A World Worth Protecting

1

<em>I’ve searched in that direction before!</em> The Star Fang Beast steadily approached, sending the surrounding temperatures spiking upwards. It looked like an enormous burning fireball from afar, ready to turn everything in its path to ash.

Wang Baole was forced to retreat as the gears in his head spun furiously. He knew that he had gone in the direction the beast had come from earlier and had traveled quite far in that direction. However, he hadn’t discovered anything then. This meant that either he really hadn’t gone far enough… or that the sacrificial altar couldn’t be found in the conventional manner—by simply pursuing a single direction!

If it were the former, Wang Baole could make another attempt. If it were the latter though, he wouldn’t be able to risk everything he had on it. There was really only one way of him locating the sacrificial altar if it were the latter!

<em>Get on the log and walk down the thing. That is the only way… to prevent myself from getting lost. No matter where the sacrificial altar is located, as long as I walk down the log, I’ll be able to reach it!</em> Wang Baole narrowed his eyes as thoughts sped through his head. The scorching heat the Star Fang Beast was giving off made it difficult for him to approach though. The possibility of him getting on that log was slight.

<em>It’s not impossible, though…</em> Wang Baole watched the rumbling Star Fang Beast as it made its way past him in the distance. After some thought, he pulled out the Star Fang Beast core from his storage bracelet and held one close to his chest. He tried approaching the beast. The heat might be incredible, but its source was similar to that of Wang Baole’s Star Fang Beast core. Wang Baole soon found that the beast core in his arms gave him partial resistance against the heat.

Wang Baole’s spirits soared at that discovery, and determination flashed in his eyes. He increased his speed without hesitation and dashed together with the Star Fang Beast, the beast core in his arms!

Scorching heat waves surged towards him as he approached. The power of the Star Fang Beast core enveloped Wang Baole in a defensive barrier. Wang Baole ran faster, approaching the Star Fang Beast rapidly like a speeding rainbow.

His hair showed signs of burning when he reached a thousand feet of the beast, and his body was drying up. It was as if his body could no longer retain water inside. Water was evaporating from his body rapidly. An alarming sense of danger descended upon Wang Baole. He realized that the protection offered by one Star Fang Beast core was simply not enough. If he continued to draw near, both his body and soul might be destroyed as soon as he stepped within a thousand feet of the monster.

<em>I still have another one!</em> Without any hesitation, Wang Baole pulled out the second Star Fang Beast core and held it close to his chest. He broke through the thousand-foot radius with the aid of the two beast cores and instantly appeared before the Star Fang Beast that was burning up like the sun.

Once again, the threat of death loomed over Wang Baole. His heart raced with terror. At this juncture, though, he had no choice but to get on the log. The alternative was to wait for another beast to come along, but it was clear that his chances at success were greater with the Star Fang Beast, what with two Star Fang Beast cores in his possession.

<em>Just wing it!</em> Wang Baole clenched his jaw and then pulled out both Star Fang Beast corpses from his storage bracelet. He placed them before him, then leaped towards the approaching Star Fang Beast. There was a rumbling in the sky as waves of melting heat rose to the heavens. After pulling out every trick in the book, Wang Baole finally got on the moving Star Fang Beast.

His heart pumped with adrenaline as the beast continued to sway violently beneath him. He didn’t slow down and continued leaping across the monster’s back, ignoring the prickling heat and the burning agony, which so unbearable that he howled and unleashed the full power of his Flame Snatch Thearch Armor. His cultivation started churning, and he summoned his Dharmic Armaments in an attempt to buy more time for himself. Finally, with one last leap, he landed on the chain binding the beast and the gigantic log behind it!

The chain was like a long, huge bridge. Wang Baole’s breathing quickened as soon as he landed. Alarm bells rang in his head. The overwhelming danger rose like waves and threatened to pull him under. The threat of death surged in from all directions, boxing him in. Wang Baole didn’t stop to think. He instinctively summoned his Dark Fire and sent it flowing into his bracelet… into the star-shaped, A Thousand Lives bead!

This time, he wasn’t trying to get a sense of the technique but activating the technique immediately!

The star-shaped bead burst into a dazzling light instantly as numerous inscriptions materialized. They appeared ancient, circling Wang Baole and darting into his body swiftly, vanishing without a trace.

Wang Baole didn’t feel much of a change, save the sudden warmth inside his body that seemed to emanate from deep inside his bones, inside his soul. It was as if he was being protected.

<em>That’s it?</em> Wang Baole was surprised. He didn’t have much time to dwell on it though. He gritted his teeth as the warmth settled inside his body, then sped down the chain. The Star Fang Beast’s forward charge made the chains sway violently. That didn’t slow Wang Baole down. He soon realized that every time his foot landed on the chain, images would appear around it.

The images appeared to be that of swords. They weren’t causing him any harm though. They seemed safe as long as he didn’t step on them. What was most bizarre was how Wang Baole’s body knew instinctively where to land his feet. Regardless of how fast he ran, he never landed on any one of those images…

In one instance, Wang Baole had seen a sword-like image appear on the chain where his foot had been supposed to land. However, the image had gone away as soon as his foot had stepped on the chain, leaving only a blank emptiness beneath his foot.

In another instance, Wang Baole had found himself surrounded by these images all around him, with no place for his feet. The Star Fang Beast had suddenly leapt into the air then, sending such a huge force through the chains that Wang Baole had been flung forward thousands of feet. He had landed on a spot without any images.

Wang Baole had been shaken to the core then. He realized then that the warmth inside him had been gradually fading away during his trip down the chains…

Wang Baole finally crossed the entire chain just before the last residual trace of warmth left his body. He leaped and landed on the wooden log. It was enormous. Despite the speed that it was moving at, the log appeared to be relatively stable.

<em>That was easy?</em> Wang Baole looked around him, then turned around and stared at the Star Fang Beast racing ahead as well as the chains binding the beast and the log. Out of curiosity, he pulled out a puppet and steered it onto the chain.

As soon as the puppet stepped onto the chain, a sword-like image appeared beneath its feet. Countless Sword Qi erupted around it and rose to the heavens!

The sudden eruption of spirit energy shook the land and enveloped a full hundred feet around the puppet. Hundreds of thousands of Sword Qi converged at one point instantly. Wang Baole’s puppet was disintegrated immediately and turned to dust…

Wang Baole shivered at the sight. His heart raced as he stared at the bead containing A Thousand Lives. He could still remember the earlier warmth. He was certain that his smooth progress—so smooth it bordered on supernatural—was all due to this divine power.

<em>This defies all laws of nature!</em> Wang Baole gasped. Then, he saw a tiny crack on the bead, which proved what he had guessed earlier. The bracelet… could only be used a limited number of times. Its primary purpose was to aid him in grasping the six divine powers held within the beads.

But those were matters to be dealt with in the future. Wang Baole rubbed his finger against the crack, then set his thoughts aside as he turned and raced down the log.

The trip down the log wasn’t completely without obstacle. Whatever obstacles he encountered were easily dealt with though. The log seemed to possess the ability to gather spirits, and hordes of spirits would materialize before Wang Baole as he traveled down the log. Others might have required some effort to deal with such problems. In fact, without the appropriate artifact, they might not have been able to move an inch. To Wang Baole, however, this was a piece of cake.

He even let loose a sigh of relief at the sight of these spirits. They were the sort of threat that he found the least concerning. He unleashed the Dark Fire inside him and charged ahead without stopping, racing further and further into the distance!

Seven days passed. Wang Baole kept moving without rest or sleep. Exhaustion began to creep in, but he was about to reach the end of the log. It was then that he heard a thunderous boom in the distance.

Wang Baole shook violently at the sound. He didn’t act recklessly. Instead, he sat down and pulled out some pills, then began to practice his cultivation. Two hours later, having reached peak condition, he opened his eyes. There was an intense light shining in them as he rose to his feet and dashed forward!

The thundering booms grew louder as he approached, until… Wang Baole stepped onto the last segment of the log and froze in his tracks. His eyes widened, and a loud buzz exploded in his head. Before his eyes was… the sacrificial altar!

Sitting at the end of the log, even larger than the log itself, was an incredibly huge millstone!

There were nine handles on the millstone that stretched endlessly into the distance, and one of those handles… was the log that Wang Baole was standing on!