Pursuit of the Truth

Once Ku Mu left, the boy had a slightly complicated look on his face. He naturally knew of Ku Mu’s personality, but no matter what, Ku Mu was a person he had invited, and he could not say anything about it, just stare at Su Ming.

The expression of the old man in purple had already become calm again. He sighed in his heart, thinking that Su Ming was, in the end, not ruthless enough, or else he would not have let Ku Mu flee.

The white-robed man swept his gaze past Su Ming. His expression was calm, and his thoughts could not be seen.

However, this was the first time they came to know Su Ming. They could only gain a superficial understanding of his personality. There was no way for them to come to know what he was really like. If there had been anyone in that cave abode who was familiar with him, they would definitely know that Ku Mu was going to die.

Su Ming lifted his right hand and seized the air. Immediately, the wine cup filled with Ku Mu’s blood landed in his hand. He cast a glance at the blood in it, and the third eye at the center of his brow sparkled. The power of his Curse then fused into the blood.

The blood immediately started boiling. When the boy and the others saw it, their hearts shuddered. The blood flew out of the wine cup and turned into a small, blood-red humanoid in the air.

It looked similar to Ku Mu. Before the group’s eyes, the small humanoid started trembling, and black smoke came from its body. It swiftly engulfed its figure, which was, of course, due to Su Ming’s Curse. In just the span of a few breaths, the small humanoid turned completely black, then shattered with a bang to disappear into wisps of black smoke.

At the same time, as Ku Mu charged through the galaxy with resentment boiling in him, he suddenly jolted. When he lowered his head, he saw black patches covering his withered body. They instantly spread all over him, and to his horror, his body began rotting.

Screams of pain shot into space, and in a few breaths’ time, the soul and body of the famous powerful warrior were destroyed!

The boy and the other two guests could not see this, but with their levels of cultivation and experience, they did not have to. When they saw the small, blood-red humanoid turn into black smoke and vanish, they instantly understood what was about to happen.

When they looked at Su Ming, their gazes immediately became different.

“Haha, I haven’t managed to introduce fellow Daoist Su Ming to all of you just yet. You must have surely noticed his divine thought earlier. This fellow Daoist of ours has outstanding power, and his origins are a mystery. We should become closer to him.”

A smile appeared on the boy’s face. He refused to mention even a single word about Ku Mu, and once he finished speaking, he got up and wrapped his fist in his palm towards Su Ming.

The purple-robed old man put on a cordial smile and looked at Su Ming in good faith as well. He wrapped his fist in his palm as a greeting.

The young man in white’s expression was no longer icy cold. When he looked at Su Ming, there was respect and admiration on his face. As he wrapped his fist in his palm, he smiled.

Su Ming stood up and wrapped his fist in his palm towards the three people too. Once they greeted each other, the boy served them, and all of them drank the nectar. A pair of graceful women showed up and began dancing, and the atmosphere in the area livened up slightly.

Once they drank three rounds, the purple-robed old man hesitated for a moment before he looked at Su Ming.

“Fellow Daoist Su, you must have… come from another Expanse Cosmos. I do wonder why you came here.”

When the boy heard his words, he also looked at Su Ming. He lifted his right hand and swung it. Immediately, the dancing women and the boys around them stepped back, returning the cave abode to silence.

“I came to have a look at the gap leading to the universe beyond. I would like to ask all of you about it,” Su Ming and said faintly after putting down his wine cup.

“That place is one of the two great areas of mystery in Heaven Lacking Expanse Cosmos,” the purple-robed old man said after a moment of silence.

The young man in white picked up his wine cup and took a sip from it before he added calmly, “That’s right. One of the two great areas of mystery is the gap you mentioned, and the other is the Mothership’s Sacred Wood.”

“I’ve gone to the gap you mentioned several times before, fellow Daoist Su. Once you step through it, you will find a vast universe with no end. There were quite a few fellow Daoists who tried to explore that universe, but once they expanded their search area, no one returned. All of them died…

“There is a wind there that can tear us apart, a fog that can engulf all souls, and countless strange living creatures… though most of them have no intelligence. In fact, they don’t even have corporeal bodies. It’s as if they were born from space.

“They won’t get close to our world…” the boy said, sharing all he knew without keeping anything to himself.

Su Ming pondered over their words and asked, “What is the Mothership’s Sacred Wood?”

The young man in white chose to answer him. “It is a giant log of wood that appeared nobody knows when. There is a natural seal on it that prevents all divine senses from reaching inside. The interior of the log is incredibly suitable for us to sleep, which is why when the time for us to sleep arrives, we go there to sleep.

“Based on different levels of cultivation and physical constitutions, the time we spend sleeping is different. Some need to sleep for thousands of years, and some tens of thousands of years, but whatever it is, the Sacred Wood allows us to cut the time we need to spend sleeping short.

“Fellow Daoist Su, since you are surely another Almighty who has merged with his other self, you should be able to obtain a cave abode in the Sacred Wood as well. Use it as a place to sleep in the future while you wait for the arrival of the next aeon.”

Clearly, they did not know that… there would no longer be another aeon.

“Is there… an old ship here?” Su Ming asked after a moment of silence and swept his gaze over the three people.

The three people’s pupils shrank. No one spoke, causing the area to instantly fall silent. Even the constant rumbles beyond the planet seemed to have disappeared at that moment.

This scene caused a smile to appear at the corners of Su Ming’s lips.

The purple-robed old man let out a few fake coughs before he looked at the boy. The young man in white lowered his head, as if he did not hear Su Ming’s question, and a rarely seen look of hesitation appeared on the boy’s face.

After a long while, he shook his head towards Su Ming with a bitter smile.

“I know, but I can’t tell you. I can only say… that there is a mysterious sect in Heaven Lacking Expanse Cosmos. Its name is Life Extermination Hall.

“If we were to talk about the sect’s strength… Even the three of us are just external members. Almost everyone in the Sacred Wood are members of this sect.

“Fellow Daoist Su… you should know a bit of the sect’s strength by now.”

After saying that much, the boy stopped speaking.

Su Ming nodded. Since the boy treated him with courtesy and there was something keeping him from speaking, Su Ming did not further interrogate him. He stood up and wrapped his fist in his palm towards the three of them.

“If that is the case, I will bid my leave first. If we are fated to meet again… we will see each other again.”

After saying that, he turned around, intending to leave, but suddenly, resolve appeared in the boy’s eyes, and he took a step forward.

“Fellow Daoist Su, please don’t be in a hurry to leave just yet. I have three questions I would like to ask you. If you can provide me the answers, then I, Ban Bu Zi, will risk my life and tell you a few secrets.”

Su Ming stopped in his tracks. He turned around and looked at the boy.

The purple-robed old man’s expression changed when he heard the boy’s words. He looked as if he wanted to leave, but then hesitated. After a moment, he gritted his teeth, lifted his right hand, and swung it at the entrance of the cave abode above them. Fog instantly filled the area and covered the entrance.

As for the young man in white, he did not speak, but his actions spoke of his mind. The sword behind him instantly shot up, but it did not bring with it any killing intent. Instead, it exuded a vast amount of power. When it floated in the fog, millions of souls spread out from the sword. They filled up the area and formed a seal.

At the same time, the boy took a step forward. The cave abode immediately started swaying violently and showed signs of sinking. If anyone was out in the galaxy, they would be able to see that the mountain was devoured by the ground. If that someone stared at it with their will, they would see that a crack had opened up on the back of the huge living meatball. It swallowed the cave abode and fused it with the meatball so it could use its body to form a seal.

Su Ming’s expression remained the same. Not a single change could be detected on him. When the purple-robed old man exuded the fog, he could tell that the old man was not trying to attack him, but wanted to seal the place. Its purpose was to trap the others, ensuring that no divine senses or wills from the outside world could enter.

Su Ming was still staring at the boy. When the boy lifted his right hand, a green log the size of his palm appeared in his hand. He placed it carefully on the table, and when Su Ming looked over, his vision immediately distorted. He could not send his divine sense into the log at all.

“The Sacred Wood?” he asked slowly.

“I obtained it in the Vast Expanse. This is the first time I used it,” the boy said solemnly with a nod.

“What are your three questions? You can ask them now.”

Su Ming turned away from the Sacred Wood and focused on the boy. By his side, the purple-robed old man and the young man in white sat quietly. Clearly, the two of them knew what the boy wanted to ask.

“This is my first question: Will the disaster that will fall this time mark the end of this aeon… or the end of this Harmonious Morus Alba?” When the boy spoke, he kept a close watch of Su Ming’s expression.

“Why do you ask?” Su Ming’s expression remained the same, but his regard for the boy grew slightly. A person who could ask this question was definitely no one ordinary.

“Because I went to the Vast Expanse before. I saw… the Harmonious Morus Alba where we live. It is just like what the legends said. It is indeed a butterfly. I also saw… a great amount of aura of death about it, and it’s grown especially strong in this aeon. Its aura of death reminds me of someone who is about to die!

“The reason I ask this of you is because you are clearly different from us. You are a person of this current aeon, and if you are the strongest in this aeon, then you have clearly surpassed the strongest of any aeon before yours. I base it on the principle of how all things are born and how they die; only when a life is about to die will its strongest power born from a sort of madness would reveal itself!

“If you aren’t the strongest of this aeon, then this… will be even scarier,” the boy said in anguish.

Su Ming was silent for a moment before he sighed softly. “It will mark the end of this aeon, and the end of this Harmonious Morus Alba.”