Pursuit of the Truth

”Purple, if it wasn’t because your soul weren’t still that of Ecang, I would suspect that you were Possessed by a tribute!”

”It doesn’t matter whether you were Possessed or not, Purple, your soul is still that of Ecang. If you aren’t Possessed, then fine, but even if you are, and you’re no longer the previous Purple we know, it doesn’t matter to us. You just need to keep the promise made between the ten Ecang souls.”

”Before we are fully recovered and have fused together to decide who will be the one who will dominate over the rest, do not go and provoke other Masters of Fate, Lives, and Death outside, and do not bring trouble to us.”

”What if someone comes to this place to provoke me?!” Su Ming’s divine thought immediately rang in space.

”We are Ecang. If they provoke you, then it means that they have provoked us. If they insult you, then it means that they have insulted us. If someone comes here, we will fight back with our full strength!”

”All right!”

After listening to the divine thoughts of the nine souls, Su Ming fell silent for a moment, then agreed to this matter. In truth, he had long since noticed that the nine souls had become suspicious of him. However, his soul belonged to Ecang. Because of that, even if they knew that he had Possessed the purple Ecang, they were still fine with it.

This was the Abyss Builders’ inborn talent, a power that gave Su Ming a feeling that it was growing more mysterious with every new thing he learned about it. He also had a sense that Abyss Builders were an existence that even surpassed Ecang.

’Ecang is a form of life that forms its soul from a Sublime Paragon’s soul and devours Divine Essence to be born, and I… Possessed Ecang to be strong.’ Su Ming pulled back his divine thought and opened his eyes while remaining seated in the one hundred thousand purple galaxies.

’The power of a Master of Fate, Lives, and Death certainly shocked me.’ Su Ming looked at the purple hue in the galaxy, and determination appeared in his eyes.

’The rise and fall of fate, and the lives of all manner of living are in one hand… Before I Possessed Ecang, I didn’t know whether I would ever be able to understand this Realm, but with this Ecang clone, I will be able to head down this legendary path.’

Su Ming slowly closed his eyes, covering the determination in them, but the act of shutting his eyes did not manage to hide the obsession in his heart.

’When I fuse with the other nine Ecang souls, I will be able to surpass this Realm.’ Su Ming did not say these words. He only quietly thought them at the instant he closed his eyes.

When Su Ming’s Ecang clone closed his eyes, his other clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole opened his eyes in the purple galaxy.

He was sitting cross-legged in space. When he opened his eyes, no determination or obsession could be seen. There was only a profound look in his eyes that made them seem like bottomless pits. If anyone took a closer look into them, they would be able to vaguely see overlapping shadows of runic symbols in the right eye, while a palm was swiftly forming in his left eye.

That palm was a mere illusion, but after Su Ming had survived under the hands of a Master of Fate, Lives, and Death, he had obtained an epiphany, and this palm was the result of that epiphany. The palm was changing its motions endlessly as Su Ming continued trying to understand his epiphany.

After a long while, he lifted his right hand and looked at his palm, as well as the palm lines on it. After a moment, he swung his right hand, and a green feather in it.

This was the one and only feather he had gained after fusing all the green fledgling feathers he took from Wu Li Zi’s brows.

There was no blood on it, but at the instant the feather appeared, the image of a green peacock manifested in space, as if Su Ming was not holding onto a feather, but a peacock.

Su Ming looked at the feather, then lifted his left hand to strike the storage bag. The sleeping bag immediately turned into a ray of dark light that appeared in front of him.

The dark creature had its eyes closed and still did not show any signs of waking up, but at the instant it appeared, the dark light on it shone even more intensely. At the same time, the green peacock in Su Ming’s right hand started screeching, as if it had run into a great enemy.

In Su Ming’s senses, these two creatures were clearly from the same source, but their current actions caused his eyes to sparkle. He had formed a guess in his heart previously, and right then, he became somewhat certain of his guess.

The dark light from the bald crane burst forth. As it shone furiously, it turned into a black crane. That crane did not have its eyes shut, but they were unfocused. As it let out a piercing screech, it charged towards the green peacock.

The peacock also let out a screech before charging forward. The two birds immediately crashed into each other before Su Ming. There were no sound of collision. In silence, they looked as if they had begun merging with each other. It might seem like a quiet and calm process, but Su Ming could feel that this fusion was akin to an act of devouring.

It would be either the bald crane devouring the green peacock, or the peacock devouring the bald crane.

However, since Su Ming was around, he would definitely not allow the green peacock to succeed. He let out a cold harrumph and lifted his right hand to point swiftly at the green peacock’s body as the two of them continued devouring each other.

At the instant he pointed towards it, the green peacock let out a shrill screech of pain. Its body collapsed and turned into bits of glittering green light that were instantly absorbed by the bald crane.

This process lasted for about two hours, and after that, the bald crane’s body trembled. Its shut eyes showed signs of opening, but it seemed that the amount of power gathered was not enough, since it could not fully open its eyes.

There probably was still a little bit of power left required for it to fully open its eyes, but if it did not have the power to open them, then it would mean that it would not be able to wake up.

”I… need… sti…” As the bald crane struggled, it said these three syllables with a great exertion of strength. Its eyelids, which had moved apart to form a small crack, seemed to have lost all strength, and looked as if they were about to fall shut once again, causing the signs of it waking up to also disappear.

Su Ming’s expression remained the same as usual. He looked at the bald crane and said flatly, ”Stop pretending, the green peacock was enough for you to wake up. I don’t have crystals anymore, so I can’t give you the stimulation you need.”

He said that, but the bald crane looked as if it hadn’t heard it. As its body trembled, an expression of struggle appeared on it, as if it was gathering all its strength to not fall asleep again, but it could not do so. Its eyes fell shut at that moment, and a feeling that it had fallen into deep slumber spread out from its body.

Su Ming’s gaze became focused. The bald crane did not seem to be pretending, and Su Ming could not accept it if the bald crane could not wake up due to crystals. He had risked danger to enter the region where the forces of power from True Sacred Yin World were stationed and had only been able to obtain the green feathers after barely escaping death when a Master of Fate, Lives, and Death chased after his life.

When he saw that the bald crane was about to wake up but was going to fall asleep again, he lifted his right hand and pressed down on his storage bag without any hesitation. Immediately, the hundreds of spirit stones remaining in his storage bag were all brought out.

The quality of these spirit stones were incredibly good, and they were the last of Su Ming’s savings. After all, with the bald crane around, it was incredibly difficult for Su Ming to even keep the crystals he had by his side…

It could be said that all his money was in his hands at that moment. However, to give the bald crane the stimulation it needed, Su Ming had to bring out these spirit stones. Almost at the instant these sparkling spirit stones were brought out from the storage bag, the bald crane looked as if it had sniffed their scent… even though crystals had no scent.

However, it was clear that the bald crane could somehow sniff them. Its nose twitched slightly, and it looked as if new strength had immediately appeared within it. As it trembled, it struggled to open its shut eyes, as if it wanted to look at the crystals it was besotted with.

The strength of that newborn power seemed to provide support for the bald crane wake up from its coma. When it opened its eyes with great difficulty, it cast a glance at those crystals with sparkling eyes, but when it saw that there were only hundreds of them, it instantly lost all its strength and looked as if it was about to enter into deep sleep once more.

”The stimulation… is not enough… I need… more stimulation…” The bald crane continued speaking haltingly and looked as if it was incredibly weakened, but Su Ming could clearly see the spark in its eyes. That was clearly the appearance of someone who was highly alert and full of vigor.

”How much stimulation do you still need?” Su Ming snorted coldly in his heart, but his words were spoken in a relaxed manner.

”I… need… one thousand… no, ten thousand- One hundred thousand!” The bald crane struggled to not let its eyes fall shut, and it looked even more weakened.

”Is one hundred thousand enough? Do you want more?” Su Ming asked softly.

The bald crane was momentarily stunned, but soon, it looked as if strength had returned to its body, as if Su Ming’s words were as effective as all forms of medicinal cores.

”Then… give me… one million.”

”Mhm, go on ahead and continue sleeping.”

Su Ming stood up and swung his right arm in the air before him. The hundreds of crystals immediately vanished, placed back into the storage bag. Once he did so, he turned around, intending to leave.

A shrill screech of pain tumbled out of the bald crane’s beak at the instant Su Ming turned around. It seized its chest with its wings and narrowed its eyes into mere slits, looking as if it was out of sorts.

”You… how cruel… I… am going to fall asleep. Farewell, Su Ming, I’m going to sleep.”

Su Ming walked into the distance.

”I’m really going to sleep!” the bald crane quickly shouted.

Su Ming moved even farther away.

”I’m really, really going to sleep!” the bald crane screamed wretchedly and closed its eyes completely. Its body fell to the side and begun to float in the galaxy, unmoving, looking exactly how it did when the bald crane had been in deep sleep.

Su Ming’s figure could almost not be seen.

”Well, damn you!” The bald crane opened one eye and glared at Su Ming’s already indistinct figure as he continued walking into the distance.

”I used my life to help you Possess that Ecang, and you’re not saving me even if I’m about to die?! Y-y-you… You’re going overboard! It’s just a few crystals, just external objects, just… ah…”

The bald crane was mumbling furiously under its breath when it suddenly saw ripples appearing around Su Ming, who was already in the distance. When it saw that he was about to leave the galaxy, it abruptly let out a scream and instantly opened its eyes. At that moment, there were no signs of weakness on it, and it clearly had a look as if it had been infused with a great boost of energy.

”Hey, I’m alright now. That’s strange, why did I suddenly become better? Haha, I, Grandpa Crane, have recovered. I am me again!” As it shouted loudly, it swiftly flapped its wings and flew towards Su Ming before crashing head first into those ripples. As Su Ming disappeared, it also vanished.

Its smug laughter alone continued echoing in the galaxy. It fell into the ears of Su Ming’s Ecang clone in the distant cosmos. The Ecang clone did not open his eyes, but a hint of a happy smile could be seen at the corners of his lips.

…..

”Hey, Su Ming, where are you taking me? Let me tell you, I’m not going to a place without crystals!”

”Black Ink Planet. Not only does that place have crystals, it also has a part of your physical body there. You can choose not to go.”

”I’m going! There are crystals and my physical body there! Darn it all, I’m definitely going! Say… you’re too slow. Just watch me, I’m fast.”