Pursuit of the Truth

Old Man Extermination’s expression was incredibly dark. It was as Su Xuan Yi had said. The crux of Possession was that they absolutely could not Possess themselves. This was a law and a forbidden area!

Once they Possessed themselves, it would mean that a part of them had been divided in their own bodies. That unseen division would mean… that no matter how strong or weak the other version was, it would be impossible for them to devour the other, because their strength would be the same. They could… only coexist.

This was something Old Man Extermination knew very well, but under Su Xuan Yi’s administrations, he had ended up Possessing Lei Chen, and Lei Chen had the Seed of Life Extermination. Since it came from the same origin as Extermination, it meant… that Extermination was Possessing himself.

He could only watch helplessly as Lei Chen’s presence fused with his Dao Divinity and entered his body. Old Man Extermination could already sense Lei Chen’s existence as well as his will in his mind. It was filled with hatred for him—an existence he could not wipe off.

“Su Xuan Yi, you bastard!”

A glint appeared in Old Man Extermination’s eyes. When he lifted his right hand, he pointed at the palm formed by Su Xuan Yi. With a bang, it shattered, revealing Su Xuan Yi’s body in it. Old Man Extermination pointed at him again, and Su Xuan Yi’s storage bag shattered. The fifth kiln instantly appeared from it.

When he clenched his fist, the fifth kiln shattered, and the woman’s body inside it was reduced to powder along with Su Xuan Yi. They were both completely wiped off.

The hatred in Lei Chen’s consciousness grew stronger as he trembled.

“It’s fine if you’re in my body. You can… watch me destroy everything. When I think of a way of extracting you from my body, I will let you taste despair.

“For now, you will watch me seal Su Ming and turn him into an offering!”

As Old Man Extermination laughed hideously, he brought his right hand up and swung it swiftly at space.

The black-robed young man who was continuously absorbing Harmonious Morus Alba’s life force on the Feng Shui compass in the Vast Expanse suddenly lifted his head.

“Offering…” he mumbled.

A hint of expressiveness shone in his aloof eyes, but it was incredibly faint, as if it was about to disappear at any moment. It was only at that moment, however, that he looked to be alive.

As he mumbled, he lifted his right hand and pointed at the butterfly beneath him. With it, a gust of wind was stirred up and turned into a gust of black smoke that swiftly charged to the Harmonious Morus Alba beneath him. He seemed to want to take the offering from the spot where Old Man Extermination had pointed.

At that moment, Su Ming was staring at the people in the vortex. His right hand was already lifted… but he could not touch the edges of the vortex, just like how destiny could not be changed at certain times.

The black palm formed by the resentment Su Xuan Yi had absorbed along with Old Man Extermination’s will shot through the vortex with the River of Forgetfulness and appeared right in front of Su Ming. It turned into an endless grudge and Curse… that immediately submerged Su Ming within itself.

It became a seal!

It sealed the strongest cultivator of that aeon, branding him and turning him into an offering awaiting Xuan Zang’s descent.

The resentment within the seal turned into countless faces with ferocious expressions as well as madness in their eyes. With a desperate wish for Su Ming to die, they dyed his world black and sealed him in a thick black fog.

“Su Ming, die!”

“You killed all my people! You must die! YOU HAVE TO DIE!”

“Haha! You can’t save your family and friends! We’ll do everything to kill you!”

“When you killed our people, did you ever think that such a day would come?! Why… aren’t you dead yet!”

The countless faces in the fog that appeared around Su Ming had twisted expressions and roared at him constantly. There were so many of them that no end could be seen. They surrounded Su Ming and continuously let out incredibly shrill roars and curses.

They hated Su Ming, hated him to the core!

Su Ming was silent. Grief appeared on his face as he stared at the fog around him. He could sense that the sealing power was not very powerful, but it was strong enough to trap him for a while, and during that time, he did not know what would happen to Ninth Summit’s vortex…

“The person who killed your people and all of you… is not me.”

There was a determined note in Su Ming’s voice. When he spoke, a fierce look appeared in his eyes. He lifted his left hand and gathered the wills of the True Worlds belonging to him before fusing them with his Dao Divinity’s strongest attack. Then, he sent it towards the fog.

Booming sounds reverberated through space and shook the fog, making it tumble furiously. Su Ming executed his strongest attack again and again, regardless of the cost. He continued attacking and moving forward, trying his best to rush out as soon as possible.

There might seem to be no pattern to his attacks and he was just attacking nonstop, but only Su Ming was aware that every single time he attacked, he only used his left hand!

As he continued attacking, the palm lines on his left hand gradually grew clearer.

The faces and curses formed by the resentment that filled the fog around him went mad. They, too, did everything they could to stop him.

“Regardless of whether you did it or not, if I say you did it, then you did!”

The sudden voice instantly drowned all the curses from the resentment after it spread through the fog. It echoed in Su Ming’s ears, making him come to a halt. He turned his head around and looked towards an empty spot.

There, the endless fog formed the figure of Old Man Extermination. When he looked at Su Ming, his lips curled into a faint smile.

“You are an offering to Xuan Zang. This is your destiny. You can’t escape or flee from it. The endless resentment gathered from this universe has turned into a curse, and it is led to you by your palm lines. I’ve intentionally arranged this for you… but I didn’t expect that your Harmonious Morus Alba would be so ruthless, that it would bring back the people you sent away…”

Old Man Extermination smiled faintly and swung his arm. The fog in the area immediately tumbled violently and turned into a huge palm. Su Ming was within it.

“I don’t believe in destiny,” Su Ming said while looking at Old Man Extermination.

As he spoke, he brought up his left hand and struck at the fog. With it, the fog around him instantly rumbled. Amid them, the palm lines on Su Ming’s palm swiftly manifested behind him.

“Were you referring to these palm lines?” Su Ming asked slowly.

The illusory palm lines that had manifested behind him were incredibly clear, and when they touched the fog, rumbles resounded through space.

“These are indeed my palm lines.”

Su Ming lowered his head to look at his left hand. When Old Man Extermination’s pupils shrank, Su Ming swung his left arm, and it immediately withered. It withered to an extent that it looked like his left arm had melted.

In the blink of an eye, Su Ming’s entire left arm disappeared. The only thing left was his left sleeve fluttering in space!

“You were born with those palm lines, and you can’t change them. Even if you—”

As Old Man Extermination spoke, his pupils suddenly shrank again, and disbelief appeared on his face. He saw that the fog in the area was swiftly disintegrating!

The faces formed by the resentment in the fog acted as if they had lost their sight. Their vision was gone… and they could no longer find Su Ming!

Even louder booming sounds shot into space at that moment. The fog in the area swiftly tumbled backwards and disappeared, as if the huge palm had turned into a rootless tree that could only fall!

“That’s impossible… unless… you…” Old Man Extermination’s expression changed. He had thought of a possibility.

“You had cut off your left hand before you left behind your palm print. Not only did you cut off your flesh and blood, you even cut off the connection your soul had to your arm, all so that I would make a mistake.

“It was a trap to lead me into making a mistake, even if you did not know what my goal was!”

When Old Man Extermination spoke, Su Ming did not say anything. Instead, he moved back and stepped out of the fog!

The instant he did so, he saw the seal formed by his blood in the vortex that prevented the River of Forgetfulness from flowing backwards and stopped the people from Ninth Summit from returning to this place. It broke apart at that moment, and the River of Forgetfulness started flowing in reverse. The people from Ninth Summit—all the familiar faces—started appearing outside the vortex. They were already brought back to their old universe!

Red filled Su Ming’s eyes, and the third eye at the center of his brow opened. His Dao Divinity opened its eyes as well, revealing madness, but Su Ming knew that he could no longer execute any divine abilities to send them back, because he no longer had any time. He only had one choice left!

Sever the River of Forgetfulness!

He would sever the River of Forgetfulness, cut off its connection with his world, hack off all the preordained fate the people of Ninth Summit had with it, slice off their path back home, for only by doing so could he give them a chance to survive the destruction!

Su Ming did not have time to hesitate. With sadness in his eyes, he lifted his right hand and brought it down violently to cut at the reversing River of Forgetfulness in the vortex!

Even if his heart ached in pain and there would no longer be a chance for him to find everyone again in the future, as long as they were still alive and existed somewhere, it would be enough for him!

The scene he witnessed in the secrets of the universe had long since been set in stone. The loss of his left hand was also part of it, for it was destiny that could not be changed. When Su Ming saw the secrets of the universe in the past, it was all destined to happen.

When Su Ming was about to sever the River of Forgetfulness… a deep voice that caused all of Harmonious Morus Alba to tremble rang out!

“Offering…”

When the word was spoken, everything behind Su Ming was destroyed, and all the lives behind him were… replaced by a finger!

Wherever it went, the galaxy would turn into nothingness. A huge crack was torn open in space… revealing the endless Vast Expanse!