1006 - 1012

Chapter 1006: One Person Died

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As the body of the supreme treasure was torn apart, Progenitor Long Hai and Flame Fiends' Progenitor became the first to be forced out. They turned into two long arcs that landed by the side, and when they fell on the ground, their expressions turned incredibly dark.

Then it was Xu Hui's turn. She was also flung out in an incredibly pathetic manner. She was followed by Xuan Shang and his group. When they appeared one by one in the area, Su Ming was also forced out of the supreme body.

The next moment, the body of the supreme treasure melted into a palm-sized red jade that floated in midair and did not move.

Xuan Shang's face immediately turned pale. He realized that he had lost the connection between him and the body of the supreme treasure, which meant that during that instant, for some unknown reason, the supreme treasure became an item without a master!

If he could notice this, the other people could naturally notice it as well.

When the body of the supreme treasure began to be torn apart, Zi Long and Huang Mei turned their heads around to look. They trained their gazes on the numerous people that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

Zi Long did not speak. He turned around and continued moving to the summit. Huang Mei's expression changed, and the ghost of a smile appeared on his lips, along with a hint of derision and anger.

"I see, so it's a treasure you managed to obtain somewhere. The lot of you grouped together, and only then did you manage to get into the fifth kiln. I've been fooled by all of you for a long time. I wonder who among you was the main soul of the supreme treasure."

There was panic on Xuan Shang and his group's faces at that moment. Everything had happened too suddenly, so they did not have the time to prepare themselves. When they heard Huang Mei's words, their hearts trembled, and either intentionally or instinctively, they cast their gazes towards the calm Su Ming.

Due to their actions, Huang Mei's gaze fell on Su Ming. He cast him a few scrutinizing looks before letting out a cold snort. Derision flashed briefly in his eyes, before a freezing glare replaced it.

He was an Almighty, but he had been deceived by a bunch of puny cultivators. When he remembered how he had lost the bet and had been prepared to pay a certain price to draw them to his side, he felt that this was a form of humiliation!

"It would have been better if you could have lied your way till the end, but you just had to have the bad luck of coming here and your body being torn apart. Useless pieces of trash!" Huang Mei laughed coldly, then turned around and refused to spare another glance for Su Ming. He then continued climbing up towards the peak of the mountain with great difficulty.

By then, Zhu You Cai was in the lead. Zi Long and Huang Mei were behind him, but all three of them were still incredibly far away from the summit. They were also far apart from each other, because they were not walking on the same path.

Zhu You Cai was moving forward in a straight path. As for Zi Long and Huang Mei, due to them plunging down just then when they tried to fly, they were in different places and were walking on different paths.

"You've heard the old man's words. Since the body of the supreme treasure has been torn, there's no need for us to fuse together again. It'll depend on our own luck from now on," Su Ming said, calmly enunciating his words. He then turned his head around to cast a glance at Xu Hui.

She smiled at him, showing that he did not need to worry about her.

Su Ming nodded. He no longer paid any attention to the group and moved forward. The others longed for Mountain Shifter Art, and Su Ming desired it as well. He had already noticed that as his level of cultivation increased, he lacked Enchanted Treasures… but he lacked divine abilities even more!

While he could fight against those who were weaker than him, if he ran into those who were as strong as he was or the old monsters who were stronger, then he would find himself without powerful divine abilities that he could bring to the table.

Those that he had learned previously were either not powerful enough or were abnormally abstruse and not effective within a short period of time. At that moment, he yearned to obtain this one style… This Mountain Shifter, which the old man said could shock even Almighties!

Besides, Su Ming had also recounted the number of people in the area again, and he still found… that one person was missing!

Who was missing? Just where was he? Su Ming believed that he was not the only one thinking about it. The others must surely be wondering about it as well.

Since he could not figure it out, he decided to bury this matter in his heart. He lifted his head to look at the summit and walked towards it. As he continued moving, the mighty pressure from the peak of the mountain became increasingly stronger. It was not the type of power that would make a person break down and collapse, but a power that could disintegrate cultivation bases and turn powerful warriors into mortals.

And it was clearly hard mortals to walk up this mountain.

As time trickled by, the other people behind Su Ming also chose to climb up the mountain. Xuan Shang and his group stuck close to each other and moved forward with great difficulty. Xu Hui was panting while moving forward with gritted teeth as well.

Since Long Hai and Huo Kui were both Nascent Divinities, they had it much easier compared to the others when they moved forward. In fact, the mighty pressure from the mountain was much less to the both of them compared to everyone else.

Because of that, the two of them were much faster than everyone else. Even though they were the last to move, they were already moving side-by-side with Su Ming, and were only hundreds of feet away from Zhu You Cai.

As time continued passing and the group climbed up the mountainside, Huo Kui and Progenitor Long Hai surpassed Zhu You Cai and became the people closest to the summit.

Their expressions were different, but both had excitement in their hearts. They continued climbing upwards as if they could see the iron scroll on the stone platform waiting for their arrival.

Zi Long's expression was dark, but he persevered with gritted teeth. Zhu You Cai frowned for a moment, but after a bit of hesitation, he shook his head and chose not to speak. As for Huang Mei, a cold sneer appeared at the corners of his lips.

He did not believe that there would be such a loophole in this place that would allow Nascent Divinities to move with greater ease.

At that moment, the mountain shuddered. It looked as if the whole place had started swaying, and a powerful rebound spread out.

Su Ming's body swayed. At that moment, he had a strong feeling that the mountain he was climbing was not in fact a mountain, but a living ferocious beast. When it moved, he felt as if he was about to be flung off.

His expression changing, Su Ming gripped tightly onto a mountain rock. His fingers had already turned white, but his grip was very steady. Even though he had lost his cultivation base and become similar to a mortal… Su Ming was not unfamiliar with climbing mountains.

He grew up in Dark Mountain Tribe when he was young, and before he practiced the Ways of the Berserkers, the mountains in that place were his playground, which was why his reaction was incredibly quick. Once he seized the rock, he pressed his body tightly against the mountain wall and simply allowed that mountain to move about while remaining still.

If he could do this, then the others could do the same, but the expressions of Long Hai and Huo Kui at the forefront changed drastically. They noticed that when the mountain began swaying, their Nascent Divinities began swiftly withering away. This discovery immediately made them let go of the rocks they were gripping onto, and their bodies plummeted to the ground. In an instant, they became the last. Only when the mountain stopped swaying did they continue climbing upwards with a touch of hesitation.

However, this was just the first wave of tremors!

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the second wave of tremors arrived. They were several times stronger than before. The mountain swayed, and muffled booming sounds echoed in the air. All those climbing instantly stopped. With ashen complexions, they gripped onto rocks and only continued climbing when the swaying stopped after several breaths.

If this was all there was and they continued like this, the mountain… would not be that hard to climb.

However… when the group managed to conquer about three-tenths of the mountain's height, the ground below them suddenly changed. It disappeared. Booming sounds echoed in the air, causing all the people to lower their heads and fix their gazes at the spot below them. Their pupils shrank at the same time, and it was especially so for Xuan Shang and his group. Their expressions changed drastically.

There was no longer any land beneath them, only a pitch black canyon, which was filled with the aura of death. There was also a vortex that rotated with loud booming sounds. It looked incredibly terrifying.

If they still possessed their cultivation bases, they would not be bothered, but right then, their cultivation bases were gone, leaving them no different from mortals. If they slipped…

As the crowd fell into pensive silence, the third wave of tremors arrived.

They were much stronger than the previous two times, and they did not last for just several breaths, but nearly twenty. Within Xuan Shang's group, Nian Yin was the one who suffered the worst luck. The mountain rock he held onto shattered, and he plunged into the vortex below.

His face was pale. When shrill screams escaped from his mouth, his body sank into the pitch black vortex. The sound of chewing and screams of pain came from within, and then, they abruptly became silent.

This scene not only caused Su Ming to feel a chill down his spine, even Zi Long and Huang Mei immediately felt their skins crawl as they stared at the canyon below them.

"Eleven left," an ancient voice stated from the distant summit, filled with endless indifference.

"Senior, you previously mentioned that no one managed to come here before, so it's only obvious that coming to this dimension requires luck and chance. If we die here in the canyon, then who will learn your Mountain Shifter Art?! You'll also need to wait for another eternity!" Huang Mei immediately shouted.

"Did I say that? Then I must have remembered incorrectly. Before you, there were also some others who came to this place… but they were not fated for this Art," the old man said calmly from the summit.

Huang Mei found himself speechless for a long period of time after that.

He was not the only one, the others also fell silent. The old man's words and a cultivator's death all turned into a dark shadow that loomed over the entire mountain and shrouded each of their hearts.

In silence, Zhu You Cai quietly lifted his hand and continued climbing. Zi Long and Huang Mei also continued heading towards the peak in silence. This was their only goal.

At that moment, Xu Hui was already ahead of Xuan Shang and his group. With gritted teeth, she continued moving upwards bit by bit. The disappearance of her cultivation base and the feeling of becoming mortal made her remember all that had happened to her during her childhood.

Suddenly, the fourth wave of tremors arrived with a bang and an intensity that far surpassed the previous few waves. It was also at that instant that Xu Hui had lifted her right hand in preparation to grab a mountain rock ahead of herself.

However, the swaying of the mountain caused her to seize empty air, and her body was flung outwards, into the vortex below her that had caught Nian Yin as well.

Below her were Xuan Shang, Hua Yu, and Yun You. If Xuan Shang extended his hand, he would have had the chance of catching her, but he hesitated for a moment, and Xu Hui passed by him.

Her expression was calm. She looked at Su Ming on the mountain, sighed softly, then closed her eyes.

Chapter 1007: I… Won't Die!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Xu Hui did not make a single sound. At the moment she closed her eyes, she saw Su Ming lift his hand to continue climbing.

She could call for help, but she did not. In this perilous mountain where no one possessed any sort of power any longer, what would Su Ming choose if she cried out for help?

If he ignored her… then her heart would hurt badly. That pain would be mixed with bitterness, along with a deep wave of disappointment and sadness.

However… if Su Ming chose to save her, she believed that there would only be death waiting for him. If he was to die like this, then Xu Hui would rather he chose to ignore her.

That was why she did not call out. At the moment she closed her eyes, she also tightly shut her mouth.

Vaguely, Xu Hui seemed to be able to see the darkness of twilight closing in on her, and in the mid of it all, a lone ship swaying about. A thin moon was fading away. Petals were scattered on the ground. The man left into the distance, leaving only the image of his back for her.

Past the wind and past the mountain, she watched his lone back gradually leave into the distance…

Partings always came suddenly and made others unable to find the time to get used to and accept it, though in the end, they had to accept it.

On the Three-Life Stone [1] was a beautiful but morose flower of reincarnation, and whoever passed it would reach the spirit's Nirvana. The desolate and drawn out wails from the River of Forgotten Love [2] symbolized… reaching the end of the world, and it was the place where all relationships would come to an end.

Xu Hui's body plunged down. At the instant she closed her eyes, for some unknown reason, Su Ming's heart trembled. He did not notice Xu Hui falling, because the swaying in the mountain caused him to be unable to think about anything else. The reason his heart trembled was because Zhu You Cai had turned his head back at that moment, and he sighed.

This sigh seemed to have fused together with the sigh from below him, and during that instant, it moved Su Ming's soul and caused him to lower his head with a trembling heart. He saw…

… her with her eyes closed, her mouth shut. She was a petite figure by then akin to a kite with its string snapped plunging into the canyon.

If Su Ming still had his cultivation base with him, he would use his power to save Xu Hui.

Even if he did not have it, but still had his inborn ability, he would change the flow of time so that she would stop falling.

But he no longer had his cultivation base with him, and neither did he have his inborn ability. At that moment, Su Ming was like a normal person, a mortal.

That was why he let go.

He did not let go of his grip over Xu Hui in his heart, but the grip he had on the mountain rock. At the instant he did so, his body plunged down into the canyon below him.

It was just like when he had wanted to capture Yu Xuan's unconscious body when she fell in the distance in the land of Berserkers and how when he wanted to capture Bai Su's body while she dissipated with a sad but beautiful smile. Yet in the end, he had only been left with a lock of hair fluttering in his hand. One to his left, one to his right. One in front of him, one behind him.

In the end, he did not manage to catch a single one of them. What he seized was just the endless pain in the depths of his heart.

That was why he did not think nor hesitate this time. There were certain things that one might lose the courage to do once they thought about it, and once they hesitated, they might come to regret it for the rest of their life.

Sometimes, one had to move based on instinct and walk down a path… where one would not regret anything, and it would be enough.

'If you can close your eyes and shut your mouth to not cry out for help so as not to affect me, are willing to fall into the depths of hell alone, parting with me, and can even sigh in such a light manner after that, still unwilling to let me notice you, then…

'I can lower the hand reaching for heaven. If I can't capture you… then I will fall to hell together with you.'

The release of Su Ming's grip on the stone and his subsequent fall was so sudden that the other people were left stunned. When they lowered their heads, they saw the shadow of Xu Hui being devoured by the vortex in the canyon.

Su Ming watched her falling body come closer to him. To fall faster, he used his dexterity to catch a protruding piece of mountain rock to use it to provide a boost to his speed.

As the mountain swayed, Su Ming used the force of it to push his body forward, thereby becoming even faster. At that speed, he almost instantly rached the vortex in the canyon.

This was a place filled with fog and muffled bangs. When Su Ming saw the falling Xu Hui. he stomped fiercely on the wall beside him, becoming so fast that he closed in on her with a loud whoosh and caught her in his arms.

The two of them fell together into the seemingly endless canyon.

At the instant Xu Hui was held, the familiar presence and warmth beside her caused her to open her eyes and look at Su Ming.

He was also looking at her.

The two of them stared into each other's eyes while they fell amid the moaning wind.

There were people in the world who would never voice their affections, but the affection that lay in the depths of their hearts was such that if one understood it, they would be able to smile for the rest of their lives.

There were also people who always smiled. The mature charm of it might make one look like an elder sibling, but one should not be fooled by the gentleness. What was hidden behind that gentle demeanor was the other side of the personality. Yet no matter which side was shown, both of them would choose to adhere to the resolve in the heart and walk to the end of their path with unrelenting determination.

'If you go to the sky, then I will stay by your side right before everyone's eyes. If you go to hell, then I will stay by your side and sink with you.

'If you are white, then I am willing to make myself white. If you choose black, then I… will be the same as you. I will become the darkness in the sky.'

"You saved me again… This time, I saw your face clearly." A beautiful smile blossomed on Xu Hui's face.

"Why didn't you call out to me?" Su Ming asked softly.

"I was the one who didn't manage to hang on to the mountain rock, not you…" Xu Hui also wrapped her arms around Su Ming. Her hair danced in the air as the wind swept them up. They surrounded Su Ming's face and covered his eyes.

While tightly holding onto him, Xu Hui buried her head into his shoulder before closing her eyes. As a faint smile appeared on her lips, there was also anguish within her that Su Ming could not see.

At that moment, a low growl that was very close to them reached their ears. A gigantic head suddenly emerged from the obscure fog around them. It was black and covered in boils. Judging by looks… they could tell that this was Nian Yin, the cultivator who had fallen into the vortex previously!

However, his body had grown several times larger. Just his head alone was ten feet big. His entire person floated in the fog, and he was grinning hideously at Su Ming and Xu Hui.

The fog dissipated over there, and Nian Yin's body, which was around a hundred feet tall, was completely revealed before their eyes. Su Ming saw countless boils covering his skin. In fact, quite many of them had burst, and yellow liquid was leaking out of them. There was also a thick, foul stench spreading through the area.

With a low growl, Nian Yin charged towards Su Ming and pounced on him.

He opened his mouth wide, dragging out a large number of strands formed by sticky liquid in the process, making him look an incredibly hideous sight. At the same time, he looked as if he wanted to devour Su Ming and Xu Hui in one go.

Su Ming's heart trembled, but he had lost all his power, and there was simply no way he could fight back. When he saw that the ferocious beast in which Nian Yin had turned was closing in on him, a huge hand similarly covered in boils shot out from the fog to seize Nian Yin's body, and it yanked him back.

Nian Yin's hundred something feet tall body tumbled backwards swiftly. Once he was flung away, a ferocious beast that was several hundreds of feet tall and much bigger than Nian Yin appeared from the fog.

This creature had also once been a cultivator, but he was even bigger. There were countless boils on his body as well as veins popping up on his skin. As he roared, his eyes turned bloodshot. He glared at Su Ming with madness and pain in his eyes.

"You… are mine!" he shouted out and rushed at Su Ming.

At that instant, Su Ming saw around a dozen something of these ferocious beasts that were originally cultivators coming out from the fog.

Clearly, these people were all those who had fallen into the vortex when they came to the mountain in the past. For some unknown reason, after they died, they became existences that were neither human nor monsters.

If Su Ming still had his cultivation base with him, he would not be bothered by these ferocious spirits that might or might not be dead. However, he was as feeble as a mortal at that moment. It was the same for his physical body. Forget a dozen something of them, he did not have hope of fighting against even one of them.

The ferocious beast that just shouted out his claim rushed towards Su Ming with a roar. The dozen something ferocious spirits by the side along, with Nian Yin who had been pushed aside just then, also roared and charged over.

Su Ming sighed and looked at Xu Hui. She also looked at him before closing her eyes.

Yet at the moment she did so, a low roar suddenly came from above the abyss.

"Catch this!"

After those words, a gigantic chain shot into the canyon, straight towards Su Ming. It closed in on them in an instant, and Su Ming lifted his right hand to grab it. At the moment he caught it, a huge force came through the chain from above and pulled Su Ming and Xu Hui upwards.

While roaring even louder, the dozen something ferocious spirits rushed forward together. If they continued with this pace, then as the chain continued pulling them upwards at that swift speed, Su Ming and Xu Hui would have a certain amount of chance of rushing out of the canyon.

But the moment the chain started moving faster, it suddenly paused for a moment.

"Huang Mei, what's the meaning of this?!" An enraged voice came from above again. It was the same voice as before, but this time, it was much clearer. It was… Zhu You Cai's voice.

Due to the chain freezing, the ferocious spirits' roars closed in. Just when they were about to pounce on them, Xu Hui opened her eyes and cast a deep look at Su Ming before shoving him away so that she would leave his embrace and die in the ferocious beasts' mouths. Then… Su Ming would have a chance of leaving the place with the chain.

This was her choice.

Su Ming's heart trembled. When he saw that Xu Hui's body had left his arms, he moved while still holding tightly onto the chain with his left hand and caught her shoulder with his right hand. Without any hesitation, he pulled Xu Hui back before binding her body with the chain in his left hand and tying a knot around her.

"Wait for me up there. This is my kiln. I… won't die!"

Once Su Ming finished saying this, he used every ounce of his strength to shove Xu Hui, whose face was filled with anxiety, upwards.

Translator's Notes:

1. Three-Life Stone: A crimson stone located at the end of Naihe Bridge/Helpless Bridge. The three lives are a person's three lives, his past life, his present life, and his future life. When people die, they walk past this stone, and if they carve their name on it with someone else at the same time, they will be together in their future life/next life. So if lovers carve their names on the stone together, they will still be together in their next lives.

2. The River of Forgotten Love: In the Chinese version of hell, the Naihe Bridge/Helpless Bridge is set over the River of Forgetfulness. All people who die have to cross it to head to their next lives.

Chapter 1008: The Gate to Enter the Earth!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"Pull the chain!" Su Ming roared. At the same time he pushed Xu Hui upwards, he let go of his grip on the chain, and his body plunged down again. Within an instant, the ferocious spirits rushed towards Su Ming at the same time and submerged his figure in the canyon.

The chain was pulled upwards swiftly, while Xu Hui simply allowed the chain to rise with a stupefied expression on her face. There were no tears in her eyes, but there was a blank look that made it seem like she no longer had a soul.

The chain whistled as it moved up. Without the ferocious spirits chasing after, it swiftly moved through the layers of fog in the vortex. When it was yanked out of the canyon, Xu Hui saw the sky, the mountain, and also Zhu You Cai holding the other end of the chain.

There was also Huang Mei standing by the side with a dark expression on his face, along with a trickle of blood at the corners of his lips. A black dagger was in his hand. That dagger should have been something that he had on his person and not in his storage bag, or else he would not have been able to take it out.

"He…" When the chain was brought up, Xu Hui seized a mountain rock and dipped her head down quietly. When she looked down, Zhu You Cai sighed, and he did not finish his sentence.

"He won't die." After some time, Xu Hui whispered a few words as if she was answering Zhu You Cai, but it also seemed like she was saying those words to herself.

A barely noticeable glint shone in Progenitor Long Hai's eyes. He could have taken action before, but he did not. After all, even though he owed Su Ming a big favor for saving his life, the oath he swore was not something small. If the youth died like this, then it would be good for Long Hai.

Flame Fiends' Progenitor was also deriving pleasure from Su Ming's misfortune. A cold sneer was at the corners of his lips.

Xuan Shang, Yun You, and Hua Yu let out breaths of relief in their hearts. The mighty pressure Su Ming exerted on them had become so strong that it had reached an extent that he could control their thoughts, and it had all happened without their knowledge.

"Won't die? The canyon beneath the mountain is filled with a sinister aura, along with a thick aura of death. Forget him, even if I fell in there, I would also die," Huang Mei said flatly with a cold smile.

The others might not have said anything, but they agreed wholeheartedly to his words. Nian Yin and Su Ming's fall frightened them to no end. They did not know… who the next one might be.

Xu Hui did not speak. She glanced at the canyon beneath her, watching it for a time silently. In her head were the words Su Ming had told her before he let go.

She made up her mind. If Su Ming did not appear in the end, she would fall into the canyon once more. Even if she was going to become a hideous ferocious spirit, she would still rather be with Su Ming.

That was why she did not react a single bit to the other people's words.

Soon, Huang Mei's expression changed. He lifted his head to stare at the distant summit above him. He was not the only one. Reverend Zi Long also frowned and cast a glance at the summit before becoming absorbed in his thoughts.

Zhu You Cai should have been the first to discover this abnormality. He cast a glance at Xu Hui and remembered the certainty in her voice when she spoke just then.

Gradually, Progenitor Long Hai and Huo Kui also revealed changes in their expressions. In the end, when even Xuan Shang, Hua Yu, and Yun You reacted to the situation, their expressions turned dark.

Because… when Nian Yin plunged into the canyon, the old man at the summit mentioned that there were eleven of them left. Logically, he should have mentioned that there were ten of them left by then.

However, he did not say a single word. The meaning behind it left everyone uncertain.

Time trickled by, but the old man at the summit still not say a single thing. Thus, everyone continued to climb the mountain which occasionally swayed at a much greater intensity than before.

…..

In the canyon under the mountain, Su Ming closed his eyes. His memory was frozen at the moment he plunged down and was surrounded by a bunch of hideous ferocious spirits. Due to intense pain, he lost his consciousness.

Before that though, he could sense that his body was being continuously torn.

He had no idea how much time had passed. When he opened his eyes, he found himself lying in a puddle of murky water. Ripples would occasionally spread out on the surface, and a rotten stench would fill the area.

"There is truth in heaven, and there are gates to the depths of earth. You may step onto the road to heaven, and you may stare at the distant land." An old voice reverberated in all directions, causing Su Ming's mind to instantly become clear.

When he struggled to stand, he discovered that his cultivation base had already recovered, but Su Ming still fell silent… because he saw that his body was covered in countless boils!

He lifted his hand to touch his face, certain that he had become like the ferocious spirits he'd seen not long ago.

However, Su Ming swiftly stopped thinking about his body's situation, because the voice just then brought him a familiar feeling. It was something that stemmed from an event that happened in the distant past. When he thought about it carefully, he could find the answer to the familiarity.

That voice belonged to the old man on the summit, which he had heard when he was beside the mountain.

Su Ming stood up, and a freezing glare appeared in his eyes. If he was in the world outside, then he would absolutely not be able to hold any advantage over the old man. However… this was the fifth kiln, and Su Ming was an Abyss Builder.

With a cold harrumph, he rose and flew in the direction from which the voice had come. When he was in midair, he cast a glance over there, and he immediately saw an old man sitting cross-legged on a black lotus atop a stone platform in the distance.

There were a dozen something ferocious spirits prostrating on the ground around him, their faces filled with pain. As they worshiped him, the old man's voice reverberated in all directions once more.

"The path to heaven has been shut for you, but the gate to earth has been opened. My Art is split into two parts… One is the Mountain Shifter that blends with the will of the universe, and it is a gentle Art.

"The other is… the Mountain Shifter that overrides the will of the universe. This is the ferocious part of the Art… Go. The gate to enter the earth has been opened. You can go and search for the menacing version of the Mountain Shifter Art," the old man said flatly, then lifted his right hand to swing his arm in the air. Immediately, fog started tumbling about in the air behind him. The ground rumbled faintly, and Su Ming saw the ground gained a murky look, because it had been entirely filled with fog.

A gigantic mountain appeared under the ground.

This was an inverted mountain that stood upside-down beneath the ground. It made one feel as if the ground was not the ground but was formed by fog. If a person looked at this upside-down scene, they would be able to see the inverted summit in the fog.

'A mirror…' Su Ming's heart trembled. This was the first time he had such a direct perception of the theory of the mirror he'd heard mentioned when he was in the World of Nine Yin.

If he described this fog as a mirror, then the mountain in which Su Ming stayed previously was the area beyond the mirror, and the inverted mountain in the fog was the area within the mirror.

Or perhaps it was the opposite. The mountain where he was previously was actually the area inside the mirror, and the one Su Ming saw at that moment was the true mountain beyond the mirror.

He could not see through it. He could not differentiate it. Perhaps everything would change endlessly with just the span of one thought.

Su Ming stared at the old man in midair and frowned before shifting his gaze to the mountain under the fog. A contemplative expression appeared on his face.

At the same time, the ferocious spirits prostrating themselves around the old man stood up. As they roared, they rushed to the inverted mountain under the fog. Their cultivation bases did not disappear, but as they charged forward, the mountain trembled, and ten light circles appeared around the ferocious spirits. The ferocious spirits closed in on the regions where the light circles were at once, but there were about a dozen of the creatures, and there were only ten of the light circles.

A fight over the light circles instantly broke out, and within an instant, all the ferocious spirits beyond the light circles let out shrill screams of pain. Once their bodies disappeared, they appeared around the stone platform where the old man was while hugging their heads and wailing nonstop. It was as if there was something that they treasured being extracted from within them.

That something turned into lines of various colors that fused with the old man's body.

The ferocious spirits remaining on the mountain continued onward while roaring.

"There is a gate leading to the depths of the earth, but every single time you fail to enter it, a hundred years of your memories will be taken away from you. When you no longer have any memories, the seven emotions and six desires within you will be extracted. When you no longer have even your seven emotions and six desires, your lives will be extracted," the old man said flatly and no longer looked at the wailing ferocious spirits. Instead, he lifted his head and cast his eyes on Su Ming, who still remained in midair.

"Welcome, current master of the fifth kiln. I am Mu Ya." The old man smiled faintly.

Su Ming stared at the old man and did not speak.

"Do you want to join this game? If you don't want to, leave behind a thousand years of your memories. I will also extract three out of your seven emotions and six desires. Then, on behalf of your father, I will let you leave this place." The old man smiled, but in Su Ming's eyes, that smile was filled with a strange, wicked air. The indifference in his eyes was a disregard for all forms of life in the universe.

"Why would I not want to?" Su Ming stared at the old man. After a long time, a smile appeared on his face. That smile was also filled with a strange, wicked air. Fine veins appeared on his body. They might seem normal at first glance, but in truth, they were Ecang's venous pathways!

When Ecang appeared, the wicked air about Su Ming's body immediately turned sinister. It spread out in all directions and swept up the fog in the area before turning it into a rotating vortex around Su Ming.

The old man was originally smiling, his expression calm, but when he saw Su Ming's smile and the sinister air about him, his eyes brightened swiftly. He even stood up and stared at Su Ming. His eyes sparkled several times before bellowed, "Very good! I've only ever admired one person in my life, but I also greatly despised his thickheaded stubbornness and that pitiful, ridiculous, foolish loyalty of his. That person is your ancestor. He held the same rank as Lu Ya and me, and he is Abyss Builders' Progenitor, one of the three Sublime Paragons of the Fifth True World.

"I didn't expect that someone like you would appear among his descendants. You managed to Possess a being like Ecang who obeys the evils in the universe. With one step further… you will be able to become a unique, nightmarish existence!

"Has your father never told you that Abyss Builders are to never Possess the nine great lives in Old Man Extermination's ballad?!" The old man laughed. The delight on his face did not seem to be fake. He swung his arm, and the fog beneath the area in front of Su Ming tumbled about before spreading out to reveal an entrance to a tunnel.

"The gate to the earth has been opened. I look forward… to you becoming my scion. If you succeed, then not only will I give you the Mountain Shifter Art, I will also grant you… a great serendipity!"

Chapter 1009: Your Rules

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Su Ming stared at the fog beneath him spreading outwards to reveal that so-called gate to enter the earth. With a sparkle in his eyes, he asked flatly, "What serendipity?"

"A great serendipity that will let this clone of yours enter Mastery Realm!" A strange light shone in the old man's eyes. As he laughed long and hard, his words resulted in a loud bang. A brilliant light shone in Su Ming's eyes when he heard it.

He did not continue asking about it. With one step, he walked into the entrance of the fog, and his body entered the gate to the earth.

Once he entered it, the world turned upside down. A powerful light covered his eyes. A loud bang reverberated beside him, and he had the feeling as if he was moving through water.

After a moment, when this feeling disappeared along with the powerful light in front of Su Ming's eyes, he saw everything around him clearly. He found himself standing… on an inverted mountain.

But he was standing at the highest part of the mountain, where the foot of the mountain was located.

Right away, he could see the ferocious spirits formed by the ten cultivators at the mountain beneath him. They were charging forward, their goal being the summit at the lowest part of the mountain!

A freezing glare shone in Su Ming's eyes. At that moment, he might look hideous, but his cultivation base had been completely restored. With one move, he charged downwards, and he was so fast that even though he was the last one, he was closed in on everyone in no time.

In the span of around a dozen breaths, the mountain suddenly began swaying violently. The intensity of these tremors was one that would bother Su Ming if his cultivation base had disappeared, but at that moment, they were completely insignificant.

With a leap, he charged forward, as if he was plunging downwards.

But after the tremors lasted for several breaths, circles of light appeared in nine spots on the mountain. There were nine spots, but there were eleven ferocious spirits formed by cultivators that were on the mountain.

Su Ming was the last among them. He immediately saw the ten ferocious beasts beneath him acting as if they had gone mad at the instant the circles of light appeared. They charged towards the nine circles right away, and some of the more powerful ferocious spirits could completely occupy one in an instant. However, the slightly weaker ones began fighting among themselves in a frenzy.

Booming sounds echoed in all directions. While Su Ming continued charging down, he saw Nian Yin fighting against another cultivator for a circle of light. At the same time, a powerful sense of danger rose swiftly in Su Ming's heart.

It was as if the mountain on which he stood was sending a divine thought signaling danger to all the living creatures on it at that moment. With this divine thought around, the light from all nine circles of light swiftly began to fade. At that moment, Su Ming had a powerful epiphany that when the light from those circles faded away completely, those who did not manage to enter them… would have their right to be in the mountain this time canceled. Their memories would be extracted to become the price for desiring the legacy.

The moment Su Ming approached the circle of light, the ferocious spirit that was Nian Yin let out a shrill scream of pain. His head had been gobbled up by another ferocious spirit. While chewing his head, that person stood in the circle of light and began howling.

When Su Ming saw that the nine circles of light were swiftly fading away, the sense of danger in his heart grew even stronger. He did not have much time to think about it. With one step, he charged at the circle of light that was the closest to him.

There was a ferocious spirit that was about one hundred feet tall in that circle of light. Many of the boils on his body had burst, and some of them had already dried up. His eyes were bloodshot, and there was confusion and madness in them. Clearly, he had failed several times before, and an unknown amount of years' worth of memories had been extracted from him.

However, no matter how little memories remained in him, a faint will from his soul still existed. He knew that he could not have someone else snatch the circle of light in which hewe as standing and that he could not be forced out of his circle of light, or else the pain of having his memories extracted as well as his seven emotions and six desires taken away from him would come upon him again. That pain was an unimaginable nightmare to all people, no matter who they were.

At the instant Su Ming closed in, the ferocious spirit roared. He lifted his swollen right hand and formed a seal before pointing swiftly at Su Ming. With it, the world roared, and a powerful gust of wind appeared out of thin air. It surrounded the area and gathered on the ferocious spirit's finger. Then, it turned into a long arc that seemed to be able to rip apart space and shot towards the incoming Su Ming.

Killing intent shone in Su Ming's eyes. He did not move back, but instead charged forward even faster. With a leap, he headed downwards and lifted his right hand. The purple-black ring on his thumb shone, and the Life Inequity Spear appeared. Once Su Ming held it in his hand and the instant the circle of light was about to completely fade away, he turned into an afterimage that crashed straight into the incoming long arc.

Booming sounds echoed in the air. Su Ming shot through the long arc and stepped straight into the circle of light. He was so quick that it was impossible to describe his speed with words. When the other ferocious spirits in the area looked over, they only saw a piercing light and heard loud booms surge into the sky.

When the powerful light dissipated and the loud bangs faded away, what appeared before the other ferocious spirits' eyes was Su Ming standing in the circle of light. Beyond it was a twitching corpse whose right eye had been stabbed by a long spear!

With an indifferent expression, Su Ming slowly pulled out that long spear before he looked around him with a cold glare.

It was at that instant that the circle of light beneath his feet disappeared, and immediately after, circles of light appeared some distance below everyone. This time, there was no longer nine, but seven of them!

Almost the instant the seven circles of light appeared below the eight remaining ferocious spirits besides Su Ming rushed out at their full speed. They intended to snatch at least one spot for themselves.

Su Ming did not say a single word. He did not think about snatching a circle of light from another ferocious spirit, but chose a circle and fixed his gaze on it. Whoever tried to snatch it from him, he would kill them!

When the ferocious spirits were still cultivators, none of them were weaklings. They might have become even more driven by insanity after staying in this place for so many years and losing their memories as well as their seven emotions and six desires through failure after failure, but their strength was definitely no longer comparable to that of their past selves.

'This is a game for that old Ya Mu. Over the years, none among these people have managed to succeed. This alone is enough proof that Ya Mu doesn't want anyone to succeed.

'So there is definitely some other form of obstruction in the final fight.' A glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes. As he moved forward, he stared at the first circle of light among the seven. 'I'll choose that one.'

Roars reverberated in the air. The ferocious spirits in the mountain spread out and charged towards the seven circles of light. After a moment, when Su Ming drew close to his target, another ferocious spirit came, having also chosen that circle.

That ferocious spirit was nearly two hundred feet tall. As he strode forward, he arrived almost at the same time as Su Ming. With a roar, he swung his right fist forward, stirring up a thunderous boom and sending a punch straight in Su Ming's direction.

Su Ming positioned the Life Inequity Spear horizontally in front of himself. Once he blocked the attack, booming sounds rose into the air, and he immediately pressed his left hand on his right before swiftly pushing forward.

With a loud bang, Su Ming was forced back three steps and stopped at the edge of the circle of light. As for that ferocious spirit, it staggered back four steps. It stepped out of the circle of light, then opened its mouth wide to roar at Su Ming. As it did, killing intent shone in Su Ming's eyes, and before the ferocious spirit even finished opening his mouth, Su Ming roared first.

This was the first time Su Ming had roared after transforming into his current hideous appearance. A murderous aura that surged into the sky erupted from his body with a bang. It swept through the area, causing the air to distort, and the ferocious spirit instinctively took a few steps back. As his pupils shrank, he moved and avoided the circle of light where Su Ming was and rushed to another one.

The brutal slaughter that surrounded the seven circles of light instantly reached its most intense state. After a moment, with the price of two ferocious spirits dying, one ferocious spirit stood in each of the seven circles of light.

What caught Su Ming's attention was a ferocious spirit that was about seventy or eighty feet tall standing in the seventh circle of light. All the boils on his body had dried up. His eyes were drooping, and there was a tuft of white fur on his forehead.

An ancient air would occasionally appear about his body. His eyes might have seemed bloodshot, but Su Ming noticed that there was a clear look hidden beneath it.

This was a ferocious spirit that possessed intelligence.

What interested Su Ming was that once he occupied a circle of light, no other ferocious spirits would try fighting for it. While he mulled over this, he figured out what was going on.

The creature seemed to have noticed his gaze and turned his head to cast Su Ming a glance.

Above the fog beyond the mountain was the old Ya Mu watching the scene with a smile. A bright light shone in his eyes.

"Not bad, not bad at all. The murderous aura around him is very thick. He's not the type that has never gone through hardships before. If this lad can obtain my legacy, then I will definitely not hold back in providing him with his serendipity.

"An Abyss Builder who Possessed Ecang. Interesting, how very interesting! But I'll have to make this fight even more intense, only then will I be able to see more." The old man licked his lips. Coupled with his smile, his expression made that strange, wicked air on him become even stronger. There was even an endless wave of wicked air coming from his body.

He lifted his right hand and pointed at the mountain beneath the fog.

At that instant, the circles of light on the mountain immediately faded away. Once they disappeared, new circles of light appeared further down the mountain, but this time… there were only two!

Seven circles of light were instantly reduced to only two, and it almost immediately caused this competition over the legacy to reach a frenzied state.

Su Ming lifted his head and looked at the fog above him. He could vaguely see the old Ya Mu's figure.

Once the two circles of light appeared below, the remaining six ferocious spirits besides Su Ming let out intense roars, and with bloodshot eyes, they madly charged forward at full speed.

Two circles of light. It meant that five out of the seven would fail!

"Is this the rules you set?" Su Ming ignored the six ferocious spirits that rushed out. He lifted his head to look at the indistinct old man in the fog above him. A piercing, cold glare appeared in his eyes.

"You'll choose two among the seven, and then you'll have them fight in a manner that will please you. Whether or not the person who eventually emerges victorious will obtain your legacy will depend on your mood. If you are not willing, then you will make him fail, or perhaps you will not extract his memories as a reward.

"I believe that's what you have been doing over the years. But those are your rules, not mine!" Su Ming turned his head around and looked at the six charging ferocious spirits before closing his eyes.

Chapter 1010: Su, Xuan, Yi!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The instant Su Ming closed his eyes, countless veins appeared on his body. They filled his entire body, and a malicious as well as ancient presence erupted with a bang.

This presence belonged to Ecang.

By then, Su Ming had already had his Ecang clone descend and fuse with him. When he opened his eyes again, the veins made it seem as if branches were growing over his body. A powerful presence spread out when Su Ming took a step forward.

'Two circles of light. Two slots. Then I'd like to see how you'll continue with your game when I am the only one left.' When Su Ming walked forward, the mountain trembled. He leaped up and lifted his right hand. The Life Inequity Spear shone with a brilliant light, and he threw it in front of him.

With a loud buzz, the spear turned into a long arc that sliced through the air. It instantly closed in on a roaring ferocious spirit, who lifted his arms to seize the projectile.

But the instant he touched the spear, his arms disintegrated. A pained scream rang out in the air. The Life Inequity Spear shot straight through that spirit's chest. With a bang, his body was pinned to the mountain. As the Life Inequity Spear let out a loud buzz, the ferocious spirit's pained screams grew even shriller before fading away.

"Five more."

Su Ming rushed forward like a purple shadow that charged towards the other ferocious spirits who were fighting against each other. To them, someone dying was not something they needed to pay attention to. In the mid of the battles for the two circles of light, Su Ming saw something again…

Within one of the circles of light was the ferocious spirit with that tuft of white fur on his forehead, but there was no other competitors around him. He calmly stood in that circle of light, while the ferocious spirits around him did not even spare a glance at him. It was as if… wherever he was, that place would turn into a forbidden ground for the other ferocious spirits.

His expression was calm. It was as if there was nothing around him that could catch his attention. Even Su Ming was worthy, for he had only met his gaze for a moment before ignoring him.

He left behind a powerful image to the people who had their memories continuously extracted from them, and that effect was so strong that it even affected their actions. It was to such an extent that they no longer remembered him in a normal manner, but remembered him as if his existence had been branded into their souls.

There was only one possible way for him to do this!

'This person… has always been the one who succeeds in reaching the end of Ya Mu's game in this dimension. There has never been a single exception where he was not the winner. The wariness branded in these ferocious spirits' souls took form after they were killed by him numerous times.

'That's why he can retain his intelligence, because the reward for winning every single time… is for his memories to not be taken away.'

Su Ming's pupils constricted, and he cast a deep glance at the ferocious spirit with the tuft of white fur before rushing towards the spot where the four ferocious spirits were fighting against each other.

As if they had sensed a great threat coming from Su Ming, they turned around simultaneously. Once they saw Su Ming, they rushed at him in unison.

In the face of the four ferocious spirits who were clearly ready to work together, Su Ming let out a cold harrumph. Before both parties even closed in on each other, he lifted his left hand and patted his storage bag. Immediately, a longbow appeared in his left hand.

This treasure Su Ming had obtained when he fought against the Sand Earthlings. Upon taking it into his hands, Su Ming drew the bowstring with his right hand. With a loud buzz, three sand arrows gathered out of thin air before shooting out.

The three arrows let out the same whooshing sound that was piercing to the ears. A sound as if the air had been sliced apart reverberated through the area as the arrows charged towards three out of the four ferocious spirits!

Booming sounds echoed in the air. The three ferocious spirits looked as if they were about to dodge when the three arrows exploded simultaneously. The impact of that caused the three incoming ferocious spirits to freeze for a moment.

Because of that, the final ferocious spirit stood out like a sore thumb. He was forced to have a face off against Su Ming alone.

Su Ming was not unfamiliar with this ferocious spirit. He was the one who flung off Nian Yin when they were in the fog and was also the one who had shouted out those words.

Both parties closed in on each other instantly. Booming sounds shook the sky and earth. The ferocious spirit let out a shrill roar, but his body froze in midair for a moment while Su Ming swept past him.

When Su Ming left into the distance, the ferocious spirit's head crumbled while still in midair. He fell onto the mountain and stopped moving.

Without stopping for even a single moment, Su Ming rushed towards the three ferocious spirits who had been blocked just then by the three arrows. When he closed in, he clenched his right hand, and the poisonous wasp pierced him with its stinger.

The God Ascension Nectar was injected into his body, causing Su Ming to lift his head swiftly. The veins on his face grew denser, and a powerful and domineering life force ran wild through his body, filling Su Ming's eyes with blood. With a single step, he charged forward.

An uncomfortable feeling formed in his stomach, as if he would only feel better once he threw up whatever was in his stomach. It was a feeling akin to that of the body being about to burst, and waves of unbearable pain surged through Su Ming. Under that intense pain, he felt as if his entire body was about to burst into flames. Due to the stimulation of the God Ascension Nectar, the Ecang clone in his body… also seemed to be going through a transformation he had never expected.

The source of that change was at the origin of a cracking sound coming from Su Ming's body, one that only he could hear.

This change made Su Ming immediately choose to give up on the Illusion of Stars, Sun, and Moon he was prepared to execute in order to kill the three ferocious spirits.

He initially intended to kill one of them with a divine ability, this way making it easier to handle the remaining two.

Yet the moment the Ecang clone in his body changed and the feeling as if his body was about to burst grew to its most intense state, he realized that if he did not let it out, then this time, his body would immediately crumble.

This was something he had not expected. What Su Ming did not know was that when he saved the Resentful Wei, there was still a huge amount of God Ascension Nectar left in his body. He might have suppressed it at the time, and if he'd had more time, he could have slowly absorbed and refined it, but only a short period of time had passed since then. When he injected more God Ascension Nectar into his body, he made his body start boiling.

It was this that caused his body to be in danger at that moment, and it was precisely this danger and the large amount of God Ascension Nectar within him that brought about the change in the Ecang clone.

Su Ming did not know whether this change was good or bad. He did not have time to think about it, because as the three ferocious spirits roared, they had already closed in on him. Ripples of power erupted from their bodies, and they brought forth their strongest power to kill Su Ming in one go!

Su Ming's eyes were bloodshot. During that moment of crisis, he hesitated no longer and acted based on the will of his Ecang clone—he went along with Ecang's transformation!

The instant Su Ming chose to go along with the flow, the intense pain throughout his body descended on him again. Blood gushed out from various body parts, and purplish red branches grew out of him!

In the mid of the intense pain, Su Ming discovered to his shock that his Ecang clone, which had originally fused into his body in the shape of a human, had turned… into Ecang's real self at that moment!

The body that should be incomparably huge and could occupy the entire galaxy had now shrank numerous times to exist in Su Ming's body.

This was Ecang's transformation, and it was also the first intense change that happened to Su Ming's body.

The three ferocious spirits closed in on him, as booming sounds rose into the air. When they spread out in all directions, shrill screams of pain that were far louder than the roars from the ferocious spirits rose up madly.

Just listening to those shrill and forlorn voices was enough to cause people's skin to crawl. Within those screams was indescribable pain and misery.

In fact, during that instant, the pupils of the ferocious spirit that had a tuft of white fur on his forehead shrank. He was already standing in the circle of light with a calm expression on his face, as if there was nothing around him that could attract his attention, and even when it came to Su Ming, he treated him with indifference, but at that moment, he fixed his stare on Su Ming, and his breathing quickened. Disbelief appeared in his eyes.

He was not the only one. The drastic change of the Ecang clone in Su Ming's body, the endless branches that stretched out from him, and the booming sounds that could not drown out the shrill cries that were obviously not from Su Ming also caused Old Ya Mu, who was sitting above the fog and watching the battle underneath with a calm and composed manner, to instantly stand up from his seat.

Distortions appeared in the air around him. His hair moved without wind, and rarely seen shock appeared in his eyes. His breathing quickened, and his eyes flashed.

"This… This is…

"Abyss Builders cannot Possess the nine great lives in Old Man Extermination's ballad. This is something prohibited for them. This child's act of Possessing Ecang was already something that goes against the laws of heaven.

"But no matter what, that Ecang isn't complete. What he Possessed is only a part of Ecang. While the act of Possession itself is against the laws of heaven, it still could be accepted, but Ecang belongs to the law and definitely does not belong to this child. In the future, once Ecang becomes complete, this child will definitely have his actions limited by the laws. He will either be devoured by Ecang, or will be separate from it.

"However… he just fused perfectly with that part of Ecang's will he possesses. It has become an even more superior life form, and with just a part of its body, it became the life form that it was when it had its complete body!

"From now on, these two have fused into one, and they can no longer be separated. He is Ecang, and Ecang is him. This is a fact that not even the laws can change. Even if Ecang is completed in the future, it will still be the same!"

While Old Ya Mu was shocked, the dimension in the land trembled, and signs of it about to crumble appeared. In truth, those signs did not just appear in this place. The entire fifth kiln was trembling. With the old man's divine ability, he could sense that the galaxy beyond the fifth kiln and the entire Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos was trembling together at that instant.

This trembling caused the four Great True Worlds and the entire Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos to instantly burst into an uproar. Ripples appeared in the galaxy, planets shuddered, and the universe looked as if it was about to fade away and disappear.

It was especially so for the foreign lands within the Barren Lands of Divine Essence's Western Ring Nebula. The remaining Ecang souls roared together, and in their roars was endless fear and shock.

"Su Xuan Yi, you… just what did you do for your son?" The old man's heart shook furiously. He instinctively wanted to raise his hand, as fierce killing intent appeared in his eyes.

"As one of the inspectors from Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos, I have the duty to kill all lives who interfere with the laws. This child's existence is a change that interferes with the laws!"

But the instant the old man wanted to attack, his expression changed drastically again. He lifted his head and stared at the sky. An incredibly wary expression appeared on his face, and at the same time, he spat out three words.

"Su, Xuan, Yi!"

A will that shook the sky and the earth as well as caused an endless sea of fire to burst forth from the entire fifth kiln descended into the area!

Chapter 1011: The Third Clone

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Wind stirred and clouds surged in the sky. As the world roared, fog tumbled about in all directions. A gigantic shadow appeared as if he had walked out of thin air to stand in the sky.

This figure was several hundreds of feet tall and dressed entirely in golden armor. He looked like a warring immortal. As his long hair danced in the air, a golden face was revealed. There was not a shred of emotion on that face, for it was as cold as a piece of gold.

However, there was a long chain wrapped around that figure's shoulder. This was a chain that stretched into the depths of space in the sky!

But the thing that caused old Ya Mu's pupils to shrink was not the person. His gaze did not rest on him even for a moment. Instead, he fixed his eyes on the depths of space, from where the chain came.

That person… was not Su Xuan Yi!

At that moment, an incredibly powerful will descended on the ground with a bang. Fog tumbled about beside the golden figure, and golden light stretched out to one hundred thousand feet. Then, another golden figure walked out from space.

He was as tall, as dignified, and as emotionless as the other figure. There was also… a chain wrapped around his shoulder.

Almost at the instant the second golden figure appeared, golden light surrounded him as well. When it reached a piercing degree, the third golden figure appeared.

Three golden-armored giants. Three golden figures with chains wrapped around their shoulders. Once they appeared one after another, they roared before bending their backs. Then, as if they were pulling the chains, they started moving forward.

Booming sounds chook the sky and earth, but Su Ming could not hear a single thing as he remained under the fog. In fact, he did not even have time to pay attention to the fog tumbling about above him.

At that moment, his entire body was filled with intense pain as the God Ascension Nectar spilled out from hi. The burst of force had erupted from him in a frenzy once he conformed to the drastic change within his Ecang clone.

As that force erupted from him and the three ferocious spirits let out shrill screams of pain around him, Su Ming's mind became clear again. With a single glance, he could see that the three ferocious spirits beside him were floating up. Numerous branches had pierced their bodies, and those branches… grew from Su Ming's body.

Shrill wails tumbled out continuously from the three ferocious spirits. Pained expressions were on their faces, and their bodies were swiftly withering away, as if those branches that pierced through their bodies were rapidly devouring all their blood, flesh, essence, cultivation base, and spirits.

In fact, Su Ming could see veins having popped up on the three ferocious spirits' bodies. They wriggled about, but that was not because of the blood in them, nor were they wriggling about due to spasms. They were… the branches spreading throughout the three ferocious spirits' bodies.

In Su Ming's senses, those branches were a part of his body. They were dense and could not be told apart. He could clearly sense them moving, and in fact, he could even control them slightly.

With that feeling, Su Ming's heart trembled furiously, because he saw that those branches which had stretched from his body were devouring the three ferocious spirits' blood, flesh, and cultivation base while they screamed in shrill voices.

The branches were not simply devouring them, however. Instead, they were swiftly disassembling the three ferocious spirits. It was as if… the branches were rapidly looking for flaws within the creatures' bodies, searching for the parts that were lacking in their lives to use it to their advantage in disassembling them in one go. This scene was similar to how Su Ming had searched for the Waves of Tears' flaws once he turned into Old Man Extermination after going through endless years of research, which had happened after Su Ming had run into the Waves of Tears in Divine Essence Star Ocean!

Su Ming's heart trembled, and a scene appeared in his mind. It was the one that he once saw in the Seed of Life Extermination. Within that scene was a gigantic ancient ship. With the various lives offered to him, Old Man Extermination only needed to swing his arm to instantly know what flaws lay in their lives.

This scene had initially shocked Su Ming, and he once desired this, but also knew that this was incredibly far away from him, but right then… a powerful light shone in Su Ming's eyes. He noticed that he was not that far away from reaching the state of Old Man Extermination in that scene!

'Ecang's transformation… is due to the God Ascension Nectar, but the bigger reason lies in the Seed of Life Extermination!'

Su Ming did not know how great of a shock he had brought to the entire Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos when his Ecang clone fused perfectly with his body. He also did not know that Old Ya Mu was looking at the space in the distance while he stood in the world beyond the fog above him.

As the three golden-armored giants bent their backs and pulled the chains forward, booming sounds echoed in all directions within the space. Gradually, a gigantic outline appeared clearly in Ya Mu's eyes.

That outline belonged to a chariot, one which was entirely gold and looked like the sun!

The chariot was one thousand feet big, and its outline alone brought about a great and mighty pressure on Ya Mu, causing the fifth kiln to roar and seas of fire to surge up in countless dimensions.

"Su Xuan Yi!"

Old Ya Mu lifted his right hand and clenched it in front of himself. Immediately, black light shone in his fist. As he unfurled it and revealed his palm, a black ball of light appeared on his palm.

That black ball of light looked as if it was the abyss that could devour all light in the world. Endless illusory figures shone nonstop within it. Each time this happened, a different mountain would manifest in it, and in just several breaths, more than ten million mountains appeared.

Ya Mu stared at the space. The wariness in his eyes was replaced by a powerful fighting spirit, as if he was waiting for the indistinct outline to gain corporeal form and reveal… the second most powerful person among the Abyss Builders in the Fifth True World – Su Xuan Yi. This person was the prodigy the Abyss Builders' Progenitor had predicted to be their Chosen that would someday surpass him.

As Ya Mu stared at the space, the booming sounds reached their strongest. Under the loud noise, the three golden-armored giants let out a roar at the same time. They took a swift forward to yank the chain forward, and the indistinct chariot seemed to be pulled out of space, entering the real world.

The world instantly turned golden. Within the gold sky, gold earth, gold fog, and the gold space, a golden chariot was revealed!

Standing on the chariot was a figure dressed in a golden robe, whose fluttering white hair also seemed to be dyed in gold.

This was a man, an incredibly handsome middle-aged man filled with an ancient air. His gaze was icy cold, and his face was like metal. There was a merciless and aloof air about him, as if there was not a single shred of emotion that belonged to a person within that body.

Ya Mu stared at the aloof man on the golden chariot and asked in a low voice, "Which clone of Su Xuan Yi are you?!"

"The third clone," the middle-aged man said flatly and lifted his right hand. Immediately, endless golden light converged there and turned into a long sword that was around ten feet tall. Its edge was so sharp that with just a light wave, the sound of space tearing apart could be heard.

"Are you the one who wants to harm my Ming'Er?" The icy look in the middle-aged man's eyes gained an even more freezing edge. He did not speak much, but when his sentence was spoken, the entire world seemed to have been submerged in boundless ice.

As cracking sounds came from the space around him, signs of it being frozen manifested. The world looked to be covered in a spiderweb that spreading swiftly. The sky instantly looked like a giant ice flower!

Old Ya Mu's expression changed. Just as he was about to open his eyes and speak, the middle-aged man who was at the center of the ice flower while standing on the chariot in the sky lifted the longsword in his hand and slashed at the ground with a simple swing.

That slash froze the world. The ice flower instantly covered the ground, freezing all of it. The sword cut through the law in the world, causing it to roar, as if it had been cut in half.

Fighting spirit sparked in Old Ya Mu's eyes. The black ball of light in his right hand instantly erupted with black light. It spread along the ice flower, as if it wanted to dye it black. When he lifted his right hand, he swung his arm at the incoming slash.

Immediately, the black ball of light charged at the sky and crashed against the middle-aged man's slash in midair.

"Mountain Shifter!"

Old Ya Mu formed a seal with his hands. Once he formed the mark of a mountain above his head, he spread his arms wide open. An even darker light erupted from the black ball in the sky. The tens of millions of mountains in it seemed to appear in the sky at the same time. This scene might seem incredibly bizarre in words, but during that moment, the sky was filled with mountains.

Booming sounds echoed furiously in the air. They came from the mountains collapsing, which caused Old Ya Mu's face to turn increasingly paler. Once he spread his arms wide open, he gathered them in front of himself and pressed his palms together to form the shape of a summit before he stabbed the air in the direction of the sky.

A loud bang that shook the sky rang out once more. The tens of millions of mountains in the air shuddered simultaneously, and a ray of golden light swept through the area. It cut through the mountains one after another as easy as a hot knife cuts through butter. When the mountains crumbled layer by layer, the golden longsword turned into a ray of golden light that instantly went through.

Old Ya Mu's face was pale. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, and when he staggered backwards, the mountains in the sky crumbled, and the golden light slashing down came to three inches above Old Ya Mu's head. Then, it stopped moving.

However, the freezing will coming from it froze Old Ya Mu's entire body. The glare from the tip of the sword also caused a crack to appear at the center of his brows.

"I respect you as someone older than me. Go and fulfill your promise. Let Ming'Er inherit that Mountain Shifter Art of yours, then deliver a serendipity for him," the aloof voice said from the sky, and the ice flower around Ya Mu became even colder.

"If my real body was not in Arid Traid Expanse Cosmos, then with this Abyss Sword Style of yours, which hasn't even reached the Fifth Heaven, you wouldn't be able to fight against my Mountain Shifter Art!" Old Ya Mu lifted his head and did not even spare a glance at the golden sword above his head. Instead, he stared at the indistinct golden chariot as the mountains crumbled around him.

"This is the fifth kiln, and I am only the third clone," the middle-aged man on the chariot said flatly. His body gradually disappeared, and even the three golden-armored giants slowly fused into space. When all of them were gone, the ice flower also shrank until the world returned to normal. The golden sword above Old Ya Mu's head vanished.

Chapter 1012: Drawing a Circle with Words to Form a Prison

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

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

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

With a complicated expression, Old Ya Mu sighed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"That circle of light belongs to me."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Illusion of Stars, Sun, and Moon!

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

Perhaps all of them were real!

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

The profound aspect of this Art lay in the heart.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A powerful enemy!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When the ferocious spirit heard him, he suddenly laughed.

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

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

"Dao Avenue Mountain!"

The world roared, and Dao Avenue Mountain manifested itself.

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

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

"Malicious Spirit Weighs the Elephant!"

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

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

Destiny's first transformation!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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