Boom!
Soon after Su Ming returned from his failure, the stone monument that represented Zhou Kang shone brilliantly and gradually shrank from nine hundred thousand something feet. When it was only several tens of thousands of feet, Zhou Kang fell back from the vortex.
His face was pale as he stared at the stone monument blankly. After a long while, he lowered his head in anguish, closed his eyes, and sat down cross-legged.
He had also failed.
Su Ming lifted his head slowly and his gaze fell on Zhou Kang, but when he looked over, his pupils suddenly shrank, and he was stunned, because he saw a thin golden thread on Zhou Kang's right hand. That thin thread existed in his right hand, and it was exuding a power that gave Su Ming a sense of familiarity.
In fact, when he looked over, the golden thread on Zhou Kang's right hand started moving, as if it was reflecting Su Ming's radiance in the distance.
Su Ming hesitated for a moment, then turned his head around to look at the other people in the area. As he swept his gaze past them, his heart trembled furiously, but not a single hint of what was going on was revealed on his face.
He saw that there was a thin golden thread in each of the people's bodies. Most of them were in their right hands, but there were also some in their left hands. There were even a few who had them in their legs.
This was something he had never noticed before. It was something he had never noticed before. All of them had the golden thread, but some of them shone brightly, while others shone dimly.
"Divine Essence, huh..?" Su Ming mumbled after a moment. He noticed that the golden thread had appeared on the limbs of all the people who had touched the stone monument.
As he remained silent, a loud bang suddenly came from the world in the stone monument. A gigantic crack appeared in the air not too far away, and seven people walked out in succession.
The appearance of these seven people immediately caused the expressions of the cultivators in the area to turn dark and aloof. There was even hostility in their eyes.
These were the seven newcomers. There was a dazed look in their eyes, and it was clear that Sui Chen Zi's voice was echoing in their hearts at that moment. Almost at the same time they appeared, an aloof will descended. When that will swept through the area, it gathered on a stone monument that was seven hundred thousand something feet tall. That stone monument immediately shone, and as a shrill scream of pain rang out, the name on the stone monument was wiped off.
The aloof will was still echoing in the air, but Su Ming's expression changed drastically. He lifted his head and stared at the sky, and in his eyes, he saw a scene he had never seen before.
He saw a blurry shadow appear in the air above the 100,000 stone steles. He could vaguely tell that the shadow belonged to an old man. He walked around slowly, and every time he stopped, he would lift his hand and point at a stone stele. The stone stele would immediately shine, and the name on it would be wiped away.
"After experiencing a failure, my eye … my right eye, has changed! I couldn't see any of this before. I couldn't see the golden threads, let alone this phantom.
Who is he? Could it be … Sui Chenzi! " Su Ming's breathing quickened. He saw the shadow tap six times in a row, and six stone monuments started shining. This meant that six people had died.
Even when he saw the shadow walking towards the stone tablet where Zhou Kang was, Zhou Kang didn't notice it at all. To be more precise, everyone here didn't notice it at all!
Only Su Ming.
He saw the shadow lifting his right hand, and just as he was about to point at Zhou Kang's stone monument, Su Ming's heart trembled. He remembered Zhou Kang's warning, remembered how Zhou Kang might not have spoken much to him during the sixty years they had spent together, but he had always been able to help him.
"Zhou Kang!" Su Ming suddenly shouted.
Zhou Kang opened his eyes. When he looked towards Su Ming, Su Ming immediately saw the shadow that no one else could see also turn his head around and look at him from midair.
At the instant Su Ming's gaze met the shadow's, a loud bang immediately rang out in his head, and a sharp pain rose in his heart as if it had pierced through his heart.
Before long, the shadow averted his gaze. He hesitated for a moment with his lifted right hand, but he did not point at Zhou Kang's stone monument. Instead, he pointed at a stone monument that was four hundred thousand feet tall by the side.
As that stone monument shone, the name on it was wiped away, and the shadow looked towards Su Ming once again before gradually disappearing.
Yet the instant he disappeared, an aloof and ancient voice echoed in Su Ming's heart. That voice belonged to Sui Chenzi, but there was something different about it. There was no emotion in that voice, and there was more of an apathy in it.
"This is the only time!"
Su Ming's heart trembled. When the shadow disappeared and Zhou Kang looked towards him, he closed his eyes. Only after a long while did he manage to quell the shock in his heart. He knew that once he failed in the Five Illusory Echelons, he had obtained a power that no one else could imagine.
He also knew that Zhou Kang's wife, Si Ma Yue's guess that those who practiced the Five Illusory Echelons had a lower chance of dying … was correct!
Because those in the Five Illusory Echelons … could see that shadow, and they could even change some people's fates.
'Since ancient times, there might not have been many who have practiced the Five Illusory Echelons, but there must have been quite a number of them who have accumulated their power over the endless passage of time. These people …' Su Ming lifted his head and opened his eyes to look at the stone monuments that were more than a million feet tall. He did not know how many of them had practiced the Five Illusory Echelons, just like him.
"What is it?" Zhou Kang's words traveled into his ears and interrupted Su Ming's thoughts. He cast Zhou Kang a complicated look, then shook his head and did not speak.
Zhou Kang was momentarily stunned. A glint suddenly appeared in his eyes, and he looked towards the stone monument beside him where his name had been wiped off. A brilliant light gradually appeared in his eyes, and a pensive look appeared on his face.
He did not ask Su Ming anything else, but instead closed his eyes once again and began meditating.
Su Ming lifted his head and looked at his surroundings. Dark light gradually shone in his eyes, and he, too, closed his eyes. Several days later, he chose to enter the world in his stone monument once more.
Time flowed by once again. Ten years, twenty years … When another cycle of sixty years slowly passed, Su Ming had made his stone monument reach nine hundred thousand feet twice, but both times, he had failed the test.
The first time, he only had his head left, and it had appeared on the cultivation planet. The second time, he still had half of his body.
Yet even so, he still could not pass the test, because Su Ming gradually discovered that if he wanted his stone monument to reach one million feet, not only did he have to step into the cultivation planet with his body intact, he also … had to obtain Divine Essence from the strange tree!
During these two times, due to the strange phenomenon in his right eye, he had seen an endless amount of golden light within the tree. That golden light was the golden threads he had seen in all the people's bodies.
This was Divine Essence. It was a strange power that Su Ming still did not completely understand, but he could sense its great strength.
During the sixty years, he had gone through the experience of making his stone monument reach nine hundred thousand something feet twice, causing the number of runic symbols in his right eye to reach five thousand from the hundreds that had neared one thousand in the past.
Yet even if he had five thousand runic symbols, he still could not make his stone monument reach one million feet. However, Su Ming did not give up. Sui Chen Zi's voice continued echoing in his head.
"You can use all methods … as long as you can obtain Divine Essence!"
"All methods. This is a very clear hint," Su Ming mumbled. He looked at his stone monument that was only twenty-three thousand feet tall. During the sixty years, he had been thinking about the crazy idea that had appeared in his head after he had failed the first time.
"It's incredibly difficult to use the normal method to pass the test and make my stone monument reach one million feet. I might not know how the others did it, but there were not many who could do it since ancient times.
"All of them must be incredibly strange people.
"And I'll need an incredibly long time to do it. I should know how I should walk down this path, because … my stone monument was originally only twenty thousand feet tall. It might be the same as most of the others, but there were also some differences. However, after observing it for the past one hundred and sixty years, the initial size of my stone monument should be a measure and judgment of the land itself, or else why would some people start with thousands of stone monuments, some with nearly ten thousand, and some with only hundreds of stone monuments?
"Once I failed the first time, my stone monument shrank from twenty thousand feet to twenty-three thousand feet. After that, I failed twice during the sixty years, and now, it is twenty-three thousand feet tall.
"This means that every single time I fail, the original height of my stone monument will increase by one thousand feet. When its original height naturally reaches one million feet, only then will I be able to pass the test.
"I need to fail … nine hundred something times. If I go by the logic that I can only fail twice in one sixty year cycle, then I'll need at least four hundred something years, which is … twenty thousand something years.
"This doesn't include the possibility of accidents happening. I can only do it if everything goes smoothly. I can't wait for twenty thousand something years, and neither can I." Dark light shone in Su Ming's eyes. As the five thousand overlapping shadows of the runic symbols shone in his right eye, he sucked in a deep breath and gradually closed his eyes.
"I should be able to do it. If I don't count the first failure, then based on my observations during the remaining two failures, that tree … not only contains Divine Essence, it also contains life force. It is a living creature, and it is also a powerful life form!
"Next time, when my stone monument reaches nine hundred thousand something feet, I'll carry out this plan!" Su Ming closed his eyes and mumbled in his heart.
"I'll use all the methods I have … Then I'll use the methods that only I have and the others don't. I'll make my stone monument reach one million feet in one go!" The madness in Su Ming's eyes was hidden away.
Time passed once again. One year, another year … Twenty-seven years later, when the number of runic symbols in Su Ming's right eye reached seven thousand something feet, his stone monument reached nine hundred thousand something feet for the fourth time.
Su Ming stood in front of his stone monument with a calm expression. He turned his head around and looked at his surroundings. Zhou Kang had yet to appear in the world within his stone monument, and Su Ming was mostly familiar with the other people around him. He looked at the place that had trapped him for nearly a hundred and fifty years, and determination gradually appeared in his eyes.
When his gaze landed on the stone monument and the vortex appeared, Su Ming's body gradually became indistinct. Once he disappeared, he appeared beyond the golden ocean in the galaxy where he had once been.
The area was silent. Su Ming stood in the galaxy and looked at the cultivation planet in the golden ocean. Resolve appeared in his eyes.
"As long as you are a living being, then I … can Possess you and turn you into my clone!" Madness appeared in Su Ming's eyes. This was the plan he had come up with after his first failure sixty years ago.
Since he could not obtain Divine Essence from the tree … then he might as well Possess it and turn the tree's life into his clone. If he succeeded, this would be a clone that had never been seen before, one that even the Abyss Builders' ancestor did not possess!
If he used this clone to practice Divine Essence, then Su Ming's future … would be unimaginable!
The prerequisite was that he had to succeed! (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian.Com to vote for me. Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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