A World Worth Protecting

As Wang Baole considered the situation while exchanging opinions with the other elders periodically, the seven elders of the Holy Crest Sect quickly came to an agreement.

There was already no way to change the current situation. That being the case, they decided to make use of this opportunity to steal as much as possible. If they stole enough, the Holy Crest Sect might really be able to reverse their situation and resolve their financial crisis.

At the same time, if their spoils didn’t fulfill the requirements, then they would still have to get the resources needed to exchange for the mandate to return from the Grand Supreme Elder. As for those Core Formation realm cultivators, their thoughts were no longer important.

Very quickly, after the seven of them reached a consensus, they immediately greeted the Grand Supreme Elder respectfully and expressed their attitude. The Grand Supreme Elder of the Holy Crest Sect laughed and ignored the Core Formation realm cultivators as well, instead, letting Wang Baole and the others assist him in operating the Holy Crest Sect battleship together. Unleashing its maximum speed, the battleship exploded into the cosmos ahead.

To the Divine Eye civilization, this cosmos was much darker visually. However, the sense of foreignness was the same for Wang Baole and the others.

Even the Grand Supreme Elder of the Holy Crest Sect hadn’t been here before. He had previously mortgaged the sect in exchange for the right to open the Eye of Ten Thousand Demons. However, he had to choose a general distance for long-distance teleportation because he didn’t have the accurate coordinates.

As such, he only knew that this star domain had never been visited by the Divine Eye civilization before. Even he couldn’t confirm whether they would be able to find a civilization and resources to pillage.

In this uncertainty, if one imagined the cosmos to be a black ocean, then the Holy Crest Sect’s battleship was like a lone boat silently moving forward within it. Time also slowly passed in the process, and three months elapsed in a flash.

In these three months, the low-ranked cultivators of the Holy Crest Sect had accepted their fate and become silent. But the vicious glints flashing across their eyes at times were like those of hungry wolves. One could imagine that they, who had nowhere else to go, would definitely unleash a viciousness previously unseen if they were to find edible prey.

As for Wang Baole and company, they looked a lot calmer than the low-ranked cultivators. However, Wang Baole noticed that the ominous air around the other elders of the Nascent Soul realm was getting stronger. Even the Grand Supreme Elder, who was trying extremely hard to hide his thoughts, couldn’t escape the observation of Wang Baole. He could see that the Grand Supreme Elder was getting increasingly anxious.

Only Wang Baole wasn’t restless. On the one hand, if he wanted to leave, he could do so at any time. On the other hand, he didn’t have the mandate to use the Eye of Ten Thousand Demons’ seal to return to the Divine Eye civilization, though he could get it very easily.

So to him, not only did he have no feelings of anxiousness, he had even gained a deeper understanding of the royal family, the three main sects, and the history of the Divine Eye civilization through his many conversations with the different elders in this period of time.

After a period of time, if it remains like this, I’ll have no choice but to act. Wang Baole narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping towards the people around him. He took another look at the Grand Supreme Elder, who had a gloomy expression and relaxedly gazed at the pitch-black cosmos outside. But as he gazed, Wang Baole’s pupils suddenly constricted.

Almost in the same moment that Wang Baole’s pupils constricted, the battleship, which the Holy Crest Sect put a lot of effort into repairing, noticed something amiss in the distant cosmos and sounded an alarm.

As the sound of the alarm echoed, all of the cultivators in the battleship shuddered, and their breathing quickened. That was especially so for the Grand Supreme Elder and the other cultivators at the Nascent Soul realm. All of them stared, and a glimmer flashed across the Grand Supreme Elder’s eyes as he took out a crystal compass with a flick of his hand.

This crystal compass wasn’t big, and it released gentle waves of light as it floated in the Grand Supreme Elder’s hand. When he activated a hand seal with his left hand and pointed, the light immediately became brighter. As it grew extremely resplendent, a buzz echoed around the surroundings. It was as though an invisible hand was holding a transparent pen and sketching a star map in mid-air.

When the star map appeared, it immediately caught the eyes of everyone in the battleship.

The first to appear was an Eternal Star that seemed to be almost dead. Next, six planets of different sizes appeared around it…

The dying Eternal Star had no color, while two of the six planets surrounding it were black. Three of the planets were shifting between green and yellow but leaning towards green.

And the biggest one was no longer green, instead, emitting a faint yellow glow!

When the star map and the colors of the planets within it appeared, the breathing of the low-ranked cultivators in the battleship quickened even more. The elders beside Wang Baole all had solemn expressions, and someone quickly spoke.

“There’s no pure yellow color representing the Spirit Immortal realm, no orange color representing the Planet realm, and no red color representing mighty figures at the Eternal Star realm!”

“Six planets, two being black, representing no fluctuations in spirit qi. We can ignore those. The other three planets are between green and light yellow, which means the strongest fighting force on the three planets is equivalent to the Nascent Soul realm and the Soul Conduit realm.”

“The last planet is emitting a light yellow glow. Based on past experience, this is a combat strength equivalent to the late-stage of the Soul Conduit realm!”

“This civilization poses a certain threat, but it’s a bit weird. Their Eternal Star is going to die, so why are they still not leaving?”

Wang Baole listened to the words of the elders beside him, narrowed his eyes before suddenly speaking.

“If a civilization can have a mighty figure at the Soul Conduit realm, then it’s not likely that there are planets that aren’t being used and occupied, and yet, there are two unoccupied planets here.” Finishing his statement, Wang Baole looked towards the Grand Supreme Elder.

The Grand Supreme Elder of the Holy Crest Sect stared intently at the star map and looked at the two black planets. Afterward, he took a close, thoughtful look at the light yellow planet. According to the standard operating procedure of the Divine Eye civilization, when they met a civilization weaker than them, they would immediately descend and eliminate them by force, pillaging everything.

When coming into contact with civilizations that posed a certain threat to them, they would choose to sneak in, spread out, and pillage individually. They would note down the coordinates of this civilization and gather to leave together at a stipulated time. They would then notify the higher-ups of the sect and decide whether to travel a long distance to invade said civilization.

“Since we’ve come into contact with a civilization, let’s just go in and see how valuable it is. If something goes wrong, we’ll leave immediately. With these coordinates, we can still get rewards from the greater sect!” A glint flashed within the eyes of the Holy Crest Sect’s Grand Supreme Elder as he spoke with decisiveness.

As the leader of the Holy Crest Sect, the other cultivators dared not speak once he spoke. Very quickly, the speed of the battleship increased, and the Dharmic Artifact used to escape detection by consciousness was activated. This made the entire battleship slowly hide itself in the cosmos like a black wandering spirit as it got closer and closer to the star system with the foreign civilization.

A few days later, in this almost stealth mode, the Holy Crest Sect’s battleship finally neared the civilization. They entered the star system without slowing down, and the Grand Supreme Elder on the battleship immediately made hand seals. Instantly, a 3D star map much clearer than the one they saw before transmogrified within the battleship.

This star map was extremely clear. And because it was 3D, it could almost display the six planets in 360 degrees. One could even faintly make out the surfaces of the planets.

When the people saw these planets, the low-ranked cultivators all gasped. Wang Baole also narrowed his eyes as the other elders and the Grand Supreme Elder had changes in expression.

This was because… under this 360-degree display, they could clearly see that the two black planets had completely wilted, as though they were two shriveled oranges, and had lost all signs of life!

As for the other four planets, although they still had signs of life, it was obvious that they had started wilting. One could see numerous deep craters on their surfaces and faintly make out some wriggling objects. All of this gave one an ominous feeling!

This was the first time Wang Baole had seen such a weird civilization, and he couldn’t help but take a few more looks at it. With his Dark Art, he could feel that a very strong sense of death was present in this star system.

At the same time, he heard the Grand Supreme Elder mumbling.

“A local mutant civilization?” The Grand Supreme Elder furrowed his brows and thought for a while before making a decision.

“Everyone, form groups and spread out to investigate. Keep in contact at all times. We shall meet back at the battleship in half a month’s time!” As he spoke, he flicked his body, calling out two elders to follow him and taking along a portion of the low-ranked cultivators. They took a shuttle and headed straight towards the planet that was emitting a faint yellow glow on the star map.

The elders left in the battleship, including Wang Baole, also quickly discussed, made their decisions, and spread out. Wang Baole wasn’t alone. Accompanying him was the fifth elder of the Holy Crest Sect, whose cultivation was at the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm. The two of them took a portion of the low-ranked cultivators, boarded shuttles, and headed straight towards their target planet immediately.

When they drew near, Wang Baole and the fifth elder could see the craters on the surface of the planet even more clearly. When they saw this, even Wang Baole widened his eyes in shock!