A World Worth Protecting

“Red Crystals…” Wang Baole started thinking. He wasn’t clear what these crystals were, but the fact that they were being used as hard currency meant that they must be rare. That it was a rare resource whose value was recognized by everyone meant that its value had something to do with its use for one’s cultivation.

He had guessed right. Xie Haiyang soon explained to him the reason for the Red Crystals’ worth. The crystals were mysterious items that could speed up one’s advancement in cultivation once a cultivator reached the Planet realm. The origins of the crystals were mysterious and unknown, and only the Never-Ending Clan could produce them. A fixed number of crystals were produced and circulated throughout the Never-Ending Dao Domain.

The clan had technically gained complete control over the economy in the Dao Domain.

No one knew how these crystals were made. Even refinement masters found the dissection and analysis of the structure of the crystals a challenge.

“There are rumors though, that the crystals… have something to do with the extinct Dark Sect. Someone even postulated that the crystals… are created from the blood of the Dark Sect’s Heavenly Dao!”

Xie Haiyang gave Wang Baole a considering look then. He hadn’t tried to be tactful at all, revealing those postulations nonchalantly. Those casual words took on a different note when Wang Baole heard them.

He had his suspicions about Xie Haiyang. He had always wondered why Xie Haiyang treated him differently from the others. He recalled their initial meeting at the Ethereal Dao College. Xie Haiyang had been very friendly then, but that had been because of his instincts as a businessman who never turned down any potential business. After that, Wang Baole had ended up on Mars and then spent time in the Vast Expanse Dao Palace on the ancient sword. When he met Xie Haiyang again, the man had… changed. He had become slightly different from who he had been before.

Now, with what Xie Haiyang had just said, the man was obviously showing his cards to Wang Baole. Wang Baole understood immediately. Xie Haiyang was telling him the reason he had given Wang Baole such preferential treatment.

Wang Baole wasn’t going to just take his word for it, though. He didn’t spend time wondering why Xie Haiyang knew he was a Dark Child. Instead, he appeared as if he had known about Xie Haiyang knowing all along. That inspired another bout of uncertainty in Xie Haiyang. After a moment of hesitation, Xie Haiyang took a deep breath and smiled wryly.

“Fellow Daoist, let’s not beat around the bush. It doesn’t matter if I’ve met you before. I’m just a businessman. You can rest assured when you do business with me. I never take advantage of others, and I never do harm to others either. What I do is purely business!

“Take this, for example. I’ve recommended this mission to you so that you can earn enough Red Crystals to purchase the materials on your shopping list. I’m not going to hide the fact that the referral gives me the right to claim ten percent of your reward. But that won’t be coming out of your pocket. The Flame Patriarch will be paying me separately. I’ve recommended five cultivators to join the mission. The application will remain open for another three days. After that, they will begin teleporting participants.

“The Flame Patriarch is the powerful cultivator I mentioned earlier. He is extremely powerful, enough so to reign supreme over a domain. The Never-Ending Clan finds him a troublesome opponent as well, but the price they would need to pay to exterminate him is hefty… The Never-Ending Clan’s facing some internal turmoil now, and no one’s willing to take on such a task.

“There’s some danger involved, but based on previous missions, we know that the Flame Patriarch isn’t just going to send all of you to die. The planet that he’s chosen is likely only presided over by a Planet realm cultivator. The enemies you face will be less powerful than that.”

“There may be Spirit Immortal realm cultivators amongst them, but you’ll be able to avoid them if you take the necessary precautions,” Xie Haiyang said with a wave of his hand. He hadn’t hidden any information from Wang Baole at all. He wasn’t interested in testing him or making any more guesses about his identity. If the man before him was truly Wang Baole, he would’ve told him the truth anyway. That was the only way to prove his trustworthiness. Besides, Xie Haiyang was a firm believer in practicing honesty. That was how one should lead one’s life.

That was why he didn’t see a need to deceive the man before him even if he wasn’t Wang Baole. After he was done sharing all that information, he turned towards Wang Baole and waited for the latter’s reply.

Wang Baole fell into a bout of contemplative silence. He wasn’t going to take up the offer immediately. He inquired about a few other details, then got Xie Haiyang’s contact details. After that, he bade farewell and went on his way. He told Xie Haiyang that he would give him an answer in three days.

Xie Haiyang watched Wang Baole leave, then returned to his seat. He stared at the wisps of smoke rising from the cauldron next to him. There was a look of contemplation in his eyes. He didn’t react to the sudden figure that had appeared soundlessly behind him.

The intruder had a blurry outline to his figure, and his facial features looked indistinct. He stood there quietly, with his back slightly bent and his fists cupped, as if awaiting instructions.

“So be it. Why fixate over whether I’ve met him before. It’s good to make new friends. He might become another important client who I should be investing heavily in,” Xie Haiyang said, laughing as he picked up the scrolls on the table and began reading.

The blurry figure standing behind him said softly, “Young Master, do we remove the mark that the guest has left on our servant?”

“There’s no need for that,” Xie Haiyang said coolly without looking up.

As Xie Haiyang uttered those words, the tiny grain of gray dust stuck on the shoulder of the servant who had attended to Wang Baole earlier downstairs shook.

Wang Baole had given that servant a pat on his shoulder before making his way out with a smile. He had since put some distance between him and the store. When the dust shook, he stopped in his tracks momentarily, then quickened his pace. The energy signature given off by his essence technique shifted. A wisp of it split away, landed at Wang Baole’s feet, and transformed into an insect that crawled into the ground and hid away.

He entered multiple stores. When he left each store, his physical appearance would be transformed. He left traces of his essence technique in the stores. His energy signature changed as he walked amidst the crowd and left traces of his energy signature on the people he passed.

He located an inn in the market after he was certain that no one was following him and paid a hefty sum for a room. Then, he sat quietly in the room, a look of contemplation on his face as he considered everything that Xie Haiyang had told him.

He seems to have sensed the spiritual essence that I left behind… It doesn’t matter. If what he said is true, then I should consider taking part in the mission… It’s just killing someone. In fact, this is exactly what I need if I want to advance my cultivation and quickly achieve a breakthrough from the Spirit Immortal realm to the Planet realm… To kill! An icy glint flashed across Wang Baole’s eyes. After a bout of contemplative silence, he swept his eyes across the room before suddenly shuddering, then vanishing into thin air. He had used his essence technique and transformed into a winged insect. He found a slitted opening in the window and flew out.

His essence technique remained activated as he flew, and his insect form soon split into numerous winged insects that spread throughout the market. The spiritual essence that he had left behind on his way to the inn transformed, taking on various forms, such as that of a winged insect, an ant, or dust. They were his ears, hearing everything and collecting every bit of information.

Only Wang Baole, who possessed the essence technique, could have conducted such an information-gathering exercise. It was quite effective. Within three days, after eliminating huge chunks of useless data, he had managed to consolidate information on the Flame Patriarch. The information that he had gathered helped him verify what he had learned from Xie Haiyang.

After consolidating the information he had gathered and assessing it, Wang Baole gathered the spiritual essence that he had sent out. At that point, it was almost the end of the third day. He picked up his jade slip and sent a voice transmission to Xie Haiyang.

“Fellow Daoist Haiyang, I’ll do it!”

Xie Haiyang had been awaiting news from Wang Baole. He burst out into laughter when he heard Wang Baole’s reply. He trusted his guts. Even if the man wasn’t Wang Baole, his instincts told him that… this man was going to be an important client in the coming days.

He displayed extraordinary enthusiasm when he got the voice transmission from Wang Baole, making arrangements for the latter’s application. He rushed to get it done before the deadline, ensuring that Wang Baole got a placement.

“Baole, you’re in luck. You just made it. The mission starts in two hours!”

“Where do I report?” Wang Baole asked.

“You don’t have to go anywhere. You’ll know what to do in two hours’ time. I’ll just share something with you first… There’s really almost nothing… that the Flame Patriarch is incapable of achieving! He’s almost infallible, really!” Xie Haiyang said. He ended the voice transmission with those ambiguous words.

Wang Baole raised his eyebrow, and a considering look entered his eyes. He didn’t spend a long time thinking, though. Two hours later, his Divine Sense were suddenly violently stirred. Then, in the blink of an eye, blue strands suddenly appeared out of nowhere and gathered before him silently. They pooled together and transformed into… a gruesome-looking pig-faced mask!

“The mission starts when you put on the mask!” The cold, emotionless voice of an old man rang out from the mask as the mask came into being. The words reverberated across Wang Baole’s Divine Sense… and in the mind of his true form, which was currently resting in his coffin on the main Divine Eye planet!