Pursuit of the Truth

The second month during the period of one year required the opening of the tunnel to the Fifth True World.

On this month, booming sounds surged into the heavens in the area beyond the fifth ocean. The sounds of battle echoed in all directions, and a thick, bloody stench spread out through the entire area, causing the place to turn into a place of disaster.

From the moment Progenitor Long Hai attacked, he never returned to rest, and it was the same for Flame Fiends’ Progenitor. Living spirits continuously rushed over, and they reached such great numbers that even Reverend Zi Long did not hesitate to attack.

By then, there were three days left until the end of the second month, but the battle in that place had already reached an incredibly intense state.

Fighting against Reverend Zi Long was a giant with two heads. He was strong and practically of equal strength. Booming sounds echoed in the galaxy due to their divine abilities.

There was an old woman near Progenitor Long Hai. They kept exchanging blows.

As for the ferocious beasts and the other races from Divine Essence Star Ocean, they were all handled by Flame Fiends’ Progenitor alone. None among them were Almighties, but there were quite a lot of them who were in Solar Kalpa Realm, and since the swarm numbered to thousands, only the sea of fire from Flame Fiends’ Progenitor could surround them and prevent them from rushing out.

Time passed, and soon, the second month was over. When the third month arrived, the battle reached its peak, because a group of people with the bodies of snakes—Virtue Rooters—had rushed to the area. There were thousands of them, and while the person leading them was not in Mastery Realm, he was only half a step away from it!

All Virtue Rooters were incredibly powerful, and when they closed in, the sounds of battle surged into the sky.

But they were not alone. Almost at the same time, two long arcs charged forward from the galaxy. Those were two gigantic dark turtle that were one thousand feet big.

A man was sitting on one of them, while a woman on the other. The man was green-skinned, and there was a red glare in his eyes while freezing air spread out from his body. As for the woman, she was incredibly alluring. She did not have a lot of articles of clothing on her person, and there was a seductive look on her face. She was an incredibly tempting sight to others.

“The fifth ocean is certainly lively, no?” The woman chuckled in a coquettish manner and patted the dark turtle beneath her. That turtle immediately increased its speed.

Their arrival and the large number of Virtue Rooters instantly changed the tides of battle. Progenitor Long Hai’s expression changed, the pupils of Flame Fiends’ Progenitor shrank, and as for Reverend Zi Long, he frowned. The three of them might not have used all their strength, but judging by the situation right then, even if they attacked with all they had, they might still not be able to see persevere.

After all, this was just the third month, and that meant there were nine more months left for the duration of one year.

At the instant Zi Long, Long Hai, and Hui Kui hesitated, Zhu You Cai, who had been sitting beside Su Ming all this while with a calm expression opened his eyes.

He stood up slowly, and the instant he did so, a presence that was completely discordant with his big and plump body erupted from him. As the presence filled the space around, Zhu You Cai closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he gave off a feeling as if he had transformed into another person. He was like a sharp spear that had been unsheathed. A sharp aura that shook the sky and earth erupted from him with a bang.

He raised his right hand and seized the space in the direction towards Su Ming. The Life Inequity Spear in front of Su Ming shuddered violently and let out a loud buzz that sounded like a delighted cheer before it flew up and landed in Zhu You Cai’s right palm.

Once he held the spear, the aura about Zhu You Cai’s body rose again and swept up the galaxy, disrupting the space around the area, affecting the laws, and shocking all the people currently fighting beyond the fifth ocean.

The hearts of everyone, no matter who they were, trembled at that instant. Their cultivation bases started showing signs of waning as if they had begun withering. It shocked them, and they looked in the direction from which the terrifying ripples of power originated.

Even though Zhu You Cai was still as fat as ever, his image changed. With the long spear in hand and his aura growing stronger by leaps and bounds, everyone thought they were not looking at a plump person, but a giant who could hold up the entire sky!

In fact, as the space behind Zhu You Cai distorted, an indistinct figure appeared. It was a middle-aged man—a white-haired man with an expression of grief and utter despair due to having given up on all hope!

At that moment, he was not Zhu You Cai… but True Sacred Yin World’s War Immortal Chang He!

There were clearly two souls in his body. One of them was Zhu You Cai, and the other was Chang He. These two souls would occasionally fuse together, but more often be separate from each other. But at that moment, Chang He’s will stood tall in the universe.

With his right hand holding onto the spear, he looked as if he was lifting it slowly before him, and once he did so, Zhu You Cai lowered his head and mumbled softly.

“What joy is there in living?” With a soft sigh, he swung the long spear through the galaxy before him.

That one sweep caused the galaxy to instantly fall silent. The space in front of Zhu You Cai was torn apart, the damage spreading outwards. As it expanded, it grew larger until it eventually turned into a gigantic tear in space that was one hundred thousand feet long.

It had looked like the spread had been slow, but everything in the galaxy seemed to have become still. Because of it, the slow rip was no longer slow, but something progressing extremely quickly!

As it swept through the area, it first crashed into the dual-headed giant fighting against Reverend Zi Long. There was shock in the giant’s eyes, but he was instantly covered by the tear, unable to dodge it. Then, the tear swept past the two people fighting against Progenitor Long Hai.

The near thousand cultivators fighting against Flame Fiends’ Progenitor, the thousands of Virtue Rooters who came, the cold man sitting on the dark turtle and the coquettish woman sitting on the other turtle all… were visited by that one hundred thousand feet long tear in space.

When it disappeared out of sight, everything returned to normal, as the world had recovered from being frozen still.

But when that happened, there were no pain-filled screams, no struggles. The dual-headed giant in front of Zi Long was simply torn to shreds. Even his Nascent Divinity did not manage to escape, reduced to nothingness.

The two people in front of Long Hai suffered the same ending. There were no exceptions to the thousands of Virtue Rooters, either. No matter what level of cultivation they possessed, they were all reduced to ashes at that instant.

The man and woman who had just arrived on the dark turtles also became part of space at the instant the galaxy recovered from being frozen.

It was just as Zhu You Cai had said just then.

“What joy is there in living?”

It would be better to die in battle!

The entire area was in dead silence…

Reverend Zi Long shuddered. This scene was completely out of his expectations and had happened too suddenly, not giving him the chance to do anything. If Zhu You Cai had wanted to kill him, then no matter how many Zi Longs there were, it would have still been difficult for him to even try to fight back. He would have faced the same fate as all those before his eyes—they were reduced to dust.

‘An Almighty in Life Realm! He’s really the War Immortal Chang He!’ Reverend Zi Long’s face turned pale. When he looked at Zhu You Cai, fear showed up in his eyes.

Progenitor Long Hai was already stunned to his feet. Even if he was an Almighty in Mastery Realm, Life Realm was something inconceivable to him, something he did not even dare dream about. After all, reaching Fate Realm was already his greatest desire. Life Realm… It was something he never even thought about being in his reach.

To him, the might of those in Life Realm was the same as what a cultivator in Qi Condensation would feel when they ran into those in Nascent Soul.

Flame Fiends’ Progenitor shuddered. During that instant, even though he did not die, he still sensed the life force of the thousands of people around him instantly vanishing.

‘An Almighty in Life Realm. The Art to reverse life and death? Is this… Is this Zhu You Cai?

‘This isn’t any ordinary show of power in Life Realm. This is the sign of those about to head into Death Realm. Only they can reverse life and death like this!’ Reverend Zi Long raised his head swiftly, and when he looked at Zhu You Cai, there was a zealous look in his eyes.

Su Ming had long since opened his eyes. He stared at Zhu You Cai standing in front of him, and he saw the loneliness on the illusory man as well as the despair born out of loneliness and pain.

He remembered all the scenes he’d seen when he obtained the Life Inequity Spear.

As the prodigy of True Sacred Yin World, the disciple of a Sublime Paragon, the future Kalpa Lord of True Sacred Yin World, Chang He… could only watch helplessly as his lover turned into a medicinal core. When his Master asked him to swallow it to step into Death Realm, Chang He chose to struggle and fight back for the first time in his life.

He chose the mad act of saying ‘no’ to his own Master!

He was willing to give up on everything to get back what mattered that he’d lost. If he was to head into Death Realm in this manner… he would much rather not have it!

“What joy is there in living?” Su Ming muttered softly.

Zhu You Cai lowered his head, and his presence instantly disappeared. When he returned to his original appearance, he let go of the long spear in his hand. That spear let out a mournful buzz and returned to Su Ming’s side.

Zhu You Cai sat down and closed his eyes. An apathetic expression appeared on his face, along with fatigue.

There was a sadness that no one else could sense deeply within him, and it was a sadness that only Su Ming could see, because he had seen his story. That sadness… had already fused with his soul.

Zi Long and the other three returned quietly and sat down cross-legged around the area. Occasionally, they would look towards Zhu You Cai, and there would be a great amount of respect on their faces.

After a long while, Su Ming closed his eyes again.

Time passed. The third month, the fourth, and when the fifth months went by, but no other existences from Divine Essence Star Ocean arrived at the fifth ocean. It was as if… this place had become a forbidden region.

The bloody stench that filled the area beyond the fifth ocean and the presence from the dimensional tear that would not disappear caused all the people who arrived to choose to leave as their expressions changed.

However, when the sixth month arrived… the most mysterious race among the four great alien races beyond the fifth ocean arrived. Along with them was their Progenitor… and an old Virtue Rooter who walked out of space with graying hair as well as rotting scales.

They stood tens of thousands of feet away from Su Ming and the others beyond the fifth ocean. When they looked into the distance, a freezing glare appeared in their eyes.

“It’s been six months. The guardians of the fifth ocean should have appeared by now.”