A World Worth Protecting

As the Dharmic Artifact was spinning at a dizzying speeds in the Dharmic Armament Pavilion cave abode, the order that Wang Baole transmitted to the brain was perfectly activated by the Dharmic Artifact. A momentary explosion resulted in the spirit fat within Wang Baole’s unconscious body to visibly disintegrate.

His body gradually recovered. However, the process—compared to normal slimming rates—was indescribably fast. Wang Baole’s body also trembled subconsciously.

If seen by others, this would be unnerving. They would not be able to help but be impressed by the fatty’s harshness and courage to slim down.

At the same time, in Wang Baole’s unconscious state, there was a forbidden zone that was off-limits to those not granted permission to access. It was found on the mountain peak of the Dao Enlightenment Pavilion, located at Upper Academy Island.

Looking from afar, the peak had a depression that looked like a lake. At the lakeside, there was a wooden house. At that moment, the Grand Supreme Elder, who had pointed at Wang Baole, was sitting there, looking at the water surface.

Along his gaze, the great competition within the Combat Pavilion appeared clearly beneath the water surface, just like the ones participated in by Wang Baole. In reality, it was just like a great competition that was held underwater.

Under his observation, the bald youth called Li Wuchen paced quickly from far, wearing an ugly expression. As he arrived, he took a deep breath to barely cool himself down. Walking up to the elder’s side, he quietly saluted him once.

“Master.”

“How do you feel?” his master asked with his eyes fixated on the lake surface, without looking back. At this moment, the large competition within the Combat Pavilion had already decided on who was the strongest from each mountain peak. The second round of the competition was beginning.

Upon hearing his master’s words, Li Wuchen, who could already hardly keep his cool, seemed to struggle to contain his anger even after taking a few consecutive deep breaths. He clenched his teeth.

“That Wang Baole was too shameless! I merely went to test him, yet he went on to swallow my Illusory Armament world and even digested a good half of it… Master, I suspect he was originally a beast!” Li Wuchen felt more exasperated at this moment.

Listening to the words of his disciple, the elder expression somewhat changed. Recalling what had happened earlier, he uncontrollably laughed and turned back to look at the still peeved Li Wuchen.

“Wuchen, why not let Wang Baole be your junior brother?” The elder deliberated, with his eyes having a glint.

“What?” Li Wuchen obviously did not expect that his own master would say such a thing. His mind buzzed. If Wang Baole became his junior brother, that would be extremely terrible in his mind. Li Wuchen became anxious. However, it would be impossible to persuade his master in such a situation. He can only speak indignantly.

“Master, you need to be careful when making such a decision. I am afraid that you may regret it in the future…”

The elder gave a faint smile and turned to look at the lake surface quietly. However, his eyes seemed to be filled with an even sharper glint. The smile at the corner of his lips did not fade away for a long time.

Seeing that his master seemed to have made his decision, Li Wuchen, depressed, could not help but look at the water drops of his own Illusory Weapon World. Particularly when he suddenly recalled that this was spat out from Wang Baole’s mouth, his anger uncontrollably shot up, his expression changed, and he sharply inhaled.

As time gradually elapsed, the Combat Pavilion’s competition finally ended after three days. Even though Lu Zihao finished strong, he did not come in as champion of the first level of the True Breath realm in the final match. At least, he managed to be among the top ten of those at the first level of the True Breath realm.

The champion this time round was Zhuo Yifan!

In third place was Chen Ziheng. As for the second, it was a female disciple called Wu Hui. She was lesser known. However, the assistant whom she invited was actually Zhao Yameng. With her help, Wu Hui was able to go all the way to the mountain peak. Furthermore, she was augmented by the array formation given by Zhao Yameng afterward, becoming the dark horse of the large competition.

At this moment, the Combat Pavilion’s competition finally ended. As the military and the Federation officials were leaving, the top ten warriors of the first to the fifth level of the Combat Pavilion immediately became famous on Upper Academy Island, catching the attention of many people.

In previous years, the supporting teammates of the other pavilions might be mentioned after the competition, but they would not have received as much attention as those victors of the competition. This was because the competition belonged to the Combat Pavilion after all.

However, this time around… it was different. This was due to the appearance of Wang Baole. Regardless of whether it was the advertisement about Dharmic Artifacts that displayed fireworks, his outburst during the battle with Li Wuchen, or his breakthrough in swallowing the water droplets to become a huge fatty, each of those acts was enough to discuss for days.

As such, his name was mentioned multiple times. In fact, he was gradually mentioned more often than the favored ones in the Combat Pavilion, becoming more famous. Even the victors of the competition were all struck dumb when they heard of Wang Baole’s feat.

However, the Wang Baole at the moment was still lying very still in his own cave abode, in a state of oblivion. His body would twitch once in a while. At the same time, his body was clearly slimming down, no longer as hefty as when he returned, gradually returning to his original size.

Only at dusk two days later, Wang Baole’s body, which was still lying there, jolted to life. He slowly opened his eyes, appearing lost. After Wang Baole regained full consciousness, he suddenly sat up, breathed heavily, and looked down to scrutinize his own body.

Noticing that his abdomen had become much smaller and that his body had fully recovered, Wang Baole was so excited that he immediately took a mirror to examine himself. Upon seeing that familiar face in the mirror, he could not help but laugh out loud.

Success! Things like slimming down is too easy for me! Wang Baole stood up while laughing wildly and continuously turned around in front of the mirror, becoming more and more excited.

I am still this slim and handsome! While being pleased with himself and high-spirited, Wang Baole could not help but raise his hand and thump his abdomen. Just as he was about to sigh emotionally, the thump stunned him and prompted him to look down suspiciously.

Why is it that I feel like I had hit something? Wang Baole touched carefully, while his facial expression suddenly changed for the worst.

What is this round thing? Wang Baole’s eyes opened widely, and his breath stop instantaneously. He immediately recalled the order that he had transmitted to his brain before he became unconscious.

It can’t be… Wang Baole’s head buzzed, and his face turned pale in fear. He quickly took a look and then heaved a sigh of relief. However, he was still stunned for a long while.

At this moment, there was an impressive fist-sized crystal in his body that was found on top of the devouring seed, which occupied his dantian. It seemed like a Spirit Stone but was blood red in color. In it, it seemed to encapsulate the amazing Spirit Qi. Upon sensing it a little, Wang Baole immediately drew a deep breath. Based on his own instincts, this crystal appeared to be like a bomb.

Once burst open, the huge amount of Spirit Qi emitted would definitely cause his body to explode straightaway.

What is this, could this be a kidney stone? A kidney stone formed by highly concentrated Spirit Qi? Wang Baole was quite nervous. After observing it closely, he was taken aback.

Although about ninety percent of the spirit fat in his body had disappeared and his cultivation level had risen a little, he did not feel it strongly. Combining with his recollections of the order that he had transmitted before losing consciousness, the origin of this crystal became perfectly clear.

“Just because I tricked my brain that I was pregnant, the spirit fats dissolved and released Spirit Qi. The Spirit Qi then coagulated to form this thing,” Wang Baole muttered in fascination, smiling bitterly for a long time.

It was good that he had realized that the meridians of the Spirit Qi were no longer the Spirit threads in the past. Instead, it seemed like countless threads had come together to form a small stream, flowing along his own meridians, making his own body clearly much stronger than before.

“The second level of the True Breath realm!” Feeling the cultivation level after his own transformation, Wang Baole was much better. He guessed that the stone was very powerful at a glance. If he slowly absorbed it, it would be comparable to pills, expediting his cultivation and refinement.

Wang Baole was excited by this thought and quickly had a go. He realized that as his cultivation was activated and the spirit stream was flowing along his meridians, the red stone indeed released some spirit energy. After being absorbed by the large network of spirit streams, Wang Baole was immediately stimulated.

This is fate! Wang Baole laughed wildly in elation. Realizing that he was truly at the second level of the True Breath realm, his burning excitement made him control the Spirit Qi in his body to concentrate on his palms, according to the spells recorded in the Cloud Ethereal technique. He raised his hand and clenched his fist. A fist-sized fireball immediately appeared with a bang.

Indeed, I no longer need to rely on talismans! Wang Baole’s eyes glittered, and he extinguished the fireball with a wave. He tried again, and small wind blades quickly appeared. This excited Wang Baole, prompting him to try over and over again. However, the Spirit Qi in his meridians seemed to deplete very quickly, making it hard for him to withstand the expenditure.

Looking at what happened, Wang Baole quickly stopped trying. After meditating for a while, he realized that the Spirit Qi in his meridians had recovered to normal, and he opened his eyes, unable to contain the look of excitement.