Pursuit of the Truth

“Secret of the universe…” Su Ming fell silent before he suddenly threw his head back and laughed. In that laughter was derision. He… did not believe in this so-called secret of the universe!

It didn’t matter how realistic were those pictures. Despite having been immersed in them for an instant because of how true the him with an ancient air on his person felt while watching everything around him destroyed with a thick wave of grief… Su Ming still… did not believe that all of this would be the future regarded as the secret of the universe!

Killing intent appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. With a cold chuckle, he spoke languidly.

“You are just a mere spirit of a Rune. How dare a mere Heavenly Incense Rune speak of knowing the secret of the universe? This is clearly just something you created with your Art to confuse me, and it’ll only become real if I believe in it. Like that, you will have planted a seed in my soul.

“This is just simply ludicrous. Since you declare yourself able to predict the future, I wonder if you can predict how many of your incense sticks I will break today?”

“Today is a day of disaster. This disaster cometh not from thee, but from mine act of revealing the secrets of the universe. The disaster has fallen upon me through thy hands. On this day, three… of the nine Heavenly Incenses shalt be broken,” the spirit of the Rune said in anguish after being silent for a moment.

“Three will be broken?”

As Su Ming spoke, he did not give a chance for the Heavenly Incense Rune to continue speaking. He raised his right hand and brought it down on the third Heavenly Incense. At the same time, the ring floating above him descended rapidly. It was so quick that it touched the Heavenly Incense practically at the same time as Su Ming’s right hand.

Booming sounds reverberated in space. While Su Ming’s own power might not be enough to destroy the third Heavenly Incense, his ring, a supreme treasure with the power of Avacaniya Realm, fixed itself on it and sank down. Wherever it went, the Heavenly Incense would roar, and cracks would appear. Cracking sounds echoes in space. When the ring reached the bottom most part of the incense stick, it let out a loud bang, and the third incense stick which had stood tall in True Morning Dao World for countless years crumbled into ashes that scattered into the wind.

There was no resistance. The Heavenly Incense Rune’s spirit did not put up any fight. It quietly accepted the fate of its third incense stick being destroyed.

“Not fighting back?”

Killing intent shone in Su Ming’s eyes. But when he cast a glance at the Heavenly Incense Rune, his eyes returned to normal, killing intent turning into aloofness. He did not continue attacking.

He could tell that since the Heavenly Incense Rune said that three of the incense sticks would be broken, it would definitely fight back at full strength to prevent the fourth from being broken if Su Ming continued attacking after the second and third were broken.

At that moment, he would be forced into an incredibly passive position. That was a freezing glare shone in his eyes. He swung his arm, and the supreme treasure immediately returned to him. When it fixed itself on his right index finger, Su Ming turned away and walked out of the Heavenly Incense Rune’s territory to appear beside the bald crane and Hu Zi.

He swung his right arm, and a sandglass appeared beside him. He cast a cold glance at the Heavenly Incense Rune.

“You said that three incense sticks will be broken today. Right now, only one has been broken. There’s still plenty of time left. I’d like to see how you will use me to break three of your incense sticks.” With a cold sneer on his lips, Su Ming sat down cross-legged.

“Tis the secret of the universe. It is predestined. I doth not knoweth how ye wilt break three of mine, but tis the secret of the universe, and so it will be.”

The spirit of the Rune’s voice had a hint of an ancient air to its speech. Its words sounded like a sigh.

Time passed as Su Ming sat in space and stared at the Heavenly Incense Rune coldly. He had already made up his mind that he would not attack. He wanted to see how the Heavenly Incense Rune would end up having three of its sticks broken, as it had declared.

If this was part of the Heavenly Incense Rune’s plan, then when a day passed, when all the sand in the sandglass fell to the bottom and a new day arrived, Su Ming would not mind breaking the other incense sticks of the Heavenly Incense Rune, but he would absolutely not attack on that day.

He might have said that he did not believe in the things shown to him by the secrets of the universe, but if anyone else was in his place, it would be impossible for them to not believe in them. If there was even a slight possibility that it would happen, Su Ming could not help but worry about it.

In the pictures, his eldest senior brother, second senior brother, Hu Zi, and all the people he knew had died miserably. At that time, his ancient self had thrown his head back and screamed forlornly. This scenes kept repeating in Su Ming’s mind, and it made his heart tremble. It made him… afraid.

He was afraid that it would become true, that all the lives around him would die. He was afraid of this so-called secret of the universe.

Time passed, trickling by slowly. Gradually, there were only a few grains of sand left in the sandglass Su Ming had placed beside himself. Most of the day had passed, and in less than four hours, the day would come to an end.

However, Su Ming did not notice any changes in the Heavenly Incense Rune. The spirit of the Rune seemed to be incredibly certain that whatever was revealed to it through the secret of the universe would definitely come true.

At that moment, what Su Ming did not know was that a refinement process had been launched several months ago in the Emperor of Abyss’ True World. This refinement process was held in a huge palace.

Within it, there were two platforms. On one of them was Yu Xuan. She sat silently on the platform filled with countless Runes. Before her, on the other platform, was a middle-aged man.

He was wrapped up in chains formed by countless runic symbols that were shot through his body. They secured him tightly to the platform, and he could not move an inch. He had his head thrown back as he screamed in pain, and his forlorn voice was filled with endless hate as well as madness.

As he screamed, rays of milky white light were extracted forcefully from his body. The chains formed by the runic symbols were like tunnels that continuously extracted his life force and cultivation base… to fuse into Yu Xuan’s body, who was on the other platform.

Yu Xuan had an apathetic expression on her face. With her head lowered, she sensed the cultivation base and life force from the unfamiliar middle-aged man fuse into her, and her body go through a strange form of modification.

Above the two platforms was Su Xuan Yi. With hands behind his back, he was floating in midair while staring below himself aloofly. Behind him was the Emperor of Abyss as well as Sang. All of them were silent.

“Not bad. Everything is proceeding quite smoothly. It’s hilarious that Di Tian attempted Possession and tried to become an Abyss Builder. What he didn’t know is that I had the same plan, and clearly, I am about to succeed.

Once Su Xuan Yi swept his gaze past the middle-aged man on the second platform, he said faintly, “Emperor of Abyss, you’ve done well over the years.”

“Everything that I did was based on your orders, Master. If what I did is satisfactory to you, then it is good. This former clone of an Abyss Builder who now possesses his own independent will has always been hidden in the Emperor of Abyss’ True World.

“I had gathered all the powerful warriors in the Emperor of Abyss’ True World, used the Rune you gave me, and even paid quite the huge price to capture him alive. Thankfully, everything went well. I hope that the process of the young master’s blood being stimulated back to life can also go smoothly. But I do wonder to which senior of the Abyss Builders this clone belonged to in the past,” the Emperor of Abyss said with a smile.

“My younger brother, Su Dao Yi, who also has the royal blood of the Abyss Builders. His clone went to True Morning Dao World’s Heavenly Incense Rune before the fifth True World was destroyed a long time ago.

“He inherited the sixth Heavenly Incense. When he fused with it, he came to possess his own independent will. Before my younger brother had time to leave the Fifth True World and search for his clone to fuse with him, disaster fell.” Su Xuan Yi cast a glance at the middle-aged man screaming forlornly on the second platform. A hint of callousness could be seen on his face.

“I can sacrifice everything for the Abyss Builders to rise to power!”

“Heavenly Incense Rune… what exactly is the relationship between the Rune and the Abyss Builders..?” The one who asked the question was Sang, not the Emperor of Abyss.

“Heavenly Incense Rune appeared before the Abyss Builders. It is said that it belongs to the age of Old Old Man Extermination, but I don’t believe it. Abyss Builders might not care about the other uses of this Rune, but we can exploit the fact that it can make our clones independent from us. It can allow the Abyss Builders who have reached a bottleneck to be able to attain a breakthrough.

“Every single time an incense stick is extinguished, it means that an Abyss Builder’s clone went there and fulfilled certain requirements to become independent. Even I do not know what those requirements are. Once the incense stick is extinguished, the clone will be separated from its host and will have independent thoughts.

“He can practice cultivation and make his own decisions, but it also means that he can be Possessed a second time!” A strange glare appeared in Su Xuan Yi’s eyes.

“If the same body is Possessed a second time, he will have even greater power erupt from him. If the Possession is successful, the cultivator can reach a breakthrough. This is the greatest benefit of the Heavenly Incense Rune for us!” Su Xuan Yi turned around and looked at Sang as he spoke.

“Six of the Heavenly Incenses have been extinguished. Besides this clone, there are five more Abyss Builders’ clones… It’s a pity that they have hidden themselves very well. Besides one of them, even I can’t locate them,” Su Xuan Yi said faintly.

“Besides one of them… That one clone must be yours, right?” Sang said calmly.

A brilliant light shone in Su Xuan Yi’s eyes. He smiled faintly and did not deny it.

At that moment, the chains formed by the runic symbols shot through the middle-aged man’s body once again. The clone who once belonged to Su Xuan Yi’s younger brother threw his head back and let out a shocking roar. His entire body instantly withered. In the blink of an eye, he was reduced to a mere skeleton before he turned into ashes.

A large amount of white light charged towards Yu Xuan through the chains. As they changed her constitution, they also amalgamated with her soul. The amalgamation might seem perfect, but some time would still be needed before the energy could truly be absorbed by the Seed of Life Extermination, which had now matured.

Half of the Seed of Life Extermination had belonged to Su Ming, while the other half was still a fragment. They were connected together, and at that moment, they were swiftly absorbing the cultivation base and life force from the clone.

One of the biggest reasons that could in fact be said to have indirectly wiped off the clone’s mind before reducing him to ashes was not Su Xuan Yi nor Yu Xuan, but the half of the Seed of Life Extermination which had once belonged to Su Ming but now lay in Yu Xuan’s body!

It was the one that finished everything and perfectly… killed the Abyss Builder’s clone! There was still… a hint of Su Ming’s presence left in the Seed of Life Extermination!

After all, its growth was due to it absorbing Su Ming’s blood and soul over a one thousand something years, which was why even if this item had been separated from Su Ming, it still contained his presence!