Pursuit of the Truth

The bald crane shuddered, and it wept even more forlornly. As it wept, it began shouting and screaming loudly.

”Big brother Abyss Dragon, y-y-you… you knew that I had lived a bitter life during the past three years! I always felt that I had let Big Sister Yu Rou down, so why did you have to force me?!

”I know that your master is Yu Xuan, and she has an ambiguous relationship with Su Ming, that’s why you found Big Sister Yu Rou disagreeable. With this in mind, you forced pitiful old me to listen to your words, but I… but I didn’t want this to happen. I remember now, you changed in Big Sister Yu Rou as well…”

If the yellow dog still did not understand what was going on, then it would have wasted all it had experienced in its life. It might be heavily injured and not as cunning and quick-witted as the bald crane, but how could it not understand that the damned bald crane was pushing all the responsibility on it?

Especially when that chilling and sinister voice was still echoing in the air? There was even a woman walking towards them threateningly with a monstrous murderous aura.

”Damn you, bald crane!” the yellow dog roared in anger and kicked the bald crane, who let out a shrill scream of pain and fell backwards as it coughed up a huge mouthful of blood. When it fell on the ground, it struggled a few times, like it was about to breathe its last. Then, it turned its head with great effort to look at the woman walking towards them.

”Big Sister… Yu… Rou… I’m… sorry…” Once it finished speaking, its eyes rolled back, and it stopped moving.

”I’ll fight you to the bitter end!”

The big yellow dog’s face was filled with grief, and as if it had gone mad, its body transformed, and it turned into an Abyss Dragon that was several times smaller than its regular size. However, there were numerous wounds on its body, and it did not even have a Dragon Tendon, so it exuded a miserable air even after it had transformed back.

In fact, there were even some wounds on its body that started bleeding because they had been torn apart by the dragon’s agitation. This appearance was enough to make all people’s expressions change. The dragon rushed forward and charged towards Yu Rou, but when it was in the air, it suddenly started laughing brokenly. Blood gushed out from many of its wounds at the same time, and its body plunged down from the air. When it fell on the ground, it coughed up a lot of blood.

”Master, you told me to flee before you fell asleep and ordered me to not change into an Abyss Dragon again, because I have been wounded too badly. If I changed back, I would surely die. I listened to you and changed into a yellow dog.

”But now, since I cannot escape death, then I will die as an Abyss Dragon. Even if I die, I will be an Abyss Dragon of the world!” In its anguish, the Abyss Dragon trembled, and the aura of death instantly filled its body. It started swiftly rotting away, and then, the dragon closed its eyes and breathed its last.

Yu Rou, who was seething with monstrous anger and murderous aura from her desire to kill the two fiends, paused in her footsteps. Stunned, she looked at the bald crane and the Abyss Dragon with a dumbfounded gaze.

This scene was completely out of her expectations. She had not thought that everything would end in such a manner. In fact, she was a little unclear as to who exactly had taken her form. She had very clearly heard that the yellow dog was skilled in transformation, but based on what she saw right then, the yellow dog seemed to be very honest and well-behaved...

With her level of cultivation, she could tell with just one glance that the Abyss Dragon had truly died. Its body and soul had been destroyed because it had been injured too badly, and when the dragon returned to its real form, it could no longer bear with the wounds and died.

This was real. It was not fake.

The density of the aura of death and the decay on its body made Yu Rou slightly unable to think. In a daze, she turned her gaze towards the bald crane, which had entered an even more advanced stage of death.

She could not help but recall the bald crane’s words before it died, the words of regret that sounded incomparably sincere and exuded an honest repentance. They left her in a daze.

The Abyss Dragon’s dignified death seeking act also left Yu Rou slightly envious of the its master.

”How could… How could this be?”

Yu Rou had brought with her rage and murderous aura, but now, all those emotions had turned into something she couldn’t describe. In silence, she stood where she was for a long time before sighing, then turning around and leaving.

When she left, the Abyss Dragon and the bald crane’s carcasses continued decaying, as if the endless passage of time had increased its flow by several times for a short amount of time at the moment they died.

Su Ming walked out from the darkness and stood beside the bald crane and the Abyss Dragon’s carcasses, then sighed.

Yu Rou might have outstanding power and had lived for a long time… but her experiences in life could not compare to Su Ming’s. The ups and downs she experienced in her life were also something that she could not hope to compare to his struggles.

Besides… she did not understand the bald crane.

Su Ming, however, did, and so much so that this understanding towards the crane had already been etched into his soul. He looked at the two carcasses on the ground and shook his head.

”Quite a realistic performance…” He smiled wryly, then turned around and left.

At the same time, two middle-aged men wearing straw hats and long robes strode around through another corner of Worldly Star City.

If anyone looked at the faces underneath the straw hats, they would find that one of them had an uncouth look, while the other had an incredibly dignified expression on his face, but in the depths of that dignified expression was a hint of an uncouth expression that corrupted that dignified look.

”Heh heh, isn’t the great Grandpa Crane amazing?”

”You’re amazing!”

”Isn’t the great Grandpa Crane awesome?”

”You’re awesome!”

”Haha! That lassie Yu Rou didn’t expect that we’ve thought about this when we pretended to be her in the past. Heh heh, I threw her off! My plan will be called ’Throwing Yu Rou Off’!

”One of the three scales our boss Li Long gave us can hide our presence so that we won’t be discovered, while the other two can turn into our clones. Unless the person’s level of cultivation surpasses our boss Li Long’s, then it would be impossible for them to notice us.

”Heh heh, I’m smart, right? Let me tell you, we had to occasionally show up as the Dual Fiends because of this day. Look, the matter is settled now, isn’t it?”

”But baldy, I’ve been meaning to ask you this. Why are we known as the Dual Fiends: the Crane and the Black? It should be the Dual Fiends: the Crane and the Yellow, right?”

”Ahem, let’s not talk about this for now. Xiao Huang, you reacted a little too slowly just then. When I addressed you as Big Brother Abyss Dragon, you were stunned for a moment. Even though you were supposed to be stunned based on what we’ve rehearsed, you’ve been stunned for too long. It was too fake!

”Also, I remember that the final ’I’ll fight you to the bitter end’ wasn’t in the rehearsal. Y-y-you… Do you know that improvising is really dangerous?!

”Oh well, based on our agreement in the past, I helped you ruin her reputation. Now, you have to work together with me and give me all your crystals. You also promised me that all your treasures in the Emperor of Abyss’ True World will be mine.”

The two middle-aged men were naturally the bald crane and the Abyss Dragon. The bald crane’s Transformation Art was strong enough to transform the Abyss Dragon into all sorts of shapes. At that moment, as the two of them mumbled to each other, they walked into the distance.

However, in the mid of their excitement, they did not notice that Su Ming was watching them from the distance with a wry smile on his face.

In the dark night when the stars and moon hung high in the sky, the bald crane and the Abyss Dragon left. Yu Rou, too, left to an unknown direction, bringing with her all her complicated emotions. Su Ming was by himself now, only accompanied by the Duke of Crimson Flame, who had turned into a totem on his arm.

He shook his head and turned around, walking unhurriedly through the silver streams of Worldly Star City. Occasionally, some cultivators would pass by him. There would always be some who would lower their heads when they saw him and put on barely noticeable expressions of respect. Some of these people were members of the Lie Shan Family, and some of them were people who had affiliated themselves to Berserkers.

They might not know Su Ming, but they could sense the vague mighty pressure aimed towards Berserkers coming from him. Besides, due to Su Ming’s status, he was secretly protected by members of the Lie Shan Family and other Berserkers wherever he went in Black Ink Planet.

These people were in all corners of Worldly Star Planet.

In fact, the Hua Family within Worldly Star Planet was also under strict surveillance. They had obtained some hints that left their Progenitor so shocked that he came out from isolation to personally issue an order to all members of his family that they were forbidden from venturing outside. The powerful warriors within the family then were on constant alert, telling all the guests within the Hua Family to not go out of their rooms on that night.

The lesson of Tai Ci Family had made them… unwilling to provoke any people they couldn’t afford to provoke or offend anyone they should not offend due to some accident.

After the time it takes for two incense sticks to burn, a man walked towards Su Ming. He paused for an instant when he was beside Su Ming and respectfully handed him a jade slip. There was a hint of a zealous look in his eyes, but just as he was about to bid his farewell and leave…

Su Ming said faintly, ”I like peace and quiet.”

The man immediately voiced his obedience and left respectfully.

Su Ming cast his gaze on the jade slip, reading the mark of where Ye Wang was staying at that moment. Once Su Ming cast a glance at it, he crushed the jade slip and walked slowly towards his lodgings.

Gradually, the number of cultivators before him decreased, and in time, not a single cultivator could be seen in the silver streams he stepped. Compared to the loud hubbub in the other silver streams, the path Su Ming took was incredibly quiet.

However, no one paid any attention to this place. For if they did, someone would immediately move forward from the dark and monitor their every moment, but Su Ming did not pay any attention to this.

He liked peace and quiet, and hence… the Lie Shan Family gave him peace and quiet.

Su Ming continued walking for an hour. He was not in a hurry, and he continued walking until a tower appeared in front of him. This was an inn liked by all cultivators. There was an individual Rune in every single room which filled them with spiritual aura.

At this point in time, the place should have been incredibly lively, but right then… the inn was silent. Not a single person could be found in the hall. In fact, the near one hundred rooms that had originally been filled with cultivators had been completely emptied, except for one - Ye Wang’s.

The silence around him created a stark contrast with bustle of activity that could be heard from the distance. With a calm expression, Su Ming walked to the door of the inn, went up the stairs, strolled to the end of the second floor, and stopped in front of a room.

He lifted his hand, placed it on the door, and knocked on it lightly.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

”Sir, you sent away all the cultivators in this place and made it so that not a single sound could be heard within a circular area of one hundred lis. If you can do such a thing in this lively Worldly Star City when Black Ink Auction is just around the corner… then you are definitely someone of status and power. There is no need for someone like you to knock on my door when you are outside my room,” a cold and aloof voice said from the room. Not a single hint of emotion could be heard in it.

Su Ming smiled faintly and said in a light tone, ”How could I barge into an old friend’s room?”

When he said these words, the room immediately fell silent. After a long while, the door to swung open silently, and a gaze filled with complicated emotions as well as disbelief fell on Su Ming from the person sitting by the table.

”It’s been… a long while.”