Pursuit of the Truth

“You…”

Once Guru Xing Chen heard Su Ming’s soft whisper, his pupils shrank, but the next instant, his eyes became unfocused, as if he had become dazed. Su Ming’s right hand was pressed against the center of his brow. The power to reverse time was revealed for the first time in Ancient Zang, and it fused into Guru Xing Chen’s soul.

At that instant, a picture appeared in Su Ming’s mind. A man in a black robe was standing in the picture. With a cold face, he stood on a tall mountain. A huge door was floating before him.

At that moment, the door was open. The black-robed man took a step forward to walk through the door, but he turned his head slightly around, as if he wanted to cast a glance at the world before he stepped inside.

In that man’s right hand was a string of pearls… as well as a red thread that connected the nine pearls together, and that red thread was… At the instant Su Ming saw it, he remembered the illusory shadow of the Space Whip Guru Xing Chen had brandished just then!

“Those who search for my Dao, when you tread down this path of mine which might kill you or allow you to live… you may call out to the power I, Xuan Zang, left behind in my homeland!”

When the voice echoed in the air, the picture vanished from Su Ming’s mind. At the same time, Guru Xing Chen let out a shrill scream of pain. He trembled while sounding incredibly forlorn.

At that moment… the rain turned into… snow. It was endless. As the snowflakes floated down from the sky, even the entire western side of Ancient Zang began snowing…

As well as the eastern side, the northern side, the southern side… All regions in Ancient Zang, including the seven sects and twelve clans began having snow at that instant, and it was the same for all the cities and land in Ancient Zang.

At first glance, it looked like snow, but when people took a closer look, it showed up to be dust… All of Ancient Zang, be it mountains, rivers, the seven sects and twelve clans, and the royal capital… felt a rotten presence at that instant.

It only appeared for an instant before it dissipated. Disappearing along with it was the snow that covered all of Ancient Zang…

Su Ming lifted his left hand. At that moment, Old Xing Chen eyes went wide, shining with incredulousness while he stared at Su Ming in a daze. Gradually, his body began to tremble…

“You… You are… master…”

As he mumbled, his body let out a bang, and he turned into bits of glittering light. They spread out and eventually turned black before shattering to pieces.

At the instant Guru Xing Chen’s body disappeared, Seven Moons Sect fell silent, but soon, the loudest commotion erupted since Su Ming had begun clearing the Dao Divinity Shadow Descension.

It was especially so for the fourth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky. Su Ming’s act of killing Guru Xing Chen allowed him to obtain many people’s approval. The buzzing from the commotion at that moment was mostly filled with expectation, and it was even more so in the third layer of Sky Beyond the Sky. Very few people had derision and disapproval towards Su Ming’s act of clearing the Rune at that moment. Instead, it had turned into acceptance!

Due to their acceptance, the words that tumbled out of their mouths were filled with chants calling out for the twelfth formation. Their voices echoed in the air, spurring Su Ming on, expecting him to challenge the twelfth formation!

“Twelfth formation!”

“Twelfth formation, Wang Tao! Challenge the twelfth formation, continue until you reach your limit!”

“If you can clear the fourteenth formation, you will gain a second shadow figure! Wang Tao, you have to clear the fourteenth formation!”

Various voices rose and fell. When they echoed in the air, Ye Long was already leaning against the wall of the mountain behind him with a pale face as he stared at Su Ming on the Feng Shui compass. He no longer had any idea how to express the mixed feelings and anguish in his heart.

Amid the cheers, more powerful warriors from the fourth layer began to pay attention to Su Ming, especially the head disciples of the thirteen mountains. At that moment, seven of them had opened their eyes and fixed their stares on Su Ming. There were solemn expressions on their faces.

Su Ming had already proven to be somewhat of a threat to those seven people.

With everyone’s gazes trained on him, Su Ming stood on the Feng Shui compass. He closed his eyes to hide the contemplative glint in regards to the things he had just seen.

Soon after, when he opened his eyes, he looked as calm as before. No one could tell whether he was happy or angry nor if there were any emotions surging in his heart.

Su Ming lifted his right hand and pushed downwards, in the direction of the Feng Shui compass below him.

With it, the Feng Shui compass roared. In the blink of an eye, it began rotating, and as it did so, it grew to be nearly twice the size. If anyone saw it from a distance, they would find themselves shocked by the size.

It levitated in the air above Seven Moons Sect, and at the moment it rotated, the countless runic symbols began shining brilliantly before floating out of the Feng Shui compass. Then, they gathered in front of Su Ming… to turn into a figure which was thirty or so feet tall.

That figure was pitch black and full of explosive power, but in the blink of an eye, it gained corporeal form and turned into a huge man. He was covered from head to toe in scars, and once his body came into full view, he opened his eyes and let out a roar that shook the sky and earth.

“Great Mourner Huang Xian, the cultivator who was killed and sealed eight thousand years ago!”

“That’s right! That’s his shadow! He’s the Rune shadow that most commonly appears for the twelfth formation!”

“I’ve seen several senior brothers challenge the twelfth formation, and the Great Mourner can appear in two states. One of them is his current state, and the other is when he goes mad. His power will increase exponentially, and he will reach a terrifying state!”

Amid the discussions, the thirty something feet tall man let out a shocking roar.

“I am the shadow of the twelfth formation, unless you defeat me, your progress will stop here!”

As the man roared, he charged at Su Ming. When he lifted his right hand, the air roared. He threw a punch at Su Ming, and his fist instantly closed in on him.

Su Ming’s expression remained the same. At the instant the man closed in on him, he did not move back, but forward. Once he took a step, he lifted his right hand. He clenched his fist and threw a punch straight at the incoming man.

“I’ve laid low for eight years. It’s about time for me to show my power.”

At the instant Su Ming said those words, his punch clashed against the man’s.

A loud bang instantly surged into the sky. It shook eardrums of all the cultivators in the area. The man jolted and let out a shrill scream of pain. His right hand crumbled, and when he staggered backwards, Su Ming took a step forward with a calm expression. Once he drew close to the man, he unfurled his fist, straightened it… and seized the man’s neck. He squeezed down slightly, and the man’s screams came to an abrupt halt. As he shuddered, veins popped up on his face.

A growl escaped his throat at that moment. His body became bulkier, and veins covered his skin. As his power increased exponentially, his expression became ferocious. Madness showed up in his eyes. In the blink of an eye, he grew from thirty feet to nearly fifty feet tall, and he still continued growing!

As he grew taller, even Su Ming, who had the man’s neck in his grasp, floated up from the Feng Shui compass.

“Get lost!”

The man let out an astonishing roar. He raised his arms as if he wanted to grab Su Ming, but before he could touch him, without any change in his expression, Su Ming increased the strength of his grip. Immediately, the man, whose body was clearly growing stronger and bigger, jolted.

An incredulous expression appeared in his eyes. When his lifted arms fell, Su Ming released his grip. His body landed lightly on the Feng Shui compass while the man’s body fell with a bang.

All his life force was crushed when Su Ming had increased the strength in his grip.

He had not crushed the man while he was at his maddest, but while he had his strength increase continuously in explosive bursts. It might seem easier, but only those with outstanding power could understand the principle behind it and which one was harder!

The power required to crush him while he had his strength increase in explosive bursts surpassed what was required when he had reached his full strength.

“Thirteenth formation.”

Su Ming stared at the man’s body as he gradually dissipated from the Feng Shui compass. The man did not die, but instead returned to the Rune to wait for the next person who came to challenge, and then, he would wake up again.

At that moment, all the Seven Moons Sect cultivators in the area had excitement on their faces. Before Su Ming had challenged the Rune, they had not expected that they would see something like that. In fact, when Su Ming had just begun challenging the Rune, they would have never expected that he… would arrive where he was right then!

The thirteenth formation was a checkpoint for all the disciples in the fourth layer of Sky Beyond of Sky. Those who cleared it were few even among the disciples of the fourth layer. Only the head disciples in charge of the mountains and the powerful warriors of each mountain could clear them.

To most disciples, clearing the twelve formations was already their limit, because the shadow serving as garrison of the thirteenth formation was an existence most disciples could not fight.

Because of that, there was a categorization the inner sect disciples of Seven Moons Sect had for the thirteenth formation that did not belong to the sect rules, and that was that the thirteenth formation… was a checkpoint where their status would increase by leaps and bounds once they cleared it!

Those who cleared the thirteenth formation would no longer be ordinary disciples, but powerful warriors serving as inner sect disciples of Seven Moons Sect. They would get most of the resources, best training as well as a status that would bring all eyes on them.

There were less than a hundred people among the disciples in the fourth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky who had cleared the thirteenth layer!

And at that moment, Su Ming was going to challenge the formation that served as the great checkpoint. Everyone’s excited gazes were on Su Ming. When the Feng Shui compass rotated with loud bangs and its size increased by leaps and bounds… an ancient voice echoed from the Rune.

“I am the one who guards the thirteenth formation… Sect Elder Wang, greetings.”

When the man’s words echoed in the air, a black figure appeared on the Feng Shui compass. It instantly became clear and turned into an old man dressed in a white robe.

Su Ming had seen him eight years ago. He was one of the thirteen sect elders!