A World Worth Protecting

1

Lin You’s voice held a sense of power. As it resounded in the air, the air grew heavy and oppressive. It was as if a startling power had emerged between the heavens and earth, and sent the residence sinking into the bottom of the sea. Nothing escaped its influence. Their movements slowed down, and everyone’s hearts shook in sudden terror.

Wang Baole’s upward kick slowed down and fell gradually to the ground. Even the raging Diamond Ape shivered and shrank its head back.

Lin Tianhao watched as the situation was resolved with mere words from his father and sighed in relief. He hurried forward to ease the tensions further. Despite lacking in resolve and reliability, Lin Tianhao was skilled in conflict resolution. With his interference, Wang Baole and Zhuo Yixian were quickly separated.

The Diamond Ape winked at Wang Baole when it saw the middle-aged man leave. It went back to where the cruisers were parked and continued playing with its puppet.

As the chaotic scene came to an end, Zhuo Yixian was too embarrassed to linger any longer. With a sullen look, he led his family clan’s priest and left quietly.

Wang Baole snorted as he watched Zhuo Yixian leave. Together with Zhao Yameng and Zhuo Yifan, they chatted a short while with the others before choosing to leave as well.

They stepped onto the Diamond Ape’s shoulder and sped off. The crowd stared at their retreating forms.

<em>Wang Baole’s temper is quite fiery. But his character makes him a friend worthy of making… however, if he’s also participating in this round’s Mystic Luna Realm, he’ll definitely make a formidable competitor! </em>Li Xiu thought. When he looked at the people around him, he could sense that many had come to the same conclusions.

It was clear that some of them had reached the peak of the True Breath realm and intended to travel to the Mystic Luna Realm that year and fight for a chance to advance to the Foundation Establishment realm.

Wang Baole’s prowess immediately made them more cautious of him. At the same time, they also had to decide how they would interact with him should they cross paths on the moon.

The feast carried on till late in the night, with everyone deep in their own thoughts. One by one, the guests departed. The Ethereal Fruit Feast officially came to an end.

The next day, Lin Tianhao returned to the Ethereal Dao College. The students in the college continued their usual cultivation and other activities. Wang Baole, Zhao Yameng, and Zhuo Yifan as well, did the same, though their caution towards Huang Shan remained.

That persisted… until two weeks later when the college officially released news about the opening of the Mystic Luna Realm. The news immediately stirred heated debates amongst the disciples who had reached the peak of the True Breath realm.

Wang Baole’s application was officially approved at the same time. In two weeks, alongside his fellow disciples, he would be traveling on the Ethereal Dao College’s space cruiser and heading for the moon!

It was also then that the college, after requesting disciples to maintain the confidentiality of the information, released various resources on the Mystic Luna Realm to the successful applicants. It was so that they could have some prior knowledge and make the necessary preparations.

The resources from the college contained some overlaps and supplementary additions to the information provided by Chen Yutong. It included information on the fragments required to advance to the Foundation Establishment realm as well as the information on fully intact artifacts.

There were also some details that Chen Yutong hadn’t been aware of, such as the number of fragments required to advance to the Foundation Establishment realm. Chen Yutong had been unsure of that. The information provided by the college stated the figures clearly.

The typical cultivator often wouldn’t have the fortune or luck to discover a fully intact artifact. That meant that they would need to acquire fragments that could form the Foundation Establishment core. Based on the data collated by the Federation and accumulated through repeated successful advancements from the True Breath realm to the Foundation Establishment realm, one typically required twenty fragments or so to form one’s Foundation Establishment core.

The required quantity vastly increased the difficulty of the task. It was already challenging to acquire fragments in the Mystic Luna Realm. Furthermore, not all the fragments that were found could be used for one’s Foundation Establishment core. Even if one managed to find a fragment, he would need more than twenty to secure his chances of advancement.

There was a high failure rate of advancing to the Foundation Establishment core if the number of fragments obtained was too few. That was why, unless there were dire circumstances, no one would risk making an attempt without getting at least twenty fragments.

The information also clearly informed all applicants that due to the extraordinary difficulty of colonizing the Mystic Luna Realm, all political forces in the Federation had reached an agreement to designate the realm for cultivators at the peak of the True Breath realm to seek a chance at advancing to the Foundation Establishment cultivation. At the same time, another law had also been put in place!

The law was signed and enforced by the Federation government, the Senate comprising the seventeen senators, the four Dao Colleges, the two main sects, the Five Generation Sky Clan as well as the Trilunaris Corporation. They were mutually bound to one another. Every time the mystic realm was opened, no one political force was to interfere in a True Breath realm cultivator’s attempts at advancement. To prevent any accidents from taking place, a seal was put in place every time the mystic realm was opened. An array formation would be activated to prevent anyone surpassing the True Breath realm from stepping into the realm.

Anyone who tried to break the law would become a public enemy and be prosecuted!

The method was implemented to ensure what took place in the Mystic Luna Realm was, to the best of their ability, just and fair. It was to prevent the top True Breath realm cultivators of the various political forces from suffering malicious attacks and assassinations when they were in the realm.

However, the Mystic Luna Realm itself also contained its own dangers. Within it lay strange beasts as well as bizarre weather events that defied imagination and were so powerful they could destroy one’s flesh and spirit.

As a result, every person who entered the realm would be given a jade token that could be used during a life-or-death situation. Once shattered, the token would activate the power of an array formation and conjure a protective barrier. The array formation would also teleport the person out of the mystic realm immediately.

To prevent anyone from exploiting the jade token to find a loophole in the system, the person who shattered the token would lose their right to enter the Mystic Luna Realm again for that year’s round. That was regardless of whether they had successfully reached the Foundation Establishment realm.

In addition, unless they had reached the Foundation Establishment realm prior to shattering the jade token, all the fragments they had obtained for their Foundation Establishment core would have their ownership transferred to the Federation and no longer belong to any single individual. It was akin to giving up everything they had found in the realm.

That was why, unless they were driven to a corner and were facing a life-or-death situation that they saw no way out of, no one would willingly shatter their jade token. It was akin to abandoning all chances at achieving the Foundation Establishment realm.

The above was only information pertaining to the rules and regulations of the Mystic Luna Realm. After careful reading, Wang Baole also found some information on the Mystic Luna Realm.

The entire Mystic Luna Realm encompassed seventy percent of the entire moon’s surface. Fifty percent was the visible side of the moon; the remaining twenty percent was the dark side of the moon!

Even though the visible side of the moon took up a greater land area, many of the areas where fragments could be easily found had already been mined empty. Even though monster sightings were few and the area was relatively safe if one took care to avoid some of the more strange weather events, more luck was required to be able to find anything of worth.

The dark side of the moon, though, was fraught with peril. Death loomed behind every corner—danger overflowing. In comparison, there were many more fragments to be found there. However, a True Breath realm disciple would need to consider and weigh the odds carefully.

In the materials given, it was also emphasized repeatedly that all disciples who entered the Mystic Luna Realm were to go only as far as the highlighted twenty percent of the dark side of the moon. Once they reached the boundary, they weren’t to advance farther…

That was because… the region beyond didn’t fall within the Federation’s array formation. Should danger befall one there, he wouldn’t be able to transmit a signal for help successfully. Naturally, there would be no rescue.

The information also stated that in the furthest, deepest region of the dark side of the moon lay… an enormous ancient corpse!

The ancient corpse originated from the ancient green-bronze sword. Four decades ago, someone had fallen alongside the fragments of the ancient sword hilt. The size of the person was gigantic. The corpse eventually landed on the far side of the moon.

The corpse was dead, but it seemed to possess a wraith-like intelligence. It lay silent and still for the most part. However, once awakened… calamity would descend. Even a Core Formation realm cultivator would be killed instantly by a mere slap from the corpse!

Fortunately, the ancient corpse had only awoken once in the past forty years. The information warned everyone not to step into the depths of the dark side of the moon. As long as nothing was done to stir or rouse the ancient corpse, it shouldn’t awaken.

Wang Baole read through all the materials carefully and was shaken by what he had learned. He thought back to the ancient corpse. In his incredulity, he couldn’t help but think of the Little Missy.

After being silent for a long while, Wang Baole set aside his thoughts. He knew that there was not much time left. He made use of what remaining time he had and went into seclusion. On the one hand, it was to ensure his body remained in peak condition. On the other, it was also to prepare himself for his advancement to the Foundation Establishment realm.

Wang Baole wasn’t the only one doing so. Every True Breath realm cultivator in the Ethereal Dao College, in fact, all four Dao Colleges, as well as from the other political forces in the Federation, who had successfully gone through their applications were all making their separate preparations.

They were waiting… for the entrance to the Mystic Luna Realm to be opened!

Time passed. The days crept by. Two weeks later…

The entrance to the Mystic Luna Realm was officially open!

As soon as the respective political forces in the Federation received the news, they immediately released it to their own people. The space cruisers that had been sitting in their ports and would be heading towards the Mystic Luna Realm started humming as their engines were activated!

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