Pursuit of the Truth

Almost the instant the tenth moon appeared in the World of Nine Yin’s sky, the old man who was sitting and meditating with his body hidden under the fog beside the rapidly fossilizing Candle Dragon’s carcass suddenly trembled. He opened his eyes swiftly and coughed out a mouthful of blood.

When that blood first appeared, it was still red, but it soon turned black. When it fell on the ground before him, sizzling sounded in the air. The old man’s face was pale to the point of being bloodless. There was also a spot about the size of a fingernail on his forehead which had turned black.

That black smudge was still stretching outwards slowly, and a rotten stench was spreading out of that black patch. It smelled like the stench of decay.

”What a powerful Curse…” the old man mumbled to himself in a hoarse voice. By the time he finished saying those words, the black patch had spread to his entire forehead.

The rotten stench became stronger, and the old man’s expression changed. He lifted his right hand, formed a seal, then tapped the center of his brows, but the instant his finger touched it, his body trembled once again and he coughed out three mouthfuls of blood in succession.

”Death turns me into an Immortal, the Immortals fuse time into our Dao, and time always changes!” The old man said those words with much difficulty, and as he voiced them, he quickly began forming seals with his hands, then rapidly tapped various spots on his body. The black patch on his face had already spread to a wide area and covered his entire face. It was not spreading to his throat though.

As the man said those words and formed those seals, his body started rapidly withering away. Almost in the blink of an eye, his entire person turned into a dried up corpse.

That corpse looked rigid as he sat there cross-legged. Due to the disappearance of the life force, the black patch on the man’s face did not continue spreading. After a moment, cracking sounds came from within the old man’s dried up corpse. Immediately after, a crack appeared at the center of his brows. That crack was abruptly torn wider, and a pair of hands stretched out from within. With a vicious rip, a crack rang through the air.

That tear widened swiftly on the old man’s body,and a pair of complete arms were revealed. The owner of them was a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties or fifties!

That man was entirely naked, and he looked as if he was about to crawl out from the dried up corpse. After widening the crack, he swiftly walked out.

The middle-aged man looked incredibly similar to the old man in black robes, as if the middle-aged was him many years ago.

However, in terms of their presence, the middle-aged man was clearly much weaker than the old man in black robes. Once he walked out, he panted harshly, and a faint smile appeared at the corners of his lips.

”Destiny is now perfectly sealed within the Undying and Imperishable Realm. I’ve finished my task. I only need to wait for my master’s clone to come and can use this to claim a huge credit…

”This curse might be strong, but it can’t stop me, because I’ve already prepared for this a long time… hmm?”

The middle-aged man was feeling incredibly smug. But just as he was mumbling to himself, his expression suddenly changed drastically, because he could clearly feel another black patch appearing at the center of his brows!

Fear appeared on the middle-aged man’s face. He instinctively lifted his right hand and pressed down on the black patch at the center of his brows. He touched a viscous substance, and when he lifted his hand up, a sticky black thread was dragged out, and a rotten stench wafted into his nose.

”This divine ability given to me by my master can even help me avoid heavenly judgment. How could the Candle Dragon’s curse…”

The middle-aged man appeared frightened. He quickly sat down and cast the same divine ability once again, and his body rapidly turned into a dried up corpse. Very soon, a tear appeared at the center of its brows. In an instant, it started spreading to the center of his body. A low growl appeared from that crack, and a man at the prime of his life crawled out.

The ripples coming from the youthful man’s body had become much weaker. His appearance looked much younger compared to the old man in black robes, but… the instant he walked out, the black patch reappeared on his forehead as if it had etched right into his bones!

At that moment, the place was filled with a strange sight. If anyone else saw this, they would definitely be scared. Right beside the man were two dried up corpses with two incredibly big cracks in their bodies. One of them belonged to an old man, who still remained sitting cross-legged. However, if anyone took a closer look, they would find that his body was empty, and it was literally just a human shaped shell.

As for the middle-aged man who was sitting cross-legged, he was also a dried up corpse. His body was also empty, like he was only a layer of skin.

The youthful man by his side looked pale, and in his eyes were disbelief and terror that surged to the skies.

”Damn it, how can this be?! I had already separated myself from that thread of divine sense just now, I shouldn’t be so deeply affected, but…” The youthful man shuddered. The black patch at the center of his brows spread wider, and it now looked to be the size of a baby’s palm.

”I have to find a way to neutralize the curse as soon as possible! Curses… Damn it, I don’t have much understanding towards this ancient and strange Art, how am I supposed to neutralize it?!”

The youthful man’s face turned pale. He took a leap forward and charged into the distance. As he moved forward, he coughed out several mouthfuls of blood, and the black patch on his face grew larger.

At that moment, all the rotten blood and flesh within the fossilized Candle Dragon’s body along with its skeleton had hardened up and turned into gray stone.

It did not matter whether it was the Candle Dragon’s eye or the ferocious beasts. All of them had turned into stone, especially the creatures at its head. It was quiet there. There were two huge stone statues there. One of them belonged to the dragon snake, and the other was Su Ming’s Nine-Headed Dragon born from his Han Mountain Bell.

They remained in their last pose before they were fossilized. There were murderous looks on their faces as they were engaged in a battle to the death. Even if they had been fossilized, if anyone looked at them, they could still feel a murderous aura coming right at their faces.

The giant mass of flesh that had been spreading outwards previously had also turned into a stone statue. Su Ming stood there, right by its side. His body remained still, and he had his eyes closed. He had also been petrified.

Everything about him had been turned into stone, including his clothes, his hair, and everything else. He looked no different compared to a stone, and even that hint of resolution on his face had been petrified in its place. He looked almost alive.

The small snake and the body formed from the old man’s divine sense had also turned into a stone statue. They were all retained inside the fossilized Candle Dragon. The existences of these stone statues caused the place to be filled with a dead silence and a strange air…

The only thing that had not been petrified was the woman’s head floating in midair. Her presence had completely disappeared and her eyes were opened. There was not a single spark of life remaining within them, but if anyone took a closer look, they would find that there was a weak vortex turning slowly in her right eye.

It was the Candle Dragon’s Undying and Imperishable Realm! That vortex was the pride of its life! It was the source of why it could still remain proud and unyielding even though it was extremely weakened, when the old man in black robes had threatened it!

Candle Dragons could die, but even if they died, they still could not be threatened by any ordinary folk. Even if they died, they would still choose to die being devoured by their own kind!

All those who tried to control a Candle Dragon’s thoughts would have to be struck by its powerful Curse, a Curse that could still terrify others even though it had died!

It devoured its own kind to survive, because it believed that this was the only way for the Candle Dragons to live eternally. However, if fate dictated that it could not devour its own kind, then it would willingly use everything that constituted itself and bless its kind’s… new life!

All of this… was because they were of the same race!

All of this… was because of the unique legacy that belonged to the Candle Dragons!

If anyone magnified that vortex in the right eye, they would be able to see numerous illusionary shadows inside, and one of them…

...was Su Ming!

His body drifted without direction, and he looked like a wandering soul. His eyes were gray, and there was not a hint of intelligence within them. They were eternally vacant.

He did not have any will, as if his spirit was sleeping and could not wake up. He could not even be considered to have any natural instincts, and he was just drifting in that endless world.

There was a large amount of wandering souls who were floating and drifting about like him. There were about thousands of them, and almost every single one of them had gray eyes. They did not have any intelligence, no natural instincts. They could only… be forced to obey the piercing sound when it appeared…

They could only follow the orders of that soul before them that was obviously stronger than the other vengeful souls. There was a small amount of black mist spreading out of that soul. From the distance, it looked as if there was a murderous aura that was crashing right into the wandering souls’ faces. That soul’s eyes might also be gray, but within those gray pupils was a shred of intelligence.

With a piercing howl, the swarm of vengeful souls behind him quickly got closer to him and were sucked dry once he seized them. Once hundreds of vengeful souls were sucked dry, another piercing howl came from the distance. Immediately after, thousands of vengeful souls emerged from the spot where that other piercing sound had come. Leading those souls was a soul with an evil face, and he was shrouded entirely by black fog.

A war between vengeful souls started just like that.

When Su Ming opened his eyes, he still had not regained his will. However, a pain as if his entire body had been torn apart filled him, and he only managed to not scream by gritting his teeth tightly. That sort of pain was akin to his body turning into a leaf while he was being ripped apart, bit by bit. When he was eventually ripped to pieces, he was squeezed tightly, as if the force was trying to crush his bones into powder.

If he had screamed under that pain, perhaps he would not have snapped awake. It was precisely because he had endured that intense pain, that felt as if there were numerous voices by his ears roaring and calling out to him incessantly, that it felt as if he had stirred up all his strength!

It was from that strength that he had the false impression that he had opened his eyes once again, even though his eyes were open to begin with!

The instant he truly opened his eyes, he saw a gray, ashen sky, a white ground, and a broken world that only became like this after having lived through an unknown amount of years...