Pursuit of the Truth

Su Ming lost his sense of time in that rather unfamiliar state. He had his eyes closed, and he looked as if he had lost his soul. His soul seemed to have left his body and fused together with the world.

In his world, there was neither the sky nor the earth. There was only chaos that enveloped his mind like a thick layer of fog, causing him to be unable to see clearly, but his heart was still calm, so calm that even his heartbeat was beginning to grow faint.

Snow fell on his hair and his clothes. The snow gradually accumulated on him, causing Su Ming to look like a snowman from afar.

Four days, five days, six days…

The sun rose and set numerous times. Sunlight and moonlight fell on Su Ming’s body alternatively and reflected off different shades of light on his body. Nonetheless, he still remained still and unmoving.

Su Ming did not know about this, but at that moment, at the top of the ninth summit, the person he’d seen before he entered this state had not left.

Tian Xie Zi stood on the peak silently. He had been watching Su Ming sitting there from the very start, had been going through the past few days along with him, and he would continue staying there.

As his Master, he would only leave when Su Ming woke up.

He knew that this state was an incredibly important process of life and metamorphosis for this particular disciple of his. This was a process that would grant him epiphany.

Tian Xie Zi looked at Su Ming in the distance as he mumbled under his breath, ”All my disciples would experience their first epiphany at different points of time once they came under me…”

When his first disciple experienced his epiphany, he watched.

When his second disciple experienced his epiphany, he watched.

He still watched on the peak quietly when his third disciple experienced his epiphany.

Right now, he was standing on the mountain just like the previous three times he had done so. He watched Su Ming gain his epiphany. During this process, he would not allow anyone to disturb his students. He was their Master. He had to stretch out his arms and protect them with his body when they were weak.

”I look forward to what sort of method will dawn on you and allow you to clear your mind…”

A kind smile appeared on Tian Xie Zi’s face. In that smile was expectation.

He would never forget the sight of this disciple of his crying when he saw the beast skin map in the chamber a few days ago…

Just like how when he took in his first, second, and third disciples, the moment Su Ming called him his Master, he treated Su Ming as his disciple. There was no need for him to acknowledge Su Ming as his disciple overtime. Sometimes, people only needed that one particular feeling at that one particular moment to familiarize themselves with each other.

Tian Xie Zi continued watching…

Su Ming’s third senior brother who loved calling himself Grandpa Hu lay in his cave on the ninth summit with his wine gourd in his hand, drinking from it. He was already drunk. However, the state of drunkenness he was in for the past few days made it difficult for him to fall asleep.

He would occasionally lift his head and look towards a particular direction. His line of sight might have been blocked by the stone wall of his cave, but if the wall was not there, then he would be able to see Su Ming sitting on that platform in the direction he looked.

”My life is so difficult… but there’s no help to it, he’s my youngest junior brother. There’s no way around it… but at least when I go out and fight next time, I’ll have someone helping me. Not bad, not bad at all…” The third senior brother mumbled under his breath and grinned widely in a highly pleased manner.

”Hmph, at least I’m smart. Youngest junior brother gained an understanding from my unwitting guidance. Let’s see what sort of method he’ll figure out… No good. What if he reaches an epiphany like eldest senior brother and isolates himself just like him? Then I’ll just be lonely again!

”What if he comes to a realization and obtains the same weird habit as second senior brother and falls in love with planting stuff… That won’t do either… Drinking. It’ll be best if he comes to reach an epiphany where he needs to drink, then he can drink with me.”

The man scratched his head and anxiety appeared on his face.

At that moment, there was a person who was crouching down among a large field of plants on the ninth summit. He was digging through the iced earth and planting some seeds in the ground.

The man was wearing a white shirt. He had a handsome face and his eyes were bright. There was a smile on his face. He would occasionally lift his head and look towards where Su Ming was sitting. When he did so, his smile would widen.

”Youngest junior brother, good luck. Whether or not you can become part of the ninth summit depends on whether you can reach an epiphany…”

That man was Su Ming’s second senior brother. He did not go to sleep even though it was already daylight. In fact, he had not gone to sleep for the past few days, but would instead occasionally cast his eyes to where Su Ming was as he took care of his plants, an act that was out of ordinary for him.

At the bottom of the ninth summit was a crack in the ice that led to the bottom of the mountain. It was Su Ming’s eldest senior brother’s isolation grounds. He was also looking in the same direction with a kind look in his eyes, as if he could see Su Ming. There was also eagerness in his gaze.

Su Ming was sitting silently on the platform. There was still a layer of fog in his world. He could not see anything, only the fog surrounding him. He had no idea how long it had been. It might have just been several breaths, it might have been several days, or even much longer.

He did not think about that in depth. He only kept his gaze fixed on the fog.

He could see the vague shape of a person in that fog. That person seemed to be sitting cross-legged. Cold air gradually gathered around that person, but there was also a presence of heat within that cold air.

This was how Su Ming felt about his eldest senior brother in his mind.

”With isolation, he could lock his body in a meditative state and focus his mind, which will lead to clearing his mind… By understanding the skill given to him, he could create his own path… This is my eldest senior brother,” Su Ming mumbled. This was what he understood about his eldest senior brother.

”I can achieve this state as well… but if I choose this path because I saw it, then it’s not creation… I’ll just be walking on someone else’s path. I’ll be walking in my eldest senior brother’s shadow.”

Su Ming was silent for a long time before he shook his head slowly.

Slowly but surely, right before his eyes, another picture appeared in the fog in his world. However, only Su Ming could see that picture. If anyone else was in his world right then and looked at the fog, they would only see fog. They would not be able to see anything else.

It might look like fog, but in truth, those were Su Ming’s thoughts.

Within the new picture, Su Ming saw his second senior brother. He saw the plants on the ninth summit, and saw a power that created life.

”By allowing the flowers to grow to the peak of perfection, he could reach the peak of perfection of his mind. The lives of these plants were given by the world, but through the second senior brother’s hands, this also becomes a type of creation…

”Second senior brother seems to turn into another person at night and takes away the plants he creates… That’s because since he was the one who gave life to the plants, he can also… destroy them with his hands…”

Su Ming trembled. In his state of reaching epiphany, he suddenly understood some of his second senior brother’s actions.

His thoughts might not be correct, but it was what Su Ming understood.

”This sort of creation has reached an incredibly profound state… Second senior brother…” Su Ming mumbled. He fell silent for a moment, but still chose to shake his head again.

”This path still isn’t suitable for me to answer Master’s question on what is Creation…”

Su Ming looked at the fog. In truth, he already had an answer for Tian Xie Zi’s question. However, he could only keep the answer in his heart. He could not say it out loud. If he did, then it would be wrong.

”Eldest senior brother’s answer should be… I am Creation.”

”Second senior brother’s answer should be the same.”

”Perhaps the words are slightly different for third senior brother, but the meaning should be the same… They can answer it this way because they found the way to clear their minds and find their own Creation.”

”I can’t say it, because I haven’t found the answer. If I imitate second senior brother’s path, then I’ll never be able to say this… Unless I find my own path.”

Su Ming shook his head.

The fog before him changed once again. This time, in the picture that no one else could see, he saw his third senior brother. He had a drunken look in his eyes as he drank wine and lay on the ground. There was a foolish smile on his lips, and drool flowed out from the corner of his mouth. Su Ming could hear faint snores.

He was dreaming about a world that made him happy. In that world, there were countless people drinking wine with him, and there were also countless people who were waiting for him to go and hit them…

His happy expression made Su Ming snicker uncontrollably.

He could already imagine that his third senior brother gained his epiphany the easiest and his epiphany was the simplest. In fact, there was a high possibility that his third senior brother did not have any sort of epiphany. It was just that when he fell asleep once he was drunk, he dreamed, and from then onwards, he naturally found the way to clear his mind.

”If someday, third senior brother’s dreams could become true, then his achievements will not be any less than second senior brother’s… As for eldest senior brother… I still don’t really understand his path.”

Su Ming eventually chose to shake his head once again.

He would not walk on his third senior brother’s path either.

”I wonder what was Master’s epiphany..?”

Su Ming had no clue, but he did not think about it either. Gradually, the fog before him started changing drastically. Its change was a projection of Su Ming’s thoughts.

He was thinking about his own epiphany and his own method to clear his mind.

Days passed by. Very soon, it was already the 27th day since Su Ming sat down on the platform.

During the 27 days, sometimes snow would fall from the sky, but the volume was light. Yet even so, the snow still made Su Ming look as if his body had fused together with the snowstorm beside him.

Once 27 days passed by and the morning of the 28th day arrived, the morning sun was accompanied by a great blizzard.

Blizzards were not uncommon in Freezing Sky Clan, there would be blizzards once every few days. As of then, as a blizzard raged in the land, and moaning, cold wind whistled through the sky, lifting up a large amount of snow in a seeming attempt to cover the entire world, the blizzard looked like a large, ancient beast that had its claws lifted then slammed them on the ground.

As the blizzard raged in the air, a person walked towards the bottom of the ninth summit from the distance. That person wore a thick bamboo hat and a straw cape that covered his entire body. A shocking presence spread out faintly from within his body as he walked in the blizzard, causing the snow and wind to seem afraid of coming close to him. They rolled back from his body, causing him to look like an earth dragon coming closer to the place.

”Su Ming…”

That person’s voice was freezing cold and he spoke with a ghastly tone under the ninth summit.