A World Worth Protecting

1

The donkey trembled as it stared at Wang Baole. It was an instinctive, primal fear. Its “daddy” who stood before it was a complete stranger. The presence he exuded was akin to a sea of blood, and a single word from the approaching Wang Baole struck terror in the donkey’s heart. It shuddered, then sprawled onto the ground limply, afraid to move even an inch.

Wang Baole fell silent at the sight. He was unsure how many Inferno Rats he had massacred in the past few days before he had reached the first tier in the Flame Snatch Thearch Armor inheritance. He had accumulated a startling quantity of nourishment for his armor. He had also gained a deeper understanding of this Flame Snatch Thearch Armor inheritance that had been partly self-invented and partly inherited.

It was clear that as the killings grew and as he continued nourishing his armor, the streak hidden deep inside him became magnified multi-fold. It began to exude from his person and form a part of his main personality. During his cultivation of the Flame Snatch Thearch Armor inheritance, his emotions lost their usual dynamic qualities. He might not have become more distant, but he was now filled with a cold harshness.

He had changed to the point where the donkey was now trembling and staring at him with fear. All of a sudden, Wang Baole felt slightly dazed. Silently, with a wave of his right hand, which was encased in his armor, the large Inferno Rat that he had been dragging turned into dust and fell into the Sea of Fire. Wang Baole’s raised right hand tightened into a fist. The Flame Snatch Thearch Armor encasing his body began to shine with a bright crimson light before shrinking rapidly.

From afar, it seemed as if Wang Baole’s armor had dismantled itself and reformed into veins of meridians formed from Spirit Qi and stained blood red. The meridians wormed back inside Wang Baole’s body, gathered at his heart and formed a blood-colored, diamond-shaped patch.

Wang Baole’s true physical body reappeared before the donkey as the armor disappeared. The donkey stopped shivering. It raised its head, its eyes filled with surprise and joy. It flew over to Wang Baole’s side, and its head nuzzled Wang Baole’s leg. The expression on its face was that of familiar friendliness.

Wang Baole patted the donkey’s head. With the withdrawal of the Flame Snatch Thearch Armor, he instinctively pushed down the violence and bloodlust inside him as he normally did, and a smile surfaced on his face.

“Alright, Scram. Let’s go home!” As he spoke, Wang Baole marched forward. The donkey brayed and followed him hastily. Man and donkey raced speedily through the Sea of Fire, emerging out from the sea in the middle of the night, and headed back to Green Fire Island!

When they returned, Wang Baole sat down cross-legged inside his cave abode and began to condition himself and his level of cultivation, so that both his mental state and his Spirit Qi remained at peak condition. He allowed his mind to settle as he waited for the day of the trial to arrive.

The night passed in silence.

The next morning, as soon as the sun rose, a series of bells that surrounded the main Vast Expanse Dao Palace island began to ring. The ringing spread outwards and echoed in the air. It was clearly coming from some incredible artifact. The sound of the bells spread far and wide, reaching across almost half of the entire sword handle. The ringing grew fainter as it spread further into the distance. Green Fire Island was situated quite near the main island though, which was why Wang Baole could hear it clearly as he sat in meditation in his cave abode.

His shut eyes began to open gradually as the bells rang. They flashed. As Wang Baole got to his feet and left the cave abode, this light began to gradually fade from his eyes, and he gave a lazy yell.

“Scram, come over here. Your daddy’s going to bring you out to play.”

The donkey seemed unwilling to comply. However, it dared not disobey Wang Baole and ran over with its head drooping. Before it could bray, Wang Baole grabbed it and threw it into his storage bag. Then, with a single whirl, he transformed into a rainbow and shot towards the main Vast Expanse Dao Palace island like a lightning bolt.

Wang Baole wasn’t the only one racing towards the Vast Expanse Dao Palace. Participants from the islands all around the main island had begun their journey as soon as they had heard the bells. Many more cultivators who weren’t qualified to participate were also headed towards the main island. They didn’t wish to miss out on such a grand event.

Everyone was energized and excited, and many formed teams, sending one another voice transmissions as they traveled. They were clearly discussing the upcoming trial.

More and more people gathered at the public square at the mountaintop in the Vast Expanse Dao Palace. There were hundreds of participants gathered on the public square and spectating cultivators in the outer areas that numbered many times more than participants. They were all engaged in fierce discussion. However, the participants were clearly more controlled in their behavior, as they were being watched by tens of thousands of eyes at the moment, and anything they did stood out.

The spectators around them had no such worries. That was why they continued with their loud, excited discussions. Wang Baole could hear the roar of human voices as soon as he approached the main Vast Expanse Dao Palace island.

“I wonder if Dugu Lin will be in the top three this time!”

“I don’t know about Dugu Lin, but I have faith that Senior Brother Xu Ming will definitely be in the top three!”

“Who cares about Xu Ming. My Eldest Senior Brother Zhou Chudao can crush Xu Ming and Lu Yun with a single finger!” The sounds of heated debates rose in the air. Wang Baole watched from afar and didn’t pay them much attention. He turned and raced straight for the public square on the mountain.

Seventy to eighty percent of all participants had already arrived. There were nearly five hundred of them, and they were neatly segregated into their respective factions—under Mie Liezi, Feng Qiuran, and You Ran. Each faction had their own areas. Wang Baole took one look, walked straight towards Feng Qiuran’s faction, and joined that group of cultivators.

His arrival didn’t attract the attention of too many people, and even if someone did see him arrive, they only spared him a glance.

Wang Baole wasn’t bothered. He found somewhere to stand, then began to look around. He soon saw Kong Dao. Their eyes met, and they were about to walk towards each other.

It was then that everyone around them began gasping and shouting. Cheers rose around them outside and in the public square. They came from Mie Liezi’s faction.

“Our eldest senior brother is back!”

“Greetings to Eldest Senior Brother Dugu Lin!”

Someone began to approach in the air, amidst the cheering. He was dressed in black robes, his black hair drifted in the wind, and his eyes were cold like ice. Amidst the crowd’s cheers, he walked, expressionless, towards Mie Liezi’s faction. As he walked past cultivators from Mie Liezi’s faction, their eyes shone with awe and fervor.

<em>Elder Mie Liezi’s only personal disciple… Dugu Lin! </em>Wang Baole narrowed his eyes. This was his second time seeing the other cultivator. As he assessed his own fighting capabilities against the latter, Kong Dao arrived and stood beside him.

“Baole, I didn’t manage to find anything regarding the rules of the trial,” Kong Dao whispered as soon as he came close. Wang Baole nodded. He had expected that. The only pity he felt was for Xie Haiyang’s sudden disappearance. He didn’t know what happened to the latter, but he hadn’t received any response from Xie Haiyang.

<em>Perhaps Xie Haiyang couldn’t reveal anything due to certain reasons? </em>Wang Baole thought as cheers began to resound around him once more. He heard multiple greetings to Senior Brother Xu and Senior Brother Lu. Wang Baole raised his head. He not only managed to guess who they were, but he also saw them!

They were the effeminately beautiful Xu Ming and the well-built Lu Yun. These two were Feng Qiuran’s personal disciples, and they were the true prodigies of the Vast Expanse Dao Palace. They might even be considered princes. They were different from the cold and distant Dugu Lin, greeting the crowd with faint smiles on their faces, and nodding as they walked towards Feng Qiuran’s faction. That invited another round of passion infused cheers.

Wang Baole and Kong Dao were like mere weeds next to them. Their presence was faint, and they seemed to serve as wallpaper for the two princes. Following Dugu Lin, Xu Ming, and Lu Yun’s arrivals, many more cultivators began to arrive as well. Zhao Yameng appeared in the distant horizon. She noticed Wang Baole and Kong Dao and approached them swiftly, landing next to them.

As the only three cultivators representing the Federation, they managed to draw the attention of some people as they stood together. One of those was Yun Piaozi.

As a member of You Ran’s faction, he smiled at Wang Baole after spotting him in the distance, his eyes brimmed with encouragement. Wang Baole saw that and smiled and nodded in return. He was about to send a voice transmission to the other cultivator and ask if he had received any news when everyone began to cheer again. The new arrivals were a man and a woman. They were You Ran’s personal disciples…

Zhou Chudao and Huang Yunshan!

Besides being You Ran’s disciples, they were also Dao partners. There was a fine story about the couple that circulated in the Vast Expanse Dao Palace. It spoke of how the male counterpart had mediocre looks and looked like a peasant while the female counterpart’s beauty dazzled like the bright allure of a poppy. They clearly didn’t look like a couple when they stood and walked next to each other. Dugu Lin, who had his eyes shut all along even when Lu Yun and Xu Ming had arrived, suddenly opened his eyes. He stared at Zhou Chudao, and a flicker of rivalry flashed in his deep, unfathomable eyes.

It seemed that, save Zhou Chudao, he saw everyone else around him as… trash that wouldn’t even withstand a single blow from him!