A World Worth Protecting

1

Spirit Qi enveloped the area like a thick fog. Wang Baole was busy absorbing the Spirit Qi and at a pivotal stage, trying to reach another milestone in his cultivation. He had no idea that one of the corpses was about to wake.

This was a good thing. Anyone else in his place would be frightened out of their skin if they were to see the corpse open its eyes. If they were lucky, this would only cause a disruption in their cultivation. If they weren’t… it might cause their Spirit Qi to spiral out of control.

The corpse hadn’t completely awakened, it had merely fluttered its eyelashes before it resumed its slumber. Wang Baole was undisturbed as he continued sucking the Spirit Qi in the air madly and his cultivation crept towards the next breakthrough!

He intended to continue until his cultivation reached the mid-stage Nascent Soul realm. This would be considerably challenging for a typical cultivator who hadn’t mastered his cultivation technique. Plenty of preparation would be required before he could embark on such an endeavor as well. Cultivation techniques were extremely important, regardless of which cultivation realm one was at. But Wang Baole had a Stellar Nascent Soul. This was where it showed itself to be uniquely different.

Even without mastering any prerequisite cultivation techniques, he could push his cultivation towards greater heights just through the pure absorption of Spirit Qi. Because he didn’t have any Nascent Soul realm cultivation techniques under his belt, any breakthrough in cultivation he experienced now couldn’t be considered a true breakthrough. However, once he mastered the prerequisite cultivation techniques, he would be able to consolidate the gains in cultivation he had achieved without any adverse effects.

Wang Baole had no lack of cultivation techniques. His memories of the Dark Dream, the divine powers he had acquired in the Vast Expanse Dao Palace, and the gains he had gotten from the Eye of Infinite Techniques meant that he had a very clear idea of how to proceed now that he was at the Nascent Soul realm.

There was no need to trouble Little Missy with questions. He had seven to eight plans formulated in his head, and each had their own pros and cons. He didn’t make up his mind immediately since there were so many options to choose from. He wanted to study them in greater detail after he returned to the Federation. He would make up his mind after a careful assessment.

A Nascent Soul realm cultivation technique could dictate a cultivator’s future. The plans he had formulated all had incredible potential, and they could be grouped into three categories.

The first plan placed a focus on the cultivation of his physical body, with his Spirit Qi holding a secondary, supplementary role. He would be able to physically carve out mountains from the earth and split the lands for rivers to flow through. He would be able to pluck stars out of the sky. If he chose this path, he would have three cultivation techniques to choose from. All of them were attractive options.

The next plan would have him focusing on his divine powers. Through that, his awareness of and sensitivity to the universe’s nomological laws would grow exponentially, which would speed up his cultivation progress. He could transform mere beans into soldiers, summon storms and command the winds. His unique Stellar Nascent Soul meant that he would vastly surpass other cultivators at the same realm in terms of power, perhaps to the extent of overwhelming them with his commanding presence. There were also three cultivation techniques he could pick if he decided on this path. He would need to study them in more detail.

The last plan caused Wang Baole the most hesitation. It didn’t focus on physical strength or one’s sensitivity to the nomological laws. It only focused on one thing… killing!

He would kill his way to the top. Should he pick this path, he would become a symbol of massacre and violence in the realm of the Nascent Souls. He would be the grim reaper of all living things!

There was only one cultivation technique he could learn if he picked this path. It was… the Demonic Eye Art!

It would allow him to form a seemingly tangible white eye that hovered around him and became the physical manifestation of his cultivation technique. Its cultivation method was completely different from that required by other cultivation techniques. Its cultivator needed to do only one thing, and that was… to kill!

Each kill allowed him to create an eye, which would boost his level of cultivation. That, in essence, was the demonic eye.

One could imagine the exponential increase in cultivation the cultivator would experience after massacring countless. He would be able to summon countless eyes. He would be surrounded by countless eyes!

Each demonic eye had the ability to dispel spells and exuded an overpowering aura. The destructive force created from a demonic eye’s self-destruction would be the equivalent of blowing up the person who had been killed to create the demonic eye in the first place.

This was a cultivation technique that was created for killing others. The more one killed, the more powerful one became, and the crazier one got!

It wasn’t found in the Eye of Infinite Techniques or in any of the Vast Expanse Dao Palace’s records. Even Little Missy hadn’t heard of it. This was something that Wang Baole had read in the Dark Sect’s records in his Dark Dream.

Wang Baole remembered distinctly reading about this in the Dark Sect’s records. It was a lost mystic art that had originated from an extinct, ancient cultivation civilization. Only records of the Nascent Soul realm level of this mystic art survived. Anything beyond that had been lost. That was why it had been labeled as incomplete despite its incredible power.

<em>Let’s not think about that first…</em> Wang Baole took a deep breath and set those thoughts aside. He focused on absorbing the spirit liquid in the pool. No matter which path he chose in the end, what mattered now was the absorption of the Spirit Qi in the pool and his reaching the mid-stage Nascent Soul realm. This would allow him to establish a sturdy foundation for whichever path he chose next.

With that thought in mind, the devouring seed inside Wang Baole increased its suction force. The tiny, fat Nascent Soul above his head pressed its tiny, fat hands together. They moved swiftly, a blur of movements as they formed a series of hand seals. He started sucking in vast quantities of spirit liquid like a gigantic whale. The spirit liquid continued its series of explosive eruptions inside his body, transforming into Spirit Qi that pushed his level of cultivation higher.

Within ten minutes, Wang Baole’s body started emitting sounds of cracking again. It was a sign that he had swallowed more than his body could bear. The Spirit Qi housed inside him had exceeded the limits of what an early-stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator could bear as well. He was now holding as much Spirit Qi as a mid-stage Nascent Soul realm cultivator.

His Nascent Soul was no longer a tiny fatty. It was a chubby, fleshy sphere. One could hardly tell that it was a Nascent Soul…

Wang Baole felt himself reach both his physical and spiritual limits. He couldn’t catch his breath. However, he wasn’t willing to just stop there.

<em>It took me so much effort to get in here. I can’t just leave with that bit of Spirit Qi!</em> Wang Baole opened his eyes and stared at the pool before him. The bit that he had absorbed wasn’t even one-thousandth of the pool’s total volume. Determination flashed in his eyes. He wasn’t going to go easy on himself now.

<em>Who cares if I get fat. I’m going to keep on draining the thing!</em> He shouted inwardly then took a deep breath. The devouring seed inside his body unleashed its full force again. An alarming volume of Spirit Qi surged into him once again, rushing through his body like a tsunami.

With his Nascent Soul and physical body at their limits, Wang Baole resorted to a familiar technique… he converted the Spirit Qi into spirit fat and stored the latter in his body.

This might prove to be problematic for others, but it was a simple enough feat for Wang Baole, who had his devouring seed. He could continue absorbing Spirit Qi until his body exploded.

Wang Baole’s body ballooned. The waves of spirit energy emanating from his body grew increasingly powerful. Other Nascent Soul realm cultivators would have found it a shocking sight. The aura that he was exuding now would terrorize any ordinary Nascent Soul realm cultivator.

Half an hour passed. Even breathing became increasingly difficult. He now looked almost like his Nascent Soul, a chubby, fleshy sphere, except bigger. His handsome face was nowhere in sight. People who knew him well wouldn’t be able to recognize him at first sight. His will was willing, but his flesh weak. He had no choice but to stop.

<em>I have to stop now. If I keep this up, I won’t even be able to get into the air…</em> Wang Baole opened his eyes with difficulty. He stared at his tummy, then at the pool. He gritted his teeth and sucked in a bit more Spirit Qi. Then, he finally forced himself to stop. He pulled out the puppets inside his storage bag.

<em>I might be done, but I still have my puppets!</em> Determination flashed in his eyes. With a series of hand seals, he got the puppets into the pool and activated their Spirit Kernels. They became receptacles of the spirit liquid in the pool.

He pulled out numerous bottles next, both big and small, and began filling them with spirit liquid. Even after doing that, there was still too much spirit liquid left untouched. Wang Baole was faced with a dilemma and sank into deep thought. In the distance, on the lotus leaf, a corpse’s eyelids suddenly twitched. It was the same corpse whose eyelashes had fluttered earlier. Its eyes opened narrowly, revealing faint white light within.

Wang Baole suddenly smacked his tummy then.

<em>How could I have forgotten the Thearch Armor!</em> Wang Baole perked up instantly and hurriedly formed a series of hand seals. Streams of crimson meridians immediately emerged from his body and snaked around him, transforming into a red armor. Wang Baole immediately unleashed the Flame Snatch!

The Flame Snatch was a technique that relied on devouring, while the Thearch Armor was an external vessel. They made a perfect match now, in the third palace, as they unleashed their combined powers. Vast quantities of spirit liquid rushed into the armor, transforming it drastically. More red meridians began to form and intertwine with one another in a thick blanket of meridians. The armor grew larger and taller. It was a gruesome sight to behold.

The Spirit Qi brought the armor back from its former damaged state into a fully restored one. Its second stage of evolution, a skeletal structure, reappeared. Streaks of white could be seen amidst the mesh of red. They grew greater in number, exceeding its original number during Wang Baole and Daoist You Ran’s battle, growing thicker and finally transforming into bone!