Pursuit of the Truth

Time trickled by, and seven days later…

The old man had yet to walk out of his house, and the courtyard lost its usual lively atmosphere. Only the sound of Su Ming cutting wood still echoed in the air every day.

He would occasionally turn his head to look at the house with a hint of worry on his face. Tian Xiu Luo’s arrival and departure as well his words might not have had a great effect on Su Ming, but clearly, the old man felt oppressed in a manner that Su Ming could not understand.

That oppression did not concern life or death. It was a persistence towards Dao, or rather… it was an unseen battle of Arts, one between the three ninth level Dao Gods of Ancient Zang.

When the sun set on the seventh day, Su Ming lifted the axe and placed it gently by the side. He sensed Gu Tai calling to him, and with a flip of his hand, a jade slip appeared on his palm. At that moment, it shone with an increasingly brighter light, which was the sign of a Relocation Rune on the verge of being activated.

Based on their promise, when the Relocation started, it would mean that Seven Moons Sect had nearly found the Space Whip’s exact location. They were only waiting for Su Ming to head over, and then Seven Moons Sect would use their full power to help him… obtain the Space Whip!

While he stared at the light from the Relocation Rune in the jade slip on his hand, Su Ming quietly put the jade slip away, stood up, and went to stand in front of the door to the house. He stood there quietly. After a long while, he wrapped his fist in his palm and bowed deeply.

“Master, I am going to leave, and I… don’t know when I will return,” he said softly.

After living together for about one year, Su Ming had grown used to the peace and quiet. He had grown used to the old man’s personality, causing him to feel a semblance of reluctance when he was about to leave.

It could be said that during the year he lived in the courtyard located in the ordinary village among the mountains, Su Ming’s heart was at its calmest since he had come to live in Ancient Zang.

The door to the house was slowly pushed open. The old man walked out, and he looked slightly older than he did seven days ago. There was the light of wisdom in his eyes, and when he looked at Su Ming, a smile full of affection appeared on his face.

“Go. No matter what, this place is somewhere you can stay for long. Take the five dogs with you. I hope… that when I hear your name next time, you have already become a Dao Paragon,” the old man said softly while looking at Su Ming with a smile.

Su Ming stared at the old man before him, and after staying quiet for a period of time, he bowed deeply, but just as he was about to turn around—

“Wait,” the old man called out to him. “I have no use for the axe. Take it with you. Remember the three states I told you about. The first is to cut people, the second is to cut wood, and the third is to cut all that you wish to cut,” the old man said with a smile. The kindly look on his face was very different from the craziness he usually showed.

Su Ming was quiet. He turned around and took the axe. Once he put it away, he turned his head around and looked at the old man.

“Master, I’ll be leaving,” he whispered softly.

“Go. Remember this, no one will dare to provoke my disciple. If they dare to provoke you, cut them down, if you can’t, absorb them. No matter what, don’t suffer any losses!”

The old man lifted his head, and an arrogant look appeared on his face. The crazy air from the past seemed to have returned to him at that instant.

Su Ming watched the old man, then nodded. A powerful light of Relocation was spread out from the jade slip in his hand. It enveloped him and blocked the old man and his gaze. At the instant Su Ming was about to be Relocated—

When the old man saw that Su Ming was about to leave, he suddenly seemed to have remembered something and quickly shouted, “Hey, remember this, if you run into any girls with big rumps, bring them back. You might not like girls with big rumps, but I do!”

His voice shot through the light screen caused by the Relocation Rune and landed in Su Ming’s ears. It caused a smile to appear on his face. As he smiled, his body disappeared from the courtyard.

Disappearing along with him were the five white dogs.

When the courtyard returned to silence, the old man stood by himself in a daze. After a long while, he sighed softly. The cynical look was no longer present on his face, and he seemed to have returned to the time one year ago when his shadow was the only thing to be found in the courtyard. With a desolate air about him, he quietly walked over the threshold of his house and sat down on the stump.

It seemed like he was truly a mortal old man. Once the sun set and the sky gradually became dark, he picked up his smoking pipe and took a few quiet puffs from it. In the darkness, the flickering light from the smoking pipe alternating between light and darkness seemed to be reflecting his thoughts. It did not seem like they would never be extinguished in the courtyard…

…..

There was a never-ending stretch of mountains to the southwest of Ancient Zang. There were about one million mountains in that place, and they were connected to each other in a never-ending stretch, causing all the people who saw them feel lost. They would feel like they did not know where they were, because when they cast their eyes over the land, they would only see mountains rising and falling.

The limitations on divine senses there were incredibly strong. Unless someone was a Great Dao Paragon, they would lose their perception granted to them by their divine sense.

There was a mountain whose peak had been flattened. Thousands of cultivators surrounded that place while keeping a vigilant eye on the area. The exhausted expressions was something they found difficult to hide. They were cultivators from Seven Moons Sect.

During the past year or so, they had searched through the entire southwestern region based on the clues provided by Su Ming’s jade slip and had finally fixed their attention on the flat-topped mountain. Then, after conducting a detailed search, they found their target at long last.

Gu Tai could not participate in the search for the Space Whip. He had to manage all the affairs in Seven Moons Sect, which was why the person who led the search was Xu Zhong Fan. At that moment, he stood outside the Rune and watched it shine.

When the light of the Relocation Rune reached its brightest, it vanished, and Su Ming appeared in the Rune. There were five large white dogs around him.

When Xu Zhong Fan saw Su Ming, a smile appeared on his face, and he nodded at him.

Su Ming’s expression remained calm. Once he wrapped his fist in his palm, he walked out of the Rune. The five white dogs quickly followed behind him. When all of them walked out of the Rune, the thousands of Seven Moons Sect disciples in the area cast surprised looks on the dogs.

“We’re in a hurry, so I’ll get straight to the point. This is the exact location we found based on the details you provided in your jade slip. Go along the trail ahead, and you will see an ancient cave. That is the place where Guru Xing Chen obtained the projection of the Space Whip.

“We haven’t entered the cave. Great Sect Elder Gu Tai gave strict orders that no one was allowed to be the first to enter the cave besides you. That place belongs solely to you.

“Based on our investigations as well as the investigations from the other great sect elders when they came over here, we obtained some knowledge. If you fail, it’s fine, but if you successfully obtain the Space Whip, three-tenths of the one million mountains in the southwestern region will collapse. In fact, there is even a high possibility that even more will do so.

“It will cause a violent tremor. It will attract the attention of the sects in the area, and the appearance of this sort of foreign treasure will surely start a great fight over it.

“There are three sects and six clans in the area. We don’t know who will come here, but a wide-scale battle is unavoidable. You don’t have much time, only two hours. You must return here in two hours, and we will activate the Relocation Rune to head back to Seven Moons Sect.

“We will do all we can to fight for those two hours for you. In fact, the sect has even brought out a large number of precious treasures and set them up in the area. We even laid out powerful Runes.

“You must return to this place in two hours!” Xu Zhong Fan said in a solemn voice.

Su Ming nodded his head slowly, then wrapped his fist in his palm towards Xu Zhong Fan. He then turned into a long arc and instantly flew out.

His clothes transformed and turned into a black robe. His purple hair fluttered in the air. Following behind him were five white arcs which belonged to the five white dogs.

In an instant, Su Ming arrived at the mountain range Xu Zhong Fan had mentioned. When he looked ahead, he instantly saw a huge hole underneath. It looked like a cave, and there were waves of freezing air spreading out from it, making it look like clouds and fog surrounding the entrance.

A glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes, and he said faintly, “White Five.”

The moment he spoke, the eyes of the fifth white dog shone with a dark light. It turned into a white arc and charged at the cave shrouded in fog.

Su Ming closed his eyes slightly, and a moving picture appeared in his mind. It came from White Five’s observations. The five white dogs had already formed a connection with Su Ming that not even Gu Di, Tian Xiu Luo, or anyone else in Ancient Zang could easily sever.

It was a connection of the mind that had been personally set up by the old man… Unless there was someone who had a level of cultivation which surpassed that of the old man and had reached Boundless Dao Realm. Powerful warriors like Gu Di and Tian Xiu Luo would only be able to sever the connection if they were willing to use the power of their lives.

After a moment, when Su Ming opened his eyes, he moved, and with the four white arcs behind him, he rushed into the fog and entered the cave.

The cave was not entirely dark. Instead, there was quite a lot of phosphorescent light on the walls. It was very quiet, however, with only the wind Su Ming stirred up creating soft moaning sounds.

Su Ming’s expression was calm. He charged forward while the white dogs followed him with constant vigilance.

When the time it takes for an incense stick to burn went by, Su Ming came to an abrupt halt. He noticed an increasingly stronger chill. It covered the walls in frost, but it was not the reason behind why Su Ming had stopped.

The reason behind it was a huge door of ice in front of him!

It was semi-transparent, and a cave abode could be vaguely seen behind it; the door was clearly the entrance to the cave abode. Su Ming also saw three words carved beautifully on it!

Xuan Zang’s Abode.

At the instant he saw those three words, Su Ming narrowed his eyes. He stared at Xuan Zang’s name for about a dozen breaths.