Pursuit of the Truth

1

Su Ming stared at the old man. He was familiar with him, since he was the lonely old man who had sent him to the Heavenly Spirit Tribe in this place. At that moment, the kindly look on his face was vastly different from the gloomy expression he had in Su Ming’s memories.

He understood that he had come to the day before the old man from Heavenly Spirit Tribe went through his eighth spirit ascension. After that, all the people in Heavenly Spirit Tribe went through a disaster.

Because of it, all those who lived in the tribe would turn into wraiths. They would be killed by their own elder.

In silence, Su Ming lowered his head under the gaze and question of the old man from the ancient past, then chose a spot to sit.

The old man smiled and shook his head. He did not continue questioning Su Ming. Instead, he looked at all the children around him, and the kindly look on his face grew more pronounced. He knew that the people before him was the tribe’s future.

“Arid Dao is where the will of heaven resides. It is the root of all manner of beings. For example, all of you are members of Heavenly Spirit Tribe, but in truth, you are also part of Arid Dao.

“The will of Arid Dao is that all of us can become Arid Dao, but not all of us can become Arid Dao. This is its real intent. It is rather complicated, but you do not need to truly understand it. You just need to remember this in your heart. In the future, perhaps one of you will be able to understand just what exactly is Arid Dao,” the old man said slowly. With this sort of method, he passed down the inheritance of his tribe.

Su Ming stared at the old man. He could tell with just one glance that the current old man was much weaker than his future self. But even though there was a difference between them, he was still an Antecedental Spirit, and one who had succeeded seven times in the spirit ascension. However, right then, there was joy on his face instead of the loneliness and grief hiding under that apathetic look of his future self.

Time passed, and night fell soon. The old man’s lecture about Arid Dao gradually came to an end as well. During the night, torches were lit in the tribe. Under their light, the land was illuminated in such a manner that light and darkness intersected within it.

Su Ming sat in a corner of the tribe. He stared at the stars in the sky and the torches in the tribe. His expression was one of contemplation.

‘The one who killed the members of the tribe is clearly the old man. He knows this. The important detail is that when he lost consciousness, he was going through the Arid Disaster…

‘He wanted me to come here to tell him in detail about what I saw when I got back. He must have obtained some answers himself, but isn’t too certain about them, which is why he wants me to take a look. He wants certainty.

‘Just what… is the Arid Disaster? How can it make a person lose consciousness?’

Su Ming had a very thorough idea of why he had been sent over. At that moment, he stared at the starry sky and quietly waited for time to pass.

There was wind at night, causing the torches to let out sizzling sounds. During the night, no one in the tribe went to rest. When midnight drew close, all the members of the tribe went to the center of their land.

There were nearly one hundred thousand people under the huge Spirit Ascension Platform. All of them lifted their heads to stare at it in the dark and watch their elder who was about to go through his eighth spirit ascension.

Su Ming watched quietly from the crowd. He only had two days in the ancient past, and one day had already passed. He knew that the accident… would occur on the second day.

His eyes shone, but he could not see the old man on the Spirit Ascension Platform clearly. He could only see an indistinct silhouette.

Time trickled by, and gradually midnight arrived. Su Ming frowned at that moment. As an Antecedental Spirit, even when he returned to the ancient past, he could sense his own presence, but he could not sense the All Spirits Hall.

A hint of hesitation appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. At that moment, a roar suddenly came from the dark Spirit Ascension Platform. Immediately after, zealousness appeared on the face of all the people in Heavenly Spirit Tribe h, and they roared together.

“Heavenly Spirit!”

“Heavenly Spirit!”

Their voices reverberated through the air, fusing together with the old man’s roar on the Spirit Ascension Platform. This turned into a loud bang that shook the sky and earth. Bright light instantly appeared in the dark sky, and eight Spirit Descension Halls manifested. When they surrounded the area, the people on the ground let out even more excited cheers. The world roared, and a huge palace slowly appeared.

Su Ming was familiar with its appearance. It was the All Spirits Hall.

When he saw this, the frown between Su Ming’s eyebrows slowly disappeared. He stared at the All Spirits Hall and the two thousand something golden figures which appeared one after another. The darkness in the area was chased out, giving way to the light from the All Spirits Hall.

The members of Heavenly Spirit Tribe beside Su Ming stopped cheering. They grew agitated and nervous as they stared at the old man, who stood up at that moment, on the Spirit Ascension Platform. Due to the area surrounded by the light, his face could be seen by his people beneath the platform.

There was confidence on the old man’s face, like he knew the order of the eighth spirit ascension. At that moment, he turned into a long arc that charged to a position in the eighth row from the bottom.

Su Ming watched this scene with full attention. He could sense that the old man would definitely succeed in the spirit ascension. Then, the Arid Disaster would descend. The accident would occur at that time, which was why while Su Ming was paying full attention to the matter, he still instinctively cast a glance at the 781st position in the bottommost row. That was the position he had fused with earlier.

When he cast his gaze over, Su Ming’s pupils suddenly shrank, and a look of confusion appeared on his face. There was a sense of unfamiliarity about the Ancestral Spirit at the 781st position in the bottommost row. It was as if… it was not the one with which Su Ming had fused.

Even if a long period of time had passed, since Su Ming had fused with an Ancestral Spirit, there would be a thread connecting them. Based on Su Ming’s understanding, even time would not be able to destroy that thread between them. Yet at that moment, the Ancestral Spirit in the same position gave Su Ming an unfamiliar feeling…

The instant he noticed it was when the old man approached the Ancestral Spirit in the eighth row from the bottom. A thought instantly arose in Su Ming’s head.

‘Something’s off!!’

His heart trembled, and the feeling that something was off became even stronger. Unless his understanding was wrong and he would be unfamiliar with the Ancestral Spirit with which he had fused if he was in the ancient past… then there was only one answer, an answer that cast Su Ming into disbelief.

‘Could it be that the All Spirits Hall that appeared here… is fake?!’

Su Ming could not believe this guess, but the old man had already went to fuse with the Ancestral Spirit in the eighth row from the bottom. During the fusion, golden light covered the area of a hundred thousand feet around him, and he let out a low shout.

All of this looked incredibly real, so Su Ming could not help but be uncertain of his own guesses and conclusions.

The cheers echoed in the air again. All the members of Heavenly Spirit Tribe erupted in joy when they saw their elder clearly succeeding.

Amid the cheers, Su Ming became even more uncertain of his own guess, but that uncertainty only lasted for three more breaths. At that moment, his pupils shrank, and he sucked in a sharp breath.

The golden light in the sky reached one hundred thousand feet, but Su Ming could see pain and shock on the old man’s face. It looked like he wanted to open his mouth to say something, but was unable to do so. This scene was soon noticed by all the powerful warriors in the tribe.

At the same time, a loud bang shot up in the sky, and the eight Spirit Descension Halls shook. They turned into eight huge faces full of ferociousness that released a strange cry from their mouths. The seven huge faces made Su Ming’s heart tremble since he was familiar with them. They were formed from the Arid Beasts he had seen before!

Soon after, the huge All Spirits Hall shook as well. It turned crimson red, and the entire building changed into a huge red bolt of lightning that charged at the old man with a bang.

But things did not end when the red bolt of lightning hit him. It then split into nearly one hundred thousand portions that descended on the ground. They seeped into the center of everyone’s brows, causing all the people to tremble. They threw their heads back and let out a shrill roar.

Su Ming was no exception. Once the bolt of lightning seeped into him, his body shuddered. He could sense a violent energy enter him, but it did not throw his mind into disorder. Instead, he felt as if his body had been Possessed. He could no longer control it.

Soon after, Su Ming saw all the members of the tribe raise from the ground. Their eyes were bloodshot, and with madness in the, all one hundred thousand charged at the old man in the sky.

There were quite a lot of children among the figures, but at that moment, they also had ferocious expressions. With bloodshot eyes, they let out cries like those of wild beasts.

When the one hundred thousand people rushed out, a vast power that was greater than their levels of cultivation erupted from them. They were like one hundred thousand wild beasts who had lost their rationality. They instantly rushed to the old man, and judging by their looks, they wanted to devour him alive.

Countless human faces appeared on the bodies of the one hundred thousand tribe members. They had ferocious expressions and were absorbing the tribe members’ flesh, blood, and soul, causing them to wither swiftly. With the blood-red light from their eyes, it looked like there was another life about to be born in their bodies.

This scene caused Su Ming’s heart to tremble violently. His body was undergoing the same thing as the others, but he did not pay any attention to this. Instead, he stared at the sky.

The old man opened his eyes and stared at his people with grief on his face.

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