Pursuit of the Truth

“Da Hua’s better.”

“Xiao Hua’s better!”

“Da Hua’s prettier!”

“Xiao Hua’s prettier! You haven’t heard her voice nor seen her fur and body… Everything about her is perfect!”

The Abyss Dragon cast the bald crane a strange look and could not help but say, “Xiao Hua is a male dog…”

The bald crane fell silent. A hint of melancholy gradually appeared on its face. After a long while, it sighed, and a look as if destiny was toying with it and fate was playing tricks on it appeared on its face.

It shook its head, then walked to the riverbank, but right when it lifted one leg over the boat and was about to step on the bank, it suddenly jolted.

For some unknown reason, right when it was about to leave the boat, its heart suddenly ached. That ache made it feel as if it was about to lose people and memories that it did not want to lose.

In silence and under the Abyss Dragon’s strange gaze, the bald crane turned around and stared at Su Ming in a daze. Then, it saw the ancient face beneath the straw hat along with the gentle smile.

That smile seemed to be able to see through time and space, and it held an air that the bald crane could not put into words. The bald crane felt as if lightning had struck it at that moment. It seemed… to have remembered something.

It lowered its head and stared at the River of Forgetfulness. Gradually, it saw a bald crane turn into a Crane God in some tribe in the river, and then, it ran into a young man known as Su Ming.

It saw the bald crane turn into a seven-colored peacock in the sky and then journey into the Barren Lands of Divine Essence with the young man. They went to Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos together, then went to Dark Dawn and Saint Defier together…

The pictures in the water froze at the moment where it was about to take half a step off the boat.

“Boss, what’s wrong? Come on, we already agreed that we’ll have the world under our feet and enjoy all the good, spicy food here.” The Abyss Dragon had noticed its strangeness, and an anxious look appeared on its face.

The bald crane fell silent, as if it did not hear the Abyss Dragon’s words. It lifted its gaze from the River of Forgetfulness and fixed it on the old Su Ming and met his eyes.

“Go, take that one step. When you are in the world on the other side of the river, you will be happier than you are here,” Su Ming said softly.

The bald crane remained silent.

The Abyss Dragon became even more anxious. It had never seen such a look on the bald crane’s face before. It was a reluctance to part, hesitation, and even determination.

The bald crane did not seem to have ever had that serious look before, but right then, the Abyss Dragon… personally saw it.

It was afraid that the bald crane would not come. In its anxiety, it rushed forward, as if it wanted to charge back to the boat, but there seemed to be a barrier it could not see between the riverbank and the boat. When the Abyss Dragon pounced on the boat, the barrier blocked it.

“There were only a few people who were good to me, but there has never been anyone who allowed me to experience friendship…

“You weren’t my master, but my friend.

“When I followed you, I didn’t have to think about the confusion that constantly appeared in my mind. I even stopped wanting to awaken my memories. I only wanted to live willfully for a long, long time…

“I saw you as the incarnation of crystals. You have a divine ability that allows you to create crystals out of the blue, and it’s something I can only dream of… Why should I leave?” The bald crane looked at Su Ming and pulled back its lifted foot, placing it firmly on the boat.

“So what if we’ll get destroyed? Darn it all, I’m not leaving! Whatever you say, I’m not leaving!” The bald crane sat down beside Su Ming like a child throwing a tantrum. It even looked as if it was burning in rage.

“I don’t care what you’re going to say, no matter what, I’m not leaving!”

Su Ming was quiet for a long while before he looked at the bald crane and asked softly, “Are you truly not leaving?”

“Even if it’s not true, I’m still not leaving!” the bald crane said angrily while glaring at Su Ming.

He sighed softly and looked at the bald crane. After a long while, he chuckled and nodded.

“Then come and watch the destruction of Harmonious Morus Alba together with me.” As Su Ming spoke, he steered the oars, and as the boat left into the distance, the Abyss Dragon on the riverbank looked at them with a sad expression.

“Drago, what are you crying for? It’s not as if I’m not coming back. Wait for me. When I come back, we’ll loot all the crystals there!” The bald crane stood at the bow of the boat and spoke loudly to the Abyss Dragon at the riverbank, who was gradually becoming more indistinct.

The Abyss Dragon heard the bald crane’s voice and stared at it in a daze. It did not notice the woman in white who had appeared at some unknown point of time behind it. The woman stood quietly, like a small white flower.

From then on, besides Su Ming, another figure stayed under the wooden house, but it was never quiet. It would constantly wander about the area. When it was incredibly bored, it would walk a circle around the wooden house, then another, and another, until it was exhausted. Only then would it lay down beside Su Ming. During that time, the bald crane would gain another sort of charm.

Su Ming watched the bald crane and smiled much more than he had in the previous one hundred years. He seemed to be used to the bald crane’s company, its obsession with crystals, and this friend of his who would occasionally make him feel resigned.

As time passed, nineteen years of the final twenty years of the one hundred and twenty years passed. On the winter of the final year, the land was still covered by snow and ice, and the final batch of people who Su Ming had been waiting for arrived.

Berserkers!

One hundred thousand Berserkers approached the place quietly through the ice and snow. They were silent and stood quietly outside the wooden house while watching Su Ming.

He was familiar with the people in the lead, especially Nan Gong Hen. In a daze, the leader of the Fated Kin watched Su Ming, who stood under the wooden house, and a hint of loss, as if he did not know what to do, appeared on his face.

“You’re all here,” Su Ming spoke said and stood up. The moment he did so, all one hundred thousand Berserkers knelt down and worshiped him together.

“Greetings, God of Berserkers!”

Their voices rang through the area and passed over the River of Forgetfulness. Even people on the other side of the river could probably hear them clearly.

As their voices echoed in the air, Su Ming watched them. They were the last batch of people he had been waiting for.

Once he sent them away, he would no longer have any regrets. He would no longer have any sort of worries in Arid Triad and could use every single method at his disposal to fight for a chance of survival.

He swung his arm, and a gentle breeze immediately stirred up. It swept through the area and enveloped all one hundred thousand Berserkers before sending them into Su Ming’s sleeve. He lifted his foot and took a step forward to stand in the boat. The bald crane quickly followed him, and almost at the moment it stepped into the boat, it started moving forward on its own.

It felt as if the journey only lasted for the span of a breath, but it also seemed to have lasted for the span of time it takes for winter to turn into spring. The boat approached the riverbank on the other side, and with a swing of Su Ming’s arm, one hundred thousand Berserkers appeared on it.

They stared at Su Ming in a daze. No one said a word, but the reluctance to part in their eyes was so great that even spring was dyed in sadness.

“Take care of yourselves in this world.”

Su Ming looked at the one hundred thousand Berserkers, then wrapped his fist in his palm and bowed deeply. He used his identity of the God of Berserkers to bow to his people.

With it, the winds of spring calmed down, and the gusts of autumn stirred. Fog soon appeared between the boat and the riverbank.

“Send him off!” Nan Gong Hen suddenly shouted.

“God of Berserkers!”

The one hundred thousand Berserkers knelt down and worshiped him… and it caused Su Ming to lift his head. When his boat left into the distance, he could still see the one hundred thousand Berserkers kneeling on the ground, despite the fog.

The autumn gusts sent the boat away. To Su Ming, he was sending the one hundred thousand Berserkers away, but to the Berserkers, they were sending their God of Berserkers away. They did not need to know who was sending who off, however, because the separation brought by the will of autumn had arrived from the spring of the other side of the river. As the boat left into the distance, Su Ming moved into midwinter.

When they arrived outside the wooden house, the world was still covered in ice and snow. However, this time, when Su Ming walked off the boat and stood on the riverbank with the bald crane, he turned his head around only to find that the boat had already sunk into the River of Forgetfulness. Perhaps, there would come a day in the future when the boat would rise again and Su Ming would become the ferryman again… to bring himself and the bald crane to the other side of the river—the other world.

He smiled in a relaxed manner, then swung his arm gently. The ice in the sky instantly froze, and everything in the world turned silent. There was no longer anyone Su Ming waited for, and it was time for him to wake up.

He walked up the steps of the wooden house, moved under the eaves, and arrived before the door. Over the course of one hundred and twenty years, he had never pushed it open. At that moment, when he pushed it lightly, the door swung open.

He had never crossed the threshold under his feet. At that moment, for the first time ever, Su Ming lifted his foot and crossed it.

There had been hints of sadness on the bald crane’s face, but at that moment, it looked as if it had buried that sadness at the bottom of its heart, and the usual carefree expression appeared on its features. It followed Su Ming into the wooden house with a swagger.

The world outside the wooden house was silent, while the world within… was empty.

It was like a vortex, a cycle of life and death. When Su Ming and the bald crane stepped inside and the door of the wooden house slowly fell shut, the world outside turned into an illusion. It gradually became indistinct and disintegrated. When it was reduced to nothingness, a galaxy was formed.

It was… True Morning Dao World!

As for the River of Forgetfulness, it turned into a Milky Way that led through the galaxy. On the other side of it was a huge vortex. It filled up all of True Morning Dao World. At that moment, it was gradually shrinking, closing off the world behind it.

And the indistinct wooden house slowly turned… into Ninth Summit!

Su Ming opened his eyes.

One hundred and twenty years had passed since he had closed his eyes. He bent his head down. In his left hand were the flames of memories detailing his past life, and in his right hand was the manifestation of the rise and fall of his life before daybreak…

“I’m back…”

Su Ming lifted his head.