Pursuit of the Truth

At the instant the voice reverberated in the world, Su Ming’s pupils shrank. He saw that a figure had appeared beside the stone platform, as if he had forced his way into his field of vision.

That figure was originally within Su Ming’s field of vision, but it seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. It turned into a white-haired old man whose body was so faded away that he gave off a feeling that he was not real.

The sky was behind him. Amid the blue sky and the white clouds, the old man was filled with an insubstantial air as well as an endless mysterious aura. Since the mountain was very tall and fog and clouds surrounded it, a veil was added to the mysterious air that existed around the old man.

Needless to say, the echoing voice came from the old man’s mouth. He lowered his head to look at the iron scroll on the stone platform, then lifted his right hand to stroke it gently. For a long while, Zi Long and Zhu You Cai remained quiet. In this comparative silence, the old man’s ancient voice echoed in the air again.

“You are all very fortunate…”

The old man’s voice was deep. As he spoke, the clouds and fog around him swiftly tumbled about and moved, as if the time in the space around him had started flowing hundreds and thousands of times faster. When Su Ming saw at this, he wasn’t impacted much, but Reverend Zi Long’s expression changed swiftly, as if he had seen a clue from this. He instinctively took a few steps back, and his originally cold eyes were instantly lit with a fervent look that had never appeared on him before.

The pupils of Zhu You Cai also shrank viciously. He stared at the time flowing by in the space around the old man, and his breathing quickened in a barely noticeable manner. He could see much more than Zi Long, and it was precisely because of this that the changes in his heart were so great that others would find it difficult to understand even a single bit of it.

A thought appeared in Su Ming’s heart. He did not speak, but only continued listening to the old man’s voice.

“In all the times that the fifth kiln was activated, no one had managed to step into this dimension of mine… All of you… are the first batch!” The old man turned his head and cast his eyes on the ground before he swept his gaze across Su Ming, Zi Long, and Zhu You Cai.

“The fifth kiln is the supreme treasure of the Abyss Builders form the Fifth True World. I am old friends with the Abyss Builders’ Progenitor and once borrowed his kiln to refine a treasure, but I had to pay a certain price for it. I branded the first of my seven Ultimate Arts here, and I intend to give it to the person who is fated to get it.

“I’ve already left the Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos and headed to the war between the two camps. Right now, the one you see in this land is a projection. If my real self is yet to die, then the person who will learn the Mountain Shifter Art might be fated to meet me someday. If my real self has died, then this Mountain Shifter Art will be the final Art you will learn from me,” the white haired old man said flatly. As his words echoed in the air, the feeling of time flowing away from the space around him became stronger.

His words caused the light in Reverend Zi Long’s eyes to become brighter. This attracted a high amount of attention from Su Ming. He could tell that Zi Long was not like this before; his expression had only changed when the time in the space around the old man had started flowing. It was as if he had not paid too much attention to it, but in an instant, incredible desire appeared in him.

This change was because of the flow of time in the space around the old man.

‘Could it be that once your level of cultivation reaches a certain extent, you will naturally be able to change the space around you and then form a type of mighty pressure?! Or perhaps this is a change that appeared after he practiced some form of divine ability, and through this change, he got to know of the old man’s identity?’ A glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes, and all sorts of guesses formed in his head.

“Mountain Shifter… is the first style in my Ultimate Art, but even the first style is already powerful enough to kill all those in Mastery Realm, shocking the laws of fate! Once you understand it, you can move all the mountains in the universe and make them come to the place where you want them to be. This… is Mountain Shifter!

“Once someone understands my Art, my projection will dissipate, and the dimension I had opened up on my own will crumble. At that time, I will use the power that caused the destruction of this dimension to send the fated person who understood my Art to the fifth kiln’s first border so that he would have the chance to step straight into the core!

“If you give up, I can also instantly send you out of the fifth kiln,” the man on the mountaintop said flatly.

Suddenly, the space behind Su Ming and the others distorted, and the yellow-browed man stepped into the dimension.

At the instant he walked in and saw the mountain as well as the old man on it, his expression changed and he stared intently at time flowing away at the space around the old man. His breathing instantly quickened intensely.

At the same time he appeared, the old man at the summit lifted his right hand and pointed at him. With it, Su Ming instantly felt as if the sky had crumbled and the earth had shattered, as if the universe was replaced by that one finger. This finger was an indescribable oppression and a vast force that simply could not be fought against.

It was also at that instant that Su Ming found himself completely unable to determine the old man’s level of cultivation. This person was just a projection, but even by itself it was already much stronger than all the powerful warriors Su Ming had seen in his life.

If he really had to pick someone from his memories who could fight against him, then perhaps it would only be True Sacred Yin World’s Sublime Paragon, whom Su Ming had seen in the pictures provided by the Life Inequity Spear!!

‘Is he in Death Realm… or is he a Sublime Paragon?’

As Su Ming’s heart trembled, he saw that the space around the yellow-browed man had started showing signs of having time flow away once the old man pointed at it. The yellow-browed man’s expression changed again. When his body shuddered, the flow of time around him disappeared, and excitement appeared in his eyes.

During that instant, not only did Su Ming understand what was going on, even Zi Long and Zhu You Cai had all seen it. The yellow-browed man was someone who had arrived late. He did not know what the old man had said previously, but the old man decided to change some of the flow of time around him, so he would get caught up to date.

He might have seemed to have arrived late, but after the flow of time around him had changed, he had arrived in the dimension with Su Ming and the rest. He also naturally knew all that the old man had said previously.

All of this was incredibly abstruse. It looked as if it was quite difficult to puzzle out, but if they thought about it carefully, they would be able to understand it.

However, as they gained an epiphany about it, inevitably, a great amount of respect rose in them towards the old man. He was strong, and his power in changing the flow of time caused Zi Long and Huang Mei’s hearts to tremble.

Zhu You Cai’s eyes sparkled, though no one knew what was going on in his mind. However, compared to these three, Su Ming’s shock was the greatest… because while others might not know much about the power to change the flow of time, there was no way he would not know about it… since this was one of the Abyss Builders’ inborn abilities!

“The fates of the… twelve of you had led you here. There is only one method to obtain this Art. No matter what method you use, be it Enchanted Treasures, your cultivation bases, or physical bodies… the first person who places his or her hand on the iron scroll on the stone platform before me will obtain it.

“I’ve left a Brand on the iron scroll. The first person to touch it will definitely gain an epiphany and learn it!”

The old man swung his arm, and the world roared. The sky turned into a gigantic vortex that rotated with loud booming sounds. The ground trembled as well, and the mountain, which was tall to begin with, shot up considerably higher, until it went straight into the clouds. No one could see the summit with their naked eye any longer.

“The legacy begins.”

At the instant the old man’s voice came from the summit, Zi Long moved. He might have been uncertain about what the old man meant by twelve people being in this place, but this was not the time to think. His body turned into a long arc that charged at the summit. Killing intent shone in the eyes of the yellow-browed man, and without any hesitation, he rushed over as well.

Zhu You Cai frowned. He did not even bother looking at Zi Long and Huang Mei, who had rushed out, but instead stared at the summit and took a few steps forward while seemingly deep in thought.

Almost at the instant Reverend Zi Long and Huang Mei turned into long arcs that rushed to the peak, their expressions changed drastically. The first to react was Huang Mei, whose body shuddered before he plunged down. With a loud bang, he crashed to the ground. Trembling, he stood up and lifted his head to look at the mountain, and fear appeared on his face.

At the instant he flew up, he sensed all of his cultivation base disappear. He had never had this sort of experience before. It was as if he had been reduced from an immortal to a mortal. This unfamiliar feeling of weakness all over his body sowed a seed of fear within him.

Immediately after, Reverend Zi Long also plunged to the ground. Once he fell with a bang, his face became incredibly sullen, but as his eyes sparkled, he hid that deep wave of wariness which had risen within him. He also noticed the weakness in his body, and it was a feeling he had not experienced in a long, long time. It was as if even a small creature could tear him apart right then.

He lifted his head to look at the towering mountain, then gritted his teeth and started walking with strenuous effort.

Compared to Zi Long and Huang Mei, Zhu You Cai was much more relaxed. He had not flown up just then, but chosen to stride forward instead. It was just as difficult, but he was in a much better condition compared to Zi Long and Huang Mei.

All of this landed in Su Ming’s eyes. If he still had not figured out what was going on, then he would not have been able to live up to this point nor obtained such great power, much less entered the fifth kiln.

‘There’s a seal in this place!’ A glint appeared in Su Ming’s eyes, but he was not thinking about it at the moment. His mind was focused on the old man saying that there were… twelve people!

‘Zi Long, Huang Mei, Zhu You Cai, Flame Fiends’ Progenitor, Progenitor Long Hai, Xuan Shang, Yun You, Nian Yin, Hua Yu, and Xu Hui only number to ten people. Even if I’m added in, there are only eleven people. Who is the twelfth?

‘Is he talking about the bald crane, or is he?’ As Su Ming pondered over it, he took a step towards the summit, but the moment his foot landed, his expression changed.

A feeling of weakness instantly surged up Su Ming’s body, but he did not find this feeling surprising. After all, he had seen hints about it earlier. What caused his expression to change though was…. the quiet appearance of overlapping shadows on the body of the supreme treasure where he was at the instant that feeling appeared.

This was the sign that the body of the supreme treasure was about to split up, and the surprised cries from Xuan Shang and his group rang out in his mind.

While their voices were still resounding in Su Ming ears, the overlapping shadows grew in number, and in the end, with a loud bang, the body of the supreme treasure shattered!