Pursuit of the Truth

It was the first time Su Ming had opened his eyes in over forty years he spent meditating. They had been closed since he had cleared the eighteenth formation!

Even when he went to the council of elders, he had only sent his shadow figure over. Even if Tian He had humiliated him many times just then, Su Ming did not open his eyes. Even when all his shadow figures were destroyed, he still did not open his eyes!

Only at that moment did he open his eyes for the first time. A dark light was in his pupils, and the moment he opened his eyes, he met Tian He’s gaze.

Tian He’s expression suddenly changed. He felt as if millions of thunderous claps had erupted at the same time in his heart. They rumbled in his mind, and his heart thumped for an unknown reason. A powerful sense of danger, one that screamed of a threat to his life, instantly filled his heart.

The sense of danger had appeared incredibly suddenly, and before Tian He could react to the situation, Su Ming had already stood up. When the big sword was seven inches away from cutting into his head, it looked like it had been blocked off by some unseen force and could no longer sink further.

“Explode!”

As a powerful warrior in the second level of Dao Divinity Realm, Tian He had great battle experience. At that moment, without any hesitation, he let out a low growl, then took a step forward and charged at Su Ming.

A loud bang shook the sky. The big sword collapsed and exploded, turning into countless fragments that instantly submerged Su Ming. At the same time, Tian He charged into the distortions in the air formed by the fragments, but the moment he rushed in, an astonished cry tumbled out of his lips, and he instantly fell out of the distortions. When he was one thousand feet away from the distortion, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, and disbelief appeared on his face.

The distortions formed by the fragments from the shattered sword seemed to have been frozen in time. They floated in the air and did not move. Amid them, Su Ming stood with a calm expression. When he walked out, he stopped outside the distortions without a single hint of a shadow under his body.

An aura that brought trepidation to Tian He’s heart was gathering together around Su Ming’s body at a maddening pace.

“I have to thank you. It’s because of your appearance that I could fuse with my seven shadows and form… my Dao Shadow! The feeling of fusing with my Dao Shadow… is pretty good.”

Su Ming cast a glance at his body. While smiling faintly, he suddenly took a step forward and instantly appeared in front of Tian He. He lifted his right hand and casually swung it.

Tian He’s expression swiftly changed. He brought his hands up to form a seal, and countless sword glints appeared behind him. When there were more than one million of them, they charged at Su Ming.

“A mere child’s play. You overestimate yourself. You… can’t run from this disaster,” Su Ming said flatly, and his words… were naturally the words Tian He had said a bit earlier.

In the face of the incoming one million sword glints, Su Ming only swung his right arm. The world immediately roared, and the sword glints instantly stopped in the air as if they had been frozen. By then, Su Ming already had his right hand charging at Tian He, who was about to retreat with shock written all over his face.

At the instant Su Ming’s palm drew close, a screen of light with more than one thousand overlapping layers appeared around the young man, but when Su Ming’s palm touched them, they shattered one by one. In the blink of an eye, they had all crumbled, allowing Su Ming’s palm to land on the young man’s chest.

When booming sounds rang out, the young man let out a shrill scream of pain. His body fell back like a kite with its string snapped. When he was thousands of feet away, light shone on his chest and gathered together into a fragmented crystal. It was reduced to powder the next moment, having withstood the attack just then.

Disbelief appeared on Tian He’s face. He found his predicament hard to accept. He had humiliated the third prince with the intention to torture and kill him, but right then, the third prince had become so strong that it was difficult for Tian He to believe it. Everything had happened too quickly, and the contrast was so great that Tian He was caught in a slight daze. He felt as if he was dreaming.

But the shattering of his Life-Protection reminded him that it was all true. He suckedd in a sharp breath, unable to hide the shock in his eyes.

“You… Just what level of cultivation do you have?”

“My level of cultivation?”

Su Ming’s expression was calm. His eyes fell shut for a moment, then when he opened them again, his hair danced in the air without wind and his robes fluttered violently. His aura erupted at an astonishing speed that caused Tian He’s breathing to practically stop due to shock.

The third prince was not in the first level of Dao Divinity Realm, and neither was he in the second level of Dao Divinity Realm. He was… in the third level of Dao Divinity Realm—Dao Spirit Realm!

All of the fifth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky trembled at that instant. The sky tumbled about, the ground roared, and the thirteen mountains trembled. At that moment, Su Ming seemed to have become the most eye-catching sun in the fifth layer.

At the instant his aura and his cultivation base spread out, he seemed to want to freeze all the laws operating in the fifth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky. In fact, among the new rules, there was even a wisp of power… that could reverse time!

This scene had not only caused Tian He’s expression to change drastically, but the pupils of all the people in the seventh layer of Sky Beyond the Sky to instantly shrink. When laughter tumbled out of Xu Zhong Fan’s lips, Great Sect Elder Gu Tai of the first line had a hint of a smile appear at the corner of his lips.

Sen Mu continued sitting across them, but his expression had become rather unpleasant. There was even a hint of shock in his eyes.

What stunned him was that Su Ming was in the third level of Dao Spirit Realm, and it seemed like he had just reached a breakthrough not too long ago. He had not stabilized his power, or rather… he had not even reached a breakthrough by then. Instead, when his Dao Shadow gathered together, he had forcibly pushed himself into Quasi Dao Spirit Realm!

He still needed to get through Dao Spirit Realm’s Voice to Heaven, for only then could he truly be considered to have reached Dao Spirit Realm, which was supposed to let him be one with the spirit of the world! But no matter what, the power erupting from his body was a strength that Tian He simply could not withstand.

On top of that, what caused Sen Mu’s pupils to shrink was that when the presence of Su Ming’s cultivation base spread out, the signs of time freezing and even reversing had appeared in the fifth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky. Sen Mu did not care about the element of time freezing. What he cared about… was the hint of power to reverse time.

If Sen Mu had reacted so strongly, then Tian He, who was directly facing Su Ming, was in an even greater state of shock. At the instant Su Ming revealed his true power, he was completely shocked, and astonishment filled his heart.

Tian He had not expected that the seemingly simple slaughter in his mind would have a change of tides that he could not accept. He should have been a powerful warrior and been able to kill the third prince so that he could perfect his own kismet. That was how things should have gone… but they had progressed in a different manner!

The person he originally wanted to kill had become an existence whose strength surpassed his, and Tian He had fallen from a powerful warrior to a weakling. Tian He felt like all his words, excitement, and arrogance had turned into a childish, indescribable, practical joke!

He had actually thought that he was strong enough to kill the third prince. He had actually acted in an arrogant and conceited manner before a powerful warrior in Dao Spirit Realm!

The thought of all that turned into chill down his spine, and madness appeared on Tian He’s face. He charged backwards while roaring. When he brought his hand up, he struck the center of his brow, and immediately, veins popped up and cracks appeared on his body.

“Origin Dao Sword!” Tian He screamed hoarsely, and booming sounds shot out of his body.

Red swords instantly charged out of the cracks on his body to form a huge red sword before him. It stirred up a monstrous ocean of blood and instantly charged towards Su Ming.

Tian He had decided to give it his all!

“Not a bad Art, but a pity… it’s too weak.”

A hint of derision appeared in Su Ming’s eyes as he repeated Tian He’s words. At the moment he spoke, he lifted his right hand and pointed at the sky.

“Shadow of winter!”

Su Ming had had his shadow figure cast that Art previously, and Tian He had mocked him with those words, but right then, when Su Ming executed the Art himself, Tian He’s face turned pale.

The entire sky… went black. The whole sky looked as if it had shattered and was falling down. Countless snowflakes floated down. However, they were not white… but the color of the night!

When black snow fell in the fifth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky, Su Ming brought down his lifted right hand and pointed at Tian He.

“This is the disaster of winter I give to you.”

At the instant Su Ming said those words, all the black snow that filled the fifth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky paused, then charged at Tian He with a sharp howl.

Anyone who saw this scene would feel as if the shadow of heaven was descending on Tian He, intending to make him assimilate with it so that he would become part of the shadow of night!

“Progenitor, save me!”

Tian He let out a shrill scream of pain. The blood-red sword in front of him swiftly grew in size, and blood-red light spread out and surged into the sky, which made the sea of blood behind it roar. He also formed a seal with his left hand and struck his chest. When he coughed up blood, the thirteen mountains around him roared, and thirteen blood-red swords instantly appeared to crash against the black snow sweeping towards him.

The next moment, Tian He grabbed one blood-red sword and charged towards Su Ming.

When he rushed over with the thirteen blood-red swords fusing into the sword in his hand, his power of the second-level of Dao Divinity Realm erupted from him, causing his speed to increase with each passing moment.

But the sea of blood behind him was instantly covered by black snow and frozen. The black blizzard submerged Tian He with a howl, and even his shrill cries gradually disappeared in the moans of the wind and snow.

Su Ming remained as composed as ever. He did not move and, with a cold glare, only watched Tian He close in on him. When the tip of the sword was only ten inches away from the center of his brow, Tian He’s body froze, and his eyes went wide. He stared at Su Ming with an unfocused gaze.

Cracking sounds came from his body, which was covered by black snow. When even his unfocused eyes—the last thing of him that was exposed to the world—was covered by the black snow, he… seemed to fuse with the darkness.

With an indifferent expression, Su Ming lifted his head. His gaze seemed to be able to see through the fifth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky. He looked at the seventh layer, wrapped his fist in his palm, and bowed!

“Without destruction, you cannot create anything new. Thank you for your guidance, sect master.”