Pursuit of the Truth

“But it should have been enough for you to use me and my mother as your chess pieces. We were your family, so you had the right to do it. If I hated you for it, then I would be an unfilial son. Thus, I could only resent you!

“However… why did you treat all my friends and all the people I know as your chess pieces as well?!” When Su Ming raised his head, revealing his bloodshot eyes.

“They were completely unrelated to you! Yu Xuan doesn’t suit me? It’s not that she doesn’t suit me, but that you gave her a mission which requires her to stay in the Emperor of Abyss’ True World. You’ve treated her as a chess piece from the moment she was born!

“Yu Xuan and Fei Er are one!” Su Ming clenched his fists tightly. More red appeared in his eyes, and he even felt as if he could sense the tear drop that had landed on his face when he was outside the altar.

“My little sister, who was by my side all the time when everything around me was dark… The second God of Berserkers’ daughter… I should have guessed it a long time ago. I should have made the connections, but only when you stopped me from extending my hand… that I understood it.” Su Ming shook his head. He had only come to ask Su Xuan Yi why he did it.

Yet he was aware that he’d known the answer to that question since the beginning.

“I’ve already helped you do many things… Let me go. Let go my mother as well as my friends. From now onwards, you can walk down your path to raise the Abyss Builders to power once more, to continue with your path of only having a home if you have kin.

“It is indeed so. Without kin, there will be no home. With your kin around, you can rebuild your home… but at that time, your family will no longer have me or my mother.

“And I will proceed with my thoughts that there are no kin if there is no home. It’s precisely because of home that I will have my family, and only then will I protect it. For my family’s safety, I will make a race raise to power. The ones who support me in everything that I do are my family!”

Blood trickled down the corners of Su Ming’s mouth, since Su Xuan Yi’s growl just then had injured his body. While speaking, Su Ming wiped off the blood from the corners of his mouth. He took a few steps back and stared at Su Xuan Yi.

“To the entire Abyss Builders… you are a senior worthy of respect, you are the soul of the race worthy of reverence.” As he spoke, Su Ming wrapped his fist in his palm and bowed deeply towards him.

“But as a father and a husband, you…” Su Ming raised his head, and the expression in his eyes was that of someone looking at a stranger. He did not finish his words, but instead, turned around and took a step into the air.

“Don’t use me anymore. Don’t plot against my mother and my friends anymore. This is the last time. For everything before, I will only stop calling you my father. If there is a next time… then we will be enemies!

“From now on, you will be the hero that will make the Abyss Builders raise to power, and I… will be a nobody who only wants to protect his family and companions. It’d be for the best if we didn’t come into contact again.” Su Ming stepped into the air and gradually disappeared.

When he appeared, he was standing on the altar. Before him was Sang. With a complicated gaze, he stared at Su Ming. He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he only sighed softly. When he raised his right hand, a wooden sword appeared on his palm.

“This is what your father asked me to give you. He once said that if you can control this sword, you can bring glory to your race. If you can’t control it, then you will live a life of peace.”

Su Ming did not look at the wooden sword. Instead, he stared at the cultivator named Sang. As he stared at him, the red in his eyes gradually turned into a look of fond remembrance.

After a long while, Su Ming went forward and gently hugged Sang.

“Elder, I missed you so much…”

Sang shuddered, then gently patted Su Ming’s back. He appeared young, but at that moment, a kindly and sentimental look which reminded of an old man’s appeared in his eyes.

“This sword…” Sang hesitated for a moment before a hint of resolution appeared in his eyes. When he raised his right hand, the sword disappeared from it.

“You will not want this sword. My young La Su has grown up. You can challenge the universe on your own. Go on, with your own thoughts and ideals, walk down the path that belongs to you!”

Sang stared at Su Ming, and the same fond remembrance showed up on his kind face. He had watched the child grow up with his own eyes and had taken care of him with his own hands. His feelings for Su Ming came from the memories which were deeply ingrained in his mind.

He had long treated Su Ming as his own child.

Su Ming stared at Sang for a long, long time before he took a few steps back to kowtow to him. He was bowing down to his elder, the one who had raised him till he became an adult, who taught him everything, and who had given him warmth in his childhood years.

Then Su Ming left. Sang stared at his back leaving into the distance before he slowly turned around to step into the altar. He then came to Su Xuan Yi’s isolation grounds.

As he stared at Su Xuan Yi, Sang was silent for a moment before he placed the wooden sword to the side.

“Your will is contained in this sword. I might not be an Abyss Builder, but I can tell that besides offering protection, this will can also… change a person’s personality and the path of their destiny.

“He has already grown up, Master… Let him be free.” Sang sighed softly and bowed quietly towards Su Xuan Yi’s back.

“Home and kin…” After a long while, Su Xuan Yi spoke softly. It was as if he did not hear Sang’s words behind him. He stared at the rattling drum and fork in front of him, and as he continued staring at it, a woman’s face seemed to appear vaguely before his eyes.

Time trickled by. In a while, a sigh came from Su Xuan Yi’s mouth… He slowly turned around… then gradually stood up!

He appeared to be a middle-aged man with an awe-inspiring countenance. His tall and strong body made it look like he could support the whole world by himself. Sang was not at all surprised by his actions. He still remained in his previous posture—his head lowered and his body bent to form a bow.

When Su Ming walked out of Su Xuan Yi’s isolation grounds and returned to the place used for the Anointment Ceremony, the people from the Fourth True World had already left. The only ones remaining in the place were the cultivators of Morning Dao Sect, along with all the living beings of the fifth kiln who still stood around in a respectful manner.

Once they saw Su Ming, they immediately bowed towards him simultaneously.

At the same time, the ten million cultivators of Morning Dao Sect cast sideways glances at him with various thoughts contained in their expressions. It was especially so for the Sect Masters Ri, Yue, and Xing.

They saw Su Ming walk out of the air and move towards the horde of living spirits from the fifth kiln before he swung his arm. The living spirits with a grim presence to them then turned into long arcs and disappeared back into the fifth kiln. After that, the fifth kiln gradually shrank before it fused into the center of Su Ming’s brows.

Silence covered the area. Su Ming stared at the Vermilion Bird’s continent, and determination showed up in his eyes.

“Dao Kong, Dao Hua, Dao Lin. The three of you are the Dynasts of Morning Dao Sect. All of you have noble statuses and have the right to set up your own chambers as well as take in your own subordinates. However, as a Dynast, if you want to take over Dao Chen’s position, you will need war achievements!” The silence was broken by Sect Master Xing, who spoke in a low voice.

His voice spread out through the entire area. He disregarded everything that happened previously and spoke of the last stage of the Anointment Ceremony languidly.

“You have to go to war. The three of you are the bright and promising Dynasts of Morning Dao Sect, but in truth, there are three Hidden Dynasts behind your backs. The Hidden Dynasts also have the right to inherit Morning Dao Sect in the future, so you will have to go to war!

“You will need war achievements. The first person who can kill ten million members of the Immortals’ Union will have the right to become the future master of True Morning Dao World!

“The war achievements ranking board will be set up once more. You might be Dynasts, but if you die in battle, then the person whose rank is the highest in the war achievements ranking board will be free to inherit your title and become a quasi-Dynast. If all of you die in battle, then three quasi-Dynasts will be born, and in time will be anointed as real Dynasts.

“Go to war. Morning Dao Sect will now… wage a full-scale war against the Immortals’ Union!” Sect Master Xing’s eyes shone. As his voice reverberated in the air, it landed in all the cultivators’ ears, exciting them.

Over the course of many years during which Morning Dao Sect had fought against the Immortals’ Union, the war was controlled and limited to a certain area, which meant Morning Dao Sect had not used its full power. But now, it was clear that the Council of Sect Masters had long since decided that when the Dynasts appeared, they would wage a full-scale war against the Immortals’ Union.

During that moment, as Sect Master Xing’s voice reverberated in the air, all the disciples from Morning Dao Sect in the area instantly threw their heads back and roared towards the sky.

“To war!”

“To war!”

“TO WAR!!!”

“This time, we will no longer fight in such a slow manner against the Immortals’ Union as we did in the past. This time, we will wage a full-scale war, and we will… completely dissolve the Immortals’ Union in one go!” Sect Master Xing’s voice filled with even greater excitement. When it echoed in the air, Sect Master Yue swept his gaze across the crowd.

“This time, Morning Dao Sect will separate into ten armies made up of cultivators, and each one will contain thirty million disciples. We will slaughter our way into the Immortals’ Union from different directions. Dao Kong, Dao Hua, Dao Lin, the three of you will act as overseers and will each belong to one of these armies.

“You will not participate in the overall arrangement of the armies, but will be given tasks according to what is written here, and each of them will be different!” As he spoke, Sect Master Yue raised his right hand, and three jade slips immediately charged towards Su Ming and the other two.

Su Ming had a cold expression on his face. In his eyes was a dark, dull, and still look. When the jade slip approached him, he did not raise his hand to take it. He only cast a glance at it before the jade slip shattered in front of him with a bang.

Before it was destroyed though, Su Ming had already seen everything on it.

Once he returned from Su Xuan Yi’s isolation grounds, Su Ming had decided to leave Morning Dao Sect. But once he heard of the declaration of war and saw his task on the jade slip, a barely noticeable glint shone in his eyes. He temporarily gave up on the idea of leaving.

He originally intended to search for his three senior brothers in Yin Death Region, then head to the Immortals’ Union to snatch his real physical body back, but with his current level of cultivation, it was still hard for him to do all of this. And if he wanted to go to the Emperor of Abyss’ True World to look for Yu Xuan, he would have to be even stronger.

With a glint in his eyes, Su Ming turned around in silence. With a single move, he dashed into the distance. The bald crane and the Abyss Dragon immediately followed behind him. Zhu You Cai walked over silently, and Flame Fiends’ Progenitor too mustered his full speed to turn into a long arc.

Besides these people, Su Ming did not bring with him anyone else. Without a single word, he charged towards where he was supposed to go based on the information provided on the jade slip.

After he left, Dao Lin and Dao Hua also seized their respective jade slips and scanned them with their divine senses. They frowned, their expressions turning rather sour, but they could not refuse whatever task was given to them. Once they bowed to Sect Masters Ri, Yue, and Xing, they turned into long arcs to gather their followers, attendants, and a rather large number of their family members to swiftly leave in two different directions.