Pursuit of the Truth

The people to whom Su Ming had made promises before were plenty, such as Chang He, Flame Fiends’ Progenitor, the one hundred thousand cultivators in the foreign lands in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, and many more. He never forgot his promises, and he would fulfill all of them.

Su Ming had noticed Chang He and Flame Fiends’ Progenitor when he arrived in Ninth Summit earlier. He had no idea when they had joined it, but there were very few who knew of their relationship with him.

“Only five hundred years left, huh?”

Soon after falling silent, second senior brother suddenly smiled. His smile was as gentle as before. However, it was filled with a ferociousness and an unwillingness to give up.

“Since there are only five hundred years left, it doesn’t matter whether you will succeed in the end or not. Perhaps during these five hundred years, we should create more exciting battles with the world outside.” Second senior brother picked up his wine cup and finished it in one gulp. When he put it down, he threw his head back and laughed.

In silence, Hu Zi picked up another wine cup. When he downed it all in one big gulp, he threw it down the mountain, and a grave look that had never been seen before on his face appeared on him.

“Darn it all. Five hundred years will be enough. During them, I swear I’ll find myself a wife!”

Hu Zi’s words echoed in space. Second senior brother had been filled with fighting spirit, but when he heard Hu Zi’s words, he was left stunned. Once he went over his shock, most of his fighting spirit was cut off by Hu Zi, and he smiled wryly.

The night went by as the four brothers from the ninth summit drank a lot, since it was very rare for them to gather together. They talked about their past, their Master, and the Berserkers of the past.

Fang Cang Lan stayed by Su Ming’s side throughout it all. She watched everything with a smile and occasionally handed Su Ming a pot of wine, as if this was the most important thing for her in her life.

As for Xu Hui, she might have stayed by Su Ming’s side for the night, but she remained silent, as if there was now a wall between them, as well as a certain amount of distance.

It was especially so when Su Ming said that the disaster would descend in five hundred years. She was clearly stunned for a moment, then she seemed to have remembered something.

Su Ming did not ask anything about it. There were certain things and certain feelings that needed to go through trials. Su Ming did not believe that he was a good partner, because the things pushing down on his heart were too heavy, so heavy that he felt as if he could not put anything else in his heart.

Yet Fang Cang Lan had walked into Su Ming’s heart. With one thousand something years of persistence and waiting, she brought out a tenderness in him, and he had no reason to leave her.

Since he had already chosen her, he would stay with her his entire life, regardless of how long it would be.

This was Su Ming’s determination. It did not matter whether it was friendship or love, it was the same.

He was very happy that night, and Hu Zi was also very happy. He continued causing a ruckus by saying that he wanted to find a wife and grumbling about his second senior brother being too much of a womanizer and how there were countless women by his side. He spoke his mind, and he showed… that he was jealous, very jealous.

But Hu Zi did not know that his second senior brother’s womanizing ways hid the pain and regret left behind by the one and only time he fell in love and persisted with it while in the land of Berserkers.

Su Ming had seen all of it in the past. He had practically witnessed the entire process.

Their eldest senior brother did not like speaking, and it didn’t change that night. He did not drink, but a warmth was exuded by his presence that was felt by his brothers. It was a warmth this cold man would definitely not show to other people.

The three people before him were his junior brothers. All of them were people who he would give up his life to protect. He did not need any woman in his life, and perhaps there was no woman in the world who could accept his headless self.

Su Ming’s eldest senior brother always believed that it was enough for him to only have the three brothers in his life for the rest of his life!

When morning arrived and the first ray of sunlight appeared in the dimension of Ninth Summit, eldest senior brother left to continue training. Since there were only five hundred years left, he would make himself stronger while he could.

Hu Zi collected a large number of cultivators from Ninth Summit and the Fated Kin of the Berserkers to form a group of ten thousand cultivators to head to the outside world and patrol the area. If they found any remaining cultivators of Dark Dawn or Saint Defier, they would crush them completely.

As for second senior brother, he had many other things to do. He had to manage everything in Ninth Summit, and many of his plans had to change after he learned what would happen five hundred years later. Many new plans formed in his head, and he had to set them up one by one.

Only Su Ming was left in Ninth Summit. He sat there and stared at the blue sky. Fang Cang Lan was by his side and was watching him with a composed expression before she cast her glance at Xu Hui. Then, she lowered her head and turned around to leave. With her intelligence, she could tell that there seemed to be a wall that could not be described with words between her and Su Ming.

A mountain breeze blew towards them and lifted Xu Hui’s hair. She sat quietly for a long while, then she sighed softly.

“Are you really not going to ask how I dealt with De Shun?” Xu Hui bit her bottom lip and looked at Su Ming.

He stayed silent. He put down his pot of wine and shook his head.

“If you want to tell me, even if I don’t ask, you will still tell. If you don’t want to say it, even if I asked, you would not answer.”

“I didn’t kill him,” Xu Hui mumbled after some time.

“I know.” There was no way Su Ming would not know everything in True Morning Dao World. Unless he did not want to, he would know everything that he wanted to know.

At that moment, De Shun was on a damaged cultivation planet at the border of the True World near the Emperor of Abyss’ True World. He was staring at the heavens, and there was a hint of hatred mixed with some complicated emotions on his face. This scene was something Su Ming could see once he thought about it.

“I…” A dazed look appeared in Xu Hui’s eyes. Once she heard Su Ming’s words, she instinctively wanted to explain her actions, but when he lifted his hand and touched her hair, her words disappeared.

“I know that you owe him a debt of kindness, and there are blank spots in your memory. I know that,” Su Ming said calmly as he caressed Xu Hui’s dark locks before he pulled her into his embrace.

When Xu Hui came into contact with Su Ming’s chest, she suddenly cried. The feeling of being lost and De Shun’s face occasionally appearing in her head had caused her to not know what had happened to her.

But at that moment, when she was in Su Ming’s embrace, everything in her mind seemed to be rearranged. The feeling of being lost disappeared, replaced by a deep wave of fatigue. Gradually, she fell asleep.

Five hundred years later, if Su Ming succeeded, then everything would be good, but if he failed, they were bound to disappear because of the disaster. Since they only had five hundred years left, why was there a need for them to make each other suffer? It would be better… to wipe off those memories.

This method was slightly domineering, but there had always been a domineering attitude hidden in Su Ming’s character.

Time trickled by, and in the blink of an eye, three months went by. During them, Su Ming stayed in Ninth Summit and accompanied Cang Lan as well as Xu Hui. The three of them went through those days in a rare state of peace while watching the sun rise and set. There was a warm and gentle atmosphere around them, causing Hu Zi to be incredibly envious, and he started scanning the many female cultivators in Ninth Summit like he was in a rut.

During the three months, aside from staying beside Cang Lan and Xu Hui, Su Ming spent every single day drinking with his senior brothers. Amid the laughter born from all of them temporarily forgetting all their troubles, Su Ming used his vast cultivation base and will to give pointers to Hu Zi in his training, second senior brother in his path of cultivation, and eldest senior brother in better understanding the Antecedental Spirits. His fusion with the Predecessor of Dao Ocean also sped up.

The Predecessor of Dao Ocean was willing to participate in this fusion. Su Ming did not ask what happened between the two of them. He only knew that if his eldest senior brother wanted to become stronger, that he would do everything he could to help him.

During the three months, cultivators from Dark Dawn and Saint Defier continued descending without stop in the outside world. Their numbers grew, but Ninth Summit became a forbidden ground for them. None of them dared to offend them anymore, and they strictly prohibited their own from getting close to Ninth Summit.

Once they stepped into the area belonging to Ninth Summit, six-tenths of their cultivation bases would be suppressed, which was a warning.

Ninth Summit was still treated as the master of True Morning Dao World. Even if they ventured out and ran into cultivators from Dark Dawn and Saint Defier, most of those people chose to retreat in silence.

The battle three months ago had determined the state of affairs in this True World.

Compared to the peace True Morning Dao World enjoyed after it, an intense battle broke out in True Sacred Yin World. The devastation brought with it the destruction of the Rune. While Dark Dawn and Saint Defier suffered a little, to them, who continued sending in a continuous flood of cultivators from their home worlds, this loss was really nothing.

Once the Rune crumbled, the cultivators from Dark Dawn and Saint Defier surged in, causing True Sacred Yin World… to change masters.

On the other hand, as the Fourth True World continued fighting and resisting, a stalemate was gradually established. It happened because powerful warriors whose names were never heard of would occasionally appear in the Fourth True World to manipulate the situation of the war. As more and more of them appeared, they began to manipulate not just small areas, but the entire battlefield.

Only the Emperor of Abyss’ True World remained calm. All the cultivators from Dark Dawn and Saint Defier who entered the place would fuse into the Emperor of Abyss’ True World and disappear without a trace.

…..

Another month passed, and Su Ming ventured out once to go to the True Morning Dao World’s All Spirits Hall. Half a month later, when he returned, he appeared to be no different from before, but only Su Ming himself knew that the moment he walked out of the world in All Spirits Hall, a will so great it was shocking gathered on his body. It had felt as if all of Arid Triad had gathered together to turn into an eye to stare at him.

It was the gaze of Arid Triad’s will, because when Su Ming walked out of All Spirits Hall, he had already become so strong that he could cause the slumbering Arid Triad’s will to instinctively become wary of him.

He went through five complete spirit ascensions, and it equivalent to him going through ten spirit ascensions. This was not something that had never happened when Harmonious Morus Alba Expanse Cosmos was still one whole entity. After all, Su Ming was not the first to learn of All Spirits Hall, and he was not the first to have entered Harmonious Morus Alba Expanse Cosmos. The All Spirits Hall had existed for countless aeons.

But Su Ming was definitely the best in this eon, and he was definitely the strongest at the present!