A World Worth Protecting

The whirlwind that originally occurred in the area, accompanied by the fog that sounded like a wild beast howling, seemed to stop momentarily the moment that Wang Baole took the bead away.

After which, an even stronger boom erupted in the air, like a culmination of endless suppressed thunder exploding instantaneously. The fog rapidly curled backward, as if being forcefully dissipated after breaking free of a seal, revealing the empty space outside the oval-shaped area!

At a glance, the whole of the large area could be seen since the fog was not obscuring it anymore!

“This is…” Wang Baole, whose body was being pulled by the magnetic force, suddenly shrugged, his body trembling and his mind buzzing with activity as violent as the crashing waves!

He saw that in the seemingly limitless space above the oval shaped area lay a gigantic skull. Its facial features could not be seen, but it was clear that it was covered with a pitch-black mask!

The oval shaped area also seemed to be floating in midair, since there was a darkened area of nothingness beneath it, and within the nothingness lay a humongous body!

This body, when connected to the skull overhead, formed a gargantuan sculpture, and it became clear that the oval-shaped area was the palm of the sculpture!

The appearance of the mask worn by the sculpture was not foreign to Wang Baole. It was exactly like the illustrious woman whom he had seen in the illusionary scene when he was previously at the Five Peaks!

This sight created waves of emotions in Wang Baole. He began to piece together the entire picture before his eyes and realized that it was a sculpture of an illustrious woman looking at the long, blue spear floating above the altar in the palm of her raised right hand!

Wang Baole’s heart pounded against his chest violently. Thankfully, before he retrieved the mask, he had been mentally prepared, and it was not the first time that he had seen the woman.

However, at this exact moment, Wang Baole’s pupils suddenly constricted. As his body was pulled backward by the magnetic force, a crying face suddenly emerged from the empty space behind the sculpture!

That face was over a hundred feet wide, and it was bleeding from all its orifices. A purple glow was revealed in its eyes, and it was impossible to discern if it was a male or female. An eerie chill and a frightening vibe spread strongly from it, and Wang Baole felt as if he had suddenly been thrown into the cold abyss.

“What on Earth is that?”

As Wang Baole exclaimed in shock, tens of similar faces appeared in the blink of an eye in the emptiness behind the sculpture. They all looked similar, but each had different expressions. Some were filled with sadness, some were crying, some were laughing wryly, and some were furious.

However, it remained consistent that all of them were bleeding from their every orifice, and they all carried a frightening purple glow in their eyes. One could even see that more of such faces were appearing rapidly behind them, and in a flash, the entire pitch-black emptiness was completely filled with uncountable similar faces.

All the faces began to open their mouths to howl. They seemed to be rushing toward Wang Baole by passing through the sculpture. The entire scene made Wang Baole feel as if his head was about to implode, and as his mind buzzed endlessly, he wished more than ever that the magnetic force could drag him away immediately.

However, at the moment when they were about to pass through the sculpture, a flash appeared in the eyes of the seemingly lifeless sculpture, and the vague, soft voice of a woman echoed within the space.

“Suppress!”

As the voice spread outward, the sculpture’s entire body glowed with a golden hue, and flashes of golden lightning flew from it. The flashes instantly formed a large net, directly covering all the creepy faces that were advancing through the sculpture.

In the blink of an eye, after coming into contact with each other, the masks began to let out pitiful cries. They struggled, but it was futile—they were unable to pass through the electric net. Under the forceful push of the net, they immediately retreated, and eventually, they faded back into nothingness.

That scene sent upheavals to Wang Baole’s heart. Right now, his body was being pulled backward to the exit, and his gaze lay on the sculpture, which seemed to have returned to its original state. He was unable to calm down, for the purple glow from those faces reminded him of the unforeseen attack that he had experienced previously. The feeling given off by those faces was exactly the same as that of the purple glow!

Could it be them? Wang Baole was frightened, and he suddenly remembered that during his experience in the Five Peaks, faces had also appeared in the skies.

Furthermore, in terms of appearance, the faces from then were similar to those that he had just seen!

What on Earth is going on? Why is it that the faces appeared immediately after I took the blue bead away? Could it be that the bead was an object suppressing them?

With that thought, Wang Baole immediately had the impression that the five bodies surrounding the long, blue spear indeed seemed to be protecting the bead.

This… if I take the blue bead away, will a catastrophe occur?

Wang Baole suddenly grew nervous, and as he tried to take another look at the sculpture, his body was pulled toward the exit, into the pathway, and swiftly toward the outside.

From afar, Wang Baole appeared like a small mountain, carrying a large pail. Puppets hung on the edge of the pail, each carrying bags of objects. At the same time, four corpses were being dragged along with the big pail.

Wang Baole struggled, and when he suddenly turned to look at the four corpses that he had thrown on the pail, his pupils suddenly constricted. Previously, due to the distance, Wang Baole had not paid much attention to the corpses. Furthermore, all his attention had been on the long, blue spear, so he had not taken a close look at the corpses.

Right now, as he took a closer look at the four corpses, he realized that inscriptions were present on their bodies. On their glabellae, purple markings were also visible!

Those markings seemed to be accumulations of faces of varying expressions that had shrunk significantly!

They looked identical to the faces that had been suppressed by the seal from the sculpture previously!

This discovery instantly instilled fear in Wang Baole’s heart and also busted his previous theory.

They were not protecting but were suppressing the blue bead?

Wang Baole was slightly bewildered, but he still felt that something was amiss. Eventually, his eyes flashed, and a bold guess appeared in his mind.

Could it be that I made a wrong interpretation? Could it be that, regardless of whether it was the corpses or the long, blue spear, they were actually objects that the faces used to suppress the sculpture? Therefore, after I took the blue bead away, the mysterious fog dissipated, revealing the sculpture, making the faces grow crazy trying to regain it, eventually causing the sculpture to revive in order to suppress them?

With a lack of clues, it was difficult for Wang Baole to make a clear judgment. However, he was certain that the bodies that he had brought out were definitely related to the purple glow that had previously wanted to swallow him!

I need to figure this out. Why did the purple glow want to swallow me? Could it be due to the nine-inch Spirit Root? The voice previously said that an extremist has been found. Could it be that the nine-inch Spirit Root was the extremist? However, after waking up, the spirit meridians within me exceeded ninety or even a hundred percent… Wang Baole thought as his body was being pulled along the path out of the fragment mountain.

The series of events made him realize just how mysterious and unpredictable the entire place was, especially after he understood that the place that he had been in previously was merely considered the periphery compared to the entire fragment mountain. He had been far from its core.

After all, his cultivation and speed, coupled with the time constraints, made it impossible for him to reach the core.

Even the periphery is so mysterious. What else could be hiding in the depths of thisfragment mountain?

Wang Baole took in a deep breath. As his body was pulled away, he looked at the fragment mountain that was becoming increasingly distant, and a wave of respect welled up in his heart.

While paying his respect to the fragment mountain on his journey out of it, students from the four major Dao Colleges continued to enter and exit. When they saw the exaggerated gains of Wang Baole, their respect for him grew even greater, to the extent of shock.

“Corpses!”

“Gosh, what did I just see? Corpses dressed in ancient robes, and there are more than one of them!”

“This is too over the top! Such a big pail with so many puppets carrying other objects hanging on it!”

A commotion instantly erupted, reverberating in the surroundings. Nobody noticed that a head with its eyes ferociously wide open had appeared silently in the periphery of the fragment mountain. It was the frightening figure from the fork in the road.

He stared in the direction where Wang Baole was heading. Gradually, its ferocious expression turned into a look of dismay, and it was seemingly doubtful. It was only after a long time had passed that it retreated once again.