Pursuit of the Truth

1

The hundreds of thousands of cultivators who saw the event were rendered speechless, and a chill ran down their backs. The hot-tempered ones from before also felt their hearts tremble, and they did not dare to say a single word.

To them, power was everything, and Su Ming showed his by controlling the Sacred Wood that no one had been able to refine for countless years.

The hundreds of thousands of cultivators in the area knew just how powerful Su Ming was for having been able to do such a thing. His strength had already surpassed theirs by far.

No one could say who was the first to wrap their fist in their palm to bow to Su Ming, but soon, the others followed suit and wrapped their fists in their palms and bowed to Su Ming. Respect coming from the bottom of their hearts appeared on their faces.

This was power, and to them, everything in the world was decided by power.

Before he gained his epiphany, Su Ming had the same belief, but right theen, he understood that power was just a complement in the path of seeking the truth, an auxiliary that made the path smoother. It was just something additional that would never become the foundation of the path. Once anyone reversed the positions of the addition and the foundation, they would forever walk on the wrong path while searching for the truth.

Su Ming lowered his head and cast a glance at the Sacred Wood on his palm. The log was not completely unrefinable, as believed by the others due to what they had tried over countless years. It was because… the item belonged to Old Man Extermination.

Unless they had the same power as him, it was impossible to obtain it. As for why Old Man Extermination had placed it in the middle of the galaxy instead of taking it away, Su Ming did not want to form too many assumptions about it. He only felt that this item was pretty good and could be used as a stepping stone if he wanted to walk into the Vast Expanse some day in the future.

That was why he took it with him.

In fact, when he looked at the Sacred Wood, Su Ming guessed that perhaps… the gap on the butterfly’s fourth wing had come from the huge log of wood crashing into it from the universe beyond.

Su Ming clenched his fist and put away the Sacred Wood, then cast a glance at the cultivators wrapping their fists in their palms and bowing to him. He sighed softly. Those people were happy because they did not know that the disaster three hundred something years later would bring them unavoidable destruction.

Sometimes, ignorance was bliss.

Su Ming shook his head, then turned around to leave. He wanted to settle one last matter in Heaven Lacking Expanse Cosmos before he left.

While walking, his footsteps were not quick, but when his feet landed in the galaxy, it seemed to become smaller. With two steps, he saw the planet manifested by the boy.

He saw the boy, the purple-robed old man, the young man in white, and four other strangers he had never seen on the planet.

The seven people had manifested their legacy items and waited on the planet that symbolized beauty, never leaving it. It seemed like they wanted to live through the last few hundred years in that place to look at the final brilliance of their universe.

They were also waiting for Su Ming—their only hope as of then.

Beyond the prosperous cities on the planet, there was a sycamore tree with red leaves. Su Ming stood there with the setting sun behind him. The sun was red, and it served as a background for the leaves. They did not compete with each other in terms of beauty. The only thing that could be felt when they appeared together… was a hint of melancholy that had drifted over from some unknown area.

When the autumn wind blew, when the leaves fell, when a person turned their head around… perhaps they would no longer see that figure standing under the sycamore tree nor the setting sun behind it.

Su Ming watched the setting sun illuminating the cities with its final rays of light and the scattered lamps lit in the houses, feeling as if he was watching the whole universe’s rise and fall. He continued watching until the boy walked over from the distance beside him. Then, the purple-robed old man and the young man in white also showed up. They did not bother Su Ming, but instead stood by the side quietly with respectful gazes.

Their four other friends also stood nearby. They waited respectfully while watching him.

Su Ming was their hope. Even if they were going to die the next day, it was fine as long as their Daos and their epiphanies could be passed down.

As long as… their bloodline would not disappear!

This was a mindset low-ranked cultivators would not understand, but they were not the only ones. Some high-ranked cultivators could not understand it either.

But the few who did would leave behind countless legends and hopes in the world of cultivation so that there would constantly be people who could practice cultivation in the universe. They… had decided to offer their whole life’s worth of hard work to the path of cultivation!

The sun gradually set as if symbolizing Harmonious Morus Alba’s world. After coming down, it might no longer appear the next morning. It was just like the red sycamore leaves. Once they fell, they would never be able to return to the sycamore tree and dye it red. They could only direct their resentment at the wind for having arrived too soon, at the season for changing too soon, and… themselves for falling.

Su Ming sighed softly and looked at the houses in the cities gradually lighting up. He watched the sky slowly turn dark. He might like night, but during that moment, he would rather have had everything remain the same for all eternity.

“You’re here,” he said softly.

The seven beside Su Ming raised their heads and looked at him before they wrapped their fists in their palms and bowed to him.

No one spoke. At that moment, no one wanted to speak. Everything they wanted to convey was in their bows. They could not say it, and they did not need to say it.

Su Ming shifted his gaze away from the cities in the distance and looked at the boy. The boy was also staring at Su Ming. Their gazes met, and Su Ming saw the sadness as well as the hint of hope on the boy’s face.

“Your Dao is very unique. It also touched me very deeply. It’s just like your Daoist monastic name. Ban Bu Zi… perhaps while you walk through your Dao and open your eyes, everything in existence will serve to be a complement to you, and when you close your eyes, you will serve as a complement to everything in existence.

“Ban Bu Zi, it means half a step, but Bu also sounds similar to complement, making it seem as if you and everything in existence are two halves complementing each other…”

The boy shuddered, and a bright light lit up in his eyes. He stood stunned for some time, before he wrapped his fist in his palm and bowed deeply to Su Ming.

“Your disciple has learned his lesson.”

It was the first time since he had become the strongest of his aeon and learned that he could survive the disaster of his aeon that he… referred to himself as a disciple and performed the actions of one.

He referred to himself as a disciple, but that did not mean that he was a student under Su Ming’s tutelage, neither was it a title referring to differences in seniority. Instead, it was a form of gratitude to a person who bestowed knowledge upon him, and there was no point in caring about seniority, because there was no difference in seniority when it came to the path of cultivation. There was no doubt Su Ming had moved further than all of them in the pursuit of truth, and when he turned his head around, he gave them an epiphany, and hence, he obtained their respect.

“Your Dao is disheveled and jumbled up. You have only fused everything together and understood it after you gathered all of your power to perceive it. It is like how all things will return to their roots. To fulfill the ambitions of those who seek to perform great feats, your Dao became the ocean, but it will never be able to drown your thoughts,” Su Ming said slowly while looking at the purple-robed old man.

The purple-robed old man was silent. After a long while, he smiled. He did not speak, but neither did he bow.

“As for you… you are the peak of all sword cultivators. When you draw your sword, your will to kill is firm and not gentle. These are my words for you… There is nothing in the sky that cannot be cut and nothing on the ground that cannot shatter. They will not be cut and not shatter only because the sword has not been drawn!”

Once the young man in white heard his words, he took a few steps back, lifted his head to look at Su Ming, then wrapped his fist in his palm and bowed to him.

“Your disciple has learned his lesson.”

“I have never met the four of you before, but since you have made your decision, I will not destroy your hopes, but I do not know whether that world exists.”

Su Ming cast his gaze on the other four people. All of them had unique features.

One of them was incredibly big and built. When he stood there, the air around him distorted slightly. Su Ming could tell at first glance that he had suppressed his body. If he released his full power, his body would definitely become even larger.

In fact, there were indistinct stars at the center of that person’s brow. Clearly, he had a bloodline that was similar to that of the Ancient Gods. In truth, there were similarities that could be found in all the races between each aeon, and that person belonged to the bloodline of the Ancient Gods in a certain aeon within Harmonious Morus Alba.

The person next to him was a woman. She had a dignified look, and Su Ming could see a vague shadow behind her. It was an existence that was green from head to toe, had a single horn, and resembled a monster.

The third person did not bother to hide his true form. Black fog spread from his whole body. It was thick and had great corrosive properties.

His face could not be seen. Only a pair of red eyes could be detected from within the fog, but nonetheless, Su Ming could see the person’s true form. It was a huge creature with two horns on its head.

The last person was a middle-aged man dressed in green robes. He looked like a sage and was filled with an ethereal air. Su Ming was not unfamiliar with his presence. It belonged to those in the world of Immortals, which he had seen before.

Su Ming only cast a glance at those people and did not speak. Instead, the moment the sky turned dark, he lifted his right hand. When he was about to swing his arm, a glint suddenly shone in his eyes.

“They arrived so soon?”

As Su Ming mumbled under his breath, he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, his gaze returned to normal. He swung his right hand, and the entire sky roared, turning into a huge vortex. That vortex spun swiftly, and Su Ming opened his third eye. Within it, his Dao Divinity opened its eyes as well.

Su Ming used his Dao Divinity to guide his will so that he could open a crack leading to the world that may or may not exist!

“Send your legacies in there.”

When Su Ming spoke faintly, the boy opened his mouth resolutely, and a black statue flew out from his mouth into the vortex in the sky.

The eyes of the young man in white sparkled. What he delivered was the sword he always carried behind his back. Once it was sent out, even the vortex in the sky shuddered, as if it was about to stop rotating. It was a testament to how great the will in his sword was.

The purple-robed old man swung his arm, and as the center of his brow squirmed, a crack opened up. A crystal the size of a fist flew out from it. The crystal shone with black light and charged into the sky.

As for the other four, they sent out their legacy items as well. A total of seven items were sucked into the vortex, but the next moment, the crystal sent by the purple-robed old man looked as if it could not withstand the force of the vortex, and cracks appeared on it. As cracking sounds shot into the air, the number of cracks increased, but the purple-robed old man did not show any changes on his expression. However, if anyone took a closer look, they would find… that he was only an empty shell!

At the instant the other people’s expressions changed, the black crystal that was about to disappear into the vortex shattered, and a small humanoid flew out from within. The humanoid figure resembled the purple-robed man. He let out a shrill scream, voicing his unwillingness to admit defeat, and tried to rush back into the vortex, but in the end… as the vortex rotated, he was crushed to powder.

The purple-robed old man’s body was reduced to ash during that moment as well, and he disappeared from the world.