Pursuit of the Truth

“You…” The red-faced old man’s face turned pale as if he had lost all his blood. He kept his gaze fixed on Su Ming, seemingly completely unbothered by Su Ming’s palm pushing at his chest.

He stared at Su Ming’s right hand and the whip. He could clearly see the divine abilities contained in the whip continuously crash against Su Ming’s palm and subsequently collapse. It was as if Su Ming was completely unbothered by all his divine abilities.

The old man also heard the whip letting out creaking sounds when Su Ming squeezed down on it, as if it could not withstand the force. It felt like if Su Ming wanted to, he could instantly crush the whip.

It was the physical power of a powerful person, one that surpassed what the old man understood.

He had only said a single word when his eyes were instantly covered in blood capillaries. As they spread through the whites of his eyes, they popped and burst in there. Bursting along with them were the old man’s eyes. Two blood-red branches instantly crawled out of his eyes. They squirmed around in a bizarre manner, looking incredibly terrifying.

If anyone tracked down the source of the two blood-red branches and could see clearly into the old man’s body at that moment, they would notice many branches growing in the old man’s body. Their source Su Ming’s left hand placed on the old man’s chest.

The old man’s body withered, and he turned into a mummy. He then breathed his last and died. His soul, Nascent Divinity, and his everything turned into nutrients for Ecang and were used to nourish this clone. All of its injuries healed instantly cured, and it even became more powerful.

The powerful warriors in Death Realm were known to be imperishable, but they were not truly imperishable existences. It was only because there were few forces in the universe that could destroy them that they were known to be imperishable.

Yet Su Ming was not included in that list of things that could not destroy them. It did not matter whether it was his Berserker Body or his Ecang clone for both of them were life forms that far surpassed any normal standards of power. There was no way… those in Death Realm would not die when they went against him!

Su Ming slowly lifted his left hand, and the branches went back in. No one could see any traces of Ecang about him. All they could observe was the old man turning into a mummy and falling from the galaxy.

As he stared at the old man’s corpse, Su Ming sensed his own growth and strength. This was a great power he did not possess when he had just returned from Divine Essence Star Ocean. At that time, he could not fight back when he faced those in Death Realm, but right then… killing a person in Death Realm was not difficult for him.

He had not even used his God of Berserkers Transformation and the ring!

It was also during that moment that Su Ming knew that he was no longer a puppet whose fate could be decided by someone else. He had already grown into a powerful warrior in the universe. All those who tried to manipulate his destiny would have to pay the price with their lives.

A fierce light shone in Su Ming’s eyes, and the Light of Extreme Darkness instantly dissipated. When he looked at his other opponent, the thin old man’s face paled.

An ice giant behind him was fighting against the malicious spirit at that moment. Under the ice giant’s feet was a howling ice turtle, and it was charging at the elephant.

Black centipedes were swimming about in large numbers before the old man. They were fighting against the locusts.

Near them was a child frozen in ice. His eyes were open, and there was a strange light shining in them. His gaze seemed to have gained corporeal form, and it enveloped Su Ming’s two humanoids from the gourd, preventing them from moving forward. However, there was pain on the frozen boy’s face, which was a telling sign that he could not last for long.

As for the thin old man, he had already given up on forming seals, as if he had forgotten about Su Ming’s Enchanted Treasure. Instead, he stared at the falling corpse in a daze. There was disbelief and grief in his eyes. After a long while, he fixed his eyes on Su Ming.

“Do you still want to continue fighting?” Su Ming asked. He had already showed his strength, so he simply asked the question and waited for the old man’s answer.

The old man was silent, and all the cultivators on the circles of logs forming the Seven Ultimate Yin Transformation Rune fell silent as well, but there was a storm raging in their hearts at that moment, along with a feeling of despair. Su Ming’s strength had already crushed most of their confidence.

He was akin to a barrier that could not be shaken no matter how many cultivators were brought over. It was as if as long as Su Ming stood there, even if there were more than ten times the number of cultivators up against him, they would not be able to move half a step past him.

Xu Hui fixed her gaze on Su Ming. A freezing glare appeared in her eyes, and she frowned. She did not recognize him. Even if Su Ming had taken Dao Kong’s appearance, her current self would still not have been able to recognize him.

However, her instincts told her that the person before her was not an enemy. The paradoxical feeling agitated Xu Hui. By her side, De Shun felt his heart tremble.

On one hand, he had noticed Xu Hui’s agitation and was worried that he would be bullied. On the other hand, he was intimidated by Su Ming and was worried that the people from South Union would not be able to escape from this disaster.

Within the whirlwind in the distance was the female Spiritling who was part of the Sacred Race from Dark Dawn. An unprecedented grave look was in her eyes. When she noticed that Su Ming was an Antecedental Spirit earlier, her heart trembled, but that had been it. Yet at that moment, her expression changed, and all of it was because of Su Ming’s Light of Extreme Darkness!

‘Is it a Dragon of Destruction? Over the countless years, only one Dragon of Destruction had ever appeared among the Spiritlings, and it was also during that one time that the Spiritlings became the Sacred Race of Dark Dawn and received the ninth World… Could it be that the second Dragon of Destruction is about to appear on him? But he clearly only has part of big sister’s blood in his veins…

‘But if it’s not the Dragon of Destruction, why can he turn into the Light of Extreme Darkness? Even he doesn’t know himself that he can only turn into the Light of Extreme Darkness because he has the ice properties of the Spiritlings in his soul!

‘The source is about to take shape, and with just one more step, it will manifest into a shape. It’s a pity that it’ll be a long time before that happens, unless someone offers up an incredibly thick, chilling aura for him. Then, I’ll be able to find out whether this person’s Divine Mirage is a Dragon of Destruction’

A rarely seen incredibly complicated expression appeared on the woman’s face, as if she was hesitating whether she should act to solve her confusion.

“I WILL FIGHT!”

In the face of Su Ming’s words, the thin old man suddenly threw his head back and roared. At the instant a ferocious expression appeared on his face, he lifted his right hand and struck the cauldron. It let out a buzz and swelled up before leaving the old man’s hands. It floated in midair, and when it grew larger, freezing air spread out from it and surged into the heavens.

At the same time, the old man bit the tip of his tongue and coughed up blood. He then pointed at the cauldron again.

“Explode!”

It was a single word delivered in an incredibly crisp manner, a telling sign of the determination and resolve in the old man’s heart. Even if it was this Enchanted Treasure, he could still force down the pain in his heart over having to explode it.

He did not hope to kill Su Ming, however. As long as he could gravely injure him with the complete power that would erupt from the cauldron when it collapsed, he could seal Su Ming with the Rune.

At the instant the old man spoke his command, the cauldron let out a buzz. Its presence instantly went into a rampage, and a loud bang shook the heavens and earth; the cauldron crumbled and exploded. A great, chilling air instantly swept through the area. The locusts and black centipedes were instantly encased and turned into blocks of ice. Even the two humanoids from the gourd were also instantly frozen. The ice giant, ice turtle, the malicious spirit, and the elephant behind the old man were, too, sealed in ice.

The rampaging power of the ice showed faint signs of surpassing the power of those in Death Realm. It chased away the will of the universe when it erupted. Its explosion did not spread too wide, for almost the entire blast gathered on Su Ming.

When it charged at him, Su Ming lifted his right hand. Yet when he was about to activate the ring, a part of his soul suddenly trembled.

Su Ming immediately felt the hint of familiarity which he had sensed in his soul when it split while he was going through his spirit ascension. As he shuddered, that familiar feeling surged up violently in him as if there was an endless desire within it towards this chilling aura surging towards him.

This desire caused Su Ming to hesitate for a moment, then he gave up on using the ring. He simply allowed the chilling aura to submerge his body. Cracking sounds reverberated through space, and layers of ice instantly encased Su Ming.

A piercing, brilliant light shone in the thin old man’s eyes. At that moment, he no longer had much time to think about too many things. After he formed a seal with his hands, he pointed at Su Ming, and nine pearls flew out of his storage bag.

They charged at Su Ming, who was surrounded by the chilling aura. At the moment they closed in on him, they erupted and turned into an even greater wave of chilling aura. In an instant, it submerged Su Ming, causing the ice to swell up and become one thousand feet tall.

“Die, just die!”

The thin old man had nearly gone mad. The red-faced old man had been his best friend. The friendship they shared for years caused the thin old man to only have one single thought in his mind at that moment, and it was to kill Su Ming and murder all the cultivators of the Ninth Summit to exact revenge for his best friend.

In truth, even if the red-faced old man had not died, the two of them would still have destroyed the Ninth Summit, since that was their original plan to begin with!

“Die!”

The thin old man struck his storage bag, and six ice crystals flew out from it. Each of them contained a terrifying amount of chilling aura. When he flung them out, he coughed up blood. When the drops landed on the ice crystals, they instantly rushed at Su Ming.

When they crumbled and exploded as well, they turned into an indescribable chilling aura. It was so thick that when it fused with the freezing aura that was already in the area, the ice sealing Su Ming grew three times larger. The thousands of feet tall ice block instantly became an incredibly shocking sight in the galaxy.

“Die! Die! Die!” the thin old man said screamed and spat out a black piece of ice the size of his fingernail.

When it appeared in his hands, the old man’s face became slightly withered, but he pointed at it without any hesitation, and the black ice closed in on the ice sealing Su Ming. At the moment it reached it, booming sounds surged into the heavens, and the ice sealing Su Ming instantly grew from thousands of feet to one hundred thousand feet large!

Once he was done, the thin old man swiftly retreated while gasping. Then, he shouted,

“Seven Ultimate Yin Transformation Rune, activate the Rune and eternally seal this person!”

Boom!

The spirits of all the cultivators on the seven circles of logs were immediately lifted once they saw what was happening. The innermost layer of the seven circles began spinning, and in the span of a few breaths, the seven circles began rotating layer by layer as if time had gathered on them. Like that, they swiftly began sealing up Su Ming.

All of this fell into the woman’s line of vision while she stood in the whirlwind. There was a strange look on her face as she cast a glance at the thin old man who had a slight look of nervousness along with a little hint of anticipation on his face. She couldn’t help mumbling softly under her breath,

“Could this person have known him from a long time ago? This isn’t a slaughter, but clearly… him offering the boy the greatest help when he needs it, without keeping back a single bit of his strength and even offering up his life as well as the origin treasure he had refined over ten thousand years…”