Pursuit of the Truth

That one kiss, this one look.

Time seemed to have fused with the air to turn it into yellowing rice paper. Color seemed to have withered away, like time had turned it into dull ink, but the smile on the face formed by the fragmented pieces of Su Ming’s memories on the canvas was still the same as before…

The song in the land of Berserkers had ended, and the audience had left… The fragments of his memories had fallen all over the floor in a wretched state and crushed a heart filled with happiness. Callousness lasts eternally during the night, and in endless loneliness, she had closed her eyes. She refused to wake up.

This was Yu Xuan.

Yet there had always been a hint of fond remembrance in her gasping for breath through the passage of time, but it could no longer find the brightness from the past. In the darkness of her slumber, midnight lasted for a long time. The night was cold, but the silk blanket was thin, and she wondered whether the person she liked would be cold too.

That one kiss, this one look.

She could no longer talk about her feelings. When she turned her head back, she felt as if she had left the past behind. She was alone while she leaned against dusk, but she could not see the its color. She only mumbled in her heart and lamented how unpredictable destiny was.

This was also Yu Xuan.

The crimson-haired Su Ming stood in midair with everyone watching him, but his gaze was fixed on one person. It was as if time had stopped, as if there was no longer any other form of life in the area around them… like she was the only one.

The separation of one thousand something years has lasted for a long time. When Su Ming was in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, Xu Hui’s company, Bai Ling’s gentle but aloof words… all of these things had made him forget many things, but at the depths of his heart, there was always a small white flower in the rain, and the name of that flower was daylily.

She had kissed him once. When their gazes met each other’s after a long separation, the determination and gentleness in the girl’s eyes and the sadness as well as madness in Su Ming’s eyes was a scene that would never fade away in the passage of time.

He still remember that one kiss that marked their parting. It was not a separation where someone left into the distance, but a separation by death. From then on, there should have been no longer any girl in the world who was so spirited and would smile in such a manner.

Once she kissed him, she stepped on the wind and slowly let her eyes fall shut. Her petite figure fused into the air, because she knew that once she left… they would most likely not meet even in their next life.

“You are Dao Kong?”

A cold voice laced with killing intent traveled through the air like a gust of sinister wind from the White Tiger’s continent. It reverberated in the air, and was like an extremely sharp blade which wanted to slice through all enmity.

However, no matter how sharp that blade was, it could not cut down the only thing within Su Ming’s field of vision at that moment…

He had ignored the third prince of the Emperor of Abyss’ True World, which was why he did not see the prince turning his head back at that moment and noticing how peculiar Yu Xuan was acting. He did not see how stunned he was by that breathtaking sight before his expression turned dark. He could not stand the sight of the smile that had not appeared for a long, long time on Yu Xuan’s face.

It was a pity that the smile was not directed towards him. As the third prince of the Emperor of Abyss’ True World slowly turned his head around and saw the gaze shared between Su Ming and Yu Xuan, rage rose in his eyes.

He snorted coldly, then right in front of Su Ming’s face, he raised his right hand and seized Yu Xuan’s neck. He squeezed it tightly and yanked her to his side, even sniffing the center of her brows.

He lifted his chin, and with a hint of derision and provocation in his eyes, he lifted his head… to look towards Su Ming.

The crimson-haired Su Ming could disregard Old Ming’s voice from the White Tiger’s continent and not bother with the emotions of all the other people around him, but when he saw pain on Yu Xuan’s face when the third prince from the Emperor of Abyss’ True World seized her as she still tried to maintain the smile on her face… he descended into madness!

The crimson-haired Su Ming had always been outrageous and showed complete disregard for the laws as well as any consequences. The strong desire to vent his anger he’d suppressed in his heart when he was in Su Xuan Yi’s isolation grounds was something that could erupt from within him at any moment. With just a small spark, it could make the crimson-haired Su Ming act with reckless abandon.

If the third prince from the Emperor of Abyss’ True World had not done anything, then under the effect of Yu Xuan’s smile and gaze, Su Ming would have slowly calmed down until he returned to normal. If that had happened… then perhaps there wouldn’t have been much slaughter on that day.

However, the ignorant third prince and his foolish action became… the spark that ignited Su Ming’s madness!

He became the spark that released… the madness that had been hidden in Su Ming’s heart since he returned from the Barren Lands of Divine Essence. It was something that would push him to destroy the entire camp of the forces of power from True Sacred Yin World at the moment of the slightest disagreement!

A monstrous sea of fire erupted from Su Ming’s body with a bang. It swept through the entire area with a loud bang. Immediately, Dao Lin and Dao Hua were swept away together. They coughed up blood at the same time, and the Flourishing Lotuses on their bodies instantly activated. Only because of that were they not killed under the impact of the sea of fire as they fell backwards.

At the instant the sea of fire erupted, the people from True Morning Dao World on the Azure Dragon’s continent immediately stood up and stared at the sky in shock. At the same time, the expression of all the Sect Masters in Morning Dao Sect surrounding the area immediately changed. It was especially obvious if one looked at Sect Masters Ri, Yue, and Xing. When they looked towards Su Ming, they frowned.

They were very aware of True Sacred Yin World’s intention for coming to this place, and they had also thought about how to handle the situation. Since Dao Kong had already become a Dynast, they could not allow True Sacred Yin World to kill him. This was something that True Sacred Yin World knew very well as well. If worse came to worst, they would just punish him slightly, and at most, they would just have to compensate them a little.

As long as they showed enough respect to True Sacred Yin World and Su Ming chose to suffer a little, they could minimize the problem. As for how they would choose to completely solve it, they had another method to do so.

However, Su Ming had chosen to release a sea of fire at that moment, shattering their arrangements in an instant. As the three Sect Masters frowned and were about to rebuke him, Su Ming suddenly let out a string of maniacal laughter. The sea of fire around him surged into the sky. This fire was not the fire from Flame Fiends’ Progenitor, but the flames of resentment suppressed in the crazed Su Ming’s heart. On a certain level, this fire was similar to the flames belonging to the Resentful Wei.

Almost the instant the sea of fire surged to the heavens, Su Ming took a swift step forward and turned into a long arc to charge… towards the Vermilion Bird’s continent, where resided the people from the Emperor of Abyss’ True World.

The expression of the third prince from the Emperor of Abyss’ True World changed drastically at that moment. With a sullen face, he swung his arm, and the one thousand Abyss Dragons floating around the Vermilion Bird’s continent roared simultaneously as they charged towards Su Ming.

This scene caused the people in the area to be stunned, especially the Sect Masters. They had thought that Su Ming was targeting True Sacred Yin World. In fact, True Sacred Yin World had already made preparations the moment the sea of fire erupted from Su Ming’s body. However… he did not spare the White Tiger’s continent even a glance. He just charged straight towards the Vermilion Bird’s continent, where resided the people from the Emperor of Abyss’ True World.

All of this might have seemed to have happened over a long period of time, but in truth, it took only an instant. As the sea of fire surged into the sky, Su Ming had already collided against the Abyss Dragons which had rushed towards him.

The Abyss Dragon in the lead was the third prince’s stead. The mighty pressure spreading out from this dragon, which was the largest among all of them, made it clear that it was equivalent to those in Mastery Realm.

Yet it was an Abyss Dragon. No matter how great their levels of cultivation were, they were Abyss Dragons whose souls were controlled for generations by the Emperor of Abyss’ True World!

It was also only this sort of level of cultivation which could allow the dragon to become the stead of the third prince of the Emperor of Abyss’ True World. The dragon’s body was filled with an ancient presence. At that moment, when it rushed towards Su Ming, it opened its ghastly mouth and let out a shocking roar.

RAWR!

The crimson-haired Su Ming did not stop for even a single moment. At the instant he was about to collide with the incoming Abyss Dragon, he lifted his right hand and threw a punch at them.

With a loud bang, Su Ming’s punch fell on the lead Abyss Dragon, and it immediately shuddered. It fell back from the force of the attack. Its flesh and blood trembled, and with a loud whoosh, tens of thousands of wounds tore through its body apart. Soon after, a large amount of blood gushed while its body fell backwards.

In just the span of a few breaths, all the flesh and blood from the dragon’s entire body were separated from its bones. When it fell back, a blood fog surrounded the dragon. All of its flesh and blood were destroyed, and what remained… was only an empty skeletal frame. Even its life force and soul had been destroyed under the rebound caused by Su Ming’s punch.

With a loud bang, the skeletal frame scattered on the ground, right in front of the third prince from the Emperor of Abyss’ True World. It caused the third prince to shudder, and he pulled Yu Xuan in front of him. He stood up as well, with disbelief on his face, his breathing quickening.

“Abyss Dragon formation, stimulate your life force, kill that person!”

The remaining one thousand Abyss Dragons in the sky were only in the later stage of World Plane Realm. They were chosen carefully by the third prince, which was why their levels of cultivation were the same. At that moment, the one thousand Abyss Dragons roared towards the sky and charged towards Su Ming together.

While doing so, they connected with each other in a bizarre manner. Each Abyss Dragon bit down on another Abyss Dragon’s tail. Like that, they formed a circle, instantly surrounding Su Ming who was charging madly to the Vermilion Bird’s continent.

Everything had happened so suddenly that the crowd in the area had only just registered what had happened at that moment. It was especially so for the True Morning Dao disciples on the Azure Dragon’s continent. They immediately flew up and had their cultivation bases erupt from their bodies.

This was True Morning Dao World, and the one surrounded by one thousand Abyss Dragons at that moment was Dao Kong, their Dynast who had just been anointed moments ago!

During the challenge, they could fight and even try to kill each other, but when there were external enemies, they were fellow members who would move as one! This was a teaching carved into them over countless years in Morning Dao Sect. It was etched so deep into the bones of the disciples of Morning Dao Sect that it had become a brand in their souls!

The people from the Fourth Great True World on the Black Turtle’s continent remained composed. A glind shone in the old man in blue’s eyes. He did not open his mouth to speak though. By his side, Reverend Zi Long frowned. He might have fought against Su Ming before, but in the end, they had formed a strange type of friendship between them.

They might not have spoken about this friendship, but it existed. If they had to speak of a source for it, then perhaps it was born from a type of guilt and respect in Reverend Zi Long. He felt guilty for leaving when he was in the fifth ocean, and he respected Su Ming for doing all the shocking things.

“Morning Dao Sect, look at you. I wonder whether this is an Anointment Ceremony, or whether this is a slaughter fest which you intend to make all of us who have come from the three Great True Worlds observe? The Dynast you have anointed is a lunatic.

“This person could destroy an entire camp from True Sacred Yin World stationed in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence. Now, with just the slightest bit of disagreement, he went mad and killed an Abyss Dragon, and judging by his actions, he looks like he wants to kill our fellow Daoist from the Emperor of Abyss’ True World. Is this really the Dynast you anointed?” Old Ming asked in derision while standing on the White Tiger’s continent.