Pursuit of the Truth

They walked past mountains and rivers, wastelands, and saw dust as well as more of a desert…

It was as if the prosperity of one breath had withered away in the next breath. Just whose face would remain young? Whose sigh would stay forever? Whose past… was not be beautiful?

Su Ming sat down in the wreckage and watched the sun set. They were beside a mountain and river, watching the evening arrive. The echo of laughter seemed to come through the passage of time and ring in their ears, causing them to be unable to tell… just what sort of karma was contained in the beautiful moments of the past that brought forth the destruction around them.

When they lowered their heads, they could not tell what sort of cycles of life and death were contained in the destruction, or else… why was it that when they closed their eyes and opened them after, everything in the world had changed, even though it was still the same world.

Su Ming was at the edge of a desert with a boy in his arms. When the sun rose and he walked forward, his elongated shadow could be seen behind him as if it was following him for all eternity. It was something that seemed to live in the world as a guide for snow to arrive.

Su Ming walked during noon, and walked through the four seasons…

He crossed deserts and walked past continents on his way towards the center of the world. He had no direction, but he did not want to fly. In the world around him that was once beautiful, he walked with the boy as if they were going down the path of questioning their own Dao.

One year, two years, three years… and then, one hundred years passed.

During those one hundred years, Su Ming retained the same appearance. The boy also stayed in his arms. The two of them did not change in their appearance or their actions, just like how the world around them did not change. Everything was the same as before.

When spring arrived, all manner of life was resurrected, but in the world around them, no sign of green could be seen, no flowers were blooming, and naturally, since there were no flowers in bloom, there was no one to pick them.

During summer, heat filled the world. In Su Ming’s and the boy’s eyes, the entire world distorted because of the heat, and they seemed to be able to see some of the people which once existed in the past.

However, those figures were distorted, and since they could not be straightened, all they could see were memories.

When autumn arrived, nothing changed since there was no sign of green during spring and no red during autumn. Occasionally, some color would appear in the sky, as if the heavens could not bear seeing the singular color of the land, so they made some more high up above as if trying to give hope to those remaining in the world.

During winter, snow fell. It connected the sky and earth while being blown by a winter breeze. If anyone cast their gazes over, they would find that the world had turned into an indistinct blur. No distances could not be seen.

The only thing that could be seen were snowflakes that could not be counted. When they fell, they seemed to be trying to touch each other, but it was destined that two snowflakes could never reach one another. The only thing they could touch was the wind.

However, no matter what the wind’s intentions were, when the snowflakes fell on the ground… they would gradually touch, but those that met then might not be those who had fallen together from the sky.

Su Ming carried the boy through the snow. As he walked, he moved through midwinter and welcomed the arrival of spring, sent away summer, witnessed the coming of the red of autumn, and then returned to wind and snow.

When two hundred years passed, they began to see shattered bodies, corpses reduced to ash, and even bodies who still retained their original looks before their owners’ deaths in the once glorious world.

Most of the corpses were dried up and withered. Most of them were in the ruins of cities, but some of them were scattered here and there on the land, the mountains and rivers, and the deserts.

There were countless corpses. Some of them were couples who held onto each other before their deaths. Some of them were mothers who instinctively protected their children. The outlines of their intertwined bodies could be seen when they quietly returned to dust.

Su Ming and the boy buried the corpses, the cities, and the ruins…

Then, during the summer of one particular year, in an afternoon with a drizzling rain, Su Ming stopped to look at an incredibly majestic city in the distance while carrying the sleeping boy. There was a headless figure sitting on the city.

It was a huge city, and it was the third one built like that which Su Ming had noticed after walking through three continents. It was… once the core of that continent and should have been known as the capital.

It was just like the royal capital of Ancient Zang, though in that formerly glorious world, each continent was as great as all of Ancient Zang.

When Su Ming looked at the figure sitting on the city, a hint of complicated emotions appeared in his eyes. He could recognize that the person who followed the second prince had the appearance of his eldest senior brother.

He was not the first familiar figure Su Ming had seen in Ancient Zang, but even so, the soft sigh that came from the bottom of his heart still echoed in Su Ming’s mind. It lingered there, refusing to fade away even after a long time had passed.

The headless figure did not move. The man sat on the city while facing Su Ming. No hint of vitality could be detected from him, but neither was there any aura of death around him. It was as if he had been fixed in that place and had turned into… a statue.

The gate of the city suddenly opened on their own, and groups of soldiers in black armor walked out slowly. Their footsteps were uniform, and the ground trembled from them. Each of the soldiers was shrouded in a thick aura of death, and it was so thick that it instantly threw the sky into chaos. The sunlight at noon suddenly turned black.

Those soldiers were people of the land. Years after their death, they had been refined into corpse puppets and turned into black armor. Their city became a city of the dead and a world of corpse puppets.

“I am happy to meet an old friend in a foreign land. Come in!”

At the instant the city gate was thrown open, a mighty voice traveled out from the palace. It spread in every direction and landed in Su Ming’s ears.

The speaker was the second prince.

Su Ming was silent for a while before he walked past the black-armored corpse puppets and into the city with the boy in his arms. Inside, he saw countless people. Each of them was a corpse puppet, but at first glance, it seemed like the city was prosperous. Only when Su Ming took a closer look did he see that all of it was just an illusion.

He walked past the crowd and arrived outside the palace whose gate were thrown open for him. Su Ming’s gaze seemed to be able to see through the halls where a man was sitting on a throne right at the center of the palace.

He was dressed in an emperor’s robe and wore an emperor’s crown. However, his figure was hidden in the darkness and could not be seen clearly.

In silence, Su Ming walked along the asphalt paths and the stairs until he walked into the center of the palace. Then, he saw the man sitting on the throne.

He had the exact same face as the second prince, but he gave Su Ming a feeling of familiarity.

“Di Tian,” Su Ming said softly.

“It is I!”

The man in the emperor’s robe smiled when he heard those words. He stood up swiftly, and when he walked out of the darkness, his appearance was different from the Di Tian in Su Ming’s memories, but his presence belonged to him and no one else.

There was still a vortex in Di Tian’s right eye. That vortex was like a seal. However, right then, the vortex sealed a soul that was struggling and roaring. That soul… belonged to the second prince.

Su Ming did not know how Di Tian had managed to turn the tables and seize control. However, with the wealth of experience Di Tian had, the calculative mind which he once used to scheme against Su Xuan Yi for ten thousand years, and how he had managed to escape death by connecting with Su Ming’s Life Matrix when Harmonious Morus Alba was destroyed… he was definitely not someone the miserable second prince could control. As long as a chance showed up, he could replace the second prince.

“Su Ming, the most gifted of all cultivators over the countless aeons the seventh Harmonious Morus Alba lived through, who personally witnessed the death of Harmonious Morus Alba and who chose to Possess Xuan Zang while standing before him. Su Ming… it has been a long time since we last met.”

When Di Tian spoke, his voice still echoed in the air. It spread through the entire palace, and the world outside became even more chaotic.

“Because of you, I managed to escape death. Because of you, I also stepped into this illusory world. Over the years, I was suppressed by that ludicrous second prince, but I have always known that I am Di Tian, not some second prince, because he is only a prince… while I am the Emperor of Immortals!”

Di Tian took a step forward again. With it, he arrived right in front of Su Ming and looked him in the eye.

“Didn’t you notice that the world we stand in currently… is different from Ancient Zang? Ancient Zang is fake… but this is real!”

Di Tian swung his arm, and wisps of black smoke immediately filled the place. In an instant, they turned into a huge table set between him and Su Ming.

There were numerous pots of wine on it, and there were also some corpse puppets around it, surrounding them while dancing and singing, even though no sound came from their throats, and their movements were stiff. The aura of death filled them, and the dim light gave the entire scene a bizarre air.

“When we meet a friend in foreign lands, we should treat them with a feast. Su Ming, do you dare drink this wine?” Di Tian asked while smiling softly. The prideful look on his face was the same as before.

Su Ming was silent. While holding the boy, he stared at the Di Tian before him, and sadness gradually appeared on his face. He was sad, because the great Di Tian of Harmonious Morus Alba had already lost himself in the strange new world.

Or perhaps he was willing to get lost. Otherwise, with how firm Di Tian was in his beliefs, it would have been difficult for him to get lost if he did not want it.

“For what reason… did you do this?”

Su Ming sighed softly. To him, be they enemies or old friends, the connection between their Life Matrices had been cut when Su Ming let out his ninth Dao Spirit Voice. Yet no matter what… Di Tian was the second person who possessed the power of wills, the first being Bei Qiong. Right then, when Su Ming looked at him being lost, the emotions that rose in his heart only caused him to sigh.

He looked at Di Tian, then his gaze finally landed on the area around the throne behind Di Tian. He obtained his answer there.

“Su Ming, do you dare drink the wine?!”

Ddi Tian did not answer Su Ming’s question. Instead, he asked the same one as before with a smile and his eyes sparkling brilliantly. Su Ming cast Di Tian a deep look, then turned around and walked out of the palace.

Di Tian’s laughter echoed behind Su Ming, sending him off. Only when Su Ming left the palace did that laughter gradually fade away. The singing and dancing continued in the palace, but grief slowly appeared on Di Tian’s face.

He turned around quietly and walked to the throne. There was a Rune around it, and several corpses could be seen in the dim light. On each of the corpses was a runic symbol carved into them with blood.

Di Tian stood in a daze while looking at the corpses. Gradually, the dispirited look on his face faded away, replaced by determination.

“I promised all of you before that I would resurrect you in this new world… It is my promise,” Di Tian murmured and sat down slowly on his throne. His figure slowly faded into darkness again… and he could not be seen clearly anymore.

“Only if I believe that this place is real will you not suspect that this place is fake after you are resurrected. With just me losing my way, I can bring all of you back into existence. Even if I am wrong in this regard… I will accept it.”

Anguish appeared on Di Tian’s face. When he looked at the mute corpse puppets dancing, he gradually heard a song, and the stiff corpse puppets before his eyes became spirited, as if they had become alive. However, while he watched them, his soft sighs echoed in the throne room, but his voice did not travel out of the palace.

No one could hear him.