Pursuit of the Truth

“Pull the chain!” Su Ming roared. At the same time he pushed Xu Hui upwards, he let go of his grip on the chain, and his body plunged down again. Within an instant, the ferocious spirits rushed towards Su Ming at the same time and submerged his figure in the canyon.

The chain was pulled upwards swiftly, while Xu Hui simply allowed the chain to rise with a stupefied expression on her face. There were no tears in her eyes, but there was a blank look that made it seem like she no longer had a soul.

The chain whistled as it moved up. Without the ferocious spirits chasing after, it swiftly moved through the layers of fog in the vortex. When it was yanked out of the canyon, Xu Hui saw the sky, the mountain, and also Zhu You Cai holding the other end of the chain.

There was also Huang Mei standing by the side with a dark expression on his face, along with a trickle of blood at the corners of his lips. A black dagger was in his hand. That dagger should have been something that he had on his person and not in his storage bag, or else he would not have been able to take it out.

“He…” When the chain was brought up, Xu Hui seized a mountain rock and dipped her head down quietly. When she looked down, Zhu You Cai sighed, and he did not finish his sentence.

“He won’t die.” After some time, Xu Hui whispered a few words as if she was answering Zhu You Cai, but it also seemed like she was saying those words to herself.

A barely noticeable glint shone in Progenitor Long Hai’s eyes. He could have taken action before, but he did not. After all, even though he owed Su Ming a big favor for saving his life, the oath he swore was not something small. If the youth died like this, then it would be good for Long Hai.

Flame Fiends’ Progenitor was also deriving pleasure from Su Ming’s misfortune. A cold sneer was at the corners of his lips.

Xuan Shang, Yun You, and Hua Yu let out breaths of relief in their hearts. The mighty pressure Su Ming exerted on them had become so strong that it had reached an extent that he could control their thoughts, and it had all happened without their knowledge.

“Won’t die? The canyon beneath the mountain is filled with a sinister aura, along with a thick aura of death. Forget him, even if I fell in there, I would also die,” Huang Mei said flatly with a cold smile.

The others might not have said anything, but they agreed wholeheartedly to his words. Nian Yin and Su Ming’s fall frightened them to no end. They did not know… who the next one might be.

Xu Hui did not speak. She glanced at the canyon beneath her, watching it for a time silently. In her head were the words Su Ming had told her before he let go.

She made up her mind. If Su Ming did not appear in the end, she would fall into the canyon once more. Even if she was going to become a hideous ferocious spirit, she would still rather be with Su Ming.

That was why she did not react a single bit to the other people’s words.

Soon, Huang Mei’s expression changed. He lifted his head to stare at the distant summit above him. He was not the only one. Reverend Zi Long also frowned and cast a glance at the summit before becoming absorbed in his thoughts.

Zhu You Cai should have been the first to discover this abnormality. He cast a glance at Xu Hui and remembered the certainty in her voice when she spoke just then.

Gradually, Progenitor Long Hai and Huo Kui also revealed changes in their expressions. In the end, when even Xuan Shang, Hua Yu, and Yun You reacted to the situation, their expressions turned dark.

Because… when Nian Yin plunged into the canyon, the old man at the summit mentioned that there were eleven of them left. Logically, he should have mentioned that there were ten of them left by then.

However, he did not say a single word. The meaning behind it left everyone uncertain.

Time trickled by, but the old man at the summit still not say a single thing. Thus, everyone continued to climb the mountain which occasionally swayed at a much greater intensity than before.

…..

In the canyon under the mountain, Su Ming closed his eyes. His memory was frozen at the moment he plunged down and was surrounded by a bunch of hideous ferocious spirits. Due to intense pain, he lost his consciousness.

Before that though, he could sense that his body was being continuously torn.

He had no idea how much time had passed. When he opened his eyes, he found himself lying in a puddle of murky water. Ripples would occasionally spread out on the surface, and a rotten stench would fill the area.

“There is truth in heaven, and there are gates to the depths of earth. You may step onto the road to heaven, and you may stare at the distant land.” An old voice reverberated in all directions, causing Su Ming’s mind to instantly become clear.

When he struggled to stand, he discovered that his cultivation base had already recovered, but Su Ming still fell silent… because he saw that his body was covered in countless boils!

He lifted his hand to touch his face, certain that he had become like the ferocious spirits he’d seen not long ago.

However, Su Ming swiftly stopped thinking about his body’s situation, because the voice just then brought him a familiar feeling. It was something that stemmed from an event that happened in the distant past. When he thought about it carefully, he could find the answer to the familiarity.

That voice belonged to the old man on the summit, which he had heard when he was beside the mountain.

Su Ming stood up, and a freezing glare appeared in his eyes. If he was in the world outside, then he would absolutely not be able to hold any advantage over the old man. However… this was the fifth kiln, and Su Ming was an Abyss Builder.

With a cold harrumph, he rose and flew in the direction from which the voice had come. When he was in midair, he cast a glance over there, and he immediately saw an old man sitting cross-legged on a black lotus atop a stone platform in the distance.

There were a dozen something ferocious spirits prostrating on the ground around him, their faces filled with pain. As they worshiped him, the old man’s voice reverberated in all directions once more.

“The path to heaven has been shut for you, but the gate to earth has been opened. My Art is split into two parts… One is the Mountain Shifter that blends with the will of the universe, and it is a gentle Art.

“The other is… the Mountain Shifter that overrides the will of the universe. This is the ferocious part of the Art… Go. The gate to enter the earth has been opened. You can go and search for the menacing version of the Mountain Shifter Art,” the old man said flatly, then lifted his right hand to swing his arm in the air. Immediately, fog started tumbling about in the air behind him. The ground rumbled faintly, and Su Ming saw the ground gained a murky look, because it had been entirely filled with fog.

A gigantic mountain appeared under the ground.

This was an inverted mountain that stood upside-down beneath the ground. It made one feel as if the ground was not the ground but was formed by fog. If a person looked at this upside-down scene, they would be able to see the inverted summit in the fog.

‘A mirror…’ Su Ming’s heart trembled. This was the first time he had such a direct perception of the theory of the mirror he’d heard mentioned when he was in the World of Nine Yin.

If he described this fog as a mirror, then the mountain in which Su Ming stayed previously was the area beyond the mirror, and the inverted mountain in the fog was the area within the mirror.

Or perhaps it was the opposite. The mountain where he was previously was actually the area inside the mirror, and the one Su Ming saw at that moment was the true mountain beyond the mirror.

He could not see through it. He could not differentiate it. Perhaps everything would change endlessly with just the span of one thought.

Su Ming stared at the old man in midair and frowned before shifting his gaze to the mountain under the fog. A contemplative expression appeared on his face.

At the same time, the ferocious spirits prostrating themselves around the old man stood up. As they roared, they rushed to the inverted mountain under the fog. Their cultivation bases did not disappear, but as they charged forward, the mountain trembled, and ten light circles appeared around the ferocious spirits. The ferocious spirits closed in on the regions where the light circles were at once, but there were about a dozen of the creatures, and there were only ten of the light circles.

A fight over the light circles instantly broke out, and within an instant, all the ferocious spirits beyond the light circles let out shrill screams of pain. Once their bodies disappeared, they appeared around the stone platform where the old man was while hugging their heads and wailing nonstop. It was as if there was something that they treasured being extracted from within them.

That something turned into lines of various colors that fused with the old man’s body.

The ferocious spirits remaining on the mountain continued onward while roaring.

“There is a gate leading to the depths of the earth, but every single time you fail to enter it, a hundred years of your memories will be taken away from you. When you no longer have any memories, the seven emotions and six desires within you will be extracted. When you no longer have even your seven emotions and six desires, your lives will be extracted,” the old man said flatly and no longer looked at the wailing ferocious spirits. Instead, he lifted his head and cast his eyes on Su Ming, who still remained in midair.

“Welcome, current master of the fifth kiln. I am Mu Ya.” The old man smiled faintly.

Su Ming stared at the old man and did not speak.

“Do you want to join this game? If you don’t want to, leave behind a thousand years of your memories. I will also extract three out of your seven emotions and six desires. Then, on behalf of your father, I will let you leave this place.” The old man smiled, but in Su Ming’s eyes, that smile was filled with a strange, wicked air. The indifference in his eyes was a disregard for all forms of life in the universe.

“Why would I not want to?” Su Ming stared at the old man. After a long time, a smile appeared on his face. That smile was also filled with a strange, wicked air. Fine veins appeared on his body. They might seem normal at first glance, but in truth, they were Ecang’s venous pathways!

When Ecang appeared, the wicked air about Su Ming’s body immediately turned sinister. It spread out in all directions and swept up the fog in the area before turning it into a rotating vortex around Su Ming.

The old man was originally smiling, his expression calm, but when he saw Su Ming’s smile and the sinister air about him, his eyes brightened swiftly. He even stood up and stared at Su Ming. His eyes sparkled several times before bellowed, “Very good! I’ve only ever admired one person in my life, but I also greatly despised his thickheaded stubbornness and that pitiful, ridiculous, foolish loyalty of his. That person is your ancestor. He held the same rank as Lu Ya and me, and he is Abyss Builders’ Progenitor, one of the three Sublime Paragons of the Fifth True World.

“I didn’t expect that someone like you would appear among his descendants. You managed to Possess a being like Ecang who obeys the evils in the universe. With one step further… you will be able to become a unique, nightmarish existence!

“Has your father never told you that Abyss Builders are to never Possess the nine great lives in Old Man Extermination’s ballad?!” The old man laughed. The delight on his face did not seem to be fake. He swung his arm, and the fog beneath the area in front of Su Ming tumbled about before spreading out to reveal an entrance to a tunnel.

“The gate to the earth has been opened. I look forward… to you becoming my scion. If you succeed, then not only will I give you the Mountain Shifter Art, I will also grant you… a great serendipity!”