Pursuit of the Truth

1

“The Resentful Weis are not accepted by the universe, because it was heaven’s will that Ancient Wei was destroyed. Yet the souls of Wei did not perish but gathered together to become resentment. This meant that they were standing up against the universe, and so had to be destroyed!

“Those who kill a Resentful Wei can obtain the universe’s kismet. No matter what they do, everything will go according to their plan. It was also why the two other Ancient Kingdoms had surrounded and exterminated them in the past.

“This race was then completely destroyed, and not a single Resentful Wei was left. But-but there’s a Resentful Wei in here! Kill it! If you manage to kill it, then no matter how many years pass, you will have the universe’s kismet on you. It’ll be especially helpful since people who have the universe’s kismet are incredibly rare in the years after the Great Destruction!

“Su Ming, your cultivation base clone was born with a kismet. Since that’s the case, if you kill this creature, you will get even more of it! This kismet thing might be insubstantial, but it’ll guarantee you success in everything that you want to do for ten thousand years!”

There was a solemn never seen before expression on the bald crane’s face. The sleaziness that always existed when it spoke was no longer present in its words. Instead, there was an upright and dignified presence within them.

However, that presence was swiftly dissipating. The bald crane shuddered, and confusion appeared in its eyes. It was as if the one who had said those words just then had not been the bald crane itself!

“What is the relationship between the three Great Ancient Kingdoms and five Great True Worlds?” Su Ming immediately asked.

“The nine Great True Worlds are the earth of the Lower Realm, and the three Great Ancient Kingdoms are the sky of the Higher Realm. Only when they are joined together do they form the additional Expanse Cosmos… Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos [1], the one that is beyond Dark Dawn’s 180 Expanse Cosmoses, and Saint Defier’s 180 Expanse Cosmoses!

“No matter whether it is Saint Defier who loses one Cosmos or Dark Dawn obtaining one more Cosmos, whoever will obtain one hundred and eighty-one Cosmoses first… will be able to wage war!” When the bald crane said these words, its head lolled to the side and it immediately fainted. Its body was caught by the Abyss Dragon.

Su Ming’s heart trembled. Xu Hui’s expression also changed as she stood by the side. Clearly, the bald crane’s words were secrets they had never heard before. Those words might seem incredibly ordinary, but if one was to mull over the profound meaning behind them, then it would definitely cause a storm in the person’s mind.

Dark Dawn’s 180 Expanse Cosmoses as well as Saint Defier’s 180 Expanse Cosmoses meant that Su Ming’s knowledge had just been endlessly expanded within an instant. It allowed him to learn just how big and vast was the universe.

It did not matter whether it was Morning Dao World or Sacred Yin World. Even if he added in the Emperor of Abyss’ World, the mysterious Fourth True World and the Fifth True World that had disappeared, the other four True Worlds that had vanished during the Great Destruction, they still did not form the complete Arid Triad. They needed to add in the three Ancient Kingdoms to form a complete Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos.

And… there were three hundred and sixty other Cosmoses that were about the size of this complete Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos. The universe… was infinitely huge!

Even for a Master of Fate, Lives, and Death, where would this single person’s power be ranked among all the other people in the 361 Expanse Cosmoses?

Su Ming and Xu Hui were not the only ones who were struck silent by the bald crane’s words. Xuan Shang and the other three in front of them also experienced unprecedented shock. They could not help but open their eyes completely and turn their heads around to look at the bald crane.

They had heard its words. Their expressions changed, which was a telling sign that they could not accept this truth for a time being. They thought that the four Great True Worlds constituted the edge of the universe, and what they were surprised about was the Fifth True World which existed as a legend in their minds.

Yet at that moment, their beliefs were completely crushed. In truth, besides the five True Worlds, there were four other True Worlds. Besides them, there were also three Great Ancient Kingdoms. And only when the three Great Ancient Kingdoms and the nine Great True Worlds fused together would a complete Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos be formed. And even then… besides the Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos, there were still Dark Dawn’s 180 Expanse Cosmoses and Saint Defier’s 180 Expanse Cosmoses. There were 360 Expanses Cosmoses in total!

The first thing that rose in the minds of the four people was doubt. However, Su Ming and Xu Hui’s expressions as well as the ancient air that came with the bald crane’s words when it spoke just then told the cultivators’ instincts… that at least eight-tenths of all that was said was real, even though there was no proof to verify whether it was so!

In the mid of their silence, the fourth roar from the Resentful Wei echoed in the air. The dragon-headed black horse that was thousands of feet big appeared in everyone’s field of vision, swiftly closing in on them. The pride and the air that allowed no provocation in its six eyes was incredibly strong.

Su Ming quietly watched the black horse getting closer to him. As he stared at it, the bald crane’s words echoed in his head. He suddenly felt that there was some degree of similarity between him and the black horse.

This creature had been sent away by its kin when it was still a newborn at the time its race was being destroyed. It then became its race’s sole survivor, and Su Ming… was also the same.

Others had worked together to kill its kin, and it was the same case for the Abyss Builders.

Both the black horse and Su Ming had grown up in places that were not their homelands, and they both had yet to enter them.

Su Ming’s silence and his thoughts were shown in his eyes. The instant the black horse saw this, it came to a halt, but soon, it raised its head up high. It gave off the air of looking down at Su Ming and carried itself with a bearing that it did not ask for pity.

It stared at Su Ming coldly, then rushed forward. It had become even faster.

However, while the distance between them might have seemed close, they were actually far away from each other. In the world within the vortex, distances that did not seem great were in truth incredibly far apart. The black horse’s speed might be unparalleled, but since the distance between them was incredibly great, it could not catch up to Su Ming and his group within a dozen something breaths.

Besides, Su Ming could vaguely sense that there seemed… to be a certain limit on speed in this world. They could not shift in here.

He could see that there seemed to be barriers around the black horse, and it was crashing into them continuously. This was clearly the reason why its speed was limited. As it moved forward, it would be as if it crashed one barrier after another.

Su Ming did not choose to provoke it again. Instead, as Xuan Shang and the other three disappeared, he vanished from the world in the vortex as well.

A roar mixed with a note of grief that no one else could hear but Su Ming came from the black horse’s mouth and lingered in the air for a long time.

The galaxy in the inner parts of Divine Essence Star Ocean appeared like a clear lake. There was not a single speck of dust there, so those who saw could not help but get immersed in this beauty that they would be unable to see in other places.

This place was incredibly far away from Heaven Traversers. If they had flown normally, Su Ming would have needed to press on without stopping for an entire year with his speed.

At that moment, once the group appeared, Su Ming quietly looked at the exit of the Relocation Vortex. The bald crane’s words continued echoing in his head and refused to vanish.

Xu Hui was in a slightly absent-minded state, thinking hard about something.

“Huh? We’re out? Well, damn it all, how did I fall asleep?”

The bald crane opened its eyes at that moment, but there was a deep fatigue on its face. It jumped around a few times and mumbled under its breath, incredibly puzzled.

However, after only mumbling a few sentences, it saw the Abyss Dragon looking at it with a slightly complicated look on its face. Xu Hui, the four cultivators, and even Su Ming were also looking at it.

“What’s wrong? Why are you all staring at me?” The bald crane felt slightly scared, and goosebumps appeared all over its skin. It was feeling incredibly nervous, and a wary expression appeared on its face. It took a few steps back and had its claws press firmly on the ground.

“I don’t have crystals! I don’t have crystals…” the bald crane shouted loudly.

Su Ming stared at the bald crane for a moment before averting his gaze and sitting down cross-legged on the Void Beast. He patted the beast, and it started moving. It turned around and glided into the distance.

Once they came out the time for Su Ming to part ways with the four cultivators also arrived. Su Ming might have killed many people in his life, having cut living creatures like swatting flies, and appeared to enjoy killing, but the truth wasn’t like that. As long as no one provoked him, directly or indirectly, he would not attack. There were no grudges shared between the four cultivators and Su Ming, so he did not harbor the intention to kill them. Once the Void Beast left into the distance, layers of ripples gradually appeared in the galaxy.

Xu Hui hesitated for a moment, but after sneaking a peak at Su Ming, she did not say anything. Instead, she sat down beside him. As for the bald crane, it had currently seized the Abyss Dragon and was asking it something in a whisper. There was not even the need to hear them to be able to guess that the bald crane was definitely asking about why the group was looking at it so strangely just then.

When the four cultivators came out of the vortex, they were filled with a high level of vigilance. The bald crane rousing from its sleep might have attracted some of their attention and shocked them with its words, but they were currently facing a matter that concerned their survival, and they did not have the pleasure of thinking about other things. Most of their attention was placed on remaining on guard.

They did not know whether Su Ming would keep to his promise, but when they saw him leaving into the distance with his group, the four of them let out sighs of relief in their hearts. Yet at the same time, once they exchanged glances, they saw the hesitation in one another’s eyes.

One of the sentences Xu Hui had said had struck a chord in their hearts.

With their power, they did not have too much confidence in succeeding with their plan. In truth, they needed to rely on luck. However, if Su Ming and Xu Hui joined them, then the chances of them succeeding would be much higher.

This was a choice. On one side, they would suffer no loss, but the chances of them succeeding would not be great. On the other hand, while they would have to suffer some loss in terms of profit, the chances of them succeeding would be greater.

When they saw that Su Ming and the others had left into the distance, the four of them exchanged glances one more time, and three faces turned to Xuan Shang. After all, the leader of this operation was him, and it would be best that he made the choice.

Xuan Shang’s expression changed several times. If Su Ming had forced them into an interrogation, then even if he had said it, he would have definitely searched for a chance to counterattack during their journey in the future. However, Su Ming did not force them. This caused Xuan Shang to fall into uncertainty before he quickly weighed the pros and cons. Then, he gritted his teeth with force, took a few steps forward, and wrapped his fist in his palm towards Su Ming, who had already left into the distance.

“Senior, please wait, I am willing to tell you our secret in exchange for you joining our operation. If we work together, we will definitely succeed.”

“Not interested,” Su Ming said, his voice traveling behind him and echoing in the galaxy. The Void Beast beneath him did not stop and went farther away.

“This concerns the activation of the fifth kiln!” Xuan Shang immediately said.

Translator’s Notes:

1. Lower Realm, Higher Realm, Expanse Cosmos: Taken from Renegade Immortal and ISSTH.

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