Pursuit of the Truth

Su Ming focused. The old man occasionally appeared serious when acting out, so other people were often unable to tell whether he was truly serious or just faking it.

However, at that moment, when Su Ming looked at the old man, for some unknown reason, he had a vague feeling that the old man had an unprecedentedly stern air around him… as if it was truly a serendipity for Su Ming to enter.

In silence, Su Ming looked ahead with a contemplative look in his eyes. The old man did not say anything. Instead, he returned to his house. The door was half open as if it was a choice for Su Ming…

“If I go through the door…” Su Ming said softly.

The door was half open, which was a very simple hint. Once he stepped through the door, it would mean that he had come under the old man’s tutelage and became his direct disciple!

Once he got status of the old man’s disciple and gained the ruffian of Ancient Zang as his Master, his path in the future would most likely be a smooth sail. That was clearly Gu Tai’s goal. He had brought Su Ming there for that specific reason!

After going through the various tests, Su Ming had obtained the old man’s acknowledgement… and hence, the door was half open for him.

If he was truly the third prince, then once he stepped through the door, it would mean that he was already half a step away from becoming the emperor. He would be ahead of the eldest and second princes. In fact, based on the old man’s personality, he was definitely very protective of his own.

But… what stopped Su Ming from taking that one step was not the door, not the old man’s lack of reliability, and neither was it because he did not want to have a date with the woman. Su Ming did not care about all those things, because he knew that even when a person personally saw something and personally heard something, it did not mean that what they saw and heard was real. The old man naturally had his own reasons for doing it, and once Su Ming saw the half-opened door, he understood the old man’s thoughts. However, what he cared about was that…

He was not the third prince. This thought constantly echoed in his heart. He had to tell himself nonstop that it was a process of him Possessing Xuan Zang!

He could enter Seven Moons Sect, could get to know Gu Tai, could somewhat acknowledge Xu Zhong Fan as his Master, but all of these things were just superficial. In Su Ming’s heart, he had not acknowledged even a single person or thing in the world.

He did not want to form even the slightest connection or be tied down by anything in the unfamiliar word. Once it happened… he was worried that he would be unable to tell just where he was.

Coming under the tutelage of a person was a small matter, but with Su Ming’s personality, he knew that if he chose to step through the door, he would truly form a connection with the old man, and once it happened, it would mean that the first thread had appeared in a net that was just waiting to be formed. Then, more threads would continuously be formed until they created a perfect net to envelope Su Ming…

There was no way he could not fall silent when faced with such a matter.

Time trickled by, and an hour later, the door to the house was opened completely. The woman walked out with a pale face. Not a single article of her clothing was missing. When she walked into the courtyard, there was terror on her face. She turned her head around and cast a glance at the house, then gave Su Ming a complicated look before she wrapped her fist in her palm and bowed deeply to him.

“I have offended you greatly just now. From now on, I will avoid all places where you are. If you become a Great Dao Paragon, I will offer up great gifts for you.” While saying that, she bowed deeply to him again, then turned into a long arc that charged into the sky and disappeared.

Once the woman left, the old man walked out of the house and sat on the threshold. There was no longer a playful look on his face, and he sighed softly.

“In all my life, I have never taken in any disciple, and I don’t know how to take in disciples either. I thought that if I want to take in a disciple, I will have to give them a great gift.

“So I thought that I should give you the cultivation base of a Great Dao Paragon. Once I sucked out Ji Wu Meng’s cultivation base, I would transfer it directly to you, and with my help, even if you won’t become a Great Dao Paragon, you would still be able to reach Dao Immortal Realm.

“I refuse to believe that you didn’t understand this… so why did you refuse?”

While he sat on the threshold, the old man brought out his smoking pipe. In the dark night, he looked at Su Ming with a question in his gaze.

Su Ming was silent. He did not know how to explain the matter. He had fallen in love with the lifestyle he had while living with the old man. He liked chopping wood, and since he could tell that the old man harbored no animosity towards him, he felt warmth.

“Do you know that once you come under my tutelage, with the blood of the royal family coursing through your veins, I could bring you to the royal capital to meet your father? Once I voice my wishes, even if he is the Emperor of Ancient Zang, he would have to agree to make you the ruler of the country!

“If he didn’t agree to it, I could kill your brothers for you! Even if that son of a b*tch Tian Xiu Luo tried to stop me, I could destroy his Asura Clan!

“Do you have any idea… what sort of serendipity you have refused?! This is the first time I decided to take in a disciple. I have practiced cultivation for a long time, but this is the first time I have seriously pondered over it for a long stretch of time. I’ve thought about how I should prepare a serendipity for my disciple, how I should make my disciple to power, and how to make him reach the peak of Ancient Zang!

“With me as your Master, you might even be able to become a ninth level Dao God! Why… did you refuse me?! Why did you refuse this pitiful old man, this lonely old man? How… could you be so hardhearted?”

As the old man spoke, he sighed repeatedly.

“I prepared those two white dogs to serve as your Spirit Beasts in the future. Because to me, all the Spirit Beasts in Ancient Zhang are not fit to become my disciple’s possession. The Spirit Beasts beside my disciple had to be formed from cultivators. Only then could it be considered conspicuous, only then would it be enough for you!

“But you… y-y-you, you brat, you actually refused me! You’re looking down on me!” The old man narrowed his eyes and glared at Su Ming.

Su Ming stared at the old man in silence. He was already moved. With his experience, he could not be considered to be a normal cultivator. Even though the old man’s level of cultivation was much higher than his and he was much older than Su Ming, Su Ming’s experiences were enough for him to be able to tell… just who was truly good to him.

One of them was the old man in front of him. The two of them might have only been in contact with each other for a few months, but the old man was one of the few people in Ancient Zang who truly treated Su Ming sincerely.

Su Ming sighed softly, then slowly lifted his head to look at the stars in the sky. He swung his right hand, and the heads of the two white dogs rolled to the side; they fell unconscious. From the moment Su Ming gave them their names, he knew what were the old man’s intentions. He was not giving them names, but was putting a Brand on their Life Matrices.

“If I was truly the third prince, then how could I not come under your tutelage after all the kindness you have shown me?” In the end, Su Ming chose to say those words. He knew that he should not say them, but he still said them.

There were times when he would not mull over what was happening too much. During those times, he had to question his own heart to make his decisions.

The old man was stunned, then lifted his head to look at Su Ming.

“I’m not the third prince. It’s just like what I told you, my name is Su Ming, and not… Xuan,” Su Ming said softly. When his words echoed in the air, the old man’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Continue.”

Su Ming was silent for a moment before he answered softly, “I should not be someone of this world. My homeland is a butterfly known as Harmonious Morus Alba. I was born in its wings, and that place… is called Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos.

“In the end, Harmonious Morus Alba died. It was killed by a cultivator Xuan Zang… and once I saw all my friends and family die, I chose to Possess Xuan Zang!

“When I woke up, I was already here. I was known as a prince, and I had a new name—Xuan.”

Once Su Ming said those words, the courtyard fell silent in the dead of night. Su Ming did not continue speaking. The old man also closed his eyes and fell silent.

When an hour went by, the old man opened his eyes slowly, and a solemn look appeared in his eyes.

“You’re wondering whether this world is a place. You believe that it is formed based on the memories of Xuan Zang. In fact, you are worried that all the things you experience are in truth what Xuan Zang experienced before!

“That’s why you don’t want to form any unbreakable connections with the people here. You believe that as long as you reach Xuan Zang’s level of cultivation, you will have successfully Possessed Xuan Zang!

“This is also why you don’t want to come under my tutelage, but have you ever wondered… whether this is real?” the old man said softly.

When he said those words, Su Ming lifted his head and stared at the old man without any hint of hesitation. “My homeland is Arid Triad!”

The old man fell silent. When the time it takes for an incense stick to burn had passed, he sighed, and a hint of someone who was lost appeared in his eyes. His hoarse voice echoed in the dark then.

“Do you still remember what you asked me on the first day I taught you?”

“I asked you what I should cut,” Su Ming answered after a while.

“Many years ago, when I became a ninth level Dao God and commanded the winds and earth of Ancient Zang in search for the path into Boundless Dao Realm, I saw my own reflection in a lake. At that moment, I suddenly felt lost…

“I didn’t know whether the person in the lake was me or whether the person beyond the lake was me. That son of a b*tch Tian Xiu Luo said I was mad, and the moronic old fool Gu Di said I was treading down the wrong path, but I understood my own heart. At that moment, when I saw my reflection in the lake, I asked myself this question.

“But… I couldn’t find an answer.

“I practiced cultivation all my life and understood everything in search for a truth. I searched for an answer to my question, but I couldn’t answer it. From then on, I did not know whether the world in which I stood was real or fake… I too thought that I had gone mad, that’s why…

“I cut wood in this place, but when I raise my axe, I don’t know whether the left side which I cut is real, or whether the right side which I cut is real! When I can swing axe down and differentiate which side is real, I will reach Boundless Dao Realm! This is the reason why Tian Xiu Luo and Gu Di are somewhat fearful of me!” the old man said slowly. He sounded lost before he finished with a soft sight.

“I have already come in touch with the truth of the world! And now… your words have coincidentally tallied with my Dao. Su Ming… tell me, will you become my disciple? Accept and help me cut this Dao, what do you say?!” The old man stood up slowly and looked at Su Ming.

“If this world is real, then the both of us can stand at the peak and laugh at Ancient Zang. If this world is fake, then I will cut my Dao and help you succeed in your Possession!”

At the instant the old man stood up straight, a presence that made the entire world rumble swiftly spread out from him!

Each of his words carried weight… and it was clear that he was a man of his word!