Pursuit of the Truth

Su Ming was silent. He stared at the Brand of the ghost face on his eldest senior brother’s chest and picked up the pot of wine, finishing it swiftly. Wine spilled out from the corners of his lips and splattered on his body, but he did not care.

Su Ming did not have good alcohol tolerance. In fact, while he did occasionally drink wine on his own, he needed to digest the alcohol with his cultivation base when he drank, but on this day, he did not do so.

“Let’s talk about you. What happened to you… You…” His eldest senior brother sighed. There were certain things he knew even if he did not speak of them. The youngest junior brother of his sitting in front of him had an unfamiliar face. Clearly, it was due to Possession.

When eldest senior brother observed it, he also felt that Su Ming’s level of cultivation had reached a fathomless state, and it was precisely because of it that he knew that he had to have gone through incredibly perilous situations for it.

In the past, he had been a mere cultivator in Earth Cultivation Realm. Yet in such a short time, he had become an Almighty. The gap in his level of cultivation and his Possession of another body made everything clear; there was no need for him to say anything.

As Su Ming drank, in a soft voice, he spoke of the things he went through from the moment he found himself akin to a corpse lying in Crimson Flame Planet upon stepping into the Barren Lands of Divine Essence.

Su Ming did not seem to believe in his own words when he shared his story. The mild way in which he spoke about everything made his eldest senior brother drink ten whole pots of wine without realizing it.

“Divine Essence Star Ocean, the tribes, and the foreign lands belonging to Ecang…” Su Ming mumbled as if recounting his tale, but also as if just talking to himself.

When his eldest senior brother heard of Su Ming managing to find Tian Xie Zi’s tracks, he shuddered. When he heard Su Ming speak of their Master taking in a fifth disciple, he fell silent.

When Su Ming spoke of his experiences and assumptions in the fifth ocean, his eldest senior brother’s right hand trembled, but he remained silent.

“I don’t know whether Master is among those people, but I feel that he should be…” Su Ming dipped his head down and picked up his pot. When he finished it, he was drunk.

“I Possessed Dao Kong, and with his identity, I left the Barren Lands of Divine Essence and went to Morning Dao Sect to become its Dynast… At that moment, I saw the person I thought was my father.”

Su Ming smiled. There was no anguish in that smile, only a feeling that he was free from his burdens, as if he was talking about someone else’s story which had nothing to do with him.

“The Seed of Life Extermination is just a joke. It was simply a parasite, and there was not a single happy moment left for me to treasure in the dream about Dark Mountain. Even if I don’t want to understand it, I still understand that all of it was fake.

“All of it was just part of Su Xuan Yi’s plan, and I… was just a single piece of his plan which he can cast away once he was done with it.”

When Su Ming spoke of his past, he downed one pot of wine after another, and his words echoed in his eldest senior brother’s ears. They lingered for a long time, refusing to disappear.

“So you’re saying that you want to turn True Morning Dao Sect into the laws under your will, which is why you built a sect called the Ninth Summit in this broken True Morning Dao World? In fact, you want to replace the will of this True World with yours?

“But if you name the sect after the ninth summit and grow to power, there is no way Su Xuan Yi won’t understand it. He will definitely be able to guess… that you made a comeback!” eldest senior brother said softly while casting Su Ming a glance. “If you dared to do such a thing, I refuse to believe that you have not made preparations for it.”

“That’s right. I named the sect after the ninth summit to find all of you, and I don’t care whether Su Xuan Yi or anyone else learns of it. It’s useless even if they know. What I need to do is to control True Morning Dao World. When the whirlwind around us disappears and Saint Defier descends, with my status and my forces, even Saint Defiers will have to think twice before they act.

“If they dare to do anything… Since Su Xuan Yi could tear a gap in Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos, I can imitate his actions and make a True World crumble. If there was no gap beforehand, I would not be able to open another one out of the blue, but now that there is a gap, Arid Triad is no longer complete, and it will be much easier. The self-destruction of a True World can also tear a hole in Arid Triad!

“This is something Dark Dawn’s camp needs, but definitely not something Saint Defier needs. In fact, I can already guess that when the people from Dark Dawn arrive, they will have the same thoughts and make these specific preparations.

“I have a feeling that this is part of Su Xuan Yi’s plan, and he has already predicted this sort of conclusion!” Su Ming took a big gulp of wine and laughed loudly as he spoke. “Arid Triad will be destroyed. This is something not even the power of heavens can reverse.

“The four Great True Worlds will be destroyed; this is something that is impossible to change. I know that this is how things will end, so I will naturally expand my own influence before this becomes reality. I will increase my own level of cultivation to fight for a slim chance of survival and to get a serendipity during the disaster!

“If it is not destroyed, I won’t be able to form my own power. If Arid Triad is destroyed, then if I can obtain a serendipity and a slim chance of survival, why would it be impossible for me… to replace Arid Triad? Possessing a person is nothing. Perhaps my thoughts are pure madness to all other people, but I will still try… to Possess Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos!”

Su Ming laughed loudly. His voice echoed in space, but it did not travel outwards. No one else could hear it.

Only eldest senior brother, who was like family, could make Su Ming reveal his ambitions, shocking the other!

His eldest senior brother’s heart trembled furiously. He stared at Su Ming and watched him finish drinking his wine with an air of someone free of burdens but also someone with an air of madness alongside it. He seemed to look down on the entire universe. Eldest Senior Brother could even vaguely see the signs of someone who could destroy Saint Defier and overturn Dark Dawn.

This was what he sensed, and other people might feel that it was ludicrous. In their eyes, the act of a mere cultivator declaring to want to Possess Arid Triad was plain ridiculousness. In fact, any other cultivator might find the feeling in the heart of Su Ming’s eldest senior brother to be hilarious, and the whole thing impossible.

Yet at that instant, Su Ming’s eldest senior brother had indeed sensed these things.

It was an indescribable presence which was not a ripple formed by any cultivation base or temperament, and neither was it a ripple formed due to the area around them changing because of something coming out of Su Ming body. It was… an arrogance which could shake people’s hearts, and it was born from absolute madness, a desire for destruction, slaughter, and twistedness intersecting with each other!

“If you want to do this, then I will join you.” Without any hesitation, eldest senior brother spoke hoarsely and laughed. In his laughter was a heinous, murderous aura.

Su Ming picked up his pot and placed it by his lips before drinking swiftly from it. When he downed half of its contents, he suddenly put down the pot. His eyes, which were originally unfocused due to him being drunk, shone with a brilliant light at that moment, and he stared into the distant galaxy.

His eldest senior brother’s expression changed, and he looked over as well. After a moment, he threw his head back and laughed loudly. He even stood up, and when he looked at Su Ming, he found that a smile had made its way to his face a long time ago. There was excitement in that smile, along with joy, which was made more obvious by his drunkenness.

“Today, we have to become thoroughly drunk. Today… is the day all of us fellow brothers of the ninth summit reunite after being separated for more than a thousand years!” eldest senior brother said in a hearty tone.

As his voice echoed in the air, it spread through the entire galaxy, even reaching the lone ship charging through the whirlwind beyond the ripple.

The gentle man stopped drinking and dazedly stared into the distance. Excitement slowly appeared in his eyes. Tears streamed down the face of the honest-looking man behind him while he mumbled to himself, “It’s eldest senior brother’s presence, and beside him is… is…”