Pursuit of the Truth

Su Ming had not said those words. Instead, it was said by the young man in white in a voice filled with mixed feelings. Su Ming saw that he was sitting beside the table when the door to his room opened without a sound.

The young man looked quite handsome; he had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes. There was a pride about him that seemed to come straight from his soul, and it was one that could not be dispelled. He was the same as how Su Ming had seen him the first time. He had that lonely but prideful air about him back then, and now… it was still the same.

He was like a sharp sword that was about to be drawn out from its scabbard, existing in a state of equilibrium in which his brilliance was shown to the world but in which he also kept some of that brilliance within himself. This demeanor was enough to make all cultivators who saw Ye Wang unable to help themselves but to look upon him and pay attention to him.

This was Ye Wang, the prodigy with the greatest potential in tens of thousands of years of Immortal history. He was highly valued by Morning Dao Sect and taken in as a successor disciple by the Sect Elder.

He was the pride of the Immortals, which was just like what he held within himself. He lived his life with that pride and his loneliness as his companion. His pride was born from his loneliness, and his loneliness was due to him being too outstanding, because no one by his side could compare to him.

In Ye Wang’s mind, the only thing that remained after all that he experienced in his life was a teenager he saw in the land of Berserkers after he participated in the plan in the past.

That had been the first time Ye Wang had fought to a tie against someone, and it could even be said that he had lost during that time. With his pride, there was only losing and winning in his life. There was no such thing as reaching a tie with someone else.

When he was in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, he saw Su Ming once again… but he did not provide anyone with this piece of information. This was a secret hidden at the bottom of his heart. In fact, when Su Ming was forced into Western Ring Nebula’s foreign land, Ye Wang had gone to the periphery and watched it quietly for a long period of time.

He had no grudge against Su Ming, but there was an obsession in his heart. That obsession was born from his pride, and that was why he wanted to kill Su Ming personally, to wipe off the traces of him ever reaching a tie with someone else from the same generation.

This obsession was also because of his loneliness. In his solitary and dull life, he believed there to only be one person who had the right to be his friend, but he had a limited understanding of that particular word.

”It’s been a long while,” Su Ming said softly and walked into the room, going in front of Ye Wang and sitting down. There was a table between them, and there was wine on that table. Ye Wang had brought it out to drink alone.

Su Ming looked at Ye Wang. This person was a man who had been the center of attention in what happened in the past. But it did not matter where he was, he looked as if he was used to being the center of attention all the time.

No matter if someone judged in terms of power, potential, or even appearance, he looked as if he was loved by the universe. This was a similarity he shared with Dao Kong, but there was still a difference between the two of them: One was cold, and the other sinister.

Su Ming picked up the pot of wine and poured a full cup for himself and another for Ye Wang. He gently picked his wine cup up and looked at Ye Wang.

The man was silent. The complicated emotions in him had yet to disappear. He looked at Su Ming, and after a long time had passed, he too picked up his wine cup.

”This cup is for the first time we met each other as Berserkers.” Su Ming finished the wine in one gulp.

Ye Wang quietly finished the wine, and once he placed the cup by the side, the complicated emotions in his eyes became even greater. He looked at Su Ming and did not speak for a long period of time.

Su Ming, too, did not speak. The two of them sat quietly in the room. It was silent all around them. Not a single sound could be heard. It was as if this region had been wiped off from Worldly Star City.

When the time taken for two incense sticks to burn passed, Ye Wang sighed softly.

”You’ve changed a lot. The first time we met, you did not know what your preordained fate was. The second time we met, we were already in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence.”

”You’ve also changed a lot. Right now, you’re already in the middle stage of World Plane Realm, and by the looks of it, you will only need another thousand years before you reach completion in it.” An ancient look slowly appeared on Su Ming’s face, one that even he did not notice himself.

Ye Wang was already at the middle stage of World Plane Realm. With this sort of cultivation, it could be said that he had fully brought out his potential. Ye Wang had not been walking down the cultivation for a long time. Without many years behind him, he had reached the middle stage of World Plane Realm with just his own abilities. This was something… Su Ming could not hope to compare.

If he did not have his Ecang clone and the clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole… In fact, if Su Ming was not an Abyss Builder, then at that moment, he would perhaps not even have the right to sit in front of Ye Wang.

After all, Su Ming’s true level of cultivation was just at the peak of Heaven Cultivation Realm.

Even if he worked much harder than Ye Wang, even if he went through more hardships, and even if the things he had to give up far surpassed the amount Ye Wang had to give up since everything had gone off smoothly for him, it wouldn’t matter. Sometimes, potential was something that could not be overcome no matter how much blood, sweat, and tears a person shed to try and surpass someone talented.

”Not small, hmm..? Compared to you, my speed of training is still too slow.” Ye Wang picked up the pot of wine. Once he filled his and Su Ming’s wine cups, he swallowed the contents of his cup in one gulp.

”I have always believed that the world is fair. The weak will remain weak; no matter how hard they will train, they will never become powerful. As for the strong, they will become stronger and continue until they reach the peak.

”This is the structure of the world I understand… Your potential… is very average, but you managed to walk in front of me. Is this what they mean when they say that the dumb bird flies first [1]?” Ye Wang poured another cup and drank. Even though his pride and his personality did not allow him to fit in with other people, his final sentence contained a hint of provocation.

Su Ming smiled faintly. He picked up his wine cup and drank from it. A profound look appeared in his eyes.

”This so called the dumb bird flies first is a huge cosmic lie and a joke, because there are far too many average people in the world. We… need a form of consolation and motivation. This lie is a form of happiness, a beautiful thing that brings joy and allows a person to willingly immerse themselves in it, until they can no longer free themselves.

”I am indeed a dumb bird. I don’t have that shocking talent of yours which makes you the center of attention wherever you go. This is the meaning of unfair,” Su Ming said after he put down his cup.

Ye Wang fell silent. A contemplative look appeared in his eyes. After a long while, he cast his gaze outside the window.

”You have indeed stepped in front of me. This has nothing to do with being fair or unfair, but I’d like to hear what sort of enlightening remarks you have about this so called fairness in the universe.”

Ye Wang shook his head, and his gaze fell on Su Ming’s face once again. His eyes were bright, as if there were emotions causing them to shine. He was an incredibly calculative man. Since his level of cultivation was not comparable to Su Ming’s, then perhaps he could open a gap in Su Ming’s heart. An error in terms of understanding and epiphany would usually cause a person’s level of cultivation to stop at a certain Realm, and he would never be able to advance it any further.

However, to create this gap, he would need to find a crack in Su Ming’s heart based on his words and then make that crack larger. This was a divine ability from Morning Dao Sect, and Ye Wang had seen it being used before.

”Someone asked me that question before. He asked why others treated him unfairly.” Su Ming pondered over it, then looked at his empty wine cup before saying calmly, ”This world has always been unfair. Those who have the delusion of seeking fairness will only meet a miserable end.”

”Oh? Then why would they still have that sort of beautiful expectation for fairness?” Ye Wang’s eyes flashed with a faint light, Su Ming’s words were something worth contemplating. He felt that there was another meaning to them.

”These beautiful lies must exist. Even if people might seek something for their whole lives without obtaining any result… but they would still have sought something. As long as they search for it, there is a chance that they can turn something decaying into something amazing.

”Because as long as they continue searching, there is a chance that they will discover an area in which they are stronger than other people. Even if my potential in the path of cultivation is not great, perhaps I am better than others in terms of handling people. Even if I am not that good at handling people, perhaps I have something I am good with in terms of creation.

”There will always be something that suits me. There will always be a skill I am good with in which others can’t compare to me. From this alone we can say that the universe is still fair.” Su Ming looked at the wine cup and remembered his identity as an Abyss Builder as well as his inborn ability to Possess clones.

He was a dumb bird, but if he did not have the beautiful lie to support him and that desire to pursue something he was good at because he was unwilling to accept his current situation, he would not have found his forte while looking for his strength.

”What is it that you want to say?”

Ye Wang fell silent. After a long while, he lifted his head and looked at Su Ming. He had not found a single crack in Su Ming’s heart from his words. Instead, he had a feeling as if he had been led into his train of thought.

”What was the plan against me which you participated in the past in True Morning Dao World?” Su Ming asked calmly as he smiled faintly.

”You won’t want to know,” Ye Wang said softly.

”This is also my answer.” Su Ming smiled.

A focused glint appeared in Ye Wang’s eyes. He looked at Su Ming, and a pensive look gradually appeared in his eyes.

Su Ming then said, ”Let me tell you a story. This is a memory I saw in someone’s mind. In a mortal world there was once a rich man who wanted to build a house, which was why he searched for a carpenter.

”The rich man looked down on the carpenter because he had plenty of servants and he could decide the carpenter’s life and death as he pleased. He believed that the carpenter was a lowly existence. The carpenter behaved himself. He was used to gazes and words that made light of him. He quietly helped the rich man build his house, but when he finished it, he kept all the sharp corners of the wooden items in the house based on his knowledge. There were also quite a large number of thresholds on the ground, which made the house look incredibly gorgeous.

”It doesn’t matter whether he left them around for Feng Shui or so that he could create potential dangers, since the carpenter did not expect himself to be able to get any money for his work. Ten years after he left, the rich man fell down and knocked into a sharp corner of one of the wooden objects. Then, he died.” Su Ming put down the wine cup he had been toying with in his hand and stood up.

”If you understand this story and the things I said previously, then help me do one thing. If you don’t, then I will bid farewell to you now.” As Su Ming spoke, he turned around and walked towards the door.

Ye Wang was stunned as Su Ming’s words echoed in his head. At the instant Su Ming moved one of his feet out the door, Ye Wang lifted his head.

”Are you telling me what constitutes as being strong? Being a prodigy with great potential is not strong for sometimes there are people who could devise fatal attacks with their own strengths?”

”When you return to the land of Immortals, please go to Yin Death Region and take care of my senior brothers.” Su Ming did not turn his head back. He walked out of the room and disappeared into the darkness.

He walked through a quiet silver stream. When he was in Ye Wang’s room just then, Su Ming had dispelled the final shred of thought of wanting to Possess him. This sort of person should not die from being Possessed.

If he lived, he would make this universe slightly more interesting.

If he lived, then the Dao Su Ming had planted in his heart with his words would slowly grow and change Ye Wang’s entire life.

’What constitutes as being powerful..? You should find your own strength and persevere down that path. Don’t care about how others are better than you in other areas, and then someday… we will all arrive at the same spot - the peak, even though we used different paths to come there. This is the true meaning of the dumb bird flies first. Ye Wang, if you do this, you will no longer be a prodigy, but will also become a dumb bird.’

Su Ming continued walking slowly. An enigmatic smile appeared on his face as he walked through the silver streams and past the people bowing respectfully to him as they continued hiding in the dark. Then… he walked out of Worldly Star City.

At the instant he did so, he turned his head around and cast a gaze at the air.

”I do not like being watched like this. I hope that such a thing will not happen a second time between us.”

Translator’s Note:

1. Dumb bird flies first: A Chinese idiom that means those who are not as good as the others have to start earlier than the rest. Since the dumb bird metaphor is repeatedly used, I thought it would be best for me to keep this as how it is.