Pursuit of the Truth

“I’m back,” Su Ming said calmly.

At the instant he said those words, cracks appeared on the coffin where Dao Han was. They spread out with every passing second. After a moment, the coffin shattered, and Dao Han walked out of it.

His face was still pale, but there was a hint of madness and excitement in his eyes. That excitement was something incredibly rare for him. He stared at Su Ming in a daze, and after a long time had passed, he threw his head back and laughed.

“It’s good that you’re back…”

Dao Han, that powerful cultivator who was once rather cold to Su Ming and whom Su Ming had also treated coldly, laughed loudly. Yet once he spoke, anguish appeared in his smile.

“They’re dead, they’re all dead. Xu Zhong Fan passed away. The great sect elders died one by one. Only two other great sect elders besides me remain. Right now, there are only three of us left.

“Seven Moons Sect only has three great sect elders… My injuries might seem heavy, but they are the lightest of the three of us. One of them had his body destroyed, and only his Nascent Divinity remains, and the other had most of his Nascent Divinity destroyed. I don’t know whether they will even wake up anymore.”

Dao Han took a few steps back, and in his anguish, monstrous hate appeared in his eyes.

Su Ming was quiet for a while before he said slowly, “One Dao Sect, huh?”

“Yes, it’s One Dao Sect. When all the dimensions where the Tree of Dao Verification was located shattered, many of the cultivators from the seven sects and twelve clans died. During the century after that event, the two Great Dao Paragons from One Dao Sect, Bai Lu and Chi Yang descended in Seven Moons Sect and started slaughtering us.

“In the end, if it was not because Sect Master Gu Tai who acted with no hesitation in choosing to give up on the possibility to become a Great Dao Paragon and self-destructing so that he could summon the ancestral spirits of Seven Moons Sect to descend among us, thereby forcing Bai Lu and Chi Yang to temporarily retreat; if the sect master’s old friends did not come to help; and if Immortal Qing Han of Asura Clan did not come forth to put a stop to it, then… what you would have found would only be ruins.

“They’re all dead…”

Dao Han’s laughter was shrill and forlorn. When his voice echoed in the air, it was as if all the innocent souls who died in the slaughter within the seventh Sky Beyond the Sky had started howling.

“Third prince, you…”

As Dao Han spoke, Su Ming turned around and walked away. Judging by the looks of it, he seemed to be about to leave the seventh layer of Sky Beyond the Sky. His action filled Dao Han with anguish, and when he looked at Su Ming’s back, he found that he could not say a single word.

He knew that the third prince could help Seven Moons Sect, but if the enemy was One Dao Sect, then even if he became a Great Dao Paragon, he would still be slightly wary. He had just come back to take a look at them because he wanted to play his part in the relationship he had formed with Seven Moons Sect in the past.

Despite his anguish, Dao Han would not make over-the-top requests. He only hoped that Seven Moons Sect would come under his protection and there would come a day when they could return to glory.

It was Gu Tai’s wish before he died, and it was also Xu Zhong Fan’s wish. Right then, it had become Dao Han’s wish as well.

“It’s difficult for me to stay for long in Ancient Zang… but I will make One Dao Sect pay with blood for every drop they spilled. This will be my way of returning the kindness Seven Moons Sect had showed me.”

When Su Ming was about to walk out of the seventh Sky Beyond the Sky, his footsteps came to a halt. After he spoke, he stepped out of the seventh layer.

His words echoed in the air and reached Dao Han’s ears, causing him to fall silent while he watched Su Ming leave into the distance.

Pay with blood for every drop they spilled—those words represented what Su Ming thought and contained within them a bloodthirsty intent. The events of the past appeared before Dao Han’s eyes and he remembered what had happened when he first met Su Ming.

Su Ming left Seven Moons Sect and the region where it was. He walked quietly in the sky until he came to a forest. He remembered that what he was looking for was located right next to a small mountain village.

He looked at it from a distance, and a melancholic look appeared in his eyes. The village… was no longer around. In fact, there was not even a ruin left behind. Everything had become part of the forest.

The span of two thousand something years could change many things. The scenery may remain the same, but the people were no longer the same. This constantly happened in every corner of the world.

No signs of the mountain village remained. The constant sound of someone chopping wood had also become quiet murmurs in the passage of time.

Su Ming stared at it from midair for a long, long time, until he eventually descended. Based on what he remembered, he walked past each spot where the village once was in the forest.

He walked past the blacksmith’s shop, the vintner’s house, and the old man’s house while looking at the trees around him. Then, Su Ming sat down quietly at the spot where the old man’s house was, just like how he had sat in the old man’s courtyard to chop wood and listen to the old man’s occasionally disconnected words.

As he sat there quietly, the sun set and rose the next morning. Dawn arrived, then dusk dropped by. There was no longer the sound of anyone cutting wood, no white dogs followed him anymore, and the old man’s constant chattering could no longer be heard.

Only Su Ming remained there. He sat quietly until snow fell from the sky and landed on his body as well as his head.

It snowed for an entire night. When the sun rose and morning arrived, Su Ming opened his eyes. He stood up, then turned his head around to cast a glance at the world behind him as well as around him. In silence, he then walked through the forest into the distance.

His back was very desolate. There was loneliness about him as well as the air of defeat. The sun could not shine on him, and only the wind and snow remained, as if they would accompany him for the rest of his journey. However, while the snow appeared the same, in truth… once he walked into the distance, he noticed that the snowflakes by his side were no longer the same as the ones in the past.

They seemed the same, but they were different. Only the wind by his side appeared to be the same for eternity.

Su Ming continued walking until he walked out of the forest. Under the morning sun, he walked into the sky and continued moving forward… until he reached a temple one day.

That temple looked very worn down, like it would collapse if wind so much as blew against it or snow fell on its roof but it still continued to stand tall. The ancient air around it bore testimony to how the temple had existed for countless years since it was built.

There were three statues in the temple, and their faces could no longer be seen clearly. The only things that could be seen of them were the cracks that could be found everywhere on their bodies. They were packed densely together, and covered the statues from head to toe.

The temple was very quiet. The only sounds that could be heard were the moans of the wind outside. Aside from them, nothing else could be heard.

Su Ming quietly walked into the temple. His gaze was cold and aloof when he cast a glance at the three statues.

With his level of cultivation right then, it was not difficult for him to locate One Dao Sect.

“One Dao Sect…”

When Su Ming said those words flatly, he lifted his right hand and swung it before himself. With it, while the sky outside remained the same and the wind continued to moan, a storm rose up in the temple. It instantly swept through the entire temple with an astonishing roar, and light came out of the cracks on the three statues as if they wanted to create a Rune that resembled a net.

Su Ming’s expression was calm. At the instant the net-like Rune appeared, he lifted his foot and took a step forward. The net-like Rune was unable to withstand the pressure of his approach and began to shatter layer by layer. In the span of a single breath, it broke apart completely, allowing Su Ming to step through it without any problems.

When his foot landed, he seemed to have stepped on air. The area around him twisted as if time had distorted. When everything became clear, he appeared in a world covered in dark clouds. It was shrouded in darkness. From a distance, countless volcanoes and three big statues could be seen in the area.

Two of the statues were badly damaged!

The moment Su Ming stepped into the world, the sky rotating swiftly, as if a huge vortex was about to be formed. Piercing shrieks echoed in the air in warning to the cultivators of the land that a powerful enemy had invaded their midst.

“One Dao Sect… Since the people of this sect love using Great Dao Paragons to step into other sects and clans, suppressing them with their power, then today, I might as well try it out.”

When Su Ming said those words flatly, his voice spread through the entirety of One Dao Sect’s world.

The volcanoes in the distance crumbled with a bang, unable to withstand the mighty pressure contained in Su Ming’s voice. In fact, even the ground started trembling violently at that moment. Cries of surprise shot into the air, and Su Ming saw cultivators flying out of the buildings around the land.

“How dare you! How dare you invade One Dao Sect!”

Almost at the same time the people flew out, an enraged shout rang out in the air. The owner of the voice had started shouting almost instinctively, and he regretted his decision right after he said those words, because the loud rumbles from the volcanoes in the area had already told him just what level of cultivation Su Ming possessed.

Su Ming’s face was one of cold aloofness. He did not even spare a glance at the people who flew out, but simply walked to one of the three statues in the distance.

The moment he moved forward, several long arcs flew out from the area in front of him. They approached him, and the power from various divine abilities swiftly manifested. While remaining composed, Su Ming let out a cold harrumph.

That one cold harrumph immediately caused the world to roar. With Su Ming as the center, a layer of ripples instantly spread out. The expression of the incoming cultivators changed drastically. They did not even manage to scream before their bodies contorted under the ripples and they broke down, turning into bloody rain that poured down from the sky.

“It’s been a long time since I killed in this manner. One Dao Sect…” Su Ming said flatly, and monstrous killing intent shone in his eyes. When he lifted his right hand, he formed a seal and pushed downwards, in the direction of the ground beneath him.

With it, the ground immediately roared. Volcanoes collapsed, and then the entire land shattered. The great, mighty pressure from Su Ming instantly descended on the entire world, and when his third eye opened, it clearly revealed… his eight overlapping Great Dao Paragons, which were shining with endless black light.

“Let darkness descend upon the land. Let night replace day. Let slaughter turn into a… One Dao Sect’s blood debt will require the blood of the entire sect to be cleared.”

Su Ming’s voice s rang clearly in the hearts of each and every one of One Dao Sect’s cultivators while the ground rumbled.

“A Great Dao Paragon!”

“He’s a Great Dao Paragon!”

Cries of surprise instantly rang out in the air. At that moment, a cold harrumph came from the statue far away from Su Ming. When it resounded through the air, the destruction of the ground stopped. At the same time, a long arc charged at Su Ming like a shooting star. Spreading out of that long arc… was the power of a Great Dao Paragon.