A World Worth Protecting

1

Even though there was no lack of cultivation techniques in the Federation during the Spirit Inception Era, they weren’t plentiful either. Furthermore, the different factions kept their own techniques a top secret from each other, preventing the cultivation techniques that they had developed from being leaked to others. Therefore, it resulted in difficulty for other small factions and vagrant cultivators to gain access to even a single cultivation technique if they weren’t cultivators from the four Dao Colleges or the various major factions.

In the new city, despite there being numerous cultivators from the different factions, most of them were from the group of trillion people that had been scattered after being relocated previously. At the same time, even though the cultivators from the various factions had no shortage of cultivation techniques, if there were one technique that was different from the rest, no one would reject it. Of course, it was a given that there must be no issues with the cultivation technique.

That was the basis for how the Art of Longevity was disseminated. Not many people knew how this cultivation technique spread, but somehow, unknowingly, everyone started to talk about it, and some even began to practice it.

Needless to say, the Art of Longevity encompassed every quality that made it suitable to be passed on. Firstly, it was simple to cultivate it, and secondly, there were no prerequisites needed to cultivate it. Regardless of whether it was a cultivator or a commoner, it could be cultivated. Lastly, it wasn’t a technique that was used to activate spirit energy. Instead, it was a technique that trained one’s physique!

This broadly reduced many people’s concerns. After all, physical training was only used to strengthen one’s physique, and even if there were other disadvantages that weren’t apparent, it was far less damaging compared to cultivating other cultivation techniques that involved Spirit Qi.

Furthermore, most importantly, it didn’t take long to see the effects of this cultivation technique. Once it had been mastered, one could immediately feel that their bodies had been significantly strengthened. At the same time, they would look radiant and injected with youth, and that in itself was miraculous. Many cultivators in Divine Armament New City had also researched on it previously and found that there were no major issues with it. The only aspect highlighted was that after mastering this cultivation technique, one’s appetite for food would increase.

However, to the masses, this wasn’t a big problem, as not only did it not make one obese, it also matched up to people’s judgments. After all, there must be a source of fuel in order to make one energetic, and this so-called disadvantage made sense to the law of energy intake and expenditure. Therefore, the Art of Longevity was immediately popularized, making it a favorite of females.

The rate at which it was being passed between people increased significantly. Initially, it was only within Jin Duoming’s region, but gradually it spread to Lin Tianhao’s region and then Kong Dao’s region, where many military cultivators were practicing it with obvious effects.

It even spread to the autonomous zone. The Art of Longevity completely garnered the attention of Li Wan’er, as well as Kong Dao and company.

With Wang Baole and Jin Duoming having left, Li Wan’er, who learned about their departure later, immediately assumed the responsibility as the Deputy City Lord and began a research meeting focused on the Art of Longevity.

During the meeting, they thoroughly researched the details of the Art of Longevity. They even sent it to be interpreted by the various factions. However, in the entire Federation, with the exception of Wang Baole, no one had cultivated the Dark Art. In addition, even Wang Baole couldn’t see through this cultivation technique, as only someone who had seen the art being practiced would know the ins-and-outs. Therefore, even though many disadvantages were discovered, on the whole, the Art of Longevity seemed like a legitimate technique to strengthen one’s physique.

However, on Earth, the various factions found that there was no significant effect after testing the technique out. It was only on Mars that an extraordinary effect was produced. At the same time, through the investigation carried out by Li Wan’er and company, they found out that there was only one person who was disseminating the Art, and that person had a clean background, only experiencing one miraculous encounter on Mars.

At the same time, he merely taught the cultivation technique to two of his best friends. Therefore, the spread of the cultivation technique at such a large scale was likely due to the two friends instead. Everything seemed to be developing normally, the only issue being that… the speed at which it spread was just too fast.

Even though there were no issues with this cultivation technique, Li Wan’er eventually still decided to temporarily prevent it and control the speed at which it was spreading. However, she didn’t forcefully ban it, as she planned to make a firmer decision after a period of observation.

However, the suppression of the speed of dissemination still dampened the spirits of people who were cultivating this cultivation technique. Despite that, the leader of this whole incident, the blue-robed youth, wasn’t anxious at all and didn’t even step out of his residence. This kept the donkey waiting outside the residence. However, the donkey wasn’t anxious either, as it felt that it was worth the wait as long as it could get a taste of the delicacy!

On the other hand, right now, Wang Baole had heard news about the Art of Longevity. Through Lin Tianhao, he obtained the cultivation mnemonic, and after taking a look, he didn’t discover anything amiss. In addition, after arriving at the main city with Jin Duoming, they had submitted the application to view the research facility as well as to visit Zhao Pinfang, both of which had been approved. Therefore, with Jin Duoming’s urging, Wang Baole put aside the matters related to the Art of Longevity and arrived at the heavily guarded research facility with Jin Duoming.

Even though it was rumored that the research facility was located in the main Martian City, it was built below ground. In addition, it was so heavily guarded that even though Wang Baole and Jin Duoming had applied, they only managed to pass through the teleportation array formation and enter the facility after going through rounds of checks.

Wang Baole only knew that the facility was underground, but wasn’t sure if it was directly beneath the Martian City. In addition, the area covered by the facility was extremely large. What was presented before Wang Baole and Jin Duoming the moment they stepped out of the teleportation array formation was something that looked like a mini-city covered with metallic planks that formed numerous passageways, which each led to a vast space at their ends.

There, innumerable research staff dressed in their white uniforms were walking about. Occasionally, screams that seemed like those of ferocious beasts could be heard from an unknown location. The instant the duo stepped out of the teleportation array formation, Wang Baole immediately felt the suppressive force from tens of Core Formation realm cultivators focused on him and Jin Duoming, dissipating only after they had inspected them both.

In addition, Wang Baole had only taken a breath of the Spirit Qi and immediately felt that his body was floating, and his cultivation was swiftly being activated. Even without him trying, the Spirit Qi entered his body directly.

That made Wang Baole extremely surprised.

The Spirit Qi was so concentrated that it was unimaginable. If it were somewhere outside, it could probably already form the Spirit Fog. However, right here, there seemed to be a unique Dharmic Artifact that could somehow filter this concentrated Spirit Qi such that it didn’t become a fog.

It went without saying that, within this research facility, there must be an astonishing number of fragments from the large sword. If not, such a concentrated cloud of Spirit Qi wouldn’t exist.

That wasn’t what made Wang Baole most shocked. The thing that completely overwhelmed his mind and threw him into utter disbelief was that, right here, he sensed the aura from Dharmic Armaments, one that wasn’t of seventh- or eighth-grade, but of a ninth-grade Dharmic Armament. In addition, it appeared that there was more than one.

<em>This is the research facility? How extravagant! </em>Between breaths, Wang Baole looked at Jin Duoming and realized that even a tycoon like Jin Duoming was dumbfounded. Apparently, this was also his first time in the Anti-Spirit Bomb research facility.

“Welcome to the Anti-Spirit Bomb research facility.” As the duo stood in shock, a brilliant glow appeared before them. The glow swiftly concentrated itself, forming an illusory figure of a woman who looked extremely beautiful—her beauty on the level that was probably unattainable by humans. Right now, she was wearing the same uniform as the other research facility staff, smiling at Wang Baole and Jin Duoming.

Wang Baole’s eyes widened, and his mind buzzed with activity as he looked at the illusory glow that had appeared before him.

<em>Little Missy? </em>Wang Baole gasped, preventing himself from shouting that thought out loud.

However, his facial expressions still caught the attention of the illusory figure. The figure slanted her head and looked at Wang Baole, and Jin Duoming, who was beside him, had also grown suspicious. After looking at Wang Baole, he couldn’t help but wave his hand across the illusory figure. Unable to grasp anything, he cleared his throat.

“Baole, this is fake. It’s smart technology… You can’t be so desperate that you’re interested in playing the fool with smart technology, can you?”

Wang Baole didn’t bother about Jin Duoming. Right now, a torrent of thoughts and emotions were crashing in his mind. The illusory female figure that had appeared before him looked completely identical to Little Missy in the mask!

However, Wang Baole was sufficiently thick-skinned that even though he was shocked, he quickly adjusted his emotions and tried to mend the situation after realizing that he hadn’t made a good impression. He blushed, trying to appear as if he had fallen in love at first sight with the illusory female figure.

“I have already received the application sent by the both of you. Master Zhao is now in research room number three. Please follow me.” The illusory female figure didn’t care about Wang Baole and instead spoke calmly. As she spoke, she stepped forward, and Wang Baole and Jin Duoming followed closely behind. Under the lead of the illusory figure, they traveled through the golden passageway and entered the Anti-Spirit Bomb research facility.

Along the way, the curiosity and shock in Wang Baole’s heart was indescribable. Had this location not been so inconvenient, he would have long entered the mask and inquired about the matter with Little Missy.

He took a moment to suppress his shock. However, as he entered the metal passageway, Wang Baole suddenly stopped in his tracks, as if sensing something. He suddenly looked at the metallic wall on the right, realizing that this metallic wall was an illusion. In reality, inside that wall, many specimen-like objects were sealed within.

Most of them were corpses of ferocious beasts, but Wang Baole wasn’t familiar with any of them. One of them even appeared to be a dragon!

“These…” Wang Baole took a deep breath, his heart trembling with shock.

“These are the corpses of the more valuable ancient beasts that have been discovered throughout Earth’s history. There are also some of them that have originated from space. On the other hand, some were from the ancient greenish-bronze sword.” The illusory female figure before them explained while smiling. It was then that Wang Baole saw that, in a metallic wall not far away, a black jellyfish was sealed inside. The jellyfish wasn’t large, only palm-sized, and looked like any ordinary jellyfish—except for its color.

“That is also an ancient beast?” Wang Baole pointed at it in bewilderment.

“This creature originated from outer space. We have named it ‘Sea Glutton’, and as you can see, it is still juvenile. Its mature form is as large as a cruiser, possibly bigger, and its use is also similar to that of a cruiser. According to our analysis, its speed is unimaginable, and according to investigations by the Federation, there is a seventy percent likelihood that an undiscovered civilization from outer space arrived using this creature!”

The illusory female spoke calmly.