Pursuit of the Truth

God Ascension Nectar was contained in the poisonous wasp’s body. It was a treasure Su Ming had obtained when he was in Yin Death Region, and it had accompanied him for most of his life. Even when he was in the world with the endless light under space and beyond the universe, it remained in his storage bag. Su Ming had made his storage bag fuse with the Resentful Wei, which was why it was not hurt in any manner.

This was something he had done on instinct, and it allowed him to preserve his storage bag in a perfect condition. It was not damaged in the slightest.

When the poisonous liquid with the God Ascension Nectar was brought out, all the gray threads around Su Ming instantly stopped moving. All of them seemed to be completely attracted by the God Ascension Nectar.

After a few breaths, the gray threads let out a shocking screech and charged towards the poisonous liquid in front of Su Ming. They were so fast that in the blink of an eye, they merged together with a bang, turning back into a small gray ball in front of Su Ming that enveloped the poisonous liquid.

Su Ming’s eyes sparkled. He stared at the ball, and after a moment, its color began to change swiftly. It went from gray to crimson red, then changed back to gray with a few scattered red spots.

There seemed to be countless creatures squirming in the ball. They would occasionally sink inside before rising back up from the surface, creating an incredibly bizarre image. Su Ming could clearly sense that the poisonous liquid with the God Ascension Nectar was being digested at an indescribable speed.

The one drop of poisonous liquid with the God Ascension Nectar might not be much, but if Su Ming were to absorb it, he would need a long time to make it fuse perfectly with his body. If he wanted to do it fast, he could only absorb a very small amount.

Yet at that moment, the gray threads absorbed the drop of liquid so quickly that surprise appeared on Su Ming’s face.

In just the span of a dozen breaths, the small gray ball’s squirms returned to normal. Buzzing sounds reverberated in the air, and the small ball shattered. Countless gray threads flew out simultaneously. The drop of poisonous liquid with the God Ascension Nectar had completely disappeared.

At that moment, Su Ming gained a new understanding of the gray threads. He noticed that they had not just devoured the God Ascension Nectar… but had also devoured the poisonous liquid!

It was incredibly terrifying, but to the gray threads, it was still something to be used.

When the threads surrounded Su Ming once more, they let out piercing screams and formed a whirlwind. As it howled, cracking sounds rose into space nonstop.

Su Ming’s pupils immediately shrank. He could clearly see that one of the countless threads had cracked. As the cracks spread, gray and red lights rushed out while intersecting with each other rushed out. They acted like they had broken out of a shell, and the thread became much faster than when it had been part of the whirlwind.

A glint shone in Su Ming’s eyes, but his expression was grim. He lifted his right hand, and when he spread his divine sense outwards, the gray-red light changed direction and rushed towards him. It instantly appeared on his right palm before turning into… a locust… with a gray body that had red spots!

Its wings were thin, like those belonging to cicadas, but when Su Ming looked at them, he sensed waves of chilling air. If one of those wings slid past a person, it would definitely cut them as easily as a blade slicing through air.

The locust’s compound eyes were black. Even if it was looking at Su Ming, it was difficult for him to see it. He could only sense it with his divine sense.

At that moment, cracking sounds rang out one after another. Su Ming lifted his head and saw all of the countless threads in the area cracking up. Immediately after, locusts which were identical to the creature on his palm broke out from their shells. Soon, the whirlwind surrounding Su Ming was no longer formed by threads, but of locusts!

Su Ming’s pupils shrank, but he gradually calmed down. He lifted his right arm and swung it forward. Immediately, a crystal flew out. The moment it appeared, the swarm of locusts instantly rushed over, and the crystal disappeared without a trace.

Thankfully, the bald crane was sleeping in Su Ming’s storage bag. Otherwise, if it saw something like this happening, it would definitely fight tooth and nail against the locusts.

“Wherever locusts go, not a blade of grass grows, huh?” Su Ming mumbled.

As he said those words, the swarm of locusts spat out some residue as their bodies rotated in the whirlwind. Every single one of the near one hundred thousand locusts only spat out a bit of it. Su Ming’s expression changed, and he brought his right hand up to seize space. Immediately, the residue was gathered up, forming something the size of the crystal.

But there was not a hint of spiritual aura in it.

‘It’s not that they devour everything.’

Su Ming hesitated for a moment. When he raised his right hand, he cut the skin on his palm and squeezed out a drop of blood. The moment it flew out, Su Ming’s expression changed.

When the locusts saw the drop of blood, their bodies shuddered like one. The small creatures were struggling incessantly to gobble up the blood, but with Su Ming’s will controlling them, they could not act on their instincts. They could only continuously send forth their desire to Su Ming.

This was feedback at the appearance of the drop of blood in the form of a will from nearly one hundred thousand locusts. It was so strong that Su Ming had a feeling that if he did not issue an order soon, it was likely that they would turn on him.

During the short span of time in which Su Ming’s expression changed, eight of the one hundred thousand locusts flew out to charge towards Su Ming’s blood. They had freed themselves from his control and did not care that he had not issued an order. They were going to devour the blood on their own.

Su Ming let out a cold harrumph, lifted his right hand, and made a few flicks. Banging sounds echoed in space, and the locusts instantly let out shrill screams of pain. Their bodies shattered and they disappeared without a trace.

However, one of them who was not destroyed by Su Ming’s attack. It endured it with brute force, and with most of its body destroyed, it closed in on Su Ming’s blood with a single charge. It opened its mouth and swallowed the blood.

The next moment the locust threw its head back and roared. Its body instantly swelled up twice its original size, becoming much larger than the other locusts. When Su Ming saw this, he was shocked.

‘Demon cultivators of Dark Dawn, what power! Right now I’m seeing just the baby of that demon cultivator. It’s an existence akin to a clone, but it has such powerful potential. Given enough time, it could grow to a terrifying level.

‘This sort of demon cultivator would be incredibly hard to control…’

Su Ming’s eyes sparkled. He raised his arms and formed a seal. Brands flew out, and he even let out a puff of his breath of life to envelop the clearly larger locust. He Branded it with all his power and began refining it again.

As for the other locusts, they gathered together under the control of Su Ming’s divine sense and turned into a small ball that floated in front of him. That ball might not be big, but in it were nearly one hundred thousand locusts. It might seem impossible, but that was the truth.

‘This is a demon cultivator born with the ability to control dimensions. That is why its baby could do this right after it was born.’

Su Ming’s eyes sparkled. After a moment, when he finished refining the locust which was much larger than the rest, he sent it into the small ball and brought out another to refine.

He did not think that it was troublesome. He had to completely refine all of the locusts.

At the same time, the hundreds of cultivators and ferocious beasts who had holes at the center of their brows in True Morning Dao World and the other three Great True Worlds shuddered simultaneously.

At the holes at the center of their brows slowly closed up, a divine thought with ghastly air and a cold bark of laughter was shared among them.

“He managed to open the first seal? The eggs have turned into nymphs, but to do this, that person must have paid a large price. Continue nurturing them. The better my baby is nurtured, the better it will serve me in the future.

“Foolish cultivator from Saint Defier, one of these days, I will let you know just how idiotic your actions are. That day is not far away. When all of my bodies return to normal, all of us will make the Cultivation Blood Offering. When we reach enough power, our bodies will fuse together, and I, An Fang, will descend in Arid Triad!”

As this divine thought echoed in their minds, the hundreds of cultivators and ferocious beasts closed their eyes together.

Time trickled by without their knowledge. When Su Ming refined most of the one hundred thousand locusts, his clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole had already cleared a portion of the world in the easternmost region of True Morning Dao World. Over there, he was leading nearly one hundred thousand cultivators to sweep through the galaxy.

With the white ripple, even the whirlwind could not stop them in their tracks. Wherever they went, those who submitted gave up their souls, and those who did not… had their leaders killed while the remaining ones were forced to submit.

The world of cultivation had always been built on the basis of strong preying on the weak, and this was especially prominent in the galaxy where the whirlwind raged. With the disaster around, the principle of the strong preying on the weak became even bloodier, and actually the only principle in this True World!

However, compared to Su Ming’s Ecang clone, it could be said that his clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole was incredibly gentle in his actions. In the westernmost region, the Ecang clone, which possessed Su Ming’s destructive will, had stirred up a heinous wave of blood.

There was no mercy nor reasoning. He only accepted obedience. Wherever he went, there would be endless slaughter. In the disaster laden True Morning Dao World, only this sort of unflinching method would allow someone to unite everyone in a short period of time.

The two clones had left around the same time, but while the clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole had not covered the entire east, the Ecang clone could already see the barrier connecting the east of True Morning Dao World and the fourth True World!

It was like a snowball that had been sent rolling. The start was always the hardest, but once a momentum was formed, it would be easier. The charge of an army made of tens of thousands of people could crush all willpower. Even if the singular entity was incredibly powerful, in the face of such a disaster, they would still have to submit.

All those who dared fight back would not just have themselves killed, but their entire bloodline!

One day, while still refining the one hundred thousand locusts, Su Ming’s right hand shuddered. Even though he swiftly recovered, he raised his head, and a hint of excitement and sentimentality appeared in his eyes when he looked into the distance.