Pursuit of the Truth

1

Harmonious Morus Alba had never come into contact with Boundless Dao before, but it had reached a Realm where it could sense it.

That was why at the instant it sensed that presence, Boundless Dao were the only words that rose in its mind. The presence might be faint and it might just be an epiphany, but to the butterfly, it was something it could only dream of.

It was the same for Arid Triad. Compared to Harmonious Morus Alba, who once attained great completion in Avacaniya Realm, he had lost his chance for it when he failed to completely Possess Harmonious Morus Alba

He could only do it if he finished his Possession… and he had been trying to do it over countless aeons, but he had never managed to succeed. He could only encroach upon it bit by bit. Perhaps if he had enough time, he would succeed someday, but even so, he could only reach the strongest state that Harmonious Morus Alba had once had. He could only attain great completion in Avacaniya Realm.

However, once he Possessed most of Harmonious Morus Alba, Arid Triad also obtained quite a lot of memories and legacies. Among them was Harmonious Morus Alba’s desire to reach Boundless Dao, and it naturally allowed Arid Triad to be able to see Boundless Dao as well… He also could understand that Su Ming was trying to gain a complete epiphany of the Realm.

As for Old Man Extermination, for a person who had a grand plan and who managed to survive the deaths of many Harmonious Morus Albas, it was impossible for him to not know about Boundless Dao. Just his multiple run-ins with Xuan Zang were enough for him to never be able to forget the presence of Boundless Dao. He also knew just how terrifying it was.

‘No matter how much potential they have, no one in the entire universe can reach Boundless Dao Realm with just one epiphany!

‘I have managed to barely come in contact with it after devouring the power of life before three Harmonious Morus Albas died… So what right do you have to succeed?!

‘Su Ming… will not be able to reach that Realm!’

Old Man Extermination glared at the galaxy. With a sullen expression, he lifted his right hand and seized the air in the direction of Su Ming’s palm print on the wooden plate. The palm print immediately became indistinct.

‘Everything will still go according to plan. He will still be a sacrifice. It’s impossible for him to escape from my hands.’

Those might have been Old Man Extermination’s thoughts, but his gaze when he occasionally lifted his head to stare at the galaxy showed a rarely seen nervousness. It never appeared on his face unless he was facing Xuan Zang.

“There still isn’t enough resentment. Apostles of Anger, Grief, and Resentment, I will give you full power to gather resentment from this universe!”

Old Man Extermination clenched his right fist, and when he unfurled his hand, three balls of souls appeared in it. His words traveled directly into the souls, and the three black-robed men in Saint Defier’s camp instantly sensed it.

The three people in three different regions fell silent for a moment before they immediately sent out more clones. Each clone took on Su Ming’s appearance, and when they spread out, they stirred up a bloody storm in all of Saint Defier’s Expanse Cosmoses.

All the lives there suffered miserably. Each clone that took on Su Ming’s appearance looked seemed to have its own will. As they killed mercilessly and brutally, they left behind Su Ming’s name.

His name became a curse. Gradually, it was dipped in a sea of blood formed by great hatred of countless cultivators in Saint Defier’s camp.

When the slaughter spread to Dark Dawn’s camp, the wisps of resentment gathered together, causing the resentment in all of Dark Dawn and Saint Defier’s Expanse Cosmoses to become incredibly thick.

This lasted for ten years while Su Ming continued walking in a daze in the fourth Expanse Cosmos. He went past many places during that time and the entire fourth wind. Many people saw Su Ming in the galaxy by pure coincidence during that period of time.

No life form could get close to him, however. At the instant anyone who harbored hostility attacked, they would receive varying degrees of backlash based on their different levels of cultivation, just like what Old Man Extermination had suffered.

Time passed, and soon, another ten years went by. A total of twenty years were gone. To mortals, that period of time would be equivalent to a child turning into a young adult. To cultivators, twenty years were only the blink of an eye, and it was especially so for the old monsters who lived through countless ages. To them, twenty years were equivalent to an instant.

Be it the boy, the purple-robed old man, or the young man in white, all three of them had long since completed their preparations for their legacies. In fact, quite a number of their Daoist friends had understood everything from their advice and persuasion. They gathered together and tried to leave behind their legacies.

They, too, saw Su Ming wandering about the galaxy during the twenty years. They could not get close to him, but they could vaguely sense a presence around him that shook them, and it felt like it was slowly rising in power… They watched, quietly waiting for the day Su Ming would wake up.

When the first cycle of sixty years was over, it could be said that all the old monsters who woke up in Heaven Lacking Expanse Cosmos had seen Su Ming, wandering about with a dazed expression and the increasingly more powerful presence. It caused the galaxy to distort wherever he went, and… the eternal rumbles in the Expanse Cosmos would stop when he arrived near them.

Right then, there was no way the cultivators in the Expanse Cosmos did not know that Su Ming had sunk into a state of an epiphany. No one was to interfere with him trying to gain it. If he continued on, he would either succeed and step into a Realm that would shock all under heaven… or fail to do so, but no matter what, this sort of epiphany was something that would only come on its own and not something they could gain by seeking it, no matter what Realm they were in.

Su Ming was completely unaware of the passing time, because at that moment, he no longer had any thoughts. He forgot everything. If no one came to bother him, he would continue in that state of gaining his epiphany until the day the entire universe was destroyed.

He did not know how many years had passed or just what deep grudge his name had gathered in Dark Dawn and Saint Defier. Those things were completely unknown to him at that moment.

He could only sense that he wanted to seek the truth and an answer while searching for an epiphany. There seemed to be an empty path before him, and he wanted to continue down that path. Even if there was no end to it, he would never turn his head back.

During the sixty years, Harmonious Morus Alba and Arid Triad both silently felt Su Ming’s existence within their perception. They did not know whether he would succeed, but the severity of the matter would determine the universe’s structure of power.

Old Man Extermination watched Su Ming as well. He had spent nearly nine-tenths of the sixty years on Su Ming… and then, another cycle of sixty years went by.

When 120 years passed, Su Ming still did not show any signs of waking up, but the presence of Boundless Dao Realm around him became stronger. At that moment, the anxiety in Old Man Extermination’s heart grew to a state where it had to explode. He could not allow Su Ming to continue gaining his epiphany. Even though he was very certain that Su Ming would not succeed… he could not sit by and watch it.

He was afraid… of something unforeseen happening!

He could not allow even the slightest accident happen when there was only three hundred something years left until Harmonious Morus Alba was destroyed. His expression contorted, and resolve slowly appeared in his eyes. He swiftly raised his right hand, and his gaze fell on the three balls of souls.

“Step into Arid Triad and behead all the people in Ninth Summit. Then send their heads here… Use their blood to force him to wake up!”

Old Man Extermination’s voice had a dark undertone. It was the only method he could think of to break Su Ming’s epiphany.

The moment his words reached the three balls of souls, the three black-robed men, who had stirred up a bloody storm in Dark Dawn and Saint Defier’s camps and formed an endless amount of resentment towards Su Ming, fell silent. They chose obedience. They retrieved their clones, and the three of them turned into three long black arcs that charged towards the gap leading to Arid Triad.

A sigh came from the space beside Old Man Extermination at that moment.

“Must you do this?”

The sigh came incredibly abruptly, causing Old Man Extermination’s expression to change, and he lifted his head. A figure walked out of the space before him, and it… belonged to Su Ming.

But Old Man Extermination could sense clearly that Su Ming was still wandering about in a daze while trying to gain his epiphany.

“Dao Divinity!”

Old Man Extermination’s pupils shrank. At the instant he opened his mouth, Su Ming’s figure, who had walked out of the space before him, lifted his right hand and pushed forward slowly.

He looked real, but in truth, he was just an illusion. When he brought up his hand and pushed forward, Old Man Extermination’s eyes shone. He moved, and an indistinct figure appeared in front of him as well. It seemed to have appeared in the exact same manner as Su Ming’s!

The two figures clashed against each other.

From one strike, the fourth Expanse Cosmos cracked. The crack penetrated through space and looked like a dividing line that didn’t allow light and darkness to fuse together.

At the instant the crack appeared, the ancient ship Old Man Extermination had hidden revealed itself after a series of distortions. Old Man Extermination’s hair flew up, and the illusory body before him turned into crystalline glows that scattered away.

Su Ming’s illusory body disintegrated on the other side of the crack as well. When it did so, Old Man Extermination shook his head, and there was a hint of regret as well as determination on his face.

“In just 120 years, you managed to form a Dao Divinity. Su Ming… I underestimated you, but it does not matter. You cannot hurt me, and neither can I hurt you. Then… three hundred years later, we will end things between us.

“That moment is no longer far away!”

Old Man Extermination’s lips curled into a smile. His body and the ancient ship gradually disappeared into space. Only a crack that divided the Expanse Cosmos remained to bear witness of what had just happened.

In the galaxy in the distance, Su Ming’s footsteps suddenly came to a halt. His presence slowly gathered together, and his expression was no longer dazed. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

He was silent for a long while before he said faintly, “When we meet again three hundred years later… will you still be you?”