A World Worth Protecting

After he returned to the cave abode, Wang Baole began his frenzied seclusion.

Wang Baole had undergone such seclusions a few times in the past when he wanted to become a Head Prefect. However, compared to his determination now, it was lacking.

After all, the sense of danger and urgency was different.

However, despite Wang Baole’s determination, there were more than a million Inscriptions, and it was impossible to memorize them all in a short period of time. Nevertheless, his goal was only to exceed 400,000 inscriptions—just to exceed Cao Kun.

But this was too difficult. After all, Wang Baole was not a top student. If he had been given a few decades, he might have been able to surpass Cao Kun, but it was unrealistic.

Thus, he placed his hope in Xie Haiyang. Unfortunately, even the all-capable Xie Haiyang was out of his depth this time. To get these kinds of high-quality memory-aiding pills—if it had only been a few—would not have been a problem; however, Wang Baole needed a shockingly large number of them.

He was even afraid that Wang Baole would eat the pills to death.

Even after exhausting all his options, he still needed a large amount of time to get Wang Baole’s desired number of pills. Xie Haiyang calculated that he needed at least two years.

When he told Wang Baole of his conclusion, Wang Baole was somewhat discouraged. He could not wait. Even if he had memorized 400,000 inscriptions within two years, Cao Kun would have memorized even more. With such a recurring cycle, he was worried that he would never be able to surpass the other party.

Wang Baole did not want his days of diminished influence to last long, nor did he want the days of Zhang Lan and his friends’ pride and the days of Liu Daobin and the others’ imprisonment to be any longer than necessary.

Then there is only this method! Wang Baole sucked in a deep breath and took out the black mask. Seeing the black mask in his hand, there was hesitation on his face. Wang Baole felt too much doubt toward this mask as he did not know where his father had gotten it from.

He had thought before of sending a voice transmission to his father to ask, but he had resisted. This mask was truly exceedingly extraordinary, and Wang Baole was worried that if someone leaked the secret, it would invite unnecessary trouble for his family. So, he planned to wait until he returned home during the holidays to ask.

He hesitated for a long time, but eventually, gritting his teeth, he entered the hallucination realm. His eyes blurred, and he appeared on the familiar ice sheet.

Frosty winds blew from all sides, seemingly piercing through his bones, and there were shadows of savage beasts appearing occasionally in the distance. Further in the distance, he could even see the hazy outline of icy mountains.

Everything in this hallucination realm had become even more real compared to the last time Wang Baole had visited.

After receiving the Great Void Qi Devouring Art from the mask and becoming Head Prefect, Wang Baole had been unwilling to enter the hallucination realm again. One reason was that he had suspected before that there was someone in the mask, and ten to one, it was a woman. But this was not the main point. The most important point, and the one that made Wang Baole the gloomiest, was the endless pain that he had experienced while learning the Void Twisting Technique.

Even while standing there, he felt a dull pain start in his crotch.

However, there really was no other way. Wang Baole sighed, gritted his teeth, and took out the mask. After muttering a few sentences to himself, he coughed once.

“That… You don’t have any way that will let me memorize a million Inscriptions in a few days, do you?”

When Wang Baole finished speaking, he immediately looked at the mask. However, even after looking for a long time, the mask did not react at all. Wang Baole was stunned.

It doesn’t work anymore? Surprised, Wang Baole scratched his head. He thought for a moment, then spoke in a low voice.

“I know you can hear me. Um, a while ago, because I had some things, I didn’t come. It’s not because I was kicking you to the curb once you had outlived your usefulness—don’t misunderstand.”

As Wang Baole spoke, he sized up the mask, and when he found that there was still no reaction, he panicked.

“Little Missy, don’t be like this. I was wrong, okay? I promise I will never abandon you; I will definitely come to see you often. Little Missy, just help me this once.”

This was the last straw Wang Baole was clutching at. He was worried that if there was no response from the mask, from now on, his days at the Dharmic Armament faculty would be unbearable.

At this thought, Wang Baole’s forehead started sweating. He sucked in a deep breath to ferment his feelings and quickly used a sincere tone—as though flattering a girl—to cajole the mask, even making his voice as gentle as possible.

“Little Missy, actually I’ve always had a crush on you. I really don’t dare meet you. I am this embarrassed, and I’m shy…”

Even till the end, there was still no reaction. Wang Baole was frantic and used his biggest move.

“Little Missy, do you want a gift?” As soon as Wang Baole finished speaking, the black mask suddenly flickered. In Wang Baole’s eyes, this flickering light was as though he had seen a resplendent rainbow. With his morale boosted, he immediately looked and saw a line of writing on the surface of the mask.

“What gift?”

Wang Baole blinked, confirming to himself that there was indeed a person inside. Clearing his throat, he adopted a look of deep feeling and spoke in a low tone.

“I’ll gift myself to you ¹ , do you want it?”

Just as he finished speaking, the flickering mask paused suddenly. Purple lightning flew out from the mask and headed straight toward Wang Baole.

Wang Baole watched the lightning grow bigger in his eyes, without any time at all to dodge. With a bang, the bolt of lightning hit him, and as he screamed, his hair stood on end. He could only feel pain, and his whole person fell. Only after a long while did he crawl to his feet, crying, both angry and upset.

“Even if you didn’t want it, you didn’t have to zap me, Little Missy…”

This time, the mask did not send out lightning. Instead, under the flickering light, rows of blurred writing emerged. The emergence of the writing made Wang Baole forget his pain, and he quickly paid attention.

It was just that these words were blurred, and he could not see them clearly. He could only see that as the flickering lights of the mask grew bright, the writing on its surface increased. However, very quickly, the writing disappeared. It was as if the mask was wiping it away and writing anew.

It gave Wang Baole the feeling as though the Little Missy in the mask was thinking derivatively. Just looking made Wang Baole anxious. After five minutes, all the writing on the mask disappeared, and what re-emerged was actually… a formula!

Beneath this formula, more writing appeared quickly.

It told Wang Baole clearly that he only needed to faithfully remember this formula, along with memorizing a few crucial Inscriptions, and he could use this formula to calculate everything else.

Within those one hundred and fifty thousand Inscriptions that Wang Baole had memorized, he had already grasped those crucial Inscriptions and was fully qualified to use this formula to make his calculations.

Seeing this formula, Wang Baole’s breathing grew agitated. He showed a strong gaze, and with a huge grin, he kissed the mask furiously.

The moment his mouth landed, lightning exploded. It scared Wang Baole so much that he moved his mouth and started to explain awkwardly, “Misunderstanding, this is a misunderstanding. I was too rash. Don’t get nervous, Little Missy!”

It was quite some time before the lightning on the mask disappeared. Terrified, Wang Baole wiped his sweat, let out a sigh, and memorized the formula. However, very quickly, he discovered a problem.

“That’s not right, Little Missy. Although this formula doesn’t require me to memorize that much, if I use it on artifact refinement, I need to do calculations. To magically calculate the answer in such a short time for it to be valid… If I calculate too slowly and don’t grasp what the artifact refinement requires in time, I may as well flip the inscription dictionary.

“This mental calculation can’t be mastered in a short period of time.”

At this, Wang Baole became frantic again. It was just as though hope was right before him, but he had no way of grasping it.

Just as Wang Baole finished speaking, the mask flickered, and more writing appeared. This time, it told Wang Baole that if he practiced the calculation for the formula within the hallucination realm, it would have an extremely supportive effect.

“Practice here?” Amid Wang Baole’s astonishment, the words on the mask changed again. A row of Inscriptions appeared, as though it wanted Wang Baole to immediately use the formula to calculate the answer.

Wang Baole scratched his head and looked at the row of Inscriptions. Even before putting them in the formula, the entire process was a few breaths long. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning unexpectedly exploded from the mask and landed on Wang Baole’s body with a boom. It seemed that if he exceeded the time limit for calculation, he would be shocked by lightning as a punishment.

“Again?” Wang Baole whole body shook. In the midst of his screaming, his hair began to smoke, and he began wailing. But then at this time, the mask showed a second question.

Wang Baole’s body jolted, and his whole person felt as though he was going crazy. He quickly went to calculate, but he was too slow, and within a few seconds, the lightning landed again.

Just like that, in the hallucination realm, the screaming of Wang Baole reverberated in all directions again and again. The horror this time, although not as bad as being kicked in the crotch, had a high frequency and made Wang Baole feel that he was going crazy.

Amidst the thunderous booms of the lightning, Wang Baole’s screams grew more pathetic.

“I’m not learning anymore… Ah… It hurts!”

“Let me go… You’re zapping me again!”

Wang Baole was going mad. He had turned black from the shocks, and his body was emitting smoke. The pain left behind by the lightning made him feel as though he was going to break down. As he wailed, he felt that this was heaven’s most poisonous punishment.

This mask definitely doesn’t harbor a Little Missy but an old witch!

Wang Baole wailed, but he also knew that this was the only way he could remember all the Inscriptions. So, he gritted his teeth, and with another lightning strike, he began to scream and calculate.