Pursuit of the Truth

Worldly Star Planet was a city with a beautiful name. It would usually cause people to think of a region that was akin to a starry sky the first time they heard of the city.

Yet in truth this was a desert.

This so-called city was really just an oasis in the desert, a place with fresh water surrounded by tents.

This was Worldly Star City during the day, a desert whose end could not be seen. The oases which looked like embellishments made it seem as if the desert still had some form of life. Quite a large number of cultivators could be seen meditating or moving in and out of the tents.

This did not seem like a city, but was more like a gigantic and disorderly market.

The scorching sun sent heat to the ground, and even the sand was blazing hot. In this vast land, no end could be seen so no one could feel boxed in, but if they stared into the distance for a prolonged period of time, they would still become agitated.

Because of this, Worldly Star City was also commonly known as the City of Frustration during the day.

However, when night fell, everything in the area would become like a mirage. Every little thing would be different, and the change was so great that the person who saw it for the first time would be left greatly astonished.

When it was night, the sky was bright with brilliant starlight. After being trapped in heat for an entire day, the sand looked like it had melted, revealing large stones that stood in an orderly manner on the ground.

There was also a watery blue screen that looked like an illusion spread over the land. Anyone who stood on it would feel a refreshing sensation under their feet, as if they were stepping on fresh water.

The tents shone with a light that gave the area a quiet and serene feel, as if the light from the sky had gathered on the ground and turned into solid, triangular structures. At the top of the tents were pillars of light that rose into the sky, and the number of tents corresponded with the number of light pillars.

The pillars of light looked like they were connected to the sky. As they intersected with each other, they formed silver streams that connected them together as well as the sky and earth. These silver streams functioned as lines that formed illusory palaces in the dark sky.

There were endless palaces that looked like they were illusions but also looked incredibly real. If someone walked over and touched them with their hands or used their divine senses to perceive them, they would find that the palaces really existed.

In this seemingly boundless desert, when night arrived, walls would appear out of nowhere and surround the area. It would seem as if the place had turned into… a city which existed in the mortal world and was home to Emperors.

If anyone looked from the sky, they would find that the silver streams and palaces formed an incredibly beautiful picture. That picture was like the sky that could only exist in heaven, and was beautiful without equal.

Those who looked from the sky would find themselves looking at the same sight as those who looked from the ground. As the streams of light intersected with each other, they formed a picture in which the stars and the world existed in the same level and formed the city that was known as Worldly Star City.

During the night, Worldly Star City was incredibly lively. Plenty of cultivators came and went all around, and this city could be said to even be a little more prosperous than Black Water City. Right then, since Black Ink Auction was just around the corner, the number of cultivators present had also increased.

Su Ming walked amid the crowd. Behind him was Yu Rou, who followed him with the veil covering her features. Her face remained cold and aloof all along the way to the city, but the murderous aura in her eyes was incredibly great. Every single time she thought of the big yellow dog changing into her appearance and marrying someone, even she who was always quiet and elegant could not help but pull her hair out in frustration.

If Su Ming had not been around, she would have sent her divine sense outwards a long time ago to search for the two dogs at any cost.

”Have you heard about it? The Dual Fiends, the Crane and the Black have appeared again!”

As the two of them walked forward, Su Ming’s expression suddenly changed. He turned his head and looked into the distance. There was an inn in that direction, and there was a clamor coming from there. Inside the establishment there was a table, and around it were three cultivators who were talking to each other with enraged expressions.

”Damn it, do you mean that big yellow dog and the woman who called herself ’Grandpa Crane’?”

”That’s right! Who else could I be talking about?! That woman who calls herself Grandpa Crane is definitely an androgynous human, or else why would she call herself Grandpa Crane? She was the one who brought that despicable yellow dog with her in the past, and several dozens of small families were enraged because of them.”

”Eh? Brother Wang, I remember that you also attended that marriage interview, didn’t you?”

”Don’t ever mention it again! That woman is my mortal enemy!”

”But honestly speaking, that woman does indeed have an incredibly beautiful face. I saw her once. If she wasn’t that beautiful, it would have been impossible for the direct descendants of several dozen families to go mad for her. It’s said that there were even a few of them who did everything they could to see her up close and become familiar with her.”

”Hmph, your news is outdated. Based on what I know, several people indeed saw her and became close to her, and after that they were all completely head over heels for her, or else why would the Dual Fiends have been able to take away so many crystals?”

”I saw that woman before as well. She is definitely a woman of absolute beauty. She’s so beautiful, so why is she doing things like this? She could just go to any middle-tier family, and all of them would take her in. In fact, even the greatest families here would value such a gorgeous woman highly. If she practiced Seduction Arts, she would definitely become incredibly powerful.”

As Su Ming listened, his expression became strange, and he glanced at Yu Rou sideways. At that moment, she was already so angry that she was trembling, and the murderous aura in her eyes had become incredibly thick. In fact, the area around her was now freezing cold.

She took a swift step forward and turned into a wisp of green smoke that appeared in the inn. Su Ming smiled wryly, but did not stop her.

He saw Yu Rou stepping into the inn, and at the instant she moved in, the place instantly turned cold, so she immediately attracted everyone’s attention.

When the people saw Yu Rou, who still had a veil over her face, they were stunned for a moment, but some of them soon sported drastic changes to their expressions. In fact, some of them even stood up swiftly to stare intently at her with slight uncertainty on their faces.

It was especially so for the three people who had been talking among themselves just moments ago. Their expressions were slowly twisting as they stared at her. A burst of hatred that could burn the sky rose up swiftly. However, it was suppressed within as it turned into a hint of uncertainty.

Yu Rou looked at the people’s expressions around her and immediately felt great dismay. She had originally harbored a hint of doubt in her heart that it might not be her they were talking about, but most of it had disappeared at that moment. Yet she was still slightly unwilling to accept reality, which was why she decided to lift her veil right in front of the crowd.

When she revealed her beautiful face and all the people saw it, enraged roars rose up like a windstorm in the inn.

”The Dual Fiends, the Crane and the Black!”

”It’s the Dual Fiend! Damn it! How dare you appear here?! Return to me my crystals!”

”Those are my crystals! I was prepared to buy an Enchanted Treasures with those crystals! Y-y-you… I will not rest until you die!!”

Crazed roars echoed in the air, and there were quite a large number of cultivators who rushed out to attack her. The murderous aura in Yu Rou’s eye instantly reached its strongest. She no longer had a single hint of doubt within her; that damned yellow dog had taken her appearance.

In fact, even the waiter in the inn had bloodshot eyes when he saw her. He brought an axe from some place and charged towards her while growling, ”Damn it, it’s you! You’re the one who cheated me off my crystals!”

When Yu Rou saw the cultivators rushing towards her, she lifted her hand and swung it outwards. All the cultivators’ bodies in the inn froze then tumbled backwards. Banging sounds echoed in the air, and all the cultivators coughed up blood as they fell back... and this was after Yu Rou had forced down her killing intent. With a cold harrumph, she turned around and walked out of the inn before disappearing without a trace.

In fact, she did not even bother about Su Ming. Instead, once she walked out of the inn, she immediately spread her divine sense outwards, sweeping through the entire Worldly Star City in search for the two dogs whom she could not wait to kill one thousand times.

Su Ming smiled wryly and shook his head. He saw Yu Rou scanning the entire city with her divine sense for a moment, then moving towards the distance in the form of a long arc with murderous aura raging around her. Once he saw this, he sighed and followed after her.

In a corner of Worldly Star City was an old man putting on a solemn air. As he stroked his beard, he looked at the two middle-aged men before him with a grin on his face.

”Ahem, my fellow Daoists, I can only let you see the first three pages in the illustrated book. If you want to take the entire thing with you, then you will need to pay me five hundred crystals,” the old man said in a slow and calm manner.

There was a big yellow dog lying sprawled by his feet, and it was glaring at the two middle-aged men. Occasionally, it would let out a threatening low growl, as if it wanted to rush forward to rip apart the two men. Every single time its anger was about to reach its most ferocious state, the old man would kick it, and the yellow dog’s rage would diminish slightly.

After a moment, the two middle-aged men took the illustrated book and left, and the old man counted the crystals once again. A smug expression appeared on his face, then he lowered his head and said to the yellow dog, ”I’ve already told you plenty of times that you should only be fierce when you need to, and when you shouldn’t be fierce, you must be gentle. Y-y-you… ah, fine. This time, I’ll take away a third of your profits.”

”How dare you?!” The big yellow dog immediately stood up like a man and glared at the old man fiercely.

The old man immediately put a smile on his face and walked forward to hug the yellow dog.

”Haha! Us dudes… Ack, don’t bite me! Fine, the both of us, okay? The both of us… The both of us can settle this easily among ourselves. I won’t cut your profits, alright?” The old man swung his arm over the dog’s shoulder, and a thick, uncouth air immediately appeared around its body.

”I’m telling you, we have to occasionally show up as the Dual Fiends: the Crane and the Black. Only then will we continue to be popular. This identity is very good for us, you know? The more popular we are, the more shock we will create whenever we go out.” The old man cackled in a low voice and walked away with the yellow dog.

Yet he only took a couple steps when his body suddenly trembled, and he quickly cast a sideways glance at the yellow dog. When he saw that the yellow dog still looked the same as usual, various thoughts immediately raced in its head.

’Its cultivation base has been damaged badly, and it’s normal that it didn’t manage to notice it.’

”Ahem, Big Brother Abyss Dragon?” The old man immediately lowered his back, making it seem as if the dog was his superior.

The yellow dog was taken aback by this scene.

The old man bent his back even more, and with an obsequious look, he started saying in a submissive and soft-spoken manner, ”Honestly, I have always had a question in my mind. Big Brother Abyss Dragon, you see, I’ve always been very cautious and attentive in my work when I was with you during the past three years, so why don’t you tell me something?”

Before the yellow dog could speak, the old man continued, ”About that… why did you force me to become the beautiful, gentle, kind, unparalleled, adorable Big Sister Yu Rou who has my utmost respect from the bottom of my heart and whom I think is a trillion times more brilliant than that Su Ming?

”You must know that I have always regretted this in the depths of my heart for the past three years. In fact, it’s something that’s been tormenting me. I-I didn’t want to turn into her, but you… why did you force me to change into her?” When finished, the old man crouched down and wrapped his hands around his head before he started crying in misery.

The yellow dog was stunned speechless.

At that moment, a chilling air filled the remote area, and within it a voice could be heard. It sounded like a volcano about to erupt.

”Dual Fiends!”