A World Worth Protecting

1

At the same instant, blood-colored winds appeared on almost thirty percent of Mars. It was an extremely bizarre scene as the winds blew in all directions. A thing like this had never happened before, either after the establishment of the Martian Colony City or ever before in history.

If one were to look at Mars from outer space, they could see that the red-colored fog was like the tides, spreading at high speed and covering an increasingly large area.

This event was instantly detected by the array formation on Mars, which led to a warning signal being sent out. This immediately caught the attention of the Martian Colony City, and people like the Governor and Deputy Governor personally made the trip down to the core of the array formation to find out what was going on.

The core of the array formation was located in the military base of Mars. It was extremely large, covering over sixty percent of Mars. At the same time, even though it was meant for military use, the one with the most authority over it was the Governor.

Right now, on the enormous spirit screen located within the military base, an illusory model of Mars could be seen. Thirty percent of the region of the model was covered with churning red fog. It was extremely harrowing to watch, and in the crowd which densely covered the area, the military elites, the Governor, as well as other personnel looked solemn.

“There weren’t any signs. Suddenly, this blood-colored fog appeared.”

“Based on the investigations carried out by the sentry guards stationed outside, the blood fog was found to be corrosive and has the capability to restrict spirits. Furthermore, an unknown creature seems to exist within the fog…” The person in command of the military was a burly middle-aged man. Right now, he was standing behind the Governor as he spoke with all seriousness.

“Therefore, other than reporting the information to you, we sincerely request for the Governor to use your authority to increase the power of the Mars array formation in order to better investigate the situation so that we can get a clear understanding of what is going on inside the fog!”

The Governor, dressed in a bright red long robe, frowned as she stared at the spirit screen. After a brief moment of silence, she suddenly raised her right hand, activating her hand seals as she pressed the enormous spirit screen in front of her through the air.

As the spirit screen was pressed, it instantly vibrated, and the image on it began to blur immediately. However, very quickly, the image reappeared much clearer than before, as if it could permeate the screen. The unclear figure formed by the blood-colored fog seemed to have been filtered, such that everyone could vaguely see what was within the blood-colored fog!

What was bizarre was that within the blood-colored fog, the ground and the rocks appeared normal. However, both the common and unique vegetation that the Federation had been trying to cultivate following the appearance of Spirit Qi on Mars had withered and died.

At the same time, there seemed to be several things flowing within the fog. The things that were flowing all looked different, seemingly translucent as they blended with the fog. They could be seen through the array formation but were completely invisible to the naked eye.

This made everyone even more solemn. At the same time, the Martian Colony Governor suddenly looked towards a small area on the northwestern area of the Mars model.

“Hmm?” The pupils of the Mars Governor constricted, and with her finger pointing at it, the area was instantly magnified. Immediately, the entire spirit screen turned blood red, and after layers of filtering, everyone finally managed to see the true appearance of the area beneath the blood-colored fog. They all gasped in disbelief!

There it was… a village!

“Impossible!” The burly middle-aged man from the military let out a voiceless scream. At the same time, gasps of shock and disbelief, as well as sounds of heavy breathing, emerged from the people around him.

“How could there be a village on Mars?”

“I know that place. I’m very sure that it was just a basin in that location previously. There was no village!”

As the crowd was gripped in shock, the giant tree also took a few steps forward to take a closer look. He then waved his hand suddenly, minimizing the area on the screen before pointing at several other regions of Mars. Soon, images of the various areas appeared on the screen, each having identical, bizarre looking villages within them!

There were a total of seven such areas!

The atmosphere grew more solemn. As people grew more surprised, the detection by the array formation showed that there wasn’t a high level of danger in those seven villages. At the same time, it detected that within the seven villages, there was the existence of broken array formations and damaged Dharmic treasures.

This made the seven villages even more mysterious.

“Interesting…” The Mars Governor narrowed her eyes, revealing a glint of danger in them. After a brief moment of silence, she gave a command.

“According to the detection done by the array formation, the seven areas aren’t considered very dangerous. However, we shouldn’t belittle them. This matter shall be placed under your charge, General Li. Send out seven troops to investigate each of these seven areas at the same time. Furthermore, be alert and make sure that a Core Formation cultivator leads each team.

“At the same time, gather all the Array Runes cultivators as well as Dharmic Armament cultivators in the Martian City and bring them along. If the objects within the seven areas can’t be brought out, then they are to research them on the spot!”

General Li from the military immediately obeyed the command. He then turned around, efficiently making plans to carry out the command. With that, the entire Mars military was activated, and as commands were passed down, the identities and residential addresses of Array Runes and Dharmic Armament cultivators within Martian Colony City were retrieved.

Wang Baole and Lin Tianhao’s name were among the data reviewed.

As the command was sent out, numerous cruisers rushed out from the military base. With the fastest speed, they ferried the Array Runes and Dharmic Armament cultivators to accompany the seven branch teams.

At the same time, in order to prevent widespread panic, the entire mission was conducted in secrecy.

One of the cruisers headed directly to Dao Mountain Mist Academy at high speed. After it arrived in Dao Mountain Mist Academy, it immediately sent a voice transmission to Wang Baole. However, it was futile as there was no reply received. That made the military personnel who were looking for Wang Baole troubled. Instead, they located Lin Tianhao.

The arrival of the military surprised Lin Tianhao, and he immediately sent a voice transmission to Wang Baole. However, he was unable to contact him as well. In the end, with the military running out of time, they looked at Lin Tianhao and announced.

“Lin Tianhao, you have been drafted!”

Lin Tianhao didn’t know how to nor was he able to reject being drafted by the military. After a few silent breaths, he immediately nodded his head and stepped into the military cruiser, leaving Dao Mountain Mist Academy.

Before long, the seven unique cruisers that could withstand a brief moment of Spirit Restriction emerged from Martian City, heading at high speed in seven different directions.

At the same time, outside the Colonial City in the wilderness, on the plains within the blood-colored fog, it was completely dark in the underground cave where the evil cultivator previously resided. In the darkness, Wang Baole sat down after guiding himself using the wall. He gasped as he thought about the sudden appearance and disappeared of extreme pain despite his body disintegrating the blood-colored fog that entered him.

“Quiet!” Li Wan’er ordered softly the moment Wang Baole gasped.

Wang Baole stared at her. However, when he thought about the misunderstanding he had towards her previously, he sneered under his breath and unwillingly followed suit without paying further attention. He shut his eyes and tried to connect with the devouring seed, so as to regain his cultivation as soon as possible.

At the same time, he was also feeling troubled. Being trapped where he was without doing anything felt too passive. However, he understood clearly that the blood-colored fog outside would probably not last long. Furthermore, the longer he and Li Wan’er remained uncontactable, the more likely the Martian Colonial City would realize. Then, following the clues, they should be able to locate them.

<em>Thankfully, I contacted the Sect Lord previously. If I don’t reply to his messages for an extended period of time, he will probably know that trouble occurred!</em>

With that thought, Wang Baole heaved a sigh of relief. Simultaneously, he continued to strengthen his connection with the devouring seed. Li Wan’er also tried all ways to regain her cultivation.

The problem was that the Spirit Restriction happened so suddenly and was on a large scale. It appeared that neither of their cultivations couldn’t be regained within a short time. As for the underground cave, it wouldn’t have mattered if it was merely shrouded in darkness. What made it worse was that it was now winter on Mars, and temperatures were already low. On normal days, the array formation provided some form of protection in the Colonial City. Even if they were to go outdoors, their cultivation could protect them, allowing them to withstand Mars’ temperatures.

However, right now, due to the Spirit Restriction, Wang Baole and Li Wan’er seemed to have immediately become commoners. Not only was their cultivation restricted, they gradually grew incapable of withstanding the cold.

After half an hour, the duo, who had kept silent since the start, began to feel an increasingly stronger sense of cold in the underground cave. Wang Baole, despite being fat and thick-skinned, began to feel weaker and colder as his body was somewhat exhausted when it tried to disintegrate the red fog.

As for Li Wan’er, even though her cultivation exceeded that of Wang Baole’s, she wasn’t as strong physically. Therefore, very quickly, Wang Baole heard Li Wan’er’s teeth chattering as she shivered, as well as her gradually weakening breathing.

It could be that the dip in temperature was very significant, or that it was low, to begin with, but the emergence of the red fog affected and weakened the duo—causing Li Wan’er to lose heat extremely quickly. She couldn’t withstand it any longer.

If this were to carry on, even if the duo’s bodies evolved by virtue of the Spirit Qi, which could allow them to maintain the demands for breathing, they would still die eventually!

Seeing that that was the case, Wang Baole hesitated. Even though Li Wan’er was trembling, she still remained calm as she spoke, her voice emerging in the darkness.

“Wang Baole, take off your clothes.”

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