Pursuit of the Truth

When Ku Mu finished speaking, the boy scowled. Su Ming was his guest, and since he invited him over, he did not intend for things to go sour between them. Instead, he had his own plans. But whatever they were, most of them had the intention of befriending Su Ming.

People at the boy’s level of cultivation had few things they cared about, but for some reason, he felt uneasy about the latest aeon. It was as if something bad was about to happen, and as time passed and the disaster came closer, that feeling grew stronger. When he saw Su Ming, he could tell at first glance that Su Ming was not from his Expanse Cosmos, and for some unknown reason, he wanted to befriend him.

The boy could not see through Su Ming’s level of cultivation, but he could sense that the newcomer was not weaker than him.

When the boy scowled, the old man in purple beside him narrowed his eyes slightly. He did not speak. As for the young man in white, brilliant light shone in his eyes, but no one could really tell what he was thinking.

Su Ming’s gaze landed on Ku Mu’s skeletal figure. The people around the table were silent and watchful, but all of them had given silent consent to the test. Only the owner of the place, the boy, seemed to be rather displeased. Judging by the looks of it, he was not pretending either.

Su Ming naturally knew that Ku Mu would not do this out of nowhere. It was clearly a test. In other words, he was trying to gauge Su Ming’s level of cultivation.

“Try saying that one more time,” Su Ming said flatly.

There was not a hint of anger in his voice, as if he was having a casual conversation with friends. In fact, even the purple-robed old man and the young man in white could not detect any sort of frightening might in his words.

Even the boy, who had intended to speak up, continued scowling when he heard Su Ming’s words, but he did not say anything.

A faint glint shone in Ku Mu’s eyes at that moment, and he spoke while cackling in his strange manner. “Didn’t you hear? I like eating flesh…”

When he spoke, Su Ming suddenly lifted his head and seized the air with his right hand at a speed of lightning.

Since the skeletal man dared to try to gauge his strength, he was naturally confident in his own power, and since he still dared to repeat himself, he had to have made preparations for it. He might not have seemed like he was about to attack, but the instant Su Ming brought up his right hand to seize the air, a chill ran through Ku Mu’s entire body. All his divine abilities… seemed to have vanished from his body at that instant.

All of that happened in the blink of an eye, and a shrill scream of pain tumbled out of the skeletal man’s lips. His head and his body were instantly separated. Once Su Ming grabbed his head, he squeezed it lightly with a calm expression. A trickle of blood immediately flowed down from the spot where he had separated the body from the head. That blood flowed into the cup in front of Su Ming.

Not a lot of blood fell, and it only filled half a cup, but this scene managed to shock all the people around the table. Neither of them dared to say a word…

‘This person… might seem gentle, but his ruthlessness is in complete opposite to his outer appearance!’ The purple-robed old man’s pupils shrank. Su Ming’s actions were ruthless enough to shock him.

Su Ming’s attack brought a storm to the purple-robed old man’s heart. He realized that even he would have been unable to avoid it!

But more importantly, Ku Mu’s reaction was incredibly strange. He had showed no resistance at all, but the purple-robed old man did not believe that he had not wanted to fight back. It was clear that Ku Mu’s cultivation base had been suppressed some unknown method.

The brilliant light in the eyes of the young man in white instantly disappeared, replaced by a hint of shock. What he paid attention to was not Ku Mu’s power, and neither was it Su Ming’s ruthlessness, but Su Ming’s lifted hand.

Other people might not care about how quickly he brought it up, but since the young man was a Sword Immortal, his strength lay in his speed. Yet when Su Ming brought his hand up, acting as if nothing had occurred, the young man had seen ninety-seven seals.

‘I could only see ninety-seven seals, but during that instant, he had made hundreds of seals. This sort of person…’ The young man in white’s expression changed swiftly. The wariness in his heart instantly reached its peak.

As the owner of the place, the boy was shocked even more than the others. The cave abode was formed by his original form. The boy everyone saw was fake. His real self… was the huge meatball Su Ming had seen before.

He was a powerful life form that was as strong as the Five-Faced Beast Deity, but he was smarter than it. He hid himself and transformed his body. He did not act arrogantly, did not kill, and lived through the disaster of his aeon while keeping a low profile.

That was why he could clearly see why Ku Mu could not fight back just then. It was because the power of time had gathered on his body. In an instant, countless years had flowed back around him, until he was reduced to the time when he was still a mortal. It had happened extremely quickly, which was why the others did not notice it. Even Ku Mu himself had not understood it.

‘This person… is this powerful?!’ This was the only thought that rose in the boy’s head once his breathing started to quicken.

If that was the shock the onlookers felt, then the headless Ku Mu’s shock was even greater. He staggered a few steps backwards before his body shrank. Then, he turned into fog and reassembled himself there. When he manifested his form again, his body had shrunk slightly, but a new head had appeared on top of his neck. Shock and disbelief could be seen on his face.

He watched Su Ming hold his head while his precious origin blood fell into the wine cup.

As everything in the area stayed silent, the head in Su Ming’s head became even more withered until it turned into fog. Then, it vanished while Ku Mu’s heart twisted in pain.

Su Ming stayed as calm as ever. No anger could be detected on his face. He picked up the pot of wine beside him and poured wine into his cup so that it would fuse with the blood. When the cup was full, he put the pot of wine, picked up the wine cup, and as everyone as everyone stared at him with fear, he drank the blood.

“As expected of a life that loves devouring flesh and blood. When its blood fuses with the wine, the taste becomes even better… It’s a pity that there is only one cup. I still haven’t had my fill of it.”

Su Ming smiled faintly. When he put down his wine cup, he lifted his right hand, then with an indifferent expression, he seized the air in the direction of the corpse again.

As the skeletal man screamed in fear, his body… shuddered. His head was torn off his body for the second time, and it charged to Su Ming. Once Su Ming caught it, he let the blood fall into the cup again. This time, it only filled up three-tenths of it.

‘A tyrant!’ This was the only word the old man in purple had to describe Su Ming. His domineering attitude made the old man feel apprehensive.

‘Ruthless!’ This was the most direct word the white-robed young man had for Su Ming. The stranger was a person who would definitely seek revenge for every grievance committed against him while also having a temperamental personality.

The boy hesitated for a moment before he sighed in his heart. Ku Mu’s body had turned into fog again, and when it formed once more, his pallor was worse than before. He was even trembling. There was great terror and despair in his eyes.

The boy, thus, had to speak. No matter what, Ku Mu was a friend he had invited to the table.

“Fellow Daoist Su…”

Ku Mu’s second head disintegrated in Su Ming’s hand, and Su Ming poured wine for himself again. Once he drank it, he savored the taste for a while before shifting his gaze to the boy.

“Since fellow Daoist Ban Bu Zi has spoken, while the taste of the blood wine is good, and I originally intended to take it with me so that my friends and family could enjoy it when I return home… Oh well. Fill up that cup, and I will forgive you for your rudeness today.”

Su Ming flicked his fingers, and the wine cup immediately flew before Ku Mu.

Be it the boy, the purple-robed old man, or even the white-robed young man, all three of them were outstanding cultivators in this Expanse Cosmos. However, neither of them would have guessed that Su Ming would think of taking Ku Mu with him so that he could constantly use him to drink blood wine.

It could be said that at that moment, Su Ming was like a murderous fiend who donned a human skin. A malicious air that the four people could not see but could sense spread out from him in incredibly thick waves. It had come from Su Ming’s words, actions, and his indifferent expression.

Sometimes, what was seen was not the most terrifying. The malicious air that could not be seen created an even greater cause for wariness. It was the same principle as to how only an evil person could be the cause of other people’s terror.

Ku Mu fell silent. His expression contorted, but he could not hide the terror in his eyes. He could sense the threat of death from Su Ming, which was something that he rarely felt. He had not come across it in a very long time. It reminded him of the feeling he had when he saw the powerful while being weak during the time before his aeon was destroyed.

He gritted his teeth and lifted his right hand. With a flick of his wrist, drops of blood immediately fell down. Each drop caused his heart to ache in pain, because they were the essence of his life he had accumulated after devouring a large amount of flesh and blood through the countless disasters of each aeon.

The drops of blood fell into the cup one by one, and the trio witnessing this scene did not dare to open their mouths. When the cup was completely filled, Ku Mu laughed brokenly and took a few steps back before wrapping his fist in his palm to the group.

“Today, I have been rash. I will leave first. My fellow Daoists, I bid farewell to all of you.”

Once he finished speaking, he intended to leave, but Su Ming spoke up faintly at that moment. “Did I say you could leave?”

“You!” Madness appeared in Ku Mu’s eyes, but it was immediately pushed down.

“You can leave now.”

No resentment could be seen on Ku Mu’s face, but those who knew him understood that it had definitely grown to an incredibly great degree, and the more he hid his emotions, the stronger they were. They would then grow in him until the day they could erupt.

Ku Mu turned into a long arc that charged out of the cave abode and into the sky. In an instant, he stepped into the galaxy. His expression contorted with ferociousness, and he turned his head around to glare at the planet behind him.

“I, Ku Mu, hereby swear that one day, I will eat all of your family and friends to wash away the humiliation I suffered today!”