Pursuit of the Truth

Su Ming’s departure left all of Seven Moons Sect in silence. His figure seemed to have turned into an astonishing wave that crashed into them before the sun broke through the darkness. He disappeared from the crowd’s gazes and stepped into the fifth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky.

Clearing the first formation straight up to the eighteenth formation in one go was something rare in the history of Seven Moons Sect. At the very least, most of the Seven Moons Sect disciples had never heard about such a thing before.

It could be said that the one day and two nights was a shock to the Seven Moons Sect disciples, and it etched Wang Tao’s name deeply into their minds.

As for Ye Long… When Su Ming started clearing the formations, he was a green leaf, and Ye Long was a flower, but once Su Ming cleared more than ten formations, Ye Long became a background for Su Ming. By the end, however, he did not even deserve to be his background.

In the fourth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky, Chen Tao and Yue Yan stood at the edge of the cliff. When Su Ming left into the distance, they gradually turned their heads away.

“He could have continued,” Chen Tao said slowly after a long while. There was a very grim look on his face when he looked at Yue Yan beside him.

“Fei Feng also had the power to continue once he cleared the nineteenth formation all those years ago, but he did not,” Yue Yan said softly. When she turned around, she walked into the distance with light footsteps.

While on the cliff, Chen Tao narrowed his eyes. After a long while, he swung his arm, then turned around and walked back to his cave abode.

Fei Feng had walked out of his cave abode and stood outside his door at the top of the mountain belonging to the first line. He moved his gaze away from the disappearing Feng Shui compass with a thought-provoking smile on his lips.

‘Looks like you’ve also noticed… I wonder if I will be the one who will be moving into the distance, or you will be the first to gain the epiphany, Sect Elder Wang.’ As Fei Feng continued smiling, a fierce glare appeared in his eyes.

When daylight returned and the sun shone on the ground, Seven Moons Sect welcomed a new day. Su Ming sat outside his house in the fifth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky with his eyes closed.

Eighteen formations were not his limit. If he wanted to… he could have cleared the nineteenth formation, the twentieth formation, and even more. Based on his level of cultivation, he could probably clear up to the twenty-second or twenty-third formation.

But Su Ming did not.

‘After the eighteenth formation, you must clear the subsequent formations with a Dao Shadow. Even if you manage to clear them, you won’t be able to get any sort of serendipity. It’ll just be an empty name. Only after I form my own Dao Shadow will I be able to gain an epiphany from the Rune.’

A dark light shone in Su Ming’s eyes.

‘That person called Fei Feng must have also noticed this, which is why he did not continue once he cleared the nineteenth formation. Clearly… he still hasn’t formed his Dao Shadow.

‘And Seven Moons Sect’s Dao Shadow can only be formed with the fusion of Seven Lives Art!’

While he thought about it silently, Su Ming remained with his eyes closed. What he needed to do next was to go through a long period of isolated training. It as necessary to fuse his Human Life, Earthen Lives, Heavenly Lives, and seven shadows together and attempt to turn them into a Dao Shadow. Then, once the Dao Shadow was formed, he would see whether it could be used to help him reach a breakthrough in his level of cultivation and reach… Dao Spirit Realm!

Time passed, and another ten years went by. During them, Su Ming remained meditating and did not open his eyes. He was immersed in the fusion of his Human Life, Earthen Lives, Heavenly Lives, and seven shadows. He did not pay any attention to things around him. During the process of gaining his epiphany, he only searched for the key to the fusion.

In that time, some not incredibly great events happened in Seven Moons Sect, such as some disciples disappearing without reason and the signs of the sky shattering occasionally appearing above Seven Moons Sect. The cracks might close up quickly, but gradually, they caught the disciples’ attention.

When ten more years passed, the frequency at which the sky above Seven Moons Sect shattered increased. Cracks gradually formed high above. There was also a faint rumbling noise that rose and fell, echoing in the air. In fact, the strange events reached the point where they affected the training of the Seven Moons Sect disciples.

At that moment, Sect Elder Mu brought many disciples of the sect to venture out of Sky Beyond the Sky to investigate the matter. No one knew what he discovered, but when he returned, he went to the sixth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky, and then, he never went out of the sect again.

When another ten years passed, the cracks above the Seven Moons Sect filled the entire area. Even the ground was covered in them, which meant that mountains in Seven Moons Sect had also cracked. Once it happened, the disciples of Seven Moons Sect began to pay a lot of attention to it.

Eventually, when another ten years passed, the cracks in the world beyond Seven Moons Sect grew so great that all those who saw them were shocked. In fact, the Seven Moons Sect itself and the mountains around it were also covered in cracks, and it looked like they were about to collapse at any moment.

The first layer was not the only place that looked like that. Even the second layer of Sky Beyond the Sky had cracks, and once it happened, the fifth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky held… a Seven Moons Sect’s Council of Elders!

It was a major event in which all sect elders were required to participate, and as a sect elder, Su Ming would naturally have to attend it as well.

Su Ming had been in isolated training for forty years, and during them, he had not opened his eyes once.

It was the first Seven Moons Sect Council of Elders in over forty years, and a jade slip was sent to all sect elders in the fifth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky. Once it levitated in front of him, Su Ming still remained with his eyes closed. However, an overlapping shadow seemed to have appeared on his body, and immediately after, a figure moved out of his seated body.

That figure was one of Su Ming’s shadow figures. It had the exact same appearance as him, and once it stood up, it picked up the jade slip levitating in front of him. Then, as composed as ever, it headed to the mountain belonging to the thirteenth line.

Since Dao Han was in charge of the thirteenth line, the thirteenth line was the head of the sect while he was in charge.

Su Ming was the last to arrive. At the instant he stepped into the thirteenth line, he saw several divine senses sweeping towards him from the mountain. They all had the intent to observe. With a calm expression, Su Ming walked to the top of the mountain and stepped into the meeting spot for the council of elders in the thirteenth line.

It was a field at the summit of the thirteenth mountain. Above the clouds surrounding the mountain were fifteen huge chairs that formed a ring.

One of them was slightly smaller than the other fourteen to show the difference in status. At that moment, besides the largest chair, thirteen people already occupied fourteen chairs. The one remaining was clearly for Su Ming.

When he walked forward, seven pairs of eyes in the silent meeting hall immediately looked at him. Su Ming had seen everyone before when he first stepped into Seven Moons Sect. One of the people was Mu Zhen, and another one was Lan Lan.

Su Ming’s expression did not change. He treated the gazes as if they did not exist. He slowly sat down and closed his eyes as if he was resting.

Soon after, a huge, mighty pressure descended onto the meeting spot. The moment Su Ming opened his eyes slightly, he saw a fire-red figure appear on the largest chair. The fire-red light gradually turned into a long robe wrapped around a middle-aged man.

The man’s face was cold, and he held a pearl in his right hand. His expression was awe-inspiring. Once he sat down, he swept his gaze past the fourteen people around him. When he saw his disciple—a young man in black robes whose face was as cold as his—he nodded slightly, and when his gaze landed on Su Ming, his eyes lingered on him for a moment.

“I gathered all of you here to attend the Seven Moons Sect Council of Elders because the preordained fate governing the world has become increasingly stronger. There are certain things that all of you will need to prepare beforehand.

“Sect Elder Mu, tell us what you found twenty years ago when you ventured outside,” said the red-robed man while playing with the pearl in his hand.

“My fellow sect members, twenty years ago, by orders of the great sect elder, I went out to investigate this matter, and in the cracks of the world… Heh heh… I found signs of One Dao Sect!” Mu Zhen said darkly while he swept his gaze past the group.

At the instant One Dao Sect’s name tumbled out of Mu Zhen’s lips, the expressions of five changed swiftly. Dao Han and Mu Zhen were not among those.

“I knew it, it’s One Dao Sect!”

“Only the unfathomable One Dao Sect who can exist in all cracks in the world can show themselves so publicly and arrogantly beyond Seven Moons Sect!”

When the cold voices appeared, Mu Zhen wrapped his fist in his palm towards the red-robed man and stopped speaking.

“Since you noticed the signs of One Dao Sect a long time ago, why did you wait for twenty years before you told us?” Lan Lan asked coldly in a faint voice. The moment she spoke, the council members immediately stopped speaking and turned their gazes towards the red-robed man.

“Because One Dao Sect has sent a notice while living in the cracks formed in the world outside, or rather… instead of saying that it’s a notice, it would be apt to say that it’s a threat,” the red-robed man said calmly while toying with the pearl in his hand. Then, he glanced at Su Ming.

“In their notice, they very clearly told Seven Moons Sect to hand over all the disciples they took in the last two cycles of sixty years. If we don’t, they will launch… a war against us!”

At the instant the red-robed man said those words, besides Su Ming, all the people’s expressions changed drastically.

“One Dao Sect has gone overboard!”

“What a joke. How can we hand over our disciples? Those people are nothing, but Seven Moons Sect is one of the seven sects. If they want to use this to threaten us, how are we supposed to face the other sects in the future!”

” One Dao Sect might be the strongest sect among the seven sects, but they can’t force us like this either!”

Cold chuckles from the sect elders in the area appeared at that moment, and the red-robed man spoke slowly.

“Of course, if we agree to their request, One Dao Sect will reimburse us, such as… providing us the experience of those who have stepped into Dao Spirit Realm from the second level of Dao Divinity Realm… and a chance to gain an epiphany to become a Great Dao Paragon.”

Once that sentence was said, the expressions of all the sect elders changed due to the temptation. They did not say another and instead sank into silence.

The entire council of Seven Moons Sect became quiet.