Pursuit of the Truth

The sky was blue and there were white clouds floating past. The sight was gorgeous…

However, the icy coldness beneath his body, the freezing wind around him, his eyes, which he could not open, and the sharp stabs of pain spreading through his body caused the blue in the sky to only be a color only from his memories and the white clouds to only be a figment of his imagination.

Once everything was torn apart, then what remained was loneliness, grief, and fear that he could not speak of.

”Today is a good day. Big brother, the sky is blue, and there’re a lot of white clouds up ahead. Look, that cloud is like a rabbit, and that one is, um… that one kind of looks like a grey wolf.”

The tender voice by his ears seemed to make the darkness before his eyes gradually disappear. That voice ripped apart all the shadows and the blue sky returned. There was also a rabbit shaped cloud in the sky. By its side, there also was the cloud in the shape of the wolf.

”Ah, big brother! That cloud looks like you, it really looks like you. There’s a cloud by its side, that one’s like me.” That young voice was the only warmth in that dark world of his. It was also that voice that was explaining the differences of colors to him. It was telling him what was black, what was blue, and what was white.

Every single time that voice spoke, he would stop feeling cold, he would stop feeling lonely, he would stop feeling that there was an innumerable amount of days filled only with night in this endless darkness.

Even if the pain in his body was becoming increasingly more difficult to bear, even if once in a while, he would feel as if there was someone cutting into him to squeeze out his blood, he did not feel that it was unbearable. As long as he could hear that voice often, if he could just listen to that voice for eternity…

”Big brother, cultivation is so tiring. I don’t want to be a Cultivator anymore, but father said we must become Cultivators or else you will die. Big brother, don’t die. I’ll continue with my cultivation. It’s not tiring at all…”

‘It’s not tiring? If it’s not tiring, then why does her voice sound so weak? I can’t see it, but I can sense it. She’s very tired… Is my death related to her cultivation? Father… is it that cold voice? If it is, then don’t listen to him, every single time he comes, I go through so much pain I want to die.

‘He called me Destiny. Is that my name? It should be, it shouldn’t be…’

”Big brother, it’s a clear day outside. Ah, the weather has been clear for a very long time. You must really like sunny days, that’s why the weather is this way.”

‘Is the weather clear? Silly girl. The only senses I have left in my body are my hearing and my touch. You’re holding an umbrella, but it’s not covering my feet. Those water droplets on my feet must be rain. It should be. I heard from others talking that it has been raining for a month.’

”Big brother, I saw other big sisters… Mm, they’re really pretty, but why am I so small? I’m only younger than them by a year. Ah… but I still look like a child.

”But big brother, you look really handsome. Heh heh, I heard from my senior sister that she likes being beside you. Big brother, you have to wake up soon, alright..?

”Father said you’re about to wake up soon, but I’ve been hearing him say that since I was young.”

‘They like being beside me? But every single time those senior sisters of yours come, a large amount of my presence would disappear. Silly girl, it’s not me they like, they just like coming here and absorbing the Immortal qi from my body. I heard them mention it when they were chatting. They thought I couldn’t hear it.

‘Silly girl, all the people who come here harbor ulterior motives towards us. I heard far too many of their conversations…’

”Big brother, father has been acting really strange lately. He… hits me often… I’ve been working really hard in my cultivation. I’ve been listening to his requests and helping his other sect members train. They surround me every single time, and when we train together, I feel my body becoming weaker…

”I can feel that their gazes are different when they look at me. It’s as if… they’re looking at a medicinal pill.”

‘Those damn Immortals. Once I open my eyes and I can move my body, I’ll kill all of you! I don’t care if you absorb my Immortal qi, but how could you lay your hands on her as well?!

‘She’s still just a child! How could you do this for your own cultivation?! How could you?! Is it not enough that you’re absorbing mine? All of you have my Immortal qi in your bodies!

‘I swear, if I ever stand up, then I will definitely make all of you pay!’

”Big brother, I’m really tired today… let me lay down beside you. I’m… really tired…”

‘Sleep. I’ll protect you. I’ll transfer my power as an Immortal into your body so that you won’t be tired tomorrow.

‘If only I could see, then I would be able to tell the difference between day and night, then I could find you among the sea of people around us and hold your hand… Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

‘If only I could stand up, then I would be able to fly with you in the sky, then I could go to the end of the sky and earth with you… Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

‘If only I could speak, then I would be able to laugh with you, then I would be able to point at the sky and draw the blue sky and the white clouds…. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

‘But I can’t. I can’t see, I can’t move, I can’t speak. The world I see is dark. There are no colors. The only thing I feel is pain and loneliness.’

”Big brother, I’ve been feeling really sleepy lately. I feel that I’ve become shorter. I don’t look pretty anymore… No one likes me, I can tell… You’re the only one who’ll stay by my side, right..?

”Big brother, does it hurt? Don’t be sad. I have a dream, once my level of cultivation rises, I’ll take you away…”

‘Silly girl, it’s useless. I know them. He’s not your father, neither is he my father. His name is Di Tian.‘

”Big brother, I won’t be able to see you for some time. They… They’re taking me to a place… Once I come back, I’ll come see you again.

”Big brother, you have to wake up soon…”

‘I can feel your tears on my body. I can sense that cold gaze looking at me while you’re crying.’

”Fei Er, we have to leave now.”

‘That cold voice echoing in the air gradually faded out. My world turned dark once again. I can’t hear her voice anymore. There is no more blue sky, no more white clouds.

‘There is only emptiness, loneliness, cold, rain, snow, the chilling wind, that endless pain, and those disgusting people absorbing my power and their revolting presences.

‘I also feel time flowing past. I don’t know how many years have passed by. That voice I heard by my ears never appeared again… My time has been dark like this ever since.

‘I want to open my eyes. I have to open my eyes, because I want to search for you… I want to search for the blue sky that belongs to me. I want to see what shade of blue the sky has, and I want to look for the voices filled with joy.

‘I want to go back, because so many years have passed by, and I have lost all contact with you. Where are you..? My sister, are you well?

‘I want to speak, because I want to ask all of them how you are now. You… mustn’t end up as I am now.

‘Because… you are my eyes. When Di Tian brought those two babies back with him, you were the one alive, and I was the one dead.’

A dream.

Su Ming opened his eyes and saw the sky, the clouds, the colors in the world. In his mind, the dream that brought him grief still lingered. Confusion appeared in his eyes, but that confusion only lasted for an instant before it turned into deathly stillness.

Those were a pair of deadly still, terrifyingly calm eyes!

The instant Di Tian saw those eyes, his forever calm heart shuddered!

Su Ming looked at Di Tian and sat up slowly from the coffin, the scar left behind on Dark Mountain was shining with a blood-red light at that moment. That light caused Su Ming to be filled with a strange and eerie air.

The instant he saw Di Tian, his pupils shrank. A countless amount of pictures suddenly flashed past in his eyes and eventually stopped at a void filled with endless darkness. Over there was a middle-aged man who did not wear any Emperor’s robe, just a long robe, and he was sitting cross-legged on a gigantic head.

The person wearing the Emperor’s robe right now, standing before him, was incredibly similar to that middle-aged man in the void!

”Di Tian, we meet again.”

Su Ming lowered his head and rubbed the center of his brows. A barely noticeable glint flashed past his eyes and he sat up on the coffin. His hair was no longer red and had returned to its original shade. The mark of the peach blossom was still there at the center of his brows, but it had become much dimmer.

Di Tian’s pupils shrank for the first time. He did not speak, merely stared at Su Ming as if he was observing him.

Su Ming rubbed the center of his brows with his left hand, then the instant his gaze swept past the coffin by his side, his heart trembled for some unknown reason. It was as if his heart had been emptied out, and a pain that was almost akin to the pain of asphyxiation rose within him.

He saw those scenes filled with darkness once again. Everything in the dream and that young voice… Su Ming’s heart trembled. He was greatly confused by everything before him. He only remembered that he was struck by Madam Ji’s Peach Blossom Fiend and that thing had stirred the most primitive desire in his body.

Once he went to White Bull Tribe, he forced that urge down and struggled to return to his cave abode. Before he lost control of himself, he used Han Mountain Bell to seal himself up, then sank into a long coma. Even if he occasionally woke up, he remembered that he was still in Han Mountain Bell.

When he opened his eyes again after the last time he fell unconscious, he saw the person that had made his heart tremble. The man wearing the Emperor’s robe was the person who had appeared sitting on the head when he went through that unknown amount of years in the void - the person he saw when Han Mountain’s ancestor Possessed him.

This person’s appearance made Su Ming’s heart tremble. Originally, he should not have been able to control this sudden change of emotion, but for some unknown reason, he managed to control it, and in a very ingenious manner to boot, and it was all done subconsciously. It was as if this was a natural ability that was waking up within him right then.

But that was not all. Su Ming also noticed that his head seemed to be much clearer than before. There were some unfamiliar yet strangely familiar scenes flashing in his mind. They felt like memories he’d had since a long time ago but which had been sealed up, and right then, these memories were showing signs of recovering upon his waking.

It was especially so the instant he saw the coffin. The strong feeling made him pat the coffin lightly while looking calm on the outside. That one pat immediately made the coffin’s lid shatter and disappear in an endless amount of shards, causing the thing inside to be revealed clearly.

There was a stone statue lying in the coffin, and that statue was of a girl. She had long hair and did not look incredibly pretty. There was a hint of pain on her face, and that look was enough to make others grow compassionate towards her.

Her petite figure did not seem to have grown fully. She seemed to only be around fifteen or sixteen years of age, but there was an ancient look on her face that could not be hidden away, and it clearly showed her true age.

That statue looked incredibly vivid, containing almost everything that could be found on the girl. Clearly, this was not the work of an ordinary person.

The now awakened Su Ming looked at the stone statue in the coffin and his heart roared loudly. This was the first time he saw this girl, but for some unknown reason, he instant he saw her, extreme pain struck his heart. The young voice from his dreams echoed in his ears once again.

”Big brother, the sky is blue…”

”Big brother, I’m a little tired…”

”Big brother, they’re taking me to a place. When I come back, I’ll come see you…”

”Big brother, hurry up and wake up…”