A World Worth Protecting

1

As Wang Baole entered the hallucination realm and sought Little Missy’s advice, far away from earth in the distant space lit with endless stars, lay a spatial distortion.

The region was extremely vast, as vast as the Milky Way. Countless threads of light filled the region and were the cause of the distortion. The varied and layered light waves resulted in layered images of everything in the area. Be it the drifting dust or the silent stars—they looked like countless images of themselves layered together.

Sight and all other senses would be disrupted here, and one would sense oneself being in an illusion. Everything that one saw was distorted.

The vastness of the spatial distortion was indescribable. All life that sprung within the region seemed to contain within themselves an essence of the distortion. They hovered between the real and the surreal. As a result, the region had been given a unique name by many civilizations in the universe.

Its name… the Illusory Dark Realm!

In the deepest depths of the Illusory Dark Realm, in its core, was an inner region the size of the solar system. It contained almost no life at all and was a mysterious zone that escaped discovery by most.

It was akin to a restricted zone in the Illusory Dark Realm. Everyone who had stepped into the zone had never managed to leave alive.

There were legends that within this restricted zone, inside the vast space, was a single star. It was a gray star…

No one knew how the legend came about. After all, all who had ventured into the zone had never made it back alive. However, there it was, recorded in history since the beginning of time.

Naturally, no one attempted to test its truth.

The truth was, there was no star in the deepest core of the restricted zone. There was a vast whirlpool that was like a black hole. It was gray and spun soundlessly. From afar, it looked like a spiral formed out of countless stars.

When the Dark Fire had burst into being inside Wang Baole, a light started shining inside the constant, never-changing whirlpool. It was a light different from all other lights of the past.

It was multi-colored, and as it shone and sparkled fiercely, a gray coffin slowly drifted out from the whirlpool. It was as if it had crossed over from nothingness into being.

The coffin was black and made of an unknown material, and as it appeared, an indescribable chill erupted from the coffin.

The chilly aura spread across space, as if intending to freeze everything over. If Wang Baole were there, he would be shocked to realize that the chill gave off the exact same feeling that he had felt when he had successfully learned the Dark Art!

“When our Dark Sect was still in its peak and had not yet declined, we appeared to have gifted certain Dark Artifacts…”

“As centuries passed and our bloodline fell into decline and eventual extinction, everything became history… the Dark Artifacts of the past were all scattered throughout the lands and lost their power. Who could have known that, after all this time, a Dark Artifact would be activated and bring us a new heir… it might be a little too late, but… this is still one of our Dark Sect. We gift the Dark Coffin in hopes that he will escape the Calamity of Origins…” An ancient voice slowly traveled out from the whirlpool. It seemed to be a faint murmur and a sigh at the same time. The next moment, a gigantic, blurry hand the size of half the whirlpool gradually reached out from the whirlpool.

It was a mere silhouette when it first appeared, but soon, bone and flesh appeared and transformed it into a complete hand. It extended from a gray sleeve, its exposed skin wrinkled and its nails long and curved. The hand stretched out and gently flicked the coffin, which seemed bug-sized compared to the hand.

The coffin instantly shot out, its destination… Mars!

At present, Wang Baole had just left the hallucination realm and was still in shock. Part of it was due to what Little Missy had shared with him. The other part was because he still had doubts regarding how he had managed to learn the Dark Art.

After his return, he sat down cross-legged and started thinking. He thought for very long, recalling the various encounters and experiences he had gone through. He shuddered suddenly as he remembered something.

<em>Does this have anything to do with me breathing in the blood-colored mist in the cave? </em>Wang Baole’s breathing quickened at the thought. He knew that prior to his visit to the cave, he had met with nothing but failure when attempting to practice the Dark Art. After he had returned, he had gone into seclusion but hadn’t immediately started on practicing the Dark Art. The most recent seclusion could be considered his first attempt since the cave visit.

He had succeeded immediately during this first attempt, sensing the Negative Spirit Body and forming Dark Fire inside his body!

He couldn’t control the surge of emotions inside him as he pondered. He began to have his own guesses about the blood-colored mist. However, everything was mere conjecture at this point. Wang Baole himself was unsure of his own conclusions.

The thought of the blood-colored mist reminded Wang Baole of Lin Tianhao. Even though he had spoken to various people and had received occasional news, the blood-colored mist was too bizarre a phenomenon. He couldn’t help but be concerned for Lin Tianhao…

Wang Baole immediately pulled out his voice transmission ring. After a moment of thought, he decided to send a transmission to Li Wan’er. He coughed when Li Wan’er’s cold voice rang out from the voice transmission ring.

“Minister Li, I’m Wang Baole. Erm… it has been more than a month since my subordinate, Lin Tianhao, was taken away by the military. I still haven’t managed to establish contact with him…” Wang Baole paused at this point and didn’t continue.

Li Wan’er was silent for a moment. Then, she spoke coolly.

“The other teams have all returned. Lin Tianhao’s team sent a voice transmission two days ago reporting that everything was in order. They will be returning to base soon.” Li Wan’er ended the transmission after that.

Wang Baole didn’t give too much thought to Li Wan’er’s attitude. She had offered him an answer which eased the worry in Wang Baole’s heart. He continued studying his Dark Fire. Then, suddenly, he smacked his thigh. He raised his head and stared at the door to his chamber.

<em>Man… I seem to have forgotten… the donkey! </em>Wang Baole rose to his feet hastily. He swung the doors to his chamber open and immediately saw the donkey sprawled before the entrance. It had slimmed down considerably and had a blank, lost look in its eyes.

The donkey noticed Wang Baole. It was starving and weak. Its eyes shone with resentment, and it seemed to be asking Wang Baole why the ten days Wang Baole had spoken of… seemed so long.

Wang Baole felt slightly sheepish. He immediately removed the restriction on the donkey. As soon as the restriction was stripped away, the donkey, which had its mouth clamped shut for two weeks, finally made a sound.

“Son…”

Its voice sounded weak, and it seemed like it was about to cry. Wang Baole felt slightly guilty. He pulled out a handful of snacks and threw them towards the donkey.

“This will teach you to be on good behavior next time!” Wang Baole coughed after throwing the snacks out. He gave the donkey a few words of scolding and watched as the donkey gobbled up the food like a starving wolf. He couldn’t help but soften his stance. He pulled out a few more bags of snacks.

The donkey was overwhelmed by emotion as it saw so many snacks before it. Its eyes brimmed with tears. It looked at Wang Baole with gratitude in its eyes.

“That’s right, that’s what I call a good donkey!” Wang Baole was pleased with the effect he had gotten from this punishment. In the next four days, he continued to study the Dark Fire and perfect his blueprints for his stronghold. He also started crafting construction puppets. The lesson of having its mouth sealed shut seemed to have been seared deep into the donkey’s brain. Despite having regained its energy and vitality, it didn’t dare to overstep too much. It was especially meek and obedient when in front of Wang Baole.

This pleased Wang Baole tremendously. He thought that since the donkey was so obedient now, he might consider buying it a beast bag. As he thought about it and was about to make a trip out, he suddenly received an invitation from the military via his voice transmission ring!

The Martian military cordially invited Wang Baole to instruct them in the installation of the Baole Cannon!

The Baole Cannon that Wang Baole had invented received widespread usage in the military on Earth. The Martian military had also been allocated a number of the cannons. However, due to the logistics of transportation as well as constraints on existing resources, the cannons were sent to them in parts and required assembly.

Originally, a consultant would be required to assist and supervise the assembly. This was because Wang Baole had installed encryptions inside the Baole Cannon. He had shared the encryption with the military when he sold it to them, but the encryption remained a top secret inside the military.

However… the original creator of the Baole Cannon, Wang Baole, was on Mars. No consultant could rival Wang Baole’s understanding and knowledge of the Baole Cannon. That was why the military had cordially invited Wang Baole to oversee the assembly.

Wang Baole accepted the invitation readily. It was true that he was now the dean of the Dao Mountain Mist Academy, a well-known personality on Mars, and had a wide social network. However, if he should establish a good, strong relationship with the Martian military, this would further cement his safety on Mars.

With Wang Baole’s agreement, the military sent a cruiser to receive him. Wang Baole gave his donkey a look. He didn’t feel safe leaving it alone on its own, so he brought the donkey onboard with him, and they raced off towards the Martian military base!

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