Pursuit of the Truth

The woman’s heart was clenching in pain, but she still remained expressionless, as if she was already numb to all things in the world. It caused the man’s smile to gradually turn dark, and his expression slowly twisted. He seized the woman’s throat, and veins popped up on his arm as he glared at her.

“You b*tch, I am the third prince in the Emperor of Abyss’ True World. There is nothing that is impossible for me to obtain if I want it. You’ve humiliated me for one thousand something years. Your escape has caused me to become the laughing stock of the entire Emperor of Abyss’ True World, and the other three Great True Worlds also learned about it.

“B*tch, do you know how grave this is? If you wanted to run, I would have been fine with it. This is embarrassing for a girl, and I can understand it, but you just had to get yourself acquainted with a barbarian from a primitive place, and even sacrificed your True Breath of Life for him. You almost truly died because of him, b*tch!”

As the man spoke, his expression continued twisting. He kept a tight grip over the woman’s throat, making the woman unable to breathe, but her eyes were still aloof, and she looked at the man apathetically, as if derision hid in her depths. She did not say a single word.

“Not speaking, are we? To revive you, I’ve spent a lot of effort pleading my father to save you. I did that so I could ravish you. I want to let you know just how grave of a mistake you’ve done in the past!

“If that barbarian died, he’s lucky, but if…”

“He won’t die!” the woman said in a hoarse voice. Her apathetic expression turned cold as she stared at the third prince of the Emperor of Abyss’ True World.

The handsome man laughed loudly, then slapped the woman, the sound of it ringing in space. His action was seen by the one thousand something cultivators from the Emperor of Abyss’ True World, but no one spoke. Instead, all of them chose to avert their gazes.

“Haha! You’ve finally spoken! Not dead, eh? I long for it to be true, that he isn’t dead. I want him to live so when I find him, I could make you suffer in pleasure right in front of him.” A lascivious look appeared in the handsome man’s eyes. Lust burned in them.

“If you aren’t worried about the Abyss Devouring Curse, I won’t fight back,” the woman said flatly. The spot where she was slapped gradually recovered, returning to normal.

When she said that, the man’s expression immediately twisted, and he glared at the woman.

“The Abyss Devouring Curse was formed by the souls of your father and your entire race when they died to protect you. It won’t be able to protect you for the rest of your life though. If I could have my father slaughter your entire race, then I can make father remove that curse on you as well.

“He has already promised me that once I reach Mastery Realm, he will fulfill one wish of mine. My wish will be you. I will absorb your Primordial Yin so it will stimulate the power of my blood. And once you woke up, you actually managed to nurture the Aura of Abyss!” When the man said that with a smile, he seized the woman’s chin and gently moved his face closer to hers before blowing into her ear.

“Wait for me. The day will soon arrive. Since you said that he hasn’t died, I will find him. Don’t worry, I will.” The man laughed and swung his right hand to fling the woman’s face to the right. The Abyss Dragon upon which they sat roared and rushed into the vortex in the galaxy.

When the woman’s face was flung to the side, a tear that the man did not see was also flung off and disappeared into the vortex. It was brought into True Morning Dao World and flew into the nothingness.

…..

‘Is it raining?’ Su Ming lifted his head and looked at the sky. It was blue, as if they were in another world. By his side were Dao Lin and Dao Hua, and before him was a towering altar.

The place was so quiet that not a single sound could be heard. Sang, who had brought them, did not pay any attention to them once they entered after him. Instead, he sat at the edge of the altar and quietly closed his eyes to begin meditating as if he was protecting the place.

A drop of rain had fallen on Su Ming’s face. It came from the sky, but there was only one drop. It trickled down Su Ming’s face and slid beside his mouth, making him taste salt.

There were certain times and certain things in the world that not even cultivators could understand, such as raindrops and tears. They might seem indiscernible, but in truth, when they were placed by someone’s lips, they would be able to tell the difference between the flat taste of rainwater and the saltiness of tears.

However, everyone cried, and even if cultivators had reached an unimaginable state, it would still be difficult for them to tell just which tear… belonged to whom.

Perhaps there was a certain level of cultivation that would allow a person to do so, but Su Ming had not reached it.

‘It’s not raindrop, but a tear.’ Su Ming stared at the sky. He could not see a single figure. It had been a teardrop that had been coincidentally flung to their place from somewhere else.

It was as if there was some unseen force that had sent it to Su Ming, or else how could that tear have made its way to him? Why else would it have fallen on his face and cause him to feel the saltiness and astringency of it.

‘Whose tear could it be..? Perhaps it is hers…’

Su Ming lowered his head. The thing that appeared in Su Ming’s head when he arrived in the area beyond the isolation grounds was no longer uncertainty about Dao Chen’s identity, but a… murmur by his ears which he’d heard often when he was younger but which had not reached his ears for a thousand something years. He’d thought he had forgotten it, but in truth, it was a memory deeply buried in his soul.

“Big brother… big brother…”

‘My younger sister.’

Su Ming’s gaze landed on the altar in front of him. Perhaps it was Dao Chen’s isolation grounds, and in Su Ming’s memories, he knew that the girl who had called him her big brother had eventually been taken away. Rumors had it that she was sent into Morning Dao Sect.

While he tasted the saltiness on his lips, Su Ming recalled the memory from the time when his soul was still in his real physical body. He’d been swathed in darkness then, and a girl’s voice by his ears had accompanied him for years.

She’d called him her big brother, so there was no way he would forget her.

Su Ming stood quietly. He could not tell just what sort of emotion he was feeling at that moment. All the signs made it clear that he could no longer question it any further—Dao Chen… was Su Xuan Yi!

And the younger sister in his memories was the second God of Berserkers’ daughter. She had grown with him, but then had been taken away by Dao Chen, which meant that Su Xuan Yi had taken her away.

Su Ming remained silent. He did not know what that girl meant to Su Xuan Yi, and neither did he know why he took her away in the past. However, Su Ming hoped that this was just a mistake in his train of thought.

“Dao Hua, step onto the altar!” Sang opened his eyes and cast his gaze on the middle-aged man named Dao Hua standing by Su Ming’s side.

Dao Hua felt his spirits lift. Excitement appeared on his face, and he took a step forward. Once he bowed deeply towards the altar. With fervent ardor and reverence on his face, he walked one step at a time to the altar, fearing that if he moved too fast, he would seem like he was being disrespectful.

When he reached the altar, his body suddenly shuddered and became vague, but it only lasted for the span of a few breaths before he became clear again. Ecstatic joy showed up on his face, and light beam that was one hundred thousand feet tall shone on him. The Flourishing Lotus on his body turned into nine large lotuses, and when they surrounded him, his cultivation base instantly rose from great completion of World Plane Realm to Lunar Kalpa Realm. The moon appeared behind him before it swiftly shattered to form a sun, allowing him to step straight into Solar Kalpa Realm!

“Thank you, Progenitor! Thank you, Progenitor!”

Dao Hua immediately knelt down on the altar and kowtowed several times. The excitement and zeal on his face reached its peak. It looked as if the isolated Progenitor Dao Chen just needed to send one thought to him, and he would perform the task given to him without any hesitation.

After expressing his joy and thanks, Dao Hua immediately moved back in respect to return to Su Ming’s side. His face was filled with enthusiasm, as if even Su Ming at that moment would not pose a great threat to him. The strange, shining light in his eyes also made it seem as if there were faint runic symbols in them. This was something he did not possess before he stepped on the altar. Clearly, when he paid his respect to the Progenitor, he had not just obtained the activation of the Flourishing Lotus and a huge increase in his level of cultivation, he had also obtained other forms of serendipity.

While sitting on the altar, Sang called out flatly, “Dao Lin!”

Dao Lin’s expression became stern, but he could not hide his excitement. Still, his condition was much better than that of Dao Hua. He sucked in a deep breath, took a huge step forward, and with his unique icy cold presence, he moved to the altar. At the instant he planted his feet firmly on it, Su Ming saw his body shudder, just like what happened to Dao Hua moments before, and his body turned vague.

The time which he spent indistinct was longer. It lasted for about a dozen breaths before he recovered to being corporeal again. The aloof look in his eyes disappeared, replaced by a thick wave of fervent zeal as well as excitement.

His cultivation base erupted at that moment. He had already reached Solar Kalpa Realm before this, so when his cultivation base experienced a burst, the sun he had formed shattered to turn into rain that drenched his body. When it fell on him, Dao Lin threw his head back and roared for a long time. His cultivation base increased with a bang by leaps and bounds… and from Solar Kalpa Realm, he became one of the Almighties, a powerful warrior in Mastery Realm!

As he roared, cracking sounds came from his body. Not only did his cultivation base increase by leaps and bounds, even his physical body became stronger. The Flourishing Lotus shone, and twelve lotuses appeared to surround him.

“I, Dao Lin, thank you, Progenitor!”

With excitement on his face, Dao Lin knelt down on the ground, just like Dao Hua had done. Once he kowtowed nine times, he got up and wrapped his fist in his palm to bow to Sang. Only then did he return to Su Ming’s side with excitement, surprised delight, and an even more complicated runic symbol than Dao Hua’s shining in his eyes.

“Dao Kong…” Sang’s gaze fell on Dao Kong, and a hint of kindness flashed through his eyes. If no one looked closely, they would have never been able to see it. The only thing they could see would be calmness akin to still water.

Su Ming lifted his head and cast a glance at Sang before walking forward quietly. He did not have Dao Hua’s fervent zeal or Dao Lin’s excitement hidden under a facade of sternness. Su Ming just calmly forward.

But no one understood just how complicated… and anxious he felt at that moment.

The anxiety was not due to fear or terror though. Instead, it was an indescribable emotion of a son meeting his father whom he had not seen since birth… and was meeting for the first time after many years.

Su Ming was not the only one who felt anxious and felt those complicated emotions… The figure sitting in front of a rattling drum in the dimension connected to the altar while staring at it… felt the same way.