Pursuit of the Truth

Sixteen, fourteen… countless soundless booms reverberated through Su Xuan Yi’s soul. His firelights in the Emperor of Abyss’ True World were burning at their last, but Su Ming was not showing any signs of weakness. Instead, as Su Xuan Yi moved back and Su Ming continuously pressed onward, his side started growing bigger.

“Damn it!”

Su Xuan Yi was forced back nonstop. He was already certain that Su Ming was an Antecedental Spirit. If that was not the case, Su Ming would definitely not have been able to do this, but this was simply too far-fetched and ridiculous. After all, Su Xuan Yi had been plotting for years, but he still could not enter the world where the All Spirits Hall was located and could not have his spirit ascend. If that was not the case, there was no way he would be in such a pathetic state.

Since that way was blocked, he had chosen another path to become an Antecedental Spirit. He would Possess True Morning Dao World, enslave the Predecessor of Dao Ocean, steal his identity of an Antecedent Spirit, then make himself perfect, but all of this was completely ruined by Su Ming who came charging at him in an aggressive manner.

‘Fine…’

Su Xuan Yi sighed in his heart. He could no longer change anything. It was already set in stone that True Morning Dao World would not belong to him. The preparations he had made for years were bound to turn into Su Ming’s serendipity.

He might feel aggrieved and unwilling to admit defeat, but his formidable warlord side allowed him to deduce that he could not change things. once he realized that, the thought of leaving immediately arose in his heart.

Possessing True Morning Dao World was just a part of his plan. If he was successful, he could continue with his plan, but even if he failed, Su Xuan Yi still had backup plans. He could give up on True Morning Dao World and in turn Possess the Emperor of Abyss’ True World.

But even though the unresigned Su Xuan Yi had chosen to leave, when Su Ming’s soul crashed into him, his divine thought shone. He had come up with something sinister, since his hatred towards Su Ming had grown to an unprecedented degree.

‘Even if I am bound to be unable to continue this battle of Possession… I will not let things be easy for you. Even if I can’t Possess it and True Morning Dao World’s will make preparations, making it so that even if I want to Possess it again in the future, the level of difficulty will be significantly higher due to its vigilance, I will make it so that you won’t succeed as well!’

With this thought, Su Xuan Yi’s soul moved back again amid the loud rumbles. At the instant the area he occupied was reduced to only about one-tenth of True Morning Dao World…

“Fire that extinguishes Abyss, burn the will of my life force and turn it into imperishable flames. Seal… this ungrateful wretch’s will in Abyss!”

When Su Xuan Yi’s voice reverberated through space, thirteen of the remaining fourteen oil lamps in the Emperor of Abyss’ True World were extinguished. Right after, the light on the remaining oil lamp instantly reached an indescribably piercing degree. Its light immediately charged out of the palace and spread through the galaxy in all directions.

At the same time, the ten million cultivators prepared by Su Xuan Yi for the Possession in the Emperor of Abyss’ True World coughed up blood together, and all of them immediately withered. In fact, nearly three-tenths of the cultivators were instantly reduced to ashes, as if an invisible flame had burned them to a crisp.

As nearly three-tenths of cultivators died and all the cultivators withered, their life force rose in vast quantities and turned into nourishment that allowed the flame to surge into the heavens. Once it formed a boundless light, it fused into True Morning Dao World and into Su Xuan Yi’s soul to turn into an imperishable flame which was a huge burning wick!

It swayed, and the sea of fire in the area roared before disappearing in a flash. When it reappeared, it enveloped Su Ming and started burning furiously while treating him as the wick.

“Ungrateful wretch! I’d like to see how you’ll continue with the Possession! Abyss Seal!”

When Su Xuan Yi’s voice resounded in space with a sinister tone, his soul shattered. He had cut off the soul that had fused into True Morning Dao World firmly and resolutely. With the price of a part of his soul shattering, he cut off his connection with True Morning Dao World and returned to the Emperor of Abyss’ True World.

The meditating Su Xuan Yi’s eyes flew open in the palace within the Emperor of Abyss’ True World, revealing red within them. The man jolted and coughed up seven mouthfuls of blood. With each mouthful, his body would wither slightly, his aura would weaken, and his face would also age.

When he coughed up his seventh mouthful, his body was reduced to mere skin and bones. His aura was as weak as a trickle of water, and his face was no longer that of a middle-aged man, but an old man with a dark look on his face.

“Su Ming!”

Su Xuan Yi was practically grinding his teeth. His heart was filled with great indignation. He had prepared for tens of thousands of years to Possess True Morning Dao World, and even acquired a dozen something divine abilities to make sure that he had about eight-tenths of a chance to succeed.

But most of those methods could only be activated when he had lit all seventy-two oil lamps to form the Eternal Candle Flame. He could only execute them once he had become an Imperishable Soul. The flames then would not disappear so quickly either… but the insufficient number of lit candles caused him to be unable to execute almost nine-tenths of the methods he had prepared. There was no way that he could take that lying down.

A hint of regret rose in his heart. He should have killed Su Ming in the past and not listened to Sang’s persuasions. He should not have allowed an ant who no longer had any value to perish on its own.

“If I can’t Possess True Morning Dao World, then no one is allowed to Possess it!”

Su Xuan Yi panted harshly. A portion of his soul had been crushed, and the burden of it was incredibly great. It was equivalent to him being injured gravely, but he had to do that. If he did not cut off the part of his soul which had entered True Morning Dao World, then with the continued persecution and subsequent devouration of the remaining one-tenth he had of True Morning Dao World, Su Ming would come over through his soul and cause irreparable damage to his original soul.

Instead of allowing that to happen, he decided to cut his own soul off, and with that as the price, he sealed off Su Ming’s path to chase after him and created… a chance to kill Su Ming.

Su Xuan Yi stared at the only flame burning in the seventy-two oil lamps. He stared at the wick of the candle as if Su Ming was its wick.

A ghastly, ferocious sneer appeared on his lips. Su Xuan Yi lifted his hands and formed a seal before he pointed at the candle.

When Su Xuan Yi cut off his soul that had fused into True Morning Dao World, Su Ming sensed a shadow of death loom over his head. The moment that feeling appeared, an invisible sea of fire arose around him. No one could see it but Su Ming. It was an Abyss Fire that could burn all souls to a crisp.

“Abyss Seal… to seal the Abyss…”

When Su Ming’s soul flashed, he noticed that he seemed to have turned into a wick. The sea of fire surrounded him, and it would not be extinguished until he died.

The sea of fire roared and started spinning around Su Ming rapidly. As it did so, he saw two hands within the flames. They seemed to be forming seals, and with each movement, the sea of fire would tumble several times more violently. It charged at Su Ming with loud roars.

‘Is this your final move?’

Su Ming’s soul flashed. At the same time, he laughed coldly. The threat of death might be becoming stronger, the sea of fire around him might be coming towards him with loud bangs, and his soul might be restricted to an area he could not leave as if he had turned into a real wick, but he still laughed coldly. His soul roared.

“If my body does not move, my soul will not perish. If my soul does not perish, my will will not disappear. If my will does not disappear, then I, as an Antecedental Spirit will remain. If I, as an Antecedental Spirit remain, I will not perish!”

At the instant Su Ming sent his divine thought forward, the spot where his physical body sat in a galaxy far away from where his soul was immediately shone with a brilliant light. It came from the ring on his right index finger which flew out on its own and floated above him. The light drifted down his body like rainwater, enveloping it.

As the small hint of power belonging to those in Avacaniya Realm contained in the supreme treasure spread out, the light from the ring appeared on Su Ming’s soul which was trapped in the wick in a distant galaxy. Then, Su Ming simply allowed the sea of fire to charge at him with loud roars since it could not injure him in the slightest. All of the fires were extinguished by the light of the ring.

Su Ming… was no longer the weakling in the past. At that moment, he was an Antecedental Spirit. He was one of the few powerful warriors in Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos who could conquer an entire region even if he was in Saint Defier and Dark Dawn’s 360 Expanse Cosmoses.

The years of experiences had given him a cautious personality. The countless brushes with death had taught him to act in a resolute and ruthless manner. Once all of these things merged together, Su Ming could analyse and judge all situations before he did anything, and he would also always have backup plans.

One such example was the ring. He had not used it when he was fighting against Su Xuan Yi previously because he was looking out for any unforeseen circumstances.

When the ring surrounded him, Su Ming’s soul remained unmoving. He was not in a hurry. There was no way the fire around him would burn eternally. To keep the flames burning, Su Xuan Yi would have to pay a great price. He could not last long.

‘I can’t last long? Ungrateful wretch, even if you’ve made preparations, compared to me, you are still too naive. This fire…’

Su Xuan Yi stared at the only oil lamp before him in the palace, and a dark, contemptuous sneer appeared on his lips.

‘I only need to control this flame. The power allowing it to burn does not come from my life force at all, but from you!’

Su Xuan Yi formed a seal with his hands and pointed forward. The oil lamp immediately let out sizzling sounds, and the wick within it started to sway violently.

At the same time, Su Ming jolted in True Morning Dao World. He had already noticed that something was off. The sea of fire around him did not grow weaker. Instead, once it extinguished, it rose up once more. Once it gathered together, it turned into two huge hands of flames, which formed a seal and pointed at him.

Immediately after, Su Ming noticed a bundle of invisible flames alight in his soul. Once they appeared, a vast power that seemed to intend to burn his soul rose up within him. It was as if he had truly turned into a wick, and his soul was the oil on it. Once the flames were lit, it didn’t seem possible to extinguish the flames. Only when the soul burned up would the oil run out and the flames be extinguished!

At the instant the flames appeared, Su Ming let out a cold harrumph.

“Dragon of Destruction!”