Pursuit of the Truth

During the six years since Su Ming had disappeared, True Morning Dao World’s Ninth Summit gradually came to have a new name. It was not given by the cultivators of the Ninth Summit, but were coined by the other two forces of power in True Morning Dao World- the Ninth Sect!

This was the Ninth Summit’s name known to the others. It meant an existence with a huge force of nearly one million cultivators within True Morning Dao World. During the six years, this sect located next to a Relocation spot leading to Morning Dao Sect had continued expanding its territory to become more and more awe-inspiring.

Nine mountains that towered into the heavens were the most striking buildings in the Ninth Summit. They were like swords that stood tall in the universe. Even when someone looked at them from a distance, they could sense a murderous air surrounding them. Each one was filled with a sharp presence that made people unable to stare straight at them.

That mighty pressure surrounded the whole area. It turned into white ripples that spread outwards, creating a circular area of one hundred thousand lis which was a forbidden zone for the whirlwind in space.

The cultivators of the Ninth Summit practically idolized the nine mountains. The Great Sect Master known as the malicious fiend was a mysterious person who isolated himself yearlong in the fourth summit. He was also the Ninth Summit’s strongest person.

The headless Great Sect Master in the first summit was in charge of handling punishments in the Ninth Sect, and he had monstrous power. His murderous aura was incredibly threatening, and it filled the first summit, where he resided, with a powerful murderous aura at all times.

Compared to the two of them, Hu Zi was the most popular Sect Elder. His simple and honest appearance, his straightforward personality, and his act of leading a large number of cultivators to go to war in the last few years had turned him into a well-known figure. Wherever he went in the Ninth Summit, a large crowd would follow behind him. His surroundings were always very lively.

The one who suffered the most then was Su Ming’s second senior brother. Since the Ecang clone and eldest senior brother did not care about being Sect Masters, he had no choice but to accept the status of the Sect Master. During the six years, he could not live freely. He had to think about his actions and his words while he was before other people. It made him feel as if he was bound, but gradually, he grew to like his status as a Sect Master, but only slightly.

Originally, the Ninth Sect’s expansion should have continued, but a few years back, they had fought against New Dao Sect, a force of power that had arisen in the northernmost part of True Morning Dao World. That battle caused the Ninth Sect’s expansion to stop, and the sect known as New Dao Sect was also contained in a certain area. They could not expand their territory as well.

If anyone traced the origins of this sect, they would find that they were one of the armies of cultivators sent by Morning Dao Sect to fight against the Immortals’ Union. However, due to a stroke of luck, their army was survived mostly intact during the disaster. Because of that, they became one of the three forces of power in the True Morning Dao World.

The Sect Master introduced himself as Dao Zong, and he had great power. Needless to say, this was the person who had fought against Su Ming’s Ecang clone, which had resulted in both of them being heavily injured.

This was a telling sign of Dao Zong’s power. After all, the strength of Su Ming’s Ecang clone was definitely nothing ordinary. At the very least, the power of those in Life Realm was required to defeat it, and this Life Realm was not based on the standards of Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos towards levels of cultivation. It had to be based on the levels of cultivation similar to those from Dark Dawn and Saint Defier.

If the cultivators were from Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos, then if they wanted to defeat Su Ming’s Ecang clone or even injure him badly, they had to be in Death Realm!

It was also because of that great battle that the Ninth Sect and New Dao Sect began to regard each other with extreme hostility. There might not have been many large-scale battles between them, but there were countless small-scale ones, and they occurred practically every day where their territories touched.

Compared to New Dao Sect, there was an even larger sect in the southernmost part, beyond the whirlwind formed by the gap in Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos. If anyone treated the gap in True Morning Dao World as a border, then one side of the border would belong to the Ninth Summit and New Dao Sect, and the other side would be South Union, a sect formed by the remnants of the Immortals’ Union!

Since there was no other force of power that could stand up against the South Union on that side, this sect could develop so quickly that it could even be said that they were invincible. They swept through half of True Morning Dao World, causing their accumulated strength to surpass that of the Ninth Summit and New Dao Sect.

However, due to the existence of the whirlwind, South Union hesitated to cross over to the other side, even though it had been regarding the other part of True Morning Dao World with covetous eyes. Thus in time, a fragile balance had formed between the three forces of power in True Morning Dao World.

However, this balance only lasted for a year and six months before it was broken by New Dao Sect suddenly growing in power.

The six months after that had been full of arduous struggle and resistance for the Ninth Summit. After the balance was broken, the cultivators from New Dao Sect had launched a frenzied attack against it.

The Ninth Summit originally did not bother itself with the frenzied attack, since the power between the two sects was almost the same regardless of whether it was their powerhouses or their disciples. If they truly fought against each other, there would be no true winner. In the end, both sides would just be horribly injured.

Yet during the first month of the six months long battle, three cultivators dressed in yellow robes appeared in New Dao Sect. A chilling presence spread out from the, and the bloodthirst in their eyes was incredibly thick. When the three of them attacked once the power balance was brokken, the first powerful warrior from the Ninth Summit to be heavily injured was Su Ming’s eldest senior brother!

It was an incredibly devastating fight. Su Ming’s eldest senior brother was severely wounded and nearly died. Only when the Ecang clone attacked and killed one of the yellow-robed people that he could save his eldest senior brother.

That battle had caused New Dao Sect’s invasion to become even more frenzied. This was because even though Su Ming’s Ecang clone killed one of the yellow-robed people, three more soon appeared in the battlefield.

There were a total of five yellow-robed people. Each of them possessed power not weaker than those truly in Fate Realm.

In just one month, the Ninth Summit’s territory shrank by a large margin. Then, during the second month, Su Ming’s Ecang clone stopped isolating himself and immersed himself war. With the cultivators from the Ninth Summit, he fought back against New Dao Sect based on his second senior brother’s plans.

When that battle reached its third month, the Ecang clone was forced to fight against Dao Zong and the five yellow-robed people one day. During that battle, the Ecang clone, who had been wounded to begin with, was heavily injured once more. However, three of the yellow-robed people died under his hands, and even Dao Zong was heavily wounded, but the price for that was the Ecang clone nearly dying.

He might have fled the battle alive, but when he returned to the Ninth Summit, his body turned into a huge tree that was on the verge of shattering.

Yet the war was still raging. New Dao Sect might have lost three of their yellow-robed people, but a month later, when the war entered its fourth month, more yellow-robed people appeared among their cultivators. They had the same level of cultivation, but the increase in their numbers meant that they now had eight of yellow-robed people.

The final battle for the Ninth Summit was launched at that time. Under the lead of more than a dozen powerful warriors from New Dao Sect, hundreds of thousands of cultivators rushed towards the Ninth Summit with the resolution to not stop until one of the sects was dead!

But that was not all. What caused Su Ming’s second senior brother to look worn and haggard was a piece of information brought to him by the spies he had sent into the whirlwind to the south when New Dao Sect attacked them en masse. Their news left him silent.

There was a large amount of faint ripples in the whirlwind, and they could only mean one thing—South Union had launched their invasion from the other side of the whirlwind!

This was the first time South Union took action. However, since they had not done anything during the past few years, it was clear that this time, they would definitely strike like a clap of thunder. Fortunately, based on the ripples, they would still need a few months to cross the whirlwind.

If it were the usual times, the Ninth Summit would perhaps be able to make preparations, but at that moment, they had to stand up against New Dao Sect’s frenzied attacks and could not spare any resources or man power to a new enemy.

It was also because of this that Hu Zi gave up on trying to crack open the Rune. Based on his judgment, he would need at least another year before he could reactivate it, but a year was an amount of time that the Ninth Summit simply did not possess.

Based on the situation of the war, even if they managed to drag out their battle against New Dao Sect, they would just end up with all their disciples dead. If that wasn’t enough, his senior brothers would definitely die as well. Yet more importantly, it was simply impossible for him to have a year’s worth of time. Two or three months later, when South Union arrived, everything would end.

Once Hu Zi stopped researching the Rune, he immediately used his talents in Runes to protect the Ninth Summit as if he had gone mad. Once he continuously perfected and made the Runes he placed earlier stronger, he personally fused into the Runes and turned into a Rune Spirit to hold back the hundreds of thousands of cultivators and the dozens of powerful warriors from New Dao Sect for a month and two weeks.

However, this was his limit. When a loud bang shot into space and all the Runes around the Ninth Summit crumbled, Hu Zi coughed up a mouthful of blood. When he staggered backwards, he grabbed his eldest senior brother’s battleaxe. His eyes were bloodshot. Even though the destruction of the Runes had injured his soul, he had to fight.

Lying behind him was his heavily wounded eldest senior brother as well as the only clone his youngest junior brother had left behind after he went missing. The clone could not die, since Su Ming might be able to use him as a beacon to find them when he eventually returned. If it could really serve such a purpose, then once the clone died, Hu Zi was afraid that his youngest junior brother would not be able to find his home.

A large number of cultivators from the Ninth Summit had died during the six months of war. By then, there were less than two hundred thousand of them left. They surrounded the Ninth Summit and stared silently at the cultivators from New Dao Sect charging towards them once the Runes in the distance had crumbled. Above them, second senior brother sighed softly.

“The Ninth Sect… will be destroyed today!”

When a cold and sinister voice spoke among the incoming cultivators, several piercing whistles shot into space. A middle-aged man dressed in a purple robe took large strides towards Su Ming’s second senior brother. Behind him were eight yellow-robed cultivators. All of them had different appearances, but the cold presence about them as well as the aloof, merciless, and bloodthirsty look in their eyes were identical to one another.

“Destroy our sect? Dream on!” Hu Zi roared.

He lifted his eldest senior brother’s battleaxe and rushed out. Behind him, his eldest senior brother moved. His aura was weak and filled with fatigue, but he still charged forward. Second senior brother tore off his robe of a Sect Master, and his face distorted as if there were ferocious faces of Phantoms overlapping on it.

His body filled with the ghastly aura of a Phantom. With a step forward, the fellow brothers turned into three long arcs that charged against the incoming purple-robed man from New Dao Sect.

At that moment, now a tree, Su Ming’s Ecang clone swiftly opened its eyes on the trunk. A cold and fierce glare shone in them; it held ruthless and murderousness. It was as if… the clone’s body had become different at that moment. The presence of an Antecedental Spirit could be faintly felt around it!