A World Worth Protecting

The power of his Emperor Armor was completely recovered, and his injuries had completely disappeared. As for his cultivation… it finally exploded forth at that moment. As his body trembled, sounds similar to cracks that one would hear when a mirror shattered sounded in his mind. Following that, an immense force that far exceeded the one from before rose from within his body. After spreading around his whole body in an instant, the aura it formed far exceeded the one he had exuded previously.

His cultivation broke through instantly, and from the late-stage Spirit Immortal realm, it reached… the perfected stage Spirit Immortal realm!

This made it so that Wang Baole burst out in laughter uncontrollably, his eyes shining brighter. He was about to continue rowing to see whether he could stabilize his cultivation a bit more when the paper human cutout beside him slowly raised its right hand.

As its right hand was raised, its meaning was implied. It wanted Wang Baole to return the paper oar.

Wang Baole hesitated, and after blinking, he spoke cautiously.

“Um… do you want to rest a little more, Senior? I can still go on!” As he spoke, he quickly rowed one more time.

“See, Senior? My rowing skills aren’t bad, right?” Wang Baole discovered that there was an ethereal glint in the paper human cutout’s eyes, and he shuddered a little. However, he couldn’t bear to give up this opportunity, so he gritted his teeth and displayed a sincere smile as he rowed again.

After he rowed this time, Wang Baole suddenly felt that his body was a little cold. The chilly feeling came from the paper human cutout. Of course, the gazes of the thirty or so chosen ones in the cabin were unfriendly as well. They contained jealousy, whether hidden or obvious, and the chosen ones seemed to really want Wang Baole to scram.

Such thoughts were very normal. It was the kind of mentality where if one couldn’t get something, they didn’t want others to get it either.

But to Wang Baole, they were a group of imbeciles. He didn’t care about them. Under the chill, Wang Baole was in a huge dilemma, but he was normally brave and vicious to himself, so he forced a smile and made himself maintain the sincerity he showed. In fact, he also seemed to be sucking up to the paper human cutout as he looked at him.

“Aiya, see, Senior, I didn’t row properly just now. Please correct my technique, Senior, and help me see where I need to improve.” As he spoke, Wang Baole gritted his teeth. He was already growling in his heart, and he secretly thought that brave people always fought to the death. So, he quickly rowed again. But just as he was about to try again… the ethereal glint in the paper human cutout’s eyes exploded forth, and he waved his raised right hand. Instantly, a powerful wave of force spread in front of Wang Baole like a storm and swept Wang Baole’s body out of the ethereal spirit boat…

Wang Baole wanted to struggle and even considered shouting. However, it all happened so fast that his body had already flown out before he could speak…

As for the paper oar, it flew into the paper human cutout’s hands. After he grabbed it, he no longer looked at Wang Baole. Instead, he stood there like when Wang Baole saw him for the first time, rowed with the paper oar, and slowly left.

Seeing that, Wang Baole instantly became anxious. He was very reluctant to leave the opportunity that rowing brought him previously. So, with a flicker of his body, he quickly gave chase and kept shouting.

“Senior, wait. I was wrong. Please give me a chance.”

“Senior, I want to board the boat.” Wang Baole unleashed his maximum speed and used all his might to shout, but the paper human cutout on the ethereal spirit boat ignored him, and the ethereal spirit boat got further and further away as he rowed with the paper oar. Wang Baole could only vaguely see that the chosen ones on the boat seemed to all turn their heads to look at him at that moment, a sense of delight in their expressions.

Those gazes made Wang Baole feel very unhappy in his heart. He felt that those people were too petty. When they couldn’t get an opportunity, they didn’t want to see others getting it either. As the ethereal spirit boat moved forward, it got blurrier and blurrier. Wang Baole sped and chased for a moment, but he sighed helplessly in the end as he gazed resentfully in the direction the ethereal spirit boat disappeared in.

I only rowed a few more times. It’s not like I could have broken the paper oar… When I refused to board the boat previously, you came multiple times just to get me to board. In the end, you even forcefully kidnapped me onto the ship… But now, you just kick me away like that? The more Wang Baole thought about that, the unhappier he became. But there was nothing he could do about it, so he sighed.

So be it. I’m a magnanimous man and won’t be petty over this anymore. Wang Baole patted his stomach and felt his current perfected stage Spirit Immortal realm cultivation. He quickly became happy again, though he still felt a little dissatisfied.

He wasn’t dissatisfied with how his opportunity had no continuation. Instead, he was dissatisfied with… his stomach.

I’m too skinny, it just doesn’t feel the same. Wang Baole lowered his head and pinched his solid abs hard. He controlled his essence to transmogrify a thick layer of fat on his stomach, causing it to have that hand feel again. That was when he felt comfortable.

But that boat… I previously heard those petty fellas refer to it as… the Fallen Star Boat? Fallen Star Envoy? Wang Baole narrowed his eyes. Those people all spoke the language of the Never-Ending Clan. Wang Baole wasn’t surprised by that, as he was in the Never-Ending Dao Domain. Hence, the Never-Ending Clan’s language was the entire Dao Domain’s lingua franca.

Looking at it this way, could the boat and paper human cutout be connected to the Graveyard of Stars? The boat was picking up those who had the places and bringing them to the Graveyard of Stars? A glimmer flashed between Wang Baole’s eyes. The information he knew was incomplete, making it hard for him to find an accurate answer. However, using those clues, Wang Baole felt that it was highly possible that his guesses were the truth.

If my guesses are correct… does that mean that the paper human cutout in my storage ring used to be a Fallen Star Envoy and came from… the Graveyard of Stars? Wang Baole lowered his head to look at his storage bag, and his eyes narrowed after he swept over it with his Divine Will.

I previously forgot to seal it again! Wang Baole’s expression changed, and he immediately sealed the storage ring. Afterward, he raised his head to look towards his surroundings cautiously.

Obviously, because he was forced onto the ship and gained the opportunity afterward, he didn’t have time to seal the ring and neglected the storage ring’s seal. Although he resealed the storage ring now, Wang Baole was clear that the storage ring was passively activated many times on his journey, and his position might have already been exposed. He might be facing the hidden threat of being locked onto and chased.

Of course, it was unlikely that he was exposed, because it was highly possible that there was a barrier on the ethereal spirit boat.

But there was still some risk in the end. Although those were just his guesses and he didn’t have evidence, Wang Baole’s cautiousness was already deeply ingrained in his bones after being tricked by the Violet Gold civilization. So, he quickly pondered and gave up on returning to the Divine Eye civilization immediately.

No matter whether he had people chasing him or not, Wang Baole had to think of the worst-case scenario, which was that his pursuers chased him, entered the Divine Eye civilization, and cooperated with the Violet Gold civilization. That way, it would be extremely tough for him to turn things around.

“It’s always better to be cautious!” Mumbling, Wang Baole flicked his body and used two days to find a meteorite the size of a small planet in the nearby cosmos. After he landed, he dug an internal cave and sat cross-legged in it, then started setting up array formations on the entire meteorite. After he set up array formations all around him, he narrowed his eyes.

No matter what, I’ll wait three months here first. I can afford to hide out for three months before returning to the Divine Eye civilization!

Wang Baole’s caution this time wasn’t wrong, as his judgment was very accurate. In reality, the golden beetle which Shan Lingzi and Dan Zhouzi were on had already locked onto him when his storage ring activated passively multiple times previously. They had also descended onto that patch of cosmos. However, after Wang Baole boarded the boat, they lost the signal and could only expand their search radius.

When Wang Baole was chased down from the sampan, although he quickly sealed the storage ring again, the moment he left the sampan, Shan Lingzi sensed the marking on his ring intensely once again.

He instantly got excited and immediately told Dan Zhouzi the coordinates. So, the giant golden beetle was speeding towards the latest position of Wang Baole at an extremely fast speed.

Using only five days, the golden beetle appeared where Wang Baole was chased off of the sampan previously. There, the golden beetle buzzed and paused as an intense light appeared in the eyes of Shan Lingzi inside it.

“Five days ago, that brat appeared here. It’s a shame that my storage ring lost its signal again. I don’t know which direction he went this time!”

Hearing his words, a hint of arrogance appeared in Dan Zhouzi’s eyes as he sneered.

“Where else could a mere Soul Conduit escape?”