A World Worth Protecting

Wang Baole paid no attention to the escaping square-faced cultivator as it didn’t matter how fast he was going. The expression on Wang Baole’s face remained unchanged as he spoke the two words quietly. Corpse Face!

As soon as those words fell out of Wang Baole’s mouth, the mist blanketing the entire world suddenly rolled and rumbled. It erupted suddenly and surged outward in all directions, revealing the land that had been enveloped in mist.

However… the exposed land was no longer the same burial grounds. It had become a flat surface, like a mirror!

The edges of the mirror continued to expand. Within a few seconds, it caught up with and went past the fleeing square-faced cultivator. Waves of terror surged within the square-faced cultivator’s heart as an intense feeling of dread turned his already red eyes even redder—to the color of blood.

His gut told him that if he got trapped within the mirror, then… he would definitely be killed!

In his panic, his eyes grew wild. He didn’t hesitate and instead decided immediately to self-destruct his scales.

A series of rumbling began to sound within his body. With each booming sound, one of his scales would explode and burst into a blood-red mist. The mist was then sucked in through his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. It was like he was breathing in vitality, and his speed quickly increased.

He was using everything he had at this moment and running like a madman, but it was of no use!

If one were to look from an elevated spot, one would see clearly that this part of the underground world had completely transformed. It had become a flat, even mirror!

Not only was the ground a side of the mirror, but the entire world had become a side of the same mirror. Both the sky and the earth were faces of the mirror, and the distance between the sky and the earth was the thickness of the mirror!

The panicking square-faced cultivator was racing inside the mirror, trying to escape. That was why, no matter how fast he went and how hard he ran, he would never get out. Because he was already trapped… inside the mirror!

This was the power that Wang Baole could wield, the incomplete powers of the Dark Artifact. After he branded his Artifact Spirits and fused it with his array formation, it transformed the world into a mirror! The mirror looked like the Dark Mirror that Wang Baole had practiced painting Corpse Faces on in his Dark Dream!

Wang Baole lifted his right hand and pointed towards the abyss. A black light shot out from his finger and seemed to pierce the abyss. It landed on the mirror and became the tip of a brush, forming a light stroke!

It was like his Dark Dream, when he had drawn the faces that the souls would have in their next lives. The brush stroke landed on the square-faced cultivator, causing him to shudder and his eyes to widen. He felt an invisible yet immense power, one that seemed to represent fate and the laws of this heaven and earth, descend upon him. He was helpless to fight back.

With a sudden rumbling, he felt a gust of wind pass him. When it left, his eyes were gone as well!

“Senior, please, spare my life. Please, listen to me. I can explain…” The man let loose a terrified cry. He was filled with terror, and now his vision was black. Everything that was happening made him instinctively feel that this was an attack from some indescribable presence within the Dark Artifact, so he hurriedly begged for his life.

However, no matter how hard he cried for mercy, it couldn’t stop the descent of this incredible power. Wang Baole drew another experienced stroke. The man’s nose, his ears, even his mouth, vanished instantly. His voice was silenced, and only his body remained trembling violently.

At the same time, a heart-piercing, soul-shattering agony surfaced in the man’s consciousness as Wang Baole drew his third stroke. He couldn’t shout. He could only remain silent as his body was pulled by an immense force, turning what had been thin and weak into a fat and rotund body!

This was indeed the case. Wang Baole had mastered the Corpse Face Mystic Art. With a few strokes, he had changed the appearance of the man completely. His body was like a mountain of flesh, and his face was blank with no facial features—it was like a blank board.

However, a set of chubby features appeared on this blank board as Wang Baole continued to paint. As they surfaced, the man could finally scream again. He could finally see what was going on around him.

The man soon knew that his pain had just started, with the end nowhere in sight. He heard a dissatisfied snort. Then, his features were wiped clean again. He was given another look.

Wang Baole remained dissatisfied. He felt that he had drawn the man too handsome. With a wave of his hand, he continued to wipe the man’s face clean and paint anew. It took a few rounds, and the man kept undergoing indescribable pain every time. Finally, he had no energy left for screaming. In his weakness, bewilderment and despair shone in his eyes.

“I haven’t painted in quite a while, I’ve become rusty…” Wang Baole grumbled in annoyance at his repeated unsatisfactory works. He lifted his right hand and waved. A loud cracking sound rang out, and the entire mirror, as if hit by a sudden great power, shattered!

The face of the mirror broke into pieces, and the square-faced man trapped within shattered alongside the mirror!

After his series of actions, Wang Baole sighed with regret. He grabbed through the air, and a storage bag and a few scales appeared in his hand. He shifted and vanished, alongside the boat beneath his feet.

As he left, that part of the underground world gradually resumed its original state. It returned to what it had been—a burial ground. The blood moon in the skies faded away, and everything was as it had been.

Out of the three extraterrestrial Nascent Soul realm cultivators, one had perished!

During this time, on the first level of the underground world, the horse-faced cultivator was racing forward with terror painted on his face. A moment ago, he had been on the second level, attacking a weak point in the underground world with his two comrades. The next moment, before he had been able to react, a giant ghoulish head had appeared before him and swallowed him whole.

He had thought that would have been the end for him as his vision had blurred. When it had been regained, it had seemed like he had been teleported away and had landed on the first level of the underground world. He had been plagued with doubts and suspicions, drawing the same conclusion as the square-faced cultivator. He thought that they had triggered some trap in the Dark Artifact.

I’ll reunite with the rest as soon as possible! The horse-faced cultivator had a solemn expression on his face. He had a feeling that something had changed in this world inside the Dark Artifact. As to what had changed specifically, he wasn’t sure.

Regardless of how many times he had tried to reach out to the rest through his voice transmission ring, he couldn’t get to them. He had even used the mystic scroll that allowed for a certain degree of inter-dimensional communication amongst the three of them but hadn’t received a reply. This had alarmed him further.

I cannot continue this search for them. I have to leave this hellish place immediately. I’ll wait outside for them! The horse-faced cultivator took a deep breath and made up his mind. He was about to find the way out when the first level of the underground world underwent a sudden transformation!

The multitudes of islands made from bones scattered across the sea of souls suddenly rumbled. They erupted suddenly, and the thunderous booms rose to the skies. Alarm surged inside the horse-faced cultivator. He saw with his own eyes countless bones rising to the skies with the explosion of the bone islands.

The sky was filled with countless bones!

This… this… The horse-faced cultivator was shocked into silence, alarm crossing his face when the bones gathered together!

Within the span of a few seconds, they formed a giant skeletal finger. It was so huge that it spanned one-tenth of the heavens. It was an earth-shattering, terrifying sight!

It was followed by the second skeletal finger, then the third… until all five fingers appeared. More bones continued to gather, forming a vast and immense palm that connected the five fingers!

The five skeletal fingers curled inwards suddenly. In the heavens, a tight fist that spanned almost the entire sky appeared… and was made of pure bones!

What is this! The horse-faced cultivator’s head was prickling with fear. He could feel death looming over him. He retreated immediately, prepared to do whatever it took to escape. The shock and terror in his heart had reached the extremes!

This wasn’t the end. As the horse-faced cultivator tried to flee, the entire sea of souls suddenly erupted. Countless souls dashed out madly and charged at the fist of bones, clustering around it, as if forming its layers of blood and flesh!

From afar, one could clearly see the tremendous skeletal fist gaining flesh upon its bones at a rapid speed as a vast number of souls fused with it. The blood was black in color, its flesh green, and its skin was lined with green seals!

In the blink of an eye, the entire Spirit Sea had emptied itself. A green-skinned fist that seemed to take up the space of the entire world became the only thing in the world!

The fist… thundered towards the horse-faced cultivator, whose face was filled with terror and shock!