Pursuit of the Truth

In the galaxy that belonged to the Immortals in one of the four Great True Worlds, True Morning Dao World, far from the Barren Lands of Divine Essence was an incredibly strange celestial body. It was formed of one hundred and eight cultivation planets. From the distance, they looked like a leaf that was filled with veins. It floated in the galaxy with brilliant light shining a hundred thousand feet from it. The great and mighty pressure that was formed when those one hundred and eight cultivation planets gathered together intimidated all those around them. This was an area that was incredibly famous within the galaxy that belonged to Immortals.

Within there, there was Great Leaf Immortal Sect’s first sect.

An endless amount of people weaved in and out of the planets within that celestial body. The people that were moving about the place were all disciples of Great Leaf Disciple Sect that were either going out or returning. At first glance, there were several hundreds of thousands of them moving about.

This might seem like a huge number, but compared to the gigantic one hundred and eight cultivation planets, these hundreds of thousands of people were incredibly tiny and insignificant. Based on the sect’s scale, the number of disciples within Great Leaf Immortal Sect would definitely be extremely great.

At the instant all one hundred thousand of Su Ming’s faces shouted at the same time within the Western Ring Nebula’s foreign land in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, there was a change in a cultivation planet within the deepest recesses of the celestial body that looked like a leaf.

That place was filled with green grass. There was a light gust of wind that swept through the land in that world. The sky was blue, and there were a few white clouds moving about gently in the sky, filling this place with an air of tranquility.

There was a lake nearby, and a middle-aged man sat by its side. He was dressed in a sackcloth and held a fishing pole in his hands. He looked as if he was taking a cat nap. There was a peaceful expression on his face, along with a faint smile.

Yet by his side were countless wild wolves lying in ambush among the grass. Red light was shining in the wolves’ eyes as they stared at the middle-aged man while not moving a single inch.

Yet during that moment, a faint crease suddenly appeared between the middle-aged man’s brows. This action immediately made that peaceful expression on his face disappear. He slowly opened his eyes, which were long and narrow. This pair of eyes caused the man to seem like he possessed a strange charm, but at that moment, a focused glint tainted with a dark look gradually appeared within those eyes.

”I… do not like wayward children,” the middle-aged man mumbled to himself. He still held on to the fishing pole with his right hand while slowly closing his eyes, as if nothing had happened.

Within Western Ring Nebula’s foreign land in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, Su Ming’s low roars were echoing in the air. His soul was rapidly burning away. The burnt area of his soul rapidly turned from a seven-tenths to eight-tenths as he furiously fought against Ecang’s will.

The roars and booms that came from Ecang’s will prevented Su Ming from spreading his soul out any further. To Ecang, Su Ming should already be near the end of his life. Just a little more, and his burning soul would completely scatter away. At that moment, Ecang would not even need to do anything. His opponent would just disappear into the wind on his own.

There was a determined expression on the one hundred thousand faces of Su Ming at that moment. He did not show any intention of changing his mind. Even if most of his soul had already been burnt, as long as Di Tian did not get out of his body, he would not give up. This was a gamble with his life on the lien, as well as a competition of patience, one where he and Di Tian would both have to make a choice.

’Kites have strings. That’s why even if they flow above the nine heavens, they will still be controlled by someone and won’t have a free will.

’If I can’t break off that string throughout my entire life and fly freely in the sky, then what is the difference between me living and dying..? Only when I break this string will I be able to taste freedom!’

A determined light shone within all the eyes of the one hundred thousand faces that belonged to Su Ming. As his soul burned, another portion of it crumbled away.

At that moment, the middle-aged man in a sackcloth near the lake on the plain of grass within Great Leaf Immortal Sect in the galaxy that belonged to the Immortals in Morning Dao World opened his eyes once again. This time, besides a grim look, there was also seriousness in his expression.

However, the hand which held the fishing pole was still very stable. Ripples suddenly appeared on the water in the lake before him. Once the middle-aged man lifted his right hand, a golden fish was yanked out from the water with its mouth around the fishing hook.

As water droplets scattered everywhere, one of the wild wolves from the grass swiftly leaped up and charged towards that golden fish with its mouth wide open, about to swallow it whole.

”I do not like those who take the initiative.”

The middle-aged man’s eyes became even more grim. He did not seem to have done anything, but at the instant he said those words, the wild wolf that had leaped up suddenly shuddered and withered away. Its teeth fell off and its fur shriveled. Its body instantly turned into dust, and even the teeth and fur that had fallen off turned into ashes before reaching the lake, as if a thousand years had passed for the body of the wolf in an instant.

”The Abyss Builders’ inborn ability… What a despicable race, but also… a race that makes others envious.”

The middle-aged man’s face turned even darker. He slowly stood up and let go of the fishing pole. With a turn, he stepped into the air.

His body vanished instantly. When he reappeared, he had already moved an unknown amount of distance and reached… Great Leaf Immortal Sect’s first sect.

When he appeared here, he was no longer dressed in a sackcloth, but had adorned a golden long robe and had a golden crown on his head. There was also a dignified expression on his face. Wherever he went, all the cultivators that saw him would immediately bow down and worship him.

He continued onward until he stood at the center of the shattered continents, right on top of the tallest altar in that place, beside the corpse that had been sealed there for numerous years.

He looked at the young man with the pale face, frail body, and shut eyes before him. The middle-aged man remained silent, but suddenly, Su Ming’s real body, which was the corpse that was held here, suddenly showed signs of withering away. Wrinkles swiftly appeared on its skin, and its hair gradually lost its luster. Those were the signs that its soul was about to die. Once the soul died, the corpse would wither away, and the soul would also scatter away.

Due to this scene, the expression of the middle-aged man, Di Tian, changed. He had not believed in what he sensed previously, but now that the truth was placed before him, he became certain that Su Ming was facing a danger that he could not hope to stand against. He was burning his soul at that moment, and nine-tenths of it were already gone.

”Either you have truly run into a life and death situation… or you have discovered a clue. If it’s the former, I’ll let it slide, but if it’s the latter…”

Di Tian let out a cold harrumph. He was still frowning. There was a unique form of fusion between his and Su Ming’s souls. If Su Ming died, then he would also be injured badly. In fact, his level of cultivation would no longer increase even a single bit for the rest of his life. In truth, his plan had been a gamble all along.

”I only need another three hundred years to succeed… Three hundred years…”

Di Tian fell silent and stared at Su Ming’s physical body without saying a single word. When a large amount of black patches appeared on the skin and a rotting stench also spread out while his hair fell off, for the first time, Di Tian’s heart was shaken.

”Ninety-five-hundredths…

”Ninety-five-hundredths. I’ve already burned more than ninety-five-hundredths of my soul, but Di Tian still hasn’t appeared. Could I… be wrong..?” Su Ming had already reached his limit in terms of burning his soul in Western Ring Nebula’s foreign land, and Ecang’s laughter echoed in the air. The one hundred thousand faces that belonged to Su Ming shook at that instant.

If he continued, he would truly die. If he gave up, he would still have some life left, but... he was already at this point of his plan. After a short period of silence, a resolute and ruthless expression appeared on his face.

”If I’m wrong, then I will be freed from all this from now on! This is my choice, I will accept it!”

Without any hesitation, the flames burning Su Ming’s soul rose once again and started devouring the last five-hundredths of his soul. If he split that remaining portion into five parts, then he only had four left, and it was still becoming less.

As Su Ming’s soul continued to burn, he heard a faint voice in his heart, though he did not know whether it was just a figment of his imagination.

”This world… shall be built for Abyss…” That voice said seven words, and they were the same ones Su Ming had heard when he was still in Yin Death Region.

This time, even Ecang’s will was shaken. It had seen lunatics before, but it had never seen someone as insane as Su Ming. He had already arrived at this point, but he was still continuing. He was using his life to gamble!

Di Tian, who was in the galaxy that belonged to the Immortals, also trembled. The relaxed look on his face disappeared at that moment. A ferocious look appeared in his eyes, which were now covered in blood capillaries. He stared intently at Su Ming’s physical body, watching as it rapidly decayed, and his heart shook even more violently.

When there was only three parts of the original five of Su Ming’s soul that were not burnt, Di Tian trembled lightly. This was an invisible fight, a battle of Arts that could not be seen. It was a fight where both parties competed to see just who was more ruthless and who was the first to fall back.

Di Tian’s expression twisted. He was unwilling to accept that his plan would truly fail just like this, but he had no way of knowing whether Su Ming was truly facing a life and death danger at this moment or whether all of this was just him fighting back. With an internal struggle, Di Tian watched the decay on Su Ming’s physical body become even worse. In fact, he no longer had the shape of a human when there were only two parts left of his soul.

That flow of time seemed to have been stretched out in an invisible manner. This was torture and a test to Su Ming, and it was the same for Di Tian. When there was only one part left of Su Ming’s soul, Di Tian lifted his head and let out a furious roar towards the sky.

There was anger within that roar, along with a resignation that he had to terminate his own plan, as well as an enmity towards time. As Di Tian roared, he lifted his right hand and fiercely struck the center of his brows.

At the instant he did so, a golden light erupted from within Su Ming’s soul, which was at the brink of unconsciousness. That ray of light swiftly flew out from within his soul. A furious roar came from within Su Ming’s soul and echoed faintly in the air as that golden light disappeared.

Su Ming was familiar with that roar. It was Di Tian’s voice. In that invisible battle of Arts, Su Ming had won!

He laughed long and hard. A resistance against fate that had lasted for countless years was contained within that laughter, along with Su Ming’s determination and resolution. He won in that battle of Arts and gained his freedom. If he could get through Ecang’s disaster, then from that time on, he would be free from everyone’s control over him. He would have endless possibilities ahead of him. This would be him leaving an extraordinary situation to get into another marvelous situation.

However, the price for breaking free of Di Tian’s control was incredibly devastating. There was only a wisp left of Su Ming’s soul, and that wisp was still burning. At that moment, there were two paths before Su Ming.

He could give up all form of resistance. With Sui Chen Zi’s law in existence, he might have a chance of merging his soul together once more under the reversal of time and return to his physical body.

However, there were a lot of unknowns in this. There was even a possibility… that if he formed his soul once more under the reversal of time, all the souls that once existed within his own would also return.

No one could say how this would end.

The was another path as well, and in that one, Su Ming was certain that the situation of the seals forming once again in his soul would not happen. This path… was one where he continued on!

A glint appeared in all of the eyes within the one hundred thousand face that belonged to Su Ming. The situation had not derailed to the point where it was no longer part of his plan. During the four hundred years of analysis, he had discovered several ways that might be dead ends but could also be points that led to new life.

At that moment, the second path was one such way. Without any hesitation, Su Ming chose to walk it. At the instant his soul was completely burnt, the wave of impact that erupted from him was incredibly powerful. Ecang’s will laughed coldly and did not try to stop it. He knew that this was Su Ming’s final bout of madness. After that, he would surely die.

’I was dead to begin with. My soul is dead and cannot touch the sun… Then what will happen if a person whose soul is dead dies again..?’

As the wave of impact from the burning of Su Ming’s soul spread out, his soul covered eighty-hundredths in one bout from the previous sixty-seven. A boom shot up in Su Ming’s mind, and a new picture appeared in his head.

He saw… Western Ring Nebula’s foreign land, right beyond the one hundred thousand golden seas and one hundred thousand galaxies!

It was as if Su Ming’s Atman was expanded endlessly at that instant and covered the entire foreign land. It even continued spreading out to cover Western Ring Nebula. However, the Western Ring Nebula before Su Ming’s eyes was vastly different from his memories.

This place was filled with tranquility and life. The Essence of the Worlds within the countless cultivation planets was abundant and sufficient. There were… no cultivators on the planets, only ferocious beasts. It was as if this was a foreign galaxy that no cultivator had yet discovered.

Su Ming was momentarily stunned. When he instinctively pulled back his Atman and it returned to his body, he discovered that the foreign land had disappeared.

More accurately speaking, he had become the foreign land.

Su Ming lowered his head. When he looked at himself, he saw that he was dressed in white. He had become a stranger.

He was an old man with white hair, an unfamiliar existence whose eyes were filled with wisdom and an ancient air.

”With one thought, I can destroy the heavens…” The universe instantly turned dark. The galaxy disappeared in an instant, as if everything had been destroyed.

This was not Su Ming’s voice, but he could sense that he was the one saying the words. During that instant, he suddenly understood. Once he occupied eight-tenths of Ecang’s venous pathways, he saw Ecang’s memories, and once he fused with them, he saw… Sui Chen Zi.

”With one thought, I can give life to the universe.”

Su Ming’s heart trembled. He saw a ray of light being born within that endless darkness after the galaxy had turned into a black, empty void. That light spread out and covered everything that Su Ming saw, chasing away all darkness. Cultivation planets were born, and lives appeared on them.

”With one thought, I can make all lives perish…” As the third sentence was spoken, all lives were reduced to ashes, as if flames had swept past them. It was as if several millions of years had flowed past the universe.

”With one thought, I can give life to all manner of being.” When that ancient voice spoke again, Su Ming’s heart shuddered. He seemed to have come to a vague understanding of something.

”Those who can see my four Great Arts of Divine Essence have either made their stone monuments reach nine million feet… or Possessed eight-tenths of Ecang. It doesn’t matter how you managed to do it, as long as you understand the law I left behind within these four Great Arts of Divine Essence, then it will become your law. The more you understand, the more control you will have over this law…

”You only have three breaths. After three breaths, you must tell me what you have understood!” Sui Chen Zi said flatly.