Pursuit of the Truth

* Original
* Translation

Beseech the Devil

Pursuit of the Truth (求魔) is a Chinese Xianxia novel written by Er Gen and published by Qidian.

## **Introduction**

Su Ming grew up dreaming about becoming a Berserker even though he knew that the chances of him becoming one were close to nil. One day, he found a strange piece of debris, and it allowed him to walk the path of becoming a Berserker. But would it be enough for Su Ming to become just another Berserker to protect those he cares about?
Would he be satisfied with leaving everything in fate's hands?

## **Translation Team**

**Translator:** Mogumoguchan

**Editor:** DarkGem, Zenobys

## Books

* Book 1: If Only Life was as Beautiful as it Seemed at First Sight
* Book 2: The World of Wind and Cold
* Book 3: His Name Shakes Through the Eastern Wastelands
* Book 4: Rising in Power in the Barren Lands of Divine Essence
* Book 5: My Morning Dao World
* Book 6: Arid Triad Disaster
* Book 7: How Many Cycles of Life and Death Has One Person Missing?

## Author's End Note

Pursuit of the Truth has ended for six days. Today is the seventh day.

Let me tell you how my life has been for the past few days. Since the book ended, I have become much more irritable. When I moved, I even argued with my wife for several days…

I will admit it. Something has happened to my temper. I am very depressed and sad. I cannot describe this feeling precisely, but when I ended Renegade Immortal, I had this feeling, and now, when Pursuit of the Truth ended, I have the same feeling again.

This is something I have been writing continuously for years, and now, I do not need to continue writing it. The disappointment of it is like a tidal wave that can make a person drown. Pursuit of the Truth has went on for two years, and it is now over in the blink of an eye. I remember that six days ago, it was the first day that marked the end of Pursuit of the Truth.

I am used to booting up my computer, opening up Word, but now, I cannot, by habit, write Su Ming’s name anymore, because when I opened Word, I saw that I had already penned down ‘End of Pursuit of the Truth’ the day before yesterday…

Now, six days have already gone by, but I am still unable to get my mind out of my book. I know that it will take me a month, and only when I get my mind out of Pursuit of the Truth will I be able to create a new book, or else, I will not be a responsible author to all of you, and I will also not be responsible to my new book, and even to my life as a creative writer.

Pursuit of the Truth… Pursuit of the Truth. Pursuit is in itself a manner of living, and it is bound to be filled with hardships and desolation. Seeking the truth is an attitude, and it is bound to make a person cold and determined. This is not something I created, but what a reader wrote down in a forum in Tieba.

At that time, when I saw it, I gained very strong feelings from those words. That person was the first reader who truly understood what Pursuit of the Truth meant.

My skill in writing is limited. My knowledge is limited. My experiences are limited. The things I want to present might not be very clearly presented in my story, but he understood.

I used his words in my story.

In my stories, my words are commonly found and easily understood. They entertain the masses. This is what they are supposed to do, but I am unable to make my words too easily understood, and in that sense, I am a failure, because I always want to write down some of my experiences, my epiphanies, and some words… that I want to say to my daughter in the future. I want to write down the words I want to use to educate her in how to act and how to live in the future.

I remember how many years ago I once said during an interview with Ku6 Media that I love my books very much and that I intend to still be able to enjoy them when I am old, so I hope that they will not appear to be disgusting before my eyes. I also intend to have them be books that my daughter can read when she grows up. I will let her read my books so that I can tell her all my epiphanies and my understanding of the world in the form of my novels.

That is why romantic love is mostly pure in my books. You will not find any hint of indecency, because I do not want to write those things.

People’s schemes against each other, the attitude of the strong preying on the weak, the firm attitude towards friendship, the love for family, the loyalty to love… all these beautiful moments in the book and the understanding towards the world, be it darkness or light, are part of my life.

In Renegade Immortal, I wrote of a nobody who was unwilling to bend his head to fate. He fought against the heavens and destiny. His was a story of a person who walked out of the rough trails in life. In that story was my belief that I was someone special when I was a teenager, my many hardships in life when I was a young man, and my sentiments as well as weariness when I became a middle-aged man.

To achieve success, Wang Lin had to give up on far too much. Hidden under his bright glory was everything that he had given up for his achievements.

And in Pursuit of the Truth, I wrote another story. It was a story of a person who lived but died in the hearts of the others yet survived in their memories.

Su Ming’s story was a story of a person who when he knew who he was, he was no longer himself, and when he no longer knew who he was, only then was he himself.

His was a story of the only person awake when everyone else was drunk… or when everyone else was awake, he was the only one drunk.

What is the devil? If there are some among you who still care about Su Ming becoming the devil, succeeding in becoming the devil, becoming the Devil Paragon, or some of the other words associated with this, and if you still care about not seeing the conflicts of a devil even after you have read the entirety of Pursuit of the Truth, then I have failed.

Because what I wanted to show since the beginning was not a devil, but a person… chasing after an extreme Dao!

I could only use one word to describe this Dao, and that was the devil. ‘He kowtowed before the devil during those three thousand years.’ These words were of the moment Su Ming had the choice to sever his future or his past while he was outside Ancient Zang.

That pronoun ‘he’ does not mean a single person. It is a general reference. It refers to all the people Su Ming met in his life and cared about, people whom he could give up everything for.

All of them.

“If you continue down that path, you will be the only person left in the universe in the end.”

“Then, what about your path? If you continue down it, you will be the only one who will disappear from the universe!”

Those who sever their past belong to the former, and those who sever their future are the latter.

This is Pursuit of the Truth. It is a path, a Dao. When you run into different events but come to face the same choice as Su Ming did, what will you choose?

In Pursuit of the Truth, I wrote Su Ming’s choice, and it is also my choice.

Just like the changes of heart in Pursuit of the Truth, I also went through changes of heart. What changed was my writing style and my creativity. If turning to a mortal in Renegade Immortal can be compared to a stage in my writing career, then in that stage, I will say that I have reached Soul Formation.

After experiencing several changes of heart for Pursuit of the Truth, under certain intentional changes in plot, I sometimes found that my writing was too heavy, and sometimes, there would be confusion. At the moment I ended the book and I penned down the words ‘End of Pursuit of the Truth’, I knew that I had experienced a change of heart. If I was to compare this to a level of cultivation, then it would be the beginning, middle, and later stages of Soul Transformation.

And my new book will be my Ascendant Realm!

There are plenty of regrets contained in Pursuit of the Truth. Due to the lack of accomplishments in the early stages of the book, I experienced a change of heart before the expected time. I questioned myself, and I sought change.

When I reached the middle part of the book, I saw many readers saying that the beginning of the book was good, but the later part was only average, but you do not understand that every time I saw those words, I would sigh.

I sighed, because a new book needs plenty of people protecting and cherishing it while it grows, for only then would it be able to grow well, and there are plenty of readers who wait and only start reading a book when it has plenty of chapters on its back. I too do the same, but Pursuit of the Truth has allowed me to understand that those who read must also let the writer know that they are reading the book. You need to subscribe to the book and let the numbers grow so that the writer will have sufficient confidence.

Those who write need support and encouragement. Even if you are only reading, please subscribe during the early stages of the book. Only by doing so will the writer be confident when he sees the numbers and not feel lost while he is writing.

These are all objective reasons. On a subjective reason, when I started Pursuit of the Truth, I wrote about Berserkers, and many people were not used to it, and when my body did not give me the strength, I could not produce a lot of chapters in one go, and my heart grew tired. The tone of the book also caused the entire story to be filled with an oppressed and depressing air. All of these caused me to only feel about seventy percent satisfied with this book, even though I was initially very confident that I would write it well.

That was why I said that writing Pursuit of the Truth for two years was also a period of time when I experienced a change of heart.

Now, I have experienced turning into a mortal, I have experienced a change of heart, and I am now confident in reaching Ascendant Realm! With my new book, I will breakthrough and crush the wall to Ascendant Realm!!!

1st of March will be the date when I, Ergen, will write my third book after Renegade Immortal and Pursuit of the Truth. I will not give it a depressing air. I will fill all of you with passion when you read it. This is the tone I have set for that book!

The next book I want to write is still Xianxia, but the emphasis will be leaning more towards a person reaching a high state. All the hardships contained in that path will contain Wang Lin’s rebellion and Su Ming’s determination!

This will be my creation once I have reached Ascendant Realm after I experienced my change of heart! In fact, my book will no longer only contain two words or four words, but five words!

My fellow Daoists, please look forward to it. I have here a small request. All the readers who are used to reading, if you acknowledge me, then I sincerely hope that when you read, you will subscribe and support me. Please do not waste your recommendation tickets and comment in the review section, because in my next book, I will reach Ascendant Realm, and I will need your help to be able to succeed. Your help is strong enough to change a book’s fate.

30th December 2013.

Written on the seventh day Pursuit of the Truth ended.

Ergen.