Pursuit of the Truth

Almost the moment the second prince spoke, the nine jade slips crumbled to pieces at the same time. At the instant they turned into powder… an ancient presence spread out from the Rune.

Once it appeared, a headless figure manifested from the jade powder in the third layer!

“Break that pillar of light!” the second prince cried out without hesitation.

He was already very far behind. If he still had to spend time wondering whether he should break the pillar of light, then even if he rose to the air right then, he would never be able to catch up to Su Ming and the first prince.

However, once he broke the pillar, he would end up benefiting the first prince. Yet even so, to the second prince, this was the only way, and the destruction of the pillar would definitely start from the bottom before reaching the top. With that being the case, he might still be able to buy himself some time in his disadvantageous situation.

At the instant he spoke, the headless figure in black swiftly moved to the pillar. When it lifted its right hand, the shadow of a huge battle axe appeared in its hand, and it swiftly brought it down on the pillar of light!

With it, the world roared. The pillar of light shuddered, unable to withstand the force. It shattered, and blood trickled down the corners of the ten great sect elders’ of Seven Moons Sect mouths. Their eyes also flew open.

When the pillar of light in the third layer began shattering, it did so from the bottom. The second prince took a swift step forward and let out a piercing cry from his lips.

“Bring me up!”

When he said those words and approached the ancient tree, the headless figure had already closed in on him. It grabbed the second prince and took a step forward onto the Tree of Dao Verification. As the pillar of light around them shattered, it brought the second prince up. In the blink of an eye, they traveled ten thousand feet.

At that moment, Su Ming was already ninety thousand feet up the ancient tree. When he lowered his head to look down, he saw the headless figure, and his heart shuddered. The first glance… at that figure caused the image of his eldest senior brother to appear in his head!

But as of right then, he did not have time to think about it. The pillar of light was shattering. The first prince had clearly been replaced by someone else while beyond the pillar, and the headless figure who showed power equivalent to a Great Dao Paragon had also appeared below him. At that moment, they were rapidly reducing the advantage Su Ming had won earlier.

In the blink of an eye, the destruction of the pillar of light reached Su Ming, and soon, the first prince charged to the trunk of the ancient tree. Judging by his posture, it was clear that he wanted to attack Su Ming when he drew close to the ancient tree.

The headless figure underneath had already closed most of the distance. The second prince was less than twenty thousand feet away from Su Ming.

It was no surprise that the two princes were so fast. Both of them had Great Dao Paragons helping them, which left Su Ming at a disadvantage when compared to them.

If it was anyone else, they would only have two choices right then. One of them would be to reduce their own speed and give up on their upper hand, which would allow them to avoid being killed. After all, be it the first prince or the second prince, their main focus was still the Phala.

The other choice was to head up regardless of the cost and fight for being able to lead the race, maintaining the advantage that might have already become insignificant. But Su Ming… did not choose either of those two options. Instead, he turned around swiftly and looked at the first prince, who was standing beyond the crumbling pillar of light with a cold, arrogant look mixed with a hint of derision.

A myriad of thoughts raced in Su Ming’s head. During that instant, he did something that the second prince below him did not expect, and one that even Lin Dong Dong did not imagine he would do…

Su Ming lifted his right hand, and the Space Whip appeared. At the instant the pillar of light shattered completely, the Space Whip charged at the first prince. Su Ming had chosen to take the initiative to attack!

When the Space Whip appeared, Su Ming also brought his left hand up. The axe showed up in it, and he cut down at the first prince!

The world rumbled, but the first prince had a mocking smile on his lips. Even though he had to withstand an incredibly mighty pressure right then, he was still confident that he would not be affected by Su Ming. The Space Whip closed in, and the first prince brought his right hand up to point at it. Immediately, a lotus appeared on his finger. That lotus instantly shattered to turn into a lotus storm that collided head on into the Space Whip.

At the same time, the first prince brought his left hand up and pushed against the axe swing Su Ming had sent towards him. The area instantly looked as if it had been sealed and frozen, causing Su Ming’s axe swing to look as if it had landed on water. Ripples stirred up, but the attack could not affect the frozen world.

“You overestimate yourself!”

The first prince’s contemptuous attitude had been transferred to his voice. At the instant he spoke, he charged to Su Ming, but when he drew close, Su Ming’s eyes sparkled. He let go of the Space Whip and pushed the Brand on his palm at the incoming first prince!

Since it was set in stone that the first prince would attack him once the pillar of light shattered, Su Ming would rather make sure that the first prince’s attacks were within his control, which was why he had taken the initiative to attack. It was all… for the sake of making the first prince draw close to him, just like what he was doing right then!

When Su Ming pushed his right hand forward and the first prince drew closer, the two of them clashed. The first prince’s expression changed swiftly, and booming sounds instantly shook the sky and earth. Su Ming’s Brand had absorbed some of the first prince’s power before letting out all the power it had accumulated along the way. Even though it was not at the level of a Great Dao Paragon when it burst forth from his hand, it had long since surpassed the full power of a Dao Paragon.

If this was any other normal situation, such a strike could only take a Great Dao Paragon aback, but they could still face it easily. But right then, they were in the third layer, and Lin Dong Dong had been flying for one hundred thousand feet. He was withstanding a lot of mighty pressure, and hence, that strike… instantly became the deciding key to the fight, especially since it had also absorbed some of Lin Dong Dong’s power just then!

Loud bangs resounded in the air. When Lin Dong Dong’s expression changed, he came to a stop. At the same time, Su Ming coughed up a mouthful of blood and fell off the Tree of Dao Verification.

But right when the mighty pressure from the sky descended on him, the Space Whip he had previously thrown caught him. It wrapped around his body, and as if someone from above had yanked it up, the Space Whip instantly brought Su Ming up!

The Space Whip Su Ming had thrown was not aimed to strike the first prince. It had been just a feint. The Space Whip’s true target was the trunk above. When it reached it, Su Ming controlled the weapon to wrap its body around the tree. Then, when he was forced off the tree, the whip would pull him up.

The first prince had lost the initiative to attack. Even if he tried to stop Su Ming… the Brand on his right hand had absorbed Lin Dong Dong’s power and struck back with extraordinary power. It was enough to cause his heart to tremble.

Su Ming had predicted that brief pause in the first prince’s movements. He had managed to tell that the first prince would not be able to continue trying to stop him, and the second prince was still ten thousand something feet away from him.

Su Ming’s timing was impeccable. If he had been slower in any of his actions, once the second prince drew close, even if Su Ming could stop the first prince from attacking him, he would not be able to stop the second prince.

Yet right then, be it the first prince or the second prince, they could only watch the Space Whip yank Su Ming up. However, Su Ming had also paid a price for his actions. Be it the blood he had coughed up from the attack or the mighty pressure that had descended on him when he was forcibly yanked up without touching the trunk, both made Su Ming feel as if he was about to break down.

Fortunately… the further he went up, even if he did not touch the trunk, Su Ming could smell a thick, sweet fragrance. He absorbed it swiftly and repaired his body, which was on the verge of breaking down.

All of that might have seemed to have happened over a long period of time, but in truth, it had transpired in the blink of an eye. When Su Ming was brought up by the Space Whip, he rose about fifty thousand something feet into the air. Blood poured out of his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. His entire body looked about to crumble. But with one move, he returned to the Tree of Dao Verification. Upon taking hold of the trunk, he instantly charged up the tree.

Beneath him, the first prince’s eyes shone with killing intent. He charged up the trunk as well.

A surprised glint appeared in the second prince’s eyes. The things Su Ming did right then might have made it seem like he was in danger, but in truth, precise calculations were behind every single one of his moves. This shocked the second prince, and he suddenly thought that he should really get to know… his younger brother again!

‘He actually managed to retain his advantage in this situation…’ A grim look appeared in the second prince’s eyes, and the words in his heart were echoed in Asura Clan.

The sludge in the middle of the nine statues within Asura Clan had become flat and had turned into a mirror. It displayed… everything that the second prince saw within the third layer.

The nine people in the area had also seen Su Ming pull off his astonishing stunt. What it showed them was not Su Ming’s level of cultivation, but his calculativeness and resolve!

This was what caused the expressions of the nine people to turn grim.

“We’ve… underestimated the third prince!”

“Yes, even if we were in such a disadvantageous situation… we wouldn’t be able to come up with such a plan in a short period of time, and he had even managed to calculate the second prince and Lin Dong Dong’s reactions…”

“Hmph, One Dao Sect used such a method? Only they would be able to do such a thing like sending a Great Dao Paragon over. We might have been able to manipulate the rules, but… they could already be considered to have changed some of the rules. Yet right now, One Dao Sect is definitely the same as us. They have to… reevaluate the third prince.”

“He’s a cultivator destined to become a Great Dao Paragon, and he even has such a shrewd mind… He’s actually more terrifying than most Great Dao Paragons!”

“No one said that the princes aren’t allowed to die during the six-thousand-year competition between the successors… One Dao Sect inherited the Art of Kismet, so they are definitely the ones who are the most willing to do such a thing… Once the third prince dies, it would mean that One Dao Sect has robbed his kismet…”

The nine people suddenly stopped speaking. Instead, they cast each other a glance, and a smile appeared at the corners of their lips.