Pursuit of the Truth

’This ancient scroll is clearly very important to Long Li, since he placed it in front of him. I wonder if it’s an Enchanted Treasure or it contains some other secrets inside it.’ A thought bloomed in Su Ming’s heart, but he soon forced down the decision to wake up the bald crane and have it retrieve the ancient scroll.

This was not a very intelligent move, and it was also incredibly risky. Besides, there were many strange changes in the sealed region at that moment, and time was short. The True Guard’s powerful presence was swiftly closing in from the distance, and the green light was about to reach him.

A glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes, and he turned around resolutely. With a single move, he arrived beside the unconscious bald crane. Once he grabbed it, he placed it in his storage bag and started charging through the stone wall.

’What happened here? How could a True Guard descend to this place? Could it be that it has been several years since I fell unconscious and the True Guards from the galaxy beyond Crimson Flame Planet have once again began their patrol?

’If that isn’t the case, then Tian Lin must have kicked his plan into motion!’

Su Ming was moving forward with his physical power through the stone wall, but before he could travel too far ahead, a violent bang came from behind him, the area where the World Stone was.

In the mid of that bang, Su Ming heard Long Li’s low roars.

At that moment, a voice that could cause an endless chill to creep up a person’ heart and have them find a bloody stench wafting into their nose reverberated in the air. ”An unlawful ant!”

Su Ming’s heart shuddered. As his pupils shrank, he increased his speed as he rushed forward. He could sense that Long Li was fleeing rapidly in the tunnel behind him, and there was a terrifying presence chasing after him at a relaxed pace.

Su Ming sucked in a deep breath. As he circulated his cultivation, he became even more cautious. However, before even an hour went past, another muffled but just as violent boom came from the sealed region.

The spot where the booming sound came from was not too far from Su Ming. Tian Lin’s word rang through the area. ”Sun Kun, Su Ming, if the two of you are still hiding here, then you will surely die! Come out and fight with us to kill the True Guard!”

There was a shrill, hoarse tone to Tian Lin’s voice. Clearly, the booming sound just then had caused grave injuries to him.

”Fellow Daoist Sun, fellow Daoist Su, this True Guard is in the middle stage of World Plane Realm, so no matter how well the two of you hide, it’ll still be difficult for you to escape death! Why don’t you come out and work together with us to fight against him?!” There was a feebleness to Long Li’s voice as it echoed through the tunnels.

”Oh? Sun Kun, Su Ming… So there are four people alive? But I only detected three people’s lights… Interesting, could it be that there is someone who isn’t recorded in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence’s records besides those from the alien races?” Jing Nan Zi wondered, his cold voice echoing through the tunnels.

Booming sounds continued reverberating in the air for the next couple moments. The muffled roars, the clashing of Arts, and piercing sounds might be coming from a distance, but when those sounds fell into Su Ming’s ears as he continued charging forward, he could imagine just how brutal the fight was.

Su Ming knew clearly that this fight was not something that he could easily join. At that moment, as he charged forward, he no longer headed to the depths of the sealed region, but instead moved swiftly towards the entrance.

When Su Ming was fleeing outwards, Sun Kun, who was at the core of the sealed region, had a variety of emotions flickering on his face. He could hear the booming sounds and roars in well enough. At that moment, he gritted his teeth and stood up, then charged into one of the tunnels by his side. His body instantly fell into a semi-transparent state.

’Damn it, they actually said my name. Even if I run away from this place, I’ll still be chased down, so if I don’t want to be a wanted criminal that won’t know peace… I have to fight!’

It was not that Sun Kun had never thought about running before, but his kinsmen bearing his family name were on the cultivation planet where he stayed. If he truly became a wanted criminal, then his kinsmen would definitely become the first people to be brutally slaughtered.

Sun Kun disappeared into the tunnel and charged towards the spot where the booming sounds were coming from. At that moment, Su Ming was already very close to the entrance. He had even arrived at the spot where the endless dead red threads were located, which they had stepped through when they had entered the sealed region.

Yet right at the moment Su Ming arrived, his footsteps froze. Sitting and meditating before him was a man with long, red hair. That man was just sitting there calmly, having placed his helmet by the side to reveal a callous face. His long and narrow eyes might have been closed, but he gave Su Ming the impression that he was facing off against an ancient, ferocious beast.

”So you’re the person whose bloodline isn’t registered on the records?” When speaking with that cold voice of his, the red-haired man slowly opened his eyes. The instant he did so, a ray of red light that looked like blood filled the air.

Su Ming had not noticed him. His Atman had not detected this person’s presence at all just now. However, the presence about him was the exact same as the one he sensed on the True Guard just now.

However, Tian Lin and the others were fighting against the True Guard right then, so the person before him had to be a clone or a Nascent Divinity.

Su Ming’s eyes sparkled. He moved back without any hesitation, looking as if he was about to retreat and avoid the True Guard. His actions matched what the red-haired man judged he would do.

”You’re just a mere cultivator in Earth Cultivation Realm. What a waste for me to leave my clone here.” The red-haired man shook his head, then lifted his right hand to casually point towards Su Ming.

Bang!

Su Ming coughed up blood and his entire body immediately wilted. He looked as if he had suffered grave injuries. His right arm swept through the air before him, and he started falling backwards like a kite with a torn string.

However, the red-haired man did not notice that when Su Ming swung his arm before him, a shadow had flown out of his sleeve and stung the air fiercely.

The shadow was the poisonous wasp, but the spot it had stung was empty. There was only air there.

”Weaker than an ant.”

The red-haired man stood up and picked up the helmet before he took a step towards Su Ming. When he was in midair, he lifted his left hand once again. This time, he had his fingers pressed together to form a straight line before striking the air in the direction of the retreating Su Ming.

At that instant however, a freezing glare begun to shine in the eyes of Su Ming, who had blood trickling out of the corners of his mouth and whose body was falling backwards. He stared at the spot where the red-haired man was, and the wilted look on his face instantly disappeared, replaced by killing intent. He lifted his right hand with his palm facing upwards and the back of his hand facing downwards. He repeated this action several times, and Destiny’s power swiftly filled his body.

His divine ability to change the flow of time was activated at that moment. However, he did not use it on the red-haired man. Instead, he used it on himself.

Because of that, the red-haired man continued moving forward, but Su Ming’s retreating body looked as if time had reversed for it. His act of moving backwards turned into him charging forward, and since the power of time was contained in that burst of speed, it momentarily stunned even the red-haired man.

In the blink of an eye, Su Ming appeared before the red-haired man. This was not Su Ming himself charging forward, but the action of moving backwards being turned into a forward charge because time had been reversed. Perhaps more accurately speaking, he had returned to a spot he’d been at a certain point of time.

At that time, Su Ming had forced himself to cough up blood. Using blood as a disguise, he had swung his arm, and the poisonous wasp had flown out from his sleeve to sting the empty space beside him.

At that moment, as time had reversed on Su Ming, the same thing occurred to his wasp. Now, the wasp had appeared beside Su Ming… and also right next to the red-haired man who had moved forward just now to chase after Su Ming.

A sharp needle appeared on the wasp’s stinger. That needle shone with a strange light as it pierced forward. However, while the wasp had indeed stung air in the beginning, now, the red-haired man was in that spot.

It was as if both parties had calculated and planned for precisely this to happen. The poisonous wasp’s needle swiftly stabbed into the red-haired man’s right arm.

The act of using Destiny’s Art to change his own time instead of another person’s was a show that Su Ming’s use of Destiny’s power had become vastly different from before. He had become even more adept in using this Art. In fact, he even gave off the feeling that he was using it with ease.

”You’re just a mere clone, how dare you even think about killing me!”

Su Ming laughed coldly. Everything he had done previously was for the poisonous wasp to sting the red-haired man. He knew clearly just how frightening the wasp’s poison was, but no matter how strong the poison was, if it did not enter his enemy’s body, it would be useless.

Su Ming did not have the confidence that the poisonous wasp would be able to outsmart this clone, whose real self was a True Guard whose divine sense and level of cultivation far surpassed Tian Lin and the others. That was why to ensure that everything would go according to plan, he spared no pains in faking his retreat and coughing up blood to arrange this set up within an incredibly short amount of time.

At that moment, as the red-haired man shook violently, he let out a shrill roar. His right arm instantly melted, and the decay was rapidly spreading upwards. In the blink of an eye, his legs also began corroding.

”What is this poison?!”

The red-haired man’s expression changed drastically. He could not spare any attention to kill Su Ming. Instead, he tried to return to where his real self was at the fastest speed he could muster. Only then was there a possibility for him to keep his body of a clone around.

”Running away?” A ruthless glare shone in Su Ming’s eyes. However, he knew that even though his opponent was a clone, he was still a True Guard with power that belonged to a Lord of a World Plane. Fear had only appeared in him because of the poison. If he used his power of the World Plane, it would be difficult for Su Ming to put up a fight.

It was especially so for that single attack he’d used just then. If Su Ming had not used his physical body and cultivation to simultaneously resist it while also having the Five Direction Seal in his body acting as a cushion, it would have been incredibly difficult for him to resist it.

Without any hesitation, Su Ming seized something in his bosom with his right hand. He brought out a gourd, and it instantly opened an eye to stare at the red-haired man that was charging into the distance.

Almost at the instant the eye on the gourd locked onto Jing Nan Zi’s clone, the clone’s heart shuddered, as if his soul had been marked. Su Ming’s cold voice then reached his ears.

”Treasured gourd, please kill him!”