Pursuit of the Truth

The instant Su Ming’s pupils shrank, he saw the galaxy above the Immortals’ Union’s large army distorting, and huge eyeballs swiftly descended.

Each of them were one thousand feet large, and more than one thousand of them had descended in one go. They were covered in blood capillaries and gave a bizarre and crazed air about them. The moment they appeared, all the eyeballs shone with blinding light.

In an instant, more than one thousand long arcs shot out. All of them contained Lightning Destroyers, the entity which remained fresh in Su Ming’s memories!

Judging by its might, this was not the Sun Destroying Lightning. It was slightly weaker than the Moon Destroying Lightning too, so it was probably the Plane Destroying Lightning. Still, it could kill all cultivators up to those who had attained great completion in World Plane Realm!

As booming sounds surged into the heavens, numerous shrill cries reverberated in space. There were numerous casualties in Morning Dao Sect’s army during that instant.

There was also a long arc charging towards Su Ming. In it were a total of one hundred Plane Destroying Lightnings. As they descended, they spread out above his and landed in the area around him with loud rumbles.

Some of them went for Su Ming, but he remained composed. At the instant the Plane Destroying Lightnings charged towards him, he raised his right hand and swung his arm. Immediately, he seized those bolts, and with a squeeze, the Seed of Life Extermination in his soul dissipated them.

‘Completely useless. The blood used to create these bolts of lightning is incredibly mixed.’

Su Ming shook his head. When he loosened his grip, a few drops of faint, golden blood appeared on his palm. However, their light was very dull, and they were all flung off of Su Ming’s palm. There was not even a single bit of value in absorbing them.

When the eyeballs sent the long arcs outwards, loud whistles came from Morning Dao Sect’s army. Ten figures rose into the air, and the instant they flew out, ten suns of Solar Kalpa Realm appeared behind them!

All of them shone with different light. The ten people were all powerful warriors in Solar Kalpa Realm, and as they charged towards the eyeballs. At the same time, hundreds of people flew out behind them, and hundreds of moons manifested behind them. While they charged forward, the galaxy was illuminated by both the suns and the moons for a time. They created a dazzling light unparalleled in terms of brightness.

The people acted quickly and instantly shifted to the eyeballs. The next moment, loud rumbles surged into the heavens.

Su Ming’s expression remained the same. After casting a glance at them, he was about to continue rushing towards the Immortals’ Union when his footsteps suddenly came to a halt, and a brilliant, fierce light shone in his eyes.

He saw the seemingly insignificant black-robed person next to the giant in the distance move. The man turned into a long arc that charged towards the place where the eyeballs had appeared.

At the same time, the black-robed man lifted his right hand and tapped the center of his brows before he pushing down at the galaxy beneath him.

Su Ming immediately sensed the galaxy letting out a loud bang, and powerful tremors shook the place. Those tremors came out of nowhere, and many of the cultivators were unable to notice them beforehand. After all, there were few like Su Ming who were constantly paying attention to the black-robed cultivator.

At the instant the galaxy trembled, the edge of the battlefield turned into a gigantic source of light. There were two blinding spots. When they appeared, they spread out in two different directions. This only lasted for the span of a few breaths before they connected to surround the battlefield and form a gigantic circle.

‘This is it, this is the well, and he’s going to extract the ‘moon’ from it!’

Su Ming’s pupils shrank. He could not sense any laws in the land changing. It was as if what the black-robed person was doing surpassed even the laws. In fact, it could be said that his Art was beyond Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos. This was a divine ability that did not belong to this place, but to places beyond it!

This was why this Art did not stir up any of the laws in Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos. The black-robed person… was guiding another universe’s power without stirring up the laws here so the cultivators from Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos could not notice it.

Bang!

The instant that circle appeared, the tremors in the galaxy became even stronger. If anyone compared it to a huge land at that moment, then the tremors would have been akin to what an earth dragon tumbling about would be like. The ground would be rising and falling without stop.

When the circle appeared, it was as if the place had been separated from the galaxy around it. If anyone looked from a higher spot, they would be able to see clearly that the battlefield had began to resemble a huge well, and the galaxy around it was the land that served as a background for it.

By then, the black-robed person had already closed in on the eyeballs. A cold harrumph came from Morning Dao Sect’s army, and a long arc that could not be seen with the naked eye charged towards the black-robed person. It was… an old Almighty. That old man had graying hair, and there were no laws of fate about him. He was an Almighty in Mastery Realm.

He was so quick that he instantly closed in on the black-robed person, but during that instant, the black-robed person waved his arms. He connected his fingers before himself to form a circle. Without even looking at the old Almighty, he let out a low shout that echoed through the entire battlefield.

There was a strange rhythm to his voice.

“The well is the origin of the galaxy, and the moon is the edge of all lives. With the well as the world, I will gather the mark of the moon. As if they were images reflected in the well, I will retrieve all thine souls, and tis shalt be… Moon Gathering from the Well!”

As his words echoed in the air, the black-robed person swung his arms. A loud boom shot up, and an invisible ripple spread out from the black-robed person’s swinging arms. At the same instant, the Almighty in Mastery Realm from Morning Dao Sect roared at the heavens. When he lifted his right hand, he pushed swiftly forward.

The galaxy trembled. A gigantic hand that was about one hundred thousand feet big and still growing appeared in the galaxy to push against the incoming ripples and the black-robed person.

“A barbaric power. You did not even understand the celestial origin of Nirvana Realm [1]. What is then the point in only possessing the form?”

The black-robed person shook his head. Even though his expression could not be seen, but based on the words echoing in the galaxy, everyone could hear the contempt in his voice.

When the huge palm from the Almighty in Mastery Realm from Morning Dao Sect collided with the ripples, it dissipated with a bang. The ripples continued spreading out like nothing had happened. The hand disappeared like how snow would melt when it ran into boiling water!

This was dissipation, not collapse. If the palm had collapsed, it would have broken into pieces in a disorderly manner and tumbled backwards, while dissipation was breaking it down until it was reduced to particles…

With a loud bang that reverberated in space, the one hundred thousand feet big palm dissipated. While the old man’s in Mastery Realm expression filled with disbelief, his body jolted, and the mark of a moon appeared clearly at the center of his brows!

At the same time, all the cultivators from Morning Dao Sect found the mark of the moon appearing at the center of their brows. A ripple from their souls spread out right away.

In fact, even the powerful warriors from Lunar and Solar Kalpa Realms fighting against the eyeballs could not escape from being marked. It made it seem like all of them were being Branded by destiny.

The moment all of them had the mark of the moon at the center of their brows, the black-robed person raised his right hand. It looked like the circle in the galaxy was truly a well in his eyes, and all the cultivators from Morning Dao Sect who had the mark of the moon at the center of their brows were the reflections of the moon in the well’s water.

He lifted his hand and gently scooped up a handful of water as if he was gathering the moon from the well.

All the cultivators from Morning Dao Sect shuddered at the same time. Their eyes bulged out. Immediately, blood capillaries filled their eyes. Their bodies trembled, and their souls were forced out of their bodies through the mark of the moon at the center of their brows!

It was as if the black-robed person did not scoop up the moon, but all the souls of the cultivators from Morning Dao Sect!

Su Ming stared at this scene. He might have heard of the might of the black-robed person from the Immortals’ Union, but no matter what, Progenitor Tai Shan had severely wounded a black-robed person while he fought against him. Because of that, while the black-robed person was a powerful existence in Su Ming’s heart, he still had limits to his strength.

Yet now, he discovered that this was definitely not the case. The divine ability released by the black-robed person was not just unprecedented, but something impossible. It could even brand an Almighty in Mastery Realm! The power of his divine ability was definitely not something Progenitor Tai Shan could fight against.

Unless they were not the same people or there was differences in terms of strength between the black-robed people, it would be impossible for Progenitor Tai Shan to injure him badly. After all, Progenitor Tai Shan was only half a step into Fate Realm.

The divine ability the black-robed person executed surpassed Su Ming’s imagination. He had never even considered that divine abilities… could be executed this way. The man was neither using laws, but neither was he creating them. Instead, he used… another form of power that was hidden in the universe and had perhaps not been discovered by the people of the four Great True Worlds over the course of countless years!

As Su Ming’s heart trembled, everything in the battlefield suddenly came to a halt. This was not an ordinary pause, since the galaxy around him the entire universe and even the black-robed person’s divine ability had stopped in an instant.

In fact, Su Ming’s body had also lost all mobility. At the same time, an ancient voice echoed in his head.

“This is a battle that occurred 937 years ago in an area northwest of True Morning Dao World. During it, the Immortals’ Union sent forth the black-robed man along with the giant spirit that have come from other worlds.

“That black-robed man regards himself as one of the Five Fingers [2] working under the Greatmaster. The giant spirit calls himself… the Ancient God!

“This battle ended when it reached this part. All the powerful warriors, even those from the Sect Elder Chamber and the War Chamber, along with all the disciples from Morning Dao Sect in this land, lost their lives because of Moon Gathering from the Well.

“Honorable Dynast, your trial begins now. The black-robed man before you and that Ancient God have died, and their corpses have been brought to Dao Ocean and have fused with me. Their memories are in my control. You are free to do as you please. Survive their divine abilities, change the tide of battle, kill the black-robed man, or kill the Ancient God—if you complete any of these, you will complete your trial.

“If you accomplish all four of them, you will obtain the right to train in any battlefield you wish in Dao Ocean. Those who have obtained this right from over ten thousand years ago are no longer considered to retain this right, and no one has obtained this right within the last ten thousand years.”

“Who are you?!” Su Ming immediately sent his divine thought forward.

“I am the predecessor of Dao Ocean. I was born before the four Great True Worlds and am one of the Three Heathens and Four Predecessors.”

Translator’s Note:

1. Nirvana Realm: Think this might be related to Nirvana Shattering Realm in RI chapter 440, but there was one character missing in mine here. Also celestial origin is another term shared in between universes.

2. Five Fingers: From what I can tell here and the future chapters, Five Fingers is actually a ranking system. The more Fingers a Greatmaster has under him, the stronger he is.