A World Worth Protecting

1

Wang Baole’s avatar arrived before the elder within a flash. There was violence in his eyes and murder in his heart. Wang Baole couldn’t control his urge to kill after seeing Zhao Yameng being grievously injured before his eyes. The Never-Ending Clan elder’s breathing quickened as he sensed Wang Baole’s murderous aura. Terror struck him dumb.

Wang Baole and the threat of death loomed over him heavily. The Never-Ending Clan elder bit the tip of his tongue suddenly and spat out a mouthful of blood.

The blood transformed into a blood fog, which then spread out and formed a wall that stopped Wang Baole’s approach. Wang Baole’s true form could have smashed it to bits with a single punch from his Flame Snatch Thearch Armor.

His avatar wasn’t as powerful as his true form, but it possessed advantages the latter didn’t have as well, and that was… its body of lightning that could take on all forms and none at all!

Wang Baole’s avatar melted away as soon as the crimson wall appeared in its path. It transformed into a sea of lightning that spread out and went straight through the wall. Instead of gathering together, it flooded over the elder and snaked into his body from every pore!

The elder cried out in pain. The sensation he had was of being struck by lightning. His flesh was being ripped apart, and his insides were burning while his organs spasmed in agony. The pain was worse than the worst form of torture as his entire body was flooded with electricity. He felt as if a large ball of electricity was gathering inside his body, and that it was going to explode and blow him up!

Blood seeped from his orifices without stop, and terror enveloped him. The elder cried out in pain. Then, he gritted his teeth. His eyes shone with madness as he smacked his head on the right violently!

“Get out!”

The head exploded loudly in a mist of blood and flesh. The blood mist formed an illusory bloody hand in the air and made a grab at his own body!

The lightning surging through his body froze instantly. Numerous bolts wormed out of his body, as if yanked out by the illusory bloody hand.

This would have been a simple feat at the height of his power, but it was clear that he was struggling with his current level of cultivation. After all, he had suffered an attack from Zhao Yameng’s Anti-Spirit Bomb, which had sent his gradually recovering cultivation plunging from the early-stage Nascent Soul realm to the perfected Core Formation realm. That might still have made him a fearsome foe for any other Core Formation realm cultivators, but that level of cultivation was clearly not enough when it came to fighting Wang Baole!

The lightning bolts that had wormed out of his body gathered together and formed Wang Baole’s face. His eyes glimmered with a murderous light as he howled at the bloody hand!

Waves of spirit energy surged out and froze the illusory bloody hand in its path. Strength drained from the hand, and the lightning bolts that had snaked out from the elder’s body reentered it.

Before they reentered his body, countless lightning bolts had enveloped one of his arms and turned it into dust.

The elder was about to go raving mad with terror. He could feel his organs being ripped into pieces by lightning. Madness colored his eyes as he raised his hand and smashed his left head!

That was the mystic technique that allowed the Never-Ending Clan to unleash sudden bursts of power. The destruction of one head gave him an additional life, and he had done that consecutively, giving him a greater boost in strength. A second illusory, bloody hand materialized and grabbed through the air again.

The combined forces of the two bloody hands finally produced enough power to yank the lightning out of his body and keep them out!

“Get out!” The elder roared. His remaining four arms pressed heavily into his chest. A loud boom erupted from inside his body as another two arms burst into dust amidst lightning. He finally managed to force the lightning bolts out from his body!

The mass of lightning bolts gathered and formed Wang Baole’s face!

It was a bizarre sight to behold. He had finally managed to force Wang Baole out, but the elder’s intense fear didn’t wane. He knew that he was still in danger. He retreated hastily, eyes bright with madness, and ignored the ache in his heart as he yelled.

“Explode!”

The two illusory bloody hands begin shining with a blinding, red light instantly. They caved in and exploded!

The explosion swept outwards, hitting the lightning bolts that had formed Wang Baole’s face and disintegrating them instantly. What had been Wang Baole’s face turned into a mass of shapeless, formless lightning that fell to the ground.

The elder felt no joy in seeing that. His face was still pale. He continued to retreat quickly, not daring to linger. He knew that Wang Baole could switch places with his avatar with a single thought. He was now weak, his cultivation had fallen to the early-stage Core Formation realm!

The destruction of the two illusory hands, which had been his two heads, had wounded him at the core. He might have been able to reabsorb the spirit energy he had expended and grown back those two heads if he hadn’t blown them up, but there was nothing he could do about it now.

<em>Just give me some time. I’m going to eat him alive!</em> The elder thought furiously. Just as he was about to retreat further, an icy voice rang out behind him.

“You old wretched thing, I’ve been wanting to ask you this question. Who gave you the guts to touch my people?”

The scattered lightning bolts on the ground rose into the air and gathered together again, transforming into Wang Baole’s avatar. It was like watching someone being born from lightning. Stray lightning bolts hovered in the air around the avatar, painting a terrifying sight.

The Never-Ending Clan elder’s face turned pale as he retreated even more quickly. Wang Baole’s attacks had clearly struck terror in his heart. He used his remaining pair of hands to form a series of hand seals as he continued fleeing. He was going to sacrifice them in order to escape with his life.

He was fast, but Wang Baole’s avatar was formed from lightning. With a single step, countless black lightning bolts shot through the air, roaring towards the elder. Some of them landed on the black pike lying in the distance, yanking it up and then guiding it towards the elder from the opposite direction. The remaining two swords of the tri-colored flying swords flew alongside a swarm of lightning bolts, approaching speedily.

The elder might have attained an extremely high level of cultivation in the past, but he had since fallen to the early-stage Core Formation realm after suffering numerous blows. At this moment, he didn’t even stand a chance of retaliating against Wang Baole!

He was swamped by lightning bolts almost instantly. As lightning pierced his spasming body, the black pike came whistling by, skewering him through the stomach and nailing him to the ground. Two flying swords followed, pinning his arms to the ground. He was completely immobilized!

Cries of pain echoed in the air. Wang Baole didn’t tear the elder apart immediately from the inside. Instead, he released bolts of lightning out in the open, which hovered in mid-air and transformed into his avatar. Lightning snaked around Wang Baole’s body. The lightning bolts still bound him to the screaming elderly. At that moment, Wang Baole looked like a god of lightning!

Wang Baole didn’t spare the pathetic looking elder a single glance. He turned towards Zhao Yameng instead.

“Yameng, did this old wretched creature tell you why he wanted to kill you? What was he planning to do with you?”

Wang Baole asked. He had noticed that Zhao Yameng’s injuries had come from the draining of her cultivation. They weren’t life-threatening, which was why he had allowed himself to focus on capturing the elder instead of tending to her.

Zhao Yameng might be drained at the moment, but her character had always been strong. She had forced herself to stay strong when she saw Wang Baole appear. Weakness was gradually eating at her, but when she looked at Wang Baole, she could feel a sense of security. It made her feel less weak. Her heart was set at ease. Zhao Yameng turned towards the equally weakened elder when she heard Wang Baole’s question and replied forcefully, “He was going to refine me into a pill!”

Wang Baole’s solemn face darkened further. He lowered his head and glanced at the trembling elder, then nodded.

“Then we’ll turn him into a pill instead.” Having said that, he raised his right hand and pressed his palm on the elder. Lightning bolts erupted from his person and enveloped the elder instantly. He was going to refine the man with lightning!

Screams of agony rang out in the air!