The clouds and smoke before his eyes swam about swiftly, as if one thousand years had passed within them. It only lasted for an instant, but the length of that instant seemed to be continuously pulled apart, causing him to feel as if he did not know what to do.
It was just a blink of an eye, but the movement of his eyelids seemed to be filled with fatigue, along with the powerlessness of someone struggling against time.
This was the first feeling Su Ming had when he walked out of the first crack in the sky.
The body of the supreme treasure did not seem to have changed, but the minds of Su Ming, Xuan Shang, Yun You, and Xu Hui were in a state of chaos. Xu Hui was in a slightly better state, but Xuan Shang and the other three could clearly feel a great fatigue.
"I lost about one hundred years of my life …"
"It's the same for me …"
"I lost nearly one hundred and fifty years …" The voices of Xuan Shang and the other three echoed in Su Ming's mind.
Su Ming's fatigue became even greater. Since he was the main soul, the life force he lost was equivalent to three hundred years.
If he added all of them together, it would be a total of one thousand years.
Every single time they moved through dimensions, they would lose one thousand years of their life force. This … was not mentioned in Dust Burners' Progenitor's jade slip. Su Ming fell silent, and so did Xuan Shang and the other three.
"Fortunately, we've split up our life force for one thousand years. This is also our strength. We can move even further, so why should we remain silent?" Xu Hui's voice traveled into the group's minds faintly.
"Since we're already here, there's nothing we can't afford to lose. We can't split up now, or else each of us will have to bear the burden of losing one thousand years of our life force. In just a few times, we'll die in the fifth kiln."
"No wonder the old monsters who can clearly resist fire didn't come here. Only the Almighties who are Masters of Fate, Lives, and Death would step into the fifth kiln. The main reason might be the loss of our life force every single time we move through dimensions."
"That's right. Even if we're in the later stage of World Plane Realm, fellow Daoist Xu is in Lunar Kalpa Realm, and senior, even if you're in Solar Kalpa Realm, there's still a limit to our lives. We're not like the Almighties who are Masters of Fate, Lives, and Death, who have practically endless lives. They can afford to waste their lives." The crowd's sighs traveled into Su Ming's mind, and a barely noticeable glint shone in his eyes.
He knew that even Masters of Fate, Lives, and Death didn't have an endless lifespan. They had a period of exhaustion, and this kind of depletion of lifespan would cause their period of exhaustion to arrive earlier.
A freezing glare shone in Su Ming's eyes as he mumbled to himself faintly, "Then where … did the life force absorbed by the fifth kiln go?"
As soon as he said this, everyone in his mind stopped talking and began to ponder.
'Does Dust Burners know that moving through dimensions will waste their lifespan … or do they not?' Su Ming's eyes sparkled as he looked around him. He was clearly in another dimension at that moment. The sky in this place was gray and hazy, as if there was an endless amount of dust in it. The ground was not quiet, and there were roars coming from the ground.
That voice was like a shrill wail, causing all those who heard it to feel shaken to the core, but compared to the calmness of the dimension previously, Su Ming preferred this place. Being able to see and hear was better than not being able to see and not being able to hear.
He did not immediately act rashly. Instead, he began thinking about it in his mind.
'If they don't know about it, then it's clearly impossible … Only Dust Burners can activate the fifth kiln, so why … do they need to activate it once in a while?' A glint appeared in Su Ming's eyes again. He had a vague feeling that he had grasped some clues.
'Based on the analysis on the surface, Dust Burners are using the activation of the fifth kiln to make the Fire Spirits who possess intelligence choose whether to leave or stay. This is a method for their race to increase their numbers besides reproduction.
'Dust Burners' Progenitor might not have said it directly, but the words he said indirectly pointed to this point, causing others to think about it. This is the first reason they will think of.
'But … there might be other reasons behind this!' The sharp look in Su Ming's eyes grew stronger.
'Is there a possibility that the fifth kiln is in truth a trap?!' Su Ming's pupils shrank, and this thought rose in his mind.
'Every single time it's activated, Dust Burners intentionally open it to use the supreme treasure and supplementary treasures to attract powerful warriors. When those powerful warriors move through dimensions, their life force and life force will be continuously sucked away, but with the temptation of the supreme treasure and supplementary treasures, even if their life force is drained away, they will still persist in moving forward.
'Then, if I'm right about this, then why did Dust Burners do this? Where did the life force they lost go to?!' Su Ming's breathing quickened slightly.
'There are two other questions. Why did Dust Burners set this trap because of their own needs, or … did someone ask them to do it?!' Su Ming could sense that the mysterious veil surrounding the fifth kiln was being lifted layer by layer, and the truth was about to be revealed.
'If it's because their own race needs it, then it's much simpler. They just want to become the master of the fifth kiln and make their race stronger … but if it's not because of their own needs but because someone else ordered them to do it, then there's a great secret behind this!
'If someone ordered them to do it, then besides Su Xuan Yi, who else could it be?!' A brilliant light shone in Su Ming's eyes. A thought that even he found unbelievable rose in his head once again.
'Could it be … that Su Xuan Yi isn't dead?!' Su Ming's expression was incredibly complicated. Once this thought appeared in his head, he could not get rid of it. It continued lingering in his head until it was deeply rooted in his mind.
'If he … isn't dead, then where is he? Could it be that he's in the fifth kiln?' Su Ming fell silent. After a long while, a dazed look appeared in his eyes, and he sighed softly.
There was melancholy in that sigh, along with a hint of emotion that he himself could not tell what it was.
Su Ming sucked in a deep breath and forced down that complicated feeling. He looked around him, and when he sat down on the Resentful Wei, it moved forward without a single sound and turned into a long arc that charged into the distance.
Su Ming spread his Atman outwards in search of the exit. When he scanned the area with his Atman, he immediately saw a mountain on the ground in front of him. At the center of that mountain was a mountain cave.
The space in the cave was distorted, as if there were some cracks in it. Waves of presence that did not belong to this place spread out from those cracks, making it very easy for anyone to tell that this was the exit to leave the dimension.
However, with his experience in the previous dimension, Su Ming did not immediately move forward. Instead, he observed his surroundings carefully, and he saw that there were living beings that were half the height of an average person in this dimension.
Their appearances were indistinct, and there was some fog around their bodies. They floated on the ground in a daze, as if they were searching for something. They did not notice Su Ming's Atman in the slightest and continued drifting about unconsciously.
Once Su Ming observed them for a moment, he narrowed his eyes. The Resentful Wei beneath him rushed forward, instantly disappearing from the spot. When it reappeared, it was beside the mountain. Based on what he had done previously, Su Ming sent out one of Xuan Shang and the other three's divine sense. Once that divine sense fused into the mountain cave, it did not disappear. In fact, through his senses, Su Ming saw that the mountain cave was distorting. It was the exit to this place, and it contained the power of time to absorb life force.
A resolute look shone in Su Ming's eyes. The Resentful Wei beneath him rushed forward once again. This time, it charged towards the mountain cave, but at the instant Su Ming rushed into it, an indistinct voice echoed in the world in an indistinct manner.
"Su …"
When that voice appeared, Su Ming's heart immediately trembled. The voice might have been echoing in the world outside, but it had also reached the depths of Su Ming's heart. At the same time, all the indistinct figures drifting about in the dimension came to a halt simultaneously. They lifted their heads to look at the sky and let out roars that surged into the sky.
"Su …" Their roars connected together and turned into waves of sound that tumbled in the air. Only this one word was sent out.
Immediately after, a powerful calling rose in Su Ming's heart. He could clearly sense a will that was both unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. It seemed to have noticed him through countless dimensions and was calling out to him.
As the calling spread out, the bald crane shuddered violently in the body of Su Ming's supreme treasure. It was as if the voice had some sort of mysterious power over it, causing a cold, dark look to appear in its eyes, along with struggle.
When the voice spread out, the Resentful Wei beneath Su Ming paused for a moment before charging forward again. In the blink of an eye, it rushed into the distortions in the mountain cave and disappeared without a trace.
Another one thousand years passed. In the blink of an eye, the third dimension appeared before Su Ming's eyes. An ancient air appeared on the body of the supreme treasure he controlled. All the people in it were exhausted, and once again, they sensed the terror of moving through dimensions and having their life force drain away.
"Su …" Almost the moment Su Ming walked out, the unfamiliar yet familiar voice appeared in his heart again. That voice seemed to have traveled through time and was slowly approaching him at that moment.
Before Su Ming could do anything, the expressions of Xuan Shang, Yun You, Yun You, and Xu Hui changed, because at that instant, all of them noticed the drastic change in the bald crane and heard its shrill screams of pain.
"Get lost! Get lost! You are you, and I am me! We are not one!
"You are me, and I am you. The reason why you were created was to complete a mission …."
"I'm not. I'm the bald crane. I like crystals, I …"
"You're not. You're Kong Mo. You belong to Saint Defier's camp. You've forgotten your mission! Wake up, Kong Mo. Kill the person who is disturbing your mind. Kill him. Use his blood to dye your spirit red and awaken … my existence in the depths of your memories!
"Get lost! I'm not Kong Mo! I'm Su Ming's bald crane!
"I was heavily injured three times, and your will split from me. You should not exist … You, who are in Dark Dawn's ballad in the Origin of Heaven, will forever belong to Saint Defier's camp …" "If you like this work, please come to qidian.com and vote for me. Your support is my greatest motivation."
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