Pursuit of the Truth

In the Expanse Cosmos belonging to the Heavenly Foxes within Dark Dawn’s camp was Old Man Extermination’s tomb. In its third layer was a Rune with an area shrouded in fog. At that moment, the Rune let out cracking sounds. Soon after, they turned into loud bangs that surged into the sky. Countless cracks appeared on the Rune, spreading out swiftly.

It was as if an indescribable power was about to charge out from within it. At the instant the Rune crumbled into pieces that flew out in all directions, the head of a boy with a ferocious expression charged. Aura was spilling out of the corners of his lips while it dragged four headless necks on what little was left of its body.

At the instant it charged out, it let out a piercing roar at the sky. It held madness, crazed delight, and resentment that seemed to have accumulated over countless aeons.

The endless fog in the area tumbled back when the boy roared. When it charged forth, its body looked like an illusion. There was no material object that could stop it in its tracks.

In an instant, it moved through boundless space to appear in the second layer. When it charged out once again, it shot through the land and appeared above the nine heavens, and with one move… it flew out of Old Man Extermination’s tomb!

It appeared in the Heavenly Foxes’ Expanse Cosmos, right before the dumbfounded Sovereign of Dawn Yan Pei as well as the chattering bald crane. When the bald crane saw the Five-Faced Beast Deity’s broken body, it took a swift step back. If it’d had feathers on its body, they would have definitely been standing at that moment. Clearly, the bald crane was scared.

“You… You…”

The bald crane opened its mouth wide. Just as it was about to say something, the Five-Faced Beast Deity threw its head back and roared again. This was the first time… it truly let out a roar in the universe since it had been defeated.

As it roared, the Five-Faced Beast Deity did not forget why Su Ming had used the Curse to form its body once more. It did not forget the real reason behind why he wanted its help to defeat Arid Triad.

While it roared and an indescribable will and might grew to an extremely great degree on its body, the broken figure of the Five-Faced Beast Deity opened its mouth wide and tore apart the space right before the bald crane, Yan Pei and the Heavenly Foxes’ dazed gazes. Then, it instantly left into the distance.

“It tore… space…”

Yan Pei’s pupils shrank. By his side, the bald crane stood silent. All of them looked towards the Five-Faced Beast Deity’s back as it traveled into the distance through the space it had just torn apart.

As for the Five-Faced Beast Deity, once it charged into the space it tore apart, it mustered its full speed and instantly went through almost one hundred Expanse Cosmoses. It tore through all the space of the Expanse Cosmoses in Dark Dawn’s camp to charge towards Saint Defire’s camp using the power of the Curse in its body as its guide.

It was so fast that in just the span of a few breaths, it appeared in Saint Defier’s camp. It shot through numerous Expanse Cosmoses, and in the next breath… it saw three floating altars.

It also saw the three people sitting cross-legged and meditating on the altars, and its focus was immediately attracted by… the pink liquid flowing from the broken bone in front of the old man sitting on the altar at the top of the triangular formation, as well as the strand of hair swiftly fusing with the bone.

‘It’s these three!’

At that moment, the Five-Faced Beast Deity only had a boy’s head. A ferocious and hideous expression appeared on his face. It tore apart the space again, and immediately, a loud bang shook the skies and earth. That sound traveled into the Expanse Cosmos where the three Lords were, and their expressions instantly changed.

The first to lift his head was not Fei Hua, and neither was it Xuan Jiu, but the middle-aged man, Xiao Song. At the instant he looked up, he saw a huge crack in the galaxy, and a ferocious looking head. It belonged to a boy who stared at him from the crack with a ferocious smile.

The second to lift her head was Fei Hua. At the instant she did so, her pupils shrank and her hair stood up on end. She had a strong feeling of familiarity from the almost human creature. That familiarity made her feel as if she was looking at another version of herself. In fact, when she looked over, she noticed that there was an invisible thread connecting her to the creature!

The Five-Faced Beast Deity charged out of the crack.

Its body might have seemed real, but it was formed by Su Ming’s Curse, and the threads of the Curse came from Su Ming’s body, which was why the Five-Faced Beast Deity was not actually a physical entity, but neither was it an illusion. Instead, it was an existence caught between a physical form and an illusion. Tearing apart space was its natural ability, and it was also the effect of Su Ming’s Curse.

But in truth, it could not directly kill another life. However, it could use the Curse to deliver a backlash on the three Lords, which was why once it flew out, it instantly changed direction and charged… at Fei Hua!

The root of Su Ming’s Curse came from Fei Hua. The connection between the ring and her was what Su Ming had used to make the Curse bloom. It was just like karma. There had to first be a cause before the consequences could be delivered.

The connection between Fei Hua and the ring was the cause!

The Five-Faced Beast Deity laughed ferociously. It moved so quickly that Fei Hua could not avoid it. The Five-Faced Beast Deity closed in on her, and its broken body instantly turned into black threads. When Fei Hua’s expression changed into one of shock, those threads seeped through her clothes and crawled into her through all her pores and the seven orifices.

When Xiao Song saw this scene, his pupils shrank. His heart let out a thump, and he was sure that something bad was about to happen.

All of that might have seemed to have happened over a long period of time, but in truth, it was over in an instant. Once all the black threads seeped into Fei Hua’s body, she shuddered. When the Five-Faced Beast Deity disappeared, black smoke surrounded Fei Hua’s face. As she shuddered, she coughed up a mouthful of blood, which was black.

Xiao Song, who had a connection with her, shuddered as well. A large amount of black smoke immediately appeared around his face too. It gushed out of him, and he coughed up black blood as well. His presence instantly weakened, and with shock on his face, he let out a cry of surprise.

At the same time, Xuan Jiu jolted. His hands turned black, and even his face looked as if it was covered by black clouds. As his body shuddered, he opened his eyes, and once he coughed up blood, he let out a roar of indignation.

“How can a backlash happen? There’s no way a backlash is supposed to occur! I’ve already asked the greatest will protecting Saint Defier to descend on us, this is impossible…”

Once he said those words, Xuan Jiu’s expression changed again. Countless black spots appeared on his body, and they increased in number and size with each passing moment. Some even began festering. A foul stench immediately spread through the area, and even the altar beneath him started showing signs of falling apart.

Xuan Jiu was the only one with the black spots. Fei Hua and Xiao Song did not have them, but their presences grew weaker with each passing moment. Their faces were black. The power of the Curse grew in them at a maddening speed, absorbing their lives and their cultivation bases to turn into an even stronger Curse that landed directly on the old Xuan Jiu, which was why the old man was in such a state.

They had only lasted that long because they were in Avacaniya Realm. If they were slightly weaker, they would have turned into puddles of blood a long time ago, but even if they were in Avacaniya Realm and Su Ming’s Curse had descended to deliver a backlash on them, due to Arid Triad’s interference, the Five-Faced Beast Deity was quite weak, which also weakened the Curse. However, it was still not something the three Lords of Saint Defier could withstand.

Fei Hua immediately closed her eyes and lifted her right hand to bring out a large number of medicinal cores. She did not even have time to move. She could only sit on the altar and circulate her cultivation base at full strength, not with the intention to fight against the Curse in her body, but to maintain her life force. If she did not do so, then before long, she would die from the Curse.

Xiao Song did the same. The threat of death descended on his heart in a manner he had never felt before. He brought out medicinal cores almost at the same time as Fei Hua and swallowed them without hesitation. He also circulated his cultivation base with all his power to maintain his life force.

“I won’t accept this!”

Only Xuan Jiu did not do so. A ferocious look appeared on his face. He intended to continue casting the Curse without caring about his entire body festering, but suddenly, his lifted right hand turned into a puddle of black blood right before his eyes!

He did not even feel any pain.

At that moment, the bone before him let out a shattering sound. As it rose into the air, the bone crumbled to pieces!

The pink liquid evaporated along with it. The two turned into fog that quickly vanished. Only the strand of hair remained in its place, undamaged. However, it gave off a feeling that it was the one that broke the bone and caused the liquid to evaporate, exuding an air of a supreme existence.

When the bone shattered and Xuan Jiu’s left hand turned into a puddle of black blood, a shrill, broken laugh tumbled out of the old man’s lips. His face had started to fester.

The person which Su Ming hated the most was the old man.

There was no enmity between them, but for some unknown reason, that person had set him up, and Su Ming… had no interest in searching for the reason as to why the other had done such a thing. No matter the reason, as long as he chose to stand against him, he had to be prepared to suffer Su Ming’s wrath and die.

Yet perhaps Su Ming had known the real reason a long time ago. When he was in the flesh tunnel and used his third eye to see the three Lords of Saint Defier, he knew the answer upon seeing the strand of hair in the small bottle with the pink liquid.

That strand of hair belonged to him, but it did not come from him after he had become an adult. It was a strand of hair taken from him while he was still a baby!

It was something prepared a long time ago, and if Su Ming had been at the altars right then, he would throw a question right back at the old man.

“Are you prepared?”