Pursuit of the Truth

“He’s putting on airs! He’s so good at putting on airs!”

The thirteen warships charged forward in the galaxy. Within the biggest warship was the bald crane. It had an envious expression on its face as it mumbled to itself ceaselessly.

“Gosh, darn it, this sort of act of putting on airs should be done by me, haih…”

The bald crane looked dejected. By its side, the Abyss Dragon rolled its eyes. It really did not want to strike the bald crane’s ego and point out that the bald crane had been so scared that it did not dare to get out of the room when the Waves of Tears had attacked a few days ago.

“Think about it. Me, the handsome and elegant bald crane, standing in the sea of blood that surges into heavens, bathing in it. With a swing of my wing, I would wash my back, and one hundred thousand Waves of Tears would die. With another swing of my wing, I would wash my chest, and the remaining Waves of Tears would bow down to worship me. Tsk tsk, he’s so pretentious!

“Now that I think about it, that guy is up to no good. To his left is that catwoman, to his right is that girl, behind him are those nine old coots, and before him are thousands of fearless warriors…” The bald crane ground its teeth in vexation, looking incredibly jealous.

“If I had that, I would definitely ask them to bring out all their crystals, but what did he do, huh? He did not even mention the crystals! This… This is just… This is so… He’s so prodigal, so shameless, so wasteful!

“This won’t do, I have to go to him and talk some sense into him. Abyss Dragon, don’t stop me, I must go!” The bald crane’s eyes were red. In its anger, it was about to walk out of its room, but after just taking a few steps, it looked at the Abyss Dragon lying on the ground.

“Don’t stop me!”

“I’m not stopping you.” The Abyss Dragon sighed and quickly moved back, looking incredibly innocent.

“Urgh… Ah, fine, you’re right, I shouldn’t be so petty. I’ll let this slide.” The bald crane’s eyes moved about shiftily before it quickly sat down, acting very generous.

“What did I say?” The Abyss Dragon was momentarily stunned. and it scratched its head.

“Hmm? Didn’t you say that you didn’t want me to go?”

“Huh? I didn’t say that.”

“You said…”

“I really didn’t say…”

An intense debate immediately unfolded between the dragon and the crane in the room. No one else could hear their voices, but Su Ming, who was sitting not too far away on the warship’s floorboard, could hear everything clearly due to the connection he had with the bald crane.

He did not bother with the two creatures, though. Instead, he lowered his head and touched his chest. Even though the black stone fragment was not there anymore, Su Ming was too used to its existence. It might be in his soul, but he still instinctively thought that it was hanging around his neck.

The scene several days ago emerged in Su Ming’s head. Once the Waves of Tears left and Su Ming walked out of the vast sea of blood, it surged towards him and disappeared without a trace around him.

But Su Ming could sense that the sea of blood had not vanished. Instead… it had been absorbed by the black stone fragment.

“Seed of Life Extermination…”

Su Ming closed his eyes. After a long while, when he opened them again, he put down the hand that had been on his chest. Su Ming could guess a little about the matter regarding the Seed of Life Extermination, his Ecang clone, and the bald crane, but not everything.

However, this was not the time for him to verify his guesses. He wanted to go to Divine Essence Star Ocean to search for Lie Shan Xiu. If he could find him, then it would be good, but if he could not obtain any clues, then Su Ming… was prepared… to leave the Barren Lands of Divine Essence with Morning Dao Sect!

He wanted to leave this place and return to True Morning Dao World, then return to his homeland!

In fact, he had already made a certain decision. If he could go back to True Morning Dao World, he was going to use a different method to take revenge on the entire True Morning Dao World than what he had planned while among the Berserkers. He was not going to fight against those people head on… but would instead replace them in the dark!

‘I’ll become the strongest of all those in the Dao Family in Morning Dao Sect and slowly take control of Morning Dao Sect… and I will continue doing so until I control the entire True Morning Dao World. I’ll become True Morning Dao World’s Kalpa Lord. I’ll become Dao Chen!

‘At that time, it won’t matter whether it’ll be the Immortals or the wills from Yin Death Region—all of them will be reduced to ashes. Only by doing so will Di Tian not be able to notice me, and I will… be able to retrieve my physical body!’ A brilliant light shone in Su Ming’s eyes, and a hint of a cold smile appeared on his lips.

He was no longer the ignorant teenager from the past. It could be said that he was already a calculative and farsighted person.

Di Tian would definitely not be able to think of this method!

Su Ming looked around him. All the cultivators in the thirteen warships were his subordinates. They had held Dao Kong in reverence in the past, and it was the same now, but Su Ming was Dao Kong now. Because of this, these people had become his subordinates!

And due to the matter with the Waves of Tears earlier, Su Ming could sense that while these people still treated him the same as before, a hint of zealousness appeared in their eyes.

This zealousness was not because of Morning Dao Sect, but because of Su Ming himself!

In fact, while the nine old Frail Darknesses still had the same expressions as before and did not seem that different from before, Su Ming could sense from a few subtle hints that a barely noticeable hint of respect had appeared within the nine old men, and along with it was also… a hint of joy akin to that of the older generation seeing those in the younger generation growing up to be mature and powerful.

Aside from these people, the catwoman had also changed. But the one who changed the most was Xu Hui. She no longer hid herself in space, but was on another warship. Occasionally, she would cast her gaze on Su Ming.

She was hesitant, filled complicated emotions, as well as feeling an inexplicable surprise.

Su Ming closed his eyes and no longer bothered with his surroundings, but instead went on to sense his own cultivation base. At that moment, he was already in the middle stage of World Plane Realm. As for his physical body, it possessed power equivalent to those in the later stage of World Plane. If he brought out the power of Divine Essence as well, then he could fight against those who had attained completion in World Plane Realm.

If he borrowed the power from his Ecang clone as well or had his Ecang clone personally come to the place to fuse with this clone, then Su Ming’s offensive abilities… could allow him to fight against those in Lunar Kalpa Realm and below without a problem. Though he would still not be able to fight against the Masters of Fate, Lives, and Death, he could fight against the old monsters in Solar Kalpa Realm with his Ecang clone.

Su Ming had never dreamed about having this sort of power when he had left the land of Berserkers in the past. Yet now, he had it in his grasp. In silence, Su Ming touched his storage bag. In it was the Divine Essence Treasure Peace Arrives When the Elephant is Here, along with Dao Avenue Mountain, which he could activate fully. These would be his killing moves.

More importantly, he had the poisonous wasp! The God Ascension Nectar in the poisonous wasp was a source for Su Ming’s level of cultivation to continue rising nonstop. When he thought of this, he lowered his head to look at his right index finger.

The might not seem to anything unusual about it, but Su Ming knew that God Ascension Nectar was contained in that fingertip. In the end, he had decided to keep that God Ascension Nectar.

Even though it would attract danger to him, as long as he controlled it and not let it spread outwards, he could avoid danger, especially when there were thirteen screens of light around where he sat. This was the protection provided to him by the thirteen warships. Along with Su Ming’s own power and seals, he could make it so that the fragrance from the God Ascension Nectar did not spread outwards.

When he tried to continue melting the God Ascension Nectar, Su Ming also gained a complete version of Dao Kong’s memories. He found the peculiarities surrounding the Sacred Constellation Robe and the method to use it.

The Sacred Constellation Robe was something that only the direct descendants of the Dao Family in Morning Dao Sect could possess, so there was bound to be something about it that made it strong. Due to Su Ming’s continuous efforts to understand it over the past few days and Dao Kong’s memories, he had gained mastery over the robe.

‘The more people I enslave, the stronger the might of the Sacred Constellation Robe will become, and based on Dao Kong’s Sacred Constellation Robe as well as his memories, he had nearly a hundred thousand retainers in Morning Dao Sect.

‘These one hundred thousand retainers have outstanding power. He also has four main guards. Each of them is at the later stage of World Plane Realm, but due to the unique structure of the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, they could not come with Dao Kong, which was why they were made to stay outside.’ Su Ming touched the robe with his right hand, and a smile flashed on his face.

‘There are three main functions within Sacred Constellation Robes. One of them is to protect. Their wearers can stimulate the protective power inside, and different Sacred Constellation Robes have different strengths. Dao Kong’s Sacred Constellation Robe can resist one full-power strike from a cultivator in Lunar Kalpa Realm!

‘This alone makes this robe much stronger than the one I obtained from that Dao Yuan, whom I killed in the past. That robe couldn’t even allow me to resist against the three old men sealed in my soul, which shows just how weak it was.’ The scene from that year emerged in Su Ming’s mind. Now that he thought back on it, the three men sealed in his soul should have been existences like the Duke of Crimson Flame.

‘The second is to seal divine abilities. One of the main reasons behind why Sacred Constellation Robes are so powerful is this. They can seal off other people’s divine abilities and allow the wearer to figure them out. But if the wearer wants to execute an Art, then he would need enough power and enough retainers to stimulate him to cast it.

‘As for the third function, it is… to allow the wearer to turn into a star! But to do this, they need to burn their servants’ souls. Once a person turns into a star, they can control the Essence of a World. Even when in the face of someone in Solar Kalpa Realm, they would be able to resist a full-power strike from them, albeit with much difficulty.

‘And as a Sacred Constellation Robe becomes stronger, it should be able to allow the wearer to turn into a star cluster. If that is the case, then the wearer would become powerful enough to shock those in Solar Kalpa Realm.

‘It’s a pity that turning into a star isn’t that easy. This Sacred Constellation Robe hasn’t reached that level. Right now, this robe… is only a fourth-tier Constellation Robe. It’s still far from reaching the ninth-tier.

‘Also, based on Dao Kong’s memories, if a Sacred Constellation Robe reaches the ninth-tier, then other hidden divine abilities would be revealed. Its color would even change to silver. In his memories, the ancient existences among the direct descendants of the Dao Family had silver robes.

‘As for those in his generation, no one had managed to make their robes turn silver before he left for the Barren Lands of Divine Essence.’ Su Ming rubbed the center of his brows and closed his eyes. He started meditating quietly and exercising his breathing.

Time trickled by slowly. The thirteen warships’ travel was rather smooth. They no longer ran into existences like the Waves of Tears. And even if they did occasionally run into some scattered ferocious beasts that did not travel in groups, they would either avoid them or kill them. Their journey could be considered to be a smooth-sailing one.

Until three months later…

Su Ming and his group finally reached the periphery of Divine Essence Star Ocean. An innumerable amount of meteors were floating around there, and it could even be said that they surrounded the entire galaxy. This was a landmark. Once they stepped in, it would mean that they had… stepped into the periphery of Divine Essence Star Ocean.

Bang, bang. Bang, bang.

When the thirteen warships approached the meteors, they immediately heard a noise. There was a regular pattern to the sound, and the interval between each one was almost exactly the same.

Su Ming had already opened his eyes a long time ago. Along with him, almost all the other cultivators on the ships saw a thin and frail man crouched down on one of the meteors not too far into the distance. With an apathetic expression, he was digging a hole at a regular rhythm.

When they looked at his surroundings, they found that there were already seven giant holes around him. There were plenty of crushed stones floating about, making it clear that these holes had been all dug by the man.