A World Worth Protecting

1

As Daoist You Ran left in a hurry, a pale-faced Feng Qiuran gritted her teeth and retreated hastily as Never-Ending Clan cultivators and enslaved Dao Palace cultivators charged at her. Her hands came together to form a series of hand seals, and she bit the tip of her tongue and spat out a mouthful of lifeblood.

It transformed into a blood mist that surged towards the charging cultivators and stopped them momentarily in their tracks. Immediately after, Feng Qiuran frantically raised her right hand and grabbed through the air, snatching the storage bracelet that had been left behind by Wang Baole’s destroyed avatar. Daoist You Ran normally wouldn’t leave such things lying behind, but his panic had led to his oversight.

Having secured the storage bracelet, Feng Qiuran retreated without hesitation. The second level might be vast, but she was still filled with despair and weighed down by a heavy heart. She didn’t know where she could go and had no idea how to fix this.

She turned her head back and stared at the figures of the Never-Ending Clan members behind her. She looked at them and saw the horrible battle scenes that had taken place on the ancient sword during the historic great battle. Her mind was filled with the familiar faces of Dao Palace cultivators who had been enslaved and lost a sense of their self. Bitterness engulfed her. She felt like a sinner.

<em>Everything… is a result of us infiltrating the battleship even though we knew that it was going to be a trap…</em> Feng Qiuran grimaced. It was then that she realized how much she had failed at being a leader. She had been overly emotional and had ignored reason.

<em>Daoist You Ran!</em> An icy glint glimmered in her eyes. She wanted to right the wrongs that she had committed and undo all that had been done, but she was powerless. The bitterness in her only grew as she stared at the cultivators pursuing her. Mie Liezi was one of them.

<em>There’s still hope!</em> Feng Qiuran tried to stay strong amidst her bitterness. The battleship’s ability to interfere with teleportation had been weakened earlier due to reasons unknown, and Daoist You Ran had reacted violently to it. Feng Qiuran saw a glimmer of hope in that. It was a feeble hope, but hope nevertheless.

While Feng Qiuran continued fleeing, Zhao Yameng was hidden on a mountain in another part of the world, trying her best to form and activate array runes to conceal her presence. At the same time, her hands held tightly onto the teleportation talisman. She calmed her breathing while her eyes shone brightly with determination. She was waiting for the right moment.

She was worried about Wang Baole, but she knew that with her level of cultivation, she would only serve as a distraction instead of an aid to him. She also knew her mission. She had to inform the Federation about everything that was going on here!

“Baole…” Zhao Yameng murmured to herself, then sighed. She shut her eyes and waited patiently.

Feng Qiuran wasn’t the only one engaged in battle on the second level. The cultivators from her faction had been separated when they had entered the second level. Most had perished due to a variety of reasons, while a few had been imprisoned and sealed. You Ran wasn’t the only one of the Never-Ending Clan on the battleship.

The trap had long been set, and the hunt by the Never-Ending Clan had begun the moment they had boarded the battleship. Many like Chi Lin had either been imprisoned or sacrificed to the millstone.

Most of the Core Formation realm cultivators had perished. This was clearly a much more dangerous place to Core Formation realm cultivators than their more powerful comrades. They had been no match for their enemies. A few though, like Zhao Yameng, had sensed the threat and gone into hiding.

Kong Dao had been one of them. He was skilled at ambushes and concealing himself. Despite the dangers that hid at every corner on the battleship, he had his own way of surviving them. He was someone who had managed to survive the Martian wilderness when he had only been at the Ancient Martial realm.

He was currently on the second level but not on the surface. He had found a cavern. There was no golden lake in the cavern, and it was clearly not where Wang Baole’s true form was. However, it possessed a few artifacts that resembled evacuation pods. Many were damaged, but there were a couple that were still functional.

Kong Dao hadn’t been able to find an exit. Left with no other option, he gritted his teeth and hidden inside one of those evacuation pods to escape pursuit.

Everyone was on the run. On the third level, where the battle robes were located, a deafening sound suddenly erupted and rose to the skies. A shockingly fat Wang Baole sat in the middle of a golden lake. Every part of his body was wobbling, and his eyes shone madly as the devouring seed inside him continued to churn.

<em>Faster!</em> Wang Baole shouted inwardly. He was panicking. There was an incredible well of Spirit Qi contained inside the battle robes. Even with both the devouring seed and his scabbard hard at work, it was still an incredible amount of Spirit Qi to absorb. Wang Baole was only at the perfected Core Formation realm, so there was a limit to how much he could absorb. With danger looming, he didn’t have the time to attempt a breakthrough either. In order to break through from the Core Formation realm to the Nascent Soul realm, he needed a safe environment, one free of disturbance in which he could retreat into seclusion.

What made things worse was how his progress at draining the battle robes began to slow down as time passed.

The battle robes’ resistance continued to interfere with Wang Baole’s draining of its spirit energy. This seemed to be the battle robes’ natural defense mechanism. Even though Wang Baole had fully unleashed his devouring seed, that didn’t improve the speed in which he was draining the battle robes.

Caught in a bind, Wang Baole frantically formed a series of hand seals and summoned his avatar. His avatar separated from his person and charged upwards into the pillar.

Wang Baole’s Flame Snatch Thearch Armor materialized. His body had clearly reached its limits, so he was going to get his Flame Snatch Thearch Armor to continue the draining!

The armor was like Wang Baole’s second body. It joined forces with the devouring seed, and even though it couldn’t increase the speed of absorption, it managed to create a balance that allowed vast quantities of Spirit Qi to continue flowing into the armor. The light emanating from the armor began to grow brighter.

Wang Baole just needed a little more time. It wasn’t going to take long, maybe another two hours. If he continued absorbing the battle robes’ spirit energy at this rate, the interference from the battleship was going to weaken more considerably. Wang Baole didn’t know if it would weaken to a point where teleportation was possible again, but he knew that as long as he kept absorbing the battle robes’ spirit energy and weakening the battleship’s interference, Zhao Yameng’s chances of succeeding would increase!

However… the weakening of the battleship’s strength had attracted Daoist You Ran’s notice. He was now cleaving through everything in his path as he raced towards the third level. Wang Baole’s armor had only begun absorbing the battle robes’ spirit energy for twenty seconds when the walls of the cavern burst open!

Dirt and stone spewed everywhere, and a furious Daoist You Ran emerged in the cave. His eyes shot towards the golden lake, where his precious battle robes were, and to the space beside it, where a ballooned up Wang Baole, covered in his Flame Snatch Thearch Armor, sat!

The Death Dao Battle Robes’ glow had faded considerably. Its skin looked creased, and one of its arms was nothing but drooping skin. Not to mention, Wang Baole was still draining the battle robes’ Spirit Qi madly.

Daoist You Ran flew into a mad rage at the sight. His plan to lure the Dao Palace cultivators into the battleship and enslave them had been to ensure that he could carry out a blood sacrifice with minimal damage. There was no doubt that he was at the Soul Conduit realm and that he had other Never-Ending Clan members reporting to him on the battleship.

However, they were all still recovering from their respective injuries. They might be able to survive and win a battle, but prolonged fighting was out of the question. In addition, the battleship lacked the necessary components to meld successfully with the battle robes. It was unable to unleash its full power.

The array formation protecting the Dao Palace, as well as Mie Liezi’s and Feng Qiuran’s strength, meant that Daoist You Ran hadn’t been confident of his victory. Most importantly, he hadn’t been prepared to pay a heavy price for victory.

That was why he had laid a trap. He had planned to first enslave them all and then to use the energy harvested from blood sacrifices as fuel for the battleship. In that manner, he would be able to meld with the battle robes any time he wanted.

He would be able to steer the Death Dao Battleship and invade the Federation, then continue harvesting everyone in the Federation for his sacrifices. Once he had sacrificed the entire Federation to the battleship, he would be able to truly become one with the Death Dao Battleship!

His plan had been coming along smoothly. To find out that the Death Dao Battle Robes, which his strategy was centered around, had been drained to such a great extent, was like amputating a limb. The loss was driving him mad with rage!

<em>Damn it, how did he get in here?</em> Daoist You Ran’s eyes turned red, and his head was about to explode. He howled in fury.

“Wang Baole!”