Pursuit of the Truth

”You keep saying that I am an Abyss Builder, but not even I know my own origins,” Su Ming said in a low tone, after having remained silent for a time. At that moment, the rate of the sealed region’s collapse had reached its most extreme state. Dust rose in clouds, filling the entire area. Shattered stones fell off the walls. The entire sealed region was rumbling, and most of it had already collapsed.

All the people who had come to this place with Su Ming had already died. At that moment, besides the sealed region crumbling and collapsing around him, there was no longer anything else that posed a danger to him.

Su Ming looked at the Duke of Crimson Flame, at the mighty cultivator that had lived for an unknown amount of years. He still remembered how the duke had called him, still recalled that he had said they came from the same homeland.

”I came from the fifth True World… There is no way I would misjudge your soul. That is the pure presence of the sacred Abyss Builders.

”You are an Abyss Builder, and also what all the races under the Abyss Pact formed in the fifth True World have acknowledged… the royal race!

”Under the Abyss Pact, all the races obey the sacred Abyss Builders. They will burn their Abyss Soul Flags into their souls, form the indestructible Crazed Rebirth… Each Abyss Builder has his own Abyssal World. They will arrange the cycles of reincarnation in that world, and they are the one and only… that can resurrect the dead in the entire universe!

”A long time ago… I already don’t remember how long it has been, but the fifth True World, which is the home of our races, was invaded by the four True Worlds at the same time.

”It was a war aiming to destroy us all. This galaxy we are now was one of the battlefields in the past… In the end, we lost the war. The fifth True World collapsed, and the people of all the races either died or were sealed.

”However, the four True Worlds paid a devastating price for this as well. It was the first time they came to realize just how powerful the fifth True World was.

”None of the four Great True Worlds were the fifth True World’s opponent alone. Even if two of the True Worlds worked together, it would still be difficult for them to rock the fifth True World.

”But if the four of them working together, then were able to gain a power that the fifth True World could no longer suppress. It was a war that lasted for tens of thousands of years. During that time, the fifth True World was torn to pieces, and the people from all the tens of thousands of races suffered a grave number of casualties.

”I know that you don’t feel any hint of belonging to the place I’ve just described. After all, you aren’t an Abyss Builder that lived during that era, but I do know that Abyss Builders were the main targets of extermination for the four Great True Worlds during the war. I don’t know where you came from, but I’m certain that your father, mother, and your ancestors died during the war.” The Duke of Crimson Flame’s voice reverberated in the air with an ancient air and a solemn tone.

Su Ming remained silent. He did not speak. This was the first time he heard of these things. However, it was just as the duke had spoken. Those words could not strike a chord within him. Su Ming was Su Ming. The fifth True World was merely the fifth True World.

After some time, Su Ming asked, ”Where is the entrance to the fifth True World?’

”The fifth True World is no longer around, so how could there still be an entrance leading to it? Even if it exists, I was sealed by the four Great True Worlds before the war ended, so I wouldn’t be known about it.” The Duke of Crimson Flame shook his head, then looked at Su Ming. It had been just a while since the sealing sword had disappeared from the top of his skull, but a large amount of flesh had already gathered on his face.

”Let’s not talk about the fifth True World anymore. It doesn’t matter whether you are an Abyss Builder or not, and whether you acknowledge your status or not, let’s make a personal deal.” The dark light in the Duke of Crimson Flame’s eyes began to shine brighter.

”I want to restore my cultivation base, I want to gather together my Lunar Kalpa once again, but it’s impossible to do so in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence. There’s practically no Plane Kalpa aura here.

”But even so, with my control over laws, mastery over my physical body, and understanding over rules, it would not be difficult for me to kill all those who are not in the later stage of World Plane Realm or higher.

”You are just in Earth Cultivation Realm. Even if you are capable of killing a person in World Plane Realm using all your skills, you can only fight against those in the initial stage of it. If you run into those in the middle stage of World Plane Realm, you will surely die!

”I could provide you protection and even attack for you.” The Duke of Crimson Flame’s eyes shone as he spoke slowly.

”So? Not only will I attack for you, I will also grant you a great serendipitous event. This sealed region might be collapsing, but it contains my physical power which has been stripped from me over the years. I have no use for this power, but it’ll be incredibly useful to you. At the very least, it can make your physical body so strong that it’ll reach the pinnacle of Heaven Cultivation Realm. In fact, it won’t be impossible for your physical body to reach the state of a Lord of a World Plane.

”This will be a trade. I will give you all these, and what you’ll need to do is something really simple. I just need a promise. When you form your Abyssal World and lay out the cycles of reincarnation in it, please retrieve the Abyss Soul Flags that belong to Surging Indulgers and resurrect the millions of my people who died during the war.

”As long as you promise me this, then I, the Duke of Crimson Flame, will willingly comply to the Abyss Pact and do my best to support you!” The Duke of Crimson Flame’s voice hummed in the air. As it echoed in all directions, Su Ming’s heart shook.

”Don’t tell me the answer just yet. After all, you are the first native I met after I woke up. It doesn’t matter whether we end up sealing the deal, I will still give you the serendipity.

”This place is filled with my physical power, but it’s useless to me. My Lunar Kalpa is no longer around, and as long as I don’t gather it together, I can train neither my physical body nor my cultivation base.

”I will… give all of them to you. Absorb as much as you can.”

While speaking, the Duke of Crimson Flame lifted his right hand. A whirlpool immediately appeared on the purplish black magma beneath him. As it rotated with loud rumbling sounds, the vast physical power in the place surged towards Su Ming.

An endless amount of thin threads also charged over from all directions, filling the space around Su Ming.

A focused glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. He sucked in a breath, and all his pores opened up. A thick, boundless wave of physical power surged into his body and began to strengthen his blood, flesh, bones, and everything else that forms a powerful physical body.

A strong sense of strength that Su Ming longed for gathered together as he sucked in that breath. He could clearly feel his physical body getting stronger, little by little, with each breath he took.

This form of increase in physical power caused Su Ming to have a clear sense of his growing strength. His heart raced against his chest. Each beat was powerful, pushing his blood to circulate through his body and fuse with the incoming physical power. After one circulation, it was as if his cultivation base had completed a circuit in his body. He felt much stronger than before

Su Ming longed to get stronger. He desired the power to control his own fate, or else he would never have agreed to come to the sealed region with Tian Lin.

A bang went off in Su Ming’s head. While he was covered entirely by that endless physical power, the Duke of Crimson Flame’s voice reached his ears.

”The people sent by the four Great True Worlds to fend against this place might have already noticed that a True Guard died. We can’t stay here for long.”

Right then, the Duke of Crimson Flame formed a seal with his right hand and pushed against the purplish black magma. With it, the collapsing sealed region started shaking. As layers upon layers of the land hardened. the ground and walls looked as if they had been sealed and no longer continued collapsing. Instead, they turned into a gigantic piece of rock.

This rock was the entire sealed region. At that moment, under the influence of the Duke of Crimson Flame’s divine ability, a shudder wrecked through the rock that was the sealed region. With it, nine layers of ripples immediately appeared at the surrounding the place.

The nine layers of ripples turned into nine layers of distortions. Those distortions moved together with the ripples, and in the blink of an eye, covered the entire rock. Once they filled up every single part on the rock, a loud rumble shook the entire Crimson Flame Planet, reverberating through the night sky outside.

The hearts of a countless number of cultivators shook, and the ferocious beasts begun to roar. At that moment, the rock that was the sealed region in Crimson Flame Planet… vanished with a hum.

It disappeared. The inner part of Crimson Flame Planet became empty.

The disappearance was due to a warp. It was the Duke of Crimson Flame using the last shred of his power in Plane Kalpa Realm to execute a large-scale warp so that he could shift the entire sealed region and leave… Crimson Flame Planet.

In the boundless galaxy there were many meteors rushing about. At that moment, nine layers of ripples took shape within one of the meteors. In the blink of an eye, the rock that was the sealed region appeared inside.

The Duke of Crimson Flame’s eyes became dull, but he did not immediately enter rest to recover. Instead, he turned his head to stare at the bald crane not too far in the distance, which had been toying around with the sealed sword previously, but was now flapping its wings in a slight panic once the entire sealed region had been shifted.

”Sir, just who are you?”

”Darn it, why didn’t you tell me beforehand that you were going to shift? Damn it all, you scared the crap out of me! My heart is still thumping hard here. You scared me. I hate being moved abruptly the most. I have a trauma about it. I definitely have some sort of trauma about it.” The bald crane’s face was stark pale. When it heard the Duke of Crimson Flame’s words, it immediately glared at him.

Not too far from the purplish black magma where the man and crane were located was Su Ming, who had his eyes closed at the moment. He was continuously absorbing the physical power around him.

His physical body was becoming increasingly stronger, and his heart was letting out loud thumps. He was immersed in this state of continuously getting more powerful, like a caterpillar that had turned into a cocoon and was in the process of forming its new life to become a butterfly.

Not long after the sealed region shifted away and hid itself in the meteor, a mighty pressure that shook the sky and earth appeared with a bang beyond the galaxy in which Crimson Flame Planet resided. A large amount of distortions spread out, and after a moment, one, two, three ships…

A total of thirty-seven gigantic ships of several hundreds of thousands of feet shot through space and manifested in the area beyond Crimson Flame Planet. Electrical arcs spread out from these ships, and the oppressive force coming from them made the entire Crimson Flame Planet tremble.

There were nearly a thousand people standing on each ship. Numerous presences in World Plane Realm spread out from the bow of the ships. In fact, in the middle of these ships was a longship, and there was a presence bursting forth from it that overshadowed all the other presences. It even formed half a sun from gigantic bolts of lightning in the galaxy!

Since it was half a sun, it looked like a moon.

That was… the power of those who were had taken half a step into Solar Kalpa Realm, and that stage was known as Lunar Kalpa Realm.