Pursuit of the Truth

Su Ming swung two fingers before him, and a golden light immediately appeared. During that instant, ripples spread through the area, as if some laws had been changed.

This scene landed in the man in golden armor’s eyes, and his eyes sparkled. A smile appeared at the corner of his lips. He nodded and closed his eyes. It only lasted for the span of two breaths, but when he opened his eyes again, a power that had never appeared before on him while he was in the third Striking Lands erupted from his body.

This power had clearly been sealed before, because when it burst forth, semi-transparent talismans started flashing rapidly at the center of his brows and chest, as if they were suppressing the release of his power.

“Is this all that I can manage?” The man in golden armor sighed softly and mumbled to himself. When he lifted his head, his eyes had already turned gold. A presence which belonged to those in Fate Realm spread out from him.

“Oh well, even if this is all that I can muster, it is what can be considered to be my full power now. I can bring out the God Slayer Art in its complete form. Dao Kong, the name of this sword style is God Slayer. Observe well.”

The instant the man in golden armor said those words, he gripped the golden sword with his right hand, then moved his left to the handle as well. With both hands holding onto the sword, he lifted it, and during that instant, a low roar came from his mouth, then with a presence of wanting to cut apart the world, he charged towards Su Ming.

The will to fight burned brightly in Su Ming’s eyes. As he laughed towards the sky, the golden light in his right hand reached a piercing degree. He raised his left hand and held his right wrist, and with the same movement as that of the man, he took a step forward, then cut down at the man in golden armor, stirring up a loud bang.

Those outside the platform only saw two rays of golden light intersecting, two golden waves of sword aura crashing against each other, and heard a loud, astonishing bang that instantly made their ears ring. Their minds went blank.

With a loud bang, the sword Su Ming had formed with two of his fingers had cut apart space. It cut down all laws of fate and slashed apart the man in golden armor’s fate while the golden sword cut down Su Ming’s connection with the world.

This was the first wave of contact once the two of them began fighting against each other at full force. It was a battle of two people cutting down fate.

Then two types of transformed laws appeared behind Su Ming and the man in golden armor. They had been stirred up by the swords which brought chaos to a dimension by moving the target under their swings.

It was the second wave of contact. Then, under a loud bang that surged into the sky, the third wave of contact—the rebound—erupted.

Su Ming trembled violently, and in the midst of the loud bangs, he was flung out of the platform to land in the sky in the area outside. When he coughed up blood, the man in the golden armor also staggered backwards until he was at the edge where an invisible screen of light stopped him. It bounced him back, and he coughed up another mouthful of blood.

“You won! Remember its name, God Slayer Art!”

The man in golden armor smiled as he looked at Su Ming. As he spoke, he picked up the sword and swung it. Immediately, a name written in flourish appeared at the top of the pillar of light surrounded by multiple dragon-like beasts, as if it had been carved there by a sword.

Dao Kong!

At the instant the name showed up, the light on the pillar of light instantly stretched to one hundred thousand feet. The dragon-like beasts around it immediately roared. With a smile on his face, the man in golden armor gradually disappeared from the platform.

Su Ming stood in midair and wiped off the blood at the corners of his mouth. He lowered his head to stare at his right hand. Gradually, a hint of excitement and elation appeared in his eyes. He had not excepted that clearing the Striking Lands would allow him to get this sort of serendipity.

This God Slayer Art might only be comprised of a single slash, but that one slash was enough to shock all people. It was a peerless strike that could bring forth incredible destructive power. In fact, based on what Su Ming could feel, that Art could compare to Mountain Shifter Art.

With it and the Mountain Shifter Art, Su Ming was confident he could win against even stronger opponents.

When the man in golden armor disappeared from the platform, the ten million cultivators in the area fell into a state of dead silence. They had witnessed the entire process, and soon, a shocking boom erupted from them.

The buzzing of voices spread through the crowd, revealing their shock as well as envy, and it continued boiling around them.

“It’s only been a few moments. Only a small part of the two hours has passed, and he has already managed to clear three Striking Lands!”

“Even Dynasts Dao Lin and Dao Fa could not do this. No wonder they said that Dynast Dao Kong had been able to kill more than one thousand challengers previously. By the looks of it, these people had simply been reckless!”

“Say, do you think he’ll go to the fourth Striking Lands?”

As the crowd discussed among themselves, the Dynasts were silent. Even Dao Lin and Dao Fa stood with narrowed eyes. They stared at Su Ming standing in midair, and a pressure they had never felt before rose in their hearts upon him clearing the third Striking Lands.

In the spot at the center of the nine continents in the first plane was the old man in Life Realm. As he waited on the lotus platform, his expression had also changed.

“Let’s go have a look. Looks like we’ve underestimated this Dynast Dao Kong, but I’m also curious. How could a person’s level of cultivation change so much in only the span of little more than one thousand years?”

“Sect Master Bei Bang, you do not need to be curious. I will give you the answer in a few days’ time,” the tanned old man behind him said with a smile, but his heart was already filled with shock. He knew deep down about how strong Jin Xiu of the third Striking Lands was, and because he did, he was more shocked by Su Ming’s actions than many others.

The two sect masters by his side felt the same, but not a single hint of it showed on their faces. When they heard Bei Bang’s words, they nodded in agreement.

The four of them turned into long arcs that rushed towards the fourth Striking Lands. Clearly, in their eyes, Su Ming was definitely going to go there.

Su Ming lifted his head when he was in the air near the third Striking Lands. His eyes sparkled, and he cast a glance at the people around the area. He then moved, but he did not go to the fourth Striking Lands. Instead, he charged towards the Rockslide Wastelands, which was the first Striking Lands he had cleared.

While the crowd was stupefied, Su Ming moved with a speed so fast that he cut through the air. Once he closed in on the first Striking Lands, he stepped into the area. After a moment, when booming sounds rose into the air, he walked out, and there was surprised delight on his face.

He moved again then. This time, he flew towards the second Striking Lands, the Stage of Illusions whose memories had been altered. It only lasted for about a couple dozen breaths before he flew out and threw his head back to laugh long and hard at the sky.

‘Striking Lands, what a place. Rockslide Art, Star Illusion Art, and this God Slayer Art… Every single Striking Lands has a divine ability hidden within it.’ Su Ming’s eyes sparkled, and he charged towards the fourth Striking Lands.

As Su Ming closed in on the fourth Striking Lands, around a dozen people from the 999 continents in the third plane, and the 99 continents in the second plane within Morning Dao Sect opened their eyes in their isolation grounds. Brilliant light shone in their gazes.

Among those people were the eight who had cleared the third Striking Lands. There were also some who were too old to enter the Sect Master Chamber. Instead, they were powerful warriors of Morning Dao Sect scattered in the land and training on their own.

As they opened their eyes, waves of divine sense spread out from them and rushed to the nine continents in the first plane. Clearly, someone had informed them about what was happening, and Su Ming’s actions had attracted their attention. They wanted to go and have a look at what was going on.

If those from ten thousand years ago were not mentioned, then during the period of the past ten thousand years only one person had managed to clear all nine stages of the fourth Striking Lands in one go. There were seven others who had made it up to the other stages, but had not cleared all nine at once.

There were eight people in total, and these eight were the people who had cleared the third Striking Lands.

Nadir Grotto was the fourth Striking Lands, and it was a name etched into the minds of all disciples of Morning Dao Sect. Extreme Darkness was a type of light that was said to have been formed by some unknown reason countless years ago to the north of True Morning Dao World.

Later on, that light was taken away by Morning Dao Sect to build the fourth Striking Lands.

There was a legend in Morning Dao Sect that only those who were in Mastery Realm could have the right to clear the fourth Striking Lands. If anyone went to challenge it recklessly, their soul would be injured by that Light of Extreme Darkness.

That was why unless they were absolute confident, no one would come challenge that land.

When the ten million cultivators in the area saw Su Ming rushing to the fourth Striking Lands, they immediately became excited, and stirring up loud whistles. The crowd turned into long arcs and followed after him.

The world shuddered at that moment. As Su Ming charged forward, he could see a gigantic pillar of light at the center of the fourth Striking Lands, which was located far into the distance. The dragon-like beasts around the pillar of light were breathing out gusts of freezing air as they sat around it. Just looking at it would cause a freezing chill to creep up into people’s hearts.

However, Su Ming had decided to leave his mark in Morning Dao Sect with this, to not keep a low profile. With that determination, he was so fast that he instantly closed in on the fourth continent, and when he was right beyond the Striking Land, he came to a stop, then cast a cold glance at it.

He might have decided to challenge that land and didn’t mind being ostentatious, but he would still be smart about it. Because of that, his gaze landed on the eight names on the pillar of light.

After a moment, cultivators arrived beside Su Ming in succession. Bei Bang and the other three Sect Masters had arrived a long time ago. At that moment, they too kept silent and only stood by the side to observe.

Only when the dozen something divine senses from the second and third place descended did Bei Bang turn his head around to cast a sideways glance in their direction. His expression remained calm while the tanned old man behind him had a cold sneer on his lips.

Gradually, more people arrived, and discussions began once more.

“Does Dynast Dao Kong intend to continue challenging Striking Lands?”

“I reckon he’s scared and doesn’t have the confidence to do so, else why would he be so hesitant. He’s worried that he won’t be able to clear it.”

“I don’t think so. Look at how Dynast Dao Kong cleared the first three Striking Lands in succession and placing first in all of them. This is enough to show how strong he is. You might not know this yet, but Dao Fei Xian was also killed by Dynast Dao Kong earlier.”

As the sounds of people talking among themselves rose into the air, time slowly passed. A quarter of an hour later, Su Ming’s eyes swiftly focused. He took a swift step forward, and at the instant the area around him fell silent, he stepped into the fourth Striking Land.