Pursuit of the Truth

A layer of green filled Outer Skies Planet. Anyone who cast their gazes towards it would find that forests covered the land, and there was no end to them. There were plenty of big trees of thousands of feet tall standing tall in the area.

From the distance, the gigantic tree crowns looked like giants standing on the ground.

There were also trees that were ten thousand feet tall. If anyone saw them, a feeling that they were ancient would rise spontaneously in their minds.

Farther down was a huge, azure ocean. As waves tumbled about there, it looked as if there were endless huge trees swaying about at the bottom of the ocean.

This was a cultivation planet filled with spiritual aura. The Essence of the World was so thick that it caused all lives in the planet to naturally possess faint power since the moment they were born.

There were no cities here, and no tribes could be detected in the planet either. It was as if this was a peaceful planet that posed no threat, but if anyone took a closer look, they would find wooden houses under the tree crowns of the gigantic trees!

Some figures with wings would occasionally move between the wooden houses.

However, all of this peace and quiet was swiftly torn apart by thunderous rumbles from the sky. Booming sounds surged everywhere. The ground trembled, the trees swayed violently, and quite a number of them were torn apart. The ocean in the distance roared, and waves rose up with loud booms.

The figures with wings in the wooden houses immediately raised their heads. Their eyes had a faint yellow hue, but at the instant they looked towards the sky, they turned crimson.

A ruthless presence erupted from all the people with wings.

Roars then echoed in the air Their voices fused together to turn into a sharp sound that charged at the sky as if it wanted to fight against the sound coming from above.

Booms shook the sky and earth, and during that moment, a shooting star appeared in the sky. That star turned into a long arc, as if it wanted to tear through everything in its path. It charged forward, heading straight for the ground.

The long arc’s appearance had caused the eyes of the Heaven Traversers under the tree crowns to turn crimson. At the same time, they flew up swiftly. As they flapped their wings, they charged towards the spot where the shooting star was about to land.

As the garrisons placed in the planet at the outermost layer of the territory that belonged to Heaven Traversers, they were used to fighting and had a brutality that was usually hidden within their bones. On normal occasions, they would sometimes venture out to hunt in the galaxy.

If there was really a ferocious beast foolish enough to intrude into their planet, then the only outcome for it would be that it would end up becoming food in their stomachs.

In fact, there were occasionally members of tribes from the galaxy beyond or cultivators not from Divine Essence Star Ocean intruding on their planet, but these people were also torn apart and eaten alive.

Almost every single one of the soldiers stationed here had done this sort of thing before, and they were incredibly fond of the supple taste of flesh and blood of cultivators.

Hundreds of Heaven Traversers traveled at extreme speeds. As they charged forward, two old men flew out from the gigantic tree reaching up to ten thousand feet. These two were dressed in long blue robes. They had old appearances, and the presences of those in the later stage of World Plane Realm spread out from them.

“Those who trespass into Heaven Traversers’ territory must die!”

One of the old men let out a harrumph. He raised his right hand and swung his arm forward. The forest before him immediately started rustling and formed a gigantic palm made of tree leaves in midair. As it rushed forward, it charged towards the place where the shooting star was.

Bang!

Loud bangs shook the land as the shooting star landed on the ground. With a loud noise, a wave of impact swept through the area, lifting the earth and uprooting many trees, while roars from the quaking ground spread far and wide. Then, from the pit that appeared on the ground, Su Ming slowly stood up.

Dressed in a sackcloth and with his hair dancing in the wind, he seemed cold and aloof. There was a piercing cold glare in his eyes. At the instant he stood up, swishing sounds came from the sky, and hundreds of Heaven Traversers came swiftly towards him.

Once they saw Su Ming, their eyes immediately sparkled. To them, Su Ming was like a lost lamb, and the tenderness of his flesh was definitely one that would make them think back on it fondly after all of them had taken a bite out of him.

Almost in an instant, all Heaven Traversers opened their mouths to reveal sharp, brownish yellow teeth. From a certain perspective, they, who lived in the inner parts of Divine Essence Star Ocean, had already assimilated with ferocious beasts, and could no longer be known as humans.

After all, the wings behind their backs alone already made it difficult for the cultivators beyond Divine Essence Star Ocean to acknowledge these Heaven Traversers as humans.

Almost at the instant they rushed towards Su Ming, the huge hand formed by countless tree leaves arrived. It surpassed the member of the tribe and appeared beside Su Ming, then went to seize him with a vicious grip.

Su Ming raised his head, remaining as composed as ever. When the huge palm made of tree leaves charged towards him, he lifted his right hand, and without even using his cultivation base but just his physical strength, he hurled a punch forward.

Bang!

A loud bang reverberated in the air, and Su Ming took a step backwards. His robes fluttered fiercely in the wind, and the hand broke apart and turned into countless tree leaves that shattered before disappearing.

This scene caused Heaven Traversers to come to an abrupt halt. With a flap of their wings, they flew up together, and with hostile expressions glared at Su Ming.

At the same time, the two old men approached the area as well. At the moment they saw Su Ming, their pupils shrank together.

‘Later stage of World Plane Realm…’ The old men exchanged glances with each other.

“Which tribe do you come from? Why did you come to Heaven Traversers’ territory?” one of the old men asked coldly. His words rolled off his mouth, and he spoke in a language that most cultivators would not be able to understand. Their language was similar to the one used by Berserkers and Shamans, but there were differences as well. Su Ming had fumbled around with the language with Dijiu Mo Sha for some time before he mastered it.

After all, he had the foundation of the Berserkers’ language, and he was not unfamiliar with these sorts of tribal societies.

Su Ming did not speak. He flicked off the dust on his body, and a faint smile appeared on the corners of his lips before he took a step forward. His body became obscure, then disappeared altogether. When he reappeared, he was already in midair, and he was right behind one of the Heaven Traversers.

“Careful!”

Almost at the moment his people warned him, the young Heaven Traverser curled his body, but he did not rush forward to escape. Instead, he sent his body hurling backwards, and his wings became as sharp as blades that sliced swiftly towards the area behind him.

This was the difference between Heaven Traversers and the other races. This was a race that was skilled in fighting. Even a normal member of their race possessed incredibly great battle experience. However… while this method would be effective when there was not a great disparity between their levels of cultivation, to Su Ming, no matter how quick this person’s reaction was… his actions were useless.

A rain of blood poured down from the sky, along with shrill screams of pain. Su Ming had simply allowed the young man to crash into his body and his wings slice through his skin while Su Ming himself seized the young man’s neck with his right hand. With a squeeze, there was a loud crack. When he crushed the youth’s neck, Su Ming sent his power straight into the person’s body and crushed his Nascent Divinity.

When he released his grip, enraged roars came from all around. The hundreds of Heaven Traversers instantly rushed towards him.

“You’re asking for death!”

The eyes of the two old Heaven Traversers in the later stage of World Plane Realm shone with killing intent, and these two people were the fastest among the group. One of them appeared beside Su Ming right away. As he raised his right hand, it immediately turned into a piece of dry wood. Branches grew from it, and as they spread out, it looked as if the old man’s arm had turned into a tree which was rushing towards its target.

Su Ming’s expression remained calm. During that instant, his cultivation base clone and his clone that practiced the Art of Swallowing Hollow Shadows Whole fused together, and he was filled with the offensive power of those who had attained great completion in World Plane Realm. When he turned around, he raised his right hand and formed a seal before pointing at the old man’s incoming tree arm.

With it, a shudder wrecked the old man’s body.

“I Curse… that three out of ten Heaven Traversers will die!” Su Ming declared flatly. This was the Curse he had mastered when he was in the land of Berserkers. This Art was extremely vicious, so Su Ming seldom used it. Now, since his level of cultivation had increased, the Curse’s might when he cast it became much stronger than it had been previously.

Almost the moment Su Ming finished speaking, his finger turned pitch black. Black smoke instantly flew out, and with a rotten and decaying stench, it collided with the old man’s tree arm. The black hue swiftly spread out, and as the old man’s expression changed drastically, the color spread through half of his body.

Su Ming did not bother about the old man any more. With a single move, he charged towards the incoming Heaven Traversers.

For a short period of time, slaughter and bloodshed filled the sky. Shrill screams of pain continuously rang out while Su Ming was so aloof that it seemed that he had no emotions. He truly didn’t feel anything by oppressing the weak because the difference between his and Heaven Traversers’ level of cultivation were simply too great.

In fact, as long as they were among these hundreds of people, even the female Heaven Traversers were treated in the same fashion as the men and were killed by Su Ming.

In the blink of an eye, dozens of Heaven Traversers died in Su Ming’s hands. The expressions of the people in the area changed and they retreated at the same time. Only the other old man who had attained great completion in World Plane Realm let out an enraged roar and charged towards Su Ming.

He took one step in the air, causing it to tremble and roar. When he took his second step, his feet turned into trees, and when he took his third step, he raised his right hand to seize the air in the direction of the sky. A greenish black whip manifested in his hand. With a flick of his wrist, cracking sounds shook the sky and earth.

With his fourth step, his body turned into a long arc that pressed in on Su Ming. During that moment, the power of those who had attained great completion in World Plane Realm erupted from his body. At the same time that presence spread out, the entire cultivation planet looked like it was showering its love towards him. All the trees swayed in his direction, and the ocean in the distance roared. As waves surged into the sky, they looked as if they were sending their power to the old man.

Su Ming felt as if this incoming old man could influence the entire cultivation planet, as if the flow of his blood were the surging waves in the ocean, the fall of his footsteps held the vitality of the trees on the ground, and the beating of his heart were part of the operations of this cultivation planet.

“Interesting…” Su Ming smiled faintly. At the instant the old man closed in on him and the whip came cracking down, Divine Essence Runic Symbols appeared in Su Ming’s eyes.

Right when his Divine Essence appeared, Su Ming’s power erupted with a bang, and he raised straight from having attained great completion in World Plane Realm to Lunar Kalpa Realm. Even if the shadow of the moon did not appear behind him, his current offensive power was that of Lunar Kalpa Realm!

In the face of the old man charging towards him, Su Ming lowered his head, raised his right hand, and just hurled a punch forward!

His fist landed in the air. The bang that came with it shook the skies, and the air in front of Su Ming immediately shattered. It tumbled backwards and turned into a whirlwind. Within an instant, it crashed into the old man who seemed to have the love of the planet gathered on him, surrounding him.

The ground trembled, and the trees stopped moving together. The ocean’s howls seemed to have become silent as well. Every single Heaven Traverser in the area watched the blood flying out from the whirlwind with a dumbfounded gaze, and in their ears, they heard shrill, forlorn screams that rang continuously in the air.

Not too far into the distance was the Cursed old man whose body was now entirely black, rotting away. There was anger on his face, and he demanded with a roar, “Who are you?!”

Su Ming pulled back his right hand, lifted his head, and said flatly, “Tian Xie Zi’s fourth disciple, Su Ming. I came to Heaven Traversers to take thirty thousand of your souls to make you pay for chasing after my Master’s life in the past!”