Pursuit of the Truth

1

At the same time, cracking sounds rose swiftly in the air. They came from the cracks that appeared on the gourd on Huang Mei’s back. Those cracks spread out, before the gourd… eventually shattered into pieces.

“Sorry about that, but I have a gourd as well.”

Su Ming let out a dry cough, then a freezing glare appeared in his eyes. He brought his right hand up and pointed at Huang Mei, and the small human from his gourd as well as his ‘wife’ immediately lowered their heads to cast Huang Mei a cold look before charging forward swiftly.

Huang Mei was so enraged by Su Ming’s words that he coughed up blood again. The outrage on his face reached an extreme state, and as he lifted his head to roar towards the sky, despair appeared on his face.

His roar was shrill and forlorn, as if no matter how he shouted, he could not vent out the extreme outrage in his heart.

When he saw the two small humans from the gourd swiftly close in on him, about to cut his neck, he quickly let go of the mountain rock and plunged into the depths of the canyon.

The two small humans from the gourd flashed and continued after him, but a big hand appeared in the air beside the falling Huang Mei and caught him. The back of that hand crashed into the incoming two small humans.

Loud bangs surged into the sky. As the two small humans tumbled backwards, chilly expressions appeared on their faces, especially on the one from Su Ming’s gourd. A powerful killing intent shone in his eyes, but he immediately returned to Su Ming’s side.

As for the small human who originally belonged to Huang Mei, she also came to Su Ming’s side. Adoration was in her eyes as she gazed at the small human from Su Ming’s gourd. It was as if just one gaze from him was enough for her to give up on everything for him.

Su Ming lifted his head slowly and stared at the fog above him, the killing intent in his eyes growing stronger. He lifted the gourd in his right hand and swung it. Immediately, the small human from his gourd flew back, and the female human that originally belonged to Huang Mei… also went to the gourd with him.

Fortunately, Huang Mei could not see this scene, since he was seized by the palm, or else he would have definitely coughed up another mouthful of blood.

“You want to save him?” Su Ming asked faintly while staring above himself.

“He is willing to enter the earth. In my path, there are gates leading to earth, so I will naturally save him,” an ancient voice said from the air. That voice belonged to Old Ya Mu.

This time, his voice echoed in the air, and all the people could hear him.

Su Ming did not speak, but stared at the air above him with an aloof gaze. It might be important to him whether Huang Mei lived or died, but compared to the thoughts raging in his mind at the moment, his survival was insignificant.

Su Ming had previously wondered about one thing. Old Ya Mu was clearly speaking to him, but no matter how he listened to it, he seemed to be explaining his actions to another person.

If he was in another place, Su Ming would not think too much about this strange matter, but this was the fifth kiln, and because of it, Su Ming had to delve into it.

Since Old Ya Mu was insistent on saving Huang Mei, Su Ming immediately decided to use this matter to test what was going on.

Which was why he did not speak. Not a hint of him showing any sort of compromise appeared on his face. He stared at the sky and stood on the summit aloofly, without saying a single word.

‘If Old Ya Mu softens his tone, then it would mean that my guess is correct—he ran into someone when I was engaged in that fierce fight on the mountain.

‘It is then because of that person that he spoke in such a manner, as if he was explaining his actions to someone else. It would have been due to his wariness.

‘But if his tone won’t soften up, my guess is incorrect.’ A myriad of thoughts spun in Su Ming’s mind, but he did not show a single hint of it on his face.

After about a dozen breaths, a sigh came from the fog above.

“Enough now. I’ve been here for many years. If I want to leave this place, I need a physical body. That boy just now seemed pretty decent, so I want to borrow it for a while. Once I leave, he will no longer be him.

“Aren’t you going to hurry up and gain an epiphany of my Mountain Shifter Art?”

The voice from the fog above caused Su Ming’s heart to tremble furiously. He lowered his head in silence and cast a glance at the iron scrolls on the stone platforms. Once he sucked in a deep breath, he raised both his arms. But just as he was about to press his hands on them, he spoke calmly without lifting his head, as if he was speaking very casually.

“When I was fighting against that ferocious spirit, which of my father’s clone did you encounter, senior?”

“The third… Hmm?” Old Ya Mu answered without much thought, but the moment he said it, a brilliant light suddenly shone in his eyes.

“The third clone, huh?” Su Ming said faintly. He had a strong feeling that Ya Mu was staring at him from the fog above. However, the habit of having his expression not change to reflect his thoughts was already something embedded into Su Ming’s bones, so he was not worried about having his thoughts seen through.

His words just then were purely to fish for something from Ya Mu. He had said those words at random, so it did not matter to him even if he got it wrong. He just wanted to see Ya Mu’s reaction and use it to make his judgment.

However, Su Ming had not expected that his words… would allow him to get an answer that caused his heart to tremble violently.

“What a sly lad. But I like this cunning of yours. As for what is going on between you and your father, I’m not willing to get myself involved in it.” Old Ya Mu in the fog chuckled and stopped speaking.

Su Ming’s heart trembled. He closed his eyes and pushed his palms against the two mountain rocks. Booming sounds echoed in the air, and everything in his mind was forced down, replaced by illusions of mountains.

As the one above crumbled, cracks also gradually appeared on the swaying one beneath him.

More cracks formed, and more mountains appeared in Su Ming’s head. In the end, a loud bang rang out. The instant the mountain above him completely collapsed, the images of countless mountains gathered together in his head before turning into a black ball of light.

That ball of light was an illusion. There were numerous mountains shining in it, and it had a vast, mighty pressure. Su Ming could sense it clearly, and he found that it was also spreading out from his body. During that instant, the expressions of all people who sensed that mighty pressure from Su Ming’s body changed. They felt as if there were ten thousand mountains pressing down on their heads.

Booming sounds rose into the air, and the mountain beneath began crumbling again. When all of it shattered into rocks, all the people on it were swiftly swept up. At the instant this happened, their power was instantly restored to them.

The next instant, the black ball of light in Su Ming’s mind gained corporeal form. It turned into a brand on his soul.

The shape of the brand was formed of three glowing spots connected together. There was a primitive presence to it, as if it had been naturally formed when the universe was initially created.

At the instant the brand was left in him, Su Ming sensed the existences of all the mountains in the entire universe!

Their numbers were countless. They were normal mountains in an innumerable number of planets, illusory ones that could not be counted, those that existed in the minds of legions of people, and they all formed a law that had yet to be discovered by the people in Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos.

The Mountain Shifter Art practiced the laws of mountains!

“A mountain is formed of three dots [1]! These three dots form the outline of a mountain, and they mark the beginning of the universe. They are the source of power! You, my scion who inherited the Art from Mountain Shifter Expanse Cosmos, you who are a foreigner to my world, remember this… Mountain Shifter is just the first style.

“Up to now since the date this Art was created, it only has this one style [2]. If someone from the worlds beyond is destined to create the second style, he should come to my Expanse Cosmos – Mountain Shifter Expanse Cosmos, and leave behind the second style… because those in my world have never had any other desire but to inherit this Mountain Shifter Art besides this…”

At the instant the brand was left in Su Ming’s soul, an ancient voice echoed in his heart. That voice felt like it had come from the passages of time and was full of sincerity.

Su Ming’s heart trembled. He opened his eyes, and the shadow of mountains appeared clearly in his pupils. During that moment, he had a strong feeling that with just one thought… he could control all the mountains in the universe!

The world instantly crumbled. As the fog around him tumbled about and the mountain beneath him collapsed, a gigantic vortex appeared out of thin air above him. While it spun about with loud booming sounds, a powerful suction force swept up the people’s bodies..

When Su Ming opened his eyes, he saw Xu Hui’s body in the distance. She was already close to the vortex, and beside her was Xuan Shang. Xu Hui seemed to have seized him by the arm, but there was panic on his face, and fear filled him as he shook his head nonstop. In the end, his expression morphed into that of anguish.

Su Ming did not look closely at him. With one move, he took his first step forward, and when his foot landed, a glowing spot appeared.

Then Su Ming took his second step, and the second glowing spot appeared.

He leaped up and appeared right next to Xu Hui, who was above the two spots. A smile bloomed on her face. She let go of her grip over Xuan Shang’s arm, which resulted in him being swept into the vortex, and allowed Su Ming to hold onto her. The third glowing spot then also appeared.

At the instant this happened, the spots connected and formed… a mountain!

That mountain might have been an illusion, but it allowed Su Ming to hold onto Xu Hui in midair, remaining tall and still with the vortex beneath him! It was as if a real mountain had appeared in the sky.

With one arm around Xu Hui, who was staring at him, Su Ming faintly spoke into the air. “Where is my serendipity?”

“There are plenty of worlds in the fifth kiln, but only this world… was created solely by me. Your serendipity is the essence of this one world I have gathered over countless years!” Old Ya Mu said from above, his voice echoing throughout the world that started rumbling furiously.

Shadows appeared beside Su Ming. There were dozens of them… and all of them had the appearances of the ferocious spirits. Nian Yin was one of them!

These ferocious spirits were the people Old Ya Mu had captured over the years. At that moment, all of them stood transfixed in the air. However, their bodies were withering rapidly, and a large amount of life force erupted from their bodies. This life force turned into thin white threads that charged towards Su Ming.

Translator’s Note:

1. A mountain is formed of three dots: The original is actually supposed to be “A mountain is also three.”

Because mountain is 山 (shan1) and 三 (san1) sound almost the same, but it made no sense in English if I wrote it like that, so I tweaked it again while trying to retain its original nuance. Still, please take note that this is a wordplay lost in translation.

2. Just a clarification, what he meant is that Mountain Shifter itself only has one style, and this Mountain Shifter Art, which only has one style, is the first style in his Ultimate Art, which has seven styles.

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