Pursuit of the Truth

The mist had thinned out and the memories flowed out like a river. As they changed, familiar scenes flashed before Su Ming’s eyes.

These memories would become his most precious treasures, because these memories appeared before his eyes when he was caught in between a situation of life and death, and they were flashing brilliantly between the one possessing and the one being possessed.

Su Ming started falling into a daze, but he continued looking in front. He wanted to know what was hin the memories he had lost…

Han Kong was also looking at Su Ming’s memories. As he devoured Su Ming’s divine sense, he would also refine his body into his replica.

Within those memories, Su Ming saw the scenes he had seen before when he first came to this place. They showed up once again as time traveled back and he went to the moment four years ago when lightning thundered and rain fell from the sky. The giant crack that caused the sky and earth to change appeared. It made lightning stop and rain freeze.

‘This is it!’

Su Ming instinctively trembled. He Feng’s ability had only lasted until this scene before he could no longer withstand the terrifying absorption power coming from the stone debris in Su Ming’s body. The endeavor had to be given up then.

However, Han Kong had taken over, and his Origin Spirit was stronger than He Feng’s Spirit Body by several fold. Su Ming hoped that he could see something different!

”Huh? What’s inside your Spirit Sphere? What is this!”

Han Kong’s voice suddenly reached him There was surprise and bewilderment in his voice, even hints of alarm and disbelief.

”This is… impossible…”

The moment Han Kong’s voice came, the mist before Su Ming dissipated and the scene changed abruptly. This time he saw what was within the crack that appeared during the stormy night, and time flowed forward instead of backwards in the crack.

The scene changed, and endless darkness appeared before Su Ming’s eyes. Yet strangely, even though everything within sight was dark, Su Ming could still sense a body floating in this darkness.

The body was unmoving, his eyes closed as he floated inside. Su Ming could feel a familiar sensation coming from this person. He knew that this person was himself.

”I finally… saw what’s in there… but I was unconscious at that time, that’s why I don’t have any memories of this place… This isn’t considered as losing my memories!” Su Ming mumbled.

The sight before him seemed to have frozen up and did not change for a long time. When this happened, Su Ming felt as if something bad was about to occur. He became extremely nervous and had a feeling that he seemed to have understood something.

‘My memories have been stuck here for a long time… Just how much time passed in this place..?’

”Damn it all! Just what is that thing! Even if you asked me, how am I supposed to possess you with this around?!”

Han Kong’s alarmed voice echoed within Su Ming’s mind. At that moment, Han Kong’s gigantic Origin Spirit was shrinking at an incredible speed. It was as if there was a black hole within his body that was rapidly absorbing everything inside him.

Su Ming did not take notice of any of these. He looked at the scene behind the mist with a dazed expression on his face. He stared at the still and unmoving darkness and could not fathom just how much time had passed in that place.

He did not know how much time had passed. When Han Kong’s angry roars became weaker, for the first time since a long while, Su Ming saw a change in the darkness!

This time, the change came from a hoarse voice speaking calmly!

”Why?”

The moment he heard the voice, Su Ming’s mind trembled so strongly he felt as if he was about to crumble and dissipate. The dazed look in his eyes was instantly replaced by shock. He knew this voice well. It belonged to himself!

”When did I ever say this..?” he mumbled, and then he saw a scene that he would never forget in his life!

In that scene, he saw himself!

He saw himself standing in the darkness. Five gigantic chains pierced through his arms, legs, and head, stringing him up in the void. Those five chains then expanded into nothingness, and it was unknown where they led to.

His eyes were closed. He might have been hanging and his body might have been covered in blood, but there was no hint of him being unable to withstand that pain on his face.

”Is… that me..?”

Su Ming had never felt so shaken before. He realized that the scar that was carved on his face when he was in Dark Mountain was not on the strung up Su Ming’s face.

He saw himself hanging in nothingness, and right before him was an enormous head. This head was about the size of hundreds of Su Ming added together. He had red hair and the imposing look on his face exuded ferociousness.

That head wore earrings made of snake bones. On his forehead was a mark of lightning. There were also a great number of markings on his face. It looked as if he was born with it, and those markings exuded a savage and wild presence.

The eyes of the head were open. They may have been dull and lifeless, but even though those eyes were dead, Su Ming still felt as if the sky was rendered apart and the earth opened up when he saw the head. There was an indescribable power in it that looked down upon all that lived.

All that lived had to lower their heads and worship in trembling fear before the head.

However, it was still dead. A shocking red sword was stuck in the skull. It penetrated the entire head and half of the blade had come out from the other side.

Su Ming also saw more than nine red needles stuck on the head.

With a stunned and blank look on his face, Su Ming looked at the head and at the strung up Su Ming hanging in the air. He shifted his gaze towards the direction that the strung up Su Ming was looking and saw a person sitting on the hilt of the sword in the head.

That person wore wide robes and his face could not be seen clearly, but the moment Su Ming saw this person, he felt a freezing chill fill his entire mind, which soon turned into anxiety and fear.

”This is your destiny, you cannot deny it.”

A cold voice that seemed to travel from a place faraway fell into his ears. It echoed in the void as if it was a law, and it was forced onto him. That voice stayed for a long time, and all those who opposed the will of the law would be punished.

”Di… Di Tian…”

Han Kong’s trembling and weak voice carried with it respect and fear as it echoed in Su Ming’s divine sense. He had divided up most of the power from his Origin Spirit to counter balance the increasingly stronger absorption force. Whatever remained of the power in his Origin Spirit saw what Su Ming saw.

When Han Kong saw the giant head, he became afraid, then when he saw the person on the sword hilt above the head and heard the voice, that fear became so strong it was as if he was looking at a demon in his nightmare, one that made him extremely terrified but full of respect at the same time.

”I refuse.”

Su Ming saw the strung up Su Ming open his eyes. They were deadly still and so quiet it was frightening. The moment the strung up him opened his eyes, Su Ming saw a line of blood appear underneath his eyes. That line of blood seemed to have appeared out of thin air and soon revealed itself entirely. It was the wound left on his face when he was in Dark Mountain… the one scar he did not want to lose.

”You truly… disappoint me… but you cannot refuse my will.”

The person sitting atop the hilt of the sword lifted his head. His face still could not be seen, but the merciless and aloof look in his eyes could be.

When Su Ming saw his gaze, a thunderous roar ran through his mind and a sharp pain as if he was being torn apart burst forth, causing everything before him to shatter abruptly and turn into countless shards.

”Di Tian, you lied to me! You lied to me… I…”

At the same time, a shrill cry reverberated through the air. That voice belonged to Han Kong. His screams rapidly weakened until they eventually disappeared.

Everything vanished. That roar continued echoing in Su Ming’s mind as if there were hundreds upon thousands of thunder bolts rumbling incessantly in his mind. It made all what he saw disappear.

The fog before him rapidly thickened until it looked as if all of those things had never happened before. Only that aloof gaze seemed to penetrate through the fog of memories, landing on Su Ming’s body.

”You truly… disappoint me…”

A shudder ran through Su Ming and he opened his eyes. His entire body was drenched in sweat. The moment he opened his eyes, blood flowed out of the corner of his lips and he could not help but cough out a mouthful of blood.

Even his mask fell to the side when he coughed out blood, revealing his pale and baffled face underneath.

On his face, the scar underneath his eyes that was left behind from the time in Dark Mountain became red.

Sounds of rapid breathing came from Su Ming. He panted harshly. His eyes were bloodshot, and as he placed both of his hands on the ground, his body trembled.

”Is this part of the memories I lost..?”

After a long while, Su Ming wiped away the blood from the corner of his mouth and mumbled as he looked around the dark mountain cave.

‘Some of my memories have truly been wiped away… Is the person who erased my memories that Di Tian Han Kong spoke about?

‘Who is he? Where did he come from? What… is he to me..?

‘What was I refusing in the memories I lost..?

‘That head underneath that person obviously belongs to a Berserker. Who is he..?’ Su Ming trembled. He remembered Nan Tian talking about the second God of Berserkers who lost his head. ‘It’s just a head, and it alone gave me the feeling as if I was looking at a deity… Could that head belong to the second God of Berserkers?

‘Di Tian… Di Tian… Han Kong was screaming that Di Tan lied to him before he died. Who is this Di Tian..?’

The bewilderment on his face was like a flood that drowned out all other emotions.

”Who… am I..? Destiny… Su Ming..?” Su Ming asked himself quietly.

He lifted his head but did not roar or growl, he simply mumbled in a voice that only he could hear.

”Who am I..?”

He laughed brokenly in his bewilderment.

He felt lost.

He was like an injured beast that had to survive alone, like a person who had lost his memories and refused to believe what he was seeing, like a grown up tree that forgot how old it was…

… Like water in a palm that would be lost the moment it was flung out.

Su Ming knelt on the ground as if he had lost himself. He originally thought he could obtain an answer, but that answer only made him sink into deeper confusion.

‘Is this destiny..? It’s just like a ball of hair. The head cannot be found, and neither can the end.’

Su Ming closed his eyes. He could not wrap his head around it. He did not want to go out, preferring to sit alone in the darkness to find the answer quietly.

His mind had already overlooked the fact that Han Kong had died inside him. Besides some parts of his broken Origin Spirit that was absorbed by the piece of stone debris in his body, the rest had turned into glittering spots of light that encircled Su Ming’s Spirit Sphere before they were slowly absorbed.

He also overlooked the reverted Berserker Bone of the Berserker Soul Realm that was brought in by Han Kong and was left within his body. Due to Han Kong’s death, it was slowly being assimilated into Su Ming’s body. As it melted, Su Ming’s blood was also circulating and absorbing it at a shocking speed…

It was just as Han Kong had said, if he did not die, then it would become his serendipity!