1180 Four Years

Su Ming's Ecang clone led nearly one hundred thousand cultivators through True Morning Dao World. Wherever he passed, all the remaining cultivators would either deliver their souls and join the Ninth Summit, or their blood would flow in rivers. The instant Su Ming and the ring were Relocated by the Sun Sinking Talisman, he shuddered.

The Ecang clone had long gray hair, and there was a blood-red light shining in his eyes. A murderous, bloodthirsty air fused with his madness to form an aura of death filled with a destructive intent that brought with it a heinous malicious air. This was a clone that was almost identical to the darkness itself once Su Ming's destructive personality fused with the Ecang clone!

This clone was filled with aloofness. His appearance was slightly different from Su Ming's, and it would be difficult for anyone to notice his presence, but he was still Su Ming.

The clone stopped in space at that moment. The near one hundred thousand cultivators behind him were silent. No one dared utter a single word. All of them only looked at the black Ecang clone with respect in their eyes.

"Sun Sinking Talisman…"

The eyes of the black Ecang clone sparkled at that moment, and a pensive expression appeared on his face. He could sense that his original body had been Relocated. At that moment, the connection they shared had been severed, and he could not detect where his original body had gone. He could only vaguely sense that it had not ran into any dangers. But even though their connection had been severed and it looked like they had become two people who were completely unrelated to each other, the black Ecang clone still acted according to Su Ming's will.

He was Su Ming. This was the inborn talent of the Abyss Builders that nothing else besides the Heavenly Incense Rune, as far as Su Ming knew, could interfere with the clones they Possessed.

After a moment of pensive silence, red light shone in the eyes of the black Ecang clone. He knew that he could not help his original body, which was why he decided to not bother himself with it. He could only act based on his original body's will and build the Ninth Summit in True Morning Dao World.

'I will gather enough power of the laws of fate in the world around me, then when the original body returns, he can… replace True Morning Dao World!' Resolve appeared in the eyes of the Su Ming's black Ecang clone. Without any hesitation, he charged forward.

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, half a year passed. During that time, almost all the remaining cultivators in most of the regions of True Morning Dao World were gathered together under the joint efforts of eldest senior brother, second senior brother, Hu Zi, Su Ming's Ecang clone, and the hundreds of thousands of cultivators who had spread out to search for them. Their efforts seemed seemed to have kickstarted a huge snowball rolling down a cliff, and it was slowly getting larger.

Huge rocks were gathered from all over the world, and they combined together to form the Ninth Summit's territory. They made up a huge continent with tall mountains in it. Towers rose up right after, and the outline of the Ninth Summit's Sect was slowly formed.

Another half a year passed, and the outline of the Ninth Summit could no longer be seen. What was contained within the continent was a huge sect. It had an extraordinary air, and there were nearly five hundred thousand cultivators practicing cultivation over there. Some of them had become disciples of the Ninth Summit willingly, some were forced, or some joined due to other reasons.

They were made up of various races. Some of them were originally from Morning Dao Sect, and some were once from the Immortals' Union. Yet at that moment, Morning Dao Sect was no longer around, and neither was the Immortals' Union. All of those people were members of the Ninth Summit.

There were nine huge mountains within the Ninth Summit, and they were the most distinct creations of the sect. Mighty pressure spread out from them and enveloped the entire continent. In the distance, it turned into white ripples that blocked the whirlwind from entering the region. Even though Su Ming's original body had gone missing, his Ecang clone was still around.

Once the Ecang clone wore the black robe, besides his senior brothers, all the other people did not know that the black-robed man known as the Great Sect Elder in the Ninth Summit in the open and the malicious fiend in private was just a clone.

The first Sect Master of the Ninth Summit was second senior brother. Eldest senior brother was not willing to take up that position, and Hu Zi was far too lazy to do it. Su Ming's Ecang clone did not care about statuses, so it was only natural that the title fell on second senior brother's head.

As for eldest senior brother, he was also a Great Sect Master, just like Su Ming's Ecang clone. He was in charge of punishments. With his murderous aura, he intimidated all the disciples.

Hu Zi had nothing to do, but he was already accustomed to fighting, so he took up the responsibility of bringing more disciples to the Ninth Summit and continuously expanding its territory in True Morning Dao World by ceaselessly conquering new areas. It did not matter to him whether the territory had once belonged to Morning Dao Sect or the Immortals' Union. At that moment, there were only cultivators who had lost their foundation in these places.

Within the Ninth Summit were nine huge mountains, and the ninth summit was where the sect's great hall was located. Su Ming's Ecang clone occupied the fourth summit. Once he let Hu Zi take care of the battles, he went into year-long isolation to refine the power of the fate in the world gathered on him. The third summit belonged to Hu Zi. The second summit was their second senior brother's chamber, and the first summit belonged to eldest senior brother.

Time passed, and it soon were two full years since Su Ming had disappeared. During them, the Ninth Summit continued growing stronger. The sect had expanded and become a gigantic object in the galaxy.

In the two years, the number of cultivators in the Ninth Summit had grown from its initial five hundred thousand to nearly eight hundred thousand. This might not sound like much, but it has to be remembered that a disaster had struck True Morning Dao World. Before it, there were tens of millions of cultivators, but they had been reduced so greatly that not even one-tenth of the original number remained.

There was also one time where the Ninth Summit's continuous expansion had come to an end. It was when Hu Zi had brought the cultivators from the Ninth Summit to engage in a fierce battle against another group of cultivators in the northernmost area.

This matter had even shocked Su Ming's Ecang clone, causing him to end his isolation. Once he egressed, he personally went to the northernmost area of True Morning Dao World. Once he went through a battle of Arts that shook the universe, he severely wounded the most powerful warrior there, but he was also heavily injured, so he retreated to the Ninth Summit to enter isolation once more.

After this event, Hu Zi ended his conquest of the galaxy. Once he returned to the Ninth Summit, he placed his full attention on Su Ming's initial request of cracking the Relocation Rune leading to Morning Dao Sect.

Even Hu Zi, who had extreme talent with Runes, needed some time to crack the Rune. After all, it was a Rune that served a function similar to protection for Morning Dao Sect for countless years. It had been shut down from the inside, so if it could be easily cracked open from the outside, it would not live up to its name.

But Hu Zi was confident. With just a few years, he would definitely be able to crack it.

However, based on that battle, it was made sure that even if Su Ming had disappeared, he was still the strongest person in the Ninth Summit. Even if the Ecang clone fought against him at full power, he would not be Su Ming's opponent. This was something publicly acknowledged by his senior brothers.

It was also because of this that the Ninth Summit stopped its expansion. They halted right beyond the spot which belonged to the sect which had appeared around the same time as the Ninth Summit.

It was known as New Dao Sect, and all the cultivators in it had once belonged to Morning Dao Sect. If anyone continued making deductions based on this, they would be able to guess that they were once an army sent from Morning Dao Sect to fight against the Immortals' Union. They might have suffered a blow under the disaster, but they still had nearly one million cultivators in their New Dao Sect.

It was them who had stopped the Ninth Summit from continuing their expansion. Their strongest warrior, someone known as an Almighty in New Dao Sect, had an unfathomable level of cultivation. It was him who had personally fought against Su Ming's Ecang clone. That battle had even forced the Ecang clone to reveal his true form, which resulted in both of them being injured badly, and they isolated themselves due to their injuries.

This had stopped the Ninth Summit's expansion, but it was the same for New Dao Sect. They could not do anything to the Ninth Summit. No large-scale battles occurred between them anymore, but small-scale scuffles were a constant event.

If True Morning Dao World only had the Ninth Summit and New Dao Sect, then the scuffles between them would only continue growing until they reached a point when one of them could no longer hold on. But this did not happen because Su Ming and New Dao Sect's Almighty were not the only ones who had the idea of creating a sect. There was a third force to the south of Morning Dao Sect.

It was known as the South Union, formed by many small races who were remnants of the Immortals' Union. There were also nearly one million cultivators among them, and plenty of them were powerful warriors. In fact, their overall strength surpassed that of the Ninth Summit without Su Ming and New Dao Sect. However, the gap torn through Arid Triad Expanse Cosmos existed between the South Union and the Ninth Summit. That region was where the whirlwind was the strongest. As it raged there, it indirectly stopped most of the movements of the cultivators in the South Union. Even if they had found a way to move through the whirlwind, it was still difficult for them to move through the region with the strongest whirlwind in large numbers.

They did not have the protective ripple which could allow them to move for long periods of time in the whirlwind, so even if they decided to circumnavigate the whirlwind, once they suffered a setback, they would all perish. This was why they had not engaged in major conflicts with the Ninth Summit and New Dao Sect.

Just like that, during the period of two years Su Ming was missing, the three great forces in True Morning Dao Sect slowly expanded. They kept each other in check, and a rarely seen balance existed among them.

However, this balance was incredibly fragile. With the slightest mistake, it could be broken. Once it happened, a battle among the three great forces of power would break out, and each of them would have to reveal their trump card.

The Ninth Summit had no way to know about the trump cards of the South Union and New Dao Sect, just like how the other two forces had no way of knowing theirs. The Ninth Summit's trump card was Su Ming's return, and their other trump card was cracking Morning Dao Sect's Relocation Rune.

Once it was gone, the people of the Ninth Summit could occupy Morning Dao Sect. Even if it had been reduced to ruins, as long as they were there, they could swiftly grow stronger. In fact, they could then disregard the whirlwinds in the world outside. With one hundred-something Relocation spots, they could instantly appear anywhere they wanted.

Time continued to pass, the slowly, the third year went by, and then the fourth was gone. The scuffles between the three forces gradually grew more intense, and they seemed to be reaching a point where they could no longer be controlled.