Pursuit of the Truth

A mountain appeared in each of the one hundred thousand planets within the cosmos during that instant.

That mountain was the ninth summit from Su Ming’s memories.

When the one hundred thousand ninth summits were born within the one hundred thousand planets, the two Su Ming clones who had their eyes shut lifted their hands at the same time. Golden threads appeared out of thin air and surrounded the two clones. As Su Ming’s two clones started weaving them at will, he… started tying knots on them to weave the people in his memories.

Without the will of Yin Death Region interfering, Su Ming regained his emotions and his ability to feel pain. He immersed himself in the process of weaving grass knots using Divine Essence as time passed, turning all the people in his memories that he could not forget into Divine Essence Dolls in his hands.

This was the third change of heart Su Ming had not been able to complete when he first arrived in Crimson Flame Planet. In truth, when he returned to the disaster of the ninth summit in the world within the stone monument and killed his mortal foes with his own hands, he could have completed the third change of heart at any time he wanted.

However, he had a burden in his heart, and it was the mask that was formed by Yin Death Region’s wills. As long as that burden was not gotten rid of, it would be difficult for him to complete the third change of heart.

When the control of Yin Death Region’s wills disappeared, the burden in Su Ming’s heart disappeared as well. That was why when he closed his eyes, he began moving towards completing his change of heart.

The galaxy was silent. There was a smile on Su Ming’s two clones. Those smiles were born of the joy found as he returned to his memories. He was immersed in this joy, or perhaps he was immersed in the feeling loss, the return of which brought him joy. With the method of tying grass knots, he was allowing himself to remember the past.

The change of heart this time did not shake the sky or earth, neither did it cause loud booms to ring in the air. There was only Su Ming, who with his one soul and two bodies, weaved dolls in silence with a smile that looked happy, but upon closer inspection was full of sadness.

The grief in his soul dyed his hands and fused with the golden grass knots, turning into dolls.

Divine Essence Dolls appeared one after another as years passed by.

Ten years later, at the moment Su Ming’s two clones opened their eyes at the same time, tears fell from down his face, and the third change of heart… ended.

This change of heart was to Su Ming a way to get closure for all that had happened in the past, and it was also… a form of rebirth.

He weaved dolls for all the people in his memories. Every single person in his memories had one, but not him.

At the instant he opened his eyes, the grief in them gradually turned into dullness, having become something that he would cherish in the depths of his soul and an everlasting memory in the deepest recesses of his heart.

During that moment, his level of cultivation broke through the peak of Earth Cultivation Realm and he reached Heaven Cultivation Realm before he… attained completion, but that was no longer important. Su Ming looked at all the dolls in front of him, looked at the people with the presence based on his memories, and his expression became one of smiling and crying at the same time.

Each recollection of his memories as he went to the world in the stone monument time and again during those one thousand years was part of his third change of heart. Those recollections might have seemed scattered, but there was a single thread that connected them all together.

This thread was like a blade of grass, and the recollections were akin to him tying grass knots on that blade of grass. The start of the change of heart in Crimson Flame Planet was the first knot. The recollection of his memories during those thousand years were what formed the knots later on. Now, as Su Ming opened his eyes, he tied the final knot on the blade of grass that symbolized his change of heart.

At the instant he completed this seemingly disconnected third change of heart, the invisible blade of grass was woven into a doll that represented his change of heart. This doll was the doll that had been missing among all the dolls he’d woven during the ten years.

It was of himself.

After a long while, Su Ming closed his eyes once again. When he reopened them, there was only an ancient air to them, nothing more.

”It’s time that I leave,” Su Ming said softly. His Ecang clone took a step forward, but he did not leave this cosmos. Instead, he stepped into the one hundred thousand galaxies and sat down. At the instant he closed his eyes, his clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole lifted his head and looked at the cosmos that was formed by one hundred thousand planets. A resolute look appeared in his eyes.

He gave up on the idea to have his Ecang clone leave this place.

In truth, Su Ming had been constantly pondering on whether he wanted to let his Ecang clone leave this place. Only at that moment did he make his decision.

The purple Ecang was only one of the ten parts of the real Ecang. It was incomplete. Even if it possessed the power to fight against Yin Death Region’s wills, Su Ming had long since noticed that even though this clone of his would become stronger if he left Western Ring Nebula’s foreign land, his cultivation speed would still be unable to compare to when he was in this place.

Compared to the world outside, this place was the safest and the most suitable place for him to grow. If Su Ming wanted to have his Ecang clone devour the other nine parts so that he would become complete, then having the clone stay in this place was the best choice.

If he left, there would still be some people who could suppress him. However, if Su Ming had enough time, then his Ecang clone would grow to a point where the universe would tremble before him.

Besides, if he left the clone in this place, then while it would be difficult for this Ecang clone to help Su Ming fight against those in Solar Kalpa Realm, he could use the power of Divine Essence in his soul to draw upon Divine Essence, which would increase Su Ming’s power, and his clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole would become much stronger.

As the Ecang clone became stronger, Su Ming would also become stronger in the world outside. Until he retrieved his real physical body, his Ecang clone would be his foundation.

That was why Su Ming used the power of the cosmos in this place and made his clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole become stronger. Even if this clone had not reached the later stage of World Plane Realm, it had fused with Su Ming’s power, and more importantly, once he activated the power of Divine Essence, Su Ming was confident that he could fight against those in the later stage of World Plane Realm.

Besides, if Su Ming ran into a life and death crisis that he could not escape from in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, then his Ecang clone would be able to rush over in a short period of time due to his might.

Furthermore, as long as his Ecang clone stayed here, Western Ring Nebula’s foreign land would be the safest place for Su Ming. He could even regard this place as a cave abode of his. Over here, Su Ming did not need to worry about any form of threats due to Sui Chen Zi’s law.

However, if he chose to have his Ecang clone leave this place for a prolonged period of time, he would lose all the advantages of this place and the chance to make his Ecang clone become complete.

Su Ming made his choice to have his Ecang clone stay.

But besides this decision, there was another question that lay at the bottom of Su Ming’s heart. It was also one of the reasons why he had decided to have his Ecang clone stay in this place. This question had stayed in Su Ming’s heart for a long time.

’Western Ring Nebula’s foreign land is rumored to be an incredibly dangerous place in the world outside. It is rare for anyone to be able to walk out once they enter it. This is… something almost every single person in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence knows.

’But… if they know about this, why did so many of them still come here during the past one thousand years. If it had been a few dozen or a few hundreds, I would have let it slide; I would even regard it as a personal choice.

’However, several tens of thousands of people have entered, so there must have been a reason for it. I don’t even need to guess about it, though. The forces of power from the four Great True Worlds keeping a lookout on the barren lands must have offered a reward that tempted practically all the people. That was why there were so many people who were brave enough to enter this place. All of them were tempted by the possible gains.

’The forces of power from the four Great True Worlds must know more about Western Ring Nebula’s foreign land than anyone else. Their action of offering a reward for people to come to this place for my life might seem reasonable, but in truth…’ A cold glare appeared in Su Ming’s eyes.

’Unless there is no one from the forces of power from the four Great True Worlds who knows about the secrets of the foreign land, but no, this is impossible. If I were them, then if I couldn’t say the secrets of this place and really wanted to have me die, I would straight away enslave one hundred thousand cultivators and force them into the foreign land to force a complete exchange.

’In fact, if one hundred thousand people weren’t enough, then they could send in two hundred thousand people, or three hundred thousand, or even more to ensure this exchange several times, and I would have certainly died!

’But they didn’t. And I refuse to believe that they didn’t think about this, and since that’s the case…’ Su Ming’s eyes sparkled, and a cold sneer appeared on the corners of his lips.

’They don’t want me dead. Instead, they want to create some false impressions. The goal of it is to…’ Su Ming lifted his head and cast a glance at the spot where his Ecang clone was, then narrowed his eyes.

’It can be for this Ecang clone, but there are too many loopholes in this possibility. I can’t be sure that they did it because of this. Besides, I only managed to succeed by the skin of my teeth. There’s a high possibility they hadn’t thought about this, but I have to be on guard against this as well.

’There’s one more possibility… They wish for me to obtain the Divine Essence using the normal method to make the stone monument reach one million feet and obtain a small amount of Divine Essence as well as the chance to go out for one thousand years.

’Could it be that… there are benefits for a person if they kill someone with Divine Essence?’

After a moment of pensive silence, he pushed this question to the bottom of his heart, then averted his gaze from his Ecang clone. He took a step towards space, and his body gradually disappeared. As it did so, there was a flash of red that flew out and charged towards the one hundred thousand galaxies.

That was the small Candle Dragon which was made to stay in this place by Su Ming. This place possessed dense power of World Planes, and it could serve as nourishment for the small snake.

At the instant Su Ming’s clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole left the place, Su Ming’s Ecang clone within the one hundred thousand galaxies opened his eyes.

”Since I chose to stay here, then there are certain things that I must do.”

When the Ecang clone spoke flatly, the space behind him immediately distorted, and a colossal shadow of a purple tree manifested in space. It swayed a little, and ten thousand rays of purple light instantly spread out. Within an instant, those ten thousand rays of purple light spread in all directions before vanishing into the cosmos.

Once the Ecang clone did this, he shut his eyes again and began a long period of meditation.

During that moment, the world which had remained in the state of ninety thousand stone monuments for three hundred odd years suddenly saw ten thousand rays of light, and buzzing sounds instantly rang in the air.

All the people within the worlds of the ninety thousand stone monuments were forced out at that moment. For some, this was the first time they experienced this, but there were also quite a large number who experienced this for the second time. In the midst of their shock and astonishment, they could not help but remember the scene three hundred years ago, which had almost faded away from their memories.

As all the people were forced out, the ten thousand rays of purple light fused into the ground. The ground rumbled and shook, and ten thousand stone monuments rose up. The spots where those ten thousand stone monuments took place were precisely the ones from which they had disappeared three hundred years ago.

When those ten thousand stone monuments appeared, the number of stone monuments in the place returned to one hundred thousand!

The addition of those ten thousand stone monuments did not belong to Ecang or Sui Chen Zi, but… Su Ming!

These were Su Ming’s stone monuments. All the people whose names would be carved onto those ten thousand stone monuments would have their lives controlled by Su Ming, and they would offer up all their time and power for Su Ming’s Ecang clone to become stronger.

From then onwards, this scam within Western Ring Nebula’s foreign land would have another person getting a piece from it.

At that moment, nearly ninety thousand people fell into dead silence. The various thoughts in the minds turned into shock, astonishment, and confusion. In fact, the breathing of some almost stilled as they looked at the new ten thousand stone monuments with a blank expression.

Only one person’s expression was full of excitement. He did not look at the ten thousand stone monuments but towards the stone monument that belonged to Su Ming, which almost every single person had forgotten during these three hundred years. He looked at the stone monument, waiting for a certain person to appear.

Gradually, he saw a vortex took shape where Mo Su’s name was carved, and a person walked out from that stone monument.

He had long gray hair, a straight back, a pale face, and almost bewitching runic symbols overlapping with each other in his right eye. This was… Su Ming’s clone which practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole and which also possessed Ecang’s Divine Essence!