Pursuit of the Truth

Chapter 865: Bat

In four days, Su Ming had made this sort of sound come out from Dao Avenue Mountain. This was something that had never happened before in the Yu Family. Most of those who cleared the first gate could only cause Dao Avenue's Voice to shout out after they had lasted for ten days.

Even the only Progenitor who had cleared all Three Gates of Heavenly Dao within the Yu Family had used seven days to bring out this sound.

When the voice rang out once again, it immediately caused a ruckus within the entire Yu Family. The silhouettes of people charged towards the place from all directions, and the five old men in the area sported changes in their expressions. The shock in their hearts caused their breathing to quicken slightly.

Only Yu Chen Hai clenched his fists excitedly.

"Who managed to clear the first gate out of the Three Gates of Heavenly Dao?!" At that moment, a buzzing sound reached them, and along with it was the first member of the Yu Family who had rushed over.

He was a middle-aged man who had a fair complexion and had no facial hair. He was dressed in a long gray robe, and his long hair was untied. He appeared from the air to stand before the five old men.

These five people immediately stood up and wrapped their fists in their palms to bow towards the middle-aged man.

"Greetings, Third Family Elder," the five people said at the same time as respect appeared on their faces. They might all be members of the Yu Family, and the middle-aged man before their eyes did not seem to be as old as they were, but these five people knew that the middle-aged man's true age was not to be known.

Several thousands of years ago, this person had appeared before them with this appearance. Now, thousands of years had passed, but he remained the same as he did in the past. Besides, even if they were older than he was, they would still have to be respectful towards him.

It was especially so since this middle-aged man looked almost identical to a certain ancestor within the family ancestral hall, which they would see every single time when they held the ceremony to offer sacrifices to their ancestors once every sixty years.

Even if this was not mentioned, just his status alone would similarly be able to make these five people unable to regard themselves as his equals. They had to be respectful towards him because he was the third family elder of the Yu Family.

That was why he was known as the Third Family Elder.

In the face of the middle-aged man's questions, the five people hesitated for a moment after they greeted him, but then still answered in low murmurs, not daring to hide anything. "The child of the family, Chen Hai, tried to obtain the support of somebody, and he agreed to come to this place to go through the Three Gates of Heavenly Dao to test."

"Hmm? When has the Yu Family ever needed our temporary guests to challenge the Three Gates of Heavenly Dao when the children of our family try to bring them to our side?" When the middle-aged man spoke lightly, he cast his gaze towards Yu Chen Hai, who had stood up a long time ago and had a respectful expression on his face.

"Greetings, Third Family Elder." Yu Chen Hai was feeling slightly anxious. With his rank in the family, he could not meet this middle-aged man on normal occasions. He could only see him in the distance when they held the ceremony to offer sacrifices to their ancestors. At that moment, he quickly knelt down on the ground.

"Oppressing others and fighting among the lineages. This is the interaction between all of you in the younger generation. I will not interfere with this… but using the Three Gates of Heavenly Dao… The five of you, after this, go and isolate yourselves. Do not let me see you for a thousand years," the middle-aged man said flatly, then directed his attention to Yu Chen Hai before speaking languidly towards him. "You are a descendant of Yu Mai's blood, correct?"

"Third Family Elder, I am indeed a descendant of Progenitor Yu Mai." Yu Chen Hai did not dare get up as he answered in a low murmur.

"Tell me what happened." The middle-aged man placed his hands behind his back and looked at Dao Avenue Mountain as he waited for Yu Chen Hai's words.

Yu Chen Hai quickly told him the entire process of how he came to know Su Ming, from the start right to the end. As he spoke, other people came one after another from all directions. When they saw the middle-aged man, looks of respect appeared on their faces and they bent their backs to greet him.

When Yu Chen Hai finished speaking, there were nearly one hundred members of Yu Family in the area. They had surrounded the two of them while listening to Yu Chen Hai recounting his tale.

The middle-aged man's expression remained as calm as before while he listened. When the tale was finished, he asked, "What is the name of the temporary guest you tried to bring to your side?"

"His name is Su Ming," Yu Chen Hai immediately answered in a low voice.

"Su Ming…" The middle-aged man didn't say anything more, but kept his gaze fixed on Dao Avenue Mountain.

"Within four days, you managed to make Dao Avenue's Voice appear. How did you do it…? I wonder if you will fail after this, or you will be able to make the Spirit Bat fly after a few days to bring out the second gate's phenomenon of the sun and moon shining at the same time." The middle-aged man remained calm as he spoke softly. He seemed to be mumbling to himself, but also seemed as if he was talking to the others beside him.

Time trickled by. The Third Family Elder's presence in the place caused Yu Chen Hai to be incredibly nervous, and it was the same for the other members of the family. Even the noise of the discussions wasn't present, so the place fell into a dead silence.

……

Su Ming was sitting on an unbroken chain of mountains. When he looked over the area, he saw boundless land. Mountains rose and fell, and there were valleys everywhere as well as pieces of flatland.

Over here, he forgot the flow of time. He looked at the sky calmly, and the sun, moon, and stars in his eyes spun. The Illusionary Art he had come to understand on his own was executed to its limit during the past few days.

However… he still could not prevent his body from rotting away and being slowly destroyed. Most of his body, which was still in a seated position, had already decayed, to the point that there were only bones left.

From the moment Su Ming stepped into Dao Avenue Mountain, he had been sitting cross-legged in this place without moving. He did not sense any danger in this boundless world, and it was as if there was no threat that lay in this place.

However, he did not move an inch… because the ground, mountains, flatlands, valleys, and everything here had caused his heart to tremble at the moment he first saw them upon his arrival.

He was definitely the first cultivator who had recognized what this place was at first glance among all those who had challenged the first gate of Dao Avenue Mountain.

He recognized what this place was, because several years ago, he had seen the same thing with his own eyes when he was in the region where the forces of power from True Sacred Yin World were stationed. It was also because of this thing chasing after his life that the ten Ecang souls had burst forth from Western Ring Nebula's foreign land to fight against it in a great battle.

A Master of Fate, Lives, and Death!

The ground beneath his body was the palm of a Master of Fate, Lives, and Death. The mountain ranges were the palm lines, the flatlands were the empty spaces between the palm lines, and the valleys were the crevices caused by those palm lines.

However, this land was even bigger than the one he had seen in the past!

This made Su Ming remember the gigantic statue of the mountain when he was outside Dao Avenue Mountain - the existence that was akin to a ferocious ghost and the huge bat that could not fly out from its right hand.

The bat's color was black, just like the color of his body as he continued decaying.

"As long as you believe it, it will exist," Su Ming mumbled. These were the words Yu Chen Hai had told him. It was what the Yu Family had concluded based on the experiences they obtained. However, even if people learned of it beforehand, it was still of little use. There were very few from the Yu Family who managed to clear the first gate.

"There is a power that I've never come into contact with before surrounding this place. This power is very strong, and it's great enough to exist together with the universe…" Su Ming said softly as his body continued rotting away. As he spoke, the bones in the places they had decayed started disintegrating. From the distance, he looked as if he had turned into a bat.

A bat that could not fly out from a palm.

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