Pursuit of the Truth

Wind drifted, and snow floated down.

In your dreams, you don’t know that you’ve grown old. In the fog over the world, who would climb to the highest.

The night was distant. Smoke curled into the sky.

Gossip and truth were just a bridge. How many cycles of life and death had it been? There was always one person missing.

Su Ming left. He did not want to care whether the city behind him disappeared. The old man’s words still lingered in his mind, affecting his heart. His Dao and his determination, however, allowed him to continue treading down his path just like how he always did.

Seven Moons Sect was Su Ming’s first target. He wanted to enter the sect and retrieve the will belonging to him over there. Even though Su Ming had noticed the strength of the red-robed man in the part of the sect he had observed and found out that he was much stronger than him, he still could not prevent Su Ming’s footsteps, despite the fact that he was a true powerful warrior in Dao Spirit Realm.

He walked through the seasons and the years. On one rainy day, Su Ming stared at the sky in the distance. He saw the mountains surrounding a huge stone monument that shot into the clouds.

Seven Moons Sect, Sky Beyond the Sky!

Su Ming stared at the mountains and the stone monument, then sat down on a tree crown in a forest that was quite a distance away. Rain poured from the sky, lightning flashed, and thunder howled when Su Ming closed his eyes.

He was not in a hurry. He wanted to wait for a chance to be the first to enter the sect.

The chance finally appeared after Su Ming had waited for a month. It was still raining on that day. When noon arrived, eight long arcs appeared in the sky and charged past him from Seven Moons Sect. They were eight disciples from Seven Moons Sect.

The leader of the eight people was an old man, and behind him were seven men and women. They charged through the forest while heading into the distance.

Su Ming opened his eyes. When he looked over, his gaze fell on the old man. He would be a Sublime Paragon if he was in Harmonious Morus Alba. His power was quite extraordinary. Behind him was a girl. She had a clean, beautiful face, but there was a cold and arrogant look in her eyes. When she occasionally turned her head around, she would glance at the teenage boy behind her in contempt.

The boy’s face was pale, and his eyes were shut tight. They might look as if they were a group of eight, but in truth, the boy looked like a puppet, and his body was controlled by the string of bells the girl held tightly in her hand.

The other people were also quite young, but most of them had nervous expressions on their faces. They occasionally looked at the old man in the lead while traveled forth in silence.

Su Ming did not pay too much attention to the men, women, and the girl. Once he swept his gaze past the old man, he stood up from the tree crown. Just as he was about to follow them, a glint suddenly appeared in his eyes, and he looked in the direction of Seven Moons Sect.

Dozens of long arcs charged into the air. They left in the same direction as the old man, and behind them were close to one thousand long arcs. Both groups had appeared at the same time.

Soon after, Su Ming saw nearly ten thousand long arcs even further away. A thought appeared in his mind at that moment. When he looked over, the long arcs formed a complete unit. Each of them had an elder bringing with them several teenagers. Some had seven to eight people following them, and some had dozens of teenagers following them.

At that moment, all of them charged into the distance. Judging by the teenagers’ looks, most of them were nervous and anxious, but there were also a few who were calm.

Most of them were in Heaven Cultivation Realm. They had not reached World Plane Realm just yet.

Su Ming pondered over this for a moment before he took a step and followed everyone. He tailed after them quietly, and when the sun set, the ten thousand figures stopped beside a canyon.

“It’s time for the annual Seven Moons war. Most of you have already joined the sect for more than ten years. Usually, you only watch the others get through the Seven Moons disaster, but today, it is your turn.

“All disciples, enter the canyon. There are three thousand spirit plates in it, and there are nine thousand people among you. Only those with the spirit plates will have the right to be the disciples of this sect.

“Those without the spirit plates will become food for the beasts in the canyon eighteen hours later. You should know this very well. The rules have not changed. Those who get more than one hundred spirit plates can join the sect and be chosen by the sect elders. Only this will allow you the chance to get the recommendation to enter the inner sect and train for a year there. Keep this in mind, it is a recommendation that you can only obtain from the sect elders.”

Besides the teenagers, there were hundreds of middle-aged and old elders who had extraordinary power. One scholarly looking middle-aged man dressed in a white robe was the one who was speaking, and his voice echoed in every direction.

“My fellow Daoists of the same sect, we might be at the lowest tier in the sect and have to guide the training of the disciples who join our sect for one hundred years, but when a disciple of ours shows outstanding results, we will also be rewarded by the sect. In fact, we might even have the chance to be promoted. This matter has happened every year in the past, and I wonder who among us will be lucky this time.

“But no matter what, fellow Daoists, if you are promoted, please do not forget to please give us guidance if there is a chance.”

Once the middle-aged scholar finished speaking, he wrapped his fist and bowed deeply towards the hundreds of cultivators around him.

Expectation appeared on those cultivators’ faces. They wrapped their fists in their palms towards each other and bowed politely.

“Get prepared, all of you. The sect elder will arrive soon, and then, the war to enter the inner sect of Seven Moons Sect will begin!”

The middle-aged scholar stood up and swept his gaze past the near ten thousand anxious teenagers. He spoke faintly, and his expression was an awe-inspiring one. To the teenagers, he brought about an incredibly oppressive feeling.

Su Ming watched it from a distance while deep in thought. He gave up on the idea of Possessing the cultivators here, and with a sparkle in his eyes, he looked at the sky.

He did not wait for long. When noon arrived and the sun shone at its brightest, the rain also seemed to have fused with the sunlight. At the instant the rain gained seven colors while in the air, a loud, thunderous roar sliced through the sky. It looked like a crack had been torn in the sky, and a person walked out of it slowly.

He was dressed in a long, blue robe, and he was an old man with a head full of white hair. He had a stern, dignified look in his eyes, and when he walked out of the crack, even the rain stopped.

At the instant he appeared, the middle-aged scholar and the hundreds of cultivators immediately wrapped their fists in their palms and bowed respectfully.

“We… greet Sect Elder Wen!”

The old man in the blue robe nodded slowly. When he swept his gaze past the near ten thousand teenagers on the land, a fierce glare showed up in his eyes.

“Today, you will all be going through the test to join the sect. Those who succeed will join the inner sect, and will become the most valuable disciples of Seven Moons Sect. You will be the future of Seven Moons Sect.

“In the past, we never lacked those who are talented wanting to join the inner sect. There are plenty of those who have reached Avacaniya Realm in one thousand years. But if there are those among you who can obtain one hundred spirit plates, then will be able to join the inner sect straightaway to be chosen by the sect elders. If that person has enough potential, they can even obtain the right to train in the inner sect’s Sky Beyond the Sky. There have been… twelve people who reached Avacaniya Realm in one hundred years in the history of Seven Moons Sect!

“Now, the competition to enter the inner sect of Seven Moons Sect begins!”

After the old man in blue spoke, he swung his arm. Booming sounds immediately shot out from the canyon, and fog tumbed about inside it. In an instant, it turned into a huge vortex. The faces of near ten thousand teenagers standing at the edge of the canyon turned pale, and they were instantly dragged into the vortex by its suction force, unable to help themselves.

Su Ming’s expression remained the same. He watched the awe-inspiring old man in blue. He had already reached Avacaniya Realm, but he was only in the initial stage of that Realm. Even though Su Ming no longer had all his wills with him, if he wanted to kill that person, he could use the power of his Dao Divinity. It would be as easy to kill him then as making a flicking motion.

‘This Seven Moons Sect has unfathomable strength, and the powerful warriors in it are as numerous as clouds… I don’t know how many of them are in Dao Divinity Realm either. If I Possess this old man, then even if I find the chance to retrieve my will, it might be difficult for me to escape… and the pearl is in the red-robed man’s hands. It’ll be difficult for me to snatch it back anyway.

‘Judging by what is happening here, if I want to enter Seven Moons Sect via Possession, instead of Possessing this old man, it might be better… for me to Possess one of the teenagers…

‘There are only twelve people who reached Avacaniya Realm in one hundred years, huh? If I ‘reach’ the first level of Dao Divinity Realm within one hundred years as a disciple, I wonder how great of a shock it will be to Seven Moons Sect. Then, I will have a greater chance to get close to the red-robed man!’

Su Ming fell into a moment of pensive silence before his eyes sparkled. A resolute look appeared on his face, and with one move, he instantly charged to into the vortex.

With his level of cultivation, if he did not want anyone to see him, then even the old man in blue would not be able to find any traces of him. In a flash, Su Ming disappeared into the fog.

He entered the canyon and charged into the depths. On the way, he saw a corpse lying in a crack on the wall beside him. The body belonged to a teenager Su Ming had seen before—he was the puppet-like boy controlled by the girl.

At that moment, the boy’s entire body was thin and withered. He was already dead. All his life force seemed to have been forcefully snatched away by a Secret Art so that the caster could stimulate her own strength.

Once Su Ming swept his gaze past the area, he paid no more attention to the corpse. He charged forward, and in the span of a few breaths, an invisible barrier that others would find hard to detect appeared in front of him.

The barrier would do little to block anyone’s path, but it served to divide the area, separating the canyon into two parts. At the instant Su Ming approached it, he came to a stop. He levitated above the barrier, and his eyes sparkled. When he pressed his right hand on the barrier, he closed his eyes.

After a moment, when he opened his eyes, he frowned.

‘These disciples are indeed highly valued by Seven Moons Sect. There are around a dozen divine senses constantly watching everything in the trial grounds…

‘Among those divine senses, there are three… that are very strong. If I was just passing by, it’d be fine, but once I Possess someone, they might notice me…’

Su Ming pondered this for a moment, then a thought suddenly appeared in his head. He turned his head back and looked at the corpse of the boy in the crack.

“We were fated to meet. Then, I’ll use your dead body… and with your appearance, I will become the strongest prodigy Seven Moons Sect has ever seen,” Su Ming said faintly, and with a single move, he charged upwards.

At that moment, in the huge field Su Ming’s divine sense had once seen in Seven Moons Sect was the red-robed man. He sat there as before, and there were around a dozen calm cultivators around him. Most of them sat indifferently, but their gazes were all fixed on the huge crystal floating at the center of the field.

There were countless pictures in the crystal, and each one contained a teenager. They showed… everything that happened within the canyon.

“This girl is pretty good. She managed to find a spirit plate in such a short time.”

“This lad is also good. He’s a ruthless one, and he attacks without hesitation. If he has good potential, then he’ll be a promising shoot.”

The dozen people spoke to each other with indifferent expressions while they sat in the field.