A World Worth Protecting

1

Wang Baole bemoaned how unfair fate was. It left him sighing with exasperation and powerless with regret.

“Just think about it. I, Wang Baole, the Federation President, the Grand Supreme Elder of the Vast Expanse Dao Palace. My whole life, I’ve worked hard. Everything I’ve achieved was through my own blood, sweat, and tears. I walked through fire, one step at a time, without anyone’s help, like a solitary, handsome dragon, struggling in the jaws of fate, before I got to where I am now!” Wang Baole stood at the entrance of his cave abode, hands behind his back and his face towards the sky, muttering to himself in a despairing voice.

His whole life flashed across his eyes. He remembered the deep sense of loneliness he had felt, in both body and spirit, while he had traveled this solitary path, alone.

“Li Wuchen, on the other hand, was born a Dao Disciple. He’ll be able to regain his past life’s memories once he awakens. He shall become the sole authority in the Vast Expanse Dao Palace!

“Fates is so unfair!

“Such is life. Such injustice!”

Wang Baole’s right fist shot out and slammed into the wall next to him. The cave abode shook while the mountain trembled. It was like he was trying to vent his frustrations.

This clearly wasn’t enough. Wang Baole was about to cry out once again in fury and sorrow and demand answers from heaven when Little Missy coughed in his head.

“Enough! You buy everything that you’ve just said? What’s up with you… am I not human? Is your senior brother not human? How about Li Xingwen? Or the Martian Colony’s Governor? Try saying that you haven’t a single soul helping you again!”

Wang Baole fell silent at Little Missy’s words. He knew no shame though. He coughed and didn’t reply to Little Missy. Instead, he tried to continue basking in the emotions he had stirred up. This might prove difficult for someone else, whose bluff had just been called, but it was a piece of cake for Wang Baole.

Soon, he was immersed in fury and sorrow. He sighed and muttered to himself, “A true prodigy should be someone like me, Wang Baole, who rose above the mundane!”

“Besides, Baldy Chen might be a Dao Disciple, but he hasn’t awakened yet. I, on the other hand, am already an adopted disciple with a bright future ahead of me. He’s no threat to me now. Even after he regains his memories, so what? He might be the Dao Disciple, but I’m a Dark Child. Besides, it’s not like we have some terrible grudge against each other.” At that thought, Wang Baole patted his tummy and stopped worrying.

The days passed swiftly. The construction of his own palace on the main island progressed smoothly under the Dao Palace cultivators’ steady, hard work. Its size and model was the same as the palaces belonging to the other three Grand Supreme Elders. It looked enormous and extremely lavish. They were also building a huge statue of Wang Baole outside the grand palace.

It inspired awe and respect in all Dao Palace cultivators who passed by. There were also numerous array formations set up around the main body of the palace. They were connected to the main array formation in the Vast Expanse Dao Palace. As long as Wang Baole remained in his palace, and as long as the array formation remained activated, even a Soul Conduit realm cultivator could do him no harm!

The resources required for setting up the array formations and constructing the palace were clearly immense. After a Dao Palace disciple sent the key to the array formation to him, Wang Baole made a trip down to the palace to inspect it. He was pleased with what he saw.

He soon moved off of Green Fire Island and into the palace. Federation disciples began to visit him there. Things finally settled down after a week. The other disciples in the Dao Palace also finally began to get used to Wang Baole’s new position.

Wang Baole had declared during the ceremony the Core Realm Pavilion and Nascent Art Chamber open to Federation cultivators at their respective perfected Foundation Establishment realm and perfected Core Formation realm. Many Federation disciples had begun using the facilities and attempting a breakthrough.

Zhuo Yifan had been the first to do so and was still in seclusion. Sect Lord Xu from the Galactic Dusk Sect had also been the first to enter the Nascent Art Chamber and try for a breakthrough in cultivation.

Wang Baole himself didn’t immediately enter the Nascent Art Chamber. He had just reached the perfected Core Formation realm, after all, and his cultivation had not yet stabilized at its current level. What he had to do now was to perfect his divine powers and allow his cultivation to truly reach its full potential at its current level.

Time passed steadily, and things began to settle down. Wang Baole would receive the occasional report from a few Federation disciples, but he spent most of his time practicing the final level of his Lightning Immortal Transformation and the second level of his Thearch Armor inheritance.

Progress for the former was sluggish and even slower for the latter. Wang Baole knew that he couldn’t rush things though. He continued trying to figure things out without worrying too much. In that way, a month passed. Zhuo Yifan finally emerged from his seclusion. He had attained a breakthrough and advanced from the Foundation Establishment realm to the Core Formation realm!

He had also acquired an inheritance from the Eye of Infinite Techniques. As soon as Zhuo Yifan emerged from his seclusion, Wang Baole immediately contacted Feng Qiuran. Like Kong Dao, Zhuo Yifan was made an acting elder.

Wang Baole then handed some battle credits to Zhuo Yifan—as a loan—to aid the latter in his future cultivation. The reason it was a loan and not a gift was because Wang Baole had read the high officials’ autobiographies. He knew that friends should never simply give money to one another. Doing so the first time might inspire gratitude. The second time, your friend might think well of you. But after a few times, people would start taking it for granted.

In fact, if you wanted to render someone completely useless, the best way to do so would be to get this person used to getting things for nothing. He or she… would turn into utter trash.

At his current age, Wang Baole still couldn’t quite understand such things. But he had a habit. Anything he didn’t know, he would simply follow what had been written in those autobiographies. He had done this many times, and it hadn’t failed him yet.

That wasn’t the only good thing to have happened for the Federation. Sect Lord Xu of the Galactic Dusk Sect—one of the few who had founded the Spirit Inception Era in the early-stage Federation—finally attained a breakthrough after a period of seclusion in the Nascent Art Chamber. Perhaps he had already built a strong enough foundation, so he had achieved the Nascent Soul realm without a hitch!

His breakthrough was different from the breakthroughs of other Nascent Soul realm cultivators from the Dao Palace. His strong foundation seemed to have resulted in a stronger aftermath that sent a shockwave surging outwards. Even though he was only at the early-stage Nascent Soul realm, the power he exuded already rivaled that given off by Dao Palace cultivators at the mid-stage Nascent Soul realm.

Wang Baole had been shocked when he had witnessed the breakthrough. He recalled what had happened during Li Xingwen and Duan Muque’s breakthroughs. His senses hadn’t been as refined then, so he had only known that they were strong. Now, after some comparison and analysis, Wang Baole suddenly realized that he might have underestimated both Duan Muque and Li Xingwen.

Both of them were clearly more gifted than Sect Lord Xu. Their powers would clearly be greater than that of an ordinary Nascent Soul realm cultivator. Furthermore, they had two years to cement their cultivation. Wang Baole wasn’t sure if he could win them in a fight the next time they met.

Wang Baole couldn’t help but feel slightly threatened. Regardless, Sect Lord Xu’s breakthrough was good news for the Federation faction in the Dao Palace. Wang Baole personally conferred the position of elder upon the Sect Lord. There were now two elders under Wang Baole.

He also had two acting elders and numerous other disciples on the verge of reaching the Core Formation realm. They needed but time for their faction to grow more powerful.

Wang Baole had already proposed to bring forward the arrival of the third batch of Federation Seedlings. This would further consolidate his faction’s power. Feng Qiuran’s support ensured that Mie Liezi, while unhappy, would have to agree to his proposal. Wang Baole had now become the thorn in his side.

After becoming the fourth Grand Supreme Elder, Wang Baole had begun thinking carefully about the future of his faction. He had discussed the matter with Sect Lord Xu. After the Sect Lord’s promotion to elder, Wang Baole released three announcements in the capacity of Grand Supreme Elder!

The three announcements sent the entire sect into an uproar!

The first was to promote the expansion of the Spirit Internet. He encouraged folks to set up businesses, removed barriers of entry, and allowed Dao Palace disciples to set up their own stores on the Spirit Internet. This boosted the exchange of resources and allowed disciples to gain from trading on the Spirit Internet!

Jin Duoming had done something similar in the past but hadn’t achieved many results. The main cause of his failure had been his lack of status. It had seemed like he had been making a great deal of noise over nothing much in particular. The impact hadn’t been as great as Wang Baole’s official announcement, made in the capacity of a Grand Supreme Elder.

Now, there was Wang Baole’s endorsement backing it. There was now a chance for its sustainable development. Once the foundation and structure were set up, the Spirit Internet would become an inseparable part of the Dao Palace!