Pursuit of the Truth

1

Lu Ya’s clones swiftly gathered together before turning into his body again. The galaxy around him seemed like it was True Morning Dao World, but it was like a huge net to him. Forget leaving, just trying to retain his existence was already an incredibly difficult task.

When Su Ming shut his eyes, the entire world shattered. Fear appeared on Lu Ya’s face. An intense feeling that he was about to die rose like a roaring wave in his heart. The world shattered around him, and the destructive presence grew incredibly thick.

Madness appeared in Lu Ya’s eyes. He lifted his right hand and struck the center of his brows again. With it, the mark of the treasured gourd at his forehead shone brightly. At the same time, Lu Ya’s body withered, as if his life, his soul, and even his flesh and blood had been sucked into the mark between his eyebrows.

When he looked like a skeleton, the mark of the gourd shone with brilliant colors. When it shone in seven different colors, it left the center of his brow. A pained look appeared on Lu Ya’s face, and when the destruction of the world closed in on him, a seven-colored gourd appeared before him.

Without the mark of the gourd at the center of his brow, Lu Ya looked much older, but the madness on his face grew stronger. He roared towards the heavens, and the seven-colored gourd shone with an even more brilliant seven-colored light. It immediately spread through the area, and once it wrapped his body within it, it launched its strongest counterattack against the incoming destruction of space.

At that moment, Su Ming’s eyes had completely fallen shut.

There were no rumbles, no loud bangs, no shocking divine abilities, no changes, no Arts that caused the galaxy to tremble. The moment Su Ming’s eyes fell shut, the entire world disappeared as if it had been wiped off, and that included the seven-colored light, the worlds that seemed to continue cloning themselves… as well as Lu Ya.

Once Su Ming closed his eyes, all struggles and resistance were so weak that they could not withstand even a single blow.

It was as if they no longer existed in his eyes, and that was why they were no longer in his mind… Hence, they ceased to exist.

When Su Ming opened his eyes again, everything around him returned to normal. He was in True Morning Dao World, and nothing in it had changed.

When Su Ming lifted his right hand, a seven-colored gourd appeared in his hand. There were countless cracks on it, and soon, it fell apart as ashes.

“Han Bu Zi’s Dao is so overbearing that it is no weaker than the power of something existing if I just believe in it,” Su Ming said softly.

Everything ended.

When Su Ming turned his hand over, he cast the ashes of the seven-colored gourd away. He then turned around and walked towards Ninth Summit.

He wanted to go home. In the hundreds of years left before the disaster, he did not want to go anywhere. He only wanted to go back to Ninth Summit, and while there… he wanted to quietly be beside his friends and family while waiting for the disaster to come.

Su Ming returned to Ninth Summit.

He had not come back for over a hundred years, but Ninth Summit had not stopped developing because of his absence. Instead, it flourished even more than before. The number of disciples had increased by a huge margin. Under second senior brother’s lead, Ninth Summit headed towards the direction of becoming one of the great sects in the universe.

When Su Ming returned, he saw his senior brothers, Cang Lan, Xu Hui, Yu Xuan, his elder, and many familiar faces.

The passing of time seemed to become gentle at that moment. After returning to Ninth Summit, he did not leave again.

One day, snow fell from the sky. When it drifted down, it adorned the ground in white, making it shine with a silver light. The falling snow seemed to create the outline of a beautiful tomorrow.

There was snow, and there was wind.

Su Ming stood on a cliff and watched the snow falling from the sky. He remembered Bai Ling, but when he thought of her, he felt as if too much time had passed since then. There was a feeling of time and unfamiliarity.

Yet he could still see a boy and a girl walking into the distance on a snow-covered ground. Footprints were left behind them, but they were slowly covered by snow, deleting the way back home.

Vaguely, Su Ming also remembered Xiao Hong. He saw Dark Mountain and a boy dressed in beast skins. He was climbing the mountain and picking medicinal herbs while a red Fire Ape accompanied him. It was a period of time when everything was beautiful.

A smile appeared on Su Ming’s lips. He saw the boy smiling as well, but his smile was unfamiliar. It was as if even his memories had become something of a distant past to him.

Yet he could still recall Dark Mountain Tribe and all the people in it.

Snow continued falling.

“What are you thinking of?” an old and kind voice asked from behind Su Ming. His elder had hobbled over to his side. A thick fur coat was draped over his shoulders.

Su Ming turned around and looked at his elder. There was a sentimental expression on his face.

“About all the nice moments in the past.”

“You seem to like to think back on the past, just like someone as old as me.” The elder smiled and looked at the snow in the distance.

“In the past, the tribe would be at its busiest during this season. The food for winter would be pretty much be ready by now. Bonfires would be lit in the tribe, and our tribesmen would surround it to get through the winter.

“You young La Sus would be the most excited.” The elder smiled and shook his head.

“Yeah, I still remember young Tong Tong…” A little girl of six holding a pet in her arms appeared in Su Ming’s mind.

“It’s all in the past now.” The elder was quiet for a while, and the ancient air about him seemed to become heavier. His body also seemed to have become much frailer. In the wind, it looked like he could even sense the cold.

“I’m old now…”

The elder shook his head and cast a glance at Su Ming. He then turned around and walked into the distance.

Su Ming looked at the elder’s retreating back. It was no longer as big as he remembered from when he was young. He no longer looked as if he could lift the tribe up with his shoulders alone, as if he was the sky.

At that moment, that back seemed to belong to an old, mortal man. During his final years, he looked rather desolate… He was no longer the sky, but in Su Ming’s eyes, he would forever be the elder of the past, his elder who protected him and the tribe.

Snow would did not fall for ten years, but a cycle of sixty years had already passed.

It allowed Su Ming to let go of everything in his heart. He no longer thought about the disaster and Arid Triad. He only placed his heart and soul in Ninth Summit, immersing himself in his friendship with his senior brothers as well as the companionship provided by Cang Lan, Xu Hui, and Yu Xuan.

It was his home as it had always been.

Eldest senior brother was no longer headless. Instead, after going into isolated training, he rebuilt his body and turned into the man Su Ming was once familiar with. During the ten years, second senior brother had married six women, and he would occasionally laugh happily, causing Su Ming to smile when he heard it.

Once Hu Zi heard Tian Xie Zi’s lecture—delivered by Su Ming—he looked very hurt for several days, then he picked up his wine, started snoring without a care for the world, and very willingly… picked up his habit of peeking at others again.

The targets for his voyeurism included the female disciples of the sect as well as his second senior brother, which filled Ninth Summit with the atmosphere that sent Su Ming’s mind back to the past.

Winter passed, and spring arrived. There were many flowers and plants that rose up all over Ninth Summit. Second senior brother was the one who had planted all of them. He seemed to like them a lot, but it was a pity that a figure that would occasionally appear during the night no longer showed up.

Autumn arrived, and in the autumn breeze, Su Ming sat outside his cave abode. There was wine placed beside him, and he sipped at it while he watching leaves fall. He savored the fragrance of wine drank during autumn. By his side was Cang Lan. She was quietly accompanying him while they watched Yu Xuan and Xu Hui sparring with divine abilities and Arts.

Xu Hui’s competitiveness and Yu Xuan’s refusal to back down caused the two women to constantly squabble and argue. Usually, when the sparks were about to be ignited, Cang Lan would say a few words that were seemingly spoken unintentionally, and the two women would start fighting.

At such a time, Su Ming would pick up a pot of wine and watch by the side with a smile. The time spent like that was incredibly beautiful, so beautiful that Su Ming would sometimes think… that if everything continued like that, it would be perfect.

Compared to him, the bald crane, who had long since returned to its usual self and had brought the Abyss Dragon outside in search for crystals because it felt bored. It took up all sorts of shapes and made the crystals in the disciples’ pockets into its own with the Abyss Dragon.

This became the thing that it prided itself for the most. Every single time it succeeded, it would run excitedly to Su Ming, making him duplicate another set of crystals for it. To the bald crane, Su Ming’s Art of making crystals was the best divine ability that had ever appeared in the universe, and it longed for it with all its heart.

Day after day, and year after year passed by. When second senior brother married his 37th wife, one hundred years had passed.

During them, Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos began trembling, and the tremors grew more distinct. Some cultivators had noticed that it seemed like the entire world was tilting. An invisible suction force seemed to turn the galaxy chaotic, and gradually, a barely discernible ripple appeared.

Oceans began to dry up in some planets. The lands cracked. It seemed like the planets were losing their life force…

Su Ming knew those changes. He could sense that they natural when Harmonious Morus Alba’s wings were about to overlap. With each year, the signs became more prominent, and when the wings overlapped with each other, the disaster would descend.

During the hundred years, elder’s body gradually became weaker. His life was about to end, and all signs of his life were about to be wiped off of the passage of time. He would not be able to last forever…

Su Ming remained in Ninth Summit, but when he shut his eyes, his body would appear in every part in Arid Triad. One morning, rain poured from the sky, coming down in torrents. When it fell on the ground, a curtain of rain was formed, causing the entire world to become indistinct.

“I should make a decision now…” Su Ming whispered softly while staring at the rain.

He could not choose the path to head to the Vast Expanse because even he did not have the confidence to survive there, and the second path was to fight against the black-robed young man. To Su Ming… this was a huge gamble, and he practically had no chance of winning.

He only had the third path… but Su Ming did not have the right to choose it himself.