Pursuit of the Truth

When Di Tian’s voice echoed in the air and resounded along with the mountain breeze, it turned into an echo that filled the world.

The seven figures in a state between being an illusion and corporeal were silent. None of them spoke. Once Di Tian asked his question, he did not ask anything else. He simply waited for their answer.

He had already waited for many years, and he did not mind waiting for a little while longer. After all, all of them had tried it before, but only Di Tian had succeeded.

When the sun had almost set in the distance and the sky was dyed the yellowish brown of dusk, one of the seven sighed softly.

“The others call us the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors… but only we know that we are not sovereigns, and neither are we emperors. We are the batch of people who had not chosen to build the All Spirits Hall with the members of our sect.

“They chose to sacrifice themselves to help their descendants, and we chose to achieve our own aims… How many aeons has it been? We once were in hundreds, but now… most have already lost themselves. They either gave up or forgot their original ambitions and became existences that are neither human nor beast.”

Another soft sigh could be heard. It broke the peace after the man’s speech.

“There’s nothing to hesitate about here. Since you have been able to surpass all of our achievements this aeon… why should I hesitate in giving you this life and soul of mine?!” the figure standing the furthest on the right said resolutely, then lifted its head to look at Di Tian.

“Remember what you promised me. Once you succeed, you have to resurrect me!”

Di Tian looked at the person and nodded grimly.

“This is a pledge the eight of us swore in the past. If I succeed, the first thing I will do is to resurrect all of you!”

“If that’s the case…”

The figure who had spoken threw its head back and laughed. When the man brought his right hand up, he pushed down at the center of his brow without hesitation. With a bang, his body fell apart and turned into sparks that charged towards Di Tian and fused into him. It made him jolt, and his aura increased exponentially. He endured the urge to cry out from the pain and looked at the other six.

“Honestly, I’m a little unwilling to admit defeat, but I cannot deny that you have indeed succeeded this aeon. Choosing you will guarantee that our success will be greater… The last fifty years, huh? There might be very few who know of this. After all, we have only managed to figure out this secret of the universe after gathering all our power together and trying to predict this event for a long time.”

When one of the remaining six laughed and spoke, he brought his right hand up and struck his forehead. His body shattered with a bang and turned into glittering sparks that were absorbed by Di Tian once again.

“It’s a pity that when we were trying to execute our plan in my aeon, we didn’t run into Su Xuan Yi, Su Ming… and Dao Chen, who, due to a stroke of coincidence, tried to foolishly Possess you.

“Oh well, there’s nothing left in this life that is worth me staying alive for. There’s only fifty years left…

“If you don’t keep to your promise, then remember the pledge we once swore!”

Booming sounds echoed in the air. Three of the five struck the center of their brows, turned into glittering sparks, and were instantly absorbed by Di Tian. He shuddered even more violently after that. His aura continued growing stronger, and a terrifying presence spread out from him.

“Become an Abyss Builder, and then you will possess the divine abilities of the Abyss Builders. Di Tian… right now, you are even more perfect that what we had planned in the past, but the probability of your success is still not great. You must be careful!”

One of the remaining two sighed softly and closed his eyes. His body turned into glittering sparks and instantly fused into Di Tian’s body. Once he did so, besides Di Tian, there was only one other person left at the top of the mountain.

Gradually, his figure stopped being distorted, indistinct, and illusory, but gained corporeal form. The person showed up to be a woman dressed in palace clothing. Her expression was calm, and when she looked at Di Tian, gentleness appeared in her eyes.

Di Tian looked back at her. The two of them did not speak. After a long while, the woman sighed softly and spoke slowly.

“To continue living, no one can say if all that we did was right or wrong, because there is no right or wrong in this. If you fail, then all will return to dust, and we can forget all about it, but Di Tian… if you succeed, remember this: Do not commit wrongdoings.

“Be it Su Xuan Yi, with whom you were using each other, Su Ming, who you have chosen to understand through meditation, or Old Man Extermination, who seems to have chosen a similar path to ours in his world and who is clearly ahead of us… Regardless of whether they will succeed… do not do wrong. Do not become enemies with them, or else… destiny is unpredictable. I cannot see through it.

“And it is especially so… for Su Ming. I cannot see through him. When I was in the land of Berserkers, I could see his future, but when he left the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, his life became shrouded in fog, a terrifyingly thick and mysterious fog… And when he returned from Dark Dawn and Saint Defier… I did not dare predict his future.

“I cannot help you anymore. Destiny is unfathomable, lifelines will change even once you fuse them together… We can only respect Life. I wonder if our choice is correct, but this is the only path we could choose… Take care of yourself.”

Once the woman finished speaking, she closed her eyes. Her body gradually disappeared, and she turned into a crystalline spark, but Di Tian did not absorb it through his entire body like he did with the others. Instead, it gathered entirely at the center of his brow, turning into… a third eye that was the exact same as Su Ming’s!

At that moment, Di Tian trembled. He threw his head back and let out a roar that shook the skies and earth. When he did so, tears fell from his eyes. He might be merciless and aloof, but among the seven were his senior brother, his best friend, his Master… and his lover.

From then on, all the people who knew of his past would have either passed away or no longer live as cultivators, and those who would come to know him would never be able to know his true name. They would only know… that he was called Di Tian!

‘I will definitely succeed. It’s impossible for me to fail, because the person I have chosen to fuse my Life with is Su Ming. You have all seen his successes, and instead of saying that you trust me, it would be more accurate to say that you trust him!

‘If he succeeds, then I too will succeed, because my life matrix has already become one with his!’

The presence coming from Di Tian’s body gradually faded away. He lowered his head, and after a long while, when he released it again, it was incredibly similar and could practically be said to be the exact same as Su Ming’s.

‘Our life matrices have already fused together, which is why we cannot meet each other. Once we do, our life matrices will split up, and he will notice it… Su Ming, you definitely have to succeed, and once you do, we will meet, and then… I will Possess you!’

A ghastly smile appeared on Di Tian’s lips.

…..

‘There’s still fifty years… It’ll be soon, very soon…’

Su Xuan Yi, who had gone missing from the Emperor of Abyss’ True World, was in the Fourth True World. He sat cross-legged in a floating palace in the galaxy. It looked like a huge Feng Shui compass and was incredibly strange.

Lei Chen sat in front of Su Xuan Yi, umoving. Countless black needles had been stabbed into his body, and each of them had an innumerable number of runic symbols.

Su Xuan Yi stared at Lei Chen with a kind and loving expression on his face. When he brought his arms up, he formed a seal and started refining Lei Chen like what he did with the Lotus Constellation Robe.

“Lei Chen, my son, just endure for a few more years. We’ve almost succeeded. Old Man Extermination is going to attack soon, and when he does, he will need me to work with him. When I do so, it will be the moment when we will rise to power!

“Lei Chen, you only know that your mother died because of me, but you did not know that she did it for you! And I will be willing to sacrifice everything fifty years later for you as well. As long as you succeed and can let the Abyss Builders reappear in the universe, our family will be able to reunite once you open the Abyss Gate!

“Don’t blame me for making things hard for Su Ming either. Only by experimenting on him would I dare to use this method on you, and only after he nourished the Seed of Life Extermination could we have the chance… to succeed!

“It’ll be soon, it’s less than fifty years from now…”

Determination and madness appeared on Su Xuan Yi’s face. As he mumbled, he continued forming seals to refine Lei Chen.

The fifth kiln levitated above Lei Chen’s head. Fire spread out from it, and it burned along with the seals Su Xuan Yi made. In the flames, Lei Chen had his eyes closed. He did not move.

…..

There were countless strange creatures living in the boundless universe beyond Harmonious Morus Alba. The only way for them to become stronger was to complete the universes in their own bodies, so that lives and galaxies would be born in them.

The vast universe was the birthplace of all manner of living, but at that moment, the strange creatures were shuddering in the Vast Expanse. None of them dared move. They all knelt down, as if they were prostrating themselves, and allowed a huge Feng Shui compass to charge by them. When it did, their bodies were torn and devoured by it.

The Feng Shui compass shone with a dark, destructive light. The runic symbols on it shone, and each of them seemed to possess an ancient air that symbolized the beginning of the universe. They crowded and attended… to the black-robed young man sitting on the Feng Shui compass.

Dressed in a black long robe and with a head full of black hair, the young man sat aloofly on the compass. In his right hand he held a string of pearls, of which there were nine. At that moment, six of them were shining…

“I’m almost there…”

After a long while, the young man lifted his head. He toyed with the string of pearls in his right hand while casting his gaze into the distance. It looked as if he could see through the fog in the universe. There was a Harmonious Morus Alba with the aura of death spreading out of its body out there. Its four wings were about to overlap with each other, and it would die once they did so.

At the instant the black-robed man saw the Harmonious Morus Alba, two of his fingers stopped moving for a moment and clamped down on the seventh pearl. That pearl was originally dark, but right then, it was flashing rapidly with the shadow of a crane.

“Seventh Reversed Spirit, you cannot escape,” the black-robed young man said flatly and closed his eyes, but his right hand still remained clamped down on the seventh pearl. It did not move from it.