Pursuit of the Truth

It had been seventeen days since Su Ming stepped into the chamber.

The chamber was not located above ground, but was within the huge underground palace built under the many towers of the Yu Family. The underground palace had been built tens of thousands of years ago, and it was the most secretive spot in the Yu Family.

At that moment, in the depths of the underground palace outside Su Ming’s secret chamber were two gigantic stone flaps of a door that were interlaced with each other to form a ghastly door of hundreds of feet in size.

There were numerous blood-red runic symbols on the door. As they shone in alternating flashes of bright and dark light, a powerful wave spread out from them. In fact, even if a cultivator in the later stage of World Plane Realm attacked at full force, they would find it hard to destroy the door within a short period of time.

The thirteen old men were sitting respectfully outside the door and meditating there as if they were Dharma Protectors. Their zealous attitude towards Yu Family’s Progenitor made them willing to give up their lives to provide protection for the Progenitor.

If anyone dared to break in at this point of time, they would find themselves coming face-to-face against the thirteen old men’s rabid attacks.

Yu Rou was sitting to the side of the circle formed by the thirteen old men. Her expression remained elegant as she sat by the side quietly, creating a stark contrast against these thirteen old men. Her beauty was also something that did not fit into the eerie and decaying image the thirteen people presented.

”The Progenitor has entered isolation for seventeen days… Could something have happened to him?” After waiting for seventeen days, one of the thirteen old men could not help but become anxious. After all, before Su Ming had entered isolation to meditate, he had said he would be gone only for a few days.

”Quiet. The Progenitor’s level of cultivation is exceedingly high, how could anything possibly happen to him? This is clearly the Progenitor absorbing the Apostle’s life force so that he could get greater control over his new body,” someone beside him immediately retorted. Clearly, the person who had rebuked the old man just now had a slightly higher status, so the old man who had been worried immediately lowered his head and did not say anything else.

”Not necessary!” an ancient voice came languidly from a skeletal old man by the side.

”Did any of you ever think of the Progenitor possibly failing to Possess the Apostle?”

”That’s impossible. With the Progenitor’s level of cultivation and the preparations he made over tens of thousands of years, there’s no possible way he would have failed.”

”That’s right. What the seventh said is possible. What if… he failed?”

”If he failed, then the person who appeared before us previously was not the Progenitor but the Apostle!”

Many pairs of eyes of the thirteen old men sparkled at that time as they communicated with each other by sending their thoughts.

Only Yu Rou remained in the distance, quiet and not listening to any of their words.

In the mid of their long wait and as doubts as well as speculations were gradually born within them, another three days passed.

Twenty days had passed since Su Ming stepped into the chamber. On this day, it was dusk in the world outside the underground palace. There was a gentle breeze blowing through the land, swaying the trees. It was at that moment that a booming sound suddenly echoed in the air within the underground palace.

The appearance of this sound immediately caused the thirteen old men to swiftly lift their heads and fix their eyes on the gate of the chamber. They also moved to kneel on the ground.

That booming sound came from the door to the chamber. This was the sound of the door being slowly opened from within. As those booming sounds became increasingly louder, the doors swung open to reveal a slit in-between.

The slit gradually grew wider. After a moment, when the doors completely swung open, the thirteen old men did not care about what sort of speculations they had in their hearts and immediately said respectfully, ”We respectfully greet the Progenitor!”

With a bang, the stone door swung completely open. It was dark inside. The green candle flames in the underground palace looked as if they wanted to venture deep into the darkness in the chamber, but were blocked outside the door. It was as if there was a force that could not be seen obstructing all forms of light from entering the room.

The sound of footsteps gradually came from the darkness and echoed in the underground palace. That noise suggested that the owner was moving at a leisurely pace. Several breaths later, Su Ming’s figure appeared within the stone chamber and was revealed before the people. His footsteps came to a halt, and he did not continue walking forward.

He stood in the darkness. The dim green light one step away from him enveloped the area around him. Because of this, Su Ming was able to see the area outside clearly, but the people outside could only see a faint blur when they looked towards him.

Su Ming did not respond to the old men’s words. He stood in the darkness and swept his gaze across everyone, and a dead silence settled around them.

It was as if even the sounds of breathing had disappeared. An oppressive feeling gradually rose in the air. The thirteen old men could sense this incredibly clearly. They knelt on the ground and did not dare lift their heads. However, they could feel the pores on their bodies shrinking, and their hair rose. That was the instinctual reaction that a person would get when they were in the face of danger.

It was precisely because they did not lift their heads that the feeling within them grew stronger. They could sense an incredibly evil presence spreading out from the chamber. It was a presence born from the perfect fusion between an overbearing and a gentle aura.

That presence changed constantly, so no one was able to get a clear grasp on it. When it gave off that overbearing presence, it seemed as if it could destroy all lives, but when it was gentle, it gave a sticky feeling, as if it was a swamp that would prevent a person from climbing out the moment they stepped in. The thirteen old men became no longer certain of their guesses, unable to discern the truth of things.

As these thirteen people were busy being nervous, Yu Rou remained calm by the side. However, that was just how she appeared. In truth, she was also shivering slightly, but those shivers were not distinct.

Only after ten breaths had passed did the presence gradually disperse. At the instant the thirteen old men sighed in secret, Su Ming took the final step and walked into the light from the dark.

His body appeared fully before everyone. Long gray hair, long white robes, and a boundless ancient air on that handsome face of his that was nigh enchanting. That ancient air did not seem to belong to him, but due to some reasons, some of it had come to temporarily stick around him.

That ancient presence was definitely not intentional. If a person had not lived for a sufficient amount of years and had not seen through all forms of illusions, then this presence would definitely not appear.

Because of this ancient air, the hearts of the thirteen old men trembled. The waning presence on their bodies seemed too thin before that ancient presence about Su Ming. In fact, they did not even have the right to be called old.

As the thirteen old men’s hearts were shaken, Su Ming looked towards them with an indifferent gaze. His eyes were like swamp water, completely calm, but if anyone took a closer look, they would immediately get lost in them. The profound expression in his eyes was hidden deep within them, and even contained a slight presence that would cause others to be compelled to believe in him. It was as if… under this gaze, everything Su Ming said could be trusted.

This was… the power that would exist as long someone believed in it. This was the epiphany Su Ming had obtained from the Three Gates of Heavenly Dao. Once he fused that epiphany with his Illusions of the Stars, Sun, and Moon, it could be said that this divine ability became the strongest and most mysterious of all his divine abilities.

Once he used it, the weather would change, and the world would be void of light.

”Do you believe in me?” Su Ming asked coolly. He had just recovered from the strange picture in his mind, which was why that ancient air remained about him while the figure of the man with white hair remained in his heart. In fact, even the man’s grief as he looked at the sky remained in Su Ming’s eyes.

That ancient presence, that figure, that grief, and everything that remained about Su Ming at that moment erupted from within him in an unseen manner as he asked that question. Because of it, the air in the underground palace distorted, and ripples spread out through the area and fill it swiftly. In an instant, they filled up the entire underground palace.

There was a strange power contained in his voice. As it echoed in the air, even the green candle flames in the place swayed a few times.

In fact, during that instant, Su Ming’s appearance seemed to have changed as well, giving off an indistinct feeling to others. It was as if he had turned into the man with white hair during that moment, who had his hands placed behind his back as he looked at the sky while the world collapsed around him.

This was not Su Ming’s power, but the residue of the power he saw while understanding it. In fact, it could be said that this was Su Ming using the power of that man with white hair, who had been able to form a terrifying divine ability with just a single sentence he left behind.

This form of borrowing the man’s power was only possible for Su Ming at this moment. Even if he tried to gain another epiphany from the sentence, he would not be able to do this, because once he completed the process of understanding the sentence, it had disappeared into the Three Gates of Heavenly Dao, vanishing to return to the time in which it belonged.

Unless Su Ming could truly understand it, then this divine ability of his would have reached its strongest at this moment.

Indescribably powerful booms rang out in the hearts of the thirteen old men who were all in the later stage of World Plane Realm. In the mid of those sounds, Su Ming’s voice shot up in all their ears, their minds, and their souls.

That voice brought with it a tone that suggested the owner would allow no doubt and resistance to his words, an arrogance that even the world would have to submit and even the universe would have to lower its head. If any forms of life did not obey him, then no matter what level of cultivation they possessed, they would instantly be reduced to ashes.

As the booming sound echoed in the hearts of the thirteen old men, they coughed up a mouthful of blood and had blood pouring out of their eyes, mouth, nose, and ears. They staggered backwards, and once they moved thousands of feet, they were pale and had shock written on their faces. In their eyes, a ball of fire was contained.

That was… a purple ball of fire. It was a ball of fire that burned even hotter than the zeal they had for Yu Family’s Progenitor.

Even Yu Rou coughed up blood when the residue of that presence erupted from Su Ming’s body and she was continuously forced backwards. Her calmness was gone, her elegance had vanished, and everything within her mind was shredded to pieces during that moment. A single will forcefully made its way into her head.

It was a will that compelled her to obey Su Ming!

And the same ball of purple flames also appeared in her eyes!

”I believe in you…” Yu Rou’s breathing quickened. As she mumbled out these words, the thirteen old men let out zealous roars.

”I believe in you!”

”I believe in you!”

The thirteen voices reverberated in the air, and endless echoes rang through the underground palace. As they continued spreading outwards, there was a false impression that the underground palace itself was trembling.

As they said these words, Su Ming slowly closed his eyes. The residue of the ancient presence about him disappeared, and his body was no longer an indistinct blur.

’Your power is to let others believe in you and worship you from the bottom of their hearts… For myself, I will choose to… make them obey me!’

Su Ming opened his eyes. His appearance was strange and enchanting, and the light in his eyes gave others a feeling like they were looking at an endless abyss.