Be it the sovereign, who was rushing to the vortex at that moment, the anguished Tian Xiu Luo, or even the old man, none of them noticed that a huge storm had begun raging in the depths of Su Ming’s heart while he stared at the vortex and his expression changed.
‘This familiar presence… belongs to the bald crane.’ While Su Ming thought of that in his heart, his breathing quickened. The presence was very faint, but no matter how faint it was, Su Ming could never miss it.
Aside from the bald crane’s presence in the vortex, there was another powerful presence in the vortex. When placed side by side, the two presences were like a comparison, causing Su Ming to not only sense the bald crane, but also the owner of the powerful and vast presence.
It was… Xuan Zang!
It belonged to Xuan Zang, the man who sat cross-legged on the Feng Shui compass in the Vast Universe!
‘The thirty-three Skies of Ancient Zang… To them, it is a path to reach and complete their Boundless Dao Realms, but to me… it is the path to leave this world, return to the universe, and open my eyes!
‘If I walk into the thirty-third Sky and take a step out of it, I will be able to wake up, and this Possession will end.’
Su Ming’s heart trembled. At that moment, his epiphany rose in his heart, and gradually, it became a thought etched deeply in his mind, like a Brand.
‘This is my path…’ Resolve gradually appeared in Su Ming’s eyes.
At that moment, the Sovereign of Ancient Zang had already disappeared into the vortex. As booming sounds accompanied him, he charged upwards and instantly stepped into the twentieth Sky.
He did not declare his location as Tian Xiu Luo had done. Instead, he did not say a single thing. He just continued moving upwards, and soon, he reached the twenty-second Sky, the twenty-third Sky, the twenty-fourth Sky… When he reached the twenty-ninth Sky, he stopped.
Tian Xiu Luo kept his gaze firmly fixed on the vortex. His heart was filled with incredibly complicated emotions. From a personal view, he did not want Gu Di to succeed, but he wanted to know what Boundless Dao Realm truly meant as well. Only when someone reached that Realm could his question be answered.
The old man’s expression never changed since the start. Be it regret or expectation, none of them were too prominently reflected on his face. Even at that moment, he only lifted his head to see what would happen.
The Sovereign of Ancient Zang only stopped for the span of a few breaths before he charged to the thirtieth Sky without hesitation. Once he stepped into the thirtieth Sky, he could prove that he had reached Boundless Dao Realm!
Boom!
Boom!!
BOOM!!!
The booming sounds continued without stop and spread out in a manner that shook the sky and earth. It was the same sound that appeared when Tian Xiu Luo collided against the vortex and tried to reach the thirtieth Sky. That sound was a loud bang formed when they were denied entry.
That sound only lasted for the span of half an incense stick before it vanished. The Sovereign of Ancient Zang was different from Tian Xiu Luo, who attempted to reach the thirtieth Sky for seven days and nights due to an unwillingness to give up. He only tried nine times!
He tried nine times and used the span of time required for half an incense stick to burn to do so. When he did not manage to step into the thirtieth Sky, he chose to give up and slowly descended. When he walked out of the black and white vortex, there was no anguish in his expression nor was his face pale. There was only some pity in his gaze, but that emotion was unavoidable.
“I have yet to reach Boundless Dao Realm. It seems like I have not completely severed my kismet either…” the Sovereign of Ancient Zan said softly when he landed on the tower. He might have felt some semblance of pity for failing, but he seemed to be free of his burden.
Perhaps the more determined a person was, the more pressure they would feel when they failed, while people like the Sovereign of Ancient Dawn, who did not truly care about reaching Boundless Dao Realm, could put away that burden as easily as they picked it up in the first place.
As for Tian Xiu Luo, from the moment he failed, he lost his heart, as if he had lost his path. In the process of searching for his Dao, he had walked an extremely long distance, and when he turned his head around, he no longer knew the way back.
“The both of you have already tried, and now, I will try as well. I will see whether the Dao I severed is real or fake.” The old man was quiet for a moment before he turned his head around and looked at Su Ming.
Su Ming was also looking at the old man.
“I will help you scout the road ahead. If my path is real, then stay here, but if I am wrong… then I will not change what I have promised you all those years ago!”
The old man cast a deep glance at Su Ming, and a smile full of tender affection appeared on his face. When he looked away, he turned into a long arc that charged to the huge black and white vortex in the sky.
Su Ming stared at the old man’s back. The words the old man had said before he left made him remember the scene when the old man had opened the door to his house and waited for Su Ming to acknowledge him as his Master while Su Ming was in his courtyard.
He also remembered what the old man said all those years ago.
“I will help you verify your Dao! If you are wrong, then you will inherit my legacy, and if I am wrong, I will help you leave this place!”
His words seemed to still be echoing in the air when the sky rumbled. The old man rushed into the vortex like a long arc, and when he charged forward, the layers were continuously shattered.
The Sovereign of Ancient Zang lifted his head and looked at the vortex. In silence, Tian Xiu Luo also looked at the vortex. To the both of them, Gu Hong was a little different, because Gu Hong’s Dao was not as limitless as kismet, and neither was it as domineering as Tian Xiu Luo’s. It was a determination to search for the truth in the world. It was a Dao they did not understand in the past, and even then, they still did not spend any effort in understanding it on a deeper level.
His Dao was a pursuit of what was real and what was fake. All that was true would remain true, and what was fake would still exist as an illusion. During that moment, when the old man rushed into the vortex, the verification of his Dao started.
With booming sounds echoing in the air, the old man rushed up to the twentieth Sky. He then reached the twenty-third Sky, the twenty-sixth Sky… and then, the twenty-ninth!
When he reached that place, he did not stop, but instead, charged straight up the vortex leading to the thirtieth Sky!
At that moment, be it the sovereign or Tian Xiu Luo, both of them trained their gazes on Gu Hong. Su Ming also narrowed his eyes and focused his attention on the old man.
Boom!
A loud bang shook the sky and earth, and it was one that had never appeared since the black and white vortex showed up. It spread out swiftly and echoed in every direction, in every corner of the world, and every bit of space!
“Thirtieth… Day…”
Tian Xiu Luo staggered. When he took a few steps back, he suddenly laughed loudly. However, his voice was full of anguish rather than joy. It also held a great unwillingness to admit defeat.
The old man had stepped into the thirtieth Sky in the vortex!
Once he stepped into the thirtieth Sky, it meant that he had reached Boundless Dao Realm!
At that moment, not only was Tian Xiu Luo filled with anguish, even the Sovereign of Ancient Zang’s expression changed. As he stared at the vortex, his breathing quickened.
A loud bang immediately roared in Su Ming’s mind. He sucked in a deep breath while staring at the old man in the vortex. He could somewhat see that the old man had stopped at the thirtieth Sky while thinking about something.
Time trickled by slowly, and in the blink of an eye, several hours passed. Then, the old man took a step forward from the thirtieth Sky and booming sounds shook the sky and earth again.
He reached the thirty-first Sky!
“Lands will eventually come to an end, but there is no end to the sky. How many lives would lead to thoughts never having an end? So that’s how it is, that’s how it is…”
At that moment, the old man’s voice came from the thirty-first Sky. He spoke in a murmur, and there was no joy in him when he verified his Dao. Instead, anguish could be heard in his voice, as well as a sigh.
When his words echoed in the air, Tian Xiu Luo was filled with puzzlement, and uncertainty appeared on the sovereign’s face.
“So… this is the truth of all things…”
When the old man’s laughter echoed even louder in the air, his anguish turned to what resembled madness. He seemed to have seen and understood something, but the anguish and madness in his laughter also gave them a sense of sadness for some unknown reason.
“Gu Hong, what did you see?!” Tian Xiu Luo asked, and his voice traveled into the vortex.
“I saw… a world you cannot possibly imagine… Su Ming… you are right. Your Dao… is right. I was wrong, because this Dao of mine, to me, has no correctness to even speak of…
“What is the world? What is the void? What is true, and what is false? What are the cycles of reincarnation? What is wrong, and what is right… so that’s how it is!”
The old man’s laughter became even crazier. In a bout of madness, he seemed to have lowered his head. His gaze seeped through the thirty-one Skies to stare at Su Ming.
Su Ming could sense that gaze. He could sense the sadness in it… along with an air of parting. It was a feeling that they were about to be separated by death, the feeling that they were about to be eternally kept apart.
“Master!” Su Ming’s heart shuddered, and he instinctively cried out.
“You’re right… but I still hope that there will come a day in the future… when you will remember… that you had a Master in this illusory world that appeared because of your battle of Possession.”
When the old man spoke right then, there was no longer anguish in his voice. Instead, there was a sigh contained in his speech. It was lamentation for the world and for his own life.
“There are no bounds to Dao… and there is no end to thoughts… but if I don’t search for boundlessness and don’t break the lines that draw the end and let everything turn in reverse and return to the start, then it will be as if I am going against my own Dao!
“Su Ming, I will make you become a ninth level Dao God, and with it, I will help you… break through the illusory thirty-three Skies so you… can win this battle of Possession. I will help you… go home!”
As he spoke, with madness in his laughter, the old man shone with endless light. It illuminated all thirty-three Skies, then instantly gathered into one single long arc and.. charged downwards, shooting through the vortices… and going straight into the center of Su Ming’s brow.
“Master!”
Su Ming instinctively wanted to dodge. He knew what was going to happen next, but before he could dodge, the long arc seeped through space and appeared right in front of him, then landed straight into his third eye!
“Because you are my disciple, my only disciple… Since I am wrong, I will definitely make my disciple… continue to be right! I hope that with this method, I can make my Dao last for eternity…”
Su Ming’s mind roared. At the instant the long arc landed at the center of his brow, Gu Hong’s voice—ancient and filled with tender affection—echoed in Su Ming’s mind.
Tears… fell down from Su Ming’s eyes.
Gu Hong had reversed his own Dao and made all of his power of Boundless Dao Realm scatter, because he was willing to become his disciple’s ninth overlapping Dao God.
That was… Gu Hong.
Gu Hong, his name meant a lonely feather, and he lived his whole life like a lonely goose feather. In the end, however, for that one bow Su Ming gave him all those years ago, he became a Master who would give up everything for his disciple.
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