A World Worth Protecting

1

<em>The Lightning Immortal Soul, Five Elemental Soul, Heavenly Dream Soul, Nine Earthly Soul… </em>Wang Baole’s head began to throb. His head was filled with the dozen types of Nascent Souls Little Missy had told him. He had also found the way to breakthrough in the Vast Expanse Dao Palace’s records. He frowned slightly.

There were simply too many varieties of Nascent Souls. The Nascent Soul realm was a vast gulf that separated the levels of cultivation. Transforming one’s core into a soul was akin to forming a second life, and this would dramatically transform a cultivator’s life.

Teleportation was one of those changes that the cultivator would experience. The formation of a Nascent Soul made one into a child of the heavens and earth, and the cultivator would be able to meld with the nomological laws and wield them.

A Nascent Soul also had the power to control the lands. Some primitive civilizations called Nascent Souls ancient demons. That itself proved how powerful a Nascent Soul realm cultivator was.

A Nascent Soul’s power was related to the type of soul. There were countless cultivation civilizations in the universe and as many different types of Nascent Souls. Li Xingwen’s was a Dao Soul, and his enlightenment-based divine power contributed partially to that. Duan Muque chose to cultivate a Five Elemental Soul, and its essence was irrevocably tied to the Federation’s fortunes. This might seem bizarre and mysterious, but what it essentially meant was that his Nascent Soul was the manifestation of his ideals and will.

Wang Baole had asked Sect Lord Xu about his Nascent Soul, and he had chosen the Violent Soul, one that centered on violence and death. The Nascent Souls that everyone in the Federation and Dao Palace had were nearly all different.

There might be similarities amongst their Nascent Souls, but minute differences did exist. It was impossible to say which type of Nascent Soul was better, as there was only one way to determine the potential of a Nascent Soul, and that was… its quality!

That was what determined the extent to which one’s Nascent Soul could meld with the nomological laws, and that would determine one’s battle prowess and future. The Dao Palace records also mentioned something else, which was the extremely rare Five Type Nascent Soul that had been found scattered across countless civilizations. They were considered legends. The Vast Expanse Dao Palace of the past had the opportunity to cultivate one such Nascent Soul, but the ways of its cultivation had been lost. The current Vast Expanse Dao Palace no longer held the secrets to the formation of such a Nascent Soul.

Wang Baole had asked Little Missy about that, but Little Missy only replied and told him not to be overly ambitious and long for something that was beyond his reach. Wang Baole had his own unique understanding of what Little Missy had told him.

<em>I bet it’s most likely because she doesn’t know much about it. Or maybe she’s afraid to tell me? </em>Wang Baole blinked. He had realized some time ago that every time Little Missy had given him a target that seemed unachievable, he would somehow achieve it without much of a problem…

“Little Missy, that legendary Nascent Soul that can’t be achieved—what exactly is it?” Wang Baole couldn’t help being tempted when he thought about it, so he tried asking again.

“…” Little Missy seemed to be thinking the same thing as well and didn’t answer Wang Baole’s question immediately. She hadn’t heard of many successful accounts of people attaining the legendary Five Type Nascent Soul. It wasn’t merely legendary and seemed almost impossible!

She still seemed a bit uneasy. She seemed to have mentioned that it was impossible. It should be fine, just saying that…

“If he manages to make the impossible possible again, I’ll call him granddaddy!” Little Missy snorted secretly. She continued consoling herself before she was suddenly caught by the urge to slap herself. It might not have been as bad if she hadn’t just said that, but now that she had…

Exhaustion suddenly overcame Little Missy at that thought. She decided not to think about it anymore.

Time passed steadily, and another month went by. While Wang Baole continued his cultivation and his study of Nascent Souls, the giant tree did his best to complete the assignment that Wang Baole had given him. He did quite a good job. He identified all the female disciples he could find and then began creating numerous opportunities for Li Wuchen and these female disciples to fall in love.

The giant tree didn’t realize how talented he was in this area. The heavens rewarded those who toiled diligently. Under his watchful eyes and careful planning, the giant tree finally discovered something!

He verified his observations repeatedly and then rushed over to Wang Baole’s and reported his findings.

“Esteemed Elder, your humble servant spent a month and was finally able to complete the mission you assigned. I’ve found a female disciple Li Wuchen’s romantically interested in.” The giant tree immediately cupped his fists and bowed deeply when he saw Wang Baole. Both his attitude and the look in his eyes spoke of great deference.

Wang Baole perked up, but he kept his thoughts to himself and simply nodded slightly.

The giant tree saw Wang Baole’s reaction and immediately pulled out a jade slip and presented it to Wang Baole, whispering.

“I realized that Li Wuchen has a relationship with a perfected True Breath realm cultivator, Zhou Mei, that is out of the ordinary, so I did a background check on Zhou Mei. She’s one of the cultivators in the third batch. Even though her level of cultivation isn’t very high, she’s one of the more powerful cultivators to have emerged from the Ethereal Dao College these last few years. That was why she was selected by the Ethereal Dao College for transfer to the Dao Palace!”

“This jade slip contains Zhou Mei’s records for your inspection, Elder.” The giant tree lowered his head after his report and kept quiet. He had found out the relationship between Zhou Mei and Wang Baole. However, if Wang Baole wasn’t going to mention that, he wasn’t going to point it out either. He was simply going to do his duty as instructed.

He didn’t dare, nor did he wish to ask Wang Baole about other related matters. He had investigated those matters clearly as well, but that was because he didn’t permit himself to make any mistakes or commit any oversight in the event Wang Baole questioned him about them.

This was something he had learned from his subordinates when he had been the Deputy Governor on the Martian Colony. One should carry out the orders given to him or her dutifully while thinking three steps ahead. It might seem that he had only completed the task according to what had been instructed, but in reality, he had also familiarized himself with all the details related to his mission. He had performed checks on related matters that had been beyond the scope of his duty and had prepared for the possibility of having to answer any questions on the spot. He would have been able to answer them readily.

The giant tree had done his best while carrying out Wang Baole’s instructions.

His head remained lowered. Meanwhile, Wang Baole had frozen on the spot. He was familiar with the name Zhou Mei, but he couldn’t recall why at the moment, so he took the jade slip and began browsing its contents.

“She’s from Mars… a graduate from the Dao Mountain Mist Academy?” Wang Baole’s eyes widened when he read that. His thoughts cleared up as he finally realized why he had found the name familiar. The image of a chubby young girl surfaced in his mind.

Wang Baole blinked and continued reading. The report in the jade slip was very detailed, including information on Zhou Mei’s family as well as what she had been up to after she graduated. She had chosen to enter the Ethereal Dao College and completed her studies on the Upper Academy Island. During her time there, she had chosen to enter the Dharmic Armament Pavilion!

Everything made Wang Baole slightly confused. He could vaguely remember his time at the Dao Mountain Mist Academy. The faces of his students flashed across his mind, and soon, the expression on Wang Baole’s face softened. He couldn’t hold back a smile.

The giant tree noticed the smile on Wang Baole’s face. Wang Baole must have remembered Zhou Mei had once been his student. He said quietly, “Elder, based on my observations, Zhou Mei and Li Wuchen seem to be in love with each other… I’ve asked other cultivators from the Ethereal Dao College discreetly and received concrete evidence of that. There’s indeed something going on between them, and it seems to be developing further during their time together in the Vast Expanse Dao Palace.” The giant tree stopped speaking at that point. He lowered his head and awaited instructions from Wang Baole.

Wang Baole fell silent. He might have chosen to give Li Wuchen a hand if the other person involved wasn’t his own student and were someone he didn’t know. He would’ve tried to aid the development of this romance while not going against his own principles.

But Zhou Mei, his student, was now implicated in the matter, so Wang Baole wasn’t going to act rashly. He needed to speak to Zhou Mei personally and understand what was going on before he could make a decision.

If Zhou Mei wasn’t a willing party in this relationship, Wang Baole would stop whatever plan he had in mind and find some other way to keep Li Wuchen under control. Besides, he might have overestimated the problem at hand. Perhaps when Li Wuchen finally regained his memories, Wang Baole would have already reached the Planet realm.

At that thought, Wang Baole’s attitude changed. He smiled as he said, “Little Osmanthus, bring my disciple Zhou Mei over here. My memory may be failing me since I didn’t recognize her at first. Maybe she’s easily embarrassed and doesn’t dare come see me.” Upon saying that, Wang Baole suddenly realized something. Maybe Zhou Mei did feel something for Li Wuchen, which was why she didn’t dare pay a visit to Wang Baole. After all, she was aware of the tension between himself and Li Wuchen.

The Fire Spirit Academy and Dao Mountain Mist Academy had been fiercely competitive and hostile towards each other, and Zhou Mei herself had been one of the participants. Wang Baole wondered how the pair had gotten together in the first place.