Pursuit of the Truth

”When I appear in your memories once again, you will remember me, and you will then truly become my subordinate.” Su Ming raised his right hand and tapped the center of Yue Hong Bang’s brows.

Yue Hong Bang’s injuries were immediately healed, but a dazed expression appeared in his eyes, and he slowly fell to the ground.

Su Ming swung his right hand, and a gentle gust of wind immediately swept through the area. It gushed forth in a manner as if there was nothing in the world that could stop this wind spreading out. It did not matter whether it was mountain ranges or cave abodes, all the geographical structures in the land with cultivators around seemed as if they were just illusions.

All the cultivators that the piercing wind touched instantly began shuddering no matter what their levels of cultivation were. A dazed look appeared in their eyes. All their impressions and memories about Su Ming vanished into the wind.

As the cultivators fell on the ground unconscious. In the blink of an eye, Su Ming became the only person who remained standing in the mountain range.

The wind continued spreading out. With this place as the center, the wind spread through the entire Crimson Flame Planet. This was a windstorm aiming to wipe off all memories regarding Su Ming, as if he had never existed in Crimson Flame Planet no matter whether it was the past or the present.

In fact, even those who had died and were now soul fragments drifting in the world had their fragmented memories wiped off. The parts in their minds where those memories had existed turned into blank slates.

As the windstorm swept outwards and spread out continuously, Su Ming took a step towards the sky. With it, he disappeared. When he reappeared, he was standing on a mountain.

There was a small house made of stone at the top, and an old woman was sitting cross-legged in there. She stared at the door of her house. There was a dismal expression on her face, as if she was waiting for something.

Su Ming walked forward, and when he arrived outside the house, the wind he had stirred up earlier had already swept past most of Crimson Flame Planet. In another few breaths, it would cover the entire planet.

Su Ming pushed open the door to the house, and the door swung open with a creak. He did not go in, but stood outside the house. His gaze met the old woman’s.

”You still came here, in the end.” The old woman was Mei Lan, and she was also the source for the creation of the Blood Identification Pearls when the four Great True Worlds extracted her memories.

”I’m here.” As Su Ming spoke calmly, he walked into the stone house and sat on a chair by the side.

”I’ll thank you if you allow me to die in a more dignified manner.” The old woman closed her eyes. Once she finished saying these words, she stilled.

Five breaths later, the windstorm finally covered the entire Crimson Flame Planet, and all the cultivators in the planet forgot about Su Ming, their memories taken by the wind. This was an irreversible erasure of their memories, and they would not be able to recover it.

Crimson Flame Planet was the start of Su Ming’s journey in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, that was why certain mysterious aspects had appeared in the planet, such as the possibility of forming the Blood Identification Pearl through the memories of the people in this place.

When Su Ming eventually left Crimson Flame Planet, all those who had once seen him would no longer be able to form the Blood Identification Pearl through their memories about him. This divine ability was related to the power of Plane Kalpa Realm, and the mysteries contained within it could not be described with words.

Once the windstorm spread through the entire Crimson Flame Planet and gradually vanished to allow the planet to return to a state of peace while all the cultivators remained in deep sleep, Su Ming walked out of the house. He cast a final glance at Crimson Flame Planet and turned around to stroll towards the sky.

Gradually, a crimson coffin manifested around him. Su Ming stepped on it and walked into space. Two long arcs flew up from the ground. One of them was the Duke of Crimson Flame, and the other was the bald crane. They caught up to Su Ming… and vanished into space with him.

”Damn it all, those jerks! I’ve hidden crystals in about seven to ten thousand places, but they… they… the crystals in two spots where I hid them were gone… I can’t believe it!

”I’m so frustrated! I absolutely can’t hide crystals anymore, it’s not safe, and it’s far too easy for me to lose them. My heart hurts, Su Ming! My heart really hurts!” The bald crane had an expression that its heart was aching terribly, and by the looks of it, it was not pretending. It was really feeling that its heart was bleeding from emotional pain.

Its hurt lasted for so long that the bald crane still had a distressed expression on its face and looked as if it was in anguish even after Su Ming left, as if it had lost the most precious thing in its life.

Ten breaths after Su Ming left Crimson Flame Planet, the first to open his eyes was Yue Hong Bang. A perplexed look appeared in his eyes, as if he knew that something had happened, but when he thought about it carefully, he found that there was a person missing in his memories.

That person’s figure was indistinct, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not remember him. When he lowered his head, he saw Zhao Guang You’s head in his hand.

Soon after, more people woke up, but all of them were the same as Yue Hong Bang. There was a person missing in their memories, along with his name.

On a mountain in a stone house was an old woman sitting cross-legged inside. She gradually opened her eyes, and there was a dazed look within them. After a moment, she sighed lightly.

”I can’t remember.”

She did not die.

Crimson Flame Planet still had its set trajectory, and it was still moving about that trajectory. However, in all of the people’s memories, a series of events had been eternally wiped off. It was just as Su Ming had told Yue Hong Bang earlier, if Yue Hong Bang could remember, then he would truly become Su Ming’s subordinate.

If he could not, then they would no longer have anything to do with each other.

…..

Su Ming sat cross-legged on the red coffin in the galaxy as he meditated with closed eyes. Time trickled by. One year, two years, three years, up till five years passed.

During the course of these five years, Su Ming headed swiftly towards Black Ink Planet. Occasionally, he would shift using the power of the Rune, increasing his to travel speed by a lot.

As of then, he was almost at the borders of Black Ink Planet. With just a little more time, he would be able to enter its area. The amount of time they spent getting to this place was slightly shorter than what Su Ming had expected.

The Blood Identification Pearls had lost their effect, so no one could track Su Ming any longer. The bald crane had also fused with the Divinity Incarceration Rune, so that particular method of using the Rune to track him down no longer posed a threat to him as well.

Perhaps only if a Master of Fate, Lives, and Death covered the entire Western Ring Nebula with their will would they possibly be able to find Su Ming. However, he did not run into any True Guards on his way to Black Ink Planet, and neither did he hear the four Great True Worlds mentioning anything about him again.

Su Ming was well-aware of why it was so.

During his trip to the region where the forces of power from True Sacred Yin World keeping a lookout over Western Ring Nebula were stationed, Su Ming had killed Dao Ren and demonstrated his might. He also managed to survive after a Master of Fate, Lives, and Death chased him down, and had even caused a stir in the entire galaxy.

He refused to believe that they did not know who he was. Even if Dao Ren, who recognized him, had died, Wu Li Zi was still around. True Sacred Yin World must already know that he was the Mo Su that they had chased after in the past.

’So they’ve given silent consent to my continued existence, huh?’ Su Ming opened his eyes.

’Or are they gathering up a new storm..? No matter what, the feud between me and the four Great True Worlds hasn’t ended.’ With a calm expression on his face, Su Ming closed his eyes once again.

He might have done so, but it was not silent around him. During these past five years, Su Ming had come to know just how good the bald crane was at talking nonstop.

”My heart hurts… Oh, my heart hurts. Su Ming, my heart hurts! Say, I’ve hidden them so well, you know, so why did the crystals in two spots go missing..? Nine of them went missing, just like that…” The bald crane’s voice traveled through the air, and the crane sounded as if it was beating its chest in anguish.

The Duke of Crimson Flame quickly closed his eyes and pretended he did not hear anything.

”I’ve lived a pitiful life of saving up by cutting down my expenses, of running about searching for crystals. I’ve worked hard and kept constant vigilance over these years, but… but why did I lose them..? I can’t accept this. This is the first time I lost my crystals, my heart aches…

”Su Ming, my heart is already hurting so much, why aren’t you giving me a response?” Even after chattering away for half a day, the bald crane did not feel thirsty. It simply looked at Su Ming with eager eyes.

Su Ming ignored it.

”Su Ming, I burned my soul for you in the past. You still owe me one million crystals! Y-y-you… My heart is aching so much I can’t handle it, and I need comfort, but you’re not even speaking to me… My heart hurts…”

”I’ve given you eighty-six crystals during the past five years!” Su Ming frowned and opened his eyes to glare at the bald crane.

When the bald crane notice that Su Ming was responding, it was immediately filled with energy and even its fighting spirit began to burn, making it clear that it wanted to argue with him for a long, long time.

”That’s not the same thing. If you gave those crystals to me, then those are the things you gave me, but the ones I lost… are forever lost. Even if I get ten billion crystals in the future… I should actually have ten billion and nine crystals.” The bald crane seized its chest, and based on its expression, it could be seen that this problem had been troubling it during the past five years.

Su Ming forced down the irritation that had risen in his heart after being tormented by the bald crane for five years and said flatly, ”Then go and snatch nine crystals.”

”But even if I snatch them, I would still have lost nine crystals.”

”Then go steal some more.”

”Even if I steal, I still would have lost them.”

”Go pick some up!”

”Where to? Even if pick some up, I still would have lost them…” The bald crane put on a long face.

”Then what do you want to do?” Su Ming let out a long sigh. He could tell that the bald crane had not been making a fuss out of nothing during these five years, but was really troubled by this. To the bald crane, who would consider itself to have lost crystals if it did not see any when it ventured out, truly losing nine crystals would definitely be a disaster to it.

”Let’s go back to Crimson Flame Planet. I want to search for them again. I swear I’ll definitely find the person who stole my crystals.” The bald crane ground its teeth in anger.

”We’re almost at Black Ink Planet.” Su Ming sighed again.

”I have a feeling that if we go to Black Ink Planet, I’m going to lose more crystals. This feeling is incredibly strong, very, very strong. The closer we get to Black Ink Planet, the stronger this feeling gets, and I can’t stand it anymore…”

The bald crane was using every trick in its disposal to speak and emote with great feeling. It did not have any sort of premonition that made it feel like it was going to lose its crystals, but at that moment, it did not know that its nonsensical words right then would turn into a heartache very soon which would drive it crazy for the rest of its life.

”... Hmm? Who’s that? What a familiar presence.”

As the bald crane continued speaking, it was suddenly taken aback and let out a light gasp. It could sense all the things within a very large area, since it had fused with the Divinity Incarceration Rune.

A focused glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. He fused his Atman into the bald crane’s Divinity Incarceration Rune, and immediately, the large galaxy showed up clearly in his mind. In a place that was rather far away from where they were, Su Ming saw… a snake-like beast whose body was rotting away but was not dead struggling forward while filled with the aura of death.

By the looks of it, it was on the verge of death and already had one foot in its grave. Before long, it would die.

Behind it were hundreds of cultivators. There were moths under their feet, and they were chasing after it while letting out strange cries. These cultivators were dressed in rags, but there was a fierce light shining in their eyes. The person in the lead was a woman. She was thin and tiny, and there was dirt on her face, making it so that no one could see her true appearance. However, she was the fastest among them. There was a string of bells on her wrist, and every single time they swayed, the galaxy would distort and the beast before them would let out a pained roar.

At the instant Su Ming saw the snake-like beast, he was stunned.