A World Worth Protecting

1

The skies were dark. Even though the huge beast’s corpse in the sky continued to shine like the sun, it seemed to struggle to light up the entire land. Wang Baole saw the lands before him dimly lit while others in the distance were in complete darkness.

However, a cultivator could see clearly as long as he allowed spirit energy to flow to his eyes. The Demonic Green Poria Flowers scattered across the lands helped too. Their red flowers gave off a faint light that cast a dim glow on the lands around it.

The sight before him would look drastically different without the endless piles of corpses. Their presence filled the world with an aura of endless death.

Wang Baole might be a Dark Child, but he hadn’t grown so accustomed to such scenes of death. The Dark Sect might rule over death, but its responsibility was the ferrying of souls. The corpses in this world that had died eons ago were no different from blood-and-flesh puppets.

The power that controlled these puppets was something that Wang Baole hadn’t seen before. He was confused and lost, and at the same time, in awe of what he had seen in this world.

“The Never-Ending Clan might be terrorizing the galaxies, but one cannot deny that they are a powerful entity. That is what gives them the power to run wild and not have to answer to anyone else!” Wang Baole muttered to himself. He didn’t slow down as he raced forward in the air, holding the pistils of the Demonic Green Poria Flower close to his chest. Its strange power ensured that he didn’t fall prey to further illusions during his journey.

The demonic flowers seemed less prone to sudden blossoming without any sudden agitation as well. This meant that Wang Baole’s journey after fleeing the crimson mist had remained relatively smooth and danger-free.

However, what he saw continued to shock him to an ever greater degree. The corpses on this land spanned countless species, and most of them seemed to belong to creatures that Wang Baole had never seen or heard of.

He saw creatures with animal bodies and human heads, corpses formed from rocks, enormous bodies covered with horns, as well as many other bizarre-looking corpses. There were those with two heads as well as those whose bodies resembled five fingers and had no eyes.

There were also corpses the shape of enormous cubes that seemed like they had been pieced together. It didn’t seem possible that these entities could have been alive and living in any way in the past. But as far as Wang Baole could tell, they were corpses.

The sights shook Wang Baole to the core. Then, he discovered familiar-looking corpses, such as… the natives from the Black Wind Planet, tiny black men with their large feet.

The aura that continued to emanate from those corpses even after their deaths remained terrifying. Wang Baole instinctively knew that he shouldn’t stray too near. He might trigger an accidental backlash if he came into contact with them!

Wang Baole passed the corpses of the Black Wind Planet natives. Thirty minutes passed before he paused in mid-air and lowered his gaze. There was a strange look on his face. He stared at the ground, at the corpse resting atop a pile of other corpses.

Save its slightly elongated ears and extremely slim build, the corpse looked almost like a human. Its death didn’t diminish its extraordinary beauty. Wang Baole had only come across such a species in the game Descend.

“That game…” Wang Baole muttered. He might have stared too long at the corpse, as the finger of the slender figure on the mountain of corpses began to twitch. Wang Baole immediately turned wary. He didn’t hesitate and immediately picked up speed and dashed off.

As he faded into the distance, the finger finally stilled. The lands remained quiet and peaceful.

<em>I can’t linger too long anywhere. Everything here seems really strange! </em>Wang Baole took a deep breath. He looked around him as he advanced forward, trying to determine which way to go. He knew that the quickest and simplest way to find the sacrificial altar was to locate the enormous beast that they had seen earlier.

He would then be able to follow the beast and find the sacrificial altar.

Time passed steadily. Days went by. Wang Baole continued his flight across this world filled with corpses, searching without rest. However, he saw only more corpses. The enormous beast was nowhere to be found. Then, one day, while Wang Baole sped through the skies, feeling slightly anxious, his pupils suddenly contracted!

A strange feeling surged inside him, and his Dark Fire began to stir uncontrollably. It surged outwards and appeared outside his body, transforming into black, icy flames!

“Hmm?” Something flashed in Wang Baole’s eyes. He could sense a force tugging at him and the Dark Fire inside his body. It was resonating with his Dark Fire!

It felt familiar. It was… the aura of the Dark Sect!

<em>Could there be Dark Sect members hiding here?</em> Wang Baole’s breathing quickened slightly. He extended his senses and began surveying the area carefully. He tilted his head to the right. The familiar aura, belonging to the Dark Sect, was coming from that direction!

Wang Baole fell into deep thought. Then, he whipped out Little Missy’s mask. Even though Little Missy hadn’t responded to his calls the entire time he had been here, the mask still served as an important item that allowed Wang Baole to discern reality from illusion!

The mask showed no inklings of turning invisible at the moment. Wang Baole inspected the pistils, then looked around him. His mind finally set at ease that this wasn’t yet another illusion, he pondered for some time before switching directions and dashing off in the direction the Dark Sect aura was coming from!

He maintained a regular speed while remaining wary of his surroundings. Thirty minutes passed. The nagging sense of familiarity intensified, and the Dark Fire inside Wang Baole began to stir with a seeming hunger, which erupted from his body without stop. From afar, Wang Baole’s body could no longer be seen. Instead, one could only see a fiery ball of black fire. It was then that Wang Baole finally… reached the place where the Dark Sect aura had originated from!

It was… a city resting at the bottom of a mountain!

This was the first city that Wang Baole had come across in this world. It wasn’t a large city, its size only that of Ethereal City. However, it was still an impressive sight in the land filled with corpses!

After all, he had seen nothing but corpses and demonic flowers along the way. There had been no other architecture. The city’s mere presence spoke of something extremely important. Wang Baole’s breathing grew uneven at the thought of it.

He was confident that… the presence of the city meant that there had been lifeforms present here!

That was why it didn’t matter that the city was nothing but ruins now, with most of its buildings damaged and partially collapsed. Wang Baole’s spirits still soared at the sight of it. His eyes began to widen as he approached the city. He flew forward and hovered above the city ruins. Gazing downwards, his head began to buzz loudly. There was a silent implosion inside his head.

<em>This place…</em> Wang Baole was shaken. Waves of emotions roared inside him as the Dark Fires outside his body wavered violently.

From where he stood… he saw not only the city ruins… but something else as well!

The city hadn’t been built on land, it had been built on a huge skull. One could imagine how large the skull must be. The skull wasn’t resting on a mountain but connected to an arm!

Perhaps it might be more accurate to call it one half of a humerus. It was as if a giant had sat there in meditation sometime in the past and had received a slash diagonally downwards from one shoulder, cleaving the giant’s body into two halves. One half of its body had clearly turned to dust, which was why what had remained was the other collapsed half!

Wang Baole’s breathing froze as he gazed at the sight before him silently. He could sense the Dark Sect aura emanating from the bones. Wisps of a similar aura rose from the city resting above the bones as well.

The sight sent Wang Baole into a long bout of silence. He descended slowly and landed on the top of the skull. He stood inside the city, looking at everything around him. The realization had come upon him a moment ago. It wasn’t as he had expected. He had thought someone had built a city here.

Instead… the city had been a part of this giant. Perhaps the city had rested atop its head when the giant had still been alive!

The city’s architectural style reminded Wang Baole of his Dark Dream. He could tell clearly that it hailed from a period similar to what he had experienced in the Dark Dream.

“Survivors after the fall of the Dark Sect, maybe…” Wang Baole muttered to himself, a myriad of emotions flashing across his eyes.