290 Destination Martian Colony City (2/2)

I look so good even when I smack my stomach! His spirits high, Wang Baole thought he could understand exactly how his mother had felt. He decided.

When I have a son in the future, I'm going to name him Handsome Wang. When other people see me, they'll get to say, hey, that's Handsome Wang's handsome father! Wang Baole burst out into laughter. He thought it was a terrific idea. He started to look forward eagerly to his journey.

In the past, Wang Baole would have found three days too short a period. Now while he waited, he found time to have slowed to a crawl. Finally, the day of departure arrived. Wang Baole had completed his preparations early in the day, so he raced towards the port.

A space cruiser had been specially assigned to take him to Mars. It was already waiting at the port and ready for takeoff. The Sect Lord was there to see him off personally. Liu Daobin and a few other familiar faces—as well as many other unfamiliar faces from the Upper Academy Island who hadn't known Wang Baole very well but had heard of his various exploits and feats of extreme violence—were there as well. Wang Baole boarded the cruiser, then turned around and waved his goodbyes.

”Farewell, everyone. I'll be waiting for you on Mars!” Wang Baole shouted excitedly as the cruiser engines rumbled to life. As it slowly rose into the air, he saw a young woman in Dao robes running up the path towards the Alchemy Pavilion's mountain peak. She stood at its highest point and waved at him frantically. She seemed to be shouting.

”Brother Baole…”

At a single glance, Wang Baole immediately recognized that to be Bunny, whom he had sought out earlier but had still been in seclusion.

”Bunny!” Wang Baole was overjoyed. The cruiser was already taking off though, so he could only shout at the top of his lungs towards the mountain peak below him, where Bunny stood.

”Bunny, wait for me to come back. Don't always be in seclusion. I'm afraid the next time I see you, you'll be an old bunny…”

As his voice rang out, there was a sudden roar from the cruiser engines. The cruiser blasted away into the heavens. It stirred ripples in the skies and shot straight for the stars!

It left behind a crowd on the Upper Academy Island watching it speed away, a myriad of emotions in their eyes. Bunny stood on the peak of the Alchemy Pavilion, dismay and regret in her eyes.

Brother Baole, I promise to reach the Foundation Establishment realm by the time we meet again. I won't go into seclusion again after that!

Wang Baole's heart was filled with regret as well. He missed Bunny too. It was unfortunate that they missed each other again, but they still had a long future ahead of them and plenty of chances. Onboard the cruiser, Wang Baole stared at the lands below him that slowly curved and turned into a round planet Earth. He didn't stop staring until the cruiser entered space. That was when he withdrew his gaze and folded his legs into a cross-legged position. His journey to Mars had begun.

It was a boring trip. There were the occasional beams of light shooting by and glimmering lights, but most of the time, the scenery was a vast pitch-black. It might have been refreshing if it were his first time seeing it, but Wang Baole had seen enough of the same on his way back from the Mystic Luna Realm.

He started practicing his two mystic techniques. He had already gotten some headway with the Lightning Dao: First Volume, so he chose to focus on the Dark Art now.

There were shards of the ancient green-bronze sword in space as well and hence, no lack of Spirit Qi. It might not be abundant, but Wang Baole could still sense it. The space cruiser approached Mars steadily as he continued his practice, continued his attempts, and continued to fail repeatedly.

It was difficult to tell the passing of time in space. Wang Baole suffered repeated failures in his attempts to learn the Dark Art. He was dejected. It was fortunate that they were arriving at Mars soon. His low spirits were given a boost by their approaching the colony.

The red planet soon appeared within sight. Wang Baole stood up excitedly, no longer troubled over his challenges in learning the Dark Art. His attention was fully captured by the dusty red planet that lay before him.

The planet was considerably smaller than Earth. Amongst the eight planets in the Solar System, it was the one second nearest to Earth. The first was Venus. This planet… was Mars!

Countless satellites orbited around Mars, and they immediately took over control of the space cruiser when it neared. They didn't slow the cruiser down but steered it in a different direction towards the Martian atmosphere.

Wang Baole shivered with excitement as he watched everything speed past as the cruiser shot through the red planet's atmosphere and appeared on Mars!

Wang Baole's breathing paused a beat, and he stood at the edge of the cruiser. With a single glance, he saw, sitting upon the dusty red lands, a rapidly approaching, increasingly large… city of spectacular proportions and immense majesty!

It was… the only colony city on Mars!