Pursuit of the Truth

It was very difficult!

All things were easier to do when you went along with the tide, but if you went against it, it became difficult! It was the same for the blood veins. They would appear one by one as a person circulated the Qi in his body. It was also possible for all of them to appear at once in an explosive force. That was easy to do.

If someone wanted to call back the blood veins one by one, then they would need to control the speed of the Qi in their bodies with extreme precision. Su Ming would have to control his Qi at a fine state to arrive at that level of precision.

It was extremely rare for a Berserker at the Blood Solidification Realm to do so. This was in fact, not something for a person still in the Blood Solidification to do. This was a skill for a strong Berserker in the Transcendence realm to understand and perform.

Su Ming did not know about this. What he knew was that the elder taught him to do it. It was like a riddle, he had to find the solution on his own and find out what he was supposed to do as he thought deeply about it.

He did not feel as if he was being forced into it, nor did he feel it was difficult trying to solve the problem. Everything happened naturally. So naturally in fact, that Su Ming felt that he should try it.

If he did not, then it would be a waste because he spent so much time thinking about it.

Two hours passed by slowly. During those two hours, Su Ming sat with his legs crossed and did not move. As he continued trying to control the circulation of his Qi, a strange change happened to the blood veins on his body. The number of blood veins would suddenly decrease by dozens, then would suddenly return to its full number - 49. As this change continued, it gradually progressed to a steady state.

All of this was largely related to the pressure in this place. It could even be said that it was by this external force that a Berserker in the Blood Solidification realm could even perform one of the detailed controls that only a Berserker in the Transcendence realm could do.

Time passed by, and very soon, it was dusk. The mist in the mountain thickened during dusk. It was quiet, but the situation in the field outside was different from the mountain. It was bustling with activity, and sounds of discussions rang through the air. There were even some who took out stone coins and started placing bets.

”As expected, the 1st is still Ye Wang. Look at him, he has already taken 561 steps! The 2nd is Chen Chong, he’s only at 326 steps!”

”That’s nothing. I’m paying attention to the 3rd place, Bi Su. This person is definitely the dark horse in this test. I believe everyone thinks the same way. This person, about whom we’ve never heard before, has taken 327 steps! He has been switching back and forth with the 2nd place for the entire afternoon.”

”But I wonder what happened to Wu Sen, he’s only at 12th place…”

At a corner of the field, Mo Sang and Jing Nan sat cross-legged. No one dared to bother them. There was an invisible barrier around them that separated them from the world.

”Mo Sang, Su Ming has been staying at the 32nd step for the entire afternoon. I think he’s already exhausted. He’s placed last.” Jing Nan frowned slightly, feeling that something was out of place.

Mo Sang did not speak but chose to look at the rankings on the eagle statue instead. His face was as calm as usual, but in his heart, he was happy. He knew that Su Ming figured out his riddle.

To him, if Su Ming could understand it on his own, it was much more precious than obtaining the Berserker Blood.

The sun and moon appeared at the same time during dusk and started changing places with each other. Su Ming’s rank did not bring about anyone’s attention. They would only sweep a glance at him to see who was in the last place.

As of then, Su Ming still sat on the 32nd step. He did not seem any different, but if anyone looked closely, then they would see that the number of blood veins on his body was changing rapidly. It would sometimes be 46 blood veins, sometimes 47, and sometimes 48. The change was too rapid, hence if no one paid attention, they would not see it.

When the sun was completely hidden and the moon became clearer in the sky, the blood veins on Su Ming’s body changed once again. Gradually, the number of times the blood veins went up to 48 increased from once to twice, to thrice… until it reached eight times, and nine times!

At that moment, Su Ming opened his eyes and a flicker of excitement appeared briefly in his eyes. He made it! It may not be perfect, but he made it!

During those ten times, there were nine times where he managed to only make one of the blood veins in his body disappear!

Making one blood vein disappear may seem insignificant, but it meant that Su Ming had begun managing to control the circulation of his blood and Qi. His blood was no longer like a wild horse rampaging around, he had managed to put a lasso around it!

Slowly, he sat there and gradually reduced the number of blood veins on his blood to 47, 46, 45… It was not until the 38th blood vein that Su Ming began to lose control, and his Qi began to go into turmoil.

Su Ming knew that the balanced pressure on the 32nd step was no longer enough to help him. If he wanted to improve, then he would need to go to the 79th step!

Su Ming’s eyes were bright. He stood up without hesitation and stepped onto the 33rd step. He continued moving forward with certainty. As he moved forward one step at a time and the pressure on the mountain pressed onto him, all 49 blood veins from Su Ming’s body appeared suddenly and circulated rapidly in his body. The fine control he gained that afternoon was not just an achievement, he also gained control over his blood veins, causing a muffled boom to resound in Su Ming’s body as the blood veins appeared.

As the sound echoed in the air, the 50th blood vein suddenly manifested on his body!

The 51st blood vein also appeared once the 50th blood vein manifested itself, and it did not stop there. As Su Ming continued walking up the steps until he reached the 37th, 42nd, 49th, 58th…

Once he reached the 60th step within a short amount of time, the 52nd blood vein suddenly manifested on Su Ming’s body!

Just one more, and he would reach the fifth level of the Blood Solidification realm! In fact, he could already begin training the Berserker Art – Dark Blood Dust!

The muffled sounds coming from his body may not have echoed too far, but Bi Su, who had taken 300 something steps on the path closest to him, heard it as he was walking. He stopped and turned back to look.

‘This is the sound of someone surmounting the number of blood veins he currently has… Just who is it that managed to increase his blood veins in this place..?’

He fell into brief thought, but did not pay too much attention to it. He continued walking forward. It may be his first time being in this place, but he already made preparations before he came.

Bi Su knew that the pressure in the mountain would increase by several fold at night compared to the day. That was why almost all would choose to stop moving when it was night and the moon was hanging high in the sky. After all, if they continued moving forward, then they would have to pay a much higher price, and it was not worth it.

It was much better if they rested for a night and continued the next day. If they did that, they would be in the best possible condition. That was why, he would continue moving forward as much as possible before midnight arrived, and then would have to rest.

When the blood veins in Su Ming’s body increased to 52, he continued moving forward. He moved quickly up the stairs towards the peak of the mountain that could not be seen.

He did not know that his speed had caused a small commotion in the field outside.

The few hundreds of people in the field may only be paying attention to the top 50 rankings in the test, but they would occasionally look at the person called Mo Su who was placed last and mock him in their hearts. To them, the person who stayed an entire afternoon at the 32nd step had already exhausted his strength.

But now, when one of the men in the crowd looked at the changes in the top 50 ranks with admiration and stole a glance at the last place unconsciously, he was stunned momentarily, then he widened his eyes. He saw with his own eyes the numbers behind Mo Su’s name, who had been stuck at the last place, suddenly increase.

33, 37, 45, 48… up until 61, 63… and it continued increasing!

He also looked at the rankings and saw that Mo Su had climbed up dozens of ranks from the last place, and his rank continued increasing!

Very soon, he was not the only one who noticed the change. Many people noticed it and when they looked over, they were all astonished. From that moment, the interest towards the top 50 ranks was no longer as high as the increase in ranks by the person who was previously in the last place.

”That person called Mo Su has started to rise! Haha! Could it be that he rested for the entire afternoon and just woke up?”

”He’s already at 137th place. He climbed up so many ranks from the last place. Is he the type that has sudden explosive power much later into things? Let’s see whether he can make it within 120.”

”He’s in! 119th place, 79 steps!”

”Huh… why did he stop?”

”He stopped again!” The people who were paying attention to Su Ming’s rank were looking at Mo Su’s name at 119th place. When they saw that there was no longer any change to the number of steps he took, which was 79, they were disappointed.

”I thought I’d see another miracle, but it looks like he doesn’t have enough strength. Looks like he’s at his limit at 79 steps. He must have stored up an entire afternoon’s worth of power and let it all out.”

Gradually, no one in the field paid any more attention to the common looking name. They turned their attention back to the top 50 ranks. Midnight was near. According to tradition, no one would continue climbing the steps at midnight. The ranks at that time would be the final score for the day.

At a corner of the field, Mo Sang looked at Su Ming’s name as he rose up in ranks until he finally stopped at the 79th step. A smile appeared on his face.

As for Jing Nan, who was sitting beside him, he was frowning. When he looked at the eagle statue, the hundreds of names on it seemed to have disappeared in his eyes until there was only one left.

119th: Mo Su, 79 steps.

As Su Ming’s ranking rose, Wu La, who was at another small stairway in the mountain, grew nervous. She held the plate in her hands as she looked at the rankings on it.

118th: Wu La, 82 steps.

After a long while, when Wu La saw the person called Mo Su was still at the 79th step, she let out a sigh of relief and with gritted teeth continued climbing upwards.