A World Worth Protecting

“Since I began my cultivation, no one in the same realm as me has dared to speak to me in such a manner. Needless to say, it has never happened before with someone like you who is merely a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator!” The chill in Li Wan’er’s eyes intensified, and a dangerous aura spread from her body, making all the items in the entire office vibrate ever so slightly.

In the face of Li Wan’er’s suppressive force, Wang Baole raised his brows and laughed.

“What a coincidence! Every single person who said such a thing to me has been killed by me. Shall we compare to see who has killed more Foundation Establishment cultivators?” Wang Baole narrowed his eyes and spoke calmly, and a frightening aura emerged from his body as well as he prepared to fight.

If he were still in the early-stage of Foundation Establishment like previously, he would perhaps not have the guts to do what he was doing now. However, as he advanced to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, riding on the Heavenly Thunder, possessing the Dharmic Armament, and coupled with his immense physical strength, Wang Baole’s unhappiness towards the Colony Disciplinary Order that arose previously now showed signs of erupting.

Seeing that they were clashing with each other and that their hostile auras were growing stronger, Li Wan’er suddenly stood up. She didn’t make an attack and instead pushed opened the windows with her hands and stepped out. Instantly, a cruiser appeared, landing at her feet.

“Aren’t you asking me if I made any judgment errors? Come on board, I’ll show you what real proof and evidence is!” Li Wan’er spoke indifferently.

Wang Baole took a look at Li Wan’er and weighed the consequences before stepping into Li Wan’er’s cruiser. Immediately, the cruiser picked up speed and went into the distance, so fast that perhaps the other people from the Colony Disciplinary Order might not have realized what had happened.

The high traveling speed of the cruiser, coupled with the fact that it was made specifically for the Colony Disciplinary Order, bestowed it with such authority that it was able to disregard the outermost layer of array formation protection surrounding the Mars Colonial City, and before long, it had emerged out of the Colonial City!

It was now winter on Mars. The winds froze one to the bone, with temperatures at an extreme low. As the cruiser charged at high speed, its temperature increased, which led to the inevitable formation of frost layers.

A glow flashed across Wang Baole’s eyes. When he first emerged from Mars City, he contacted Ethereal Dao College’s Sect Lord with his jade slip to inform him about what was going on. He then kept the jade slip, looking coldly at Li Wan’er as he tried to judge if she had connections to the giant tree.

However, if they were indeed connected, the voice transmissions he sent out would definitely be blocked. Since he could still send out voice transmissions, as usual, it pointed towards Li Wan’er not sharing a relationship with the giant tree.

Noticing that Wang Baole was sending a voice transmission, a look of disdain appeared in Li Wan’er’s eyes. She didn’t say anything, simply continuing the journey in the cruiser as it traveled further away from Mars Colonial City until it reached a barren plain.

The plain was all white, entirely covered with snow. There were some small, scattered areas which the snow didn’t cover, revealing the deep red-colored ground.

The cruiser slowly landed. Li Wan’er leaped and alighted from the cruiser, landing on the snow. Wang Baole frowned, narrowing his eyes as he followed suit. It was then that Li Wan’er took out a jade slip, which she pressed while aiming it on the ground.

When she pressed the jade slip, a purple glow emerged from it, which immediately spread in all directions, causing Wang Baole’s pupils to constrict. He saw that the entire area began to be warped, turning blurry. Soon, like a broken mirror, the hundreds of feet of snow surrounding them disappeared, and an underground cave appeared!

It appeared as though the cave had been there since the beginning. The array formation left by people covered it, making it impossible for outsiders to explore it.

Wang Baole’s breathing grew rapid when he saw the underground cave. When he looked towards Li Wan’er, she had already taken the lead and entered the cave. Soon, her voice emerged from underground.

“What’s the matter? You’re afraid to come down here? Didn’t you want real evidence?”

Wang Baole narrowed his eyes and raised his hands. Instantly, the seventh-grade Dharmic Armament appeared in his hands. He turned and charged into the underground cave. The temperature inside the cave was significantly higher than that outside. Looking into the distance, there was a passageway. Wang Baole walked along it to the end, where he saw Li Wan’er and a scene that made him extremely shocked!

In the depths of the underground cave was a secret chamber weakly lit by Spirit Stones. However, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he could see everything clearly despite the low visibility.

Right now, the door to the secret chamber was already open, and he could see that there were receptacles placed everywhere inside it. Taking a closer look at the contents of these receptacles, he realized that human organs were being stored in them!

Some of them even contained the corpses of babies!

A significant number of them contained unrecognizable pieces of bloody flesh. Wang Baole was unable to identify every single one of them, but it was clear to him that the existence of the secret chamber was sinister.

That alone caused Wang Baole to breathe heavily. There were limits to humanity that shouldn’t be breached. What Wang Baole saw before him severely violated the principles of being human!

“See all of this?” Li Wan’er remained expressionless as she took out a jade slip with a wave of her right hand. After grabbing hold of it, a scene immediately played out through the glow that emerged from the jade slip.

The scenario depicted the secret chamber. The only difference was that instead of Wang Baole and Li Wan’er, there was a middle-aged man. With just a single glance, Wang Baole immediately recognized that the man was the teacher that had been apprehended by the Colony Disciplinary Order.

In the image, the man was meditating with his legs crossed. His facial expressions were frightening, and he appeared to be going through cultivation. There were receptacles containing the human organs placed around him, and he seemed to be in the process of absorbing a mysterious force!

This scene made Wang Baole solemn as he took a deep breath. He knew deep in his heart that the Colony Disciplinary Order was properly handling the matter. He wanted to say something, but Li Wan’er didn’t give him a chance to, as she immediately kept the jade slip and began speaking coldly.

“The reason why this area is preserved is to lure his accomplice. Bringing you here can be considered an exception. You aren’t to question future matters of the Colony Disciplinary Order!”

With that, Li Wan’er turned and walked towards the passageway with a cold expression on her face. Wang Baole was somewhat embarrassed. If it was in a different setting and someone were to speak to him this way, he would have flipped. However, he wasn’t the least bit angry now. In his embarrassment, he quickly followed behind Li Wan’er. Looking at her shockingly attractive figure accentuated by her tight-fitting uniform, Wang Baole uncontrollably thought of the incident where Li Xiu wanted him as a brother-in-law.

However, just as the thought circled around Wang Baole’s mind, an unusual transformation suddenly occurred outside the cave!

A loud boom emerged and spread from outside the underground cave. It sounded as if a large number of people were crying pitifully, their cries spreading in all directions. Li Wan’er and Wang Baole grew solemn as they noticed that blood-colored winds were blowing towards them from the wilderness a distance away from the plains!

This blood-colored wind could perhaps be better described not as wind, but as fog. It was as if the tides swept towards them from all directions from a distance, covering a large area and at such a high speed that if one were to observe from above, one would see that it was boundless. It was like a red-colored sea, churning from a distance.

They didn’t have time to rush out. Almost immediately, the blood-colored wind enveloped Wang Baole and Li Wan’er in the zone where the underground cave was.

The cries grew even more pitiful as if innumerable wandering spirits were crying out all their sufferings within the blood-colored fog. Hearing it, one could feel chills down their spine as if they had come into contact with spirits. Instinctively, fear and shock arose in their hearts. At the same time, there were sounds of grinding teeth reverberating from within the fog.

All of it was harrowing, and as Wang Baole and Li Wan’er were frozen with surprise at the cave being enveloped, the cries reverberated. The entire area was covered with the blood-colored fog, which decreased the visibility. At the same time, the Spirit Qi within their bodies lost vitality right at that moment!

As if being restricted, they could no longer feel their Spirit Qi; it was as if it had completely disappeared. Li Wan’er’s breathing quickened as she shrieked.

“Spirit Restriction!”

“What’s going on!”

A torrent of thoughts crashed in Wang Baole’s mind. Similarly, he couldn’t feel the existence of his Spirit Qi. Even the green lotus seemed to have broken off all ties with him. Wang Baole could only vaguely feel the devouring seed, even though it was also being affected.

This weak sense required time before it could be completely detected. Within this time, his Spirit Qi disappeared, unable to be activated. In that moment, a cultivator was turned into a commoner!

The voice transmission ring, the storage bracelet… They all lost their function. Everything that was related to Spirit Qi was being forbidden!

Thankfully, the foundation of life formed through one’s cultivation was unaffected. Therefore, one’s breathing wasn’t affected as quickly. However, there was no time to lose, as one would endanger their lives if they were out of the City for a prolonged period of time.

Everything happened too quickly. The vanishing of one’s cultivation and the Spirit Restriction, coupled with the extinguishing of the light from the Spirit Stones, rapidly decreased their visibility. At the same time, the pitch-black surroundings became even more prominent. Luckily, Wang Baole still held a weak connection with the devouring seed, which allowed him to maintain his field of vision slightly. He vaguely saw that the red fog had already spread into the underground cave’s passageway, and signs of the mud rotting appeared wherever the fog passed.

At the same time, Wang Baole instinctively sensed an extreme level of danger. If he were to come into contact with the red fog, there was no doubt that he would die. Therefore, he grabbed hold of Li Wan-er, who had lost all her spirit energy, and he charged towards the secret chamber.

Li Wan’er wanted to struggle but also seemed to have felt the danger from the fast approaching fog. Therefore, without needing Wang Baole to pull her along, she quickly charged towards the secret chamber.

However, it was still too late for both of them. The blood-colored fog churned, and it only spread through half the passageway without advancing further. However, when the duo entered the secret chamber and shut the secret chamber door behind them, a small portion of the fog seemed to have sensed Wang Baole and chased after them like a living creature. It followed the door as it was closing, wriggling into Wang Baole through his nose and mouth!

Wang Baole was shocked and instantly felt an indescribable pain in his body as if his life and spirit were dissolving. Thankfully, it was only a tiny portion of the red fog, and Wang Baole’s body could disintegrate it. Therefore, the pain was only temporary, disappearing as quickly as it appeared. However, he already burst out in a sweat, and a sense of weakness instantly appeared.

In that pitch-black environment, the duo waited for a moment while still on high alert. Realizing that the red fog only seemed to have spread through half the length of the passageway without advancing further into the secret chamber, they finally heaved a sigh of relief.

What they didn’t know was that this red fog didn’t only appear where they were; instead, it had emerged simultaneously in many locations on Mars!