Pursuit of the Truth

The commander of the tens of thousands of cultivators from the Immortals’ Union, the man who had already reached middle age, but who everyone could still recognize as having been handsome when he was a teenager… was Su Ming’s childhood friend—Bei Ling!

When they were in Dark Mountain, he was an older brother whom Su Ming respected. Later on, they met again in the land of Berserkers, and he came to understand that all the people were fake… Now, he stood in the distant galaxy in front of him.

Su Ming stared at him, and Beiling also looked over. At the instant their gazes met through the galaxy and past tens of thousands of cultivators, Beiling felt his heart let out a thump. His expression instantly turned pale, and he took a few staggering steps backwards before the power of those belonging to the later stage of World Plane Realm erupted from his body. That power swept through the area, and only by doing so did he manage to prevent himself from being pushed back by Su Ming’s gaze.

However, a line of blood trickled out of the corners of his lips. Shock appeared on his pale face. At the instant Su Ming looked towards him just then, Beiling had a strong feeling that the gaze was like a sharp sword which shot through space to pierce his eyes. When it swam through his veins, it cut his blood and flesh, sliced apart all his bones, as if everything about him had been laid bare and seen clearly.

In fact, even his soul had no room to escape under that gaze. He felt as if all of his secrets and memories were seen through, causing him to have the misconception that he was alone in a crowd.

It was especially so because Beiling felt as if that gaze contained some sort of mysterious, enchanting power. It was as if that person knew everything about his past, which made him feel an incredible familiarity, but also that he was an unfamiliar presence he had never seen before.

Beiling believed that this was definitely because the person had practiced some form of Art using the eyes. He could not manage to tell who Su Ming was. After all, at that moment, Su Ming appeared as Dao Kong, and his level of cultivation also surpassed what the person in Beiling’s memories possessed, but he did manage to tell that the one before him was definitely someone who was not ordinary.

When he recalled the name the cultivators had shouted, two words immediately rose in his heart.

“Dao Kong!”

With a calm expression, Su Ming stared at Beiling. Memories rose in his head, the final one being when he killed Beiling in the mountain which belonged to Great Leaf Immortal Sect.

However, back then, the person he had killed was Beiling’s projection in the land of Berserkers, while the person standing before him at that moment was the real self.

With just one glance, Su Ming could see through Beiling’s level of cultivation. He was in later stage of World Plane Realm, and just a sliver away from attaining great completion. Obtaining this level of cultivation at his age was enough to show that he was a prodigy, though compared to Su Ming, the difference between them was like the distance between heaven and earth. But there was no way Beiling could compare to the things Su Ming had experienced. To Su Ming, the trip to the Barren Lands of Divine Essence had given a metamorphosis in body and even soul, allowing him to improve by leaps and bounds.

The life-and-death situations he faced during that period was also something a normal person could not withstand.

At that moment, when he saw Beiling again, the confusion Su Ming experienced in the past was no longer something he felt. He no longer wanted to think about the truth regarding Dark Mountain either. Whether it was real or fake did not matter. As long as he knew that he was real, it was enough.

However, when Su Ming saw the bow behind Beiling’s back, a complicated emotion appeared on his face. That bow existed in his memories, and it was carried by Bei Ling’s father—the bow of the Head of the Guards in Dark Mountain Tribe.

However, in Su Ming’s memories, that bow did not actually belong to Bei Ling’s father. It belonged to Dark Mountain Tribe, and was the authentication token each Head of the Guards would inherit.

Even though this memory might be fake, Su Ming believed that it was real, and since he believed it to be real, then he would turn all of it into reality based on his memories.

“Since that’s the case, leave… that bow behind,” Su Ming murmured softly. He was the only one who could hear his voice. It did not matter who were beside him, be it Xu Hui or Zhu You Cai, none of them heard it.

He sighed softly, then stepped on the bow of the ship and walked into the galaxy ahead of him. When his foot landed, he had already reached the battlefield. His expression was calm, and at a moderate pace, he walked towards Beiling. The tens of thousands of cultivators before him seemed not to exist before his eyes as he continued walking in a relaxed manner.

At the moment Su Ming walked over, Beiling’s pupils shrank swiftly. He took a few steps back again, and his expression kept on changing.

“Offer up the Sun Destroying Lightning. The both of you… go and gauge that person’s level of cultivation!” The two people standing behind him hesitated for a moment before gritting their teeth and voicing their obedience. They immediately turned into long arcs and charged forward to attack.

Su Ming had a placid expression on his face. When he moved forward, some cultivators from the Immortals’ Union in front of him charged towards him with bloodshot eyes. When he cast his gaze across the area, he found that those cultivators were packed densely together. With all sorts of divine abilities and Arts as well as light shining from their Enchanted Treasures, they charged towards him as if they were rain pouring in the galaxy.

Su Ming lifted his right hand and took a step forward. He immediately closed in on one of the cultivators. His lifted right hand casually seized the cultivator’s neck, and when he dragged his arm downwards diagonally, a loud crack rang in space. The cultivator could not even dodge. His eyes instantly became dull, his neck broken by Su Ming. At the same time, red flames spread out from his hand, and he instantly reduced the cultivator’s physical body to ashes.

Even the Nascent Divinity could not flee, having been instantly killed.

However, a single cultivator’s death did not pose as a threat to a battlefield with tens of thousands of people. More cultivators roared and rushed towards Su Ming.

Booming sounds shook the sky and earth. Countless divine abilities landed simultaneously on Su Ming, but they could not stop him in the slightest. Those divine abilities disintegrated upon reaching him, unable to make him suffer even the tiniest bit of damage. Just his physical strength alone was enough for him to sweep through the area with brute strength.

A large amount of Enchanted Treasures charged towards him, but the instant they touched Su Ming, the sounds of metal collided with metal rang in space. The Enchanted Treasures of various appearances all shuddered and tumbled backwards simultaneously. Their lights instantly became dull, as if the rebound from Su Ming’s physical body had shaken the Vessel Spirits.

This scene shocked the incoming cultivators, and Beiling’s expression changed drastically.

At that moment, Su Ming took a step forward again. When his foot landed, a loud bang rose in the galaxy. A large amount of ripples stirred up under Su Ming’s feet. When they spread out, all the cultivators who came into contact with them shuddered before being instantly torn to pieces.

Su Ming’s footsteps retained a fixed rhythm. It was not fast, but neither was it slow. He walked at the same pace, moving forward one step at a time. Gradually, a thick trail of blood formed behind him. The cultivators in front of him retreated, and for a time being, no one dared to block him.

Su Ming’s level of cultivation far surpassed what the other cultivators in this land possessed. If it was any other powerful warrior or someone else with status standing in his place, they would find attacking to be beneath them. However, this principle did not exist for Su Ming. No matter who it was, as long as they blocked his path, they would have to suffer the fate of being destroyed.

The strong preyed on the weak. This was the law in the universe. If the powerful found it beneath them to attack when they saw the weak and would only confront those who were equal to them in power, then the universe might seem to follow a law, but to Su Ming, everything was chaos.

Or else, what sort of motivation would make someone weak do everything they could to become strong at all cost? Sometimes, relying on the strong and browbeating the weak was a desire people craved badly in the depths of their hearts, even though they did not want to say it out loud.

As Su Ming walked, the tens of thousands of cultivators from the Immortals’ Union opened up a path for him. When they looked towards him, their gazes were filled with terror. The river of blood behind him was the testimony of what would happen to all those who dared to block his path.

Suddenly, two long arcs shot out from the crows. Before they closed in, they flung out four dark rays of light. At the instant they flew out, piercing screeches rang out, then turned into four dark birds that exuded the power akin to those in Solar Kalpa Realm. They charged towards Su Ming in the blink of an eye.

Sun Destroying Lightning!

This was one of the weapons which belonged to the Immortals’ Union. It shared the same name as the Moon Destroying Lightning, and during the past one thousand years, they were created by the Immortals’ Union. It was rumored that only the Sacred Temple had mastered the method to create those vessels. They were so mighty that they would shine with the most dazzling light during the battles between the Immortals’ Union and Morning Dao Sect.

Their name was Sun Destroying Lightning. Even though it could not really kill those in Solar Kalpa Realm, it could force down all the cultivators of that realm. In fact, if there was a sufficient number of the vessels, then it was not impossible for them to possess the power to kill them!

In truth, during the many battles between the Immortals’ Union and Morning Dao Sect, the Almighties of Solar Kalpa Realm who died due to the Sun Destroying Lightning were already in the dozens. Each time, hundreds of Sun Destroying Lightnings would rush out at the same time. The power to blast through heavens would echo in space, and it would make all who saw them to tremble. Their destructive power was enough to make all the people instantly lose their will to fight.

As Su Ming watched the four dark birds formed by the dark rays of light charge towards him as if they had locked onto him while letting out piercing screeches, he did not dodge. He simply allowed those four dark rays of light to close in on him. Under the sinister gazes from the two middle-aged cultivators who had turned into two long arcs, Su Ming raised his right hand… and grabbed one of the dark birds.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The three consecutive loud bangs instantly attracted the attention of all the cultivators who were fighting. When they looked over, their hearts trembled. Three Sun Destroying Lightnings had exploded on Su Ming, but as they collapsed, he remained as composed as ever. Not even a single strand of his hair flew up.

In his hand, the last dark bird formed by the Sun Destroying Lightning struggled ceaselessly, but it could not escape. Su Ming stood in the galaxy with his head lowered to stare at the dark bird. As his eyes sparkled, thin branches that no one could see appeared on his right hand. They shot through the dark bird and started analyzing it.

‘It fused with Shamanic Spells and used the universe’s laws. These are created by cultivators in Solar Kalpa Realm triggering the explosion in their blood and essence. A cultivator in Solar Kalpa Realm can create about one thousand of these Sun Destroying Lightnings. Perhaps… ferocious beasts akin to those in Solar Kalpa Realm could be used to create them as well.

‘But the power of the blood in here is rather unfamiliar.’

Su Ming furled his right hand, and the dark bird started melting layer by layer. Under the shocked gazes of the people around him, a drop of golden liquid was revealed from the melted dark bird.

The thick stench of blood was proof which showed that it was a real drop of blood.

As Su Ming stared at it, a glint shone in his eyes. He raised the drop to his mouth and touched it gently with his tongue. A surprised sparkle appeared in his eyes.

‘There’s not a hint of negative presence on it, and it can even be used to nourish the soul, making a person feel as if they’re under a warm sun. What creature could possess such blood? How could it have this sort of effect?’