Pursuit of the Truth

At the instant Zhao Chong knelt down and begged for mercy, fire suddenly erupted from his body. The power from the flames instantly filled the entire area, and at that moment, he swiftly scattered away. This was not self-destruction. He was simply using the chance he created while begging for mercy to make the other person hesitate, and during that instant, he executed the strongest Evil Art he had at his disposal, which was used specifically for devouring people.

He wanted to forcefully take over this person’s mind and destroy his soul. He knew that this person’s level of cultivation was higher than his, and he also knew that it would be difficult for him to be released unconditionally in light of what he had done, but he still had some marginal confidence that he could succeed!

Almost at the instant his Nascent Soul dissipated, nearly a hundred souls appeared in Su Ming’s body, and all of them were letting out shrill roars. They… were all souls of disciples who Zhao Chong had devoured in the past.

Their souls had already fused together with his Nascent Soul, and as they scattered outwards, it meant that Zhao Chong was no longer the only one trying to occupy Su Ming’s mind. There were nearly a hundred souls trying to do so at the same time.

This was his so called ’chance’!

Su Ming was waiting precisely for this moment. He had already correctly guessed this person’s divine ability and its uses earlier, especially when he saw the dried up corpses sitting all around the karst cave. They were definitely there not just for decoration.

A clue was hidden here, and after a brief analysis, Su Ming was certain that Zhao Chong’s cultivation method did not just allow him to absorb his disciple’s flesh, essence, and their souls. There was another use to it, and that was the ability to use their souls to control their physical bodies, turning them into puppet-like existences.

These puppets might not be powerful, but since Zhao Chong did it, then he definitely had a way to transform their bodies.

By the looks of it, Chen Da Xi’s soul was definitely still within, and perhaps… Su Ming had a chance to save him!

If that was not the case, Su Ming would have killed Zhao Chong a long time ago and would not have bothered with such theatrics. At that moment, Zhao Chong was forced into a corner and had scattered all his souls to charge at Su Ming’s mind. At that moment, Su Ming’s cold chuckles reverberated within all of the souls in his body.

Almost at the moment Zhao Chong and the others rushed into his mind, prepared to forcefully assimilate him, a powerful will abruptly descended on them.

The strength of that will was like the might of the world itself, like a limitless, raging sea. As for Zhao Chong and his souls, they were ants in that world, lonely boats in that raging sea.

Under Su Ming’s will, the souls that had spread out from Zhao Chong’s Nascent Soul started dissipating one by one. They had been extracted from their bodies for many years, and their lives were now connected to Zhao Chong’s.

However, there was one soul that was surrounded by a gentle ray of light and disappeared from the list of those that would have to die. What was happening in Su Ming’s mind did not cause much of a ruckus, but if souls died in his mind, they would also die in the world outside him.

Su Ming’s will was the strongest force in his body. Under his suppression, all forms of resistance crumbled, including Zhao Chong’s. As he screamed in a shrill voice, his Nascent Soul shattered, and he disappeared completely.

The instant that happened, trails of incredibly pure power that belonged to a Nascent Soul appeared in Su Ming’s mind. The purity of this power was what Zhao Chong had obtained after devouring countless souls for many years, and it was what he had stored in his Nascent Soul to prepare himself to break into the next Realm.

Yet at that moment, when he died, the power spread into Su Ming’s mind and was absorbed by his Nascent Divinity, causing it to begin recovering rapidly.

Five-tenths of his cultivation base had recovered previously, and that was inclusive of his Nascent Divinity, who was halfway to complete recovery. At that moment, once he absorbed the power of Zhao Chong’s Nascent Soul, that pure power and the aura from the world caused the Nascent Divinity to recover a little more. Even Su Ming’s Berserker Bones had showed signs of slight recovery after absorbing Zhao Chong’s life force.

It caused the recovered cultivation base to rise from five-tenths to six-tenths!

Time passed slowly without Su Ming’s notice, as he remained in the karst cave. In the blink of an eye, several days had already gone by. Su Ming sat in the cave and quietly meditated. When another evening went by, he opened his eyes.

A brilliant flash appeared in his eyes, and he breathed out a puff of putrid air. His face was calm, and once he cast a glance at his surroundings, his gaze fell on Chen Da Xi’s body, who was sitting not too far away from him.

The physical body was still complete, though on the thinner side, but had very little life force left. It was also an empty shell that was void of a soul.

If Su Ming’s arrival had not caused Zhao Chong to feel extremely pained at the loss of his medicinal cores, which led to him growing extremely resentful, to the point that he hastened his plan to devour Su Ming, then a few months later, Chen Da Xi would have become the same as all his senior brothers.

However, Su Ming’s arrival had caused Zhao Chong’s plans to change. He could no longer care about absorbing Chen Da Xi first, which was the reason why the youth had a chance to be revived.

As Su Ming looked at Chen Da Xi, Ugly Little Thing’s adorable smile appeared in his mind. He swiftly lifted his right hand, and a gentle ray of light gradually started spreading out from his palm. A dazed soul could be seen within it.

That soul looked just like Chen Da Xi!

This was the young man’s soul. Before Su Ming destroyed Zhao Chong, he had found Chen Da Xi among the numerous souls and used his Nascent Divinity to envelop it, preventing his death when Zhao Chong was destroyed.

As Su Ming looked at this soul, he sighed quietly in his heart. There was not much life force left within the soul, and it was the same for his physical body. Even if he fused Chen Da Xi’s soul with his body and the youth managed to wake up, he would not be able to live past ten years.

Su Ming lifted his right hand and pushed forward. Immediately, that gentle light pushed Chen Da Xi’s fazed soul back into his body. Right at the instant before it fused, the youth no longer remained dazed, but snapped awake. He turned around, as if he wanted to cast a glance at Su Ming, but before he managed to see him clearly, he had already fused with his body.

”You were originally dead… The only thing I can do is to help you gain ten years of your life. Use these ten years… to accompany your parents and your little sister…”

Su Ming’s voice reverberated in the karst cave, falling into Chen Da Xi’s mind. However, the youth was unconscious at that moment. His soul was slowly fusing back into his body.

Su Ming stood up and looked at the dried up corpses beside him. Then, in silence, he waved his arm at them.

”Ashes to ashes, dust to dust… You died in Zhao Chong’s hands, but your bodies are still trapped here… I’m not a kind person, but I’ll help you.”

As Su Ming whispered softly, a gust of wind stirred up in the cave and blew gently outwards. Wherever that wind went by, all the corpses would turn into ashes before fusing with the wind and traveling into the deeper parts of the karst cave.

Su Ming did not know whether it was just a figment of his imagination, but when the corpses turned into ashes, perhaps it was because of their bodies being transformed, but the empty expressions on their faces seemed to have showed release before they disintegrated.

Su Ming remained silent for a moment, then took a step forward and walked towards the deeper parts of the karst cave, where the ashes traveled. The karst cave was built in the shape of a gourd. When Su Ming reached the other end, he saw an old man in black sitting cross-legged over there. His body was dried up and thin, and there was not a hint of life within him.

He was dead.

The ashes from the corpses had already floated to this place and were falling on that old man’s corpse layer by layer, as if they wanted to bury the old man underneath. Perhaps these corpses that had existed for years contained some corrosive power, but as they fell on it, layer by layer, they also caused the old man’s body to slowly show signs of decay.

A deep wave of hatred spread out from the falling ashes. Su Ming watched silently. He could already guess that this old man was Zhao Chong’s original body, and the disciples he killed might no longer have any souls, but the grudge they felt before they died had made them determined to kill and destroy their Master before they disappeared!

As Su Ming looked the corpse gradually rotting away before it eventually disappeared from his sight, a sentimental feeling rose in his heart. He turned around and left the place.

Once he returned to where he was, Su Ming lifted his right hand and pointed towards the unconscious Chen Da Xi. Immediately, his body flew towards him, and once he held him under his arm, he walked forward, heading towards one of the Runes not too far away. Su Ming lowered his head and cast a few looks at it. When he stepped on it, the light of Relocation shone from the Rune, and in the next instant, it disappeared, along with Su Ming and Chen Da Xi.

Dusk was over, but the sky was not completely dark above the mountain of Evil Spirit Sect just yet. Indistinct figures could still be seen on the ground. A dim light shone from the middle house among the three houses in Zhao Chong’s courtyard, and Su Ming walked out from it with Chen Da Xin under his arm.

Once he stepped off the Relocation Rune, he turned his head around and cast a glance at his surroundings. He fell silent for a moment, then took off the storage bag and some of the other miscellaneous items from Chen Da Xi’s body. Once that was done, he had his body gradually turn into a layer of black fog. As it surrounded him, it caused his body to become obscure.

With this, Su Ming looked no different from how Zhao Chong looked previously.

At the instant Su Ming absorbed the man’s Nascent Soul, he also saw quite a bit of the his memories. From them, he learned that Zhao Chong was practicing an Art called Ten Thousand Evil Ghost Dao. This Art was incredibly sinister, but once someone mastered it, its might was nothing to scoff at.

However, for some unknown reason, it was incredibly difficult for the practitioners of this Art to reach complete mastery. Usually, they would mysteriously die when they were halfway through. It was also pure coincidence that Zhao Chong obtained this Art. The karst cave was not his creation, but had existed since the start. Once he stumbled upon it, he found the cultivation method for this Evil Art within the cave.

From then on, he started practicing it in secret…

’This person might be a Sect Elder in Evil Spirit Sect, but his status wasn’t high. Besides, once he started practicing this Art, he was unwilling to mingle around with other people. His death should not catch too much attention.’

Su Ming originally had the idea of turning into Zhao Chong, but after a period of pensive silence, he shook his head.

’He was a Nascent Soul cultivator equivalent to a Berserker in the initial stage of the Berserker Soul Stage. Even if he was a Berserker who had switched to train in Evil Arts and his death wouldn’t capture too much attention, there should still be someone who would come up and investigate this.’

A flash of light appeared in Su Ming’s right hand and covered Chen Da Xi’s body. Immediately, it disappeared. After a moment of thought, he turned around and stepped into the Rune once again.