Pursuit of the Truth

Su Ming made his right hand go through the nine transformations so that the pinnacle of the power of one seize he’d come to understand in the Undying and Imperishable World could erupt forth. It caused his right hand to be reduced to such an emaciated state that it looked skeletal.

Shen Dong formed a seal with both his hands and pointed forward with an incredibly solemn expression on his face. Starting from the cuckoo right up to the Garuda, the four birds in front of him immediately started screeching and flapping their wings before they charged towards Su Ming. The four small black humanoids that seemed to be part of the four birds opened their mouths wide on the birds’ backs and let out piercing shrieks. As they formed various seals with their hands, they controlled their mounts so that they could close in on Su Ming in the blink of an eye.

Su Ming’s expression remained calm. He did not look at the four incoming birds, but instead placed his attention on his right hand. Almost at the moment the divine ability closed in and stirred up such a powerful gust of wind that it caused Su Ming’s hair to dance wildly in the air, his right hand gained an amazing shade of gold.

It looked like a golden skeletal hand!

He lifted it and he made a seizing motion in the direction of the four incoming birds. At that instant, the cuckoo instantly trembled and froze in midair, as if the laws governing the world around it had changed to make the air around it to gain corporeal form in an instant. A powerful pressure squeezed down on it from all sides, as if it wanted to forcefully flatten that cuckoo in midair.

Immediately after, the eagle let out a shrill screech several dozens of feet behind the cuckoo. It was also forced to stop due to the power within that one seize. Loud booming sounds came from within its body, and it also froze in midair, just like the cuckoo. As it struggled, the power freezing it in place became stronger.

Soon after, the Andean condor started trembling violently as well, and a shrill screech escaped from its beak before the bird managed to rush forward a hundred something feet more before being frozen in midair by that one seize.

Once the Andean condor was frozen in place, Su Ming took two steps backwards. A serious expression appeared on his face, and it was clear that this sort of confrontation using divine abilities was not easy for him.

The giant Garuda, which was the final bird, swiftly closed in on him with a loud whistle. Su Ming’s power contained within the one seize could only slow it down marginally. It could not make it stop in midair.

When he saw that the Garuda was getting increasingly closer to him while causing a violent gust of wind to howl in the air that changed the weather, a glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. His right hand, which was previously positioned in the manner as if he was seizing the air, furled into a fist.

At the instant he completed the act of forming that fist, the cuckoo immediately crumbled with a bang, stirring up an endless air wave that swept in all directions. During that moment, the eagle also trembled and exploded, followed by the Andean condor.

As the three birds exploded and the force that was stirred up by their explosion spread out, it filled the sky with endless booming sounds, and made the gigantic Garuda face the whole force of impact with its slowed down body.

Wisps of white smoke flowed out from the three broken birds when Su Ming clenched his right hand into a fist. It was soon surrounded by the smoke, which continued gathering around the hand, and Su Ming’s face turned even more serious.

He was already incredibly used to this Art of seizing and absorbing. Right then, once he made this Art go through the nine transformations, he had a strong hunch that there was a new transformation waiting in his clenched fist.

At the instant that feeling appeared, a furious screech came from the impact formed by the three crumbled birds. As that sound traveled through the air, the Garuda’s huge body shot out of the waves caused by the impact as if it had broken free from them.

It was so quick that the bird closed in on Su Ming in the blink of an eye, which caused everything within his vision to turn blurry. Only that ferocious Garuda remained clear!

The black humanoid let out a piercing shriek on its back, and a destructive power crashed into Su Ming’s face.

His eyes flashed with a brilliant light, and almost at the instant the Garuda approached him, he unfurled his right hand, pressed his fingers tight against each other, and pushed his palm forward.

Right at the moment he did so, those white wisps of smoke surrounding his palm instantly started twisting, and the vague shadows of the three birds could be seen within them. Then, in the blink of an eye, right when Su Ming pushed his palm forward, his hand swiftly crashed into the Garuda!

This scene itself was like a picture. Within it was Su Ming, whose his hair was dancing from the wind while his body remained in midair. He had his right hand lifted before him, and he was pushing against a gigantic Garuda, on whose back was a small, ferocious looking, black humanoid.

Time seemed to have stopped when this scene happened, but it only stopped for an instant before it was immediately ripped apart by a loud, shocking bang.

As it reverberated in the air, the Garuda started shattering inch by inch. Once those cracks went through its entire body, it fell to pieces. The small black humanoid on its back also let out a shrill shriek before it started dissipating like a person made of sand being blown apart by a violent gust of wind…

Su Ming was previously concealed by the Garuda’s gigantic body, and only when it completely disappeared did he reveal himself. His face was slightly pale, but he continued standing in the air and did not even take a single step backwards. His hair was still dancing about, but his eyes were closed at that moment.

When the smoke around him gradually disappeared and everything returned to normal, Shen Dong stood not too far in the distance with a slightly pale face. There was also a complicated expression on his face, along with a hint of shock.

’Gaining an epiphany during a battle… This is… I actually met a person who could do this! Only a person with an incredibly high level of comprehensive abilities could gain epiphanies during a battle.’

In hesitation, he stared at Su Ming, and after some time, gave up on the idea of launching an ambush. He was a powerful Immortal in Ascendance, and he could accept dying in battle, but he would not be able to overcome his own principles to lay an ambush.

Su Ming opened his eyes. During that instant he struck out with his palm, he had unconsciously sunk into a strange condition. It was difficult for him to describe that feeling, but it had felt as if everything around him had slowed down, so slow that he had gained enough time to think and counterattack.

In that state where everything had slowed down, he saw himself positioning his right hand flat, and at the instant he pushed forward, the white smoke turned into three birds, and they were the creatures that had been formed through Shen Dong’s divine abilities.

He continued watching, and a faint, strange feeling rose within him, giving him the sensation as if he had come to possess a Creation Art… With this hand, he could destroy everything, and then make all the things he destroyed manifest themselves…

Seize, absorb… and push.

Seizing was to destroy, absorbing was to take the pieces in, and pushing… was to create them anew!

When he was in that strange state, he also saw Shen Dong’s face. In truth, that man’s changes of expression at that time had slowed down greatly in Su Ming’s eyes, and he could observe him in detail and analyze his every move. If Shen Dong had truly attacked him, then Su Ming would have had enough time in that condition to wake up from the strange state.

This sort of feeling where the world had slowed down and only he remained the same made Su Ming’s thought processes become much more active. He had a strong hunch that if he could stay in this sort of condition to understand all that was going on around him, then he could control the world and the universe.

But unfortunately, this feeling only lasted for several breaths before it immediately disappeared. When everything around him regained its normal flow of time, Su Ming woke up.

As his eyes started sparkling brilliantly, Shen Dong lifted his right hand.

”I failed to match up to you in our first match…”

A flash appeared in his eyes, and when he lifted his right hand, he formed a circle with his index finger and his thumb before he swiftly pushed his hand towards the sky. Immediately, a large amount of black fog swiftly seeped out of his right hand and started rapidly spreading through the area. In the blink of an eye, it covered Shen Dong’s entire body, and when there were multiple layers of it, a huge figure of a hundred something feet tall stood before Su Ming.

That figure was formed completely of black fog, and it looked almost alive. Once it appeared, it let out a roar that sounded like the clap of thunder. Su Ming knew that Shen Dong was within this giant. This was the second time he saw this divine ability.

Shen Dong had executed this ability once before Su Ming when he was fighting against the Berserkers’ Disaster in Evil Spirit Mountain. The shadow figure might have been destroyed by the bell, but Shen Dong had been completely uninjured!

”This Giant Spirit Transformation Art is one of the three ultimate Arts in Evil Spirit Art. The giant spirit formed by this Art contains the power to support the world, and it can absorb the spiritual aura around the world so that it would never die!

”Fellow Daoist Oriole, please accept this strike from my giant spirit!”

Shen Dong’s voice rumbled in the air when his words tumbled out of the giant’s mouth. The giant did not move, but lifted its right hand and stretched it behind itself, its whole body bent backwards like a bow. Soon after, as a shocking roar reverberated through the area, the giant clenched its right fist, its bent body pulled taut and straight, and hurled its fist forward with a loud bang.

The gigantic fist stirred up a piercing sound that sliced through the air. It also caused the air to truly shatter, as if it could not withstand Shen Dong’s divine ability. Wherever his fist went, the signs of air shattering could be seen.

Su Ming’s pupils shrank. He could feel sharp stabs of pain all over his body at that moment, and he even felt as if his breathing froze at that moment. He could clearly feel all the air in the area having been extracted as that fist came charging through, causing the place to instantly turn into a state similar to when he cast the third Style of his Wind Separation.

It was as if all the air around him had been absorbed by that fist to turn into a shocking power that came charging towards him. However, Su Ming did not back down. He could do so, and neither did he want to!

’As expected of a powerful Immortal who has reached Great Circle of Ascendance, the equivalent of a Berserker who has attained great completion in the Berserker Soul Realm!’

A fierce battle spirit appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. If Shen Dong respected him, then he would also respect this powerful warrior.

Even if their races were different, even if their dreams were different, and even if the way they lived was different, Su Ming would still give him the respect he should receive as a powerful warrior.

”This is the God of Berserkers’ Roar… though I have no idea just which God of Berserkers invented this…”

At the same time that punch came charging towards Su Ming, he spoke calmly, and the instant his words echoed in the air, he let out his strongest roar at the incoming punch!

That roar rose swiftly into the air, causing booming sounds to instantly ring through the area.

Su Ming’s power started bursting forth from his body at the same time. Clearly, he… had held back during the first match.