Pursuit of the Truth

Tian Lin and the others chose to remain silent in regards to Sun Kun’s smile. Clearly, this matter was not funny to them.

However, the bald crane, which had taken the form of a stone, immediately moved when it heard that there was something delicious and turned back into the big yellow dog before it stuck out its tongue to look at the small bottle which Sun Kun had put away with bright eyes. No one knew what sort of thought had appeared in its head, but it looked as if it was about to start drooling.

”Fellow Daoist Su, this dog of yours which is skilled in transformations is very interesting.” Sun Kun turned his head around and cast a glance at the big yellow dog before smiling at it.

”Hey, you jerk! You’re the dog here, I’m a dragon!” The bald crane suddenly shouted and even bared its teeth at Sun Kun. This scene stunned Sun Kun momentarily, and even the people beside them looked over.

Su Ming let out a dry cough, then glared at the bald crane. In an attempt to avoid the topic, he said, ”If there more of these… threads of flesh in the sealed region, then the level of danger will increase by far too much.”

Su Ming’s words caused Long Li and the others to fall into silence. The usually overbearing Ye Shen Tong also felt fear linger in his heart. All of them looked towards Tian Lin. After all, he had been the one who had planned everything.

Tian Lin remained silent for a moment. then spoke in a firm and resolute tone. ”I didn’t think this through. I didn’t expect that there would be such ferocious creatures in the sealed region… How about this? I’m willing to go down first and check. If there is no danger, then you can all go down after me. If there is danger… then since I’m the one who had initiated this and also dared to have my Nascent Divinity change places with my physical body, I will naturally not drag all of you down to die with me.”

Long Li and Sun Kun did not speak. A glint appeared in Ye Shen Tong’s eyes, but he, too, did not speak. Su Ming remained silent by the side.

Tian Lin lifted his right leg and stomped on the ground without any hesitation. With that stomp, the big illusion of the tree manifested once again. As the branches squirmed, cracking came from beneath Tian Lin’s feet, and a large amount of cracks formed at that spot. As a loud boom echoed in the air, the ground sank down and turned into a deep pit. Tian Lin flew in without any hesitation.

His voice came from the deep pit after a moment.

”My fellow Daoists, you can come down now. There isn’t… any living threads of flesh in this place.”

Long Li stepped into the sunken pit, followed by Sun Kun. Ye Shen Tong hesitated for a moment before he looked at Su Ming. He was clearly signaling to him that he wanted to be the last to enter the place.

Su Ming did not say anything either. He simply took the bald crane with him and charged into the pit. Once he entered, a glint immediately appeared in his eyes, and soon, he heard Ye Shen Tong sucking in a breath as he was the last person to enter the place.

This was a gigantic structure that looked like a bee’s hive. Besides the uneven surface, there were an endless amount of densely packed circular holes. The surface of the ground was uneven and filled with bumps, because there was a layer of dark threads covering the ground. Their numbers seemed to be nothing less of several hundred thousands, and a rotten stench came from these thread. The people who stepped here couldn’t help but spot grave expressions as they remained in the air.

Ye Shen Tong sucked in a breath and asked in shock, ”Just-just how big is the body of the alien race’s mighty cultivator?”

Tian Lin hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, ”Something’s off. We might have never seen a sealed member of the alien race, but we’ve seen members of alien races who occasionally appear in the depths of the Barren Lands of Divine Essence. They look the same as us, and I’ve never seen anyone who was big as the ferocious beasts…”

As everyone else was in shock and fear, Su Ming stared at the many holes before him. During that instant just now, he’d felt as if something was staring at him. This feeling disappeared within an instant, but there was no way Su Ming could be wrong about this, because it was not his Atman which had sensed it, and neither was it his body… but his soul!

A ripple had appeared in his soul of an Abyss Builder at that instant just then.

When he looked at the expressions on the other people’s faces, it became clear to Su Ming that he was the only one who had sensed that strange gaze.

”I know what this is.” Long Li’s voice attracted all the people’s attention. Su Ming became more cautious, but not a single hint of his thoughts was revealed on his face.

”The body of the alien race’s cultivator is not this big. This entire area is a seal, and it should be the Bolt of Soul and Flesh, which is one of the ten seals from the four Great True World’s One Aeonic Barricade, Three Snare Sealants, and Six Dao Bolts!

”These ten different seals are used by the four Great True Worlds to suppress the mighty cultivators of the alien races in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence. Thank goodness we only ran into the six Dao Bolts and not the three Snare Sealants, or else I would’ve immediately ran as far as possible, never daring to enter this place again,” Long Li said slowly. Not only had Su Ming never heard about this, even Tian Lin and the others had never heard of it before.

”Oh? Fellow Daoist Long, please talk about this in detail. I don’t have much knowledge regarding these seals.”

”The six Dao Bolts are made of six seals of the same level. It is the seal that exists in most of the many cultivation planets here in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, used to suppress the members of the alien races.

”These seals are incredibly powerful, and they are used to suppress the powerful Generals. The strength of the seals differ based on the strength of those people who would be sealed, even if these six seals are of the same level.

”At most, all six Dao Bolts will appear at the same time. The weakest will only have one Dao Bolt appearing at a time,” Long Li explained, and once he looked around him, his eyes sparkled.

”These should only be one seal in this area. Looks like the legends in the ancient scrolls about the alien race’s Duke of Crimson Flame were mistaken. This person should be someone with a powerful physical body, not phenomenal spiritual power, or else the Bolt of Soul and Flesh would not be missing. But perhaps the other five Dao Bolts will appear in the deeper parts of this place. Whatever it is, the more seals that appear at the same time, the stronger the person would have been in the past.” Long Li pointed at the many threads of flesh on the ground.

”It’s actually easy to describe this so called Bolt of Soul and Flesh. Everyone, you know about the brutal execution method known as Death by a Thousand Cuts. The executioner will slice away the condemned person’s flesh piece by piece, and if the condemned only dies after a thousand pieces of his flesh were cut, it will be known as a perfect execution. This Bolt of Soul and Flesh operates by the same principle. This seal will slowly cut away the flesh and blood of the alien race’s mighty cultivator piece by piece… and while the mighty cultivator still has life force left in him, his flesh will slowly recover, and this execution will never end.

”This is the reason why all of us had the false conception that the mighty cultivator had a huge body when we saw this much flesh. Look at the signs of time on these threads of flesh, it’s clear that they did not exist at the same time, but had instead accumulated slowly over a countless number of years.” Long Li’s words had a ghastly air to them. When his words fell into the group’s ears, its members fell silent.

Su Ming looked at the threads of flesh on the ground. Even if he had lost his sense of pain, he was still affected when he thought of the torture the mighty cultivator from the alien race had to go through, and he also fell silent at the brutality of the four Great True Realms.

An expression of interest appeared on Sun Kun’s face and he asked, ”Fellow Daoist Long, you mentioned the One Aeonic Barricade, Three Snare Sealants, and Six Dao Bolts just now. Besides the six Dao Bolts, what sort of seal is the three Snare Sealants?”

”That’s right. Fellow Daoist Long, please tell us.” Tian Lin nodded, and Ye Shen Tong also looked towards him with concentration.

Long Li remained silent for a moment, then started speaking slowly.

”The difference between the three Snare Sealants and the six Dao Bolts is that the six Dao Bolts are used to seal a single person, but the three Snare Sealants… Heh, they’re used to suppress an entire race! However, the three Snare Sealants are incredibly rare in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, and if we truly run into a seal that can suppress an entire race, then we would be better off relying on ourselves instead of luck to save us,” Long Li stated flatly. When he saw that the others clearly still had questions, he decided not to hide anything any longer and began speaking once more.

”The one Aeonic Barricade is an even stronger seal than the three Snare Sealants. This seal isn’t used to suppress powerful warriors or an entire race… but is used to suppress and seal… the king of each alien race!

”This seal is also known as King’s Seal. All the people who are suppressed by this seal are renowned personas, but don’t worry, this King’s Seal is even rarer compared to the others.” Long Li smiled mirthlessly.

Tian Lin was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, ”Fellow Daoist Long, how can you be certain of whether what you have said is true? Where did you hear it from?”

”I’ve lived in Black Ink Planet for a period of time, and I heard the people talk about this. I wouldn’t dare to verify whether my words are true.” Long Li looked as if he did not want to talk more about where he obtained the information and only went over it briefly.

”Is there a spot where all ten seals of the One Aeonic Barricade, Three Snare Sealants, Six Dao Bolts exist at the same time to suppress a single place?” Su Ming asked calmly.

Right at the moment he finished speaking, the entire area fell silent. After some time, Long Li nodded.

”There should be, but this sort of place would probably not be suppressing a great cultivator in Solar Kalpa. There’s a high possibility… that it’d be suppressing those who have truly moved into Plane Kalpa, the terrifying existences who are already halfway into the state of controlling fate, life, and death.”

Tian Lin sucked in a deep breath and spoke to Su Ming and the others. ”Fellow Daoist Long, thank you for telling us about the seals. Right now, it would be best for us to break open the seal in this area a step at a time. The sooner we obtain our serendipity, the sooner we will be able to leave this place.”

”Let’s go according to plan. Fellow Daoist Long, please spread your divine sense outwards. I will assist you in finding the nearest spot where the seal is the weakest. After that, fellow Daoist Ye, please help fellow Daoist Su and fellow Daoist Sun test and break the seal.” Tian Lin wrapped his fist in his palm and bowed to the group.

Long Li nodded and spread his divine sense outwards. Tian Lin did the same, too. As the two worked together, they immediately scanned the entire area, then sent their divine sense into each of the circular holes. After about an hour, with slightly exhausted faces, they retrieved their divine senses, and Tian Lin lifted his right hand to swing it in the air before him. Immediately, a gentle ray of light shone on one of the many circular holes.

”We can’t send our divine senses deep into the area, either, but we give seven-tenths of a chance that if we break in through here, we’ll be on the shortest path to the core.”

Once Tian Lin finished speaking, Sun Kun took a step forward and arrived beside the circular hole. Once he scrutinized it, he lifted his right hand and started forming hand seals while working out the method to break the seal.

”Brother Su?” Tian Lin frowned and looked at Su Ming.

Su Ming took a few steps forward to stand by the screen of light. After looking at it for some time, he shook his head. ”I would be able to try if this were the seal in the world outside, but it’s difficult for me to break the seal here.”

Tian Lin was just about to speak when Sun Kun turned his head back to look at Ye Shen Tong.

”Fellow Daoist Ye, please strike this spot at full strength. Remember to split the force of your strike into nine different charges. While you send the third and eighth charge in, you have to stop for three breaths, and while you send the sixth and ninth charge in, you have to stop for two breaths. These are the variations that you should have in your punch.” Sun Kun pointed at a spot to the bottom right corner of the circular hole.

Ye Shen Tong came up without another word, and once his punches accurately fell on the spot, the area shook with a bang, and the circular hole instantly collapsed to reveal a wide tunnel.

Tian Lin was the first to rush in, followed by Ye Shen Tong, Sun Kun, and Long Li. Su Ming came last. At the instant he stepped into the tunnel, he turned his body around and looked behind him. A brilliant light shone in his eyes.

But there was not a single person behind him, and his Atman remained quiet. Yet during the instant just now, Su Ming had once again sensed that someone had looked at him from behind.