A World Worth Protecting

1

The lack of an exit meant that the three extraterrestrial cultivators would be trapped on the second level of the underground world. They may not be trapped for long by virtue of their cultivation, but they still missed the chance to kill Wang Baole!

The cultivator with the centipede on his face now carried an awful expression on his face. He growled and shook the remnants of the corpses around him away. When he reached the position that Wang Baole had disappeared from, he pounded the ground with all his force, but the vortex exit had long disappeared.

“This world is hostile towards us…” The trio looked at each other, growing extremely solemn. Their journey so far had been smooth-sailing, never meeting with obstacles, whether it was massacring Mercury or stealing the Stellar Source of Mercury. It was only on Mars that obstacles started to surface.

If their opponent were an elite, or someone of the same cultivation level as them, it wouldn’t have mattered that much. However, that fatty was merely a Foundation Establishment realm cultivator, and that made the trio feel shameful and extremely indignant.

Previously, they had wanted to capture Wang Baole alive. However, after arriving in this underground world, the world was clearly biased towards Wang Baole, making their cultivation completely useless.

Right now, their issue was no longer the problem of continuing the pursuit. Wang Baole’s escape resulted in their active pursuit plans being stalled. They had no choice but to consider the possibility of Wang Baole leaving this world before them. Once he left and informed the elites in this civilization who were searching for the three of them, it would mean an undesirable outcome.

“D*rn it!” The trio was extremely furious. They looked at each other, and after seemingly reaching a consensus, they gave up on their plans to continue pursuing Wang Baole. Instead, they chose to retreat and leave.

They didn’t want to take the risk. They planned to leave this place and return to their home planet before bringing more of their people. Then, whatever was present here would belong to their home planet.

Then, as the ones who achieved the honor, they would receive incredible rewards that would be sufficient to boost their cultivation into another realm!

With that thought in mind, the trio swiftly retreated. However, even though the idea was sound, it was still somewhat challenging to execute it. When they entered this world, they were hot on Wang Baole’s pursuit, which made their entrance easy. Right now, however, they wanted to leave, and that required them to find an exit. If they were unable to find it, they would have to find a place where the barrier was thinner and blast their way out.

That, however, required time!

The trio felt extremely troubled, but they could only bear with it. They had already made a decision to leave before coming back another time. They would definitely strip Zhuo Yixian bear to his bones then!

As the trio retreated and gave up on the thought of pursuing Wang Baole, they split up within the second level of the underground world in order to locate the exit. At the same time, Wang Baole, who had entered the underground cave, seemed to be walking along a teleportation passageway. It was brilliantly bright all around, making it difficult for one to look at his surroundings clearly. Thankfully, the entire process only took a few moments, and as the surrounding glow disappeared and a heatwave arrived, what appeared before Wang Baole when he emerged from the cave was a primitive yet colossal city!

The city was the third level of the underground world!

Looking from a distance, the city looked like a gigantic beast head, and it had astonishing suppressive forces emanating from it. Surrounding it were tens of large chimney-like objects that were giving off black smoke that rose to the skies. In the sky made of mud, they formed dark clouds, and flashes of lightning could be seen occasionally. The black smoke and dark clouds churned, giving off sounds that were frighteningly loud, and which gripped everyone in shock when they noticed it.

After all, this was a civilization that was different from that of the Federation!

It was termed as a civilization as there were at least ten such cities in the third level of the underground world. They were all similar to the one in front of Wang Baole right now. It was just that the one in front of him was the largest one.

As for the skies made of mud, despite being covered by the dark clouds, one could still see that there was a red glow shining through the gaps between the clouds. It covered a seemingly endless area, and other than the different cities, one could also see many underground volcanoes, with flowing trails of lava. These significantly increased the temperature of the place, and even the breeze was so scorching hot that it could dehydrate someone. Staying here for an extended period of time would definitely cause the moisture in one’s body to evaporate completely, and they would become a dry corpse!

This place wasn’t suitable for humans to live in, but it was suitable for underground organisms!

That was also proof that this place housed a civilization. There existed uncountable ferocious beasts in the cities, and those ferocious beasts were different from the ones Wang Baole saw in the Beast Tide. They weren’t as maniacal, and they were at the very least intellectual, with a spiritual glow in their eyes.

However, they weren’t of high intelligence. Despite that, Wang Baole was extremely surprised and felt a torrent of emotion, as what he was seeing before his eyes was beyond his imagination.

<em>Is this the interior of a Dark Artifact, or is it really somewhere under Mars? </em>Wang Baole calmed himself down and didn’t dare to make any reckless movements. That was because he was now in the middle of the largest city in this world, one that was clearly the core public square of the entire city!

The center of this public square was a mere one thousand feet from Wang Baole. There was a huge depression there, with black smoke billowing out from it. There was also an extremely strong calling from the depression that continuously erupted in Wang Baole’s mind.

He was sure that the existence that was calling for him resided in the depression!

That wasn’t the reason he didn’t dare to move though. What really made Wang Baole nervous was that there seemed to be some prayer going on in the public square. Therefore, countless ferocious beasts had gathered, each of them with a different appearance. They surrounded the depression and seemed to be praying, and at the same time, two figures were floating in mid-air above the depression!

The two figures were blurry. If it were someone else, they wouldn’t be able to see them clearly. However, with a flash of Dark Fire in Wang Baole’s eyes, he could immediately see everything clearly.

The exact appearance of one of the figures couldn’t be seen in detail. He could only see a black robe, and upon closer inspection, there seemed to be no body and only the black robe itself!

Standing beside Black Robe was a young boy whose face was green instead of rosy-looking. He looked like a ferocious ghost, and together with Black Robe, was being prayed to by the countless ferocious beasts surrounding them. Many of the ferocious beasts were even corpses!

It was as if Black Robe and the young boy were their creators!

In front of Black Robe and the young boy was a mound of mud that was moving swiftly, as if in the process of disintegration. There were several frightening-looking beetles the size of a fingernail that seemed to be in the process of rapid metamorphosis, growing larger and larger as the flesh and blood disintegrated!

It appeared to be under some mysterious force which caused life to transform!

A shocking guess arose in Wang Baole’s mind upon seeing what was happening. Perhaps there wasn’t a world here, but due to the existence of the Dark Artifact and certain unique characteristics, a transformation had occurred underground, resulting in changes. Be it bacteria, viruses, or other forms of living organisms, they rapidly evolved under the power of the Dark Artifact, and gradually formed this world!

If this guess were true, then there would be an explanation for the occurrence of the Beast Tides and why they seemed endless. That was because in this underground world, as long as the Dark Artifact continued to exist, this rapid evolution process would also persist!

Similarly, if the guess were confirmed, then the depression in the public square where the calling seemed to be originating from, would be the location of the Dark Artifact!

This thought flashed across Wang Baole’s mind. However, since the time he appeared until now, he had merely stood there thinking. Instantly, the Black Robe and young boy floating above the large depression appeared before Wang Baole!

As for those ferocious beasts which were in the process of praying, they quickly turned their heads, their gazes landing directly on Wang Baole.

The moment he saw Wang Baole, the young boy was surprised. He hid his newly grown right hand instinctively in his embrace, and his body disappeared instantly…

Wang Baole didn’t notice all that. Right now, he was sweating as he thought about how to explain himself. He wanted to communicate with the civilization and clarify that he meant no harm and that everything was just an accident…

However, even before he could speak, Black Robe that was floating in the sky suddenly trembled. In the blink of an eye, two pupil-like dark glows appeared from within the Black Robe, staring at Wang Baole. It was shocked, and the torrent of emotions it was experiencing could be seen in its eyes.

“Wang Baole!”

The raspy voice reverberated inside Black Robe, and as it spread in all directions, Wang Baole widened his eyes and felt a buzz in his mind. He would have never imagined that the other party would know who he was. However, at this moment, Wang Baole made a guess about the person’s identity in his mind.

“You are… the Dark Servant?”