Pursuit of the Truth

Su Ming remained silent. Echoing in his ears were Su Xuan Yi’s words. They lingered for a long time, refusing to disappear.

He had already guessed that the process of Su Xuan Yi Possessing Dao Chen had not gone smoothly, but he did not expect that once he did so, he had to fight against True Morning Dao World’s Sublime Paragon in this chamber.

It was also this battle that prevented Su Xuan Yi from being able to move his body. He could only continue healing his wounds in this place.

“I did not lose that battle… but neither did True Morning Dao Sect’s Sublime Paragon lose. With the Abyss Builders’ inborn ability, I cast the irreversible Art of my real self fusing into this clone, and for the price of this body suffering incredibly grave injuries, I destroyed the Sublime Paragon’s body, but his soul… I had no other methods, so I could only watch as he fled from this place.

“The only thing I could do was to have my clone in the fifth kiln search for your mother and bring her corpse back to the fifth kiln so that I could use other people’s life force to nourish her body, waiting for the day when my injuries recovered completely so that I could resurrect her.

“That clone of mine is still in the fifth kiln… but he can’t leave,” the figure with his back towards Su Ming said in anguish. His voice reverberated in the chamber, causing Su Ming to be unable to say anything once he heard it. He could only remain silent.

“When my clone found your mother, she was in a damaged dimension in Yin Death Region. She was on an ancient sword from True Sacred Yin World. You were there as well… as a dead baby.

“I did not take you with me, because at that time, the curse had already corroded everything about you, and because at that time, I realized that in the strange Yin Death Region… you seemed to have a hint of life force gradually growing in you even though you were dead.” When Su Xuan Yi said these words, he sighed lightly.

“Even if I didn’t say all that, you should have been able to guess that I am your father. I… won’t harm you. Everything that I did was for—”

“It wasn’t for me,” Su Ming said in a low voice as he raised his head. “Su Xuan Yi, my father, everything that you did wasn’t for me, and there was no need for you to do it for me.”

Su Ming shook his head. He was not the young boy who had just ventured out of Dark Mountain. He was the God of Berserkers, he was Su Ming who had risen to power in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, and he was also Dao Kong who had shocked the entire Morning Dao Sect. He had already grown up and become an adult. There were some things that might seem as they appeared, but when someone thought about them carefully, it would become clear that there was another side to them.

“Yin Death Region wasn’t destroyed even after the first God of Berserkers challenged Dao Chen. Because of that, I’ve always speculated that the first God of Berserkers was one of your chess pieces. A chess piece you stationed in Yin Death Region!

“The purpose of that chess piece was to fight against the Immortals and to understand Yin Death Region at the same time.

“The second God of Berserkers was also your chess piece. In fact, I’m quite certain that the Gods of Berserkers had appeared because you were controlling their birth from afar.

“In the scenes I saw, the second God of Berserkers took me away when I was a baby from the World of Nine Yin, but in the end, the Immortals invaded Yin Death Region and took my infant self as well as the second God of Berserkers’ daughter.

“When I was brought to the land of Immortals, I became a spirit stone that was refined by the Immortals until my soul was forcefully separated from my physical body. It was then sealed while my soul was sent into Yin Death Region.

“You knew all of this, or rather, this was all part of your plan. The thirty odd times I was reincarnated in Dark Mountain, the companions by my side, and even the elder… were all your chess pieces.

“Di Tian lay in wait and watched me. He was always searching for something on me. I never understood it why his level of cultivation would have such a big difference between the past and the present. He always seemed to become stronger with each time I saw him, but now, when I think about it… I understand it.” Su Ming stared at Su Xuan Yi, and a hint of pain appeared in his eyes.

“He was the soul of True Morning Dao Sect’s Sublime Paragon who fled after he lost his physical body. This soul eventually chose to Possess the disciple of the Immortals’ Yellow Emperor, who was the Di Tian of that time!” Su Ming smiled. That smile was filled with anguish, and was the one he used when speaking to strangers.

“Di Tian wanted to gain something from me, and he was even scheming against my physical body. I believe… that he was trying to figure out Abyss Builders’ weakness, since with just his soul, he was gravely wounded. If he wanted to kill you, he had to find Abyss Builders’ weakness.

“That’s why he made my soul reincarnate while preserving my physical body. In fact, I believe that he thought about Possessing me before. Am I right, my dear father?” Su Ming asked in anguish while staring at Su Xuan Yi.

The man remained silent.

“In the end, he did all of this because his target was you. I might not know what Di Tian’s final plan is, but I can guess that you know all about it. Perhaps the reasons you spoke of existed before you took me away when I was a dead infant, but the real important thing was that… you noticed that the Sublime Paragon had possessed Di Tian. You noticed his attention on me, which is why you chose to treat me as a chess piece. My function was to blind Di Tian so that he would walk down the wrong path… and not be a threat to you.

“I also had another function. You used those ancient existences in Yin Death Region to make me head to the Barren Lands of Divine Essence based on your method. You sent Dao Kong for me to Possess him. For this plan to be completed, I believe that you’ve always been observing me. If I ran into any life-threatening dangers on the way, you would have taken action. In fact… there is a possibility that you have already taken action before.

“Every single time you took action, you would do so with the thought that you are my father in mind, but all you ever wanted was for me to remain alive. You only needed me to do things according to your plan.

“Ever since I was born, you had already planned out my entire life. When I acted out, you made another arrangement for my life. In your eyes, is there anyone else besides your chess pieces?” Su Ming laughed brokenly. He stared at Su Xuan Yi, who still had his back turned towards him. He did not shout, though. His voice was calm.

“When I came to know that Bai Ling, a person who is in a sect affiliated with Morning Dao Sect, had appeared in Dark Mountain, I stared at the moon in the sky and drank. There were complicated emotions in my heart because of her and you, because I knew that you took part in everything that happened in Dark Mountain.

“Are you not affected when you see your own son in pain?” Su Ming sighed softly.

“You schemed against the Sublime Paragon, Yin Death Region, and even against the 180 Expanse Cosmoses in Saint Defier standing behind the Immortals’ Union. You planned all of it. You brought Xiao Hong into my world and even Old Man Extermination’s fragmented Seed of Life Extermination. You made me fuse with the fragment so that I could become the current Extermination.

“You made me go to Divine Essence Star Ocean and destroy… Divine Essence Star Ocean’s fifth ocean, the spot that was clearly a Relocation spot for the 180 Expanses Cosmoses of Dark Dawn.

“I don’t know why you did it, but I can guess that you wanted Saint Defier and Dark Dawn to wage a huge war of an unprecedented scale either inside or out of Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos.

“You’re doing this for revenge. You’re doing this to make the Abyss Builders raise to power once more. But can you… say that you’re doing this for me?” Su Ming smiled. There was deep anguish contained in that smile, as if he was laughing at someone, but he was not laughing at Su Xuan Yi. He was laughing at himself.

After a long time had passed, Su Xuan Yi spoke softly. “Walking from death to life is the only path for you to break the curse.” .

“Were you the one who gave me this path?” Su Ming stared at Su Xuan Yi’s back, his words gradually turning cold.

“You’re still too young. You don’t understand…” After some time, Su Xuan Yi sighed softly. His voice was laced with anguish as well. “When the day comes when you understand that there is no home without kin, you will understand me. You will truly come to understand me.”

Su Ming remained silent for a moment before he retorted. “But if there is no home, how will we even have kin?”

“If you insist upon hating me, you can do so. Everything that I did was indeed not for you. I did it for all the Abyss Builders,” Su Xuan Yi murmurd with a tremble.

“Why should I even hate you?” Su Ming shook his head. “Do I hate you for not being by my side when I needed you and when I saw that the others had their parents but I didn’t? My resentment is deep, but I am no longer the child I once was. This is just a temporary change in my emotions, but in truth… what do I have to hate about you?

“Should I hate you for manipulating my life? My life was given by you, what do I have to hate about you?

“Should I hate you for not being my side? I’m already used to loneliness and feeling lost. What else can I hate about you?

“Should I hate you… for sacrificing your wife to make the Abyss Builders raise to power once more?” When Su Ming said these words, tears trailed down his cheeks, reflecting his grief and sorrow.

At the instant he said those words, Su Xuan Yi jolted.

“I’m no longer a child. All this while I was alone, and because of it, I learned a long time ago how to analyze certain things through the tiniest hints. It’s just that I didn’t want to think too deeply into it. I didn’t want to.

“Do you know why I wanted to take the fifth kiln with me? Why I didn’t leave it behind for you? It’s not because you wanted it to belong to me, but because I knew you didn’t want to face it. You didn’t want to see the fifth kiln.

“My mother… even when she died, she still held onto the baby in her arms. There might seem to be nothing strange about this… but when she held me, she floated in the galaxy all alone. She was protecting me. It’s an instinctive sort of action, but who exactly had she been fending against?”

Su Xuan Yi breathed heavily, and he trembled even more violently. Clearly, his heart was in an extreme state of turmoil at that moment. The space around him shattered in some places.

“She was fending against you. Even upon death, she still tried to bring me away from your side. My dear father, do you truly think that I wouldn’t learn about this?

“That was an accident!” For the first time ever, Su Xuan Yi growled at Su Ming. That growl reverberated in the air, and Su Ming was forced to move backwards. He coughed up a mouthful of blood.

“An accident? Then let’s treat it as an accident. What do I have to hate about you? She is your wife. You placed her in the fifth kiln so that you could resurrect her.

“That’s why I don’t hate you. I can only resent you, because she is your wife, and you are my father. What do I have to hate about you? I can only take the fifth kiln away with me and not let you anywhere close to it…” Su Ming said while wiping off the blood at the corners of his mouth.