Pursuit of the Truth

The white ring was very thin and did not look like it belonged to a man. Instead, it seemed like it was something a woman would use. When it flew out, it shot into the pillar of light which reached the heavens and went to float above the altar, right on top of Su Ming’s real physical body.

“Lord Saint Defier’s treasure, we ask that you help us!”

A dark light shone in the eyes of Xing Ji Dao, who was dressed in blue. He formed a seal with his right hand and pointed at the ring in the pillar, and it immediately shone with a dazzling light before growing larger, nearly reaching thirty feet.

At the same time, waves of aura that shook the pillar of light were released. They filled the pillar before seeping out. Bai Feng’s expression instantly changed drastically, and she took a few staggering steps back. Shock, the kind of which she had never felt before, showed up on her pale face, but there was also fervent ardor shining in her eyes.

She trembled and immediately knelt down in worship.

As for Di Tian, he was once a Sublime Paragon and a powerful warrior who had surpassed in power the current bodies of the black-robed man and Xing Ji Dao. Even though he could not compare to the real bodies of the two in Saint Defier’s camp, he could still put up a fight against them.

When he and Su Xuan Yi had been gravely wounded in the past, his injuries were worse, which made it so he could only retain his soul, and his level of cultivation had also regressed by a lot. But no matter what, he had once been a Sublime Paragon.

Yet under the mighty pressure spreading out from the ring, his expression changed as well. He took a few steps back, and shock appeared in his eyes.

The mighty pressure was filled with an air of supremacy, as if all those under it had to kneel down in worship and bow their heads. All those who dared to struggle would be destroyed.

‘Avacaniya! This is definitely Avacaniya’s presence! Saint Defier Expanse Cosmos’ powerful warrior is in Avacaniya Realm!’ Di Tian’s breathing quickened. When he moved back, his expression changed, and he chose to kneel down.

The white ring in the pillar of light continued exuding a mighty presence while numerous complicated runic symbols came to surround it. Each of one contained power which could suffocate Su Ming, and when he saw them, he felt as if a door had been opened before him!

It broadened his horizons and had, during that instant, allowed him to see… a cultivator in Avacaniya!

The presence was the strength of something in his memories. When Su Ming searched through them, a figure appeared in his head… an ancient figure standing on an ancient ship which watched all manner of lives bringing offerings to him.

‘Old Man Extermination gave off the same feeling. This person’s presence means that he’s in the same Realm as the Old Man Extermination. This ring came from Saint Defier, so it’s Lord Saint Defier’s treasure!’

Fervent ardor appeared on Xing Ji Dao’s expression, and he immediately knelt down in the direction of the ring. The black-robed old man also swung his arm at the moment he sensed the presence spreading out from the ring and knelt down.

As the presence continued spreading out, gradually, all the cultivators knelt down with shaking hearts.

Slowly but surely, even all the cultivators from Morning Dao Sect who were fighting against those in the Immortals’ Union within the territory of the Immortals’ Union reacted in the same manner as their enemies. Their hearts trembled, and in shock, they looked in the direction of the core of the Immortals’ Union. Then, they instinctively chose to kneel down and worship the presence.

About a dozen breaths later, the presence spread through the entire True Morning Dao World. In fact, it even affected Morning Dao Sect and shocked countless cultivators. Their bodies trembled, and with humiliation as well as despair, they were forced to kneel down in the direction of the Immortals’ Union.

The entire Morning Dao Sect descended into dead silence, with countless cultivators kneeling down in worship.

Only Su Xuan Yi let out a low growl at the instant he sensed the presence while in his isolation grounds within Morning Dao Sect, and a glint of anticipation for something long-awaited shone in his eyes. He slowly stood up under the presence. He raised his right hand and clenched his fist, then threw a punch at the air.

The whole world was silent, but Su Xuan Yi’s isolation grounds trembled furiously, like it was about to crumble. However, countless runic symbols immediately appeared in the air, and as they flashed rapidly, they seemed to mend the air.

“This presence still isn’t enough… but the first stage is about to be completed. When it reaches completion, I will gain full control of this body, and I will be able to walk out of this place!

“Saint Defier, Dark Dawn, and you Young Little Sublime Paragon, you have all been speculating for a long time, but you could never guess my plans. You could never understand… my madness after my race was destroyed!”

Su Xuan Yi threw his head back and laughed. Ferociousness appeared on his face, and hidden underneath it was a madness that could destroy the universe.

Su Xuan Yi’s roar echoed in the isolation grounds, but it did not reach the Immortals’ Union or Su Ming’s ears. At that moment, he was in the black-robed old man’s body. He stared at the white ring in the pillar of light, and a feeling he’d never felt before rose in his heart. It surged in him violently, and his heart seemed to go through a metamorphosis… a metamorphosis of longing for even greater power and becoming the greatest in the world.

‘So this is Lord Saint Defier’s level of cultivation… I wonder if there will come a day when I will possess this power?!’

Su Ming fixed his stare on the white ring while ripples appeared in his divine sense. Yet he did not notice that the bald crane, who had also hidden itself in the black-robed man’s body, had started trembling ceaselessly when it saw the white ring. Fond remembrance showed up in its eyes. An indefinable feeling rose within it, as if it was recalling something.

“Fei Hua… how many years has it been? How many years has it been since I left that place? So you… have already taken that step forward and become Lord Saint Defier… Did you use the method I told you in the past? It was a path I discovered based on the calculations from my whole life.

“It was the wrong path, but one that could allow you to become Lord Saint Defier…”

As the bald crane mumbled, it suddenly used its claw to grab hold of its head. “Damn it, I seem to have remembered something again…”

During that moment, numerous cracks appeared on the altar holding Su Ming’s real physical body in the pillar of light. The cracking continued, and more breaks appeared. In the span of a few breaths, the entire altar… melted!

It did not collapse, but melted and became muddy liquid. Waves of faint fragrance spread out from it before turning into fog. It enveloped Su Ming’s real physical body and the ring.

At the same time, the light seeped through the fog and shot through Su Ming’s real physical body as if the ring possessed its own consciousness. Immediately, right before Su Ming’s eyes, his physical body turned transparent.

He could see venous paths in his physical body, and there were vortices packed densely together within them. It looked like the venous paths formed a gigantic, complicated runic symbol and a lock.

To the others, the runic symbol was complicated and profound, but Su Ming felt like he had seen life upon taking a look at it. The runic symbol formed by the venous paths was the Brand of life which belonged to the Abyss Builders, and the lock was clearly something that kept the bloodline safe.

“Paragon Zhang Ji Dao!” the blue-robed Xing Ji Dao said.

Right away, the black-robed old man raised his arms. When he formed a seal, he instantly charged towards the pillar of light with Xing Ji Dao. Once they shot inside, they sat right beside the white ring.

The two of them sucked in a deep breath at the same time before spreading out all of their cultivation bases to fuse into the white ring. Clearly, neither of them was worthy enough to control the ring alone, so the both of them were had to act at the same time. Even so, they they were still faced with great difficulty.

Su Ming’s divine sense rippled. While in the black-robed old man’s body, he sensed the black-robed old man’s cultivation base tumbling about before it charged towards the white ring. A glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. He had a strong urge to split a part of his divine sense to follow after that cultivation base. The urge was incredibly strong, so strong that even if Su Ming wanted to suppress it, he felt a great reluctance to do so.

‘This is Saint Defier’s treasure. This sort of treasure…’ Su Ming’s divine sense rippled violently before he sent out a bit of it towards the white ring along with the black-robed man’s cultivation base.

The bald crane had no idea of how important this matter was during the entire process. Once Su Ming promised it crystals, it immediately stopped thinking about all the jumbled up memories in its mind. Instead, with its full power, it worked to transform Su Ming’s divine sense so that it would appear the exact same as the black-robed old man’s cultivation base.

The thread of divine sense which Su Ming had separated from himself instantly surged into the white ring with the black-robed man’s cultivation base. At the instant it entered the ring, rumbles rang out in Su Ming’s head. He saw a vast world with mountains and rivers as well as countless liveforms. Yet when he looked closer, he discovered that the lifeforms and even the world itself was formed by various runic symbols. There were so many of them that even Su Ming could not count all of them. There was only one word which could be used to describe the number—countless.

At the instant Su Ming saw the world, he noticed that the white ring was not activated by Xing Ji Dao and the black-robed man. Their levels of cultivation were just like a drop in an ocean compared to the supreme treasure.

However, the injection of their cultivation bases into the ring seemed to have unlocked some sort of seal within it. The action disassembled all the existences formed by runic symbols amid loud rumbles, and they turned into countless runic symbols that danced in the air.

Su Ming watched it full of shock. He had a strong feeling… that there was a path hidden within the runic symbols which he could not understand. Once he managed it, his cultivation base would increase by leaps and bounds. This feeling was incredibly great, and Su Ming’s full attention was fixed on his observations.

Once the entire world turned into countless runic symbols, Xing Ji Dao shouted out, “Di Tian, offer up all the things you’ve prepared in the past… use them to overturn the universe, make the earth turn into the sky, and cause the reversal of time run to its end!”

A light shone in Di Tian’s eyes. He suppressed the strong excitement in his heart and threw his storage bag forward. With a raise of his right hand, the bag opened, and a countless items he had prepared in the course of numerous years flew out.