Chapter 1416 - 999 - 1005

Chapter 999: A Chessboard

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The appearance of the Fire Spirits instantly caused the world to turn fire red. The seething sea of fire, the high temperature, the ruthless expressions on the Fire Spirits, and the mighty pressure coming from their sheer numbers instantly caused the hearts of all people to tremble!

The corpse of the white-robed teenager with the blood of Ancient Wu fell in the region where the crack had formed on the ground. Almost at the instant the Fire Spirits surged up and their roars reverberated in the air in a shocking manner, his corpse vanished without a trace deep in the crevice.

No one dared to chase after him to search for him. Even the expression Flame Fiends' Progenitor changed the instant he saw that large number of Fire Spirits. Since he longed greatly for the white-robed teenager's corpse, he would have gone right after if the Fire Spirits were just normal ones. But among them, there were around a dozen who were nearly Almighties in Mastery Realm. They… were the reason why everyone's expressions changed.

Roars echoed in the air, Flame Fiends' Progenitor had his Nascent Divinity shrink. A large amount of flames instantly shot out from it. They enveloped his entire body, and he did not dare move a single inch. Based on his experience, this method was not really effective when there was no one else around him, but if there had been someone, he might escape death.

After all, the element spreading out from his body was also fire.

Su Ming's eyes shrank. At that moment, he was already like the last embers of a dying flame. There was no way he could hide. The only thing he could do was to use his fastest speed to take a few steps backwards. He swung his arm and put away the severely injured Resentful Wei into his storage bag.

Almost at the instant he finished doing this, the large number of Fire Spirits that had surged out split into two parts. One of them charged towards the body of the supreme treasure, while the other came roaring after Su Ming.

Before the ruthless expressions, ferocious gazes, and endless sea of fire spreading out of their bodies closed in, the ground looked as if it was about to melt from the heat. This was a fire that could burn a world!

During that moment of danger, after Su Ming gritted his teeth and put away the Resentful Wei, he prepared himself to summon the Sand Spirit to neutralize this impending disaster. But suddenly, he saw a scene that caused his gaze to focus and a strange expression to instantly appear on his face.

The Fire Spirits who were charging towards him came to an abrupt halt in midair once he put away the Resentful Wei, as if they had charged towards him because of the black horse. Right then, no traces of the Resentful Wei could be found, so as if they could not see Su Ming, they turned their to look around, then their expressions regained their ruthlessness. As they roared… they rushed towards Flame Fiends' Progenitor who was enveloped in flames in hopes to pass off as a ball of fire.

The pupils of Flame Fiends' Progenitor shrank, and he immediately began cursing. He had used this method many times to lie his way through disasters, but this time, much to his grievance, he realized that even though Su Ming was standing in midair, those Fire Spirits… did not even spare him a glance. This matter caused Flame Fiends' Progenitor to feel aggrieved, but at the same time, he did not have time to think too much about it. In a flash, he turned into a long arc that escaped into the distance.

There was the sound of air being sliced, and a large number of Fire Spirits rushed madly after Flame Fiends' Progenitor.

After Su Ming had left the body of the supreme treasure, Xuan Shang had become the main soul once more. When the Fire Spirits closed in on him, his heart shuddered, and he instantly had the body of the supreme body to shoot up from the ground. He turned into a long arc and fled into the distance. Like before, a portion of the Fire Spirits split up to chase after him like a swarm of bees.

Su Ming was momentarily stunned, because all of that had happened in the span of a few breaths. The Fire Spirits had surged into the sky and filled it in the start, but in an instant, the land became empty… All the Fire Spirits had split up to chase after Flame Fiends' Progenitor and the body of the supreme treasure, but they did not come after Su Ming, as if they didn't care for him at all…

Su Ming blinked. He remembered his previous assumption: It seemed like the Fire Spirits in this land did not harbor any hostility towards him.

A faint glint shone in his eyes, then he looked towards the crack in the distance. He did not act rashly, but instead sat down cross-legged and began circulating his cultivation base to swiftly heal himself.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Su Ming opened his eyes. He managed to suppress some of the injuries in his body, and without any hesitation, he charged into the crack on the ground. He did not care about the white-robed teenager's corpse, but he cared about his storage bag… because the catwoman was clearly in it.

The reason behind why the situation in which either he or the white-robed teenager had to die was in truth caused by the catwoman. Even though she did not have much of a connection with Su Ming, but he had taken over everything that belonged to Dao Kong, and that catwoman had thus become one of his subordinates. Because of that, there was no way he would allow her to be used as a blood source.

The crack was very big, and it was dark inside. The area was incredibly spacious. At full speed, Su Ming charged into the depths. Before long, when he stepped into the bottom most layer of the crack, his pupils constricted, and he began observing the area around him carefully.

This was a secret tunnel, but the crack above it had allowed the Fire Spirits to rush out. When he looked around him, his gaze landed in the distance, where the white-robed teenager's corpse lay unmoving.

While walking closer, Su Ming stared at the white-robed teenager, whose eyes were still open, but had long become dull and lifeless, and who had died without peace. A cold sneer curled up on his lips.

"You are the first Almighty I killed, but you definitely won't be the last."

Su Ming swung his right hand, and the white-robed teenager's storage bag flew out to him. Once he caught it, he scanned it with his Atman. Due to the white-robed teenager's death, his storage bag had become an item without an owner. With his Atman, Su Ming immediately saw the catwoman sealed inside. She was unconscious at the moment. There was a mark of a centipede at the center of her brows, which was slowly fading away.

Su Ming stared at it, then his eyes shone suddenly. Without batting an eyelid, he patted the white-robed teenager's corpse with his right hand, and immediately, he put away his corpse. Only once he finished doing this did he stand up. Almost at the instant he did that, his left index finger pointed behind him as his body moved.

However, the gust of wind from his finger formed by his divine ability did not shoot outwards. Not too far away behind him was a Fire Spirit that was clearly a baby. It had its eyes wide open and was gawking at Su Ming.

This Fire Spirit was very small and did not even reach Su Ming's knees. It was crouching on the ground, without a hint of malice on its face. Instead, it was filled with curiosity.

When Su Ming looked towards it, the baby Fire Spirit looked as if it had been scared by him and immediately took a few steps back. At the same time, interest appeared on its face. This hen caused it to move forward slightly. When it looked at Su Ming, its expression gradually grew gentle. There was no fear on it, only a look of ease and comfort.

This comfortable feeling allowed it to get closer to Su Ming. When it was only dozens of feet away, it moved in a flash and charged towards Su Ming. A fierce look appeared in Su Ming's eyes, but he did not dodge. He wanted to verify his guess, and so allowed the Fire Spirit to come towards him. When he saw the small Fire Spirit lying by his feet with a delighted expression on its face while hugging onto his calf and refusing to let go, a thought rose in his heart.

'Could it be that the Fire Spirits are also like the one thousand feet tall tree?'

As Su Ming contemplated it, he moved, intending to leave the crack, but the moment he moved, the baby Fire Spirit let go and swiftly returned to the spot it had been crouching in earlier. Then once it beckoned for Su Ming to come over, it moved in a flash and disappeared without a trace into the tunnel.

A pensive look appeared in Su Ming's eyes. The meaning behind the young Fire Spirit's actions was clear. It wanted him to enter the tunnel. After he pondered over it silently for a moment, Su Ming took a step forward and walked into the tunnel. When he stepped inside, he saw the small Fire Spirit waiting for him at a fork in the distance. When it saw him following, it immediately grinned and ran forward again.

Like this, Su Ming followed after the baby Fire Spirit in a place that was filled with tunnels which created a complicated maze. He continued moving as time trickled by. After about an hour, when the Fire Spirit had allowed Su Ming to approach it, he saw an incredibly large and spacious underground cave!

This was a place that was several tens of thousands of feet tall. It was dark in the area, Su Ming could clearly see hollowed pits all over the ground; there were countless caves on the walls. If he was to describe this underground world as a maze, then this was surely its core.

In silence, Su Ming stared at a skeleton leaning against the wall of the cave on the ground beneath him. Only half of that skeleton remained, but Su Ming saw… a long spear that the skeleton held in its hand!

The spear was purple at first, but when he took a few closer looks, he saw it turn black, as if it was occasionally changing between black and purple.

Near the skeleton were two old Fire Spirits. They were clearly very old and were sitting cross-legged like cultivators. Between them was a chessboard with a couple chess pieces on it. The two Fire Spirits… were clearly playing chess!

The baby Fire Spirit was crouching beside the chessboard and beckoning Su Ming to come to its side.

Su Ming focused. As he pondered over it, he moved. Since he had already come to this place, then he might as well get to the bottom of it. When he approached the chessboard between the two old Fire Spirits, his gaze first swept past the creatures, but they did not seem to have noticed his arrival. They did not even lift their heads, but continued moving the chess pieces about the chessboard while contemplating their next moves.

This scene was incredibly bizarre. In silence, Su Ming looked over the chessboard.

This was a board game he had never seen before. There were only ten chess pieces scattered over it. Five of them were gray, and four of them were white. There was only one that was black.

No matter how he looked at it, that black chess piece looked as if it had appeared out of nowhere and gave off an incredibly discordant feeling. After all, nine was the peak of all numbers, so the additional black piece gave the entire chessboard a feeling as if a powerful sense of slaughter was contained within it.

Four white chess pieces looked as if they had surrounded the black piece so that they could kill it in order to restore harmony to the chessboard.

Su Ming stared at it. When his gaze landed on the black piece, he frowned.

Time trickled by slowly, and after a long moment, the old Fire Spirit on the right side of the chessboard let out a sigh filled with an ancient air.

Chapter 1000: Then Let's Fight!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The old Fire Spirit who had sighed shook his head and mumbled under his breath, "Why is it like this?"

"That's right, why is it this way?" The Fire Spirit sitting by the left side of the chessboard revealed anguish.

"You are Su Xuan Yi's son and an Abyss Builder, so could you tell me why this game turned out like this?" The Fire Spirit on the right of the chessboard lifted his head and for the first time cast his gaze on Su Ming.

At the instant he looked over, Su Ming's heart shuddered. This old Fire Spirit's eyes might seem clouded, but there was an indescribably fierce look in his eyes. In fact, there was even a type of mighty pressure in that gaze. That mighty pressure was even more powerful than that of Dust Burners' Progenitor. Su Ming could sense that faint, indistinct cracks had immediately started appearing in the space around the area when the Fire Spirit looked over.

This was… an Art governing the laws of fate!

"What is this game?" Su Ming asked.

He was not surprised by the fact that he was recognized. He could tell that these two old Fire Spirits were the ones that Dust Burners' Progenitor had said possessed intelligence and incredibly great power, but who did not wish to leave the fifth kiln to become part of Dust Burners. They obeyed the ancient promise and acted as guardians in the fifth kiln.

Since the one thousand feet tall tree could recognize him and the Fire Spirits completely ignored him when they saw him, it was not surprising that the two powerful Fire Spirits who possessed intelligence could recognize him.

"It is a game Abyss Builders' Progenitor played with Su Xuan Yi in the fifth kiln when the fifth True World was surrounded and attacked by the four Great True Worlds. He then left the fifth kiln and fought against the enemies in the world outside.

"Before he left, he let out a long string of laughter… and shook his head…"

Su Ming's expression was calm. He had experienced far too many things. At that moment, he stared in silence at the chessboard, especially that black piece. Time trickled by slowly, and it continued flowing away until a long, long had time passed.

"Even you don't understand it…" The old Fire Spirit to the right of the chessboard shook his head and sighed.

Su Ming did not speak. He only stared at the chessboard. Gradually, the Fire Spirits returned to the underground cave from the world outside. They were roaring when they returned, but once they entered the spacious underground cave, they fell silent and crouched down in the area around.

More of them came back as time passed. When all the Fire Spirits returned, they were once more densely packed in the place, illuminating the area by the faint light coming from the fire around their bodies.

Two of them were very tall, and they possessed power that was nearly that of Almighties in Mastery Realm. The Nascent Divinity of Flame Fiends' Progenitor was captured in their hands. He was shuddering with fear on his face, but when he saw Su Ming in the distance, he was stunned.

Su Ming lifted his head and said softly, "This game is very easy to understand,"

His words immediately attracted the gazes of the two Fire Spirits.

"Have the both of you never left the fifth kiln? And did you gain your power not because of any form of training in the path of cultivation but because you naturally gained it as time passed after you gained intelligence?" Su Ming swept his gaze past the two old Fire Spirits.

"What do you mean?" The Fire Spirit to the left of the chessboard spoke hoarsely after remaining silent for a moment.

"There are nine worlds in this universe, so it's clear that nine is the peak of all numbers, but there are not just nine worlds on the chessboard. Instead, a black piece was added to it, causing this game to no longer be in harmony. The signs of chaos had appeared within it.

"The additional black piece should be the Abyss Builders. More accurately speaking, it was once the Abyss Builders' Progenitor," Su Ming said calmly. There was a sentimental tone in his voice that no one could detect. He lifted his right hand and lifted the black piece from the chessboard.

Once it was taken away, a harmonious air immediately radiated off the layout of the chessboard. Five gray and four white pieces. Albeit filled with a fragmented and incomplete air, it still gave off a feeling of a complete universe.

"These should be the nine worlds in the universe. These four white pieces are the four Great True Worlds, and the five gray pieces are the five Great True Worlds that were once destroyed and are now in the void." Su Ming shook his head, then put down the black piece in his hand back to its original spot.

"The Fifth True World… is not one of the nine worlds in this universe," Su Ming said softly after lowering his head. In truth, he had come to understand this earlier, but only then was he certain of his guess. The Fifth True World… was the fifth, and also the tenth.

"This game is the epiphany of Abyss Builders' Progenitor. He laughed because he was proud of himself, and he shook his head because he was filled with regret. He was proud that he disturbed the game, and regretful because he did not manage to complete it.

"He left this game… for Su Xuan Yi, because he wanted Su Xuan Yi to continue and finish the game," Su Ming's stated calmly, his expression not changing.

"Then what did you see?" the old Fire Spirit to the right of the chessboard suddenly asked.

Su Ming stayed silent. After a long while, he sighed. "He wants me to complete the game."

The secrets of the Fifth True World were revealed before his eyes when he least expected it.

When he thought about it carefully, if he connected all the clues he discovered in the past, then the outline of the string would form a secret that no longer was something complicated.

There was nothing worth hiding about this secret either. The four Great True Worlds surrounding and attacking the Fifth True World in the past had always been a fact.

Perhaps these two old Fire Spirits truly did not understand it, but there was also a possibility that they understood it…

If they really did not understand it, then it would be because they had never walked out of the fifth kiln. Perhaps they did not know that there were worlds and disasters existing in the Cultivation Worlds outside.

Worlds possessed Essences of Worlds. It could make a limited number of cultivators become Lords of World Planes. It could be described as a place with only a certain amount of fixed spots. Once they were occupied, other people could either leave to search for other worlds to obtain their acknowledgement, or kill the current holders and snatch their spots.

Beside these, there were no other options. Unless they could endure having their cultivation base eternally remain at one level, they had to choose one of the two options.

As they trained and obtained the acknowledgement of ten thousand Essences of Worlds, they could reach Plane Kalpa Realm. Once they surpassed this Realm, they would reach Lunar Kalpa Realm, and as they continued gathering their power, they would reach Solar Kalpa Realm.

This was the law of the universe. All lives could only practice cultivation if they obeyed this law… Su Ming had been uncertain about the Fifth True World previously, after he gained his understanding about his inborn ability of an Abyss Builder.

This inborn ability was blatant robbery. It was a domineering, malicious ability, a madness that ignored laws and stood above them. He did not need Essences of Worlds, and neither did he need to fuse with ten thousand worlds to reach Plane Kalpa Realm, because his ability to Possess others could surpass everything.

It was due to the uncertainty towards this inborn ability that Su Ming… had formed guesses towards the Fifth True World in the bottom of his heart.

He could already imagine that Abyss Builders' Progenitor was the prodigy of his generation. With his inborn divine ability, he could Possess all living beings, overturn the universe, ignore rules, and reach an incredibly terrifying state.

Because of that, he would naturally attract the other powerful warriors' attention and bring about the disaster of death on himself. It seemed to make sense if that was the case.

However, there was always a question in Su Ming's heart. If he could solve it, he would be able to understand what had happened.

The stronger Abyss Builders' Progenitor became, the more of a threat he posed to others. However, this was not enough for the four Great True Worlds to work together to surround and destroy all living beings in the Fifth True World. They also nearly killed all the Abyss Builders, with even Su Ming not escaping from being cursed when he was just a baby in his mother's womb.

This… was slightly illogical.

Unless Abyss Builders' Progenitor did something that angered the heavens and all lives in the universe, forcing the other four Great True Worlds to attack… But with the power and wisdom Abyss Builders' Progenitor possessed, how could it have been possible for him not to see the end result of his actions. How could it be possible that he would do something that would incite such wrath in the four Great True Worlds that it could not be resolved?

'There's another possibility…'

Su Ming lifted his head. He looked at the walls of the cave above him. There was a hint of deep emotion in his eyes. He remembered the Duke of Crimson Flame once mentioning that Abyss Builders' Progenitor was only half a step away from becoming the supreme, unparalleled existence in the world. He might have been half a step away, but his offensive power back then had already been sufficient for him to fight against two supreme existences!

The Duke of Crimson Flame might only have been in Lunar Kalpa Realm, but during that generation, cultivators in Lunar Kalpa Realm could see far ahead down the path of cultivation. The supreme existence he mentioned was a Master of Fate, Lives, and Death, but once Su Ming came to understand the Masters of Fate, Lives, and Death, he understood that those in Mastery Realm were Masters of Fate, Lives, and Death, and those in Death Realm were also the same. In fact, even Sublime Paragons could be said to have been born from Masters of Fate, Lives, and Death, but different Realms meant a difference between heaven and earth.

If that was the case, then it would mean that there was a high possibility that that supreme existence… was a Sublime Paragon, which would also mean that Abyss Builders' Progenitor had only been half a step away from becoming a Sublime Paragon!

However, his offensive power had already been great enough for him to fight against two Sublime Paragons!!

'This possibility is… No matter what path of cultivation we practice, there will always be a checkpoint. Breaking through this checkpoint is the same as the Essences of Worlds all lives in the world practice. It is in a fixed position.

'Every single world out of the nine worlds in the universe can only have one Sublime Paragon. This is the law.

'Which is why there are only four Sublime Paragons in the four Great True Worlds. They stand above Kalpa Lords like Dao Chen. If the Fifth True World is one of the nine worlds in the universe, then the matter of it being destroyed would not have happened.

'But the Fifth True World was not one of the nine worlds in the universe. Because of it, once Abyss Builders' Progenitor became a Sublime Paragon, one of the four Sublime Paragons in the four Great True Worlds would definitely die!

'There were only four spots, and they had already been occupied, but then came a person who became a great threat to the four… Abyss Builders' Progenitor!'

Su Ming stayed silent. This was his guess, but he was quite certain that it… was the real reason behind why the Fifth True World was destroyed.

He sighed softly, then lowered his head. He looked at the black piece on the chessboard, then after he remained silent for a moment, a bright spark appeared in his eyes. He lifted his right hand and picked up the black piece once again.

Su Ming did not want to take this path at first, but he knew that it did not matter whether it was Su Xuan Yi or he himself, as long as they took that one step, they would definitely fall to the same fate as Abyss Builders' Progenitor.

If that was the case…

"Then let's fight!"

A freezing glare shone in Su Ming's eyes. He clenched his right fist, and the black piece disappeared from his palm.

Chapter 1001: Zhu You Cai

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

At the instant the black piece disappeared from Su Ming's palm, the two old Fire Spirits sitting on the left and right of the chessboard exchanged glances before lowering their heads. Their eyelids fell shut.

At the same time, the other Fire Spirits around the area also crouched down and looked like they were falling into sleep again. There was not a hint of aversion in them towards Su Ming standing there, and neither did they pay any attention to him.

Su Ming swept his gaze across the area, until eventually his eyes landed on the half of the skeleton lying against the wall not too far away. He also stared at the long spear it held in its hands, and his eyes flashed with light.

"This person came ages ago. He killed seven powerful warriors in succession, and even the two of us were not his opponent… In the end, we had to have our people offer up their lives to activate three-tenths of the fire in the fifth kiln to refine him alive…

"But this person was so strong that this was only enough to melt half of his body and seal his soul in this place. And this happened just because he already harbored the desire to die in his heart, or else… if he had wanted to leave, we would not have been able to make him stay.

"The long spear in his hands is dyed with a large amount of Fire Spirits' life force. If you're not worried that this person will one day be resurrected and rush out of this place, you can take away the spear."

The old Fire Spirit's voice echoed in the cave. Su Ming stared at the remaining half of the skeleton, and after a period of pensive silence, he walked over.

When he came beside the skeleton, he cast a few scrutinizing glances at it, and eventually became certain that this person… was not Lie Shan Xiu!

In truth, when he saw this skeleton, an assumption had formed in his heart. After all, Lie Shan Xiu had a spear named Undertaker of Evil's Spear. Su Ming had received an imitation ot it in the past, but he then remembered that the real Undertaker of Evil's Spear was under the imperial city in the land of Berserkers. It was used to suppress evil, so Lie Shan Xiu should not have taken it away.

At the Su Ming observed the skeleton carefully, his assumption disappeared from his mind. His gaze landed on the long spear that alternated between black and purple, he lifted his right hand to grab it.

The instant Su Ming touched it, a thick murderous aura spread out from the spear with a bang. It traveled up Su Ming's right hand and charged into his body. Within an instant, it filled him up. The murderous aura was so strong that as it traveled through him, it turned into a wave of impact that went surging to his brain.

Under this impact, an absent-minded look appeared in Su Ming's eyes. Blurry pictures flashed through his mind. Those pictures seemed to be the spear's memories, and they were all revealed before Su Ming's eyes.

Within one picture was a middle-aged man dressed in black with a long spear in his hand. The place where he stood was the underground cave. There was no expression on the man's face, but there was no longer any attachment towards life in his eyes, either. There were countless Fire Spirits surrounding him, and there were nine huge Fire Spirits exuding the presence of Masters of Fate, Lives, and Death fighting against him.

There was no expression on his face, but with each spear thrust, the earth would move, and the mountains would tremble. As the Fire Spirits died one by one, they began to chat. Before the man's eyes, the spirits began aging, and as the ground rumbled under his feet, an endless sea of fire gushed out of the land. That sea of fire… instantly submerged the middle-aged man.

The picture changed. The middle-aged man appeared in a world where the sky was blue, but once he pierced through it, it turned black. The hundreds of living creatures on the ground collapsed and died. It could be seen that the world where he was located was still a dimension in the fifth kiln.

A third picture appeared, and it portrayed a galaxy. Su Ming could see that before the middle-aged man was an endless sea of fire gushing out of the fifth kiln. Clearly, this time, the memory he saw was the one before the middle-aged man had stepped into the fifth kiln.

These pictures were flashbacks that were sketching out the man's memories. They were a recollection kept by the spear.

A fourth picture appeared in Su Ming's mind. It was set… within the Barren Lands of Divine Essence. It was the galaxy in which the four Great True Worlds used to keep watch over the barren lands. Even though Su Ming did not know to which true world the man belonged, he saw five-colored light on the middle-aged man's hands turn into a rope that bound his hands. There were nearly one hundred runic symbols surrounding him as if they were sealing him. Behind him were seven old men. They looked at the bound man with complicated expressions on their faces, their heads lowered to bow to him.

The man turned around. There was a hint of a defeat and grief on his face. He lowered his head to look at his bound hands. When he relaxed them slightly, Su Ming saw that there was a faint red medicinal core between then. The middle-aged man clenched his fists tightly, then walked into the distance.

The fifth picture allowed Su Ming to see a galaxy with which he was incredibly familiar. The color of that galaxy was not black, but red!

The middle-aged man held the long spear in this galaxy. Soon, he let out a string of shrill and forlorn sounding laughter before he rushed towards a bald teenager ahead of him.

This teenager was dressed in a blood-red long robe. He did not seem old, but there was an indescribable ancient air about him. He stared at the middle-aged man coldly. After just a lift of his right hand, the middle-aged man coughed up blood as he tumbled back.

"Are you done fooling around?" The teenager's voice was calm, and there was a dignified air within it that signified someone who regarded himself as a supreme entity.

"I'd rather not learn the Extermination Dao and enter Death Realm!" the middle-aged man roared and charged forward in a mad dash again.

The picture changed, the sixth picture appearing in Su Ming's mind. In it was a cultivation planet. The sky was still red, but the middle-aged man was now on the ground. In his arms was a woman's corpse. Tears trickled down his cheeks as he roared at the sky.

The woman's corpse slowly disintegrated, until she turned into a faint red medicinal core!

At the same time, the teenager in red walked calmly into the picture. He picked up the medicinal core and handed it to the middle-aged man.

"Eat it. When you do, you can practice Sacred Yin's Extermination Dao. Once I take that one step forward, it does not matter whether I'll succeed or not, you will still become the next Kalpa Lord of Sacred Yin World."

When Su Ming heard this, his entire body shuddered, but he did not let go of the spear in his hand. Instead, he gripped it tighter before slowly lifting it up, slowly extracting it from the skeleton's palm.

Immediately after, the picture in his mind changed again, and the seventh picture appeared. This time, the teenager in red stood in a world with birds chirping and flowers blooming. Before him was a child of about eight or nine years old. That boy knelt under the teenager's feet, and with his young voice, he said…

"Master."

Su Ming opened his eyes swiftly and looked at the half of the skeleton before slowly bringing the spear in his hand before him. The hand which the skeleton used to hold the spear was lifted up high as well when Su Ming raised the spear. If anyone saw this, it would seem as if the skeleton himself had lifted his hand to give Su Ming the spear in his hand.

When the skeleton let go of his grip and Su Ming held the purplish black long spear completely by himself, it shone and disappeared into his hand. However, a purple and black ring appeared on Su Ming's right index finger. With a swing of his arm, that ring immediately disappeared, hidden away.

After a period of silence, Su Ming took a few steps back, wrapped his fist in his palm, then bowed deeply towards the skeleton.

He knew the reason behind why this person longed for death, which was mentioned by the Fire Spirits just then. He was the Sovereign of True Sacred Yin World and was the disciple of Sacred Yin's Kalpa Lord. If everything had went smoothly, this person would have become the next Sacred Yin's Kalpa Lord.

But during this process, an accident happened. His wife passed away, and it was due to the Master he idolized since he was young. His body was exiled to the Barren Lands of Divine Essence, but his soul had already died a long time ago when the woman in his arms closed her eyes.

Su Ming looked at the skeleton in front of him. He did not even know his name, but he knew that a person who could enter Death Realm through the Extermination Dao… was definitely an Almighty in Life Realm. This sort of powerful warrior… was surely a shocking person whose name rang through the galaxy.

There was practically no force in the universe that could make a person who reached Life Realm die. Even if there was, it was definitely rare and hard to find. That was why he was still alive, even if there was only half of his skeleton remaining.

However, Su Ming did not sense this person's soul from the skeleton or the long spear in his hand. The memories he saw just then were only some residual ones left behind in the spear. When it disappeared into Su Ming's hand, the residual memories also vanished.

After bowing once, Su Ming lifted his head, then turned around to walk towards the exit. The Fire Spirits continued crouching in the area, their eyes closing slowly, as if they wanted to fall asleep again. Su Ming took a few steps forward, and after a pause, he looked at Flame Fiends' Progenitor who was looking at him anxiously.

"That Nascent Divinity is mine," Su Ming said calmly.

When he said these words, the Fire Spirit holding onto the Nascent Divinity of Flame Fiends' Progenitor let go of it. Flame Fiends' Progenitor immediately flew to Su Ming's side, who lifted his feet and turned into a long arc that charged towards the exit. Flame Fiends' Progenitor followed after him closely. At that moment, there was no longer any hint of hostility in him towards Su Ming.

The two of them moved through the tunnels underground extremely quickly. After some time, Su Ming rushed out of the crack in the ground.

Flame Fiends' Progenitor followed behind him. Once he rushed out, he looked at the crack in the ground with lingering fear in his eyes, then looked at Su Ming. HE wrapped his fist in his palm and bowed to him.

"Thank you, fellow Daoist."

Su Ming turned around and cast Flame Fiends' Progenitor a look. He did not speak, but instead lifted his head to look at the sky. He scanned the area with his Atman and found that he could not find the body of the supreme treasure in this world. Clearly, they had already escaped from Fire Spirits' pursuit and went into another dimension.

However, with the bald crane, Xu Hui, and Progenitor Long Hai around, Su Ming would be able to immediately notice them the moment they both entered the same dimension.

Flame Fiends' Progenitor hesitated for a moment, but did not dare to mention the matter about them agreeing that he would have the white-robed teenager's physical body. He was incredibly weakened at the moment, and he was worried that if he brought this up, he would displease Su Ming.

"Let's go."

Su Ming had already found the exit with his Atman, and with one move, he charged towards it. Flame Fiends' Progenitor quickly followed behind him, and after some time, they arrived at the distorted region which was the exit. They stepped in and disappeared from the world.

What the two of them did not know was that at the instant Su Ming took the purple-black spear from the skeleton's hands, the big and ferocious looking Zhu You Cai shuddered in another dimension. He slowly lifted his head and looked into the distance, his face filled with complicated emotions.

Chapter 1002: Life Inclination Spear

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Have I been freed?��� Zhu You Cai lowered his head and sat down quietly on the floor. The world where he was located was formed by lakes. At that moment, there was one beside him, and the blue sky reflected off it.

Zhu You Cai looked at his thick palm, and after a long while… a faint red medicinal core appeared on it!

He looked at the medicinal core, and his expression slowly became gentle, but there was also anguish on his face.

"No matter who did it, I am free…" Zhu You Cai mumbled and stood up before casting a glance at the lake beside him. In silence, he walked over and lowered his head to look at the surface. When he did so, he saw his reflection in the water.

A body as plump as that of a boar met his eyes. He had a hideous look formed by layers of thick fat on his face. Bloodshot eyes, messy hair… After Zhu You Cai took a good look at himself, he closed his eyes.

When he opened them again… he was still Zhu You Cai. He moved and turned into a long arc that charged into the distance.

"The Abyss Builders of the Fifth True World have an Art that can resurrect the dead. As long as they have a fragment of a soul, they can make the dead come back to life. Even though the Fifth True World has disappeared and it is said that the Abyss Builders have been wiped out… as long as there is a fragment of hope, I must go to the Fifth True World. I must find an Abyss Builder and resurrect you…"

…..

As Su Ming and Flame Fiends' Progenitor moved through the passages of time and had their life force flow out from their bodies time and again, Su Ming began to feel exhausted, and he could not help but remember the promise of a thousand years to the cultivators in Western Ring Nebula's foreign lands.

That promise was related to time. Originally, it was for everyone, but once Su Ming Possessed Ecang, it disappeared, but the prerequisite was that… he had to have his Ecang clone devour the other Ecangs so that he would continue growing stronger until he occupied the entire Western Ring Nebula and turned it into his personal abode.

This was Su Ming's goal. At that moment, such a goal was still a little far away, but there was no doubt… that at that moment, his Ecang clone was already stronger than the other Ecangs. However, he was still not strong enough to devour the other souls in one go.

As Su Ming traveled forward, he moved through one dimension after another. He did not stop in any of them for long. Usually, after he came to a dimension, he would scan it with his Atman, and upon not discovering the body of the supreme treasure, he would immediately leave.

Because of it, things were hard for Flame Fiends' Progenitor. He was a Nascent Divinity. Each time he moved through another dimension, he would become even more tired, but he did not dare say a word because he was worried that he would stir up Su Ming's desire to kill him.

As he followed after him, he sighed continuously in his heart. When he came to the fifth kiln, he did not expect that he would end up like this, and it was not the first time he regretted his decision in his heart… Why did he show hostility towards Su Ming in the beginning?

'This person is ruthless and cunning. I absolutely can't provoke him again.'

Flame Fiends' Progenitor cast a wary glance at Su Ming in front of him. He might not have forced the Progenitor to follow him, but he could already imagine that if he did anything abnormal, it would be the same as giving the other an excuse to attack.

"After moving past the Spirit Trudging Platforms on the second border, the dimensions will reduce in number, and the chances of dimensions with supreme treasures appearing will increase. How much do you know about this?" Su Ming suddenly asked while rushing forward.

"The third border in the fifth kiln isn't really that dangerous, in comparison. After all, the chance of everyone running into each other isn't that high…" When Flame Fiends' Progenitor said this much, he stopped talking, and he sighed in his heart again.

"It's the similar between the third and second borders. The chances of us running into each other are higher, but if we're careful, huge accidents won't happen.

"However, the dimensions in front of the Spirit Trudging Platforms of the second border, before the first border, will be incredibly intense. There aren't many dimensions there to begin with, so when several people appear in a dimension and there is a supreme treasure in there…" Flame Fiends' Progenitor cast a glance at Su Ming.

"They'll be engaged in a battle to the death! I've come to the fifth kiln several times before. Each time, there will be powerful warriors who will die between the second and first borders.

"Once the remaining few people step onto the Spirit Trudging Platforms of the first border, the place they will want to go to would be the core of the fifth kiln. Over there, their fights will reach their most intense state, because when they are there, the nine greatest supreme treasures will appear, and that temptation… is not something a normal person can resist.

"But during the past few times, I would at most go to the area between the second and first border. I chose to leave before I stepped into the core, which is why I'm still alive," Flame Fiends' Progenitor said in a low tone.

Su Ming's expression remained calm, but several thoughts had emerged in his head. As he moved forward, he walked out of a crack of a dimension and stepped into a new one. This was already the umpteenth dimension he had moved through, and based on his calculations, he should soon be arriving at the Spirit Trudging Platforms at the end of the second border.

Almost at the instant Su Ming took a step in the dimension, his expression changed. At the same time, the eyes of Flame Fiends' Progenitor by his side lit up with delighted surprise.

Right before their eyes, an intense battle was being waged in the sky. Booming sounds reverberated in the air, stirring up many waves of impact that swept through the area. They created violent gusts of wind that threatened to collapse the sky and shatter the earth.

The two sides fighting were Zhu You Cai and the body of the supreme treasure of Xuan Shang, Xu Hui, and the others!

The bottom half of the dimension was a blue ocean. Huge waves were swept up by the wind caused by the battle in the sky. The waves roared, causing a huge whirlpool to appear on the entire surface of the ocean.

As this whirlpool rotated ceaselessly, it allowed all people to see the bottom of the ocean!

There was a statue over there. It was a strange, with three heads. Its entire body shone with a white light that illuminated the sky, and it looked like a piece that was placed as a garrison at the bottom of the ocean.

Near the whirlpool, there were nearly one hundred ferocious sea dragons. They were swimming around, occasionally lifting their heads to roar at the sky, but they did not dare to get close to the white statue.

"A supreme treasure!" Flame Fiends' Progenitor immediately exclaimed.

This was the first time Su Ming entered a dimension with a supreme treasure. The ripples of power and the presence spreading out from the treasure were clearly stronger than from a complementary treasure. It was enough for all people to be able to tell how different and unique it was at first glance.

The statue had three heads. One of them was crying, the other smiling, and the last one raging!

Three heads and one body. The statue stood at the bottom of the ocean, tempting all those who saw it, but at the same time, they would be unable to help themselves but find that there was something bizarre about that treasure.

Flame Fiends' Progenitor and Su Ming's appearance immediately caught the attention of the parties fighting in the sky. The body of the supreme treasure had a calm expression on its face, but the hearts of Xuan Shang and his group trembled.

Xu Hui was very calm. She knew that Su Ming would definitely be able to catch up, hence when she saw him at that moment, she was not surprised. Progenitor Long Hai was the same. With his age, his farsightedness, and his cunning, he naturally knew that with the draw in the connection provided by the promise between him and Su Ming, this person would definitely be able to find him. He might have the body of the supreme treasure around, but this person was previously its main soul. Progenitor Long Hai would obviously not believe that Su Ming did not have any backup plans around.

In truth, besides the bald crane, Xu Hui, and Progenitor Long Hai drawing Su Ming to this place, there was also a hint of a trace that belonged to Su Ming on the body of the supreme treasure, which Su Ming had left on it previously.

The trace was not within the body, but outside. Doing something like this was not difficult for him, since he had previously been the main soul of that body.

When Zhu You Cai saw Su Ming, his pupils constricted. Su Ming's face was incredibly unfamiliar to him, but when he saw Flame Fiends' Progenitor by Su Ming's side, he turned his head to cast a deep glance at the body of the supreme treasure.

"Xuan Family's supreme treasure!!" A fierce look instantly appeared in Zhu You Cai's eyes. If it was anyone else, perhaps they would not be able to see through it so quickly… but he could do it.

The body of the supreme treasure was the first to arrive in this dimension, and Zhu You Cai arrived after it, which was why the battle had occurred. When he saw Su Ming's unfamiliar face and Flame Fiends' Progenitor by his side, a glint had appeared in Zhu You Cai's eyes. He instantly knew the reason why there was an unfamiliar feeling in him when he fought against the body of the supreme treasure just then.

Clearly, the one who previously controlled the body of the supreme treasure was the cultivator next to Flame Fiends' Progenitor, and he could easily tell who had the priority in controlling the body when he saw that Flame Fiends' Progenitor was following this person.

A barely noticeable glint shone in Zhu You Cai's eyes. Almost at the instant he understood the connection between Su Ming and the body of the supreme treasure, he moved and charged at the whirlpool in the ocean. Judging by the direction he was going, he was heading straight for the three-headed statue, and he was so fast that he closed in on it within an instant.

As Zhu You Cai took action, the expression of the body of the supreme treasure changed. Just as the group was about to chase after Zhu You Cai, a brilliant light shone in Su Ming's eyes. When he lifted his right hand, a ring instantly appeared on his thumb.

At the instant the purple-black ring shone, a purple-black long spear appeared in Su Ming's hands. When he lifted it, he threw it without any hesitation at Zhu You Cai's charging figure.

With a screech, it sliced through the air. The sharp sound was akin to a woman's forlorn wail. As it reverberated in the air, the body of the supreme treasure froze in midair. Xuan Shang, Nian Yin, Yun You, and Hua Yu let out screams of pain within it. Their minds and souls had been directly attacked by this sound.

"Life Inclination Spear! It-it's actually here?!" As Xuan Shang screamed in pain, an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.

In fact, even Xu Hui's mind was reduced to a mess, and her consciousness instantly turned blank.

If that was all, it would have been nothing, but even Progenitor Long Hai's Nascent Divinity began showing signs of instability at the instant the piercing sound appeared. His emotions changed drastically.

"Life Inclination Spear, the weapon that belonged to War Immortal Chang He of True Sacred Yin World!!"

Zhu You Cai was originally charging at the three-headed statue, but at the instant the piercing screech rang in the air, his body shuddered, and he came to an abrupt halt in midair. When he turned his head back, he stared at the incoming long spear with a dumbfounded gaze, then looked at Su Ming, who stood in the distance with his long hair dancing behind him.

Dressed in black, Su Ming dazed Zhu You Cai. He seemed… to be able to see a vague shadow of a middle-aged man. One who with grief, gratitude, and hatred for his Master in him, with his loss and regret for his lover, in desolation… scattered his soul in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence.

He saw… himself.

"So… it's him…"

Chapter 1003: Inequity, Not Inclination [1]

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Zhu You Cai stared at the long spear letting out the sound that was akin to a woman's wails echoing in all directions while it charged towards him. With an extreme speed, the spear sliced through the air and closed in to arrive in the blink of an eye right in front of him.

Zhu You Cai fell silent. His body stopped in midair, and at the instant the spear approached him, he lifted his right hand to form a seal. When he did so, the act was very choppy, but it still gave off a feeling as if he was incredibly familiar with it.

These two feelings that should not coexist were mixed together in Zhu You Cai's lifted right hand. It appeared in a flash, and the shrill screeches from the Life Inclination Spear went silent.

The spear… appeared swiftly in Zhu You Cai's hand. Once he seized it, he gave it a simple swing in front of himself, and the screech immediately rang out again. It stirred up a loud bang as if air had been sliced apart, and an even stronger screech echoed in the air.

This scene caused the incoming body of the supreme treasure to freeze in midair while disbelief appeared on its face. By Su Ming's side, Flame Fiends' Progenitor also widened his eyes. He had known Zhu You Cai for thousands of years, but this was the first time he saw such a presence about him!

This presence was formed from a will which made it seem as if he was looking down on the entire universe naturally erupting from his body once he held the Life Inclination Spear. It was as if at that instant, Zhu You Cai had turned into another person. He was somebody whose ugly appearance could be ignored, whose gigantic size could be ignored…He became a person about whom the only thing that mattered was his shocking ability when holding the spear.

The shock was especially felt by Su Ming. As he stared at Zhu You Cai, the astonishment in his heart was difficult to describe with words. He remembered the seal Zhu You Cai had formed just then, and it was this seal that allowed him to snatch the long spear out of thin air. In fact, the spear had not shown a hint of resistance, and Su Ming had even seen… the spear trembling when Zhu You Cai held it, but it was not trembling in fear. It was trembling in surprised delight!

Su Ming did not know whether this was just a figment of his imagination, but this surprised delight made it seem as if the spear had finally been reunited with its master after a long, long time.

As a myriad of thoughts spun in Su Ming's head, Zhu You Cai lowered his head and stared at the long spear in his hand quietly. Complicated emotions and anguish appeared in his eyes. After a long while, he averted his gaze, lifted his head, and looked at Su Ming.

"Is this… yours?"

Su Ming stared at Zhu You Cai and nodded slowly. Only at this moment did he realize that Zhu You Cai, who was originally the weakest among the old monsters, was clearly a person with secrets, and he definitely did not merely possess the power he showed to others.

Su Ming remembered the half of the skeleton that had held the purple-black long spear… He also remembered the Fire Spirits mentioning that the skeleton's soul… was still around.

"The name of this spear is Life Inclination. This is what it was once called, but it also has another name, and it is Life Inequity. This has an absolutely different meaning from inclination… Do you understand?"

Su Ming frowned. He did not speak, and Xuan Shang was momentarily stunned while in the body of the supreme treasure, which he had made to stop in midair. He could understand what Zhu You Cai said on the surface level, but if he had to think about them more in-depth… He would not understand them.

And he wasn't the only one. The other people were also at a loss. Only Progenitor Long Hai seemed to be deep in thought.

The eyes of Flame Fiends' Progenitor focused, and he fell into a pensive silence.

"If you don't understand, then it's better… if you don't have this spear." Zhu You Cai sighed softly. He lowered his head to look at the spear in his hand again, and a hint of grief as well as regret appeared in his eyes.

At the instant Su Ming saw the grief and regret in Zhu You Cai's eyes, a thought suddenly formed in his head. He remembered the pictures that had flashed before him the first time he held that spear.

"When holding the corpse of your lover, your sadness and the sense of injustice will become the rulers of your life. So what if you reach the Great Realm of Life? You will just waste away," Su Ming said calmly.

When his words landed in Zhu You Cai's ears, he lifted his head and looked at Su Ming for a long, long time before suddenly beginning to laugh. He laughed long and hard. At that moment, the presence he exuded and that ugly as well as huge body of his formed a great contrast.

As he laughed, he hid away a grief that no one else could see. Zhu You Cai swung his hand, and the Life Inequity Spear turned into a purple-black light that charged at Su Ming. It stopped before him and did not move, but there was a buzzing coming from within it. After listening to that noise, Su Ming seemed to have come to understand something.

"This spear is yours!"

Zhu You Cai laughed loudly. When he turned around, he took a huge stride forward. He did not even cast a glance at the three-headed statue at the bottom of the ocean in the whirlpool, which was already not too far away from him. It was as if even if this item was a supreme treasure, it could not catch his attention. He left into the distance.

"The statue of the Sea God has not completed the Fate Realm. Don't touch it. If you do, you will bring a great disaster upon your own heads. Take care."

Zhu You Cai strode into the distance until he stepped into the exit of the dimension. He fused into the distortions in the air and disappeared without a trace.

Su Ming watched him for a time. When he disappeared, understanding appeared on Su Ming's face. He lifted his right hand and seized the floating long spear in front of him, then swung his right arm. The Life Inequity Spear disappeared, turning into a ring that appeared on Su Ming's thumb.

"Well, aren't you coming here?" Su Ming lifted his head and looked at the hesitant body of the supreme treasure.

At that moment, Xuan Shang was the one in control, and his heart was in incredible conflict. He had become the main soul after much difficulty, and if Su Ming fused into the body again, he would immediately become an existence akin to an auxiliary soul. This inevitably caused him to be hesitant.

"You aren't willing for me to fuse with you?"

When Su Ming said this faintly, he sent his thought forward. At the instant he did so, a powerful light shone on the body of the supreme treasure. As it sparkled, several overlapping shadows instantly stepped out.

The first to appear was Xu Hui!

She pulled back a lock of her hair when she took a step forward. With a single move, she appeared right next to Su Ming. She smiled while looking at him.

"I still prefer you with this appearance," she said with a soft chuckle.

The second overlapping shadow that appeared on the body of the supreme treasure was the bald crane. It was still unconscious, but with Su Ming drawing it out through the connection between them, it was separated from the body of the supreme treasure and charged towards him. With a swing of his arm, it was put away into his storage bag.

The third to appear was Progenitor Long Hai, who was a Nascent Divinity, the same existence as Flame Fiends' Progenitor. That old man moved and immediately left the body of the supreme treasure. When he appeared beside Su Ming, he looked at Flame Fiends' Progenitor.

"Long Hai!" The expression of Flame Fiends' Progenitor changed swiftly, and he instinctively took a few steps back. Needless to say, he knew Long Hai. Forget how the both of them knew each other previously, just the fact that Flame Fiends' Progenitor had once wanted to devour his physical body when they were at the one thousand feet tall tree alone was enough for them to have formed a relationship.

"Fellow Daoist Huo Kui, it's been a long while." Long Hai stared at Flame Fiends' Progenitor with the ghost of a smile on his lips. There was a strange look in his eyes. The two of them were both Nascent Divinities, but it was precisely because of this that it would be easy for them to devour each other.

As Xu Hui, the bald crane, and Progenitor Long Hai left, the presence of the body within the supreme treasure weakened swiftly. At that moment, its offensive power was only equivalent to those in Solar Kalpa Realm. Even if Xuan Shang, Yun You, Hua Yu, and Nian Yin had skills they had yet to execute… at most, they would only be capable of fighting against someone who had fully completed Solar Kalpa Realm.

This power could perhaps allow them to run amuck in the world outside, but in the fifth kiln, this power was insufficient for them to even move an inch forward.

Su Ming, on the other hand, could already fight against a normal cultivator in Mastery Realm on his own. With Progenitor Long Hai and even a bit of power from Flame Fiends' Progenitor as well as the two chances he still had for Sand Earthlings' Progenitor to attack along with the God Ascension Nectar, not forgetting the three-leafed grass that allowed him to control the laws of fate too, his power was not that much different from before. He was not worried about what sort of thoughts or schemes Huang Mei or Zi Long would have once they noticed it.

He did not even cast a glance at the body of the supreme treasure, whose expression had changed drastically at that moment. Su Ming turned around and moved to the exit of the dimension. The people beside him immediately followed at. The group turned into a long arc and left into the distance, with Su Ming not paying any attention to the three-headed statue at the bottom of the ocean in the whirlpool.

He had instinctively chosen to believe in Zhu You Cai regarding this. Besides, the entire fifth kiln would definitely belong to him in the future. Unless he ran into a treasure that he was incredibly anxious to get right then and there, he would not be in a hurry to obtain it. This was something that was completely different about Su Ming compared to the others.

When Xuan Shang, Yun You, Nian Yin, and Hua Yu saw that Su Ming was leaving into the distance, they immediately panicked inside the body of the supreme treasure, especially Xuan Shang. At that moment, he came to a realization that Su Ming did indeed need the body of the supreme treasure, but the four of them needed Su Ming even more.

They were lucky that it was Su Ming. If it had been anyone else, they would have been killed a long time ago and their treasured snatched away.

However, this was also in part because Su Ming did not believe that there was a necessity for it. If he truly believed that he absolutely needed the supreme treasure, then even if that treasure was created by the Sublime Paragon who was the Master of the Life Inequity Spear's owner as well as the teenager in red Su Ming saw in the pictures, it would not have mattered to him!

"Senior, please wait!" Xuan Shang's heart was immediately filled with the other three's anxious complaints. At that moment, he quickly chased after Su Ming.

"I understand my wrongs, please forgive me, senior, and please give me another chance. I will absolutely not harbor any other thoughts in my head, I swear with the soul of my family's ancestor in heaven!" This was where Xuan Shang's intelligence came into play. He did not try to argue or hide his hesitation just then.

Instead, he said it directly and lowered his stance to an extremely low degree to admit his wrongdoings. Because of it, he could avoid causing Su Ming to be displeased again when he tried to argue or hide.

While rushing after, Xuan Shang immediately scattered his soul. Once he showed his stance, Su Ming paused and turned his head around to look at the body of the supreme treasure, which had lost its main soul.

"I will allow this just this once. Do not let this happen again!" As he spoke, Su Ming moved. He swung his arm and swept up Flame Fiends' Progenitor, who had come to understand what was going on a long time ago and was laughing bitterly at that moment. Then, with the others, he charged into the body of the supreme treasure.

They fused into it instantly, and Su Ming became the main soul, while Flame Fiends' Progenitor was added to the auxiliary souls!

This was also part of the reason why Su Ming did not kill Flame Fiends' Progenitor. In truth, he had come up with a different plan at the start, but he gave up on it midway. That plan was to have Flame Fiends' Progenitor Possess the white-robed teenager and cause Huang Mei as well as Zi Long to misunderstand him, thereby shifting most of their attention to Flame Fiends' Progenitor.

But after thinking carefully about it, he gave up on that course of action.

Translator's Notes:

1. Inequity, not Inclination: I tried, honestly, but this was the best I could come up with. The original is 此枉,非往 (ci3 wang3, fei1 wang3). If you look at it, the word wang sound the same. 枉 means to perform injustice or waste, and 往 is look forward to something. They sound the same, but are very different from each other. The original translation is supposed to be: This wang… is not wang -> This injustice… is not aspiration.

Which made no sense in English, so I had to make some tweaks.

Also, there was a part where Xuan Shang said he could not understand Zhu You Cai's words.

It's supposed to be: If he could read it (since homophone), he could understand, but if he was only to hear it, he could not.

But when translated to English, the meaning is pretty clear, so I decided to make it seem as if Zhu You Cai had an underlying meaning to his words, which is what happened as well in the raws anyway.

Chapter 1004: This Art is Named Mountain Shifter

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

When Su Ming moved out of the dimension, it was just as he had predicted, he appeared on the Spirit Trudging Platform on the second border. The platforms had reduced from six to five.

The white-robed teenager's death was reflected on the five Spirit Trudging Platforms floating in space, and at that moment, it exuded a brutal air.

While in control of the body of the supreme treasure, Su Ming walked out calmly and sat down cross-legged on his platform.

There were three platforms that were empty at the moment. Zhu You Cai was the only one who had arrived before Su Ming. He sat quietly with his eyes closed.

Su Ming scanned the area and frowned slightly. The yellow-browed man and Reverend Zi Long had not yet come.

'It'll be even more brutal from the second border onwards due to the appearance of dimensions with supreme treasures and because there will be less dimensions the further we go. That's why it'll become a common sight for many people to appear in one dimension at the same time.

'Because of that, the fight over the treasures will become very intense.'

Su Ming pondered over this. His goal was not the supreme treasures, but the core of the fifth kiln. He wanted to see whether Su Xuan Yi was there.

If he was, then everything would become clear, but if he was not… Su Ming wanted to know whether his other guess would be true. In fact, when he thought of this, his heart clenched in pain.

Because his second guess was that there was a corpse in the core of the fifth kiln. It would be of a woman who held onto her child before death and wanted to protect her baby even after she had died.

That person was a mother. One who was unfamiliar but somehow vaguely familiar to Su Ming.

In truth, in the depths of his heart, the memories of his mother far surpassed those about his father. After all, the illusion of the memory he saw in Western Ring Nebula's foreign ring had shocked his soul and caused him to be unable to forget even a single bit of it.

In silence, Su Ming quietly waited for the yellow-browed man and Reverend Zi Long's arrival.

Time trickled by slowly. About two days later, two out of the remaining three Spirit Trudging Platforms suddenly shone brilliantly at the same time. This light attracted Su Ming's gaze.

He saw two figures appear almost at the same time on the two Spirit Trudging Platforms. These two figures swiftly gained corporeal form, and several breaths later, when the light dissipated, Huang Mei and Zi Long came into view.

The yellow-browed man coughed up a mouthful of blood when he appeared. He staggered a few steps back and nearly stepped off his Spirit Trudging Platform.

As for Zi Long, his face was also pale, but the killing intent in his eyes was incredibly strong. When he appeared, he staggered back a few steps before he forced himself to stop, then he lifted his head and glared at the yellow-browed man.

When Su Ming saw this, he immediately came to an understanding. Clearly, these two had come to blows for a treasure, but Su Ming did not know… who had come out with a treasure.

However, based on Reverend Zi Long's expression, an answer didn't seem that hard to guess.

"Despicable!" Zi Long said slowly, his voice filled with frost.

"So what if I'm despicable?" The yellow-browed man wiped off the blood at the corners of his lips before laughing. That laughter was incredibly boisterous, and it looked like he found everything logical and as it was supposed to happen.

"As long as I get the treasure, it doesn't matter if I'm injured by you!" As he spoke, the yellow-browed man lifted his right hand, and a jade bracelet appeared on his palm.

It was emerald green. Countless runic symbols were on it like small bumps. They surrounded the bracelet and spun around it, making the bracelet shine with a brilliant light. There was a powerful and mighty pressure that radiated off the treasure, and the others could not help but squint at it.

When Zi Long saw the bracelet, his expression turned even darker. He glared at the yellow-browed man coldly, but did not say another word. Instead, he sat down, closed his eyes, and exercised his breathing.

The yellow-browed man smiled and put away the bracelet. When he swept his gaze across the area, he ignored Zhu You Cai and looked at Su Ming. An amiable expression appeared on his face before he nodded with a smile.

He did not even bother asking about Flame Fiends' Progenitor!

'He's searching for an ally.'

Su Ming knew this in his heart. If the yellow-browed man was not injured, he would definitely not let Su Ming off so easily for not having Flame Fiends' Progenitor by his side, but since he was injured, he avoided this and expressed amiability towards Su Ming with the intention to work together with him.

As for Zhu You Cai, he was clearly ignored by the yellow-browed man, making it clear that he had misjudged the situation. Su Ming cast a glance at Zhu You Cai and discovered that this person had opened his eyes at some unknown point of time and was daydreaming while staring into space.

His appearance and the power he exuded made it understandable why others would not value him highly. However, after witnessing the scene in the dimension just then, Su Ming would definitely not underestimate him.

'If my guess is correct, then among these people, the most frightening of them all… is not Yellow Brows or Zi Long… but this Zhu You Cai!'

In truth, among the three, Zhu You Cai's attitude was pretty unclear, but Su Ming was about eight-tenths certain that his guess was true. This person definitely had some form of connection with Chang He, the owner of Life Inequity Spear, but he did not know how great was that connection.

As for Zi Long and Huang Mei, Su Ming leaned more towards Zi Long. The yellow-browed man might seem frank and straightforward, but Su Ming could sense an indistinct sinister air about him.

As Su Ming was immersed in his thoughts, Reverend Zi Long opened his eyes and stood up. Once he swept his gaze across the area, he lifted his right foot and stepped near the edge of the Spirit Trudging Platform.

A bang shot into the air, and it instantly echoed in all directions. Once that sound rang out, the yellow-browed man's expression changed.

"All of us are already here, so why waste any more time lingering around this place? Let's head to the dimensions between the second and first borders." When Zi Long said these words, the space in front of him distorted, and a huge vortex appeared before him.

This vortex was naturally the tunnel leading to the dimensions between the second and first borders.

Almost the instant the Spirit Trudging Platform under Zi Long's feet let out that loud bang, Fire Spirits roared in the space all around them, coming from afar. Clearly, the loud bang in the area had attracted their attention, and they were rushing over.

The roars drifted about, but there were only two explanations to the appearance of this sound within the spacious and empty space. One, there were few Fire Spirits that were coming forth, which was why the voice was so faint, but there the other possibility was that they were so large in number that their roars had begun echoing already, which was why this sound had formed.

"You were saying that I was despicable, but your action right now is the same as cutting down the time we use to regulate our breathing. If you're just targeting me, you could have just said a word. Why did you have to trouble this fellow Daoist and fellow Daoist Zhu? You must know that the dimensions between the second and first borders are incredibly dangerous, and each additional breath we have to rest is incredibly rare," the yellow-browed man said in a ghastly manner after letting out a cold harrumph.

Zi Long looked over coldly.

"You talk too much. If you want to stay, then stay. The one who doesn't have time to regulate their breathing isn't them, but you." A fierce glare shone in Reverend Zi Long's eyes, and he turned around to walk towards the vortex that had appeared beside his Spirit Trudging Platform.

A barely noticeable glint shone in Su Ming's eyes. He did not feel any form of aversion to Zi Long's actions. If Su Ming was in his place, he would have definitely done the same thing.

Zi Long's injuries were lighter when compared to those of Huang Mei, which was why he could heal most of his injuries after just regulating his breathing for a few moments. As for Huang Mei, the most important thing for him was time, and he needed quite a bit of it to be able to recover.

Zi Long's action of walking out of the Spirit Trudging Platform early and stirring up such a loud bang cut down on the time Huang Mei needed. This was a blatant plot against him, and it was done in an incredibly straightforward manner.

Once Zi Long left, Zhu You Cai also stood up slowly. After a single step, booming sounds came from the Spirit Trudging Platform where he stood. Once a vortex manifested beside him, he did not even spare a glance at Huang Mei before stepping in and disappearing without a trace.

Fire Spirits' roars echoed in the air, and they were getting stronger. They arrived in no time, and it could be seen that the air around them was tumbling rapidly, exuding a presence that made it seem as if it wanted to devour the sky and earth.

Su Ming looked at the sullen looking yellow-browed man and put on an apologetic expression. He wrapped his fist in his palm towards Huang Mei and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, it only turned into a sigh.

Huang Mei frowned, but he still nodded towards Su Ming. After all, he had already offended Zi Long from the four of them here. As for Zhu You Cai, he completely ignored him. If Su Ming had not expressed goodwill to him, he would have just started plotting on how to kill him so that he could prevent him from working together with Zi Long.

However, when he saw Su Ming's expression, he forced down the other thoughts in his head. The idea of getting closer to Su Ming and forming an alliance rushed to the forefront.

Once Su Ming bowed to Huang Mei, he lifted his foot and stomped on the Spirit Trudging Platform. When a booming sound traveled through the air, a vortex appeared beside him. Su Ming cast an apologetic look at Huang Mei again, then stepped into the vortex and disappeared.

When the yellow-browed man could no longer see him, the apologetic look on his face disappeared, replaced by an aloof expression.

Since everyone was scheming against each other, Su Ming would naturally not face them head-on. The apologetic look just then was completely fake, since his goal was to have the yellow-browed man attempt to draw him to his side. Because of that, Su Ming's existence would become incredibly important to Zi Long and Huang Mei.

Besides, since Su Ming knew some details about Zhu You Cai and they had interacted in the previous dimension, Zhu You Cai was at the very least much better than Huang Mei and Zi Long.

Su Ming chose to stand in a spot where he would not lose.

How could he dance around in circles among these powerful warriors and obtain the greatest benefits? With Su Ming's intelligence, he could stand on equal grounds when in a fight against the scheming, calculative, and farsighted people.

'We're already very close to the core of the fifth kiln…' Su Ming felt his life force flowing away in the vortex and looked at the chaotic state within it while resolve and a wave of longing rose in his heart.

He wanted to use the fastest speed he could muster to reach the core of the fifth kiln and see… whether… the mother he saw in his memories was there.

The complicated feelings, those of anxiety and longing, caused Su Ming's heart to be slightly unable to calm down.

When Su Ming stepped out of the vortex with these thoughts and moved into a new dimension, they were all chased away from his heart by the sight before him. A fierce glare instantly appeared in his eyes.

In the dimension, he saw Zi Long and Zhu You Cai. These two people were the same as Su Ming at that moment, staring at the ground. Their expressions changed, and a solemn look that had never appeared before showed up.

There was a mountain that towered into the clouds on the ground. It was blue from an endless blue light that enveloped it. On the mountain, there was a stone platform that was about several dozens of feet big and held an iron scroll!

"In this book is an Art, the name of which is… Mountain Shifter," an ancient voice said from the top of the mountain, its words echoing throughout the whole dimension.

Chapter 1005: Twelve People

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

At the instant the voice reverberated in the world, Su Ming's pupils shrank. He saw that a figure had appeared beside the stone platform, as if he had forced his way into his field of vision.

That figure was originally within Su Ming's field of vision, but it seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. It turned into a white-haired old man whose body was so faded away that he gave off a feeling that he was not real.

The sky was behind him. Amid the blue sky and the white clouds, the old man was filled with an insubstantial air as well as an endless mysterious aura. Since the mountain was very tall and fog and clouds surrounded it, a veil was added to the mysterious air that existed around the old man.

Needless to say, the echoing voice came from the old man's mouth. He lowered his head to look at the iron scroll on the stone platform, then lifted his right hand to stroke it gently. For a long while, Zi Long and Zhu You Cai remained quiet. In this comparative silence, the old man's ancient voice echoed in the air again.

"You are all very fortunate…"

The old man's voice was deep. As he spoke, the clouds and fog around him swiftly tumbled about and moved, as if the time in the space around him had started flowing hundreds and thousands of times faster. When Su Ming saw at this, he wasn't impacted much, but Reverend Zi Long's expression changed swiftly, as if he had seen a clue from this. He instinctively took a few steps back, and his originally cold eyes were instantly lit with a fervent look that had never appeared on him before.

The pupils of Zhu You Cai also shrank viciously. He stared at the time flowing by in the space around the old man, and his breathing quickened in a barely noticeable manner. He could see much more than Zi Long, and it was precisely because of this that the changes in his heart were so great that others would find it difficult to understand even a single bit of it.

A thought appeared in Su Ming's heart. He did not speak, but only continued listening to the old man's voice.

"In all the times that the fifth kiln was activated, no one had managed to step into this dimension of mine… All of you… are the first batch!" The old man turned his head and cast his eyes on the ground before he swept his gaze across Su Ming, Zi Long, and Zhu You Cai.

"The fifth kiln is the supreme treasure of the Abyss Builders form the Fifth True World. I am old friends with the Abyss Builders' Progenitor and once borrowed his kiln to refine a treasure, but I had to pay a certain price for it. I branded the first of my seven Ultimate Arts here, and I intend to give it to the person who is fated to get it.

"I've already left the Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos and headed to the war between the two camps. Right now, the one you see in this land is a projection. If my real self is yet to die, then the person who will learn the Mountain Shifter Art might be fated to meet me someday. If my real self has died, then this Mountain Shifter Art will be the final Art you will learn from me," the white haired old man said flatly. As his words echoed in the air, the feeling of time flowing away from the space around him became stronger.

His words caused the light in Reverend Zi Long's eyes to become brighter. This attracted a high amount of attention from Su Ming. He could tell that Zi Long was not like this before; his expression had only changed when the time in the space around the old man had started flowing. It was as if he had not paid too much attention to it, but in an instant, incredible desire appeared in him.

This change was because of the flow of time in the space around the old man.

'Could it be that once your level of cultivation reaches a certain extent, you will naturally be able to change the space around you and then form a type of mighty pressure?! Or perhaps this is a change that appeared after he practiced some form of divine ability, and through this change, he got to know of the old man's identity?' A glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes, and all sorts of guesses formed in his head.

"Mountain Shifter… is the first style in my Ultimate Art, but even the first style is already powerful enough to kill all those in Mastery Realm, shocking the laws of fate! Once you understand it, you can move all the mountains in the universe and make them come to the place where you want them to be. This… is Mountain Shifter!

"Once someone understands my Art, my projection will dissipate, and the dimension I had opened up on my own will crumble. At that time, I will use the power that caused the destruction of this dimension to send the fated person who understood my Art to the fifth kiln's first border so that he would have the chance to step straight into the core!

"If you give up, I can also instantly send you out of the fifth kiln," the man on the mountaintop said flatly.

Suddenly, the space behind Su Ming and the others distorted, and the yellow-browed man stepped into the dimension.

At the instant he walked in and saw the mountain as well as the old man on it, his expression changed and he stared intently at time flowing away at the space around the old man. His breathing instantly quickened intensely.

At the same time he appeared, the old man at the summit lifted his right hand and pointed at him. With it, Su Ming instantly felt as if the sky had crumbled and the earth had shattered, as if the universe was replaced by that one finger. This finger was an indescribable oppression and a vast force that simply could not be fought against.

It was also at that instant that Su Ming found himself completely unable to determine the old man's level of cultivation. This person was just a projection, but even by itself it was already much stronger than all the powerful warriors Su Ming had seen in his life.

If he really had to pick someone from his memories who could fight against him, then perhaps it would only be True Sacred Yin World's Sublime Paragon, whom Su Ming had seen in the pictures provided by the Life Inequity Spear!!

'Is he in Death Realm… or is he a Sublime Paragon?'

As Su Ming's heart trembled, he saw that the space around the yellow-browed man had started showing signs of having time flow away once the old man pointed at it. The yellow-browed man's expression changed again. When his body shuddered, the flow of time around him disappeared, and excitement appeared in his eyes.

During that instant, not only did Su Ming understand what was going on, even Zi Long and Zhu You Cai had all seen it. The yellow-browed man was someone who had arrived late. He did not know what the old man had said previously, but the old man decided to change some of the flow of time around him, so he would get caught up to date.

He might have seemed to have arrived late, but after the flow of time around him had changed, he had arrived in the dimension with Su Ming and the rest. He also naturally knew all that the old man had said previously.

All of this was incredibly abstruse. It looked as if it was quite difficult to puzzle out, but if they thought about it carefully, they would be able to understand it.

However, as they gained an epiphany about it, inevitably, a great amount of respect rose in them towards the old man. He was strong, and his power in changing the flow of time caused Zi Long and Huang Mei's hearts to tremble.

Zhu You Cai's eyes sparkled, though no one knew what was going on in his mind. However, compared to these three, Su Ming's shock was the greatest… because while others might not know much about the power to change the flow of time, there was no way he would not know about it… since this was one of the Abyss Builders' inborn abilities!

"The fates of the… twelve of you had led you here. There is only one method to obtain this Art. No matter what method you use, be it Enchanted Treasures, your cultivation bases, or physical bodies… the first person who places his or her hand on the iron scroll on the stone platform before me will obtain it.

"I've left a Brand on the iron scroll. The first person to touch it will definitely gain an epiphany and learn it!"

The old man swung his arm, and the world roared. The sky turned into a gigantic vortex that rotated with loud booming sounds. The ground trembled as well, and the mountain, which was tall to begin with, shot up considerably higher, until it went straight into the clouds. No one could see the summit with their naked eye any longer.

"The legacy begins."

At the instant the old man's voice came from the summit, Zi Long moved. He might have been uncertain about what the old man meant by twelve people being in this place, but this was not the time to think. His body turned into a long arc that charged at the summit. Killing intent shone in the eyes of the yellow-browed man, and without any hesitation, he rushed over as well.

Zhu You Cai frowned. He did not even bother looking at Zi Long and Huang Mei, who had rushed out, but instead stared at the summit and took a few steps forward while seemingly deep in thought.

Almost at the instant Reverend Zi Long and Huang Mei turned into long arcs that rushed to the peak, their expressions changed drastically. The first to react was Huang Mei, whose body shuddered before he plunged down. With a loud bang, he crashed to the ground. Trembling, he stood up and lifted his head to look at the mountain, and fear appeared on his face.

At the instant he flew up, he sensed all of his cultivation base disappear. He had never had this sort of experience before. It was as if he had been reduced from an immortal to a mortal. This unfamiliar feeling of weakness all over his body sowed a seed of fear within him.

Immediately after, Reverend Zi Long also plunged to the ground. Once he fell with a bang, his face became incredibly sullen, but as his eyes sparkled, he hid that deep wave of wariness which had risen within him. He also noticed the weakness in his body, and it was a feeling he had not experienced in a long, long time. It was as if even a small creature could tear him apart right then.

He lifted his head to look at the towering mountain, then gritted his teeth and started walking with strenuous effort.

Compared to Zi Long and Huang Mei, Zhu You Cai was much more relaxed. He had not flown up just then, but chosen to stride forward instead. It was just as difficult, but he was in a much better condition compared to Zi Long and Huang Mei.

All of this landed in Su Ming's eyes. If he still had not figured out what was going on, then he would not have been able to live up to this point nor obtained such great power, much less entered the fifth kiln.

'There's a seal in this place!' A glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes, but he was not thinking about it at the moment. His mind was focused on the old man saying that there were… twelve people!

'Zi Long, Huang Mei, Zhu You Cai, Flame Fiends' Progenitor, Progenitor Long Hai, Xuan Shang, Yun You, Nian Yin, Hua Yu, and Xu Hui only number to ten people. Even if I'm added in, there are only eleven people. Who is the twelfth?

'Is he talking about the bald crane, or is he?' As Su Ming pondered over it, he took a step towards the summit, but the moment his foot landed, his expression changed.

A feeling of weakness instantly surged up Su Ming's body, but he did not find this feeling surprising. After all, he had seen hints about it earlier. What caused his expression to change though was…. the quiet appearance of overlapping shadows on the body of the supreme treasure where he was at the instant that feeling appeared.

This was the sign that the body of the supreme treasure was about to split up, and the surprised cries from Xuan Shang and his group rang out in his mind.

While their voices were still resounding in Su Ming ears, the overlapping shadows grew in number, and in the end, with a loud bang, the body of the supreme treasure shattered!