A World Worth Protecting

1

Li Xingwen himself was plagued with hesitation and doubt. After a moment, he took a deep breath and respectfully cupped his fists and extended a deep bow towards the purple light barrier. Then, he led the rest out of the catacombs.

As soon as they exited the catacombs, Li Xingwen immediately issued orders that prohibited anyone from entering. Then, he left hurriedly with the Governor. It was clear that this matter had exceeded his control and level of jurisdiction. Even though he might be a Nascent Soul realm cultivator now, he still had to call for a meeting and reach a consensus on how to address their coexistence with the catacombs.

Before he left, he lowered his head and stared at Wang Baole, who was pale-faced and trembling, seemingly shocked by what he had witnessed. He narrowed his eyes and thoughts sped through his mind. Then, he withdrew his glance and dashed off like a speeding rainbow arc.

The other Core Formation realm cultivators were all plagued with doubts and suspicions as well. They immediately contacted their respective political forces, but they dared not linger in the city; most left for the main Martian city. They would await their next orders from the Federation and their respective political forces!

Wang Baole watched them leave, and he let loose a breath of relief secretly. Based on his understanding of the Federation, he predicted… that things would likely go according to plan. The Federation was unlikely to cause potential trouble by offending an unknown powerful entity “Tian Shuaizi” at such a critical time!

There was a great chance of them opting to compromise and give up on acquiring the Martian Divine Armament!

<em>I, Wang Baole, am a reasonable man. I’ve taken something that should have gone to the Federation… I, Tian Shuaizi, will repay this favor doubly in the future! </em>Wang Baole coughed. He slowly placed his hands behind his back as he watched the skies fill up with departing cruisers. He increasingly felt how much the name Tian Shuaizi suited him.

“Tian Shuaizi?” Li Xingwen, who had returned to the main Martian city, immediately called for a meeting that involved the Federation’s various political forces. He described the full details of what had happened during their excavation attempt.

He didn’t try to hide anything from the meeting. After all, the Martian Colony Governor and the Core Formation realm cultivators from the various political forces had participated and witnessed the entire thing with their own eyes. When Li Xingwen mentioned the name Tian Shuaizi, everyone in the meeting fell silent.

This was indeed an extremely serious matter. Even Duan Muque reappeared from his seclusion and attended the meeting. After Li Xingwen mentioned the name Tian Shuaizi softly, an awkward expression appeared on everyone’s faces in the meeting.

There was no question that the appearance of Tian Shuaizi had been too sudden and unexpected. Most importantly… Li Xingwen hadn’t been able to fight back against him. This meant that the mysterious Tian Shuaizi possessed the power to destroy the entire Federation.

The entire meeting fell into silence. Then, the Governor suddenly spoke.

“The Martian Divine Armament has been around for a very long time, and nothing serious has happened all this while… I propose a prudent approach when handling this matter!”

“How can we allow a stranger to sleep so merrily at our own bedside? To be giving such a good deal so freely shows that he must be hiding something!” The Chen Clan Leader of the Five Generation Sky Clan spoke, his eyes flashing with a cold light. He continued, having interrupted the Governor.

“This is an oversight of the special regional city’s City Lord. The Federation has been pouring in tremendous resources into the city all these years. To think that he hadn’t detected anything amiss with the Divine Armament!”

“Now isn’t the time to place blame. What we need to do now is to determine if this entity is pulling wool over our eyes!”

The group started discussing heatedly. The Martian Colony Governor did not continue speaking, and the Head Senator kept his silence as well. They all fell into a contemplative silence. Li Xingwen grew impatient.

“Have your egos swollen? Have you forgotten what kind of firepower the Federation has? Pulling wool over our eyes? Are you willing to gamble on that? Let me tell you. Based on my assessment, this Tian Shuaizi residing inside the Dark Artifact is the owner of the Divine Armament. There’s a great likelihood that he’s attained phenomenal success at the Spirit Immortal realm. Else, he wouldn’t have been able to assert such overpowering awe just by releasing his spirit energy.”

“As for the way to handle this… unless you’re looking for an early death, we shouldn’t offend… an entity that we are unable to fight back against. I suggest we handle this matter the same way we did for the presence within Pluto.” As soon as Li Xingwen said those words, the cultivators from the various political forces who had been discussing how to handle this matter fell silent. They were startled by Li Xingwen’s mentioning of Pluto. Even though it might seem like they had plenty of ideas and suggestions, they all knew very well that, with Li Xingwen powerless against this entity, the best solution was to adhere to the agreement set out with the other.

Duan Muque sighed softly when he saw how the meeting had fallen into silence once again. He felt slightly exhausted. He sensed that there was something strange going on, but at present, his priority was a breakthrough in his cultivation. There was also the Federation Seedlings Initiative that was about to be kicked off, as well as the joint efforts to land on the ancient greenish-bronze sword. He didn’t want more trouble.

After a moment of silent contemplation, Duan Muque’s eyes flashed with decisiveness.

“Let’s listen to Senior Li’s advice. We’ll slow down the Martian Divine Armament’s excavation efforts, and this matter will be classified as a Rank Two Noble level secret. Let’s keep to ourselves while within the special regional city and not step on one another’s toes!”

With Duan Muque and Li Xingwen agreeing upon the same course of action, the matter regarding the Martian Divine Armament was settled for the moment. They would slow down the excavation of the Martian Divine Armament and would concurrently announce the existence of another barrier behind the first barrier in the catacombs. That would serve as a basis for the Federation to continue further studies and experiments, and provide a reason to ease public suspicions.

The rich vitality that was present within the Martian special regional city wasn’t confidential, and news of it quickly spread. Many cultivators in the main Martian city, having heard of this, soon came investigating the matter. Upon sensing the vitality in the air, they were all shocked. Many chose to settle down in the special regional city for cultivation immediately.

Training at such spots rich with vitality had many benefits. The media paid a great deal of attention to this matter as well, and all of a sudden, the entire Federation became aware of the rich vitality present in the Martian special regional city.

Some cultivators with past injuries heard of this and chose to recuperate and recover in the city as well. Within two weeks, the Martian special regional city became a hot spot that grew ever more popular!

Jin Duoming played a prominent role in the current situation. He had been the first one to realize the economic opportunity open to them and had then quickly contacted Kong Dao and the others. He had been the first to come up with a proposal to redesign the city as a Martian hot spot for healing and cultivation, and he was the first who sought Wang Baole out.

Wang Baole’s heart ached, but he knew he couldn’t reject the idea. He knew that the Federation’s decision to slow down the excavation efforts for the Divine Armament meant that it had, to a certain degree, given up on the city. The value of this land would fall continuously, and he would no longer receive priority in getting resources for the city. This was the time for them to establish some unique and special features for the special regional city, to prolong its survival and increase its value.

He gritted his teeth and agreed to Jin Duoming’s proposal. What resulted was a series of promotions. Real estate cost continued to rise as well, and its value almost reached that of gold.

“A rise in the value of land isn’t enough. After all, most people can’t afford to buy land. What we need to do is build more hotels. We have to build a whole lot of them!” Wang Baole put out his own opinions as well and perfected Jin Duoming’s proposal. They were going to rebrand the Martian special regional city into a haven not only for those seeking healing and cultivation, but also a haven for tourists!

Jin Duoming got excited immediately and began sketching out the plans eagerly. Even though Wang Baole ached for the mass absorption of vitality, which essentially was an expenditure of the Dark Artifact’s energy, it was still rather insignificant a loss and within his control.

He also knew that once the special regional city became a hot spot for healing and cultivation, it would be able to gain a great deal of revenue from taxation alone. The net profit would be considerable after taking into account their expenditure.

This was a long-term gain though. What Wang Baole desired the most now was the swift restoration of his Dark Artifact. His heart burned with excitement as he thought about the power the Dark Artifact would be able to unleash once restored to its full functionality.

<em>I need huge quantities of resources! </em>Wang Baole took a deep breath. Even though the Federation had reached a consensus to slow down the excavation of the Martian Divine Armament, Wang Baole still felt uneasy. He knew too well the characters of those people in the Federation. Unless the impression of awe and power continued to remain and continued to grow stronger… they would make a second attempt on the Divine Armament sooner or later!

<em>It should be safe in the short term, though. </em>At that thought, Wang Baole released a slight breath of relief. He knew why he urgently needed resources to repair the Dark Artifact. The root of his problem lay in the fact that he was too weak.

If he were like Li Xingwen, a Nascent Soul realm cultivator now, no one would dare cause trouble for him even if he were to declare that he was the owner of the Dark Artifact.

<em>I still need a higher cultivation! </em>Wang Baole gritted his teeth and resumed his seclusion. He strove towards reaching a breakthrough into the mid-stage Core Formation realm as soon as possible. While he was in seclusion, Jin Duoming made full use of his business-savvy mind and executed his proposal flawlessly.

The Martian special regional city became a popular topic in the entire Federation. Advertisements featuring many cultivators as well as famous celebrities were broadcast by every media outlet in the entire Federation. They were rich with content and showcased the beauty of the Martian special regional city.

He even joined forces with the Trilunaris Corporation and designed a Martian travel package that had great discounts on round trip travel. The number of cruisers traveling from Earth and the other planets to Mars, and back, increased exponentially.

Lin Tianhao extended his full cooperation to Jin Duoming as well, doing his part in receiving the influx of visitors. Kong Dao, on the other hand, took charge of security matters and ensured heightened security in the city. With their combined efforts, the Martian special regional city’s name resounded again and again across the Federation. Within a short span of two months, its reputation spread like wildfire in the Federation.

The growing fame and popularity of the special regional city would have persisted under Jin Duoming’s efforts, should there not have been another major event taking place. The magnitude of this new event was simply too great. It overshadowed the growing fame of the special regional city…

In July of the forty-fifth year of the Spirit Inception Era… the Federation President, Duan Muque, advanced into the Nascent Soul realm!