A World Worth Protecting

1

With the arrangements made by Feng Qiuran, the Federation Seedlings didn’t have the chance to communicate their thoughts with one another before they were brought away by Feng Qiuran’s subordinates. Everyone was given a Vast Expanse Dao Palace Daoist robe, as well as information and a map of the sect. As they were each brought away, only Wang Baole remained in the peak of the Vast Expanse Dao Palace. Feng Qiuran seemed to have other plans and didn’t immediately assign a place for Wang Baole to go. Instead, she had her disciples bring Wang Baole into the suite of the Vast Expanse Dao Palace.

The Vast Expanse Dao Palace was vast and had many suites. However, they were usually unoccupied. Typically, only returning disciples from the outer islands would stay in them for several days.

Therefore, it was very quiet when Wang Baole was being led into the region where the suites were. Only a few Vast Expanse Dao Palace disciples were seen occasionally.

Regardless of whether it was the people who brought him there or the Vast Expanse Dao Palace disciples in the region where the suites were, they all viewed Wang Baole—the cultivator from Earth’s Federation—with contempt, despite not showing it on their faces. Compared to the sheltered disciples who had spent their entire lives cultivating on the ancient greenish-bronze sword, Wang Baole’s profile and experience far surpassed the, even if it might be too much of an exaggeration to call him a sly fox.

Therefore, Wang Baole could sense the contempt in their hearts very clearly.

<em>These weaklings. If we were to really fight, I could easily terminate tens of them! </em>Wang Baole snorted in his heart and didn’t pay further attention to them. After returning to his assigned suite, he immediately took out the regional Spirit Internet jade slip given to him by Duan Muque and contacted Zhuo Yifan and the others.

The regional Spirit Internet jade slip was indeed miraculous. It also worked the way Duan Muque had described, allowing the Federation Seedlings to use it on the ancient greenish-bronze sword. Put simply, it had two functions. One was to send an intended recipient a voice transmission, and the other was to allow a chat group to be established. Right now, as Wang Baole opened up the jade slip, many others were already conversing with each other.

Most of them were talking about the islands they had been sent to, while some of them were still on the way to their assigned islands that were further away. In addition, as they had just arrived, most of them were nervous and agitated. Therefore, the group chats were refreshed quickly.

At the same time, some people were researching the so-called Vast Expanse Skill. In the group chat, they seemed to be surprised by the cultivation technique. Soon, with an increasing number of people researching the cultivation technique, discussions of the Vast Expanse Skill became the hottest topic.

Looking at everyone discussing the new cultivation technique, Wang Baole also grew anxious.

<em>Everyone has a cultivation technique. If someone is quick to send it back, wouldn’t I fall behind?</em>

<em>However, sending it back requires a thousand battle credits, and it’s not certain how easy it would be to obtain these thousand battle credits… It shouldn’t be easy… </em>With that thought, Wang Baole felt assured. He then planned to go to the so-called Vast Expanse Techniques Chamber to find a cultivation technique that would be suitable for him.

However, before that, there were more important matters to do. With a look of determination, Wang Baole took a deep breath, and after hesitating for a while with the jade slip in his hand, he sent a voice transmission to Zhao Yameng.

“Yameng, are you there…?”

“Speak!” Before long, Zhao Yameng’s peaceful voice emerged from the jade slip.

“Haha, the weather is great today, right? So… Your mother is the Martian Colony Governor?” Despite having asked that question before, Wang Baole was still very shocked by it and instinctively raised the question again.

“What’s the matter? You don’t approve of it?” A hint of sharpness could be sensed in Zhao Yameng’s calm tone.

Hearing the slight hostility in Zhao Yameng’s voice, Wang Baole instantly felt troubled. In reality, when he was on Mercury, he had already felt that something was amiss. Now, as he found out about Zhao Yameng’s background, he felt guilty. Therefore, he took a deep breath and spoke gently into the jade slip.

“Yameng, I have to thank you for all the years I have spent on Mars…”

Hearing that sentence, Zhao Yameng fell silent. After a brief moment, she seemed to have calmed down, but what she said next still made Wang Baole’s heart skip a beat.

“Other than me, you should also thank Li Wan’er, don’t you think?” With that, Zhao Yameng hung up the voice transmission.

“Huh?” Wang Baole widened his eyes. After a long while, he slapped himself on the forehead and let out a long sigh. In reality, the very moment he found out that the Martian Colony Governor was Zhao Yameng’s mother, he had a gut feeling that despite the fact that the relationship between him and Li Wan’er was secretive, it was unlikely that it would remain unknown to the Martian Colony Governor.

It seemed like Zhao Yameng knew about it as well.

<em>However… Zhao Yameng and I are brothers. Could it be that… She likes Li Wan’er? </em>Wang Baole laughed bitterly, shaking his head as he sighed. However, very soon, he thought of Jin Duoming, and immediately grit his teeth and widened his eyes.

“Jin Duoming, it seems like you know what is going on. Back when we were in the research facility, he was clearly trying to hoodwink me. Rascal, just you wait!” Wang Baole mumbled and rubbed his glabella. It all felt too mentally exhausting to him, and he decided to not think about it any further. After adjusting his breathing, he noticed that the skies were still bright. He changed into the Daoist robe from the Vast Expanse Dao Palace, deciding to take a stroll outside the suite and head to the Vast Expanse Techniques Chamber while he was at it, the map of the sect in his hands.

The Vast Expanse Techniques Chamber was built behind the mountain, not far away from the forbidden grounds of the Vast Expanse Dao Palace. With the map in his hands, Wang Baole walked through the narrow passageways with hot wind blowing in his face, soon arriving at the Vast Expanse Techniques Chamber.

The Vast Expanse Techniques Chamber was a pentagonal shaped four-story building. There was a bell on the ledge of every floor, ringing crisply in the wind. The chime from the bells seemed to have a miraculous force that calmed Wang Baole down significantly when he heard it. As he neared, the chimes from the bell sounded continuously, and he calmed down completely when he neared.

<em>So miraculous? </em>Wang Baole blinked. He noticed that the door to the Vast Expanse Techniques Chamber was closed and unguarded. Therefore, he took a few steps forward. As he neared, a sliver of Spiritual Sense emerged from the chamber, sweeping past him as if to ascertain his identity, before the door opened automatically.

This made Wang Baole amazed. As he stepped into the Techniques Chamber, he hurriedly cupped his fists and bowed in all directions.

“Disciple Wang Baole hereby greets the Seniors.”

However, there was no response even after he had waited for a long time. Wang Baole narrowed his eyes, wondering in his heart about whether the Techniques Chamber was a Dharmic Artifact, and whether the scan that was done just now was conducted by an Artifact Spirit.

Suppressing the doubts in his mind, Wang Baole began to flip through the jade slips placed on the shelves on the first level of the Techniques Chamber. Most of them were about cultivation techniques, with brief descriptions and terms of exchange being written on them. They could mostly be exchanged with a thousand battle credits, but there were also some that required more battle credits.

“Primordial Chaos Conduit Art!”

“Golden Body Dao!”

“Cloud Dragon One Breath Art!”

Wang Baole swiftly picked up the jade slips. The more he read them, the more excited he was. The cultivation techniques that required a thousand battle credits were, to him, on par with the top cultivation techniques in the Ethereal Dao College in terms of quality, and he was only at the first story of the Techniques Chamber.

Wang Baole took a deep breath and went up to the second story, which had a similar layout as the first, with numerous shelves filled with jade slips. There were also three other Vast Expanse Dao Palace disciples other than him there, each of them choosing their own cultivation techniques. They merely cast a quick glance at Wang Baole, who had just arrived, without paying much attention to him.

The cultivation techniques here made Wang Baole even more excited. He realized that any of the cultivation techniques on the second story far exceeded that of the top cultivation techniques of the Ethereal Dao College, and cultivation techniques like those were present in the hundreds here.

<em>There’s still the third and fourth story… </em>Wang Baole thought, and he planned to check out what was on the third level. However, the moment he stepped onto the stairs, he was blocked by a softly lit light screen. After interpreting the situation, Wang Baole realized that he was blocked either because he didn’t have sufficient rights, or that there were certain requirements in terms of cultivation level.

<em>What a pity. I wonder if there’s a chance for me to take a look upstairs. </em>Wang Baole shook his head and decided to stay on the second level. He began to seriously choose a cultivation technique that was suitable for him. He looked at every jade slip in detail and spent a lot of time reading their descriptions, thinking it through before looking at another jade slip.

In this manner, as he picked up the jade slips, time passed quickly, and soon half an hour had gone by. He managed to choose three cultivation techniques that he liked, but he didn’t settle on one immediately. Instead, he picked up new jade slips, one after another. However, just as he picked up a new jade slip, Little Missy’s soft voice surfaced in his mind.

“Why is this cultivation technique here… Baole, choose this!”

Wang Baole responded and lowered his head to look at the jade slip in his hand. Instantly, the name of the cultivation technique written on the jade slip surfaced before his eyes.

Lightning Immortal Transformation!