A World Worth Protecting

The Holy Crest Sect was a minor sect that was affiliated to the Divine Sovereign Justice Sect, one of the three great sects in the Divine Eye civilization. Its influence and clout were insignificant to the Divine Sovereign Justice Sect, and it had fewer than a thousand followers. However, the Holy Crest Sect had a few unique strengths in refining artifacts. The sect’s Grand Supreme Elder also possessed great cultivation. He had achieved the Soul Conduit realm many years ago and had always paid proper tribute to the Divine Sovereign Justice Sect.

That was why the missions assigned to the Holy Crest Sect during the occasional large-scale hunt were generally easy ones that weren’t very dangerous yet yielded relatively generous rewards.

The Holy Crest Sect would also conduct frequent raids to replenish its inventory. This ensured that their heavy consumption of resources when refining artifacts remained sustainable, that life remained comfortable, and that time in the sect was passed in a rich and relatively meaningful way.

Unfortunately, the Holy Crest Sect’s luck had taken a turn for the worse when they had come across some powerful opponents during the last raid a few months ago. As a result of the failed raid, they had not only been unable to gather new resources but had lost their own in the fight. In general, the Divine Sovereign Justice Sect wouldn’t provide aid for independent raids conducted by their affiliated sects. Unless the latter presented the former with vast resources beyond their normal tribute, the Divine Sovereign Justice Sect wouldn’t interfere. The Holy Crest Sect was left to their own devices.

The Holy Crest Sect had suffered heavy losses from the raid, and the fact that the season for making tribute every year was approaching made things worse. Everyone in the sect was plagued by worry. They tightened their belts while their hunger for resources—for refining artifacts and cultivation—intensified and reached its climax.

Inner sect disciples often went out and employed all means and ways to resolve their need for resources. Some made their artifact refinement services available to others, while others joined other sects. Some began fighting amongst themselves. Others, like Long Nanzi, wandered the lands in search of opportunity.

Despite the dire situation they were in, the Holy Crest Sect was still a sect that had been standing for two thousand years. It had built a sizable store, and that was evident; its mountain gates were constructed from black-ink soil and were situated on the fifth mountain ring on the Divine Eye planet.

The center of the planet was a basin where the royal residence stood. The residence was closed to the public permanently. The royal grounds were surrounded by eight vast mountain ranges that circled the royal residence like eight huge powerful dragons. Each mountain range was separated by vast stretches of land. Some said that the land between each mountain range could form an entire world. They weren’t exaggerating at all!

The inner three rings were occupied by the three great sects. They had colonized part of the mountain range. The exercise appeared to be for the benefit of the planet, so the sects could better defend the planet. But their true objective was to imprison the royal family and exert pressure on the royalty.

The outer fourth to eighth rings were occupied by smaller sects. The nearer one was to the inner rings, the richer the Spirit Qi, and the more ideal their location.

The Holy Crest Sect was located on the fifth ring. Most of their buildings were crafted from black-ink soil, a type of soil that had the ability to absorb Spirit Qi and form Spirit Stones. Both had been a result of the hard work of Holy Crest Sect pioneers.

Outside the sect’s gates stood an enormous statue. It towered thousands of feet and was crafted from Spirit Stones that had been compressed to their limits. Wang Baole couldn’t help but gasp when he saw the statue. It was beyond anything he had seen in the Solar System.

And this is just a minor sect? Wang Baole blinked. Long Nanzi’s memories told him that the Holy Crest Sect wasn’t only a small sect, it was currently facing some troubles. The statue before Wang Baole’s eyes seemed to tell another story though. He had no idea of its worth, but he was sure that the money earned from selling it would definitely help the sect tide through its current financial crisis.

Questions filled Wang Baole’s head as he continued racing towards the Holy Crest Sect. As he approached, he stared at the enormous statue again, then licked his lips. After, he turned towards the sect. Black buildings, palaces big and small, in the thousands, filled his sight.

The sect was the combined size of three Upper Academy Islands of the Ethereal Dao College. Its population was almost pitiful though. He could see a hundred or more people bustling around in the distance. Beyond that, there didn’t seem to be many more people. It gave the impression that the entire sect only consisted of those hundred or so people.

Wang Baole watched as they hurried along in their own affairs, a strange look settling on his face. He suddenly understood what Long Nanzi’s memories had been describing regarding the sect’s current situation.

Because… almost everyone in the sect was tearing down their residences at great speed. They appeared practiced at this and were dismantling the buildings into their basic components without damaging anything in the process…

There were frequent cheers rising in the air, sounding like words of encouragement.

“Come on, guys. Today’s the last day. We must dismantle the remaining three hundred houses with the most valuable building materials!”

“Let’s work together to overcome this challenge. Let’s complete the mission our sect has assigned us!”

“Tomorrow morning, the Grand Supreme Elder will begin the auction. All bidders will have two hours to tear down any building they want!”

“We have to dismantle the most valuable ones now. We can’t leave those to the bidders!”

Cheers continued to resound in the air. As they did, Wang Baole stood frozen to the spot, stunned. It took him a while before he understood what was going on. The sect had reached a state of poverty where the Grand Supreme Elder had no choice but to auction off parts of the sect’s assets. It wasn’t a fixed auction with designated auction items though, it was a timed auction. The number of participants and their levels of cultivation were restricted. They were also forbidden from using their storage bags to store anything. During the predetermined duration, save for certain specified items, these participants were allowed to take away anything that was in the sect!

Tomorrow was the first day of the auction, which was why the Grand Supreme Elder had ordered the disciples to tear down the buildings with the most value before the auction…

What’s going on here… Wang Baole rubbed his forehead. He contemplated whether he should switch his current identity for someone else’s. It was then that someone noticed his arrival and shouted at him.

“Long Nanzi, you’re back? Quick, come and help. The Grand Supreme Elder’s handing out rewards. For every building torn down during the time he specified, every participant will be given a superior-grade spirit stone!”

Wang Baole smiled wryly. It wouldn’t be appropriate for him to leave now. He flew over and joined the group dismantling the buildings. He was an expert in refining artifacts and had absorbed Long Nanzi’s memories, so it took him only a brief period of observation to learn the ropes quickly. It wasn’t his best work, but at least he wasn’t lagging behind the others.

Wang Baole couldn’t help his surprise during the process of dismantling though. The buildings might appear to be a singular entity, but it had actually been pieced together from different parts. It was like a composite artifact formed from numerous smaller components. They weren’t held together by inscriptions but by numerous energy threads. That caught Wang Baole’s interest. He began chatting with the cultivators around him, finding out more about the sect and the Divine Eye civilization’s current state of affairs while examining the fascinating buildings that resembled artifacts.

They’re like the Dharmic Armaments that I found on the three unlucky idiots. There are no inscriptions on them. They don’t need a spirit stone to serve as a core component either. They are fueled directly by a stellar source… This civilization is very skilled in refining artifacts. Their approach may be different from the Federation’s, but the principles seem to be the same. Wang Baole concluded. Then, he remembered the tri-colored flying sword and ribbon that he had acquired.

The sword had been destroyed, and while he still had the ribbon, it was in a severely damaged state. Wang Baole had thought of repairing it, but there was a problem. He had decoded its core and introduced inscriptions. The inscriptions had then served as strings to a puppet that had allowed him to control the two artifacts. Without prior knowledge of how the artifacts actually functioned, it would be challenging to repair them.

But now, as he continued to dismantle the buildings around him, Wang Baole’s eyes began to glow increasingly brighter. He could feel the gates of knowledge swinging wide open before him. He had been considering whether he should switch to another identity, but that thought vanished from his mind completely then.

Wang Baole poured even more effort into the work. They finally completed their mission late into the night. They had dismantled hundreds of buildings with the greatest value and gotten themselves hundreds of spirit stones in return. Relying on the knowledge he had gained from reading the high officials’ autobiographies and his experience honed from years of mingling with Federation officials, Wang Baole had a few words with a few people and successfully mapped out his network of friends and enemies. He then made his way to the Holy Crest Sect’s library.

There, he exchanged the spirit stones he had earned for volumes of documents regarding the refinement of artifacts and bought himself a star map. It should have cost a fortune, but the sect was in desperate need of money now, so everything was heavily discounted. After paying the required number of spirit stones, Wang Baole grabbed his loot and hurriedly looked for an unoccupied residence. Then, he began studying furiously.

Days went by. During this period, the auction took place. It was like a storm. The sect became emptied of most of its possessions after days of auctioning. Wang Baole had been forced to relocate himself a few times. Nevertheless, it seemed that the Holy Crest Sect managed to survive its current crisis. While not all disciples who had been out during this period returned, there were at least a few hundred of them who did.

The Grand Supreme Elder declared that he would lead the sect to prosperity and power again. It was then that Wang Baole finished flipping through the records and studying the star map. His eyes had grown increasingly brighter during this time. By the end of it all, his breathing had quickened considerably as well.

I was right… I’m not far from the Solar System. As long as I play my cards right, I can definitely send my avatar back to take over the presidential office!