The moment the one hundred thousand galaxies roared, the cultivators that were receiving their tests in ninety-seven different galaxies found that they could not control their bodies. They were all forced out of their galaxies, and when they reappeared, they had already been moved to the place where the one hundred thousand stone monuments were.
As their bodies appeared at the same time, their faces filled with shock as well as disbelief, everyone else swiftly looked over at them.
Ninety-seven people had failed at the same time and returned simultaneously, while their stone monuments shone and shrank together… This was something that had never happened before in this land over countless years!
"What happened? Why… did these people appear instantly at the same time?!"
"Ninety-seven stone monuments turned from nearly one million feet to several tens of thousands of feet at the same time. What-what is going on?!"
As the buzz of discussions from the people echoed in the air, the ninety-seven people who were forced out of their tests looked at each other in silence, their faces pale. They saw the shock and astonishment within each other"s eyes.
"Something"s wrong! There"s still one stone monument that is nearly one million feet! That person… He hasn"t yet appeared!"
"Hmm?" As that voice rang in the air, all the people"s gazes, including those of the ninety-seven returnees, instantly gathered on Su Ming"s stone monument.
The buzz of discussion instantly died down. The two words that were carved on that stone monument were reflected in each and every person"s eyes.
Mo Su.
…..
Su Ming"s face had occupied half of the area within the golden venous pathways at that moment, and his voice, which was laden with his determination, echoed in all directions.
"Most important of all… I would have let it slide if you had just toyed with me, but you tried to affect those around me! I will fight against you… because I want to protect my family and all those who have been kind to me. I want to protect them, and this… is the pillar that"s supporting me in my life! It"s the only resolution that has allowed me to keep moving forward!
"I will protect them!
"This is the only reason that I still have the courage to continue living! I will become strong, I will become the strongest in the universe, because I don"t want to see the people who had been kind to me cry. I don"t want to see them die. I want to protect everyone. They… are the most precious things to me. They are my life."
An incredibly powerful wave left Su Ming"s soul. This was his roar, his cry. This was the strongest shout he had mustered from the depths of his heart against fate.
Bang!
Besides Su Ming"s face around him, all the others formed by black smoke within the other one hundred thousand galaxies shot through all the obstructions and appeared near the golden trees. Without stopping, they instantly imprinted themselves on the trees and shot through the tree trunks before rus.h.i.+ng towards the golden venous pathways within every single tree.
Within the blink of an eye, loud bangs that could overturn the world shot out from those one hundred thousand Ecang trees and one hundred thousand golden venous pathways.
"I burned my life for Dark Mountain and the elder in the past! I could swallow all those herbs to make myself stronger without care for anything [1] and break that door because I cared about my tribe! I wanted to protect my tribe!"
Su Ming"s voice reverberated in the air. The venous pathways within the one hundred thousand trees were devoured and occupied at the same time by the black faces formed by Su Ming.
"I lived a forlorn life, but I walked through all the b.u.mpy roads to find my elder. I wanted to protect him, wanted to make the old man smile happily, let him see that his young La Su had grown up and could stand by his side to protect him."
The one hundred thousand faces roared and occupied the venous pathways instantly, eventually making half of all the one hundred thousand of those trees and one hundred thousand sets of venous pathways to belong to Su Ming!
"I became the G.o.d of Berserkers and shouldered the Berserkers" fate. Even if I"m not a Berserker, but my senior brothers are, my Master is, my friends are. For them, I could give up on my struggle, as long as… they were happy. I could become the G.o.d of Berserkers and help the Berserkers gain new glory."
Once half of each of the one hundred thousand sets of venous pathways in the one hundred thousand trees were under Su Ming"s control, he roared, and those faces started spreading at the same time throughout all the venous pathways within those one hundred thousand trees!
The spread this time was even faster. Ecang"s will was madly struggling, wanting to break free of the lock left behind by the bald crane before it fainted, but this was a lock that was placed by the bald crane burning its soul. The might of that lock was something that even Ecang needed to spend some time on if he wanted to break free.
"I came to the Barren Lands of Divine Essence because I wanted to protect the ninth summit. I didn"t want them to cry. I didn"t want my senior brothers to die. For that, I could sacrifice myself. I could live without love and pain. I could come to this foreign place. As long as they were alive, I would be happy.
"This is the resolve in my heart. It is my obsession. For this obsession, even if I will eventually make seas of blood flood the sky, even if I will stain my hands with blood, why should I care?!
"I WILL NOT GIVE UP!"
Su Ming"s voice reverberated in the air. The occupation of the venous pathways from those one hundred thousand trees had moved from a fifty- to fifty-six-hundredths!
It might have seemed to have only increased by a six, but this was definitely not that simple a calculation, because that was not just merely fifty-six-hundredths of a single tree, but fifty-six-hundredths of one hundred thousand trees!
Boom!
The lock left behind by the bald crane before it fainted was broken by Ecang. As its will spread out from within, its furious roars shook the sky and earth within the world of those venous pathways.
"Even if Sui Chen Zi"s law is protecting you, you won"t be able to Possess me! Get lost! Get lost! Get lost!!"
Ecang"s anger burned the skies. Over the numerous years, there had been plenty of people who had wanted to Possess it, but none of them had been able to occupy more than half of its body. In fact, this wasn"t even a simple occupation of half its body, but an occupation of half of all of its bodies.
This brought it a great sense of danger. If it was not because it would definitely need to pay a price that even it would not be able to bear if it went against Sui Chen Zi"s law, then it would have already killed Su Ming, instead of just chasing him away from its body.
"Get lost! Get lost! GET LOST!!"
Ecang"s will boomed and crashed into Su Ming"s faces, which were formed from the venous pathways after he had occupied them. In fact, Ecang was not just cras.h.i.+ng its will into one single place, either. Instead, its will erupted at the same time from all the one hundred thousand trees, the one hundred thousand of its bodies at the same time.
Booms rang out. Without the bald crane fighting against the will, Su Ming bore the full brunt of its attack. When Ecang shouted its first words for Su Ming to go away, his soul trembled. It was difficult for him to even put up a resistance against Ecang"s strength. At the same time it bore down on him, its power turned into one that reversed time and swept up Su Ming"s soul, making the fifty-six-hundredths occupied of the venous pathways to regress to only fifty-three-hundredths!
Su Ming"s faces turned ferocious. He erupted at that instant, and without any hesitation, he chose to burn his soul!
It was just as he said previously: unless fate crushed him, then he would definitely crush fate under his feet. It was the same in this place. Unless Ecang could destroy him, then Su Ming would definitely complete the Possession. Even if he died, he would still succeed!
As his soul burned, Su Ming began fighting against Ecang"s will.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
He fought against it several times, but his occupied territory still shrank down, from fifty-three-hundredths to a forty-five-hundredths. However, once it fell back to this much, Su Ming"s burning of his soul reached its peak. He no longer moved back, and as he continued cras.h.i.+ng against Ecang"s will, his occupied territory moved from forty-five-hundredths back to forty-six, then forty-seven. When he reached a forty-eight-hundredths, he could no longer continue, but Ecang could also not make him move back anymore.
Intense pain shot through Su Ming"s soul. It was rapidly becoming incomplete, fading away as it burned. However, as it burned, Su Ming"s madness was shown fully.
"Foolish cultivator, did you think that you could Possess me if you burned your soul? I can even choose to no longer continue crus.h.i.+ng you. As long as I stop your Possession from spreading, before long, you will die due to the burning of your soul.
"You foolish life form, you"re definitely going to lose! You"re definitely going to die!" As Ecang"s voice echoed in the air, most of Su Ming"s soul had already burned away, but the faces that were formed from the venous pathways he had occupied smiled in a bizarre fas.h.i.+on.
That smile on those one hundred thousand faces at the same time momentarily stunned Ecang.
Right at that moment, Su Ming"s voice came from within those one hundred thousand galaxies and one hundred thousand Ecang"s tree.
"Ancient existences within Yin Death Region. I know that you can hear my voice, and every single one of the actions I took after I came to the Barren Lands of Divine Essence were under your watch. You"re also seeing what I"m currently doing.
"Help me fight against Ecang"s will. If I succeed, I will obtain this serendipity, and I will help you find your king! If you don"t take action, then my soul will simply die, and it"ll be impossible for you to find another person like me who will help you find your king!"
As Su Ming"s voice echoed in the air, an enraged roar came from the depths of Yin Death Vortex, located in True Morning Dao World, which was far away from the Barren Lands of Divine Essence.
Su Ming"s soul was still burning, but only three breaths pa.s.sed before incredibly ancient presences suddenly appeared in his soul. There was not just one, but four of them.
At the instant those presences appeared, they immediately spread out from within his soul and formed an illusory black mask. It was naturally the seal that had been imprinted on Su Ming.
At the moment the four presences spread out, four suns appeared beside him. Those suns were green, red, blue, and white respectively. An age-old presence spread out from them, and they spun rapidly around the mask before they charging towards Ecang"s will with a loud bang.
"d.a.m.n it, just what exactly do you have around you?! You had that traitorous and thieving crane, and you even have the protection of the divine thoughts from four people who are half a step away from beings Masters of Fate, Lives, and Death!" After being momentarily stunned, Ecang let out a furious roar and swept past the area with its will.
"Abyss Builder, remember… to find our king for us. We are the fifth True World"s Yin Maelstrom people, Boundless Gangue people, and Just Progenies [3]!
"If you don"t fulfill your promise, we will definitely destroy all the Berserkers!" There was anger within the four chilling divine thoughts, and their voices surrounded the mask before going outwards.
"Quit your yapping and attack!"
Su Ming let out a cold harrumph. They had no choice. Forcing them to attack was part of his plan to Possess Ecang. Su Ming had been thinking for four hundred something years, and he had already calculated all possible situations. Even if these people refused, he still had a few methods to force them to attack.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
There was once again someone there to help Su Ming fight against Ecang. As Su Ming"s soul burned, it spread out at an indescribable speed. He continued occupying the venous pathways ceaselessly within the one hundred thousand galaxies and one hundred thousand trees, moving upwards from the forty-eight-hundredths.
Forty-nine, fifty-one, fifty-three, fifty-five… until he reached sixty-hundredths!
And it continued. Sixty-one, sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-five, sixty-seven...
Booms echoed in the air. The mask that symbolized the four great divine thoughts from Yin Death Region shattered to pieces. The four suns around it were also reduced into numerous glittering flickers of light during that spread out.
As the mask shattered and the four divine thoughts disappeared, the ancient wills from Yin Death Region also completely lost their control over Su Ming!
This meant that he had taken a huge step forward in his path towards resisting fate. He had successfully shaken off the limitations placed on him by Yin Death Region, and successfully… supplanted those controlling him!
From then on, he would no longer be sealed by Yin Death Region. He had regained his complete self… and the existences within Yin Death Region would not dare to touch the Berserkers, because they needed him to find their king!
"d.a.m.n you, you accursed cultivator, I"d like to see what else you have besides that traitorous, thieving crane and the protection from the four divine thoughts. Even if you occupied more areas, it"s still useless. Your soul is about to be completely burned. You"re about to die! What else can you do?!" Ecang roared furiously. Once it crushed the mask and the four divine thoughts, it swept towards Su Ming once again.
At the instant it closed in on him with loud booming sounds, Su Ming, who had occupied a sixty-nine-hundredths of all the venous pathways within the one hundred thousand trees, had all the faces he formed smile in that bizarre fas.h.i.+on once again.
About seven-tenths of Su Ming"s soul had been burnt. As he smiled, he mumbled with madness in his eyes, "Possessing you will be the greatest serendipity in my life.
"But Possessing you isn"t the most important thing in my life!" The madness in Su Ming"s eyes grew even stronger, as if it had been lit up in flames.
"Possessing you is just a process. During this process, I will borrow your strength to make sure that I break free from other people"s control and become who I really am. The existences within Yin Death Region were just one of those who wanted to rule me, there"s still… Di Tian!
"Di Tian, I once thought that I had completely broken free of your control and walked out of your plans, but now… I saw everyone"s faces on Ecang"s numerous branches… but I didn"t see yours!
"During that moment, I knew that you are still controlling me. Your plan hasn"t failed at all! In fact, everything about me is still a part of your plan!
"You are absent from all the faces that manifested on Ecang"s tree, just like how I am absent from it! I can"t see myself, and neither can I see you! Then doesn"t it mean that you used some method to make it so that you are me and I am you?! That you have let our souls fuse together in some sense?!
"I don"t know what your plan is, but over the years, from all the clues I"ve gathered, I can vaguely guess… that you want my life! It"s not my life in the sense that you want my vitality, but you want my life as an Abyss Builder!
"If that"s the case, then either you die with me… or you will get out of my soul!" This was the insane thought that had been born in Su Ming"s mind after his first failure hundreds of years ago.
Possession was nothing. It was merely a serendipity. Breaking free of fate"s control was the most important thing for Su Ming. Perhaps he was wrong. He was not certain whether Di Tian had fused with his soul, however… if he could have Hong Luo and those three powerful warriors in Solar Kalpa Realm in his soul, then why would it not be possible… for Di Tian to exist there as well?!
The less understanding he had towards this control, the harder it would be for him to break free from it. Only… by using his life as a betting chip and placing a huge bet that no normal person would take would he be able to break free of his predicament.
"Di Tian, are you leaving or not?!" Su Ming roared, and the one hundred thousand faces within the one hundred thousand trees in the one hundred thousand galaxies roared at the same time.
Translator"s Note:
1. This is about when the elder locked Su Ming in the house in Wind Stream Tribe and went back without him for Dark Mountain Tribe"s migration.
2. Master of Fate, Lives, and Death: Name of the Realm for those who can control fate, lives, and death. First mentioned by the Candle Dragon in "For what reason do all manner of living practice cultivation? For what reason do we strive to become strong?"
3. It"s not mentioned, but I do believe that the fourth one is Heavenly Phantoms. Remember that the Duke of Crimson Flame mentioned that Su Ming had a seal on him that he didn"t want to break because it was doing him good and Su Ming said that he did have a seal placed on him? I thought that it was a reference towards the seal on the mask at that time.