Pursuit of the Truth

Xu Hu’s heart was trembling before Su Ming had even finished his drawing. She stared at him blankly, because she had discovered that once he drew his first line, he looked as if he had gained an ethereal air!

This made it seem as if his body had disappeared. In fact, he looked as if even his presence as well as his soul had vanished without a trace, but she did not notice even a single hint of it in the connection she had with Su Ming’s cultivation base clone.

It was as if he was sitting there, but at the same, he did not seem to exist.

It was as if… he had fused together with the mountain, with the land, with the sky, and everything under the heavens that their eyes could see. He had even fused together with the rain and the wind that blew towards him. There was no distinction between them.

This was not him drawing. He was… imprinting everything from the wind, the rain, the sky, the earth, and everything else in the universe.

What caused Xu Hui to suck in a deep breath was when the ripples of power from Su Ming’s body swiftly stirred up at the instant he reached that ethereal state before her eyes. Then, in a manner that shocked her, those ripples rapidly gained power!

Within a short period of time, he became infinitesimally close to the later stage of World Plane Realm from the middle stage of World Plane Realm!

This method of cultivation immediately caused a word to surface in Xu Hui’s mind— Enlightenment!

This was enlightenment. Besides this word, Xu Hui could not find any other that could allow a person’s cultivation base to erupt suddenly in this manner without any use of medicinal cores or training.

This made her remember a few sentences her Master had told her in the past.

“When the ancients trained, they placed primary focus on their hearts. They would continuously ask their own hearts and continuously try to understand the truth about the universe. It did not matter whether it was a great truth or a small one. Training their hearts was akin to training their psyche.

“They tried to understand the universe, and when they ran into enlightenments, their levels of cultivation would reach a state that defied common sense.

“Now, the method of cultivation we employ only places half of our focus on the heart, and the other half is on Arts. We might… never be able to reach enlightenment.”

Xu Hui’s breathing quickened, but she was incredibly careful in not bothering Su Ming in his drawing. The smile remained on her face, and she made sure that she did not move, because she was worried that if she did anything, she would affect his epiphany. Once he woke up from it, he would lose this serendipity.

She saw the ripples of power from Su Ming become stronger as he continued drawing. After a moment, thunder roared beyond the mountain as rain poured from the sky. The ground even started trembling faintly. A gigantic vortex appeared above Su Ming, at the top of the mountain. This vortex spread out in all directions, sweeping up rainwater and the mountain breeze to create an abnormal phenomenon.

The members of Ninth Tribe noticed it. As they raised their heads, they looked towards the vortex in the sky, and in doing so, they also noticed the ripples of power from Su Ming.

Right when an uproar broke out among them, they were immediately silenced by Dijiu Mo Sha. He stared at the spot above in a daze, watching Su Ming’s back. His breathing quickened, and excitement appeared on his face.

‘Change of heart. This is… the change of heart, the Art that Master once said belongs solely to his disciples!’ Dijiu Mo Sha understood the change of heart and knew that this moment was incredibly important to Su Ming, which was why he did not just silence the commotion caused by the members of his tribe, he even personally began defending the entire area with a vigilant expression.

“I wonder when will my change of heart… arrive,” he mumbled softly.

Time trickled by, and several hours passed since Su Ming began drawing. The rain in the sky gradually lessened and the wind too slowly became weaker. Xu Hui kept to the same pose. Even if rain poured on her body, she still continued remaining still.

She still had a smile on her face, but there was anxiety in her eyes.

She was not anxious because she had not been moving for several hours, but because she had seen Su Ming attempt to reach the later stage of World Plane Realm seven times during the past few hours.

But he failed every single time.

She knew deeply that there was a barrier between the middle and later stage of World Plane Realm. This barrier was incredibly difficult to break. She had been able to break that barrier in the past because her Master had helped her with all her strength, and only then did she succeed, albeit with great difficulty.

However, she believed that as long as Su Ming had enough time, he would definitely be able to reach a break and step into the later stage of World Plane Realm. Even if she did not know why he occasionally gave off a feeling that he was weak while at other times that he was strong, she believed this was related to him Possessing Dao Kong.

However, at that moment… Xu Hui could sense that the rain was lessening and the wind was gradually fading away. Once the wind and rain were gone, the sky would return to normal. At that time, Su Ming’s picture would be finished.

If he still had yet to reach a breakthrough by then, his process of gaining enlightenment would end, and he would need another serendipity before he could continue.

Su Ming knew this.

Every single time a person experienced a change of heart with this Art, it would allow a their heart to go through a metamorphosis, and even their soul and everything about them would move to a greater state. However… even with this sort of metamorphosis to stir up his cultivation base, there was still a barrier within him. If he could not break through it, then he would be forced to stop in his tracks.

This was why Su Ming had chosen Dao Kong as his cultivation base clone. In truth, this cultivation base clone was like a vessel, and Su Ming chose it to make it easier for him to break through the barrier.

If he thought about it on a fundamental level, this so-called potential was really just how many barriers a person had in his path of cultivation, and how thick those barriers were.

This was why Su Ming had chosen to cripple Ye Wang’s kismet. Once he destroyed the kismet in him, the only person who could have the kismet gather on his person for years to come in True Morning Dao World… would be only Dao Kong!

This was the reason why Dao Kong was so highly valued by Morning Dao Sect.

However, kismet was insubstantial. Very few could understand it completely and use it. Even Su Ming could not do it. He could only use his own method to change or move it about, indirectly guiding this kismet that existed in the unseen world.

Such as right then…

Bang!

A loud clap of thunder rang out in the sky. That thunder roared and shook the world in all directions. As it echoed, the rain that was about to disappear started pouring from the sky once more, and the wind that was about to fade away became strong once again.

The rain did not stop, the wind did not pause. All of them raged violently and frantically again.

Was this kismet..? Perhaps. Perhaps even without this so-called kismet the rain was fated to not stop, but if this rain continued pouring for several days…

Then perhaps this would truly be the work of the kismet!

The second day, the third day… until the fifth day arrived!

On the fifth day, rain still poured from the sky and continued falling on the ground. Dark clouds filled the sky. Wind raged in the mountains and blew violently in the world. Xu Hui sucked in a deep breath. During these five days, she did her best to keep still and not move, so that she would not bother Su Ming when he drew.

When dusk eventually arrived on the fifth day, Su Ming’s cultivation base charged against that barrier once again, and loud banging sounds came from his body. A vast wave of power from his cultivation base erupted from within him.

That was not power of the middle stage of World Plane Realm… but the later stage!

Su Ming’s cultivation base clone had finally stepped into the later stage of World Plane Realm and was at the same stage as his clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole. Only at this moment could Su Ming truly be considered to have moved into the category of powerful warriors.

All his clones could become an overlord of an area. When his clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole overlapped with his cultivation base clone before, Su Ming could bring forth power that was close to someone who had attained completion in the later stage of World Plane Realm. Yet right then, the power that would erupt from him would be one that truly belonged to someone who had reached great completion in World Plane Realm, and he had not even added his Divine Essence into the mix.

If he added his Divine Essence, he would no longer need to use the projection formed by Ecang’s power to fight against those in Lunar Kalpa Realm, such as what he had done when he was trying to rescue Xu Hui in the desert. At that moment, even without using Ecang’s projection, he would be able to fight against those in Lunar Kalpa Realm.

That was if he did not include his Ecang clone into the equation, if his Ecnag projection appeared, Su Ming did not know just how great his offensive abilities would become, but it was clear that he would then be able to fight against those in Solar Kalpa Realm.

If his Ecang clone came personally and the three clones fused together, then with his soul linking them together, the offensive power that would erupt from him would be able to shock even the heaven. Su Ming would be even stronger than when he had first walked out of Western Ring Nebula’s foreign land and broken into the galaxy where the forces of power from True Sacred Yin World were stationed!

Perhaps he could still not be considered as the most powerful person beneath Masters of Fate, Lives and Death, though. But if he took a step further and made his cultivation base clone as well as the clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole attain great completion in the later stage of World Plane Realm, then he would become the most powerful person beneath the Masters of Fate, Lives and Death!

If his Ecang clone devoured the other Ecangs, then his combat abilities would increase exponentially, and this… was the terrifying composition of power that came from the Abyss Builders’ inborn ability.

Su Ming opened his eyes, or rather, he had never physically closed his eyes. The eyes he opened were those that belonged to his soul.

The sky instantly fell silent. There was no longer thunder. The rain disappeared, the wind faded away, and the sky was clear across tens of thousands of lis.

Su Ming looked at the drawing board in his hand. On it was a picture of rain pouring continuously from the sky along with a delicate figure. Wind lifted her hair, and it looked as if a world was contained in her smile, causing those who saw it to be unable to help themselves but smile as well.

“Thank you.” Su Ming raised his head and looked towards Xu Hui.

A faint smile blossomed on Xu Hui’s face, and it was identical to the one in the picture.

…..

There always comes a time when people have to be separated.

There always comes a time when a song ends and people leave the theater.

On the second day since Su Ming woke up, he left the mountain in which Ninth Tribe was located, left the land, and left the near one thousand members of Ninth Tribe bowing down to worship him.

He did not take Dijiu Mo Sha with him, but instead picked up a map. It was a map detailing the locations of the four great races, which were ones who had surrounded and attacked his Master when he was in the inner part of Divine Essence Star Ocean.

If Su Ming had a grudge against someone, he would definitely take vengeance. This was his principle.

On his way out, he left behind some words which caused Dijiu Mo Sha to lower his head and bow to him.

“No matter what Master thinks, to me, you are already my junior brother.”

These words caused Dijiu Mo Sha to tremble. He looked at Su Ming and saw a light shining with wisdom in his eyes, making it seem as if he could read his thoughts. Slowly, an ashamed look that caused him to be unable to speak appeared on Dijiu Mo Sha’s face. He quietly lowered his head, but those words still echoed in his heart.

This was Su Ming’s acknowledgment.

When Su Ming first saw the five stones under his Master’s statue, he could already tell that the fifth stone had been placed there later on. It might not have seemed as if it was different from the other four… but the four stones that signified the four original disciples were under his Master’s feet, while the fifth… was placed away from his feet.

This small detail allowed Su Ming to understand plenty of things.

He could imagine a young boy many years ago standing by his Master’s side and longing to have Tian Xie Zi as his Master, but up till the moment Tian Xie Zi left, he still did not take the boy his disciple.

Yet the boy did not give up. He protected his tribe and fulfilled the request Tian Xie Zi made before he left without any complaints or grumbles. In fact, as he grew over the thousand years, he treated himself as Tian Xie Zi’s disciple and placed the fifth stone by the statue’s feet.

This was why Su Ming had only said half of what he thought. He had the other half remain in his heart.

The complete sentence was: “Master will not take in a fifth disciple, but no matter what Master thinks, to me, you are already my junior brother.”

Su Ming left. This time, the loneliness he had grown used to was no longer his companion. Xu Hui had taken its place.

The two of them turned into two long arcs that headed to the inner part of Divine Essence Star Ocean and the four races that had went after Master’s life in the past. They gradually disappeared from Ninth Tribe’s sight and vanished from Dijiu Mo Sha’s eyes.

“Senior brother…” Dijiu Mo Sha mumbled. This was the first time no anguish appeared in the depths of his heart when he said these two words.