A World Worth Protecting

1

The ten mosquitoes had been dispersed throughout the area earlier. When Zhou Fei had first appeared, Wang Baole had immediately assessed the considerable disparity in their power. It was possible to kill Zhou Fei, but the probability of that happening was too low.

He had planned accordingly. He would kill the man if possible. If not, he had to at least frighten him off!

It was due to those considerations that he hadn’t sent out the mosquitoes and had decided to first use his many Numinous Treasures as a distraction before executing a surprise attack with his Dharmic Armament. He had even uttered the beginning of the scripture inwardly, as both a scare tactic and a means to temporarily augment his abilities and complete the final strike!

At the same time, he had thought of a backup plan in case he had failed, and that was… the mosquitoes!

After his experiences in the Pond Cloud Rainforest, during the Beast Tide, as well as in the Coulomb Basin, Wang Baole had become more ruthless and calculated in his attacks and strategies. In order to let the mosquitoes succeed, he gritted his teeth and retreated swiftly to distract Zhou Fei.

The instant Zhou Fei lifted his head and looked towards Wang Baole’s direction the ten mosquitoes swarmed in. A howl of pain rang out from Zhou Fei’s lips suddenly. His body swelled up, and agonizing pain and an indescribable itch drove him mad. His body hummed and let loose a sudden burst of Foundation Establishment realm energy that rippled outwards.

It shattered the nine mosquitoes. The gray mosquito, strangely, remained and continued racing forward. It bit Zhou Fei on his arm viciously, and a patch of blue spread across his body abruptly. Zhou Fei was immediately alarmed. He retreated hurriedly, spat out a mouthful of blood, and attempted to crush the gray mosquito that was trying its best to burrow into his body!

Wang Baole narrowed his eyes at the rapidly retreating Zhou Fei. He didn’t pursue the latter. He could sense the immediate regeneration of the mosquitoes, excluding the gray one, in the scabbard inside his body. The gray mosquito didn’t immediately regenerate but was clearly forming inside the scabbard. After a while, it was ready to be deployed again.

He released a sigh of relief, turned, and sped away, deeper into the forest.

The battle made him realize the rift separating him and a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment realm. Even though it wasn’t his first fight with a Foundation Establishment realm cultivator, it was the most significant one. After all, the last time he had fought against one was when he battled alongside Zhao Yameng and Zhuo Yifan against the giant tree, which was at the perfected Foundation Establishment realm.

There hadn’t been such an intense and direct battle then, like what had taken place between him and Zhou Fei.

He knew that he had a chance to win the fight. However, the Dharmic Armament he had wasn’t something a True Breath realm cultivator could fully wield and control. Even though he had used his wits and uttered the scripture, frightening Zhou Fei and destabilizing both his spell and Numinous Treasure, he himself had been relying on his Foundation Establishment realm physical form to wield the Dharmic Armament forcibly. His strategy had worked, but it wasn’t perfect. He failed to kill Zhou Fei. The backlash on his body was also considerable.

If he employed the method more than three times, the enemy wouldn’t have to dirty their hands to take him out, as he himself would collapse.

<em>I’ll have to risk great injury and almost dying to kill him… </em>Wang Baole thought seriously and weighed his options. He retrieved a pill swiftly and swallowed it. Then, with great regret, he vanished into the depths of the forest.

In the forest, behind him, was the hastily retreating, pale-faced Zhou Fei. He realized Wang Baole hadn’t continued his pursuit and started grinding his teeth. In reality, despite his grievous injuries, his earlier retreat had been a trap. He had intended to lure Wang Baole into pursuing him and use that as an opportunity to relaunch an attack on Wang Baole.

He had even rehearsed in his head how he would strike back as he retreated. However, Wang Baole hadn’t followed.

<em>The sly bastard! </em>Zhou Fei wiped the blood from his mouth. He regulated his breathing and lifted his hand to touch the cut on his forehead. His heart pumped rapidly as he stared at the blue patch on his right arm.

It was like a terrible poison that he could only use his cultivation to suppress but not fully dispel. His arm was numb and ice cold to the touch—that terrified Zhou Fei.

To think that he, a mid-stage Foundation Establishment realm cultivator, had suffered so terribly at the hands of a perfected True Breath realm cultivator. He didn’t even manage to kill the latter. He couldn’t quench the raging fury in his heart. However, an unprecedented hunger soon appeared in his eyes, and his breathing grew uneven.

<em>He actually has a Dharmic Armament! </em>Zhou Fei grew more and more excited as he recalled the earlier battle. He knew too well the rarity and value of a Dharmic Armament. Even he only had a sixth-grade Numinous Treasure. He had hungered for a Dharmic Armament for years; however, a Dharmic Armament was too costly. He simply couldn’t afford one and hence, couldn’t own one.

However… a Dharmic Armament had appeared in the hands of a perfected True Breath realm cultivator. After the initial alarm and fear, the surprise and excitement that overtook him was indescribable.

It was especially so after he experienced the power of the Dharmic Armament firsthand. As he thought back to the terror that had overwhelmed him, his hunger grew. To his mind, the power of the Dharmic Armament must have been the cause of his terror.

<em>It’s at least an eighth-grade Dharmic Armament!</em>

<em>It’s mine now! </em>Excitement flashed in Zhou Fei’s eyes. Initially, he had pursued Wang Baole because he had been given the mission of silencing the latter. However, his goal had changed. Silencing Wang Baole was simply a secondary objective. His real aim was to possess Wang Baole’s Dharmic Armament after killing him.

He thought about how, with the Dharmic Armament, he could even hold his ground against a perfected Foundation Establishment realm cultivator to a certain extent, and he grew even more excited. However, the numb icy feeling on the blue patch on his right arm and the blood on his forehead made him very much aware of how difficult a foe Wang Baole was. He narrowed his eyes, lifted his right hand, and pulled out a round bead and shattered it. In an instant, thick black smoke rose into the sky.

Soon, multiple shadows sped from all four corners of the forest towards him. They were the remaining dozen or so perfected True Breath realm cultivators from the Five Generation Sky Clan.

They appeared and saw the disheveled Zhou Fei, and they were all instantly alarmed. They didn’t dare question Zhou Fei though.

“Wang Baole has been injured badly. All of you are to go after him. I’ll seek a reward for the one who kills him. You’ll get twenty fragments and can advance to the Foundation Establishment realm immediately!” Zhou Fei spoke slowly. When the rest heard what he had said, their breathing quickened, and their faces flushed red immediately. They followed their orders and started their pursuit in the direction Zhou Fei had pointed them.

Zhou Fei followed behind. He stared at the dozen cultivators in front of him, contempt and indifference hidden deep in his gaze.

Their only purpose was to wear Wang Baole down. If they could force Wang Baole to use the Dharmic Armament again, it would be even better.

With them wearing Wang Baole down, he would be able to kill the latter more easily and get his hands on the Dharmic Armament. If the rest didn’t perish in battle and found out about his possession of the Dharmic Armament, he could simply kill and silence them. Their deaths would be on Wang Baole’s head. The plan was flawless.

At the thought, the greed and excitement in Zhou Fei’s eyes shone more brightly. Alongside the rest, he disappeared into the depths of the forest.

Deep in the forest, Wang Baole was deeply wounded and breathing heavily. The most serious injury came from the backlash from using the Dharmic Armament. If he hadn’t possessed one-hundred-percent spirit meridians and practiced the Compression Art the Little Missy had taught him, resulting in his cultivation vastly surpassing the typical perfected True Breath realm cultivation, the backlash would have been even worse.

Fortunately, his understanding of the Mystic Trace Fog greatly surpassed that of an ordinary person. In his continuous search and journey forward, the initial rare wisps of mist grew more numerous as he ventured further in the direction he had taken. It was then that he saw, in the field of vision of the mosquitoes that were scattered around him, the perfected True Breath realm cultivators from the Five Generation Sky Clan.

<em>They just don’t know when to quit! </em>Wang Baole frowned. He ignored them and quickened his pace until he reached the center of the region where the Mystic Trace Fog would form. He studied the surrounding and whirled around suddenly. Instead of continuing to run, he raised his right hand and pulled out the seventh-grade Dharmic Armament, his saber. With a sweep of the saber, he drew a circle with a fifty-yard-wide radius on the ground.

He stood still, in the middle of the circle, Dharmic Armament in his hand, and stared into the distant forest coldly. Soon, multiple shadows dashed out and surrounded Wang Baole.

“He who enters this circle dies!” Wang Baole stared coldly at the people surrounding him. He gripped his saber, the tip of its blade pointed to the ground, the tone of his voice casual.

An intense battle aura erupted from his slightly round body suddenly. A black tornado circled around him, blanketing the rapidly gathering mist. Within the black tornado, a ferocious giant crocodile loomed.

The erupting spirit energy roared and rose to the skies. Death loomed in the air, and a cold, merciless aura surged outwards with Wang Baole’s words. The assailants could feel a sudden drop in the surrounding temperature.

His words, together with his blood-stained clothes and his icy stare, seemed to be imbued with a startling power that alarmed all cultivators who heard him and shook them to their cores. It was like… a warning from the god of death!

Gradually, the cultivators around Wang Baole started breathing heavily. They were all highly strung and cautious, and they didn’t immediately approach. The circle, and the person standing in the middle of it, had shocked them greatly. They weren’t idiots. Someone who had fought Zhou Fei and survived could hardly be a weakling!

As a result… in the forest, be it Wang Baole in the center of his circle, or the group of cultivators surrounding it, all gradually fell quiet. A deathly silence broken only by breathing descended upon the area!

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