Pursuit of the Truth

There was no life force in the planet. It was like a huge meteor, dreary and dull.

After a moment, a group of cultivators approached it from a distant galaxy. There were eight of them, and they were charging forward as if they were about to come rest there, but the instant they stepped onto the dull planet, it turned into a gigantic heart. It pumped a few times, and when the cultivators screamed shrilly in pain, their bodies instantly shattered due to the beating of the heart. Their souls were immediately sucked by it.

Then, the bloody heart turned back into a dull planet.

Su Ming was in the distance. He had watched the whole scene, and a cold smile appeared on his lips. All of it was an illusion, but it belonged to Su Ming, not the Striking Lands.

The illusion was born from a memory, but not his… The memory belonged to the strange power which had created the illusion and which lay at the core of the Striking Lands of Morning Dao Sect.

Su Ming cast a cold glance towards the place, then raised his right hand to swing it forward. Immediately, hundreds of cultivators charged forward. Fear was on their faces, because there were around one thousand people hot on their heels.

Both their expressions and their actions looked incredibly real, so not a hint of falsehood could be detected. The people were so fast that they instantly closed in on the dull meteor. After a moment, screams of pain rang out, and even the thousands of people chasing after them were crushed while their Nascent Divinities were absorbed by the planet which had turned into a heart.

“Based on my understanding, the pinnacle of illusions is not to pass falsehood as the truth…” Su Ming said softly. He swung his right arm again, and the power of time surged forth, making the time flow without any sign or sound. In no time, ten thousand years seemed to pass. Then, gradually, an army made of tens of thousands of cultivators appeared in the area. They rushed forward, looking like they wanted to pass by the planet.

The sound of a heart beating, cries of surprise, and shrill screams of pain rose into the galaxy once more. The tens of thousands of cultivators… all died, and the dull planet became a size bigger.

“It is neither turning something false real…” Su Ming shook his head. He swung his right arm again. As time flowed, all groups and individuals who passed by the planet, no matter what level of cultivation they possessed or what life form they happened to be… were all devoured by the planet.

It grew larger with each feeding. In the end, it was ten times larger than its original size.

One day, a figure appeared in the galaxy. He was a man with long hair who was dressed in a simple long robe and who had a complicated runic symbol flashing at the center of his brows. He was walking towards the planet from the distance.

“I didn’t expect myself to be able to see an Illusory Meteor in this place. By the looks of it, it has already developed its own intelligence. It can be used to strengthen my disciples’ willpower in the future.” The man smiled faintly. His voice was gentle, but the instant his words were spoken the gigantic planet turned into a blood-red heart and began beating.

All of it were the planet’s memories. When it turned into a blood red heart and the sound of it beating rose into the galaxy, a glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes, and he lifted his right hand to point at the space before him.

During that instant, the galaxy became still. The blood-red heart no longer continued beating, and even the gentle man stopped moving.

“From what I understand, the pinnacle of Illusory Arts… is to change memories!” Su Ming said calmly while walking towards the galaxy. When he arrived before the man in the long robe, he lifted his right hand and swung his arm at him. Immediately, as if he had wiped off something from a person’s memories, that long-haired man was completely wiped off from the place.

Su Ming turned his head around. When he looked towards the blood-red heart which was the planet, the shadow of the sun, moon, and stars shone in his eyes. The freezing of time around him was instantly cancelled, and everything returned to normal. The sound of the heart beating rang in all directions once more.

That heartbeat had a strange power that could make a person’s blood flow in reverse, but Su Ming’s expression remained the same. He walked towards the blood-red heart, then raised his right hand to swiftly seize the air in its direction. Booming sounds shook the sky and earth before they echoed through the whole galaxy.

“In your memories, you were subjugated by that long-haired man and became the source of power for the second Striking Lands of Morning Dao Sect. Now, your memories will be changed, and the one who will subjugate you will be me!” Su Ming formed a seal with his left hand before he pointed at the galaxy. Immediately, it trembled. A gigantic palm appeared out of nowhere and charged towards the blood-red heart.

Su Ming did not stop walking. With a single move, he seized space with his right hand. Immediately, the Life Inequity Spear appeared in his grasp. When he flung it forward, the spear let out a loud, buzzing sound, and instantly pierced the blood-red heart.

The heartbeats from the blood-red heart continued to shake the galaxy, but Su Ming did not stop. With a step forward, he stepped on that blood-red heart.

“In your memories, you are bound to fail. So this is a disaster you cannot escape…” Su Ming said faintly. He lifted his right hand, then with all five of his fingers, he stabbed the blood-red heart beneath him. At the same time, a large number of branches crawled out of his fingers and pierced his target. “But now, the one who will subjugate you is me. From now on, I am your master.”

The instant Su Ming said those words, a large number of veins appeared on the blood-red heart. They twisted and squirmed about, because the branches stretching out from Su Ming’s body had filled its whole body.

A loud bang signaling the collapse of the galaxy rose swiftly into space. The galaxy shattered into fragments and disappeared. The blood-red heart and Su Ming vanished with it as well.

Su Ming sat on the circular platform. He had not moved a single inch from the start. Everything before had been just an illusion. It was activated by the land, but dominated by Su Ming.

When he opened his eyes, the pillar of light in front of him started flashing intensely. The names of the hundreds of people who had cleared the area were gradually becoming fainter.

“Greetings… master.” A cold voice that contained not a hint of emotion echoed in the area and Su Ming’s ears.

He laughed. Once he stood up, he turned around and took a step outside. In an instant, he walked out of the platform in the land. When he appeared in midair, the pillar of light on the platform behind him showed Dao Kong’s name at its highest spot, above the hundreds of other names.

And his name was not as dull as the other names. It was a brilliant shade of red!

That blood-red name not only signified that Su Ming was the fastest person to ever clear that place, but also that he was the master of the second Striking Lands.

However, that was something that other people would not know. Only Su Ming would know about it, and if he wanted, he could even make the disciples from Morning Dao Sect coming to clear the second Striking Lands die there.

More accurately speaking, Su Ming did not clear the place, because he did not clear the stages step by step based on the rules. Instead, he used a forceful method to become the master of the rules. Needless to say, because of it, he had risen above everyone. When he walked out, all the hundreds of cultivators in the area were so shocked they were flabbergasted.

While Su Ming thought that he had spent a long period of time to clear the zone, he had in truth spent much less time in the second Striking Lands compared to the first. He had only used… thirty-five breaths!

The people around the area had counted since when Su Ming had stepped into the second Striking Lands. In fact, before De Shun could amass a large number of betters after he opened his betting pool, it had already ended.

Su Ming cast a cold glance at the millions of cultivators around him, then with one move, charged towards the third Striking Lands.

Only after he left did the people in the land react to the situation. An uproar much stronger than before rose up with loud rumbling sounds, as if a storm had broken out among them.

“Thirty-five breaths? It’s really just thirty-five breaths! He’s too powerful. Dynast Dao Kong is too powerful!”

“I remember now! Dynast Dao Kong is said to be the person with the greatest potential in Morning Dao Sect in years! Even if he’s been silent for more than a thousand years, a person like him would definitely shock the world once he appears!!”

“Just what level of cultivation does he have? How could he do this? It’s only been a few moments since he entered… and he already cleared the second Striking Lands. That is the Stage of Illusions. There are only hundreds of people who have cleared the place…”

“Look. He’s… he’s going to clear the third Striking Lands. I’m willing to bet that he wants to clear all nine Striking Lands!”

In the mid of the uproar and disbelief, the millions of cultivators followed after Su Ming at the fastest speed they could muster and charged towards the third Striking Lands on the third continent.

Ma Fei’s breathing quickened as she stood with the crowd, watching Su Ming heading off into the distance. The shock on her face was a reflection of the fluctuation of emotions in her heart, which would become something that she would not forget in her life.

De Shun might have also been incredibly astonished, but his heart was aching greatly as well at the thought of how he had miscalculated. He did not expect that Dao Kong would be so terrifying and manage to finish so quickly, preventing him from earning even more. But when he thought about it from another angle, he swiftly came to a decision. He could open another betting pool, but he’ll have to do it sooner.

“The betting pool is now open! Let’s continue betting. This time, it’s the third Striking Lands. Everyone, you’ll have to hurry.”

The instant Su Ming cleared the second Striking Lands, the couple million cultivators who had not followed after the crowd and were left behind in the spot of the Anointment Ceremony could no longer remain calm. With disbelief on their faces, they flew out and without any hesitation headed towards the third continent.

Even the Dynasts found themselves unable to continue staying behind. With sour expressions, all of them turned into long arcs and charged forward. Even Dao Lin and Dao Fa had grave expressions which had never appeared on them before as they rushed ahead at full speed.

The originally lively spot used for the Anointment Ceremony only had four people left in the area. Besides Bei Bang, the others were the three Sect Masters behind him.