A World Worth Protecting

If one went by the distance between it and the Eternal Star, the planet that Wang Baole and the fifth elder went to was number three. Its size was similar to that of the Earth, and one could see that this was once a planet bursting with life. One could even make out the specks of green vegetative cover that seemed to embellish the planet’s surface.

However… that was merely an embellishment. On the surface of this planet, there were hundreds of thousands of craters. A small crater was at least a hundred thousand feet wide, while a large one was as big as a city.

One would think these craters were created by meteorites. But as they got closer, as Wang Baole and the fifth elder saw everything, they discovered that… in those craters, there were numerous pools of flesh and blood!

The flesh and blood looked like corpses, though as part of them became mush, they started looking like blood-colored pools of mud. From the floating limbs, one could see that there were human-like organisms in there, while some were ferocious beasts. There were even some that looked like they were from other civilizations. One could even occasionally see a floating head, and each head had an aggrieved expression. It was obvious that they had gone through an unimaginably horrifying event when they were alive.

If that was it, with the experience of Wang Baole and the fifth elder, they wouldn’t be shocked. But… in the mush of the crater, there were numerous thick purple blood vessels!

These blood vessels seemed to be absorbing nutrients from the mush in the crater. They spread outwards, connecting all the craters on the planet, seemingly forming a large purple network. In this network formed by the purple blood vessels, there were millions of points on which large tumors grew!

Some of these tumors were wriggling, while others seemed to be asleep. Some broke open just as Wang Baole and the fifth elder looked towards them, and out of them crawled horrifying human-like, multi-legged organisms!

These organisms had black bodies and looked like centipedes. They let out screeches as they crawled out and headed directly towards the nearest crater. As they neared a crater, they burrowed into it, opened their mouths, and kept absorbing. As they absorbed, their life force increased significantly.

This scene made the scalps of the Holy Crest Sect disciples behind Wang Baole numb. The fifth elder narrowed his pupils and mumbled softly beside Wang Baole.

“Not a local mutant civilization… this is obviously a foreign mutant civilization!”

“Foreign mutants?” Wang Baole gazed at the purple network on the planet’s surface, narrowed his eyes, and asked.

“In a sense, if a planet is invaded by a foreign mutant civilization, it could be considered a calamity. Once they appear, nearby star systems will be alerted immediately. If the invasion can be settled, they will use all of their might to try and eliminate the enemy. If they cannot do so, they will join forces with other nearby star systems to suppress the enemy.”

Their method of invasion differed according to the level of the civilization’s sentience. If the civilization was highly sentient, they would go out to look for food on their own. As for those with low levels of sentience, they would often hide their young in meteorites. That, or become parasites and hide in the bodies of other organisms. This was how they traveled to other star systems.

Normally, they traveled in groups. As a meteorite crashed into a civilization, they would become parasites within the planet to absorb nutrients. They would then kill off all life in that civilization, using it to grow and develop.

As he listened, a glint flashed through Wang Baole’s eyes. The fifth elder beside him placed all of his attention on the planet below and didn’t notice the glint in Wang Baole’s eyes. That was especially so when he noticed that the centipede-like mutants started with auras that weren’t strong, despite them growing in strength very quickly. He could hardly hide the excitement he felt.

“This star system’s civilizations must have been hit by meteorites containing the young of mutants, resulting in the extinction of their entire civilization. However, this is great news for us!”

“Their starting auras are only at the Qi Condensation level. According to ancient literature, mutants at this sentience level can reach no higher than the Planet realm. At the same time, they have extremely low Spirit Intelligence when they’re born. Long Nanzi, our luck is pretty good this time!” As he spoke, the fifth elder started laughing. He raised his right hand to point at the planet below as he looked towards Wang Baole.

“Low Spirit Intelligence, and mainly feeding on flesh and blood. Mutants with this trait only desire flesh and blood, so they don’t care about Spirit Stones or materials used for refinement at all. Therefore, to us, this star system is a treasure trove!”

“Let’s split up after we get to the planet. Just be careful not to disrupt their feeding. Since our interests don’t conflict, there shouldn’t be conflict as long as we’re cautious. At the same time, I suggest that the two of us each bring back some young of this mutant civilization. If we use them on other weak civilizations in the future, it will be as though we control a Divine Armament!” said the fifth elder. He then suddenly took out a shining voice transmission jade slip from his storage bag, laughing after he squeezed it.

“The Grand Supreme Elder has sent a voice transmission. He’s not the Grand Supreme Elder for nothing, he’s vicious! Long Nanzi, I’m going down first, see you in half a month!” As he spoke, the fifth elder laughed, gathered up the Holy Crest Sect disciples that followed him, and bolted towards the planet below.

Wang Baole watched the fifth elder leave and took a closer look at the craters on the planet. A strange glow appeared in Wang Baole’s eyes as they narrowed. Afterward, he took out Long Nanzi’s voice transmission jade slip, infused his consciousness, and immediately heard the Holy Crest Sect’s Grand Supreme Elder’s voice in his head.

“Attention all elders, as you collect resources, capture some of the young of these mutants. Take note that you shouldn’t capture too many. Each person shouldn’t capture more than one hundred young. In addition, we will not declare war on the mutants, and this should be kept strictly confidential. I will leave a mark here to aid future positioning. Once these mutants finish eating this civilization, they will surely move on to the next civilization. From now on, this shall be our road to riches!”

“No war with the mutants?” Wang Baole snickered, and the strange glow in his eyes became more intense. During the Federation’s battle with the Vast Expanse Dao Palace, and after the various massacres, his Demonic Eye Art had already reached its final stage. One could say… once he broke through this final stage, he would achieve a breakthrough in his cultivation and reach the Soul Conduit realm!

Because of the battle, he chose the Demonic Eye Art after taking combat strength into account. If he wanted to achieve a breakthrough, he would have to kill an arbitrarily large amount of people, but the ceasefire between the Federation and Vast Expanse Dao Palace meant he had nowhere to kill. Afterwards, he left alongside his senior brother. Hence, although he could hold his own against those in the late-stage of the Soul Conduit realm, his cultivation still remained at the perfected Nascent Soul realm.

“Slaughter, eh…” A malicious aura quickly spread from Wang Baole’s body, causing the expressions of the Holy Crest Sect disciples who followed him to change. They all retreated and looked at Wang Baole with fear.

Wang Baole ignored the people behind him, and his malicious aura didn’t die down. Instead, it became more intense as he strengthened his resolve. The malicious aura exploded forth after a few breaths and became an intense killing intent.

Once this killing intent spread, there was a disturbance in the cosmos, and it started to warp. All the Holy Crest Sect disciples behind him were shocked by this sight. In their eyes, it seemed as though Wang Baole was a sharp sword pulled from its sheath.

Not waiting for them to react, Wang Baole charged forward with a flick of his body.

He was like a comet soaring through the planet’s thin atmosphere. He headed straight for a crater on the planet’s surface, and the aura on his body exploded forth. With a gesture using his right hand, a part of the Thearch Armor immediately appeared, becoming a Divine Armament. He slashed towards the crater as big as half a city that he was nearing.

The earth shook, and the heavens transformed as the saber glint coming from Wang Baole, as well as his Divine Armament, became a tremendous force. Immediately, the flesh and blood in the crater below shook, and countless mutant centipedes of various sizes came out in droves. Some stayed within the crater, while others climbed to the edge of it, but they all looked up at the sky and let out shrill screeches.

As the screeches sounded, the glint of Wang Baole’s Divine Armament descended onto the planet, causing the land to shake. The combat strength of Wang Baole and the Divine Armament, combined with the addition of the planets and Thearch Armor, made Wang Baole’s saber glint seem like the sun. It incinerated and obliterated everything in its path.

Rumbles echoed throughout the planet, and the vibrations spread towards the surroundings through the land, obliterating the crater. Only Wang Baole stood in mid-air. His hair fluttered in the wind, and he looked like a demon as he raised his head to take a deep breath.

Behind him, the demonic eye transmogrified and had a sense of excitement that was previously unseen. It let out a bloodthirsty and sinister laugh in Wang Baole’s mind.

However, under Wang Baole’s Illusory Essence Art, none of this could be seen by outsiders!