Pursuit of the Truth
chapter-1012

When the golden chariot disappeared, the world returned to normal, and the old man fell silent. After a long time, he let out a soft sigh, then lowered his head and looked at the area beneath him.

He saw Su Ming in deep thought while the screams of the three ferocious spirits beside him became incredibly faint. Their bodies, which were one hundred feet tall, were already so withered that their original form was impossible to tell.

With a complicated expression, Old Ya Mu sighed.

"Oh well, even though I am an inspector… Abyss Builders' Progenitor was a friend of mine. That Su Xuan Yi's growth is also incredibly terrifying, so why should I get involved in this mess?

"But while I can choose not to interfere with that lad, trying to learn my Mountain Shifter Art won't be so easy."

The old man let out a cold harrumph. When he saw that only Su Ming and the ferocious spirit with the white tuft on his forehead remained in the mountain beneath him, he lifted his right hand and formed a seal. Just as he was about to change it, his eyes focused, and he let out a soft gasp of surprise.

He saw Su Ming moving in the fog-shrouded mountain. He was not moving to the other circle of light… but charging towards the spot in which was the ferocious spirit with the white tuft of fur on his forehead.

"Damn it, could it be that besides Abyss Builders' Progenitor, all the other Abyss Builders also have a grudge against the laws? Abyss Builders' Progenitor lived his life showing foolish loyalty, but his two descendants are each more overbearing than the last.

"Forget Su Xuan Yi, even you dare to challenge the laws I laid?!" The old man let out a cold harrumph. But just as he formed a seal with his right hand and was about to change the law, he suddenly froze.

Because he heard Su Ming utter one sentence when he rushed forward.

"That circle of light belongs to me."

Countless branches filled the area beyond Su Ming's body while he was in the mountain. Those branches shrank swiftly as they swayed until all of them returned into his body. A brilliant light shone in Su Ming's eyes while he rushed to the ferocious spirit with the tuft of white fur on his forehead.

He had said that sentence intentionally. The gaze in his eyes could be understood even without him having to say anything.

The ferocious spirit who was originally standing in the circle of light saw Su Ming closing in. But just as he was about to step out, his foot froze in the air, and a chilling glare rose in his eyes, but he did not step out of the circle of light. Instead, he stood inside and lifted his right hand to form a seal before pushing his palms forward in the direction of Su Ming coming towards him.

With it, a whirlwind appeared out of nowhere in front of the ferocious spirit. That whirlwind charged forward with a loud roar and became larger with each passing moment. In an instant, it became more than one hundred feet tall, and it swept up everything around it while charging towards Su Ming.

At the instant the whirlwind closed in, Su Ming swung his right arm forward. Immediately, the Life Inequity Spear which had impaled a ferocious spirit on a mountain rock in the distance charged over with a howl. Once Su Ming held it in his hand, he rushed towards the incoming whirlwind without any hesitation.

With a bang, they clashed. The Life Inequity Spear in his hand turned into a purple-black light that shot through the whirlwind and rushed out.

Su Ming's face was slightly pale, but whatever he lost was instantly filled by the power of the flesh, blood, and essence spreading out from Ecang's real form in his body. Needless to say, that power came from the three ferocious spirits that Su Ming had devoured just then.

The moment Su Ming rushed out of the whirlwind, the eyes of the ferocious spirit with the tuft of white fur shone with a brilliant light. He lifted his right hand, and when he swung his arm again, nearly one hundred gigantic whirlwinds appeared around him. Those whirlwinds took over all the area with a roar, and in the blink of an eye, they turned several hundreds of feet tall. Faces then manifested within them.

Those faces belonged to an old man. His face was pale, but there was an awe-inspiring air to him. He existed in all the whirlwinds, which numbered to nearly one hundred, and he charged to Su Ming with them.

As the whirlwinds closed in, mumbles tumbled out of all the nearly one hundred mouths that belonged to the same face. The voices fused together and turned into a buzzing sound that echoed throughout the area. If anyone listened to it for a prolonged period of time, they would find the world spinning in a manner that they could not endure, as if their Qi and blood were flowing in reverse, and as if their souls were about to be torn apart.

Su Ming came to an abrupt halt. A strange light flashed in his eyes. The shadow of the sun appeared in his left eye, and the shape of the moon appeared in his right eye. Once they replaced his pupils, they overlapped with them and gained the light of stars.

The Illusion of Stars, Sun, and Moon!

At the instant Su Ming used this Art, he formed a seal with his hands and moved forward. Immediately, the pupils of the ferocious spirit in the circle of light shrank. A grim expression appeared on his face. When he looked over, Su Ming had turned into hundreds of people that were rushing towards him from all directions, and he could not tell which was real one!

Perhaps all of them were real!

The key to this change lay in whether the ferocious spirit with the white tuft of fur would believe in what he saw. If he did not believe in it, then all of them would be fake. If he believed in it, then all of them could be real.

The profound aspect of this Art lay in the heart.

"An amazing Illusory Art. I see, it's one where illusions lie in reality and can turn real," the ferocious spirit with the white tuft of hair spoke for the first time. His voice was hoarse and ancient. After speaking, he lifted his right hand, bent his back, and pushed his palms against the ground beneath his feet.

At the instant his right hand touched the ground, the near one hundred whirlwinds exploded at the same time. It formed a powerful impact that rushed towards the hundreds of Su Mings in his eyes.

At the same time, the mountain trembled, and mountain rocks appeared on all the Su Mings before his eyes!

The hundreds of mountain rocks appeared at the same time and looked as if they were suppressing him to stop him in his tracks. The impact brought by the explosion of the whirlwinds was also coming for him, which formed a net that allowed no escape.

Booming sounds echoed in all directions, but in the eyes of the ferocious spirit with the white tuft of fur, the hundreds of Su Mings who were suppressed moved at the same time, and then, there were no longer just hundreds of Su Mings around him, but thousands.

"I see, so that's how it is," the old man with white fur said flatly. He shut his eyes swiftly. At the instant he did so, he had his left hand cut his right palm, opening up a gash. When blood poured out, he flung his right arm outwards, and a blood-red mountain appeared.

"Mountain Blood," the old man said calmly. When he flung his arm forward, the ground instantly turned red. The sky also turned crimson to welcome the blood-red mountain in the world!

When it descended from the sky and the ground turned red, it did not matter whether it was the mountain rocks, the exploded whirlwinds, or the thousands of Su Mings, all of them turned red.

Only one... among the thousands of Su Mings not too far away from the old man with that white fur did not turn red!

"You are here." When the old man with the white tuft of fur spoke flatly, he turned his head around to cast a cold glance at Su Ming.

Almost at the moment he looked over, the blood mountain in the sky crumbled on its own and was reduced to countless mountain rocks that charged towards Su Ming. A large number of red whirlwinds appeared out of nowhere as well and close in on him simultaneously.

Booming sounds shook the sky and earth, and Su Ming coughed up blood. He staggered a few steps backwards, and when he coughed up blood again, he lifted his head to stare at the composed ferocious spirit with the white tuft of fur in the circle of light before he sucked in a deep breath.

It was not that no one had ever managed to break his Illusion of Stars, Sun, and Moon before, but usually, they would choose not to believe in it before they could dispel it in a simple manner. After that, the Art would still be around.

This was the first time he saw someone who could see through the Art and still chose to believe in it, all so that he could forcefully break all that he believed in once he discovered the real body.

If he was able to do this, then he had to have great confidence in himself, or else it would be incredibly difficult for him to do so.

It was just like a mortal's dream. If someone died in their dream and believed in it, then most people would choose to return to the earth. However, there were certain people who would still ferociously choose to force themselves to rise from the dead even after they were certain that they had died.

This was the power of will, and Su Ming belonged to that category of people. The ferocious spirit with the white tuft of fur before him was clearly also someone like this.

A powerful enemy!

Su Ming stared at the ferocious spirit with the tuft of white fur. In truth, he had never underestimated this person. The situation at that moment was also within his expectations.

The ferocious spirit was also staring at him. At the instant their gazes met, Su Ming suddenly spoke,

"Why do you insist on standing in the circle of light and continue to play a part in a game that others watch for their pleasure?"

"It doesn't matter whether it is within the circle or beyond the circle, it is all a game. It is the same for you and me," the ferocious spirit replied calmly.

"I have the intention to break this game, and you don't," Su Ming said once more.

"A game? What is a game? You can see the game in this place, but how are you going to break or change a game you can't see?" The ferocious spirit's expression remained calm.

A barely noticeable glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes. He took a step forward and spoke without mincing his words. "I cannot see the game beyond the circle of light, but I know that I can choose whether to walk out or not. I won't change because of someone else changing the rules. As for the game that I can't see, if I can't see it, then it doesn't exist. But for you, that isn't the case."

When the ferocious spirit heard him, he suddenly laughed.

"Whether it is so or not, I, Chen, know full well in my heart. If… I want to walk out of this circle, I will. If I don't want to, I won't. Nothing you say will work."

When Su Ming heard the ferocious spirit say these words, he also laughed. He then lifted his right hand as he rushed forward and pointed at the sky.

"Dao Avenue Mountain!"

The world roared, and Dao Avenue Mountain manifested itself.

"Peace Arrives When the Elephant is Here!" As Su Ming spoke, a gigantic scale appeared in the space above him. A white elephant stood tall like a piece of jade beside it.

Su Ming flung his arms apart. The power of Divine Essence in him erupted from his body and fused swiftly into Dao Avenue Mountain. The malicious spirit let out a roar and rushed out to catch the scale. The white elephant landed on the scale tray, and the malicious spirit pointed at the ferocious spirit in the circle of light with a finger.

"Malicious Spirit Weighs the Elephant!"

But that was not all. When Su Ming executed the Divine Essence Treasure that was Peace Arrives When the Elephant was Here, he lifted his right hand and pointed at the sky while pushing down on the ground with his left hand.

"That which exists between the past and the future is Destiny!"

Destiny's first transformation!

This was Su Ming intending to use the power he possessed while he was in his first transformation as Destiny to weigh the elephant. The mighty pressure and damage he would bring through this would be several times more than in the past.

As the ferocious spirit with the white tuft of fur in the circle of light had a change in his expression, Old Ya Mu's eyes shone while he was in the fog above.

"Chen Bai, if you win against this person, I will grant you freedom." The voice from Old Ya Mu swiftly echoed within and beyond the mountain beneath the fog. At the instant the ferocious spirit heard those words, his body shuddered, and a powerful presence that had never shown itself on him erupted from his body.

At the same time, the ferocious spirit called Chen Bai lifted his foot… and stepped out of the circle of light!

Yet the moment he did so, his face turned pale, as if he had thought of something. When he whipped his head around to look at Su Ming, a complicated look appeared on his face.

"You, who would not change your mind because of other people changing the rules, why did you step out now? In the end, you are still a part of someone else's game. You will never obtain this so-called freedom.

"Just a single sentence from someone else is sufficient to make you give up on your beliefs. Your heart is no longer firm, are you confident that you can win against me?" Su Ming's eyes sparkled as he asked calmly.

To destroy a powerful enemy, the first thing that must be destroyed in him was his will, then his beliefs, and in the end, his physical body. This was the strategy that Su Ming had prepared beforehand.

He did not underestimate this person. On the contrary, he placed him on a very high pedestal. The reason why he said those words previously was so that he would think that Su Ming wanted to snatch his circle and make Old Ya Mu share the same belief. Then Su Ming would use his will to land the first blow.

This was him drawing a circle with words to form a prison.