Pursuit of the Truth

There was warmth contained within that gentle smile on second senior brother’s lips. It was a moment from Su Ming’s memories, a memory that existed from a time long ago, and he had not seen it for a very, very long time.

His second senior brother’s warm smile, his action of lifting his head and making sunlight shine on the side of his face—all of these things made Su Ming cry even more.

The scenes from the ninth summit, the man who had been as gentle as a flower, his second senior brother who had smiled at him under sunlight as he stood among grass and flowers, and the similarly smiling face that had suffered through torture in that ball of light overlapped with each other during that instant.

The whistling sword aura came charging towards Su Ming from the sky. Right behind that sword aura were the near ten thousand small blood-red swords that came towards him while blotting out the sky like rain. They stirred up violent gusts of wind that swept through the area. At the instant these sharp sword glares that looked as if they were about to cut through space itself closed in on Su Ming…

He lifted his head while weeping. He glared at the near ten thousand Great Leaf Immortal Sect disciples in the sky. At that instant, there was no longer anything that could stop Su Ming’s slaughter. The killing sword in his right hand let out an excited, bloodthirsty whistled, and Su Ming lifted it up. He sliced swiftly upwards in the direction of the upcoming sword aura.

With it, the world rumbled. The incoming huge sword aura instantly fell into pieces, and the small blood-red swords behind it also shattered into nothingness due to Su Ming’s sword.

At the same time, the snow that was floating in the world gathered together and charged towards the Sword Rune in the sky from all directions with a loud whistle.

Su Ming would definitely not spare those Great Leaf Immortal Sect disciples, but as of then, the most important thing was not to kill but to cut off all the chains around his second senior brother.

With a single move, the killing sword in his hand sliced down on the second chain. A piercing sound came from metal striking metal, and Su Ming was sent tumbling back by the rebound. When he took a few steps backwards, the second chain shattered.

Su Ming did not stop. He took a step forward and the presence of Life Cultivation circulated within him with a bang. All his power erupted from his body. He cut down once again on the third, the fourth, then the fifth chains. Under his madness, all of the chains were sliced apart.

As they shattered, second senior brother’s figure rapidly gathered together from that foggy state in the ball of light. By the time the fifth chain shattered, second senior brother had already formed his body. However, his face was still pale, and there was a deep sense of weakness coming from his body. Over the years, he had been tortured by the Rune till he was near death.

Yet the smile remained on his face. Even if he was incredibly weak at the moment, he still continued smiling as he looked at Su Ming, his youngest junior brother.

He was happy because he saw Su Ming. He was proud because he noticed his strength and because Su Ming was his youngest junior brother.

”Youngest junior brother… you grew up,” second senior brother said lightly. His voice came out weak from the ball of light.

Su Ming looked at his second senior brother, and memories continued surging nonstop into his head. All of the things that had happened in the past were the most precious things for him, and the things that happened at the moment became the cold chill that drove him to slaughter.

However, the chains were definitely no ordinary objects. Once he cut five of them, the rebound he suffered practically surged into the sky, causing him to open his mouth and cough up a mouthful of blood. However, there was determination and persistence in his eyes as he swiftly cut down on the final chain.

That persistence made him take a step forward without any hesitation, even if there were mountains of blades, seas of fire, or matchless ferocious fiends before him. That determined look on his face was a form of protection that came from the bottom of his heart.

’You protected me in the past. Now… I will protect you, second senior brother!’

At the instant he cut down, the near ten thousand Great Leaf Immortal Sect disciples were surrounded by the endless snow as it came charging towards them. The entire sky looked as if it was about to be frozen off, but at the instant it began freezing, a low growl echoed in the sky.

”Blood Sacrifice!”

Su Ming was familiar with the person who let out that roar. He was Chenxin’s father when they were still in Dark Mountain, Chen Long, the tribe leader of Dark Mountain Tribe. He was known as Chenlong now.

As he roared, Su Ming saw the eyes of the near ten thousand Great Leaf Immortal Sect disciples whose lives were flowing away due to them rapidly freezing away turn instantly bloodshot. There was no longer any intelligence in their gazes. Instead, as their eyes turned empty, a crack appeared at the center of their brows.

Once it tore open, a large amount of blood gushed out, bringing with it pieces of shattered ice. As that blood gushed out, the Great Leaf Immortal Sect disciples rapidly withered away before they turned into skeletons in the blink of an eye and became ice statues that plunged down from midair.

Su Ming was not the cause of their deaths. In truth, at the instant his divine ability begun to freeze them, they were already dead. What actually killed them was Great Leaf Immortal Sect’s Art. It was the Sword Rune they had formed by gathering together, and they were killed when Chenlong activated the Rune by saying those words.

Blood that filled up heaven itself spread through the sky at that instant. As it tumbled about, it gathered together into a ten thousand feet long sword that swept the sky and sliced through the air to charge towards Su Ming.

It was difficult to describe the speed of this sword as it cut downwards. When Su Ming looked over, it was still in the sky, but in truth, it was already less than a hundred feet away from him. Its extreme speed surpassed wind and cut open space. It brought with it a terrifying presence that would destroy everything that tried to block its path.

Su Ming’s sword was cutting down the sixth chain at that moment. As the blood-red sword behind him charged forward with a whistle, Su Ming’s pupils shrank, but he did not hesitate and swiftly cut down on the sixth chain. A clear booming sound reverberated in the air, and the chain shattered.

However, a powerful rebound surged into Su Ming’s body, forcing him to take a few steps back, and he crashed into the blood-red sword with a bang.

At the instant he touched the sword, a nine-colored light erupted from Su Ming’s body. This light belonged to the Five Direction Seal. It surrounded Su Ming, the ball of light, and his second senior brother before crashing into the blood-red sword.

A loud bang surged into air, shaking both the sky and earth. Under this intense noise, the screen of light formed from the Five Direction Seal shattered layer by layer before new layers could gather together. Cracks appeared on the ground beneath Su Ming’s feet. They spread out, shattering the ground. In the blink of an eye, a circular area of a hundred lis under Su Ming’s feet collapsed.

The nine-colored screen of light shattered at that instant, and a great impact charged in. Su Ming took a step forward without any hesitation and stood before his second senior brother. He was going to use his body to block that blood-red sword aura that was surged in.

At the time the nine-colored screen of light shattered when the blood-red sword cut into it, cracks also appeared on the sword. As the banging sounds echoed in the air and the force of the rebound from the crash surged into the sword, it shattered instantly and turned into an endless amount of shards that fell backwards.

The booming sounds turned into a lingering noise that gradually faded away. Dust flew through the area before it slowly sank down. When the world became clear once again, Su Ming coughed up blood. The ball of light behind him distorted, but his second senior brother was completely unharmed.

Because Su Ming had endured most of the blood-red sword’s aura, there was not much that managed to enter the ball of light. Besides, the ball of light’s own protection had prevented his second senior brother from feeling even a single hint of that aura.

However, second senior brother had seen Su Ming’s act of using his body to protect him clearly. The smile remained on his face, and the warmth as well as the sentiment within it was a love between brothers!

There was no need for words of gratitude to be expressed for this, because if second senior brother was in Su Ming’s place, he would have definitely done the same thing to protect his junior brother.

Once the blood-red sword shattered and turned into shards that fell backwards, those shards suddenly gathered together in midair and turned into a longsword. However, it was no longer ten thousand feet long but of normal size.

At the same time, a deep voice reverberated in the air. ”For Soul Egression!”

Blood Sacrifice for Soul Egression was the name of Great Leaf Immortal Sect’s Sword Rune. Blood Sacrifice was used to sacrifice all the people in the Sword Rune to turn them into a strike that could destroy the world, while Soul Egression was the strongest strike possible if Blood Sacrifice had been unable to kill its enemy.

At the instant Chenlong said those three words, his body shuddered and turned into ashes. A soul came out from his disappearing body. At the same time, the souls of the near ten thousand disciples that had been killed by the Rune appeared all around the Great Leaf Immortal Sect. They appeared in the sky with expressions of confusion and absent mindedness. All these souls gathered together rapidly and turned into a black figure.

It was thirty feet tall and had two heads. When that figure lifted one of its arms, it seized the blood-red sword, and one of its heads turned towards the sky while the other turned towards the ground, then let out roars that shook the sky and earth.

”Second senior brother, would you like to kill the ferocious spirit gathered together by all the souls of Great Leaf Immortal Sect?” Su Ming wiped away the blood at the corners of his mouth and cast a glance at the roaring two-headed figure in the sky, then looked towards his second senior brother.

”This… is good.”

Second senior brother continued to smile, and Su Ming swung the sword in his hand at the ball of light. It started trembling and twisting violently before it shattered. At the moment it fell to pieces, second senior brother’s body gathered together completely and he feebly walked out.

Once he walked out, green grass immediately grew, crawling out of the ground that had since become a wasteland.

When second senior brother moved to Su Ming’s side, his face was as pale as ever, and that sense of weakness made Su Ming crouch down so his second senior brother could climb onto his back.

”Second senior brother, let’s go together and fight against that two-headed spirit!”

Su Ming lifted his head and took a step forward with his second senior brother on his back. At the instant he took that step, the two-headed ferocious spirit looked towards Su Ming with both heads while holding the blood-red sword in its hand. With a roar, it turned into a long arc and charged towards Su Ming.

The two sides were like two shooting stars that rushed through the sky and earth respectively during that instant. Then, without any hint of attempting to dodge, they crashed into each other in midair.

With one strike, they would determine who would win and lose!

At that moment, a layer of thin clouds appeared indistinctly in the sky. Even if the sky trembled, it could not send those clouds away as they prevented anyone from seeing who was within them.

A beautiful woman was eating roasted seeds in there with a pained look on her face as she sighed.

”It cost me so dearly… It really cost me so dearly… This Su Ming actually grew so fast. If I had known about this, I would have asked for so much more from that old man.”

As that girl was regretting her actions, the yellow mutt lying beside her was yawning comfortably. There were two other beings crouching next to that mutt with distressed expressions on their faces. One of them was the bald crane, and the other Qian Chen, who was currently scratching an itch on the mutt’s body.