A World Worth Protecting

Li Wan’er gave Wang Baole a deep, meaningful look when she heard what he said. Then, she turned and left the cave. The back of her figure was well-curved and beautiful, and the aura exuding from her person was frosty like a glacier. Her eyes spoke a warning for others to stay far, far away from her. Wang Baole turned sullen.

I did save her life, after all. In any case, both of us took advantage of each other last night. I was taken advantage of too! How dare she threaten me! Wang Baole simmered with rage and injustice. After some thought, he decided there was no need for him to reveal his honest thoughts. This was a strategic move, a pretense of weakness, a ploy to trick the enemy—it wasn’t actual weakness or cowardice on his part.

The thought bolstered his confidence, and he walked out of the cave with his hands behind his back.

He emerged to a sun-lit, clear-skied world surrounded by ice and snow. It was nothing like last night. There were no signs of decomposition, making the blood-colored fog and winds of last night seemed like a dream. It was as if they had never appeared.

But the fact was, they had. Wang Baole and Li Wan’er were very certain of that. As they stood in silence, they keenly felt the bizarreness that had descended upon Mars.

They couldn’t shake off the feeling that every moment they spent standing there was dangerous. Li Wan’er retrieved her cruiser hastily, and Wang Baole leaped onboard hurriedly. Under Li Wan’er’s steering, the cruiser dashed at a startling speed towards the Martian City.

Their voice transmission rings had come online again. During their return journey, both Wang Baole and Li Wan’er received a flood of messages. Wang Baole had received news from Lin Tianhao and other teachers from the Dao Mountain Mist Academy, as well as transmissions from Jin Duoming and a few anonymous senders.

The Ethereal Dao College’s Sect Lord had also sent him multiple transmissions. When Wang Baole saw them, he hurriedly read all of them and replied to them immediately. Then, he saw Jin Duoming’s transmission, and alarm flashed across his face instantly.

Last night, a third of Mars was covered in blood-colored fog and winds!

Wang Baole raised his head in alarm and shock. He looked at Li Wan’er and found the expression on her face equally somber. Clearly, she had received more details on what had happened due to her status and office.

Wang Baole had guessed right. Li Wan’er was one of the main people in charge of the Colony Disciplinary Order, so she had received a comprehensive update on the situation. She knew that while the fog had dispersed at their location, more than half of the regions that had been besieged by this phenomena were still currently covered in fog.

Li Wan’er thought about how bizarre the entire situation was and the terrifying effects of the blood-colored fog, and she realized the gravity of the situation. If they didn’t get to the bottom of this, it would remain a potential disaster waiting to blow up again. It had appeared outside the colony city this time. If it appeared inside the city the next time…

The look on Li Wan’er’s face grew solemn as she imagined the scene. She increased the cruiser speed and forced it to go faster. It roared as it dashed ahead. She knew that there was going to be a mountain of work related to the mysterious fog waiting for her and her team to investigate and handle.

Wang Baole tried to get his thoughts to settle. He frowned as he stared at his voice transmission ring. One of the messages that he had received was from the academy’s teacher, informing him that the military had come looking for him last night. In his absence, they had taken Lin Tianhao instead.

The academy was unsure of the exact reason. Wang Baole immediately pulled out his voice transmission ring and sent a message to Lin Tianhao, but he received radio silence. It was clear that Lin Tianhao’s communication with the outside world had been cut off.

After a moment of silence, Wang Baole turned towards Li Wan’er.

“Last night, the military came looking for me at the academy. They took my vice dean in the end. You have a clearer picture of what’s going on. Do you know why they did that?”

Li Wan’er frowned. She threw a glance towards Wang Baole. Normally, she would have ignored him, but at present, after a few moments of silence, she pulled out her voice transmission ring and asked a few questions. After a while, without even turning her head, she spoke coolly.

“Yesterday night, when the blood-colored fog and winds appeared, seven strange villages also appeared. Based on the assessment conducted via our array formation, the level of danger was deemed to be relatively low. The Governor ordered the military to send out seven teams to survey and investigate the areas. That was because the initial scan had shown the remnants of array formations and Dharmic treasures in the villages. Every team was to be accompanied by an Array Formation cultivator as well as a Dharmic Armament cultivator.”

Wang Baole realized what had transpired when he heard that. He couldn’t help but worry since Lin Tianhao had taken his place for the mission. He recalled how terrifying the blood-colored fog and winds had been, and anxiety and worry rose in his heart. He thought again about how the military had stepped in this time. Even the Governor was aware of the matter. Perhaps he was overthinking things. The military would have made sure they were fully prepared and equipped for the mission. They would have been sure of their mission’s success.

Li Wan’er seemed to notice Wang Baole’s worry. After a moment of silence, she spoke casually.

“Every team was allocated a Core Formation realm cultivator to hold the fort. Of course, when the military carries out any missions, all news and communications will be sealed. Participants in the mission aren’t allowed to contact anyone else in the outside world. What I’m telling you now is highly confidential. If you leak it…”

“I know, I know. That stone wall in the cave, right? That’ll be what will happen to me. I understand!” Wang Baole let loose a breath of relief when he heard what Li Wan’er had said. He stared at her. All of a sudden, he realized she wasn’t that bad after all.

Li Wan’er snorted. She didn’t say anything else. Instead, she pressed her cruiser to fly more quickly. Within a short span of time, they reached the edge of the Martian Colony City. Before they entered the city though, Li Wan’er fiddled with the cruiser’s configurations. A black glow suddenly appeared and enveloped the cruise as it shot through the city’s array formation. It entered the city’s peripheral city zone, Zone Thirty-Six, and abruptly stopped in a small secluded alley.

“Let’s go!”

Wang Baole knew that she didn’t wish for others to see them together. He didn’t waste time on words and leaped off the cruiser. Before he even landed on his feet, the cruiser roared and sped away into the distance.

As Wang Baole watched the cruiser speed off into the distance, a realization dawned on him. No one would find out what had happened between the two of them last night—it had become their secret.

Fine, I won’t beat Li Xiu up when I see him the next time. Wang Baole shook his head. He retrieved his own cruiser and headed for the Dao Mountain Mist Academy, arriving quickly. He didn’t sense anything amiss or different. The teachers were teaching, as usual, and the students were cultivation or attending classes, as usual.

It was clear that news about the blood-colored fog and winds had been sealed. Excluding a few select people, no one else knew anything about it. Wang Baole had only known about the situation because of what Jin Duoming had shared with him.

I hope everything’s going well for Tianhao. Wang Baole sighed after he returned to the academy. He knew that it was no use worrying, so he set aside his worries, focusing instead on handling school matters as well as his cultivation.

He continued to keep an eye on any changes on Mars. In order to ensure he received the latest news, he contacted many of his students’ parents. A few of them were from the military. When they realized that he was in the know, they hinted that they would immediately inform him when they received news of the seven teams.

After waiting a few days, Wang Baole received news. Out of the seven teams, one had returned. They carried information that Wang Baole was not privy to. There were also frequent updates from the other teams. They seemed to be safe, but due to certain complications, they required more time to complete the mission before they could return.

This was the same for Team Six, which Lin Tianhao was a part of.

At that juncture, Wang Baole could finally release a sigh of relief. He calmed himself down and continued his practice of the Lightning Dao: First Volume. He wanted to reach the peak of mid-stage Foundation Establishment realm as soon as possible. After that, he would be able to break through and advance to the late-stage Foundation Establishment realm.

He was almost done with the main outline for his stronghold blueprints. What was missing were the finer details. The general framework and design approach had been set. Besides fine tuning the design, he also needed to get enough construction puppets.

He redirected his focus towards the construction puppets. Days passed as he immersed in his research, and half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

The intermittent news from his students’ parents mentioned that the seven teams were doing well. In those two weeks, two teams had returned.

Seven days passed. Wang Baole was deep in meditation when the fourth team returned. Suddenly, from within his storage bracelet, a chirping sound rang out.

What is that noise? Wang Baole froze. He opened his eyes suddenly and stared at his storage bracelet with shock. With a flip of his palm, he opened it and began digging through its contents. With an odd expression on his face, he pulled out an egg.

It was the size of his palm. It was the monster egg that he had received from the instructor during his hundred seedlings’ cultivation camp. He still remembered that the instructor had told him that the egg had been found in the Sea of Beasts and that they had no idea what it would hatch into.

Besides Wang Baole, Kong Dao had received an egg as well.

Wang Baole had brought the egg back to the Ethereal Dao College and arranged for someone to incubate it. The incubation period had been quite long, and the egg had finally shown signs of hatching just before his journey to Mars. He had simply thrown it into his storage bracelet. However, because of the series of events that had followed after his arrival on Mars, and the fact that the egg had not actually hatched, he had almost forgotten about its existence.

Now that he had taken it out from his storage bracelet, he could see the cracks on its shell. Waves of spirit energy at the True Breath realm emanated from the egg…

It seemed like it was about to hatch at any time!

At the True Breath realm already when it’s barely hatched? Wang Baole was shocked and became excited.

I wonder what it’ll look like? It must be a bird. This looks just like a bird’s egg. Maybe it’s a legendary holy condor that’s super amazing and looks as handsome as I am!