Pursuit of the Truth

1

It was the first time the bald crane had said such a thing, and when Su Ming heard its words, he felt slightly miserable. He stared at the bald crane. To him, the bald crane was not a pet, but a friend. In fact, it was of equal status to Lei Chen, his eldest senior brother, second senior brother, and Hu Zi in Su Ming’s heart.

Their friendship was like old wine. As time passed, it became more fragrant, and once he drank it, he would be drunk, and he could laugh happily his entire life.

“She is…” Su Ming said softly.

“She should be Fei Hua… I think so,” the bald crane murmured.

It had watched the woman for one hundred something years. It did not know whether she had noticed it. The bald crane only knew that it wanted to watch her very much. There seemed to be a period of time when it had watched a woman like that before as well, and at that time, it seemed to have also noticed that there was a pair of eyes watching it.

And at that time, the bald crane did not think that it was a bald crane. To it, who was a being that could transform, the bald crane’s form was the one it adapted the most, but it… had already forgotten whether this was really its original form.

It was a form of sadness, and even more so, a form of pain. It had already forgotten its earliest appearance and forgotten how it became the bald crane… It only vaguely remembered that it did not look like that in the past, but had been a cultivator.

Su Ming was silent for a while before saying softly, “I still have your physical body with me. If you want to… you can fuse with it. This will bring more of your memories back.”

The bald crane fell silent… It had chosen not to fuse with its physical body in the past because it had a feeling that if it did so, it would have its memories restored… Once that happened however, another set of its memories would disappear.

The choice made it feel lost. Yet a voice that had been suppressed for years at a corner of its mind cried out shrilly at that moment. That voice became louder as time passed as if it wanted to affect the bald crane’s mind.

“Fuse with your physical body and restore your memories. You are Kong Mo, a powerful warrior who has absolutely no respect for laws in this universe belonging to Harmonious Morus Alba. You are Kong Mo!

“Awakening Kong Mo would mean allowing yourself to wake up. It’s Old Man Extermination who caused your physical body to be torn apart. It’s Old Man Extermination who made you lose yourself after you fought with him. Wake up… find Old Man Extermination, and fight him again!”

“Get lost! Get out of my head!”

Blood capillaries appeared in the bald crane’s eyes, and it swiftly began growling, suppressing the voice that was becoming louder in its heart. When it lifted its head, it looked at Su Ming.

“I don’t want to turn into Kong Mo…”

As it spoke, the bald crane trembled slightly. It turned its head back and looked at the old woman sitting under the wooden house beside the lake. At that moment, she raised her head as well, and their gazes seemed to meet.

Tears fell from the bald crane’s eyes, but they could not reach the ground. They could only disappear into the air…

“Let’s go. We’re leaving. Damn it, I still need to find more crystals!”

The bald crane swiftly turned around and changed into a long arc to leave. Su Ming watched it quietly. He could sense its sorrow and all the complicated emotions in it. When he turned his head around, he looked at the old woman, and he also saw tears in her eyes.

With a soft sigh, Su Ming brought his right hand and pointed at the old woman in the distance. With it, a vortex appeared at the center of the old woman’s brow. Once it appeared, the ferocious figure of the Five-Faced Beast Deity rushed out from within. It turned into a long arc that charged at Su Ming. When it landed on his palm, Su Ming shook his head, turned around, and left.

“I’ve broken your Curse and restored your cultivation base…”

When Su Ming went away, he left a few words behind. They echoed in the ears of the old woman, whose face was slowly changing to that of a teenage girl.

The girl looked at the other side of the lake in a daze. It was the spot where the bald crane had lain during the one hundred something years.

Fei Hua did not care about the Curse’s dissipation, and neither did she care about her face changing. But… there was no way she would not know that the person she had been waiting for had been quietly watching her for over one hundred years.

Even if his appearance had changed, it was impossible for her to forget that feeling, and it was also impossible for her to forget how many years she had waited for him. She did not long for him to appear before her. His companionship over the one hundred years from across the lake already made her feel content…

They were the warmest one hundred years in her life since she had reached Avacaniya Realm.

The girl sighed softly and lowered her head. When she brought her right hand up, she spread out an ancient picture before her. The canvas were already yellow, bearing the signs of time, but it could not hide the mischievous expression on the smug boy grinning brightly as he stood beside two girls.

“If only Loulan was still around…” the girl mumbled softly. She watched the boy in the picture for a time, then slowly closed her eyes.

…..

Su Ming left.

With the bald crane, he returned to Arid Triad’s gap, and from there, they went back to Arid Triad’s Expanse Cosmos.

A familiar galaxy, a familiar presence, and a familiar Morning Dao…

Su Ming was familiar with everything in that place. It was his home. Ninth Summit was as magnificent as ever. Its development over the one hundred something years turned it into an existence that reached the skies.

The intruders from Dark Dawn and Saint Defier had returned to their own Expanse Cosmoses when Su Mings formed by the three black-robed men had gone to slaughter their people. After that… they did not return.

The four war-torn True Worlds in Arid Triad had obtained a period of rare peace. The remaining cultivators started restoring their True Worlds, but it did not look like the four Great True Worlds could ever return to their former glory.

However, only a few people knew that the disaster was about to arrive; only a few people were aware that several hundred years later… they would no longer exist.

Su Ming stood beyond the disappeared Heavenly Incense Rune and stared quietly in the north. After a long while… he turned around, and with the still dispirited bald crane in tow, he appeared in a seemingly calm spot in the galaxy, located beside Ninth Summit.

It was a calm and quiet place. It seemed like a lake that would not billow. There were no ripples on its surface, but Su Ming still stood there for a long, long time.

“I’m going to meet two old acquaintances.” Su Ming looked at the bald crane.

It nodded and looked at Ninth Summit.

“I miss the Abyss Dragon… We’ll meet in Ninth Summit,” the bald crane said dejectedly, then turned around and left.

When the bald crane disappeared, Su Ming stared at the calm galaxy and sighed softly. He noticed that once he woke up from his epiphany regarding Boundless Dao Realm, he was sighing for all the one hundred something years he had been gone. His expression grew slightly complicated when he took a step forward.

With that one step, the galaxy distorted. When it returned to normal, Su Ming felt as if he had stepped into another galaxy, one that was isolated from his True Morning Dao World’s will.

At the instant he entered it, the three black-robed men sitting and meditating immediately lifted their heads.

They were the three great Apostles and had actually descended in Arid Triad under Old Man Extermination’s orders quite a long time ago. However, when Su Ming was in the boy’s planet and cast his divine ability under the sycamore tree, he had closed his eyes. Nothing unusual seemed to have happened at that time, but in truth, the moment he closed his eyes, he had appeared in Arid Triad. He did not execute any shocking Art, but had just distorted the galaxy and bound the three black-robed men.

When he stepped in and the three black-robed men looked in his direction, they stood up from their seated positions… and Su Ming appeared in front of them.

More accurately speaking, he appeared in front of each of the three black-robed men.

That was because in the galaxy Su Ming had distorted with his will, the three black-robed men might have seemed to be together, but they could not see each other. The world was divided into three layers, and each layer… bound a single person.

Su Ming divided himself into three when he arrived, sending one of himself in each layer.

In the first layer was the incredibly big and built black-robed man. He looked at Su Ming and snorted coldly. The noise he made had a domineering air, and when it appeared, it shook the galaxy.

Su Ming looked at the big and built figure, wrapped his fist in his palm, and said softly, “I, the Fourth God of Berserkers Su Ming, greet the First God of Berserkers… Senior Lie Shan Xiu.”

The big and built black-robed man was silent for a while before he took off the hood over his head to reveal an extraordinary valiant face. It had an ancient air, but looked somewhat boorish. He… was Lie Shan Xiu!

There was a slightly complicated look on his face when he looked at Su Ming, but it could be clearly seen that his mind was clear, just as clear as that of the Progenitor of Abyss Builders. There was not a hint of his mind being controlled.

Their gazes met, and after a long while, Lie Shan Xiu spoke in a hoarse voice. “You should not have refused to become the fifth Apostle in the past.”

He had a dignified and domineering tone that brook no argument, which stemmed from his personality. He was once the first God of Berserkers, and he had led the Berserkers to power. He had created the kingdom of Berserkers and even fought against the Immortals. He had accomplished feats that could not be surpassed and created the God of Berserkers Song.

Although had uttered only a few simple words while standing before Su Ming, it felt as if the laws in the galaxy around him were changing.

“You should not have stood against Master Extermination. You… don’t understand his Dao, but since you acknowledge me as the God of Berserkers, come with me and meet our master. You will then understand that his Dao is the path all of us should pursue!”

Lie Shan Xiu turned his head and looked into space. He might not be able to see Ninth Summit, but he seemed to sense the many Berserkers there.

“We are not enemies. Let’s go. Come with me and meet our Master Extermination…”

“What is his Dao?” Su Ming asked while staring at Lie Shan Xiu.

“The universe is about to be destroyed, and Harmonious Morus Alba is bound to die. His Dao is one that can create a chance for all of us to survive before we die. That chance will be slim, but if we can grab hold of it, then be it the Berserkers or the other races, we will be able to continue living in another Harmonious Morus Alba!” Lie Shan Xiu said without hesitation.

“That chance of survival… requires the use of my appearance and my name to stir up a bloody massacre in Dark Dawn and Saint Defier?” Su Ming asked softly.

Lie Shan Xiu fell silent, but it only lasted for three breaths before a firm look appeared in his eyes.

“That’s right!”.