A World Worth Protecting

1

Three days later, Wang Baole had readied himself. With the construction puppets and with adequate resources, he created ten thousand disc-shaped Dharmic Artifacts!

These special Dharmic Artifacts were linked to the central, smaller Great Baole Array Formation. Their purpose was singular. They were meant to counter the Dark Qi and absorb all Dark Qi from all practitioners of the Art of Longevity!

They also possessed a search function that allowed them to sense people with Dark Qi in them within a certain radius of the artifact. For those who had been practicing the art for a long time, they might face the risk of exhaustion and injury after Dark Qi was absorbed from their bodies. However, this would only happen to those who had reached a high level of the Art of Longevity. Else, there shouldn’t be too much damage. He or she would only feel weakened temporarily.

Wang Baole planned to use these ten thousand Dharmic Artifacts to do a thorough search of the entire city and forcibly clear the city of Dark Qi. He was doing it using the artifacts instead of the Great Baole Array Formation. This was because he had assessed and knew that he shouldn’t be utilizing the array formation so easily at the moment. If he left the array formation alone, the Dark Qi within it would remain dispersed. Once he activated it… it might increase the speed it was being contaminated and corrupted.

In order to clear the root of the problem, he would only activate the array formation after the entire city had been cleared of most of the Dark Qi exuding from his residents. When it seemed as if the source feeding into the array formation had been dealt fully with, Wang Baole would then have the confidence to get rid of the problem completely.

After having prepared everything, Wang Baole immediately issued his first order as the City Lord after his return. He didn’t consult Li Wan’er or the other mayors. He had the power to make such unilateral decisions in such moments of crisis!

“The Art of Longevity is an evil art. Practicing such an art will have great adverse effects on one’s body. It will suck one dry of life. It is like a poison. As long as it’s not treated, it will forever plague and harm one’s body!

“Every city zone will be receiving its first batch of Dharmic Artifacts that will remove the adverse effects of the Art of Longevity. Practitioners may approach for treatment!

“I want to emphasize again. This is an evil art. Anyone who continues to practice it will harm his or her own body and, at the same time, be breaking the law. Those who teach it will be punished more heavily!”

After the order was issued, an arrest warrant for the first three practitioners who had been spreading this art was also sent out. Li Wan’er and the rest were shocked. Wang Baole sent out a second order to them almost simultaneously.

“Kong Dao, Lin Tianhao, Jin Duoming, Wen Huai, Fang Jing, Chen Mu!

“The six of you are to immediately collect the Dharmic Artifacts. You will be responsible for your own city zones. Find all practitioners of the Art of Longevity and get rid of all signs of this evil art in their bodies. You have one day. You must complete this task within the day. This is an order! This art is an evil art. It is also corrupting the Great Martian Array Formation. You must know the consequences!

“Li Wan’er, you are responsible for supervising the mission and conducting an investigation. I want this Art of Longevity completely gone from the city tomorrow! If anything happens, don’t blame me for what I do next. This was something that happened during my absence!”

Lin Tianhao and the others were all alarmed upon receiving the series of voice transmissions. Jin Duoming, on the other hand, handled them better. The rest all became solemn—Li Wan’er, especially. Her pupils contracted. She didn’t hang around. She immediately got her people and started her supervisory work.

The Dharmic Artifacts that Wang Baole refined were all collected by the various city zones speedily. There were large-scale sweeps and elimination of the Dark Qi. Meanwhile, Wang Baole sat cross-legged in meditation in his residence. He narrowed his eyes and sank deep into thought. He sent a polite message to the few Core Formation realm cultivators whom the four Dao Colleges had sent over to guard him. Amidst the whole uproar, their task was to seek out the three initial practitioners with an arrest warrant. At the same time… they were also to locate the mastermind behind this entire incident!

A dramatic search-and-extermination exercise unfolded across the entire city, swift like lightning. Wang Baole’s reaction to his discovery had been harsh and brutal. He had first declared the Art of Longevity an evil art. This would shock and alarm most practitioners. After all, they knew very clearly that to practice an evil art in the Federation was a heavy crime!

Wang Baole had also pointed out that practicing such an art would severely affect and wear on one’s body. It would drain one of life. It was like a poison that spread throughout the entire body, difficult to drain. This would inspire the practitioners’ terror. They wouldn’t only stop practicing, but they would begin to feel anxiety and fear.

The moment when they were feeling anxiety and panic, Wang Baole revealed a glimmer of hope. That was the first batch of Dharmic Artifacts in each zone that could treat this disease. Such hope, at such a critical moment, was enough to move passive practitioners into action. This would increase the ease and efficiency of those tasked to seek out the practitioners.

With such a series of implicit hints and explicit orders, if there remained those who were stubborn and couldn’t be persuaded, Wang Baole also presented a stern and serious warning in his orders. The arrest warrant for the three original initiators was a fine example!

The lightning-swift exercise soon erupted across the entire new city. Bans and searches commenced in every city zone. There were plenty of cultivators who approached the administration of their own accord.

As the search went on, the Core Formation realm cultivators from the four Dao Colleges were also taking note of any clues that surfaced. They followed the tracks and began their hunt for the mastermind.

In the midst of this sudden exercise, Wang Baole didn’t once make an appearance. He continued to sit cross-legged in his residence. He merged with the array formation and was waiting for the moment when the root of the problem was exterminated. That was when he would address and resolve the hidden dangers in the array formation.

He had also made other preparations. He got Kong Dao and Jin Duoming to instruct their guards and escorts to stand guard around the residence. This was to prevent the mastermind from trying to attack him, the leader of the exercise.

Time passed steadily. Wang Baole’s orders had been issued decisively, and Li Wan’er also realized the seriousness of the matter. She pushed the investigations and search on forcefully. Finally, late that night, the search of the entire city was completed. Almost all practitioners of the Art of Longevity were rid of the Dark Qi inside them.

Li Wan’er had even led the team into the autonomous zones and conducted the search personally. Chen Mu, who hadn’t been diligently following orders, also finally completed the search in the autonomous zone.

Kong Dao and Lin Tianhao were the ones who had been the most thorough in the entire exercise. The search in their zones had been beyond rigorous. Even Jin Duoming couldn’t compare. Kong Dao, especially, had sent a voice transmission to Wang Baole late in the night. He had reported decisively that there wasn’t a single person in his zone who continued to practice the Art of Longevity. All past practitioners had been rid of the Dark Qi in their bodies!

Wang Baole heard Kong Dao’s report. Lin Tianhao’s and the others’ reports followed swiftly. When Li Wan’er reported on behalf of the three autonomous zones, Wang Baole finally let loose a sigh of relief in his heart. However, he knew that this was still not over. He continued to wait.

Two hours passed. He finally received the voice transmission from the Core Formation realm cultivators of the four Dao Colleges.

“We’ve arrested all three perpetrators, but we didn’t find the mastermind. After interrogation, we found that the three… were only puppets!”

Wang Baole frowned when he heard the news. He had created a great spectacle and destroyed the other’s plans within a single day. The mastermind should have retaliated. Be it attempting to come after him or through any other methods; there should have been traces of his presence. With so many Core Formation realm cultivators searching and keeping a lookout, such traces would have been difficult to hide. They should have been able to follow such tracks and caught him.

Who would have known things would turn out this way…

<em>Unless the mastermind immediately hid himself as soon as trouble started brewing, he didn’t care about the destruction of his plans… or perhaps, he has already achieved his goals? </em>Wang Baole frowned. He pondered for a while but didn’t have an answer. He knew that this wasn’t the time for deep thoughts. He took a deep breath and immediately activated the array formation over the entire city. The array formation roared to life and attempted to cleanse itself of all hidden dangers!

<em>This is the mastermind’s last chance. Let’s see if he’s able to control himself! </em>Wang Baole knew that once the array formation was cleansed of all hidden dangers, it would revert to its original secure state. Even though it had suffered damages, but its foundations were strong. This meant that the efforts of the other party had all been for nothing.

That was why he had concluded that the other party would definitely make a move now. He had prepared for that. It was as Wang Baole had predicted, with a slight variation… the black-robed man didn’t interrupt Wang Baole’s attempt to cleanse the array formation. At that moment, he appeared soundlessly in mid-air above Wang Baole’s residence!

He stood in the air, clothed in black robes, clearly visible yet undetected by anyone. It was as if he didn’t exist.

His eyes, hidden beneath the black robes, glimmered with a ghostly light. They seemed to be able to pierce through all walls, see right into the hidden chambers of Wang Baole’s residence, and stare straight at the meditating Wang Baole!

“Is that really a Dark Child?” The black-robed man murmured. He seemed hesitant. After a while, he seemed to have made up his mind. He raised his right hand suddenly and pointed a finger towards Wang Baole.

“We’ll just have to find out!”