Pursuit of the Truth

“Greetings, Senior Su. It has been ten years since we met, and your elegance has become even greater than before. Your power has become stronger by more than several fold. You truly make me impressed from the bottom of my heart. In fact, I can often see you in my dreams, and I worship you day and night, hoping that the span of ten years would go by in the blink of an eye, because I would then be able to see you again and personally bear witness to your splendor.

“My admiration towards you can no longer be described by any of the words in this aeon. It comes from my heart, my soul, and is the strongest excitement I, Yan Pei, have ever felt in my life…

“Senior, your figure is as straight as a pine tree, the brilliance of your mind surpasses the light of the galaxy, your…”

Great delight appeared on the face of Yan Pei, who had been waiting at Arid Triad’s gap for some time, the moment he saw Su Ming. He lifted his feet and immediately took a few strides before he wrapped his fist in his palm towards Su Ming to give him a deep bow.

His hands almost touched the tip of his toes when he bowed, and it was an act completely unsightly for a Sovereign of Dawn. Not only did he bow so completely, he had also made sure that his words were spoken incredibly clearly. Each of his sentences contained rich emotion and true zealousness.

Forget whether his words were sincere or fake, just his voice and his words alone showed Yan Pei’s nearly obsequious behavior to Su Ming and how he was currying his favor.

Su Ming cast a glance at Yan Pei and let out a dry cough, cutting off Yan Pei’s words; no one had any idea how long they would have lasted if he let him continue. Yan Pei’s change made sense. In truth, Su Ming was rather unaccustomed to his attitude, but he still quite admired him in his heart.

But before Yan Pei could say anything else, the bald crane suddenly focused its gaze while standing beside Su Ming, and a hint of wariness appeared within it. It felt that the Sovereign of Dawn Yan Pei… was too shameless. His level of shamelessness caused the bald crane to be wary of him, but it was also quite amazed.

‘This person… Damn it, is he trying to snatch my position? Or else why would his expression look so familiar? Darn it all, this is an expression only I can put on in front of Su Ming. This shameless Yan Pei, he… he… I will immediately memorize all the words he just said. There are things in this person’s methods of flattery that this great bald crane can learn from.’

The bald crane immediately felt its spirits lift when it made its decision. It was great in this aspect. It was incredibly studios, such as when it saw the Abyss Dragon turn into a dog in the past, it had, in its ignorance, believed that dogs were fiercer, and so it imitated the dragon and turned into a dog.

When it was in the land of Berserkers, it was chased by the birds above the Dead Sea, and hence, it believed they were strong, so it immediately transformed into them and mingled among them happily.

When it was in Black Ink Planet, it saw some of the families receiving much greater responses while they were searching for a wife for their son, which was why it roped in the Abyss Dragon to turn into a beautiful woman and went to each family to deceive them. All of these things spoke of how eager for knowledge the bald crane was, and right then… its studios nature appeared once more.

Almost at the same time the bald crane became wary, the Sovereign of Dawn Yan Pei saw it, and his heart let out a thump. His instincts told him that the bald crane in front of him was definitely a great enemy of his.

It was not the type of enemy mentioned in battles, where they had to fight each other to the death, but was the greatest competition for the position of Su Ming’s right hand man, which Yan Pei was determined to gain!

‘Damn it, why does Senior Su have a crane like this by his side? Look at it, that sharp beak and monkey-like cheeks, that bald body… It’s clearly what is reflected on its external appearance once it has trained its sleaziness and shamelessness to a certain degree!

‘This crane… is a great enemy of mine!’

The Sovereign of Dawn Yan Pei immediately carved the image of the bald crane in his mind, but he did not show any sign of his thoughts on his face. still kept the obsequious look. If any cultivator from Dark Dawn or Saint Defier saw him at that moment, they would definitely be struck dumb, because they could not imagine that the usually callous and arrogant Yan Pei… would be able to have such an expression.

“Senior, you are finally here. I have been waiting for this day for a very long time. Senior, ever since I met you, I felt that my status as a Sovereign of Dawn is no longer interesting. I came to a swift realization and will give up on my status as the Sovereign of Dawn all so that I can follow you and be your attendant.

“Senior, you only need to point forward, and this young Yan Zi will immediately charge forth. Even if the way forward is filled with mountains of blades and seas of fire, this young Yan Zi will not even frown. Senior, as this young Yan Zi is so sincere in his request, please allow him to follow you. Please grant his request…”

The Sovereign of Dawn Yan Pei gritted his teeth. The bald crane’s appearance had made him feel incredibly threatened, which was why he changed his original plan, and as he spoke, he fell to his knees and worshiped Su Ming, completely giving up on his status as a Sovereign of Dawn.

The more callous and aloof a person appeared to be, the greater the effect of this action would be. The higher the status a person possessed, the greater the sincerity they would present to others.

Yan Pei knew about this clearly. In truth, during his earlier days, he had acted this way, and his personality was directly related to why he was capable of becoming a Sovereign of Dawn. He would usually present himself as an aloof and arrogant person, but when he ran into life-threatening situations, he would immediately change his attitude. He was the true definition of great adaptability. He did not even feel a single bit of discomfort in his heart or that he had wronged his status.

To Yan Pei, dignity was something that could be used to exchange for certain things…

However, once he became strong and gained the position of the Sovereign of Dawn, he had believed that there was no longer anyone who could make him do such a thing, unless they were the sleeping old monsters, but those old monsters were not awake, and Yan Pei had sealed this divine ability he believed was the greatest in the universe under layers of dust.

Up till then, that is. After personally witnessing and experiencing how terrifying Su Ming was, he naturally presented this divine ability he had practiced for years and showed… his true nature.

Yan Pei’s words stunned Su Ming in the word’s truest sense. Flattery that continued endlessly was something Su Ming had never heard before even from the bald crane. In fact, it could be said that it was… the first time he had faced something like that.

Even if he had heard of it before, he had not paid attention to it, but right then, the person before his eyes… was one of Dark Dawn’s Sovereigns of Dawn, which was why Su Ming was truly and completely taken aback. His mind had actually gone blank at that moment, which was a rare event.

When Yan Pei saw Su Ming’s expression, he was also momentarily stunned. In truth, he had only spoken one-tenth of the flattering words he had prepared in his heart. He had thought that the bald crane was a great enemy of his and that Su Ming was already used to this sort of flattery, which was why he had been pondering over how he should change his words so that the effect of his flattery would be stronger.

However, when he saw that Su Ming was stunned, Yan Pei immediately felt great delight in his heart. He sighed in his heart and believed that the bald crane was still unable to compare to him. Just as he was about to continue speaking so that he could strike while the iron was hot, the bald crane jumped to its feet, alarmed.

“Bullsh*t!” it shouted as if it was exasperated.

The bald crane might not have feathers, but it had some fine hairs on its skin. At that moment, all of them had stood up, and with great hostility, it glared at Yan Pei while screeching in a piercing manner.

“Su Ming, don’t believe in this wretch’s words. He… he said that he would rush into mountains of blades and seas of fire without even frowning, but with his level of cultivation, those mountains of blades and seas of fire he spoke of would be nothing!”

“Those mountains of blades and seas of fire I spoke of were just an example, brother bald crane. Don’t be hung up on that now. Do you know what is an example? Oh well, you should not have come to understand something like this just yet. It’s fine, when we have the chance in the future, I will teach you,” Yan Pei said without hesitation.

“Y-y-you… I went through grave dangers in the land of Berserkers with Su Ming!”

“If I, Yan Pei, am safe in the future while Senior Su is injured, then I will stand to be accused by the public!”

“Su Ming and I were exiled to the Barren Lands of Divine Essence!” The bald crane was completely livid. It flapped its wings, and a great presence immediately erupted from its body.

“I will definitely fight beside Senior Su in the future. Even if the enemy is Dark Dawn, I will definitely not hesitate with my attacks!”

Yan Pei glared at the bald crane. The man and crane attacked each other with words to show their loyalty.

As he watched it, Su Ming did not know whether he wanted to laugh or cry. Once he cast a glance at Yan Pei, he let out a dry cough, swung his arm, and immediately separated the duo, who had come closer to each other and were about to let their cultivation bases erupt from their bodies to duke it out against each other.

“Yan…”

“This young Yan Zi is here!” An excited expression appeared on Yan Pei’s face, and he knelt down to Su Ming again.

“Heh heh, Yan Zi… The word for swallow, huh? That’s it, you’re a swallow!” The bald crane seemed to have thought of something. A sleazy look suddenly appeared on its face, and it glared fiercely at Yan Pei while it started cursing him maliciously in its heart.

‘Swallow, don’t blame me for being ruthless, you’re just too cunning. You are the one who forced my hand. I’m going to use that Stupid Claw on you so that you will become the same as the Abyss Dragon!’

The bald crane’s fierce expression immediately made Yan Pei wary of it in his heart while he wondered whether the bald crane had any powerful skills at its disposal…

Su Ming was rather unused to this, so he let out a fake cough and spoke to Yan Pei to distract him. “Alright, enough! Yan… Hurry up and lead the way to Dark Dawn’s camp!”

“I understand!”

Yan Pei’s spirits lifted. He immediately got up, formed a seal with his right hand, then pointed at Arid Triad’s gap, which was not far away from them. The gap immediately shuddered, and a huge runic symbol appeared on it. The runic symbol flashed a few times before it shuddered and stopped moving.

Su Ming’s expression became one of calmness as he stared at Arid Triad’s gap. He had personally witnessed the gap being formed in the past. At that time, he had not expected that one day he would step into Dark Dawn and Saint Defier through it.

“Master…”

A nostalgic look appeared in Su Ming’s eyes, but he did not hesitate and took a step forward to step into Arid Triad’s gap. Behind him were the bald crane and Yan Pei. They flew out at the same time, as if they were competing against each other to be the first to follow Su Ming. They turned into two long arcs and instantly… disappeared into Arid Triad’s gap with Su Ming!