Pursuit of the Truth

Chapter 853: Return to Crimson Flame Planet

The galaxy had no end. Its boundaries could not be seen, and it only had that monotonous color scheme filling the entire area. If anyone looked at it for a short period of time, they would think that it was slightly beautiful, but if they looked at it for a prolonged period of time, they would not be able to help but feel lost, as if they did not know where they were.

Their insignificance of their own self compared to the vast galaxy would usually deliver a powerful impact on a person.

At that moment, there was a long arc charging through Western Ring Nebula. That long arc could almost not be seen clearly, because its color was similar to that of the galaxy. They were both black.

There was a dark light within that arc, and it was a black crane. The smug expression on its face and the nasty look in its eyes belonged solely to the bald crane; no other crane possessed this look in the whole universe.

Within the dark light was also a red coffin. There were runic symbols on it that formed bumps, giving the coffin a rough surface. They exuded a mighty pressure. Su Ming sat cross-legged on the coffin, meditating with his eyes closed.

The Duke of Crimson Flame was by his side like an old servant. He was looking around vigilantly, no longer indifferent towards everything like before.

This was the sixteenth day since they left Western Ring Nebula's foreign land.

Perhaps it was due to the appearance of a Master of Fate, Lives, and Death as well as his subsequent fight against Su Ming, but during those sixteen days, ripples had appeared nonstop in Western Ring Nebula, which was why all the cultivators in that galaxy had been terrified and did not dare to move out of their planets. Because of this, everywhere Su Ming had passed during these sixteen days had been very quiet.

He liked this type of silence.

Western Ring Nebula was rather far from Black Ink Planet. Unless his Ecang clone ventured out, he would be unable to get there within a short period of time with his own speed.

However, once the bald crane woke up and used the Divinity Incarceration Rune which had been reactivated, their speed became much faster.

According to Su Ming's estimations, he would need about six years before he could see Black Ink Planet.

However, before he left for Black Ink Planet, he still had one more thing to do. Once he settled this, he would no longer have many burdens left in Western Ring Nebula.

Three more days passed. On the nineteenth day since Su Ming had left Western Ring Nebula's foreign land, he opened his eyes slowly while seated on the coffin.

At the instant he did so, a planet appeared before him. That planet was dark red, like the color of a ball of flame that was about to die.

"Crimson Flame Planet…" Su Ming said softly.

"Crimson Flame Planet… so we've returned to this place."

The Duke of Crimson Flame had a rather sentimental expression on his face. In the blink of an eye, one thousand years had passed. When he thought back on the things that had happened, a slightly dazed expression appeared on his face.

The bald crane gradually shrank. At the instant the crimson coffin closed in on Crimson Flame Planet, it returned to its normal size and landed in front of Su Ming before sticking its head outward.

Boom!

The red coffin descended straight into Crimson Flame Planet. At the instant it touched the highest layer of wind in the planet, a sea of flame that was born due to the friction spread out in an arc in front of the coffin.

A strong gust of hot wind crashed into Su Ming's face. That wind was strong enough to crush all cultivators in Heaven Cultivation Realm. In fact, a normal cultivator in the initial stage of World Plane Realm would need to use Enchanted Treasures for some extra protection; they could not use their physical bodies alone to touch it. However, Su Ming remained calm. The hot wind blew against his body and lifted his hair, but did not manage to move him even in the slightest.

He watched quietly as the ground gradually grew bigger in front of him, watched as the mountain ranges, ravines, plains, and volcanoes grew larger before his eyes.

He continued watching until a booming sound echoed in the air. The coffin on which Su Ming sat shot through the highest layer of wind in the place, and the hot air immediately became weaker, though it still existed. However, it was no longer able to harm cultivators. It would only cause them to feel uncomfortable.

As he breathed in the familiar hot air and looked at the familiar ground, Su Ming could not help but remember his past self from one thousand years ago, when he had just appeared in Crimson Flame Planet.

He sighed softly. As his body remained in midair, ripples spread out from him, and he disappeared along with the coffin.

When he reappeared, Su Ming stood on a dried-up piece of land. It was empty all around him, without a single person to be seen. It was clear that the place where he was located was a rather remote area.

He looked at the ground. This place was the spot where he had lain when he was shifted to this place from Yin Death Region. It was also in this place that he met Yue Hong Bang.

He remained silent for a moment. Just as he was about to leave, Su Ming saw the bald crane digging by the side. He remembered that this spot was the place where it had turned into a stone in the past. As he watched, he saw that once the bald crane dug out a small pit in that spot, it brought out three crystals.

"Heh heh, I knew they would still be here. I knew it, I'm a smart crane. I hid these three crystals here in the past just to be on the safe side. Since we're now passing by this place, I might as well take them away.

"Let me think whether I should take away the crystals I hid away in the other places as well…"

That smug expression, that act of immediately taking away the crystals with excitement, and especially those murmurs made Su Ming's understanding towards the bald crane's love for money to become even greater.

He then stopped paying any attention to the bald crane and cast a look at the Duke of Crimson Flame. When he saw the nostalgic look on his face as he looked at the ground, Su Ming knew what the Duke of Crimson Flame was thinking of, and he sent a thought to the old man.

The Duke of Crimson Flame lifted his head and looked at Su Ming before he wrapped his fist in his palm and bowed to him. Then, he turned around and disappeared to head to the place that had sealed him in the past.

After the Duke of Crimson Flame left, Su Ming took a step forward and left as well, leaving the bald crane alone in that place as it was still thinking about whether it should take away all of its crystals.

When Su Ming reappeared, he was standing before a small hill. He looked at it. There was a cave abode in there, and beyond it were an endless amount of densely packed blue stones. At first glance, there was no end to them.

However, this place was already covered in dust. It had been a long time since anyone came to this place. The cave abode had also been deserted. Someone had destroyed the cave from within. It might still look like a hill, but in truth, this place was already ridden with wounds.

Or else someone would have definitely occupied this place after it was abandoned for so many years.

This cave abode had belonged to Qi Bei Shan in the past, and those blue stones were items that Su Ming had asked Yue Hong Bang to find for him one thousand years ago.

'So many blue stones… Hundreds of years must have been used to gather this amount. I wonder how is Yue Hong Bang now, and is the Crimson Python Phoenix still around…?'

Su Ming shook his head. As he spread his divine sense outwards, he covered the entire Crimson Flame Planet. After some time, Su Ming found that he could not find any traces of the Crimson Python Phoenixes.

They had clearly left this place.

However, Su Ming did find Yue Hong Bang.

To the northeast was a continuous stretch of mountains, one of which towered all the others. That mountain was crimson, and was clearly not any ordinary mountain. Instead, it was a volcano whose magma had already cooled.

There was a karst cave within the frozen magma at the foot of the volcano, but it was filled with putrid water. The water was black, and there were even bubbles appearing in it, as if it was boiling.

In that puddle of water was a man, submerged up to his chest.

His arms were pierced through by chains, and those chains were connected to the walls on both sides of the cave. Waves of sealing power constantly seeped into the man's body through the chains. As they suppressed his power, they also delivered excruciating torment upon him.

The man's hair was a mess and his body was thin. He looked disheveled and incredibly pathetic. His eyes were closed, and his face was covered in rotting wounds. There were maggots squirming about in them, so anyone who saw him would not be able to resist vomiting on the side.

That man did not know how many years it had been since he was submerged in this place. In fact, most of his body in the puddle of water had already decayed. However, his life force hadn't yet dispersed. There was still a hint of it left. Clearly, this was done intentionally by someone because they did not want him to die.

The man did not move. If it was not because there was still a hint of life within him, it would be incredibly easy to think that he was a corpse. Occasionally, waves of power would spread out from him. These waves… did not belong to those in Heaven Cultivation Realm, but were… waves of power in World Plane Realm.

He was a Lord of World Plane!

He might only be in the initial stage of World Plane Realm, but there was no mistaking this presence.

Footsteps arrived from the area outside. After a moment, the light from an oil lamp approached him. It was a young man dressed in black. Once he placed the oil lamp by the side, he sat down cross-legged beyond the puddle of water and looked at the man who was sealed.

"Have you thought this through?"

The hanging man did not move, and neither did he say anything. He merely kept his eyes closed and his head lowered.

"That person has already disappeared for one thousand years and hasn't showed up from Western Ring Nebula's foreign land. He is already dead, so why are you still protecting a dead man's secret?

"As long as you say it, my Master will immediately let you go. In fact, with your level of cultivation, you will immediately become one of the three masters of Crimson Flame Planet, an existence that can be on equal ground with senior Mei Lan."

The man still did not move, as if he was dead.

"Even if he isn't dead, so what? He's trapped in Western Ring Nebula's foreign land, and it's impossible for him to venture out. Even if he does, he has the forces of power from the four Great True Worlds going after his life. He'll be too busy fending for himself, so why are you still protecting his secret?

"Tell me why Mo Su gathered the blue stones in the past. Tell me how he absorbed the power within the blue stones and made his physical body so strong!

"Tell me and you'll be free. If you don't tell me, you'll continue being sealed in this place and live while enduring a fate worse than death!" The young man's face twisted into a ferocious expression as he shouted at the man.

The man's head moved slightly, and he slowly lifted his head, revealing a face that was ridden with scars. He opened his eyes and stared fixedly at the young man with his dull eyes.

"Your Master has already searched through my soul. If he didn't manage to find an answer like that, I have nothing to say to him either." There was a deep-seated hatred laced in that voice, and his words tumbled out of his mouth as if he was gnashing his teeth while speaking. The atmosphere between them instantly became gloomy.

"Hmph, that's because you have a method to protect your memories. If it wasn't because you knew Mo Su's secret, how could you have become a Lord of World Plane from a mere cultivator in Heaven Cultivation Realm within such a short period of time?" The young man's face remained ferocious as he stared at Yue Hong Bang. After a long while, he swung his arm, turned around, and left with the oil lamp.

His expression was dark. In his heart, he remembered that his Master had assigned him to this place to keep watch over the prisoner. Master's birthday was near, and he originally wanted to obtain an answer from Yue Hong Bang as a present, but the man continued to refuse saying anything, and he decided that once he celebrated his Master's birthday, he would think of some other ways to torture Yue Hong Bang.

Yue Hong Bang watched the young man leave and gradually closed his eyes. He did not know of Su Ming's secret, but the young man refused to believe in this sort of thing, because Yue Hong Bang had indeed become a Lord of a World Plane within a short period of time, but that was his own secret. If he told it to the young man, he would die.

If that was the case, it would be better if he did not say anything, then perhaps he would have a chance of survival.

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