Pursuit of the Truth

Su Ming held Xu Hui, who had fallen unconscious due to being drunk. He stared at her rosy cheeks, and noticed that her originally sweet breath was now laced with alcohol. While lying in Su Ming’s bosom, she let out faint whistles made by a sleeping person.

Those sounds caused the ripples of memories to stir in Su Ming’s heart. After standing quietly on the mountain for some time, he sighed softly. He then turned around and while holding Xu Hui charged into the south.

The five white dogs immediately followed after him. They turned into five white rays of light that charged behind him. One of them, White Five, had a human head between its teeth.

The journey of seven days to Cloud Sieve Sect was calculated based on Xu Hui’s speed, but Su Ming could reach that place in an instant.

Cloud Sieve Sect was not one of the seven sects, but one of the smaller sects under the seven. There were quite a number of small sects in Ancient Zang, but most of them were not famous, such as Cloud Sieve Sect. The presence of a Dao Paragon guarding it had only made it slightly reputable in the area.

In just the time takes for two incense sticks to burn, Su Ming saw Cloud Sieve Sect in the distance. It was built on a mountain, and it looked quite extraordinary. There were green pines surrounding the sect, and a flight of stone stairs going down the mountain. Clouds and fog filled the area, and a huge hall could be vaguely seen at the summit. At the bottom, right before the mountain, there was a huge stone erected with two words carved on it: Cloud Sieve!

It was Cloud Sieve Sect.

Su Ming turned his gaze away and lowered his head to cast a glance at Xu Hui in his arms. When he lifted his head, his gaze was aloof and callous. He bore no grudges against the sect himself… but if he ignored it, Xu Hui would certainly be chased down because of the deaths of the young man and the hundreds of cultivators.

And it was impossible for Su Ming to take Xu Hui away. She was not the person in his memories, and it was impossible for him to form any sort of connection with her. If he did, it would only entangle him even more with the world and push him into losing himself one day.

Before, he had thought it was not difficult to keep his mind clear. He could do it as long as he kept true to himself… but when he saw Xu Hui, he realized that it was not as easy as he thought.

He should have found the people who had the exact same face and voice to the people in his memories to be incredibly familiar to him… but right then, when he looked at them, he found the barrier of unfamiliarity separating them.

However, the people in his memories had died, but he could see them right before his eyes. It forced him to continuously tell himself that all he saw was fake, even if it felt so real that it was scary.

And that was just with Xu Hui. If he ran into Fang Cang Lan, Yu Xuan, his eldest senior brother, second senior brother, Hu Zi, and the others… Su Ming did not know whether he could bear to cut off all his ties with them.

That was why when he faced Lan Lan of Seven Moons Sect, Su Ming chose to keep as far away from her as possible. She bore the slightest hint of resemblance to Fang Cang Lan… and he did not know whether he could still keep true to his heart if he got closer to her.

Would he… become a pitiful man who would be unwilling to believe that everything was fake even though he knew that it was fake and would rather believe that everything around him was real?

Su Ming knew himself well, and it was precisely because of it that he did everything he could to avoid the people he knew. He understood all too well… that he was this sort of person!

He sighed softly. When an aloof glare appeared in his eyes, he decided Cloud Sieve Sect’s fate. It… could not continue to exist. Only when it lost the ability to pursue Xu Hui could Su Ming leave her alone and cut off his ties with her.

But he also knew that when he destroyed the sect… he would have already formed a connection with Xu Hui.

The best possible thing for him to do was to let go of Xu Hui and turn a blind eye towards her survival, as if she was just a gust of fleeting wind… but he could not do so.

In silence, Su Ming brought his right hand up and pointed at Cloud Sieve Sect.

A fierce light lit up in the eyes of the five white dogs behind him. They turned into five long arcs that charged towards Cloud Sieve Sect.

“Only kill those who are above Avacaniya Realm and the successor disciples of this sect.”

By the time Su Ming finished speaking, the five white dogs had already rushed into Cloud Sieve Sect. After a moment, booming sounds surged into the sky. Enraged roars as well as cries of surprise shot up, and a slaughter began in Cloud Sieve Sect.

All cultivators above Avacaniya Realm, the sect master, the successor disciples, and all of sect elders dyed the sky red with their blood on that night.

When about an hour had passed and all five white dogs flew back, dozens of people—Cloud Sieve Sect’s sect master, sect elders, and successor disciples—were killed.

For a sect which numbered to nearly ten thousand people, the deaths of dozens of people should amount to nothing, but when those people formed the small circle that was the peak of the sect, it meant that sect… would fall to ruin straight away.

Su Ming lowered his head and cast a glance at Xu Hui again. When he took a step forward, he reached a mountain in the distance and put Xu Hui down. He stared at her quietly for a long while, then lifted his right hand and swung his arm. Glittering light landed on Xu Hui’s body, and he left.

When Su Ming left, Xu Hui’s eyelashes fluttered. She slowly opened her eyes, and confusion appeared on her face, but she soon remembered what had happened and immediately got up to look around her, but besides the darkness of the night, she found nothing.

She could vaguely remember drinking with someone. That person had later asked her where Cloud Sieve Sect was located, and then… she fainted. But once she woke up, she found that no matter how hard she tried to remember, she could not recall the face of the person who drank with her.

Xu Hui scowled, then shook her head hard and turned into a long arc that left into the distance.

Su Ming went away, leaving the southwestern region far behind him. He charged forth and did not stop all along the way, as if he wanted to leave Xu Hui far behind him as well as the place where he met her, which had formed a connection with him that he could not sever.

He discovered that the more he became immersed in the world, the more he felt that he could not keep his mind clear, but he still tried his best to keep true to his heart. When morning arrived, he saw Seven Moons Sect in the distance.

“I’ve… returned…” Su Ming said softly.

With one step, he vanished. When he reappeared, he was standing in the air above Seven Moons Sect. The moment he showed up there, all the Runes were activated. Countless figures instantly appeared, and waves of divine senses locked down on him.

Seven Moons Sect was clearly in a state of extreme caution. Once the divine senses swept past Su Ming, they did not lower their guard in the slightest. Even more waves of murderous intent showed up, but the next moment, a long string of laughter echoed in the air, and Gu Tai took huge strides forward to charge towards Su Ming from the seventh layer of Sky Beyond the Sky.

“How was it?!” he immediately asked.

There were around ten long arcs charging behind him. Xu Zhong Fan and Dao Han were among them. When Xu Zhong Fan saw Su Ming, he immediately smiled. He looked distinctly older, and there were more wrinkles on his forehead, as if he had been constantly frowning over the last couple years. Once he saw Su Ming, the wrinkles on his forehead evened out.

Only Dao Han’s pupils shrank at the instant he saw Su Ming. His main focus was on the five white dogs beside him. Once he scrutinized them, a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes. When he turned his gaze back to Su Ming, he had a vague feeling that the third prince before him had become vastly different after they hadn’t seen him for two hundred something years.

This was not a feeling brought forth by his cultivation base, but his instincts. they told him that if he attacked, he might not be able to overpower the third prince.

He was not the only one who felt this way though. At that moment, the other great sect elders beside Gu Tai all had that feeling when they looked at Su Ming.

“I’ve taken all of them.” Su Ming nodded at Gu Tai.

“Alright, you came back at the right time. I was worried that you would miss the fight over the Phala of Dao Verification. Right now, there are a few more decades before it starts. Since you reaped some good rewards this time, you must slaughter your way to fame in the fight over the Phala of Dao Verification!

“In that battle, the very first competition of the successors will be launched between Seven Moons Sect, One Dao Sect, and Asura Clan. We will fight before the Phala, and you will fight in it. We will be fighting for the path of Dao Verification, and you will be fighting against the other prodigies of the other sects for the Phala of Dao Verification!

“In the past, the respective camps from the seven sects and twelve clans would dye the sky and earth with fresh blood when they fought, for only then did the path of Dao Verification opens. But right now… Seven Moons Sect has formed an alliance with two sects and three clans. The battle this time will certainly be much greater and more vicious than in the past!”

When Gu Tai spoke, he stared at Su Ming with bright, burning eyes. He too had clearly noticed the difference in Su Ming, but he could see much more than the others. The five white dogs around him were secondary, what Gu Tai cared about was Su Ming’s right hand!

The red thread tied to his wrist filled Gu Tai with apprehension, and the Brand of the crescent moon that occasionally showed up on his palm caused his eyes to shrink. Hidden within them was a hint of shock.

“This Brand is…” Gu Tai sucked in a sharp breath, and a smile lit up at the corners of his lips. A strong wave of excitement appeared on his face. He had managed to recognize where that Brand came from!

Su Ming nodded and wrapped his fist in his palm towards Gu Tai and the others. After he cast a glance at Xu Zhong Fan, he took a step forward and stepped into the sixth layer of Sky Beyond the Sky.

“If that’s the case, I will need to enter isolated training to nourish my Enchanted Treasures. Senior Gu Tai, Teacher Xu, please wake me up on the day of Dao Verification.”

When Su Ming said those words, Xu Zhong Fan immediately looked excited. It was the first time that Su Ming had addressed him as teacher. While he might not have addressed him as Master but as Teacher Xu, it was already enough for Xu Zhong Fan.

Gu Tai watched Su Ming leave into the distance, and his smile grew wider. There was great confidence on his face. He believed that even though Su Ming appeared to only be in Dao Spirit Realm at that moment, his combat abilities would surely be able to threaten even Dao Paragons!

“If he can enter Dao Spirit Realm, he will be… the strongest among all under Great Dao Paragons! This day is far from us. When the path of Dao Verification is opened and he enters it, with his tactics, intelligence, and combat prowess, there is a high chance that he will obtain the Phala of Dao Verification. Once he has it and eats it, he will become a Dao Paragon!” Gu Tai said softly with hope shining in his eyes.

“Besides, he has that Brand, and it has been formed by what could be called one of the most terrifying divine abilities in all of Ancient Zang…”