Pursuit of the Truth

”I currently have my Nascent Divinity as my body, so I don’t need to use the Earthen Aura to train my body to get used to the environment inside the seal, but if the three of you are interested in it, you can try it.” Tian Lin looked at Ye Shen Tong’s method of training as he spoke to Long Li, Sun Kun, and Su Ming.

”It’s fine. This small body of mine won’t be able to handle that Earthen Aura spraying on me directly. I’ll have to give this fortuitous encounter a pass.” Sun Kun let out a hearty laugh and shook his head.

The slightly hunchbacked old Long Li stood up at that moment and walked towards another spot where the Earthen Aura was gushing out from a hole without a single word. When he was fifty feet away from the hole, he frowned and no longer continued onward, but instead sat down to quietly begin getting used to the pressure.

Su Ming remained silent for a moment before he cast a look at Ye Shen Tong and the old Long Li. He did not choose to go over, but instead sat down in his original spot, unmoved by this offer to train.

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, half a month went by. During that time, most of the people in the area remained seated as they meditated while waiting for the Earthen Aura to dwindle. Five days ago, the Earthen Aura spreading out from the seven holes was no longer as strong as it was half a month ago, and on this day, the debilitation within the Earthen Aura could be felt clearly.

In fact, Ye Shen Tong was already less than ten feet away from the small hole where the Earthen Aura was coming out from. As for old Long Li, he chose to remain seventy to eighty feet away.

When Tian Lin saw that the strength of the Earthen Aura coming out of the holes had become weaker, his eyes shone brilliantly. Sun Kun’s expression had become slightly grave, for they were all only waiting for the Earthen Aura to no longer gush out. When that time came, they would break the outer layer of the seal and step inside.

When old Long Li thought of the rewards he would gain inside the seal, even he spotted a faint glint in his eyes.

Su Ming sucked in a deep breath in the distance and also focused his attention on the seven holes.

Time trickled by. Six hours later, all of a sudden, not a single bit of Earthen Aura could be seen coming out of the seven holes. Ye Shen Tong opened his eyes. When he moved his body, he smiled and opened his mouth, but just as he looked as if he was about to say something, his expression changed drastically.

When that happened, Long Li let out a shrill cry. Tian Lin, too, immediately stood up. At the instant the Earthen Aura disappeared from the seven holes, seven red threads burst out. Each of them was as thick as a man’s arm, and each of them was about thirty feet long. Once they flew out, Ye Shen Tong’s right arm was immediately bound, because he was the closest to it. Signs of severe corrosion immediately appeared at the spot where his arm was bound.

Long Li was the second closest. A red thread charged to the center of his brows at a rapid speed, and the moment Long Li saw it, he let out a shrill whistle. At the same time his sound turned into a layer of ripples that shook in the air, he retreated swiftly, but that thread shot through the waves of sound rapidly closed in on him.

”What is this thing?!”

Once Tian Lin had his Nascent Divinity change places with his physical body, he became the strongest person in the group. The area of perception of his divine sense was also the largest, but he had been unable to sense the existence of these red threads previously. It was as if they were unable to be perceived by his divine sense.

A presence that was no weaker than that of a Lord of a World Plane came from the threads. The group’s hearts began to shake, and two more threads founds their targets. One of them charged towards Tian Lin, while another joined the one chasing after Long Li.

Clearly, in their senses, Tian Lin and old Long Li were the most threatening in the group.

Besides the one thread on Ye Shen Tong, the other two red threads charged towards Sun Kun and Su Ming in a flash, one right after the other.

The four people immediately scattered, dodging and charging about to run away from the threads in the crack that looked like a canyon.

The bald crane had fallen to the side and turned into a stone, where it remained still and unmoving on the ground.

Su Ming immediately retreated without any hesitation, turning into a long arc that swiftly left into the distance. However, the red thread behind him was persistent in its chase, as if the command had been embedded into the core of its very being. It was incredibly fast, and in the blink of an eye, it was already less than thirty feet away from Su Ming.

As the group dispersed and the red threads continued chasing them down, most of them began fighting against on their own, not having the time to look at the others.

The red thread was about to catch up to Su Ming, but his Arman could not detect it whatsoever. He was completely unable to lock onto it. At that moment, a piercing whistle reached his ears as the red thread sliced through the air at a rapid speed.

At that moment of crisis, Su Ming turned around swiftly, and when he lifted his right hand, the killing sword appeared in his hand out of thin air. Once he held it, he cut down at the incoming red thread. With it, the red thread was instantly cut into two, but Su Ming did not let his guard down. Instead, he became even more cautious, retreating once again.

The thread that had been split into two became two independent entities that charged towards Su Ming.

When he saw that the threads were getting closer still, a glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. He still had other attacks he could use, but at that moment, a thought formed in his mind, and he swiftly patted his storage bag with his right hand. At the instant he did so, a flash of red flew out from there.

The red light’s speed was incredibly shocking. Right at the moment it flew out, it disappeared and when it reappeared, it was already beside one of the red threads. The red light was naturally the poisonous wasp that had just woken up. At the instant it appeared, it used its violet needle-like stinger. Then, with its unparalleled speed, it instantly pierced the red thread.

A shudder wrecked through the red thread, and in the blink of an eye, it withered into ashes. Once the poison wasp disappeared again, in a blink of an eye, it appeared next to the second red thread before Su Ming, who had now stopped moving. The second red thread did not even manage to see the wasp’s body clearly. It only saw a red flash… and it was poisoned to ashes.

Everything could be said to have ended within an instant. The poisonous wasp then moved to Su Ming’s shoulder. There was shock on Su Ming’s face as he turned his head around to cast a glance at the wasp. He sucked in a deep breath and lifted his right hand slowly, moving it little by little towards that wasp. It immediately lifted its head and let out a gentle buzz before flying straight into his sleeve.

It seemed to like his cuffs, and once it flew in, it hung onto them, refusing to let go no matter what.

Su Ming’s eyes sparkled. He took a step forward and moved towards the spot where the group had dispersed just now. After a moment, when he returned to the place, he saw Tian Lin’s body being covered in a piercing red light. As he attacked, the illusion of a large tree manifested behind him. The branches swept through the area, and the two red threads that surrounded him were now a dozen something threads, but their color had become much duller.

Not too far away was Long Li, at the center of whose brows three scales in the shape of diamonds had appeared. He had a gourd in his right hand, and there were two black illusions before him that looked like shadows, and they were fighting against the red threads.

Ye Shen Tong’s enraged roars reverberated in the air. His right arm had corroded to the point that it had turned black. Most of the red thread had crawled into his corroded arm, causing a long line to pop up on Ye Shen Tong’s body, and it was squirming around in a bizarre fashion.

Almost at the same time Su Ming returned, an ancient face appeared on the big tree that had manifested behind Tian Lin. That face opened its mouth and let out a soundless roar. Immediately, the red threads that had broken into a dozen something parts shuddered and froze in midair. During that instant, Tian Lin moved, and the red threads were all enveloped by his Nascent Divinity. Then, they immediately lost all their shine and fell to the ground, no longer moving.

Tian Lin’s face was slightly pale. When he looked at Su Ming, who was walking over towards them, a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes, then he nodded in a profound manner.

As for old Long Li, as the three diamond shaped scales spun rapidly at the center of his brows, he lifted the gourd in his hand, and two more black shadows flew out from within to pounce on the two threads. Muffled booms reverberated in the air, and the two threads instantly vanished. As for the four black shadows, they fell backwards and returned to the gourd. Long Li had a sullen look on his face, but he immediately turned his gaze towards Su Ming.

He had seen one of the red threads chasing after Su Ming, but before long, he had returned without a single scratch on his body. The meaning behind this immediately rose Su Ming’s value in his eyes, and he smiled amicably towards him, which was a sight rarely seen. It was a form of acknowledgment, and he was acknowledging that Su Ming could be on equal terms with them.

Tian Lin saw veins popping up on Ye Shen Tong’s face and immediately said, ”Let us help fellow Daoist Ye.”

”Don’t need! I can do it myself!”

Ye Shen Tong let out a loud shout. He had seen that everyone had solved their own problems, but were completely unbothered by them. Su Ming, whom he had previously looked down upon, even had a relaxed look on his face, and this made him let out a cold harrumph in his heart. He lifted his left hand and struck his chest.

With it, a layer of yellow light immediately covered his boy. It instantly turned into a layer of dirt that was one foot thick around him. As the light shone, the layers of dirt added one upon another, and in the blink of an eye, Ye Shen Tong appeared before the people as a gigantic golem of dirt and stone that was a hundred feet tall.

The golem lifted its left arm and struck its chest seven times in succession. With each hit, cracks would appear on its body, and after a moment, once all seven strikes landed, Ye Shen Tong’s body of dirt and stone crumbled with a bang. When it did so, a dull but still squirming red thread was trapped within the dirt.

Ye Shen Tong’s face was slightly pale as he stared at the red thread that was trapped, and he let out a cold harrumph.

”If it wasn’t because I wanted to catch one of them alive, I would have destroyed it a long time ago.” The moment he finished speaking, the squirming red thread faltered and fell to the side, turning into dust. This made Ye Shen Tong’s expression instantly turn as dark as thunderclouds.

It was at that time that a whistling sound came from the distance. Right before everyone’s eyes, Sun Kun charged down with a slightly pale face. He held a transparent bottle in his hand, and within it was a red thread. Its color was bright, and it was continuously squirming inside, crashing against the walls in an attempt to break free and rush out.

”I spent a lot of effort before I finally managed to catch one alive. Apologies for the long wait everyone.”

Tian Lin looked at the red thread in the bottle, then at the seven holes that no longer had any Earthen Aura rushing out of them before asking in a whisper, ”Just what is this thing?”

”Threads of flesh!” The person who answered Tian Lin was Sun Kun.

”They are threads of flesh that contain life force, and since the alien race’s mighty cultivator has been sealed for countless years, these threads of flesh absorbed some of his divine sense, which he had sent outwards during these years… They should be very delicious.” Sun Kun smiled and put away the bottle.