Pursuit of the Truth

The clouds and smoke swam forth swiftly before Su Ming’s eyes, as if a thousand years were going past. It only lasted for an instant, but the length of that instant seemed to be continuously lengthened, which would cause most people to be at a loss at what to do.

It lasted only for the blink of an eye, but that action itself seemed to carry fatigue, and it brought with it the powerlessness of struggling against the passage of time.

This was what Su Ming felt once he walked out of the crack in the sky from the first dimension.

The body of the supreme treasure might seem to not have changed much, but within it, Su Ming, Xuan Shang, Yun You, Nian Yin, Hua Yu, and even Xu Hui found their minds in a state of chaos. Xu Hui was in a slightly better condition, but Xuan Shang and his group were hit by a clear, heavy fatigue.

“I lost about a hundred years of my life…”

“It’s the same for me…”

“I lost nearly one hundred and fifty years…” The voices from Xuan Shang and his group echoed in Su Ming’s mind.

Su Ming’s fatigue was even greater, because he was the main soul. The life force he lost was about three hundred years.

If he added the years of life they lost together, it would amount to a total of one thousand years.

Every single time they moved through a dimension, one thousand years of life would be taken away from them. This was… something the jade slip from Dust Burners’ Progenitor had not mentioned. Su Ming stayed silent. Xuan Shang and his group remained silent as well.

“Thankfully, those one thousand years of life were divided among us. This is also our strength. We can move even further that others, so why did you fall silent?” Xu Hui’s voice traveled faintly into the group’s minds.

“Since we’re already here, there’s nothing we can’t afford to lose. Now, even more so, we cannot split up, or else each of us will have to bear the burden of having one thousand years of life flowing out from us. With just a few times, we might end up dying in the fifth kiln.”

“No wonder those old monsters who could clearly withstand fire did not come, and only the Almighties who are Masters of Fate, Lives, and Death stepped into the fifth kiln. The main reason might be because the loss of life force every single time they move through dimensions.”

“That’s right, even if we are in the later stage of World Plane Realm, Fellow Daoist Xu is in Lunar Kalpa Realm, and even if you are in Solar Kalpa Realm, senior, there is still a limit to our life force. We aren’t like the Almighties who are Masters of Fate, Lives, and Death and have nearly eternal life. They can afford the loss.” Sighs filled with various emotions from the group traveled into Su Ming’s mind. A barely noticeable glint shone briefly in his eyes.

He knew that even Almighties who were Masters of Fate, Lives, and Death would not have eternal lifespans. They would eventually have their health fall into decline, and the loss of life force would cause this period of decline to arrive quicker.

A freezing glare shone in Su Ming’s eyes as he asked faintly, “Then where… did the life force that was absorbed by the fifth kiln go?”

After he asked this question, the voices of the people in his mind instantly fell silent. All of them began pondering.

‘We waste our life force when we move through the dimensions here. Do Dust Burners know about this… or do they not?’

Su Ming’s eyes shone as he looked at the area around him. He was clearly in another dimension at that moment. The sky in this place was gray and dull, as if there was endless dust in it. The land was not silent, with occasional howls ringing in the air.

Those howls were like shrill wails, so anyone who heard them might be shocked, but compared to the tranquility in the previous dimension, Su Ming liked this place more. Being able to see and hear was better than not being able to see and hear.

He did not immediately act rashly, but instead started thinking.

‘It’s highly impossible that they did not know about this… Only Dust Burners can activate the fifth kiln, so why… do they do it once in a while?’ A glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes again. He had a vague feeling that he caught onto some form of clue.

‘Judging from an analysis based on what I’ve seen so far, Dust Burners use the activation of the fifth kiln to help the Fire Spirits who possess intelligence to choose whether they want to leave or stay. This is method to increase the number of their people besides newborns.

‘Dust Burners’ Progenitor might not have told me this in a straightforward manner, but the underlying meaning is clearly this. It’s the first reason a person would think of when they ponder about this.

‘But… there might be other reasons behind it!’ The glare in Su Ming’s eyes became sharper.

‘Could it be that the fifth kiln is in truth a trap?!’ Su Ming’s pupils shrank when this thought surfaced in his mind.

‘Dust Burners intentionally activate the kiln once in a while. With the supreme treasures as well as the complementary treasures, they attract powerful warriors to the fifth kiln, and while the powerful warriors move through the dimensions, they have their life force continuously sucked away. But the temptation of the treasures make them persist in continuing onwards even if their life force continues to flow away.

‘Then, if I am right about this, why do Dust Burners do this? Where does the life force the people lose go?!’ Su Ming’s breathing quickened slightly.

‘There are still two questions to this. Did Dust Burners set this trap for their own needs… or did someone else ask them to do it?!’ Su Ming sensed the veils of mystery surrounding the fifth kiln. At that moment, he was peeling off those veils layer by layer, about to reveal the truth.

‘If it is the race’s needs, then it’s much simpler. It would simply be because they want to become the masters of the fifth kiln and make their own race stronger… but if it isn’t because of their personal needs and actually because someone told them to do so, then there is a great secret contained within this!

‘If there is someone controlling them, then besides Su Xuan Yi, who else could it be?!’ A brilliant light shone in Su Ming’s eyes. A thought that even he thought was impossible formed in his head again.

‘Could it be… that Su Xuan Yi hasn’t died?!’ Su Ming’s expression was incredibly complicated. Once this thought took shape in his head, it refused to leave and disappear. It lingered in his mind until it was deeply ingrained there.

‘If he… If he hasn’t died, then where is he? Could he be in the fifth kiln?’ Su Ming remained silent. After a long while, a lost look appeared in his eyes, and he sighed softly.

There was melancholy contained in that sigh, along with an emotion that even he could not identify well.

Su Ming sucked in a deep breath, then forced down those complicated feelings in his heart. He looked at the area around him, then sat down on the Resentful Wei’s back. The two dragon-headed horse quietly moved forward, then turned into a long arc and galloped into the distance.

Su Ming spread his Atman outwards to search for the exit in the area. With that one scan, he saw a mountain in front of him. At the center of that mountain was a cave.

The air in the cave distorted, as if there were some cracks in there. Waves of aura that did not belong to this place spread out from those cracks, making it obvious that this was the exit out of this dimension.

However, with his experience in the previous dimension, Su Ming did not immediately move there. Instead, he observed the area carefully and saw several living beings that were half the size of an average man.

Their appearances were indistinct, for surrounding them. They drifted over the ground in a daze, as if they were searching for something. They did not seem to notice Su Ming’s Atman at all, and continued drifting about mindlessly.

After observing them for a moment, Su Ming narrowed his eyes. The Resentful Wei beneath him rushed forward and disappeared from the spot to appear beside the mountain. Based on what he did previously, Su Ming sent out one of the divine senses from Xuan Shang’s group. Once it fused into the mountain cave, it did not disappear. In fact, based on what he could sense in his mind, Su Ming saw the exit to the place through the distortions in the mountain cave. The power of time that absorbed life force was also contained there.

A resolute look appeared in Su Ming’s eyes. The Resentful Wei beneath him rushed forward again. This time, it charged towards the mountain cave, but right at the instant Su Ming entered it, a muffled voice echoed in the world in an indistinct manner.

“Su…”

Once it spoke, Su Ming’s mind immediately shuddered. This voice might be echoing in the world outside, but it managed to surge up into the depths of his heart. The drifting indistinct figures stopped at once, lifted their heads to look at the sky collectively, and let out roars that surged into the sky.

Their roars connected and turned into waves of sound that resulted in a single word, “Su…”.

Soon after, a powerful call rose in Su Ming’s mind. He could clearly sense that there seemed to be a will that was unfamiliar yet familiar summoning him through countless dimensions, as if it had noticed him.

As this call spread through his body, a shudder ran through the bald crane while it was within the body of the supreme treasure Su Ming controlled. It was as if that voice had a strange power over it, causing a cold look to immediately appear in its eyes, though there was also a look of struggle within them as well.

While that sound spread out, the Resentful Wei beneath Su Ming paused for a moment, then instantly charged forward again. In the blink of an eye, it rushed into the distortions in the mountain cave and disappeared without a trace.

Another one thousand years flowed away from everyone’s bodies. Soon after, the third dimension appeared in front of Su Ming’s eyes. At that time, an ancient air surrounded the body of the supreme treasure he controlled. The people in the body were swathed in fatigue, once again havin felt the terror of having their life force flow away as they moved through the dimensions.

“Su…”

Almost the moment Su Ming walked out, the voice that brought an unfamiliar yet familiar feeling to him spoke in his head again. That voice seemed to have traveled through time and was slowly closing in on him at that moment.

Before Su Ming could do anything else, Xuan Shang, Yun You, Nian Yin, Hua Yu, and Xu Hui’s expressions changed, because at that moment, all of them noticed the drastic change in the bald crane and heard its shrill scream of pain.

“Go away! GO AWAY! You are you, and I am me! We aren’t one!”

“You are me, and I am you. You were created to fulfill the mission…”

“I am not. I am the bald crane. I like crystals, I…”

“You are not. You are Kong Mo. You are the Kong Mo from Saint Defier’s camp. You forgot your mission! Wake up, Kong Mo! Kill the person behind that voice who confused your mind. Kill him, use his blood to dye your soul red. Awaken… to my existence, which lies in the depths of your memories!”

“Get lost! I’m not Kong Mo! I’m Su Ming’s bald crane!”

“I have been injured thrice badly, and your will was split up from mine. You should not exist… You, who exist in the Origin of Heaven and within Dark Dawn’s ballad will forever and ever belong to Saint Defier’s camp…”