Pursuit of the Truth

In the Sinful Barren Lands, within the four Great Galaxies, at the core beyond Western Ring Nebula, beyond its foreign lands, cracks filled the endless galaxy. The area was filled with silence. Not too far away from the foreign land’s area was a gigantic ancient bronze sword floating about. That sword was thirty thousand something feet long, and it remained still and unmoving in the galaxy.

There were three people sitting on the tip of the sword. One of them was an old man, the other middle-aged, and the last a teenage boy. The three of them were just sitting there, but their presence already made the galaxy around them to distort, a telling sign of how extraordinary their power was.

All of them were in the middle stage of World Plane Realm, and they were the True Guards that belonged to the forces of power from the four Great True Worlds keeping a lookout over the barren lands.

Behind them, on the huge blade of the ancient sword, were three hundred people in black armor, who were sitting quietly and meditating. Their eyes were shut tight, and the still presence spreading out from them made them seem dead.

In the silence, the middle-aged man said slowly with a slight displeasure on his face, ”So many years have passed. Isn’t Lord Vice General just making a big fuss over this. There’s absolutely no meaning in changing shifts once every two hundred years to monitor this place.”

”There must be a reason why Lord Vice General did this. After all, that Mo Su caused quite a ruckus in the past.” The person who answered the man was the old man beside him, and his words were unhurried. The old man was dressed in a white robe, and his white hair fell on his shoulders. He did not look to excited, though.

”What other reason could there be? That Mo Su is just a cultivator at the initial stage of World Plane Realm. It was difficult to kill him because he was hard to track down. If that had not been the case, I could have easily killed him.

”He must have already died after he fled into the foreign lands, and he’s causing trouble to us by making us suffer and wait here. We still have about fifty something years before someone will take our place.” The man shook his head and cast his gaze on the boy who was seated right before them.

”Kong Huan, you are the third sword attendant of our Lord Vice General. What do you think?”

”You’re very noisy,” the boy named Kong Huan replied flatly with eyes closed. There was a green sword placed on his knees, and he had his hands pressed flat on its blade.

The man was not angered, but as he laughed heartily, a hint of derision flashed in the depths of his eyes. Lord Vice General had nine sword attendants, but only Kong Huan was tasked to monitor this place over the past thousand years. No one else came to take his place. Every single time there was a change in shifts, only the True Guards would be changed.

In his mind, the middle-aged man believed that Lord Vice General was not fond of Kong Huan, and this was just another form of banishment.

After all, this place was barren of resources, making it difficult for one’s cultivation base to grow and improve. It was a big difference from training within the place where the forces of power were stationed. Over there, their level of cultivation would be able to increase by a large margin within a thousand years.

As the three people exchanged this meaningless talk, they did not notice a person standing before them in the area where the endless cracks leading to the foreign lands filled the space.

It was as if this person was invisible in their eyes and did not exist.

”A thousand years passed by so quickly… I originally thought that the time in the foreign lands was different from the world outside, but from what I obtained from Zhao Family’s Progenitor made it very clear that the flow of time is the same,” Su Ming mumbled. The three True Guards could not see him, but he could see them. In fact, Su Ming had known a long time ago that there were people monitoring this place from the area beyond the foreign lands. This was something he learned clearly from Zhao Tian Gang’s memories.

However, these three people and the three hundred people behind them were completely ignored by Su Ming. The memories of the things that happened after he was forced into the foreign lands one thousand years ago fleeted past his mind, and he gradually fell silent.

One thousand years became a passing flash of starlight. However, the planets were still around, the brilliant rays of light were still around. When he looked at them, it was as if he was looking at the things from the past, and for a moment, he could not differentiate the time.

It was just like a person’s hair. The strands could dance about in the air, and when their intersected with each other, they might seem similar, but they would be different, just like how the years were different now.

Su Ming looked at the galaxy. He did not intentionally try to appear ancient, but as he recalled what had happened in Western Ring Nebula’s foreign lands during the past one thousand years and an air of sentimentality rose within him, he could not help but have an air of ancientness surround him.

A world changing transformation could be said to have happened to Su Ming during those one thousand years. He had run into one of the greatest serendipities in his life, he shook off the control of Yin Death Region’s wills over him, he expelled Di Tian’s seal over him, obtained his Ecang clone, and he had a cultivation base of great completion in Heaven Cultivation Realm. He was only a hair away from World Plane Realm.

In fact, if he had a clone that could train his cultivation base at that moment, he would definitely be able to isolate himself and try reaching World Plane Realm, but alas, he did not have one.

His clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole had similarly obtained an incredibly great serendipity. He had risen from the initial stage of World Plane Realm to nearly the peak of the middle stage of World Plane Realm. Besides that, Su Ming had also obtained Divine Essence.

The overlapping shadows of the runic symbols that occasionally shone in his right eye would definitely shock those who saw them, and their minds would ponder over the strangeness within those runes.

This seemingly broken land due to the countless cracks that was Western Ring Nebula’s foreign land was not at all different from how it was in the past. If it was not because Su Ming knew that one thousand years had passed, he would not have been able to differentiate just how much time had passed upon coming out.

It was quiet all around him. He could not see too much starlight, and neither could he see any cultivators. It was as if this place had become seawater that was nearly black in color.

”I have come out.” Su Ming lifted his head and looked at the endless space in the galaxy above him. As he spoke flatly, for the first time, his gaze landed on the ancient bronze sword not too far away, and the people who could not see him.

Su Ming averted his gaze and placed his hands behind his back. Then, he walked forward. With one step, he moved out of the area leading to the foreign land, and with another, he closed in on the ancient bronze… before he moved past it coolly.

Su Ming did not want to kill these three people. After all, if any deaths occurred, he would alert the forces of power from the four Great True Worlds keeping a lookout over the land. That was why he ignored them.

Yet at the instant Su Ming moved past the ancient bronze sword, the ancient and simple looking green sword placed on Kong Huan’s knees as he meditated in a seated position suddenly let out a sword whistle.

It was faint, trembling somewhat. At the instant it appeared, Kong Huan’s eyes flew open. The two True Guards behind him were stunned as well, and they looked towards Kong Huan’s sword at the same time.

This was the first time they heard the sword whistle over the hundred something years they kept a lookout over this place. This was also the first time Kong Huan heard the sword whistle over the past one thousand years he had been monitoring this place.

Kong Huan’s expression changed drastically. He instantly stood up and looked around him. In his mind, the words from Lord Vice General one thousand years ago when he gave Kong Huan the sword rang out.

”This sword is known as Verdant Flames. Take it with you. When it lets out a sword whistle, it will be the day the existence I have been waiting for all this while have appeared. I will grant you this sword to keep a lookout over the foreign land.

”Once the sword lets out its whistle, immediately let go of it!”

It was these words that caused Kong Huan to come to this place and sit down cross-legged on the ancient bronze sword without lifting his hands off the green sword.

By now, he had waited for one thousand years. At the instant the sword let out a sword whistle and Kong Huan got up to look around him, he let go of the sword he had placed his hands without any hesitation.

At the instant he let go, green flames appeared on the sword. With a bang, that sword turned into a green arc and charged into the space, charging to the spot where Su Ming was with a loud whistle.

Su Ming turned around, and his gaze landed on the green arc that was coming towards him. A wave of sword aura charged swiftly at his waist, and Su Ming could not help but chuckle.

’It’s rare to see such an intelligent sword, but by the looks of it, it doesn’t seem to have noticed me. Instead…’ Su Ming lowered his head to cast a glance at his waist. There was… a storage bag there.

Su Ming shook his head. At the instant the green arc came towards him, he lifted his right hand and pointed forward. With it, the shadows of runic symbols immediately appeared in his right eye. As they gathered on his finger, the tip of his finger tapped the green arc.

Boom!

A loud bang shook the entire area. The green sword shook and fell back. The blade melted at that instant and turned into two green wisps. One of them charged towards the center of Kong Huan’s brows, while the other charged into space with an indescribable speed, intending to flee.

This scene caused the people on the ancient bronze sword to immediately widen their eyes. Their expressions changed. Right before their eyes, they saw the green sword stabbing an empty spot in space, but when a booming sound rang into the air, the green sword fell back and melted into two green wisps. During that instant, they saw a wave of ripples that looked like those that would appear on flowing water in the space before them. A figure with a tall and straight back gradually appeared from those ripples.

He was a young man with long, gray hair, a long robe with dark colors, and whose handsome face had an air of ancientness. Runic symbols shone in his right eye, giving all those who saw it a bizarre feeling.

”Mo Su!”

”You’re Mo Su!”

The middle-aged man and the old man immediately recognized Su Ming, and surprised delight appeared in their eyes. After all, Mo Su’s bounty remained ripe for picking to this date. True Guards did not care about freedom, but they longed dearly for the Enchanted Treasure containing a hint of Solar Kalpa’s presence.

”I originally didn’t want to make things hard for you.”

Su Ming lifted his head to look at the space above him. The overlapping shadows of the runic symbols in his right eye shone, and ten thousand runic symbols appeared with a bang. They spread out and surrounded the entire area. Each of the runic symbols was shining, and the entire area froze as if it had been sealed.

The green wisp that had charged out into space to flee was also caught within the runic symbols formed by Divine Essence. It was struggling, wishing to escape…

”Since you discovered me… then you can become my tributes,” Su Ming said flatly. He took a step forward. At the instant he did so, he appeared above the ancient bronze sword, clenched his right fist, and punched it.

The middle-aged man in the middle stage of World Plane Realm did not even have time to check Su Ming’s level of cultivation when a sense of danger rose within him. He let out an enraged shout, then formed a seal with his hands. An armor manifested on his body, and a gigantic runic picture appeared before him. As it spun, it charged towards Su Ming.

Boom!

Su Ming’s fist landed on the runic picture, and it immediately shattered to pieces. In shock, the man retreated, but before he could move far away, Su Ming’s punch had already landed on his chest.

He coughed up blood, and his armor shattered. A loud bang rang out in the man’s heart, and all his bones were almost shattered. As he coughed up huge mouthfuls of blood, disbelief appeared on his face.

’Later stage of World Plane Realm!’ His body was instantly flung away by a great force to land within the crack in the area of the foreign land. He disappeared within an instant, sucked inside.

”The next is you.” Su Ming’s expression remained as calm as before. When he turned around, he threw his fist in the direction of the old man who was rapidly retreating and whose face was filled with shock.

Booming sounds echoed in the air. The punch that was fused with Divine Essence could temporarily bring forth the power of the later stage of World Plane Realm and completely suppress those in the middle stage of World Plane Realm. Unless the old man had a Kalpa Treasure and the same type of serendipity as Su Ming… then there was absolutely no way he could fight against it.

The old man coughed up blood, and banging sounds rang out nonstop in his body. As his face turned pale, his body was flung back by a great force, and he landed in one of the cracks leading to the foreign land before disappearing without a trace.