Pursuit of the Truth

When Su Ming’s soul occupied half of the golden venous pathways and he saw the scene that caused his heart to tremble, the latter half of the divine thought that the bald crane had sent to him with all its remaining strength before it fainted reached his heart.

”... You have to remember to give me my crystals… because I might have fainted, but I held back that thrice cursed Ecang… for some time. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to confuse it, so you’ll have to be fast…”

As the bald crane’s divine thought completely disappeared, Ecang’s furious roars echoed in the air, and its divine thought swept over the place, but it could not leave a set area.

At the same time, Su Ming saw the picture in his soul. There, he saw a galaxy.

Within that galaxy was a golden sea. And within that sea was a golden cultivation planet. While within that cultivation planet was a big, golden tree…

There was nothing special about it, and it was far from being able to make even Su Ming’s soul freeze… but that was because it was merely the first thing he saw.

Su Ming could not find anything that he could use to compare to the world he saw at the moment. He only felt that everything he saw right then made him remember the spider webs he saw when he was still a child in Dark Mountain.

Thin threads connected together to form small little squares that looked like they belonged on a spider’s net. That was what Su Ming found himself comparing this world to in his mind.

Beyond the galaxy of the golden sea, golden planet, and the big golden tree was another galaxy that looked the exactly as the one with the tree. On its edge, there were many other galaxies that were identical as well, and there were even more of them farther away. Their numbers could not be counted, for there was no end to them. Once a person saw such a sight, they would be unable to help themselves but feel shocked… and a hint of despair would even raise within their hearts.

One hundred thousand galaxies. One hundred thousand golden seas. One hundred thousand golden planets. One hundred thousand… golden trees!

This scene caused Su Ming’s heart to roar. In fact, he even saw ninety-seven cultivators existing in ninety seven of those one hundred thousand galaxies. Some of those cultivators were in the golden seas, while some of them were close to the golden planets. There were also those that were struggling in the highest layer of wind on the planet.

Su Ming had seen some of those people before. They were… most of the one hundred and twenty-four people who had entered the stone monument’s test in an attempt to make their stone monuments reach one million feet.

As for the dozens of people who were missing, it was clear that they had already failed.

”I’ve used everything that I have, and the bald crane even fell unconscious due to heavy injuries. Only like this did I manage to Possess half of the tree… but… that half that I thought was of the whole was just a half of one out of the one hundred thousand Ecang trees among the one hundred thousand cultivation planets and one hundred thousand galaxies.

”How… can I possibly… Possess this sort of living being..?” Su Ming mumbled. As he was shocked by all that he saw, despair rose within him.

It could even be said that the possibility of being Possessed simply did not exist for this sort of living being, because there was no person who could Possess all one hundred thousand of its bodies. If there was someone who truly had the power to do such a thing, then… there would be absolutely no need for that person to Possess anything, because if they were capable of doing such a thing, then they were certainly one of the people who stood at the highest pinnacle of the entire universe.

’Am I truly incapable of succeeding?

’Am I truly going to fail just like this…

’Are all my previous efforts, near a thousand years of struggle, hundreds of years of waiting, going to be laid to waste and become a mere joke?!

’Is the bald crane’s grave injuries to buy me some time would all be just so that it would present me with a fate that would make us despair?

’Am I supposed to give up just like this and only be able to leave this place after tens of thousands of years, becoming just like the others, an ordinary tool in the grand scheme of things? Do I have to remain an ant for the rest of my life, remaining a person whose fate is controlled by others? Can I only watch the people I want to protect have their lives and deaths controlled by the strong again and again?!’

Violent waves surged in Su Ming’s soul. Once he saw those one hundred thousand planets, he had experienced a despairing strike. It made him suddenly realize that the success he thought was already in his hand after having occupied half of those venous pathways was so insignificant it was practically a joke. For a moment, he was simply unable to accept this fact.

”I absolutely won’t give up, neither will I be willing to admit defeat. I… am Su Ming. I am an Abyss Builder. I’ve lived a forlorn and bitter life. I couldn’t control my own fate, and even my physical body was sealed by the Immortals. Right now, I only exist as a soul!

”Heavens! Fate! Just how long are you going to continue toying with me?!” A crazed wave left Su Ming’s soul, along with a roar that shook the sky and earth. That roar contained Su Ming’s resistance against fate, bringing with it his first ever, complete and absolute resolution to fight fate.

At the instant that powerful wave left Su Ming’s soul, the one hundred thousand galaxies, one hundred thousand golden seas, and one hundred thousand planets started trembling together, as if they were shaken by the madness of his soul.

Booming sounds rang without stop, ceaselessly shaking the one hundred thousand galaxies, so the ninety-seven people who were going through the test sported sudden and drastic changes in their expressions. Practically all of them swiftly looked around themselves, confused because they did not know what was going on. The booms also caused the golden seas to roar and tumble and the galaxies to start shaking, as if there was an earthquake around that was so great it could shake mountains and seas.

”You let me grow up in Dark Mountain, then you took it away from me, telling me that it was all just a dream!” Su Ming laughed long and hard. Within his laughter was a mockery that was aimed at himself as well as a roar that was aimed at both heavens and fate.

The one hundred thousand galaxies started trembling even harder. In fact, there were some galaxies that even started cracking. Black smoke was surging into the sky from the half of the venous pathways Su Ming had occupied. The smoke tumbled about viciously and spread outwards with a bang.

”You let me come to the ninth summit! You gave me warmth! But in the end, you took all of it away with a cold laugh! You turned everything into a mere illusion! You manipulated my fate as if I was some puppet!”

Su Ming’s laughter was forlorn. The one hundred thousand galaxies roared with him, and the ninety-seven people who were being tested turned stark pale. They might not know what was going on, but they could sense that there was a crazed will within the galaxies in which they were located.

That will contained a resistance against fate, an opposition towards the heavens, and it was spreading out violently towards them at that moment.

”You let me become the God of Berserkers, but after I took that title, you snatched everything from me! You made me watch Yu Xuan close her eyes, made me watch Bai Su disappear, made me watch my people die! You made me leave the land of Berserkers and come to the Barren Lands of Divine Essence…

”You let me possess great power, but you pushed me to the foreign land and trapped me here for a thousand years!” As black smoke tumbled about from the half of the venous pathways Su Ming had occupied, and those black venous pathways immediately started twisting before they gradually grouped together to form a face. That face belonged to Su Ming.

His expression was ferocious and his laughter was incredibly bitter as he stood up against fate.

”You let me obtain the possibility to gain a great serendipity in the foreign land and even allowed me to occupy half of these venous pathways, but in the end, you tell me that… this is just half of one of the one hundred thousand trees!

”Fate! Heavens! How long will you continue toying with me?! In your eyes, am I truly unable to fight against you and destroy you?!”

Loud booms shot up from the one hundred thousand galaxies at the same time. All of them trembled viciously, and cracks began spreading through them. Wisps of black smoke flowed out from those cracks, and as it continued spreading, it grew in volume, to eventually gather together into one hundred thousand faces in the one hundred thousand galaxies.

All one hundred thousand of them were Su Ming’s faces!

This was not something that was naturally formed due to Su Ming’s shouts. Neither had his shouts made the law in the universe open up a gap for him. What allowed him to do so was most certainly not his possession of some mysterious ability that would allow him to make the entire area around him bow its head and worship him with his anger alone.

The reason for it was something he did not know - that half of the venous pathways he had occupied on one tree would be equivalent to him occupying half of all the venous pathways within all the trees.

There might be one hundred thousand trees, but in truth… there was only one tree!

If he obtained one, he would obtain all of them!

However, if Su Ming had given up due to his despair just now, then he would have failed. It was precisely because of his determination and his resolve to push on that he had the chance to see the tree’s real self, as well as obtain the chance… to Possess it again!

Illusions, reality; apparitions, corporeality. Sometimes, if a person persisted and broke through, they could realize that illusions and reality, apparitions and corporeality were divided by a fine line!

The logic was simple. It might seem easy to figure it out, but just how many were truly able to do this? If there was a canyon that was one hundred thousand feet deep, just how many people would dare to take that one step forward!

It was just like a person climbing a mountain. If he thought he had climbed half of it, he would use his full strength if there was only half left. But if he thought there was only half left and lifted his head to suddenly see that the half that he had climbed was completely insignificant and there was actually still a lofty hill above that had no end, his strength would wane due to his despair. He would not be able to hold on to the walls on the mountain, and he would fall to his death. It was the same concept. Just how many people would be able to persist and continue climbing up such a mountain?!

This was the true reason as to why Su Ming could make the one hundred thousand faces of black smoke appear in those one hundred thousand galaxies!

”For as long as I remember myself, I have never given up. I have always moved forward, and I have always had a determined heart. Even if that determination turned into obsession, and even if that obsession caused me to suffer and descend into madness, I have never given up on any single possibility.

”Do you know why I did all of this..? Do you know what made me do all of it?!

”Because when I was young, I searched for my elder, yet when I grew up, I learned that all of my memories were just a dream. Because after I became the God of Berserkers, I learned that everything was just someone else’s plan, all the things I had accumulated in my heart begun pressing down against me until I couldn’t breathe. I even thought about not struggling anymore...

”But I couldn’t accept it. I didn’t want to be a puppet, I didn’t want to be manipulated by fate. I knew back then as I know now that unless you can truly crush me, then someday, I will stand up. I will crush fate under my feet. I will make all my enemies spill blood and dye the world red with it. I will make them despair!”

The one hundred thousand wisps of black smoke that formed Su Ming’s faces within those one hundred thousand galaxies let out a sharp and loud cry towards fate at the same time at that instant. As it echoed in the air, besides the face that had surfaced on the venous pathways that Su Ming had occupied, all the other faces rushed towards the golden sea, towards the golden cultivation planets, and towards the golden trees!