Pursuit of the Truth

The sword shone with a green light. As it charged forward, it instantly closed in on the area. Without a hint of intending to stop, it rushed towards Su Ming, and it was so quick that it looked as if it was about to slice through space itself to appear in front of him.

There was no one on that green flying sword, but it looked as if it was held by someone. It rushed to the center of Su Ming’s brows with incredible agility.

Killing intent instantly erupted from it and turned into an endless chill that filled the area. Waves of green aura also spread out from the flying sword. It smelled sweet, but once someone breathed it in, it would turn into a strange bitterness that would leave a taste on the tongue.

“Dao Fei Xian!”

“It’s Dao Fei Xian’s Will of the Sword!”

Cries of surprise from the crowd immediately rose into the air. Su Ming’s expression was calm as he watched the incoming green flying sword. He did not make any move to dodge, but instead turned his head around to look towards the thin girl to continue with what he had wanted to say.

“Then over the next few days, I will need you to introduce Morning Dao Sect to me in detail, Miss Ma Fei.”

The moment Su Ming said those words, a cold glare shone in the eyes of Progenitor Tai Shan, stood beside them. He let out a cold snort, then raised his right arm and swung it. Immediately, an invisible gust of wind swept up the incoming flying sword, which made it shudder and instantly fall back.

“I am meeting up with an old friend here! Who dares to interrupt me!”

That was Tai Shan not being ruthless. Otherwise, it would have been far too easy for him to just break the sword and injure the owner’s soul.

Su Ming might not have paid any attention to the incoming sword, but he did take note of the attack Progenitor Tai Shan performed while he swung his arm.

‘Almost into Fate Realm, and can even control a bit of the fate around him. This Tai Shan has extraordinary power… He was injured badly when he fought against the black-robed man in the past. Based on this and Ouyang Kong’s words,… he should have been slightly weaker than what he is now when he fought against the black-robed man in the battlefield.

‘Black robes…’

When Su Ming heard about a black-robed man appearing in the battlefield from Ouyang Kong, he had already linked some things in his mind. There might be a number of cultivators in the universe who liked wearing black, but in Su Ming’s memories, the person who left the deepest impression in him was still the black-robed man who had fought against his elder when he was in Dark Mountain!

There had also been words about some mysterious organization about which the black-robed man spoke at the time. There was a meaning contained in those words—that his elder was once a member of that organization.

It had been many years since then, but Su Ming had subconsciously thought of that black-robed man.

As Progenitor Tai Shan flung off the green sword and it tumbled as it fell back, the space beside the sword in the sky distorted, and a young man in green robes appeared. His face was filled with pimples, and he looked incredibly hideous. Once he appeared, he seized the flying sword and glared at Su Ming.

“Senior Tai Shan, I once heard that you ran into a black-robed man a battle?” Su Ming suddenly asked while looking at Progenitor Tai Shan.

When the old man heard it, his expression instantly turned serious and he nodded.

“Did he die?” Su Ming stared at Progenitor Tai Shan while speaking in a languid manner.

Progenitor Tai Shan remained silent for a moment, then a look of reminiscence appeared in his eyes. “Since I’m still around, the black-robed man is naturally around as well. His cultivation method is incredibly strange. He is clearly just in Lunar Kalpa Realm, but the power he showed… was the power of the laws of fate!

“I still can’t forget his divine ability. He could turn the universe into ground, space into the bottom of a well, and make the round sky and the square earth [1] to be like a huge well. Tens of thousands of cultivators were pulled together to form moons, and he extracted their souls as if he was taking out a moon from the well, but even I could feel that the Art was not complete. It seems that due to his level of cultivation, he still can’t fully bring out its power.”

The two of them continued talking to each other, ignoring the man in green in midair. The hate in his eyes grew stronger, for he could sense it clearly that Su Ming was completely unbothered by his presence. This sort of disregard caused the killing intent in his eyes to grow stronger and stronger.

“Dao Kong, are you only capable of being protected by the others beside you?! Can’t you be like a man and fight against me?!” The man in green’s voice was piercing to the ears as it spread in all directions.

“Do you dare fight against me?!” The resentment in the man in green’s eyes kept growing stronger while his shouts echoed in the area.

Su Ming’s expression remained the same. He was pondering over Tai Shan’s previous words. After some time, he nodded.

“Your Highness, please allow my foolish disciple to bring you to the Sect Elder Chamber to meet the three Sect Masters. All ten Great Dynasts have arrived, and over the course of the next few days, the grand ceremony will surely be held.” Tai Shan smiled. When he spoke to Su Ming, he cast a glance at Flame Fiends’ Progenitor.

“I’ll have to ask you to be more tolerant and patient with Huo Kui. This old monster is the hot-tempered sort and has never been restricted in the way he does things. While he was able to survive in Divine Essence Star Ocean with this sort of personality, in the four Great True Worlds, it is slightly inappropriate.”

Flame Fiends’ Progenitor glared at him. He let out a snort, but said nothing. During the past few days, he could already see that the tides were changing in the four Great True Worlds, but in his eyes, as long as he followed Su Ming, nothing would be a problem for long.

“Alright. Huo Kui, since you ran into an old friend, there’s no need for you to follow me for a time.” Su Ming nodded. He then cast Flame Fiends’ Progenitor a glance, and the other grinned.

“Old Tai Shan, you said you still have a lot of that alcohol you kept in your pockets in your cave abode. Let’s go, let’s go! I want to see it!”

Tai Shan’s expression turned dark before he shook his head and turned into a long arc to leave into the distance. Flame Fiends’ Progenitor laughed and left with him to disappear into the horizon in the distance.

“Fei Er, do not continue misbehaving beside His Highness. I handed you over to His Highness for him to take care of you and teach you.”

Progenitor Tai Shan’s voice echoed in the thin girl’s ears, but the words had the opposite of the desired effect. Her expression became one of discontent, clearly refusing to accept his decision. While standing on Su Ming’s battleship, she cast a sideways glance at him. There was slight scorn in her heart, but she did not show it on her face, deciding to put on an expressionless mask.

“The Sect Elder Chamber is not in the Dao Fragment here. It’s on the first continent in the upper world. Battleships cannot enter that place. Once you help your followers settle down, I will bring your there, Your Highness.

“Besides, even if you have not returned for many years, surely you haven’t forgotten where the Sect Elder Chamber is and where you live, right?” the thin girl said flatly.

Su Ming did not speak. The battleship beneath him moved forward and immediately turned into a long arc that charged into the distant sky. The hundreds of battleships beside it followed with a vast and powerful presence that charged through the land with a loud howl.

Next to Su Ming, Xu Hui smiled and stared at Ma Fei before saying softly, “You sure have a biting tongue, lassy. I had several maid servants like you in the past, and since they spoke too much, I sealed their mouths shut so that they couldn’t speak again in their lives.”

“You’re right, old senior, this young junior of yours understands now.” The thin girl cast a glance at Xu Hui.

“Concealed taunts, hmm? That’s even worse. I wonder if you’ve heard of a legend. In it, there was a girl who was disobedient, and on the second day, she turned into a man. She continued being disobedient, so she was transformed back into a woman, but during the transformation, for some unknown reason, perhaps some parts were overlooked, so she turned into someone who is neither a man nor a woman,” Xu Hui said with a smile.

When Su Ming heard it , he quickly looked away as if he was deep in thought and was not listening to anyone’s words.

Ma Fei stared at Xu Hui, and after a long while, she suddenly exclaimed, “You’re the Scorpion Lady Xu Hui!”

“Hmm? You’ve heard of my name as well? But calling me in such a straightforward manner? How very rude. There is also a legend about children who have no manners. I wonder if you’ve heard about it before…”

Su Ming instinctively took a few steps forward to ignore Xu Hui’s soft-spoken words behind him.

“Dao Kong! You’ve gone too far!”

A furious roar came from behind, and a green long arc charged towards the battleship at an incredibly quick speed.

Within it was the man in green from before. He felt that Su Ming was humiliating him. The scene before made him feel as if everyone had been treating him as if he was air, as if he did not exist. Every time he spoke, he felt like he was just talking to himself, and this form of disregard was something that he could not accept.

He might not be a Dynast, but he still had quite a high reputation among the direct descendants. That reputation had been built and spread due to his brutal methods and all the people he had killed. In fact, his level of cultivation was also slightly higher than that of his older brother, Dao Fei Feng.

However, his furious roar still did not stir up any form of interest within Su Ming. His battleship still moved forward, and the speed of the young man’s flying sword could not catch up to that of the battleship. When some distance had been widened between them, the man in green roared at the sky.

“Dao Kong, you—”

The young man in green gritted his teeth and lifted his right hand. A medicinal core immediately appeared on his palm. When he swallowed it, he struck the center of his brows with his right hand. With it, his whole body immediately turned crimson. Killing intent shone in his eyes, and he moved forward. His speed instantly increased by several fold, and with a loud whistle, he charged towards Su Ming’s battleship. In the blink of an eye, he caught up to it. The flying sword shone in his hands and cut down on his target.

Su Ming’s expression remained the same. The moment the young man in green came to him, he turned around and cast a cold glance at him. He took a step a forward, and his body instantly disappeared. When he reappeared, he had already come into contact with the flying sword in the young man’s hand. With two fingers, he caught it, which resulted in a loud bang. No matter how the flying sword struggled, it could not escape Su Ming’s hold.

At the same time, Su Ming took a step forward. He appeared right beside the young man in green. At the instant his eyes went wide, Su Ming lifted his left hand, and without any difficulty, went to seize the young man’s throat.

The young man’s expression changed drastically. The Constellation Robe on his body swelled up. Cracking sounds echoed in the air, and several jade amulets shattered, turning into a screen of light around him, but at the instant the screen of light crashed against Su Ming’s left hand, it shattered. Shattering along with it was the green Constellation Robe that the young man wore.

Su Ming seized the young man’s throat with his left hand without any form of resistance in his way. Once he lifted the youth up, he locked his fingers around his neck, and a destructive force rushed into the young man’s body, instantly destroying all of the venous pathways within him.

All of this happened in the span of a few breaths, and it was so fast that before the near ten thousand cultivators in the area could react, it was already over. It was so quick that even the thin girl sucked in a sharp breath of air, her eyes going wide.

“I’ll give you the span of three breaths to tell me who sent you here,” Su Ming said flatly while he stared into the young man’s eyes, which were now filled with shock, terror, and disbelief.

Translator’s Note:

1. Rounded sky and square earth: Is a concept in traditional Chinese geography, and it was quite prevalent in Chinese architecture.

Source is from here: http://scm-straight-curved.blogspot.com/2010/11/round-sky-and-square-earth.html