. Quick, send this fellow Daoist to the medical area immediately!”

“Fellow Daoist, your injuries aren’t serious, you’ve just expended too much spirit energy. Someone bring this fellow Daoist to the chambers to rest and heal!”

“Your spirit shows signs of dissipation. Quick, bring three Soul Recovery Pills here!”

The Martian base continued with the post-battle efforts in a swift and organized manner. Appropriate arrangements were quickly made for the cultivators who had been teleported from Venus to the base. Amongst them were Zhao Yameng and Kong Dao. They all came bearing serious injuries and in a weakened state. They didn’t leave to attend to their wounds though. Instead, they stood outside the teleportation array formation, waiting anxiously.

They were waiting for Wang Baole, Duan Muque, and Li Xingwen.

Waiting alongside them were… cultivators from the Divine Armament New City, who were led by Liu Daobin!

The development of the Divine Armament New City had progressed rapidly during the years that Wang Baole had been in the Vast Expanse Dao Palace. The city had grown in size, and the number of cultivators based in the city increased exponentially. Various political entities had their eye on the position of city lord, which had been a source of immense trouble for Wang Baole’s followers, whom he had left behind to oversee the city.

Liu Daobin had been pushed to the sidelines and almost driven out of the city. Even though Wang Baole had been diligently proving himself and making contributions to the Federation, that didn’t dissuade or prevent the various political entities from having their greedy eyes on the city.

Fortunately, he had the support of the Martian Colony Governor and Li Xingwen. That had helped save his position as city lord.

Then, Wang Baole had risen through the ranks in the Dao Palace. His position as their Grand Supreme Elder had sent the entire Federation into an uproar. It was then that the situation had improved. The various political entities had to play their cards more carefully. They hadn’t been concerned about offending Wang Baole at first, as no matter how great his contributions had been to the Federation, he had still been part of the system and had to play by their rules. But as soon as he had become the Grand Supreme Elder, the situation changed. Things weren’t so simple anymore.

Liu Daobin and Li Wan’er had released sighs of relief then. They had then gradually asserted their authority. After that, the war had broken out, and Wang Baole had gone missing, but at that point, the various political entities had no longer been interested in wrestling for power. They hadn’t lost much power during the period of Wang Baole’s absence. Then Wang Baole had reappeared and killed a Soul Conduit realm cultivator. The scenes of his battle prowess had excited the stalwarts in the city. They had been overjoyed.

They had seized the opportunity and wrestled full control over the city. Now, they had brought masses of cultivators from the new city to welcome their city lord!

The Martian Colony Governor wasn’t at the teleportation array formation. Instead, she was in the center of the Great Martian Array Formation. She and the upper echelons of the Martian City administration had activated the array formation. They were preparing the planetary defenses for an outbreak of war.

A hundred thousand battleships were already stationed outside Mars, and an even greater number of cultivators were standing in formation, awaiting orders. Upon the Martian Colony Governor’s command, all military Dharmic Artifacts on the planet were activated instantly. An atmosphere of battle and violence permeated the planet.

The Martian Colony Governor was different from Duan Muque and Li Xingwen. She might be a female cultivator, but her character was strong and unbending, fierce like a scorching fire. If nothing were to spark that fire, peace would reign. Once ignited, it would burn everything in sight.

Her strategy was different from the Venusian battle strategy. The latter had comprised nine lines of defenses in space. It had been reactive and passive in nature. Her strategy, on the other hand… was to extract the Martian stellar source and use the Anti-Spirit Bombs in coordination with the Great Martian Array Formation and the Solar System Array Formation. Mars would weaken the Dao Palace in waves and finally force Dao Palace cultivators to land on the planet, where the final battle would take place!

“The Solar System Array Formation’s self-destruct module has been modified. We still lack the necessary access rights. Once we obtain those rights, we can initiate five self-destruct cycles instantly!”

“Preparations for the Great Martian Array Formation have been completed. We can perform three rounds of suppression on the entire surface of the planet at any time!”

“All three hundred and seventy thousand self-destruct areas fully set up and ready for activation anytime!”

Status reports kept arriving in the command center. The Martian Colony Governor seemed calm as she lifted her head and gazed into space. A general from the Martian military stood next to her. He seemed to hesitate before speaking in a hushed voice.

“Governor, regarding the access rights to the Solar System Array Formation… Li Xingwen might not grant them to us. He still wants to keep it as a final line of defense for Federation survivors.”

“That fossil!” the governor said coolly. Her Nascent Soul realm cultivation lent her a greater sense of authority and power.

“A battle in space is to our disadvantage! A battle on land is the only way we can maximize our advantage and optimize our strength in Spirit Science. Besides… if the Federation falls, any survivors will be left to wander space. What’s the point in that? Even if one is to escape with his life, he has nothing but a miserable life living under an alien civilization’s roof ahead of him!”

“Even so, this strategy will result in great numbers of casualties…” The general grimaced.

“Most of us come from an ancient eastern civilization on Earth. They have a saying… only the mad man lives!

“Casualties are unavoidable. Mars is the Federation’s final line of defense. As long as Mars remains standing, the Federation will survive. If we fall… my entire family of three will fight to the death on the battlefield. Let that be our final show of loyalty to the Federation!

“I’ll handle Li Xingwen and get the access rights from him… give your orders now!”

The general listened to the governor’s strong and resolute words and fell silent. Then, he took a deep breath, obeyed her instructions, and gave the orders immediately. A thunderous boom rippled across Mars instantly. Everything was in place.

As preparations for battle on Mars were ongoing, things at the teleportation array formation were nearing their end. Duan Muque and Li Xingwen appeared, followed by Feng Qiuran and Li Wuchen. The last to appear was Wang Baole!

He came with the moon though, and the teleportation array formation couldn’t contain both of them. Finally, with the aid of Li Xingwen and Duan Muque, the moon appeared next to Mars in the wake of waves of spirit energy rippling through the cosmos.

The Night Immortal King had fallen back into slumber. As for Wang Baole, he had no time to speak to Zhao Yameng, Liu Daobin, or Li Wan’er, who he shared a special relationship with. He noted their wellbeing, nodded, then immediately bade farewell to Li Xingwen and Duan Muque, after which, he raced towards his city!

He had spoken to Duan Muque and Li Xingwen before leaving.

“President, Grand Elder, please buy me more time. I need to get something… it might be the weapon that will turn the tides of this war!” Having said that, Wang Baole had unleashed his full speed and sped away.

Wang Baole had commandeered the Night Immortal King, fought against Daoist You Ran, and faced the mysterious Zi Yue. He had made the greatest contribution to the battle on Venus. His words held an immeasurable weight to Li Xingwen and Duan Muque, as well as all cultivators who had participated in the Venusian battle.

In addition, Mars was like a second home to Wang Baole. He was the epitome of authority and fame in both the new and old cities alike.

That was why his last words before he had departed quickly spread throughout Mars. When Li Xingwen and Duan Muque arrived at the Martian command center, they had met the Martian Colony Governor and informed her of what Wang Baole had said as well.

That might have been why, after a bout of silence, Li Xingwen gritted his teeth and agreed to the Martian Colony Governor’s request to blow up the Solar System Array Formation!

It was then that Wang Baole finally arrived at his Divine Armament New City. He gazed at the city, which was many times larger than when he had left. There was familiarity to be found in the change, and that sparked numerous memories that surfaced in his mind and then quickly faded away. He rubbed his forehead and remembered the scene where Zi Yue’s finger had turned to dust.

He didn’t know what had happened then, but Little Missy seemed to have truly fallen into a deep sleep this time, so Wang Baole’s questions received no reply.

He could only set this matter aside for now and race towards the sacrificial altar in the middle of the new city. That… was the entrance to the cave!

A familiar wave of spirit energy surged out from the depths of the cave as soon as he stepped in. The State Preceptor, the burly man, and the young boy appeared before Wang Baole and greeted him.

“Welcome back, esteemed Dark Child!”