Pursuit of the Truth

Even though the one thousand feet stone monument stood tall before Su Ming, there was no joy in his heart, much less a hint of emotion that was stirred due to the gigantic size of the stone monument. He sat in front of it with a blank gaze, tears falling soundlessly down his cheeks.

There was no expression in his eyes, but if anyone looked closely, they would be able to see a hint of light flickering with sudden flashes of brightness and darkness in his right eye. That light belonged to a runic symbol that was swiftly forming at that moment.

If someone extracted that runic symbol from his eye, then anyone who looked at it would sense an ancient presence. It seemed to only exist in the endless passage of time, almost impossible to find in the current day and age.

Before Su Ming had fused with the stone monument, that runic symbol did not exist. It instead naturally appeared once he did that and his stone monument rose to one hundred thousand feet.

As time passed, the runic symbol became clearer in Su Ming’s right eye, until it completely replaced his pupil. Right then, if anyone looked at him at that moment, they would definitely be shocked by the sight of his right eye. It seemed as if the changes of the universe’s law and the supreme truth that no words could describe were contained within the runic symbol that had replaced the pupil.

However, Su Ming paid no attention to all of these, not caring for it one bit. He stared at the stone monument in front of him blankly while tears trailed down his cheeks before falling on his robes, but they could not seep into it. Instead, they trailed down, and eventually… fell on the ground.

The sound of tears falling on the ground could only be heard if someone listened with their heart. This sound was soft, and it echoed in Su Ming’s heart before turning into warmth, unfamiliarity, and grief. It did not fade away even after a long time had passed.

Su Ming had always thought that the baby had floated alone in the galaxy until he was taken away by the Spirits of Nine Yin. Yet now, he realized that the truth was quite different… It quite different. He did not float alone in the galaxy in the past, but instead was a child held in his mother’s arms. Even though both mother and son had died, her warmth and tears now etched themselves into Su Ming’s mind for all eternity.

Sharp stabs of pain that intertwined with each other shot up his heart. His face turned pale, and he immersed himself in sensing this pain. His face was filled with anguish as he remembered the scenes within the Spirits of Nine Yin’s ancient bronze sword.

”So she was… that close to me at that time… Ma…” Su Ming mumbled. His eyes gradually filled with red, and a trickle of blood flowed down the corners of his mouth. This was the blood from his heart. It was blood that flowed out of a person’s body when their emotions were rife and when great waves of happiness as well or sadness had injured their heart and soul.

Those droplets of blood were the symbol of that face that would remain eternally within Su Ming’s memories.

A crazed ball of fire alighted in his eyes. He clenched his hands tightly into fists. This might be the first time he saw his mother, and that familial love between them might be unfamiliar…

But his mother’s tears, her action of protecting his infant self before she died, and everything else brought a warmth that Su Ming had never experienced.

He remembered the story second senior brother had told him, one that had happened many, many years ago. He recalled a married couple and all the things that had happened to them in True Morning Dao World.

”This world… shall be built for Abyss…” Killing intent shone in Su Ming’s eyes.

His hate towards True Morning Dao World was originally one that could not be resolved, and right then, another great layer was added to that hatred. Su Ming would definitely not rest until he took his revenge.

”True Morning Dao World!”

Su Ming sucked in a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes. After a long while, he forced down the emotions in his heart. When he opened his eyes once again, the sadness was hidden in their deep recesses. No one could see it. Only when he was lonely and missed his family would he experience that past grief that was thicker than blood once again.

The parental love was greater than anything else in the world. It might come suddenly and be unfamiliar, but once it entered one’s soul, how could they forget or cast it aside simply because it was unfamiliar to them?

Su Ming sat quietly before his stone monument, looking at it. The monument was no longer an icy cold presence in his eyes, no longer something that forced others to inherit its legacy, and killed at random, but had become a path for him to regain his lost memories.

Compared to retrieving the lost memories, making this stone monument reach one million feet was no longer important. Su Ming looked at it while the time slowly passed around him.

He lost track of it soon. Then, a booming sound echoed around him, and three huge cracks appeared in the empty air in the distance. Three people charged out.

Once those three people appeared, their faces were filled with shock and confusion. At the same time, three of the one hundred thousand stone monuments began shining with an intense light. As that light shone, shrill screams filled with an unwillingness to admit defeat rang out before quickly fading away.

The three new people had arrived and taken the right of their predecessors.

Almost the moment the three people appeared, a vortex emerged from the stone monument before Su Ming. An eye protruded out of the vortex, and it met his gaze.

Su Ming’s body slowly faded away until he completely disappeared, fusing with the stone monument and vanishing without a trace.

This time, there was no darkness before Su Ming’s eyes. He saw a dim piece of sky, blue waves on the sea, breathed in the air of the land of Berserkers, and felt the familiar waves of power.

He lowered his head and saw a pretty young woman with a face that was unforgettable. This woman was grabbing onto a big yellow mutt beside her as if she was angry and was scolding it nonstop.

That big yellow dog had a look of suffering on its face. Its head drooped down as it simply allowed the woman to hold onto its fur. Occasionally, it would let out a few moans.

As Su Ming looked at the woman, a gentle expression gradually appeared on his face.

”Yu Xuan…” Su Ming whispered.

The woman turned her head around and looked at him in surprise.

”Hmm? Little dummy Su, what did you say? Ah! You actually spoke to me on your own accord? You called my name of your own free will? You-you…” The woman was momentarily stunned, and disbelief appeared on her face. She no longer bothered with the big yellow dog and went up to Su Ming’s side, lifting up her hand to touch his forehead.

Su Ming’s expression was gentle. He did not dodge, but simply allowed the woman to place her hand on his forehead.

The woman saw his expression and saw him not evading her actions. Her expression instantly turned strange and she instinctively took a few steps back with a dubious and disbelieving expression.

She remembered how Su Ming had been cold towards her just moments ago, with an expression of impatience as he spoke with her. Yet now, this sort of change had appeared, and it immediately caused her heart to be on guard.

It was especially due to Su Ming’s gentle expression. The woman was absolutely unused to it. She quickly took a couple more steps back, and when she saw him standing up from his seated position, she quickly spoke up.

”Er… You know, you shouldn’t treat the marriage your second senior brother spoke about seriously, you… Your expression is really weird, you know… Ack..!” Before Yu Xuan could finish speaking, her mouth fell open. She was too stunned to speak, as if her body had been frozen. She looked at Su Ming with a stupid look on her face.

This was because the instant he stood up, he took a step forward and appeared right next to her and gave her a hug. Yu Xuan was completely dumbfounded by this action. Her heart thumped loudly against her chest; she was too stunned to move. She simply let Su Ming hold onto her, while her mind was completely blank.

She was not the only one feeling this. Even the big yellow dog beside her was stunned, unable to grasp what was happening even after a long time had passed. The bald crane that was peeking from not too far away also blinked a couple times, disbelief evident on its face.

”Yu Xuan, thank you.”

”Who are you?!” she instinctively cried out. She had a feeling that the person in front of her was no longer the person she liked to tease.

Su Ming just shook his head, his gaze moving to his second senior brother, who was sitting and meditating not too far away. He also saw Hu Zi, who was snoring on the ground, as well as his eldest senior brother, who had turned into a statue.

This was the ninth summit. As he looked at the scenery around him, Su Ming found that he was brought to the place where he had wanted to be previously - the time before Dao Yuan appeared.

”I can’t change what has already happened, but I can change what happens now. Even if it’s futile, I will still change it,” Su Ming mumbled. He did not know just what exactly the test of the Five Illusory Echelon within the stone monument was, but if he could return to the past in his memories, then he wanted things to no longer be like what had truly happened in reality.

Su Ming’s gaze moved into the distance, a woman dressed in white looking at him quietly. She was Bai Su, and she had a smile on her face as she looked back at him.

Su Ming had understood the meaning of that smile in the past, but he had chosen to avoid it. Yet now, when he saw that it again, the memory of him being unable to catch that piece of cloth when Bai Su had died all those years ago resurfaced in his mind. It was almost symbolic. Since he had chosen to avoid, he could not catch her in the end, only able to let that piece of cloth dance in the air as it left into the distance.

’I’m truly happy to be able to see all of you again…’ Su Ming hid away his sadness regarding his mother and let happiness into his heart. It wasn’t fake either. This was the happiness that came straight from the depths of his heart when he saw his old friends and family once more.

There are two ways to cherish something in this world. One of them is when a person never places any importance on a certain thing at first. Only once they lose it do they begin to value it more as they think back on it during the endless passage of time.

The other is when the person always values a certain thing, and even after losing it, they still persistently care about it. As time passes, this kind of cherishing gathers together and becomes greater, until it reaches an extreme state and turns into nostalgia, making the person treasure the thing even more than they did in the past.

Su Ming was the latter.

He looked at those familiar faces, at ninth summit, at his home, at the people in the distance, who chose to stay in the ninth summit in the past and who spared no pains and chose to self-destruct just to save Su Ming during danger. His smile was incredibly happy and joyful as he looked at all of them.

He smiled faintly, even if that smile made Yu Xuan skeptical, stunned Bai Su, and even surprised the yellow dog that was the Abyss Dragon. They simply did not understand.

Bang!

As Su Ming smiled, a muffled booming came from the distance, followed by the ripples of the Rune in this area being torn apart. Su Ming had sensed these ripples in the past, and now… when he sensed them again, he slowly turned his body around. Gradually, his smile faded away. Gradually, a heinous intent of murderousness appeared in his eyes.

”Dao Yuan, I’ve waited for you… for an entire cycle of life and death!”

Not much explanation was required for this sort of hate. Perhaps some people would understand, but it was just as likely that… no one would.