Pursuit of the Truth

His blood poured down in red drops from the sky!

At that moment, Su Ming no longer had any arms, so he had used his mouth to yank off the talisman. That action was fuelled by his determination, his promise… and an impulse that seldom appeared over the years!

The last time he had this sort of impulse was when he was young and still in Dark Mountain Tribe. At that moment, he had been bound by his elder in the house and was not allowed to join the battle for Dark Mountain. Back then, Su Ming had also descended into madness while his eyes filled with red. So many years later, the same thing had happened to him again.

It was something that should not have happened, because many years had passed since then and Su Ming was no longer the child in the past. His intelligence was enough to help him suppress all such impulses. However… humans could not gain complete understanding of every single thing. There were times… when they simply had to act according to their hearts.

If Su Ming had calmly accessed the battle of the Tree of Dao Verification tearing at the sky, he would not have gone all out for Hao Hao. After all, every single person had their own selfish desires, even if someone had once helped them.

The price Su Ming had to pay was too great even if the boy had helped him. Besides… Su Ming had to face a life-threatening risk, and someone who was determined to resurrect all the familiar faces in their life, perhaps, should not have done something like that.

Tearing the talisman from the scar was very dangerous. If Su Ming died, then all of his previous actions would have been in vain. From a logical standpoint, no matter how one looked at it, what Su Ming had done right then was incredibly unwise.

However… there were times when rationality was not everything, calmness could not decide what’s right, and what a person needed to do was to ask themselves whether they would come out of a situation without feeling any regret!

They should not feel regret for their choices. It was easy to say that, but how many people were able to put it into practice? When Su Ming asked his heart, it had told him to act according to how he felt. No matter how dangerous it was, he had to repay those who showed kindness to him, and Hao Hao’s words of wanting to go home also touched him deeply.

“If you help me, then I will help you, or rather… I will help you, so please help me” were very simple words, but all forms of logic had been screaming at Su Ming that it was difficult for him to repay that kindness. The price for it was simply too huge, but Su Ming still chose to do it.

At that moment, he did not think about whether his actions were right or wrong, and neither did he think about what he would lose in the process. From the depths of his heart, he simply wanted to help the boy… He wanted to help him go home.

The air roared right then. As Su Ming’s body fell and the talisman was ripped off the scar, the stitches over the scar were instantly torn, and a gap was revealed!

The next moment, the dimension of the third layer began to crumble with a bang. The shattering air brought with it a destructive power that could bury all forms of life. When it swept out in every direction, Su Ming’s body plunged downwards, but a figure appeared in a flash beside himt. It was Hao Hao. Even though he could see his road back home, he did not immediately step into it. Instead, he appeared beside Su Ming and hugged him.

“You helped me, so I’ll help you…”

When the youthful voice reached his ears, a smile blossomed on Su Ming’s lips. Hao Hao took hold of his body and flew to the gap in the sky.

“Let’s… go home.” When Hao Hao said those words softly, his desire to return home shone in his eyes.

“Let’s,” Su Ming mumbled and closed his eyes. His limp body was held tightly by Hao Hao, who turned into a long arc that charged into the gap in the sky like a shooting star.

Right after, the dimension of the third layer shattered to pieces. The destructive power started rampaging through the place, and Lin Dong Dong, the second prince, and the headless figure were all forced to turn into long arcs that charged to the gap in the sky.

Their only chance of survival was in that place. If they stayed, then even with Lin Dong Dong’s power, they could only be buried along with the third layer.

They instantly rushed into the gap. The moment they disappeared, an astonishing rumble shot up in the third layer. While it echoed in the air, the third layer shattered completely, and from then on, disappeared from space!

When the third layer was destroyed, it vanished from sight as if someone had slowly shut their eyes to block it from their view. Once they completely closed their eyes, their world would turn black. Everything in the world would be gone as if it was no longer around…

Su Ming did not know how much time had passed, but a ray of sunlight fell on his eyelids and seeped into his eyes, causing him to think that the world was no longer black, but had turned pink. Then… Su Ming slowly opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was a blue sky and a gentle light from the sun that was not piercing to the eyes. The sunlight landed on him, and then, Hao Hao’s voice reached his ears.

“You’re awake!” There was joy in the boy’s voice.

When Su Ming slowly sat up, he saw Hao Hao sitting by his side.

The five-year-old boy was smiling happily at that moment. The smile on his face was very pure, and delight radiated from his face; it could be seen that he thought everything was good right then. When compared to the ruins around them, his happiness and joy seemed to be even more precious.

The land around them was pure wasteland and covered in a layer of dust. It seemed to have been buried in the passages of time for an unknown number of years.

Su Ming could vaguely see mountains and rivers that had once existed in that land and faintly hear the delighted laughter that once rang in the area. However, in the next breath, be it the vague sights or the faint sounds, all of them shattered into nothingness. What he saw right then seemed to only be remnants of a blazing flame.

Aura of death filled the area. It might not have been brought by death, however… Because it had been too long since any living soul had appeared in the place, gradually, an air of familiarity filled the world. It became quiet, and the aura of death was born.

“This is…” Su Ming averted his gaze from the area. In his eyes were the reflection of all the wasteland after he swept his gaze across the world, bearing witness to the glory it had once enjoyed.

“This is my home… but it has already changed. I… can’t quite find the atmosphere it once had. But I remember the sunlight here. I remember the night sky, and I can also remember its presence.”

Hao Hao fell silent for a moment, as if he had become rather depressed, but soon, he lifted his head, and the faint but happy smile appeared returned to his lips. He seemed to want to bury all the unhappiness he felt deep in his heart. He was clearly telling himself that he had to be happy, he had to be satisfied, because that was his home.

When Su Ming saw Hao Hao’s smile, he felt like he was seeing tears. In silence, he noticed that the arms he lost were back on his body. This sight caused him to sink into his thoughts. When he looked at Hao Hao again, he found that his body had become a little blurrier than when Su Ming had fallen unconscious.

“You…” Su Ming sighed softly. He lifted his right hand and patted Hao Hao’s head. The boy looked at him happily with a very deep seated dependance in his eyes.

“You helped me, so I’ll help you.”

The boy’s smile became even more innocent. When he looked at Su Ming, the dependent look in his eyes became even stronger.

He was a child who was afraid of loneliness. Su Ming was his only support, and he did not want to lose him. If that happened, he would return to the loneliness he once suffered.

That loneliness… was something he was afraid of.

Su Ming was silent. After a long while, he nodded, and when he sat down to meditate, he slowly closed his eyes.

Su Ming might not have sensed too much unfamiliarity in the air, but power was everything. The moment he circulated his cultivation base, he noticed that some of the power Hao Hao had sent surging into his body had already fused with him.

Even if it was not much, the seventh overlapping shadow had appeared among his six Dao Paragons in his third eye, and the cultivation base in Su Ming’s body was so vast that he had a strong feeling that if he could completely refine it… he would be able to gather together his eighth overlapping Dao Paragon and become a Great Dao Paragon.

Time trickled by, and when dusk arrived, the world gradually grew dark. When stars shone in the night sky, Su Ming opened his eyes. He saw Hao Hao by his side, staring at the sky. There was a dazed look on his face, and Su Ming seemed to be able to see the tears at the corners of his eyes, despite the kid’s dazed expression.

But when he looked at the boy closely, he found no sign of tears.

Days passed like that. Half a month later, Su Ming brought Hao Hao to walk past the wasteland, the world filled with the aura of death. They walked without a word, quietly.

They went past abandoned cities that had no signs of life. Even the first and the second princes had scattered after they entered. It was hard to tell where they were.

Hao Hao stopped at the edge of a pit that resembled a sinkhole and stared at it. After a long while, he said softly, “There was once a lake here…”

Hao Hao closed his eyes, and nostalgia surfaced in his voice. “I still remember this place…”

Su Ming stood next to him. He watched the sinkhole that was once a lake, the dust and cracks in it. He accompanied Hao Hao and remembered the past with him. A few days later, when they left, the sinkhole still remained in place.

They walked past the wasteland, past the lands that were once mountains and rivers, and past beaches whose seas had already been reduced to deserts. The end of both the sea and desert could not be seen, but while one of them resembled life, the other resembled silence.

One of them was the line connecting the sky and earth, and the other was the edge of sand. They were stretched far and wide as before, but the landscape had already changed drastically.

Hao Hao lowered his head. He crouched down and grabbed a handful of sand. As he stared at it, his voice echoed in the air. “Nine continents, nine butterfly spirits. They once surrounded me, but now… none of them are here…”

Su Ming sighed softly. He could understand the anguish the boy felt at that moment. He patted the boy’s head gently with his right hand, and continued doing so until Hao Hao stood up. He hugged Su Ming while crying.

“I am the spirit of the Tree of Dao Verification. I… don’t have tears, but I want to cry. After coming back, my heart only hurts…” After a long while, the boy lifted his head and looked at Su Ming.

As he listened to that youthful voice, Su Ming’s heart was touched again. He looked at the boy, then crouched down and picked him up into his arms.

“Everything will be alright,” Su Ming said while holding him and walked into the distance. His voice echoed in the air and lingered for a long time, refusing to disappear, as if it was a beautiful promise.

“Bring me to the center surrounded by the nine continents, please. That place… is where I was born,” the young boy pleaded softly while burying his head into Su Ming’s shoulder.