A World Worth Protecting

1

The skies above the body of the sword were like individual patches. Typically, the sky in the different regions was different, and that was a result of the ancient sword’s resistive force against the sun. Right now, in the region where the sword body was, the skies were pitch-black, and there were only three cracks which revealed a blinding and frightening red glow.

It was as if the interior of the sun could be seen through those gaps. The three red glows vaguely lit up the surroundings, allowing one to see the surroundings despite the darkness.

It was a vast area, and it was rare that there was no Sea of Fire, no lava, and no loose or broken pieces of the mountain. Looking at it from a distance, there seemed to be nothing there, and the entire area was silent.

It seemed that the quietness had lasted for tens of years. In this extreme silence, the air was filled with the scent of death.

That was until a loud boom reverberated in this lifeless world suddenly. As the glow of teleportation spread, the nothingness of the surrounding environment was warped. Instantly, three figures appeared out of thin air, extremely broken!

It was the trio consisting of Wang Baole, who were all still in a state of shock. The moment they appeared, Zhuo Yifan and Zhao Yameng could no longer bear with it physically. Blood spurted out from their mouths, and they fainted immediately, even before they could take a closer look at their surroundings.

Their cultivation levels hadn’t reached that of the Core Formation realm. That, coupled with the fact that they had suffered severe injuries when resisting the suction force of the cave abode, as well as the teleportation, left their bodies on the brink of breaking apart. Now, they had finally reached their limits and fallen.

Even though Wang Baole was also breathing heavily and spewed blood out of his mouth, he remained conscious. At the same time, he was still capable of battle. As such, with Zhao Yameng and Zhuo Yifan unconscious, Wang Baole had already produced hand seals. Instantly, numerous puppets appeared and began guarding the place.

<em>The words on the wall of the cave abode were a huge trap! </em>Wang Baole’s face was pale. He quickly took a look at his surroundings. Even though he was bewildered by the quietness and vastness of the place, he felt that it was safe for now. He didn’t bother to recall what had just happened. Instead, he took out pills and moved to Zhuo Yifan and Zhao Yameng, feeding them the pills to help treat their injuries. Then, he began to meditate with his legs crossed, in order to guard them and to increase his speed of recovery after taking the pills.

An unspecified length of time went by like that. As there was no array formation here that mimicked day and night, it was difficult for Wang Baole to tell time. However, according to his judgment, approximately two days had passed.

He had managed to recover to approximately ninety percent of his full strength over these two days. Zhao Yameng also regained consciousness a day ago, and without saying anything, she immediately began meditating with her legs crossed, to speed up the recovery process with the help of Wang Baole’s pills.

Things were rosier for Zhao Yameng, who had managed to achieve fifty percent recovery so far. However, Zhuo Yifan, who suffered more severe injuries and didn’t have a strong physique and recovery power like Wang Baole, was still in a state of unconsciousness. His body was still weak, and even though he didn’t wake, his breathing and injuries had stabilized.

After checking on Zhuo Yifan’s injuries, Wang Baole heaved a sigh of relief. However, when he looked towards his surroundings, he frowned, his eyes carrying a profound look of concern.

As if sensing Wang Baole’s troubles, Zhao Yameng opened her eyes from her meditative state. She looked at the vastness of their surroundings and felt the loneliness of the place. With her face pale, she spoke softly.

“We cannot continue to stay here. Baole, I have had the feeling that something is amiss here ever since I woke. Furthermore, previously… it was my fault for not foreseeing all the restrictions… If I had managed to predict them, we…” Zhao Yameng’s voice was weak and filled with blame towards herself. She felt that it was all a result of her incapability. If she were more capable in her knowledge of the array formations, they could have perhaps avoided the life and death crisis.

“This has nothing to do with you. It should be the curse put in place by the cave abode’s owner before his death, one meant to fight against his biggest enemies. We were just unlucky.” Wang Baole laughed bitterly as he consoled Zhao Yameng, and proceeded to tell her about the words that he had seen on the walls of the cave abode.

Zhao Yameng gasped in shock after hearing Wang Baole’s words. Even though she had been through the crisis in the cave abode, she was still surprised now that she heard what Wang Baole said. However, she could imagine that if Wang Baole didn’t manage to resist the temptation and went nearer to the so-called inheritance written on the wall, the three of them would perhaps have lost the chance to even escape…

After all, Wang Baole had avoided the stone wall and left the mountains, but the explosion in the cave abode still threw them towards the brink of death.

“It’s too dangerous here… At the same time, we’re too weak…” After a moment of silence, Zhao Yameng sighed as she looked hopelessly at her surroundings. Wang Baole also fell silent and was filled with guilt. He felt that he had been careless, perhaps as a result of how smooth his previous experiences were. It made him feel that the danger was something he could handle.

However, reality gave him a slap on the face. Wang Baole took a few slow, deep breaths, and became extremely solemn. He was about to speak, but before he could do so, Zhao Yameng, who was looking at the surroundings, suddenly trembled. Her breathing almost stopping instantly. Her pupils constricted, and she spoke urgently.

“Baole, look over there! There… there’s someone there!”

Wang Baole turned his head upon hearing those words, looking in the direction Zhao Yameng was indicating. He was shocked. A thousand feet away, in the area where the two of them were looking, a figure sat meditating with crossed legs in the dim glow of the light.

It could be seen that it was a man wearing a robe from the Vast Expanse Dao Palace. He was facing the trio while meditating without any movement, his eyes closed.

Wang Baole’s heart palpitated wildly, and a strong sense of danger made him tense up. After all, over the days that had passed, he had checked the surroundings thoroughly and was sure that there was no one else.

However, right now, a figure had appeared without any noise or indication. That was especially so as that figure was expressionless, and Wang Baole couldn’t sense any sign of life from him. In addition, even when using the Dark Art, he couldn’t sense any sign of death from him either!

<em>Neither dead nor alive? </em>Instinctively, Wang Baole’s cultivation was activated. Turning his right hand, a seventh-grade Dharmic Armament flying sword appeared in his palm, glowing with ferocity. At the same time, he narrowed his eyes and spoke with a deep voice.

“Senior, the three of us have stumbled here. Please forgive us for disrupting your cultivation. We don’t know where we are, could Senior let us know the way out?” As he spoke, Wang Baole stared unblinkingly at the figure, his level of vigilance growing to the maximum.

However, Wang Baole’s words were completely useless and didn’t elicit any response. The figure continued meditating without any facial expression, and he didn’t open his eyes or move either. Wang Baole frowned. He was about to continue speaking when suddenly, he seemed to have detected something from the corner of his eye. He turned immediately and was instantly shocked.

Before him, he could clearly see that, about a thousand feet away on his right, the original emptiness was suddenly filled with a meditating figure. It was a teenager, a different person from just now, but they were both expressionless. They were neither dead nor alive, and this made everything seem extremely bizarre.

“Baole, there’s more here…” As Wang Baole reveled in shock, Zhao Yameng took out her array formation treasure. Even though this place was bizarre, Zhao Yameng wasn’t an ordinary lady. After taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down, and a look of calmness slowly appeared in her eyes. As she spoke, Wang Baole also turned around to look at his surroundings, and instantly saw that in the short span of time, hundreds of similar figures had appeared all around them!

There were men and women, young and old. Everyone was expressionless, meditating with their legs crossed. They were all facing the trio, and they were all neither dead nor alive!

This sent a chill down Wang Baole’s spine. He immediately called for Little Missy in his mind, wanting to ask her what region they were in, and why everything seemed so bizarre. Each figure that he saw made Wang Baole feel that danger was brewing.

However, Little Missy was still in hibernation and didn’t reply. That made Wang Baole anxious and also helpless. Solemnly, he carried the unconscious Zhuo Yifan on his back and glanced at Zhao Yameng with a look of determination in his eyes.

“Rather than wait here, let’s take a bet and see if we can dash out of here!” Zhao Yameng spoke softly. Sealing her hands, a glow emerged from the array formation jade slip, covering the entire surroundings and forming the protective force of the array formation. Wang Baole nodded his head and prepared to dash out together with Zhao Yameng.

However, right at that moment… the hundreds of meditating figures, who initially had their eyes shut, suddenly opened all their eyes at once!