824 The Insane Though

Bang!

Soon after Su Ming failed and returned, the stone monument that symbolized Zhou Kang shone brilliantly and gradually shrank from its nine hundred thousand something feet. When it was only several tens of thousands of feet tall, Zhou Kang's body tumbled out of the vortex.

His face was pale. He looked at the stone monument with a dazed expression, and after a long while, he lowered his head in anguish before he 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 constricted, and he was taken aback, because in his eyes, he saw a thin, golden thread on Zhou Kang's right hand. That thin thread existed within his right hand, and it exuded a power that Su Ming was familiar with.

In fact, when he looked over, the light from the golden thread in Zhou Kang's right hand started moving, as if the light was reflecting Su Ming from the distance.

Su Ming hesitated for a moment before he turned his head around and looked at the other people in the place. As he swept his gaze past them, his heart trembled even greater, but he showed nothing on his face.

He saw that a thin golden thread existed within each person's body. Most of them existed in their right hands, with only a flew in the left hands. And a couple in their legs.

This was something that Su Ming had never noticed before. After experiencing his first failure, he could see those golden threads, and he found that every single person had them, but some of those threads shone with a more brilliant golden light, while others were duller.

After a moment, Su Ming mumbled, "Divine Essence, huh..?" He discovered that the limbs in which those golden threads resided was the ones with which those people were touching their stone monuments.

As he sat in silence, the world suddenly started rumbling. Not too far away, a gigantic crack appeared in the air, and seven people walked out from within.

The appearance of those seven people immediately caused the expressions of all cultivators here turn dark and aloof. There was also animosity contained within their faces.

These were seven newcomers. The vacant looks in their eyes was a telling sign that at that moment, Sui Chen Zi's voice was echoing in their hearts. Almost the moment they appeared, an indifferent will had descended upon them. When that will swept through the area, it gathered on a stone monument that was around seven hundred thousand feet tall. it immediately started shining brightly, and as a shrill scream of pain rang out, the name on that stone monument was wiped off, just like that.

The indifferent will was still swirling around the area when Su Ming's expression changed drastically. He lifted his head and stared at the sky, seeing a scene that he had never seen before.

He saw a blurry figure appearing in midair above the place where the one hundred thousand stone monuments were located. From that blurry figure, he could tell that this person was an old man. He strolled around the area, and every single time he stopped, he would lift his hand to point at one of the stone monuments. It would then immediately shine with light, and the name on it would then be wiped off.

'After experiencing one failure, my eyes… my right eye has changed! I couldn't see all of these things before. I couldn't see the golden threads, much less this figure.

'Who is he? Could he be… Sui Chen Zi?!' Su Ming's breathing quickened. He saw the figure tapping the air six times, and six stone monuments shining, which meant that six had people died.

He continued watching until he saw the figure walk towards the spot where Zhou Kang's stone monument was, but Zhou Kang did not notice it. Perhaps more accurately speaking, all of the people there did not notice anything!

Only Su Ming could.

He saw the figure lifting his right hand, and right at the instant he was about to point towards Zhou Kang's stone monument, Su Ming's heart trembled. He remembered Zhou Kang's advices, remembered him offering words that helped him during the sixty years even though he did not speak much.

"Zhou Kang!" Su Ming suddenly shouted.

Zhou Kang opened his eyes. When he looked over, Su Ming immediately saw the figure that no one else could see also turning his head around to look at him from midair.

At the instant Su Ming met the figure's gaze, a bang rang out in his head. A sharp pain shot up in his mind, as if it had pierced through him.

It did not last long, until the figure averted his gaze. The figure hesitated a bit, but it did not point towards Zhou Kang's stone monument with his lifted right hand, instead, it fell on the stone monument that was four hundred thousand feet from them.

As light shone on it, the name on the monument was wiped off, and the figure looked at Su Ming once again before gradually disappearing.

Yet at the instant it disappeared, an indifferent and ancient voice echoed in Su Ming's mind. This voice belonged to Sui Chen Zi, but it was slightly different. There were no emotions contained within, only a type of apathy.

"Only this once!"

Su Ming's heart trembled. When that figure disappeared and Zhou Kang looked towards him, Su Ming closed his eyes. Only after a long time had passed did he manage to quell the shock in his heart. He knew that after experiencing failure within the Five Illusory Echelons, he had obtained a power that some of the people around him would not be able to imagine.

He also knew that what Zhou Kang's wife, Si Ma Yue, had guessed about the people who trained in the path of the Five Illusory Echelons having less chances of dying… was correct!

Because those people who trained in the path of the Five Illusory Echelons… could see that figure, and could even change fate of other people.

'Since ancient times, there were few who trained in the path of the Five Illusory Echelons, but there should have been quite a large number of people that passed through here over the endless passage of time. These people…'

Su Ming lifted his head and opened his eyes to look at the stone monuments that had surpassed one million feet. He did not know how many people of those had trained in the path of the Five Illusory Echelons like he did.

"What is it?" Zhou Kang asked, interrupting Su Ming's thoughts. Su Ming cast him a glance with a complicated expression, then shook his head and did not speak.

Zhou Kang was momentarily stunned, then his eyes flashed. He swiftly looked towards the stone monument by his side whose name was wiped off, and a brilliant light gradually manifested in his eyes. A pensive look appeared on his face.

He no longer asked Su Ming anything else, but instead closed his eyes and began meditating.

Su Ming lifted his head and looked at his surroundings. Dark light gradually started shining in his eyes before he, too, closed them. Several days later, he chose to enter the world in the stone monument once again.

Time passed once more. Ten years, twenty years… until another sixty years slowly passed by in this cycle of repetition. During those sixty years, Su Ming made his stone monument reach nine hundred thousand feet twice, but he failed the test both times.

The first time, he only had his head left when he entered the cultivation planet. The second time, he had half his body left.

Yet even so, he still could not succeed in passing the test. As time went by, he discovered that if he wanted to have his stone monument reach one million feet, then not only would he need to have his body reach the cultivation planet in complete form, he would also need... to obtain the Divine Essence from that strange big tree!

During those two times, due to the strangeness of his right eye, he had seen an endless amount of golden light within that big tree. That golden light was the golden threads that he saw within every single person's body.

This was Divine Essence - a mysterious power that Su Ming still could not fully understand, but whose might he could sense.

During the sixty years, the experience of having his stone monument reach nine hundred thousand something feet twice had caused the runic symbols in Su Ming's right eye to grow from close to a thousand to five thousand, and he had obtained all of them from the world built based on his memories.

Yet even if he had five thousand runic symbols, he could still not make his stone monument reach one million feet. But Su Ming did not give up. Sui Chen Zi's voice continued ringing in his mind.

"You can use whatever method you have at your disposal… as long as you obtain that Divine Essence!"

"Whatever method, at your disposal - these are a very clear hint," Su Ming mumbled. He looked at the stone monument that was only twenty-three thousand feet before him. During the sixty years, he had constantly mulled over the insane idea that surfaced in his mind after his first failure all those years ago.

'It's exponentially difficult if I use a normal method to pass the test so that my stone monument will reach one million feet. I might not know how the other people did it, but since ancient times, there were only a handful who had managed to do this.

'Now that I think of it, they must all have been incredibly amazing and bizarre people.

'Besides, the time that is required for this is extremely long. I think I might know how to continue walking down this path… but my stone monument was originally only twenty thousand feet. It might be mostly the same as the other people's, but there are also some differences. However, based on my observations during these one hundred and twenty years, the initial size of our stone monuments should be based on the appraisal and judgment of the land towards us, or else why would some of the stone monuments start off straight at several tens of thousands of feet, while some nearing a hundred thousand feet, and some only a couple thousand feet.

'After my first failure, my stone monument became twenty-one thousand feet tall from its initial twenty thousand feet. Then I failed twice during the past sixty years after my first failure, and now my stone monument is at twenty-three thousand feet.

'Which means that with each failure, my stone monument increases by one thousand feet, and I'll be able to pass this test only when the height of my stone monument reaches one million feet.

'For this, I will need to fail… around nine hundred times more. If I calculate based on how many times I could take the test in the last sixty years, then I will need approximately four hundred something cycles of sixty years, which also means… about twenty-four thousand years.

'This is if I don't factor in accidents and everything works smoothly. Twenty-four thousand years… I won't wait for that, I simply can't wait for that!'

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 let his eyes fall shut.

'I should be able to do it. Without counting in my first failure, I've observed that tree during the two other times I failed… Not only does that tree possess Divine Essence, it also possesses life force. It's a living being, and a powerful one to boot!

'Next time, when my stone monument reaches nine hundred thousand something feet, I'll put that plan into motion!' Su Ming mumbled in his heart with his eyes closed.

'Use whatever methods you have at your disposal… Then I'll use a method that only I possess and no one else, and I'll… make my stone monument reach one million feet in one go!' The crazed will within Su Ming's eyes was covered because he had shut his eyes.

Time passed once more. One year went by, and another… twenty-seven years later, when there were about seven thousand runic symbols in Su Ming's right eye, his stone monument reached nine hundred thousand something feet for the fourth time.

Su Ming stood before his stone monument with a calm expression. He turned his head around to look at the area around him. Zhou Kang had yet to appear from the world in his stone monument. Su Ming was familiar with most of the other people around him as well by then. He looked at the place that had detained him for almost one hundred and fifty years, and resoluteness gradually appeared in his eyes.

When his gaze landed on his stone monument and the vortex appeared again, Su Ming's body faded away. Once he disappeared, he appeared beyond the golden sea, in the galaxy he'd seen before.

It was quiet all around. Su Ming stood in the galaxy and looked at the cultivation planet within the golden sea, with resolve in his eyes.

'As long as you are a living being, then I can… Possess you and make you my clone!' A crazed will appeared in Su Ming's eyes. This was the plan he had formulated after he had failed the first time.

Since he could not obtain the Divine Essence straight away… then he might as well Possess it. He would have the tree's vitality turn into his clone, and if he succeeded, he would obtain a clone that was unprecedented, which not even his ancestor of Abyss Builders had managed to obtain!

And if he used this clone to refine that Divine Essence, then Su Ming's future… would be inconceivable!

But the prerequisite for that was… he had to succeed!