Pursuit of the Truth

Su Ming suddenly recalled the thing he had never come to understand—the reason why the Crimson Python Phoenixes had to absorb the light green aura from the corpses. He had watched them absorbing the aura that came from the corpses over the year, but he had been unable to absorb even a single bit of it.

He fell into pensive silence, his eyes closed. He started circulating his cultivation base so that the harmony between his soul and body would reach perfection. His body was filled with the heat of flames, and it even looked as if there were waves of hot air coming out from his nose when he breathed.

A layer of distortions appeared faintly around his body. The distortions looked like waves of flowing water that were circling him. This was the inborn talent that came from Su Ming’s physical body, and it was the mysterious divine ability that had allowed him to disassemble materials with a punch.

The smaller Crimson Python Phoenixes by his side was staring at the bald crane. They seemed to find each other quite the eyesore. The Crimson Python Phoenix was growling lowly at the bald crane, which had been able to tell the relationship between Su Ming and the two ferocious beasts a long time ago. At that moment, it was lying on the stone and sizing up the Crimson Python Phoenix before deciding to turn into a huge, brownish yellow dog.

This was the appearance of the strongest ferocious beast in its memories. Once it changed into this form, it bared its teeth at the Crimson Python Phoenix.

The Crimson Python Phoenix that had the power equivalent to the power of Lords of World Planes had entered to depths of the magma a long time ago to sleep there. Only when the time of offerings arrived would it wake up to eat.

When the smaller Crimson Python Phoenix saw the mutt that was the bald crane, its eyes immediately went wide. Clearly, it had never seen a ferocious beast like this before. After a moment of hesitation, a layer of distortions and waves that were the exact same as the ones about Su Ming surrounded it.

Hints of the strange law filled the area around the Crimson Python Phoenix once the distortions appeared, and it glared at the mutt that was the bald crane before starting to growl lightly.

During the past year, the phoenix and crane had been glaring at each other with animosity all the time, but they had never truly attacked each other. At that moment, as they growled at each other, the Crimson Python Phoenix suddenly shuddered and crawled into the magma without any hesitation, not daring to show even a hint of itself.

This sudden act stunned the bald crane. It bared its teeth, as if it was laughing at the phoenix, but then a shudder ran through it. A mighty pressure surged into the volcano through its mouth and filled it with a bang. A divine sense was contained within that mighty pressure, as if someone who was incredibly powerful was using their divine sense to sweep through the land.

The bald crane immediately let out a shrill screech. It could vaguely recall that it had once encountered this act of divine sense sweeping through the land, and it was something that was incredibly dangerous.

As it screamed, it no longer bothered with the scorching heat of the magma and crawled into it.

The gigantic Crimson Python Phoenix that was sleeping in the depths of the magma had opened its eyes a long time ago. There was a deep-seated terror in its eyes, but it still moved slightly and let out a roar from the depths of the magma to the mouth of the volcano.

This roar was declaring its territory, even if the it was terrified.

Su Ming had also opened his eyes. He was staring at the sky beyond the mouth of the volcano, and even though his expression was calm, his pupils had shrank.

At that moment, it did not matter whether it was the north, west, south, or east, the expression of people in all regions of Crimson Flame Planet changed. They instantly stopped everything they were doing.

Even those who had been fighting and were just a hand’s reach away from killing each other stopped at that instant and chose instead to sit down cross-legged on the floor, not daring to move even an inch.

It was as if they were worried that they would suffer an inconceivable destruction if they did anything extra.

All the cultivators reacted the same way in the entire Crimson Flame Planet, including Yue Hong Bang and the others. All of their faces were pale as they looked at the sky while trembling. The helplessness and terror in their gazes were incredibly clear.

To the east of Crimson Flame Planet was a stone house located on a tall mountain. There was an old woman with messy hair sitting cross-legged there, and her eyes were wide open as she stared at above herself, as if her gaze could penetrate the roof and she could see the starry sky above her.

The waves of power that belonged to a Lord of a World Plane could be detected on her, but at that moment, she had suppressed those waves so much that they had become incredibly weak. In fact, very soon, a look of humility along with humiliation appeared in her eyes, and she chose to grovel instead of sitting cross-legged.

Within the only forest that had any green plants walked a middle-aged man. This area was located to the west of Crimson Flame Planet, and he was touching the green leaves on the trees with a dazed look on his face, as if he was lost in his thoughts.

It was as if the green leaves in the forest brought him back to some beautiful moments from his past. As he touched them gently, the mighty pressure as well as the divine sense swept through the world. He lifted his head the and looked at the sky with anguish on his face.

He slowly prostrated himself on the ground.

Unlike the still and unmoving cultivators in Crimson Flame Mountain, the ferocious beasts that existed in several spots were roaring to declare their territories.

Su Ming’s eyes were narrowed as he lay in the magma. He could vaguely sense that the source of the mighty pressure and divine sense in the world came from beyond Crimson Flame Planet.

A title that Yue Hong Bang had mentioned a year ago appeared in his head.

”True Guard,” he whispered softly.

At that moment, there was a gigantic, ancient, bronze sword drifting in the galaxy beyond Crimson Flame Planet. If Su Ming saw that ancient bronze sword, he would definitely find it familiar. It was similar to the Enchanted Treasure he had seen in the World of Nine Yin when he was in Yin Death Region. It was the Enchanted Treasure that allowed the Spirits of Nine Yin to move through galaxies.

This sword might not be the same, but it was incredibly similar.

The ancient sword was a hundred thousand feet long, and there were seven people standing on it at that moment. These seven people were wearing large robes. They had indifferent expressions on their faces, and the presence that belonged to Lords of World Planes spread out from their bodies.

There were three thousand cultivators sitting and meditating behind them. The levels of cultivation of those three thousand were not important compared to that bloody and murderous presence coming from them. It had already surpassed their levels of cultivation, and as it spread out, it caused the people who sensed it to feel as if a sea of blood was about to charge towards them.

But that was not all. An even stronger wave of power spread out from the ancient bronze sword. The strength of that wave was so great that it felt as if… it could easily destroy a cultivation planet, and could also easily tear apart the body and soul of a person who had reached the status of World Paragon.

True Guards!

This was the patrol team formed by the powerful warriors that were keeping guard over this place. They had power and reputation that brought a sense of danger to many in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence. At that moment, the ancient bronze sword was clearly patrolling the area around Crimson Flame Planet. The divine sense and mighty pressure that covered the entire planet had naturally come from the bodies of all True Guards.

The seven people standing at the tip of the sword were talking and laughing among themselves, their expressions calm. After a moment, a ray of green light shot out from the hundred thousand feet ancient bronze sword, and a long green arc immediately erupted with a bang, charging towards Crimson Flame Planet.

It was so quick that it instantly reached it, but the planet did not crumble. The green arc spread out and turned into a large amount of green light that spread out to cover the entire Crimson Flame Planet.

Once that happened, a projection appeared before the seven people.

It portrayed the cultivation planet, shrunken down by several times, to the size of only a thousand feet. There were a large number of glowing spots in the projection, but most of them were dark. Only about a hundred of these glowing spots were light red, and they were scattered throughout the regions in the planet’s projection.

The seven people looked at the illusory projection of the cultivation planet and started speaking among themselves.

”The number of people at the peak of Heaven Cultivation has been reduced by quite a large margin.”

”There are still only two criminals who are Lords of World Planes.”

There were two dark red glowing spots that were shining the brightest in the illusory projection. One of them was to the east while the other to the west, and there was a respectful presence spreading out from those glowing spots.

”The ferocious beasts left behind by the alien races have had their intelligences wiped away for all eternity, but their growth is still very shocking…”

As the seven people’s soft voices echoed in the air, several purple glowing spots immediately appeared in the illusory projection.

These glowing spots were scattered throughout seven different regions. Some of the lights were alone, while some gathered together into twos or threes. Among them was a region that looked like a volcano located to the north of Crimson Flame Planet. There were two small and one large purple glowing spots there.

”Alright, everything within the outer section is normal. Let’s check the inner section. That’s the crux of this place,” an overbearing voice said from among the seven, and the moment this voice appeared, the other six immediately stopped laughing and chatting among themselves, and their expressions immediately became grave. Even the murderous aura from the three thousand cultivators behind them became thicker, and flowing light spilled out in all directions from the ancient bronze sword, as if its strongest attack was about to burst forth.

The seven people formed a seal at the same time and pointed towards the illusory projection of the cultivation planet. Waves immediately appeared on the projection, and as it swept through the projection layer by layer, the inner part of Crimson Flame Planet appeared!

There… was a crimson-red region. At the instant the seven people saw this layer of crimson red, their expressions became even more grave, and faint looks of wariness as well as nervousness appeared on their faces.

As the waves of the illusory projection continued sweeping through, each layer seemed to magnify the place before eventually revealing a gigantic spot shining with a piercing red light in the depths of the crimson-red region. If anyone looked at it for a prolonged period of time, they would find that there were faint shades of black in it as well.

The crimson red around the area was created due to the light from the glowing spot filling up the air there.

Once the glowing spot appeared, fine white threads also took shape, intersecting one another while covering the entire Crimson Flame Planet. It could be easily seen that the glowing spot was right at the center of the white threads.

When the seven people saw this, they relaxed.

”There is no damage to the seal. The heinous criminal from the alien race that is detained here is still deep asleep.”

”Each of the cultivation planets in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence are suppressing a heinous criminal from an alien race, and it’s especially so for the core of the Barren Lands of Divine Essence. It’s said that there are incredibly terrifying alien races over there. I don’t know which cultivator in the Kalpa Realm suggested it in the past, but these people should not even continue living. The anomaly of ten thousand years ago in Black Ink Planet is the best example.”

”It’s not as if you don’t know that these criminals from the alien races are incredibly difficult to kill…”

”But that just makes things bothersome for us of the future generation. Thank goodness we patrol in separate regions, and all is well in ours.”

As the seven people spoke to each other, the illusory projection vanished. The blue light over Crimson Flame Planet dispersed, and the ancient bronze sword floating beyond it slowly turned around and gradually disappeared into the distance. The mighty pressure and divine sense over the planet disappeared.