A World Worth Protecting

1

The piece of beast skin with the formula for the Divine Armament written on it probably managed to survive in the extremely poor environment due to its unique material. Therefore, after the trio looked through it, they each made a copy of the refinement formula of the Divine Armament.

Zhuo Yifan and Zhao Yameng put the original copy of the beast skin in the hands of Wang Baole. After all, amongst the three of them, only Wang Baole was a Dharmic Armament cultivator. If not for the Divine Armament formula having value as reference material, the both of them wouldn’t have made a copy of it, as the refinement process was complicated even with the formula.

On top of that, Zhuo Yifan and Zhao Yameng were also frank with their need for pills. The two of them were now at the critical juncture where their cultivation was about to reach a breakthrough, and their requirement for this external boost was high. After all, they were both so close to breaking through, and this was even more so for Zhuo Yifan. Therefore, in terms of the distribution of pills, both of them took the majority, while Wang Baole only took the amount he needed for his seclusion.

Next up was the distribution of disciple identity tokens. Zhuo Yifan smiled as he looked at Wang Baole and chose to give up on his share. On the one hand, he knew that he wasn’t capable enough, and on the other hand, he knew about Wang Baole’s aspirations and decided to help him fulfill it.

That was so for Zhao Yameng as well. She didn’t even take a look at those identity tokens and simply tossed them to Wang Baole. Wang Baole responded with agitation, as he was just thinking about how to discuss the matter with them. They may be good pals, but the identity tokens were items that could be exchanged for battle credits.

“Yameng, Yifan, rest assured that once I become Federation President, both of you would become my right- and left-hand men. Then, we three brothers would rule over everyone!” Wang Baole spoke with emotion, and in his excitement, he didn’t notice that Zhao Yameng appeared cold, as if the word ‘brother’ had offended her.

Zhuo Yifan laughed, before passing the compass, which was one of the three Dharmic Armaments, to Zhao Yameng. He kept the other eighth-grade Dharmic Armament and placed the broken ninth-grade Dharmic Armament pike before Wang Baole.

There wasn’t anything else to say due to the good relationship shared by the trio. After all the resources had been allocated, they took a look at their surroundings, and after making sure that there was nothing amiss, they each entered seclusion.

To Zhuo Yifan, the decision to become powerful was firm. He didn’t want the incident of him being seized by the family clan to happen again. The experience of being imprisoned in the family clan was a secret that he kept to himself. In his heart, it was a pain that was difficult to recover from.

Therefore, he desired to be an elite more than anything. He could pay any price to achieve that. For example, he knew that the eventual outcome of the inheritance enlightenment this time could leave him neither human nor soldier. However, he could accept an outcome like that, as long as he could become more powerful!

Going into seclusion now, his goal was to achieve a breakthrough and perfect the Foundation Establishment realm. On the other hand, he wanted to make use of the Nine Transformation Acts of the Divine Armament to complement the War Soldier in his body. Having played out part of the process previously, it was already extremely painful such that it was like his bones were being drawn out. However, the determination and decisiveness in his eyes revealed the steadfastness in his mind!

As for Zhao Yameng, despite not having the same level of desire as Zhuo Yifan at becoming an elite, her background and caliber were undeniably amongst the top in this current cultivation of the Federation. Most importantly, while she didn’t desire to be an elite, she had a strong persistence towards the Great Dao that her father had mentioned to her before, as well as towards cultivation.

“Meng’er, there are three thousand Great Dao. Even though any of them could lead to the essence mentioned in the legends, they are all of different depths. Based on my interpretation, you’re most suited for the array formation Dao. Even though it cannot be considered a shortcut, its effectiveness places it in the top ten Dao!”

That was a conversation between Zhao Yameng and her father when she had chosen to enroll in Ethereal Dao College those years back. Even now, Zhao Yameng still remembered it clearly. As she closed her eyes, the Disaster Firmament Ancient Array Formation appeared in her mind. Countless arrangements and Array Runes were within it. As she sought enlightenment in the Array Runes, the pills that she swallowed swiftly turned into a pushing force that supported her in achieving enlightenment and destroyed the cuffs of the Foundation Establishment realm!

Noticing that the two of them had entered seclusion, Wang Baole was still worried despite Zhao Yameng putting array formations in place, and despite the meditating figures no longer appearing. After all, this place was only relatively safer to the Sea of Fire outside.

In his silence, Wang Baole patted his storage bag and pulled the donkey out of it. Since arriving at the Vast Expanse Dao Palace, Wang Baole had busied himself and almost forgot about the donkey. Right now, after being taken out of the storage bag, the donkey appeared listless as it lay there, looking at Wang Baole with resentment.

“Son!”

“What’s with that scream? Get up and work! Pay attention to the surroundings and scream if there is danger!” Wang Baole was a little guilty. He thought to himself that he wasn’t cut out to be a father, as he always forgot his sons.

<em>Hmm, I seem to have forgotten another son of mine. </em>Wang Baole scratched his head. He was about to think of that person when Zhao Yameng began to give off an aura belonging to a Core Formation realm cultivator.

<em>This is the last hurrah! </em>Wang Baole turned to look immediately. He no longer thought about his forgotten son. After confirming that Zhao Yameng’s boost would still take a while before it happened and that she had accumulated enough to give off gradually, such that nothing serious would happen, Wang Baole kicked the pitiful donkey.

“Work!” Wang Baole stared.

The donkey sneezed loudly, lazily climbing up without a choice. It appeared as if it had no lingering sentiments towards life as it scanned its surroundings. Its expression made Wang Baole feel guilty, and his heart softened. He pondered about whether he should give out his remaining opened bag of snacks.

There were less than ten pieces left in the bag. Every time Wang Baole reminisced about the Federation, he would take out a piece and lick it with his tongue, and the snacks were like his beloved. Right now, however, the love for his son surpassed everything. Wang Baole gritted his teeth, taking a piece of snack and tossing it to the donkey.

The donkey’s eyes lit up. It dashed towards the snack and was about to eat it when it seemed to sense that something wasn’t right. It took a whiff of the snack, and a look of hesitation appeared on its face.

“Scram, what do you mean by that? I’m giving you another chance to show the facial expression that you should be showing!” Wang Baole looked awful as he stared at the donkey. He raised his hand and cracked his knuckles.

The donkey shuddered and instantly put on a look of excitement and desire. Without hesitation, it swallowed the snack in a mouthful, looking extremely immersed in enjoyment. That was when Wang Baole patted its head with satisfaction.

“All right, since you have eaten my treasure, quickly go guard the place!” With that, Wang Baole no longer cared about the donkey as he sat down. He took out a pill and swallowed it, then started to meditate and cultivate.

His cultivation was already at the peak of early-stage Core Formation realm, and it was only a small step away from mid-stage Core Formation realm. After going through the numerous inheritance, he had received huge gains despite not being fully enlightened. The small distance from mid-stage Core Formation realm was already surpassed. As his cultivation was activated, and as the force of the pill was integrated, he began the last hurrah!

Noticing that Wang Baole had entered seclusion, the donkey, which was pretending to stand guard, immediately retched. For a creature like it who had an appetite for almost everything, retching was something that was never seen before. However, after a long while, it didn’t regurgitate anything. The donkey sighed visibly and helplessly licked the ground. Without much thought, he took a huge bite out of the ground, but there was nothing there. Instead, it jumped in pain as a result.

As time passed, three days later, the donkey had grown extremely bored seeing that nothing was happening to the trio. It turned its head to look towards the Sea of Fire not far away. After thinking about it, it ran towards the Sea of Fire and swallowed a mouthful of it…

The Sea of Fire didn’t taste good, and this was evident by the donkey’s shudder. It threw out its tongue and returned reluctantly, laying there, licking the ground endlessly. Rolling its eyes, it thought about whether it should have someone else as its father, as this fatty was simply a bully and an irresponsible father.

Seven days later, a loud boom emerged from Zhuo Yifan, who was the first to break through. Instantly, the aura of someone who had perfected Foundation Establishment realm cultivation, and of someone extremely close to the Core Formation realm, erupted from his body.

As the aura was unleashed, an illusion that only appeared at Core Formation realm transmogrified behind him. It was the image of a red sword!

This flying sword was unusual. It only had a blade but not a handle. The blade was full of frightening ridges, and looked extremely scary!