A World Worth Protecting

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Wang Baole had two options before him. He could wait for the Governor to arrive, or he could… make haste and mount an immediate rescue. There was no need to deliberate further. Once he found out that Kong Dao and his team were in a life or death situation, he couldn’t find it in himself to leave them to die.

He didn’t hesitate. He immediately maneuvered his mosquitoes, and they dashed into the horde of beasts surrounding Kong Dao and team. At the same time, Wang Baole opened his mouth and said inside the command center.

“Mount a rescue!”

As soon as he said that, the military cultivators erupted. Their cultivation surged, and they rushed towards the sealed catacombs without hesitation. Wang Baole barked an order, and Lin Tianhao and Jin Duoming immediately issued commands and gathered their servants, joining the rescue party.

Wang Baole could choose not to enter the catacombs, but if he did that, the others wouldn’t be able to determine Kong Dao’s exact location. They wouldn’t be able to find Kong Dao immediately when they entered the catacombs.

Wang Baole didn’t want others to know he had the mosquitoes and was able to rely on their vision. He was silent for a few moments. Then, he gritted his teeth and personally led the team into the catacombs!

“Mayor!” Lin Tianhao and Jin Duoming were stunned. They saw Wang Baole dash out hastily from the command center and straight into the region of the sealed Divine Armament Catacombs. The array formation erupted and exterminated numerous beasts. An opening presented itself then, and Wang Baole and the thousands of military cultivators charged into the catacombs.

The sight of Wang Baole charging into the catacombs didn’t only shock Lin Tianhao and Jin Duoming. It also moved the military cultivators. They started seeing Wang Baole in a different light. There was no need for words as they quickly gathered around Wang Baole in a protective cluster as they descended into the catacombs in a rush.

Lin Tianhao took a few deep breaths. His eyes were slightly red, colored by uncertainty. Eventually, he gritted his teeth and charged in as well. At his side, Jin Duoming grimaced. He didn’t hesitate too long before he also entered the catacombs with his army of guards.

An army of more than ten thousand people rushed in, rumbling, and fought their way through the Beast Tide. Even more cultivators who had received their orders rushed over from all directions and entered the catacombs as well. The flow of cultivators into the catacombs was ceaseless.

Li Yi had rushed over by then, but she frowned at the sight and sneered.

<em>Fools!</em> She was clearly disdainful of their actions. It was clear she wouldn’t choose to enter the catacombs. She clearly felt it a losing bargain to risk so many lives in order to save a few.

As a vice mayor, it wasn’t right for her to enter as well. She viewed the actions of Wang Baole and the rest as irresponsible and immature.

At that thought, a flicker flashed across Li Yi’s eyes as she stood inside the command center. A thought arose in her mind…

<em>If Wang Baole perishes inside, I’ll naturally become the mayor…</em>

As Li Yi was deep in thought, inside the Divine Armament Catacombs, tens of thousands of cultivators began their furious extermination and rescue efforts under the leadership of Wang Baole, Lin Tianhao, and Jin Duoming.

The influence of the array formation was present inside the catacombs, but it was severely weakened. This meant that the array formation couldn’t provide that much help. Fortunately, many of the beasts had already been killed. In addition, under Wang Baole’s leadership, the party was able to progress steadily without any breaks or delays. They were like a torrent of waves sweeping through the catacombs, rumbling and thundering, pulling everything that stood in their path under.

Howls continued thundering throughout the slaughterings and collisions. Shrieks of pain pierced the air. The beasts grew fewer in numbers. The ceaseless killings brought them deeper into the catacombs until they reached its middle segment. They weren’t far from where Kong Dao and his party stood, fighting for their survival.

It was then that a sudden howl thundered from the end of the catacombs. It rang out suddenly, and as it resounded in the catacombs, a sudden chill exploded.

It was a strange chill like winter had suddenly descended—a layer of ice formed on the walls all around them. The cultivators who were mounting the rescue started to shudder violently. Alarm and shock flashed across their faces. It was as if an invisible force had descended alongside the chill and was eating into their bodies, assimilating them, and making them part of the catacombs.

When the chill descended, the beasts around them started to spiral into a mad frenzy. They seemed to grow mindless with violence. They lunged forward unthinkingly and attacked.

Wang Baoles breath stilled for a moment in the face of danger. Others might not know what the chill signified, but not Wang Baole. As soon as the chilly presence appeared, he could feel the Dark Fire inside his body stirring awake. He could feel the Dark Fire’s hunger, as if it desired to devour the aura!

<em>Negative Spirit Body… maybe this is the Dark Qi that Little Missy mentioned before?</em> Wang Baole had no time to deliberate. He saw everyone’s faces around him growing paler. Some began to look dazed as a layer of ice started to form on their bodies. Wang Baole clenched his teeth at the sight. He didn’t hesitate and activated the Dark Art and started sucking!

The chilly presence around them seemed to falter; then, instead of spreading itself across the entire area, it headed straight for Wang Baole. Wang Baole shuddered suddenly as the Dark Qi surged into his body. The Dark Fire inside him burned brighter and fiercer than it had ever burned. It was as if a parched land had just received an unexpected first rainfall. His cultivation grew exponentially. There was a light in his eyes that brightened. He was moving faster and fighting more fiercely, better.

His blade landed and slashed a beast that had lunged itself at him into halves, but Wang Baole was still wrought with anxiety. Even though he had begun absorbing the chilly Dark Qi in the catacombs, he alone was still not enough to save everyone. All around him, the rest were infiltrated by the chilly presence. What he was doing was only slowing it down, and it wouldn’t take long before everyone fell to the chilly presence.

Wang Baole had never personally witnessed the aftereffects of being completed taken over by the chill, but he could imagine it. It was a transformation from the living to the dead. If the tens of thousands of people who had entered the catacombs fell to this extreme injury, Wang Baole’s decision to mount a rescue would become a grave mistake.

<em>Damn it!</em>

In his panic, Wang Baole knew that he could either choose to retreat immediately or… increase his speed of absorbing the Dark Qi…

<em>Devouring seed!</em> Wang Baole roared inwardly. He threw caution to the wind in the face of danger. The devouring seed inside his body erupted, and the eruption had been spurred on by the Dark Fire. Its absorption intensified, and the chilly Dark Qi in the air started racing madly towards Wang Baole, in greater quantity and speed than it had before.

It was as if Wang Baole had transformed into a black hole invisible to an outsider’s eyes. He absorbed the chilly presence furiously, causing the cultivators around him to shudder and slowly begin to regain their conscious minds. Shock and alarm flickered across their faces. They were still recovering from the danger they had escaped when Wang Baole roared.

“Follow me! Our priority is to rescue the men!” Wang Baole’s holler shook the people, including Lin Tianhao and Jin Duoming, around him. They charged forward in a race against time, pushing forward another short distance. Finally, they saw Kong Dao, grievously injured, covered in blood, shaking while struggling to fight back!

His servants had become mere dead bodies…

Kong Dao had been prepared to die. He knew that there was still a chance of someone mounting a rescue to save him, but he also knew that his relationship with Wang Baole was tense and distant. Wang Baole would likely choose to report the matter to the Governor and await the Governor to mount a rescue mission.

Even if the process was carried out swiftly, it was unlikely that he would live to see the rescue party. He watched as his guards fell one after another, his eyes reddened in his despair. He had amassed great knowledge about the catacombs during this period. There were many things he hadn’t told Wang Baole. He knew that if he didn’t self-combust, perhaps… before long, his dead body would become a part of the Divine Armament Catacombs and a part of its army. Then, his subordinates and his friends would see his corpse appearing in the Beast Tide, like any other beast.

At that thought, Kong Dao watched the beasts surrounding him attempting another lunge. He smiled a tragic smile, howled, and was about to trigger a self-explosion.

It was then that… suddenly, he heard gasps of shock. He heard human breathing and explosions. He hadn’t the time to see clearly what was happening when spell after spell erupted around him in a blinding glare. Dharmic Artifacts shot into the pit he was at and exploded.

The beasts, who had the pit surrounded and had been trying to charge inside, screamed amidst the series of explosions. They were torn into pieces, their flesh bloodied. Kong Dao, who escaped death narrowly, saw Wang Baole, Dharmic Armament in hand, charging towards him and appearing before him. Wang Baole grabbed at him. Behind Wang Baole were hordes of cultivators with varying degrees of injuries.

“You…” Kong Dao was dazed. He struggled instinctively. Before he could finish what he wanted to say, Wang Baole shut him up with a glare.

“Kong Dao, did you knock yourself too hard in the head?” Furious, Wang Baole swept his large hands and snaked around Kong Dao’s instinctively struggling arms. He grabbed Kong Dao’s robes and flung Kong Dao towards the military cultivators behind him.

“Quickly, retreat!” Wang Baole was wrought with anxiety. He had a bad feeling. He could feel that a presence inside the catacombs was slowly stirring awake with his arrival.

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