Pursuit of the Truth

1

With the jade slip in his hand, Su Ming closed his eyes again, then began stabilizing his power of Dao Spirit Realm in the sixth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky while meditating and waiting for Seven Moons Sect to make preparations for him to sound his Dao Spirit Voice.

Su Ming had never been interested in Ancient Zang’s competition of the successors. Be it to become a successor or to kill, all of this was just a method for him to increase his level of cultivation and were part of his path leading to him Possessing Xuan Zang in the end!

No matter who tried to block him, Su Ming would kill them!

He would kill all the people who got in his way and crush all the obstructions. He wanted to stand above the sky and look down on the universe! That was why he agreed to Gu Tai’s plan to join the competition of the successors!

But in Su Ming’s heart, this was not a competition between successors. It was his cultivation path. It was… the path to Possess Xuan Zang!

No matter how real the world was, his ninth summit was not in it, nor were his Berserkers or the woman he had loved.

Even if… he saw some familiar faces among the people around him, Su Ming believed that what he saw did not belong to him!

His home had always been in the ninth summit. His home was always in Arid Triad!

That feeling became especially strong after the wills of the four Great True Worlds returned to him. It grew to the point that it made his future path clearer. It became his motivation to continue walking down his path!

The rise and fall of those thoughts only appeared in the depths of Su Ming’s heart. He had already learned not to show a single hint of his emotion on his face. Only when he closed his eyes would they burn with a madness from the culmination of everything in his life.

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, a month went by. On the morning after that, the sixth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky looked as if it had started burning. It had gained a brilliant shade of red, and with an ancient tone, Gu Tai’s voice resounded in the air.

“Su Ming, it is time. Sound your Dao Spirit Voice!”

Su Ming’s eyes flew open. Not many changes could be seen on his face. Only the dark light shining in his eyes at that moment showed how strong his determination was, since the eyes are the windows to the soul.

When Su Ming stood up, the dark light coming from his eyes looked like a sea of fire spilling out around him, forming a contrast with the fiery red in the sky. At the instant he turned into a long arc that charged upwards, the sky roared, and a huge vortex appeared out of nowhere.

The moment Su Ming rushed out of it, he stood above the skies of Seven Moons Sect. Clouds tumbled about around him. The rising sun was in the sky, and when he cast his gaze over the land, the entire world was within his field of vision.

Seven Moons Sect seemed to have become insignificantly smaller beneath him.

Wind howled, blowing up Su Ming’s long hair and making his robes flutter, but it did not blow away his cultivation base and his determination to make himself stronger.

“Sounding your Dao Spirit Voice… You might need to make it sound, but you do not need to strike it like you would do to a bell. Instead, you need to shout in your own voice, a voice that belongs to you in Dao Spirit Realm. Make it fuse with the world and the sky, and it will become a guide. Turn it into ripples. When you change the world, your Dao Spirit will go through a metamorphosis and become a spirit by the end of you shout!”

Gu Tai’s voice echoed in the air from every direction. It lingered around Su Ming like the voice of the world.

“You don’t actually have to prepare anything to sound your Dao Spirit Voice nor do you have to notify the other sects. In the past, when other people sounded their Dao Spirit Voices, they would only do so in their sects. There is a special forbidden area that can prevent Dao Spirit Voice from traveling outwards!

“But for you, this is not suitable. What we want is for all of Ancient Zang to know that the third prince is in Seven Moons Sect. That is why… we need you to sound your Dao Spirit Voice in the air!

“Over the past month, Seven Moons Sect has made complete preparations. We set up a large number of Runes in the area, and all the sect elders have gone out to act as Dharma Protectors for you. The thirteen great sect elders will personally act as garrisons for you. We will not allow anyone or any sect to disturb you!

“What I want… is for you to bring out all of your power. Don’t hide even the slightest bit of it. Don’t worry about Seven Moons Sect attacking you in the present or in the future!

“Don’t worry. I have practiced cultivation for an unknown number of aeons.With me being the sect master of one of the seven sects of Ancient Zang, my promise is also Seven Moons Sect’s promise. I promise you that regardless of the present or the future… you will forever be a part of Seven Moons Sect!

“No matter where you go, no matter how great your achievements are in the future, you will be part of Seven Moons Sect! Similarly, even if you make other choices in the future, you must remember… that there is a sect in Ancient Zang called Seven Moons Sect!

“This is Seven Moons Sect. You will never forget it, because it is… the Seven Moons Sect you will bring to power!

“And now, what I need is for you… to rise to power in Seven Moons Sect! Shout in the Dao Spirit Voice that belongs to you! Let the whole world and the whole Ancient Zang know you! Let no one… not know who their ruler is!

“Su Ming… can do you it?!”

There was excitement and eagerness in Gu Tai’s voice. As his voice echoed in the air, Su Ming fell silent. He slowly brought his head up and looked at the sky.

“If… the competition of successors is a part of my life… Even if there is a possibility that I am fake? Will you… and Seven Moons Sect still retain your attitude?” Su Ming asked softly.

“We have been quiet for far too long. Why should there be a problem for Seven Moons Sect to fight against the whole world by your side?! We will either live or die! What is there… to be afraid of death?!”

Gu Tai’s laughter echoed in the air. At the instant it shook the sky and earth, the most brilliant sparkle since Su Ming had come to Ancient Zang appeared in his eyes.

“I can do it!”

When Su Ming’s voice rang out in the air calmly, his expression was no longer one of calm. There was a blazing fighting spirit in his eyes. His life seemed to have been lit at that moment, and his excitement seemed to have… become the most eye-catching thing in the sky at that moment!

“Dao Spirit Voice!”

Once Gu Tai spoke, drum rolls appeared in a circular area of one million lis around Seven Moons Sect. The loud thuds spread in every direction and rose into the sky, causing the ground to tremble. Hundreds of thousands of cultivators from Seven Moons Sect roared at the same time amid the drum rolls.

“DAO SPIRIT VOICE!”

Su Ming swung his arm and lifted his head. His power exploded from him at full force, without anything being held back. Then, he let out a long roar at the sky, one that notified Ancient Zang of his presence!

That long roar was the loudest and strongest sound Su Ming had let out once he had woken up in Ancient Zang. It was a wave of madness and an outburst towards his past! It was the first voice that belonged truly to him, and let it out in Seven Moons Sect!

At the instant his voice appeared, the world rumbled. The clouds in the sky tumbled about as if there was a violent gust of wind blowing against them. Moments later, they were torn to pieces.

One thousand lis, ten thousand lis, one hundred thousand lis… Su Ming’s voice spread out until it reached one million lis, ten million lis, and even one hundred million lis. Powerful ripples stirred up in the sky around Su Ming. They contorted as if they were about to turn into his face!

The ground roared loudly while trembling. The mountains shivered in a chaotic manner. Lakes howled. All the cultivators within one hundred million lis of Seven Moons Sect felt their hearts tremble at that instant, no matter what they were doing. Their ears rang. They were shaken by Su Ming’s first Dao Spirit Voice.

“This is the first voice. There’s still the second and the third voice, Su Ming! Continue letting out your Dao Spirit Voice, push it and make it spread further away. Fill up the seven sects and twelve clans with your voice, make it ring through all of Ancient Zang. Send it to the palace! Let all the cultivators in the world hear your voice!”

As Gu Tai’s growl resounded through the air, Su Ming instantly felt his cultivation base boil. Even his soul, blood, and all his memories started boiling together with it.

All of them began tumbling about violently, which resulted in his cultivation base erupting in full power. An indescribable feeling rose in Su Ming’s heart at that moment. It was… an urge calling out to him to roar the second time!

It was just as Gu Tai had said: Su Ming wanted the whole world to know. He wanted to rise to power. He wanted the whole world to bear witness. Because of that, the sparkle in his eyes burned with a powerful fighting spirit that he had not felt for a long time!

At that moment, when Su Ming’s first Dao Spirit Voice echoed in the sky one hundred million lis around him, all the regions within this area seemed were filled with his presence. The world there… seemed to have acknowledged his voice, and his cultivation base of Dao Spirit Realm became much more stabilized!

Then… Su Ming lifted his head. As his cultivation base boiled, he let out his second Dao Spirit Voice. It was no longer a long roar, but a loud one that shook the world!

When Su Ming’s second Dao Spirit Voice appeared, not a single cloud could be seen one hundred million lis around him. The ground trembled as if there were countless earth dragons tumbling about in it.

His first Dao Spirit Voice still lingered in the air when his second voice spread out to cover the one hundred million lis. Once the two voices fused, they created an indescribably vast power that shook the skies and spread violently through an even larger area with loud rumbles.

One hundred million lis, two hundred million lis… Once the voices reached three hundred million lis, they became the only sound within them!

The merged voice contained Su Ming’s indignation, madness, determination to meet all the people in Harmonious Morus Alba again, and his past confusion towards the unfamiliar Ancient Zang. All of those emotions seemed to have spilled out in that roar.

He needed to let it out!

The weather changed, and the ground looked like it was about to shatter. Thunder was forced away. During that moment, as Su Ming’s voice echoed, the hearts of all the lives within the three hundred million lis trembled, and the source of it was their souls.

With his Dao Spirit Voice, Su Ming replaced every single sound within the three hundred million lis in Ancient Zang. The ripples in the sky contained his voice, and the rumbles on the ground contained his presence!

‘If my voice can fill all of Ancient Zang… then can it travel out of Xuan Zang’s body?!’

A brilliant sparkle appeared in Su Ming’s eyes, and he let out his third Dao Spirit Voice!