Chapter 554: Confrontation!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Undertaker’s of Evil spear was pointed towards a spot where a large number of gray-eyed corpses laid. During the instant the spear plunged down, the gray in their eyes swiftly disappeared, and as went away, their bodies started trembling, as if they were waking up from a dream!
The clarity in those gazes and the confusion within the eyes of the men, women, elderly, and young when they saw the Undertaker’s of Evil Spear in the sky caused Su Ming to be able to see that these people… had just woken up completely, as if they had been revived!
"There is no enmity between you and these people. In fact, they had never even spoken a single bad word of you, but… you’re going to kill them. Su Ming, if you attack, will you be at peace with yourself? You’ll be experiencing a change of heart right here, and I’ll be watching how you will go through this change of heart!
"If you kill so many innocent people, then where do your principles lie?!" Si Ma Xin let out a long string of laughter, feeling extremely delighted.
"But if you aren’t willing to kill these people and cause turmoil within yourself, then you will have to endure the endless amount of battles I will deliver to you with the Great Art of Heartless Berserker Seed, Su Ming! Yet Bai Su doesn’t have a lot of time left, you’ll have to choose wisely…" The other Si Ma Xin also started laughing loudly.
Su Ming remained silent. He watched the long spear falling to the ground with a bang, bringing up a wave of violet force that spread out in all directions, causing all the people who had just roused from their sleep to find their bodies shattering in a devastating manner. As the force spread out… more people woke up, and more people were crushed to pieces under that force. Their shrill screams of pain filled the air as they disappeared into nothingness.
The screams of pain were still echoing in the air. Su Ming trembled. Not attacking others if they did nothing to provoke him had always been a principle he held close to his heart. This was also the principle he kept to as he traveled to this place!
Yet now, this principal was shattered to pieces due to Si Ma Xin’s persecution. He bore no hatred towards these people, but with one throw of a spear, he killed all of them. It was just like what he experienced in Phantom Dais Tribe, but the effects shook him even more this time. The event left him silent.
Si Ma Xin’s laughter echoed in the air. He did not want to just fight Su Ming through a simple battle of divine abilities. Not only did he want to make Su Ming lose in terms of his combat abilities, he also wanted to make him lose in terms of spirit. If he did not do this, he could not vent his hatred. If he did not do this, he could not truly destroy a person!
If reincarnation existed in this world, then those who died by the Undertaker’s of Evil Spear would never be reincarnated. They would forever be trapped in the spear and become its battle souls, surrounding it forever.
If everything went by Si Ma Xin’s original plan, then a complex Seed would be planted deep within Su Ming’s heart due to the collapse of his beliefs and principles. This Seed would quickly grow and replace what made Su Ming who he was, turning into what would destroy his heart.
However, there were some things in the world that Si Ma Xin could not predict. As Su Ming stood in midair, half of his hair gradually turned white and his body slowly shrank. A whirlwind swirled around his body, and his appearance became that of Destiny’s.
He did not turn completely into Destiny, but the moment his transformation was halfway through, he lifted his right hand and swung it towards the ground. That swing made Si Ma Xin momentarily stunned. Immediately, his pupils shrank, and the endless amount of corpses on the ground gathered together and their bodies became whole once again.
The violet wave of impact spreading outwards also appeared once again in the land far off in the distance, but it no longer spread outwards. It tumbled backwards instead. The passage of time and everything that occurred during the previous moment started reversing at that instant.
As time reversed, Su Ming looked at the ground, then at the unfamiliar faces that had just been revived until he found the expression he wanted. In the midst of their fear and confusion, looks of liberation appeared right at the moment they died.
He saw those expressions of liberation when he executed the divine ability that allowed him to reverse time.
He closed his eyes and lowered his right hand. The white hair covering half his head turned black once again. He no longer continued with his transformation to become Destiny. At that instant, his body returned to normal.
When he opened his eyes, the ground remained as it did after the spear’s impact swept through the land. It was as if the time reversal was a mere illusion, a dream, and that dream had just ended. Everything was as usual. Blood filled the air, and torn limbs could be found everywhere. As the violet wave of impact spread out, the screams of pain continued echoing in the air.
However, Su Ming’s heart was no longer shaken, because…
He could see the souls that were being absorbed into the Undertaker’s of Evil Spear from the ground. As they gathered together to manifest into the people he killed, not a single hint of hatred could be seen on their faces, be it the men, the women, the elderly, or the young. Instead, there was gratitude, and when they were absorbed, they bowed towards Su Ming.
Si Ma Xin also saw this. His expression immediately turned dark, and with a cold harrumph, an even greater amount of corpses that existed in the region further down in the ground stood up with their eyes started flashing in a gray light.
As they stood up, their bodies started changing as if they were melting, and all of them turned into Si Ma Xin!
The limitless gray corpses in the eighth layer’s world numbered to tens of thousands. Those who died due to Su Ming’s spear throw were just a part of them. As more gray-eyed corpses turned into Si Ma Xin, they howled together and leaped into the sky, turning into numerous long arcs. These long arcs were all Si Ma Xin, and they were all rushing towards Su Ming!
"Su Ming, I’m shocked that you could gain such power during these twenty years. I originally thought that my serendipity was rare enough in this world, but I didn’t expect you would possess this sort of luck as well…
"However, your luck and your serendipity will be reduced due to the battles I will deliver to you in this world, they will weaken as your will collapses, they will disappear as that murderous aura on you dissipates, and they will vanish as you become apathetic… I will first bring on you a battle that will destroy your luck!
"All the tens of thousands of my copies are all me. I will make you kill me over and over until you can no longer kill. Even if you don’t want to, as you continue killing me, your rage will weaken, your willpower will collapse due to fatigue, your murderous aura will dissipate by large quantities before you even notice it, and by then, I wonder… will you still have the right to fight against me?!"
The tens of thousands of Si Ma Xins said these words at the same time. Their voices fused together to turn into a roar containing an air of sovereignty that sounded like the might of heaven itself. It made Su Ming’s pupils constrict.
He had never underestimated Si Ma Xin, not in the past, and not now. Si Ma Xin was completely different from all the enemies he had encountered in the past. His battles against other people were just a simple fight to the death, but when it came to Si Ma Xin, he would forever focus on the destruction of the soul!
It was just like what he did when he planted the Berserker Seed in him and used Bai Su as a lead and when he all the other things to throw Su Ming’s heart into turmoil. All of these things just went to show how strange Si Ma Xin was!
His strangeness was shown even more prevalently through what he just said. Su Ming knew that if things continued like this, he would have to kill Si Ma Xin tens of thousands of times, and no matter how deep his hatred towards him ran, it would gradually disappear during the slaughter, and eventually, all his hate and grudges would turn into mere empty words. They would no longer be engraved deep in his heart.
If he could not keep his hatred deeply rooted in his heart, then it would be difficult for him to keep his will strong, and Su Ming would surely lose this battle!
‘He wants to break my will and my spirit…’
Su Ming lifted his head and looked towards the tens of thousands of Si Ma Xins charging towards him from all around the area with cold sneers on their faces, and suddenly, a cold smile curled up on his lips.
Su Ming’s current level of cultivation and his combat powers were definitely not due to some simple serendipity. Neither was it a rare serendipity which Si Ma Xin believed he had received. His power was due to his will after the endless amount of reincarnations he went through in the Candle Dragon’s world. If Si Ma Xin had been there, perhaps he would have lost himself.
Only Su Ming could survive it. He had desired to understand everything about himself. He had struggled in the midst of his confusion and endured silently while never giving up. His will had never been destroyed even after going through an endless amount of reincarnations, so how could his will disappear in this measly battle?!
Even when he had come face to face with the choices he had to make in his heart when he was in Heaven Gate and even had his principles destroyed by Si Ma Xin, he had managed to persevere through it silently with his firm will.
At that moment, Si Ma Xin’s words were still echoing in his ears, but the cold smile on Su Ming’s lips gave away his killing intent. He moved, and without the Undertaker’s of Evil Armor as well as the spear, he started launching his attacks as he did when he was in the Candle Dragon’s world, with one jab, one seize of the air, one fist, and one palm strike!
The sky rumbled, and wherever Su Ming went, Si Ma Xin’s bodies would be destroyed. Su Ming’s expression remained calm and no hint of change could be seen on his face. There was nothing else contained within that calm expression besides the desire to kill!
Time slowly trickled by. Su Ming did not know how many people he had killed, but he did know that his will had not diminished. It had gathered together instead, and his hatred towards Si Ma Xin did not dwindle away, but had instead… grown stronger.
"Si Ma Xin, since every single one of these is you, then the tens of thousands of deaths these copies go through will also mean that you have to suffer through tens of thousands of annihilations. If a person has been killed tens of thousands of times, will his will remain firm?!
"We haven’t seen each other for twenty years, and you still disappoint me," Su Ming stated flatly. If Si Ma Xin wanted to destroy his will, then Su Ming would naturally retaliate.
All the eyes of the endless amount of Si Ma Xins began flickering with a gleam of light. Su Ming’s words were like a sharp needle that had pierced right into Si Ma Xin’s heart.
The act of destroying other people’s wills had always been a double-edged blade. As he schemed against other people, he would also have to suffer the other party’s retaliation. It was just like what Si Ma Xin had to suffer now. He was trying to make Su Ming’s will dissipate through the endless strings of battles, but with just a few words, Su Ming had figured out the true cost of what he was doing, and it made Si Ma Xin’s heart tremble.
As he was shaken by his words, all the copies of him froze up, and during that instant, Su Ming spoke up once again.
"I can kill you tens of thousands of times, and I can continue killing you until I absolutely destroy you!"
Su Ming lifted his right hand, and once he held it in a fist, he hurled a punch straight towards the air beneath him. The power of all the Berserker Bones in his body was released, turning into a violent storm that swept through the area, causing a countless amount of Si Ma Xins to shatter and tumble backwards.