Pursuit of the Truth

A shrill scream of pain tumbled out from the mouth of the third prince of the Emperor of Abyss’ True World. That scream of pain contained both terror and strong disbelief.

He clearly remembered that just one breath ago, Su Ming had still been beyond the screen of light and he himself had already been Relocated halfway through and was in an illusory state. In just a few more breaths, he would have returned to the Emperor of Abyss’ True World.

Everything had happened too fast, so fast that the moment he screamed and disbelief appeared on his face, he felt as if time had flowed back right before his eyes. His body was seized by a power so great that he could not fight back against. It grabbed the back of his neck and yanked him out of the Relocation Rune.

At the same time, Su Ming swung his right arm, and blood-red branches swiftly extended from it. At the instant they spread out, they charged towards Yu Xuan and caught her.

All of this was originally supposed to be perfect. During the most critical moment, Su Ming retrieved Destiny’s right arm and broke the Emperor of Abyss’ screen of light, stopped the conceited third prince from leaving, and was about to catch Yu Xuan, changing her destiny with her hands.

Everything should have been so…

But…

Fate was unpredictable. At that instant, due to someone changing certain things, almost at the instant the tree branches spread out from Su Ming’s right hand and were about to catch Yu Xuan so that she would not be Relocated to the Emperor of Abyss’ True World, a power that Su Ming was familiar with suddenly descended from the sky. With extreme ease, it shot into the tunnel within the Relocation Rune between Su Ming’s right hand and Yu Xuan.

The power which was familiar to Su Ming did not come to help him… The instant the branches extended from his right hand to touch Yu Xuan, that power spread outwards, and without a single sound, it let out a ripple that even the current Su Ming would find difficult to handle in the tunnel created by the Relocation Rune.

When it spread out, it caused a tremor so great in the branches Su Ming wanted to use to pull Yu Xuan that they fell backwards, causing her body to be swept away. In an instant… she fused into the air and was Relocated back to the Emperor of Abyss’ True World.

“You!”

Su Ming’s eyes turned red. Madness erupted violently in his mind. If the power had come from someone else or even from the Emperor of Abyss’ True World, then even if Su Ming would have descended into a frenzy, he would not have been as enraged as he was at that moment.

It was impossible to put his anger into words. The boundless resentment in his heart filled his entire body, causing a black vortex to immediately appear in the area around him.

“She will be safe in the Emperor of Abyss’ True World… but she doesn’t suit you.”

A sigh echoed in the air. When it gradually faded away, Su Ming’s roar shook the sky. The Vermilion Bird’s continent let out a bang. As it trembled, the Relocation Rune instantly started showing signs of crumbling. It then broke down into pieces. Before that happened though, the third prince was dragged out by Su Ming.

Yet… even though he dragged out the third prince… Yu Xuan could still only become an afterimage in his memory.

Su Ming trembled. He lifted his head and stared at the sky. At the same time a broken smile appeared on his face. He laughed fiercely. With extreme grief and indignation, he laughed at the heavens, the world, his own bloodline, and himself.

His laughter contained despair along with an intense pain as if his heart had been torn apart.

The person who had prevented Su Ming from catching Yu Xuan was not an outsider… that familiar power… it belonged to Su Xuan Yi, Progenitor Dao Chen!

Su Ming continued to laugh brokenly. His expression was ferocious, however and his body trembled. After experiencing the extreme madness, a deadly still air surrounded him.

It was akin to death itself, similar to the one he carried under the mask forced on him by Yin Death Region. In time, when he’d gotten rid of the mask, that deadly still air had also disappeared, but at that moment, it returned. Su Ming’s personalities changed from just gold, crimson, and gray. Another color had been added… black!

Black hair, black eyes. He looked exactly the same as he did when the three personalities had yet to manifest However, even though he might look the same, in truth… he had changed completely.

At that moment, the dead look was formed by the intense pain of his heart being torn apart, the indescribable anger, and the grief as well as indignation that made him feel as if his heart was about to be devoured.

“Doesn’t suit me…” Su Ming mumbled. He did not shout and neither did he growl. Instead, he stared at the sky. After a long while, he lowered his head. He still had the third prince from the Emperor of Abyss’ True World in his right hand.

The third prince was shuddering at that moment. In his eyes, Su Ming was the most terrifying nightmare in his life. He instinctively wanted to tell him the identity of his father or to appear strong even though his heart was trembling in fear, or just plead for mercy.

The expressions of Sect Masters Ri, Yue, and Xing changed. Clearly, they did not expect that Su Ming would truly be able to break the screen of light. At that moment, when they saw that the third prince of the Emperor of Abyss’ True World was in Su Ming’s hand, the three of them immediately took a step forward.

“Dao Kong, do not kill that person!” Sect Master Yue said hastily. The trios cultivation had already reached a monstrous level, and with one move, they instantly closed in. However, while they might be fast, Su Ming could be even faster when he wanted to kill someone.

To the current Su Ming, the third prince was just an ant. At the instant he lowered his head and Sect Masters Ri, Yue, and Xing arrived… he tightened his grip, and seven ripples were sent into the third prince’s body in succession.

The first ripple instantly crushed all his bones, causing immense pain. At the instant the third prince let out a shrill scream of pain, Su Ming pushed his left hand over the prince’s mouth and seized it so that his screams could not be voice, thereby turning it into an even more intense pain.

Once all the third prince’s bones were crushed, the second ripple reduced them all to powder, causing the third prince to become a mess of flesh. If it was not because Su Ming kept his grip on the prince, the man would have definitely fallen into a puddle.

The third, fourth, and the fifth ripples tore the third prince’s skin, melted his flesh… and evaporated his blood.

The sixth and seventh waves crushed his soul. It was shredded forcefully, causing him to taste indescribable pain for a few breaths before he died. Throughout it all, Su Ming’s left hand was held tightly over the third prince’s mouth so that he could not let out even a single sound… When Su Ming let go of his hand, the third prince disappeared. He had already turned into ashes that fell to the ground.

Su Ming’s eyes were dull, and he was silent. The breathing of all the cultivators in the area quickened at that moment, and all their gazes gathered on Su Ming.

After a long time, he looked at his right hand. Anguish appeared on his face. His right hand could bring forth a power that was infinitesimally close to those who had attained great completion in Life Realm, which was why he had been able to tear apart the trembling screen of light… but even so, he was still unable to stop the power of Su Xuan Yi. And for the second time… he was unable to catch Yu Xuan’s hand.

“Doesn’t suit me..? What right do you have to say that?” Su Ming mumbled.

His expression turned even more dreary, but there was a vast amount of life force that made it seem as if he was being reborn spreading out from his right hand. That presence was incredibly ancient, as if it had been lying in him for countless years.

Su Ming slowly raised his foot and walked into the sky. He left the Vermilion Bird’s continent behind, and as he moved higher up, he did not spare a glance at the area around him. He had a place he wanted to go to—Dao Chen’s isolation grounds. He wanted to ask exactly why Su Xuan Yi had said that!

Flame Fiends’ Progenitor immediately took a few steps back when he was before Su Ming. His pupils shrank, and he stared at him with a hint of fear. He could sense that something was incredibly off about Su Ming at that moment, so whatever he did, he could not provoke him. Even if Su Ming looked as if he was just moving forward and he was a follower, at that instant, Flame Fiends’ Progenitor still chose to retreat.

He was not the only one who did so. The Morning Dao Sect disciples in the area as well as the cultivators from True Sacred Yin World moved back at that moment to clear a path for him.

“Doesn’t suit me…” Dense blood capillaries popped out in Su Ming’s eyes. When they were seen in contrast to his black hair, he radiated a crazed feeling that screaming at the others to not to get close to him.

Old You and Ming cast each other glances, and Old Ming spoke languidly with a mirthless smile. “So is this how you lot from Morning Dao Sect treat your guests? The third prince of the Emperor of Abyss’ True World came to congratulate you on anointing your Dynasts and even brought gifts, but this Dao Kong of yours killed him. As for you, you only watched. No one even tried to stop him.

“Morning Dao Sect, this is what you are, indeed! I’d like to know what the Emperor of Abyss will do once he learns of this .”

Sect Masters Ri, Yue, and Xing had sullen expressions on their faces. They might have already made their decision, but even they thought that the situation right then was a little troublesome. Su Ming had attacked far too quickly just then, and they hadn’t thought that he would actually be able to break the screen of light. If that had been the truth, everything would have been much simpler, but not only was Su Ming able to break the screen of light, he also killed the third prince.

This caused the matter to turn a little complicated.

“Dao Kong, you went a little overboard in this matter… there are outsiders here… Oh well, go and isolate yourself in Dao Ocean for five hundred years. This is your punishment. As for the Emperor of Abyss’ True World…” Sect Masters Ri, Yue, and Xing sighed in their hearts and moved in front of Su Ming to block his path.

The three of them cast each other a glance, and all of them were troubled by the gargantuan price they would have to pay for this. If there were no outsiders, then even if Dao Kong had killed the third prince, they would not have been bothered. There would have been plenty of methods to handle the problem.

However, Old You and Ming were clearly going to use this and fan the flames, immediately making the matter into a troublesome problem. However, to Morning Dao Sect, the price they had to pay compared to Dao Kong being able to manifest the five fingers was nothing. The fact that he was able to do that immediately turned him into an incredibly valuable resource for the sect.

This resource was equivalent to them obtaining an Almighty in Death Realm, which was why they had changed their earlier plan.

“If there were no outsiders present…” Su Ming came to a halt and raised his bloodshot and crazed eyes.