A World Worth Protecting

He had no choice but to run…

The sudden emergence of seven to eight Spirit Immortal realm auras from each of the four planets had him nearly wetting his pants. Following their appearance were numerous Soul Conduit realm and countless Nascent Soul realm energy signatures that exploded into being as increasingly more stone golems awoke.

Smaller Core Formation realm and Foundation Establishment realm stone golems began howling in a frightening manner as well, rising from all corners and closing in around Wang Baole’s puppets.

Within the blink of an eye… Wang Baole’s puppets were overrun by a massive army of stone golems. They had no chance to escape or even fight back and were wrecked and turned to dust…

Everything happened in an instant. The planets had been deathly quiet a moment earlier, and in the next, madness had descended. Wang Baole was almost scared out of his wits. An intense danger that had suddenly erupted got him steering his Dharmic Battleship away and out of the galaxy instantly.

Next to him, Little Wu stood eyes wide and shivering in fear. The donkey had gasped as well. It might view the stone golems as food, but too much of it was a bit frightening as well.

What a horrible trap! Wang Baole was on the verge of tears. This wasn’t the time or place to mourn the loss of his puppets or lust after Stone Bamboos. He poured his full attention into steering the locust into the cosmos.

As Wang Baole sped ahead, two dozen Spirit Immortal realm auras had spread out behind him and morphed into shooting stars. They darted from their home planets, gliding across the starlit cosmos and rushing straight for Wang Baole.

The immense power would have sent another Spirit Immortal realm cultivator’s hair standing as he cursed his slowness, let alone Wang Baole.

Wang Baole widened his eyes. Without any hesitation, he activated the teleportation mechanism from the Eye of Ten Thousand Demons and attempted to escape back to the Divine Eye civilization.

As the beginnings of a teleportation began to stir, the galaxy shuddered, and a strange power descended from all around Wang Baole, blanketing the entire area. It didn’t disrupt Wang Baole’s teleportation attempt completely. However, it did manage to drag out the process. Something that should have occurred within a split second was now taking an eternity. It was probably going to take fifteen minutes before he could be teleported away!

What in the hell is this place? Wang Baole almost howled. He had no time to think. He steered the locust away madly and tried desperately to leave the region, planning to exit the galaxy before attempting another teleportation.

Fortunately, Wang Baole had practiced extreme caution earlier and hadn’t explored the deeper parts of the galaxy personally. He had stationed himself at its edge. By speeding up the Dharmic Battleship and exploiting the burst of False Immortal realm power, the Dharmic Battleship was able to reach ultra-fast speeds. It reached the boundary of the galaxy within the blink of an eye and was a moment away from leaving the galaxy completely…

Wang Baole didn’t release a sigh of relief just yet, though he was confident of his chances as long as he could leave the galaxy. It didn’t matter that he had two dozen Spirit Immortal stone golems pursuing him. After all, he had his Divine Justice Shield and his battleships, which would help him gain enough time to perform another teleportation. The worst he was going to suffer was a blow to his pride and a wasted trip.

I just can’t believe how lousy my luck is this time. It must be Little Wu’s fault. I had terribly good luck the last time when he wasn’t around! Wang Baole sulked. He turned and glared at Little Wu, who returned the glare with a lost, confused look. Wang Baole’s locust continued to travel at incredible speeds as the Spirit Immortal realm shooting stars steadily approached it. It appeared that they were going to escape from the galaxy at any moment.

It was then that… suddenly, the strange power that had pervaded the galaxy descended again. It felt more powerful this time, causing the cosmos to shudder. The edge of the galaxy was sealed shut. It was as if a door had just been slammed close. There was no way out!

It was like a seal!

Wang Baole’s head buzzed, and he turned back in shock. The corpses and ruins that had been floating around in space were moving, as if in orbit around the Eternal Star. It was a fluid movement that looked slow at first, then suddenly sped up to an impossible speed!

They looked like a river flowing around the Eternal Star—a gigantic vortex. What shocked Wang Baole the most wasn’t the sight of the vortex, but… the partially fossilized Eternal Star. As the river circled it, it too began to quake.

The shooting stars that had been chasing Wang Baole stopped in their tracks and transformed back into stone golems. The look on their faces was that of deference, and their eyes were colored with a mad fervor. They quickly turned towards the shuddering Eternal Star and fell to their knees, releasing thundering howls from their lips that rippled across space.

The stone golems on the four planets were similarly affected. They raised their faces skyward and turned mad, feverish eyes onto the Eternal Star. Then, they too fell to their knees and let loose loud roars!

Wang Baole’s breathing stuttered at the sight. The roars of these stone golems had become a form of war chant, which contained an indescribable sense of power. Corpses and ruins continued to circle the Eternal Star. It was as if a ritual was taking place, and Wang Baole had just become its witness…

“We’re finished. We’re done for! We’ve become some kind of sacrifice!” Little Wu stared at the scene unfolding before him and started moaning. The donkey was shaking too, fear showing in its eyes.

A sacrifice… Wang Baole was reluctant to accept that conclusion. Regardless, it seemed to be the case, no matter how one looked at it. He wasn’t just going to sit there and wait for death, though. A fierce light flashed in his eyes. He wasn’t beneath blowing up the locust and blowing a hole in the galaxy so he could escape.

As soon as that thought entered his mind, something drastic happened to the Eternal Star that drained Wang Baole’s face instantly… turning his skin ashen.

As the vortex circled the Eternal Star, and as countless stone golems roared madly, the shuddering Eternal Star… expanded and stretched outwards!

A forehead larger than a planet protruded outward first, then came four limbs that stretched out, forming, finally, an enormous stone giant!

Next to the stone giant was the Eternal Star, which had grown smaller by more than half its original size. It was clear… that what Wang Baole had thought was the Eternal Star originally had been the stone giant’s body. The stone giant had held the Eternal Star within its arms and curled itself up into a ball. That had been why… the Eternal Star had appeared so big.

Now that the stone giant had loosened its limbs, the true form of the Eternal Star was finally revealed!

With the outstretching of its limbs, the stone giant gradually opened its eyes. Two bright spots shone like twin suns, lighting up the entire galaxy instantly!

An aura that far surpassed that of a Planet realm cultivator exuded from the stone giant effortlessly. It cut through the galaxy like fierce tornadoes, overpowering everything in its path! It was as if everything it had passed was subsumed and became a part of it!

Its planet-sized right hand rose with what looked like extremely slow speed but was, in actual fact, extremely fast speed, sending a cosmic storm whipping through space. It made a grab at Wang Baole, doing so as if he was a mere mosquito that it was planning to smack!

It wouldn’t be right to compare Wang Baole to a mosquito, though. Compared to the size of that hand, Wang Baole didn’t even deserve to be called… a mosquito!

Thunder crashed, and strong winds lashed. The enormous hand blocked out the entire cosmos, descending upon Wang Baole with unstoppable power and the looming weight of death, leaving Wang Baole with nowhere to run!

As the stone giant unleashed its attack, the stone golems on the planets, big and small, and the Spirit Immortal realm stone golems in space, grew increasingly excited. Their roars were filled with passion and fervor, and they kowtowed, seeming as if they were paying respects to their patriarch!

The Eternal… the Eternal Star… Wang Baole’s face was drained of all color. This wasn’t just bad luck, it was luck that was rotten to the core. The universe was such a huge place. Considering the number of Eternal Star realm cultivators that existed and were scattered across the wide universe, it would be a feat to bump into one. But somehow, he had managed to stumble headfirst into one…

That’s it… I’m done for this time… Wang Baole’s mind was a complete blank. His vision was filled by the enormous hand above him that exuded incredible and unimaginable power. He did manage to get one thing done, which was to hide the donkey away in his storage bracelet. But he had no idea if this might somehow save the creature.

That was the best that he could do, though. As for Little Wu… Wang Baole couldn’t help him now. He grimaced. Regardless, there was no despair or compromise in his eyes. He began to activate his cultivation as well as the locust. He was going to self-destruct.

This was the only solution he could think of that might save the donkey and Little Wu’s lives. If he self-destructed first, they might still have a chance of survival. If the stone giant were to capture them, though, they were all as good as dead.

But he wasn’t willing to accept his fate just like that. Before the final self-destruction, Wang Baole decided to wing it. He projected his voice outward and thundered.

“Senior, my senior brother is Chen Qing, the first Divine King of the Never-Ending Clan. I’m his only surviving junior brother!”