Pursuit of the Truth

Due to the screen of light covering the warship, all the ripples formed by the impact from Su Ming’s cultivation base were blocked. Not a single hint of his presence spread out, so no one could know what was happening to him.

Everything was normal.

The bald crane and the Abyss Dragon walked with a swagger on the warship, especially the bald crane. It had a provocative look in its eyes, and it would occasionally sweep its gaze arrogantly past some of the cultivators who were meditating around.

Perhaps it was tiring for it to do such a thing for a prolonged period of time, but it returned to its own room in the warship in an hour. When they were both back in their room, the Abyss Dragon stared at the bald crane. It had too many things it did not understand and was waiting for the bald crane to offer up an explanation to it.

“Just what is going on?” the Abyss Dragon asked in a low voice.

“Y-y-you… Seriously, you still don’t understand?” The bald crane yawned, then cast a sideways glance at the Abyss Dragon as it sighed.

The man who was the Abyss Dragon frowned. He did not speak.

“It’s a simple matter. We ran into a rich person, and he values me highly, so he used a great sum of money to invite me to become his attendant. You gained a profit as well since you’re with me. It’s that simple.” The bald crane winked.

“This is… But what about Su Ming?” The Abyss Dragon was momentarily stunned. After a moment of hesitation, he looked at the bald crane.

“Ignore him. That person is too stingy. Look at how great our new boss is. He gave us a crystal right at the moment he met us, so we’ll definitely have a bright future free of worries ahead of us if we follow him. We can even return to True Morning Dao World, isn’t that great? You can also find that young mistress of yours soon.” The bald crane cackled.

The Abyss Dragon hesitated again. It felt that such an act did not seem too good…

“Enough already. When have you ever suffered a loss since you joined me? Don’t worry about it too much, once we’re back in True Morning Dao World, I’ll go with you to the Emperor of Abyss’ True World. At that time, don’t forget about the crystals you promised me.” The bald crane yawned and sprawled down on the ground. It had taken the form of a human at that moment, but with this shape, no matter how it lay on the ground, it looked as if it was a dead dog.

The Abyss Dragon sighed and no longer spoke, but instead lay down in a corner. It also… looked like a big yellow dog.

When the Abyss Dragon sighed, a barely noticeable glint shone in the bald crane’s eyes. The thoughts running through its head at that moment were something the Abyss Dragon could not understand with its mind.

‘Heh heh, who else could it be but Su Ming who would throw a crystal at me the first time we meet?! That guy could even Possess Ecang and make the other Ecang souls unable to recognize him once he Possessed it, so Possessing a mere cultivator is easy-peasy to him. Besides, I haven’t been paying attention to his soul previously, but once I look at him closely, who else could it be but Su Ming?

‘Ah… As expected, I’m just so smart. It’s a pity that there are far too few smart cranes in the world.’

As these thoughts flashed in the bald crane’s head, an array of emotions that spoke of a feeling of arrogance and loneliness which made it feel as if it stood on the tallest peak and dwarfed all other existences appeared on its face.

The thirteen warships charged through the galaxy as days passed. In the blink of an eye, half a month went by.

They were already far away from Black Ink Planet. The spot in which they were currently located was very close to the periphery of Divine Essence Star Ocean. On their trip to the place, not a single faction of power dared show any form of ill-will towards them.

Usually, any cultivator who saw them would immediately avoid them and not dare to provoke them.

In fact, the small planets and small factions of power between Black Ink Planet and Divine Essence Star Ocean simply allowed the thirteen warships to pass by once they detected them.

If it was not the thirteen warships but Su Ming alone, then before he even reached the periphery of Divine Essence Star Ocean, he might have already been halted in his path a few times.

In this place, killing a person and stealing their things was something natural. There were countless cases of the weak being abused by the strong. Without a sufficient amount of power, no one would dare to head to Divine Essence Star Ocean.

Due to this law of survival, there were plenty of rogue cultivators who were like bandits in this region. They all lurked around with covetous eyes and would swarm towards all prey they believed they could steal from without any hesitation.

However, in the face of the thirteen awe-inspiring warships, all the factions of power did not dare provoke them.

Su Ming did not know all of this. During the past dozen something days, he had been immersed in increasing his level of cultivation. As he attempted breakthrough after breakthrough, he had reached the peak of the initial stage of World Plane Realm using the power of World Planes from Ecang’s worlds. With just one more step, he could head into the middle stage of World Plane Realm.

However, this one step was not that easy to take. After trying several times to reach a breakthrough, Su Ming knew that even with Dao Kong’s potential, he would need around one hundred years before he could reach the middle stage of World Plane Realm.

Even though Dao Kong had previously surpassed the middle stage of World Plane Realm, Su Ming had seen in his memories that while Dao Kong had reached the middle stage of World Plane Realm due to his potential, a grand ceremony called Morning Dao Pilgrimage played an even more important part in allowing him to reach that Realm.

Each of the direct descendants had a chance to go on Morning Dao Pilgrimage once when they ran into a stone wall in terms of their level of cultivation. It could be done only once, but it would give them a certain amount of certainty to break through their wall. However, the chances of success for that had a great connection to the person’s potential.

Dao Kong had reached the middle stage of World Plane Realm when he reached a breakthrough during Morning Dao Pilgrimage, which he went to before he entered the Barren Lands of Divine Essence.

After another failure, Su Ming opened his eyes. A brilliant light shone within them, and after a brief period of silence, he tapped his storage bag with his right hand, and a poisonous wasp immediately appeared in his hand.

The wasp’s wings fluttered slightly as it lay on Su Ming’s palm.

After a thousand something years of nurture, the wasp was now incredibly close to Su Ming, and the time for him to be able to take the God Ascension Nectar from its body had arrived. Su Ming sucked in a deep breath, and a resolute look appeared in his eyes.

One thousand something years of nurture had caused Su Ming to be certain that the God Ascension Nectar was indeed within the wasp’s body. However, it was difficult for him to completely extract the nectar out from the wasp. It had already fused with the wasp, and the only way to take it out…

… was by its poison!

The God Ascension Nectar was contained within the wasp’s poison, and he had to control the amount of poison produced to be able to retrieve it.

Once Su Ming sent a thought to the wasp, it immediately disappeared. When it reappeared, it was already beside Su Ming’s chest. The poisonous stinger turned into a chilling ray of light that stabbed forward.

If Su Ming had not nurtured and familiarized himself with the wasp, then her sting would have injected a great amount of poison into his system. Then, what awaited Su Ming would no longer be a serendipity, but danger.

Yet now, it was different. Even though the wasp had stung his body, he was in control of the wasp. It was injecting the poison along with the God Ascension Nectar in an incredibly cautious manner.

In just a moment, Su Ming’s body turned purplish black. The poisonous wasp swiftly pulled out the needle and flew around him. There was a hint of anxiety within the buzzing it produced while it flew.

Su Ming’s face was purplish black at that moment, and his body trembled. The wasp’s poison had already filled him due to the circulation of blood, but since he controlled the amount, the poison would not be activated instantly. Instead, it would remain at an amount which he could bear.

Su Ming sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Several days later, the purplish black hue on his body slowly retreated, until all of it gathered on his right index finger, turning it pitch black. At that moment, Su Ming opened his eyes. With a fingernail, he sliced through his index finger, and black blood poured out.

When all the poisoned blood flowed out, there was no longer any poison within Su Ming, only a hint of… a golden substance that looked like honey. If he pulled at it, he could form a long thread from his wound to his finger, but that golden substance would not fuse with his blood.

That golden substance… was naturally the God Ascension Nectar!

More accurately speaking, this was just a small amount of the nectar within the wasp. However, just this small amount of nectar was enough for Su Ming to close his eyes. He activated his cultivation base and had it circulate in his body, stirring up his Qi to make the substance in his blood melt, and at that moment, a thunderous boom rang out in his head.

The loud sound replaced Su Ming’s thoughts. Right then, a violent and frantic power swiftly erupted in his body.

The God Ascension Nectar was the supreme treasure Su Ming had obtained in Yin Death Region. It was given the name God Ascension because it was said that this nectar could turn a mortal into a God. It might seem like the effects had been exaggerated, but if such a legend had been circulating around, it was enough to show how great of a storm this nectar had brought to the ancient world.

God Ascension Nectar could be said to have gone extinct a long time ago in the universe, so not a single bit of it could be found in the world anymore. However, as fate would have it, some bit of that nectar… remained in a single poisonous wasp.

And that wasp had not died, but had even been saved by Su Ming!

This was a serendipity, Su Ming’s serendipity.

If fact, if anyone else knew that Su Ming possessed this God Ascension Nectar, then even the four Great True Worlds would make a disaster fall on his head to snatch his poisonous wasp.

God Ascension Nectar was a supreme treasure that could make even the ferocious beasts in the universe to go mad over it!

This… was an astonishing item that should not exist in the universe!

Just a small thread of that nectar alone was enough for Su Ming to feel as if he was burning. Amid the booming sounds, his blood boiled, and his consciousness scattered under them. It was the case for his cultivation base clone, and it was the same for his clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole. However, Su Ming’s Ecang clone retained his consciousness under those booming sounds, guiding Su Ming’s soul in controlling his cultivation base clone and ceaselessly circulating his power to melt that bit of God Ascension Nectar.

Every single time his cultivation base completed a cycle in his body, the God Ascension Nectar would melt slightly and increase Su Ming’s cultivation base with a loud bang. The wall between the peak of the initial stage of World Plane Realm and the middle stage of World Plane was swiftly broken after only circulating his cultivation base nine times.

Once Su Ming broke through, he realized that he could still not gather his thoughts. The power of the God Ascension Nectar in his body was too powerful, and he even had the false impression that his body was about to burst.

As he absorbed the God Ascension Nectar and had his cultivation base circulate the tenth time in his body, the screen of light that was formed on the warship could no longer withstand the vast presence spreading out from his body, and with a bang, it shattered inch by inch.

Once the screen of light shattered, all the cultivators on the warship instantly looked over. The nine old men’s hearts trembled, and they stood up swiftly.

In fact, the thirteen warships also stopped at that instant.

“The young master is training, have the warships surround and protect him!” the old man who looked the oldest in appearance among the nine said in an awe-inspiring voice.

It was at this instant that the nine old men’s expressions suddenly changed, and they looked towards the pitch-black galaxy in the distance. In fact, even Xu Hui walked out from the air, and with a solemn expression, she looked towards Su Ming before shifting her gaze away, far ahead of them.

The space there was engulfed by a dead silence, but if anyone took a closer look, they would be able to see a ball of black fog swiftly expanding over there.

As it expanded, a sound that seemed like a baby wailing echoed faintly in the space.

That was… a powerful ferocious beast that lived in the periphery of Divine Essence Star Ocean… and it had been lured out by the God Ascension Nectar!