A World Worth Protecting

Exuding that ferocious aura, Wang Baole raised his head and looked in the direction of the Lower Academy Island in the distance. In the time that he had spent on Upper Academy Island, he had been occupied with the battle with Lin Tianhao as well as his advancement to become an Armament Disciple. Thus, he had neglected the happenings on the Lower Academy Island.

He did not know that such an incident involving Zhou Xiaoya had happened. Furthermore, Zhou Xiaoya did not mention anything to him either. Such information that was little known to others could only be more easily accessible to people like Xie Haiyang, after all.

After a few moments of silence, Wang Baole promptly retrieved his voice transmission ring to send a voice transmission to Zhou Xiaoya. Zhou Xiaoya was in the alchemical lab with her eyes red as she tried hard to prevent herself from bursting into tears. She did not speak much after receiving Wang Baole’s voice transmission, but when Wang Baole asked about the Cloud Breath Pill, she could no longer control herself as she burst into tears pitifully.

“Brother Baole, I did not create the formula for the Cloud Breath Pill. It was originally an incomplete formula that my grandfather, who was versed in the Pulse Enrichment Ancient Martial Arts, received unexpectedly over twenty years ago.

“When I joined the Alchemy faculty, I researched on the formula as I learned the coursework, which allowed me to more or less complete it. Do you remember the pill I showed you when you came to the Alchemy faculty the other time? Actually, that was the prototype of the Cloud Breath Pill. I had originally wanted to present the formula to the Dao College to gain admission to Upper Academy Island.

“I did not guard myself against Chen Fei. In the process of patching up the formula, I discussed many details with her.”

Listening to Zhou Xiaoya’s words, Wang Baole chose to believe her. He knew that Zhou Xiaoya was still young and had yet to experience the realities of society. She also did not possess the life-and-death experiences that he had gained over the past year, making it inevitable that she would place her trust in her friends lightly. Therefore, he consoled Zhou Xiaoya and reassured her.

“Don’t cry, I am here!”

Thereafter, he ended the voice transmission. He narrowed his eyes as he roughly assessed the matter.

Regardless of the origins of the incomplete formula for the Cloud Breath Pill, it was obvious that it was related to the debris from the ancient greenish-bronze sword. There was no need to think too much about this matter, and it was likely that the Alchemy Pavilion had realized that there was no true creator for the formula.

Therefore, even though a reward was to be given, it was difficult to determine the person to be rewarded. After all, both students had submitted the formula, so even if the submitted formula was stolen, it was not something disadvantageous to the Alchemy Pavilion. Regardless of the truth, the formula was to be submitted to the Alchemy Pavilion.

From the stance of an onlooker, the Alchemy Pavilion was unreasonable. However, from the viewpoint of the Alchemy Pavilion, this was merely a transaction. Giving out the reward of a seven-inch Spirit Root would be the conclusion of the transaction. It was not wise to diminish the enthusiasm of the students by punishing them for the origins of the formula.

In this situation, the final decision of the Alchemy Pavilion to reward the one who could refine a Cloud Breath Pill of the highest purity could be considered fair to a certain extent.

However, if the formula was created by the student, the matter would be entirely different. For formulas that were of one’s original creation, the Alchemy Pavilion would definitely give an eight-inch Spirit Root as a reward and would have to investigate the truth behind it. It would have to severely punish the student if they had attained the formula through theft, and there was no room for mistakes in the process, making it a matter that kept everyone on high alert!

The possible death threat that Xie Haiyang had mentioned was precisely regarding this. However, his information was incomplete, and he did not completely understand the situation mentioned by Zhou Xiaoya, resulting in some mistakes in his interpretation.

On the other hand, matters involving Lin Tianhao were not as complicated as Xie Haiyang thought. Wang Baole immediately realized that Lin Tianhao could not make things difficult for him, causing him to seize the chance to bully Zhou Xiaoya in order to hurt him.

After attaining a basic understanding of the matter, the hatred that Wang Baole harbored toward the woman named Chen Fei was immense. He sighed coldly, raising his hand, and took out a jade slip to pass to Xie Haiyang.

“This is an empty jade slip, which you can take as a blank check!

“Look for Zhou Xiaoya when you return. Purchase every herb that she requires for the refinement of the Cloud Breath Pill in large amounts and ensure that she has no lack of them so that she can earn the reward in a month with the Cloud Breath Pill that she has refined!

“As for the costs, I have nothing but Spirit Stones. Even I cannot put a number on the amount I can make!” Wang Baole spoke calmly but revealed his wealth in his words, which made Xie Haiyang take a deep breath as his eyes lit up.

At the same time, his heart trembled as he knew how significant it was that Wang Baole was able to hand him an empty check. It meant that he was confident that Xie Haiyang would not dare to lie and go against him, and it showed his trust in Xie Haiyang! It also showed the importance of Zhou Xiaoya to Wang Baole, and the most important thing was that he had sold the intelligence to the right person.

Xie Haiyang took a deep breath and looked at Wang Baole deeply before replying with cupped fists.

“Rest assured, Senior Brother Wang! Since you have given me this blank check, I will also prove to you that I, Xie Haiyang, am a trustworthy businessman with principles and would not cheat you of even one Spirit Stone!”

Wang Baole nodded. In reality, as per Xie Haiyang’s interpretation, Wang Baole’s trust and confidence made him unafraid of the possibility that Xie Haiyang would go against him. Between the two of them, they were from the Upper and Lower Academy respectively, and were separately a True Breath expert and an Ancient Martial Arts practitioner. If Xie Haiyang really had the guts and was crazy enough to take him for a ride, Wang Baole would have no shortage of means to make Xie Haiyang pay back several times more of what he had greedily taken.

Very quickly, Xie Haiyang left. After seeing him disappear into the distance, Wang Baole took a deep breath and returned to his Dharmic Armament Pavilion cave abode to resume his seclusion.

Three days later, with the announcement of the reward by the Alchemy Pavilion, commotion filled the entire Lower Academy Island. Even the people on Upper Academy Island were in heated debates regarding the matter. At the same time, Wang Baole also received anxious voice transmissions from numerous people, including Liu Daobin.

After thanking them personally for the information, Wang Baole sent another voice transmission to console Zhou Xiaoya before he could calm his heart and continue refining the Dharmic Artifacts.

Zhou Xiaoya was touched beyond words, as warmth filled her heart when she heard from Xie Haiyang that Wang Baole had given him a blank check. At the same time, her petite face revealed a never-before-seen look of seriousness and determination.

“I cannot let Brother Baole’s Spirit Stones go to waste. I must get the reward and enter Upper Academy Island to refine pills for Brother Baole in the future!”

With a flash of determination in her eyes, Zhou Xiaoya began the process of researching and refining the Cloud Breath Pill.

Time flew by, and a month passed very quickly. At dawn of the fateful day, the sound of the bell reverberated in the Alchemy faculty of the Lower Academy Island.

As the sound of the bell spread, commotion grew in the entire Alchemy faculty. Looking at the students dashing toward the peak of the mountain, Zheng Liang stood outside the cave abode, his eyes filled with emotion and anticipation.

“Who will the reward belong to in the end?” Even though he had lost to Zhao Yameng in the previous assessment and missed the advancement assessment to the mystic realm held by the Dao College after that due to personal reasons, he had not given up as he planned to reapply for the Dao College’s major assessment once again this year.

Numerous others, even students from the other faculties, were also thinking about the same thing as Zheng Liang. After all, this was an extremely significant matter to the Lower Academy Island.

Students from each faculty rushed as they assembled at the Alchemy faculty peak with the sound of the bell ringing in the background. They had all wanted to see with their own eyes who the winner would be. A very high proportion of the students were from the Dharmic Armament faculty—even though Wang Baole had entered Upper Academy Island, his influence on the Lower Academy Island had not diminished a single bit. Therefore, many students were hoping that Zhou Xiaoya would emerge victorious.

However, Chen Fei was not one to be belittled either, and thus, her supporters were also aplenty.

As the crowd gathered on the Alchemy faculty peak, the ant-like scores of people were discussing endlessly, spreading furiously in all directions.

Everyone’s gaze was fixed on the Public Square in the middle, which was now empty except for two girls, each sitting cross legged beside an alchemical cauldron.

Both girls looked extraordinary, despite being a little young. Zhou Xiaoya was now staring at Chen Fei with anger in her eyes. Chen Fei was tall, and even though she was meditating with her legs crossed, her slender, hourglass figure could be seen, which attracted a lot of attention from pairs of eyes filled with passion. However, she was distant and proud, and the more she appeared cold and unapproachable, the more charming she was to the others.

“Zhou Xiaoya will definitely win! The formula belonged to Zhou Xiaoya in the first place!”

“That’s difficult to say. I think that it is more likely that the formula belonged to Chen Fei. After all, as a fourth-year senior student, she will have plenty of experience. What’s more, she has such a good figure and a beautiful face!”

Amid the discussion, the Chancellors, Vice-Chancellor, and an elder from the Alchemy Pavilion arrived and took their seats in the front row. Instantly, the noise from the crowd simmered down.

The Chancellor and the elder from the Alchemy Pavilion exchanged glances and nodded to each other. Gao Quan, the Vice-Chancellor, then took a deep breath before stepping up to look at Zhou Xiaoya and Chen Fei. When his gaze fell on Zhou Xiaoya, he paused slightly before speaking sternly.

“The refinement assessment of the Cloud Breath Pill begins now!”

Zhou Xiaoya and Chen Fei stood up immediately and began refining the Cloud Breath Pill with all eyes on them!

Instantly, both herbal alchemical cauldrons glowed.

Time crawled, and after half an hour, when the both of them had crossed the half-way mark of the refinement process, Wang Baole, who was in his cave abode on Upper Academy Island, finally produced his hundredth perfect first-grade Dharmic Artifact at this crucial juncture, based on his previous estimation of the time needed.

Wang Baole was agitated as he looked at the palm-sized shield that he had just refined in front of him that was glowing brightly. He stood up, filled with exhilaration.

I have finally succeeded! The timing is just right; Bunny’s assessment should still be going on!

Excited, Wang Baole took a deep breath and opened up the voice transmission jade slip to take a look. After confirming that the assessment was still in progress, he immediately walked out of the cave abode and entered the cruiser, dashing straight toward the Lower Academy Island.

It will be fine if Bunny lost on fair grounds. However, if someone creates trouble after she has won, I would love to see for myself who that daring fella is!

Wang Baole stood on the cruiser in midair, a look of ferocity prominent in his eyes as he increased his speed.