A World Worth Protecting

1

She had left the Anti-Spirit Bomb that her father had given her as her true last resort. Deafening thunder boomed in the air as the Anti-Spirit Bomb exploded. The Nascent Soul realm elder retreated frantically, throwing spells and artifacts in the air as defense. But he had stood too close to Zhao Yameng.

No matter how quickly he reacted, even if he were to teleport himself away, he would still have been a moment too late. The Anti-Spirit Bomb was the most powerful weapon the Federation had invented. The black hole that had been created from the explosion and the sealing properties it had towards one’s cultivation drew a furious cry from the elder as his body was torn apart right before Zhao Yameng’s eyes.

Bones protruded from his chest. A powerful force swept across his face, mashing his features into a bloody pulp, which pulled apart rapidly to expose bones that were then smashed to bits!

Everything happened within a single moment. Screams of pain pierced the air as the elder’s body was broken down into parts and torn to bits. Even his bones were smashed. Anyone else would have died on the spot, but the elder was still stumbling back, a blinding red light shining inside his body. It was emanating from his bones!

Six arms burst out from his maimed and mutilated body, tearing new holes in his flesh. There were also two fleshy lumps on each side of his neck, which bulged outwards and burst out into two heads!

It was as if there had been another body hidden inside the elder all along. What had appeared to be a Dao Palace cultivator had simply been a layer of clothes. His true form was a member of the Never-Ending Clan!

The Never-Ending Clan cultivator emerged violently from the elder’s old body, staggering backwards. Zhao Yameng’s breathing quickened as shock gripped her mind. The Never-Ending Clan elder grabbed hold of the ground as he stumbled, tightened his grip, and finally froze in place. He lifted his heads. Blood spilled from his lips, he was panting, and his body was covered with gaping wounds. Despite the protection offered by his Dao Palace cultivator’s body, his true form hadn’t emerged unscathed from the powerful attack!

He had a scowl on his face, and his red eyes were colored with wariness as he stared viciously at Zhao Yameng.

“You almost managed to kill me… For a mere Core Formation realm cultivator to do that, it looks like I’ve underestimated you!” the Never-Ending Clan elder said hoarsely, speaking in the language of the Dao Palace. Zhao Yameng staggered backwards, her breathing uneven as she remained silent.

A sense of regret rose inside her. This was the extent of what she was capable of. She hadn’t exactly failed. If her opponent weren’t of the Never-Ending Clan but a true Dao Palace cultivator, he would have been destroyed in both body and soul.

<em>Perhaps this is my fate…</em> Zhao Yameng took a deep breath. There was bitterness in her heart, but not despair. She accepted her fate. Zhao Yameng narrowed her eyes. Her right hand lifted and then raced towards her forehead.

If there was no way for her to win this fight, then she would rather end her own life than be refined into a pill that would strengthen her enemy. She would rather die than submit!

The Never-Ending Clan elder rushed forward just as Zhao Yameng raised her right hand, appearing before her. With an almost nonchalant wave of his right hand, he slapped Zhao Yameng’s arm away with an explosive blow. Zhao Yameng was flung into the air and thrown into a stone wall.

Blood spilled from Zhao Yameng’s lips as her vision turned blurry. She clenched her jaw and refused to allow any sound to escape from her lips. She struggled to open her eyes, then stared unblinkingly as the Never-Ending Clan elder approached her slowly.

“I admire your character, but you don’t get to choose whether you live or die. I won’t allow you to blow yourself up! Only refining a living person will improve a pill’s quality. That pill will allow me a full recovery to the former peak of my cultivation. That will be your fate.”

The Never-Ending Clan elder narrowed his eyes, his tone full of absolute authority. He took a step forward and was about to approach Zhao Yameng when he suddenly frowned. One of his arms formed a series of hand seals, then pushed abruptly to its right.

At that exact moment, a figure dashed out from his right like a bolt of lightning. The Never-Ending Clan elder was quicker though and caught it with his right hand as it charged out!

It was a puppet!

It exploded as soon as it came into contact with the elder, doing so before he could crush it with his bare hands. The loud explosion erupted in the air. The elder frowned, then saw seven to eight puppets charging at him from different directions.

Zhao Yameng’s breathing grew uneven when she saw those puppets, and her eyes sharpened as life returned to them.

“Minor tricks!” Disdain flickered in the elder’s eyes. He had suffered grievous injuries in the past, and his recovery was incomplete, leaving him at the early-stage Nascent Soul realm at the moment. In fact, his cultivation had fallen to the Core Formation realm after suffering the attack from the Anti-Spirit Bomb. However, his confidence in himself remained unwavering!

As the puppets came charging at him, he crouched down, tightened all six hands into fists, and punched them into the ground.

Waves of spirit energy swept outwards, roaring and forming visible ripples in the air that crushed the incoming puppets.

The Never-Ending Clan elder leaped into the air and raced towards Zhao Yameng. His hands formed a series of hand seals, causing flames to burst into life. He was planning to forcibly refine her. It was then that a howl—tinged with madness, fury, and violence—rang out behind him, like a rush of thunder whipping through the air!

“You’re courting death!”

The thunderous roar rose to the skies as a sharp shrill whistled through the air and materialized as a black beam of light. It dashed forward like a shooting star, a blur of black light that screamed incredible power. Alarm flashed across the Never-Ending Clan elder’s eyes a second time. The first time had been when Zhao Yameng had blown up an Anti-Spirit Bomb in his face.

He didn’t hesitate, not even having time to pull Zhao Yameng in front of him as a human shield. His body blurred as he teleported a hundred feet away. The black beam of light swerved sharply the moment he vanished into thin air, twisting itself in front of Zhao Yameng without slowing down in the slightest. It seemed to have locked on to the Never-Ending Clan elder, continuing to charge towards the elder!

The light was the black pike. It looked as if it were slicing through emptiness, moving so quickly that the Never-Ending Clan elder, who was impeded by his original injuries, couldn’t teleport away a second time. The pike landed a direct hit.

The elder’s breathing grew uneven. His six palms came together to form a flurry of hand seals. Palms pressed against palms, and six black lines came together to form an image of a demonic face.

The image collided with the black pike, and a deafening boom resonated in the air. The black pike finally paused in its pursuit, and a black lightning bolt snaked out from the pike during the momentary pause, expanding in size rapidly. A figure stepped out from the lightning, grew from the size of an open palm to that of a human, and then flung out its fist!

The punch hadn’t been boosted by the Flame Snatch Thearch Armor, but it was still the strongest punch to be thrown by Wang Baole’s avatar. It unleashed the full power of the Lightning Immortal Transformation as well as the Supernova. Lightning erupted all around the fist when it landed, and it swelled and transformed into a gigantic ball of lightning that then exploded in the Never-Ending Clan elder’s face!

Countless lightning bolts surged across the cracked ground. The Never-Ending Clan elder had sustained significant injuries from Zhao Yameng’s Anti-Spirit Bomb, so the unexpected hit from Wang Baole sent him stumbling back and spitting blood from his mouth.

With his retreat, he could no longer hold the black pike at bay, and it charged forward. The elder’s mind buzzed as he twisted his body and barely avoided being stabbed somewhere vital. Instead, the pike stabbed his shoulder and went right through!

Blood splattered everywhere as the elder beat a hasty retreat, roaring furiously.

“Wang Baole, you…”

Wang Baole caught up with him before he was done cursing, reappearing like a bolt of lightning. He was going to force his avatar into the elder’s body and blow it up from the inside!