A World Worth Protecting

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The boy was fast, but the speed that the donkey was capable of when it was snatching food was equally fast. Especially when it sensed that its food was rushing past it and towards its master, it panicked uncontrollably then.

It sincerely thought that the greatest enemy in its life was the guy behind it. He kept stopping it from filling its stomach. He even fought it for food.

What the donkey found unacceptable was how the food flew past it and ignored it entirely, heading straight into the arms of its master. It was unwilling to admit defeat. It turned suddenly and with a sudden bite, crunched down hard!

The bite… was unexpected and sudden. Wang Baole hadn’t expected it. Even the invisible, cold and arrogant looking blood-colored boy hadn’t expected it. It was something he would never have dreamed would happen. The silly-looking donkey that had been munching on grass all along had bitten him.

He found it hard to believe that the donkey could see him. What shocked him and sent his body trembling was how quickly the donkey had suddenly come at him. It had been a complete blur. It sank its teeth directly into his right arm.

There was a sudden crunch. The boy let loose a terrible scream that no one could hear. Half the length of his arm was snapped off clean by the donkey. There was an explosion of blood that no one could see. The boy’s face was drained of blood instantly. Terror shone in his eyes, and he looked incredulous. It seemed as if it had never crossed his mind since the day he was born that he might one day be bitten!

The boy gasped in pain and terror when he saw the donkey attempting a second bite. He ignored the blood spurting from his arm and retreated hastily.

He narrowly avoided another horrible bite from the donkey.

Wang Baole hadn’t sensed the little boy. He saw the donkey turning its head and snapping its teeth suddenly though. He found that strange. He eyed his surroundings but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

The donkey had its back towards Wang Baole. It looked smug. It seemed happy that its food hadn’t been snatched away by Wang Baole. It swayed its tail and with two to three bites, quickly chewed and swallowed the arm.

It chewed and then its eyes widened suddenly. There was a lost look in its eyes, which soon disappeared as the donkey’s eyes reddened. There was a sudden crazed look in them. It turned and started looking around.

This was the most delicious thing it had ever eaten in its entire life!

“What are you snapping at? Focus on your grass!” Wang Baole saw the donkey pause in its eating and glared at it. Reprimanded, the donkey took a deep breath and stared innocently back at Wang Baole before continuing to nibble at the grass. It seemed to feel a deep sense of regret at not finding the delicious food it had bitten into.

The grass had tasted great, but now it just tasted like wax and dust. But the donkey was simply too hungry. It continued to munching rapidly…

Its earlier look of innocence when it had turned back and stared at Wang Baole scared the latter though. Wang Baole felt something amiss. He knew the donkey’s character, and the silly creature wouldn’t show such an expression under normal circumstances. It only did that when it ate something it shouldn’t or did something it didn’t know that it shouldn’t. To pretend that nothing actually happened, it would put on that innocent face.

“Something’s wrong. Hey, Scram. Did you go behind my back and eat something you shouldn’t?” Wang Baole stared at the donkey with suspicion.

The donkey immediately panicked when it heard that. It turned around hurriedly and gave Wang Baole a look of confusion and innocence. Its deliberate attempt at concealment sealed the deal for Wang Baole. But, no matter how he searched the area, he couldn’t find anything. He glared at the donkey again before leading it forward into the tunnel.

The donkey was overjoyed when it saw that Wang Baole couldn’t find anything wrong. It took a few steps then started braying. The young man and donkey continued their way deeper into the tunnel, amidst Wang Baole’s throbbing headache and unresolved curiosity.

The pair vanished down a tunnel that had been eaten clean by the donkey, and the blood-colored boy slowly reappeared after they left.

He was no longer as arrogant as he had been earlier. He seemed furious, his anger tinged with hate and terror. His right arm had been snapped clean in half…

He clenched his teeth. He seemed to want to pursue the pair, but then he stared at his stump of an arm and shuddered violently. He was torn. He gritted his teeth and stared into the distance. His eyes were filled with hate, but he dared not go after them. He turned away, frustrated, and went off in another direction.

If there had been someone there who had taken a closer look, they would’ve known that the hate in his eyes wasn’t directed at Wang Baole, but at his donkey…

A great grudge… had clearly been born.

The completely oblivious Wang Baole stopped thinking about the donkey’s eccentric behavior. As they went deeper into the tunnel, there was less Blood Grass to be seen. Then, the grass completely disappeared. Wang Baole saw an intense, blinding red light in front of them. He even heard the indistinct sounds of battling. It was then that the donkey shuddered and broke through from the third level of the True Breath realm to the fourth level.

Wang Baole was rendered speechless at how the donkey managed to eat its way through a breakthrough in cultivation. He ignored it and raced towards the light. He stopped before he reached the end of the tunnel. He saw, through the vision of the mosquitoes he had released, a large cave at the end of the tunnel!

A blood-red light permeated the cave. It was vivid and filled the entire cave. It was from the hundreds of light sources in the cave!

There were more than a hundred bags of flesh growing on the walls and ceilings of the cave. Each meat bag was two to three meters wide. They were the source of the blinding red light.

A closer look would reveal a cultivator lying inside each bag of flesh. Their eyes were shut, and they were still. It was as if the meat bags were sucking the life out of them.

When Wang Baole saw the scene through the eyes of the mosquitoes, his head almost exploded. His breath quickened, and he immediately recalled when he had been at the Coulomb Basin on Earth and met the giant tree… and come across the assimilated cultivators.

The similarities were just… too striking!

<em>Is the giant tree planning to revolt? </em>Wang Baole’s eyes widened. He almost retreated instinctively, despite having seen what was inside the cave. The giant tree was inside and was battling a thirty-odd-meter tall giant rotting corpse. The explosions he had heard earlier were from their battling.

The giant tree wasn’t alone. Chen Feng was with him. The two of them had paired up. That was how they managed to hold their ground against the giant corpse. The giant corpse had thick, coarse skin and thicker flesh. It was rotting but still possessed a strong defense. When it opened its mouth and roared, poisonous fumes spewed out from its gaping mouth. The giant tree and Chen Feng had no choice but to fall back.

The giant tree seemed to be furious. An icy glimmer flashed in his eyes, and he was exuding an intense murderous aura.

Wang Baole sucked in a deep breath when he saw the sight. He didn’t run away immediately. Instead, he weighed his options and released the mosquitoes. The nine mosquitoes raced towards the glowing bags of meat and tried to bite and tear into the bags. The damage they could do was minimal.

Left with no other choice, Wang Baole commanded the mosquitoes to conduct a swift search instead. A short while later, Wang Baole’s eyes flashed. Through one of the mosquitoes’ vision, he saw a meat bag hanging on the right side of the cave. Inside it was Lin Tianhao!

He seemed extremely weakened and was on the verge of death. If Wang Baole had come a moment later, there would have been no hope of saving him.

<em>Let’s wing it. I’m already here. What’s there to be afraid of? </em>Wang Baole gritted his teeth. He charged out with a sudden burst of speed, out the tunnel and straight into the cave. He ignored the fight and instead shot towards Lin Tianhao like an arrow.

He roared as he charged out. His cultivation erupted and flowed into the Dharmic Armament in his hand. A blinding black light erupted from the black saber as a black tornado formed behind Wang Baole. The black crocodile merged with the saber and transformed into a towering black saber light. The power oozing off it was so great that only the best of the best Foundation Establishment realm cultivators could achieve it. The blade fell and landed on the meat bag holding Lin Tianhao.

A loud thunder resounded within the cave. The sturdy, resilient meat bag couldn’t withstand Wang Baole’s blade. With a loud boom, it exploded and was ripped apart.

Wang Baole had controlled his saber well. The meat bag exploded, while Lin Tianhao lay inside, unharmed!

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