Pursuit of the Truth

Tian Lin’s status of Lord of a World Plane and a World Paragon might not make him a superior existence within the other cultivation planets in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, but that was not the case in Crimson Flame Plane. This planet was located at the edge of the universe, and he could be said to have the greatest voice of authority, along with the other World Paragon.

That was why when Tian Lin greeted Su Ming in a way that was only used among those who were of equal status, the hundreds of cultivators in the area wrapped their fists in their palms and bowed towards Su Ming simultaneously.

Su Ming stood at the top of the Crimson Python Phoenix’s head. A smile touched his lips, and he wrapped his fist in his palm to return Tian Lin’s greeting.

”I am Su Ming. I got along well with this creature, so I brought it out from its region. If I’ve caused chaos in this planet, please forgive me.” As Su Ming spoke, Tian Lin smiled, and a hint of fondness rose in his heart for this youth.

To him, there was not a hint of arrogance in Su Ming’s words. Instead, he had spoken as he would to a person of equal status. After all, respect would usually need to come from both parties when their strengths were almost equal. When Tian Lin saw that Su Ming was being courteous and remembered what had happened previously, an even greater desire to befriend him rose from the depths of his heart.

”Fellow Daoist Su, you’re being far too polite. I am not worthy of you to be asking for forgiveness from me. I’ll talk about this with you later. First, let me introduce a friend to you.”

Tian Lin did not even spare a glance at the hundreds of cultivators around him. Before, there had only been one person in Crimson Flame Planet who could catch his attention besides the ferocious beasts that had lost their intelligence.

When he said those words, a cold harrumph came from the east of Crimson Flame Planet, right in front of Tian Lin. At that moment, a person walked out of thin air. It was an old woman, her face covered in wrinkles. Her eyes were dark, and her hair a mess. However, she radiated a murderous presence, and she looked akin to a murderous spirit. Once she appeared, the she immediately looked towards Su Ming, and the dark light in her eyes sparkled.

While standing on the Crimson Python Phoenix’s head, Su Ming lifted his head to meet the old woman’s gaze squarely. He did not look away.

The dark light in the old woman’s flickered, but Su Ming’s eyes remained piercingly cold, as if not a single hint of emotion was contained within them. The two stared at each other for a while in midair before the old woman narrowed her eyes and averted her gaze from Su Ming’s body. She first looked at the Crimson Python Phoenix, then at the eight-colored crystal in Su Ming’s hands. After some time, she opened her mouth, and a hoarse voice tumbled out through her lips.

”I am Mei Lan. Fellow Daoist Su, you should just be passing by Crimson Flame Planet. The galaxy is vast and boundless, and all those who have come from far off are guests. Once you’ve rested here, I will personally send you off with fellow Daoist Tian seven days later. That is what we should do to our guests as residents of the planet.”

The old woman smiled, but her smile did not reach her eyes. Her voice sounded as if her teeth were grinding against each other, and it was very unpleasant to the ears. When it fell into the ears of the hundreds of cultivators in the area, they felt sharp stabs of pain.

Tian Lin frowned by the side. He cast a look at the old woman, and a pensive look appeared on his face.

Su Ming remained as calm as ever, but his gaze grew colder. He had naturally been able to hear the underlying meaning behind the old woman’s words. She was asking him to leave Crimson Flame Planet as soon as possible and not to stay here for long. At most, she would allow him to stay for seven days.

Su Ming looked at Tian Lin and asked flatly, ”Fellow Daoist Tian, is this your intention as well?”

Tian Lin frowned. He pondered over those words, but before he could speak, the old woman let out a cold harrumph.

”Fellow Daoist Su, are you intending to stay in Crimson Flame Planet for long?”

”That was not my original plan, but now, I’ve changed my mind. I don’t see why I shouldn’t stay here for long.” Su Ming’s words were moderately paced, but the biting chill in his voice made illusory layers of snow appear around him.

He knew that he could not back down right now. Once he did, then there was no way he would be able to make his place here. He would also bring suspicion to himself. In fact, in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence where the strong preyed on the weak, unless he left immediately, he would definitely bring trouble to himself at the moment he caved in and showed weakness.

When the woman was faced with Su Ming’s unyielding attitude and aloof words, she fell silent. Once she carefully sized him up, uncertainty rose in her heart, but a cold sneer soon appeared on her lips.

”If you want to stay here for a long period of time, then I’d like to see whether you have hidden your level of cultivation. If you’re only relying on a ferocious beast and that eight-colored crystal, then you still don’t have the right to make your place here, fellow Daoist Su!”

The old woman’s voice was ghastly. She even took a step forward, and a power that belonged to a World Paragon burst forth from her body. That power swept through the entire world, causing numerous ripples and tumbling waves in the sky. A vast and mighty pressure descended on the land, making the hundreds of cultivators around the area find their breathing quickening, and they swiftly moved back.

To them, this was a battle between World Paragons, something which was rare in Crimson Flame Planet. Perhaps it would prove to be beneficial for their training if they watched it. Those in Heaven Cultivation Realm were watching with especially bright eyes.

”It’s said that senior Mei has reached World Plane Realm seven hundred years ago and became a World Paragon. I wonder what her power is like now, but this place is lacking in resources, and the power of World Plane is even rarer. My guess is that she’s only at the starting point of the initial stage of World Plane Realm…”

”Even though she’s only at the starting point of the initial stage of World Plane Realm, she can still possess the power to make the sky and earth shatter, understand the changes in the world, and fuse together with Crimson Flame Planet…”

Quite a number of the hundreds of cultivators that had retreated farther away immediately started discussing what was to happen among themselves. However, most of them spoke to each other by sending their thoughts to another, not really speaking aloud.

Almost at the moment the old woman took a step forward and executed her power of a World Paragon, the Crimson Python Phoenix under Su Ming’s feet lifted its head and let out a shocking roar. Su Ming immediately sensed the mighty pressure coming from the old woman’s body. He lifted his right hand, and the killing sword manifested out of thin air and started to hum in his hand.

The Crimson Python Phoenix’s presence could dissolve the pressure coming from the old woman. Besides, even though Su Ming was still in Earth Cultivation Realm, the killing sword exuded a biting cold presence, and there was also… a murderous aura that seemed to be suppressed within Su Ming’s body. It was carefully fighting against the old woman’s pressure.

When Tian Lin saw that the battle was about to start, he lifted his foot and took a step forward to stand between the old Mei Lan and Su Ming.

”Is there a need for you to attack each other, even though there is no great enmity between the two of you?” Tian Lin sighed.

”Fellow Daoist Mei Lan, we have been neighbors for hundreds of years and have always been on good terms with each other. We never bothered each other and even discussed our Arts and divine abilities, I should not be stopping you, but you have to think carefully. Fellow Daoist Su’s eight-colored crystal is a rare item. There might only be one, but it’ll be easy for him to freeze your soul for several breaths…”

”If you remain by the side and refuse to take action even when my soul is frozen, I will still have a way to break free. From then on, I will leave Crimson Flame Planet. Why should it bother me if I leave, this place is about to become a spot rife with trouble,” the old woman said with a cold smile.

As Tian Lin smiled wryly, the old woman spoke once again.

”I refuse to believe that you can’t see my intentions. It’s not as if Crimson Flame Planet can’t accommodate a third World Paragon, and neither will it interfere with my training. After all, there was a third World Paragon in this place in the past.

”However… he opened the seal to the Crimson Python Phoenix’s region. The True Guards will probably come again in several years, nine years at most. Once they begin their patrol and see this, they will definitely descend to Crimson Flame Planet en masse to investigate this matter. At that time, I won’t be the only one affected, you will be affected as well. In fact, all of the cultivators here… Heh heh, no one will be able to escape from being delivered a death sentence.” The old woman glared at Su Ming, but she was speaking to Tian Lin.

”Unless he leaves this place!” When the old woman lifted her right hand, the ripples in the world behind her immediately froze, then gathered on her right hand.

”If he puts the Crimson Python Phoenix back into the seal and leaves this place immediately, then we can all avoid trouble!”

Tian Lin remained silent for a moment, then swiftly spoke up, a resolute look on his face. ”... I do wish that this place would become the second Black Ink Planet.”

”So you really intend to stop me?” Freezing light shone in the old woman’s eyes. When she saw that Tian Lin was still stubbornly standing between them, she sucked in a deep breath and put her right hand slowly downwards, then looked at Su Ming.

”I will allow you to live here for eight years. If you don’t leave after eight years, then I will definitely kill you for Crimson Flame Planet!” The old woman turned around swiftly. Just as she was about to leave, she cast a look at Yue Hong Bang, who was standing in the distance. With a glint in her eyes, she lifted her right hand and pointed at Yue Hong Bang.

”You, who brought this disaster upon us, I will kill you as a warning for others!”

When she pointed at Yue Hong Bang, his expression immediately changed drastically. He retreated swiftly, but three black threads had appeared around him out of thin air. They surrounded his body and were shrinking at an incredible speed. One of the three ring-shaped black threads wrapped itself around his neck, another his chest, and the remaining one around his waist. If those three threads shrank at the same time, they could dismember Yue Hong Bang instantaneously.

When terror rose within Yue Hong Bang, madness showed on his face. He did not ask for help from Su Ming. He knew that this moment was incredibly important for Su Ming to avoid getting into a battle against a World Paragon. Besides, the old woman was clearly trying to kill him to vent her anger. Yue Hong Bang gritted his teeth, erupting his power of Heaven Cultivation Realm. At the instant the three threads shrank, his body was torn apart with a bang.

However, there was no blood from his torn body. Instead, they turned into dried pieces of bamboo. Yue Hong Bang’s real body appeared a hundred-something feet away. He coughed up a huge mouthful of blood. His face had turned pale, and there was also a dull and lifeless hue to his face. Clearly, he had used an item to protect his life during that moment of crisis. But even though he had escaped death, he was still injured.

”Hmph? Your ancestor is old Ku Zhu[1]..? Oh well, I will spare you because of my friendship with Ku Zhu all those years ago.” The old woman looked at the dried pieces of bamboo, and a slightly melancholic look appeared on her face. She turned around and no longer bothered with the crowd. She transformed into a long arc, wanting to leave.

Even Tian Lin cast a few looks at the few slips of dried bamboo and gave Yue Hong Bang a profound look.

Yue Hong Bang’s face was still pale when he lowered his head. He did not say a single word.

When the hundreds of people in the area saw this, they lamented about this in their hearts, knowing that there would probably no longer be any fight.

Yet at that moment, Su Ming’s cold voice rang in the air.

”You embarrassed me and even wanted to kill my servant. Are you going to leave just like that, Mei Lan?” Along with his words came the murderous aura that he no longer bothered to suppress or hide. At the instant it surrounded him, the heinous aura caused the expressions of the crowd to change drastically.

The strength of that murderous aura was so great that it was rarely seen. Even in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, it was extremely unusual to sense such a thick murderous aura on someone’s body. It did not seem like a murderous aura that was accumulated throughout a person’s life, but seemed like… a terrifying murderous aura that was gathered together through numerous lives a person had lived after going through an endless cycle of reincarnations!

If the old woman left just like that, Su Ming knew that his standing in Crimson Flame Planet would be shaken. The only way to avoid this from happening… was to draw his sword!

Translator’s Note:

1. Ku Zhu: Meaning → Dried bamboo