In the Sinful Barren Lands of Barren Lands of Divine Essence, there was an abandoned cultivation planet. More accurately speaking, this was not a complete cultivation planet, but one of its fragmented pieces after that planet had collapsed at some point in time.
It might have shattered ten thousand years ago, or it could have shattered a much longer time ago, when the four Great True Worlds fought against the fifth True World. Whenever this had had happened, a fragmented piece had come to be after the planet collapsed.
It was larger than a common meteor. Perhaps some time later, it would fall apart and join the meteors that floated by their lonesome in the galaxy.
However, right then, this was yet to happen
Su Ming sat on the fragmented piece from the planet that had shattered an unknown number of years ago. There were no signs of life on it, and neither were there any cultivators. It was like a broken world where all manner of living had become still and silent.
Su Ming had been meditating there for three days.
He knew that time was precious. He knew that the possibility of him being discovered at any moment lurked around due to the four Great True Worlds chasing after him and the greed of the cultivators in the barren lands. That was why every single time he chose a place to heal his wounds, he would only stay in that spot for at most three days before he immediately changed his location.
Su Ming opened his eyes after a moment, and a hint of fatigue lay in his eyes. He lowered his head and unrobed himself. He looked at the slightly fainter mark of the sword on his chest. In silence, he averted his gaze and lifted his head to look at the sky.
"A hundred World Stones, huh?"
His lips curled up into a cold smirk. There were two corpses lying in front of him. Both were thin and dry. These were the two cultivators that Su Ming had run into three days ago in this place. He had originally decided to leave and avoid them, but those two cultivators had discovered his ident.i.ty and chosen to try and obtain the rewards. One of them then tried to hold him back while the other swiftly retreated in an attempt to call for backup.
Su Ming stood up. He lifted his right hand and swung his arm. Immediately, those two corpses turned into ashes and disappeared. He took a step towards the galaxy. When he was in s.p.a.ce, red immediately shone, and red threads surrounded his body. Once they turned into a red coffin, it charged away with a loud whoosh.
Almost at the moment Su Ming left the broken, fragmented piece and flew away, his eyes shone while he was in the coffin.
"This time, it was five days…" Su Ming could sense a wisp of his presence he had left five days ago on a meteor. This meant that the meteor was destroyed, and it meant that someone had found that meteor while searching for him.
"Something"s not right. Last time, they needed seven days to discover the presence I left behind." Su Ming frowned.
"Duke of Crimson Flame, is the Secret Art you cast on me still around?" Su Ming sent that question with his mind.
"It"s still around. As long as your enemies aren"t too close to you, it"ll be difficult for them to discover you. Your presence will remain in a single spot for seven days, and it also means that when they discover you, what they see will be the spot where you were seven days ago.
"This Secret Art is almost akin to twisting time and s.p.a.ce, if I cast it on someone else, it would not bring about too much effect, but since you"re an Abyss Builder and your inborn talent is controlling time and s.p.a.ce itself, that"s why such an effect was brought about," the Duke of Crimson Flame said calmly.
Su Ming fell silent. As he pondered over this quietly, he kept this problem in his heart. The red coffin charged through the galaxy and disappeared without a trace.
Three days later, the coffin suddenly stopped, and a freezing glare appeared in Su Ming"s eyes.
"As I thought, the presence I left behind on that fragmented piece has also disappeared. It"s only been three days since then."
Su Ming"s face was dark. The coffin where he was immediately melted. He walked out from the coffin and stood in the galaxy. He looked in the direction of the fragmented piece with brightly s.h.i.+ning eyes.
"They should have other methods to locate me besides that Blood Identification Pearl. The Secret Art worked previously because they had yet to execute this new method of locating me. Now, the time taken to find me is being rapidly cut short. Before long, they"ll be able to avoid that span of seven days where time and s.p.a.ce is distorted and be able to locate me instantly."
A chilling glare appeared in Su Ming"s eyes. He knew that if he was constantly in a state of being locked on, he would forever be in a state of being pursued.
"I"m also slightly curious. The Secret Art hasn"t lost its effect. By right, nothing should go wrong, but why do they have a method to cut down the time where time and s.p.a.ce is distorted?" The Duke of Crimson Flame"s puzzled voice echoed in Su Ming"s ears.
"What is the distance between us and Black Ink Planet?" Su Ming asked after being silent for a short while. Over the course of the journey, he had been hurrying forward whenever he was not curing his injuries. His destination was Black Ink Planet.
Only by leaving this place and stepping into Divine Essence Star Ocean could he shake off the four Great True Worlds coverage of the galaxy and no longer be constantly on the run like right now.
"I can still s.h.i.+ft you twice, but only twice. You will have to wait for a hundred years before I"ll be able to gather enough power to s.h.i.+ft you again.
"However, even if we s.h.i.+ft, there is still a limit. It"ll be difficult for us to reach Black Ink Planet within a short period of time. Based on my calculations, after I s.h.i.+ft twice, you will still need seventy something years of flight before you could reach that planet," the Duke of Crimson Flame said in a low voice.
Su Ming frowned and swept his gaze across the area.
"I must find what method they"re using to locate me besides that Blood Identification Pearl."
…..
At that moment there were nine ancient bronze swords charging through the galaxy from a spot a considerable amount of distance away from Su Ming. At the tip of the ancient swords was an illusory projection.
There was a blood red circle in that projection. It looked like a Rune, but if someone enlarged it several millions fold, then they would be able to see clearly that the lines that constructed this circular Rune were countless runic symbols packed densely together.
That circular Rune shone once every seven breaths. Each time it shone, numerous white spots would appear on it. Those white spots would either be scattered or gathered closely to each other. They concentrated in different spots of the Rune.
Besides them, there was a crimson red spot that was incredibly eye-catching. That glowing spot had been moving swiftly, but it had stopped at that moment.
"Hmph, just to kill this person, the four Great True Worlds actually agreed to use the Great Divinity Incarceration Rune. All the people who are within this Rune will have no place to hide."
"But this Mo Su is pretty good. He"s actually skilled in a Rune that can distort time and s.p.a.ce, causing us to always be late by seven days while we"ve been chased after him these past few months. If we didn"t activate this Great Divinity Incarceration Rune, it would have been slightly more difficult for us to know where he is."
There were many True Guards standing on the huge swords. Their gazes were on the red spot on that illusory projection.
"With just one more day, we"ll be able to break that method he uses to distort time and s.p.a.ce. By then, this Mo Su will have nowhere to hide. Judging by the direction he"s going, he should be heading towards Black Ink Planet. But it"s located incredibly far away from this place. He"ll need some two hundred years to get there, and he won"t survive for that long."
As those True Guards sent their thoughts to each other, the nine ancient bronze swords sliced through the air, charging swiftly into the distance.
…..
"Just what method are they using?!"
A long arc charged through the galaxy. It was a red coffin. Su Ming was sitting cross-legged on it. His face was dark. A myriad of thoughts fleeted through his mind as he continued a.n.a.lysing the situation and deducing what was going on with his thoughts forming together as if they were raw silk and he was spinning them together into a coc.o.o.n.
"It"s a pity that I lost my consciousness and was sealed near the end of the battle. I don"t know what the four Great True Worlds had placed in this galaxy over the years. Even after I absorbed Jing Nan Zi"s memories, I only know the general outline of things, not the details. After all, even with Jing Nan Zi"s status, it was difficult for him to know the secrets that lay at the core of the four Great True Worlds." The Duke of Crimson Flame was also thinking about this. After a moment, he sighed.
"Oh well, I"ll keep one s.h.i.+ft on standby. I"ll use it when you"re close to Black Ink Planet. After all, they should be able to guess where you"re going. They will definitely lock down the area around I"ll need to s.h.i.+ft you to pa.s.s through that lock and step into Black Ink Planet.
"Besides keeping the amount of power needed for one s.h.i.+ft, you still have one more s.h.i.+ft left. I can use it to help you temporarily shake off your pursuers," the Duke of Crimson Flame said in a low voice.
"It"s useless. Even if I manage to s.h.i.+ft farther away, if I don"t find the method they"re using to locate me besides that Blood Identification Pearl, then even if I buy some time, I"ll still be chased down eventually." Su Ming shook his head. Time was trickling by, and a sense of danger was rapidly rising in his heart.
If this continued, then Su Ming was certain that in a few days, he would once again face off a large-scale pursuit. When he thought of the sword aura that destroyed Heavenly Treasure Planet, his pupils shrank. That power was definitely not something that he could withstand. If he took that blow head on, then even if his physical body was powerful, his body and soul would definitely be destroyed.
"Just what is it..?" As Su Ming mumbled, he lifted his head and looked at the endless galaxy above his head. Every single time he looked at it, he would feel that the universe was boundless, and he was an incredibly weak existence.
After a long while, Su Ming sighed. Just as he was about to lower his head, a shudder suddenly ran through his body. He stood up and stared at the galaxy up ahead.
"Could there be an eye in the galaxy that can look at all regions attentively as if it was monitoring them, and no one can escape from its gaze?" Su Ming mumbled.
"Hmm? I don"t know whether there would be this sort of eye, but when you said that, I remember something now. There are certain gigantic Runes that can cover a galaxy and do what you said. All manner of lives under that Rune would be monitored." The bald Duke of Crimson Flame manifested beside Su Ming"s body and lifted his head to look at the sky with a grim expression.
"I remember now. Jing Nan Zi once executed a method to seal something. At that time, his presence was incredibly great. I could even feel a wave of power descending from the galaxy and sealing off the region based on Jing Nan Zi"s thoughts." Su Ming"s eyes shone, and a brilliant light was revealed within them.
The Duke of Crimson Flame"s heart shuddered and he immediately said, "A Rune, there is an incredibly gigantic Rune in the galaxy. This Rune is monitoring the galaxy, and it can see everything that is happening in all of the corners."
"Then the reason must definitely be this Rune. Only by using this method can they avoid the power that distorts time and s.p.a.ce and also dodge those misleading presences that last for seven days, because this Rune can instantly find me and locate me immediately." Su Ming glared at the sky above him, and madness gradually appeared in his eyes.
"Bald crane!" Su Ming swung his arm, and the bald crane immediately flew out from his storage bag. Once it manifested beside him, it immediately glared at the Duke of Crimson Flame. It did not dare provoke Su Ming, but somewhere in the depths of its heart, it thought that it could bully this bald man.
Su Ming looked at the bald crane and immediately asked, "Can you break this Rune that monitors the galaxy?"
The bald crane was momentarily stunned. After it looked at the area, it lifted its head to look at the galaxy. Then, without any hesitation, it shook its head vigorously.
"No can do, this Rune…"
Before it finished speaking, Su Ming threw out a bag. Once the bald crane caught and opened it, its eyes immediately started s.h.i.+ning brilliantly.
"Break the Rune, and I"ll give all of it to you," Su Ming said decisively.
The bald crane shuddered and screamed in excitement, "I"ll do it! I can do it! d.a.m.n it all, even if I use up every last ounce of my strength, I"ll deal with this stupid Rune! I"ll do whatever it takes!"