Pursuit of the Truth

Chapter 1374: Arid Triad Disaster (9)

‘Kill!

‘In my world, there is only slaughter left, and only through this slaughter and the hot waves of blood gushing out of living bodies will I know… that I still exist.

‘Kill!

‘If I don’t kill, then the world will think that I killed their kin. If I don’t kill, the resentment will only continue growing stronger. If I don’t kill… I will let down my heart, my Dao, and Ninth Summit!

‘So I… Su Ming, can only kill!

‘Be it right or wrong, I don’t want to think about it anymore. Right now, I feel like I’ve lost everything. That feeling of emptiness and the memory of people of Ninth Summit before they were killed have become the madness that made me lose my soul!

‘Besides killing… what else can I do? Even if these are all weaklings and should not die, now they… must die! If they didn’t interfere, if the resentment they gathered together didn’t stop me, none of it would have ever happened…

‘That is why… they must die! So, since you’re certain I was the one who killed your kin, then we might as well make it so that it is truly me who did so. Since you don’t want my explanations… then from now on, I, Su Ming, will no longer explain myself to anyone!

‘This is my Dao and my path. Those who know me know my heart, and for those who don’t… their deaths have nothing to do with me!’

Su Ming threw his head back and laughed. His laughter was shrill, and the tears falling from the corners of his eyes were red. Wherever he went, a bloody storm would rage. The worlds behind him overlapped as the disaster descended and laughed ferociously.

However, the ferocious laughter turned into howls in the end, because Su Ming had already rained down a calamity, and it… had already baptized the world with blood.

Su Ming walked past Dark Dawn and Saint Defier, his purple gust sweeping up a bloody sea as it rushed into the fourth Expanse Cosmos. He broke through space and shot through the barrier. At that moment he stepped into the fourth Expanse Cosmos, he heard the endless loud rumbles belonging to that area.

However, right then, those rumbles caused extreme annoyance to Su Ming. He was already in a very merciless state of mind. His heart was not calm and neither were his thoughts smooth, hence, he threw his head back and shouted, “SHUT UP!”

While the world rumbled, Su Ming’s voice instantly swept through the fourth Expanse Cosmos and filled the entire area. With his will, he changed laws, making the old ones shatter, and the loud rumbles that had existed since an eternity ago were destroyed at that moment.

It was as if the rumbles were afraid and trembling before Su Ming. They stopped moaning, causing the entire fourth Expanse Cosmos to fall into dead silence.

Without the rumbles, the purple gust Su Ming had formed swept through everywhere violently, charging towards the gap leading to the Vast Expanse, for it was the place where Old Man Extermination lived.

The entire universe seemed to be falling backwards at that moment.

Su Ming lifted his head and stared at the area above him… the Expanse Cosmos where Dark Dawn and Saint Defier were located was continuously overlapping with the world he was in as if two huge hands were pressing together to squash all existences.

The fourth Expanse Cosmos began showing signs of collapse. Planets rumbled, continents shattered, and Su Ming saw quite a number of powerful warriors from the previous aeons. They had already lost their souls of cultivators, but when faced with the imminent disaster, they stared at the Expanse Cosmos. There was a hint of reluctance to leave but also the expression of freedom on their faces.

The fiendish and malicious people of the past bent their heads to stare at the plants and flowers beneath them and smiled before they died. Their smiles were sincere, beautiful, and lasting until they shattered into nothingness.

When a person was about to die, their words were filled with kindness, and if their words were kind, it was even more so for his heart.

The destruction of the world made Su Ming feel as if he had lost his heart, as if it had been submerged in nothingness. Only the gust of wind in which he had turned was left, and while charging forward, Su Ming saw a person.

He was tall, and so big that he looked like a hill. He stood on a crumbling planet while laughing sorrowfully at the heavens. His voice echoed in space, and it was filled with regret as well as his bravery that spoke of fearlessness towards death.

The shrillness and grief in his laughter was enough to affect the universe.

Su Ming saw the figure’s face, and it belonged to… Lie Shan Xiu!

The first God of Berserkers Lie Shan Xiu!

“I made the wrong bet! Su Ming, I was wrong… but you have to persevere!”

As Lie Shan Xiu laughed shrilly, he did not avoid the collapse of the planet beneath him. He simply allowed the ground to shatter and pull him under. When his figure was devoured, the planet let out a bang, and all the existences within it shattered to pieces, turning into ash that vanished into nothingness.

Yet the grief-filled laughter echoed in the collapsing galaxy, turning into a lingering voice that stayed for a long while, refusing to leave.

Su Ming saw the planet being reduced to powder and watched Lie Shan Xiu choose death. He died because he took the wrong bet, because he felt guilty for his actions against Su Ming, and because the deaths of the one hundred thousand Berserkers had sent him into mourning that could not be put into words. He could only die.

In silence, the purple gust Su Ming had formed appeared at the gap leading to the Vast Expanse. He did not see Tian Xie Zi on the way nor notice his presence. It was as if Tian Xie Zi had vanished without leaving behind a single trace.

Su Ming did not find Tian Xie Zi, but he saw the ancient ship, and on it, he saw… Old Man Extermination!

This was not the first time Su Ming saw him. When he had gained an epiphany of Boundless Dao, he had seen him with his Dao Divinity, but since then… Old Man Extermination’s appearance had changed drastically.

Nearly a tenth of his hair had turned black, and a tenth of his face seemed to have become younger. It was clearly different from the old appearance of the rest of his body, and even his presence was jumbled up.

It was as if he had two presences. Even if the second presence was slightly weaker, it seemed to contain an indestructible will. No matter how Old Man Extermination suppressed it, it was impossible for him to chase it away.

Su Ming was familiar with the second presence. It… belonged to Lei Chen!

The instant the purple gust approached the area, Old Man Extermination’s eyes flew open. They focused on Su Ming while shining with a dark light.

“Arid Triad is indeed admirable. If he didn’t save you, you would have already turned into an offering. But no matter, this is your destiny, you will never be able to escape it.”

When Old Man Extermination said that, he raised his right hand and pointed at Su Ming.

With it, the galaxy before him distorted and formed a glowing outline in the form of an octagon. At the instant it appeared, a destructive presence filled the area, and the space seemed to have been forcefully torn open from the world beyond.

Once a huge crack was formed, Su Ming could see the Vast Expanse through it. There was a finger charging forth through there towards Su Ming, aiming to touch him.

“I’ve been very curious about how you choose a person to be your offering…” Su Ming said while looking at Old Man Extermination.

After speaking, he took a step forward, and once he touched the octagonal glowing outline, it let out an astonishing boom. The glowing outline shattered, and Su Ming stepped out of it.

At the instant he stepped out, the finger came charging forward, replacing the space behind him. When it approached him, Su Ming did not bother dodging and allowed the finger to touch him.

His body roared and shattered. That finger shot through Su Ming’s body and charged towards Old Man Extermination.

This scene caused Old Man Extermination’s expression to change. When he formed a seal with his hands, his Dao Divinity manifested at the center of his brow. No one knew what sort of divine ability he cast to be able to cause the finger to stop before him, but he did it. The finger slowly went backwards and disappeared into space. Once it did so, a deep voice came from the Vast Expanse.

“You have yet to prepare my offering.”

When those words appeared, Old Man Extermination’s face turned pale. Just as he was about to speak, the space where Su Ming’s physical body had shattered suddenly distorted. The shattered pieces gathered together, and in the blink of an eye, Su Ming’s body appeared, completely undamaged!

This scene caused Old Man Extermination to narrow his eyes.

At the same time, Di Tian’s entire body had dried and shrivelled in the crumbling Yin Death Vortex. When he coughed up blood, eight overlapping pupils appeared in his eyes, and right then… one of them disappeared!

Only seven pupils were left overlapping one another. The one that had vanished was used to maintain the life matrix, which had crumbled and needed to be gathered together. As long as Di Tian did not die, then Su Ming… would definitely not die either!

This was something Su Ming already knew, which was why he could allow the finger to approach him and destroy his body. Once he appeared again, Su Ming took a step forward and charged towards Extermination.

“Who gave you the right to choose me as your offering?!”

Monstrous murderous intent burned in Su Ming’s eyes. The purple tint in his pupils caused his entire being to look as if he was no longer a cultivator, but a fierce spirit burning in flames.

His eyes shone with an eye-catching light, and at that moment, when he moved forward, he did so at a calm, moderate pace, but an increasingly stronger presence erupted from his body. It was so strong that it made the world’s destruction stop for a moment!

Old Man Extermination brought his hand up again, and while laughing ferociously, he formed a seal and pointed at him.

“I refuse to believe that you have countless lives!”

With it, the octagonal Rune appeared around Su Ming again. Soon after, Xuan Zang’s finger showed up once more from the crack leading to the Vast Expanse, charging towards Su Ming with a power that could destroy everything. It was so fast that it approached him in the blink of an eye…

With a bang, Su Ming’s body shattered again. The finger shot through his body, and when it appeared in front of Old Man Extermination, he quickly formed a seal and pointed at the center of his brow. The finger immediately came to a stop and pulled back.

“Where is my offering?!”

The deep voice that came from the crack was as cold and merciless as ever.