A World Worth Protecting

In comparison to the hatred and fury that the Never-Ending Clan Planet realm cultivator was feeling, the feelings that Wang Baole was experiencing were intense glee and delight. He eyed his storage bag and the spoils hidden within and thought of how great life was. He had struck gold.

He was right. The losses that he had incurred might have been great, but he had gained a lot. He had, in fact, gained a golden ticket. He hadn’t only recouped whatever losses he had incurred but managed to make a profit out of this endeavor.

I’ll just need to go through and organize what I’ve got, check what I can put to use and what I should sell or trade. His spirits soaring, Wang Baole sat down in a meditative pose and started his preparations for the necessary repairs ahead of him.

First on the list were his Thearch Armor and his Dharmic Battleship. Both the armor and his battleship had suffered almost 90% damage to their functionality. The lack of materials would’ve stopped Wang Baole from trying to repair them, regardless of how much he wanted to. Things were different now, though, as he still had a good supply of Stone Bamboo. With that, he could restore the Dharmic Battleship completely.

Some of the materials in his storage bag could also help speed up the restoration process. With his refinement skill, the repair of his Dharmic Battleship got on speedily. The next most important repair work was for his Thearch Armor.

It wasn’t the first time the Thearch Armor had suffered such serious damage, so Wang Baole knew what to do. The best way to repair the armor was by using Spirit Qi. He had emptied the contents of an entire Never-Ending Clan army warehouse into his storage bag and thus had an endless supply of supreme-grade Spirit Stones at his disposal.

Wang Baole used up the materials he had like a rich man would spend his wealth. Supreme-grade Spirit Stones were ground to dust during the repair. Parts of the Thearch Armor began to regenerate steadily all over Wang Baole. At the end of the week, a completely reformed Thearch Armor enveloped Wang Baole once more. The end of the week also marked the completion of repairs on the Dharmic Battleship.

With his armor and battleship fully repaired, Wang Baole was at his peak combat strength again. The materials that he had depleted for the repairs took up only a third of his battle spoils.

The gears in Wang Baole’s head started spinning furiously again. He eyed his Thearch Armor and his Dharmic Battleship, and a strange light flickered in his eyes. An idea that he had been contemplating and running through his head for a very long time resurfaced then.

Is there a way to merge the Thearch Armor and the Dharmic Battleship together… Wang Baole’s breathing quickened slightly. He had been considering that idea for some time. He knew what a Dharmic Battleship was meant to do. It was meant to be merged with a Spirit Immortal realm cultivator to enhance the latter’s combat strength.

He hadn’t been able to achieve a merge, no matter how hard he tried. His cultivation had only been at the late-stage Soul Conduit realm then, which was weak when compared to his current False Immortal realm cultivation.

There are two ways to merge my armor with the Dharmic Battleship. The first is to somehow trick it into thinking that I’ve fulfilled the necessary requirements for a merge. The second… is to modify its internal structure and simplify those requirements. Wang Baole fell into a contemplative silence. He was of the view that the second option was vastly more challenging than the first. He might have some knowledge of the Dharmic Battleship, but what he knew about the artifact wasn’t sufficient to facilitate the construction of the artifact. If he couldn’t build a Dharmic Battleship, then he could forget about trying to modify one.

We’re left with the first option then. Wang Baole narrowed his eyes.

There’s no shortcut to achieving the Spirit Immortal realm in a short period of time. That’s why I have to transform the Thearch Armor into a medium. That’s the only way I can achieve a merge with the Dharmic Battleship now.

Is there a way or anything we can use to strengthen the Thearch Armor… Wang Baole opened his storage bag and began rummaging through the items inside, trying to find some inspiration.

Wang Baole had some idea of what he had stolen from the Never-Ending Clan army warehouse. Through a process of elimination, he was left with a few supreme-grade Spirit Stones. His eyes flashed as he plucked those Spirit Stones out of his storage bag and tried to upgrade his Thearch Armor. However, there was a limit to the number of Spirit Stones that could be fused with the Thearch Armor. Despite how precious these supreme-grade Spirit Stones were, they were still lacking when it came to upgrading the Thearch Armor to the next level.

Frustrated, Wang Baole decided to step out and pay a visit to the shops in the market. He could try asking Xie Haiyang for advice too. Just as he was about to step out, an idea popped into his head. He stared into his storage bag and at the Red Crystals inside. They were the size of his finger, and there were more than ten thousand of them in his storage bag!

Red Crystals… Wang Baole narrowed his eyes. With a swoop of his right hand, he plucked a Red Crystal out from his storage bag and held it before him. His Divine Sense extended outward and entered the crystal. Before they could dig further inward, a powerful force emanated from the crystal and repelled Wang Baole’s Divine Sense, blocking them from further entry.

Wang Baole’s eyes brightened. After some thought, he placed the Red Crystal onto his Thearch Armor and unleashed the armor’s absorption abilities at full force. The effects were minimal. It didn’t seem to be working. The Red Crystal seemed to possess a life of its own. Some semblance of a strong-willed mind was hidden inside, fighting to stop the crystal from being absorbed and fused with the armor.

What is a Red Crystal exactly? Wang Baole was curious. Narrowing his eyes, he prayed for his dear father-in-law to stay asleep and not wake up as he uttered the Dao Scripture under his breath. A mighty presence from the other end of the universe descended upon the market a few moments later.

Everyone in the market shuddered instantly. Xie Haiyang had been sipping tea in his shop then. He spewed his tea out and looked up in shock. The Red Crystal that Wang Baole had placed on the Thearch Armor lost all will to fight at that instant. Its power transformed into a red mist and was sucked straight into the Thearch Armor.

The Spirit Qi that had been housed inside the Thearch Armor underwent a drastic transformation when the red mist entered the armor. The difference in power between the two types of Spirit Qi appeared to be far too wide. If the Spirit Qi inside the armor could be compared to a serpent, the red mist would be a dragon!

The Spirit Qi inside the armor began to contract and was ultimately driven out of the Thearch Armor by the red mist. As it dissipated in the air, the red mist began to flow through the Thearch Armor. A power that far surpassed what had dwelt within the armor began to emerge. The strength of this power sent Wang Baole’s heart racing with trepidation.

The sensation was akin to… gazing upon a distant planet and feeling the aura that it was exuding!

Wang Baole’s breathing quickened. There was no time to think. He pulled out a few more Red Crystals hurriedly and placed them on the Thearch Armor to see if the crystals would be absorbed successfully by the armor. Within the blink of an eye, the crystals melded with the armor. He went through twenty crystals before the Dao Scripture’s power faded away. The Thearch Armor appeared to have reached its limits and was now bursting at the seams. Numerous blood veins had appeared on its exterior!

Hope and anticipation shone brightly in Wang Baole’s eyes. He didn’t hesitate at all as he activated the Thearch Armor and unleashed its full power. An immense power erupted from the armor instantly. If he were to be precise about this power emanating from the Thearch Armor… it seemed to resemble the power of a planet, though it wasn’t exactly like it. Regardless, such power definitely met the requirements necessary to perform a merge with the Dharmic Battleship.

That was why Wang Baole raised his right hand and formed a hand seal immediately after activating the Thearch Armor. He barked out, “Dharmic Battleship, merge!”

The Dharmic Battleship had been stored away inside his storage bag after it had been fully repaired with Stone Bamboos. It trembled as soon as Wang Baole barked out his command. The Dharmic Battleship’s form had been that of a dragonfly, but it had transformed into that of a locust after Wang Baole had used his artifact refinement technique on it. The locust opened its mouth and let loose a silent howl as it trembled. Its physical form morphed into countless black threads that shot out of the storage bag and charged at Wang Baole.

They seemed to have been waiting for this moment for a very long time. The black threads surrounded Wang Baole and wove themselves into his Thearch Armor. In the next moment… an eruption of Spirit Immortal realm spirit energy sent the inn shaking. Every cultivator in the inn shuddered at the sudden explosion of power that had filled every corner of the inn despite the inn’s protective array formation.

While everyone in the inn was trembling with shock, Wang Baole was undergoing a transformation in his room!

His black hair flowed loosely around him while a black armor covered him from head to toe. His chest plate was engraved with a locust’s head, while the armor plate on his back had the engraving of a black dragon. His face was hidden behind a plain black mask. Countless black threads that resembled strands of hair danced fluidly around him like a cape…

It was as if the god of war had descended upon the planet, as if the god of death had returned to these lands!

Spirit Immortal realm spirit energy emanated from Wang Baole. The spirit energy might only be at the early-stage Spirit Immortal realm, but any Spirit Immortal realm cultivator who was to see Wang Baole now would be blown away. The overwhelming power and strength that he was radiating hinted at how easily he could crush another early-stage Spirit Immortal realm cultivator at this moment!

From now on, this armor will no longer be called the Thearch Armor. It’ll be called… the Emperor Armor! Wang Baole could sense the immense power coursing through his armor, and excitement coursed through his veins. He might not have reached the Spirit Immortal realm yet, but he had obtained… the power of a Spirit Immortal realm cultivator!

He didn’t own it completely, though. After assessing the armor and the power housed within, Wang Baole concluded that he would only be able to sustain his current state for an hour. The Red Crystals’ power would fade after that. He would then have to pump his armor with another round of Red Crystals.

But, that’s enough!