A World Worth Protecting

In one of the distant corners of the main Divine Eye star was land that many had thought had suffered a meteorite’s landing. It was a deserted land, barren of everything save an enormous crater.

Any plant life that had grown here had withered and died, and an aura of death permeated the air and prevented beasts from venturing close. The uniqueness of this piece of land had drawn the attention of many cultivators. However, no matter how much the cultivators who came hunting searched the land above and even below ground, they went away with nothing.

It was as if no one could see the coffin even though it was lying right there. So, even though everyone had their own guesses about the place and believed that the meteorite was behind what was strange about the land, they started paying less attention to the area as time passed.

But now… Wang Baole’s avatar stood inside an inn in the market as a pig-faced mask hovered before him. The voice that had rung out from the mask had managed to traverse vast distances to reach his true form lying inside a coffin deep underground. It had reverberated in his head!

The voice sounded so clear, almost as if someone had spoken into his ear. Wang Baole’s true form opened his eyes instantly, and they were filled with shock. The fact that… the Flame Patriarch’s voice could penetrate the walls of the coffin meant one thing… that he was probably as powerful as Wang Baole’s senior brother!

Someone else had been stirred by the voice. The mask that Little Missy dwelt in, which Wang Baole kept on his true form, shook faintly. Little Missy appeared to be on the verge of waking up.

The turn of events sent Wang Baole’s true form into a contemplative silence. A long moment later, his eyes fell shut again. A vast distance away, in the inn, Wang Baole’s avatar remained shocked. After checking out what had happened to his true form, Wang Baole took a deep breath and extended a deep bow towards the pig-faced mask in front of him.

He straightened his back, raised his arms, and held the mask. There was a moment of silence where hesitation flickered in his eyes. In the end, he chose to put on the mask.

The instant he put on the mask, a strong power surged from it. It didn’t bother inspecting Wang Baole. Instead, it enveloped him fully, then gave him a hard yank.

Wang Baole could feel himself losing complete control of his body with the sudden yank. At that same instant, he disappeared from the room in the inn.

Everything had happened without a sound. There had been no energy signatures indicating teleportation had taken place. No one had noticed anything. A powerful array formation had been set up around the inn, but it had posed no challenge to the teleportation. It was as if Wang Baole… had simply vanished!

In the next moment, when Wang Baole could finally see again, he had arrived at… a completely foreign world!

It didn’t seem right to call it a world. This place was filled with ruins that extended all the way to the horizons. It felt ancient. Everything seemed old and ravaged by time.

Stars filled the skies while ruins littered the lands. Wang Baole stood on the ruins of a building that had originally been shaped like a hook sword. Such ruins could be found everywhere around him. Multiple figures, all wearing different masks, continued to appear.

Some of those masks were shaped like the heads of cows, fish, and horses. There were many more, which were of beasts that Wang Baole had never seen. There were more than two hundred of them. As soon as they appeared, they started surveying their surroundings and assessing the other participants.

Wang Baole reeled back. He had done a sweep and realized that he couldn’t sense the aura coming off anyone. He couldn’t discern their levels of cultivation either. He could see them perfectly with his eyes, but they were blurry figures to his Divine Sense—not completely non-existent, but indistinct nevertheless.

It’s the mask! Wang Baole touched the mask on his face contemplatively. He was able to reach some basic conclusions from the looks that everyone was giving.

For example… most of the participants’ eyes were filled with violence and wildness. They appeared hostile, seeming as if they were used to killing. The fact that they had chosen to participate in this mission indicated that they were men of extraordinary abilities. They must have their reasons for signing up. After all… the rewards that the Flame Patriarch was offering were enough to tempt Wang Baole. Others must also be equally tempted.

As they all sized one another up, light erupted from the ruins around them suddenly. The light was faint. If it had come from a singular spot, few might have noticed it. But they were all shining at the same time, like fallen stars. The light did resemble starlight, spilling from every corner and gathering before everyone.

Because the lights had been faint at first, they didn’t seem particularly bright after they gathered into a single spot of light. However, as the lights continued to gather, the sphere of light grew increasingly blinding. An incredible power built up inside the sphere of light, stirring the lands and enveloping the world.

Everyone, including Wang Baole, was awestruck. They looked down hastily, as if in the presence of a deity. Even the most defiant of them instinctively toned down and made a show of respect and deference.

Wang Baole did the same as well, keeping his head down while wondering who was the more powerful one between the entity before him and his senior brother, Chen Qing. He had a feeling that his senior brother was still the stronger one of the two, but probably only by a slight margin.

The only aura that can overpower and crush it… is probably the aura unleashed from reading the Dao Scripture. Wang Baole narrowed his eyes and continued thinking as he kept his head down. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how weak he truly was in the grand scheme of the universe. He didn’t even deserve to be called an ant. That would be undeserved flattery.

D*mn. Honestly, I’m really weak. The conclusion made Wang Baole feel quite uncomfortable. He wondered if there was any other way to put it so that he might feel better about himself. It was then that an old, emotionless voice drifted out from the blinding sphere of light hovering before everyone.

“Firstly, the mission has begun since you landed on this planet. It will last twenty-four hours. When the twenty-four hours are up, I will send those still alive back.

“Secondly, the mission objective is to kill Never-Ending Clan members. You will be graded according to the number of kills you have and the level of cultivation of those you have killed. When you return, you will receive Red Crystals that correspond to your grade. Note this… there is no limit to the number of Red Crystals that can be awarded!

“Thirdly, the mask hides your identity. It also tracks your location and allows me to teleport you back. In addition… I’ve cast a spell on every mask that acts like a curse. It can weaken a cultivator whose level of cultivation is below that of the perfected Eternal Star realm, causing a drop in their level of cultivation!

“The more badly injured your target, the greater the effect of this curse. However, it can only be used once and will only last fifteen minutes!”

“A final reminder. Do not lose your masks. You’re on your own if you do.” Once the aged voice inside the sphere of light was done talking, it didn’t give anyone a chance to react before shuddering violently. The sphere of light dissipated and filled the entire world. Everyone, including Wang Baole, shuddered. The masks on their faces shimmered, and they were pulled backwards with a yank.

In the blink of an eye, everyone… vanished again!

The mission had begun!

The second teleportation appeared to take a longer time than the first. He had no idea how much time had gone by. It was like having an out-of-body experience. Then, his body started shaking, and his mind woke, as if from a long, deep sleep. He opened his eyes, and what appeared before him were… red skies and white lands!

The skies were blood-colored. That was because the sun was blood red!

The desert lands were white. They didn’t take on the cast of the skies and instead seemed to retain their own natural colors. It was a stark contrast. In addition, the winds and the surrounding plant life were vastly different from what Wang Baole recognized!

The winds weren’t invisible. They were indistinct, mist-like entities that blew across the deserts. As for the plants, they were black. It seemed to be a defense mechanism that they had developed against the crimson red sun.

As soon as Wang Baole was able to see clearly, he immediately moved away from the other cultivators. Most of them did the same. They moved back and widened the distance between them and the others. Wariness and hostility shone fiercely in their eyes. They were like venomous snakes baring their fangs as they tried to show how dangerous they were. They wanted the rest to know that they weren’t to be trifled with.

There were a few who didn’t move. They stood there, seemingly filled with confidence. A tall, muscular-looking man dressed in a green robe looked at the cultivators standing near him with a condescending gaze.

“A bunch of useless good-for-nothings. I don’t care if we’re all participants of the same mission. Just remember, don’t follow me, and don’t fight me for my target. Otherwise… I don’t mind killing a few more people!”