Pursuit of the Truth

Once Su Ming said those words, Zhao Family’s Progenitor shuddered before him. He lifted his head swiftly and looked at over blankly. No matter what, he did not expect that Su Ming would speak up to help him.

Su Ming’s strength was incredibly mysterious to Zhao Family’s Progenitor. He did not know what the other had experienced, but when he saw how he swung his hand and caused the deaths of nearly one hundred people and how hundreds of people, including himself, had knelt down and worshiped him as he walked towards them, his mind was left in confusion.

The submission of his soul terrified Zhao Family’s Progenitor, and at the same time, an indescribable respect towards Su Ming rose within him. In fact, from all the other people’s gazes around him, he could tell that someone like Su Ming had never appeared in Western Ring Nebula’s foreign land from what these tens of thousands of people could remember.

What caused him to be apprehensive just now was that he could faintly sense with his level of cultivation that Sui Chen Zi’s law had truly obeyed Su Ming’s command when he waved his hand.

All of this was a clear sign that Su Ming was an unusual existence in this place.

Almost the instant Su Ming said his words, the tens of thousands of people in the area fell into a dead silence. They quickly lowered their heads. Everything that Su Ming had showed just now had already caused their hearts to be in shock, and as Su Ming’s words echoed in the air, they had no choice but to be silent.

The crowd’s silence brought a mysterious atmosphere to the place. Gong Sun Yin was momentarily stunned as he stood in the air, but after he recovered, he looked at Su Ming.

His pupils shrank. He had not returned to this place for a thousand years. When he returned now, he had felt that there was something incredibly off. The first thing was the sight of the hundreds of people kneeling and worshiping somebody. During the years he had been in this place, he had never seen anything like it.

The second thing was how that simple sentence from the person who was being worshiped by the hundreds of people had caused tens of thousands of people to fall silent, and none of them even dared to lift their heads. All of them did not dare to speak, and this caused Gong Sun Yin’s heart to let out a thump.

He had a feeling that something very bad was about to happen.

’Just what happened here during the one thousand years I was gone? This person… I’ve never seen him before. He must be someone who arrived after I left.’

A glint shone in Gong Sun Yin’s eyes. His ability to reach the later stage of World Plane Realm might be related to this place, but his intelligence was definitely nothing ordinary as well. At that moment, an amiable smile appeared on his face, and he nodded towards Su Ming.

”Brother, how may I address you? My name is Gong Sun Yin, and in this place, my stone monument has reached one million feet—”

Su Ming cut off Gong Sun Yin’s words and flatly repeated again, ”I’m asking you, who do you think you are?”

Su Ming’s brusque words immediately caused killing intent to shine in Gong Sun Yin’s eyes. Ever since he reached the later stage of World Plane Realm, he hadn’t met anyone who would dare speak to him in this manner. He let out a cold harrumph, and the killing intent in his eyes became greater. As he stared at Su Ming, his lips curled up into a smile, but it did not reach his eyes.

”Ever since my stone monument reached one million feet, you are the first person who dared speak to me in such a manner. Looks like leaving this place for one thousand years has caused the newcomers to forget my reputation.

”Oh well, I won’t punish you too greatly, but I will have you know that the ones who have made their stone monuments reach one million feet are the people who are primarily selected by the Divine Essence in this place. We are not people newcomers like you can easily provoke!” Gong Sun Yin sneered and lifted his right hand swiftly before pointing towards the ground.

”Come forth, my stone monument!” At the instant he spoke, a stone monument that was one million feet tall let out booming sounds and floated up from the ground before it went to him.

Gong Sun Yin’s name was carved clearly on the one million feet tall stone monument. It was huge and stretched out boundlessly. At that moment, once it floated up, the expressions of the people in the area changed.

”This is one of the divine abilities which is granted to those who are primarily selected. They can push down other people’s stone monuments and make them shrink!”

”That’s right. That’s the divine ability that only those chosen can obtain. I’ve seen one of the stone monuments from one of those chosen pushing down a nine hundred thousand something feet stone monument to instantly become merely tens of thousands of feet tall, causing the hard work worth dozens of years to be gone just like that. If that person had not immediately begged for mercy, as long as that chosen he offended remained in the place, he would never be able to make his stone monument reach one million feet.”

”Gong Sun Yin is one of those chosen, and Mo Su has a lot of mysterious secrets surrounding him. His stone monument is also one million feet. I wonder what will happen if the two of them fight each other.”

The buzz of discussions instantly rose in the area. Light from Gong Sun Yin’s stone monument shone far and wide, and as it spread out in the land, all the stone monuments immediately became blurry, with only Su Ming’s stone monument alone remaining as distinct as ever.

This was the effect of the divine ability of those primarily chosen. It could allow them to automatically find the stone monument that belonged to the person they wanted without the use of divine sense, and at the instant Su Ming’s stone monument appeared, Gong Sun Yin frowned.

Su Ming’s stone monument was also one million feet tall.

Gong Sun Yin laughed coldly in his heart. Even if both their stone monuments were one million feet tall, his own had been at that height since one thousand years ago, while it was clear that Su Ming’s had only reached one million feet after his. If that was the case, he could still push down Su Ming’s stone monument slightly. The effect might be nothing extraordinary, but it could still shock the other.

”Push it down.” Gong Sun Yin let out a cold harrumph, and his stone monument immediately rushed towards Su Ming’s to press down on it.

Su Ming’s expression remained as calm as ever as the stone monument pushed down on his own. There was not a hint of change that could be detected on his face. In fact, it was the same for his stone monument. However… at the instant Gong Sun Yin’s stone monument pushed down, it immediately started cracking from the bottom, and with a bang, it even began showing signs of crumbling.

This scene immediately caused an uproar in the area. It also made Gong Sun Yin’s expression change drastically. He quickly controlled his stone monument and lifted it. Then, with an expression as if he had just seen a ghost, he looked towards Su Ming.

Within Su Ming’s eyes, Gong Sun Yin’s stone monument was blue. He was a tribute of the blue Ecang. There were ten thousand such stone monuments in this place.

If they were in the world outside, then in the face of this old monster in the later stage of World Plane Realm, Su Ming would need to use his power to fight against him, but here, he did not need to do that. He lifted his right hand and pointed towards Gong Sun Yin’s stone monument.

With this move, booming sounds echoed in the air. During that instant, the signs of shattering on Gong Sun Yin’s stone monument became even more intense. Cracks appeared like hideous scars, and Gong Sun Yin’s expression changed to reveal great shock. He immediately became alarmed.

The damage against stone monuments could directly affect a person’s soul, so how could he not be afraid of it?

”No! Damn it, how dare you damage my stone monument?! If you can use the divine abilities of those primarily chosen, then I can, too!”

It was clear that Gong Sun Yin had misunderstood. Su Ming had activated the law in the land with that pointing of his finger. However, as a primarily chosen, Gong Sun Yin had thought of another unique ability that belonged to people such as him.

”Master! I, Gong Sun Yin, beg of you to descend to this place! Please lend me the power of the law here and protect my stone monument as well as suppress this person!”

Gong Sun Yin let out a low growl. When his stone monument had reached one million feet all those years ago and he became one of the primarily chosen, he had seen a ray of blue light that stretched endlessly. The strength of that blue light was so great that it could destroy him with just one thought.

In fact, the blue light had given him a feeling that his soul had submitted to it, as if it was his master, and his master had granted him the unique Arts given to those who were primarily chosen. He could use his stone monument to push down other people’s monuments, and he was also given the right to summon his master thrice. Every single time he summoned his master, he could implore his master to help him do one thing.

This was the second time he used this right. The first time was before he left this place. He had summoned his master’s will to descend to this place and open up space so that he could leave for one thousand years.

This might seem like one thousand years of freedom to others, but to those who were primarily chosen, they knew that this freedom was given to them in the form of an exchange… and the longest possible time they were allowed out was only one thousand years. After that, they could no longer make that request again.

Right then, at the instant he said those words, he had great confidence that his master’s will was the strongest here and could affect the laws as well as change everything. That was a strength that he had never seen before in his life. As his master’s will descended, he could definitely make this junior take a good look and make him know that provoking those who are primarily chosen was the biggest mistake in one’s life!

He could even imagine how this junior’s expression would change drastically after a moment. He would scream shrilly and would kneel down to plead for mercy before him.

He could also use this chance to strike a heavy blow to Zhao Tian Gang’s confidence, sinking him into greater despair and having him taste the pain he had suffered all those years ago.

A cruel smile appeared on Gong Sun Yin’s lips. He looked at Su Ming, who still looked as calm as ever, and his smile turned into a sneer filled with derision.

Almost at the instant that sneer appeared, he sensed the familiar presence of his master’s will descending in its greatness to this place with a loud boom. Within an instant, it filled the area above his stone monument… but the shattering of his stone monument… still continued!

It might have become much slower, but it continued, as if even his master could not completely prevent his stone monument from crumbling further.

Gong Sun Yin’s expression immediately changed. This surpassed his expectations and his mind instantly turn black, but he still had a stroke of luck.

”Purple!”

A dignified voice echoed in Gong Sun Yin’s soul. He immediately recognized that this was his master’s voice, but it was not directed to him. He could only hear it. At the instant he was taken aback by that one word, he heard another voice.

”Blue.”

He was familiar with this voice. It belonged to that young man that was worshiped by hundreds of people, including Zhao Family’s Progenitor, and who Gong Sun Yin had just mocked, prepared to teach him a lesson.

”This person is my primarily chosen tribute, could you spare him this once?” His master’s divine thought reverberated in the air. This was a voice that only Gong Sun Yin could hear among all the others in the land, because the blue Ecang’s will was summoned by him to this place.

However, what left Gong Sun Yin in shock and disbelief was that his master’s voice was speaking to Su Ming with a tone as if he was negotiating with him. This made his heart tremble furiously and his breathing almost froze. He did not know just what sort of existence he had provoked that even his master would need to negotiate with it.

”Let your tribute Zhou Kang leave your stone monument and become my tribute.”

Su Ming’s divine thought traveled forth flatly, but in Gong Sun Yin’s ears, this was a tone which placed itself on completely equal terms with his master. Once he remembered how his master’s will had spoken with a negotiating tone, a frightening through rose in Gong Sun Yin’s mind. This speculation made his heart quiver, and when he looked towards Su Ming, his expression was filled with utmost shock.

This scene was filled with a bizarre air to all the others in the area who saw this, because they could only see Gong Sun Yin stunned in midair, his face filled with shock and terror.

”Very well.” The blue Ecang’s will did not hesitate and agreed to it.

”This person can be spared from death, but he cannot escape being punished. To show that all of us ten souls are equal, he should sink into the ranks of those who are not chosen once again to serve as a warning to others.”

”Very well, but you are not to find an excuse and cause my tributes to disrespect you again.”

”All right.”

The blue Ecang’s will retreated, and Su Ming’s will also faded away. During that instant, Gong Sun Yin’s stone monument shrank rapidly, eventually turning to only thirty thousand something feet before it fell on the ground once again.

This scene immediately stirred up great commotion among the people.

”A stone monument of a primarily chosen… has shrank to only tens of thousands of feet!”

”Gong Sun Yin’s right as a primarily chosen has been cancelled. This is… How could this be? Could it be because he provoked Mo Su? How could this Mo Su be so strong? I remember that he was the same as us in the past!”

”Just what sort of serendipity did Mo Su obtain? Could it be… could it be..?”

”We absolutely cannot provoke this sort of person. This sort of existence is someone that no one can dominate!”

”I remember that he entered the world in the stone monument through the Five Illusory Echelons in the beginning. Could it be that those who enter the stone monument through the Five Illusory Echelons become this strong in the future? But in the past, there had been quite a few who entered the stone monuments through the path of the Five Illusory Echelons… and no one was like this.”

At this moment, the color of Zhou Kang’s stone monument changed abruptly, turning purple, while one empty stone monument out of the ten thousand that belonged to Su Ming also turned blue.

However, this was something no one could see. In fact, not even Zhou Kang himself noticed this.

Gong Sun Yin’s face turned pale, and as his body trembled, he fell to the ground. He looked at Su Ming, and the terror in his heart could no longer be described with words. At that moment, he was already certain that Su Ming was an existence that was the same as his master. In fact… Su Ming was no longer a cultivator, but a part of this foreign land.

He did not dare provoke such an existence, much less grumble or complain.

”Sir Purple, thank you for sparing my life.”

As Gong Sun Yin said these words, the buzz of discussion in the area became even stronger. Su Ming ignored Gong Sun Yin, as well as Zhao Family’s Progenitor, who was by his side and was shocked by this scene. Instead, he looked towards Zhou Kang, who was staring at him with a bewildered expression.

”Big brother Zhou, do you want to leave this place?”

”Can… I leave?” Zhou Kang lifted his head with a dazed expression and looked at Su Ming.

”As long as you want to.”

”Can she… be revived?” Great hope appeared in Zhou Kang’s dazed eyes.

Su Ming fell silent, then shook his head.

”I’ll stay here.”

Zhou Kang laughed brokenly, as if he had lost his soul. He knew that if he left this place, he would never be able to see his wife again, but in this place, at the very least… he had the memories in the world of the stone monument to keep him company, even though he knew that the person within them was just a recollection.

Su Ming sighed softly. The figures of several women appeared in his mind. After a long while, he shook his head. He respected Zhou Kang’s loyal love for his wife, but in this world, besides romantic love, there were other forms of love that needed to be protected.

As he turned around, he lifted his right hand and tapped the unresisting Zhao Family’s Progenitor between the brows. The memories of the past one thousand years appeared in his mind, and once Su Ming scanned through the changes in the world outside, he pulled back his finger and swung his arm at his stone monument.

Immediately, the words Mo Su gradually disappeared from the stone monument that belonged to him. The one million feet tall stone monument also instantly started shrinking, eventually turning to an empty one that was only several tens of thousands of feet tall.

Su Ming no longer needed a stone monument.

The people could not understand this. They could only remain silent and in shock. The only person who understood this was Gong Sun Yin. At the instant he saw this scene, he completely understood what was going on.

’As expected… he is the same as my master. He’s not a candidate, but has become an existence that chooses others.’

Su Ming cast one look at Zhou Kang, then turned around to take a step into the air. Under the gazes of the tens of thousands of people in the area, he stepped into space and gradually fused into it before he left.

At this time, Su Ming’s voice echoed within the minds of the hundreds of people with the purple stone monuments, including Zhao Tian Gang’s.

”I am the will of the land. All of you, train here and try to gain your epiphany in this place. I promise you, when the day comes that I complete my Dao, all of you will be completely free.”