Pursuit of the Truth

Su Ming’s pupils shrank. He had only cast the Illusion of Star, Sun, and Moon on two people in total. One of them was Tian Lin, and the other was Jing Nan Zi, who was before him now.

When these two people were under the illusion, they had the same reaction. Their most precious… no, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it was the memory they did not want to recall the most that would be dug out and appear before them, forcing them to go through the pain it reminded them of once more.

While they were in that illusion, they would lose the defense over their hearts, because the one who attacked their minds would not be anyone else but themselves.

As the caster, Su Ming could see everything in the memory the one who had fallen under the illusion did not want others to know. He would even feel as if he was experiencing it himself, like that scene just now. Su Ming’s heart had shuddered as he saw Jing Nan Zi devour his own brother’s corpse.

’The injuries in the physical body can be healed using medicinal cores or by circulating one’s cultivation bases, but the injuries of our hearts are wounds of the soul. Unless we forget about them, the only other way for them to be cured is to let time take its toll.

’This Illusion of Star, Sun, and Moon of mine does not injure a person’s physical body. It cannot even be considered as an offensive ability. It only draws out the most tender memory in a person’s heart and turns it into a traumatizing brand, making the person’s soul ache as if a scar that had been sealed off for a long time had been torn apart again!’

As understanding appeared in Su Ming’s eyes, he saw Jing Nan Zi letting out a shrill roar with his head thrown back. He yanked off his helmet, revealing his long blood-red hair, and that strangely enchanting face of his.

However, his face was pale right then. Red filled his eyes, and he even coughed up a huge mouthful of blood. He staggered backwards. Tian Lin’s crazed attacks were part of why he had coughed up blood, but the greater reason behind it was the memory he had just recalled. It seemed like it had only happened yesterday, and sharp pain stabbed his heart again and again

”Big brother…”

Jing Nan Zi continued moving backwards. Pain appeared in his eyes. His body trembled. Tian Lin’s face was filled with crazed killing intent at that moment, and he was recklessly executing all his divine abilities, throwing all the most lethal Arts and Enchanted Treasures he possessed against Jing Nan Zi at the fastest speed he could muster.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Jing Nan Zi continued moving backwards. Blood trickled out of the corners of his mouth, and there was bemusement, pain, and confusion in his eyes. Tian Lin brought forth all his power with a crazed look on his face, and as the booming sounds echoed in the air, he threw fist after fist against Jing Nan Zi’s body.

”Did you think I didn’t know why you didn’t kill me in the past?! It’s only because the Tian Family’s inborn divine ability is incredibly rare among cultivators! We can fuse perfectly with the plants, and there’s even a chance a rare Growth Armor can be conglomerated!

”You didn’t kill me because you lusted after the Tian Family’s Growth Armor. You sought after its might, but you could not obtain it from the Tian Family residing in True Sacred Yin World, that’s why you placed your attention on my family who was banished to the Barren Lands of Divine Essence.

”You didn’t kill me because the thickness of my blood surpassed that of my ancestor’s, because I was the person who had the highest possibility of gathering together the Growth Armor in the Tian Family here!

”This sal tree was the one you gifted to one of my ancestors of the first generation, and it has been passed down to the descendants of the Tian Family since then. What you need is the Growth Armor from the sal tree. Even though I know of your plans, I still fused with it to kill you. Only by doing so would I be able to bring forth my strongest power!”

Tian Lin roared. The branches before him danced madly, and booming sounds echoed in the air. They shot towards Jing Nan Zi as he retreated, and in the blink of an eye, they crashed into the stone wall by the side.

Boom!

Shattered stones flew into the air. Su Ming sucked in a deep breath from the distance. The sun and moon disappeared from his eyes, and he tightened his grip around the killing sword in his hand. His eyes burned brilliantly. Just as he was about to attack, his pupils suddenly shrank.

”Are you done fighting?”

Jing Nan Zi, who was half sunk into the stone wall, lifted his head at that moment. There was still blood at the corners of his mouth, but the bemusement and confusion in his eyes had already disappeared, replaced by a ghastly chill.

Almost at the instant Jing Nan Zi said those words, he lifted his right hand and seized Tian Lin’s arm, who had thrown his fist forward. He yanked it closer before flinging Tian Ling into the air, and with it, his body started shuddering, and a large amount of crystalline light erupted.

That crystalline light was the essence of his Nascent Divinity. At that moment, half of it had scattered away. When Jing Nan Zi had flung Tian Lin, the other crashed to the ground with a bang. He struggled to his feet with a bitter, despairing look on his face. He had already activated all his power, but he was still not an opponent to Jing Nan Zi.

”I’ve underestimated you again.”

Jing Nan Zi cracked his neck as he walked out of the sunken wall. He did not look at Tian Lin, but cast a gloomy gaze at Su Ming, looking like a poisonous snake fixating its stare on him.

”You have a poisonous wasp with a shocking poison, a mysterious gourd, and a divine ability that could make me sink into an illusion… You’re very good. If you had become a Lord of a World Plane, then even if you were just at the initial stage of World Plane Realm, I wouldn’t have been your opponent. But now, you must die.”

Strong killing intent appeared in Jing Nan Zi’s eyes. It had been many years since he had wanted to kill a person as much as he did right then. Su Ming destroying his clone had angered him, but what he did just now surpassed him being just angered. The other had caused his rage to reach boiling point!

Jing Nan Zi moved and disappeared without a trace. When he vanished, Su Ming’s expression changed. He warped as well, and when he reappeared, he was right before Tian Lin.

Almost at the same moment Su Ming appeared, Jing Nan Zi also walked out from the air before Tian Lin. With a simple divine ability that contained no complex machinations, he hurled his fist at Su Ming.

”You’re young, but you’re a cunning one. You actually managed to see that I wanted to kill this young member of the Tian Family first.”

Su Ming could not allow Jing Nan Zi to just kill Tian Lin so easily. Between the two of them, Tian Lin possessed the greater combat prowess. If Tian Lin lived… then they still might not be able to win this battle, but if Tian Lin died, then there would truly be no hope to gain victory.

Su Ming stood between Tian Lin and Jing Nan Zi, blocking the other’s way. He swung the killing sword in his hand upwards to crash into Jing Nan Zi’s fist. Su Ming might seem as if he was resisting his opponent’s power, but in truth, he did not harbor any thoughts to fight back. All his strikes were for the purpose of blocking.

Boom!

Su Ming’s right hand, which held onto the killing sword, was torn into a bloody mess. The screen of light from the Five Direction Seal manifested, and Han Mountain Bell appeared inside it. Once the bell chimed, the small snake’s roars as well as its gaze of a Candle Dragon, which was filled with the power to capture souls, and the Nine-Headed Dragon that was Han Mountain Bell manifested. All of them focused on resisting Jing Nan Zi’s blows, and a deafening resounded in the cave.

Su Ming was still wearing the Sacred Constellation Robe. He might find it difficult to bring out the robe’s full power, but its defensive properties still remained. But even with the Sacred Constellation Robe on him, Su Ming still coughed up several mouthfuls of blood. With a loud whooshing sound, his body flew backwards, and he grabbed Tian Lin on his retreat

As Su Ming withdrew, he activated Destiny’s power with his left hand and pointed at Jing Nan Zi through the air. The poisonous wasp flew out from his sleeve in a flash and charged towards the enemy.

Jing Nan Zi let out a cold harrumph, but his heart was in shock. After all, he was already in the middle stage of World Plane Realm, and the power Su Ming showed only belonged to those in Earth Cultivation Realm. Yet this cultivator in Earth Cultivation Realm was incredibly difficult to deal with. Jing Nan Zi was about to chase after him when he noticed a change in a law around him. Time seemed to be taking hold of his body, wishing to drag him back.

A sense of danger filled his heart. Jing Nan Zi turned around and pointed at the air beside him. Layers of ripples appeared in the spot in the air. The poisonous wasp was forced to reveal its body, but just as Jing Nan Zi was about to tap its body with his finger, the poisonous wasp disappeared with a whoosh.

”Hmm?” A glint appeared in Jing Nan Zi’s eyes. When he turned his head around to look at Su Ming, who was retreating, a strange light showed up in his eyes.

Jing Nan Zi lifted his right hand and seized the air with his fingers. A dark light shone in his eyes and he said in a low voice, ”The laws in this place are those of fire. The rules in this place are those of blood. With my seal of Divine Essence, I will now verify my path to my World Plane. Within a hundred thousand feet, I will now seal speed, regeneration, physical power, the might of Enchanted Treasures, and the circulation of cultivation bases!”

As he spoke, it was as if each of his words contained a supreme will. It was as if his words were law, and it could decide the alterations and operations of the world in a certain area.

It was especially so for his words that declared to seal speed, regeneration, physical power, the might of Enchanted Treasures, and the circulation of cultivation bases. Right at the instant he declared the sealing of these five things, Su Ming’s speed as he retreated vanished. He had lost all of his speed.

At the same time, Tian Lin’s wounds also stopped healing. His injuries started tearing up and deteriorating, and he could no longer heal them.

Soon after, Su Ming felt himself losing all his physical strength. He also lost all his connections to his Enchanted Treasures, as if he could no longer control them. In fact, he also lost his touch with his cultivation base at that instant. He could no longer circulate it.

”The complete power of the World Plane would allow Divine Essence [1] to conglomerate. With the seal of Divine Essence, one can forcefully interfere with the operations in a certain part of the world, then replace the will in that part of the world with their own, thereby reaching a state where their words become law at the moment they leave their mouth, making all the laws in that place become their will, and the rules to become their thought.

”There aren’t many Lords of World Planes who can do this. To think that he has such thought contained in his seal of Divine Essence that he is able to form laws by speaking… He was just toying with us with everything he did before,” Tian Lin said bitterly.

Jing Nan Zi pulled back his right hand and looked at Su Ming coldly. As he moved forward, he closed in on them in an instant, and a life-threatening sense of danger swiftly filled every fiber of Su Ming’s being.

His pupils shrank. A sharp glare flashed in his eyes. This person had sealed everything about him, but he did not manage to seal his soul. If he had to, he could just abandon his physical body and have his soul flee from this place.

Yet at that moment.

”Brother Su, I’m grateful for your help… If the Growth Armor is formed after I die, you can take it. That is my gift to you,” Tian Lin suddenly said. He changed spots with Su Ming, and with a bang, his Nascent Divinity was set on fire. The shadow of the big tree was also set on fire.

”Jing Nan Zi, even if I die, I will self-destruct and make you pay the price!”

Madness appeared in Tian Lin’s eyes, and he chose to self-destruct. Once he pushed Su Ming away, his entire body turned into a blinding sun. That light illuminated every part in the karst cave and submerged Jing Nan Zi, whose gloomy expression had changed slightly, in its light.

Boom!

Deafening booms stirred up an endless amount of echoes in the air. They swept up the presence of death within Tian Lin along with his torn body, sending Su Ming backwards, beside the Duke of Crimson Flame’s skeleton. Half of whose body was inside the purplish black magma.

”You’re finally here… fellow ally from the sacred Abyss Builders… I bear no ill-will… We come from the same homeland, after all…”

Translator’s Notes:

1. Divine Essence: This is only for those who didn’t quite understand what Tian Lin was saying. Now let’s see if I can make more sense. If you remember what the Candle Dragon mentioned, the power of World Planes needs to be taken from the world, right? So what Tian Lin is saying is that if you absorb the power of a single world fully, you produce a Divine Essence (in this context think of it as a seriously powerful will), and you replace the will of any world, thereby changing the rules in a certain place.

Take the Candle Dragon’s Undying and Imperishable World as an example. The Candle Dragon absorbed a lot of Worlds, right? So after she absorbed so many Worlds, she must have surely formed the Divine Essence. Then she formed the Undying and Imperishable World, and she fused this Divine Essence into her world, allowing her to make all the souls in there go through cycles of life and death repeatedly (the law there).

Now look at Jing Nan Zi. He has the complete power of a World Plane. Because of that he formed a Divine Essence. His will is now strong. He can replace the will in a certain area in a world.

By the way, this thing once appeared in ISSTH as well as Essence of Divine, but here it’s shortened to Divine Essence because there’d be one too many ’of’s if I went for Barren Lands of Essence of Divine.