A World Worth Protecting

Wang Baole had experienced similar waves of spirit energy in the past and had full confidence in his judgment. The terrifying waves of spirit energy emanating from the palm and the rising sense of alarm he was feeling made him doubly sure of himself!

The aura emanating from the palm exuded a power that was at least at the False Immortal realm. It might not be the true Spirit Immortal realm, but it still exceeded the perfected Soul Conduit realm!

It was likely that the youth wasn’t an ordinary young man. Giving someone one’s Spirit Immortal realm protection was like leaving his or her avatar with the person. How powerful the avatar was varied according to the strength of the Divine Sense that had been imprinted on the person. It could be as powerful as an early-stage Soul Conduit realm cultivator to one at the perfected Soul Conduit realm. The palm that had materialized from within the youth’s body was clearly more powerful than a cultivator at the perfected Soul Conduit realm. It was as if one was receiving a blow… from a true Spirit Immortal realm cultivator!

Even Spirit Immortal realm cultivators wouldn’t be able to summon more than a few such protective avatars.

Wang Baole was hardly in the position to wonder about the identity of the cultivator whom the palm belonged to. It didn’t matter whether he or she was truly at the Spirit Immortal realm or the False Immortal realm. His pupils contracted as a sudden sense of danger erupted in his mind. Wang Baole retreated immediately. With a wave of his hand, numerous Dharmic Armaments appeared before him. He flung them all before him, barely batting an eyelid as they blew up and helped him counter the attack.

The cosmos thundered with a series of explosions, the force of which transformed into shock waves that rushed at the red palm, but the power imbued in the palm was immense. The resultant force of self-destructing his Dharmic Armaments might have been strong, but it was negligible in the face of the immense power of the red palm. It appeared non-existent as the palm relentlessly charged through it and at Wang Baole!

Wang Baole might have been at the early-stage Soul Conduit realm and as powerful as a perfected Soul Conduit realm cultivator, but he was still no match for such an attack. If he were fighting with his true form, perhaps he might have fared better. After all, his true form’s physical resilience could have helped him in this battle.

But he was currently in the body of his avatar. Even if the avatar had been created through the essence technique, it was still not as sturdy as his true form. Wang Baole watched as the palm approached. He was unable to avoid it, so he gritted his teeth and turned into mist again.

There was a crash of thunder as his mist-like form collided with the red palm. A muted smack echoed in the air and rippled outwards in the form of whipping wild winds, and a good half of Wang Baole’s mist-like form disintegrated. Torn into shreds, he could no longer maintain this state. The remaining wisps of mist gathered together and materialized into a violently shaking Wang Baole. He could feel the damage inflicted on his essence technique, and he was barely able to keep his avatar together.

The danger hadn’t yet passed, though. While the red palm appeared to be weakened slightly, the source of its power, the young man’s body, continued to emit huge clouds of red mist, which gathered and transformed into a second palm!

Is this guy the Spirit Immortal realm cultivator’s son or something? Wang Baole’s pupils contracted. Then, in the next moment, he began to sense waves of spirit energy coming from the distance. It was emanating fury and charging madly in their direction. Wang Baole’s face paled.

Don’t tell me the true form is headed this way too! Wang Baole’s breathing grew uneven. Without the true form’s interference, he would still have time to slowly weaken the attacks coming from the two palms. However, with the arrival of the palm’s true master, things had changed. He no longer had the luxury of time.

Damn it! Frustration boiled inside Wang Baole. He watched as the palms unleashed their attacks, one after the other, swift and overpowering, distorting space itself as they passed through the cosmos. Madness colored his eyes.

There’s only one way left! Wang Baole clenched his jaw as he formed a series of hand seals. His finger pointed into the distance, where his battleship hovered, exposed in open space because there was no room left in his storage bag for it.

The only way to mount a retaliatory attack in a short period of time was to blow up an extremely powerful artifact. Compared to the times when he had blown up the Thearch Armor or other precious artifacts, he found himself less willing to do the same to his battleship. Regardless, it was the best choice in this situation. It might seem as if he was blowing up the battleship in an attempt to counter the attack from the Spirit Immortal realm palm, but in reality… his target was the Soul Conduit realm youth!

Wang Baole was gambling on the chance of the Spirit Immortal realm protective power rushing to the youth’s aid!

“Explode!” Ignoring the pain of losing it, Wang Baole howled and blew up the battleship he had so painstakingly crafted over such a long period of time.

A destructive, blinding light engulfed Wang Baole’s battleship instantly, and the ship and the materials on board exploded in the same instant. The resultant shock wave rushed at the approaching twin palms and crashed into them.

A deafening thunder reverberated across the cosmos. The Holy Crest Sect battleship didn’t escape from the resultant shock waves of the collision, caving in instantly. Trapped within the sea of Dark Fire, the Ink Dragon Legion fleet were sitting ducks that had nowhere to run. They didn’t escape unscathed either.

The self-destruction of a battleship might have been powerful, but the damage it caused would be limited. However, when the self-destruction of a battleship occurred concurrently with the collision of Spirit Immortal realm palms, the resultant shock waves not only annihilated the entire fleet, they also instantaneously blew apart the surrounding Dark Fire entrapping the fleet within.

Wang Baole made the right bet. The two Spirit Immortal realm palms did their best to protect the Soul Conduit realm youth in the aftermath of the collision, gaining Wang Baole some time!

With a pale face and without hesitation, he began to retreat. With a swift whirl, he turned around and raced into the distance. De Kunzi and the rest of the Holy Crest Sect had long vanished. Wang Baole’s attack must have thrown him into a panic and sent him running.

This Ink Dragon Legion! Wang Baole unleashed his full speed, his guts churning with anger as he raced across the cosmos. The whole thing had been a result of the Ink Dragon Legion’s unreasonable, bullying behavior. They had demanded the entirety of the Holy Crest Sect’s resources and then forced him to hand over his battleship. He couldn’t take those terms lying down. However, refusing them would amount to asking for trouble.

Should worse comes to worst, I’ll just leave this wretched place! Violence flickered in Wang Baole’s eyes as he sped through space. Then, a sudden loud thunder erupted from the battlefield behind him and reverberated across the cosmos.

Wang Baole knew without having to turn his head around that the Spirit Immortal realm cultivator had arrived. That was indeed the case. The fabric of space had been ripped apart in the spot where Wang Baole had engaged in battle with the Ink Dragon Legion, and a middle-aged, female cultivator dressed in Daoist robes stepped out from the tear with a dark look on her face.

She appeared before the young cultivator whose life had been saved by her two palms. With a wave of her right hand, the young man’s eyes fluttered open as he stirred out of unconsciousness. As he woke, the injuries on his body healed instantly.

“Master!” The youth became visibly agitated when he saw the middle-aged female cultivator standing before him. This wasn’t simply his master. She was also the commander of the Ink Dragon Legion!

He immediately told her what had happened. The female cultivator lifted her head and stared in the direction that Wang Baole had left, a murderous glint in her eyes.

“Your master knows now. I’ll make sure we flay his skin and strip the meat from his bones. After we’re done torturing him, we’ll trap his soul in the body of one of your female servants and let you do whatever you want with him!” The words that came out of the female cultivator’s mouth were soaked in malice, and they flowed effortlessly from her lips. It was clear that she was accustomed to committing such acts of viciousness. The youth wasn’t surprised by what she had said. Instead, his eyes began to shine brightly.

“Follow your master, we’ll get him!” the female cultivator said. Then, with a sweeping gesture, she pulled her disciple along and sped into the cosmos, appearing to cross vast expanses of space within a single step as she chased after Wang Baole after finding traces of his escape!

Theoretically speaking, pursuing a Soul Conduit realm cultivator when one was a Spirit Immortal realm cultivator was an easy feat. This was especially so when one had their target locked down. In this case, though… the Spirit Immortal realm cultivator wasn’t truly at the Spirit Immortal realm, and her target was no ordinary Soul Conduit realm cultivator!

One was a step away from the true Spirit Immortal realm, while the other was an exceptionally powerful Soul Conduit realm cultivator. It was impossible for the female cultivator to catch up with Wang Baole so quickly. She might be fast and could teleport, but Wang Baole could move swiftly across vast expanses of space as well. After transforming into mist, his speed gained an additional boost.

The open chase across public space in the Divine Eye civilization soon caught the attention of various sects passing through the area. The military contingents under the Divine Sovereign Justice Sect and the Earth Hexagram Unity Sect were some of the first to be informed. They observed the pursuit with great interest.

“I heard there’s a newly minted Soul Conduit realm cultivator in the Holy Crest Sect who’s an extremely powerful warrior. He decimated an entire team from the Ink Dragon Legion!”

“That sounds interesting. This Soul Conduit realm cultivator must be quite a character, to be able to achieve such a feat. No wonder he had the guts to provoke the Ink Dragon Legion from the Violet Gold New Dao Sect!”

The pursuit continued as news of it spread like wildfire. Three times, the middle-aged female cultivator had almost caught up with Wang Baole. However, he had used the tricks he had up his sleeves and unleashed his full speed then. Even then, he had only barely widened the distance between them again. His escapes intensified the female cultivator’s intent to kill. Near the end of the pursuit, she was brimming with rage, as the attention that the prolonged pursuit had drawn was humiliating.

Trying to escape into Divine Sovereign Justice Sect territory, I see? The female commander of the Ink Dragon Legion appeared to have guessed Wang Baole’s intentions. She watched as Wang Baole teleported into the distance again, a vicious glint flashing in her eyes.