Pursuit of the Truth

Zhu You Cai’s expression changed. He could not dodge it in time. At that moment, a freezing glare shone in his eyes, and he did not bother to dodge it at all. Instead, he closed his eyes, and his power erupted from his body to collide against the incoming hand with brute force.

As a loud bang rang in space, that hand trembled. Zhu You Cai coughed up blood, and his body fell back like a kite with its string snapped. He crashed into a rock in the distance with a loud bang, and his body withered swiftly. In an instant, his plump body was reduced to only skin and bones.

All of his life force seemed to have been taken away by the hand. At that moment, it shone with a gentle light, and flesh as well as blood grew swiftly on it.

“Such a powerful Endless Cycles of Life… This nourishment is a small supplement for me.” As a hoarse voice echoed in space, a freezing glare shone in Zhu You Cai’s eyes.

“Dao of Longevity. With a thought, I can continue living, and with a thought, I can… cause an explosion!”

When those words were spoken, the old voice that had been echoing in space fell into abrupt silence. At the same time, the hand formed by powder shuddered, and the flesh as well as blood growing out on it fell apart with simultaneous explosions.

“Dao of Life Inequity! You’re connected to Hong Yue! You’re his disciple!”

At the instant the voice spoke, Zhu You Cai’s body trembled fiercely. He swiftly opened his eyes wide and glared at the crumbling hand. Echoing in his ears were the three words the ancient voice had spoken just then—Dao of Life Inequity!

What he executed was the Art within the Dao of Longevity his Master Hong Yue had taught him. As for Life Inequity, his pain had turned into the thoughts in his heart after he lost his lover. Yet that strange existence within the Reng Wu Race said that the Art was the Dao of Life Inequity. The impact of that sunk Zhu You Cai into a state of bewilderment. In the mid of it there was also deep fear… as well as his memories towards his Master’s actions in the past.

“Kill him! We must absolutely not let this person remain alive! All those who practice the Dao of Life Inequity must be killed! They must all be killed! They have to be killed!”

A crazed voice spread out through space, and a large amount of black smoke came out of the hand before it fell back and disappeared into space. At the same time, the current Progenitor of the Reng Wu Race charged towards Zhu You Cai.

Zhu You Cai trembled, bemusement in his eyes.

Flame Fiends’ Progenitor was on a shattered stone in the distance, and his facial color was dull and without luster. He was already severely wounded.

At the moment Reng Wus’ Progenitor closed in, the gray-haired Su Ming, who had been sitting and meditating all the while through the six months without moving, opened his eyes.

At the instant he did so, the Life Inequity Spear let out a buzz and turned into a black light that charged towards him. Once Su Ming got up and seized it, he took a step towards Reng Wus’ Progenitor and thrust the spear forward.

“You overestimate yourself!”

Reng Wus’ Progenitor laughed coldly and lifted his right hand to swing it towards the incoming long spear. To him, if Zhu You Cai held that spear, it could make him tremble, but when it was that gray-haired person’s hands, it was not better than a useless piece of trash. If he swung his hand, he could reduce it to ashes.

Without Zhu You Cai, the boy who obtained the fifth stone was just useless garbage,so weak that he could not even withstand a single blow!

Reng Wus’ Progenitor’s confidence was incredibly great, but the instant his hand touched Su Ming’s Life Inequity Spear, he trembled. A vast amount of energy that astonished him erupted from the Life Inequity Spear. A layer of sand spread out from within it, and it turned into a palm made of sand in front of Reng Wus’ Progenitor. With a bang, it pressed on the center of his brows.

A life-threatening sense of danger rose within the heart of the Reng Wus’ Progenitor in an instant. His pupils shrank, and full of fear, his body tumbled backwards. At the same time, he let out a shrill call in the depths of his heart.

“Spirit of our ancestors, please protect me!”

As a rumbling rose into space, the palm made of sand touched Reng Wus’ Progenitor, and his body was torn to shreds with a bang. All of his laws of fate could not bring forth any form of resistance under that palm. This was a difference in Realm. The suppression formed by that difference was a destruction that Reng Wus’ Progenitor could not hope to stand against.

His body fell apart. Even when he was reduced to flesh and blood and scattered through the area, the spirit of his ancestors did not descend to protect him, because the hand that had been formed by the powder just then was the spirit of Reng Wus’ ancestors.

The legacy spirit formed by generations of ancestors might be powerful, but there was a fatal defect in it. That defect was just a guess among the four Great True Worlds, and they did not know about the details… but the four guardians of the fifth ocean did know of it.

Hence, Dust Burners’ Progenitor also knew about it, and Su Ming knew everything that had been carved into the jade slip.

The defect was that it was at its strongest when it was in the territory that belonged to its race, and it was at its weakest when it was outside the area. That’s why the spirit of Reng Wus’ ancestors seldom ventured out. Unless… there was something that forced them to go out.

The fifth stone which released a ripple of power so incredibly great that it was unprecedented and surpassed all that came before it was one such thing. Yet even so, it only tempted the spirit. It was still highly impossible for it to personally venture out.

Unless… an Almighty in Life Realm was added into the mix!

The fatal defect lay in the spirit of Reng Wus’ ancestors losing plenty of their basic functions in the stillness of the endless passage of time until only the most basic will and the deepest memories remained. That was why the spirit would need to replenish its life force once in a while, and the best replenishment was to devour an Almighty in Life Realm.

While it was not that Almighties in Life Realm did not exist in Divine Essence Star Ocean, most of them had long disappeared, and those that did not disappear were like the Progenitor of Sand Earthlings. They had chosen to fall into silence. Forcefully devouring them would not bring about great effect. Instead, it would just pollute one’s power in Kalpa Realm.

What the spirit needed was an Almighty in Life Realm who had exuberant life force. However, it could not go into the world beyond Divine Essence Star Ocean. After all, its foundation lay among the Reng Wu Race.

Which was why when Zhu You Cai showed off the power of Life Realm, the spirit of Reng Wus’ ancestor immediately became greedy with what little remained of its intelligence, and it… came to the fifth ocean.

“I fulfilled the end of my promise with you. It is your turn to do what you promised me.”

Zhu You Cai closed his eyes. When he reopened them, he had already buried the bewilderment deep in his heart. He struggled to stand up from the shattered stone and look towards Su Ming.

“Did you notice a long time ago?” Su Ming looked back at him.

“I didn’t at the start. But everything that happened later allowed me to notice some hints. You used me as a bait to lure out that person just then. I believe this is your promise with the four people from the fifth ocean.”

When Zhu You Cai said that, the expression of Flame Fiends’ Progenitor recovered, though his face was still pale. When he looked at Su Ming, the gray-haired man gave him a feeling that his cunning was unfathomable, and it terrified him.

“I am an Abyss Builder.” Su Ming cast Zhu You Cai a glance and sent a thought to him.

Once these words were passed over, a brilliant light shone in Zhu You Cai’s eyes. After a long time had passed, he nodded.

Su Ming turned around and looked at the fifth ocean. The four masked people floating in space had aloof expressions. Su Ming brought his right hand up and patted his storage bag. Immediately, a jade slip appeared on his palm, and he flung it towards the four people before speaking,

“I’ll return this to you now.” The jade slip was what Dust Burners’ Progenitor had given to Su Ming in the past. He once said that the person with the jade slip could open the path to the fifth True World without being interrupted.

The person with the Mask of Happiness lifted his right hand and seized the air. Immediately, the jade slip charged towards him. Once he held it in his palm, he tightened his grip around it slightly. Immediately, the jade slip turned into ashes.

“Offering,” the person with the Mask of Happiness said faintly.

“Thousands of Virtue Rooters, nearly a thousand of the ferocious beasts, several Almighties, and…” As Su Ming listed it all calmly, shrill screams of pain rose behind him. The sand behind him swept past, and as violent gusts of wind howled, the powerful existence that was the Sand Spirit destroyed Reng Wus while sweeping through the area with ease.

Even the three heavily injured Almighties from the Reng Wu Race could not escape from the predicament.

As the shrill and forlorn voices echoed in space, the gray-haired Su Ming continued speaking.

“… along with thousands of Reng Wus, three Almighties in Mastery Realm, one Almighty in Fate Realm, and the injured spirit of the race’s ancestors. This is the offering.”

The four people with the Masks of Happiness, Anger, Grief, and Resentment were silent. After a moment, they swung their arms, and countless dark glowing spots appeared in the previous battlefield beyond the fifth ocean. Within them were soul fragments, and they… were all the people who had died there moments ago.

They had dazed expressions on their faces while floating towards the fifth ocean. Once they fused with it, the fifth ocean tumbled about and spread out by almost ten thousand feet before becoming silent again.

The four turned around at that moment. Just as they were about to disappear and return to the depths of the fifth ocean to continue fulfilling their mission in protecting it, Su Ming suddenly spoke again.

“I request that you cut down the time and reduce the remaining half a year to one day!” When he spoke, the four people who were about to disappear came to an abrupt halt.

“Offering!” the voice from the person with the Mask of Happiness said again.

Su Ming’s long gray hair changed at that instant. It turned crimson in the span of a breath, and a madness that screamed of destruction appeared in his eyes. He raised his right hand and pointed at the galaxy. It began to roar. The whole fifth ocean tumbled once again. At the same time, a sea of fire appeared out of nowhere in the galaxy. As it tumbled about and spread out, the illusory outline of the fifth kiln formed in the distance.

“Why don’t the four of you try requesting for an offering again?” The red-haired Su Ming had a domineering tone in his voice. His expression showed that he was looking down on the entire world, and the aura he exuded shook the entire galaxy.

When he was gray, he obeyed absolute rationality. He would do things to pay the smallest price for the greatest rewards. That was his principle. However… the red Su Ming was a person of arrogance, imperiousness, madness, and destruction. While he was in that state, there were no reason or principles before him. There was… only killing intent that could be triggered at any moment.

With the possession of the fifth kiln, he was an existence that would cause even Zhu You Cai’s pupils to shrink. He was… the strongest person in Divine Essence Star Ocean at that moment!