Pursuit of the Truth

1

Xu Hui did not make a single sound. At the moment she closed her eyes, she saw Su Ming lift his hand to continue climbing.

She could call for help, but she did not. In this perilous mountain where no one possessed any sort of power any longer, what would Su Ming choose if she cried out for help?

If he ignored her… then her heart would hurt badly. That pain would be mixed with bitterness, along with a deep wave of disappointment and sadness.

However… if Su Ming chose to save her, she believed that there would only be death waiting for him. If he was to die like this, then Xu Hui would rather he chose to ignore her.

That was why she did not call out. At the moment she closed her eyes, she also tightly shut her mouth.

Vaguely, Xu Hui seemed to be able to see the darkness of twilight closing in on her, and in the mid of it all, a lone ship swaying about. A thin moon was fading away. Petals were scattered on the ground. The man left into the distance, leaving only the image of his back for her.

Past the wind and past the mountain, she watched his lone back gradually leave into the distance…

Partings always came suddenly and made others unable to find the time to get used to and accept it, though in the end, they had to accept it.

On the Three-Life Stone [1] was a beautiful but morose flower of reincarnation, and whoever passed it would reach the spirit’s Nirvana. The desolate and drawn out wails from the River of Forgotten Love [2] symbolized… reaching the end of the world, and it was the place where all relationships would come to an end.

Xu Hui’s body plunged down. At the instant she closed her eyes, for some unknown reason, Su Ming’s heart trembled. He did not notice Xu Hui falling, because the swaying in the mountain caused him to be unable to think about anything else. The reason his heart trembled was because Zhu You Cai had turned his head back at that moment, and he sighed.

This sigh seemed to have fused together with the sigh from below him, and during that instant, it moved Su Ming’s soul and caused him to lower his head with a trembling heart. He saw…

… her with her eyes closed, her mouth shut. She was a petite figure by then akin to a kite with its string snapped plunging into the canyon.

If Su Ming still had his cultivation base with him, he would use his power to save Xu Hui.

Even if he did not have it, but still had his inborn ability, he would change the flow of time so that she would stop falling.

But he no longer had his cultivation base with him, and neither did he have his inborn ability. At that moment, Su Ming was like a normal person, a mortal.

That was why he let go.

He did not let go of his grip over Xu Hui in his heart, but the grip he had on the mountain rock. At the instant he did so, his body plunged down into the canyon below him.

It was just like when he had wanted to capture Yu Xuan’s unconscious body when she fell in the distance in the land of Berserkers and how when he wanted to capture Bai Su’s body while she dissipated with a sad but beautiful smile. Yet in the end, he had only been left with a lock of hair fluttering in his hand. One to his left, one to his right. One in front of him, one behind him.

In the end, he did not manage to catch a single one of them. What he seized was just the endless pain in the depths of his heart.

That was why he did not think nor hesitate this time. There were certain things that one might lose the courage to do once they thought about it, and once they hesitated, they might come to regret it for the rest of their life.

Sometimes, one had to move based on instinct and walk down a path… where one would not regret anything, and it would be enough.

‘If you can close your eyes and shut your mouth to not cry out for help so as not to affect me, are willing to fall into the depths of hell alone, parting with me, and can even sigh in such a light manner after that, still unwilling to let me notice you, then…

‘I can lower the hand reaching for heaven. If I can’t capture you… then I will fall to hell together with you.’

The release of Su Ming’s grip on the stone and his subsequent fall was so sudden that the other people were left stunned. When they lowered their heads, they saw the shadow of Xu Hui being devoured by the vortex in the canyon.

Su Ming watched her falling body come closer to him. To fall faster, he used his dexterity to catch a protruding piece of mountain rock to use it to provide a boost to his speed.

As the mountain swayed, Su Ming used the force of it to push his body forward, thereby becoming even faster. At that speed, he almost instantly rached the vortex in the canyon.

This was a place filled with fog and muffled bangs. When Su Ming saw the falling Xu Hui. he stomped fiercely on the wall beside him, becoming so fast that he closed in on her with a loud whoosh and caught her in his arms.

The two of them fell together into the seemingly endless canyon.

At the instant Xu Hui was held, the familiar presence and warmth beside her caused her to open her eyes and look at Su Ming.

He was also looking at her.

The two of them stared into each other’s eyes while they fell amid the moaning wind.

There were people in the world who would never voice their affections, but the affection that lay in the depths of their hearts was such that if one understood it, they would be able to smile for the rest of their lives.

There were also people who always smiled. The mature charm of it might make one look like an elder sibling, but one should not be fooled by the gentleness. What was hidden behind that gentle demeanor was the other side of the personality. Yet no matter which side was shown, both of them would choose to adhere to the resolve in the heart and walk to the end of their path with unrelenting determination.

‘If you go to the sky, then I will stay by your side right before everyone’s eyes. If you go to hell, then I will stay by your side and sink with you.

‘If you are white, then I am willing to make myself white. If you choose black, then I… will be the same as you. I will become the darkness in the sky.’

“You saved me again… This time, I saw your face clearly.” A beautiful smile blossomed on Xu Hui’s face.

“Why didn’t you call out to me?” Su Ming asked softly.

“I was the one who didn’t manage to hang on to the mountain rock, not you…” Xu Hui also wrapped her arms around Su Ming. Her hair danced in the air as the wind swept them up. They surrounded Su Ming’s face and covered his eyes.

While tightly holding onto him, Xu Hui buried her head into his shoulder before closing her eyes. As a faint smile appeared on her lips, there was also anguish within her that Su Ming could not see.

At that moment, a low growl that was very close to them reached their ears. A gigantic head suddenly emerged from the obscure fog around them. It was black and covered in boils. Judging by looks… they could tell that this was Nian Yin, the cultivator who had fallen into the vortex previously!

However, his body had grown several times larger. Just his head alone was ten feet big. His entire person floated in the fog, and he was grinning hideously at Su Ming and Xu Hui.

The fog dissipated over there, and Nian Yin’s body, which was around a hundred feet tall, was completely revealed before their eyes. Su Ming saw countless boils covering his skin. In fact, quite many of them had burst, and yellow liquid was leaking out of them. There was also a thick, foul stench spreading through the area.

With a low growl, Nian Yin charged towards Su Ming and pounced on him.

He opened his mouth wide, dragging out a large number of strands formed by sticky liquid in the process, making him look an incredibly hideous sight. At the same time, he looked as if he wanted to devour Su Ming and Xu Hui in one go.

Su Ming’s heart trembled, but he had lost all his power, and there was simply no way he could fight back. When he saw that the ferocious beast in which Nian Yin had turned was closing in on him, a huge hand similarly covered in boils shot out from the fog to seize Nian Yin’s body, and it yanked him back.

Nian Yin’s hundred something feet tall body tumbled backwards swiftly. Once he was flung away, a ferocious beast that was several hundreds of feet tall and much bigger than Nian Yin appeared from the fog.

This creature had also once been a cultivator, but he was even bigger. There were countless boils on his body as well as veins popping up on his skin. As he roared, his eyes turned bloodshot. He glared at Su Ming with madness and pain in his eyes.

“You… are mine!” he shouted out and rushed at Su Ming.

At that instant, Su Ming saw around a dozen something of these ferocious beasts that were originally cultivators coming out from the fog.

Clearly, these people were all those who had fallen into the vortex when they came to the mountain in the past. For some unknown reason, after they died, they became existences that were neither human nor monsters.

If Su Ming still had his cultivation base with him, he would not be bothered by these ferocious spirits that might or might not be dead. However, he was as feeble as a mortal at that moment. It was the same for his physical body. Forget a dozen something of them, he did not have hope of fighting against even one of them.

The ferocious beast that just shouted out his claim rushed towards Su Ming with a roar. The dozen something ferocious spirits by the side along, with Nian Yin who had been pushed aside just then, also roared and charged over.

Su Ming sighed and looked at Xu Hui. She also looked at him before closing her eyes.

Yet at the moment she did so, a low roar suddenly came from above the abyss.

“Catch this!”

After those words, a gigantic chain shot into the canyon, straight towards Su Ming. It closed in on them in an instant, and Su Ming lifted his right hand to grab it. At the moment he caught it, a huge force came through the chain from above and pulled Su Ming and Xu Hui upwards.

While roaring even louder, the dozen something ferocious spirits rushed forward together. If they continued with this pace, then as the chain continued pulling them upwards at that swift speed, Su Ming and Xu Hui would have a certain amount of chance of rushing out of the canyon.

But the moment the chain started moving faster, it suddenly paused for a moment.

“Huang Mei, what’s the meaning of this?!” An enraged voice came from above again. It was the same voice as before, but this time, it was much clearer. It was… Zhu You Cai’s voice.

Due to the chain freezing, the ferocious spirits’ roars closed in. Just when they were about to pounce on them, Xu Hui opened her eyes and cast a deep look at Su Ming before shoving him away so that she would leave his embrace and die in the ferocious beasts’ mouths. Then… Su Ming would have a chance of leaving the place with the chain.

This was her choice.

Su Ming’s heart trembled. When he saw that Xu Hui’s body had left his arms, he moved while still holding tightly onto the chain with his left hand and caught her shoulder with his right hand. Without any hesitation, he pulled Xu Hui back before binding her body with the chain in his left hand and tying a knot around her.

“Wait for me up there. This is my kiln. I… won’t die!”

Once Su Ming finished saying this, he used every ounce of his strength to shove Xu Hui, whose face was filled with anxiety, upwards.

Translator’s Notes:

1. Three-Life Stone: A crimson stone located at the end of Naihe Bridge/Helpless Bridge. The three lives are a person’s three lives, his past life, his present life, and his future life. When people die, they walk past this stone, and if they carve their name on it with someone else at the same time, they will be together in their future life/next life. So if lovers carve their names on the stone together, they will still be together in their next lives.

2. The River of Forgotten Love: In the Chinese version of hell, the Naihe Bridge/Helpless Bridge is set over the River of Forgetfulness. All people who die have to cross it to head to their next lives.

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