Pursuit of the Truth

You Ming was dressed in black robes that had the pattern of falling leaves embroidered on them. The robe covered his body and went down to his feet, making it impossible to see his figure. Any observers could only see a wide, long black robe.

Su Ming could not see the face hidden under the hood, but he could see the bright eyes shining from within it as well as the hint of aloofness within them.

The black-robed man exuded an incredibly great ancient feeling. He felt like the symbol of time passing, but at the same time, Su Ming also had a false feeling that time seemed to distort while around the man!

The black-robed man was distorting time and exuding an ancient air as if he was not a person, but an ancient mirror that was reflecting the changes of the universe across time.

Su Ming stared at the black-robed man, and the black-robed man lifted his head look back at him. The two of them met each other’s gazes as the world rumbled around them.

“Your clothes made me think of a few people.” A slight smile appeared on Su Ming’s face when he spoke faintly.

The moment he opened his mouth, something flashed in the black-robed man’s eyes, and a fierce light shone in them. He took a swift step forward, and at the instant his foot landed, a loud roar shook the entire universe. It was much louder than all the other sounds around, a tidal wave that was louder than thunder.

It turned into the strongest noise in the entire galaxy. When it echoed, it distorted space, seeming to want to submerge Su Ming in it and bind him inside itself.

At the same time, the black-robed man lifted his right hand and pushed forward in an entirely casual manner. That push might have seemed gentle, but at the moment it was delivered, cracking sounds rang out in space, and nine huge cracks tore through the galaxy. They were like nine dragons, and the rumbles were their roars. With a speed that the naked eye could not see, they charged at Su Ming, who was bound by the distortions.

A loud bang shot up. The instant it echoed in space, it fused with the endless booms in the area, creating an even louder noise. When it resounded in every direction, more distortions spread to Su Ming. It was as if… as long as he was in that galaxy filled with sound, the black-robed man, who was born from the sounds, would stand invincible.

Amid the loud noise, the nine dragons crashed into Su Ming, making the area around him contort. They forcefully tore the galaxy open to reach their target.

Su Ming watched the black-robed man through the distorted space, and as he stared at the ancient presence as well as the air of time about him, he sighed softly. He already knew who he was. He was just like the four people from the fifth ocean he had seen in Divine Essence Star Ocean, what Su Ming had chosen not to be in the fake Fifth True World—the fifth apostle.

“You are… the Apostle of Happiness!” Su Ming, who looked as if he had been torn apart when space contorted, said slowly, and brilliant light shone in the black-robed man’s eyes. He brought his right hand up and pointed at the heavens before bringing his hand down to push at space. At the same time… he spoke for the first time.

“Time reversal!”

When he said those two words, a layer of golden ripples came from the black-robed man’s right hand. They swept out and instantly affected the area around Su Ming. The power of the Art of Time descended to change the laws of time to make it flow backwards and return to ancient past.

Space transformed, and layers of the galaxy tumbled back, causing the booming sounds to become even louder. The effects even spread to Su Ming, who was within the area.

“Happiness, anger, grief, resentment. Among the four of them, I should have long since guessed… that you are an Abyss Builder.”

Su Ming sighed softly. He did not cast any divine ability, but the third eye at the center of his brow opened, and a brilliant light shone within it. Su Ming’s body, which seemed to have shattered, fragmented even further like a broken mirror, but what fragmented… was a mirror that seemed to have been placed in the galaxy.

At the same time, the contortions around him vanished. Even the booming sounds went silent at that moment. The area affected by the black-robed man’s golden ripples vanished without a trace when the third eye at the center of Su Ming’s brow flashed, as if it was devoured by darkness.

The galaxy returned to normal. It was still the same galaxy as before, and the two of them were staring into each other’s eyes once more. They were the only ones around, and it seemed as if their attacks several breaths ago were just a dream.

“To be in possession of the Art of Time and to be able to become one of the four great Apostles of Happiness, Anger, Grief, and Resentment… Since you are an Abyss Builder, then with your status, besides the Progenitor of the Abyss Builders, who was foolishly loyal to Dark Dawn’s camp, I can think of no one else.

“But by the looks of it now, you were not loyal to Dark Dawn… but Old Man Extermination.” Su Ming shook his head. He felt a variety of emotions in his heart, but there was also a hint of relief among them.

Because at that moment, he had learned something. Be it Tian Xie Zi or Lie Shan Xiu… both of them had not died. They were the four great Apostles of Happiness, Anger, Grief, and Resentment. If the Apostle of Happiness was still around, then the other three apostles were naturally around as well.

“I, too, am very glad that I could meet with a descendant of the Abyss Builders,” the black-robed man said in a hoarse voice. It echoed in the area, and he did not intentionally suppress the rumbles around him. He simply let his voice echo amid the loud bangs in the galaxy, and they naturally and steadily fell into Su Ming’s ears.

The black-robed man was… clearly a cultivator who had reached the middle stage of Avacaniya Realm, and whose level of cultivation surpassed those from Dark Dawn and Saint Defier. He was even slightly stronger than the old man from Heavenly Spirit Tribe!

And Su Ming did not sense Harmonious Morus Alba’s presence on him. He… had not fused with his other self from Harmonious Morus Alba Expanse Cosmos.

They were in the fourth universe. It was a completely different Expanse Cosmos to its relative Expanse Cosmos—Dark Dawn and Saint Defier. There were… not many people in it either, which was why the cultivators from Dark Dawn and Saint Defier could not find their others selves here.

After all, the gap leading to the Vast Expanse existed in that Expanse Cosmos… and the powerful warriors who had lived through the various aeons also lived there. Most of them were asleep, but there were some who had already awaken.

It might only be able to happen in the fourth universe.

Perhaps it was because of those reasons that the Expanse Cosmos… gained various differences distinguishing it from Harmonious Morus Alba’s third wing—Dark Dawn and Saint Defier. In time… it then turned to be truly different from its relative Expanse Cosmos.

When the black-robed man spoke, he lifted his right hand and pulled back the black hood from his head to reveal an old face covered in wrinkles. He had a head full of white hair. His sunken eyes shone with an eye-catching light when he looked at Su Ming.

His face was somewhat similar to Su Xuan Yi’s, and his domineering air was revealed without any restraint at that moment.

He was You Ming, the Progenitor of Abyss Builders, the strongest person in Arid Triad’s Fifth True World!

Su Ming was an Abyss Builder, but if he were to compare the purity of his blood, he could not compare to Su Xuan Yi, much less the Progenitor of Abyss Builders standing before him right then, who was already a ruler of a region when he was in the third era of their aeon.

Su Ming was silent for a moment before he asked slowly, “Must we continue with this fight?”

“There were originally not supposed to be any Abyss Builders. There was just Great Abyss Tribe. Only when our benefactor appeared and used his blood as a guide did Great Abyss Tribe slowly turn into the Abyss Builders.

“I will never be able to repay his kindness, and I once swore that all Abyss Builders will worship our benefactor for all their lives. They must be his slaves until the universe shatters.

“You are an Abyss Builder, so you must obey this as well. If you don’t obey… your blood will deliver a backlash on you, because this is the destiny of Abyss Builders since an eternity ago!” the Progenitor of Abyss Builders said slowly, and a fierce light shone in his eyes.

Su Ming stayed silent for a moment before he sighed softly and said, “That is your destiny, not mine. Since you insist on fighting me, then I will respect you, as you are the Progenitor of Abyss Builders. I will not use my will to suppress you. We will both cast the Art of Time, and let us see who among us will be the first to fall.”

Men couldn’t forget their roots. Su Ming’s attitude towards the Progenitor of Abyss Builders was different from his attitude towards Su Xuan Yi. He respected this person a lot, and this respect was not related to Old Man Extermination. It was solely limited to the Progenitor of Abyss Builders for his acts of supporting the Abyss Builders in the Fifth True World while he was there so that the Abyss Builders could rise to power. Su Ming could also never forget what Su Xuan Yi’s wife—the woman in the fifth kiln—had told him.

When Su Ming was born… his name was given to him by the Progenitor, and he believed it to be true.

The Progenitor of all Abyss Builders… If he could choose not to fight against such a person, Su Ming would not fight against him, but if he had to fight him, Su Ming would give him the respect he deserved, which was why… he chose to use one of the Abyss Builders’ inborn abilities—the Art of Time.

“Very well.”

The Progenitor of Abyss Builders cast Su Ming a deep glance. After speaking, he sat down cross-legged in space, and his eyes fell shut. The power of the Art of Time instantly erupted from his body. It came off in waves of gold which soon became the brightest light in the galaxy.

In silence, Su Ming also sat down cross-legged. His eyes fell shut, and gradually, his body started to fade away. Darkness appeared around him, and it looked like he was about to fuse with darkness of the galaxy, but his darkness did not fit with the other… because the galaxy’s darkness was not worthy of dyeing Su Ming’s darkness black.

If there was anyone going to dye anything black, then it would be Su Ming dyeing the entire universe black.

“We will start now.”

The Progenitor of Abyss Builders opened his eyes before speaking, then closed them again. A thick wave of power belonging to the Art of Time immediately turned into a piercing light about him. It instantly swept through the area like the white of the sky. It swiftly illuminated the galaxy within it, as if no darkness could exist before it.

The reversal of time… was activated at that instant.