<h4>Chapter 1378: Beyond the Mountains are More Mountains, and Beyond the Towers are More Towers</h4>


    Arc 7: How Many Cycles of Life and Death Has One Person Missing?


    Beyond the mountains are more mountains, and beyond the towers are more towers.


    Water is water, and beyond the sky is more sky.


    The sky was blue. A soufflé of white clouds decorated the sky. If anyone looked over, it would seem as if the sky had turned into a beautiful picture. If the wind blew, the clouds would be drifting into the distance, so the picture would not be still, but form a world.


    Su Ming stared at the sky nkly. He had woken up a month ago. During it, he might have epted the reality around him, but he could still not understand... where he was.


    His memories ended at the moment he attempted to Possess Xuan Zang. Due to the difference in their states of being, the chances of sess had been slim to none, but at the moment Su Ming performed his Possession, he had burned his life and soul to the peak, which was why it was not impossible for him to seed.


    However, if he seeded, why was he not Xuan Zang? And if he failed, where was he right then?


    Su Ming lowered his head to stare at his body, then fell silent.


    “Xuan Er, you’re daydreaming again.”


    A stern voice came from nearby. The speaker was an old man with a head full of white hair and an awe-inspiring face. He was dressed in a gray long robe and wore a straw hat. While holding a wooden staff, he was looking at Su Ming.


    “Master...” Su Ming stared at the old man before him. He might have woken up a month ago, but every single time he saw this person, his heart would tremble, and he would wonder whether everything before him was real.


    The old man... was Tian Xie Zi!


    He looked exactly the same, and even his intonation was just like in Su Ming’s memories. He could not tell whether it was the past or the present.


    “It’s only been a month. You have to remember that there is a total of six thousand years, one hundred cycles of sixty years. There will be ten cycles for you to cross mountains, rivers, and ins with me. You will watch multiple sunrises and sunsets with me and gain an epiphany of the changes regarding the four seasons. You will learn of the principles of the world to search for the truth and the innate kindness of a person...


    “And then, you will have to wander around on your own for ny cycles of sixty years. Only by doing so will you have the right to contend against your eldest and second brother, and only then will you have the chance to be a future ruler, and I... will not have let down your father,” the old man said faintly. He struck the ground with the staff in hand, then turned around and continued onward.


    “Follow me.”


    His voice was ancient, and it echoed on the hill. It seemed to fuse with the breeze around them before drifting to the sky, gradually turning into the darkening clouds up ahead, then finally transforming into snow.


    It was winter.


    Su Ming followed behind the old man quietly. He crossed the hill and walked past ake that was not frozen. In the distance, the setting sun shone on thend with itsst rays of light, casting Su Ming’s reflection on theke.


    He was a teenager with a handsome face. He was dressed in a gray long robe and wore a straw hat, but there was an expression of someone who was lost on his face.


    He was the third prince of Ancient Zang, and he had two older brothers. There was a tradition in Ancient Zang that before the emperor handed over his crown, all his sons had to travel and experience the world for six thousand years with the cultivators their father had personally assigned to them.


    After the one hundred cycles of sixty years, the princes would return, and a fight for the throne wouldmence. Only one prince was destined to live through it, and the blood of those who died would be cast into his crown. Then he would be the ruler of the kingdom.


    And that kingdom... was named Ancient Zang. It was the ruler of the entirend and a supreme entity in the entire world. It stood above all cultivators and all sects!


    This was the additional memory that had appeared in Su Ming’s mind besides the ones he originally possessed. At some unknown point in time, it had been branded into the depths of his soul as if it had always belonged to him.


    However, he could not remember his eldest brother’s name nor his second brother’s face. The strongest feeling he had was that he had to follow the old man before him for ten cycles of sixty years.


    “Drink.” The old man stopped and turned his head around to cast a nce at Su Ming while pointing at theke.


    “When the water in ake does not move, it will reflect the sky. Drink this water, and you will feel as if you have swallowed a corner of the sky. Thiske... will be named Sky Lake.”


    As the old man spoke, he bent his back and extended his hand to scoop up a handful of the water in theke. He brought it to his lips and drank it.


    In silence, Su Ming shifted his gaze to theke. He did not bend his back, however.


    The old man lifted his head and looked at Su Ming.


    “Why should I drink this water? Even if it reflects the sky, and even if I feel as if I’ve swallowed a corner of the sky after I drank its water, I’ll just be lying to myself,” Su Ming shook his head and saidnguidly.


    “Lift your head and look into the sky in the distance,” the old man said calmly.


    Su Ming lifted his head. At the instant he saw the sky, he narrowed his eyes. He saw that there was a small region in the distant sky that seemed... to have been devoured!


    “I don’t know theke’s original name, but since I passed by it and said that it is the sky, then it is the sky. When I drink the water in theke and say that I’ve swallowed a corner of the sky... then I will have swallowed a corner of the sky.


    “If you’re hung up on this, then you will be governed by karma,” the old man said faintly.


    Su Ming fell silent. After a long while, he suddenlyughed. Why should he care about karma? Why should he care about where he was? Why should he seek an answer? As long as he continued walking forward, it was enough.


    “Your disciple has learned his lesson.”


    Su Ming wrapped his fist in his palm. Once he bent his back, he crouched down, brought his right hand up, and ced it in the water, but he did not scoop up the water. Instead, a dark glint shone in his eyes, and he gently patted the surface of theke.


    At the instant he did so, the water in theke roared and tumbled about. Endless ripples spread out, causing the sky that was originally reflected on the surface to immediately shatter and disappear from view.


    “Why did you do this?” The old man frowned.


    “Master, you say that it’s the sky, and once you drink it, you would have swallowed the sky. I say that it’s not the sky, hence I don’t need to drink it.” Su Ming stood up and looked at the old man.


    “You have quite the ambition.” A hint of praise that disappeared as soon as it showed up appeared in the old man’s eyes, but soon, his gaze grew fierce, and the tone of his voice changed.


    “But your logic doesn’t work, and you’re a little too conceited. When I say that theke is the sky, it’s because I gained the feeling of looking at the sky when I looked at theke. That is why I went along with the will of heaven and said those words, and which is why I could swallow the sky, because that is what the will of heaven has depicted, and I just went along with it.


    “But you... disturbed theke as if you’ve disturbed destiny. Before long though, theke will return to normal, and it will reflect the sky. To it, you are just a passerby.


    “You arecent. Youugh at the water, disturbing it, but theke is alsoughing at you. If you don’t believe me... then look at theke when it is calm. Youugh at the calm water, but can you not see your own reflection? It isughing at you,” the old man said calmly. His words were uttered slowly, and they seemed to contain Dao.


    “I don’t believe in destiny.”


    Su Ming did not turn his head back, but vapor rose from theke the moment it was about to be calm once again. The vapor instantly turned into fog. It covered the surface of theke, and after the span of around ten breaths, Su Ming swung his arm at theke with his back still turned towards it.


    Wind immediately blew across the area. Once it sent the fog away, there was nothing left of theke; it had disappeared without a trace. Only the ugly mud in a deep pit could be seen. There were also countless fish, prawns, and all sorts of lives in it.


    “Now, it ispletely gone,” Su Ming said faintly.


    The old man was silent. He cast a profound nce at Su Ming, then shook his head.


    “The blood of the royal family in Ancient Zang is the strongest in the universe. This rumor is indeed real. Let’s go. We still have a long way ahead of us.” The old man turned around and no longer looked at theke. He continued onward.


    Su Ming lowered his head and did not look back at theke. He followed the old man and continued onward. To Su Ming, be it the goal or the end, they were not important on the journey. It was a path to search for Dao... a path through which he could make himself stronger.


    He walked past mountains, rivers, four seasons, and past ten years.


    The old man walked in front, and Su Ming followed behind. Ten years ago, the reflections of Su Ming on thekes showed a teenager. As of then, he was already a young man. His strides had berger, and the expression of someone who did not know where he was headed could no longer be found on his face either. The calm expression from when he was in Harmonious Morus Alba was back.


    Stars glimmered in the night sky while bonfires burned on the ground. Su Ming sat beside one of them, and across him was the old Tian Xie Zi. After ten years came another blizzard. The two of them sat cross-legged and sensed the cold behind them as well as the hot wave crashing into their faces.


    The old man had his eyes closed as if he immersed in his own training. He did not care about the changes around him. Su Ming lifted his head and stared at the blurry moon in the sky behind the snow above him. It looked like falling dust.


    This moon was constantly around, but the people he knew... were not. Su Ming thought of the past quietly and went through his memories. While immersed in them, he entered the world that belonged to him and searched for the sighing ferryman.


    “How many famous sects and ns are there in Ancient Zang?” the old man, who still had his eyes shut, asked in an ancient voice. It mixed with the wind and snow, fused into the crackles of the burning bonfire before reaching Su Ming’s ears.


    “Seven sects, twelve ns.” Su Ming still stared at the blurry moon when he answered calmly.


    “What are the differences between sects and ns?” the old man asked again.


    “Sects extend to the endless space, and they are given their status by Ancient Zang. nse from the emptiness of space, and they don’t receive enlightenment from anything else.”


    “What will happen every single time the throne is handed to a new ruler?” the old man continued asking.


    “The seven sects will cause a stir, and the twelve ns will descend into chaos. When the princes fight for the crown, the world changes.” Su Ming moved his gaze away from the blurry moon in the sky and watched the bonfire burn while he answered calmly.


    “I’ve told you about the limits of the level of cultivation in this endless world ten years ago. Do you still remember it?” the old man asked tly.


    “When you attain greatpletion in Avacaniya Realm, you can gain an epiphany of Boundless Dao Realm. Once you obtain your Dao Divinity and gain an epiphany of this Realm nine times, it will mean that you have advanced your Dao Divinity by nine levels. Nine is the limit, and once you achievepletion, you can reach a breakthrough and step into Boundless Dao Realm!


    “There has never been a person who has reached Boundless Dao Realm before, which is why there are people who understand Dao, but do not understand what boundless means,” Su Ming answered calmly. He hade to understand all these things during the ten years through the bits and pieces the old man had told him.