Pursuit of the Truth

Progenitor Long Hai’s green dragon rushed out from the flames and closed in on the Flame Fiends’ Progenitor in the blink of an eye. As the old man laughed ferociously, he lifted his right hand and struck the center of his brows. When he opened his mouth, he coughed up a mouthful of fresh black blood.

It seemed to contain the power of searing heat as well as some sort of strange life. It charged towards the green dragon, and the instant they collided, no bangs shot up. Instead, the black blood seemed to have fused into the green dragon’s body. Countless lumps appeared on its skin. Those lumps burst and turned into human faces with black patches. Those faces matched one of the three cultivators in Solar Kalpa Realm whom Flame Fiends’ Progenitor devoured just then. They spread out and filled the entire body of the green dragon, reducing it to ashes.

“You’re just a tree that no longer has a foundation. How dare you fight against me?!”

As the Flame Fiend laughed ferociously, he looked as if he was about to rush over, but right in front of him, the battle axe formed by three thousand leaves closed in with a bang. Once it swung down, Flame Fiends’ Progenitor did not bother dodging, but instead opened his mouth wide and coughed up a mouthful of blood again. That black blood burned in midair and turned into another human face.

That person was also one of the three cultivators in Solar Kalpa Realm. At that moment, with a ferocious expression, he charged at the battle axe formed by the three thousand leaves. With a loud bang, the human face shattered, but the battle axe also shattered with it.

For a time, Flame Fiends’ Progenitor enjoyed unlimited splendor. His tactic was incredibly successful. He first pretended to have fallen for the tree’s plan and devoured the three cultivators in Solar Kalpa Realm, but in truth, he did not fuse with them. Instead, he gathered the power in their bodies and turned it into his own power.

Then, he burned the ground and the sky in one go. Su Ming remembered Flame Fiends’ Progenitor previously seizing the ground with his right hand, and perhaps this was the reason why he could burn the entire world so quickly.

Clearly, Flame Fiends’ Progenitor had started making preparations right from the start, and even Su Ming had to be wary of him. He had not been able to see through the old man’s actions.

With the act of instantly burning the world, the Flame Fiend destroyed the tree’s foundation in one go. Because of it, he seized the upper hand in the battle.

Flame Fiends’ Progenitor had only spent a short amount of time thinking about it and had already brought it to action, causing all of this to happen. Based on this, it could be seen that those who had become Almighties were so calculative and intelligent, so quick with their schemes, that it was not something an ordinary person could think match.

If things continued progressing in this manner, then there was an incredibly high chance that Flame Fiends’ Progenitor would obtain the treasure in this place and even devour Long Hai. If that was the case, Su Ming would not choose to walk out. He would choose to wait. If no opportunity presented itself for him to attack, then he would have no problems with giving up on the treasure.

As the three thousand leaves shattered, Flame Fiends’ Progenitor laughed ferociously and charged towards the tree. He was so quick that he was just about to close in when his pupils suddenly shrank, because he saw no panic or anger in the eyes on the tree’s trunk… Instead, there was scorn!

It was the contempt of those who regarded others as below them, a derision mocking Flame Fiends’ Progenitor for overestimating himself. It was the omen that caused the old man’s expression to change and his heart to let out a loud thump.

“You aren’t the first person to do this. In the past, the cultivator named Long Hai also wanted to use this method to kill me… He nearly succeeded, but after him, no one can succeed.” A buzzing sound reverberated in the air from within the tree.

“All lives possess fate. This fate is most intriguing and cannot be touched by all except those who have mastered fate…” A voice filled with an ancient air came from the tree. At the instant its words echoed in the air, a strange power seemed to have entered the world.

That power and the words immediately caused Flame Fiends’ Progenitor’s eyes to go wide. An expression of disbelief appeared on his face, and a wave of terror that he could not hide revealed itself on his face.

“Fate Realm! You’re in Fate Realm! Could this not be a dimension with a complementary treasure but a dimension with a supreme treasure?!”

The expression of Flame Fiends’ Progenitor changed drastically. Based on his understanding, even the strongest ferocious spirits in the dimensions with complementary treasures were only in Mastery Realm. Only the ferocious spirits in the dimensions with supreme treasures might be powerful beings in Fate Realm.

But everything before his eyes at that moment was something that could not have been known beforehand. Just the difference of one single Realm could make all his previous actions turn into a joke.

Su Ming’s heart also shuddered, but his eyes shone swiftly. The Almighty in Fate Realm he understood the most was Heaven Traversers’ Progenitor. That person relied on a treasure to move himself to half a step away from Fate Realm.

As a barely noticeable glint shone in Su Ming’s eyes, he cast a glance at the three-leafed grass floating above the tree, and a strong hint of desire appeared on his face.

‘Unless the tree itself reached Fate Realm, then it must be… this treasure’s effect! As for the tree’s real level of cultivation… Well, it’ll all depend on whether I can cut it with the Execution of Three Evils! If I can cut it, then it means that the treasure serves a critical role!’

Su Ming narrowed his eyes. His gaze landed on the currently rapidly fleeing Flame Fiends’ Progenitor, waiting for a chance that would benefit him the most if he attacked.

Flame Fiends’ Progenitor retreated swiftly. He knew that he had no chance of striking back with his power when he compared himself to the Almighties in Fate Realm. With his heart in shock, he noticed the strange power contained in the world. This power surrounded him and had already interfered with his perception.

From what he knew, this power could only come from one source… Fate!

“The earth possesses fate, as do the heavens.”

When the ancient voice spoke again, the ground that had vanished due to being burned returned. It buried the roots of the tree, and a green tint reappeared in the formerly empty sky. Everything returned to how it had been before.

“Thy fate shalt end!”

At the instant the face on the tree’s trunk said those words in a cold voice, Flame Fiends’ Progenitor let out a shrill scream of pain. A large amount of fire suddenly erupted from his entire body. While purple flames surged and tumbled about in the area, the voice from the tree echoed once more.

“Fire is thine fate. This fate shalt be thenceforth devoured.”

Once these words were spoken, the sea of fire immediately stopped spreading outwards. Instead, it tumbled backwards to burn the body of Flame Fiends’ Progenitor.

An incredible expression of terror appeared on the Progenitor’s face. As he swiftly retreated, he formed a seal with his hands and struck a few parts of his body. With each strike, he would cough up a mouthful of black blood and become faster.

“Thou shalt be mine second child. So shalt be thine fate.”

When the voice from the tree reverberated in the air, Flame Fiends’ Progenitor let out a shrill scream of pain. His whole body shuddered. A power that he found difficult to resist surged at him from all directions in an invisible form. It crushed his body, causing him to be unable to move forward. Instead, his body was pulled backwards against his will.

He moved closer to the tree, and a blood-red branch crawled out of the trunk. It closed in on the old Flame Fiend as if it wanted to crawl into his body and turn him into a puppet like Long Hai.

The latter stood by the side with an apathetic expression. He had only released that green dragon and not done anything else. Clearly, the will of the tree believed that it needed to take action personally to deal with this Flame Fiend.

Su Ming was still waiting. He did not believe that Flame Fiends’ Progenitor only had these methods at his disposal. If this was true, then even if Su Ming did not attack, he would definitely die.

But if Flame Fiends’ Progenitor still had other methods at his disposal, then Su Ming would prepare to deal the finishing blow to him. After all, this person had already showed the intention to kill him due to the yellow-browed man’s words. Su Ming could sense the killing intent, and he naturally did not feel any pity for the Progenitor.

When the time came, Su Ming was quite confident about himself being able to escape. This confidence came from the one thousand feet tall tree executing its power of controlling fate to create soil and bury its roots instead of killing the Flame Fiend.

This matter might seem small, but if the tree could control its own fate, then it would naturally not need its foundation. Just like Ecang, due to its existence as a superior life form, it could move about the galaxy without any need for soil to provide nourishment to it.

When Flame Fiends’ Progenitor was oppressed by the invisible power around him, his body continuously approaching the tree, he saw the red branch close the distance to less than one thousand feet away from him.

A resolute look then appeared on his face. He gritted his teeth and lifted his right hand to strike the center of his brows again. This time, he did not cough up black blood, but a loud bang shot up from his body, and during that instant, he swelled up rapidly.

This was not him self-destructing. Instead, once his body swelled up, countless runic symbols appeared on his skin. These runic symbols were like tadpoles. Once they appeared, they started swimming about his body as if they were alive. A powerful presence immediately erupted from the Progenitor’s body.

At the same time, beyond the fifth kiln and in the planet where Flame Fiends lived were an innumerable number of Flame Fiends shuddering. They coughed up blood as their bodies withered, and some of them immediately fell to the ground burning to ashes before leaving a puddle of blood. In a short while, most of the Flame Fiends died.

This was Flame Fiends’ Progenitor activating the divine ability of his race. He had discreetly absorbed his people’s lives in exchange for a moment when he could be at his strongest.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Intense bangs shook the world. Even if there was someone several dimensions away from the place, they would still have been able to hear it. At that moment, black blood gushed out of the Progenitor’s body before everyone’s eyes. That blood spread out ceaselessly and turned into a layer of black blood fog. It contained a powerful corrosive power that even corroded space. All forms of power, including the existence of fate, were halted in that blood fog before they were forcefully cut off.

The one thousand feet tall tree let out an enraged roar. The face on the trunk showed a refusal to accept what was going on, but the tree itself could not move. As the blood fog tumbled about, it blocked off its power of fate and even caused its connection with the puppet Long Hai to be cut off for a moment.

The tree could only watch helplessly as the Flame Fiend escaped.

Once Flame Fiends’ Progenitor swelled up several hundreds of times his original size, he managed to free himself of the binds created by the power of fate around him. With a shrill scream and a heinous amount of resentment, he rushed forward.

His power was falling swiftly. This was the result of him having executed the previous divine ability. However, if he could escape from this place and find a spot where he could isolate himself to heal for a few days, he could recover.

However, right at the instant he escaped, killing intent appeared in Su Ming’s eyes.

‘Now!’