A World Worth Protecting

1

“Roar!” The Diamond Ape watched as Wang Baole shut the doors to his cave abode and started to panic. It seemed on the verge of flying into another rage and started howling fiercely again. Its palms smashed against the doors of the cave abode, and the loud slams drew the attention of many in the area.

“The Diamond Ape!”

“Why has it come here?”

“This is… Wang Baole’s cave abode? Its doors are shut?”

In the Dharmic Armament Pavilion, disciples who witnessed the scene sucked in a collective, frightened breath. They weren’t completely taken over by terror, though; they realized that something interesting seemed to be unfolding before their eyes. However, after seeing the raging mad Diamond Ape, no one dared to venture too near; everyone started observing from afar.

Wang Baole watched as the doors to his cave abode quaked under the ape’s slamming, coughed heavily once, and opened up a narrow slit again. He glared.

“What do you want exactly?”

“Roar!”

“I really can’t understand a single thing,” Wang Baole blinked. The Diamond Ape had gone completely mad. It jumped outside the cave abode, thudding its chest heavily, and turned around at the same time. It seemed to be trying very hard.

The scene was like a sudden bolt of lightning exploding in everyone’s minds.

“My god, the killer move!”

“Goodness, quick, let’s make our retreat!”

Wang Baole’s scalp started prickling too. He knew he couldn’t go too far. He spoke hastily.

“Fine, fine. I know what you’re trying to say.”

Once those words were out of his mouth, the Diamond Ape spun around immediately. It stared at Wang Baole through the narrow slit in the cave abode with a look of agitation.

“But there’s no point in you yelling. I don’t have what you want… even if you unleash a powerful attack, I’ll just shut this door. We’ll just have to see who’s quicker.” As Wang Baole spoke, he sneaked a glance at the Diamond Ape.

Upon hearing Wang Baole saying he didn’t have what he was looking for, the Diamond Ape’s body started shaking. It howled again, throwing punches everywhere and sending the ground trembling. The mountain rocks quaked. Its demeanor proclaimed loudly—it would not stop until it got what it came for.

The scene caught the attention of a growing number of people. Wang Baole put on an appearance of exasperation as he watched the relentless Diamond Ape. He sighed, and through a slit in the door, his gaze fell on the Diamond Ape, honing straight in on his teeth.

“Fine, fine. I, Wang Baole, am a soft-hearted fellow. How about this—you give me one of your molars, and I’ll hand over what you came for, how’s that!”

The Diamond Ape’s eyes widened upon hearing Wang Baole’s words. He glared furiously at Wang Baole, seeming to grow angrier, and shook his head vehemently in refusal.

“Then there’s nothing we can do about this. I wanted to let you have a monster puppet that would never be broken by, um, you know what I mean…” Wang Baole coughed, and slowly reeled it in.

When it heard the puppet would never be broken, the Diamond Ape was torn. It let loose a round of howls outside the cave abode and paced about as if it was considering the matter.

Wang Baole’s eyes shone as he saw that the time was almost right. His goal wasn’t to make an enemy of the Diamond Ape or get its tooth. The beast, after all, belonged to the Beast Taming Pavilion Elder. If he plucked its tooth, the Beast Taming Pavilion would likely come knocking.

The goal of every one of Wang Baole’s plans was to teach the other party a lesson. More importantly, he wanted to build a positive relationship between tamer and beast.

He didn’t know how the Beast Taming Pavilion tamed beasts, but he had discovered a principle from the high officials’ autobiographies—one must giveth, then taketh away, and then giveth again. Through the process, the other party’s gratitude would shoot up exponentially.

“Fine, fine, Diamy. I don’t want your tooth anymore. I’ll let you have this beast puppet. Don’t worry, it won’t break!” Wang Baole said. He activated his scabbard and let the nine mosquitoes roam around the area without being discovered. Only after that did he open the door to the cave abode decisively, retrieve a completed ape puppet, and place it before the Diamond Ape.

The Diamond Ape heard what Wang Baole said. It looked at the ape puppet and froze. Then, it rushed forward and swept the puppet into an embrace. The ape looked at Wang Baole with suspicion; it was clear it didn’t think things would turn out that way. It had been ready to pull its tooth out.

But Wang Baole didn’t want his tooth after all. In fact, he even decided to give him the toy. The sentient Diamond Ape, which was capable of thought—albeit barely—was lost.

“But you should stop bullying me. Don’t worry, I know you like this toy. I’ve removed the self-destruct mechanism,” Wang Baole said with a sigh. He even stepped forward and patted the Diamond Ape.

The Diamond Ape’s body quivered. It instinctively wanted to throw a punch. Besides its owner and a few others whom he was close to, such contact from strangers made him uncomfortable.

But upon thinking that Wang Baole had given him a toy, he hesitated. Without the loss of a tooth as a basis for comparison, his simple mind wouldn’t have given the matter so much thought. But with the tooth already in the picture, the ape felt, as he looked at Wang Baole in its stunned daze, that it shouldn’t be violent towards Wang Baole.

The entire proceeding was witnessed by the surrounding Dharmic Armament Pavilion disciples. Their eyeballs almost fell out of their eye sockets, and they exploded into a hushed chatter.

“The Diamond Ape’s actually treating him so gently?”

“What is going on, giving the Diamond Ape presents can foster its goodwill? Others have done such a thing before, but it’s never worked!”

The ones surprised weren’t merely the Dharmic Armament Pavilion disciples. Many cruisers currently hovered in mid-air. Aboard them were disciples from the Beast Taming Pavilion. The Diamond Ape had been throwing a tantrum for nearly half a day—they had a duty to track it down and investigate the matter.

As they witnessed what had taken place, the impact shook them and stirred waves of emotions within them even more.

“The Diamond Ape actually allowed him to touch it!”

“Am I actually seeing this?”

Under the crowd’s stunned gazes, Wang Baole grew secretly pleased. He patted the Diamond Ape a few more times and said, laughing, “Go home, Diamy. When I have time, I’ll craft a few more toys for you. Go home now.” Wang Baole smiled with his hands behind his back and looked at the Diamond Ape.

The Diamond Ape was clearly still in a daze. However, when it looked back at Wang Baole, there was a hint of gentleness in its gaze. It clutched the ape puppet tightly, nodded at Wang Baole, and turned away, racing straight back to the Beast Taming Pavilion.

With the ape gone, the surrounding crowd was stirred into an uproar. Many who were quick-thinking realized the trick.

“This tactic is impressive!”

“No wonder he’s an Armament Soldier. This Wang Baole has been conspiring and plotting since he arrived, fighting until he became the head of the College Administrative Department. I’d thought it was sheer luck. Now I know… his ability to strategize is beyond spectacular!”

Every disciple who saw the scene unfold was shaken to the core and harbored feelings of envy. More than a few were tempted to do the same, but the infamy of the Diamond Ape had spread far and wide. No one dared to anger it…

Wang Baole listened to the discussions around him, his mood growing merry. He cupped his fists towards the crowd then returned to his cave abode, humming a tune under his breath. He sat down, cross-legged, and pulled out his snacks. After a few bites, he played out the entire incident in his head and was satisfied with how everything turned out.

He felt that he had executed the entire thing flawlessly. He didn’t incur the wrath of the Beast Taming Pavilion, and he resolved the ill feelings the Diamond Ape had harbored towards him. In the end, he even ensured the Diamond Ape would be more docile towards him in the future.

Furthermore, as long as he continued crafting ape puppets with a few unique features, the Diamond Ape’s feelings towards him would improve. When the time came, whenever he came across anyone he didn’t like, he could simply have a few words with the Diamond Ape. Matters would be easily resolved then.

<em>But to build such a relationship requires some time, </em>Wang Baole thought, pleased. Especially so when he stepped out in his cruiser a few days later and came across the Diamond Ape. When the Diamond Ape saw Wang Baole, it grinned and raced towards him.

There was no knocking around. Instead, it stopped beside Wang Baole, bared its teeth in a wide grin, and thudded its chest and hollered as if in greeting.

Wang Baole’s mood lightened tremendously. His life resumed normalcy, and his cultivation and his proficiency in crafting armaments improved steadily. A month passed.

That was when a piece of news was announced. It was like a pebble dropping into a pond, sending thousands of waves rippling out. The attention of very disciple from every pavilion on the Upper Academy Island was ensnared.

Due to the recent Beast Tide, the Federation staged an ambush on the Sea of Beasts and successfully slaughtered numerous Beast Kings. That won them twenty years of stability. Built on that two-decade foundation and with such a grand victory, a proposal that had been intended for a later implementation was brought forward, and was approved!

The name of the proposal… Operation Sword Sun!

The mission of Operation Sword Sun… to land on the ancient green-bronze sword!

After landing on the ancient green-bronze sword—to colonize a portion of the land and transform it into a colony!

The impact of the matter was immense and was felt across all the political forces. The disciples of the Ethereal Dao College were all shaken to the core. That was something that every cultivator dreamed of achieving. It was something that was challenging in the climate of internal conflicts and external threats.

However, with the external threat suppressed for the moment and the Federation seeking a target to distract the internal political entities, Operation Sword Sun became an obvious course of action!

The operation was a huge matter though. True Breath realm cultivators weren’t eligible for participation. However, there was a phase within Operation Sword Sun that involved True Breath ream cultivators, and that was the Federation’s Hundred Seedling Plan!

From the respective political entities in the Federation, a hundred True Breath realm prodigies were to be chosen as seedlings and specially groomed!

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