Pursuit of the Truth

The middle-aged man’s fighting spirit shocked the powerful warriors around him, and without even knowing it, they began feeling respect.

“Ming Er, you could have had a good life, because I am your father. I am only an ordinary Abyss Builder, but my existence is one even the royal family has to respect! If this hadn’t happened, you would have been brought up and taught by me, eventually surpassing me and even the royal children. You were to be my son, Su Zhan’s son, whom even the Abyss Builders’ Progenitor has to regard with great importance!!

“But now you will have a bad life, because you are my son, because you will die with me in this battle. Are you afraid?!”

The middle-aged man threw his head back and laughed. He swung the long blade in his hand, and an indescribable, domineering power erupted from it with a bang. It beheaded an Almighty in Life Realm and destroyed his Nascent Divinity. The man’s blood gushed outwards and landed on the baby’s face.

The baby extended his tongue, and as if he was sucking on milk, he drank the blood. He even giggled happily.

“Now that’s my son. As expected of the son I’ve sired after sneaking into Dark Dawn and seizing your mother, who belongs to the sacred bloodline of the Essences in Dark Dawn. It doesn’t matter whether she was willing or not, in the end, she gave birth to you!

“But you… truly do not have a good life…” The middle-aged man lowered his head and stared at the baby in his arms. There was kindness in his domineering gaze as well as sadness.

Booming sounds reverberated in space, and the slaughter continued. Su Ming simply watched everything before his eyes while staring at the tall and built middle-aged man. He… was not Su Xuan Yi, but a stranger who had never appeared before in Su Ming’s memories.

However, this stranger gave him a feeling that made his soul tremble. It gave him… a feeling that he was that baby who was giggling while licking his enemy’s blood.

Booming sounds reverberated in the air once more. The scene continued until Su Ming saw everything turn into dazzling fireworks in the galaxy. They were lit by a single life releasing everything within it and drowning everyone out…

Even the man and the baby in his arms turned into nothingness in the dazzling fireworks. There were only a few words which still echoed quietly in the galaxy.

“Ming Er, if we can be born again, then I’d like to still be your father. If we are born again, I will teach you the paths of cultivation. I will… bring you along while I travel through the universe. I will… love you with my whole being, because you are my son. Even if I die, you must remember, your father’s name is Su Zhan!

“As for that convenient mother of yours… Perhaps she’ll shed tears when she knows I died, but perhaps she won’t… No matter what, I, Su Zhan, have no guilt towards the heavens, the earth, my people, and my best friend!”

The scene ended, and a tear tore Su Ming’s soul apart. Intense pain shot through his body and mind, but he no longer cared about it, because he saw another memory which had clearly been sealed. It also had the same galaxy filled with corpses. After an unknown number of years had passed, a person walked into it…

He was Su Xuan Yi!

He moved quietly forward in the galaxy filled with death. He stood there for a long, long time, and sadness appeared in his eyes. The moment he was about to turn around and leave, he let out a gasp of surprise. When he raised his hand, he seized a weak soul from the galaxy.

It was a baby’s soul, protected by his father when he died. Due to the mysterious qualities of his mother’s race, he’d remained a broken soul still struggling to survive in the barren battlefield!

Su Ming saw Su Xuan Yi stare at that soul for a long, long time before he mumbled, “Su Zhan, you lured away our pursuers so that I could leave smoothly with my wife… You knew that I would one day come to this place, which is why you self-destructed and protected your child. Then, from now onwards, this child will be my son.”

Su Xuan Yi’s voice was soft. When he turned around, he left the galaxy with all the corpses belonging to his enemies, his allies from the Fifth True World as well as… a drop of blood which was pressed at the center of the baby’s brows.

“Your father sacrificed himself to protect his race. You… will sacrifice yourself to do what your father did not manage to complete. You will make our race rise to power. Are you willing to do so?”

Su Xuan stared at the fragile soul in his hand while speaking softly. However, there was a hint of a cold madness in his words. The baby’s soul seemed to sense something horrifying, and it trembled while looking on the verge of dissipating.

“You will be.”

Su Xuan Yi brought his right hand up, and with a hint of cruelty, he yanked the blood from the baby’s soul. He then turned around and left into the distance.

When another scene appeared, Su Ming saw a beautiful and gentle woman. She stared at him blankly with pain on her face.

“I won’t agree to this. Su Zhan died in battle for our sakes. We can’t—”

An aloof voice cut off the woman’s words.”This is my choice. Su Zhan died for our race, and he died a worthy death!”

“He did not die for our people. He died so that we could leave. With his cultivation base, he could have taken his son and fled without any problems. We can’t do this to his son. He was Su Zhan’s son, but from now on, he will be my son!”

“If we don’t do this, then our own son will die! If we compare my blood to Su Zhan’s, then it is already considered a great honor for this broken soul to have the right to help us! If Su Zhan was still alive, he would definitely agree to this as well!”

“You’re mad, Su Xuan Yi! You’re mad!”

The scene disappeared, and when another appeared, the baby was held in the woman’s arms while they drifted in the vast galaxy. The woman’s aura was weak, and she was already on the brink of death. Tears fell from her eyes when she looked at the baby..

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… If there comes a day when you learn the truth behind everything, you can blame me, but please, spare my son. I’m truly… sorry…

“Our entire family has wronged your father, and even more so, we have wronged you… Su Ming, my son…”

The scenes ended in Su Ming’s mind at that point. His soul no longer ached in pain, and there was no longer any confusion in his mind. Madness made the pain irrelevant, and his previous confusion was meaningless.

He only smiled. It was an expression filled with madness that longed to destroy everything. His smile was no longer one of self-deprecation, but an aloof one which would terrify anyone who saw it.

Laughter echoed in his Nascent Divinity at that moment.

It was filled with a forlorn tone as well as hate that surged into the heavens!

“Sorry, huh?”

Su Ming moved his divine sense and swept up the bald crane. By the time Di Tian succeeded in refining the physical body created by one billion corpses, Su Ming’s divine sense had left and returned to the white ring and back to the black-robed old man’s body.

Moments later, all the veins in the physical body started shining with a dazzling light. When it opened its eyes, a brilliant light shone in them—it had already come into Di Tian’s possession.

Happiness and excitement appeared on Di Tian’s face. He slowly sat up, and when he threw his head back to laugh, the black-robed old man and Xing Ji Dao smiled faintly.

Bai Feng, too, saw this scene beyond the pillar of light, and eager anticipation appeared in her eyes.

Yet at that moment, a brilliant light spread out from the white ring. When it shone, a strong sense of danger rose in Xing Ji Dao and the black-robed old man’s hearts.

Di Tian’s laughter came to an abrupt halt. He swiftly lowered his head to look at his body, and disbelief as well as shock showed up in his eyes. Countless faces appeared on his body in a manner as if his body was melting. The faces were packed densely together, making it impossible to calculate just how many of them were in total.

A presence powerful enough to destroy an entire True World erupted from his body, and it was so strong that Di Tian’s expression changed drastically, and Xing Ji Dao’s pupils shrank.

“Something’s wrong with this corpse. This-this is—”

“This is the Forbidden Art of Dark Dawn’s Dark Chamber, One Billion Corpse Soul Seal!” the black-robed old man shouted loudly. His expression twisted, and disbelief as well as shock appeared in his eyes. His voice had even started quivering at that instant.

“THIS IS THE ONE BILLION CORPSE SOUL SEAL!!!”

When the black-robed old man instinctively repeated himself, he started screaming shrilly, then swiftly rushed away. Shock was on his face along with fear that had never been seen on him before.

Xing Ji Dao shuddered violently and let out a roar filled with despair, then moved to leave the pillar of light as well.

Yet during that moment, while the destructive power spread out, the physical body Di Tian had just mastered let out a loud bang which shook the entire True Morning Dao World.

At the instant this loud bang shot out, Di Tian let out a shrill scream of pain. He wanted to leave the body regardless of the cost, but he found that it was impossible. As he screamed, an indescribable hate seeped into his voice!

“SU XUAN YI!!!”

It was Di Tian’s last cry in his life, the final words belonging to the most formidable man of his generation, the Sublime Paragon whose level of cultivation had shocked the world and who had fought against Su Xuan Yi for tens of thousands of years.

His voice was instantly drowned out by the booming sounds. Amid them, the body he had just gained control of exploded. The explosion from one billion bodies and the collapse of Dark Dawn’s Forbidden Art brought forth a power that surpassed even what Sublime Paragons could use. In fact… no one could say whether it possessed a power close to those in Avacaniya Realm or whether it had surpassed even that. No one knew the full power of the first stage of Su Xuan Yi’s plan, which he had prepared for countless years!

It was an explosion which could destroy an entire True World, a madness triggered by Di Tian, who had personally refined it with the help of Saint Defier Expanse Cosmos. Its collapse could destroy all the lives in True Morning Dao World and even the planets and the entire galaxy. After it, there would no longer be any True Morning Dao World among the four Great True Worlds. From then on, there would only be three Great True Worlds!

And that power which could destroy an entire True World was gathered within the pillar of light, which it was about to tear apart. At that moment, the pillar became the one and only gap leading from within Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos to the universe beyond, and it was something which had never appeared before in this Expanse Cosmos.

The appearance of this gap could allow a large number of cultivators from Saint Defier to descend. Their levels of cultivation would not be limited, and neither would they need to rebuild their bodies. In fact, besides those in Avacaniya Realm, no one else would be affected no matter how strong they were. All of them could descend with their complete power in large numbers.

The gates to hell had been opened. This… was Su Xuan Yi’s plan, because once such a gap showed up, Dark Dawn, who had their previous Relocation path destroyed by Su Xuan Yi using Su Ming’s hand and who had been preparing a new Relocation path, would be forced to give up on all their preparations… They would have to attack Saint Defier at full force so that they could seize the gap in the shortest amount of time possible.

After all, they could not allow Saint Defier to enjoy the benefits by itself. If one camp completely occupied Arid Triad, they would be able to destroy all existences within the other camp.

The first stage of Su Xuan Yi’s plan was to ignite the war between Dark Dawn and Saint Defier so it would reach its peak in an instant and become more frenzied than ever before in their history.