Pursuit of the Truth

“I’m more curious as to why he won’t put the spirit plates into his storage bag but chose to hold them in his hand.”

A sneer appeared on the lips of a young man sitting next to the red-robed man among the ten something sect elders. He spoke with a smile, but it was filled with a chilling air.

“Haha, since all of you don’t think he’ll be of any good, I’ll have the right to choose him first.” The blue-robed scholar smiled and lifted his right hand to point at the crystal. Su Ming’s picture immediately floated out and levitated in front of him.

The instant the scholar extracted the picture belonging to Su Ming, the ground in the pictures around his instantly shuddered and roared. From a distance, around a dozen figures charged towards him.

The figures had appeared incredibly suddenly, and a powerful killing intent immediately filled the area, but Su Ming’s expression did not change. When the ten figures drew close to him, he lifted his right hand, lowered his head, and pushed his hand against the ground.

Booming sounds immediately echoed in the air, and a storm was stirred. It spread out through the area and obscured everything in Su Ming’s picture. Several breaths later, when the storm and dust faded away, what remained on the ground were bloodless corpses as well as a blood moon that was twice as large compared to before.

Su Ming left into the distance. He was no longer holding just three spirit plates, but six of them. They knocked against each other and let out clear tinkling sounds.

Since the blue-robed scholar had isolated Su Ming’s picture, it immediately drew the attention of the ten sect elders in the area. All of their eyes immediately brightened.

Only the red-robed man and the most beautiful woman in the field kept their eyes closed and continued meditating. They did not even look at the picture.

The woman’s beauty could make people question her existence. It was enough to make everyone’s hearts race. She wore a purple dress, and as she sat there, she looked like a royal peony. There were a few crystal shards at the center of her brow, and it seemed like they reflected all the lives in the world.

“What’s his name?”

“This person… is Wang Tao. His is the only name that has six spirit plates.”

“This is no longer the power of those in Heaven Cultivation Realm. He is… someone who is already near World Plane Realm.”

“Not bad. Be it Blood of Seven Moons or Ground Crushing Fiend, the power showed when he executed these divine abilities is already enough for him to easily win against all those in Earth Cultivation Realm.”

When the ten something sect elders spoke to each other, the picture showing Su Ming changed again. A mountain appeared in front of him, and on that mountain stood a lean figure. That person did not seem to be a boy, but a young man.

He was staring at Su Ming.

“This is Chou Wu. He has seven spirit plates, and he’s one of the outstanding ones in this trial. I wonder who will win between him and Wang Tao.”

While the ten something sect elders watched the picture, Su Ming stood in midair and stared coldly at the young man standing at the top of the mountain in front of him.

“You should know me. Hand over your spirit plates and get lost. If you do, I’ll spare you. I’ll only give you the span of three breaths!”

There was arrogance in the young man’s voice. When his words landed in Su Ming’s ears, Su Ming’s expression remained the same. He continued staring at the young man coldly, and when the three breaths were over, the young man laughed coldly. He turned into a long arc and instantly charged towards the blood moon encasing Su Ming.

“You’re just asking—”

Before the young man could finish speaking, Su Ming took a step forward. With the spirit plates in his right hand, he brought it up, seizing the young man’s throat, making the spirit plates crash into his windpipe. His action instantly cut off the young man’s speech before he could finish it.

At the same time, Su Ming seemed to have reached a breakthrough in his level of cultivation. The walls between Heaven Cultivation Realm and World Plane Realm shattered, and the presence of World Plane Realm spread out from him!

The young man whose neck had been seized immediately shuddered. His eyes bulged out, and shock appeared on his face. Blood poured out of his eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and all his pores.

All of the blood in his body was flowing in reverse. It turned into blood threads that charged towards the blood moon around Su Ming. In just the span of a few breaths, all the blood in the young man’s body was emptied from him and absorbed by Su Ming’s blood moon.

Su Ming let go, and the withered young man fell down. Su Ming seized the air with his right hand, and the young man’s storage bag immediately flew out. When Su Ming patted it, he brought out seven spirit plates and added them to his own. He thus had thirteen of them.

The ten something sect elders on the field had witnessed it, and various changes appeared on all their faces.

“He… reached a breakthrough? The Blood of Seven Moons has actually reached this level in his hand!”

“Just what sort of potential does he have? He actually reached a breakthrough just like this?”

“Thirteen spirit plates. He’s already at twelfth place!”

“The number’s increased again. Now, it’s fourteen spirit plates!”

“Sixteen!”

Almost all the sect elders in the field had their gazes trained on Su Ming, and they immediately saw his speed increase once he reached a breakthrough in his level of cultivation.

From a distance, he looked like a blood moon hanging high in the sky and shining with a strange, evil light. As he charged forth through the trial grounds, he ran into some people, and he absorbed all their blood. It grew the blood moon, and he obtained another few spirit plates.

Su Ming knew from the start that he would become the center of attention. He also knew that he had to catch the sect elders’ attention, for only then could he execute the next step of his plan.

As for being exposed? Su Ming was confident that with his inborn ability, it would not be easy for others to find anything wrong about him. The only time when he did something unusual was when a slight look of confusion had appeared in his eyes upon seeing the stone monument. It had, however, turned into a heavy feeling that was buried deep in Su Ming’s heart.

He moved forward at a moderate pace. The divine sense he spread out had the power of those in World Plane Realm, and with over ten spirit plates in his hand as bait, he ran into quite many people who came to snatch his plates.

‘This Blood of Seven Moons has quite the extraordinary power.’

As Su Ming moved forward, he cast a glance at the blood moon around him, which had grown to be about fifty-sixty feet tall. He could sense the increasingly stronger power accumulating within it, and it allowed him to fly faster.

It was as if he had truly turned into a blood moon. It hung high in the sky and was incredibly eye-catching. The more than ten spirit plates in Su Ming’s hand were especially attention grabbing. They were enough to cause a large number of people to target him.

Six hours later, the spirit plates in Su Ming’s hand had grown to thirty-one. Some of them were dyed in fresh blood, and when they knocked against each other, they let out tinkling sounds. It seemed like they brought with them a murderous aura as well.

Some people who had originally wanted to assault Su Ming changed their mind. Upon seeing the spirit plates in his hand, they felt as if they had been doused with cold water. With a shudder, they immediately turned around and fled.

Su Ming did not chase them. In truth, he had never taken the initiative to attack to get any of the over thirty spirit plates. They had all come into his hand when he easily crushed those who wanted to kill him due to greed.

However, gradually, he ran into fewer and fewer people. Clearly, as time passed, the disciples who entered the trial either died or chose to hide once they found a spirit plate. Unless the end of the trial came, they would definitely not venture out.

Su Ming continued moving through the sky. There were still those who believed themselves to be strong enough to attack him. They wanted to obtain more spirit plates to become the owner of one hundred spirit plates, which was something that did not happen in each trial.

There were also some who had come to an agreement and acted in groups, intending to win through numbers. They worked large groups to gather spirit plates for a few people in their group.

The smallest of such would number between three to five, and the largest would have dozens of cultivators. Once they ran into each other, they would most often choose to avoid conflict. Unless the end of the trial was near, battles which would end with both sides being gravely wounded did not appear.

There was practically no one who moved alone like Su Ming. The tinkling sounds that came when the thirty-something spirit plates in his hand knocked against each other and the sheer number itself made him into a target, despite the astonishing and terrifying blood moon around him. When the disciples who had formed groups ran into him, they could not control their desire to try and snatch his spirit plates.

It happened again and again. Dozens of disciples appeared in front of Su Ming once more, and each of them had their eyes fixed on his hand. When their gazes landed on the spirit plates, greed appeared in their eyes.

Su Ming cast a glance at the dozens of people. He moved, but he did not attack. Instead, he headed into the distance in the form of a long arc. From a distance, it looked like the blood moon had turned into a bloody scar. Su Ming moved in the front, and the dozens of disciples chased after him.

About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn later, another group of dozens of people saw Su Ming, and they did not hesitate in joining the fight for his spirit plates.

When another hour passed as they continued to chase after him, under Su Ming’s intentional control, slowly, nearly three hundred disciples were behind him. In fact, there were even more long arcs swiftly approaching him from farther away. They formed a vague encirclement around him.

“It’s about time.”

Su Ming came to a halt, and a ferocious smile appeared on his lips when he turned around. The people before him might be weak, but Su Ming had never felt unable to kill the weak. Since they had chosen to provoke him, they were destined to die.

When turned around, he brought up his right hand and seized the blood moon around him, then swiftly yanked it downwards. The blood moon shattered with a bang, turning into countless drops of blood that spread out through the area.

When the ten something sect elders in the field thought Su Ming had been driven to a corner and forced to flee, they saw his level of cultivation… rise again!

From the initial stage of World Plane Realm, he reached the middle stage, and he brought forth a slaughter that made even the expressions of sect elders change. The battle lasted for the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, and the area around Su Ming went quiet.

When he swung his arms, a huge blood-red moon of three hundred feet appeared around him. Shock and fear appeared on the faces of the disciples who had wanted to close in on him. Without any hesitation, they immediately turned around and fled.