Pursuit of the Truth

”Treasured gourd, please kill him!”

At the instant Su Ming said these simple words, the eye on the gourd that was staring at the red-haired man blinked, and a wisp of green fog immediately drifted out of the gourd. A presence that made Su Ming’s heart tremble instantly erupted.

He saw an incredibly adorable doll appear in the fog as it erupted. That doll was the size of a palm, and there was an even smaller sword in its hand. The doll rose into the air as it rode on the green fog, then with a shocking speed that not even Su Ming could see clearly, it arrived beside the red-haired man in the distance in the blink of an eye. Once it circled around him once, the green fog became much duller and swiftly returned to the gourd.

All of this happened at an incredibly fast pace. Only about two or three breaths passed in the time the doll appeared to the moment it disappeared.

By then, the red-haired man’s body in the distance had already shattered. His head was completely detached from his body, before he could even have the chance to retaliate. The poison in him reduced his body to a puddle of water, and his soul as well as his Nascent Divinity were destroyed by the gourd.

Su Ming sucked in a sharp breath. He might have had a high approximation of the gourd’s power, but at that moment, he realized that he had still underestimated it. He did not expect that it would possess such a terrifying might.

’Perhaps it wouldn’t be so shocking if I had used the gourd on its own. This might have happened because the red-haired True Guard was also poisoned by my wasp.’ Su Ming calmed his heart and analyzed the situation rationally.

At this moment, a furious roar came from the sealed region. As it reverberated in the air, Long Li, Tian Lin, and Sun Kun’s bitter, weakened harrumphs could be heard mixed within it.

”Su Ming, you’re Su Ming! How dare you kill my clone! No matter where you are, I, Jing Nan Zi, will kill you!”

Su Ming remained as calm as ever. He turned around and ignored Jing Nan Zi’s roars. At that moment, the clone was no longer blocking his path. It would not be difficult for him to leave this place.

”Not only will I kill you, I will also slaughter all your people and all your kin!”

Jing Nan Zi’s voice was still echoing madly in the air. The rumbling was growing more intense, and it sounded as if the fight was getting closer to this place.

Su Ming stopped moving. However, the reason for his pause was not the endless red threads that had gathered for an unknown reason at the exit before him. Judging by the looks, these red threads were the objects that had went after Su Ming and the others’ lives previously.

They had gathered in this place for some unknown reason. At the instant Su Ming was about to exit the place, he immediately sensed a boundless sea of red with his Atman.

Yet this was not the reason behind Su Ming not taking that step forward but freezing up instead. What made Su Ming’s feet stop was Jing Nan Zi mentioning that he would slaughter his people.

”Slaughter my people… What familiar words. Someone had once said the same thing to me, but he died in the end. I do have a huge aversion towards people saying those words,” Su Ming muttered softly.

”Not only will I kill your people, I will find your sect and destroy it! Only then will your crime of killing my clone be pardoned!” Jing Nan Zi’s voice was getting closer, and a mighty, frightening power spread over along with his voice.

Su Ming no longer moved forward. Instead, killing intent shone in his eyes, and he turned around to cast a glance at the sealed region.

”Slaughter my people and destroy my clan… Since I cannot leave this place soon, then I might as well try… and kill you!”

Su Ming let out a cold harrumph and moved back swiftly, appearing right at the entrance. Once he let his presence outwards, the red threads that had been moving in and out of the entrance, not noticing Su Ming, instantly let out shrill whistles and charged straight at him.

All of the red threads then swiftly started to move. In the blink of an eye, a boundless sea of them packed closely together came crashing towards Su Ming, as if a tidal wave had surged up and was charging over.

Su Ming turned around and dashed back into the sealed region like a bolt of lightning. The vast sea of red threads surged behind him, giving a close chase.

As Su Ming moved forward, he made his voice reverberate in all directions. ”Tian Lin, Long Li, Sun Kun, if the three of you are still alive, then hold back the True Guard with all your strength! Let out your presence and let me know where you are, I have a red thread wave behind me!”

Jing Nan Zi, who was in an empty space in the sealed region where there were many tunnels and who was dressed in red armor and a red helmet, threw the long red spear in his hand outwards. Immediately, all the diamond-shaped scales at the center of Long Li’s brows crumbled. He coughed up blood, and as his body fell backwards, he crashed into the stone wall behind him.

Sun Kun was lying by the side at that moment with blood trickling out of the corners of his mouth. He had a dull look on his face, and his chest was a bloody mess. It was as if his heart had been dug out by someone.

There was also a big tree on the empty ground. As its branches spread out, they completely sealed off all the tunnels that served as exits. There were also huge branches that were swiftly cracking towards Jing Nan Zi like a whip.

”The three of you can be considered as outstanding people in the initial stage of World Plane Realm, especially you, descendant of the Tian Family who I did not kill all those years ago. I didn’t expect that you would be able to reach World Plane Realm as well.

”Looks like it was the correct choice to spare your life all those years ago. After all, your family has the rare constitution that can fuse together with plants. You’ve kept this sal tree in good shape,” Jing Nan Zi said flatly while looking coldly at the big tree that was Tian Lin.

”Jing Nan Zi, even if I die today, I will make you pay!”

Tian Lin’s face appeared on the tree. His heart was filled with frustration. This was not part of his plan. Everything should not have happened this way. Beside them, the alien race’s Duke of Crimson Flame should also be fighting against Jing Nan Zi.

Only then could they kill Jing Nan Zi, and only then would Tian Lin be able to exact his revenge. However, this current state of affairs was completely different from his plans. This frustrated Tian Lin, and also brought out a sense of regret, since this whole thing had went into an absurd direction.

’I’ve made preparations for so many years while looking for a chance. After great difficulty, it finally came, but because I fell unconscious, Ye Shen Tong woke up, and he summoned Jing Nan Zi based on the thought I planted in him…

’The timing wasn’t right. Could it be that even the heavens are in favor of Jing Nan Zi so that he could avoid this disaster?!’ Tian Lin descended into a state of madness and had the whip before him crack in the air.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Jing Nan Zi swung the long spear in his hands before he thrust it forward. With a bang, the air around him distorted and fell apart. Numerous cracks appeared on the big tree that was Tian Lin, and many parts of his tree body crumbled to pieces.

It was when Tian Lin had already returned to his human form and was staggering backwards that Su Ming’s voice reached this area. When Tian Lin heard the words, his eyes immediately turned bloodshot. As he let out his presence, he charged towards Jing Nan Zi.

Long Li struggled to his feet. As blood trickled out of the corners of his mouth, powerful hate appeared in his dull eyes. He was only one step away from obtaining the World Stone, but his actions had been cut off by the sudden appearance of this True Guard, causing him to be one step short of success.

He was also in a life-and-death crisis at the moment. The opponent’s strength, the difference of an entire level between them, and the advantage of being able to use the power of World Planes without having to worry about expenditure made it so that he was only able to fend death with much difficulty.

And that was only because Long Li had already reached the pinnacle of the initial stage in World Plane Realm, was only half a step away from reaching the middle stage. Besides that, Tian Lin had his Nascent Divinity change places with his physical body, so he could bring out power that was slightly greater than what Long Li could, though it still had yet to reach the middle stage. Sun Kun’s various Enchanted Treasures had also extended this fight to his point in time.

”I’ll fight to the bitter end! If I don’t, I’ll die!” Long Li howled. He lifted his right hand and tapped a few spots on his chest, and the power of a World Plane erupted swiftly from his body. At the same time, a black horn crawled out of the top of his skull. A large amount of scales also appeared on the skin of his face. In the blink of an eye, Long Li turned into a human-shaped beast, and as he roared, he charged towards Jing Nan Zi.

In the distance, Sun Kun bit the tip of his tongue. A large amount of red appeared in his eyes, and he let out a shrill cry as his dwarfish body trembled. His voice contained a shocking penetrative power. When he cried out, his body trembled violently and swiftly withered away, as if all his life force and essence had turned into nourishment for that piercing cry.

The moment the piercing cry reached Jing Nan Zi, he froze for a moment in midair. The roar echoed in his head, and it felt as if a sharp needle had stabbed his mind before it turning into a loud buzz in his ears.

It was at this moment that Long Li swiped Jing Nan Zi’s chest with the claw of his half-human, half-beast body. Tian Lin closed in with a hideous expression. Branches gew out of his fingertips and crawled into Jing Nan Zi’s body like drills.

At that instant, a buzzing sound sliced through the air from one of the tunnels in the beehive. In the blink of an eye, Su Ming rushed out of the tunnel by the side. He had come to this place by rushing towards the familiar presences.

This was the first time since they had parted ways that they had gathered together once more. However, they did not have time for a nice chitchat. Right after Su Ming flew out, the tunnel behind him let out a bang, and the red thread wave burst out from the tunnel like the eruption from a volcano.

”I know the way to the place sealing the Duke of Crimson Flame! Take me with you, I’ll guide you there!”

Sun Kun was the first to speak up in a shrill voice. Almost at the instant he said these words, Su Ming closed in on him and grabbed his body before he charged towards the tunnel right before him. Tian Lin and Long Li followed right after him without any hesitation or regard for their own injuries.

As for Jing Nan Zi, he was first stabbed in the mind by Sun Kun’s strange voice, then struck by Long Li’s desperate attack and Tian Lin’s crazed assault, but his level of cultivation was high, and he quickly recovered. Before the red threads could pounce on him, he charged after Su Ming and the others.

However, the instant he was about to move, Su Ming turned around and stepped into the cave before throwing out an item from his right hand.

Eight colors roamed about in the air. They naturally came from Su Ming’s eight-colored crystal. The moment it appeared, it shattered with a bang and formed a power that could freeze souls, freezing Jing Nan Zi’s body for a moment!

The price for that momentary pause was being submerged by the boundless wave of the red threads.