A World Worth Protecting

The black leaf wasn’t formed naturally, and its veins weren’t formed by nature either. If one took a closer look, he would realize that the leaf’s veins looked more like… skin!

It was indeed a leaf formed by the skin of a live man!

The appearance of the leaf brought with it mumbling sounds. The sounds carried a hint of madness and pain, and they were like a hurricane sweeping in all directions, one that wanted to suppress everything. It made the surrounding wronged spirits tremble as if they had lost consciousness.

Leveraging on the suppressive force from the black leaf, the three extraterrestrial cultivators picked up speed and emerged out of the barrier formed by the Spirit Sea, stepping into the vortex. However, when they stepped in, the cultivator with the centipede on his face turned ghastly white. The black leaf he was holding was now stuck to his forehead, wriggling as if it was sucking blood from his glabella.

Apparently, this Dharmic treasure was something he wouldn’t use haphazardly. Once used, he would have to pay a huge price. Therefore, when he was pursuing Wang Baole previously, he used the treasure that he had nurtured for thirty years and not this Dharmic treasure.

However, at that moment, even though a crisis hadn’t struck, he had a strong premonition that if he didn’t enter the vortex and grab hold of Wang Baole, that it was very likely that he would be trapped there. He felt that if that happened, eventually, he would be teetering on the brink of death.

This world was extremely hostile to them but extremely kind to Wang Baole, which made them shudder!

As the trio charged into the vortex, the vortex shut and vanished. The Spirit Sea passageway also disappeared, and normalcy returned to the Spirit Sea. It was as if nothing had happened. The waves were still crashing, and the cries from the spirits could still be heard.

Wang Baole had long sensed the kindness granted to him by this world. To put it more accurately, it was a calling for him that influenced this world, making all kinds of barriers disappear before him.

It even helped to block the people who were pursuing him. However, Wang Baole was unsure of this matter and had started to become suspicious of Little Missy’s words. He felt that it was too much of a coincidence that Little Missy went into hibernation the moment he entered.

Either I’m thinking too much and Little Missy is right, or… The Dark Art that I have cultivated has resulted in a mysterious change to the Dark Artifact! Wang Baole took a deep breath and looked towards his surroundings. A glow was revealed in the depths of his eyes.

He was no longer in the Spirit Sea, but on the second level of the Spirit Sea in the underground world!

Even though the sky on the second level of the underground world was still composed of mud and dull-red in color, it wasn’t as well lit by the stars. Rather, it glowed on its own, and despite it not being very bright, the entire world was a shade of dull red as it shone through the sky.

It looked like… blood from a dead person!

Looking at the ground, there were a large number of tombstones!

The tombstones were of various sizes, with some broken and some intact. They looked horrifying, and in the area further away, in the region where there were no tombstones, there were numerous tomb mounds of varying sizes!

A strong vibe of death seemed to have accumulated for many years there, filling the entire environment with decay and vicissitude.

Wang Baole held his breath, looking at his surroundings and sensing the calling that emerged from it, which grew even stronger here. As Wang Baole observed his surroundings, the tomb mound a distance away suddenly vibrated, and a withered hand emerged from beneath the mud!

Wang Baole’s pupils constricted, and he was about to retreat when the extended hand seemed to send a signal. Instantly, numerous withered hands emerged consecutively from the tomb mounds, with withered skulls even emerging from some of them!

In the blink of an eye, the entire ground seemed to be wriggling as an uncountable number of corpses emerged at increasing speed from the tomb mounds!

The moment they emerged, the corpses screamed voicelessly. The screams were inaudible, and only the cultivator’s spiritual consciousness could sense it and be shaken by it.

It appeared as if they hadn’t smelled the scent of fresh flesh and blood for a long time. The corpses that emerged out of the tombs all looked at Wang Baole, screaming as they clambered towards him.

However, the moment they neared, Wang Baole activated the Dark Fire in his body without hesitation. Instantly, Dark Fire appeared in his eyes, and the chilly aura was completely unleashed. The corpses that charged towards him were all shocked as they retreated. Wang Baole, on the other hand, felt that the call for him had grown even stronger.

At the same time, while the calling grew stronger, the original grave land before Wang Baole suddenly sank amidst the loud boom, revealing a huge cave. The moment the cave appeared, the voice of the call reverberated extremely loudly in Wang Baole’s mind.

“Dark Child… Come… Come…”

Wang Baole wasn’t surprised by what had just happened. He had long expected something like this to occur. After all, that was the case when he was on the first level of the underground world. Right now, there was a look of determination in his eyes. Since he was already there, he would still eventually have to take a look at what started everything. Furthermore, he had no other way out. As such, he gritted his teeth and charged towards the cave.

It was also at this time that an empty space beside a graveyard warped and formed a giant vortex. The three extraterrestrial cultivators and the purple blood doll emerged from it.

However, the moment they emerged, the corpses that had emerged from the graves roared and charged towards them, before they could even take a clear look at this world.

If one stood on the clouds and lowered his head, he could see that there were so many corpses that it was impossible to count. They were densely packed, charging towards the trio from all directions. A distance away, even more corpses were rapidly climbing out of their graves and joining the rest in closing in on the trio.

Seeing what was happening, the three extraterrestrial cultivators were all extremely indignant. They saw Wang Baole running towards a cave formed in the ground, which appeared to be the exit.

They had watched as Wang Baole escaped before their eyes again and again, and this made the trio’s desire to kill, as was as their rage, uncontrollable. That was especially so for the man with the centipede on his face. He had always had a sharp intuition, and now he had a strong gut feeling that they must definitely not let Zhuo Yixian continue. If not, the tides would certainly turn.

With that thought, the desire to kill was unleashed and visible through his eyes. Between hand seals, the black leaf appeared once again. With a wave, the leaf appeared to pass through nothingness as it flew directly towards Wang Baole.

Even if the surrounding corpses were blocking it, the leaf was so fast and harnessed so much energy that it cleared a path amongst the crowd of corpses. In the blink of an eye, it was merely a thousand feet from Wang Baole!

Based on the speed of the leaf, it was impossible for Wang Baole to enter the underground cave before the leaf went through his body and destroyed him. A strong sense of crisis instantly erupted in Wang Baole’s mind.

With no means to hide and no means to block it, death would be inevitable!

However, Wang Baole was unwilling to accept that. Blue veins popped up on his forehead, and as he roared with his deep voice, four Heavenly Thunders emerged from his body. While he tried to block it, Dark Fire also emerged!

The moment the Dark Fire emerged, heaven and earth shook. The entire second level of the underground world seemed to gain a strong consciousness which carried rage, anxiousness, and a voiceless scream, all of which transformed into a law of consciousness that spread in all directions.

This law of consciousness caused all the tombstones to be ripped off the ground in the blink of an eye, amidst the loud boom. They seemed to be drawn in by a force, and instantly formed a blockade between Wang Baole and the incoming black leaf!

Banging sounds erupted continuously. The tombstones that were blocking the leaf were instantly devastated and broken into pieces as they were being passed through. However, there were so many tombstones, and all of them appeared so quickly that the distance of a thousand feet seemed further than it really was. Countless tombstones transmogrified endlessly, forming a continuous barrier that reduced the power of the black leaf.

The leaf went through the last tombstone that appeared and neared Wang Baole, destroying his Heavenly Thunder and landing on his chest after going through his Dark Fire!

Wang Baole trembled, fresh blood spewing out of his mouth. He could only feel a strong force crushing his chest, and that most of his bones were broken. However, he didn’t die!

The leaf was strong, but the law of consciousness in this world weakened it considerably. Wang Baole was also physically tough, and most importantly, his speed of recovery was astonishing. All these reasons allowed Wang Baole to survive despite being severely injured!

As he struggled, he leveraged on this force to retreat, stepping and disappearing into the cave. The cave then disappeared, which resulted in the entire area being stripped of an exit!