Pursuit of the Truth

When Su Ming had borrowed the aura from the stone pieces in the jade boxes to return to the vast space an unknown number of aeons ago and did not run from facing the black-robed young man but instead turned his will into a sword and charged forward…

… Lord Saint Defier Xuan Jia sitting in the hall belonging to the three Lord Saint Defiers closed his eyes. His body trembled nonstop. The beast bones in front of him instantly crumbled. His predictions had received interference from a huge force, causing him to look as if he wanted to open his eyes. Pain appeared on his face.

It was as if the power to allow him to open his eyes had come from space itself. It was as if there was a power there that somehow prevented Xuan Jiu from being able to predict anything about Su Ming.

However, he was Lord Saint Defier who had the longest lifespan in both Saint Defier and Dark Dawn’s camps. He had the greatest amount of accumulated experiences, and his thoughts covered so many aspects that an ordinary cultivator in Avacaniya Realm could not hope to compare to him!

The moment these beast bones shattered and were reduced to ash and his eyes were forced open, Xuan Jiu pushed himself to close his eyes. At the same time, he lifted his right hand and seized space with his fingers before he said one single word, “Duo [1]!”

When he said that word, his right hand shuddered. The other two Lord Saint Defiers saw Xuan Jiu’s right hand instantly melt into a puddle of blood. The bones in his arm were revealed, but he did not stop moving. It was as if he could not feel pain. He stretched his arm into space, and the instant he touched it, all 180 Expanse Cosmoses in Saint Defier’s camp shuddered with a bang.

At the same time, the old man’s fingers seemed to have caught onto something concrete. He yanked it out, and the bones of his index finger were crushed. Another finger was soon crushed, and it was soon followed by a third. When three of his fingers were gone, a ball of fog was yanked out of space.

That fog was a cyclone. It rotated nonstop before Xuan Jiu and exuded… waves of ancient presence. It seemed to have come from the past. If anyone came into contact with it, they would feel as if their entire bodies were about to rot.

Cold sweat dripped down from Xuan Jiu’s forehead. The other two Lord Saint Defiers watched everything with fixed stares. This was not the first time they had seen Xuan Jiu making predictions… but it was the first time they saw him in such a wretched and horrifying state while casting his Art.

After a moment, Xuan Jiu’s eyes flew open. They were bloodshot, and the blood capillaries even reached his pupils, as if they had formed a blood-red Rune. He coughed up blood, and in an instant, he became older.

The cyclone in front of him started showing signs of dissipating.

Xuan Jiu looked as if he had become much older. When he coughed up blood, he did not stop once he started. He coughed up nine consecutive mouthfuls of blood, and with each time, his aura became weaker. When he coughed up the ninth mouthful of blood, he took a few steps back, and he looked so old that he resembled a corpse that had rotted for years in a coffin.

He might have aged and coughed up nine mouthfuls of blood, but Xuan Jiu began laughing loudly. It was hoarse, but there was even surprised delight in his voice. He might have been weakened, but his laughter seemed to be telling the other two Lords that he… had predicted what he wanted to see!

“The broken army [2] will descend!

“Harmonious Morus Alba’s disaster!

“Su Ming’s disaster!

“He will definitely die in that disaster, and he can’t run away from it. This disaster… has already appeared. His will shall be destroyed in the past, and without the past, there is no future. He… is already dead… Hmm?”

Before the old Xuan Jiu could finish speaking, his expression changed, but before he could do anything else, his body shuddered. The dissipating cyclone before him suddenly looked like a withered tree suddenly blooming once more. It… stopped dissipating, and it looked like it was rapidly returning to space.

“That’s impossible. This is…” Madness appeared in Xuan Jiu’s eyes. At the instant he was about to grab the cyclone again…

In Dark Dawn’s camp, Su Ming’s eyes flew open.

“Spirit!”

Su Ming was in the 137th Expanse Cosmos in Dark Dawn’s camp, and the Sovereign of Dawn Yan Pei was staring at Su Ming. The man from Bear Chart Tribe and all his people were pale-faced. During that instant just then, they could clearly sense a thick wave of aura of death coming from Su Ming’s body.

That aura was so strong that it felt like it could drown the entire Expanse Cosmos… but at the instant it was about to fill the Expanse Cosmos to the brim, it disappeared without a trace. It was at that moment that Su Ming opened his eyes and said that one word.

His will returned to his body, and it was as if everything before had just been an illusion. They were a series of events that had never occurred in the real past, but from them, Su Ming felt as if he had been baptized and become different in a manner that no one else could see, but he himself could sense clearly!

When he opened his eyes, he had said that one word: Spirit. Su Ming did not know why he said it, but somehow, with this aura as a lead, he had been able to travel to the ancient past, moving between the illusory past and reality. Due to his will being destroyed in the past, he had let out that indistinct word that would last for an eternity until his will gathered together again.

That one word was spirit!

It was a single word, but it felt as if there was a supreme form of profundity contained in it.

At the instant Su Ming opened his eyes, light shone in them as if the indignation he felt in his heart previously had went away. His thoughts, which had not been clear became such, and his restless mind immediately returned to its previous state!

And all of this was related to that one word that seemed to be one of a kind in the Vast Expanse since time began an eternity ago. Su Ming did not know what that connection was, but he could vaguely sense that when he came to understand it in the future, his cultivation base and his level of cultivation would rise again… reaching a Realm that would perhaps allow him to become the same as the black-robed young man!

It was a goal that had never appeared in Su Ming’s heart before, but right then, it formed. The young man was a danger. Perhaps he was Su Ming’s disaster, but Su Ming was no longer feeling indignant or had an unclear, restless mind, because he had found his direction. When he unintentionally said that word Spirit, he felt as if he had been reborn. A powerful belief was born in his soul.

If Su Ming had not had the determination to face the black-robed young man earlier, Su Ming would have been unable to do this. Only by facing it, only by not being fearful, and only when his heart, thoughts, and mind were all calm could he make that one word last for an eternity. And only by doing all of it… could he truly go through a metamorphosis and gain his new belief.

“If I can face you once, then I can face you a second too… It doesn’t matter whether it’s Arid Triad or Harmonious Morus Alba…”

A brilliant light shone in Su Ming’s eyes. As he mumbled under his breath, he lowered his head and looked around him. All cultivators who met his gaze felt their hearts shudder, and they lowered their heads.

He lifted his right hand and swung his arm, putting away the final jade box floating before him. When it landed in his storage bag, he spoke to Yan Pei.

“I want you to obtain the results for the matter I asked you at the fastest speed you can muster… Other than that, I want you to give me a full map of Dark Dawn’s camp.”

When Yan Pei hears his words, he immediately lowered his head and voiced his obedience. He was in an incredible state of shock. Besides Su Ming, Yan Pei’s level of cultivation was the highest in this place, which was why he could see things that other people could not see.

During that instant just then, he had a strong feeling that Su Ming seemed to have died. He was shrouded by the aura of death, which came from the past. It had oppressed everyone so much that they could not breathe.

But when Su Ming uttered that one word, everything seemed to have instantly moved in reverse. It was as if a withered tree had bloomed again, and as if something rotten had transformed into something amazing. This scene repeated itself in Yan Pei’s mind. While a storm raged in his head, the level of mystery surrounding Su Ming in his eyes became greater.

Yan Pei brought out a jade slip. Once he handed it to Su Ming respectfully, he took a few steps back and waited for other orders.

Su Ming took the jade slip. When he cast a glance at it, he turned his head back and stared at Yan Pei. He lifted his right hand and pointed at him. A vortex suddenly appeared at the center of Yan Pei’s brow, and a hint of his soul instantly flew out. Once it fused with the jade slip, Su Ming put it away.

“Your soul has fused with the jade slip. Once you have the results, call out my name in your heart, and I will be able to read your mind.”

Su Ming turned around and took a step into space, instantly disappearing from the 137th Expanse Cosmos belonging to Bear Chart Tribe.

The bald crane followed him after him. Before it left, it turned its head back to cast a smug look at Yan Pei. However, that smugness was only surface level. When Su Ming had filled with the aura of death, it had sensed a fear and a chill it had never sensed before.

It was at that moment that Lord Saint Defier Xuan Jiu of Saint Defier’s camp had tried to grab the cyclone again. He had indeed managed to seize it, but the moment he touched it, his right hand broke down. His body fell backwards, and he coughed up blood again. This time, his blood had black spots in it, as if he had suffered some sort of backlash. As he staggered back, the cyclone fused into the vortex and disappeared without a trace.

“That vortex is his life. I used my life in exchange for his so that I could lure it out… But I can do it only once in my life. I… had clearly seen his death and seen his will crumble. He died under the power of the broken army…

“But he… had clearly died in the past. Why is he still alive now? Why? How could this be?” Xuan Jiu mumbled as coughed up blood again.

He then closed his eyes. While he did not die, his constitution was severely damaged, and he fell unconscious.

A wave of cold air instantly rose in Xiao Song and Fei Hua’s hearts, who were beside him. The two of them looked at each other and fell silent.

It was also at that moment that Cang San Nu, the strongest Sovereign of Dawn opened his eyes in the spot where he meditated. Fighting spirit and killing intent appeared in his eyes. At the instant Su Ming left the 137th Expanse Cosmos, he sensed Su Ming’s existence.

“I will fight you, and after that fight, I will be known as Si Nu!”