A World Worth Protecting

1

“Baole, these two are my junior brothers whom I befriended in the Combat Pavilion. They are on a mission for the college. Since we’re all traveling in the same direction, they thought of traveling together with me. What say you…” Zhuo Yifan coughed, interrupting Wang Baole as the latter basked in his own glory.

The two disciples behind Zhuo Yifan had ordinary looks, and their cultivation was at the second level of True Breath realm. They stepped forward immediately and cupped their fists, greeting Wang Baole.

“Greetings to Senior Brother Wang!” It was clear that Zhuo Yifan had spoken to them about Wang Baole before arriving there. Furthermore, Wang Baole’s name on the Upper Academy Island had spread far and wide. As a result, the pair were very cordial to him.

“No problem, we’ll all from the same college. Yifan’s friends are my friends too. We’ll head off together!” Wang Baole laughed out loud and agreed to their request. Then, he retrieved his droplet-shaped luxury cruiser and hopped on.

“Come on board, let’s set off!”

Zhuo Yifan smiled and shook his head. He gestured towards Zhao Yameng, who was standing at one side, to board first.

Zhao Yameng smiled and nodded. With a cool and dignified look, she stepped onto the cruiser and sat down. Zhuo Yifan and his junior brothers from the Combat Pavilion followed suit and boarded the cruiser.

Wang Baole’s old cruiser wouldn’t have been able to seat so many people. However, his current cruiser was only given to people who were Deputy Pavilion Heads or their equals. Even with five of them on board, it still felt spacious.

Under Wang Baole’s steering, the cruiser soon headed straight for the skies. It dashed through the clouds and raced towards the distant heavens. Its speed vastly surpassed that of an ordinary cruiser.

Based on Wang Baole’s cruising speed, they needed an estimated twenty hours before they would each the Federation’s capital city. They had departed earlier so that they could check out the city first and had the intention of familiarizing themselves with the place. Be it Wang Baole or Zhuo Yifan, they had never been to the capital city.

As the cruiser flew swiftly along, Wang Baole stopped standing around like an idiot. He sat down and looked at Zhuo Yifan and Zhao Yameng, and emotions stirred in his heart. He had thought the speed he had advanced his cultivation to be really fast; he had not expected that Zhao Yameng was not slow in hers as well. She seemed to be at the fourth level of the True Breath realm.

Zhuo Yifan was slightly slower, but he still peaked at the third level of True Breath realm. He gave the impression that he might break through his current level quickly.

<em>Everyone has their own secrets. Be it Zhuo Yifan or Zhao Yameng, they must be hiding gifts that others do not know. </em>Upon realizing that, Wang Baole started chatting with them.

“You’ve all advanced to become your respective pavilions’ Array Rune Soldier and Combat Soldier?”

“Have you heard, the competition for the Federation’s upcoming Hundred Seedling Plan is going to be brutal. It’s a one in a million chance. You’ll need not only capability but incredible luck. The criteria for physical good looks are equally stringent. There are few who will qualify, but I should have no problems. Are you guys confident of your chances?” Wang Baole said, inwardly pleased. However, he soon sunk into low spirits.

Zhao Yameng was too reserved and quiet, inclined towards listening rather than talking. Zhuo Yifan, on the other hand, having undergone tough cultivation in the college, had cultivated a more restrained character as well. As a result, after having spoken for so long, Wang Baole watched as the two stared at him—one with her large eyes and the other with an expressionless face—and slowly, could not bring himself to continue speaking any further.

Wang Baole slapped his forehead and turned towards the two Combat Pavilion disciples, who had odd looks on their faces. He asked curiously, “Where are you headed?”

It was clear that it was their first time onboard a cruiser with such high flying speeds. It was moving so much more quickly than their own. They were respectful and in awe of Wang Baole, who owned such a cruiser. When they heard his question, one of them answered immediately.

“We’re headed for the Coulomb Basin.”

After he said that, the other junior brother next to him continued, “A student from the Alchemy Faculty on the Lower Academy Island applied for leave to visit his home a week ago. Six hours earlier, he sought help from the Lower Academy Island. He had met with beasts while traveling through the Coulomb Basin. He’s trapped in the basin, but it’s not life-threatening.”

“The Lower Academy Island contacted a few small Dao colleges near the Coulomb Basin and requested they send out rescue during the night. At the same time, the Lower Academy Island also submitted a mission request to the Combat Pavilion. The two of us are heading to support the rescue mission and prevent any accidents from taking place.”

There was no need to protect the confidentiality of such missions, as the Ethereal Dao College received many similar missions. The guards who had been stationed on the cruiser when Wang Baole had first returned home had been Upper Academy Island disciples who had been tasked with a mission.

In general, when students from the Lower Academy Island met with trouble, the Lower Academy Island would assess the severity of the matter before submitting a request to the Upper Academy Island, who would then arrange for students to resolve the problem. The Combat Pavilion disciples formed the main task force that completed those missions.

The pair did not conceal anything from the rest and lay out the details truthfully. Wang Baole recalled how he had been trapped in the Pond Cloud Rainforest. Concerned, he asked a few more questions and found out that the strongest beasts in the Coulomb Basin were only at the True Breath realm. The trapped disciple was also currently hiding in a safe spot. However, his location was surrounded by monsters, and they needed to eliminate the monsters one by one. As such, the rescue effort was still in process. Upon hearing that, he sighed in relief.

He knew that time was of the essence, so he released his Spirit Qi and increased the speed of the cruiser. The cruiser raced towards the location of the Coulomb Basin as shown on the map. It was smacked right in the middle of their way to the capital city.

The journey was neither long nor brief. Six hours passed quickly as Wang Baole kept talking. Once in a while, Zhuo Yifan would reply a few words. The two Combat Pavilion disciples would also join in, pulling out their voice transmission rings and communicating with the trapped Lower Academy Island student from time to time in order to confirm his location and safety.

One hour passed. A journey that should have taken much longer ended earlier due to Wang Baole’s unique cruiser and him increasing its speed.

Beneath the cruiser was a vast expanse of green. It was a huge basin and was overgrown with vegetation, making the entire recessed area look like a swamp.

Such a geographical landscape occupied a great portion of the lands within the Federation.

It was at that moment that the two disciples received a voice transmission. There was joy on their faces, and they lifted their heads and said, “The guy’s been rescued. He’s safe—he just got a fright.”

“We’ll not pose further inconvenience on senior brothers and senior sister. We’ll be leaving on our cruisers here and heading to our destination.” The pair stood and cupped their fists at Wang Baole, Zhuo Yifan, and Zhao Yameng.

The cruiser stopped, and the pair bade farewell and left.

Wang Baole gazed at their retreating backs; he was slightly moved. He steered the cruiser away from the basin and looked at Zhuo Yifan.

“Your Combat Pavilion must receive quite a number of similar missions?”

“The Combat Pavilion receives hundreds, even up to a thousand, missions daily. These missions have to be completed by the disciples. Sometimes, there would be more missions than usual. That’s why in general, there aren’t many Combat Pavilion disciples on the Upper Academy Island.”

“How about you, how many have you completed?” Wang Baole was curious.

“To date, I’ve completed seventy-three missions since enrolling on the Upper Academy Island.” If it had been anyone else, Zhuo Yifan wouldn’t have given such a detailed answer, but Wang Baole had asked, and he instinctively replied honestly.

“What about the casualty rate? I heard that except for certain special missions that could only be completed by a single person, the college would apply the twin standard for other missions outside the college. I also heard the resources sent would be three levels above the required cultivation level?” Zhao Yameng, who had been sitting at one side without uttering more than a few words, suddenly asked, after hearing what Zhuo Yifan said.

Wang Baole hadn’t tried to find out more about missions outside the college. He got curious when he heard that.

“Twin standard? Three levels above the required cultivation level?”

“The three-level leap, simply put, is this: for example, if a Physical Seal realm disciple meets with trouble, a second level True Breath realm cultivator would be sent to support. If a third level True Breath realm disciple meets with trouble, a Foundation Establishment realm cultivator would be sent! As for the twin standard—based on the difficulty of the mission, instead of sending one person who was capable of completing it, we would send two of the same caliber!”

“Such arrangements would greatly reduce the number of accidents and casualties. But even with that in place, nearly a tenth of the disciples continue to be injured or killed every year,” Zhuo Yifan explained.

Zhao Yameng frowned and looked deep in thought. Wang Baole was about the continue asking more questions after hearing Zhuo Yifan’s explanation.

It was then that Zhao Yameng suddenly stood up, and the frown on her brow deepened. She stood in the cruiser, her head lowered and gazing towards the distant Coulomb Basin. She said, softly, “Do you feel… that this basin is a little too quiet? Since our approach, up until when we left, I did not see a single beast—not even an avian creature!”

There was a gleam in Wang Baole’s eyes, and he stopped the cruiser in mid-air abruptly. Zhuo Yifan froze for a moment before a solemn look appeared on his face. The two looked towards the distant basin. However, it was too far away and indiscernible to their eyes.

“Yifan, send a voice transmission to your two junior brothers and ask if they’re safe!” Wang Baole said immediately.

Zhuo Yifan pulled out his voice transmission ring almost as soon as Wang Baole spoke. He quickly contacted the two Combat Pavilion disciples, even turning on the video call function. He saw the two disciples and the student they had found; all three of them looked fine. The transmission ended, but a moment later, the normal expression on Zhuo Yifan’s face was replaced by one of extreme solemnity. Zhuo Yifan looked at Zhao Yameng and Wang Baole.

“They look normal and have intercepted the student from the Lower Academy Island. They will relocate to a safe spot and return tomorrow. There’s nothing out of the ordinary with their tone, but they didn’t use the secret code word we of the Combat Pavilion are supposed to use during missions… such a blunder is considered a serious oversight to the Combat Pavilion!”

Upon hearing Zhuo Yifan’s words, the expressions on Wang Baole’s and Zhao Yameng’s faces changed.

“Something’s wrong!” Zhuo Yifan sucked in a deep breath. He gazed at Coulomb Basin, a frosty glint flashing across his eyes.

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