Pursuit of the Truth

”The Sublime Paragon’s inheritance… This is… This is the Sublime Paragon’s legacy of his Divine Essence! This is the foreign land! So this is what actually lies in the foreign lands!” As the old man cried out in surprise, he suddenly started laughing loudly. Exhilaration and excitement appeared in his eyes.

He had come into Western Ring Nebula’s foreign land for freedom, to capture Su Ming alive. However, he did not expect that the foreign land was actually something like this. To him, the chance to receive this legacy was something that he desired even more than freedom.

Yet at the moment his laughter echoed in the air, cracks immediately appeared on one of the one hundred thousand stone monuments. Blood gushed out from those cracks, and wretched cries came out from the stone monument, and it was the usual voice of a person longing for life.

Su Ming looked swiftly at the stone monument from which the wretched were coming. Once he clearly saw which one it was, he was momentarily taken aback, then he instinctively cast his gaze at the man he’d seen before.

He was trembling at that moment, his hands tightly clasped on his legs. His eyes were red and tears were falling down his cheeks, turning into voiceless weeps. The stone monument from which the longing-for-life cries came from was precisely the one with Si Ma Yue’s name carved on it. It was the monument that was right beside the man and was only two hundred thousand feet tall.

He watched as more cracks appeared on that stone monument, watched as more blood poured out from it, as his tears fell harder and harder.

”Take care…” a frail feminine voice spoke lightly from within the stone monument. That voice was incredibly weak, and the old man that was laughing long and hard in the distance could not hear it. Even Su Ming could only hear it faintly. The only one who could truly hear it clearly was the man.

That voice belonged to Si Ma Yue. She did not know whether the man waiting for her was still alive, but she knew that no matter whether he could hear it or not, this was farewell.

Her voice gradually faded away. Light then spread out, wiping her name away, and disappeared from that two hundred thousand feet tall stone monument. Eventually, the stone monument went down in size.

When Su Ming saw this scene, his heart trembled. During the instant just then, at the moment the old man appeared and his laughter echoed in the air, Su Ming had felt a chilling will spreading out and covering him and his stone monument. Once it swept past him, it gathered on Si Ma Yue.

Su Ming could well imagine that if that chilling presence had gathered on him, then the one who would have ended up dead would have been him.

”Haha! So this is my stone monument, hmm?” As the old man laughed, he jumped up and appeared before his stone monument. Then, his pupils suddenly narrowed. Clearly, in his exhilaration and excitement, he hadn’t noticed that there were other people beside him in the area.

His gaze first fell on the man, but when he looked over, the man’s tears had already disappeared. His bloodshot eyes had fallen shut, and not a single hint of his emotions could be seen.

When the old man looked at his surroundings incredulously, a brilliant flash suddenly appeared in his eyes and he stared fixedly at Su Ming, who was sitting in the distance. The sparkle in his eyes grew even brighter, and a hint of greed appeared within them.

”Mo Su!” The old man laughed long and hard, and his power abruptly spread out. A thick presence of World Plane Realm burst forth from his body with a bang. His level of cultivation was the same as Zhao Family’s Progenitor. He had also reached the peak in the middle stage of World Plane Realm.

But he did not immediately attack. He was not a fool, since he was able to survive in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence up till now and had reach this level of cultivation. In fact, it could even be said that he was a cunning old fox. In this foreign and strange land, he was not certain whether there was a limitation that prevented fighting and killing. That was why he only had his power erupt forth from his body, but did not move forward. Instead, he stared at Su Ming. After all, Su Ming came to this place earlier than he did, and thus definitely knew much more than him. Based on Su Ming’s instinctive reactions, he could be able to discover many things.

A glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. He had guessed long ago that the old man was definitely one of those that came after his life, since he had come to this place after him. He immediately stood up, intending to push his hand on the stone monument to fuse with it and receive the test of the legacy, which could allow him to avoid being killed by the old man, but a thought suddenly appeared in his heart, and he did not choose to do so. Instead, he took a few steps backwards with a grim and wary expression on his face.

He had chosen not to fuse with the stone monument because of the man. That man might look calm right now, but Su Ming would never forget the gentle look in his eyes when he looked towards Si Ma Yue’s stone monument. He would not forget the tears falling from his eyes when the stone monument cracked and blood poured out from it. And even less could he forget the two words that came from Si Ma Yue’s stone monument.

’If it were anyone else, they would have definitely attacked and killed this old man, but not only did this man not attack, he hid his tears away and covered his red eyes. Something’s wrong here!

’Could it be… that you can’t attack each other here?’

Su Ming narrowed his eyes while on guard. He was certain that the old man had not left his name on the stone monument, which was why he did not know that Su Ming could fuse with it once he just placed his hand on it.

All of this thinking might have seemed to have taken a lot of time, but in reality, this lasted only for a brief moment. Su Ming swiftly showed panic on his face, and as his expression changed drastically, he charged backwards.

Su Ming’s expression, his act of retreating, and that look of panic were all seen clearly by the old man. When he took note of his swift retreat and looked to be about to escape, some of the old man’s doubts faded away, but he still remained cautious. Before he knew clearly whether he could kill others in this place, he would not attack easily.

When he took a step forward and killing intent shone in his eyes, looking as if he was about to attack, he kept the man in his peripheral vision. Perhaps he would be able to see some clues from that man.

Yet at the instant he swept his gaze towards the man, the other opened his eyes. They were no longer bloodshot, but calm, with a hint of obstinance and unruliness in them.

”If you want to kill someone, go do so by the side. Don’t bother me while I train. Get lost.” The man let out a cold harrumph. When he spoke, he lifted his right hand and swung his arm at the old man.

With it, a vast power of World Planes erupted forth with a bang from his body. As he swung his arm, the man’s power in the later stage of World Plane Realm instantly turned into a gust of violent wind that charged towards the old man.

The wind traveled incredibly quickly. If the old man did not dodge, even if he did not die, he would be injured badly. This was the difference between the peak of those in the middle stage and those in the later stage of World Plane Realm. There was no way he would be able to withstand it.

The old man’s expression changed drastically. He had long since noticed that the man’s power ran so deep that he could not tell what level of cultivation he possessed. By his guesses, the man should be at the later stage of World Plane Realm. But since he had been hesitant about whether he could attack, that was why he had decided to use himself to test this, but he did not expect that the man would be so unruly as to attack. By the looks of it, it was clear that if he had been just slightly slower, he would’ve been wounded heavily.

Besides, when the man attacked, the old man could tell that he was absolutely not faking it, but the old man still forced his body to stop evading and made himself freeze for a moment on the spot.

He fixed his gaze on the man. He wanted to test one more time whether this person was truly attacking him or just faking it. When he saw that the violent gust of wind had closed in and the destructive power came crashing towards him with a bang, about to ram into him, he took note that the man still looked as he did before - cold, indifferent, and with an air of unruliness about him.

’You can kill here!’

The old man’s expression changed. There was no longer any doubt in his heart. Almost at the instant that destructive gust of wind arrived, he retreated and brought out a jade slip. Right at the moment the gust of wind almost touched him, he crushed the jade slip.

Once it shattered, the old man disappeared. When the gust of wind charged past, he appeared thousands of feet away, not too far from Su Ming.

’This person is incredibly powerful. I can’t provoke him. Besides, he might not know that I have a jade slip that allows me to shift and avoid being locked by World Paragons in the later stage of World Plane Realm. Then… Mo Su, you can’t escape!’

The old man turned around swiftly and locked his gaze on Su Ming, who was swiftly running away. As the old man laughed ferociously, his power in World Plane Realm erupted and spread out. He lifted his right hand and let out a low shout, and an endless number of runic symbols instantly appeared out of nowhere. They gathered in midair and formed a horsetail whisk. As it swept through the air, it instantly appeared in front of Su Ming and flung itself fiercely in his direction.

Su Ming paused in his footsteps and turned around swiftly. He did not dodge, but stared at the old man. In fact, he simply let that horsetail whisk close in. He was confident that this strike could injure him, but not heavily so. With him being heavily injured as the bet, he gambled on the mystery of the land. When Su Ming thought of the things he had analyzed previously, he was certain by eight-tenths he would win.

The man’s attack just now had especially made Su Ming certain of his actions.

’His actions aren’t fake. The red and grief in his eyes are incredibly real. This person trembling when that voice told him to take care also explain everything.

’He might look as if he was attacking, but in truth, I’m certain that this person went to seek death. He will either be successful in his revenge, or he will die. He is using his eventual death as a price to make the old man believe that… you can attack in this place!’

Su Ming stopped moving. The horsetail whisk arrived in an instant. This scene made a glint appear in the man’s eyes and the old man’s expression to change. Within an instant, the horsetail whisk touched Su Ming’s body. He was prepared to be heavily wounded, but when it touched him, it disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed.

This scene caused the old man’s expression change drastically, and fear appeared on his face. He knew that he had fallen into a trap, but before shock could register in his heart, a chilling will immediately swept past his body. Then, without any sound, his body instantly disintegrated into ashes.

He died! His body and soul were destroyed!

The entire area was in dead silence. Su Ming sucked in a deep breath. His expression was as calm as usual. He walked slowly towards his stone monument and sat down cross-legged once again. His gaze fell on that man, who also looked at him at that moment. Their gazes met in midair.

After some time, the man said softly, ”Thank you.”

”You’re welcome,” Su Ming replied lightly.

The man fell silent. He no longer looked at Su Ming, but instead looked at the stone monument that had once belonged to Si Ma Yue. Tears fell from his eyes once more, and the grief on his face was incredibly great.

It was as if he saw how he and Si Ma Yue had come to this place many years ago and what had happened after that. She was his everything, and he was also her everything. Yet now, he was the only one left.

”I will never owe anyone any debt of kindness. You are a newcomer as well, so you definitely have questions. Ask away… I will tell you all that I know and experienced. Think of it as me repaying you for helping me take revenge on that man for killing my wife just now,” Zhou Kang said lightly.